At the jetty’s end Tristan took Caballa into his arms.
Torrullin sighed.
“Regrets?” Teighlar murmured.
“That never began.”
“Saska does not mind?”
“Saska wishes her husband rather chose Caballa than his other choices,” Saska said. “Stop digging, Teighlar.”
“Forgive me, my Lady.”
Torrullin smiled. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Caballa would pull you straight,” Saska said.
“Interesting.”
“Oh, bugger off.” She pointed at the fire. “Get the food going.”
Elianas laughed.
THE LIGHT IN THE cavern did not diminish with the fire, nor were other ploys successful.
It was endless day, and it exhausted.
Tianoman suggested they sleep on the ledge where dark would aid rest. Reluctantly this was agreed to and they headed up. Once there, Sabian was for beginning the process of crossing the void, but the majority overruled him.
They slept, and again Elianas curled into Torrullin’s back. This time Torrullin was too weary to stay awake, and, besides, he found the warmth at his back comforting. Whether Elianas availed himself to skin during the ‘night’ he could not tell when they awakened.
Again Elianas was up first.
Breakfast was a mug of coffee; tension was rife.
With everything packed, they stood at the edge.
Sabian stepped off and his ellipse was there for him. He gestured the others on, which they did with a variety of emotions, some obvious, some hidden.
They faced the depthless void.
Sabian said, “Anyone?”
Teroux stepped forward. “The only truth I keep hidden is the desire to bring my father back together again.”
Torrullin sighed inwardly. Teroux knew about Tannil’s scattered soul.
A new ellipse rose up, lit faintly amber. Teroux stepped to it and gradually the others followed. The pull of the void was a pervasive presence, unending gravity sucking at feet. Nerve ends tingled.
“Teroux?” Torrullin called.
“It’s all right, Torrullin. I know he scattered and I know why. One day I hope to find a way to fix him.”
Torrullin did not say there was no means to do so; hope was a powerful force, after all. One day, before it became disappointment, he would tell Teroux to move on from this wish.
Tianoman was next, emboldened as he was by his cousin’s bravery. “I wish I could tear Digilan apart and free my father.”
An ellipse rose up and they stepped over. The two cousins shrugged at one another.
Rose stepped in, drawing shaky breaths. “I never told anyone this, never. Here, with all of you feeling like family to me, I wish to share. I was raped … by my father.” She closed her eyes. “This is why I hate men.”
A green ellipse rose and she stepped over. Teroux locked gazes with Tristan. Rose, raped? She was not playing the inadvertent games of the innocent? Rose was bent on avenging herself on all men?
Caballa stepped over and took Rose into her arms. “Now the healing begins, my dear,” she murmured as Rose started to sob.
Torrullin pinched the bridge of his nose. By god, how bad would this get? With the others he stepped over.
The ledge was already lost to darkness and they had a far way to go.
Saska moved to the front and Torrullin held his breath. Looking back, she found him. “I not only caused the death of your child by neglect, I wished it dead.”
She jerked away as a blue ellipse rose, and stepped over.
Torrullin growled and would have launched himself at her throat had not Elianas held him back.
“No, not like this.”
Torrullin drew up, shrugging the man off. He stepped over last to put as many bodies between him and Saska as was possible. She was stoic, and did not look his way.
Dechend was calm as he spoke. “I have always known this abyss existed.”
Teighlar snorted. “That is your hidden truth?”
“What else is there, my Lord?”
Teighlar smiled. “You are a good man, Dechend.”
Dechend inclined his head and found his ellipse before him. They all stepped over.
Then the process stalled.
Sabian exhorted, “Come on, we are getting closer!”
Caballa moved forward. “The truth is I cannot tell where my truth lies.”
“That is not good enough,” Sabian snapped.
No ellipse rose.
Caballa sighed. “The truth is I love Tristan.”
“Gods,” Tristan said, moving forward.
He stood beside Caballa as they waited. Was she testing herself or was she telling the truth?
No ellipse rose.
Tristan groaned.
Torrullin closed his eyes and prayed.
“I love Torrullin.”
Absolute silence.
But no ellipse rose.
“I am lost!” she wailed.
A white ellipse rose.
“No,” she whispered, and took Tristan’s hand as he helped her over. She was quiet after that. She would not look directly at either man named in her quest for a definitive answer.
A muscle twitched in Tristan’s cheek.
Maple was next. “I slept with and murdered my sister.” With an expressionless face he stepped over. His ellipse was swift in arriving.
Quilla glanced at Torrullin, who shrugged.
The birdman said, “There are times I long for death, to go home.” He sighed as an ellipse rose, and they moved forward.
From there progress was slow. Tristan needed to speak, and Teighlar, Torrullin and Elianas.
Not one was willing.
Caballa gave a laugh. “I laid it bare, Tristan. Do the same.”
“You are not my secret, Caballa.”
“Good, but we are stalled here. Take the step, please.”
“Yes, come on, cousin. I’m suffering vertigo,” Teroux prompted.
Tristan sucked at his teeth. “Fine.” He stood near the edge of the current ellipse. “I prepare for the Immortality Ritual.”
