“Energy requires fuel, Belun. Where would Elianas find the fuel for bridging? Torrullin wasn’t always with him, and I don’t think it as simple as using Elixir’s power. Retaining eternal control would soon leave him empty.”
The Centuar rubbed his nose. “Good question.”
“A good solution may well aid us in the future,” Tristan murmured.
Belun stared at him. “I see your point.”
“I hope it never comes to that, for Torrullin would be …” Tristan lifted a shoulder as he looked away. “… hurt.”
Belun ruminated on that. “You say they are close? Then it is entirely possible Torrullin is Elianas’ fuel. Apart or together.”
Tristan stared at the ogives. “You may be right.” He drew breath and let it go. “Rose said they share an aura, even apart.” He met the Centuar’s thoughtful gaze. “To negate Elianas as threat, if Torrullin is his fuel, would require an unassailable barrier.”
Belun pursed his lips.
“Or the line would have to be crossed,” Tristan said.
Belun frowned, “Line?”
“The line that separates sorcerers of their calibre.”
Belun frowned harder, watching him. “You’re digging now; you don’t know what that line is.”
A rueful laugh. “Do you?”
Belun shook his head. “I didn’t even know there was a line.”
“Right. Then we work on a barrier,” Tristan said. “But at this point we concentrate on getting them out. Let’s hear how Jonas sees this energy field happening …”
The Path of Shades
ELIANAS SLOWED MARKEDLY.
Torrullin said to Declan, “Can you stand alone for a while?” The Siric nodded and took his hand from Elianas’ neck. Torrullin squeezed past the Siric.
“I need to recharge,” Elianas said when Torrullin was behind him. “I am inexperienced in the lengthy nature of this fucking bridge.” He spat.
“Rest comes,” Torrullin said. “There is a smudge on the horizon.”
Elianas sagged. “Thank the gods, but I dare not even look now.”
“Here, let me take your weight for a minute.”
Elianas sighed and slumped. Torrullin held him up. Neither could draw strength, for energy was depleted, but it was an acknowledgement of support both could take heart from.
Torrullin rested his chin on Elianas’ shoulder and stared down at the space before their feet. Elianas had the bridge a mere foot from his boots. He had lost the strength to build in anticipation. He looked up at the faint smudge on the horizon. It was small, but there. It had to be the island, had to be, or they were literally dead as they stood upon an ocean of changeless water in an ethereal creation that could vanish at any moment.
His arms tightened around Elianas and he stared at those long fingered hands resting on them. “An hour, no more. Can you do it?”
Fingers twitched and then slid over Torrullin’s one hand. Fingers laced and held on. “I can do it.”
“For yourself, Elianas.”
Warm breath on Torrullin’s cheek. “Stupid man. For you.” Elianas straightened, undid his fingers and broke from the hold. He stretched and started walking.
Torrullin closed his eyes a moment and glanced at Declan.
The Siric said, “I am all right. Let us keep going.”
He held his hand out to Saska and they set out after Elianas.
HALF AN HOUR later Elianas weaved from side to side.
Torrullin bit out at Declan, “Do not lose yourselves now, I must help him.”
Declan whispered, “We see the island, we will get there, we will keep up.”
Torrullin focused on Elianas. He gripped the man’s upper arms, forcing him to a stop.
“Torrullin, don’t. I may not walk again.”
“Then I will carry you.”
A weary laugh. “We would both fall.”
“I am coming past. Hang on and look over my shoulder.” He braced on the tiny sliver of bridge.
Elianas put both arms in a loop across Torrullin’s shoulder and they inched forward. He stopped. “It is too slow, too cumbersome.”
Torrullin bit out an oath. “Waist.” Elianas’ hands snaked around to fold across his stomach, and he swore again. That would not do it. He shifted his tunic up, took those hands and pressed them to his skin. Behind, Elianas drew a ragged breath. He pressed his hands over Elianas’ and felt a surge of adrenaline pump into the man. Adrenaline begat adrenaline.
Smiling grimly, he thought, This energy cannot be depleted.
They walked on, synchronising their steps. Torrullin said and did nothing when one of Elianas’ hands moved to wedge under his breeches, there to be still, to feel the motion of his hip as he walked on.
He fought to control his body’s reaction, however, thereby releasing fuel Elianas drew mercilessly from.
IT WAS ANOTHER hour before the island met them.
Torrullin stumbled off with Elianas attached and they fell to the beach. Both twisted to check on the other two, seeing with relief Declan assist Saska to solid ground. The Siric fell to his knees and toppled over to lay like that, and Saska hung her head.
With reluctance, Torrullin and Elianas untangled.
“Declan isn’t breathing,” Saska gasped.
The two men crawled to the Siric.
Torrullin turned him over, nearly screaming at the unfairness. A moment later he had his hands over Declan’s heart and Elianas lowered to begin breathing for him.
Declan finally took a shuddering breath, and rolled over into a foetal position.
“Get up,” Torrullin said, rising himself. He forcibly lifted the Siric to his feet.
“There was a portal, Torrullin, flowers and fields …” Declan gasped out. “Let me go, I want to go …”
“This isn’t your time.”
