The Dreamer Stones (93 page)

“Thank you. Do
we have a deal?”

The man
smiled. “Indeed we do. It was good to see you again, Elixir.”

“You certainly
are a godsend,” Torrullin sighed. “But get to it, will you? My
Valleur cannot hold much longer.”

The Tracloc
bowed and turned. In a guttural, earthy tongue, he commanded his
troop. As the sixty on the platform dematerialised the others came
through to vanish in an instant.

Seconds later
only Torrullin, Declan and the Tracloc remained on the bouncing
platform. A cold wind cut like a million knives.

“They are
among the draithen already. It won’t take long. Dismantle this
horror of a doorway when I leave; we don’t require it to return the
draithen to Digilan.” The Tracloc glanced at Declan. “Undo it so
nobody will find a way to reconstruct it.”

“Absolutely,”
the Siric said with feeling.

“How, Tracloc?
Into Digilan?” Torrullin murmured, wondering if Tymall could use
this mysterious doorway.

The strange
man gave a small smile. “A secret not known to Warlocks, my Lord,
an oath far older than Digilan. Have no fear.”

Torrullin
inclined his head.

“My Lord
Elixir, may you find peace in your eternity.” The Tracloc
bowed.

“And you in
yours,” Torrullin murmured, and then the man-creature was gone.

An hour later
Valaris was free on all evil.

Agnimus
escaped the Tracloc net.

To places
unknown.

Chapter
Seventy-Five

“
These are
loose ends. Will we ignore them?”

Glint of the
Sagorin to Llettynn of the Siric, on the subject of Drasso

Month of
Blizzird

The shift was
dismantled.

The seal was
negated. Hope was reborn.

And true
winter set in.

People froze
and people starved, but help was soon there. Beacon sent food; Xen
sent shelters and medical missionaries. Ymir dispatched blankets
and tents, Kashdar fuel. Marion Central sent a team of heavy
machinery operators to fill in crevasses, shore up mountains,
dredge rivers. Many other worlds sent delegations consisting of
both politicians and relief workers and among those good Samaritans
was a delegation from Merrix. Among the delegates was man known as
Sinsen.

The Valleur
put heart and soul into aid, working tirelessly wherever they
needed. Weapons were exchanged for tools.

The valley
Torrke perked up when the Keep again was host to guests from all
walks. Glorium, Pleses, Ceta, Nera, Lax and more, far more than
Kismet - reduced from war leader to Elder - could keep track
of.

Torrullin
restored the sites from deep cloaking; that, more than anything
else, was the sign Valaris was back to normal.

In the time of
bonds reforged, Torrullin was patient, diplomatic and as tireless
in rebuilding a sound governing structure as his people were in
rebuilding the land.

Valaris was
peaceful and recovering. There was no threat, not from any quarter.
Even Agnimus would require a millennium or two to regroup
sufficiently for a new assault, and it may never happen. Perhaps
the creature had learned his lesson.

It neared the
fourth week of renewal, as the month of Blizzird arrived cold and
snow clad, bringing with it also the promise of the winter
solstice, when Torrullin, Saska and Lowen were thrown together for
the first time at the Keep. The two women had removed themselves
deliberately, working in different centres.

As luck, fate,
fortune - or misfortune - would have it, it was also the week the
Merrix delegation enjoyed the Keep’s hospitality before returning
home.

Torrullin had
already met Sinsen and liked the man, sensing in him a kindred
spirit, but that was before he saw his wife pale to ghostly white
when she discovered her husband talking to him.

She entered
the dining chamber with a smile of welcome ready, found Lowen
there, which caused the smile to slip, and then saw Sinsen. Of all
the contrariness out in the universe, she could not believe this
particular one came back to haunt her … inside her husband’s
domain.

Ashen, her
gaze flew to Torrullin.

“Saska, join
us,” he said, rising to his feet. His fingertips whitened on the
table. “I believe you know Sinsen.”

She closed
in.

Sinsen rose.
After the first, infinitesimal flinch, he took to calm. “Your wife,
my Lord? Ah, yes, we met briefly on Merrix.”

Saska, about
to deny knowing him, could not then do so. She tore her gaze from
Torrullin and nodded politely at Sinsen. “Welcome to Valaris.”

