The Nemesis Blade (73 page)

“In time. He
won’t listen yet.”

“Rose isn’t
helping.”

“Rose,
contrarily, will help much. It makes certain sense, doesn’t it, to
put a womaniser and a man-hater together? He will discover new
respect for women and she will find womanising a façade hiding
other insecurities. And, as both have insecurities, they might
connect on a level that has nothing to do with sex. I predict they
will fall hook, line and sinker for each other. Forgive the
cliché.”

A grin.
“Gods.”

“Pretty much,”
Torrullin chuckled. “And she has longevity, so a relationship isn’t
impossible.”

“And
Tian?”

“Tian will
have to wed Valleur. I hope to all gods he can love her also. You
and Teroux will be free to wed where you love after Tian conceives
his heir, understand that now. You may be luckier, in that Caballa
is a respected Valleur woman; Teroux will have to wait.” A smile.
“Still, I think Tian will have a host of little Vallas before
Teroux commits.”

Tristan
laughed heartily and then stood. “I feel I need to talk to Caballa
now.”

A smile. “Go.
Sleep well.”

“You, too.”
Tristan vanished into the dark.

Torrullin
sighed and sat on staring into the fire.

“He is a good
man,” Elianas said.

“I felt you
arrive,” Torrullin murmured.

In the dark
beyond the fire Tristan paused, remembering something. He stopped
when he saw Elianas step into the circle of light. Elianas paused
and looked with an unreadable expression into the dark where
Tristan stood, and then he sat beside Torrullin. The way the two
men looked at each other then made Tristan’s hair stand on end.
Silently, swiftly, he went down the slope.

He did not
speak to Caballa.

“I was
worried.”

“And I needed
time. You spoiled the restoration.”

Torrullin lay
back, lacing his hands behind his head. “I am a bastard, I know.
Get used to it.”

Elianas
gripped his tunic and hauled him up. “Do not test me too far.”

Torrullin
pushed him away. “How are we to work together if we are already at
odds?”

Elianas leaned over him. “We are always at odds, brother. It
is part of the allure. Being in opposition to you does not worry me
in the least, and I do not need to
work
together with anyone. I am here
for you.”

Torrullin lay
down again, seemingly calm. “And why am I here?”

Elianas
grinned. “For me. Did I not tell you the time comes when you will
be selfish?”

“How
selfish?”

“Completely.”

“Ah. And what
form does that take?”

Elianas
smiled. “Every moment will reveal it.”

A moment of
silence. “Can we put Kalgaia behind us?”

Elianas lay
down as well, and sighed. “That was why I needed time alone. It is
done. We move on.”

“Forgive
me.”

A beat.
“Fine.”

Elianas
pretended to go to sleep.

Chapter 54

Men stride
through worlds like gods, and as arrogant. The mighty fall hard and
never do they see it coming.

~ Arli of
Pendulim

Time Realm

I
n the morning Torrullin was more
amenable and they surmised it was due to Elianas’
return.

They were
wrong - it was Tristan’s doing - but Torrullin did not seem to care
what anyone thought.

Elianas, on
the other hand, was silent and aware of the undercurrents. More
than once his unreadable gaze rested on certain individuals. He
seemed to single Sabian, Teighlar and Caballa out. The three
privately wondered when he would seek them out for more than a gaze
or two.

Before they
headed out Torrullin said, “This is the tenth day and events have
moved us along rapidly. We do not have far to go, but once at
journey’s end, time could stall. This realm will now play tricks,
and by that I mean the landscape will change, worlds will change.
When we arrived, this no-place swiftly led to …”

He checked
himself when Elianas laid a hand on his shoulder.

“That name
cannot be spoken here - Kalgaia, city name, is already too much.
Suffice to say, we have left that world and now travel another, and
by nightfall we might step across four or five. Be ready for
profound altering.”

“Where are we
headed?” Teighlar asked.

“Journey’s
end. Ancient Akhavar,” Torrullin murmured. “We hope to reach it
tonight. The pace this day will be fast.”

Elianas said,
“If anyone needs help, ask.”

