The Echolone Mine (36 page)

He blinked.
She was telling him to remain separate from the Valleur binding,
formally anyway. In his heart every binding held.

Tianoman
waited.

“I hope our
ideals are never at odds, cousin,” he said.

Tianoman
smiled, relieved. “Likewise.”

Tristan
pointed down. “So, you think Sanctuary?”

A moment more
of settling into what had been agreed, and then Tianoman nodded. As
Lowen returned, he said, “My feeling is we need determine the
central point first, or we find ourselves searching for one among
the other fourteen choices. There are enough sites to surround this
world, and that island is a node of power.”

Lowen
murmured, “Torrullin always said there was something odd about that
piece of land.”

Cassy nodded.
“We determine the other points now and get moving. Call the Kaval
back in.”

Tristan did so
and they trailed in from various directions, noting Teroux’s
absence, and Caballa came in soon after, alone. Clearly Rose
elected to remain with Teroux.

Cassy, with
Belun’s help, drew in a mighty circle around the systems Sanctuary
nestled within, and then the two determined which worlds on that
circle possessed sacred sites. It transpired the majority had, and
the calculations began to determine effective spacing. Jonas was
soon involved, as well as Erin.

The others
talked among themselves while they waited.

The Path of
Shades

The light was
gone and had it not been for Torrullin holding tight to Saska’s
hand, he would have lost her.

Ahead they
heard Elianas crashing forward with Declan on his back, and
understood he created noise deliberately. When Elianas set up a
tuneless whistling only to pause soon after, Torrullin grinned in
the dark. He whistled back, paused, and grinned again when Elianas
started his tune up again. In that manner they forged on.

Unseen
branches smacked at them and unknown things snagged at their feet.
Saska’s bare feet soon slowed her and Torrullin, like to Elianas,
took her onto his back. They walked into trees, low-slung limbs,
giant stumps, and swearing interspersed the whistling.

They made much
noise, but even that could not mask the strange sounds within the
darkness.

A raucous
cawing at one stage had Saska clutching fearfully and a harsh bout
of laughter from an unknown source had Declan cursing his fates.
Other sounds were there, more normal, forest noises, yet in a place
of nothingness they would forever be alien.

When Elianas’
whistling stopped, Torrullin issued an answer … and then froze.

Declan
screamed … and so did Elianas. The screaming dwindled to a faraway
whine, and Torrullin surged on, shouting out at the top of his
voice, with Saska joining him, and then there was no more ground,
no more forest, and they, too, screamed at the suddenness of
it.

Headlong, they
fell into the dark.

Sanctuary

Tianoman would
remain with Lowen on the island on Averis Lake, and she was
grateful beyond words.

She was
thankful it was not Tristan, for he reminded her too much of
Torrullin.

Cassy would
take Akhavar’s sacred site - the Throne-room - and Caballa the
Lifesource on Valaris. Those worlds fell into the giant circle, and
Caballa was relieved; they were connections she could
understand.

Amunti
received Lax; Fuma, Ceta; Erin, Drinic; Chaim, Xen; Shenendo,
Nuthtu; Galarth, Titania; Belun, Luvanor, and Tristan took Beacon -
the man at the Bridge of Dreams would see him as Torrullin - and
Quilla took Mon Unon, the dead world the folk of Echolone
abandoned.

Jonas was
given Lintusillem, Prima, Yltri, and Jimini, Merrix. Ignatius found
himself without a site and Tristan insisted he accompany Cassy. She
saw it as a lack of trust, and he did not care how she viewed
it.

They set a
deadline of twenty hours to confirm keeper and code were found,
with a further hour to prepare for the simultaneous sending. Only
when every code was confirmed would an attempt be made.

Cassy
proceeded to drill the method into everyone and then spent long
minutes privately with Lowen and Tianoman.

Two hours
after arriving at the villa they dispersed. Twenty-one tense hours
lay ahead.

Lowen went to
find Teroux and Rose to tell them how it would work - and had
little reaction from either - and then she and Tianoman went out to
investigate the island.

The Path of
Shades

It was a void,
but this void was true nothing.

There was no
light, no sound, no flitting past and future, no worlds and no
defined spaces. Just continual space, simply vacuum.

Saska gasped
and slumped into unconsciousness, and Torrullin, grim and afraid,
held onto her with everything he possessed, and together they fell
without track or end.

Declan slid
from Elianas’ grasp, but the dark man managed to catch him before
he lost him eternally, holding on with utter determination.
Together they hurtled onward and downward.

There was no
time in that void.

They fell
without control.

Now we pull
the rope!

Playground
summons to battle

Hour One

T
ristan soon had Weth of Beacon
eating out of his hands, and code in hand.

He checked in
with Lowen and settled to wait. Weth had a host of tales to
tell.

Belun on
Luvanor was quickly entrenched. He found the cave on Tunin where
the Lifesource site was, spoke to the local Valleur keeper, a man
by the name of Amtar, and had what they needed. Amtar was more than
willing to aid Torrullin and did not need a full explanation. Belun
sent confirmation.

Caballa sent
validation within minutes from Valaris’ Lifesource Temple. The code
was there for her when she listened as Cassy suggested.

Cassy spoke to
Akhavar’s Elders, expressing a desire for quiet in the Throne-room
of her father, and was granted the time. She sent confirmation.
Ignatius walked around wordlessly until she told him to explore the
mountain enclave until the time arrived for sending. Relieved, he
did so.

Quilla, on
sterile Mon Unon, headed directly for a buried site. There was no
keeper now, but he set about the spells to uncover the site - a
once beautiful fountain - and listened for the code. When he had
it, he sent endorsement and sat in the hot sun to wait.

