Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (13 page)

Khosa jumped out of
Tika’s arms and stalked away, tail fluffed upright to emphasise her
annoyance.

‘Where did Kija go with
that wretched Hag?’ Shivan asked when Tika declined to explain her
reasons for sneaking out of the building.

‘I have a nasty feeling
they are going to do as much damage to any Plavats they find as
they possibly can.’

‘What exactly are
Plavats?’ Rhaki asked in all innocence.

Tika formed a picture
and sent it into his mind.

He paled. ‘They are
real?’

Tika ignored the
question. ‘I think we should try to find out exactly what’s
happening in the Menedula,’ she said. ‘I’m not sure if either Ren
or Finn Rah can shield themselves.’ She glanced at Rhaki. ‘Can you
shield?’

After a brief thought,
Rhaki nodded.

‘The Dragons can; they
are probably better at shielding a large area than I
am.’

‘I would suggest we
keep this place as our base for now.’ Shivan spoke diffidently,
still not sure of his position among Tika’s company. She nodded for
him to expand his suggestion.

‘We established, in
both Kelshan and Karmazen, that you seem to be the main target for
the Crazed One. The further you are physically from him or any
fragments of the Kingdom, the better.’

‘But - ’

‘You can far see, Tika,
or you could actually over fly the Menedula with Farn, provided you
fly high enough.’ Shivan looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘Or you
could watch through my eyes if I over flew the place. Yes, that
would be safer.’

Tika glared at him and
began walking along the side of the building, the two men trailing
her.

‘Safer!’ she exploded.
‘There is nothing and nowhere that is particularly safe, haven’t
you realised that yet?’

She strode round the
corner and came to an abrupt halt.

‘I thought I heard your
voice.’ Konya smiled sweetly and held out a bowl.

Tika took the bowl
without a word, hearing a low chuckle behind her. She drank the
potion down in one go and managed not to gag. She threw a withering
glance over her shoulder and marched on to join Sergeant Essa who
was standing by the edge of the lake. Essa smiled, her purple teeth
reminding Tika, as always, of Seela. The huge woman stretched, then
rolled her shoulders. Tika suddenly laughed.

‘I thought Hag would
get really annoyed when you said she was a clever old
bird.’

Essa frowned, her thick
dark brows meeting to form one line above her eyes.

‘Why would she? I meant
it.’

Tika stared. Essa’s lip
twitched.

‘You nearly believed me
as well, didn’t you?’

A bugling bass call
rang down and they looked up to see Brin spiralling down to land
close by. Tika put her fists on her hips and glared at
him.

‘How could you go off
like that?’ she demanded. ‘Have you any idea how I’ve
worried?’

Brin actually managed
to look abashed. ‘I assure you, there was no danger,’ he
said.

Essa rolled her eyes.
‘No danger?’ she repeated. ‘Didn’t you notice the air turned
bad?’

‘I flew very high Tika,
I found no problem with the air.’ He hurried on before he could be
scolded any more. ‘There is definitely something very wrong in that
black building. I felt minds trying to reach mine several times,
although no one could have seen me then – it was the darkest part
of the night.’

Brin’s words were heard
among Tika’s people, his mind voice open to all. Shivan approached
with Rhaki.

‘Who has powers strong
enough to act as a seeker?’ he asked.

Tika shook her head.
What did she really know of Ren’s strengths? She remembered he had
once said he was strongest in manipulating the powers of earth and
fire. And what had he said of Finn Rah? Earth and air, that was it.
So, two of them, both strong in earth powers. Could they have
caused the ground to tremble yesterday? Her thoughts were
interrupted as Volk and six of her companions, including Shea, rode
from the trees. She hid a smile when Shea dismounted, very
awkwardly.

‘Volk said the horses
should be exercised,’ Sket murmured behind her. ‘Shea thought it
might be fun to try to ride a horse.’

Sergeant Essa chuckled.
‘I’ll wager she eats the noon meal standing up.’

They watched Shea limp
after the other riders, leading her horse to the stables. Brin
waited patiently for further questions. Tika found it impossible to
stay cross with the great Dragon. Nearly as old as Kija, son of one
of the wisest creatures she had met, Brin was still as impulsive
and eager for adventure as Storm or Farn. She reached to hug
him.

‘Did you feel any
suggestion that the seeking mind could be Ren?’

Brin considered her
question. ‘There was more than one mind Tika, and I felt no
familiarity.’

‘How many more than
one?’

‘I cannot say – it may
have been four, but it could well be only two.’ His prismed eyes
whirred a rosy pink. ‘Where are Kija and Storm?’

‘They’ve gone with Hag
to look for Plavats,’ Farn told him.

‘Really?
Where?’

‘Back to the
Oblaka.’

Brin was already in the
air and heading west. Tika groaned and turned to Farn.

‘Are you sure you don’t
want to go with him?’

‘Of course I’m sure. I
will stay to protect you and all our friends.’

Tika looked at him, a
smile spreading across her face. Those last words had an echo of
the old, over confident Farn. He ducked his head to press his face
against her shoulder affectionately.

‘I don’t understand the
different way power is used here,’ Rhaki spoke slowly. ‘Things
you’ve spoken of – shielding, mind speech, far seeing, and to a
certain extent, Babach’s dream walking – I am familiar with. But I
get the feeling this man Ren uses power differently.’

Tika nodded. ‘The
Drogoyans define their mage talents in connection with one or more
of the elements. You should talk to Babach; so should I really, as
I only know what Ren told me and I have to doubt the full truth of
that now. Ren’s connection was with earth and with
fire.’

She watched Rhaki
absorb that small piece of information and was not surprised when
she saw him nod.

‘Earth,’ he
said.

