Elianas snorted, perhaps implying it would have been better had the manipulation proven successful.
Teroux held onto his temper by mammoth will. “We want to help, Torrullin. I mean no insult.”
Torrullin nodded, aware how much that cost. “None taken. Already my grandsons are paying my price, and I will not allow it.” He shifted his gaze to Tristan. “Whatever Caballa said or saw is a side issue right now and we can talk about it later. We cannot stay here; Avaelyn cannot survive that type of bombardment. Take the Dome away, Tris; it is a massive lure to Beacon. Take it to Sanctuary. That world has the largest territory and therefore requires greater protection. Put the Dome well out of harm’s way, however. She is capable of exploding much like an anti-matter device.”
Tristan was expressionless.
Torrullin understood. “It is advice only; not a command.”
Tristan inclined his head.
Teroux was up in arms again. “You two should stay here. There could be reverberations in the spaces!”
Torrullin stared at him and held a hand aloft. “Elianas, lift the barriers for a minute. Our guests are leaving for the Dome.”
Elianas smiled.
“Wait a damn minute!” Teighlar exploded.
“Not you, Emperor, you stay. Teroux will follow shortly to take Alik to Sanctuary.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Teighlar stomped closer. “Do not get heavy-handed …”
“Elianas, do it. Send them out.” Torrullin’s face closed.
Elianas stepped back, and Tristan, Alik and Quilla vanished.
Torrullin pulled at his ear. “The birdman is going to have my liver over that.”
Elianas doubled over in laughter. “And mine!”
Teroux exploded. “What are your rules? Where are your guidelines? You cannot summarily make and break, decide and act. Ask, tell, discuss, where is that? You gave Teighlar no time to say anything to his daughter, Tristan is family and Quilla probably deserves to be here most! You are a selfish prick!”
There was dead silence and then Elianas said, “Whom are you talking to?”
Teroux’s face went white with anger. “I was talking to him!” He pointed an accusing finger at Torrullin. “But it applies to you also. This little team you have is …”
“Is what?” Elianas enquired.
Teighlar groaned. “Not again, please. Bury it.”
Elianas stepped closer. “Is what?”
Torrullin put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Don’t.”
Teroux and Elianas squared off, however. “It is a surface truce only.” Elianas shrugged that hand off. “We shall have it out.”
Torrullin pulled him around. “This is not like the other, Elianas; it is childish.”
Teroux moved in. “Childish or not, let us have it out.”
Elianas smiled. “I am ready.”
Torrullin gripped Teroux instead and twisted him to face him. “Step down right fucking now or I am sending you away. Understood, Teroux?”
Teroux glowered at him as if he would cheerfully murder him, before he dropped his gaze. He shrugged out of the grip and retreated.
Elianas sucked at his teeth. “Pity.”
Teighlar shouted, “Stop needling him, damn it! Elianas, by god, you are too contradictory. You know what, Teroux is right; where are your rules? Who appointed either of you lord and master over the rest of us?”
Again there was silence and then Torrullin smiled. “If it is confrontation any of you want, just say the word.” He paced forward until he stood nose-to-nose with Teroux. “You have been too pampered recently. I have forgiven the past, but Elianas is right; yours is a surface truce only. You will stay with us every step of the way from now on until you either set your mind right or bow out completely. If you choose the latter, know there is no turnaround, not ever. You will see and hear and taste every event, no matter how unpalatable it is to you. You will second Rose to invite Mikhail Bannerman and she will be leader of Sanctuary in your absence. Do you have the stomach to do this?”
Elianas hissed, “Gods, Torrullin, that goes too far.”
Torrullin ignored him. “Teroux, you have two seconds to answer.”
Teroux’s eyes filled with loathing. “I have the stomach.”
“Excellent. Contact Rose; I shall inform Tristan and Alik.”
Teroux gave a slow nod. “Consider it done.”
Torrullin inclined his head and faced Teighlar. “Do you have anything to say? Do you want to change your mind?”
