Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (49 page)

‘Not the same as those
villages in Drogoya,’ Sket commented at Tika’s shoulder.

‘No,’ Tika agreed. ‘I
don’t think this place is as abandoned as it appears.’

Sket gave her a sharp
look but she shook her head.

‘I sense nothing living
here, but I suspect the inhabitants are hiding from us.’

‘Hiding as in being
shielded?’ asked Shivan.

‘If it is a shield I
don’t recognise its form. Let’s just get on. I would like to be at
the two bigger buildings before nightfall.’

She looked up into the
sky and saw three tiny specks. Where had Brin got to?

‘It’s all very tidy,’
Shea observed. ‘And there seem to be only houses, no shops or
markets.’

Tika had noticed that
too, as their road led them in between more and more ranks of
buildings. They came clear of the houses onto a wide strip of
riverbank, dotted with flower beds, benches and small fruit trees.
Their road cut through this park like section and began to rise
into a smoothly arched bridge. Navan and Dromi peered over the low
sides of the bridge as they crossed, nodding to themselves. Navan
caught up with Tika as they began to descend the opposite
curve.

‘Amazing workmanship,’
he said. ‘The blocks of stone are fitted without mortar, perfectly
cut.’

Tika glanced to her
left and was dazzled as the low sun turned the river to a sheet of
gold. She blinked and looked directly ahead. She could just see the
curved roofs of two large buildings above the town. There was a
burst of clapping and heads turned sharply towards a wheeling flock
of birds. Essa pointed to one building on whose roof many birds
sat, warming themselves on the grey roof tiles. The flock that had
taken wing changed direction, and fluttered down to land on an
adjacent roof. Geffal was hanging over the side of the bridge with
Shea but they hurried to catch up with the others.

‘Huge fish in there. We
could have fish for supper,’ Shea said hopefully.

‘Rather have rabbit,’
Onion replied.

‘We had rabbit
yesterday, or was it today?’

Onion grinned. ‘My
stomach says it’s getting near a meal time, and never mind what day
it might be.’

Then he stopped in his
tracks, his hand over his eye patch as he hissed with pain. Tika
spun round, rushing back to him.

‘What is it Onion?’ She
probed the wound with her healing sense but found no hint of
infection or further injury. ‘What is it?’ she repeated.

‘It was like a flash of
lightning Lady, then colours. Very bright, clear, colours,
sparkling and glittering. It hurt when it started, then it stopped
hurting, and now it itches like crazy.’

‘Hmm. Tell us if it
happens again,’ Tika told him, turning away to continue along the
road.

‘Again? It might happen
again?’

‘Oh Onion!’ Shea hooked
her hand round his arm. ‘It wasn’t too bad, was it?’

Onion scowled down at
her. ‘Well it wasn’t pleasant.’

‘That isn’t the same as
bad though.’

Tika heard their
bickering but was concentrating ahead. She counted the rows of
houses they passed as she had on the other side of the river:
twenty-one rows, both sides. She could sense no human mind
signature, yet she was convinced there were people close by. Past
the last row of buildings was another stretch of short grass, like
the riverbank garden. And across the grass rose two large
buildings, facing each other and linked by a roofed
colonnade.

These buildings were of
the same pale grey as all the rest of the town, but here the stone
shivered, as though the light on it was like water, rippling gently
over the walls. There were no windows in the lower half of either
building, but above that height a plain metal-guarded balcony
extended outwards maybe two paces, and behind that were large
windows of the same odd shape as all the others they’d
seen.

Sergeant Essa moved
ahead between Geffal and Dog, and studied the two buildings. The
evening shadows were lengthening, and Essa also noticed that. She
turned back to Tika.

‘I would suggest we
wait until full daylight tomorrow before we go in there,’ she said
quietly. ‘We can camp along there.’ She gestured to her left.
‘Shadows from those buildings won’t reach us at that
point.’

Tika nodded her
agreement. ‘Only a small fire Sket. Rhaki, can you please conjure
light globes to last the night?’

