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Authors: Elaina J Davidson

Tags: #dark fantasy, #time travel, #shamanism, #swords and sorcery, #realm travel

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BOOK: The Echolone Mine
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Titan’s
Disease, it appeared, was over. Inoculation would continue for
months yet as every man, woman and child received the protection,
and all newborns in the future would receive antibodies. Titan’s
Disease was an illness that would be guarded against for a long
time to come.

Quilla
wandered around the Dome thinking about Belun. The Centuar had been
very ill and, although healed by Torrullin, still recuperated.
Mahler and Assint had taken him to a secluded place.

His thoughts
moved to the eerie quiet in the spaces. After the hectic activity
of months it was now noticeable. Had the Syllvan and Dryads
concluded their war, had truce been declared or was this temporary
ceasing of hostilities? Or was it something else?

He did not
feel comfortable with the silence.

It was a
harbinger, and harbingers, generally, were bad news.

 

 

Avaelyn

 

Torrullin
awakened to find Elianas gone.

A moment of
panic blossomed, and then he forced calm. He deliberately had a
shower first, dressed in loose-fitting pants and threw a robe on.
Barefoot, he padded through to the kitchen. The aroma of fresh
coffee awaited him, and he smiled.

Elianas was
not there, thus he poured and carried his mug outside.

The dark man
was on the plateau staring out over the ocean. It was chilly, the
grass wet with dew, but he wandered over drinking his brew. He
noted an empty mug dangling from Elianas’ hooked finger. He had
borrowed clothes.

A brief
glance, and the sea drew Elianas again. “You have lost a lot of
weight.”

Torrullin
shrugged.

“I lost my
energy for a while.”

Torrullin
nodded, sipped.

“I awakened in
darkness and did not know myself. I did not know there was light
beyond lightlessness. There were two swords strapped to my leg and
I knew not how they got there or why every breath was agony. I
surrendered, because it was the only control I had, to let go
completely, to not know, to not guess.”

Torrullin
said, “I awakened to the darkness within and surrendered to it
also. I had nothing worth living for.”

Elianas
nodded. “I am sorry about Saska.”

“As am I, but
it wasn’t her loss that led to surrender.”

A blink, a
moment. “Who pulled you back?”

“Lowen. She
surrendered her immortality on the lightbridge.”

“You lost
Saska, you believed I was gone and you lost the Lowen of before,
and yet you functioned again.” There was a question there.

“I came here
and discovered a certain sorcerer had worked extraordinary magic.
Why, I thought, if not to return someday? I sensed you here, the
Elianas of time and memory, and for a while it was enough.”

“That was when
I began to know myself, I think,” Elianas said. “I sat up in the
dark and loosened the swords, held them close. The grips were
familiar to me and when I touched Trezond I had a clear image of a
fair man in a stone dwelling, although I did not know his name, not
then. I remembered I had the power to heal, although I could not
fathom the source, and used it to restore my leg, and stood up in
the dark. I walked around blind, gripping the sword, wishing with
all my being to go to that place where the sun shone and the water
flowed. I withdrew surrender and began to fight the cage.”

Elianas lifted
the Medaillon from Torrullin’s chest, clenched his fingers around
it and then that fist rested on skin.

“You put this
on, and I knew. See, it does not burn. It has no power to hurt me;
it has only the power to make me, because you trusted it would.” He
lifted his hand away, showed his palm. On any other there would be
a disfiguring burn. “I knew who I was then, and who the man in the
dwelling was, and started to fight to return.” He paused. “Nothing
has ever hurt so much.”

“In this safe
cocoon I began to dream of suffering and then discovered I could
not leave Avaelyn. Somehow I realised my freedom lay in yours, and
brought the suffering here.”

“And every
time you healed I came nearer, yes,” Elianas said. “I drew
mercilessly of your inner fire, even when there was little to
take.”

“Nothing has
ever hurt so much,” Torrullin murmured.

They looked at
each other and Elianas smiled. “And I ask how you lost so much
weight.”

“And now,
Elianas? Do we go back to the same dance?”

