Lethe
HOW LONG THE blackness lasted
would never be known and never discussed. For a time, they were oblivious to
time, space and each other. They were together somewhere and so apart the state
of togetherness would eternally remain unmentioned. Only those able to see
beyond the boundaries knew how proximity did not imply connection and they,
naturally, never told. Still, let it be said the three men were beyond usual
intelligence and thus not without suspicion of the state of separation.
When the alien dark receded like water pulling
back from a beach, they were in a rough circle of standing stones. The stones
and the configuration thereof were a protection mechanism, and they knew it,
but as awareness returned, they looked at each other as if questioning the
nature of life itself.
Elianas’ eyes hooded. He lay beside Torrullin.
Those silvery eyes stared down at him from a seated position. Feeling
vulnerable, he cleared his throat, pushed up to sit and look around. Tristan
sat cross-legged nearby staring at the two of them as if attempting to
determine a great secret. Beyond Tristan were the standing stones and beyond
that was nothing. Nothing.
“Where are we?” Elianas asked. He deliberately
did not move. Those silvery eyes had not left him and now filled with knowing
amusement. Elianas frowned and surrendered. “You are frightening me, Torrullin.
For pity’s sake, tell us what this is. What have you done and where are we?”
Tristan rose and stretched.
Torrullin’s glance flicked up at him, and
returned to Elianas, who cursed. Torrullin leaned closer. “This is still Lethe,
but now it is a different realm and I suspect it may be a different time also.
But I did not bring us here. Something fools with us. I may enjoy a challenge
and I am particularly enjoying how you squirm at the moment, but this is going
too far.”
Tristan strode nearer. He stood arms akimbo
over them. “This is precisely why we go nowhere - you two and your lack of
conviction. Reaume is unprotected and you carry on as if we have all the time
in the universe. I am well aware you were warned not to delve the issues in
Lethe, yet I’m saying, unless you do, even if it is scratching at the surface,
we are headed to nowhere for eternity. Look …” and he swung one arm in a wide
arc, “… a stone henge, a place of safety. Either you brought us here,
Torrullin, or we brought ourselves here by consensus, or we were bloody chucked
in. Whatever and however, get to sorting enough out so we may actually aid
Reaume and, yes, aid the Dryads also. Understood? This is why you wanted me to
come, wasn’t it? To get your arses moving?”
Torrullin exhaled, a weary sound. “We are
exactly one year back in time. Whatever is to happen to Reaume has not yet
begun.”
Elianas glared at him. “What happened to ‘I
suspect’?”
A shrug answered him, before he added, “To see
you squirm.”
Tristan interrupted, “Good god, will you stop?
Would you please do something more than taunt each other?” Both men looked up
at him. Tristan cleared his throat. “What did I say to make you do that?”
Elianas clambered to his feet. “So,” he
murmured, “a whole year back in time. How does not concern me, nor does why -
the why I can figure out, I trust. What concerns me is the where of this place.
A year ago - biological count - we were not returned. You had not remembered
your past and I was in the Throne.” He swung around to stand with his hands on
his knees, leaning so that Torrullin could not escape him. “Why choose a whole
year?”
Torrullin did not attempt to escape that gaze.
“I do not desire to change anything, if that is what you imply. We have been
through trauma recently, but it revealed more about us than it hid, and I am
not running away from it, and neither should you.”
“Agreed. Now answer the question.”
“A year? It was a round number.”
“Really?”
Torrullin gave a quick grin. “Yes, really.” He
pointed a finger. “More than a year passed in reality than for us in realm
travel. Whether I deliberately tweaked or not, does not influence either memory
or return.”
“I’ll get out of your hair now,” Tristan said.
“Before I do, I would like to hear the where of this place also. A year ago, I
wondered who would become Vallorin, even if everyone else counts a few more
years than we do. I don’t want to find myself revisiting that time.”
“This is Lethe. I do not know.”
“You are a Walker,” Elianas frowned.
“Not when another pulls the strings,”
Torrullin said. “It does not matter what we do, what we say or how we feel or
even where and when we are; we are not in control.”
Tristan licked dry lips. As Elianas stared at Torrullin,
Tristan said, “The only way out is to start talking to each other, don’t you
see?”
Torrullin frowned. “Maybe, but it does not
return us control.”
“Which control do you seek?” Tristan demanded.
“Which is more important, Torrullin? Elianas? The control over Lethe or the
control over self? Is it that hard to imagine one may lead to the other?”
Silence. “Well?”
Elianas shrugged. Torrullin threaded hands
through his hair.
Tristan smirked. “I guess my point is made.
I’ll be over there if you have need of me.” He walked away, leaving them alone.
He did not go far, but was outside of hearing range. He knew words were telling
between the two men.
Step over the threshold at your peril!
The two men swerve through different realms unravelling what now lies between them and every step reverberates in reality. As loved ones pay the ultimate price, old enemies again step forward to challenge their right to rule, particularly Nemisin, First Father of the Valleur.
It will also shatter sacred space.
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