Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (14 page)

Chapter
Eight

Simert gazed around
until he faced Tika. A white eyebrow quirked.

‘There seems no need of
my services just now, child,’ he observed mildly.

‘No,’ Tika agreed. ‘I
was told you were once the god of death in this land, but having
met you in Kelshan, I wasn’t sure if you – erm – travelled, so to
speak.’

‘Well no one here has
called on me for a very long time, but technically speaking, it is
still my domain.’

‘Was it Sedka who drove
you out?’

‘Drove me
out?’

Smoke wisped around
Simert’s feet and the company simultaneously moved back a few
discreet paces. Tika felt a twinge of alarm but Simert appeared to
calm down.

‘A particularly obtuse
peasant, was Sedka,’ he said in a pensive tone. ‘Wanted every
single thing to conform to his rigid rules and straight lines. No,
he didn’t drive me, or any of the others, away. He kept the people
so busy, they had no time to consider their lives for themselves.
Dawn until dusk, they had to work at regulated tasks, every single
one of them, poor dears. A few old ones, or those who were ill,
they remembered and spoke to us. But once they’d gone, no one
did.’

‘So who’s been
collecting the souls since you left?’

Simert shrugged. ‘That
Crazed One took a few thousand I think, then he lost interest. But
I don’t know what he might have done with them. He doesn’t
understand the dead, do you see?’

‘There seem to be no
ghosts here,’ Tika said, feeling the conversation was already far
beyond reality.

Simert gave a gusty
sigh. ‘’Course not. The Crazed One doesn’t do ghosts. The ghosts
that were here in my time, well, they’ve long faded now.
Occasionally, one of my lot asks to come here, but they don’t like
it much. Too lonely.’

‘If people call on you
again – talk to you – would you come back?’

Simert’s smile was sad.
‘I’ve never really been away child. I’d always hear them
call.’

He faded rapidly from
sight.

‘Oh damn. I wanted to
ask him about the other gods.’

‘Couldn’t you just call
him back?’ A rather bemused Babach suggested.

Tika regarded him. ‘He
was in a remarkably good temper just then Babach. I don’t think he
would be quite so pleasant if I called him again so quickly, just
to ask questions.’ She looked at her unusually quiet company. ‘I
think we should be careful about mentioning – his – name, for
now.’

Dog snorted. ‘At this
rate, we’ll all end up such nicely mannered lords and ladies, no
one will ever believe we’re engineers and guards.’

‘No chance anyone
mistaking you for a lady, Dog,’ Corim grinned.

She leered at him and
his grin faded. Essa chuckled and hauled Dog off to the lake side,
one long arm draped over the engineer’s shoulders.

Volk called for guards
to ride out on the horses not exercised that morning and started
after them to the stables. He paused beside Tika, black beady eyes
boring into hers.

‘I had forgotten him,’
he told her. ‘Old grandmothers’ tales when I was a lad. Never
thought much about them.’

‘Perhaps you should
start thinking about them.’

When Volk nodded, and
would have walked on, she caught his arm.

‘Please Volk, any of
them you do remember, like – him, tell me about them? It could be
important.’

A fine drizzle began
near dusk, driving the company into the building. In the hall their
small number made the room seem over large, even with Farn present.
Tika was by a window, idly watching the darkening lake when pale
wings sped past. She had a brief glimpse of brown and cream
feathers, then it was out of sight. She was not surprised therefore
when a man in early middle age entered the hall from the kitchen.
He met Tika’s gaze then glanced to Volk. At Volk’s nod, the man
walked over to Tika.

‘I am Sabel, Lady. I
come from the Menedula.’

Tika noticed he was
trembling slightly and suggested they sat with the others, nearer
the fire. Sabel sat with a sigh of relief.

‘Your report.’ Volk’s
deep rumble ordered.

‘Three more groups came
in during today – altogether about eight hundred people. All
adults, no children, no elders.’ Sabel shivered. ‘And no one
talking. All those people and no chatter, not a word.’

