Survivors: Book 4 Circles of Light series (56 page)

‘Rainbow,’ was all
Flute said.

The Elder landed beside
Flute and they embraced, the newcomer’s dark violet under feathers
briefly visible when he folded them against his back. When he moved
into the barn it was immediately apparently that he had listened as
he flew, through his litter mate’s mind, to the companions’
stories. He walked straight to Brin, raising a hand to the crimson
Dragon’s face.

‘We feared all of your
Kindred were lost, brother. How glad I am to see those fears were
unfounded.’

Rainbow went from Brin
to Maressa, stooping over her to greet her gently. He clasped Gan’s
shoulder.

‘We have a thousand
years of information to catch up on Captain Gan, and many new
people to learn of.’

He had words of
greeting for Ren and Jakri and then stood staring down at Tika and
Sket. Even though they were both asleep, the Elder bowed deeply,
his wings flaring out over the floor behind him. He straightened,
his hand reaching to Farn’s scarred neck. Farn’s eyes whirred pearl
and sapphire as Rainbow spoke to his mind. Finally Rainbow turned
again to Brin and said something in the trilling language of the
gijan. He waited a moment and repeated himself, his tone now cold
and sharp.

The young gijan, with
obvious reluctance, slid from Brin’s back and stood before Rainbow.
Both Jakri and Ren noticed their glances in Tika’s direction and
moved to sit discreetly blocking Tika from their view.

‘We will use the common
tongue’, said Rainbow, his voice much milder. ‘It is too rude to
use a language others do not comprehend.’

Leaf raised her chin to
stare up at the Elder – her head barely reached much above his
waist. Rainbow held her stare.

‘These good friends
busy themselves preparing food and drink,’ Rainbow continued. ‘It
would seem you have no part to play in such work.’ His head tilted
to one side as his words were met with stubborn silence. He sighed.
‘It is late in the day but I command you to fly. Circle above this
place and let me judge your abilities.’

The three gijan
children hurried to the barn’s open side, clearly relieved, but
they were brought to a halt by Rainbow’s next words.

‘I have commanded you
to fly. And you will fly until I command you to land once
more.’

There was a brief
silence during which Flute settled by the fire, her wings swept to
one side. Gan was pouring tea into bowls for Flute and Rainbow. He
smiled broadly as they took the bowls and inhaled the fragrant
steam blissfully. He suspected Sket at least would lose his sanity
should he have to forego his precious tea for a ten day and yet
these Elders had survived a thousand years since their last taste
of the stuff. He waited while they savoured their
drinks.

‘Will the gijan not
land somewhere out of sight?’ he asked, refilling their bowls. ‘I
know my recruits would creep off somewhere, to avoid such an
order.’

Rainbow smiled, small
pointed teeth briefly revealed. ‘I have spelled the air. They can
only fly within its limits.’

Gan digested Rainbow’s
comment. Jakri chuckled and Maressa nodded. She would never have
thought to manipulate air to form a cage but she could see how it
might be done. Khosa approached, carrying another mouse corpse to
Rainbow. No one had noticed what Flute had done with her gift but
they now watched Rainbow take the mouse from Khosa, tilt his head
back and swallow the mouse with scarcely a gulp. Ren closed his own
mouth with a snap that jarred his teeth. Khosa sat facing Rainbow
and mind spoke the company.

‘You have not yet been
told of Namolos.’

Gan bit his lip. Tika
hadn’t mentioned either Grek or Namolos: was it this arrogant Kephi
queen’s place to do so? But Khosa was already explaining that
Namolos was another Survivor, living on an island in the western
sea. Namolos had somehow altered himself, or his mind at least, and
was now one of the strongest users of power Khosa had heard
of.

‘How far is the
distance that you could mind speak each other?’ she asked
Rainbow.

He shrugged. ‘Flute
called me from here when I was on the eastern desert coast. There
was no difficulty in our reaching each other.’

‘That is further than I
could ever manage,’ Maressa admitted. ‘I can contact a mage in
Harbour City – that is perhaps twenty, thirty leagues? But I cannot
far speak much more than that. A Wendlan Mage – Jakri’s mother
Oniko – speaks from Wendla to Harbour City and that is the furthest
of any I’ve known.’

