The Kallanon Scales (50 page)

The intense
parleying of the past hours entirely bypassed them, but they
watched Torrullin with concentration. If he showed tension, they
would run for it.

Now he
approached.

If Creed and
Force permitted freedom of movement, they had reached an
understanding. Krikian and Matt gave vent to their relief, each
with a slumping of shoulders, and grinned at each other. Behind
them their warders wheeled away, recalled to their various
stations, and Phet laughed. His Enchanter again worked his
magic.

Torrullin
crouched, speaking in a low voice. “This is how it is. We have a
measure of trust. However, while their minds have engaged, their
hearts are not. The next few days will be difficult and suspicion
may dog every move.”

“My Lord, will
we be done here in a few days?” Camot queried.

“It could be
weeks, maybe more.”

“This hole?”
Agen muttered.

“This is
wilderness, deliberately uncultivated for the war.”

“To
concentrate it here,” Matt murmured.

“It is wishful
thinking. Despite grand plans and clever strategy, no part of
Atrudis will remain unchanged. The Murs and Mysor prepare an
attack, hours from launch.”

“What happens
to us?” Skye whispered.

“This is why I
need to talk to you. Our ways are to part. Skye, I cannot be
responsible for you now.”

“But Lowen
…”

Lowen laid a
hand on Skye’s. “He is right, we did this to us.”

Torrullin
cleared his throat. “The main Murs force will be lured to this
place in a matter of days and I need not spell it out. You are to
go with Key-ler.” He glanced over his shoulder. “The man in the
robe with Caltian. He will take you to the Academia of Truth where
you will be safe.”

Matt
frowned.

“Matt, a war
of sorcery will be fought here. You must go where the Murs will not
attack.”

“What about
the ship? Surely we can get to it or get it here?”

“That, my
friend, is a small target with a massive bull’s eye on it, and no
Murs, Mysor or Dragon will allow it to pass unmolested.”

“Crap,” Fats
muttered.

“Crap,” Matt
echoed.

“I have no
right to command you, but I ask you not to argue. Take your crew,
your family, my goddaughter, to safety, please.”

“I shall do as
you ask,” Matt said.

“Thank you.
Now, Camot, the murderer Tarrant has vanished and I suspect real
treachery. Dress your troop as Force and find him. Levin will help
with uniform and a guide.”

A manhunt was
more like it. “As you say, my Lord.” Camot’s voice became gruff.
“Who will protect you?”

“I can look
after myself,” Torrullin grinned. “This is your duty, Camot, as I
have given it. If you do come across Murs, you have my
blessing.”

The entire
troop laughed.

“You left
yourself out of the them and those,” Cat pointed out. “What are you
to do?”

“Clever Cat.”
He smiled into her eyes briefly. “Vannis, Taranis and I, along with
my erstwhile murderer Caltian, are going after the Taliesman.”

“Where?” Skye
asked.

“I have no
idea, but we will find it.”

“Don’t they
know?” Cat frowned. “They’ve protected it for generations.”

“It appears
the best defence was forgetting.”

“My Lord! This
entire planet is about to erupt …”

“Keep your voice down, war leader. I need slip away, do not
draw attention. I am certain my going will not be viewed kindly.
Levin expects me to fight the Dragon, find the Taliesman and
control myself all without leaving the wilderness, and that is
impossible
and
wrong. I need no soldiers to guard my back, Camot, what I
need is stealth.”

“I am with
you,” Phet said. “You are off not only for that silly pendant, but
to find your sons and I want to help.”

“Son,”
Torrullin emphasised. “I have one son.”

Phet stared at his Enchanter. “If you say so, Enchanter, but
I am with you. I can do stealth better than you and I can read your
moods better than Vannis
and
I do Dragon lore. Tell me now you cannot use
me.”

“You will
probably follow me anyway.”

Krikian moved,
but Torrullin headed him off. “Do not pull a Phet on me. You remain
with Matt. You will defend them and be my communication.”

Krikian
sighed.

Torrullin
rose. He beckoned Caltian and Key-ler nearer and introduced them.
Key-ler agreed to lead his charges back to the Academia, happy to
absent himself from the wilderness, but when Torrullin mentioned
Caltian was needed for a private mission, he balked.

