Elaina J. Davidson's Blog, page 116

Love for life

 

Legit fairy tale level

 

I N F I N I T Y

Infinity, the dara-witch, is the bane our characters have to deal with. She appears for the first time in the Great Forest of Valaris. In fact, the first LORE book is called THE INFINITY MANTLE because of her influence - the Infinity part is self-explanatory & the Mantle part refers to a secret organisation on Valaris. Does she send everyone on a chase!

(Infinity is naked in the books but AI wouldn't deliver that for me, not even tastefully 🤪 )

Chapter 10: EURUE: The Forgotten World

 

The universe is populated and many worlds are far-flung,forgotten. Until the day Gabryl, a man both alive and dead, his body reposingin a sarcophagus, his spirit roaming as a shifting being, bellows a call toarms. Eurue, as world and civilisation, after ages of isolation, will now stepinto the ultimate arena.

 

Tristan and Alusin of the Kaval hasten to answer the summonsto where tentacled miasmas are consuming people body and soul. Savier, asKeeper of the sarcophagus, sheds light on an ancient legend. Tianoman, Vallorinof the Valleur, brings the Valleur host to Eurue, and Emperor Teighlar ofGrinwallin pledges his army.

 

But how does one fight miasma?

Who is the true enemy?

Meanwhile, as the spaces become frantic, a woman in a turretsomewhere, elsewhere, plans her revenge. The schism between what went beforeand the reality of the present presents to her the power to control the fate ofall.

Who will stop her?

CHAPTER 10

 

Oldbooks are a treasure.

Oldbooks are also outdated.

~ Tattle ~

 

Titania’s Library

TITANIA hosted the largest and mostcomprehensive collection of knowledge in the universe. The library claimed tohave at least one copy of everything.The world itself was a strange one, filled with sponges, its atmospheresomewhat metallic, the heavens in hues from saffron to sickly green, but thelibrary was state-of-the-art modernity. As time moved on, so did the monumentalbuilding refurbish, especially regarding technology and vehicles.

Tiny electric smart cars fetched patrons fromthe entrance to whoosh them off to the required destination. The floor expansewas astronomical; to walk to a particular shelf for a particular book couldliterally take a week. Apparently, not so long ago, the library’s authoritiestested hovercraft amid the aisles, but that led to accidents, shelves toppledinto chaos, and thereafter the smart cars returned. Grounded, they caused lessmayhem.

Chaim and Jimini entered via the sliding doorsand found long lines already in place. Light filtered through the creepersadorning the massive conservatory-like antechamber. Fifty men and women ofvarious ages, cultures and races manned stations at a long glass counter -therefore the lines. To find something in this library meant asking for help.Evidently, the database here was the largest in the universe as well. Jiminigroaned.

“Patience is a virtue, my dear,” Chaimmurmured, steering her to a line at random.

She bit back a retort.

A young security guard approached to touchChaim on his shoulder. “Sir?”

“How may I help you, young man?”

“Sir, you are Chaim of the Kaval?”

“I am, and this is Jimini of the Kaval.”

“Welcome to Titania,” the young man smiled,and returned his attention to Chaim. “I have been instructed to escort you to afacility on the second level. Someone waits to meet you.”

“May I enquire as to his or her name?”

“I am not at liberty to say.”

The young man appeared apologetic, but Jiminiknew from previous experience that security here was no laughing matter. Theywould be ousted from these precincts unless they complied. As Kaval they wouldbe allowed back in, with apologies, but the ousting would come first.

“Lead the way,” she murmured.

“I have no instructions regarding your person,unfortunately.”

“Jimini is with me,” Chaim stated.

“Bloody ask your mystery man,” she snapped.

The young man nodded, and touched his ear.Clearly, then, the mystery was in the shape of a man, not a woman. Soon, theguard simply turned on his heel, beckoning them to follow. They did, glancingworriedly at each other.