The company listened
intently.

‘We managed to locate
Dromi. Hesla had dropped him on one of the top balconies and by
great good fortune, it led into the rooms the bitch Finn Rah is
using. Most of the talk, he said, was about getting to the
Balance.’

Volk growled. ‘That
evil thing! It should have been destroyed as soon as Sedka
died.’

Tika was startled. ‘Are
you talking about the Weights of Balance?’ she asked.

‘Aye. Wicked things
now.’

Even Babach looked
astonished. ‘But how do you know of them?’ he asked. ‘I heard
nothing of them until I was made an Offering. Even then, I have
never seen them.’

Volk scowled. ‘They
were there long before Sedka’s rule. I don’t know where they’re
supposed to have come from, or why they exist. Stories say, they
were a harmless oddity. People used to visit and leave little
tokens for luck. Then Sedka came to power and the Weights were shut
away. Our stories say that Sedka gained some sort of power over
them, or the other way about. And it is also said that the Weights
helped him gain such complete control over all the people so
quickly. ’Cept the Old Bloods of course.’

Tika got up and prowled
restlessly round the table. ‘You say they were harmless in the
beginning Volk. Could people touch them?’

‘Oh yes. People would
walk round and touch one of the Weights as they passed – for luck,
like I said.’

Tika met Sket’s eyes,
remembering poor Bark’s death.

‘Either Sedka
accidentally altered something about them, or,’ she shrugged. ‘They
couldn’t change themselves. They are just pieces of gold. I have
sensed only a distortion of time when I’ve been near any of them,
no active intelligence. Or even dormant intelligence for that
matter.’

‘But why are Finn Rah
and Ren so determined to get to the Weights?’ Shivan
asked.

‘Ren acted peculiar
from when we saw them,’ Essa put in. ‘He could barely hide his
anger when you closed them away.’

‘He and Finn Rah must
know much more about them. How to get them to do – whatever they
do,’ Shea offered.

Tika noticed she was
sitting on a pile of blankets: she suspected Shea might not be too
keen to ride horseback again any time soon.

‘I thought Babach was
more – senior, than Finn Rah? Why don’t you know about these
Weights?’ Shea continued, looking at Babach.

Babach spread his hands
palms up. ‘I was raised to Offering quite young – about the same
age as Ren. But I found being an Offering was nearly all about
administration – no time for all my students, or my own studies.
Cho Petak had been Sacrifice since long before I was born and was
held in awe by all for his skills, especially for extending his own
life span so spectacularly. I asked him if I might be released to
become an Observer. He was very kind to me, very understanding, and
I was allowed to step down at once. I rarely saw him after that,
and Finn Rah even less.’

He stopped and his
listeners knew he was thinking of Ren, his once beloved student and
apprentice. Tika made up her mind abruptly.

‘I will far seek
tonight.’ She held up her left hand, Garrol’s ring winking on her
thumb, to quell the objections. ‘Farn can travel with my mind. So
can Shivan. They will pull me back if the need should
arise.’

She caught sight of
Beela at the kitchen door and waved her in. ‘If food is ready, so
are we.’

There was muttering
among the companions which Tika refused to acknowledge. She
understood that, for many and various reasons, those who had chosen
to throw in their lot with hers, felt useless when she attempted
travelling with her mind. They would much rather face the monsters
that had appeared in Kelshan, than sit by her apparently
unconscious body. Tika would in fact prefer Kija and Brin to be
here to support her in what she planned to attempt.

But she hadn’t tried to
reach their minds, knowing that they did need a little time to
themselves occasionally. Sket kept the others from her now. He’d
had to sit by, often enough, when Tika did these things. He found
it hard, but he had more understanding of what she was doing than
these new companions. Only Khosa approached, curling into a ball on
Tika’s lap and purring softly.

