The Sleeper Sword (20 page)

Chapter
22

Family and his
love for them is his greatest weakness.

~ Margus, on
the subject of the Enchanter

“Vania, be
reasonable. We can’t know what the situation will be. Take Teroux
to Luvanor. If I deem it safe for you to return, you have my word
I’ll send for you.”

“But Teroux
must remain there.”

“That was the
plan anyway.”

“Yes, but this
hinges on a
suspicion
of the Enchanter returning. He should
have more time here, with you.”

“Torrullin
returns, Vania, and we know that means strife.”

“You’re saying
you expect him tonight.”

Tannil
shrugged.

Vania’s face
stilled. “My god, you expect him
tonight
.”

“Yes.”

“I can’t leave
Teroux alone, you know that.”

Of course he
knew. As husband and wife they were virtual strangers, but she was
a wonderful mother to their son and whether it would be safe for
her on Valaris or not after Torrullin’s return, she would remain on
Luvanor with Teroux. A separation not only from his son, but his
wife.

“I’ll come as
soon as I can.”

Her lips had
set into a line and now they softened. “Tannil, please take
care.”

“I will,
Vania.”

“I would have
liked to be there, for the Enchanter.”

“If we were
mere witnesses to a miracle, I’d inundate the mainland with the
entire Valleur nation of both the west and Luvanor, believe me,
including you and Teroux.”

“I know, I
understand. Fine, we’ll be gone within the hour.”

He already
felt the separation from his son. “Don’t make an issue out of
farewells, please. I don’t think I can cope with a tantrum.”

“As you say,
my Lord. Make sure that pony is sent to Luvanor also.”

“It will be
done.” He debated whether to say something about their
relationship, such as it was, or their future, whatever that held,
and chose to defer an explosive event to another, less unsettled
occasion.

She surprised
him. “Tannil, I grant we don’t have the luxury of time, but soon
we’ll have to talk. We can’t go on like this.”

“Yes, when I
come to Luvanor.”

“Thank you.
Now do what you must before you leave for Linir; I’ll bring Teroux
to say goodbye shortly.” She turned away, calling to her personal
staff to assist in packing necessities.

He left their
chambers.

Samuel
suffered Marcus’s blistering comments and questions for five
minutes and then exploded.

“Would you
have come had I told you everything? You, Marcus Campian, are as
prejudiced as they get! If you knew you dealt with a Valla, what
then? You would’ve ignored this mess to satisfy that huge human ego
you have! To our detriment! Yes, I’m a descendent of the Enchanter,
but it doesn’t change who I’ve been …”

“Samuel!”
Byron’s voice was a quiet whiplash. “Enough, my friend.
And
you, Marcus. We’re here as meant and now we know why. Let us put
past transgressions aside.”

“Why are we
here, Byron?” Marcus snarled. “To unite a prodigal Valla to his
family? To tell the Vallorin things he already knew? Why exactly
are
we here?”

Samuel
answered in a return to calm. “We’re here to add to the team.
Valleur, Siric, Centuar, Q’lin’la
and
human. Xenian also, I
must add. Lucan Dalrish arrived earlier. This is the same mix that
formed the Enchanter’s previous team.”

“Surely you
don’t credit that nonsense about the Sleeper awakening?”

“I credit it,
Marcus.”

“Bah!”

“Do you know
what the blood implies, Electan? I saw visions of Torrke as it was.
I saw the Graveyard, I saw black glass destruction, I saw renewal
and I saw the old magic. I believed. I also saw the Keep and stood
in the courtyard. I saw the Enchanter in that courtyard and he
looked
at me. He came closer, drawn by the same blood
despite the reality shifts. I am the first in two thousand years to
have his face fresh in my mind. He reached out, Marcus, and he
touched me.
Touched
, Electan, when it should be impossible
…”

“Torrullin
touched you?” a voice queried from behind.

Samuel turned
to find Quilla in the doorway. “Yes, and sparked trebac.”

Quilla stepped
into the suite. “Forgive my intrusion, but may I ask something
else?” When Samuel nodded, “Did you see a circle, or an orb?”

“Larkin and I
both saw an orb under the ship as we breeched the Pentac.”

“A big one,
and a smaller orb visited me in my home, told me to go to Samuel’s
aid,” Larkin added.

