Moments after that a barrage of arrows flew from the Senlu side.
That first skirmish led to others.
Grinwallin was officially at war with the Valleur of Luvanor.
RIVALEN LAUGHED ACROSS the spaces, knowing it would remove all attention from him while he prepared his army.
Chapter 30
Memories are never what you expect when you examine them dispassionately.
~ Book of Sages ~
Kathin Arne
THE WOMAN AT THE top of the metal stairs was exceptionally lovely.
Torrullin studied her closely, seeing green eyes, which instantly brought Saska to mind, glorious dark auburn hair, which recalled Lycea to his thoughts, and a slender body, yet she was all lean muscle. She appeared weak, but was no doubt deceptively strong.
She was also young, too young for Elianas, and yet her features obviously mirrored another woman’s, the one he fell for, an older and wiser woman. She would have been astonishingly beautiful, Torrullin thought, as this one would be once she achieved greater maturity.
His gaze moved to the dark man, to witness how he drew his breath in slowly, releasing it as gradually.
“Forgive me. You have the features of your grandmother,” Elianas murmured.
“How are you here?” Daywalker Sarahin burst out.
Taking another breath, this one less unobtrusive, Elianas climbed unhurriedly up. “How is it you recognise me?”
Green eyes wide, she reached for his hand and tugged him with her, drawing him into her sanctum.
Torrullin’s teeth nearly snapped under the pressure he placed them under.
“Come,” Marjori beckoned and, wordless, he and Lowen followed her, after giving each other searching glances.
Inside, the yellow light was more diffuse, the blinds at various levels serving to mitigate. A number of candles threw a more acceptable amber glow. Huge bean bags in colourful designs were clearly meant as seating, and a low table squatted on a reed mat. The floor was of wood, probably the only surface that did not allow light to penetrate.
“Sit,” Marjori murmured.
Lowen collapsed into a sturdy ball of stuffed leather, but Torrullin could not move. His entire being had focused on the two people in the centre of the small chamber.
Sarahin had her hands on Elianas’ cheeks and she stared intently into his eyes. He did not look away or move from that touch. In itself that was surprising; Elianas was ever skittish with touch.
“I am not your granddaughter as well,” she said quietly. “Know that now.”
He nodded. “Hunarial had a daughter, living with her father far away, before I arrived.”
Sarahin smiled and dropped her hands. “Good.”
“How do you know me? It was a long time ago.”
“And yet you are now as you were then, other than for the scars on your cheeks and what lies in your eyes.”
“How?” Elianas burst out.
The young woman moved away and went to a narrow desk under the window beyond. The blinds were completely down there. She opened a drawer and withdrew a small sphere, a little glass orb akin to a marble. She handed it to Elianas, placing it in his palm and closing his fingers around it.
“Allow your body heat to activate it. Images will come to you.”
He stared at his hand. “I remember these now. They are memory devices …” His head snapped up and he stared unseeingly over the young woman’s head.
Long silent minutes ensued, which no one sought to interrupt, although Torrullin desired to pry the marble from those fingers.
Elianas paled markedly and his jaw twitched. He then opened his fingers, found Torrullin near his side, grabbed his hand and placed the device there.
“Look,” he said.
Torrullin’s fingers curled and images were there instantly. The memory sphere was already warm.
A DARK MAN STRODE through a field of strangely hued flowers, smiling, waving.
He wore a knee length wrap, pale linen with dark stripes, and leather sandals. Armbands of leather and bead adorned both arms, and a cloth bag was slung across his naked chest. Dark hair wafted in a breeze and dark eyes shone in the amber light.
In another time and place they would describe the man as an Egyptian, a noble of the desert sands, yet here he walked through flowers. There was heat, though, for sweat glistened on his chest.
A woman ran to meet him, auburn hair flying behind her. She too wore a wrap, this one green, and sandals and armbands. An intricately worked leather waistcoat covered her chest. She was glorious, her entire being infused with joy.
