Vagrants: Book 2 Circles of Light series (12 page)

Kadi sounded admiring
as she said: ‘That’s really clever – it makes them feel important
and keeps them well away from us.’ Her eyes whirred for a moment.
‘They can do no damage can they Lady?’

‘No,’ Emla assured her.
‘Let them play, as should all young things. And, who knows, they
may even tire themselves!’

Tagria was a similar
distance from Return as was Far, only directly south rather than
west. Hargon arrived to find Seboth and Zalom already there as
promised. Hargon and Navan hastily cleaned off the worst of the
travel dust from themselves and joined Seboth, Zalom and their
host, Raben. Their Arms Chiefs also sat with them as they listened
to Hargon’s story of Rhaki’s murder of two men.

When he had finished,
eight men sat in silent thought. Raben’s Arms Chief asked if Hargon
had brought the knife retrieved from the heap of ash.

‘No Zekel,’ Navan
replied, drawing his own belt knife. ‘But it was identical to this
one. Standard issue for all our armsmen.’

The knife was passed
from hand to hand, the Arms Chiefs comparing it to their own
knives.

‘It feels heavier than
ours,’ Zalom of Andla remarked finally.

His Arms Chief Niram
agreed. ‘It is of a different mix of metals is it not?’

Hargon nodded. ‘Our
smiths use more iron than yours. The alloy is harder to work, they
say, but longer lasting and less likely to become brittle.
Why?’

‘Well,’ Niram rubbed
his nose thoughtfully. ‘You say the knives were all that remained
except for dust?’

Navan and Hargon both
nodded.

‘Were they wearing
belts perhaps, with buckles? Or had they anything else of metal
upon them? It seems everything melted, or burnt, except the knives.
So this Rhaki’s power is unable to touch this particular
alloy.’

‘If I sent an armsman
against him, he would still be able to fry the man before the man
could use the knife,’ Hargon objected.

‘Arrowheads? Shields?’
Navan’s mind was already searching for other uses whereby this
metal might be turned to their greater advantage against
Rhaki.

Raben tapped a scroll
against his palm. ‘You say this Lord has been cast out from his
northern Realm. Do we know for sure he was the Guardian as he
claimed? You say he has only visited you alone Hargon. He never
brings any escort. This seems strange to me.’

‘I agree,’ said Zalom.
‘He could be unimportant among the People. We know all of them use
the cursed power. He may have been cast out by them as a trouble
maker or such.’

Olam, Arms Chief of
Far, said slowly: ‘I do not think the People would just let such a
one loose in the world. They would know what he is capable of doing
and therefore what a danger he could be. I would be interested to
see him though, see him cutting stone as you have told us, Sir
Hargon.’

‘I have promised an
entertainment to celebrate the assembling of the first stones of
his tower. I see no reason why you should not all attend. I have
let him believe we border Lords frequently visit each other, so it
would not appear unusual if you come to Return.’

‘You did not tell us
what two of your armsmen were doing – disguised as labourers you
said? – that caused the Lord such anger that he killed
them?’

Hargon sat back in his
chair. ‘An old female in my household perversely claimed that she
had blood from those outcasts from Sapphrea in ancient times. She
said there was a cave close by Return, which held great magic. I
learned, after the two men died, that they knew a cave was
thereabouts and resolved to see if there was anything which would
have encouraged Rhaki to build so near. There are several places
better suited for his building, I would have said.’

‘I think we must decide
now whether to let messages go forth to the south and west to tell
of this newcomer. At least they will be aware, and can make some
preparations, as we are doing.’ Zalom tugged his grey blonde beard
as he spoke. ‘Many of them will ignore us, just the ramblings of
wild border Lords as usual.’

Hargon drummed his
fingers on the tabletop. ‘Why don’t you decide how you will come to
Return – together or separately. I think if you come within the
next ten-day, I may tempt him to display his power and let us all
witness his use of it. I warn you though, he thinks all humans are
fools, so do not let him think any differently of us. At least, not
yet!’

Navan touched Hargon’s
arm and murmured: ‘Children.’

‘Ah yes. Rhaki shows
too much interest in my children, especially the female.’ Rumbles
of disapproval spread round the men. ‘So bring no children under
thirteen or fourteen cycles, and definitely no females. I have
plenty of females if you need their services, but I keep them from
Rhaki’s sight more than I would ever think of before a neighbouring
lord.’

‘Always most generous,
Hargon,’ agreed Zalom.

‘Has the Lord looked
out the land around Return Sir Hargon?’ Zekel enquired. ‘You lie
nearest the Ancient Mountains and I recall there were defensive
walls or

some such, built during
the worst of the Ganger raids.’

Raben nodded at his
Arms Chief. ‘I remember being sent there by my father. My first
taste of action. Are they still usable Hargon?’

Hargon glanced at
Navan. ‘I will check as soon as we are back in Return Sir. With the
numbers of Gangers so greatly reduced, we have needed no bands
barracked there for several cycles.’

‘I will check my
northern defences too,’ said Seboth. ‘I have not had need of them
either. I wonder if Rhaki is but the first.’

Heads turned to him
questioningly.

‘What if the People
have decided to spread themselves to our lands and Rhaki is but the
first to test us?’

‘I think not,’ Zalom
said finally. ‘They would surely have moved against us by now.
Vagrants! But they’ve been sitting in Gaharn long
enough!’

‘Navan mentioned the
great Dragons which are sometimes seen in the foothills north of
Return. Rhaki was clearly perturbed. We have always known the
Dragons are not our enemies. He was plainly surprised, and not
pleasantly, I’d guess, when Navan told him they were sometimes seen
near Return.’

‘Perhaps we should ask
the Dragons for help,’ Seboth suggested with the most innocent
expression he could muster.

