The Nemesis Blade (44 page)

Saska nodded.
Her eyes squeezed briefly shut.

Caballa rested
a hand on her shoulder. “Would you prefer I send the call?”

Saska clasped
that hand. “You are a good friend.” She drew a breath and laughed.
“No, I’ll do it.”

Caballa
smiled. “Good.”

“I need a few
minutes.”

“Of course.”
Caballa retreated.

Sanctuary

It was passed
midday, but no heat was felt anywhere.

Sanctuary was
in winter’s grip. Belun, with ogives open to the elements as he
commenced repairs, shivered as he worked. Nearby Jonas and Erin
muttered about slavery, and how could anyone abide this type of
weather? Bloody Belun must be cold-blooded.

Into that
grey, cold and open Dome, came Torrullin. Others able to absent
from current tasks followed him. Belun’s tools were ignored as he
watched them enter. No ogive chimed, for the sacred arches were
dormant.

Torrullin
veered his way. “How are the repairs coming?”

“Getting
there. What is going on?”

“Emergency
meeting. Join us.” He glanced over his shoulder. “You two
also.”

Belun, Jonas
and Erin followed him to the console.

As they headed
for the slab, Torrullin said, “This will not take long. First,
those who could not make it here now must be informed at the
earliest opportunity. Erin, please see to that. Next, the Dome is
on higher than ever alert. Next, I am about to undertake a journey
with Quilla, Teighlar, Declan and Sabian. I am not at liberty to
give out details, but length of absence could be anything from a
day to a thousand years.”

“Realm
travel?” Belun burst out.

“Yes. The Dome and Kaval must remain visible in that absence.
Each of you must go on as if nothing has changed. You can do this.
I have been an absent leader and you coped - you
can
do this.”

Silence
greeted his words.

“Forgive my
haste; it is time to go.” Torrullin smiled and bowed. “Godspeed, my
friends.” He rounded the console, walked through the astonished
gathering and then froze. “Saska?” A moment later he drew a ragged
breath and was gone.

Leaving those
of the Kaval present feeling bereft and directionless.

Belun snorted
his displeasure. “You heard the man. We can do this. Now get back
to work!”

Akhavar

Saska felt
Torrullin before she saw him.

His presence
invaded every pore and nerve; she smelled him, felt him, knew him.
She moved to face the direction he entered from.

Caballa,
swallowing, retreated into the shadows.

Torrullin
strode in and only Quilla would be aware of his inner turmoil. He
felt her as she felt him, right into the marrow of his bones, and
knew her as she knew him.

In the shadows
of the Throne-room of Akhavar, Torrullin and Saska faced each other
for the first time in twenty-five years.

Her eyes were
emerald glow lamps in the darkness of a lightless day and they took
his breath away.

His eyes were
silver beacons and they paralysed her.

Then,
“Caballa, leave us.”

Saska shook.
His voice, dear gods, his voice.

A faint rustle
told them Caballa had left.

They stared at
each other and a faint glow surrounded them.

“Saska.” He
tested her name on his tongue, and enjoyed the taste.

“Torrullin.”
Her voice was strong and sure, and his name felt right.

He stepped
closer and so did she. They stood with a breath separating them,
and all the old magic was there, as well as all that was new
between them.

Saska cleared
her throat and moved away. He was too magnetic; she had forgotten
how much. “Thank you for coming, my Lord.”

That movement
revealed everything. A wry, pained laugh. “You called, my lady
wife.”

The moment had
passed to put everything aside and simply be together, and she
regretted her caution immediately. The moment could not now be
recalled.

“You seem
well.”

He swore. “Do
not
do that with me. Not with me.”

She paced
away. Hide in movement. “Unfortunately I do not know how to act in
your presence.”

“Don’t act,
that is all.” His jaw clenched in an effort to control emotion.

Saska laughed.
“Be myself?”

“I would
prefer it.”

She closed her
eyes. “I don’t know myself.”