Navan and Storm came
back with fish and were introduced to Rainbow. The Elder spoke for
some time to the sea Dragon, questioning him about the strange
healing worked on Mist by the silver Dragon of Talvo. By the time
the fish was baking, Tika and Sket had roused again. Rainbow and
Flute then watched closely while Jakri and Maressa changed the
dressings on their injuries. Farn as always became disturbed when
Sket’s hand was uncovered revealing the loss of his fingers. Even
Tika wasn’t sure why such injuries distressed her soul bond to the
extent they did.

Flute lifted Tika’s
wrist and studied the palm of the hand. Rainbow put a talon against
the curled in fingers, gently trying to pull them straight. Jakri
watched.

‘I was unsure whether
to bind them flat,’ he confessed. ‘The burn was to the
bone.’

When the Elders stared
at him in some surprise, he raised a shoulder in a half shrug. ‘The
gijan children healed her this much, but they said they could do no
more.’

There was a flurry of
tension between the two Elders before Rainbow replied.

‘They should not have
even attempted healing. I understand why they did of course, but
with no training they could have caused even worse
damage.’

He settled cross legged
at Tika’s side, cradling the back of her hand in his
own.

‘Will you trust me
little Lady Tika?’ Black eyes stared into green and Tika nodded,
not trusting herself to speak.

‘They have merely
covered the bones with skin,’ he explained gently. ‘There is no
flesh, no muscle. I can mend that.’

Tika nodded again.
Rainbow smiled and Tika’s eyes closed immediately. The Elder cupped
his free hand over her burnt palm and bowed his head. The
companions felt power building around the Elder and Tika and sat,
scarcely daring to breathe. Time ceased to exist as Rainbow sat,
his body relaxed, his head bowed, beside Tika. At last his head
came up and his eyes opened. Tika opened her eyes at the same
instant, looking first at Rainbow in awed recognition, then down at
her hand. She exclaimed and held it out for her friends to
see.

It had a sheen of
soreness about it but the skin was plumped out and her fingers
straightened and flexed with a certain stiffness but clearly
without causing her pain. Rainbow gave Sket a sad smile.

‘I cannot remake what
is lost.’

Sket grinned. ‘I keep
telling everyone, especially my Lady, two fingers more or less is
no bother to me.’

‘Erm, Elder Rainbow,’
Maressa began. ‘It is dark outside.’

Rainbow nodded. ‘But
only just. A little longer will not hurt.’

Tika gave Ren a
questioning glance and he murmured an explanation.

‘There is another
burn.’ Rainbow pointed at Tika’s chest.

‘It is well healed,’
Jakri told him.

‘I would still see
it.’

Jakri unbuttoned Tika’s
shirt and loosened the bandage he’d wrapped right round her chest.
Again the Elder bent forward, cupping his hand over the still angry
burn. When he removed his hand there was an oval scar which looked
as though it was from a long healed wound.

‘Thank you,’ was all
Tika could say.

‘Food’s ready,’ Navan
reminded them, and while they sat around the fire, Rainbow went to
the entrance of the barn.

Moments later the gijan
children stood before him and this time all three bowed deeply.
Rainbow indicated the fire and the dishes of food with a casual
flick of his hand and Leaf led her litter mates to stand beside
Navan. He kept his expression blank as he heaped three bowls with
the baked fish and a few mashed grains and handed them up to the
gijan. They took their food, bowed to Navan and retreated to eat on
Brin’s back. A change from the way they usually grabbed what they
wanted when they pleased – the same thought was in all the
companions’ minds.

‘I would ask what
caused your burns Lady Tika,’ Flute asked.

Tika reached beneath
her blankets and withdrew her leather pouch.

‘It has happened
several times before, when I’ve been healing, but never this
badly,’ she said. She untied the top of the pouch and lifted the
pendant out, letting it swing from its gold chain, winking in the
firelight. Flute laughed and took the chain from Tika’s hand
holding the pendant in her fingers.

‘These things are still
in the world!’ Her eyes sparkled like the gold chain. ‘How came you
by this?’

