Elianas hissed through his teeth.
Sabian laughed.
“How can this be Valleur?” Tristan again.
“Ask the Animated Spirit,” Teighlar said. “Have you not noticed how quiet he suddenly is?”
Elianas hissed again and Sabian laughed harder. Maple cuffed him.
Torrullin remarked, “Do you want to have this out now, High King?”
Dechend swerved around to stare at Torrullin.
Teighlar glared over his shoulder. “No.”
“Then shut up.”
Dechend was pale.
Sabian held his stomach as mirth overcame him; Maple threatened to throw him to the eels.
Rose’s head was a ball on a string. “What’s going on here?”
“Games,” Saska muttered. “Ignore them.”
The raft steered into the quiet of the stone harbour. The eels retreated, but did not go away.
Maple tossed Sabian onto the jetty and then marched him to one side to tell him succinct truths. Quilla had to grin; yes, the Tracloc certainly had his uses. Tristan was next and tied off. The women disembarked and the packs were given over. Finally the others clambered out and the raft was empty.
They gazed in the general direction of the steps wondering where it led, with Elianas also marking the dragon symbol with intent, and then a loud crunching sound pulled them around.
The eels had a hold of the raft again and were now attacking it with sharp teeth and muscled sideswipes. Within minutes nothing of their wooden transport remained. It and the eels vanished.
“Well, I guess we go up,” Declan murmured without expression.
“We knew this was a one-way trip,” Tristan muttered. “No need for them to rub it in.”
“Crikey,” Teroux croaked.
Torrullin’s orb of light bounced through the surface and exploded. Both he and Elianas flinched.
“Gods,” Caballa whispered.
Elianas gripped Torrullin’s elbow. “The abyss lies yonder.” He began walking, pulling Torrullin along with him.
Together they set foot to the stairs.
“How do you know that?” Teighlar shouted, digging in.
Elianas said, “We have stared into other voids together, Emperor, he and I. We know when one is before us.”
Torrullin pulled him onward. “You reveal too much.”
“He reveals too little!” Teighlar snarled.
“Let it go,” Quilla said to Teighlar. He now understood confronting Elianas was no simple task.
“Are you to allow a man to be your woman now, Torrullin?” Teighlar called out, his patience with the strange situation deserting him.
Quilla shook his head. Nobody listened to him anymore. Stupid bloody Senlu.
Saska and Caballa glanced at each other.
Elianas grabbed at thin air as Torrullin strode back. Grey eyes sparking with fury, he pushed Teighlar roughly. “You spoiling for a fight?”
Teighlar muscled forward. “Yes!”
Torrullin hit him, hard.
Rose screamed, and Sabian doubled over in laughter.
Teighlar hit back, snapping Torrullin’s head to the side. They squared off.
Elianas stepped between them, facing Torrullin. “Unless you seek to create an irreparable rift, I suggest you back off.”
Torrullin snarled and pushed Elianas out of the way, and found himself flat on his back, seeing stars.
Elianas bent over him. “You need not rise to every baiting, Elixir. Reserve this fury for the trials ahead. Ignore him; he is jealous.”
“You hit me,” Torrullin blurted.
“He hits bloody hard,” Teighlar said admiringly. His voice changed. “What do you insinuate - jealous?” He collared Elianas.
“You are. You and he, the special bond of enchanters. One nobody here could share, until now.” Elianas remained limp in that grip.
“Call yourself an enchanter?” Teighlar hissed into his face.
Torrullin, on his feet again, jerked Elianas from the Senlu’s grip. “Elianas, let it go.”
The dark-haired man gave a nod, and headed up the stairs without looking at anyone.
Torrullin stared at Teighlar. “This was unnecessary.”
The Senlu inclined his head. “Agreed, but soon we must play it through or go mad.”
Torrullin murmured, “I hear you, but find your calm, my friend. We are not at that point yet.” He set off after a swiftly climbing Elianas.
“Is he an enchanter?” Teighlar called out.
