Drogoya: Book 3 Circles of Light series (12 page)

‘Finn Rah,’ Sarryen
managed.

‘Yes. Come. As
promised, there is safety in the Oblaka. Arryol release your
shielding, others are covering you for the moment, and help Sarryen
inside.’ The Offering studied Volk and his daughter, the jade green
in her silver eyes glittering with amusement. ‘It may be a tight
squeeze, but we will get you inside too Goodmaster
Volk.’

Sarryen woke to find
herself in a tiny stone room, just big enough to hold the narrow
pallet on which she lay, a small table and a stool. A lamp glowed
on the table and looking round as she pushed herself upright, she
realised there was no window. She rubbed her hands over her face
and through her hair, finding that someone had undone her braid.
Her disorientation vanished as memory flooded back. Finn Rah was
here. Sarryen remembered seeing her outside, then she had been led
stumbling, and at one point, crawling, through cracks in the rock.
Then nothing, until now. But she was safe. She was in, or rather,
under, the Oblaka. The door opened and Finn Rah squeezed into the
tiny room.

‘I thought you had
awoken.’ She smiled, handing Sarryen a bowl of tea. She sat on the
stool and watched the Kooshak sip. ‘You have slept two days. We
thought it best, after what you had to do.’

Sarryen shivered,
remembering.

‘Stay in bed if you
wish,’ Finn began, but Sarryen shook her head.

‘No thank you. I would
like to know more of this place.’

Finn Rah smiled again.
‘I suspected that you might. One of the students will come and show
you where to wash and get more tea. When you have had a good look
around, she will bring you to me.’

‘Volk and his family?’
Sarryen asked suddenly. ‘They can stay here too can they
not?’

‘Well of course they
can. Volk began doing various errands for Observer Chakar when he
was a small boy – difficult as that may be to imagine now.’ She
grinned wickedly. ‘We feared that he and his daughter were stuck
fast a couple of times on the way in. But the joy of having an
expert cook.’ Finn rolled her eyes in bliss.

‘Volk’s
daughter?’

‘No, no. The beanpole.
I swear he could make a feast from oatmeal and turnips.’ Finn Rah
rose. ‘Melena will be along shortly, and I will see you
later.’

The student Melena
arrived with a pile of clothing, brushes and combs, small rounds of
different coloured and scented soaps, and a shy smile.

‘Kooshak Arryol is in
the infirmary. We have five badly burned patients still whom our
healers are struggling to help. Already Kooshak Arryol has done a
great deal for them.’

‘While I have been
lying about in bed.’ Sarryen said in a tone of self disgust. She
pushed away the quilt and put her feet on the floor.

‘Oh no. Oh Kooshak
Sarryen, I was not criticising.’ Melena looked aghast.

Sarryen studied the
girl. She was very young indeed, yet her eyes were already silvered
around grey pupils. Sarryen patted the bed beside her, and Melena
sat nervously.

‘You do not need to be
formal child. I am a Kooshak, yes, but my name is just Sarryen,
which is what I prefer to be called.’

‘But you are Kooshak,’
Melena argued. ‘You could be an Offering.’

Sarryen sighed. ‘Some
have those kinds of ambitions child. I knew from the time I entered
the Menedula as a student that I wished to be a Kooshak – to travel
the land, meeting the people. I could never have endured being
confined to the Menedula for years at a time – it was hard enough
being a student enclosed there. So. I am Sarryen, and you are
Melena. Tell me what is your field of study, then tell me what
befell the Oblaka while I dress.’

‘Shall I brush your
hair Koo – Sarryen?’ Melena asked, watching Sarryen sort through
the heap of clothes.

Without looking at the
girl, Sarryen touched her mind gently and found a genuine need to
be of service within the child. She handed her a brush.

‘No one has brushed my
hair for me since I left home for the Menedula,’ she smiled. ‘It
would be wonderful if you would do it for me now.’

Sarryen was amazed by
the extent of the caverns which Melena showed her. She encountered
Volk in the common room. staring morosely into a bowl of
tea.

