The Echolone Mine (16 page)

“You have no
idea,” Elianas murmured.

“There is no
marriage left, if ever there was one.”

“Cassy, I am
afraid to answer.”

She sighed. “I
wouldn’t kill myself, Elianas. I am free of my father, my daughters
are long beyond my reach and I think it will be a great relief to
be free of you also. I merely needed to know the truth.”

Elianas
swallowed. “There is no marriage.”

Cassy gave a
rueful smile. “Be very afraid of what you wish for. Then it is
done. The Elders who would have us speak separation are no longer,
thus, if you agree, and I agree, we walk away.”

“Do you
agree?”

Long silence,
and then, “Answer me this. Why did you betray him?”

Elianas reared
back.

“He does not
have to answer,” Torrullin snapped.

Cassy glared
at him again. “I understand why you betrayed him, but if he wants
free of this marriage, then he will answer.”

Torrullin rose
to lean on the table. “Cassy, it is none of your fucking business
what happened there, or why. I suggest you walk away without this
burden.”

“Gods, you
have never forgiven him.”

Torrullin
slapped the table again. “Leave it alone!”

Elianas was at
his side. “Look at me, Torrullin.” Torrullin straightened. “I shall
answer.”

The three
women glanced at each other.

“So answer,”
Torrullin said.

Elianas said,
“I betrayed you because I needed to see you react. You certainly
reacted, and I helped you so you would know I shall never apologise
for it.”

“How do I then
forgive you?”

Elianas did
not look away. “Do you not understand yet? I do not want your
forgiveness, not ever.” He walked around to Cassy. “But I would ask
for yours.”

Torrullin was
expressionless as Cassy asked, “Why ask it of me, but not of him,
when you love him?”

Elianas
replied, “Because I hate him too. He understands.”

Torrullin sat.
He said nothing, showed nothing.

“Hate him?”
Cassy whispered.

Elianas
sighed. “Leave it, please.”

“Fine, for I
do not want to know. I do forgive you and, Elianas, here is a truth
for you. Our daughter was happy with his son. They loved each
other. You did well in standing up for them. So did you,
Torrullin.”

Elianas
smiled.

After a moment
Torrullin did as well. “Thank you.”

Cassy nodded
and stood. “Before these witnesses I declare our marriage
severed.”

Elianas’ voice
shook as he said, “I declare the same.”

Cassy sighed.
“You will never find peace, Elianas.”

“I hope you
do.”

She leaned in
and kissed his cheek. “I will be fine. I need to be alone.” She was
swiftly gone.

Elianas looked
over at Torrullin. “Heart’s Desire?”

Torrullin
shook his head. “Not yet.”

He, too, left
the cottage.

“They have this
silent language, Caballa,” Lowen complained as the two women
cleared away the breakfast leavings. “How does one compete with
that?”

“You
don’t.”

“Caballa, I
know you and Saska are friends …”

“That marriage
is over also,” Caballa said. “You are next, Lowen.”

Lowen
frowned.

“I say that
not because Saska is my friend and you usurped her …”

“I never
usurped her.”

Caballa
paused. “Maybe not, at that. Still, it isn’t as Saska’s friend I
say he will sever his connection with you. I don’t want to hurt
you, really.”

“Fine. So you
think he will - will he?”

Caballa turned
from the basin. “I hadn’t realised how close he and Elianas were,
but now I have seen it? He will, he must.”

Lowen took a
plate and started drying. “I saw them on Ceta, Caballa. They came
close to stepping over some invisible line.”

Caballa
glanced at her.

“Elianas was
furious and he challenged Torrullin to a duel. Gods, they fought
hard, like they did hate each other, and then they kissed.”

Caballa
twitched. “Kissed?”

“Gods, it was
beautiful, and I can’t believe I just said that.”

“Who broke
it?”

“Torrullin.”

“Figures. he
would know, wouldn’t he?”

“Know
what?”

Caballa was
silent and then, “I said too much.”

“I’ll ask
him.”

“He won’t tell
you.”

“Then Elianas
will.”