An elevator whisked them up to the secondfloor. Here professors, teachers, researchers, scientists, philosophers,writers, and many others paid for time at secluded nooks to do their researchand work in silence. Most desks were occupied; the space rustled as if ripplingthrough a sea of rasping parchment. To the left, ornate doors were spaced intoinfinitum. These were the private offices of resident experts, and alsoconference facilities. A fair number were rented out to wealthy clients, whilesome were for interviewing potential donors … or criminals. According toGalarth and Shenendo, regular visitors to Titania, despite the level ofsecurity at the complex, theft happened. Some of the works in these hallowedhalls were worth a fortune and unscrupulous collectors were prepared to pay.

The guard led them to a single door at least asal from the elevator bank. Silent as the smart cars were, they were notpermitted on this level. Jimini’s feet ached by the time the guard halted toknock on the door, and she wondered how poor Chaim felt.

“Enter.”

The young man opened the door, stood asidegesturing significantly, and closed the door the instant they had entered,leaving them with their mystery man.

He smiled as he rose from behind a dark-wooddesk. Tall, with long dark hair, cold blue eyes, and a strangely moth-bittenfrock.

“It’s him,” Jimini whispered.

“Who?” Chaim said out of the side of hismouth.

“Gabryl.”

“We don’t know that.”

“It ishim,” she insisted, and then they were in front of the desk.

“Please sit.” He waved them to the seats there.

Chaim perched cautiously, but Jimini regardedthe man in his old-fashioned clothes without moving. “I can smell othershapeshifters,” she spat. “Who are you?”

He bowed over his hands. “As you suspect, I amGabryl.”

“Shapeshifter.”

“As you are? I shift, but not into shapes.Sit, Kaval bitch, or I kill the old man right now.”

She sat. Chaim, meanwhile, studied the manwith absolute serenity. How did he do that? Despite all her time, she had notyet mastered the art.

“You have no soul,” he murmured, cocking hishead thoughtfully. “You shift between a body long buried and a replicaresurrected form, but not as soul, as something akin to soul. You are thus bothdead and alive. How fascinating.”

Gabryl stared at the old man and then laughed.Sitting, he leaned back to rake Chaim with a speculative look. “Impressive.Thus far the Kaval have surprised me. I am now beyond thankful that I preparedthe battlefield before beginning this, for you have seen through me moreswiftly than I had envisioned. I do, however, have a soul; it simply isn’t withme in this form.”

“You have Tristan and Alusin.” Jimini offeredit as a statement.

“I do, along with other hostages.”

“Why are we here?”

“You are unimportant. Chaim is the one I seekto converse with.” He ignored Jimini. “The Kaval, having realised two of theirown are missing, will have set certain factors into motion. I may not foreseeall of those, but I did suspect you or the young genius, what’s his name? Ah,Galarth. One of you would pay a visit to Titania, no doubt tasked with the dutyto discover more about this Gabryl.”He gave a laconic smile.

“Here Iam,” Chaim said equably.

“Alusin proved sneakier than I thought,”Gabryl mused. “I had a suspicion he sidestepped to the Dome, which you have nowproven in knowing my name. How insightful of me to prepare this particularbattlefield as well, in the event.”

“Is there a point you are attempting toreach?”

Jimini could have kissed the old man. Heappeared frail, but he was stubborn and tough.

“This; if you bring the Dome into Petunyaairspace, the daetal will attach to its carapace and eat their way through.They are, after all, immune to magic. They are also immune to the effects ofvacuum.” Gabryl leaned in menacingly. “Stay away.”

“Anything else?” Chaim asked. Not a muscle hadticked on his face to betray his feelings.

Those cold eyes became as ice. “Search theaccounts of my life stored here all you desire. All of it is true, but none ofit will tell you the real story. Feel free to waste your time; it will keep youbusy. While you search, look up the Kemir, and then tell me who the real enemyis.” He stood then. “Please avail yourselves to this space for your research.You may access the database from here. I have paid well for this service.”

“Thank you,” Chaim said. Blinking, Gabrylstared at him.

“Are you leaving?” Jimini taunted. “You’vesaid your piece, right?”

“The Kaval is not all-powerful,” he snapped.“Beware your arrogance.”

“Take your own advice,” Jimini laughed.