She glanced round her
company and only then saw that Dromi and Khosa were missing. She
was checking again when there was a flurry of wings and Farn and
Kija landed on the grass close to Essa.

‘Brin and Storm are
where we arrived,’ Kija’s mind voice announced to them
all.

‘So someone will get
fish for supper at least,’ Shea muttered.

Konya slapped her while
Onion laughed. The company settled where Essa had suggested and sat
quietly around Sket’s tiny fire. Rhaki cast four light globes above
their heads which they found comforting although, as both Sket and
Essa pointed out, it completely ruined their night vision. When
full dark was upon them, with Kija one side of them and Farn the
other, Tika told everyone to get what rest they could. Rhaki made
his light globes fade to a mere glimmer.

‘I’ve set them to blaze
up if anything moves closer than twenty paces to us, all the way
round,’ he explained.

Tika lay back against
Farn, looking across their small camp to Kija.

‘Where have they gone
Kija?’

Kija’s eyes whirred a
buttery gold in the faint light. ‘Inside there of
course.’

‘Can you sense
them?’

‘No. Not from the
instant they went under that roof thing.’

‘I can’t feel them
either.’

Tika felt another mind
pushing against hers and knew Shivan was trying to bespeak her. She
opened her thoughts a fraction.

‘Have Dromi and Khosa
tried to get in there?’ he asked.

‘Yes.’

‘A little cat and an
even tinier spider.’

‘Shivan.’ Tika’s mind
tone was sharp. ‘Dromi risked his life in the Menedula, and Khosa
has done the same thing for me in both Sapphrea and in
Malesh.’

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t
mean to sound superior. I just wish there was something I could do
that would help.’

‘There will
unfortunately be plenty of opportunities for you Shivan, I’m sure
of that. Now try to rest.’

She closed her mind to
him and pulled a blanket tighter round her knees. Again she sent a
questing probe towards those building, and again, she could sense
nothing at all.

Chapter
Twenty-Seven

The night passed
uneventfully, but no one had slept well, anticipating trouble that
had never materialised. The sun was just above the roofs of the
town below them when Sket replaced the turf where his fire had
been. He brushed his hands free of dirt and fastened his pack
securely on his shoulders. Tika had briefly considered suggesting
she went in alone, but, seeing the set faces around her, abandoned
the idea. She settled her own pack firmly and checked that her
sword was loose in its scabbard.

‘I will lead,’ she told
them. ‘I would like Rhaki and Shivan spaced among you. If I yell,
do whatever I yell. That is most likely to be something like
“run”.’

She was glad to see
smiles glimmer briefly.

‘Wait for me, my dear
ones.’ She sent the thought to Kija and Farn, and was nearly
swamped by the wave of love and encouragement that poured from them
both.

Sket’s arm brushed hers
as he walked close by her side towards the colonnade. She paused a
few paces from the open sided corridor. They could now see, above a
flight of five steps, ornate oddly shaped doors in both buildings
which faced each other along the colonnade.

‘Left or right?’ asked
Dog.

Tika felt a slight
tingle in her left thumb, under Garrol’s ring. ‘Left.’

She moved as she spoke,
not under the roofed colonnade but alongside it until they had
reached the outer edge of the steps. Tika didn’t hesitate. Sket’s
boot hit the step at exactly the same instant as hers did, and they
were on the fifth step as Geffal and Kazmat took the first. Tika
stood before the double doors. They were wooden, carved with all
manner of plants: creepers, leaves, tiny fungi, trumpet shaped
blooms. She lifted both hands and held them, palms towards the
doors.

She used power not her
hands, to push gently and the doors swung inwards. The sun, low
over her left shoulder, penetrated only a short distance into the
doorway, offering little illumination. Tika reached for her power
but kept it well concealed: she did not want to appear to be
offering a threat to whoever hid within. She took a firm step
forward, across the threshold. Immediately, she felt the juddering
shudder she’d felt when Shivan opened the gateway here. Then it was
gone as quickly as she’d felt it, and so had the gloom beyond the
doors.