“Lord
Vallorin, it’s too soon! Levin and his kind, they will think you
run. You must give them more days to become accustomed to the
changes in thinking.”

“We need years
for that, Brother Key-ler. We have only hours.”

Caltian
murmured, “The explanations can come after. Each of us here need to
ensure there will be an after.”

“They will
suspect you, Caltian!”

The
dark-haired Valleur shrugged. “That is nothing new to me.”

Remembering
Tarrant, Key-ler was silent.

Torrullin took
a moment to study Caltian. Calm, efficient, strong, with a sense of
renewed purpose, and he had sorcery. “Before we part ways, let us
discuss rendezvous. I like it not that we will flit around the
countryside indefinitely without a point of gathering. It may be
one massive war zone by evening and still I prefer somewhere to
pool our resources anew and reshuffle the board. Nobody is to take
chances, if it proves too dangerous to travel; stay where you are
and a new solution will be worked.”

He smiled.
“Vannis would tell you that surprise is the greatest weapon and did
we not discover that this night? We must be unpredictable, thus we
move and we meet somewhere new, with different intelligence to aid
us.” He paused to look at Skye. “No chances, Skye, whatever you
think you are to contribute.”

She pulled a
face at him.

“Caltian,
Key-ler, suggestions?”

Caltian was
thoughtful. “That would depend, I think, on where we are at a given
time. Atrudis has three populated continents and that Taliesman
could be on any one.”

“Best
guess.”

“If I may?”
Key-ler said. “This is Atrin, the largest landmass and is also the
choice to wage war upon. If I was a guessing man, and I tell you I
am not, I would not have the Taliesman anywhere here.” Key-ler
forged ahead when he saw he had their attention. “Islands are
easily searched. Now some would say hiding something in an obvious
place is a form of cloaking and I would agree with that, but this
is the realm of the Nine. They would never second it. That coin
went deep, to an unlikely place. It isn’t meant to be found by
deductive reasoning, it will not be simple. It will never be in
plain sight and it will have a guarding mechanism. It is either
northern Kantar, which is great desert, or central Kantar, which is
mighty rainforest, or somewhere on Tunin.” He glanced at
Caltian.

Torrullin’s
eyes flicked to Caltian.

“We are talking huge areas. A rendezvous in any one means
these folk will cross oceans.
We
have to cross oceans.”

Key-ler was
stoic. “I aim to make that meeting myself. I am not abandoning my
charges. I know what I am saying, but that coin isn’t here.” He
pointed at Caltian. “You are Creed. You have contacts, with better
guessing abilities.”

“I know
someone in Alders, Kantar’s northern city, who could point a way.”
Caltian looked directly at Torrullin. “I am not a guessing man
either, but Kantar’s deserts afford no hiding and the rainforest is
a choking world in which a taliesman would vanish eternally, I
suggest to you the Nine or their direct descendants hid the
Taliesman somewhere on Tunin. The man in Alders may have a few
ideas.”

Torrullin had
listened well. He discerned no undercurrent and further understood
from the way both Key-ler and Caltian reasoned they thought of
probable locations before. The Brother, it appeared, leaned towards
Kantar, largely due to his ignorance of the continent. Caltian, on
the other hand, was Creed and knew to reason with his mind. If he
said Tunin, he was closer to reality.

Was that not
cloaking in plain sight?

He frowned
over the conundrum.

Taranis
murmured, “Tunin.”

Torrullin
glanced at his father. “Why?”

“Because it
seems obvious, and therefore cannot be.”

Vannis slapped
Taranis on the back. “He begins to reason like a Valleur. I
agree.”

Torrullin
nodded. “Tunin then, for rendezvous also. It does mean crossing
oceans …”

“One ocean,”
Key-ler murmured.

“… one ocean,”
Torrullin grinned. “Krikian, will you cope with that in a war
situation?”

“We can do
it.”

Torrullin
stepped closer. “If I is too dangerous for Lowen, you stay
put.”

Krikian
grimaced, but nodded.

Torrullin
turned to Camot, who said, “We will make any rendezvous you name,
my Lord.”

“Excellent.
Where on Tunin?” Torrullin asked next of Caltian and Key-ler.

Vannis said,
“A place naturally defensible, a stronghold, quarry, a high place,
something like that.”