After raking her with his icy gaze, hevanished, leaving a puff of rotten smelling vapour in his wake.

Chaim sniffed. “At this very moment he is infact dead. He has confirmed the daetal for us, how kind of him. Jimini, go tothe Dome and tell Belun, then come back. Bring Jonas, if Belun can spare him.We will be looking at every minute detail of this creature’s life.”

“What about the Kemir thing?”

Sighing, Chaim stood and moved to the monitoragainst the far wall. “We will do that also. Go.”

She transported out, refusing to walk the longwalk again. It was against Titania’s rules, but she did not care.

 

Elsewhere

IT WASnot the state of matter thatdetermined result. Gabryl’s life or death was not the issue, although theybelieved such. His energy mattered. She grinned sourly. Energy mattered; what acontradiction.

Her energy was more important than the stateof her body as well, and yet she wished for physical strength also. To escapethis prison, she needed everythingshe was in place.

 

Xen III

THE LIBRARYon Titania might have copies ofeverything, but for weapons and their parts, the chemicals and consequences,Xen III’s military archives were where to find what one was looking for.Mercury, its uses old and current, and its availability, would be on file.

As the Kaval and Xen’s Peacekeepers had anunderstanding, Fuma and Amunti swiftly gained entrance to an underground bunkersystem. In the present era, Xen III had no standing army, but all Xenianstrained for a period of five years, between the ages of twenty years old andthirty, men and women alike. This meant that Xen had access to a trainedpopulation in the event of emergency. The archives were thus up to date.

Fuma, as ever clad in very little, led theway. Amunti eyed him from behind, swathed in layers. “After all this time, Istill don’t get how you don’t bloody freeze.” This was on an on-going gripe,and Fuma merely grinned.

Two soldiers currently serving their timewaited for them up ahead, and greeted the Kaval men with curiosity evident inboth pairs of eyes. Soldiers did not ask questions, though, and they thereforepresented themselves as aides. Both were young men nearing the end of theirtours and were now on easier duty. Fuma gave the reason for their visit, andthe four got to work, taking up residence in a warm office where a bank ofcomputers waited.

 

HOURS later,all understood it had been a waste of time. Few weapons used mercury, althougha few older devices required tiny amounts for circuitry. None of the latter wasanything close to what the Kaval sought. As to availability, many worlds had asmall amount, largely as part of their scientific endeavours, but evencollecting all of it from worlds near and far-flung would result in less than afilled wine carafe.

“Alusin’s capture does not now make sense,”Amunti muttered.

Fuma tapped at the table. They were alone; theyoung men had left to fetch refreshments. “Then Alusin is there for anotherreason, while we waste our …” The Deorc straightened. “We are being kept busy.All this is a smokescreen.”

Frowning, Amunti stared at the heap ofprintouts in front of him. “This Gabryl suspects we are about to get involvedand lays a false trail.”

“Hmm, not false exactly. I think we’re simplybeing too logical about it. We overlook something and he keeps us busy in orderto mask what it is he cannot afford for us to find.”

Amunti sucked at his teeth. “Dome?”

“Yes. We need to unravel this more.” Fumasmiled. “But we eat first, what say you?” Rubbing his palms, Amunti agreed.

 

Higunalsier

AS AKHAVARand Danaan twirled in isolatedspace, the one inhabited, the other abandoned, and as Avaelyn had orbited infar-flung ether before its vanishing act, thus was the case with Higunalsier.

If one mapped direction from Beacon, thepopulated human world roughly in the centre of the well-travelled routes andoccupied territories, Akhavar lay a distant west, Avaelyn further away to thesouth, Valaris east, and then, far beyond isolated Pilan, world of rainbows,there was Higunalsier, a northern destination. The Forbidden Zone with itscollection of galaxies, among which mighty Luvanor, the Valleur world, orbited,was closer, and one needed to find direction to it from the outer worlds. Higunalsier was thus one of a handful oftruly distant worlds.

Fortunately for Shenendo and Galarth, it wasmarked on the universe chart, and they thus had no trouble in finding it. Theinstant they put feet to earth there, both men knew that history had lied.Possibly even Alusin had lied.