A man stood before her,
leaning on a slender staff of grey wood inlaid with silver. He
wasn’t very tall: Tika didn’t have to raise her head far to meet
his eyes. His head was an oval shape, high domed and hairless. Eyes
of a soft leaf green with gold pupils met hers steadily. Those eyes
tilted up at the outer corners, a shape she’d seen before. His skin
was a greyish green, smooth and unmarked. He wore a long tunic
which reached below his knees, leaving his lower legs and feet
bare. The tunic was belted with a linked silver chain. When he
opened his mouth to speak, Tika saw square white teeth, no tusks.
He spoke in a language Tika didn’t recognise but seeing her
incomprehension, he paused, then began again in the common
tongue.

‘We are surprised to
receive visitors to Skaratay, Lady, but if you come peacefully, we
offer you welcome.’

His voice was deep,
reminding her of Volk.

‘I am Chancellor
Konrik.’

Farn had become
impatient with waiting outside and now his long neck pushed between
Tika’s company to inspect the stranger, his prismed eyes flashing
shades of pale and dark blue. Chancellor Konrik showed no surprise
or alarm, indeed he gave a slight smile.

‘You too are welcome
here, child.’

‘I am Tika, daughter of
Kija and soul bond to Farn.’ Her hand brushed Farn’s chin and he
withdrew a little.

She found Konrik
regarding her with interest but he simply waited for her to
continue.

‘These are my friends
and companions, who have chosen to come with me on my –
search.’

She knew Konrik heard
her slight hesitation but decided it was his turn to bat the
conversational ball.

‘My master will receive
you shortly, if it is your desire to meet him. I’m afraid I would
prefer you to remove your weapons before I conduct you to his
presence.’

Before answering, aware
of the bristling of her companions, Tika took another step inside.
She saw she was in a smallish, unfurnished room, with another pair
of large double doors opposite and several small doors set in the
side walls: clearly a waiting area. But there were no guards, no
servants, only the Chancellor waiting patiently in front of
her.

Tika glanced back at
Sket and held his gaze as she began to unbuckle her sword belt. She
took Konrik by surprise by holding out sword and belt to him,
rather than just laying it on the stone floor herself. He took it
automatically and she saw his eyes widen momentarily. Leaning
heavily on his staff, he limped to the left and set her sword
carefully upright against the wall. Tika saw a long ropey scar
twisting up the back of his left leg before he turned to rejoin
her.

They both watched
Tika’s companions lay their weapons beside hers, although Tika
noted that Dog kept her battered old satchel under her arm and
Konya retained her healer’s pouches. Konrik made no comment, nor
did he ask them to leave their back packs. He stared rather hard
when he saw Sergeant Essa’s huge figure, and he blinked when Shivan
glanced at him. The company formed behind Tika and the Chancellor
nodded. He hobbled towards the next pair of doors and they swung
inwards as he approached.

A man stood to each
side, dressed in similar tunics to the Chancellor’s but of a paler
grey. Konrik limping ahead, Tika followed across another larger
room but again, bare of furnishings. Light came from windows only
on their right. A single door opened and Konrik took them through a
zigzagging corridor. As they penetrated deeper, towards the centre
of the building Tika guessed, more people appeared. They were
mostly dressed in the same pale grey as the two men at the doors,
but gradually she saw many in pale blue tunics, men and women
both.

All had a similar look:
the domed, hairless heads and tilted eyes. They inclined their
heads and stepped aside for the Chancellor as he passed. Yet
another door opened and somehow Tika was not surprised to see this
room opened into a very large courtyard. The Emperor of Wendla’s
House Crystal was built to a very similar plan – the hidden garden
at its centre utterly secluded from the outside world. But there,
the garden had been open to the sky: Kija had seen a solid roof
over both these buildings. An illusion? A manipulation of power
very different from what she or the Dragons might
identify?