They met, man and woman, and arms encircled and lips met.
TORRULLIN SWALLOWED AND released his hold on the small sphere.
“That was two days before she died,” Elianas said, his voice sounding far, far away. “Torrullin, focus.”
He did, seeing those same dark eyes before him. “How did she die?” he whispered.
“Katlin arrows,” Sarahin snapped out. “Many were jealous of her power and many hated the man she chose to spend her life with.”
Both men looked at her. “I thought you said illness,” Torrullin murmured.
Sarahin held a finger aloft. “Apparently an illness was used as reason for death in the aftermath. Perhaps politics demanded a more acceptable demise at the time.”
Torrullin sneered, “Politics, a hotbed of lies.” He glanced at the man beside him. “Perhaps you were given those memories to belay your response to murder.”
Elianas twitched, but said not a word.
Sarahin continued, “The arrows, we discovered later, were meant for you, Elianas. Many knew you two enjoyed a morning walk along the river, a ritual you rarely did not partake in, and they lay in wait. You bent at the opportune moment …”
“To pick flowers,” Elianas said, his entire being tightly controlled. “I remember now.”
“Yes, and the arrows flew to her instead.”
“Poison,” Elianas murmured. His fingers curled into fists.
“Why did they hate you?” Torrullin asked.
Sarahin offered a sad smile. “Look at him. His kind of beauty is alien here. It caused envy among the Arness, but downright anger among the Katlin. Together Hunarial and Elianas were akin to gods in their glory.”
“That is why Dukken told me to leave, exiling me to the Achen Plains. He knew it was my life they wanted ended.” He placed one tense hand upon his breast. “Soon after I believed she died of a mysterious illness.”
The Daywalker inclined her head. “Dukken went looking for you after Hunarial’s funeral. Records say he was a liberal, and he never returned from the plains.”
“He was killed before he could tell the truth and use Elianas to expose lies and murder,” Torrullin stated.
Sarahin inclined her head. “Did Dukken ever find you?”
“I left swiftly. I did not want to stay a moment longer,” Elianas murmured. “No, I never saw him again.”
“And the manner of your leaving, however you did it, dumped us into chaos for a while.” Sarahin pointed at the small sphere Torrullin held between two fingers. “The light in those memories was more amber, because between you and Hunarial you restored the balances. After you left, it darkened again.”
Elianas, drawing in breath as shudders of guilt, stepped back, and Torrullin was there for him, his shoulder the bolster, his presence the support.
Together they stood there, staring at the young woman. Lowen and Marjori had entirely vanished from thought.
Sarahin’s eyes narrowed slightly and then she turned to retrieve another sphere from her drawer, this one larger, white opaque. She held it up.
“My grandmother kept meticulous records, but most of it was confiscated when a Katlin Daywalker assumed her responsibilities. I have only seven of these, five of them detailing the duties of life we have towards this world. I believe those were deliberately left behind in the confiscation, because Daywalkers use them now to learn from. What she did
to restore the atmosphere must not be forgotten, after all.”
She balanced the sphere on her palm.
“My mother, after the funeral, found these two in her herb bag, and thus they came to me. No one knows I have them, except Marjori.”
She held the sphere out.
Elianas shook his head and thus Torrullin reached beyond him and took it. He deposited the first sphere into her palm, enclosed the new one in his hand, and waited.
GREEN EYES STARED AT someone beyond view. Those mesmerising orbs swam in tears.
“The day approaches, my love, when you must leave here. Already we are too visible for this world’s peace of mind … no, hear me out. What we experience now is an interlude and it has brought me much happiness, but it cannot be my forever future. I shall age, while you will not, and that will certainly create havoc for everyone here. Why do you think the outsiders choose the Achen Plain? No one is to see they do not age.”
“Then I shall go to the Achen Plain and you may visit me there.”
