Survivors: Book 4 Circles of Light series (22 page)

‘Eating in the street!
Just look there sir – can you believe it? Do they not shut shops in
this stars forsaken place when it grows dark?’ Pallin choked to
silence and Gan stared over the heads of his companions to see what
had caused Pallin’s complaints to cease. He grinned.

Pallin recovered enough
to voice his outrage in a loud hiss at Olam.

‘Those girls are
wearing nothing! Sitting there on those balconies look, drinking!
They’ll catch their deaths!’

Maressa glanced up at
Gan and lost her battle with giggles. Sket chuckled and Pallin
turned to glare back at them.

‘Disgraceful it is and
not to be laughed at!’

It was perhaps
fortunate that it was only a short walk before Taza led them
through a wide gateway into an expanse of green garden. Navan
glanced over his shoulder as the hubbub of the City was abruptly
muted.

‘Why do the people not
come in here?’ he asked Taza.

‘Once through that gate
we are within the precincts of the Xantip Higher Academy. Many
rumours abound about what Mages might do to interlopers here or at
the Mage College or the Palace itself.’

They followed a winding
flagged path between lines of perfumed shrubs until they reached
another wall in which was set a narrow gate. A man in a grey robe
greeted them and took them on to Hariko’s quarters. In the
deepening twilight they made out a low single storey L-shaped
building set among several other similar structures. Hariko met
them at the door.

‘Taseen arrived moments
ago. Please, come in and meet him.’

He took them straight
to a dining room where a large oval table was set with a multitude
of dishes. Four men and two women were already seated at the table.
Hariko drew out chairs, inviting the company to sit, placing Leaf
and Ren opposite the man they guessed at once was
Taseen.

A white beard frothed
over layers of shawls, and thick robes wrapped his thin body
tightly. Hariko introduced everyone and urged them to help
themselves to food.

‘Councillor Taseen
fears he will be unable to stay long. Sadly he is plagued by summer
ague.’

Ren, looking directly
at the old man, saw startlingly sharp blue eyes for an instant when
Taseen peered across the table from beneath overhanging eyebrows.
Taseen reminded the Offering, with a pang, of old Babach. The Mage
Councillors spoke little. Tavri seemed more concerned with his
ancient master – who managed to spill his soup into his beard.
Sheoma, a woman of Maressa’s age, listened closely while Hariko and
the two other scholars argued, with boring persistency, whether the
tales of Namolos could possibly be based on fact.

Pallin and Riff ate
steadily and silently, not even pretending to pay attention to the
talk. Leaf said nothing neither did she eat, leaving Ren to reply
to the scholars. Taseen groaned and bowed his head even
lower.

‘I fear I must take my
master home,’ said Tavri, getting to his feet. ‘Perhaps the sacred
ones would visit him in the Palace when he is a little
better.’

Sheoma and Tavri held
the tottering figure between them and helped him to the door. The
company remained, listening to Hariko and his friends talk in ever
more convoluted terms until they had no idea of what they were
hearing. Pallin yawned loudly and Gan rose from the
table.

‘We thank you for your
hospitality Hariko, but we too should be leaving.’

Hariko looked a little
surprised – he had been speaking of the theory of disharmonics in
the time of the Ancient Elders – but nodded anyway.

‘I will call on you
tomorrow,’ he said as they filed from his front door. He lowered
his voice. ‘I may have news of a ship.’

Gan bowed. ‘We look
forward to that then Hariko.’

The same servant led
them back to the narrow gate where Taza waited. Making their way
back to the temple, Leaf exploded with irritation, both at the
exclusion of Taza from the meal and at the utter nonsense they’d
had to listen to.

‘Taza is a priest of
the Elder Races,’ she hissed. ‘He should have been included with
us. And those were scholars? Zeminth had more wisdom than those
three put together.’

They walked through
streets far less crowded than they’d seen so far but still busy
enough. The rain clouds had moved further inland and fistfuls of
stars were strewn across the night sky.

