The Sleeping Life

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Fallon’s sudden leap to wakefulness prompted an immediate flurry of weapons-readiness from all four Kellian. The boy swayed on his feet, then took off at a run toward the lake, only to be effortlessly collected by Darian.

"A threat?" Illidian asked, then added to Rennyn: "I feel nothing."

"Is this something to do with the enchantment on you, Fallon?" Rennyn asked, starting to climb to her feet and then hastily changing her mind, perching on Samarin’s wall instead.

The boy allowed the barest dip of his chin, and flinched as he did so, no doubt expecting retaliation from his Ban. When that did not happen, he nodded more firmly, and then gestured at the cellar island, tugging at Darian’s hold.

"Very well. What I’m going to do is speculate on what is happening to you, and you will confirm that as far as you are able. If this triggers your Ban, I will make you sleep." Seeing his reaction, she added: "And then take you back to that island, perhaps."

This produced clear relief. He had done something, then, when he’d gone to sleep during their morning reconnaissance.

"First, however," she said, "I would very much like to know what you have attached to your right ankle. Perhaps someone could check?"

It was like a game of hot and cold, with Fallon’s reactions her guide. He didn’t even need to nod: merely looked both pleased and fearful as Sukata bent to investigate the chunky, artificially-stiffened bed socks. The girl produced a thin leather anklet and tiny pouch, which she opened to reveal a ball a little larger than a marble.

"Looks like your focus," Kendall said. "But not quite as dark."

"Not a focus at all," Rennyn said, since focus echoes were entirely different to what had drawn her attention to Fallon’s ankle.

This produced astonishment. Interesting.

"You thought it was? Certainly not your focus, for its failure to amplify your casting strength would be obvious."

"The sister."

Fallon didn’t even have to nod, turning eagerly to Illidian, naked hope writ large.

"Lost a sister three years ago during an attempt to summon a focus," Lieutenant Meniar said, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "The miscasting warped the entire room about her. Did your sister return with the focus?"

From Fallon’s reaction, his tentative shake of the head had been accompanied by the punitive impact of his Ban. Fortunately it did not seem to last, but they needed to take better care.

"Phrase everything as statements," Illidian said, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. "This object was the result of your sister’s miscasting."

Fallon nodded.

"Your sister did not return."

This produced an expression combining no with something more complicated. Rennyn, running short on sure guesses, turned her attention to the sphere Sukata handed her.

A dark red-brown stone. Most definitely not a focus, but still with an elusive trace of power about it, though less than she’d felt when he’d been asleep. It was tied in some way to whatever allowed Fallon to observe those around him. Was he able to see all the way to the island cellar? But, no, if that was the case he would not have needed to sleep during their reconnaissance.

Postponing the risk of more questions, Rennyn cast several divinations, trying to amplify intent. There was nothing clear, no purpose that she could untangle. The stone didn’t seem to do anything except draw power from Fallon. She pressed it to her temple.

Keep this a secret or I’ll kill you.

Blinking, Rennyn lowered the stone. That was the Ban then—probably not even deliberate, and thus entirely unpredictable. Confirming their guesses was definitely not keeping a secret, and if Fallon was not clearly facing some urgent crisis she’d abandon this game of hot and cold.

Casting a physical divination, a broad and simple what is this, Rennyn considered the object she held. Then she tried very hard not to drop it. Dezart Samarin, beside her, reached over and took the sphere from her hand, giving Rennyn a chance to regain her composure. From the exceptionally blank expression he wore, she suspected he had caught the results of her divination.

"Does the Ban prevent you from talking about your sister entirely?" Rennyn asked.

Fallon shook his head, firmly this time.

"So your sister—she was called Auri…?"

"Aurienne," Dezart Samarin said, neatly demonstrating that Rennyn had not been paying nearly enough attention to her students.

"Aurienne created an Eferum-gate in order to summon a focus. She miscast, and…you weren’t home at the time, I understand. So you returned home, and found this…stone."

Fallon shook his head. Rennyn frowned at him, and then at the stone Dezart Samarin handed back to her.

"Still, for you to be caught in the miscasting, even though you were absent, there would have had to be something to draw you in. If that wasn’t triggered by finding…I suppose she left a note? Telling you to not talk. You read the note, and were caught by this Ban." At his eager nod, she continued: "And then, when you went to sleep you found yourself able to see everything immediately around you—a casting not of your design, but fuelled by your energy."

This produced both a nod, and an expansive gesture to indicate something more than just seeing.

"Your sister was there," Illidian said. "When you sleep you meet your sister."

Rennyn hid her surprise, both at the idea, and at Fallon’s positive response. She looked down at the sphere she held, then around at her ramshackle collection of rescuers. Darian, Illidian and Tesin: excellent against physical attacks but vulnerable to magic. Lieutenant Meniar: more tired than she’d like given how much they would need him. Sukata: full of quiet determination, but without the strength of a focus. Kendall, who she should warn not to—no, if it came to a point where Kendall tried to cast, then the risk would probably be worth it. The Dezart, who probably genuinely couldn’t cast. And Fallon, who she rather suspected would die in the night if she did not find a way to relieve his current power drain.

"Well," she said. "I think I have a way through the shield, and perhaps on the way we can decide on a first attempt for separating plant and mage. At the least, I think we need to get Fallon closer to whatever…whoever he left back on the island.

She glanced down at the stone again, and closed her fingers about it. Now was not the moment to tell her puzzle-box student the result of her physical divination. This was not a focus. This had once been bone and blood and flesh.

This was Fallon’s sister.