With ancient paving under their booted feet,wet from spray, they looked out over a sea undulating as gentle waves lappedupon a pristine beach to the right of them. The jetty they had landed on juttedinto the ocean, surrounded by rhythmic splashes. On the horizon the sun wasjust rising, sending warm amber tendrils of light to skitter upon the water’sunceasing motion. Across from them was a small inlet, sparsely populated withsmooth rocks as sentinels of the sea, and, beyond, mountains verdant ascendedgradually into the clouds.

It was a magnificent morning on Higunalsier.Before them, at the very edge of the jetty, there stood a man in homespun robesclutching a staff. Long white hair shifted in the slight breeze. He wasotherwise unmoving as he watched the sun rise. Neither man desired to interferewith his solemn introspection, although they glanced at each other in utterastonishment. Not only was this world wholesome and beautiful, but clearly itwas not as abandoned as the records revealed.

As the orb of life and light lifted away fromthe horizon, the man bowed, and then swiftly swung about. His astonishment wasas marked. He halted immediately, facing them, his eyes shifting from one manto the other. With the sun behind him, it was difficult to determine eyecolour.

Shenendo stepped forward. “Well met. I am …”He stopped there, for the man frowned his confusion.

“Not common tongue,” Galarth murmured, andspoke the same greeting in Valleur. That too elicited only mystification.“Crap, I wish Alusin was …”

“Alusin?” the man repeated. His was a tenor,the kind of voice people listened to.

“Do you know any Kemir?” Galarth hissed.

Shenendo snorted. “Of course bloody not.Alusin strikes a chord, though.”

“Kemir,” the man repeated, and then waved hisarm in a gesture to encompass sea and land. “Eurue.”

“Oh, fuck, Gal, this isn’t good.”

“Tell me about it,” Galarth muttered.

Holding his hands aloft, the staff clutched inhis left, the man approached. He halted before them, and indicated to Shenendo,a motion that spoke of … touch?

“I think he’s asking if he can touch you,”Galarth said.

Feeling spectacularly uneasy, Shenendo noddedand held his hand out, palm up. Amusement climbed into the man’s eyes - darkblue, exactly Alusin’s shade - and carefully placed his fingertips onShenendo’s wrist, over his pulse. He lifted his hand a moment later, andgestured to Galarth. After touching Galarth’s wrist as well, he stepped back.

“I am Savier, and you understand me nowbecause I have made a connection with your language centres.” He inclined hishead, studying them.

Inhaling, Shenendo said, “I am Shenendo, andthis is Galarth. We are Kaval.”

“Why are you here? Few visit our world. It isa truth that we are far removed from both thought and proximity to others.”

“We were told this world is deserted, possiblyeven uninhabitable,” Galarth said. “We did not expect to find anyone here,never mind this …” He lifted his gaze to the wondrous ocean. “… beauty.”

Savier smiled. “You appreciate beauty. Such aman is a good man, but why come to a world deserted?”

Galarth swiped a hand over his face, glancingat Shenendo.

“It is about Alusin, isn’t it?” Those intenseeyes studied each in turn. “What has my brother done now?”

 

Nowhere

FINALLY !

She smiled and murmured somethinginconsequential to her gaoler. Flicking her a glance, he moved a pawn on thechessboard. He did not trust her apparent civility, but then she did not trusthis ostensibly good graces. His reasons for trapping her here were purefabrications. He was the darak force,not her.

EURUE

Cryptogenic & Anabiosis

 

Yes, totally get this!

 

LOTR hurt points

 

Alexithymia & Profailantism

 

I stood there wondering ...

 

Chapter 10: The Master Mechanism

 

A new Timekeeper steps forth.

 

Wearing a familiar face, an aspirant Timekeeper seeks todestroy all who stand in his path, including Torrullin Valla and Elianas Danae.With the master clock under his aegis, he will control Time and all who movewithin its confines.

 

The scramble commences to find the Master Mechanism first.From planets abandoned to worlds renewed, from ancient spaces to sterilerealms, the chase is on.