“Grinwallin,”
Key-ler murmured.

The hairs on
the back of Torrullin’s neck rose. “Grinwallin?” he echoed. He
wanted to put his hand on the hilt of his sword, a sword no one
deemed wise to take from him.

Vannis eyes
tracked over his grandson’s face, disquieted.

“Grinwallin is
on the eastern extreme,” Caltian said. “It is a long way for
rendezvous.”

“And nobody
goes there,” Key-ler pointed out.

Torrullin
shifted his weight and surreptitiously rubbed at the back of his
neck. “Tell me more of this Grinwallin.”

Vannis
scratched at his nose. Grinwallin had become a player.

“It is a
ruined city. As Key-ler says, nobody goes there, for many believe
it is haunted. It is on the tip of a steep slope with dense forest
at the back and a plateau before it large enough to host an army,
if it comes to that.”

An army.
Torrullin and Vannis glanced at each other as proverbial bells
rang. “Have you seen it?”

Caltian said,
“Once. An eerie place.”

“Camot?”

“How high the
walls of these ruins?” the war leader barked.

“Two men high
at least; it was a huge structure.”

“Perfect, my
Lord,” Camot murmured. “Sounds defensible, and being deserted? Even
more perfect.”

Too perfect
, Taranis thought. He
glanced at Vannis, who stared at him steadily. Obviously Vannis
felt the same and obviously he was to say nothing. Why?

Torrullin
spoke to Caltian. “Tell them how to get there.”

“Head east on
the ninth leyline. Ask anyone – they will know.”

“Grinwallin is
that known?” The hairs on the back of Torrullin’s neck rose again
when he spoke the name of the ruined city.

“It is known,
yes, but few have actually been there. I meant anyone will know the
ninth leyline.”

“How long the
journey?” Torrullin asked of Caltian.

“We will be
stopping in Alders and then who knows where? It is difficult to
predict, but in a straight line from the Academia? Around eight
days if they have to travel by foot and boat and make land in Lunar
Bay.”

They may or
may not have their transport skills; if not, eight days was pushing
it. A goal, however, was purpose. “Ten days, Camot, with or without
Tarrant.”

“Beware
Tarrant,” Caltian murmured. “Corner him and he will be
dangerous.”

Camot smiled.
“Just the way we like it. My Lord?”

“You may go
now. Good luck, my friend, and good luck to you also,” Torrullin
said, looking to his soldiers. “Stay healthy, I want to see your
ugly faces again.” Laughter greeted his words and Camot chivvied
his troop away.

Taranis raised
a finger. “Caltian, eight days? Atrudis is larger than that.”

“It’s the
leylines,” Key-ler jumped in. “We discovered a long time ago they
speed travel. They will speed yours whenever you set foot on one of
them and they criss-cross this world.”

Torrullin
faced Krikian and Matt. “Take an additional two days. We will
expect you on the twelfth day.”

Krikian
frowned and Matt asked, “Why is it different for us?”

“I would
prefer Camot in place before Lowen is dumped into more danger.”

Matt swore
under his breath. “Fine.”

He planned
with uncertainties, but something about Grinwallin disturbed him on
a deep and instinctive level. He wished to tell Matt and the rest
to stay exactly where they would be soon, but he would have a
mutiny on his hands. Perhaps they would be forced to remain -
perhaps they could escape Grinwallin.

Gods,
escape
Grinwallin?

What, in all
gods’ names, prompted him like this?

As Camot and
his troop vanished into the organised chaos, Torrullin said, “It is
time now for you to leave.”

Key-ler moved
away after a quick word to Caltian, pointedly looking at the
ever-brightening sky, and the Xenian crew moved first. They filed
past and Torrullin had a comforting word for each. Vannis and
Taranis had a word or joke as well, and the crew joined
Key-ler.

They were an
island of calm in the frenetic activity. No one spared them a
glance.

“My Lord
Vallorin,” Krikian said, and Caltian noted the admiration, respect
and love.

“Krikian, you
have done well. I thank you for service beyond the call of
duty.”

“My Lord, I
would willingly die for you.”

Torrullin
clasped the man’s shoulder. “I would for you.” He reached out and
clasped the man’s arm in ritual greeting. Blinking, Krikian stepped
away.