“Might be, life has been too long …”
Elianas, grim, pushed against the Siric from behind, thereby shoving him against Torrullin. “I know we have little in reserve, but we have something else to give. Share that energy now, or we lose him.”
Torrullin reached around Declan to draw Elianas closer. His fingers bit into the man and it was partly anger over what this action would do to affect the perception of a friend.
Declan gasped out, “You are squashing …” Then he was silent. He felt the energy and tension he stood within, a surge of it. It took only a moment for death’s portal to recede, for it was replaced with life; vital, swiftly coursing life.
He gasped, and pushed from the trio, stumbling away. “Give to Saska also.”
Torrullin blinked, Elianas was expectant, and Torrullin went to her, lifting her to her feet. “Trust me, even as you don’t like it.”
He drew her against himself and then reached again for Elianas beyond her. They wedged her between them and she was still.
For a moment she felt nothing, but then it came to her, waves in ripples, energy that was pure sexual tension. She shivered, and then surrendered to it, becoming fluid, falling, seeping away … and Torrullin caught her, her face anguished, his tormented, and Elianas moved away, expressionless.
Gradually her senses stabilised, and she was stronger.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and went to sit beside Declan, head bowed.
Gods.
Elianas curled on the sand and stilled. Torrullin laid a hand on his brow and released a silent sigh.
Oblivion, and he certainly deserved it.
He sat wakeful beside the dark man for a long time, ignoring everything and everyone but the motion of the man’s rising and falling chest.
His thoughts were dark then.
Chapter 26
Fishermen use nets to catch fish.
~ Truth
Valaris
Menllik
LOUD POUNDING ON the cottage door awakened Caballa.
At first she thought it in her head, for she was invited to Yiddin’s last night, and Yiddin knew how to serve wine. Then she thought it wa
s the young man coming in to do the ceiling in the study.
It was Cassy, shouting loud enough to wake the universe.
Groaning, she threw bedclothes off and stumbled to the front door.
Cassy, belligerent, fell through. “You are asleep? How can you be asleep?”
“Good morning to you too,” Caballa muttered, and headed to the kitchen. Goddess, she needed coffee.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Cassy demanded.
“Tell you what? Do you want coffee?” In the kitchen Caballa set the kettle to boil.
“Caballa!”
Caballa looked over at her. “You make the coffee, I’m going to get dressed, it’s freezing, damn it. When I get back, be calm enough to talk like a civil person, all right?”
Cassy blinked. “Fine.”
Caballa nodded and left the kitchen. When she returned ten minutes later Cassy had a pot full of strong brew ready on the table, two mugs, honey and milk. She sat in silence staring out the back window at the snowy landscape.
Caballa sat and poured. “Thanks for making the coffee.”
Cassy focused. “Thanks for being, well, normal with me. Vanar treats me like a ceramic doll.”
Caballa nodded. “I assume your temper is over Elianas. How did you hear?”
“The Beaconites let slip about Echolone, and Tian, well, he could not lie with a straight face.” Cassy sighed. “Actually, all I have is a suspicion about something being wrong. You confirmed it.”
Silently Caballa cursed Yiddin’s wine, and drank her coffee. She did not speak until she finished it, and then poured a second cup and started on that. Cassy left hers untouched.
She told the woman everything she knew.
At the end of it, Cassy sat in silent thought. Gone was belligerence and histrionics.
“The sacred network is a force field.”
“Sorry?”
“The network, Caballa. If we want to help them out, we need to build an energy field larger than that governing the region of the Path they are in, a field stronger. It must pull even that obscure nothingness, and my sacred network can do so.”
Caballa’s mouth hung open and then she closed it with a snap. “We should’ve told you days ago.”
“Yes, you should remember I am from a time when magic was untamed.”
Caballa drew breath. “I need to call Tristan.”
Cassy inclined her head. “The Kaval can activate the net, yes.”
“Gods.” Caballa sent the call.
The Dome
HOURS OF WORK delivered nothing.
“It can’t be made strong,” Jonas insisted. “We could build a space platform and we could plug in generators the size of worlds, we could even run it on crystals, make it huge beyond imagination, but it would take more time than we have available and still it wouldn’t be strong enough.”
Tristan paced the Circle in frustration. “I refuse to give up. Think magic, damn it! Don’t get technological about it!”
Fuma was the one who dared, “Only Elixir has that ability.”
“Elixir, goddamn it, is trapped!”
Quilla murmured, “Let us keep calm.”
Tristan glared at him and looked away, frowning. A moment later he said, “Caballa called. Continue with that.” He strode to the Dragon ogive.
It chimed.
Inside the Dome - with most of the Kaval in attendance - a measure of calm was restored.
No one shirked duty.
Menllik
“CABALLA?”
“Kitchen, Tris!”
He found her with Cassy and was instantly on guard. He knew the tale of Cassiopin, Nemisin’s daughter, Elianas’ wife, but he did not see how she fit in.
Caballa said, “Cassy says you need an energy field …”
“You told her?”
Cassy rose. “Tristan Valla. That is …”
“Tristan Skyler Valla.”