“Excuse me?” Teroux gasped.
“Are you mad?” Tianoman blurted.
Tristan ignored them and faced Torrullin. “I cannot be Vallorin.”
His ellipse rose unheeded as Torrullin said, “How far are you?”
“Close.” Tristan stepped over.
Caballa followed first, bemused. His cousins were next, and he shut their questions down firmly.
Elianas studied Tristan without saying a word.
“Well, unexpected,” Sabian murmured. “Who is next?”
Teighlar spoke. “Here, with us three, are life changing revelations. If we speak them, we cause suspicions to be made concrete and there will be no turning back.”
“Agreed,” Torrullin said.
Elianas nodded.
“However, each hauls along more than one. Do we speak that which we know poses danger or do we speak what can lose us more than safety?”
“Any one will do,” Elianas put in. “Each is profound.”
“Then you go first. Show us.” There was challenge in the Emperor’s voice.
Elianas sent him a look and stood at the edge. For a long time he was silent, staring into the darkness below. “I cannot speak this truth to the listening emptiness. It is tempting all fates.”
Torrullin closed in. “Then speak the other, Elianas, the one we share.”
Dark eyes searched fair face. “Are you certain?”
“It is the only way, and it will be my truth also. I escape the other, for now.”
“Well, well, do enlighten us,” Teighlar drawled.
They ignored him.
Elianas spoke first. “I am half of Elianas, Lumin Sword. The blade shed light in the dark and thus I could see.”
Torrullin closed his eyes. “I freely relinquished the Sword to bring my brother to me. It binds us now.”
Two yellow
ellipses rose simultaneously.
Torrullin laughed. “Thank god.”
“Thank the blade, Torrullin. It pulled within, prompting this revealing.”
“I know.”
They smiled at each other and walked over.
“Now I see,” Quilla murmured, and smiled as well. “And it is good. I knew that Sword was part of this brotherhood.”
“I don’t think you do see,” Saska said beside him.
“Elianas is not a threat to you, Saska, not with the Lumin part of him.”
“The blade shed light in the dark, Quilla, didn’t you hear? Which dark?” Saska demanded of him.
He frowned. “Torrullin has always …”
“Elianas’ dark, Quilla. Open your eyes.”
He frowned up at Saska. “You know, you did not have to tell him about the child. Any hidden transgression - if you needed transgression - would have worked.”
“Is that what you think this is about?”
“Isn’t it?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. But he needed the truth, so I told it all. Nothing less is acceptable.”
“You wished the child dead?”
“Briefly, when I found out. I repented such a terrible thought immediately, of course, but the truth remains I wished it so.”
Quilla sighed. “He will hate you now.”
“And maybe that will bring him back to me. He will want to punish.”
Quilla was aghast. “Surely not?”
“It’s all right, Quilla. I shall finally have a hold over him Lowen cannot break.”
Quilla continued to stare at her and then answered a prompt from someone to step over. Under his breath he muttered about shadows and stupidity.
Saska followed, her face grim.
Teighlar was next in the truth telling saga.
In sight now was the opposite ledge. The one behind had vanished into vast distance, which did not seem likely, yet was. The norms, as Sabian said, no longer applied.
Teighlar studied that vanished distance and then faced forward. “I think most of you know this, but it is a hidden truth in that it remains hidden from my people. Dechend, forgive me, but this will come as a shock.”
The Senlu Elder paled and prepared himself by straightening. “Speak, my Lord.”
Teighlar faced the emptiness and shouted out, “Let it be known the Senlu of today are the Luvans of yesterday.”
Dechend clutched at his throat.
Teighlar smiled. “Truth. The Senlu are of Senluar, the fifth continent.”
An ellipse came and Teighlar took his Elder’s arm and walked him over. Dechend remained speechless.
Then they were confounded. Distance remained to the ledge.
“I have not said my piece,” Declan murmured.
Torrullin said, “Thank god. I thought we were to have to jump it.”
“Mine is the voice of reason,” the Siric grinned.
“Excellent, now reason us to safety,” Sabian frowned.
Declan stood forward. “This is a truth I have struggled with for years now, and I believe it finally has bearing in this time.” He looked at Torrullin. “My Lord, during the time you were Becoming in the Dome you spoke many things, but this has concerned me.”
Torrullin stilled.
“You said you can do almost anything you can conceive of. Most things lie expectant to your thoughts, and you were speaking to someone. I have often wondered to whom.”
Elianas laid a hand on Torrullin’s shoulder.
“You spoke to yourself,” Declan said.
“Qualify that,” Sabian snapped. “It is not enough truth.”
“You spoke to your ancient self.”
An amber ellipse rose.
Declan bowed. “Forgive me.”
Torrullin stepped off first and then stepped onto the opposite ledge.
All swiftly attained the new safe zone, if there was such a place now.
“Well, here is another truth, for free,” Teighlar murmured. “I heard that conversation. Random electrons and galaxy paths, right? I heard because I am an Ancient myself. I felt him Become; I was with him in thought.”
Torrullin, silenced, merely sighed.
“My Lord?” Dechend said, his foundations crumbling.
