Exile's Return (Book 1) (57 page)

Robert came to a halt and gazed up at the bell. Finnlay came close and murmured, ‘Are you sure you want to do this? After what happened last time?’

‘What choice have I got, Finn?’ Robert turned to face him, his gaze steady and entirely open. ‘This time I’ve been pushed into a corner and I don’t know another way out. For twenty years I’ve fought against doing this and now it seems I must do it by choice. No matter what the others think, I have no desire to see the Enclave destroyed. I need time – and this is the only way I can get the council to give it to me.’

‘But what if …’

‘No, Finn,’ Robert smiled gently. ‘Go back and take your place with them. That’s where you belong.’

Finnlay held Robert’s gaze for a moment, then nodded slowly. Was Robert saying goodbye? It sounded like it. But why? What had the damned Key said to him all those years ago?

He turned away and took his place with the council. His questions would be answered soon enough.

Robert lifted his foot on to the first step and in that instant, the bell began to ring, long deep peals which sang through the cavern. He raised his left hand, his
ayarn
caught between his fingertips. Abruptly the bell dissolved into the familiar black orb and hung there, shining as though wet
with dew. The ringing ceased but as the last echo faded away, Finnlay began to hear voices, coming directly from the Key itself. At first the words were indistinct and garbled and then with a sigh, they started to take shape and meaning. The Key was speaking to Robert again after nearly twenty years of silence but this time, Finnlay could hear what it said. Everyone could!

You come again to us, Robert of Dunlorn. You come with questions, but you do not wish to hear the answers. She speaks to you, but you do not listen. You each have the gift of mindspeech but you communicate nothing. You are Bonded together but you walk away. She has touched the stone which binds your power and healed the wounds within it. Though you still fight us, you cannot win. Your destiny is written in your blood. You may run from it but you cannot avoid it for ever.

Jenn! Finnlay felt a shudder of fear run down his spine. The Key must be talking about Jenn! Patric was right. But how …

The Key continued:
Let her live not nor be not alone. For she will be the guiding light against the Angel of Darkness. She is the light of hope and that which will break us. We strive for her life even as she for our destruction. She is the last of her line. All ends and begins with her. Cherish and rejoice in her and be Bonded with her for all eternity.

A hushed silence filled the chamber. For a moment, Finnlay thought the Key had finished. Then, before he could move, more words came.

Your anger will succeed where you would fail. Hasten towards your true path and come not again to these your brothers until she is among them. Always remember she is the Ally. You, Robert of Dunlorn, are the Enemy.

With that, a searing white light shot from the Key and pinned Robert to his place. He stiffened as it held him, his face writhing in agony. For long seconds he remained frozen until briefly the light intensified, focusing its heat on the
ayarn
in his hands. Then, with a deafening explosion, the
ayarn
shattered into a thousand pieces. Robert was knocked
over by the blast, landing on his back. As the last of the stone shards landed on the floor around him, the Key withdrew the light and returned to its original shape.

Finnlay rushed forward and sank to his knees beside his brother. Robert was dazed and struggled to sit up. As Finnlay helped him, the others gathered around. For a moment, Finnlay ignored them and whispered urgently, ‘Was that it? What it said to you before?’

Robert frowned. ‘Only the middle part. But the rest …’

‘Well, you wanted an answer, Henry,’ Wilf said firmly, unable to keep the triumph out of his voice, ‘and you got it. You were right. It seems Dunlorn has been keeping quite a lot from us, and obviously for his own purposes. He and Jenn share this mindspeech talent – and he’s seen fit to keep it from us! How can that be personal? All these years he lied to us. He refused to tell us this prophecy. How can he say this has nothing to do with us? As far as I’m concerned, that only seals his fate.’

Robert climbed to his feet and Finnlay turned around to Wilf. ‘But you don’t understand. Robert never lied. He couldn’t tell you about it before. The Key literally wouldn’t let him. . .’

‘Do you think I give a damn? Do you think I care what plots your brother is indulging in? He has strung us along for too many years now and I’m sick of it! You can stay here if you wish, Finnlay but as soon as he is fit enough to leave, Robert will depart the Enclave and never return. From the moment he leaves here, I forbid him ever to come back. Do you understand?’

