TKC 299, 300 and 301
The accusation of throne stealing will set Enris off.
I know how much he has avoided being close to it; he left
Makaran to deny not only the expectation, but also proximity. My brother has a
horror for that kind of rulership. Our father gave his blessing for us to leave
our homeworld, having realised Enris in particular required distance.
I step between him and Leffandir. “Let it go,” I tell my
brother and then swing around to the Glonu Empress. “And you keep quiet. If you
truly know Enris, you will know how untrue your claim is.”
Silence reigns for a few moments before Leffandir says, “Fine,
as you say.”
There is a lilt to her words and my eyes narrow in
speculation. “But?”
“There was a smoking urn, Iniri, and having heard what Damin
says, it can only mean sorcery was in play the night our daughter died.”
Blinking, for I hear her underlying sorrow, I twist back to
Enris to stare at him.
“I did not kill the child …”
“Child?” Leffandir
hisses.
“Hush; let Enris speak,” I insert softly.
“… but I wished for a way out of a terrible situation,”
Enris murmurs. “Did my thoughts cause what happened? I hope not, but having
also heard what Damin tells us, I now wonder if Uncle Lorn didn’t step in.”
“Did Lorn know of your relationship?” I ask.
“He knew there was someone, and he was the first to see me
after the birth.”
Closing my eyes, I move away. Even a fool will understand,
after all that we have learned, our uncle the sorcerer did something about a
situation untenable to Makaran rulers.
“I would never hurt a child,” Enris snaps at Leffandir.
“But you call her a ‘child’. She had a name!”
Enris steps back. “It is how I deal with my grief. It gifts
distance.”
Leffandir stares at him. “Grief?”
Enris does not reply; I think he is incapable. I glance at Damin
to find him watching me instead of the by-play between my brother and
Leffandir. “What is it?” I frown at him.
“Souls return,” he murmurs. “That baby girl drew breath …”
“What are you getting at?” Leffandir almost screams.
“She is part Ilfin,” Damin responds equably. “All Ilfin are
original souls. Your daughter has or will return.”
Enris looses a fist into the insulation padding. “No more!”
This time the silence is unbroken, for there is now too much
emotion in the small chamber. Gennerin, I notice, stares fixedly at his feet.
He no doubt understands, as I do, to bring Enris into fury will unleash an unstoppable
phenomenon. The Warrior will assume control.
Into the silence there arrives a different sound, something
external. How that is possible I cannot say, for this small space isolates
sound as well as temperature, but we all hear it. Heads lift and eyes track for
direction.
Tap, tap, tap.
Either someone mighty strides on metal legs somewhere
beyond, a size and weight that translates into sound despite the insulation …
or someone taps on a pipe that feeds directly into this chamber.
Damin moves to the far side of the small space and puts his
ear to the padding, as well as one hand splayed. Closing his eyes, he listens
intently. No one makes a sound; we wait with bated breath for his announcement.
Tap. tap. Tap.
Kay carefully approaches to lay an ear also. A huge frown
mars his features.
Abruptly Damin steps away and in that same moment Kay
straightens with alacrity. The two men stare at each other. Without explanation
both begin pulling at the insulation material, hands and daggers tearing and
cutting.
Enris marches in. “Explain!”
Damin throws a look over his shoulder. “Quiet. Just be
quiet.”
The hairs on my arms lift as foreboding assails me. Without thinking
it, my hands erupt into multi-hued glows.
“Control it,” Damin whispers. “An Elemental at this point is
as dangerous as an angry Warrior.”
His voice is low, and his words barely carry. Swallowing, I force
myself into calm. My hands return to normal, although my heartbeat does not. I
lay a calming hand on my brother’s forearm.
Tap, tap, tap, tap …
Hauling a slice of padding aside, Damin and Kay reveal the
metal walls … and a door.
We all stare at it.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Now the sound is loud. There is someone on the other side of
the hidden door. An entrance deliberately sealed? I do not like this.
Damin puts a finger to his lips.
No one dares move, until Damin gestures Mirlin closer. The man
moves in, a silent and stealthy tread that has my hair standing up again, and
leans his forehead against the exposed metal.
I realise Leffandir and Siri have taken up positions on
either side of me, close, and both faces ashen. I realise they hope I will
protect them. For Siri it is not so strange, for she knows what I can do, but
for Leffandir to seek my protection is decidedly odd. Clearly she knows what I can
do as well, but her relying on it is an entirely new sensation. She is
vulnerable and suddenly I view her in an entirely different light.
Mirlin steps back, nodding.
Damin instantly lifts a leg and kicks the door inward. A might
resonance erupts as metal shudders in the impact. Damin hurtles into the
darkness beyond and Mirlin and Kay vanish also. Gennerin marches past us, his
face as stone, and Ross follows. They too vanish.
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