The meeting relaxed
into roars of laughter at Seboth’s ridiculous suggestion and the
men went to the dining hall where conversation, of necessity,
became general because of the presence of Raben’s
females.

By the time Hargon and
Navan reached Return three days later, they had decided on various
steps, which could be taken at once. Navan called in Fryss and two
senior armsleaders, and ordered them to the northern borders a
dozen leagues distant. They were to move as quickly as they could
while making out detailed reports on the state of the defence walls
and the guard towers last in regular use against Gangers. Navan
implied that there was a possibility of aggression coming from
inside Return lands as well as from without. Therefore the
inspection team were to assess how long the guard towers in
particular could withstand a siege.

Fryss nodded his
understanding of the orders although the armsleaders were somewhat
at a loss.

Mallit had warned
Hargon that Rhaki seemed changed. As Rhaki joined Hargon and Navan
at the evening meal, he looked haggard, and Hargon felt able to ask
if he was ill.

‘No, no, Hargon. A
trifle weary, that’s all. But it is kind of you to voice concern
for me.’

Conversation limped
along as they ate – it was clearly an effort for Rhaki to make even
an occasional remark. He did not linger as usual after the meal,
but excused himself, begging forgiveness.

‘Your weather here is
already warmer than the northern Hot Season,’ he
explained.

Rhaki walked from the
room, up the stairs to his chamber and leaned his back against the
closed door with a moan of relief. He removed the robe he always
donned in the evenings and lay naked on top of the bed. It was true
that he found the climate overly hot and very wearing. He knew
though, that exhaustion was the price of his almost continual use
of power over the last four ten-days. The flesh had fallen from his
bones, his face was a skull, thinly covered with skin. To move his
tall frame was an increasing effort, and a small part of his mind
was becoming very fearful.

That tiny part told him
he should stop, for a sensible length of time so that his body
could recover from the stresses he was placing on it. The larger
part of his mind laughed at the small whisper. Yes, there was
tiredness afterwards, but the glorious sensation of the power as it
surged from him to do his will! That feeling was worth the pain
that inevitably followed. Rhaki forced himself to breathe steadily
to relax the tensions in the web of power netting his mind, until
finally, he slept.

In the coolness before
dawn, Rhaki rose, dressed in shirt, trousers and boots, and went
downstairs. A few slaves were scrubbing floors and they squirmed
silently out of his way as he walked past them. As he reached the
outer door, the usual manservant hurried up to him, proffering the
leather satchel and flask. Rhaki took them without a word and
stepped out into the courtyard. There was a slight dampness in the
early air, a faint mist resting lightly on the countryside as he
walked out of the city gate.

City! Rhaki smiled,
unaware of how his smile had become a distorted grimace on his
shrunken face. He would show these pretentious fools how a city
should look! Beginning of course, with his tower. His mood was very
different from last night. He made a mental note to disregard such
times of darkness, it was only because he was both physically and
mentally exhausted at the end of a long, hard day. And that day,
capped as it was, by Hargon’s inanities to which he had at least to
pretend to pay attention to.

Rhaki took the turn off
leading to the place where his tower would soon soar above the
pathetic local buildings. He paced slowly round the circular
foundations then studied the numerous blocks of stone waiting to be
placed in their positions. He nodded to himself, braced his already
aching back, and set off for the quarry, to cut the final blocks he
needed.

Chapter
Nine

Dessi had taken over a
chamber high in the stronghold. There were three quite large tunnel
like openings, which served as windows. A man length of rock
separated the chamber from the outside world and at present all
that could be seen through the ‘windows’ was endlessly falling snow
again. Dessi found another chamber a short distance beyond hers,
that had almost fallen out of the mountain. The outside wall had
cracked and half of it was gone. Although snow had sifted inside a
little way, most of the chamber remained dry.

When she showed Mim, he
had handed Rofu to her and run back down to the hall, ordering
Dessi to stay where she was. In moments, Ashta was scrambling into
the gap and Mim slid from the pale green Dragon’s back with a
grin.

‘I will use one of the
chambers up here too,’ he announced. ‘I am not comfortable if Ashta
is not close by. But why have you chosen to be so high? Delvers
live beneath the mountains, I would have thought you would prefer
to be lower?’

‘I have felt
increasingly drawn to the air and the sky,’ Dessi
admitted.

Mim nodded. He had been
aware of an abstraction about the Delver lately.

‘I have been trying to
do things, but it is hard without a teacher, as you and Tika must
already know. Look.’ She gestured to the jagged opening through
which Ashta had brought Mim. The snow streaking dizzily past,
slowed, speeded up and then ceased. Mim peered out.

‘What have you done –
shielded an area outside?’

‘No. I moved the wind a
little, pushed it so that the snow it carries falls a little to the
east.’

‘Could you bring
storms, sunshine, whatever you want?’

Dessi turned away and
led the way back to the chamber she was settling into. So far,
there was a table that had seen long and hard service, two chairs,
heaps of pillows, a wooden chest, a small bed and a wash
stand.

‘I’ve thought about
weather for as long as I remember. We don’t see much of it inside
the Domain,’ she smiled. ‘I think it has to be treated very
cautiously.’

Ashta reclined by the
wall, Mim sat at the table opposite Dessi, Rofu draped round his
neck again. Mim waited.

‘I mean, suppose I was
to move all this snow away and bring warm winds here. The snow
would have to go somewhere, but where? It is all balanced you see,
everything is, it must be. Perhaps if I brought warmth here, all
the snow would end up in Nagum woodlands. Then the woodlands would
die of cold – do you see?’

Mim thought for a
while, absently scratching Rofu’s ears.

‘If you make even a
small change, then it could affect somewhere else, further and
further. It could cause great troubles all through the world
even.’