‘But, Wilf …’

‘Don’t argue with me, Finnlay!’ the old man thundered back. ‘The Key has given its judgement. It has branded your brother as an enemy. It is the Key itself that banishes him from the Enclave. He is condemned by his own actions!’

‘It’s all right, Finn,’ Robert murmured, placing a hand on his shoulder. ‘I’ll go. It’s for the best.’

Robert turned to face the council, his back straight, his eyes ablaze with a fire that had been gone for too long. ‘I
will go, but despite what the Key has just shown you all, I have no intention of doing anything it says. There are powers at work here we do not understand and I, for one, refuse to be a part of them. Do what you wish – I cannot stop you. And now the Key has destroyed my
ayarn,
I cannot even use my powers. I’m not even sure I can make another
ayarn
now. Is this what you want? There is a warning here if you’re willing to see it. This,’ he pointed to the silent bell a few feet away, ‘is your real enemy. It took me until now to realize that. By all means banish me from the Enclave, but whatever you do, do not trust the Key and what it tells you.’

‘Save your words for someone who will trust them, Robert. I want you gone from here by tomorrow night.’

Without another word, Wilf turned on his heel and stalked away. Bewildered, confused and generally unhappy, the rest of the council followed – and Ayn with them.

*

A hollow breeze drifted around the cavern, chill and ominous, like an empty grave at midnight. Finnlay shivered, but his cold seemed to come from within, hastened by the truth.

‘It seems you’re finally on your own, brother,’ Robert murmured.

Finnlay slowly turned to face him, his eyes wide in wonder. ‘Is it true? Can you really mindspeak? Was it you who warned me you were on your way to rescue me?’

Robert nodded. ‘I can, but only with Jenn. She was the one who warned you. I only learned the trick later. Aren’t you going to ask me why I didn’t tell you? Tell everyone?’

‘Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? They wouldn’t have left her alone. As it is …’

‘As it is, they still won’t – and now I can do nothing to protect her.’

That fire was still there, in Robert’s eyes. Protecting Jenn was very important to him. So important that he’d lied to them all and brought this banishment down on his own head. Was this part of the Bonding?

It was difficult to assimilate so much so quickly. Finnlay went on, ‘But that wasn’t all the Key told you the first time,
was it? There was something else – you said something dangerous. Can you talk about it now?

‘No. As I said before, even if I could, I wouldn’t -especially not now.’

‘Why especially?’

Robert dropped his gaze to the floor and the shards of his
ayam.
‘The Key said it, Finn. I’m the Enemy.’

‘It told you that before?’

‘No. That was new.’

‘And the Bonding? What does it mean?’

Robert smiled. He placed an arm around Finnlay’s shoulder and turned him towards the exit. ‘Nothing, brother. Absolutely nothing. This Bonding thing is so old I doubt it means anything now.’

‘But the Key said …’

‘Don’t trust the Key, Finn. Don’t trust anyone.’

‘Not even you?’

Robert paused at the entrance to the tunnel and faced his brother squarely. ‘Especially not me. For whatever reason, I – and Jenn – seem to be the focus of the Key’s intentions. By all means, trust her. So far the Key has said nothing to her and she is, to all intents and purposes, free from its taint. I want you to do your best to keep her away from it.’

‘I will, I promise – but what are you going to do now?’

In that moment, the awesome confidence Robert had always exuded suddenly dropped away. What remained was nothing more than raw pain and dull defeat. ‘I’m going home, Finn. To face the Guilde’s questions about you. To face Mother. To lie. I tried to do something and failed again. I thought that if I helped just a little then I could protect you and Jenn. That I could stop this before it gets too far. But I was wrong. I can no more help the Enclave than I could help Berenice. Any attempt I make to do anything, to change anything, will end in failure. It seems the Key will only let me travel one path. I have no choice now but to continue fighting it.’

‘But why?’ Finnlay whispered, awed by the depth of Robert’s despair. ‘Why fight it?’

‘Because I know what will happen if I don’t.’ He sighed and gazed along the tunnel for a moment. ‘It’s almost dawn now. I’d better prepare to leave. There’s no point in staying and aggravating things more. I have to get home and tell Mother you’re not really dead. By Serin’s breath, that’s going to be a fun conversation!’