“He probably
doesn’t know. If he did, he wouldn’t push so hard …” Caballa
stiffened. “Or he would push harder. Gods, I think they taunt each
other deliberately, both fully aware. You are right, Lowen, it is a
silent language.”

“What are you
talking about?”

“There is a
line, that is all I am saying.”

“Gods, you
Valleur and your secrets,” Lowen muttered. She licked her lips and
dried another plate and did a bad job. It nearly slipped from her
grasp when she set it down.

“He wouldn’t
tell you, Lowen, in case Elianas doesn’t know, and Elianas will
keep quiet, in case Torrullin doesn’t.”

Lowen had to
be content with that.

Torrullin sat
in the shade of an old tree, straddling a felled trunk placed there
for that purpose.

At the foot of
a gentle decline overgrown with moss, the tranquil pond reflected a
cloudy sky.

He sharpened
his sword, more often than not halting to stare into the water.

Cassy found
him there. She perched nearby, crossing one leg over the other, and
did not speak.

Stone against
blade, once, twice. “Are you all right?”

She replied in
a roundabout manner.

“Strong women
surround you, Torrullin, and I find it enlightening. Take Caballa,
born in another universe, lost her family to the Darak Or Margus, a
new life on Valaris, a famous seer. She left your orbit years ago
because of some terrible thing you did - she will not say - and now
she is back. She supports you. And then there is Lowen, born into a
life of crime, a human child come to Valaris, meets you, and
discovers she is a seer also and the two of you have a future. She
goes through a cycle of rebirth to become a true Immortal and then
finds herself loving a married man. Still she supports you, though
you treated her badly.

“And Saska,
your wife. A Sylmer who undergoes the Immortality Ritual, loses her
tail, becomes Immortal Guardian, falls in love with you, becomes
Lady of Life. You cheat on her three times and yet Caballa says she
loves you still. There have been other strong women, I hear, with
equally astonishing tales. I count among those the noblewoman at my
father’s court, the one who bore you a son and lived to regret it.
Amazing.”

Stone against
blade, harshly. “Your point?”

“Elianas
commands the same kind of loyalty in me. Despite everything, I will
be fine. I am in the company of strong women and their lives give
me a strength I am willing to embrace.”

“I am happy to
hear it.” He tested the blade with his thumb and then leaned back
to replace it in its scabbard. The stone he tossed to the
ground.

Cassy
re-crossed her legs. “What I wonder, though, is why those women
would go the distance for you? You are not the kind of man one
could just
be
with. There is no security in a relationship
with you.”

Torrullin
stared into the water and wondered the same thing.

“Then again,
your choice of partners is as difficult to fathom.”

“Have you come
here to tell me something, Cassy, or ruminate over the
complications of relationships?” He swung his leg back over the
trunk, to face the water, not her.

She moved
closer. “You obviously adore women, Torrullin, and Elianas admits
he finds a woman’s body alluring. Why, then, this thing between
you? You are not a man who would engage in a sexual escapade with
another man, never mind a long-lived partnership, and Elianas never
gave indication either when we grew up.” She leaned forward and
touched his arm. “I am not here to insult you; I wish I could
understand this.”

Silver-grey
eyes bored into yellow-gold. “The attraction is a product of the
power we possess, Cassy. That is the simple answer, and also
closest to the truth.”

She did not
break the contact. “Is he as powerful as you are?”

“Had Elianas
been born first, our roles would today be reversed. He would be
Elixir.”

Her eyes
squeezed shut and when she opened them again she stared over the
water. “I begin to understand. In fact, after Kalgaia I suspected
this.” She was silent and then, “Did you know he nearly came undone
before we were wed?”

“How?”

“He questioned
his sexuality, obviously, and in the two weeks before the actual
ceremony he slept with every woman who would open her legs. My
father told me.”

“You said you
were both virgins.”

“He doesn’t
know that I know. I think he would not admit it even now. A small
mistruth, an easing of conscience.”

“Noble of
you.”

“I told you he
commands the same loyalty in me.”

“What
happened?”