Not long after
they were off.

It was indeed a
strange day.

The mountains
soon flattened out into a saltpan, cool became heat, and then they
skirted a red lake and thereafter a sulphurous lava field that
stank and caused them to gag.

They crossed
an arid desert gasping for breath, struggled through a humid forest
dripping sweat and then walked long distances beside a roiling,
green ocean, eyes drawn to an unnatural horizon. A landscape of
spikes? No one dared ask.

Each setting
was distinct; it was evident they were the different worlds
Torrullin warned of. There was no likely explanation to conquer the
strange enigma.

The pace was
fast, although not overly so. Rose lagged at one stage and Elianas
reversed direction to go to her aid. He laid a hand on her brow and
after she had no difficulty with the pace. Elianas received
intrigued glances. Was he a healer also?

Mid-afternoon
they descended a contoured hill. Low stonewalls prevented erosion
and vegetables flourished on the slopes. The place was akin to
Beacon Farm and the team wondered if it was that world, but no one
asked and thus was no one enlightened. Beyond the slope was a
mighty plain dotted with distant pyramids.

Torrullin
called a halt at the foot of the hills. “If you ever want to know
more about time, revisit this place. That is the Valley of Kings,
Old Earth, but little of this mastery remains in present time.
Pity.” He glanced over his shoulder. “We rest for a half hour.”

They sat or
lay down as the desire took them. “Are we to cross that?” Teroux
asked. “That’s a fair way.”

“We are
turning in there.” Torrullin pointed right where a stone road led
through similarly contoured hills.

It certainly
seemed an easier road.

“How do you
know where to go?” Teroux questioned.

“A Walker
feels it.”

Tianoman
sipped water. “How far?”

“Three hours
if we maintain course and pace.”

“It will be
dark soon,” Caballa murmured.

“The road is
flat from here. We will be fine.”

Elianas gave a
laugh. “Have you considered what happened this day? We crossed at
least five worlds; sit at the confluence of two more - in one day?
This morning the sun rose and now it sets. These things are
impossible.”

“It occurred
to me, yes,” Teroux murmured.

“Norms do not
apply here,” Sabian muttered.

“They do not,”
Elianas affirmed. “Pure magic.”

Teighlar made
the connection. “How much time passed in our reality?”

Elianas
nodded. “Clever man.”

Teroux
blinked. “My god. How much?”

Torrullin
grimaced. “About a year.”

Silence.

Elianas
laughed. “Consider it a gift, my friends. It could have been a
thousand.”

“Hell’s
bells,” Maple muttered.

“Or two,”
Quilla murmured.

Torrullin
smiled without expression. “Or two, yes. The mighty ten days.”

“I begin to
understand how it was for you,” Quilla said.

Torrullin
shrugged. “The shortening is easier.”

“Was time ever
shortened for you, Elianas?” Tianoman asked.

There was a
moment in which Elianas frowned.

“They know of
the Throne,” Torrullin said.

Clearly he did
not like it. “Not shortened, exactly; more stasis, oblivious
sleep.”

Torrullin was
surprised.

Elianas stared
at him. “When the Throne was cloaked, I could sleep. You preferred
it cloaked, thank god, and Vannis gifted me a nine thousand year
gap. Catch-up was a bitch every time.”

Torrullin
snorted amusement and then burst into laughter. “No wonder you’re a
bit scratchy with this cycle.”

A grin. “Not
as scratchy as you are, brother.”

“Are you
brothers?” Teroux asked.

“We are not
blood related,” Elianas said.

“Where is the
connection then?” Teroux insisted.

“Gods,
cousin,” Tianoman muttered.

“It is all
right,” Torrullin said. “Elianas was my apprentice, an apprentice
who became a friend and a brother.”

“Apprentice to
what?”

“Sorcery,
idiot.” Tianoman threw his hands into the air. “Like in studying,
huh?”

Elianas
smiled. “Yes, I studied sorcery with your grandfather.”

“Are you as
good as he is?” Teroux asked.

“Someone shut
him up,” Tianoman moaned.