With visible clarity, Finnlay saw the facade shift back into place, heard the voice resume its old tone. Once more, Robert looked the image of calm certainty, quiet confidence and easy charm, impervious to all the deep wounds life had inflicted on him. In all these years, this was the greatest piece of sorcery Finnlay had seen Robert perform.

Finnlay stopped walking and reached out a hand to Robert’s shoulder. ‘If you go now, Robert … I must stay here and you can’t come back … I won’t see you again, will I?’

Robert shook his head and smiled, laughter dancing in his eyes. ‘Come now, Finn. You never liked having me around anyway. You were much happier when I was out of the country.’

‘But that was different, Robert. That was before I understood.’

‘And do you understand now?’

Finnlay met that steady gaze, but this time the fear, the anger and frustration were gone. For the first time in his life, he could look at Robert and see the truth. He nodded. ‘Yes, I do.’

Robert raised his eyebrows, both cynical and vulnerable at the same time. A typical contradiction. ‘You’re doing well, brother. Now you also have something in common with Jenn. But please, if she comes here, keep her away from the Key. I don’t know why, but I have the feeling it wants her.’

‘But what do you want, Robert?’

His brother only smiled. ‘Come on, Finn. I’ll need some help packing.’

Read on for the first chapter of the Second Book of the Elita:
VOICE OF THE DEMON

‘I need not tell you how the divisions among us hurt not only our mother Church, but also the welfare of our state. It is at times like this that we must show our unity to the country. These debates and whisperings must stop. Dissent is our greatest enemy, my brothers. We must be of one mind. With all of us working together we can overcome these small difficulties and once again take our place among the leaders of our country.’

As Bishop Brome paused to take a sip of wine, Deacon Godfrey drew in a deep breath and held it, trying to stifle another yawn. The Bishop’s Palace was one of the oldest parts of Marsay and even though it afforded a magnificent view of the Basilica, most of it – and this room in particular – also drew the afternoon heat. Beads of sweat gathered in a minor conspiracy and trickled down Godfrey’s back. He didn’t dare shift, not even to move a hand to fan himself. He had to stand as still as his brethren, all gathered before Brome as he ate dinner.

Over the last year Brome had displayed an enormous appetite for the finer aspects of his position. In summer he almost always ate here, in the small hall where tall windows faced west to catch the evening light. Ancient oak beams stretched high between walls of grey stone from which hung a collection of six silk tapestries, a gift from King William over a century before. It was said the
gift
had been more a bribe to gain the support of a Church set against William’s marriage to the widowed Lady Jardine.

Godfrey’s attention was drawn back to Brome as the Bishop resumed his discourse in between mouthfuls of roast beef steeped in a sauce so full of peppercorns Godfrey could smell them from where he stood. Beside him were others of his rank, while in front, Archdeacons Hilderic, Francis and
Ohler waited patiently. Or rather, Francis and Ohler appeared patient. Hilderic gave the impression of something quite different.

‘We have had a difficult year,’ the Bishop continued, ‘with that foolish rebellion from Blair and his cohorts. Thankfully we no longer have to deal with the financing and administration of the hospices. Our brothers in the Guilde have assured me that the work we began in that area over a thousand years ago will continue under their beneficence.’

Godfrey swallowed against a sudden dryness in his mouth. Hilderic, no more than three feet in front of him, had abruptly stiffened. His shoulders appeared hard as rock and his head had come up. Godfrey could just imagine the expression on his face.

‘Which brings me to the reason I called you here this afternoon.’ Brome put down his knife, pressed his fingers against a stiff linen cloth and picked up a jewelled goblet. He leaned back in his seat, his watery eyes scanning his captive audience but meeting no gazes. He had never been an attractive figure, but now, approaching his fiftieth year of soft living, fat had begun to obscure the lines of his face, almost swallowing up his small mouth and round nose.

‘I am aware that the Guilde’s investigation at Kilphedir is still to be completed and there is, at this time, no absolute evidence that sorcery is once again alive in Lusara. I’m sure that, given time, Governor Osbert and his assistants will divine truth from lie. However, I also feel it is fitting for us to communicate to the Guilde our full support both for the investigation itself and for whatever actions they deem necessary as a result of their findings.’