The Emperor growled. “Well, someone has to be mediator.”
Torrullin laughed. “That I would like to see.” He shifted his gaze to Elianas. “Well?”
Elianas was unreadable. “Bring it all on, Torrullin.” He stepped forward and poked at the man to punctuate every word, “All. Of. It.”
“It starts.”
“It never ended.”
“True.” Torrullin said to the others, “Suit up; we go to Excelsior in one hour.”
He strode from the chamber.
ELIANAS WENT AFTER HIM. “Too much too fast, Torrullin! By the gods, give yourself time to fit that mind into your body again.”
Ahead, in the dim passage, Torrullin halted. “I fit, Elianas, have no fear. Rayne was the one who had issues there. We cannot stay anyway, not after what we heard in there.”
“I agree, but we could go somewhere isolated. You need to be calmer first.”
Torrullin closed his eyes. “The healer in you seeks to protect his patient, but the restriction frustrates me, Elianas.”
“Yet last night you asked me to keep you in.”
Torrullin nodded. “True. My mood seems to shift from minute to minute.”
“Are you not making my point? Take more time first.”
Torrullin paced closer. “No. I need to unsettle you. Somewhere in the coming chaos I will find you again and if it means going out there before I am ready, I will deal with it.”
“I am right here,” Elianas whispered.
“You are far away,” Torrullin murmured, and went on walking.
Chapter 19
Sweet glory and goose feathers! This is not good for the lily pond!
~ Tattle’s Blunt Adventures ~
The Dome
TRISTAN WAS LIVID, but controlled it admirably. He stood at the console, fingers white on the marble.
“Warning is issued. Torrullin, Elianas and Teighlar will go from here to Excelsior to track for Tian and Aislinn and then undo the nukes, and no doubt the powers that be over there will be taught a lesson. Thereafter they will transport to Ymir to uncover the situation. We are moving operations to Sanctuary and the Dome will go into nether space as a safety measure. Yes, Belun, she will.” He paused, and drew a breath to dampen his anger. “What news from Beacon?”
A new discussion commenced, but there was not much to impart, and through it Alik sat at the conference table listening. Quilla, she noted, barely took part; his blue gaze was distant and his fingers moved around a rosary as if in prayer.
Teroux did not arrive.
Tristan gritted his teeth, fury intensifying. “Any news from Jonas?”
“A sending to inform us he slipped the siege line,” Amunti said.
“And Fuma?”
“Not yet.”
“We …”
Tristan paused as Torrullin’s communication about Teroux came through. It was short and to the point and did not gift the opportunity of reply.
Tristan thumped the dais. “Bloody-minded man!” He strode away and paced for a time before returning to the console. “We go to Sanctuary right away. Teroux will not be joining us. Belun, take us there.” The Centuar hastened to obey and Tristan glanced at Alik. “Rose will issue the invitation to the Bannerman lad and I will take you down to her.”
She nodded. “What is it?”
“Torrullin has decided Teroux needs to be set straight.” He scowled down at the dais before he exploded, searching there for calm.
“It is
a good move,” Quilla said.
“No, damn it, it isn’t!” Tristan did explode. “Teroux is stubborn and reasons in black and white and, hell, Torrullin will be harsh and Elianas will … Elianas will take his gloves off. Shit!”
Quilla repeated, “It is a good move.”
Tristan swallowed his ire. “Why?”
“Teroux will know himself after.”
“He will hate them, Quilla.”
“Maybe, but perhaps that is his path.”
Tristan squeezed his eyes shut and swung away to find that elusive calm.
“Quilla, I thought Teroux is close to Torrullin,” Alik murmured.
“He dislikes Elianas.” The birdman shrugged. He did not dare say more.
She frowned. “Torrullin is too close to Elianas?”
Tristan loosed a laugh. “Far too close and that is the problem.”
“You suggest Torrullin would rather lose his grandson than lose Elianas.”
Quilla sighed and Tristan muttered, “Exactly like that.” He frowned directly after that statement.