Tika explained about
the cave where the Dragons kept their treasures and Flute handed
the pendant back to her.

‘Clearly it still has
power, especially when attuned to the bearer as it plainly must be
with you. But one alone will not defeat the other
Children.’

‘But Tika did,’ Navan
corrected quietly.

Flute shot a sharp
glance at him and nodded. ‘That is true,’ she agreed. ‘They come
from the Time Before. We found two or three of them and we knew
they were once articles of power but we never divined their use or
construction to any degree.’

Tika slipped the chain
over her head, letting the pendant lie outside her shirt. She kept
her mind tightly screened, keeping her memory of the hidden cave in
the Domain of Asat firmly locked away from any other prying mind.
There was something about Flute’s casual handling of the pendant,
her almost dismissive comments, that sounded a faint warning to
Tika. Ren filled the ensuing pause with questions about the Elders’
knowledge of Drogoya and the rest of the evening passed listening
to Flute speak of her travels as a very young gijan in the land
called Drogoya.

When everyone settled
to sleep, Tika lay awake. She trusted Rainbow she thought: he had
disclosed much of his nature when he had linked his mind to hers as
he used their combined knowledge to heal her hand. That had
intrigued her. She had always tried to heal by herself, she had
never thought of using another’s awareness of their own body to
assist her. She had drawn basic stamina from the great Dragons
during healing but that was all.

Flute seemed a
different matter. Mostly it was her reaction to the pendant that
bothered Tika. Khosa crept beneath the blanker, her whiskers
tickling Tika’s chin.

‘You welcomed the
Elders more warmly than I have ever seen,’ Tika murmured to Khosa’s
mind.

‘I felt I recognised
them,’ Khosa replied as carefully. ‘But now I am inclined to a
little caution.’

‘Where is Grek?’ asked
Tika.

‘I fear something has
befallen him.’ Khosa answered, curling into a compact ball. ‘He has
been gone too long now.’ She yawned, a gust of fishy breath making
Tika wrinkle her nose.

‘Where should we go now
Khosa? North again, or to find Namolos?’

‘North. Until we hear
from either Grek or Namolos himself we should stay in this
land.’

Khosa was snoring in
ladylike harmony with Farn long before Tika managed to sleep but
she’d slept during the day and woke feeling better than she had
since Seela’s death.

‘Khosa,’ she spoke to
the Kephi’s mind only, as people began to stir. ‘Khosa,’ she
repeated, prodding a finger into the centre of the orange ball of
fur. Turquoise eyes glared at her. ‘What do you know of the places
Between?’

Khosa’s fur stood on
end. ‘What do you know of them?’ she hissed in alarm.

Tika hurriedly outlined
her experience after the unmaking of Valesh, keeping a watchful eye
on the still sleeping Elders. Khosa began to stalk up and down
Tika’s outstretched legs.

‘Nolli might know,’ she
said eventually. ‘All I know is they are places to be avoided.’ She
calmed enough to crouch, staring up into Tika’s face. ‘I have only
heard whispers, and what I heard made me disinclined to hear
more.’

‘Where did you hear the
whispers?’ Tika was insistent.

Khosa slitted her eyes
and thrashed her tail. ‘In Lady Emla’s House of course. No one ever
took notice of a Kephi asleep on a windowsill.’

Tika gurgled a laugh
and climbed from her blankets. She lifted Khosa in her arms,
burying her face against the warm fur. ‘We will discuss this
further my friend.’

Khosa wriggled to get
free and stalked to the opening of the barn. Akomi lifted his head
and trotted after her. Flute left soon after they’d eaten a frugal
breakfast, giving no explanation for her departure. Rainbow merely
told them that they would no doubt see her again once they had
journeyed far enough north.

Once again the company
packed their things and climbed on the Dragons. Farn was glad to
carry Sket and Khosa as well as Tika: he regarded Sket as close to
Dragon Kin as a human could be. Storm took Navan and Ren with Akomi
tucked deep in his carry sack while Brin carried Gan, Maressa and
Jakri. Rainbow lifted into the air first, followed by the young
gijan flying close behind him.