The Nemisin Star by Elaina J Davidson Read Free Book Online

nothing.
    My brother .
    What, in god’s
name, did that mean?

Chapter 6
     
    When the stars
swirl, mark them carefully
    to gauge time
and distance.
    ~Druid Lore
     
     
    Menllik
     
    T ristamil found his father in the temple.
    Both men were
red-eyed from lack of sleep.
    “I could not
find you last night,” Torrullin said.
    “I did not
want to be found.”
    “Skye avoids
me now.”
    “Yes, well,
she knew better than I did how you would react,” said
Tristamil.
    “Are you all
right?”
    “No. You have
ordered the evacuation of Menllik. May I ask why?”
    Tristamil was
in no state for confrontation, never mind a battle of blades. “Son,
hear me. You require equilibrium.”
    “Why?”
    “Tomorrow
night Nemisin’s star shines, and Tymall will come.”
    Tristamil
stilled. “Why?”
    “Destiny.”
    It had come to
that. “How do you know this?”
    “A
vision.”
    “Caballa?”
    Torrullin
lifted a shoulder. “Mine.”
    “You are a
farseer?”
    “Occasionally.”
    “You never
said,” said Tristamil.
    “I prefer not
to broadcast it.”
    “What else do
you hide, father?”
    Torrullin’s
eyes were unreadable. “Many things.” Elianas.
    “And you are
not going to tell me.”
    “Some things
cannot be told, others cannot be shared.”
    Tristamil
nodded and looked around. “You know this is to happen, and yet you
choose to uncloak the site. Here, right? You set the stage for
destiny. I thought you would change it.”
    “Change the
future? I guess I have managed that, but this was scried a long
time ago. I did not see it until now. In both your and Ty’s scrying
there was a temple, a sword, a dark cloud and a throne. Common
threads. I believe I unconsciously had this temple built according
to what I saw.” Torrullin swore. “I can kick myself today. Vannis
always claims I am greater than prophecy, and I fell right into the
trap.”
    Tristamil
sighed. “Thus creating the place for destiny.”
    “Unfortunately.”
    “And we have
been coming here all our lives. A familiar.”
    “Exactly.”
    “How do you
know he will come?”
    “The vision
was of him unfurling a scroll in this place while the star shines
overhead. The scroll is his scrying, and I doubt he will wait a
whole year.”
    Tristamil
thoughtfully paced the interior.
    It was a
windowless octagonal building of white stone. The ceiling tapered
away unbroken to a star-like opening far overhead, and that was the
only source of light. During the day a beam travelled the interior,
moving as the sun moved, and at night either the moon or the stars
lit the inside faintly. Crystal globes ringed the perimeter, but
were rarely put to use. It was otherwise unadorned, but for the
floor.
    The temple was
raised so that one climbed a number of stairs to enter from the
outside and the interior floor was laid out in a great pattern. A
pure white star in the centre was bordered by sapphire, then
emerald, then gold, silver and white again, and it repeated until
the radiating star vanished into the walls. One night out of every
year the star from above shone brightly onto the star below. The
temple was named Linir. The Place Where Stars Meet.
    “What kind of
scroll?” Tristamil queried, coming to rest.
    “I have no
idea.” Torrullin retreated to a wall.
    “Will you be
here?”
    “Do you want
me to be here?”
    Tristamil’s
eyes widened, “Gods, yes.”
    Torrullin
smiled. “Then I shall be. It is for you to do, however.”
    “I realise
that.”
    “Margus will
be here also.”
    Tristamil
pondered that. “You speak as if they are no longer one.”
    “By now they
are separate. For this first confrontation Margus will desire the
vanity of his form.”
    “You never
mentioned the likelihood before.”
    “We raced
across the universe Tris, in the hopes he would separate.”
    “Ah, and thus
he held on. He knows you well.”
    Torrullin
pushed away from the wall. “And I know him well.”
    “It must be
perturbing.”
    “In many ways
we are evenly