Quilla smiled,
nodded and seemed relieved. “Tannil has seen such as you, and Lucan
Dalrish reported similar sighting elsewhere.”

“The
Enchanter?” Samuel whispered.

“I believe so,
in spirit, somehow manipulating from the invisible realm he
wanders, also prompting a gathering. I believe if the incidents of
threat hadn’t achieved gathering, the signs of Light would have
done so.”

Marcus snorted
and was ignored.

“Why?” Samuel
asked.

Quilla
inclined his head. “I have been thinking on this since Tannil first
mentioned seeing a circle and I may be wrong, for I have not
encountered the phenomenon before, but I think Torrullin can no
longer rebirth. He mentioned this before he left, but wasn’t sure.
Rebirth is not an option, I now fully understand, for he is a true
Immortal since his last reincarnation. He is out there, as
Torrullin, physical, real, and will return in that manner, the same
being, and he will use a doorway.”

“He needs us
to stand on the other side to aid him back,” Samuel
comprehended.

Quilla nodded.
“This is new to him and he may not know how to overcome the
barriers.”

“Yet he has,
in spirit you say.”

“Hmm, but it
could also be a separate magic.”

“I’m sorry?”
Byron murmured, intrigued.

“Torrullin is
able to send part of himself away, Mr Morave, and it would be
independent of him while being him in essence. The orb is the
Light, Torrullin has Light, and he either left it here for a time
like the present or he sent it from beyond to aid in his return
and, in either case, he would have moved on.”

Byron
muttered, “Awesome.”

Quilla grinned
and Larkin said, “He
is
the Enchanter.”

Marcus snorted
again, less volubly this time.

“And the other
one, the shadow being, he knows about the doorway?” Samuel
asked.

“He probably
used a similar technique or he is reincarnate, I do not know, but
yes, he would know there are limits to Torrullin’s experience.
Shifting through portals is not easily done and Torrullin has shied
from it in the past.” Quilla gave a shrug. “Not that we knew he had
the talent. We didn’t always hear him. This shadow being, as you
put it, has caused no real harm; rather he forced this gathering to
assist Torrullin. He needs us to be there.”

“Why?” Byron
asked.

“It is not us
he wants there, Mr Morave; it is Torrullin he wants.”

“And who is
the shadow?” Marcus asked.

“I prefer not
to speculate.”

“The
Vallorin’s mother mentioned Tymall,” Byron said.

“We shall not
speculate there either. You saw the panic; we shall deal with the
shadow’s identity when it is revealed and not a moment before.”

“That could be
dangerous,” Samuel murmured.

“What is more
dangerous is giving fear a name and then proving wrong. Samuel, we
need to speak with you - Buthos, Tannil and I - in private. Will
you join us in the library?” Without awaiting a reply the birdman
turned for the door. In the frame he stopped and turned to stare
intently at Larkin. “The orb told you to go to Samuel’s aid? Did it
speak and did it mention him by name specifically?”

Larkin cleared
his throat. “It spoke in my mind without words and, yes, it
mentioned Samuel by name. It said I would know him by his grey
eyes.”

Quilla glanced
at Samuel and murmured, “Yes, they are unmistakable.” He turned
again, leaving slowly and muttering ‘interesting’ to himself.

“Who is this
Tymall?” Marcus asked.

“You should
brush up on your history,” Byron remarked.

“Legends and
fairy tales,” Marcus muttered, but was more uncertain in his
denials.

“The Enchanter
had two sons, twins,” Samuel said. “Tristamil was Tannil’s father,
Tymall was Tristamil’s brother.”

“Also dead, I
assume? Lord, what
is
it with you lot?”

Samuel spoke
again, a faraway look overcoming him.

“Tymall
committed suicide after his father imprisoned him. In his death he
took his twin with him, for they had a complicated symbiosis that
essentially meant both lived or both died. Tymall purposefully
killed himself. Tymall harboured the essence of the Darak Or Margus
for long years and learned from him. Tymall would have been the
next Darak Or had he not died and his father knew that and was
therefore forced to sacrifice Tristamil to prevent it coming to
pass.”

Samuel
focused. “Tannil was afraid I was Tymall returned and that means he
expects it to happen or believes it already has. Tymall, evil son,
twisted brother, Darak Or Elect, is the reason the Enchanter
returns.”

“Sweet god,”
Larkin murmured. “Father and son, how terrible.”