‘And I think Finn Rah
is also strong in earth powers but I’ll have to check with
Babach.’

‘What of this child
you’ve mentioned?’

Tika shrugged. ‘I felt
nothing in her. But her eyes have silvered. It happens when mage
talents develop here, but only here. I’ve never come across it
elsewhere.’

‘But yours have
silvered, and you are from Sapphrea,’ Rhaki pointed out.

‘I know. There was an
illness that began in Vagrantia – a place far south west of
Gaharn,’ she explained in response to Rhaki’s blank face. ‘Most
people went mad and died, but those who survived found their eyes
had changed. There was no change to the power in me
though.’

‘So when did it happen
to the child?’

Tika frowned. ‘Kadi
said it was after she was taken to the Menedula.’

‘So it could be a trick
of the Crazed One,’ Shivan put in.

‘It always comes back
to that,’ Tika sighed.

It was sometime after
the midday meal when Volk sought out Tika.

‘Hesla says there is a
lot of activity started around the Menedula,’ he told
her.

Well now, Tika thought,
she hadn’t noticed a small hawk around, but obviously Hesla was
working hard to keep her people informed.

‘What sort of
activity?’

‘She said there are
many more people there. She has gone to see if she and several of
her cousins can work out where the people are coming from. As far
as she could estimate she watched about five or six hundred come in
through the town of Syet, and go straight in to the
Menedula.’

Tika stared at
him.

‘That’s why she
summoned cousins. These people are arriving in groups of at least a
hundred together.’

‘Do all of her – erm -
cousins take hawk form?’

Volk laughed. ‘No.
Small songbirds, field birds. They can get closer to people and
listen to their talk without anyone taking notice. But everyone
notices if a hawk comes unusually near.’

Tika could see what an
efficient spy system the Old Bloods could maintain.

‘It would be very
useful to hear what those people believe they’re doing.’

Volk laughed again.
‘Others are already inside, but obviously they need to be very
cautious. Hesla hopes to have first reports from them on her next
trip.’

‘Inside?’ Tika asked in
disbelief.

Volk regarded her
quizzically. ‘What creatures might creep within a house and you be
none the wiser?’ he asked, then answered his own question.
‘Spiders, mice, beetles.’

Tika could only gape at
him.

‘We do not remember why
our people can take other forms, but nearly all the animals of
these lands are represented among Old Bloods. And that means
beetles as well as bears.’

Tika’s mind whirled
with the implications this could hold. Was it some bizarre link to
the idea of gods, an idea she was getting more intrigued by?
Clearly the Old Bloods kept no records, living in constant fear of
discovery and persecution as they did. But perhaps they did have
records, hidden far away, where only a handful of those such as
Volk might know the location. Tika guessed that Volk at least, and
probably most of his people, would die before they allowed
themselves to be taken for questioning.

‘It will be dusk before
Hesla returns and then it may be another who comes. Hesla needs
rest.’

Tika tried to work out
distances. It had taken five days steady pace for the horses to
travel from the Menedula to the Blue Mirror lake. It was an
insignificant distance for the Dragons, but for a bird as small as
Hesla’s hawk form, it must be an exhausting journey.

Tika watched her three
ex Kelshan guards trying to teach the Dark guards the basics of
clan wrestling. She sat by the door of the building, wiping tears
of laughter from her face, as Essa took on all three Kelshans.
Whenever they got within arms length of Essa, they somehow found
themselves either flying over her head or flat on their backs on
the grass. And Essa wasn’t even out of breath. Someone sat next to
her and glancing round, she saw it was Babach. He looked far more
rested, so hopefully he had slept most of the morning. He watched
Essa for a while as the Kelshans grew slower and slower returning
to the fray.

‘There was definitely a
god of wisdom,’ he said eventually. ‘I just can’t remember the
name. And it was possibly female rather than male. Sorry. I’ll keep
trying. But,’ he gave Tika a look of modest triumph. ‘I have
remembered the god of death. Simert.’ He beamed and then became
alarmed as Tika paled.

‘Is something wrong,
child?’

‘Are you sure,
absolutely positive, that is his name?’ she managed to
ask.

‘Well yes, totally.
Once it popped into my head I remembered it clearly, and a couple
of stories about him. Would you like to hear the
stories?’

Tika shook her head
vigorously. Several of her company had noticed her agitation,
including Farn who surged through the people towards her, eyes
whirring sapphire and pearl in consternation.

Sket was the first to
reach her. ‘What is it? What’s wrong now?’

She gave a shaky laugh
and looked round for Shivan.

‘Guess who used to be
the god of death here in Drogoya?’ she asked generally.

Heads were shaken but
Shivan’s gold eyes narrowed.

‘You can’t be serious?
Simert?’ he sounded incredulous.

Babach scowled. ‘That
was definitely his name. I don’t understand your fuss.’

Tika laid a hand on his
arm in apology. ‘It’s just that the god of death in the lands far,
far south of Drogoya, is also known by that name.’

‘By the Light, that is
very odd.’ Babach frowned, trying to make sense of the
idea.

‘Could he have just –
moved?’ Dog offered. ‘You know, no temples here anymore, no
faithful followers.’ She shrugged. ‘Perhaps he just decided to set
up business somewhere else?’

Shivan gave a shout of
laughter. ‘There’s one way to find out,’ he suggested
provocatively.

Tika scowled at him but
she could just see the logic behind the idea. She stood up and put
her hands in her pockets.

‘Simert!’ she called
loudly.

A cone of smoke
appeared, widening at the base and rising. The smoke cleared and an
elderly, rather plump, pleasant faced man stood before them. He
turned in a slow circle on the spot.

‘My word. It’s been a
thousand years or more since I was last here.’