The Imperatrix lay for a while, wondering if Beslow’s assessment of the likely outcome of the attempted invasion of the Dark Realm was correct. She had an uncomfortable feeling that it was. She considered Ternik’s strange death, and the survival of one anatomist. Then she slept.
The anatomist Tomin, also lay in his bed. He knew he was being spied upon and he lay relaxed, his breathing regular. At least, the thing that now possessed his body did so: Tomin himself no longer existed.
Chapter Twenty-Five
In the Karmazen Palace, a young Dark Lord, an apprentice to Coby, was racing down flights of stairs in search of Corman or Chindar or both. He skidded round a corner and collided with a very solid figure. Hands grabbed his shoulders and he looked up into the face of Peshan, brother of the First Daughter. Peshan raised a brow.
‘In quite a hurry young man?’ he asked mildly.
‘Sorry Lord Peshan. I’m looking for Lord Corman or Lord Chindar.’
‘You’re Coby’s apprentice aren’t you? Well, they were both in Corman’s garden just a moment ago.’ Peshan frowned. ‘Urgent news?’ he asked.
‘Yes my lord. From the land across the sea – Sapphrea.’
Peshan released the young man’s shoulder and hurried with him to the walled garden. By the light of the moon, Corman was looping long tendrils of a white blossomed plant through the struts over a bower. He glanced up.
‘Ruslan,’ he greeted the young man.
‘Lord Corman. A message came, sent through a gateway, from Shiral.’
Corman let the plant trail from his fingers.
‘They have reports of a creature to the south of their lands. It has a name – Karlesh. Shiral says it is connected with the Splintered Kingdom, but she cannot tell much more because of the distance between them. Coby is still studying the message – it is long and detailed, but that is the gist of it.’
Chindar, who had been sprawled comfortably along the bower’s bench, was already making for the gate, Peshan at his heels. All four hurried back up the staircases and along passageways to Coby’s rooms. When they arrived Peshan and Ruslan were both breathless although of course, Chindar and Corman were unaffected.
Coby looked up. She sat at an old scarred table set at one end of the room. On the table papers were strewn among books and scrolls were jammed between odd stones. She pushed several rolls of paper towards the men.
‘Read it all carefully, then we can decide what we might do.’
‘Do?’ Chindar looked alarmed. He was finding the sudden breaches in the Dark Realm’s policy of total seclusion very hard to cope with. He dreaded the thought that he might have to order open interference in another land’s problems.
Coby crossed to the fireplace and pushed more logs onto the fire. She put her hands to the small of her back when she straightened, stifling a groan.
‘Shall I make you some of your special tea?’ Ruslan asked with concern.
‘Not just yet my dear. It makes me sleepy and I must stay wakeful until this has been decided on.’
Ruslan nodded but insisted on settling her in her usual armchair, well supported with pillows. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes briefly, then gave him a smile of thanks.
It didn’t take too long for the three men to read through the message from Shiral. Shiral had gone back to Sapphrea with Lady Emla for just this purpose – to convey any warnings that the Crazed One might be active in those lands again. Corman sent Ruslan in search of Gan Jal Sarl, hoping he might enlighten them to the identity of this Karlesh.
Corman found the decanter of blood drink that Coby always kept in her room, and filled three goblets for Chindar, himself and Gan, who arrived at that moment with Ruslan. Chindar handed the papers to Gan and sipped his drink thoughtfully.
‘I’m sure I’ve heard that name before, in conversation with someone.’ Corman shook his head. ‘But I can’t think who it was who spoke that name to me.’
Gan laid the papers on the table. ‘Tika,’ he said softly.
Corman stared at him. ‘That’s right,’ he exclaimed.
Gan nodded. ‘She told me of it a few days ago, when I first came here.’
‘Well, I know nothing of this. Can you tell us?’ Chindar asked.