“We bury this,
as we buried betrayal, because this intensity is safe only in the
glancing of memory. This hurts, this explains so much, this could
carry us beyond every line drawn.”

“Thus, only in
dreams do we live truth.”

Elianas’ eyes
crinkled. “A few months ago you would have said nightmares.”

Torrullin held
out his arm. They clasped as Valleur did, as brothers would, and
then jerked each other closer until the clasp lay crushed between
them.

“I still aim
to taunt you to breaking point,” Elianas whispered.

“Know that
every time you feel my breath on your skin you will wish dream is
reality,” Torrullin murmured.

They pushed
apart and headed indoors.

Slowly,
calmly, sound re-entered the spaces.

It was
beautiful, for there was no discordant note … not then.

Chapter
42

 

I say again,
titans are not to be trifled with!

Unknown

 

 

Avaelyn

 

A
week followed of rest, eating, long walks and little
talk.

It was period
of recuperation. Torrullin lost his bonier edges and Elianas lost
some of the strain on his face. They visited the site of the
healing facility and decided to leave it untouched. Either nature
would reclaim it or it would be put to use another time.

They were
frequently apart finding order on different, long forgotten and
overgrown paths. When it stormed they remained on opposite sides of
the dwelling. Yet they enjoyed supper together every evening, and
made time to do things as a team.

In the past
Elianas’ bedroom was on the other side of the atrium, where an
apprentice could be quiet with his studies, and that had not
shifted in the ages. Now, at last, there was change. There was
danger in sharing a bedroom, and great temptation in sharing a
bed.

Torrullin
thought about it, and Elianas watched him think, and waited.

On the eighth
morning at breakfast, Torrullin said, “I was thinking we could put
an arch through the long wall in my bedroom.”

Elianas did
not look up from his plate. “To what end?”

“To join it to
the chamber beyond. We always have to walk the long way round.”

“Practical of
you. Have you a purpose in mind for that chamber?”

“I was hoping
you could regard it as your bedroom.”

Elianas
chewed, and had no idea what he had in his mouth. “That would suit
me, yes, if I may keep my current room as a study.”

“It is your
home, too,” Torrullin said.

Elianas looked
up. “Then you do not mind if I bring things I have collected over
the years?”

Lips quirked.
“As long as you don’t mount an animal head on a wall
somewhere.”

Elianas
grinned and poured more coffee. “Can we start knocking out
today?”

Torrullin
raised his mug. “Here’s to getting dirty.”

 

 

Covered in
stone dust, they viewed the arch and burst out laughing.

“I guess it
will have to stay like that,” Elianas spluttered, referring to the
huge and entirely immovable rock protruding on one side, causing
the arch to appear akin to a lopsided keyhole.

“We will paint
a two-way arrow on it,” Torrullin laughed.

Then they
resumed. Shoring, plastering, cleaning. The chamber beyond was
large and airy and led to the wooden bridge over the fishpond.
Generally used as a place to meditate in private, it had now become
part of the flow of the house.

The sun was
setting as they stood in the empty space.

“Do you want
to move in tonight?”

“Yes.”

“I will make
supper.” Torrullin laid a hand on the dark man’s shoulder, felt the
coiling tension, and headed to the shower. When he entered the
kitchen later, he took particular care with the food, to give
Elianas time to accept the new situation - as he, too, needed
it.

They now had
adjoining bedrooms and the danger had escalated.

 

 

Much later
Torrullin lay on his bed and could not sleep.

Hearing
Elianas move around nearby was disturbing, and he was aware the man
could not sleep either, using the pretext of organising his space
as an excuse for sleeplessness. He dared not offer his help.

Eventually he
dozed fitfully.

He dreamed …
or he remembered. He jerked awake.

Elianas stood
at the foot of the bed wearing only a sarong. “You cried out,” he
said.

Torrullin wore
loose, drawstring pants, because he dared not sleep naked, and
bunched the waistband in one fist as he rose to prevent it sliding.
“A dream. Go away, Elianas.”

“Ah, that
dream.”

“Thin ice,
brother.”

In the dark, a
flash of white teeth, and Elianas stepped onto the bed.