“How do you
know this?” Byron asked. His hair stood on end from the rubbing he
gave it while listening to Samuel. He instinctively sensed the
truth in the telling; Samuel had been drawing on memories, a
powerful sorcery.

“Tannil said
the Valla blood would grow stronger and he is right. I can’t
explain it, I just know.”

“Valleur
memories, I’ve heard about that,” Byron said. “Dating back to
Nemisin, I believe.”

“Bull,” Marcus
said.

“Before
Nemisin,” Samuel murmured, but only Larkin heard him.

“This Tymall
is like that Margus character?” Marcus asked and then paled as it
came to him there were depths within depths he had not known
existed, and he was now the lone unbeliever.

“He could be
or he could be different after two millennia in another realm, but
whatever he is, he’s so dangerous his father chooses to return to
stop him.”

“Yet you say
he wants his father to come back,” Byron frowned.

“Of course;
it’s another symbiosis. There can be no revenge sweet enough until
his father is there to witness it.”

Marcus groaned
into his hands.

“Seems our
Electan starts to believe,” Larkin remarked and chuckled when
Marcus threw him a look. “Young Samuel, the Vallorin is waiting for
you.”

“I forgot,”
Samuel muttered and left.

“Torrullin
touched him, Tannil,” Quilla said as Samuel entered the book-filled
chamber.

“And named him
to a third party. That is what is meant by ‘instrument’. He needs a
human to re-root him in this reality, but one with Valla blood, one
more like him than you are. Your human blood is negligible now, as
was meant.”

“Blood to
blood,” Tannil said, and noticed Samuel. “Come, kinsman; this is
about you.”

Samuel closed
in, continuing to stand as the others were. “He told me to remember
the blood.”

Buthos spoke
up. “Torrullin couldn’t have known there’d be a Valla descendent
like Samuel, Quilla.”

“He found out
somehow.”

“Or I
connected with him in Torrke,” Samuel offered.

“Possible.”

“Maybe he did
know Tristamil fathered another,” Tannil said, preferring to use
his father’s given name, thereby putting distance between emotion
and duty.

“Maybe,”
Buthos added, “he believes Samuel is of Cat’s child.”

There was
silence and Buthos and Quilla looked at each other.

Quilla said,
“The point in the present is, Samuel will bring him back and we are
to help him do so.”

“What must I
do?”

Buthos
muttered, “That would be our current dilemma.”

“Perhaps we
shouldn’t over think it,” Quilla said. “Perhaps Nemisin’s Star will
accomplish the rooting.”

“We shouldn’t
over-simplify it either,” Tannil said.

“’Remember the
blood’,” Buthos mused. “Is there something you need to remember,
Samuel? How did he put it, in what context?”

“He asked if I
could feel it, then told me to remember.”

“Nothing
there.” Buthos glanced at Tannil.

“I get
nothing.”

“Tymall will
know.”

They all
turned to Samuel.

“What did you
say?” Tannil.

Samuel stood
his ground. “It
is
Tymall, I’m not stupid. He’s the reason
the Enchanter returns and Tymall wants it to happen and therefore
aids in the event. So, Tymall will know.”

Buthos rounded
on Tannil. “Mentioning Tymall is the Throne-room was no accident.
He
is
the source? This is why you were suspicious of a man?
Not one with your father’s face, but his twin’s.” He threw his
hands in the air. “How else? Why did I not see it sooner? How did I
not see Tymall would find a way to haunt his father? Gods!”

Tannil said
nothing, merely sinking into a chair.

Buthos paced
muttering to himself until Quilla told him to quiet. Samuel sat as
well, holding his peace, and Quilla stood between him and Tannil.
“Is Tymall the source, Tannil?”

Tannil looked
up and wiped at his face. “Yes.”

Quilla
sat.

“As Tymall
died he sensed my presence in the womb,” Tannil said after a time.
“While Tristamil breathed his last, Tymall came to me. Mother
slept. He told me he’d return to have his revenge on every Valla,
he’d exterminate the ruling House and he’d force his father to
witness every foul deed. He’d be the last Valla and would
de-sanctify his Enchanter father. While he insinuated his dire
foretelling in my mind, he received from me the words of
Torrullin’s prediction about timing. I didn’t know how to stop the
dual flow and subsequently blocked that visitation.”