“Ah, Dechend, no more,” Teighlar said. “Not now.” He dropped his pack without looking at the Elder.
The dark was absolute and it intensified as one after the other the stepping-stones dimmed and vanished.
The way back was beyond retrieval.
“Let us hasten from this place,” Elianas muttered.
They headed for the space they assumed a similar tunnel would be.
They found something else.
Chapter 47
And then there was the light …
~ Awl
Portal
THERE WAS NO TUNNEL, no corner, no stairs, no rock, not even water.
What there was, was a miasma, a veil, a transparent barrier, and it flickered to life as they approached. Fine sparkles of silver and grey, the periodic flash of scarlet, danced upon the ethereal substance.
Even in the strangeness of this place it was unusual.
“Portal,” Torrullin said, holding a hand up to halt everyone.
A Walker would know.
He ran his hand over the glittery material; it did have substance, it was tangible. He pushed his arm through and then curled his fingers as if gripping a curtain. Pulled to one side, the ephemeral stuff followed his direction.
Beyond was greater darkness.
“The only way is onward. Go.” Torrullin gestured, standing back.
“I don’t like it,” Teroux muttered, shaking his head.
“A Walker holds the veil, Teroux. Go.”
Tristan, realising his cousin was about to falter, stepped through, holding his breath. Teroux immediately followed - he trusted Tristan - and then the others, one after the other, each with a peculiar expression of depthless fright on their faces. Even Sabian seemed to have lost his casual attitude.
Until only Elianas stood beside Torrullin.
“They cannot hear us,” he said.
“I know.”
“Which truth, Torrullin, did you not dare speak?”
“I thought you knew everything.”
“Be wary of what you hide and what you reveal. Some words will bring me close, perhaps too close for comfort, and others will drive me away and you will be bereft.”
“What is it you really want of me?”
Dark eyes crinkled. “You will know when the time is right. Rest assured, I shall not be alone in the wanting.” Elianas stepped through.
Torrullin released a breath and dropped the veil. He went beyond.
Bolts of colour shot jaggedly through darkness and wailing echoed in tight circles as if they were in a tiny confined space. Dead echoes.
Torrullin shouted, “Ma Kume!” Cease!
All was quiet.
“Light, for pity’s sake!” Rose screamed.
He obliged …
… and they slid out of control down a wet, slippery slope. They slammed up together somewhere and the orb rolled off, throwing oblong shadows upon shiny black walls.
Torrullin disentangled. Breathing out his relief, he said, “Antechamber.”
Quilla was up next, huffing. “To what?”
“Realm,” Sabian drawled.
“We are there?” Tianoman whispered.
“As near as,” Sabian replied. “Look, no strata.”
They were all on their feet.
A vortex of spinning began, a giant twirling that was confusing and nauseating. It lasted only a moment, however, and then all was still.
“What was that?” Dechend asked, desperation in his tone.
“The second hand on a clock,” Sabian muttered. “We must get out before we go back too far.”
The spinning began again and ceased as swiftly. Caballa’s stomach heaved, but she held it down.
“How do you know?” Terou
x demanded.
Sabian shrugged at him, grinning.
“There is no exit,” Teighlar accused.
“There is,” Torrullin said, “but it is not physical.”
Again the spinning commenced, and stopped.
This time Caballa threw up.
“Four Ancients, the four directions, the winds and worlds. We open it with our minds,” Torrullin explained.
He paused then, for the mechanism to departure abruptly seared into his mind. Glancing at Elianas, he found the man watching him. Elianas already knew. All gods, the next few moments would be extremely revealing.
He went on nonetheless, for here they could not remain. “Get here before we all end up puking.”
Teighlar, Quilla and Sabian closed in and eight hands reached out to connect.
“Now what?” Teighlar asked.
Torrullin inhaled for calm, for strength, for inner balance. “Elianas, it is up to you.”
Expressionless, Elianas ducked into the square of hands and stood before Torrullin.
“Hold the connection now, no matter what happens,” Torrullin warned the others and then focused on the man before him. “Come to me.”
Elianas pressed against Torrullin and then absorbed into him, and out the other side.
Torrullin inhaled again and chose to close his eyes against what the others would express on their faces. He hoped they read nothing on his.
“Sweet lord,” Tianoman muttered.
Elianas melded to Torrullin’s back, absorbed anew and exited back into the square. “I must see your eyes.”
Torrullin opened them. They were almost transparent in the silver sheen his eyes assumed when he went somewhere else in his mind. He read the colour in the wariness around him. “Are we far enough?”
“Nemisin has been Vallorin for years; we need step back more.”
“How can you know?” Tristan demanded.
“Never mind that. Do it, Elianas,” Torrullin said.
Elianas stepped close once more, stopped. An instant came then in which his eyes showed something white-hot in its intensity. “I cannot go all the way through or we go too far.”
Torrullin stared into those mesmerising dark eyes. “Just do it.”
“Are you prepared for the consequences?”
“No, damn it. Do it!”
Elianas laid his lips to Torrullin’s in a searing kiss and melded their bodies until they were one, and then he stumbled back, shock on his face.
Lore of Sanctum Omnibus Page 48