The Kallanon Scales (18 page)

“Yes, young
lord. The sect was stupid in their belief, but the banishment is
important.”

“What happened
to them?” Torrullin asked.

“Two hundred
priests left on a nomadic journey that rapidly lessened their
number. They believed the Dragon stronger than sorcery, thus when
trouble came in various forms they were unwilling to help
themselves. Most died because of it. Last the Thinnings heard, nine
were left. Nobody knows what happened to them.”

“And the
taliesman?” Gren asked.

“What you saw,
Sagorin leader, was symbolic, therefore powerless.”

“You said it
was real,” Tristamil pointed out.

“It was, but
not what they relied on.”

“Thundor said
is
earlier,” Tymall murmured.

“My son is right, Thundor. You said the taliesman
is
real. It exists? It
has power?” Torrullin sighed. “Of course it has, and
it
calls upon the
Dragon.”

Thundor
remained silent.

Vannis’ head
swivelled, and he gripped Torrullin’s arm. “You cannot. It is
forbidden.” He stabbed a finger in Thundor’s direction. “Even he
knows that.”

Torrullin tore
free of Vannis’ grip when Taranis said, “I assume it is the Valleur
Dragon?”

“You cannot,
Torrullin!” Vannis gasped. “You place us in danger if you reveal
this.”

Torrullin was
on his feet. “And it may be the source of the danger, Vannis. Maybe
Raken died because of it.”

“Bart, we
should go,” Gren muttered, rising.

“Stay!”
Taranis lashed out.

Thundor hid
behind a book.

“How dare you
use her?” Vannis shouted.

“How dare you
suggest we ignore this?”

“You know what
it means!”

“So should
they!” Torrullin swung an arm to the twins. “To slay monsters of
worlds! What if the monster is the Dragon? What if the time has
finally come? Dare we keep this terrible secret?”

Vannis swung
away, paced to the desk, back. “Do what you must, my Lord Vallorin,
but this will backfire with unholy intent.”

“How dare you
tell my father what to do?” Tymall grunted.

Taranis
shouted, “Quilla, get in here!”

Quilla came,
took stock, and pulled from the etheric a green vapour, a healing
sorcery. Calm followed, enough to quieten the tone, and he banished
the vaporous substance. “Now,” he said, “what appears to be the
matter?”

Torrullin
scowled at him. “You know, birdman.”

Vannis
spluttered and sat. “Tell the universe, why don’t you?”

“Quilla has
not been eavesdropping this time,” the birdman said. “Quilla had
other things to do. Now, what is the matter?”

“Dragon,”
Tymall said.

Quilla’s
reaction spoke volumes. He paled and darted a quick look around the
room.

“He knows,”
Vannis sighed.

Quilla’s gaze
settled on Thundor, who emerged from behind the book he used as
cover. “Thundor? I am surprised to see you here.”

“They are all
crazy, Q’li’qa’mz!” the little man wailed. “Mayhem!”

Torrullin
dragged his chair closer and flopped into it. “And you thought I
kept secrets, Vannis.”

“What is going
on, Thundor?” Quilla asked, ignoring that.

“The
taliesman. The Enchanter realised it calls the Dragon.”

“Ah.”

“Torrullin,
you cannot speak of this,” Vannis said.

“Fine, I will
not.” Vannis sagged at those words. “Thundor and Quilla will do the
telling,”

“Quilla will
not say a word,” the birdman said.

“Someone
understands,” Vannis muttered.

“Thundor,”
Torrullin prompted. “Tell us why the sect was banished.”

Thundor
released a breath. It came out as a whistle. “The sect believed
they could control the Dragon, and were not ridiculous believing in
that, but rather for trusting that the taliesman they wore
contained the power to do so. They were banished before they could
realise how right they potentially were.”

“That is the problem, isn’t it?” Tristamil said. “My father
is Keeper of the Dragon and he is about to enter the Forbidden
Zone, where someone hid the
real
taliesman, the one that does have that
power.”

The tiny man
closed his eyes. “It was hidden there because a prophecy was
spoken. Whoever has it now must know the Enchanter will come for it
and bring with him his twin sons.”