Gan studied the almost black liquid swirling in his goblet. ‘Tika “saw” somehow, inside a hill. A woman we’d met, Orla, had been badly affected by the one you name Crazed. We knew his name as Qwah. He was said to be a monstrous cross bred child, one of four the Maleshan mages finally imprisoned. In some way, he caused Orla to become pregnant, but the child’s development was greatly accelerated.’
Gan shrugged and looked up at the faces watching him.
‘Orla carried the child for maybe a month. Qwah was forcing her to travel north, he knew we were close on their trail. Orla was in a cave when she began her labour. Tika saw with her mind as the child chewed its way from Orla’s body. She said it had tusks rather than teeth, looked like a two year child rather than newborn, and it grew as she watched. Tika said she sensed Qwah’s presence, then the child somehow “saw” Tika. That’s when spears of ice came from the sky and killed Maressa. And me. And Tika was flung into the Splintered Kingdom. The child was named Karlesh.’
Coby broke the silence that fell when Gan stopped speaking.
‘I have some information on those children you talk of Gan – Qwah and Sekira were male, Valesh and Taffez female. I have suspected since I first heard of them that they were fragments of the Crazed One.’
Gan frowned. ‘Fragments of him? How can that be?’
‘The Splintered Kingdom, Gan,’ Chindar replied. ‘The Crazed One himself is in splinters, fragments. Each piece more powerful than we dare contemplate.’
‘But if Qwah and Karlesh are both fragments, and they are together?’ Coby sat up straight in alarm.
‘No. Tika said she felt Qwah – vanish. She said Karlesh was contemptuous of Qwah at that final moment and he dismissed Qwah with a single look.’
Corman began to pace. ‘That was a mistake then. Karlesh may be more powerful than Qwah, but the two together. .’ He left the sentence unfinished.
‘In other words, Karlesh, according to Tika, newly born, acted without thinking of possible consequences? Are we saying that fragments of the Crazed One, if that’s what they are, have to learn? Have to grow? Is there no cohesion at all, nothing linking the fragments.’ Coby drew a deep breath. ‘If there is no linkage, we must accept there could be hundreds, if not thousands of separate Crazed Ones. Is that what we must assume?’
Peshan got to his feet. ‘That thought truly frightens me. I must go to Lerran now, to sit with her through the rest of this night.’
The door closed quietly. A log on the fire split with a loud crack. Ruslan knelt to brush the sparks off the hearth rung.
‘You really believe Tika is the key to this Crazed One, don’t you?’ Gan moved to take the chair Peshan had vacated.
Corman watched him, his dull gold eyes full of sympathy. ‘Perhaps she is not THE key Gan, but yes, I think she is one of those keys.’
‘Will you ask her to go to Kelshan now, or back to Sapphrea?’
Coby raised a hand. ‘If I may suggest something? We should send word back to Shiral. This Karlesh should be watched of course, but from as far away as possible. Nothing should be attempted against him unless he moves into populated areas. He seems content to remain in lands that are apparently quite empty and bleak for now. Maybe he needs to grow physically.’
‘May Mother Dark ensure it is only physically that he grows,’ Chindar muttered fervently.
Gan gave a wry smile. ‘So you want Tika to go to Kelshan.’
Corman leaned forward. ‘Tika can deal with this mage tutor for us. I am convinced, from the bare scraps of information we have about this woman, that she is directly influenced and empowered by the Crazed One.’
‘But which Crazed One?’ Gan sounded exasperated. ‘From what you’ve said, there could be hundreds of them.’
> Coby reached to put her hand on Gan’s arm. ‘There may be many parts of him scattered across this world, but the great mass of his power is still concentrated within the Splintered Kingdom itself. This we know.’
A window shutter blew in, the latch falling to the floor. Hag stood in the frame, her feathers glistening with raindrops. The huge beak gaped in a silent amusement and she dropped to the floor, strutting towards the fireplace. Coby glared at the raven.
‘How many times have I asked you not to do that, wretched bird?’ She waved a hand, fingers flickering, and the shutter closed, the latch rising and reattaching itself to the frame.