Sinsen smiled.
He took her hand, bent over it, kissed it. “My Lady, it is
wonderful to see you again. It was my good fortune to be chosen for
the delegation.”

Gods, he was
cool. “Thank you,” she murmured, withdrawing her hand. It felt
strange, light, not like her hand at all. She sat, taking care to
keep seats between her and Sinsen … or was it between her and
Torrullin? “You are well?”

Lowen, sitting
opposite the two men, looked from Saska to Sinsen, and sucked her
cheeks in.

“Indeed,”
Sinsen said. “I started the pharmaceutical company I told you
about. It is fledgling, but will be good for our people in the long
run.”

“I’m glad to
hear it,” Saska responded, a smile touching her eyes. “Sit, please.
I have interrupted you. Torrullin, I can’t stay long, I’m needed in
Farinwood.”

Torrullin
growled.

A Valleur
retainer from Luvanor bearing a tray of freshly baked rolls entered
at that moment, and turned and retreated. In a heartbeat, every
occupant of the Keep knew there was confrontation brewing in the
dining chamber. That did not curb curiosity. As the other members
of the Merrix delegation began to head inward, two Elders moved to
waylay them … subtly.

Lowen stared
fixedly at her hands.

Torrullin sat
and, uncharacteristically, a smile followed his growl. Time for
truth, not for histrionics. Already he tarried on Valaris over
long.

“Saska, my
dear, you have been missed at the Keep.”

She looked at
him, not trusting his apparent calm. “There is much to do.”

“Lowen said
something similar ten minutes ago. You two are Valaris’s angels, I
think.”

A brief glance
between the women and then, “Torrullin, I need to change clothes
and gather necessities. Can we discuss this another time? I have
been rude interrupting your talks with Merrix.” Saska’s heart beat
so fast she was afraid it would give in.

No, he would
not let her off the hook. “Of course, but tell me, how did you come
to be on Merrix? A fertile world wouldn’t need a Lady of Life.”

She could
bluff and allow him to think it a meeting that happened before she
relinquished her role as Lady, but she was not a good liar. Tell
the truth, as far as it could go. “It was a recent visit.” Out of
the corner of her eye, she noticed Sinsen nod. “Lily sent me. To
find Sinsen, actually.” Her hands vanished off the table onto her
lap.

“If I may?”
Sinsen said.

“You may not,”
Torrullin snapped, causing Saska to jerk and Lowen to flinch.
“Saska, who is Lily?”

“The new Lady
of Life.”

“So this
meeting was in the time I sent you to ask a boon of her?”

“Right. Do you
require detailed explanation?”

“No, just
confirmation.”

Lowen released
a breath, drawing Sinsen’s enquiring glance. She shook her head at
him and looked away. Sinsen realised where the conversation
headed.

“My Lord, er
…” he began, but got no further.

“Shut up.”
Torrullin did not bother looking at him.

Sinsen faced
Saska, anxiety etched on his features. A hand rubbed at a cheek. He
could not regret the time they spent together, but, man, he wished
he had known exactly whom she was married to before coming to
Valaris. Gods, the Enchanter of all people. He would have begged
off the delegation duty for sure. This was bad for him, bad for
Saska, and very bad for Merrix.

Now Saska
stared at Sinsen.

Torrullin gave
a disbelieving laugh.

“The blame is
mine, Saska,” Sinsen said, calm and fearless.

She continued
to look at him and then smiled. “No, it’s not.” She shifted her
gaze to Torrullin. “Fine, truth.” She rose and stalked the table to
him. She kicked at his chair. “Stand! Glare down at me from your
lofty, unsullied heights! No? Fine, then hear this like the
penitent beggar you should be!” The silence then was dense and
deadly and filled with white faces. “Yes, husband, I made love to
Sinsen …”

Torrullin
threw his chair back, rising in a flash.

“… and don’t
you dare turn your wrath on him! You have only yourself to blame!
Were you the perfect companion, I ask you? And I do make allowances
daily
for what you are … Vallorin, Enchanter, blind father,
sometime friend …”

“How dare
you?”

“I dare! You
were all to everyone, yet rarely husband to me!”