They did not answer.
Teighlar swirled his tongue in his mouth as his instincts assailed him.
Saska stood before Teighlar. “You bloody fool. Anything you say against Elianas will only drive him closer.”
Teighlar frowned at her. “I have the distinct feeling you know more of this mysterious ‘brother’ than you let on, my lady.”
Caballa sighed somewhere.
Sabian chortled with laughter.
Saska stalked over and slapped him. “Shut up or you will be eel bait in a minute. I don’t know why you find this amusing, you, the mild mannered master historian.”
“It is all new, my lady, so very new, and there are so many undercurrents here, one could write a thesis.”
Maple inserted himself between Saska and the fair man, and dragged Sabian to the pile of packs. “I will sort him out, my lady.” He shoved at Sabian. “Man, I do not get you. I do not sense darak and yet I swear you can manufacture it with these undercurrents. Beware, or you fall into the same trap you did before - Agnimus.”
Sabian hissed and shouldered his pack. He tossed Maple’s at him. “Let us climb, shall we?”
They set off.
Dechend closed an open mouth with a snap. “Emperor, I thought you and Elixir are friends.”
“We are, Dechend. Ignore us,” Teighlar said. He found his pack. “I merely hate the thought the Valleur were here before the Luvans.” He moved off then, before he said too much.
Dechend stared at the dragon symbol and shook his head.
One by one they climbed, with Tristan, Teroux and Tianoman trailing behind.
“I saw Torrullin in Digilan returned from a fight,” Tianoman murmured. “He was like that, ready to kill … and no apology.”
“Who is this Elianas?” Teroux asked. “He pops up out of the ether, someone known to Torrullin, and no one else? Weird. Something about him sets Torrullin off. I say be wary.”
Tristan said, “Folk say I am like Torrullin, but that can never be me. I cannot hold such anger.”
“I can,” Tianoman muttered.
His cousins stared at him, but he added no more. He shouldered ahead.
Chapter 46
And then there was the dark …
~ Awl
Abyss
AT THE TOP OF THE worn stairs a tunnel veered left directly behind the dragon symbol. In fact, the symbol was rendered inside the tunnel also, which caused Teighlar to snort loudly. Dechend was heard to sigh.
The tunnel led into darkness.
A point of light drew everyone swiftly together. Torrullin had created a new orb.
The space they encountered was like to no other any there had encountered.
First, an eternity of space lay before them. There was no other side, nor was there discernible ceiling, or floor. They stood balanced on a what was a ledge leaning over an infinity of nothingness. Second, it was a void, but it was also an entity, for it possessed marked presence. The cold, deadness of emptiness lay below and above, and yet it was as solid as rock in what it projected into their realities.
“The Abyss,” Dechend murmured, awed.
“Grinwallin, Final Abyss,” Teighlar stated. He stared down. “Now I understand this city is ever balanced on the brink. This is why she is named as she is.”
“This could suck in worlds,” Declan declared.
“We are to go in there?” Teroux asked.
“I wonder if we will ever actually find the Luvan records,” Te
ighlar mused. “Perhaps just knowing they are here is enough. The past is ever with us, is it not?”
Pointedly, neither Torrullin nor Elianas said anything. Both stood at the edge, arms folded, legs braced, but stared across, not down.
Quilla wandered over. “I assume by your gazes we are to cross, not descend.”
“How?” Rose squeaked.
Torrullin gave Teighlar a fleeting smile. “Emperor, I do not think you will be eating horse dung.”
Teighlar grinned. His inner tension receded somewhat. Ah so, not even the might Elixir could retrieve the Luvan records.
“We halt here until we figure it out,” Torrullin added.
“Here? On a cliff?” Rose breathed. “No.”
“Horse dung?” Teroux muttered.
“Rose is right,” Caballa said. “We take rest down on the jetty.”
After a moment, Torrullin agreed. “Fine. Elianas and I will remain here.”
Elianas had not yet moved from his intent perusal of the darkness beyond.