“That is a
truth I understand. Saska, you knew I was coming; why did you call
earlier?” His tone was devoid of expression.

“Down to
business,” she muttered, stalking towards the exit that led
outside.

He followed.
“You would prefer something else?”

“I guess the
time for recrimination must wait, my husband.”

He had more
courage. “Will it only be recrimination?”

She swung
around and was beautiful in her anger. “I am not doing this!”

Torrullin
closed in on her and her heart went crazy. She hoped he would reach
out and touch, but he walked on past and she hated him for it.

And, damn it,
what did she expect?

Outside, he
frowned. “Surely it is day on Akhavar? I see no clouds.”

Saska sighed.
A safer topic, dear Aaru. Who would have believed that only moments
ago? She gestured eloquently. “This is why I called.”

“This started
this morning? Why?”

“Your
Throne.”

He shivered
inside.

Then
gooseflesh erupted on his skin.

“Last night a
presence formed in the space where Nemisin set the seat, and it
spoke to me. It was the Valla Throne, Torrullin, in form and voice,
and it bade me call you. Until you answered the summons no sun
would rise over Akhavar. I waited until dawn and the sun has not
come.”

Let him think
for himself what that meant, for she would not tell him of
uncertainty, and the rest of it.

His eyes were
piercing, as if he read her every synapsis. Clearly he heard her
and she knew he trusted her, and clearly he did not want to believe
it. He hoped she had it wrong. As she had hoped, now he did. She
put a hand to her cheek, and her eyes told him everything he needed
to know. There was no doubt.

Torrullin bent
over then, hyperventilating.

It scared
her.

“Why
now
?”
he whispered in a tortured tone. “I cannot afford to expend energy
in appeasing … and a Vallorin due to be chosen. Why play … but it
is no game, can never be.”

He
straightened. His eyes took on a glazed look. A short, intense
silence ensued. He made connections - she could almost hear the
clicks in his mind. It scared her even more.

A moment later
he said, “Gods. This is the time.”

She noticed
his hand bloodless on his sword.

“He said that.
About this being the time to start anew, to make choices.”

Slowly he focused on her. “
He
?”

Saska put into
words the emotion he garnered from reading her. “A presence made of
shadows.”

“You are sure
it was male?”

She nodded,
and went on to relate what happened. She even mentioned calling
Caballa first, but he barely reacted. She included Prima’s
presence, but he scarcely heard.

“I have heard
you claim a presence in the seat, Torrullin. Why should you be
surprised?”

“I am not surprised by the likelihood of sentience - I knew
that. I am surprised,” and he swallowed over the next word, “he
chooses this point. I just made the decision to choose a Vallorin.
I just decided to undertake a journey. How much does he
hear
?
Feel
?” Then he said
something more. “He told me when my eyes reverted from Valleur
yellow that the time approaches, and I have waited twenty-five
fucking years.
Long
years of putting life on hold.”

She said
nothing.

“Everything,
everything
, changes now.”

“What do you
mean?” Saska dared.

“I hate being
manipulated, damn it.” Quilla’s master manipulator? Torrullin
nearly snarled his fury.

She swallowed.
“What are you to do?”

Torrullin
laughed. “Test him.”

Saska put a
hand to her throat. “How?”

He waved
expansively at the greyness. “Let us see how long he can maintain
this.”

She lost her
temper. “No! This world is on a fine line! If this was Valaris, I
would say go to it - Valaris can hold a few weeks. But here? A day,
and certain vulnerabilities will be made aware. I am not saying it
will fold, but it could, and we will have to start again! Don’t do
that … gods, do not do that to me. I cannot start over; I do not
have that kind of strength.”

He closed his
eyes. Manipulated from both sides, then. And she was right. Akhavar
was an absolute miracle achievement; she deserved the respect of
non-interference.

Torrullin
opened his eyes. “From my heart I thank you for all you did
here.”

