Free The Sleeper Sword by Elaina J Davidson

trap, a sorcerous prison
employing the Dragon symbol to call and dupe his quarry, and
Key-ler, Keeper of the Keys, locked it.
    The long years
of waiting, training, uncertainty, the suspicion and taunts from
non-Creed, had taken toll by that terrible night, but finding the
Dragon-man was not only the Vallorin, but the Enchanter, shocked
him. His personal foundations cracked wide to throw him into the
abyss. For a time he was lost. He had not existed, except as a
heart beating.
    The charm, the
presence, the emotion of Torrullin pulled him out and the
Enchanter’s attempt to take on an entire nation’s suffering, to
spare them and to share it, created new foundations, rock steady
and solid. Caltian smiled as he spit the grass out. In Torrullin he
rediscovered who he was and became more. Their time was short and
intense, not enough to know the man, but enough to know himself.
And the six months they spent marauding about the universe after
the Dragon’s death taught him much about others. Lessons were
learned.
    The Enchanter
sacrificed himself and with him, choosing of his own will to die,
went the charismatic Vannis, Torrullin’s beloved grandfather. He,
Caltian, was here on Luvanor at the time, attending to humans
evacuated from Valaris. There was no opportunity to thank his
Vallorin for restoring his faith in life and in his people.
    With hindsight
he knew Torrullin deliberately sent him out of harm’s way and if he
examined Torrullin’s last words, he knew the Enchanter had spoken
his farewell, understanding there would be sorrow after and had
touched his mind to impart peace.
    Lessons were
unlearned. He lost surety of premise on hearing the terrible news.
A wanderer since, looking for something to give his life meaning.
For a time he grounded in falling in love with Mitrill after she
gave birth to Tannil. It was a short-lived grounding. Mitrill did
not love him - in him she found someone who knew Torrullin, a man
safe and acceptable to take as partner.
    At the time he
had not realised, did not yet understand Mitrill carried flame for
Torrullin, but after the birth of their daughter Fay, he came to
see she did not need him as he needed her. He rarely saw her now
and when he did return to Valaris it was to spend time with his
daughter.
    He was a
wanderer, travelling Luvanor, going offworld, and he no longer
found joy in the unexpected. He did not like the person he evolved
into.
    The first step
to change was made there on a boulder.
    He rose, and
made his way down the lane. I have Key-ler to thank for reaching
out to me from beyond the grave. All I need now is courage.
    Caltian halted
in the centre of the lane.
    Courage to
choose a new road. To make the hard decisions.
    Forgive
myself. Done.
    End my
marriage. It would take more than courage to face the
self-possessed Mitrill, but this deadness was unhealthy.
    He would spend
more time with Fay on Valaris. Perhaps in helping her shape a
future, he would shape his own.
    Minutes later
he strolled in under the arch of the Academia’s imposing entrance,
and stood a moment to watch. The Brothers scurried, some arguing
about interpretation of some literary work, others walking with
eloquent fingers in the air punctuating their thoughts. Key-ler had
loved it.
    He gazed at
the building. It was an exact replica of the original, but its soul
was profoundly changed. Today it was open-minded and there were no
Web Overlords to dampen the flames of truth.
    It became what
its name implied, the Academia of Truth, and today dealt in matters
magical also. Here all the nuances of Torrullin and Vannis’s
remarkable lives were examined and chronicled. Here Torrullin’s
father, Taranis of the Guardians, was further immortalised in works
of universal note. Here the tangled tale of Millanu, Torrullin’s
mother, wife to Taranis, daughter of Vannis, was brought together
and made whole for the future Valleur. Her tale began beyond the
Rift, another universe, another world.
    Caltian’s
heart