“Fine. Tristan Skyler Valla. That is a great name and has great weight, but it does not give you the right to be rude.”
Tristan bowed. “Forgive me, you are right. In my defence, I have suffered trying hours.”
Cassy bowed towards him. “I understand. Let us begin afresh, shall we?”
He managed a smile, but wanted to strangle her. “Of course.”
Cassy sat, saying, “Caballa told me because I came demanding. The Beaconites have big mouths.”
Tristan sat also and drew the coffee pot closer. It was still hot. Caballa found a clean mug and gave it to him.
“Tris, Cassy says we need an energy field.”
“We came to the same conclusion,” he murmured as he poured.
“I wager you are unsuccessful,” Cassy said.
He stirred a spoonful of honey in and nodded at her. “You would be right.”
“Has anyone told you of my sacred network?” she asked, leaning forward.
Someone had, but he had not given it much thought. Now he did, and read the possibilities. The spoon clattered down. “By god, that could work.”
Cassy smiled, inclining her head.
His coffee was forgotten. “How?”
“Fourteen points. And one to send out the signal. If we place your Kaval at fourteen …”
“We are thirteen. Declan is with Torrullin.”
“Well, I could take a point, being familiar with the network, and Caballa could take another. That makes fifteen. One of us should send out the signal, preferably Lowen, for she already knows how to reach out to the Path of Shades. It would work like this; Lowen stands at a central point and the rest of us take up position in a circular pattern around her, but, Tristan, I am speaking of a massive circle, universal scale. Fifteen worlds, not fifteen sacred sites.”
He stared at her. “Tell me more.”
“Drink your coffee while I talk. The network is set up as a site per connected world. There may be other sites on the same world, but it is outside of the net and thus, site - world - net, correct? Each site has a keeper, or had one, all of Valleur extraction, and each keeper has a special coded signature they may use to connect to another site and keeper. Most, however, have never used it; it is a piece of a puzzle they may never understand.
“We need to find the keeper, and if there isn’t one in this age, I will tell you how to listen for the code and, with it in hand, synchronise our use of it to coincide with the exact moment Lowen sends the signal. It will create a gigantic energy field, and is probably the most dangerous act anyone will ever undertake, know that from the outset. All technology will malfunction, which could cause accidents, all other minor force fields will fail, which could cause havoc in various forms, and anything anywhere using electricity will break down. Further, magic could be subverted, spells will go haywire, and darak intent will celebrate a new dawn.”
She paused to raise a slim finger when he made to talk.
“No doubt you are aware of this danger; I will not belabour it. We must be swift, Tristan Skyler Valla. We may only do this for one, tiny microsecond, and hope none of the dangers I have mentioned come to pass, and that it is enough to cause direction within the Path. We may, however, if no terrible accidents occur, send it out again, another microsecond.” She leaned forward some more. “It will mean a lot of work and co-ordination for an infinitesimal moment, but it can do what we hope it will. Are you prepared for that?”
“Yes,” he said.
She smiled. “Good. Then this is what we must do first. We need meet in a neutral place, preferably where there are no sites, and I need a universe chart to plot out a circle and the directional point of signal. Yes?”
“Sanctuary,” Caballa said.
Tristan grimaced. “That means telling Teroux.”
“Roundabout now he needs to be told. Leave him out, and he won’t forgive you.”
Tristan sighed. “Very well. Sanctuary it is, in one hour.”
“An hour?” Cassy frowned.
“I need prepare Teroux.”
“Of course, I understand
. Tristan, all Kaval must attend. Once we make choices, we head out immediately. It will take time to trace the keepers and probably longer to wrestle codes from them.”
“Agreed.”
Cassy rose and smiled at Caballa. “I will see you in an hour - oh, where on Sanctuary?”
“The villa,” Tristan said.
Cassy nodded and left.
Caballa murmured, “Tian needs to know about this.”
“You tell him. I must get Jonas and Belun on a universe chart.” Distractedly, he rose, kissed her cheek and left also.
Smiling, Caballa rinsed the coffee cups, threw the remaining brew away and headed for the Keep.
Sanctuary
THE SNOWS OF Sanctuary were in great melt; rivulets ran down the jumble of rocks between the villa’s garden and Lake Averis.
Rose was entranced, seeing imaginary worlds in those tiny streams of icy, clear water.
Teroux, smoking a pipe on a boulder higher up, watched her. Rose was happy here. Sanctuary embraced her and she embraced it. She loved everything - the villa, the snow, Mariner Island, the lakes, mountains and rivers, the forests, Thibis, the spaceport, all of it. Rose, after an uneasy beginning in life, had come home.
Thus it was when Tristan appeared above them, the sight of them stilled him. Teroux smiling lovingly and Rose happily entranced. The two were good for each other, he saw.
Teroux was his cousin, closer than a brother, and was his best friend through all the years they grew up together, and still was now, but Teroux had issues. Rose had issues, and together they seemed to fix each other. As he and Caballa belonged, and Tianoman and Aislinn belonged, these two did as well.
At least the three Vallas got something perfectly right, Tristan thought. We found our life mates before time could jade us. We are blessed.
Lore of Sanctum Omnibus Page 88