What does the device look like? Who created it? Where is ithiding?

Weaving through all the chaos is the mighty Valla family,fractured and almost beyond repair. It is time to find unity once more. It istime to stand together or fall forever. It is time to be noble, even when suchnobility requires sacrifice.

Time itself demands redress.

Join Torrullin and Elianas, support Tianoman and Tristan, andsympathise with Teroux, in this, the conclusion to the epic LORE series.

CHAPTER 10

 

Beware symbols, for what was once created in benevolence hasa way of becoming something vile when in the possession of others not asdiscerning. Symbology is a means to read history, but it cannot always tell thetruth.

~ Scroll of Wisdom ~

 

 

Balconaru

ALIK’SHORSE NEARLY TRAMPLED Teighlar. She shouted, he cursed,the horse shied, and Lowen leaned in and pulled at the reins. Order returned.

“Well,” Lowen said, “you are asurprise, my Lord Emperor.”

He scowled at her and focused onAlik. “Are you fine?”

“It was Tannil; he drew us intohere. I am fine, thanks, if petrified.”

Teighlar glanced around and saw thecity, the smoke rising lazily into the air. They were at the foot of an inclineand the city lay directly ahead. “Where is this? It smells of death.”

“It was Balconaru, according toTannil.”

Two indentations erupted ontoTeighlar’s smooth brow. “Way on the edge of the Ganimidian Galaxy? Why? And isTannil still here?”

“He’s gone,” Lowen said. “How didyou find us?”

“The box. Focused on Alik. Why didhe bring you here?”

“To show us what he can do, totaunt, and to tell us what he now possesses.” Lowen stared at him. “And thereis massive nuance in that city, Teighlar.”

“Oh?” He wandered over to Alik andher mount, motioned for her to scoot forward and vaulted into the saddle behindher. Taking the reins from her numbed fingers, he nudged the animal over todraw abreast with the Xenian. “What do you know of this place?”

“An ancient settlement dating backto beginning times, apparently settled late in Dancing Suns. According torecords - of which there isn’t a whole scroll, I put it together from pieces -a few folk crashed here. We must assume it was a ship, but then it was alsofurther back than technology …”

“Lowen.”

“I am merely telling you I don’tknow exactly how they got here; it’s mixed up.”

“Fine. Where is the nuance?”

“Who they were. I found only onemention and it has huge resonance.”

“Fine,” he said again. “Who?”

“Danaan.”

He sawed at the horse’s mouth. “What?”

Lowen stared at him and nodded withexpression. “So, you do know. That iswhy Alik is here also - to inform you after.”

Alik grabbed the reins from herfather and leaned in to pacify the skittish animal, whispering in her ear untilshe had quietened.

“The Valleur exterminated theDanaan,” Teighlar said.

“A handful clearly survived toescape that region of space, and came here. They did not call themselvesDanaan, though; that heritage I got from a source other than histories of thisworld. They called themselves Gani, probably based on the galaxy name, or thegalaxy was named after them, who knows? This is a small world and, althoughbenign, few live here. There are only two cities: this one, and another on amore southern continent. That one is a human settlement.”

“Danaan were human,” Teighlar said.

“They were not.”

He stared at her.

Lowen grinned. “Me and my memory,sorry. I sometimes find I know things without recalling where I found … anyway.Sabian, as our Master Historian, told me of the Danaan. They look human, speakhuman, live and love human, but DNA has proven they are more than human. Theyhave the ability to withstand space, the vacuum, and they have the insulationin their cells to withstand every extreme temperature. No human can do that.And, Teighlar, despite what you may or may not think of loops returning and allthat, humankind came only later, long after the Valleur began expanding intogreater space. The Danaan then and the Gani murdered here were not human.”

Teighlar was silent a long time, andthen, in a quiet tone, he said, “It explains even more how time was my friendand how I managed to survive on virtually nothing.”

Lowen simply nodded, but Alik cranedaround to look at him. “Dad?”

He smiled down at her. “How I loveit when you say that.”

She dug an elbow into his ribs.“Answer.”