Everyone
laughed and, tellingly, neither Torrullin nor Elianas answered.

Minutes later
they took to the road again.

Night fell as
they walked on, but the road was clearly defined even in the
dark.

Torrullin
pushed, although not hard. Four hours later they stood at the
beginning of another great plain, but this one smelled fresh and
flowery and there was running water nearby. In the dark, little
beyond the senses’ sensations could be discerned.

“We stop
here,” Torrullin murmured. “Yonder lie the plains of Akhavar.” He
inhaled deeply. “Smell that - isn’t it wonderful?” Then he chivvied
them. “Come, get organised, I am starving.”

Light
laughter, and camp was made.

Ancient
Akhavar

“It’s the same
as we saw before the coronation ceremony,” Tristan said.

Indeed it was.
Green grasses waved in the breeze and trees stood in splendid
isolation upon the plain. Nearby a stream chanted eternal music.
Flowers wild and hardy peeked out cheekily in places and in the
distance were the purple mountains. If all was as it should be,
Nemisin’s mountain city was off to the right of them.

“Saska
achieved greatness,” Teroux said.

“She did indeed,” Caballa affirmed. “Akhavar was dead until
she came. She worked hard with Lily to restore it to …
this
.”

Maple
frowned.

Caballa was
sharp. “Do you know Lily?”

“She is my
second cousin,” Maple said.

“Now I know
why I had the feeling I knew you somehow.”

Maple
shrugged. “She would not want to know me.”

Caballa’s
smile slid away. What was there to say?

Maple grunted.
“Sorry. My problem.”

Torrullin
said, “This is the place for problems, friend. Hopefully we come
out of this cleaner.” He walked on past, leaving Caballa and Maple
staring after him. He did not go far, only far enough to study them
with one encompassing gaze. “Lowen made this possible. She vanished
from here and thus it follows she is here now. We should find her
today.”

“Wait, wait.
You and Elianas set off after her when we arrived - what’s with
that?” Sabian asked.

“We found
something else.”

“And what
would that be?”

“My memory,”
Torrullin said. “The call was a ploy.”

“And who
engineered it?”

“I did. She
was not there; she is here. West, the focal point. She is the
destination, rooting this realm at a point where we are to affect
changes. Somewhere out there we will find her, and then we will
know without doubt we have arrived not only in the right place, but
also at the right time. Enough?”

“Yeah,
enough,” Sabian muttered.

“Then let us
do this.”

Torrullin
headed out onto the plain.

By evening he
was frustrated.

It was a
fruitless day of wandering, then sending teams in four directions,
and still there was no sign of Lowen. No sign of civilisation, even
a rudimentary one. No smell of a distant cooking fire, nothing.
There was an emptiness that did not sit well.

There was also
no sign of Nemisin’s enclave.

It was the
most worrying of all.

“Did we get it
wrong?” he demanded of Elianas that night around the communal
fire.

Elianas looked
up at the pacing man. “You know how it works. Turn and turn again
in the portal - we did that. We took extra precaution with the
connection of four and we had a full tally of fourteen. We got it
right. Be patient.”

“Going south
might have upset the process.”

“Then restoring Kalgaia was a mistake also. I refuse to
believe that. Torrullin, going south was probably
part
of the process. Do
not second guess now.”

Torrullin
hunkered. “Fine, let us figure this out. She vanished through
Akhavar’s portal, whether by accident or deliberation matters not.
To make the connection, we had to start out from an opposite
point.” He frowned at Elianas.

“We needed the
direction of the void. This is the right journey.”

“And though we
sidestepped, the majority held the road west, and that would
maintain the connection.”

“That is not right. We
all
sidestepped off the western road for a while,”
Teighlar said.

Torrullin
stared at Teighlar. “Damn. That could tweak.” He swung back to the
dark man.

Elianas was
thoughtful. “Maybe. It could be we are too far back. We do not see
evidence of a mountain enclave, because Nemisin has not built his
city yet and …” His voice trailed off. “Kalgaia’s restoration could
prove a monumental mistake.”