Instead of going to the
smaller rooms they’d been using as bedrooms, every one of the
company, and the few remaining Old Bloods, brought blankets back to
the hall tonight. Konya set out a pile of pillows near the fire and
left a quilt neatly folded beside the makeshift bed. The muted
conversations ceased entirely when Tika settled on the pillows and
let Shivan throw the quilt across her legs. Farn reclined by her
head and Khosa lay against her arm.

Tika took one last
glance at the worried faces surrounding her and closed her eyes.
Shivan sat cross legged by her feet, head bowed, and let his mind
slide free, to tag onto Tika’s. Farn’s mind felt far stronger to
Shivan than he’d yet felt it, but to Tika it felt utterly familiar
as Farn bolstered her mental strength.

Tika’s mind sped south,
under a sky thick with dark clouds. She had the odd sensation of
darting between fat raindrops, and wished she could laugh
aloud.

‘No need to go so
fast.’

She felt Farn’s murmur
brush her thoughts but paid no heed. The great black building was
suddenly beneath her and she let her mind drift around the topmost
floor. Sabel had reported that Dromi was in a room with a balcony,
but she could see four balconies.

Shivan whispered: ‘The
one on the end.’

She wondered briefly
how he knew that, then floated towards that particular balcony. The
room within was brightly lit and Tika’s mind hovered by the tall
glass doors. She saw several people inside, a couple of faces
vaguely familiar from the Oblaka, but she was searching for only
three. A child with white blonde hair strode into view, her face
flushed with temper and violet eyes surrounded by silver, blazing.
She gesticulated wildly but Tika couldn’t hear any words. She
examined the glass doors until she felt Shivan’s mind pushing hers.
Annoyed, she followed his silent instruction and simply pushed
herself through the glass. Her mind gave a slight lurch, an
unpleasant sensation, but then she was inside the room.

‘Ren is a fool,’ Mena
was screaming. ‘He said he’d been shown how to move from place to
place, leagues apart. How many times has he tried today, to go only
a few paces past this wall?’

‘He must have misheard
the instructions.’ Finn Rah sounded exhausted and
annoyed.

‘If he really knew in
the first place,’ Mena snapped back. ‘Like I said, he’s a fool. Why
isn’t he still trying?’

Tika saw Finn Rah,
seated at the large table, her head propped on her hand.

‘He collapsed again,’
was her short reply.

Mena marched to the
wall where the concealed door led to the Weights of Balance and
pounded her fists against the black stone. She spun back to move
closer to Finn Rah. The child stood across the table, hands on hips
and glared at the woman.

‘And Babach. How could
you let him go like that?’

Finn Rah shook her head
wearily. ‘He was dead. You saw the armsman strike him down and that
creature take him in her mouth. Surely she will have eaten him by
now.’

‘No!’ Mena shrieked,
leaning on the table and pushing her face close to Finn Rah’s. ‘You
are so stupid compared to him,’ she hissed.

Tika saw Finn Rah’s
eyes widen in shock at Mena’s words.

‘There were things in
that old man’s head he didn’t even realise. And you managed to let
him go.’

Tika felt both Farn and
Shivan tugging at her, insistently. It was always difficult to
judge time when she was far seeking so she guessed that Farn felt
she had been gone from her body long enough. But she wanted just a
little longer. The door was open and Tika’s mind sped out and down,
down to the landing which overlooked the great hall. She hovered
there, staring over the ornate balustrade.

Hundreds of people lay
in unmoving rows, neatly spaced. Shadows flowed and flickered over
and round the people before scuttling back to the darker patches
against the walls. It looked like a constant tide, shadows emerging
and retreating, and all the while the people lay still as corpses.
But Tika knew they still lived, although she felt it would be far
better for them if they were in fact dead.

Farn and Shivan ran out
of patience and Tika was dragged, in a wild swirling maelstrom,
back to her own cold, shivering body. She opened her eyes and saw
Sket’s relieved face hanging above her. Tika tried to sit up but
she was so cold she could barely move. Sket slid between her and
Farn’s chest and wrapped the quilt tight around her.