‘And Pikan?’
Alen pursed his lips. ‘I blame myself for that. I should have paid attention. I never noticed how he looked at her. More than anything, that should have tipped me off – you know? When you cannot allow a person to leave the room without that last look, that final glimpse that says I will imprint this image on my mind until she comes back. That’s what he was doing. The line of her face or the taper of her legs, he needed those things to bring him back from the brink of whatever nightmares he explored while immersed in the spell table. Yes, I think he loved her very much.’
‘What happened?’ Hannah’s curiosity was aroused. ‘I mean, the way you are describing this – this triangle – it doesn’t sound like it had a good ending.’
‘It didn’t.’ Alen poured himself another mug of tecan. He offered Hannah the pot, but she shook her head. She was eager to hear the rest of the drama. ‘Nerak said something about her once; it was a shock and I wasn’t ready for it. I got angry and attacked him, but he was much more powerful than me, even then. I think he might have killed me if he’d had any idea of what the future held.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘He lashed out with a spell. Oh, it wasn’t much, but it hit me hard and I fell and sprained my ankle. We were on a ship at the time, rounding the Northern Archipelago towards Larion Isle. It was a trip we made every ten Twinmoons or so – to do research and try out new magic.’ He chuckled; Hannah smiled at the rare sound. ‘Like checking out recipes, I suppose. Anyway, I spent the entire journey hobbling about in agony. We told everyone I’d tripped and twisted my ankle. They never knew we’d had a spat. Nerak and I never physically fought again, but we were never as close as we had been either.’
‘What did you mean when you said he would have killed you if he had known-’
‘Known what the future held.’ The old Larion Senator paused, still staring into the fireplace. ‘Pikan was pregnant; I think if Nerak had known that, he would have killed me that day and tossed my body overboard.’
‘Your baby?’
‘Our baby- Yes. That’s why she came with me to England.’
Hannah looked confused, so he elaborated, ‘I knew it was going to be a long trip. Pikan wasn’t showing yet and she hid the early sickness, so no one knew. I only needed Fantus’s approval for going to England, and we stayed until the baby was born and then-’ Alen stopped to wipe his eyes on his sleeve.
‘You left the baby there.’
‘We did.’ He choked back a sob, a disconcerting sound. ‘We left her there because we knew Nerak would kill her if he found out about her. We were married, Pikan had the baby and we found a family, a good family, there in Durham. We promised we would always come back to visit, and when she was old enough we would bring her home with us. I even made plans to construct a third portal without anyone knowing. I could have done it. I would have done it… but I never had the chance.’
Hannah was on tenterhooks now; her arms and legs were numb from sitting so long on the floor, but she dared not move and break the spell. ‘So what became of the baby? Did you visit? Did you bring her back?’
‘Reia.’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Reia. That was her name, Reia. And no, we never made it back. She was very young, just a few Twinmoons old, when we returned to Eldarn, but we had to – there was no way I could justify our absence any longer.’ Alen cleared his throat, though his voice still shook as he spoke. ‘We had to keep up appearances while we planned some way to bring Reia home and find somewhere where she would be safe and where we could be together as a family. But I had to come to Praga, to Middle Fork. Pikan was so distraught she nearly collapsed the day I left, but I promised her – just as I promised Reia – anyway, I swore to Pikan we would figure out a way, even if it meant challenging Nerak, killing Nerak. I didn’t care at that point, but Pikan didn’t want it to come to that. At least we knew Reia was in good hands.’
‘So you came to Praga.’
‘To Middle Fork, and while I was gone, Nerak finally lost his battle for sanity. He destroyed the Larion Senate.’ Alen’s voice was calm now; he spoke in dead, flat tones. ‘He killed Pikan, his team, everyone.’
‘Why?’
‘My guess is that the magic he sought to control finally took control of him and in doing so, he lost what was left of his already tenuous grip on reality. He killed them all.’
‘What happened to Reia?’ Hannah whispered, almost hoping Alen might not hear.
But he did, and he broke down again, weeping into his hands. ‘The far portals were lost, Sandcliff was all but destroyed and any means I had to get back to Durham was gone for ever.’
‘The far portal Steven found in Colorado-’
‘Was one of two we used to travel back and forth.’
‘Where was the other?’
‘In Prince Marek’s royal chambers at Welstar Palace in Malakasia – the lion’s den. I think Nerak placed it there. And I know in my heart that he remains involved to this day. He protects it. He is there. I can feel him, even from here, I can feel him there, laughing at me.’
‘Why not confront him? It’s been so long. Why not go and tell him of the baby, and ask for – demand, or, hell, steal the far portal if you have to?’
‘I was not permitted to go. It would have been suicide.’
‘Not permitted? What do you mean?’
‘Lessek.’ Contempt filled his voice.
‘You mentioned that name before.’ Hannah searched her memory for a moment before finding it. ‘That night – that first night when Churn carried you in. You said Lessek wouldn’t let you die? Why? First he wouldn’t let you confront Prince Marek, or Nerak, and now he won’t let you commit suicide. Why? What does he care?’
Alen shook his head grimly. ‘There must be something left for me to do.’
‘But it’s been so long – what could come up now?’
‘You, Hannah Sorenson. You and these men you talk about, Steven Taylor and Mark Jenkins. Obviously you have discovered the far portal; I imagine I am still here, in Middle Fork, after all these Twinmoons, because you were coming.’
Hannah shuddered. That could not be. It was too much for her deal with right now. A little frightened, she changed the subject. ‘You must have remarried.’
‘I did. I missed Pikan and Reia so badly that I felt as if I would turn to dust, but I had been touched by the gods once and I wanted it again.’
‘Love like Pikan’s?’
‘Oh no, I knew I would never find that again. No, I wanted children, lots of children.’ He managed a chuckle and his voice rose, lilting, as he said, ‘And I did have children, and they were wonderful.’
‘Jer?’
‘Jer was the last of my grandchildren, the last of eleven grandchildren.’
‘I don’t see how that’s possible.’ Hannah felt her scepticism rise once again.
‘I don’t care what you believe is possible or impossible, Hannah Sorenson. It has happened, and I am alone, and I will go with all haste to whatever end Lessek has chosen for me.’ He placed the empty mug on the floor at his feet. ‘I can only hope this is my chance to destroy Nerak, to look into his eyes as his life ebbs and remind him, one last time to echo through all eternity, that she loved me. She loved only me, never him.’
‘And then you can die?’
‘Killing Nerak will mean my death as well, but that’s fine.’ As an afterthought, he added, ‘If at all possible, I will try to send you home first.’
With that, Alen Jasper of Middle Fork rose, nodded pleasantly and strode from the room.
It took five days to work out how they would move against Malagon, and it was a stroke of exceedingly ironic good luck that brought them the answers they needed to the final nagging questions.
Before nightfall that first day, an elderly fisherman appeared at the next-door shack with a pile of nets. He sat outside on the beach, examining them closely, tugging at tiny knots and deftly stitching torn sections together with a length of thin twine and a wooden needle. After a while, Garec took a chance and went over to ask about the shanty they were using. Coins changed hands. The shack was used by a group of brothers who worked a tempine farm in Rona during the winter; they generally returned when the great schools of migrating fish moved north in the spring. A second coin ensured the fisherman’s silence about their presence – he appeared happy, almost amused, to keep silent. As night fell, he loaded and paddled a dilapidated rowboat out beyond the relative protection of the pier. He soon shrank to a point on the slate-grey horizon.