“Did one of
the nine have the real taliesman?” Torrullin asked.

Thundor said,
“You are suggesting the nine went into the Forbidden Zone
deliberately. You are saying they are the ancestors to the Valleur
you suspect are there today. I submit nine are not sufficient to
grow a new civilisation.”

“The Sagorin
do it with five,” Gren murmured. “And succeed.”

“Do you know
whether one of those nine had the real taliesman?” Torrullin
repeated.

“I know not, but someone went into the Zone with it.
Generations later, it is protected, because the prophecy states you
will bring war. You
bring
it. Enchanter; you must take possession of that
taliesman before the Dragon is torn from you to be controlled by
another.”

It was quiet
then. Even Thundor lost his bravado.

“Why exactly
are you here?” Torrullin asked the little man after a lengthy
pause.

“To assist you
in getting to it, Enchanter.”

“Why?”
Torrullin stared at the Thinnings. “Surely I should stay away?”

“Another will
find it and that cannot be allowed.”

“Who would
want it?”

“Murs,”
Bartholamu said.

“Ah,”
Torrullin breathed. “The picture becomes clearer.”

Taranis lifted
an eyebrow.

“Father, the
Dragon is part of you,” Tristamil said.

Torrullin
gazed at his son, uncertain how much to reveal. Vannis’ warnings
penetrated and he was now reluctant to share this secret. His gaze
flicked to Quilla, who shook his head.

Thundor’s
beady gaze missed nothing. “I will answer the young lord. The
Dragon passes from Vallorin to Vallorin - the mark of an accepted
ruler - but it does so because it chooses to. You have not seen it
in battle. It is a separate entity, and chooses to remain with the
Vallorin, as it chooses to move to the heir. On the battlements,
when your father wrestled with Destroyer, you saw what happened. It
cannot abide evil in its host. Lord Vannis coerced it into
submission by begging for a reprieve.”

The twins
stared at their father. Tymall whispered, “It’s sentient?”

Vannis
sighed.

Torrullin did
not react.

The brothers
looked at each other.

“I saw it in
battle,” Taranis murmured. “On the Vall when Vannis bore it. It
scared me.”

Torrullin
looked at his father. “Now you understand why I have subjugated
Destroyer all these years.”

Tymall took a
breath. It occurred to him he would never be Vallorin.

There is time
to change your future, son.

Tymall
shuttered his thoughts.

Tristamil
asked, “If it can’t abide darak, where is the problem? How much
could Murs accomplish with it separate? It wouldn’t hark to
them.”

No one
answered.

“Herein lays
the terrible secret,” Taranis said.

Vannis heaved
a great sigh, leaned into his hands and covered his face.

Torrullin
stared at nothing in particular. “People have died protecting the
way to the taliesman, Vannis, and, by extension, to protect the
Valla secret. We know with certainty there are Murs baying after
this taliesman. We know what the Dragon is and we know whereof the
prophecy speaks. This knowledge came together in a matter of days.
As Glint said of your arising, the time is now.”

Vannis’ hands
dropped. “Then you must speak of this. You are the Valla who
changes all. There may be no Dragon to pass on when we return, and
thus it should be known before it passes into legend.”

“Enchanter, I
beg of you,” Quilla whispered. “To speak of that Dragon is
dangerous.”

“The danger is
already here,” Taranis snapped.

The birdman’s
eyes were panicked.

Funl told me,
Quilla, a long time ago. He revealed that the Q’lin’la were forced
to flee their realm because the Dragons were traitorous.

Why have you never asked?
Quilla was
furious.
Why have you never said
anything?

I told you
there are Dragons in my future. Dragons plural, not this one I
carry. Why have you never enlightened me?

The birdman
withdrew.

“The danger
will intensify here if we do not take it to where it is already
expected,” Torrullin said. “Taranis is right.”

“Shall I
speak?” Vannis sighed.

“Unless
Thundor knows the tale,” Torrullin said, managing a dry laugh.

The little man
had replaced his cap and now snatched it off. “I know only that the
Dragon is inherently evil.”

Tristamil
exploded. “It can’t abide evil! You said it yourself!”