Teighlar shrugged. “The genesis ofour race. Me, Alexander Diluvan, abandoned on an empty world.” Her eyes wereround. “I shall tell you all of it when we get back home, I promise.” Teighlarmoved his attention to Lowen. “Something Tannil now possesses, you said?”

“The Maghdim Medaillon.”

He frowned immediately. “Tannil hasit? That is unlikely.”

“We saw it.”

He shook his head. “It cannot bereal. Torrullin would bloody turn the universe on its head if Tannil stole itfrom him, and there have been no such disturbances.”

Lowen sighed and in there was markedrelief. “Then Tannil is using a replica in much the same way as Tymall onceused a duplicate of the Dragon Taliesman.”

“I would say so, yes.”

“I am very relieved to hear it.”

“A replica can cause all kinds ofshit,” Teighlar muttered.

“Less, however, than the real devicein wrong hands.”

“True. Right, how do we get fromthis place?”

Alik gestured ahead. “We go through.The exit is on the other side.”

Teighlar glanced at Lowen forconfirmation, who nodded back at him. Teighlar swore under his breath, staringinto the smoke rising into the air. “It will not be pleasant.”

Neither woman replied.

 

Avaelyn

ELIANASWENT TO AVAELYN. Kneeling in mud before the debris ofhis home, he understood a piece of his soul had been destroyed also. Unmoving,he simply looked. And remembered.

Walking across the bridge for thefirst time as a storm threatened, his father Tingast at his side. Torrullin,Lord Sorcerer, tempting the fates. Magic and companionship. Love and battles.His attempt to preserve Avaelyn through the millennia while he and Torrullinwere apart, releasing a part of himself to keep the dwelling whole throughtime. His name, Elianas Danae, upon the deed. A place of healing, most recentlyfor Torrullin as Rayne.

Scrolls gone. Books gone. Familiarobjects and spaces, gone. Only memoryremained. Memory was insufficient. His face set as if into stone. It was time todo something about it.

“I know you are there,” he said.

A squelching tread through mudsounded behind him, to come to a halt beside him. “Grandfather.”

“Tannil.” Elianas did not look up.

“Say my true name and free us bothof that particular connection.”

“Not yet. What I intend nextrequires our connection.”

Tannil abruptly kneeled in thesludge, reached out, and gripped Elianas’ chin, forcing that expressionlessface towards him. “What do you intend?”

Shadows of uncertainty moved in thetawny gaze he stared into. Elianas carefully did not react to it. “That is myhome, Tannil. I want it back.”

A smile blossomed. All was well inTannil’s world again. He released his hold and said, “You can try, of course.”

“I suggest you leave.”

Tannil swore, loud and long, beforesaying, “When you two, whether together or apart, become this certain andfocused, I am truly anxious. What do you intend?” The uncertainty was backbehind golden lashes.

“Death.”

Tannil stared at him. “Alhazen’sdeath?”

Elianas simply stared at him.

“You cannot! It screws with everything!”

The dark man offered a cold smile.“Perhaps. The timing, however, is fortuitous.”

“What does that mean?” Tannilscreeched.

“Tannil, I wish I had known my sonSkynis and I certainly wish with all my heart I had known my grandson Tannil atthe time of your living. Nothing I do or say is able to return either of us tothat kind of bliss, and nothing in this universe or another is able to repairthe damage. I need to move onward from guilt.”

“Say my true name and guilt is donewith.”

“No. It is time for you to leave.”

“I refuse.”

“Stay, then. Know your reign asTimekeeper will end in the next few moments.”

Tannil surged to his feet. “I amable to force compliance.”

His dark eyes unfathomable, Elianasgazed up. “You cannot. Alhazen cannot be manipulated by anyone.”

“Your death will fell him!”

“For a time, yes.”

“Why?” Tannil burst out.

“There are so many reasons I do notknow where to commence an articulate explanation, and not one reason I utteraloud would make sense to you. You are, after all, an outsider, Tannil.Torrullin will understand eventually. I care about only that; I care not whatyou think or believe. You have ten seconds, grandson. Ten … nine … eight …”

Tannil vanished.

