Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (43 page)

Shadows fell across the
entrance and two people came in, arm in arm. Farn’s eyes whirred
faster, the facets softest blue and pearl, and it was he who spoke
first.

‘Welcome back, Onion. I
am truly glad to see you are feeling better.’

There was affection in
his tone but no pity.

Dog led Onion to one of
the several couches and helped him lower himself onto it. She
looked around with a scowl.

‘Has our dear Captain
allowed the tea kettle to boil dry?’ she demanded, and went to the
tiny kitchen to rectify the matter.

Shea crossed to stand
by Onion’s knees, her head on one side as she studied his face. He
was very pale and had a white line straight across his cheek. There
was a circular pad, a dressing, over his right eye, held in place
by a strip of cloth which was tied behind his head. Finally Shea
grinned.

‘That patch is
definitely impressive,’ she announced. ‘It makes you look like a
pirate. We had a lot of pirates in Kelshan, you know.’

Onion’s lips twitched
into a faint smile and his remaining brown eye winked at her.
‘Never met any pirates.’

His voice wasn’t as
strong as usual, but it was steady. Shea gave him a look of wide
eyed innocence.

‘If you’ve got to rest
for a while, would you like a nice little game of snap-the-rat?’
she enquired.

‘Or riddles?’ Farn
suggested with enthusiasm.

It might have been
imagination but Rhaki thought Onion grew a little paler.

‘I think it’s probably
best if Onion just sits quietly and does nothing for now,’ he
suggested.

‘That’s exactly what
Senior Kollas said,’ Onion agreed rather too fast.

Before either Shea or
Farn could protest, voices were heard from without. Kemti caught
Rhaki’s eye and they both assumed blank expressions.

‘Such absolute bloody
nonsense, Sket,’ Tika was saying as she entered.

‘You were fooled by
that copy of her before,’ Sket argued.

‘So I would be careful
to make certain she is who she seems next time, wouldn’t I? You
scared her away before she’d told me everything.’

Sket stared at her. ‘I
scared Hag?’ he repeated in disbelief.

‘Yes you did,’ Tika
snapped back, then she saw Onion and her mood changed at once. She
sat beside him, reaching for his hand. ‘How do you
feel?’

‘Walking from the House
to here felt like an awful long walk,’ he had to confess. ‘And I
wobble; my balance feels wrong. And it itches.’

Tika
grinned.

‘I know,’ Onion
groaned. ‘Every healer I’ve ever had dealings with, says itching is
a good sign of healing.’ He lifted his right hand and cupped it
over his patch. ‘I just want to scratch it though.’

‘I can make you less
aware of the itching, but I wouldn’t stop it completely. If I did,
you also wouldn’t notice if you started to get pain
there.’

‘I’d be grateful to
have some of the itch gone Lady Tika. I’ll go mad for sure with it
as it is.’

Tika’s healing sense
touched the wound beneath the patch. It was healing cleanly and she
felt no hint of infection. She blocked most of the itching from
Onion’s awareness but noticed he had a fairly bad headache which
she also eased.

‘How long has your head
hurt?’ she asked.

‘Since I woke
up.’

‘Hmm. You are up and
about a bit soon, Onion. I don’t want to see you doing much, if
anything for a few days.’

‘Playing snap-the-rat
isn’t strenuous,’ Shea muttered from behind Tika.

Onion’s single eye
rolled towards the ceiling and Tika bit her lip. ‘Not strenuous,
no,’ she agreed. ‘But not a good idea when his one eye has to learn
to do the work for both now.’

Onion’s sigh of relief
was just audible.

‘What did Hag have to
say?’ Kemti asked.

Tika leaned back on the
couch beside Onion. ‘There is something getting to Hag. I admit she
frightened me the first time I really talked to her in Essa’s
village, but Shea was right. Besides having a vast power within
her, she’s a lonely old bird, and she seems to have taken a liking
to us.’

‘Fortunately,’ Shivan
added from the bedroom door.

‘Have you slept well
enough?’ Tika asked sternly.

‘Of course.’