Elianas’ voice, filled with frustration.
Hunarial blinked and tears slid over her cheeks. “I will not, my love. When you leave our home, you will be forever gone from me. Hush! You are not blind. You know this must be the way of it. And, Elianas, even were I a forever ageless as you are, you would still one day leave me. You know this.”
Only silence answered her.
“For him, my love, for he is your true future. I have seen a golden man in my visions and I have seen you with him. I know you love me, but what you feel for him is beyond all of this, for it encompasses heart, soul, mind and body, future and past …”
THE MEMORY ENDED THERE.
Torrullin lowered his forehead to Elianas’ shoulder. He felt how the dark man trembled over his display of emotion.
“Do I want to see?” Elianas whispered, now doing the bolstering and supporting.
“You already know. She told you about me.”
He sensed the man nod. “I remember, yes. We had an almighty argument that night.” He gestured at the sphere. “Return it.”
Torrullin passed it back to Sarahin.
“Clearly you are not here for memory,” she said. “I believe you actually hoped to escape remembering, and yet you came. Why are you here? And will how you came upset the balances again?”
“No,” Lowen said from her bean bag. “I brought them and I maintain the balances. There is no danger.”
“Glad to hear it. Why are you here, Elianas?”
“We seek Immirin,” he managed after a moment.
Torrullin stepped away and both inhaled deeply to restore equilibrium.
“Immirin?” Sarahin spat.
“That bitch!” Marjori blurted.
“Time clearly has not mitigated Valleur arrogance,” Lowen murmured, swallowing a laugh.
“Where is she?” Torrullin demanded,
“Where else, Torrullin?” Lowen muttered. “Achen Plains for the ageless Immirin.”
Elianas swore under his breath before saying, “I had hoped to avoid the Plain.”
“Why?’ Torrullin asked.
“They are not all immortal, and yet it will be entering a gathering of the ageless,” Elianas muttered. “Can you imagine their frustration?”
“What have they to be unhappy about?” Marjori asked. “They have so much time!”
Elianas spread his hands. “And you think it is easy to live like that?”
Their young saviour frowned. “You can do so much, see so much, achieve …”
“… what? The day you achieve something great is soon forgotten, for tomorrow is another day, and then there is another and another, and it never ends.”
“Being constrained in one place will only fuel the fires of frustration,” Torrullin added.
Lowen sighed.
“Maybe that is why Immirin is such a bitch,” Marjori muttered.
Lowen laughed.
Torrullin glared at her, and then faced Sarahin. “Has Immirin caused trouble?”
The young Daywalker shrugged. “Not really. She is just … rude. Few like her. She shows up here once in a while and always she is derogatory.”
“Some say she controls the Daywalker talent,” Marjori whispered.
“Control? No. She created both the need and calling, however, and therefore feels responsible,” Torrullin said. “Her visits no doubt serve as a means to veracity. If a Daywalker fails, her long life too will end.”
Sarahin paled. “What did you say?”
Elianas abruptly swirled on his heels and threw his length into a bean bag beside Lowen. “Her entrance created chaos ages ago, and she understood she caused it and sought to diminish it. Therefore the need for a Daywalker. Unknowingly, your calling and her sense of duty maintains the balance for Kathin Arne.”
Sarahin sat untidily on the chair beside her desk. “Now it makes sense.” She drew breath. “What is it you do that is able to manipulate our world to such a degree?”
“We shall not share that knowledge,” Torrullin stated.
Marjori knelt before Lowen, taking her hands. “Do you intend to stay?” When Lowen shook her head, she continued, “Which means you are able to leave, right? You have the ability to leave and those on the Achen Plain do not. Can you not take them with you?”
Lowen swallowed. “I have not that kind of power.”
“But it is power … sorcery?”
A sigh. “Yes.”
“Tell me,” and Marjori released Lowen’s hands to stand and look at Torrullin, “if Immirin is taken away, what will happen to Kathin Arne?”
