The Nemesis Blade (64 page)

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 and nodded. “Fine.” He stood near the edge of the
current ellipse and said, “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, and then, “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

T
here 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?” Teroux 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.

He collapsed
to the floor and was still.

Torrullin
pulled from the square of hands and knelt beside the fallen man.
Fingers found a pulse.

The black
antechamber vanished.

A new vista
opened.

They had
successfully entered the realm of Time.

Time Realm

The tunnel of
Time was no tunnel, not even in the broadest sense.

It was, at
this beginning of a journey, a plain of wildflowers. Overhead the
sky was a mixture of mauve and pink. New sky. Dawn sky.

The tunnel in
the painting was thus a prompt, not a rendition of reality.

“Where are
we?” Teroux asked.

“That has no
bearing, for this is not a place. This is an increment in Time.”
Sabian pointed up. “Dancing Suns.”

A meteor
streaked across the pinkness, its trail bright and blazing.

“How do you
know?” Teroux frowned. “It’s as if you go by instinct.”