‘Hag is upset about
what happened at Blue Mirror lake. She was even more upset when I
asked her about Shadow – I’m still not sure why. I think she’s
found out something about Cyrek which has really rattled her. But
she left,’ Tika glared at Sket again. ‘Before she told me
more.’

‘But we know we must be
on guard against Cyrek,’ Essa objected. ‘And you said that he
didn’t guess you knew of his treachery when you saw him
earlier.’

‘Would he have the
cheek to turn up here, Lady Tika?’

‘I don’t know, Fedran.
I knew Cyrek was powerful as soon as I met him, but I felt that
power was limited – less than yours for instance Kemti. Although
his talents are sharpened they have a different aim in view to
yours. There was something else in him when I saw him this
time.’

‘The Crazed One?’ asked
Shea, her hazel eyes quite flat and hard.

‘Probably.’ Tika
checked the members of her company. ‘Where are Navan and
Konya?’

‘Konya’s with Nesh, and
Navan’s rummaging through his maps,’ Kemti told her. ‘He’s obsessed
with them.’

‘Are you still banished
from your room?’

The Senior looked glum.
‘Emla thinks Something Will Have To Be Done. There are three nests
in there now and the females are quite extraordinarily
noisy.’

Khosa appeared
unexpectedly and leapt onto Onion’s lap.

‘You could have moved
them easily enough.’

Her mind voice was
definitely condescending in tone. She curled herself in a tidy
circle and began to purr soothingly for Onion’s comfort, well aware
that everyone waited for her to explain. She glanced over her
shoulder.

‘Think compulsion, my
dears. Compulsion.’

Kemti closed his eyes
and slapped his forehead. Tika was laughing.

‘What do you think
would be best, Volk?’ she managed to ask. ‘What would make those
crows believe Kemti’s bedroom is the worst possible place to build
their nests?’

Volk’s smile was the
widest she’d yet seen from him.

‘Do they know of
Plavats?’ he asked.

‘If they don’t, I’m
sure they’d realise immediately just how foul Plavats are.’ Kemti’s
grin was as broad as Volk’s. ‘An illusion, I think, Khosa, rather
than a compulsion. I shall go and do it at once. I think the moment
they leave, I will have to get in fast and shut that
window.’

Kazmat and Geffal also
got to their feet. ‘We’ll help you to – um – move the nests,’
Kazmat offered.

‘I hope the poor dears
never work out what you’ve done,’ Tika remarked. ‘Emla’s talking to
one now I think.’

She saw Dog nod towards
Onion and turned to find he was asleep. She eased off the couch and
took the blanket Dog already held, dropping it gently over the
engineer. Tika moved away so as not to disturb him. She ended up
beside Shivan.

‘I suggest we make an
attempt on the Splintered Kingdom very soon,’ he said
quietly.

The companions still
present froze, then drew closer to listen.

‘Why?’ Tika propped
herself on the window seat.

‘I watched you speak to
my people and I saw Cyrek. Then I tried to seek him, before you
came back upstairs. He had vanished.’

‘Did you follow his
mind signature?’

‘As far as one of the
night gardens, by the eastern wing of the Palace. Then he literally
vanished. He did not open a gateway. He was removed, whether by his
choice or not, I wouldn’t like to guess.’

‘And you are saying the
Crazed One moved him?’

‘Who else?’

Tika stood up. ‘I don’t
like not knowing what’s really going on any more than you do
Shivan. But perhaps you could remember that it will be me who makes
an attempt on the Splintered Kingdom, not us. And I have no
intention of doing so until I have much more idea of what I’ll have
to face.’ Her eyes were green ice, freezing any attempt Shivan
might have made to reply.

‘I want to speak to
Navan, and then to Emla. I’ll see you later.’

The silence held for
some time after Tika had gone. Volk gave a gusty sigh and ambled
off, presumably in search of his peculiar horse. Dromi went to a
small table where he had begun writing up his notes on Lady Tika’s
travels so far. Sket had drawn his sword and was wiping the blade.
It was ingrained habit since Shield Master Garrol had presented
Tika’s company with blood metal blades, cleaning and honing were
superfluous activities.