The birdman was well acquainted with Valla moods. “What is it? Tristan, what is wrong?” The latter was said when the man paled markedly.
He focused his gaze back to them. “We have to talk in private and, Quilla, we have to go to Excelsior.”
Quilla’s tiny heart set up a furious beating. Clearly this was not about Teroux’s well-being anymore. “Take Alik to Rose and then meet me at the cottage on Mariner Island.”
Tristan nodded. “Very well.”
Alik’s gaze flicked from one to the other, but she did not interfere.
“Take her now, my friend, or your team will demand you explain your behaviour in the next minute or so.”
Tristan blinked. “Right.” He moved to Alik. “Come with me.”
She stood and glanced uncertainly around, and followed Tristan as he headed for his personal ogive. A few seconds later it chimed and they were gone.
A moment after, Quilla left; he too sought to avoid questions.
Sanctuary
Mariner Island
IT WAS TORRULLIN’S COTTAGE, a private retreat he once used when he lived on Sanctuary, but it possessed an abandoned air now. No one visited the place; it remained the property of Elixir.
Quilla waited in the overgrown garden when Tristan arrived.
“Rose knows the situation regarding Teroux and does not like it. What can she do? What can any of us do?” Tristan scrubbed at his face. “She promised to send an invite and Alik is welcome there.”
“It is probably safer for Alik,” Quilla murmured.
“Shall we go inside?”
“Full of bugs and bird droppings.”
“Ah.” Tristan paced away.
Quilla knew the meaning of patience.
“Remember Lethe?”
Ah. That reason. “Of course.”
Tristan stared into Quilla’s blue eyes. “Elianas and Tymall; it was worse than anything Teroux can imagine. He does not understand the dynamics in play.”
The birdman’s feathers quivered. He was wrong in the Dome. It was about Teroux’s well-being. “Torrullin chose Elianas in Lethe, over his son, and you believe Teroux is next in that line. Torrullin will choose Elianas if it comes to that, if Teroux cannot set aside his prejudice.”
“This is the ‘dying’ Teroux warned about. He is about to lose his grandfather.” Tristan looked away and they sat for a time in silence, both with their thoughts.
“We must go to Excelsior,” Tristan murmured eventually.
“Yes, Teroux will need us.”
Tristan nodded. “They will all need us soon.”
“I wonder if the need isn’t ours, though,” Quilla murmured. “We desire to keep the people we love as we know them. The familiarity of family and friends is of great comfort to us. When they change, whether by choice or force, we are alarmed and think they need us, we have to fix them, but we need them to remain unchanged. We are the selfish ones.”
“I hear you.” Tristan’s chest rose and fell.
Quilla touched Tristan’s hand. “Tianoman, if he is held there, will need his family as well, and it includes a whole Teroux.”
“Teroux is not near as dangerous as Tymall was, but somehow Teroux angers Elianas more.”
“Elianas will not kill Teroux, Tristan.”
“No, but he will unman him.”
Quilla nodded. That was likely indeed. “Ask Belun to train his eye on Excelsior and when we know where they arrive, there we follow.”
“Yes.”
“Do not blame yourself.”
“I do not. I merely wish Torrullin did not take on blame. Tymall, too, made choices. And Teroux is not a child who needs others to decide for him, but, man, this could destroy the Valla family.”
Quilla sighed, but said no more.
Avaelyn
“I NEED TO GO TO Torrke first,” Torrullin said.
“Why?” Elianas asked.
“Yes, why?” Teroux said.
“The Throne calls.”
Teroux sighed profoundly, drawing Torrullin’s attention. Elianas’ lips tightened. Teroux said, “Caballa told Tristan the Throne asked that you be brought to it.”
Silence met that statement.
Teroux added, “Apparently Elianas must come before it also.”
“No bloody way,” Elianas said. “I am still too peeved with that chair.” He met Torrullin’s unreadable gaze. “I shall open a window for you. Go talk to it, if that is what you want. I will secure Avaelyn and meet you on Excelsior. Go.”