Vannis said,
“The Dragon’s days were numbered, he was the only of his kind and
not of this universe. He heard of the One, the prophecy for ages
hence. The Dragon came to Nemisin and they reached an
understanding. The two became one, yet were separate. The Dragon
would pass from Vallorin to Vallorin, Nemisin’s power was to ascend
and the creature would live subjugate … until the One.”

Vannis sighed.
“Nemisin received power and the Dragon immortality. However,
Nemisin was no fool and made provisos, one being that only Valla
men would carry the Dragon. This is why the Valleur as a nation are
a monarchy. Two, Nemisin forced it to abide only lumin power in a
Valla ruler, this to control it, because it is evil, and because he
was also the custodian of his people’s future. The Valleur were
lumin kindred then and remain so now. And three, his prophecies
possess real impetus and meaning.”

“Thus it got
to this time. What is it waiting for?” Tristamil asked.

“I do not
know. Nemisin did not know.”

“I suspect
Thundor may,” Taranis said.

Vannis glared.
“Assimilation is one thing, Thundor of the Thinnings, but are you
telling me there were little folk about when Nemisin was alive?”
The little man nodded. “Well, that is great! Were the Valleur ever
truly alone in the universe?”

“The Valleur were first in
this
universe,” Thundor said. “The
Q’lin’la came from elsewhere and hid. The Dragon came from
elsewhere and hid. We came from elsewhere and although we did not
hide, we were not seen. And by the time Nemisin claimed that first
Vallorinship a long time had passed and the Valleur had been
alone.”

“Forget all
that,” Tymall said. “Why does the Dragon stay with my father?”

Torrullin
answered. “Nemisin double-crossed it.”

“Indeed he
did,” Thundor murmured. “He fashioned a taliesman to be passed to
each succeeding Valla. Another form of control, one outside of
their agreement. The taliesman would animate if the Dragon left its
host, and it would then die. The Dragon realised this and placed a
countering on it. His tweak allows the wielder to separate him from
his host and he survives it to do the wielder’s bidding. Life,
after all, is paramount, even for a Dragon. And thus there was
created another symbiosis, in the form of a foolhardy device, the
product of treachery.”

“And therefore
it had to be hidden,” Taranis said. He glanced at his son. “You
know the Dragon is evil?”

Torrullin
inclined his head.

“Nemisin had
to be aware the One would have the power to battle the Dragon,”
Taranis murmured.

Thundor
continued, “You have to get to it, Enchanter, for the Dragon would
simply overpower anyone else. If you have the taliesman, you will
have control over its destiny. Beware, however, of Destroyer in the
hunt, for that persona acts as a taliesman also.”

Torrullin
nodded, aware of that.

Taranis
muttered, “How long have you known that thing you carry with such
pride is evil?”

“Since I
accepted it,” Torrullin said. “It has not been a source of
pride.”

“It’s a symbol
of everything Valleur.”

“Yes,
Guardian,” Vannis snapped. “But only living Vallorins know the true
meaning, which is no more than two men at a given time. Do you now
comprehend your son’s horror on finding himself Vallorin? It had
bugger all to do with the burden of rulership, I assure you. Can
you even imagine what it does to the soul to carry this
secret?”

“The time is
now,” Tymall murmured. He stared at his father. “All your lives,
all your time to this day, has been one long preparation. Only you
understand the nature of symbiosis, of duality, and only you are
able to cope with what it brings. You are the One, you are able to
wield the taliesman … and live.” Tymall looked to his brother. “We
need to help him, Tris, for in knowing us he learns to know himself
more.”

Tristamil
stared at his twin, astounded.

For once
Tymall got it exactly right.

Oh, pretty,
you must be from the stars!

~ Tattle’s
Blunt Adventures

Southern
Valaris

Two Town
Landing Site

T
he landing site was situated where
once Two Town stood.

It was
flattened first by the doings of the Darak Or and after a final
flood not a soul remained. The city was not rebuilt.

Some believed
the restless of Two Town remained and that was now part of the tale
of Valaris. Visitors were uncertain where the truth lay.

After
completing a landing site in the Vall Peninsula and another in the
grazing lands adjacent the Barrier Mountains, this one was erected
due to its proximity to the valley.