Vagrants: Book 2 Circles of Light series (44 page)

Kera and Nesh found
that the writing on the papers which Baryet had delivered to them
was not too difficult to decipher. The language seemed similar to
the common tongue of these lands, although the script was at first
a confusion of curlicues to their eyes. Eventually, they learnt
that the message came from one Babach. He gave them a brief account
of his land of Drogoya and of the structure of government. Kera and
Nesh agreed that even through Babach’s guarded words, they could
sense that he had a serious worry over that government. He had
outlined the Order of Sedka and given his position within it. Dessi
had also worked with the two Seniors on Babach’s papers. Her
concern was more with the illness which Babach described in some
detail, especially in the light of the news from
Vagrantia.

Now, after an evening
meal, Baryet was inadvertently entertaining the Guards in the hall.
Baryet had decided that Dragons probably could not reach
Drogoya.

‘I drift with the
winds,’ he explained. ‘I can of course spend two or three days at
least without needing to use my wings.’ He drew an immensely long
wing feather through his hooked bill. ‘I have watched the way you
Dragons fly, and you have to beat your wings far more than I to
keep your so much heavier selves in the air.’

Fenj rumbled softly.
‘We too use air currents to glide upon, although I admit we do not
glide for days at a time. You have only observed us at hunt.’ His
mind tone was faintly questioning and grins appeared on many faces
around the hall. ‘I wondered if perhaps there were islands between
these two lands?’

Baryet selected another
feather to preen. ‘There are islands,’ he conceded. ‘Some are
little more than a rock or two just above the water. You could rest
on some of them though but few have meat to feed you.’

‘We do not have to eat
daily: most of us do not do so. I thought you would have noticed.’
Fenj sounded innocent.

The black bill snapped
in irritation. ‘Well of course I noticed.’

Just then, Mim came
lightly down the ramp, Ashta at his heels and Rofu draped over his
shoulder.

‘Another message from
Vagrantia,’ he called in his fluting voice. ‘Emla says that she
believes her brother Rhaki has a hand in this illness.’

Kera reached for the
scroll Mim held and flattened it on the table, Nesh’s head close to
hers as they read it rapidly.

‘One of the younger
councillors suffered this awful thing, but she said the words “Grey
One” as she died.’ Kera read aloud.

Nesh raised his head.
‘We must send this piece of information on to Gaharn then hopefully
they can try to warn Tika. She must be in Return by
now.’

Mim slipped his arm
round Ashta’s shoulders. ‘If only we knew exactly where the circle
is in Return, I could - ’

‘No.’ Kera, Nesh and
Dessi spoke in unison while Ashta’s eyes whirred in
distress.

Mim glared at them then
sat down and sighed.

‘The time approaches
when I must face the Silver One,’ he said. ‘I would prefer to know
that Tika is safe before I do. I know she must not try to battle
his mind alone.’ He stood up again and paced angrily towards the
hearth and back, his hands flexing at his sides.

‘The time is not ripe
for you to travel across the Wilderness.’ Fenj’s voice rang in
their heads. ‘And I believe, after much thought on this matter,
that Jeela must accompany you when you do go.’

‘Jeela?’ Mim was truly
taken aback by Fenj’s words.

Farn’s sister was tiny,
and showed no signs of ever reaching the full size of most Great
Dragons. She was at present with the Snow Dragons in the Domain of
Asat. Mim began to protest but to everyone’s surprise, Ashta
forestalled him.

‘I do not pretend to
fully understand, but something tells me Fenj is correct. No Mim,’
her eyes suddenly blazed at her soul bond. ‘In this I will have my
say. Jeela will come with us when we meet the Silver
One.’

Mim’s golden eyes with
the vertical turquoise pupils blazed just as furiously back at
Ashta. All those present in the hall held their breaths at this
unheard of show of independence by Ashta.

Tension thrummed
between them, but it was Mim who backed down. His shoulders
loosened and he stretched a hand to Ashta’s face. He allowed his
mind voice to be heard by all.