‘Had to leave my horses
loose on the hill,’ he grumbled. ‘Probably get theirselves
eaten.’

A student bringing
Sarryen some hot food, grinned. ‘Master Volk is going to show us
the arts of brewing later today,’ he told Sarryen.

Volk brightened
fractionally. ‘Which of these caves will I be able to use then?’ he
asked. He heaved his bulk out from behind the table and rolled
after the student.

When Sarryen had eaten
enough, Melena led her along the passages to Chakar’s sitting room,
and left her at the door. Entering at Finn Rah’s call, Sarryen
joined the Offering beside the hearth. She smiled at
Finn.

‘I am truly astonished.
I guess the whole cliff is composed of the amalgam which deflects
magic?’

Finn Rah nodded. ‘To
any inquisitive minds, there is only a small area of the rock –
where it is exposed to the surface directly above this room. The
rest is hidden beneath a considerable depth of soil – thus
undetectable.’

A silence fell between
them Finally Sarryen stirred. ‘Cho Petak is the instigator of this
turmoil, is he not?’ she asked quietly.

Finn removed her gaze
from the fire’s twisting flames. ‘He is, and there is a very great
deal I have to tell you, my dear.’

Finn Rah finally
stopped speaking and Sarryen sat, maps and parchments on her lap
and around her feet, trying to grasp the immensity of all she had
been told.

‘You do not know if
Babach survived?’ was all she felt able to ask.

Finn stretched her arms
above her head. ‘No word from the Night Lands for sixteen days.’
She grimaced. ‘The Plavat, Baryet, said his mate was nesting, so it
would be difficult even for Chakar to persuade him to fly here
again.’

‘And there really is no
other way we could contact them?’

‘No one can travel so
far with their minds – at least, no one here. I have to assume that
Cho Petak can either use mind travel so powerfully, or he has a way
quite unthought of by us.’

‘And he would know at
once what we attempted.’

Finn nodded. ‘To try
mind contact, we would have to leave this shelter to escape the
shielding. Thus exposing our presence instantly.’

Sarryen rescued a
parchment that had rolled beneath her chair. ‘Would these people
send one of their Dragons? Chakar says they have a vast
intelligence, including knowledge of much magic. Could one of them
reach here in safety?’

‘I would not dare to
guess, having no idea of their capabilities other than what Chakar
has written. Her owl went with Babach,’ she added
irrelevantly.

‘Her owl?’

‘Hmm. Sava. Chakar
always had an owl, even at the Menedula. Odd birds. This one made
such a fuss and eventually clung to the first cloak we had wrapped
around Babach. We just wrapped another around them both. Poor thing
was probably smothered on the first day.’

‘Could no other bird
make the journey?’

Finn put a log on the
fire and added a few pieces of coal. ‘Have you ever seen a Plavat?’
she asked.

‘Well, no. I know only
that they are large, and predatory, and spend most of their lives
in the air.’

Finn snorted. ‘I can
promise you they are very large. They have tempers as foul as a
bear’s breath, and why Chakar adopted one is beyond all rational
thought.’

‘Except at this moment,
that misguided whim has proved to be our one piece of luck,’
Sarryen pointed out.

Finn wiped her hands on
her trousers and sat back in Chakar’s armchair. ‘Arryol has little
gift for mind travel. He is a healer beyond compare, but that is
also his limitation. Your talents are much wider Sarryen. I need
you to work with me on all these appalling problems.’

Sarryen smiled
ruefully. ‘Where shall I start?’

‘Everything relating to
the Night Lands is in this room. I have two students trying to sort
their way through the most hideous jumble of texts in one of the
chambers along this passage.’ She frowned in thought. ‘I will send
Lyeto to you. He is highly intelligent and I believe Chakar had
hopes for him as her successor here. It is nearly supper time. Come
with me to the common room and we will eat. I have made a habit of
staying there for the remainder of the evenings and just talking
with our few survivors. I will tell Lyeto to join you back here. He
understands some of these papers far better than I do.’