Torrullin vanished immediately.
Elianas flinched.
Teighlar heaved a sound of lament. “And you return him the means to do his worst.”
Teroux stared at Elianas. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you are too mercurial where he is concerned.”
The dark man barked a laugh. “Not enough, I think. I need now offer him a host of contradictions and maybe then he will open his eyes.”
“To what?” Teroux demanded.
“That is between us. Prepare for transport.”
Valaris
The Keep
TORRULLIN MATERIALISED in the Keep’s daytime courtyard and found there four Elders, among them Sirlasin.
“My Lord!” Sirlasin bowed and the other three followed suit. “You are returned to us.”
“No time for niceties, Elder. I have to find Tian.” Torrullin began pacing the cobbles akin to a crazed creature, skirting the mosaic pool, moving into and out of the dappled light thrown by the large tree there, only to come to a halt moments later. “I need to confront the Throne.”
The Elders glanced at each other. The last time Torrullin stood before the Valleur seat of power he attempted to destroy it, and it felled him so hard he lost all parts of his self for four months. Not one among them would ever forget. No one wished for it to come to pass again.
He snapped, “I do not want to use it, goddamn it! I want to ask whether it can feel where Tianoman is.”
Quilla murmured, “Perhaps not wise, Enchanter.”
Torrullin laughed. “My shadow, the Q’lin’la.” The birdman had just arrived.
Quilla lifted a shoulder. “You here, about to go before that power? It counts as a shiver in the spaces. I say again, perhaps it is unwise to offer confrontation at this point.”
“I do not give a shit about wise,” Torrullin said. “A little boy needs his parents.”
He strode past everyone and entered the small space where the Throne sat regally on the midnight black dais. The Elders and Quilla followed. All were wary and watchful. Torrullin stood at the step that was the dais and placed his hands on his hips and stared at the Throne. Nothing happened.
“I am ascending into your space, be warned. I intend no harm, know that.”
He stepped up. Nothing happened.
Elders and a birdman breathed out relief.
Torrullin approached the seat. “Your Vallorin and his queen
have been taken, Tarlinn.”
He called the seat by name for the first time, the name Nemisin had given it. In recessed thoughts, he understood he needed to deal with the Throne having a name, accept that reality, and needed to consider why Elianas had never mentioned it, having been with the seat for so long. Either Elianas kept this secret or Tarlinn kept it from even its inhabiting sentience.
“My mission is to find them and I need your help.” Still nothing happened. “You called, damn it.” He swung away. “Nothing,” he said in disgust.
The watchers gasped as he was hauled backwards into the seat. The Throne had snatched him. That it chose to act of its own will was no longer strange, not after the night of confrontation on Echolone. The condition remained frightening, however.
Torrullin’s head snapped back and bounced against the gold behind him. His hands clamped to the armrests and he froze in that position.
Sirlasin and the Elders fell to their knees and, from somewhere, Yiddin and Vanar ran in, to stop and stare at the scene in fascination. Quilla’s wings quivered with tension.
Long, long minutes passed, and then Torrullin slumped forward on the seat to sit with his head bowed, forearms on thighs. He appeared dejected, exhausted, drained.
“Torrullin?” Quilla prompted.
He lifted his head. “It is all right. It means me no harm.” He sighed and leaned back, fingers stroking the armrests. “It means me no harm.”
Yiddin and Vanar glanced significantly at each other. How many times had not the Throne now proven who it regarded as its true master? Despite everything, Torrullin sat there again as welcome as the first time.
Quilla swallowed, as aware of those nuances. “Did you learn anything?”
Torrullin nodded, and stood. He turned and bowed. “Thank you, Tarlinn. Until the next time.” The Throne glowed briefly and then that light went out. Torrullin stepped off the dais, taking Quilla with him. He halted before the Elders. “I do not care how much you have to lie, but what happened here stays with us. Tian need never know of this.”
Yiddin nodded first. “As you command, my Lord.”
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