‘I apologise my
precious one. Always, it is my wishes, my decisions.’ He leaned his
brow against the pale green Dragon’s. ‘It will be as you wish in
this matter.’

A sigh of relief gusted
through the hall when Ashta’s eyes calmed to their usual colour.
Mim turned to Kera.

‘Write a message
quickly then Lady Writing Stick, and I will send it to the circle
at Emla’s House. You must say how urgent it is.’ He bent over
Kera’s shoulder, trying to follow the words she wrote so swiftly.
‘Say that Tika must not confront Rhaki alone.’

Kera sat back and
glared at him. ‘I have said that – twice. Mim we must find time to
push on with your reading and writing you know.’

Mim moved back a step.
‘It is difficult when we are all so busy,’ he began.

‘Not that busy,’ said
Kera, resuming her letter.

Dessi grinned. ‘I
thought you would have more patience with it Mim. After all, your
plants do not grow instantly, do they? You have to tend the soil,
nurture the seeds as they become tiny plants?’

Mim stared at the
Delver girl thoughtfully. ‘I had not looked at it quite like
that.’

‘There you are then.
Think of the letters as little plants whose every detail you must
remember so that you can recognise them again wherever they might
appear.’

Nesh regarded Dessi
with a look of deep admiration but refrained from
comment.

‘Of course I have no
need to understand marks on paper,’ Baryet remarked. ‘I have a
phenomenal memory so usually Chakar tells me what needs to be
conveyed to someone else. She only sent writings to you so that you
would more fully understand some of the ways of
Drogoya.’

Gleeful eyes turned in
anticipation toward Fenj. ‘I am sure your memory is as good as ours
Baryet. Perhaps you would like to tell us the stories of your first
ancestors?’

Baryet’s neck feathers
rose in a crest while he tilted his head to fix one eye on the old
black Dragon. ‘Well. I think you would find such old stories far
too boring.’

‘Not at all. We Dragons
frequently spend our days repeating our oldest tales.’

Baryet’s head swivelled
to survey the various people gathered in the hall.

‘I find it over warm in
here. I rarely spend time in shelter. I will fly for a while among
the snowy peaks.’

Silence reigned for a
few minutes after the bird’s rather hurried departure, then
laughter rang out and comments flew on Baryet’s enormous
conceit.

‘You should not tease
him so Fenj,’ Kera admonished. ‘He doesn’t even realise that you
are teasing him, poor bird.’

‘Needs taking down a
step or two, does that great hen,’ Lorak growled. ‘And old Fenj
here is just the one to do it.’

‘Splendid fellow!’ Fenj
rumbled, his eyes sparkling at sight of the leather flask in
Lorak’s hand.

Mim laughed, firelight
shimmering over his scales. He took the letter Kera passed him and
rolled it to fit into a scroll tube. ‘I will send this to Gaharn
now.’

Ashta trailed after him
as he headed for the upper levels, Rofu chasing after her
tail.

Jal was sitting across
the table from Nesh. ‘I never thought to see that sweet natured
Dragon argue with the Guardian,’ he spoke softly.

‘Nor I,’ agreed Nesh.
‘It is odd that Fenj should suggest little Jeela as a suitable
companion when Mim has to face the Silver One.’

‘I do not believe for
an instant that Fenj would choose to explain himself to anyone,’
said Kera. ‘So I am not about to ask him.’

‘This illness that
Babach writes of,’ Dessi raised the subject that greatly worried
her. ‘And it is now in Vagrantia apparently. How could it be
connected to Rhaki?’

Kera shook her head.
‘Rhaki is so far away – from us here, and even further from
Vagrantia. I do not see how there can be a connection either, but
Emla seems absolutely sure.’ She pushed Emla’s letter across for
Dessi to study.

‘Even if Emla thinks
that Rhaki’s mind has reached so far to precipitate these cases of
madness, why are there two such different forms of this “illness”?
Is Rhaki causing the cases whose eyes become silver and who stay
sane as well as the red-eyed ones who die? Is something else
causing the silver eyes, or are they more able to resist. As has
been suggested.’ Nesh tapped Emla’s letter.

