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.