Sarryen liked Lyeto
immediately and understood why Chakar saw so much promise in the
young man. The delay in ageing, which came into effect as eyes
became silvered, would keep him looking young for many more years,
as too would Melena. Sarryen guessed that she herself looked to be
in her mid thirties when in reality she was nearer three times that
age. Lyeto looked less than twenty, and Finn had told Sarryen he
was only a year or so older in truth.

On entering Chakar’s
sitting room, Lyeto went straight to swing the kettle over the fire
to make tea. He shrugged sheepishly when he caught Sarryen’s raised
brow and smile.

‘Offering Finn seems to
exist on tea, Kooshak Sarryen. Since I have been working with her,
making sure there is a constant supply has become second nature.
Although, she may be happier now that Master Volk is to begin
brewing.’

Sarryen stared hard at
him but his expression remained innocent.

‘Where to begin?’ She
waved her hand at the table and its pile of books, scrolls and
loose papers.

‘Kooshak,’ Lyeto began,
saw Sarryen’s scowl and inclined his head. He started again:
‘Sarryen, we need to know what is happening in this land before we
risk reaching out to the Night Lands. To do that, I need to be
outside and Finn Rah expressly forbids any of us to leave this
shelter. Kooshak Arryol will only say that a madness spreads
through all of Drogoya, and Finn Rah has not said a great deal
more.’

Sarryen chewed her lip.
‘You had heard of the way many people’s eyes became red and they
became insane?

Lyeto
nodded.

‘Did Finn tell you what
she witnessed in the Menedula?’

Lyeto nodded again, but
more doubtfully. ‘I think she did not tell us all of it. Chakar has
long taught us to beware of Cho Petak, Sacrifice though he is.’ He
paused. ‘Is Cho Petak truly the monster that both Chakar and Finn
Rah have suggested?’

Sarryen’s violet and
silver eyes held his gaze. ‘Far, far worse than either they or any
of us could ever have imagined.’

Chapter
Eight

Two days from Far,
travelling north west, Tika’s party could still see the last peaks
of the Spine Mountains behind them. Farn and Brin flew on with
their riders and checked a tiny oasis several leagues further, then
turned back to where the konina riders had camped. They carried
enough water for six days, if they used it sparingly, but
confirmation of a place where fresh water could be found comforted
them all.

Storm clouds had loomed
during the evening of the first day, but no rain fell and the land
around them began to have a strange ashen appearance. A few
desiccated bushes clung to the thin soil, but there was a deadness,
an eeriness, about the area they were entering. They made a fire,
using some of the brittle bushes, but did not bother with tents,
all except Ren and Maressa being used to sleeping under the
stars.

‘How far ahead is the
water?’ Pallin asked.

‘A day and a half for
you,’ Brin replied. ‘You could rest when we reach it for a day
while Farn and I search ahead again.’

Both Gan and Tika
regarded the huge crimson Dragon with suspicion. His eyes whirred
an innocent rosy hue. Olam did not miss a thing.

‘You would only need to
be gone a short while of course?’ he asked.

‘Of course.’ Farn
replied before Brin could speak, his eyes gleaming in the
firelight. ‘We fly so much faster than your koninas can
travel.’

Tika noted a certain
annoyance from Brin, but made no comment. Whatever mischief he
might have planned, had been effectively curtailed by Farn’s
boastful comment.

Olam’s group made less
distance the second day than they had hoped: a wind raced up from
the south, hurling thin soil, grit and sparkling salt crystals
against them. They hastily erected two tents and crowded within,
grateful for any shelter. The wind died away in mid afternoon and
Olam decided they should ride on until full dark. The land was
flat, they had seen no real obstacles in their path to cause the
koninas to fall or stumble, so he reckoned it was safe to
continue.

Brin had recognised the
twirling dust tendrils and had led Farn quickly out of the storm’s
path. They watched and waited until it ceased, then flew on again.
Maressa bespoke Ren to ensure that he and his companions were
unharmed.