Sinsen stood,
but understood it was not his place to interfere. He sparked this
by his inadvertent presence, but this confrontation had been long
in the making. He glanced at Lowen, the Xenian, and saw in her gaze
pure shock. He knew, beyond doubt, she was the other woman, the
friend of Saska’s who had betrayed friendship.

No one in this
room was innocent.

“And you were
a wife, Saska?” Torrullin asked. “Did not your jealous inaction
result in the death of Cat’s child?
My
child?”

She gasped.
She turned to glare at Lowen.

“Not Lowen!
Tymall! My son, I believe, loves me more than you ever could!”

“I’ll never
forgive myself for that,” Saska whispered.

Sinsen’s heart
went out to her.

Cold fury
brought Torrullin to a stop before his wife. “You are a good
person! How could you do that? Jealousy clouded your judgment, but,
Saska, you murdered a child of mine, after I lost the twins! Did
you not think what that would do to me, to us?”

“Yes. After.
And thus I couldn’t tell you.”

“And you
wonder why there is this distance? You created it!”

She gasped for
air and Sinsen made a move towards her, filled with a need to
protect, but Lowen touched his arm. Her own misery told him it was
now a matter between husband and wife. They were merely there to
pick up the pieces.

“The distance
began long before that, Torrullin.” Saska had her breathing under
control.

“Yes, after
you offered to raise the dead for me.”

She flinched.
“That was wrong and I see that, but this divide began the day you
fulfilled your prophecy with the waif Lycea!” Anger took over
again. “I’m sick of making excuses for you! Lycea, Cat … and now
Lowen! Do you think I’m such a clown I feel no pain? Gods,
Torrullin, how many times must I do this? I’ve had enough. I had
enough a long time ago, and meeting Sinsen caused me to really know
it. Even Lily told me I should get out of this destructive
marriage!”

Saska glanced
at the now stony Sinsen and then glared at Lowen.

“I swore to
kill you if you laid your greedy hands on my husband, but, you know
what? You’re welcome to him. The two of you deserve each other. I
almost think he was in love with you as a child!”

It was a
terrible accusation, but neither Torrullin nor Lowen refuted
it.

“Gods! You
pervert!”

“I never
touched her, don’t be stupid.”

“Deny that you
loved her!”

“Love? I have
no idea what that is anymore. But, yes, if you want to label it, I
was drawn to her as a child already, for I saw the woman she would
become every time I looked at her. I felt her presence in this
reality as I returned and knew the time came when it would
begin.”

“An obsession,
husband?”

“No, Saska.
You and I were, are, the obsession.”

Saska breathed
deep. Yes. Always. Not love. Obsession. “Whatever, Torrullin. I’m
done with you.”

Sinsen
approached. “Saska …”

“Forgive me,
Sinsen. This fight is not yours.”

“Come with
me,” he whispered.

She managed to
tear her gaze from Torrullin’s frozen features. She smiled at the
gorgeous man from Merrix, liking him immensely and, yes, attracted
to him.

“Perhaps in
the future I’ll come to you. Thank you. For everything.”

“I could be a
good husband.”

“I know, but I
make a terrible wife.”

“Untrue,” he
smiled, but nodded, accepting the situation. He faced
Torrullin.

“You are free
to go. I shall not hound you,” Torrullin said without
expression.

“Go, Sinsen,”
Saska whispered. “It is better, I think.”

Sinsen bowed
and retreated without looking at anyone. He left the following
morning with the Merrix delegation, diplomatic ties intact.

In the silence
that marked his exit, Torrullin said, “Agnimus asked me how I would
choose when I left Valaris. He meant you and Lowen. Do you know
what I told him?”

“If I were to
hazard a guess,” Lowen muttered, “I’d say you’d turn your back on
both of us.”

“Sharp, Lowen.
You see, Saska, no matter what distance and how many betrayals, it
is indeed over. The consolation I now have is that the decision is
mutual.”

“You are an
unfeeling brute,” Saska whispered.

“All that
remains is to declare our separation before a council of
Elders.”

“Fine.
Luvanor?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“After my
grandson’s Naming.”

She laughed
then. “You took on that duty? Gods, how stupid are you? Never mind,
it has nothing to do with me. Call when you’re ready.”

“You’re
leaving?”

“I’ll be in
Farinwood and Galilan as need requires.”