Provided the metal was
allowed to drink the tiniest drop of blood whenever it was drawn,
it needed neither sharpening nor cleaning. Sergeant Essa watched
Sket’s hands moving over the blade, keeping her gaze away from Lord
Shivan. Finally Shivan sat forward, elbows on his knees.

‘All right. I know that
came out wrong, but I meant neither presumption nor offence. I
never do.’

‘Nor do I.’

They all looked at
Farn. The young blue Dragon, soul bound to their lady Tika, shot a
nervous glance at Khosa, but she appeared to be asleep on Onion’s
lap. Farn’s voice was a sad murmur in their minds.

‘I was always saying
things that came out rude, but I never meant them as rude. I
offended many I fear, but I try very hard not to do it now. My
mother says that I must think what I’m going to say before I say
it, to make sure it’s right.’

Shivan gave a grunt of
laughter. ‘My parents, not to mention my teachers, have been
telling me the same thing for the last twenty years.’

Farn’s eyes flashed
with worry. ‘Twenty years? And you still haven’t learnt?’ He
sounded horrified.

Two heartbeats, three,
then people began to laugh aloud. Farn stared. Essa’s purple teeth,
that he so admired, were fully exposed as she leaned her head back
and roared. Dog was leaning in to Shea, both of them with watering
eyes. A reluctant smile was on Shivan’s face and a grin on Sket’s.
Sket laid aside his sword and went to stroke Farn’s
face.

‘You just did it again
my lad,’ he said fondly. ‘But you have been so much more tactful of
late, one slip is soon forgotten.’

Tika found Navan after
a detour to see how Kemti was getting on with the removal of the
three nesting Merigs. Kazmat and Geffal were leaning on the wall
opposite Kemti’s door. Kemti stood before that door, his eyes
unfocused as he conjured the illusion of not one but two Plavats
screaming and strutting within his room.

Plavats, birds standing
as tall as Farn and possessed of low intelligence and high temper,
were seriously unpleasant creatures. Judging by the hysterical
uproar inside the room, the Merig females were fighting back
furiously. Tika joined Kazmat and Geffal, probing within the
room.

She was astonished at
the strength, the realism of Kemti’s illusion. And appalled at the
state of the room. Glass shattered as a female Merig’s bony beak
swung too close to a window, but the battle was virtually lost. The
Merigs were beaten back, the illusory Plavats rushing after
them.

Tika admired the way
Kemti successfully made one Plavat give aerial chase while the
other strutted, shrieking, still inside the room. Tika jumped when
she heard an infuriated bellow.

‘Quick Kemti! Block the
windows up. The Dragons have seen the Plavat you sent out. When
they realise what you’ve done, so will those poor Merigs. And then
they’ll be back fast.’

Kemti opened the door.
Kazmat and Geffal followed him and Tika heard their muffled
chuckles as they barricaded the windows against enraged female
Merigs. Watching the men stumble and crunch their way over
scattered books and large twigs, Tika chose to leave them to it,
and continued on her way to Navan. He glanced up as she came into
his room and observed her smile.

‘That dreadful noise
isn’t anything to do with you I trust?’ he enquired.

‘Absolutely not,’ she
replied. ‘It’s just Kemti, getting his room back.

Chapter
Twenty-Four

Tika spent most of the
morning with Navan, strangely relaxed and comforted in his
presence. He too had been a Captain of armsmen, but those men
belonged to Lord Hargon of Return. Navan had been sent to hunt down
a runaway slave girl, but he had deliberately searched in the wrong
areas, giving her time to get into the Ancient Mountains. He’d had
small hope that she might survive in the wilds but he had not
wanted to see her returned to slavery.

Now, they talked of
those days, of Navan’s great grandmother Mayla, a slave herself,
who had secretly taught Tika the basics of reading and writing.
Tika felt easy with Navan, the same sort of feeling she had with
Sket. She knew that both men would die to protect her or help her,
and would be hurt and offended if ever she should thank them for
any service they did for her.