Sabian drawled, “What we have here is the divide between known time and realm time. This void is the bridge. When we have spanned it, we no longer affect what lies in the time of our combined histories.”
Teighlar stared at him. It seemed Sabian had a contribution to make other than troublemaker.
“You need me to get across this,” Sabian added. “I shall stay here with you.”
Torrullin nodded at him.
“I stay as well,” Teighlar said. “You three could decide to go wandering across without us.”
Elianas’ head moved slightly. All there had the clearest thought he intended exactly that. To leave them behind.
Saska swore. “We all stay.”
“No,” Rose whispered.
“Suit yourselves,” Torrullin shrugged. He sent, Teroux, sort the farspeaker out; she complains too much.
Teroux pulled a face and approached Rose. “We will wait below.”
Tianoman followed them back into the tunnel.
Dechend, indecisive, chose the jetty after a few minutes.
Saska neared the edge. “This is realm time?”
“No, on this ledge is known time,” Quilla murmured. “On the other side is realm time.”
“Where is the other side?”
“When, actually,” Sabian laughed.
“How do we cross?” Saska asked.
Nobody answered.
She gazed up at Torrullin. “Will you go wandering off and leave us behind? Could you abandon us in that manner?”
He glanced at her, and did not reply.
“Elianas?” she demanded.
His head swivelled to the side, although he did not turn from his confrontation of the darkness. All she saw was his profile, before he again faced the void.
He did not speak.
Torrullin drew breath. “We do this together.”
Caballa spoke with a trace of anger in her tone. “I am going to organise a meal below and don’t care what you lot do. We’ll call; come if you are hungry and still here. Are you coming, Saska?”
“Coming.” Saska headed out, Caballa behind her.
Into the ensuing silence, Sabian said, “I travelled the strata of time and survived, because I desired transcendence that much. I was prepared to face any truth about myself, even the worst.” He pointed at the void. “This only appears empty, and in one sense it is; yet I tell you it is pregnant with the layers time has thrown down. Stepping stones and road markers.”
“Meaning?” Quilla asked.
“We must leave the explainable behind, Q’lin’la. We must accept that normal does not apply here. The river is done with, the last route to our realm. Beyond lies a doorway and before us are the stepping stones. We step to them, one at a time, and we do so by speaking the truth. Real truth, hidden truth. Only truth.” Sabian moved to stand at the edge. “Allow me to demonstrate.”
Without looking at either Elianas beside him or Torrullin a step removed, he drew in a breath and said, “My brother Margus, his real name Michael, took my soul because he loved me.”
As Tristan drew a shocked breath, Sabian stepped into the void.
A flat ellipse of yellow light appeared under his feet, large enough for the team to step onto.
It appeared solid.
Sabian smiled. “The first step. See? Until now I blamed Michael for wrenching my soul from my body. Now I thank him for making this new chance possible.” He stepped off. The ellipse remained.
“Gods, I need a drink,” Tristan muttered.
Torrullin cleared his throat. “As do I. Let us eat and rest before attempting this … hell.”
He strode from the chamber.
Elianas’ arms fell slack to his sides and, clearly, those remaining on the ledge heard him curse.
BELOW IN ‘SUNLIGHT’, with everyone gathered there to eat and rest, Quilla urged Sabian to explain.
Elianas sat alone on the bottom step, head hanging. For the moment he had removed himself from the fray.
Reactions were varied.
“I don’t see a problem,” Rose said first.
“How can it be as simple as that? Truth creates a path, always has, but this is too simple,” Caballa said.
“Simple?” Teighlar snorted.
“Truth?” Saska whispered. “We lie even to ourselves.”
Torrullin flicked her a glance.
“I have nothing hidden,” Dechend blurted.
“I prefer to keep my truths to myself,” Maple muttered.
“Likewise,” Teighlar agreed.
“Must we speak aloud?” Tianoman wanted to know.
“Yes,” according to Sabian. “When a rock rolls down a mountain slope with no one to hear its passage, does it make a noise?”