She stalked
closer. “I don’t need it, not anymore. What I need is for you to
remove the threat. Is that so hard?”

He did not
reply immediately. He could not. It was the hardest thing she had
thus far demanded of him. For it would change everything. For her.
And for him.

Especially for
him.

“No, it is not
so hard. All I have to do is reply.”

She came to a stop. “Do you
know
him?” Sentience in a seat was
one thing, but she now had the clearest feeling Torrullin knew the
entity within on a personal level.

A wry laugh
erupted from his dry throat. “You know of him, too. You gave me his
name once - after a dream.”

Gods, what did
he mean? When did that happen?

But Torrullin
had moved on.

It was time to
enact the ritual of manipulation. Was it really thus? Had he not
been waiting for this for too long? It could not be about
manipulation, then. Was this not the point in time when life began
to make sense?

He called out,
“I am here! Your summons is answered!”

There was no
uncertainty in his voice, no questioning, she realised. Something
had clicked into final position for him. She also understood, in
this, she would ultimately be the loser. She wished then she did
not care so much for Akhavar’s fate.

A ray of
sunshine pierced the gloom, then two, three, and then the sun shone
in full glory, instantly warm on the skin.

Shaking, Saska
could only stare.

“My nemesis,”
Torrullin muttered. “Fuck. Bloody, bloody hell.” He always regarded
Lowen as his nemesis … until he named the Lumin Sword.

“That won’t
help,” Saska managed.

He ignored
that, saying, “Where exactly was the presence?”

Giving the sun
a last, grateful glance, she took him there. They stood together in
the lit cavern. Birds sang, for dawn had come.

Torrullin drew
breath first. “Middle of the night, Saska? A sleepless wander?”

“Dream
calling.”

“Ah.”

“You know
about dream calls, of course.”

He said
nothing, knowing where she headed.

“Coward,” she
muttered.

Again he said
nothing.

“Well, at
least you have learned to guard your tongue.”

“You had
better leave.”

She glared at
him - glared, and touched every part of his face with her eyes,
imagining they were her fingers - and then looked away when his
mouth curved into a smile.

Damn him, he
always knew. “Leave?”

“I prefer no
witnesses.”

She shivered.
He was implacable and never had she known him this fatalistic.
“Torrullin, do you know what you’re doing?”

“Know?” He
looked at her. “No, I do not know. Half the time I am stumbling in
the dark and the other half is filled with shadows. What do you
think I am able to see?”

She breathed.
Gods. Then she said something surpassingly stupid and hated herself
for it. “I guess Lowen sees for you.”

A beat, two,
and she knew she made a huge mistake.

Torrullin’s
face was like stone. “Lowen does not see for me. Lowen sees
me.”

She made it
worse. “She left you.”

“Because I see
her.”

“And this?” she whispered. “Does this
presence
see you?”

“Every
nuance.”

Gods. “And you
see it?”

“Him. No, not yet.” He leaned closer. “But I
feel
him - I have felt
him for a long time. And you know his name.”

“I do
not.”

“Stop
hiding.”

Saska shivered
again. “I will leave now.”

“That would be
best.”

He was a
stranger; she did not know him. “Torrullin …”

“As you said,
now is not the time for recrimination.”

Her eyes
flared. “I hate you.”

He nodded.
“Good. It will be easier that way.”

“Go to
hell.”

Torrullin
stared at her for a beat. In the past he would answer ‘already
there’, but now he said, “Hell is relative. You need to grasp what
it means for you, and how to cope, because, Saska, everything will
change in a few moments, and whatever lies between us still may not
be enough to get us through the gates of hell in one piece. Not
you, not me, not even Lowen when she is found. And especially not
the one you spoke with last night in this space. He will suffer
most, I think.”

She stared at
him. “My god, Torrullin, what can be so terrible?” She wanted to
ask him whom he meant, whose name she knew, but was afraid of the
answer.

“Go now.”