Swearing,
Torrullin stepped off and strode from the chamber.

Mocking
laughter followed him.

 

 

“Where did you
store your things?” Torrullin asked in the morning.

Elianas looked
up. “All over. Relax. It’s mostly books.”

Torrullin
stood in the doorway watching him put up shelves. “Do you need
help?”

“No, go away.
I dare not be near you today.”

Torrullin
pushed away from the doorway and entered deliberately.

A dark stare.
“Touché. Now go.”

Torrullin
halted. “I have a gift for you before I do.”

Expressionless
face. “Oh?”

Torrullin
handed a folder over and retreated.

Elianas stared
at the empty doorway and then looked down. He opened the folder …
and his hands shook. He drew a halting breath and put it down
carefully and went in search of Torrullin.

He found him
in the library.

“Do not go
thanking me,” Torrullin said. “That only makes formal what is
already reality.”

“Yet you
called it a gift.”

“Because that
is how you see it.”

“How do you
see it?”

“Equality.”

Elianas
sketched a bow. “Now the world knows we are … brothers.” He
left.

He was now,
formally, dual owner of Avaelyn. And Torrullin had dared to record
his full name on the deed.

Torrullin
snapped his book closed and tossed it aside. A breath of laughter
spun him around.

“Torrullin, we
are beyond recuperation now, and back into the game. Except, it
seems the nature of the game has changed. This time I fight a new
battle. In the past I battled the likelihood of sleeping with you;
now I battle not doing so. We should get away from here for a
while.”

“Suggestion?”

“Syllvan
versus Dryad; a tension and enigma we could lose this temptation
in.”

“From one
crazy stunt to the next, is that it? Diversion, always diversion.
How long can we keep it up?” Torrullin closed in to halt close. His
left hand moved Elianas’ shirt open and his right hovered over the
man’s chest. “It seems to me you do more touching than I do,
Elianas. I wonder if that is fair?”

“Stop it.”

Grey eyes
lifted to dark. “You are right, though; temptation requires
diversion.” His hand slid into the gap and over taut stomach
muscles. “It needs diversion right away.”

“Torrullin,
move that hand one more inch and I am going to tear you apart.”

“Promise?”

Tense, pale
face. “Promise.”

“Obsession
flourishes in a threat like that,” Torrullin murmured. His hand was
dead still, pressed to Elianas’ clammy skin. “Shall I test it, I
wonder?”

“I dare
you.”

Before they
could further test resolve, a mighty explosion shook the entire
cliff, rattling the foundations.

“Gods, what
was that?” Torrullin pulled his hand free and ran through the
dwelling.

Elianas,
relieved and furiously disappointed, ran after him.

 

 

A giant white
plume of water settled back into the ocean, and a boiling black
cloud dispersed.

“A ship
crashed,” Elianas muttered, surprised.

“Let’s check
for survivors …”

They dived and
discovered the craft settling onto the ocean bed. It was a cargo
traveller rather than a passenger ship, and a gaping hole on one
side revealed where the explosion occurred. The ship found bottom,
scraping a distance before coming to a halt. Giant air bubbles rose
to the surface.

The
destruction inside was complete. A great fireball and an
annihilating fire. It was doubtful anyone survived. Nevertheless,
they searched thoroughly. The severe heat of incineration had fed
on flesh also, leaving nothing behind.

They retrieved
the black box and headed back to the surface.

Back on land,
they took the container inside and frowned over it. “It was a
Beacon cargo ship,” Elianas muttered. “What is Beacon doing out
here?”

“Stranger
still, there was no cargo. I guess we are heading to Beacon.”
Torrullin was reluctant.

“Let this come
from the ambassador on Valaris. That way we get to control the fall
out.”

“I like the
way you think.”

Elianas
sighed. “Time to go then.”

Torrullin
shrugged.

Elianas gave
the box a kick and walked off saying, “I will secure. You see to
the food that can spoil.”

“Lovely,” was
the muttered comeback.

Chapter
43

 

There is
presence and there is present. When both walk together, the impact
is phenomenal.

BOOK: The Echolone Mine
12.14Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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