“Yes,” Tianoman frowned.
“Oh? Surely no one heard it? It is the same here. If no one hears you speak, do you actually tell the truth?”
“That makes no sense.”
“Actually, it does,” Teroux murmured. “Anyway, I don’t mind.” He glanced at Torrullin. “What if we have nothing to say?”
“We all have something to say,” Quilla murmured. “Always.”
Declan paced at the edge of the jetty. “Unfortunately. I do not like this.”
“Everyone must speak or no one makes it to the other side,” Sabian insisted. “The void knows it needs create fourteen stones, for fourteen penitents stand at its edge. If you cannot see yourself doing this, this is the point you turn back from.”
“How?” Tianoman asked. “The raft is gone.”
“Your choice,” Sabian said. “Stay and swim back … or take your chances up there.”
Tristan said, “Which hidden truth? The one that can be shared, is embarrassing at worst, or the one you prefer not a soul ever hear about?”
“The latter,” Elianas whispered, head still hanging.
Tristan swore, drawing an astonished gaze from everyone.
Torrullin laughed. “Welcome to my dilemma.”
“And mine,” Teighlar muttered.
“A journey about truth, isn’t that what you said, Torrullin?” Saska taunted.
“Are you able to do this easily?” he demanded.
“No.”
“Then don’t throw stones.”
Caballa was decisive. “Well, nobody is swimming back, so we deal with it. And we deal with it on a full stomach.” She began by snapping a fire on and filling a pot with water. “Come, haul out the supplies.”
Torrullin eyed her. “Do you want me to create a meal?”
“No, I want to keep my hands busy and maybe my thoughts also.” She bent over the fire.
Tristan stared at Caballa a while as she got busy, seemed for a few moments in self-debate, and then took her face in his hands and leaned in to kiss her.
As he let go, he said, “That is so I don’t have to stand up there and reveal how I badly want to kiss you.”
Caballa stared up at him, her expression blank, and then busi
ed herself with the pot. Her hands shook.
Rose made a disgusted snort.
Saska grinned. “Brave, brave Tristan.”
Torrullin laughed.
Caballa was on her feet, glaring at him.
Tristan stilled.
Elianas lifted his head.
“Say it, Caballa,” Torrullin prompted. “Say it here or say it up there.”
Saska paled.
Tristan remained frozen.
“Oh, god,” Teroux murmured.
“Do I mean so little to you?” Caballa whispered. “You laugh?”
Torrullin studied her. “For twenty-five years you removed yourself from my presence and it included Valaris, because you might have sensed something of me on that world. I missed you every single day, Caballa, and told myself to be patient, you would find a way to make your peace with the Valleur dead by my hand. Yet I wondered, for I have not found a way to make my peace with that.
“And then I saw you over Samuel’s body and I knew it would be all right, for friends might be parted for many ages and remain friends. We are friends, Caballa, seers, and once we were lovers. Do I think so little of you? No, I think the universe of you and I hope you find happiness with a man you love. I do not think you need a man to be happy, and yet I know you are able to love with all of you, and if that man is Tristan, then I say - lucky Tristan.”
She stared at him.
He added, “It is not me you fight, Caballa. It is yourself.”
Caballa closed her eyes. “I am sorry I made this public.”
“Tristan is not me,” Torrullin said. “He has not my capacity for hate. He knows only how to love completely.”
Blindly Caballa turned away.
Tristan animated then, walking to the end of the jetty without looking at anyone, where Declan relinquished the space.
You are not drawn to hate, Caballa, Torrullin sent.
Yet I am torn.
Go to him or you lose any chance at a future with him.
Clearly she thought something similar, for, with measured tread, she headed to Tristan.
“Well, I guess I will be supplying the meal,” Torrullin joked.
“About time,” Teighlar grinned. He winked. “I can tell this will not be a boring trip.”
“I could do with boredom,” Saska muttered.
Lore of Sanctum Omnibus Page 47