‘What was the point of
all that?’ Navan asked Gan, turning in to the temple
entrance.

‘I have no idea. Let’s
hope Grek may be able to enlighten us.’

Gan released Khosa who
had been silent throughout the evening. Now she bounded up the
stairs ahead of them. Ren and Leaf were already unfastening their
white cloaks as Olam opened the door to their apartments. He halted
and hands went automatically to weapons. Olam moved on into the
room, followed by the others who saw that they had
visitors.

Tavri was pouring tea
into bowls, Sheoma sat on Leaf’s stool by the open window. Taseen,
divested of many of his wrappings, sat upright in an armchair, his
feet on the fender round the fire. His face wore a grin they found
difficult to resist. Khosa stalked forward and sat in front of
him.

‘The poor old man
performance was quite good,’ she conceded. ‘Spilling your soup may
have overdone it a little.’

Taseen’s roar of
laughter gave the final lie to the notion that he was a decrepit
old creature close to death. He patted his knee.

‘Perhaps it was
beautiful one. Tell me your name and help me clean up the mess – it
was fish soup.’

Leaf trilled a laugh,
removing her cloak and tossing it onto a bench. The three mages
grew still, feasting their eyes on the gijan. She tilted her head
to one side, then the other, returning their scrutiny. At last
Taseen sighed, his hand stroking down Khosa’s back.

‘I must beg your pardon
for making you endure that ridiculous meal. I rarely leave the
Palace except to go to my lands outside the City, so it would be a
source of great interest should I suddenly decide to visit this
temple. It is not quite so worthy of gossip that I dine with
Hariko.’ He smiled. ‘And who knows how long I’ll stay talking with
him tonight?’

‘If Vorna’s interested
in knowing where you are, it wouldn’t take her a great deal of
effort to find out,’ Sheoma retorted. She walked across the room.
‘You are very beautiful. Does Hariko know that you are gijan – he
said nothing to us?’ Sheoma couldn’t hide her surprise when Ren
raised his eyes to hers.

‘Hariko knows Leaf is
gijan. He has seen her siblings and one of the great Dragons,’ he
told her.

‘Great Dragons are here
too?’ Taseen’s unruly eyebrows quivered.

‘Close by,’ Maressa
replied before Leaf could say too much.

Tavri had been quietly
handing round bowls of tea and now found himself close to Leaf. He
lightly touched the glossy blue black feathers.

‘You are truly
beautiful.’ He smiled down at her.

Leaf returned his
smile, revealing her tiny pointed teeth. Then she twirled away,
wings unfurling and rippling. She ended up beside Taseen’s
chair.

‘Do you like my
trousers? No one could see them at Hariko’s horrid
house.’

Taseen solemnly
regarded the black trousers, the delicate embroidery, the exposed
dappled skin of Leaf’s belly and arms.

‘I have never seen such
a work of art,’ he said gravely. ‘And those socks are the finishing
touch.’

Leaf raised her leg and
tugged off a sock. ‘They are, aren’t they,’ she agreed.

Taseen caught her hand.
‘I think you are very young little Leaf. Are you newly come to your
wings?’

‘Oh yes. Do you want to
hear how it happened?’

Khosa, busily washing
Taseen’s beard, replied on his behalf.

‘Well of course he
does. And everything else as well I expect.’

Chapter
Thirteen

The Mage Councillors
listened attentively while first Leaf, then Maressa, Gan and
finally Ren, recounted the events of the last year. Less than a
full year in fact, Gan reflected. Taseen smiled.

‘I understand that you
must reach Namolos, but you have chosen a tricky time for sea
travel. I would like to hear more of the City in the desert: the
Kertiss you spoke of worries me. What may be happening in your land
Ren worries me. What Vorna is attempting to do worries me. In
short, I am a very worried man.’

Maressa curled her feet
under her on the couch. ‘Should we know what Vorna is up
to?’