‘I’m sure that if it is
just Rhaki, we would have heard of many cases, first in Sapphrea,
then the Middle Plains and eventually in Gaharn,’ Dessi said
slowly.

‘It is this matter of
distance from Rhaki that confuses me.’ Kera chewed her writing
stick. ‘Babach of Drogoya says the cases in his land began nearly
half a cycle ago. Rhaki was in residence here at that time. I am
not persuaded that he caused the illness in Drogoya. I am not
persuaded he was any more aware of that land than we were. Perhaps
even now he is still ignorant of its existence.’

‘I wonder if it is a
mind in Drogoya,’ Fenj’s voice murmured into their
minds.

The group at the table
turned to look across the hall to where the black Dragon reclined,
Lorak and Bikram propped beside him and Lula atop his
head.

‘Go on,’ Kera
prompted.

Fenj’s eyes whirred the
shadows on snow colour. ‘Like the Silver One, when she screamed for
Mim. She caused mind damage and death right across to Sapphrea,
although I believe she was unaware of what she had done. Perhaps
there is one in Drogoya who sent such a scream. Perhaps it touched
Rhaki and woke something worse inside his disrupted
mind.’

Dessi nodded slowly,
turning to Kera and Nesh. ‘That feels right to me,’ she said.
‘Rhaki may be part of it, but the main source is in
Drogoya.’

Ryla and Nolli had
given their two visitors virtually no respite since their arrival
at Emla’s House. Finally Shan advanced one morning and stood in
front of the ancient pair, hands on her hips. Jilla and Bagri still
slept, exhausted as they must be by Nolli and Ryla’s constant
questions. Ryla’s white eyebrows rose at Shan’s appearance before
her.

‘I presume you feel the
need to acquaint us with something of importance child?’

‘It may not be of much
importance to you Lady Ryla, but it is so for your guests.’ Shan’s
face was pink with indignation. ‘How many days have they been
here?’

Nolli and Ryla looked
at each other doubtfully – time made little impression on either of
them now.

‘Have they even seen
Lady Emla’s gardens? Have they visited the City? No. They have been
imprisoned here in this hall answering a thousand silly questions.’
Shan paused for breath.

‘Not “silly”
questions,’ Ryla objected.

‘Well not all of them,’
Nolli corrected. She received a glare from Ryla. ‘Some of the
things you asked were not precisely necessary,’ the Wise One
pointed out. ‘What do you suggest Shan?’

‘That you allow them
some time to look around, to ask questions themselves. Stars, they
will go back to Vagrantia and refuse to come out again. They will
think we are all mad out in the world.’

That last comment
earned her icy looks from both Nolli and Ryla, although Nolli’s
maid Lanni ducked her head behind her mistress’s chair to hide a
broad smile.

‘Very well,’ Ryla
agreed. ‘You may tell them they are free to do as they choose
today. Although a visit to the City might not be a good idea since
we have not mentioned them to the Assembly.’

‘But I thought you had
told them?’ Shan looked horrified.

Ryla stared haughtily
down her long nose. ‘I did not deem it necessary yet. I, after all,
am the oldest Senior of the Assembly and I am also, at present,
here as Lady Emla’s representative.’

Shan could only gape
but Nolli gave her colleague a most admiring grin.

‘I will tell them the
good news as soon as they arise then Ladies.’

A voice asked from
above and behind Shan: ‘What good news will you tell
us?’

Shan spun round to see
Bagri smiling at her from halfway down the staircase, Jilla at his
side.

‘That you are free of
questions – for today at least. Come. Let me offer you breakfast in
the proper chamber for once.’

Shan’s blonde braid
swung triumphantly between her shoulders as she led the two
Vagrantian councillors to an inner door. Bagri glanced at the two
old ladies. Nolli beamed at him, showing her empty gums.

‘Go along,’ she
laughed. ‘We are all at Shan’s command!’

Jilla was unable to
hide a small sigh of relief when Shan sat them at a dining table
and produced their breakfast from beneath covered
dishes.