The Echolone Mine by Elaina J Davidson Read Free Book Online Page B

He lifted his head. “But it is the worst kind of evil to
leave them, no matter who they were.”
    Torrullin
sighed.
    Saska said,
“Everything remains as I said earlier - wait, let me explain. The
Heart of Darkness was given you for a purpose; this is it. The
future is as it will be by our actions, etcetera, and will be dark
for you, colour for me. Your uncertainty will become certainty and
you might even ask for, receive or grant forgiveness, and move on
unencumbered. You lose a little time; you expend some emotion, and
move on. All this in three steps. One, listen; two, raise; and
three, banish immediately … wait, Elianas. If you banish all,
nothing is affected. You return the status quo and everything moves
on as we thought it would before the Heart stirred this. Change
lies in choosing life for some; change lies only in your
hands. You may not see what lies ahead, but you will certainly
impact it.”
    “And the
instigator? The planner?” Torrullin’s voice was hoarse.
    “He is either
thwarted or appeased.” Saska rose, adding, “Torrullin, the
instigator is you.”
     
     
    Elianas and
Torrullin were alone pacing the ledge at the entrance to the
mountain city, which swiftly emptied when Torrullin glared
around.
    “You did
that,” Elianas said.
    “I do not
recall.” Torrullin threaded his hands through his hair. “Saska
could be wrong.” More hair threading. “I remembered the rest;
surely this, too? How can it be? Elianas, if anyone did this, it
would be bloody Nemisin.”
    Elianas
muttered an oath and closed in to still those roving hands. “Stop
it; you are irritating me.”
    Torrullin
placed his hands at Elianas’ neck and rested forehead to forehead
with him. “I have done terrible things, my brother, but this?
Surely I am not capable of this punishment?”
    Elianas
touched Torrullin’s cheek. “I do not see it, no.”
    They moved
apart and paced more.
    “So what is
this?” Torrullin wondered. “A time fold missed by the Void?”
    “Impossible.”
    “A product of
the net? It began here, after all.”
    “Cassiopin
would thoroughly check the influences.”
    “Even so;
magic was untamed then.”
    “It’s not the
net.”
    Torrullin came
to rest, staring over the moonlit plain.
    Elianas joined
him. “Nemisin showed me a letter once. You wrote it. Remember that
time you caused the skin disease because Nemisin would not send
healers into the outer rim? You scared him - hell, you scared me.
The letter told him, how we feel and act and perceive is the
creation all around us, or that was the question you asked. He took
it to mean it was in his imagination, and by morning the disease
had vanished.”
    “I
remember.”
    “My point is
this. On the list Saska showed us there are many wronged souls.
Some by me, others by you, yet others by both of us, and even a
fair few by Nemisin himself. Guilt, my brother, tricks the
imagination.”
    “You suggest
we imagine the situation?”
    “I suggest we
may have imagined an opportunity to ask forgiveness. Your power
acts independent of you sometimes; is it likely this may be long,
long ago imagination?”
    Silence and
then, “It is possible.”
    “And
real.”
    “And
selfish.”
    “How so?”
Elianas frowned.
    “It was not
meant as punishment then; it was a selfish desire, so selfish, it
placed hundreds in stasis. If this had not happened, however it
came to be, they, including Cassiopin, would be beyond in other
realms. Banishing them immediately merely completes their
cycles.”
    “I have
thought of that, yes. She is bound for the netherworld, Torrullin,
and she does not deserve it.”
    “She killed
herself.”
    “And why did
she do so?” Elianas paced away. “Valen and his unit deserve life,
as do some of the nobles interred there. Nemisin could be put on
trial, not sent on his merry way. How dare I single one out?”
    Torrullin
said, “I have never made exceptions. Kalgaia died, one and all. The
Three Voices felled a whole battlefield. Elixir