“Well, my
father told me to ignore it, that my husband-to-be merely ensured
he could perform on his wedding night and, with hindsight, it was
not far from the truth.”

Torrullin
murmured, “Sounds pretty normal.”

“He
propositioned a man in that time,” Cassy said. Torrullin stilled.
“He definitely attempted to discover where his appetites lay. They
got to the point where penetration was …”

“Enough!”
Torrullin snapped.

“You do not
understand. He did not do it, he could not, and he could not allow
the man to touch him. He was disgusted with himself.” Cassy sighed.
“Elianas killed him.”

Shock coursed
through Torrullin.

“My father was
summoned to the scene. A dead man, one beaten mercilessly, and
Elianas cowering in the corner, the man’s blood on him, naked as
the day he was born. My father swore everyone to secrecy, covered
it up, and took his prospective son-in-law to task. He forced him
to stand beside me at the ceremony. Elianas wanted to call it
off.”

“Gods.”
Torrullin lowered his head.

“Our wedding
night was a disaster and Elianas broke and confessed all. He was an
emotional wreck and he was also my childhood friend. We worked it
out, slowly, and I thought I knew at last my husband could love
only me. He admitted to having feelings for you and I thought,
after what happened, he could put it behind him. When he asked to
resume his training, I thought he would be fine; he would see it
was the lure of magic that drew him. Well, I was right, wasn’t I,
as you admitted, but I was also wrong. What he felt for you did not
go away, it grew, and he started lying to me, while you pretended
everything was normal.”

She paused and
then added, “At table this morning he said I had no idea how crazy
it drove him, but I did - was I not also hankering after someone
unattainable? And, Torrullin, when you came to court and flaunted
women around? Gods, even my father could see why.”

Torrullin
stared unseeingly into the water. “A breeding ground for plots.
Nemisin knew Elianas would choose my side, and fed him skewed
information and thus I thought Elianas played me.”

“The
Immortality Ritual changed it.”

“Not
immediately,” Torrullin muttered. “I hurt him unnecessarily,
forcing a betrayal.” He was silent for a time. “I am still not
going to tell you. I appreciate your candour, and see how it leads
to equal revelation from my side, but that is a matter between
Elianas and me only. Always.”

“All right,
Torrullin, but I hope you understand him more now.”

“It was a long
time ago. Much else is added on, layers of experiences, and
understanding will ever be elusive. All I understand is the man
Elianas was then, not the one he is now.”

Cassy
whispered, “Just do not abandon him.”

The look he
bestowed on her was stark. “Abandon him? I murdered his people,
Cassy, out of pure spite and anger. If I could do that over one
incident, instead of walking away, how could I do so now, after
ages and ages of layering? We are bound by history, love and hate,
betrayal, evil, time, and the good we still hark towards.”

“Gods,
Torrullin, is there no way to end this?”

“There is an
end, but in it we would both be bereft. Heart’s desire would be a
hollow nothing.”

She stared at
him. “What end?”

He did not
answer.

“What is
‘heart’s desire’, Torrullin?”

Again he did
not answer.

She knew it
would go no further.

Cassy patted
his hand, rose, and walked away.

Eventually
expectation becomes tangible, but only if you wait long enough and
trust it to come to pass.

Awl

Still Pond
Rock

“Y
ou didn’t unsettle her, did you?”

Torrullin
jerked around, caught unaware, and watched Elianas saunter closer.
“She is strong.”

Then, a
lightning flash, and Torrullin was drawn away, away, to another
time.

Vannis was
freed from entombment and he, Torrullin, was known as Rayne. He and
Vannis went to Ardosia beyond the Rift to fight soltakin. Rayne
searched the Palace, looking for a little girl who spoke to him in
dreams, but she was gone, and Vannis commanded him to accept.

All gods, it
felt like only yesterday.

A vision was
given to Rayne. A dark man sitting on a tree trunk speaking from
his heart.

Above all
else,
all else
, he desired then to hear the words spoken to
him in that vision. He chose to live for the day they would be said
to him in the flesh.

Elianas sat,
throwing a leg to either side of the trunk.