The young woman was no fool, Torrullin mused. “Truthfully? We have no idea.”
“You are new to the knowledge of manipulation.”
Torrullin inclined his head.
Marjori turned to Sarahin. “But Immirin will know.”
The Daywalker nodded. “Prepare a transport for the morning. I dare not leave here, but you accompany our guests to Achen, Marjori dearest, and discover what there is to know about the future.”
The manner in which Sarahin said ‘dearest’ left Torrullin in no doubt as to their true relationship. He glanced at Elianas, to find a wry glance waiting for him.
“Meanwhile, you must be hungry and tired. Rest first and then we shall enjoy a meal together,” Sarahin said. “Go with Marjori, please. I need to think a while.”
Standing, bowing, the three followed Marjori’s beckoning. They were shown to guest quarters tucked behind a trellis of vines in full fruit. She excused herself immediately, saying she needed to see to their meal.
Lowen curled into a new beanbag and went to sleep, while Elianas paced in silence, the skin of his face stretched tight, and Torrullin watched him do so.
OVER DINNER, STANDARD AND familiar fare served as the sun set and Kathin Arne fell into a purple hued darkness, Sarahin pointed at the sword at Elianas’ waist.
“That was buried with Hunarial.”
He stared at her. “Sword and scabbard?”
“Indeed. I believe Hunarial had the scabbard made for you.”
After glancing at Torrullin, Elianas said, “I had forgotten. Seems more was removed from me that I suspected.” He cleared his throat to still the tremors evident in his voice. “Did I have the sword when I arrived here the first time?”
“I cannot with certainty say, but I never heard of anyone making a sword during that time. As you must know, our weapons are more mechanical - sword making would be an anomaly.” Sarahin frowned. “What is stranger still is your having it with you again.”
“A conundrum I have yet to unravel,” the dark man murmured.
Marjori brightened. “There is an old man on the Achen Plains who claims being able to summon swords to him. Maybe he knows more.”
“Really?’ Torrullin drawled. “Who is this master?”
She pursed her lips, thinking. “Wait, it will come to me … Anaho! His name is Anaho Aleru.”
“Aleru?” Elianas nearly choked on his win
e.
Torrullin leaned back, thoughtful. “I am going to guess this man and Immirin are … friends.”
Marjori blinked. “They are, yes.”
Torrullin pinched the bridge of his nose and Elianas threw the remainder of his wine down his throat. Lowen’s gaze went from one to the other, but she had the presence of mind to say no more.
“Why do you seek Immirin?” Sarahin asked, lifting her glass of a young vintage.
Torrullin answered. “We trust she possesses knowledge we require to unravel a volatile situation where we are from.”
The Daywalker pursed her lips. “She has been here a long time. What can she know? Her knowledge will be of a far time.”
“That is what we require,” Torrullin murmured. “To understand the present we must know of the past.”
“Where are you from?” Marjori asked.
“Our home is on a world called Avaelyn,” Elianas replied.
“Far away?”
He nodded.
“Are you from this Avaelyn also?” Marjori asked of Lowen.
“I live now on Luvanor, although I was born to Xen III.”
Sarahin set her glass down. “None of these worlds are familiar. We may be isolated due to our atmosphere, but we know of others, and they speak other names.”
“Yours is a world of Ariann,” Torrullin stated. “We are of Reaume.”
The Daywalker paled. “I thought that a myth! Reaume is a legend, something about vast space protected by ancient trees, and Ariann, also legendary, is watched over by …”
“… vines?” Lowen murmured. “It is no legend.”
Both women gaped.
Lowen shrugged. “It cannot affect your daily lives as it does not influence us. Those are the grand concepts and they come across as legends to us as well.”
“Yet you know,” Sarahin said to Torrullin.
He did not reply, causing Elianas to laugh under his breath.
Lore of Sanctum Omnibus Page 215