Galarth on
Titania had no trouble finding the grey obelisk that was the sacred
site. In fact, it rose from the centre of the courtyard before the
massive library complex, but no code would come to him. He listened
hard and heard nothing. It meant, according to Cassy, there was a
keeper and he had to find him or her.

He started
searching.

Hour Two

Fuma got lost
in Ceta’s forests and then stumbled accidentally into the Angel
Glade.

He stared at
the destroyed statue and set about rebuilding. The Lady of Life had
restored the Heart only.

It would be a
patched job, but only once it had a semblance of normality would it
surrender a code.

Hour Three

Merrix’s site
was an abandoned shrine beside a small stream.

One lone tree
threw shade. Jimini finally found it, but found no nearby
habitation to surrender a keeper. She started the search.

Drinic was
difficult, for all ancient sites and buildings had fallen during
the uprisings of recent years. Current apathy meant no one was
prepared to help. Frustrated, Erin went from likely place to likely
place, and found them entirely unlikely.

Jonas, on
Lintusillem, found site and code after a few hours intensive
searching and sent confirmation.

He then went
to visit with his brother Minos until the time of sending.

Hour Nine

The hours went
by rapidly for those searching and slowly for those waiting.

Quilla paced
in the hot sun, cursing himself for not bringing water, and Tristan
soon had enough of Weth’s tales. Caballa slept, while Cassy sat
thinking thoughts she long set aside.

Amunti, on
Lax, threw the final rock aside, listened for the code and sent
confirmation. He then collapsed against the sloped building and
fell asleep.

On Xen, with
the help of a Dalrish cousin, Chaim found an ancient ruined chapel
in the desert. He was dismayed, but the Dalrish murmured about all
ruins having been recently sanctified.

Relieved, he
listened and then smiled. He sent confirmation, and settled to
wait. The Dalrish headed back to the nearest city with his
motorised transport, to return later with food and drink.

Intrigued, the
young man opted to wait with the old one.

Galarth
tracked a man to a hut out on the sponges of Titania and had to use
every trick in his negotiator’s manual before the man even admitted
he was the keeper.

The code
proved elusive still.

Hour
Eleven

Galarth
finally sent furious corroboration from Titania and then loitered
around the obelisk, which soon drew the attention of the
authorities.

He was taken
into custody and needed to explain to secure release. In the end
only the title Elixir worked. Exhausted, he sat at the base of the
obelisk and refused to move again.

Shenendo was
as fatigued elsewhere. Nuthtu was particularly frustrating, filled
with bureaucratic idiots. Eventually he resorted to covert
transports in short spurts until he was as a giant rock statue of a
sun cradling a moon.

It was the
only thing resembling a site, but there was no code. A nearby drunk
revealed there was a man who cleaned the statue on a monthly basis
and pointed him towards a dilapidated housing estate.

Holding onto
his temper, Shenendo headed towards it.

Hour
Thirteen

Fuma sent
confirmation from his rebuilt angel and then threw himself down on
the pine needle carpet and slept.

Hour
Sixteen

Shenendo
finally dragged the man who cleaned the statue to it as the suns
set over Nuthtu.

The man looked
like a Valleur where the blood was diluted. He threw him against
the statue and in no uncertain terms read him the riot act. When
the man broke down in blubbering sobs, he swore long and hard.

Eventually he
knocked him unconscious and used a spell to extract the code from
that drunken, sad and comatose mind. When he had it he felt almost
dirty, and then came pity for the man who believed he was abandoned
by the fates.

He sent
confirmation and took him back to his house.

Shenendo would
return to help him, he promised, once this project was over.

Hour
Seventeen

Prima wandered
Yltri’s wide expanses for hours, resolve surrendering to
despair.

There was no
site. He sat despondently on a cracking dyke where there no longer
was water to hold back, and hung his head. Far away an old man
watched him, saw that picture of despair, and ambled closer.

On Merrix,
Jimini needed to be pushy. The folk of Merrix - elf-like people -
were so friendly they could not understand urgency. There was no
shrine, they said, nor was there such a person as a keeper.

She pushed
harder and finally a lovely young woman said she would have a look
at this mythical shrine. Her astonishment was absolute and
immediately she promised to ask about a potential keeper.

Together they
set out to cover the same ground Jimini had already covered.

Hour
Nineteen

Erin thought
she would fail. Amunti mother pointed her to this gorge, but she
had not found the tiled slab the old women promised was here, and
time was running out.

On Yltri, the
old man touched Prima on the shoulder and pointed at the ground.
And there it was, a gigantic well that went into the bowels of the
earth. The old man explained the stonework above ground level had
long vanished, but fresh water bubbled here when the moons rose in
unison. It was a magical place, he said, and Prima, always so
formal, nearly kissed him. He bent, touched the ancient stonework
under the stringy turf … and heard the code.

He gulped in
great gulps of air and transmitted the confirmation.

Hour
Twenty

Darkness had
fallen and Erin despaired.

She lit a
flame on the palm of her hand and held it high, and went on. Then,
lo, she saw it. She stumbled forward onto a level area carved from
the mountainside and discovered a young boy curled up in a recess.
He stared at her, wide-eyed, and when she said she was looking for
the keeper of this ancient site, he smiled a wondrous smile and
clambered down to her.

Holding a
threadbare robe together, he said that would be him. He was
Valleur, did she know that? Her heart nearly broke. She explained
and watched him listen. She found herself telling him everything,
and at the end of it he smiled again and then swept two hands over
the level area to clear dust and grit away.

He showed her
what lay beneath - a beautiful mosaic of a blue dragon. He gave her
the code and then told her not to feel sorry for him, he knew who
and what he was, and he had always known the day would come when
The Valla would need his help.

She sent the
confirmation and burst into tears.

On Merrix,
Jimini stood before a crowd gathered around the shrine.