The Nemesis Blade (84 page)

Elianas took
Torrullin’s hair from his face. “I can be quiet and invisible when
you need me to be.”

“What am I
doing to you? What have I done to you, that you can temper yourself
according to my needs?” Grey eyes bored into dark.

“You do it for
me - when self-control slips.”

Torrullin took
a ragged breath and then pulled Elianas hard to him. “Then come, my
brother, and let us face the future together.”

He felt
Torrullin’s heart thump hard against his chest, breathed deep and
pushed the man from him. “What do we need on this new journey?”

Torrullin
stared at him. “Wish and will.”

Gods. His own
heart bounced hard. “Wish and will it is, then. Let us be gone from
here.”

“Where to
first?”

“Somewhere
where the sun shines. Neither of us can weather a storm right
now.”

Then they were
gone.

Later that
same afternoon, having packed essentials, Lowen stopped at the
cottage on her way to the Dome.

She decided to
reassume her position there, and wanted to check on Elianas
first.

Torrullin was
sure to be done already.

She found it
abandoned, but in such a way she knew Elianas had not left with
forethought. He simply left.

He went, she
knew then, with Torrullin.

She sighed.
Brothers, lovers or enemies?

How would they
re-emerge?

E
arly, when the birds had not yet started the dawn
song, Nemisin was at the gates.

He stared up
at the overhang and then lowered his gaze to the rough rock before
him. It was the perfect entrance site to his city. Here would be
the gates.

Did not
Torrullin say, once conceived, they existed?

Before him,
thus, were the gates to Akhavar, city in a mountain.

He pulled a
face. It would take time and effort and expend much of the wealth
of the Valleur. Then he smiled. He could appropriate most of that
wealth from Kalgaia. That city was already cursed; why not beggar
it also? Would that not be a further statement of where the power
of the Valleur really lay? Not with the Lord Sorcerer, they would
whisper after. No, not with the Lord Sorcerer.

Into the
blueprint already lodged in his mind, he added something extra,
something profound. He added a Chamber of Biers. It would not cause
comment among the builders or subsequent inhabitants, for were not
the Valleur respectful of the dead and their final resting places?
They would assume he prepared for a lengthy future, and they would
be right. They would only be partly right, of course, but that was
his business, not theirs.

The Lord
Sorcerer thought he escaped judgement and punishment. He thought he
saved Elianas from the same, but he could not be more wrong. Time
wound round and around - did the man think he was stupid? And in
the fullness of time the Lord Sorcerer and his damned Eternal
Companion would again walk this mountain enclave, thinking they
were safe from the past.

That would set
the stage.

He, Nemisin,
would sleep restless until then.

It was not
done.

He turned from
the rock to view the great plains and the mountains in the
distance. The plains teemed with life. Water was plentiful. That
would change, too.

Akhavar would
become a sterile world, dead to time and memory.

He smiled.
Torrullin did not suspect that someone dear to him, someone loved,
perhaps a wife, would set it in motion. She would stand where he
stood now, and she would see the results of her handiwork - she
would see exactly what he saw now, the great plains teeming with
life, and water plentiful. Then Torrullin would come, and bring
with him Elianas.

Beware, Lord
Sorcerer.

Time, the
great leveller … and the greatest of all deceivers.

~ The End
~

The
Lore of
Sanctum
continues in
The Echolone Mine

Other Books by
Elaina J Davidson

Lore of
Arcana

The Infinity
Mantle

The Kinfire
Tree

The Drowned
Throne

The Dragon
Circle

Secret
Remedies

Lore of Arcana
Omnibus

Lore of
Reaume

The Kallanon
Scales

The Nemisin
Star

The Sleeper
Sword

The Dreamer
Stones

Realm
Walker

Lore of Reaume
Omnibus

Lore of
Sanctum

The Nemesis
Blade

The Echolone
Mine

The Nowhere
Sphere

The Master
Mechanism

The Tinsal
Deck

Short Stories
and Novellas

Our Friend
Thomas Henson

Town
Thomas

Latticework

FingerNale
Tales

A Tear in the
Clouds

Ancient
Illumination

About the
Author

Elaina is a
galactic and universal traveller and dreamer. When writing she puts
into words her travels and dreams, because she believes there is
inspiration in even the most outrageous tale.

Elaina was
born in South Africa and grew up in the magical city and surrounds
of Cape Town. After studying Purchasing Management and working in
the formal sector as a buyer, she chose to raise and home-school
her children.

She started
writing novels around 2002, moving from children’s stories, poetry
and short stories to concentrate on larger works. She lived with
her family for some time in Ireland and subsequently in New
Zealand. Returned to South Africa, she realises the vibrancy of
Africa has much to do with the inspirational side of her work.

Something
happens daily, something to shock, something to uplift, and the
colours and diversity of nature itself fires the imagination.