Sheoma nodded. ‘I think
they should be warned Taseen. We could never have foreseen gijan or
Dragons appearing in Harbour City just as Vorna’s schemes show
signs of success.’

For a moment Taseen
looked down at Leaf. She lay on her side asleep before the fire,
one wing folded tight to her back, the other half open, covering
her like a magnificent blanket.

‘She is so young and
immeasurably precious,’ he murmured almost to himself. He sighed.
‘Vorna became obsessed with the Ancient Elders while in her
training. Hariko may have mentioned that I served this land during
the last War of the Elders?’

Navan interrupted. ‘If
gijan and Dragons are Elder Races, what are these Wars we hear of?
Did humans battle them, or did they battle each other? I find it
difficult to believe when clearly the memory of both Dragons and
gijan are still greatly revered.’

‘There were Ancient
Elders in this world in the Time Before. They ruled these lands
from the beginnings of humanity. For millennia they ruled kindly
and well, letting humans grow at their natural pace.’

Taseen fell silent and
Tavri took up the tale. ‘The first War of the Elders began it is
said because one Elder lusted after a human female. Congress
between Elder and human was forbidden by the first Law. The Elder
would heed none of his brethren and fled with the female to distant
lands. The Elders discovered the pair had produced four monstrous
children, to whom their father had passed much knowledge – again, a
forbidden act.

‘There were about a
hundred Elders in those days – we would call them gods and
goddesses now I guess. Several of them sought out the one who had
flouted two of their primary laws.’

He glanced at Taseen.
‘The monstrous children killed their father as soon as they
overtook him in power. They killed many Elders who came seeking
them. The children were warped, twisted, personifying the very
worst of both human and Elder natures. As a desperate recourse, the
Elders caused the great desert to come into being. They hoped it
would keep the children away from these lands long enough for
Elders to construct a means of destroying them.’

Maressa sounded
sceptical. ‘Four children could so frighten many
Elders?’

‘The Ancient Elders
were never warlike or violent. Their teachings of harmony and
balance are instilled in the very bones of most of our people to
this day,’ Sheoma explained. ‘Remember, these were no ordinary
children.’

‘The children rampaged
through the northern lands and beyond, gaining in strength all the
time,’ Tavri went on. ‘The Elders instigated a plan to teach humans
some of their powers. It involved breeding certain families who
showed an innate aptitude and forcing their mind development. The
Elders grieved that they had to break a primary law themselves to
combat the children. Briefly, the Wars that followed cost the lives
eventually of all the Ancient Elders and huge numbers of
mages.’

Taseen grunted. ‘By the
time I was involved, no Elders survived but we had devised a plan
to imprison the children.’ He gazed into the fire. ‘Three thousand
mages died in that last battle – just outside this City where now
farmland flourishes. Three thousand brilliant minds, male and
female, to imprison two of those Ancient children.’

‘You have not given
their names,’ Olam said softly.

‘No.’ Sheoma’s voice
was sharp. ‘I will write their names for you but they must not be
spoken aloud, especially now.’

‘Now?’ Gan
queried.

Taseen looked suddenly
tired. ‘Vorna believes imprisoning the children was a mistake. She
thinks there was much to learn from their hybrid minds. She has
been trying to release one of them.’

Sheoma had been
scribbling on a paper. Now she passed it to Maressa. ‘The one I
have circled is the one Vorna is concentrating on. We believe,
although we do not know for sure, that two of them are
destroyed.’

Maressa read the four
names. Valesh. Qwah. Taffez. Sekira. The first name was
circled.

‘Never say those names
aloud,’ Sheoma repeated. ‘They are awake and stirring
again.’

‘That last battle was
long ago?’ Sket ventured.

Taseen nodded. ‘A
thousand years or more. And still I have not regained my full
powers. I have to rely on information from others rather than
expend what small strength remains to me.’

Tavri stood up,
glancing at the dark windows. ‘We should return to the Palace. I
will let it be known that you are confined to your bed
again.’