Elianas laughed aloud, satisfactionclear in his every expression. Then he sobered. Perhaps he should considermore. There would be ramifications. To Hades with that. It was time to actdecisively.

 

Balconaru

THEGATES WERE OF iron and hung askew as if ripped bygiants from their great hinges. The walls were of boulders, many feet thick,and were as dust in the wind. The cobbled ways were awash in blood and urineand faeces … and body parts. Of people, of animals. Trees burned as rushtorches. Ash shot upward and drifted slowly down. It was a netherworld.

Teighlar clambered off Alik’s horseand approached a man laying half in and half out of a doorway.

“Don’t,” Alik said, choking it out.

“I have to.”

“He needs to see what they looklike,” Lowen murmured. Her face was set and expressionless and she tried witheverything she had not to look too hard or too long at anything. She was notalways successful.

The man was whole, although bloodcovered most of him. He wore leather breeches and high boots, a linen shirtfestooned with symbols, red on black. A timepiece adorned his wrist, an earringin one lobe. A small tattoo sat high upon his left cheek. He was pale of skin,as all Senlu in Grinwallin were. His hair was reddish, as most Senlu possessed.The timepiece was modern. The boots were factory made. Clearly technologyexisted here. The tattoo was a word, upon closer inspection. It read, Luvan. Teighlar hissed through his teethand rapidly made his way to the next body, a woman crumpled at the edge of thebuilding. He rolled her over. Pale. Auburn hair. Leather waistcoat, high boots,fringed and colourful skirt. A tattoo. Also upon her cheek. It read, Danaan.

Hissing again, Teighlar ran toanother body, this one on the opposite side of the cobbled street. A man,dressed as the other. His tattoo read, Alexander.Teighlar straightened. By all gods. By Eurue.

A young child lay in the canalsrunning parallel with every street. A Senlu, if not for where she was. She,too, wore a tattoo upon her cheek. It appeared as if the mark was made close tobirth. Hers read, Diluvan. Teighlarstared down. He moved to a woman severed by the chains of a swing in a playpark. Gritting his teeth to bear the weight of what she must have suffered asdeath sought her, he lifted red hair from her forehead to read her mark. Senlu.

He sank to his knees. They had notforgotten their genesis. Moreover, they had kept apace of what happened totheir kind, even if that kind began with him, a half-Danaan and a half-Valleur.Perhaps in his longevity they saw a future in which to celebrate who they were.Perhaps one day soon, with Grinwallin finally at peace, they would have paid avisit and forged the connection that would see them rejoined with their blood.Perhaps then the universe would have known the Danaan history.

Clip-clop.

He swivelled. Alik and Lowen werenearby, waiting for him.

Teighlar nearly wept then. How didhe place this in a box never to be examined? Or should he crow it out to theuniverse and reveal the real truth? What would it gain him, and what would itdo to his Senlu of today? Tell the universe a Valleur had again murdered theirkind? Every truce and friendship would sunder. Luvanor as a whole would war ontiny Grinwallin tucked in its easterly region. The Senlu would lose.Grinwallin, however, might act in defence and that could herald another kind ofwar.

He stared at Lowen. “They wearhistory upon their cheeks. Perhaps they are tribe names here or some suchnuance, but it is nonetheless history.”

“I do not understand.”

He touched his left cheek. “A mark,here, upon each. So far, I have read Danaan, Luvan, Diluvan, Alexander andSenlu.”

“All gods,” she breathed.

“Exactly.”

“What do you do with that?”

He covered his face. “I do notknow!”

“Let us get away first,” Alikwhispered.

His hands swung down, and he nodded.“Yes. Let’s.”

 

MarinerIsland

ITWAS ODD THAT Elianas stayed away. Torrullin wentto the front door of the cottage and stared over the garden to the lake beyond.Birdsong, and not much else, other than the faint sound of waves breaking uponthe cliff. No sign of the dark man.

Yet the universe had about it asense of terrible expectation. Something somewhere was about to change, and theresults would reverberate throughout the spaces and echo through all time.

It worried him.

THE MASTER MECHANISM