Corman and Chindar regarded Coby with horror, but Hag simply shook her feathers, water droplets hissing onto the fire, clearly not offended by Coby’s manner of speech.
‘I spoke with Tika.’ Hag turned her back to the fire and surveyed her audience. ‘A pleasant child.’ Her harsh voice took on an almost purring tone. ‘She will make a good friend. Now, you plan to send her to Kelshan is my guess?’ She cackled, giving her feathers another shake.
‘We hope that she may be able to deal with the mage,’ Coby agreed.
‘Huh.’ Hag strutted back and forth. ‘Dead.’
‘What?’ Corman asked in astonishment. ‘The mage?’
‘That’s what I said,’ Hag snapped. ‘Do pay attention, Dark One. The mage died two nights ago, but what possessed her has – moved.’
The bead bright eyes glittered and Gan, watching, wondered seriously if the bird was insane. For a moment Hag’s gaze settled on him, then moved on to Coby.
‘You mean another within the Citadel is now working for the Crazed One?’ Coby asked cautiously.
‘In a way I suppose. One of their healers or some such. His name is Tomin, but none suspects what he has become.’
‘What do you mean Hag, by “in a way”? Do speak clearly,’ Coby sounded irritable.
Hag tilted her head so that one eye fixed on Coby. ‘It’s a bit of the Crazed One, but it’s also mixed with the energy I felt in the far north.’
‘Drogoya?’ asked Chindar.
‘Namolos?’ asked Corman at the same moment.
The raven hissed in annoyance. ‘In Drogoya, yes. Namolos, I don’t think so. That other thing – Cho Petak, perhaps. Now I have other things to do.’ Hag turned to the window.
‘Allow me.’ Ruslan leaped forward to unlatch the shutter and swing it wide.
Hag cackled again. ‘Nice manners. For once.’ And was gone into the wet night.
‘You will still send Tika.’ Gan’s voice was bleak.
Again Coby reached to touch his arm. ‘We must my dear. There is no choice. She has a very definite connection with the creature. You do know that.’
Gan managed a smile. ‘If I could go with her, I might not fear for her quite so much.’ He looked over at Corman. ‘Can you trust what that bird says?’
Corman grunted. ‘We have to I’m afraid. But I don’t believe she would lie over this. And oddly enough, I suspect she really has taken a liking to Tika.’
Gan wasn’t so sure that was such a consolation but he kept quiet.
‘Will you help us write our reply to your Lady Emla – she was such an interesting person to meet. I regret there was so little time I could spend with her.’
Gan smiled properly: Coby was very hard to resist.
Corman left them to it and returned to the First Daughter’s bedchamber. Peshan sat in an armchair at the bedside, Akomi asleep on his lap, talking quietly with Catha. Corman approached the bed and studied Lerran carefully. Khosa stared up at him, her turquoise eyes unblinking. There was no change. Lerran’s face remained distorted, tusks protruding from her jaw, but it had not altered for several days now. The healers said it was a good sign, indicating that the First Daughter’s physical condition was stabilising.
Privately, Corman was alarmed that Lerran might stabilise too much and remain this way. Looking at her, he recalled Gan’s words. Tika had described Karlesh as being tusked. Was there a clue there? Coby would surely have picked up on that and would no doubt be scouring the archives for further clues at her first opportunity.
Peshan sighed. ‘The young woman Tika. Will she go to Kelshan?’ he asked.
Corman nodded. ‘We hope she will. The decision must, of course, be hers.’
‘And what of our exiled prince? Do you know his plans?’
Corman drew another chair close to the bed. ‘My guess is that he will go directly to the Citadel to confront the Imperatrix. I don’t know whether Chindar is ready to sanction the sending of Dark guards to support him.’
After a pause, Peshan spoke again, but with an odd glance around the walls of the room. ‘Has Dabray spoken of any of this?’
‘The last person he spoke with was Tika, several days ago.’
Silence descended, the two men watching the woman they both loved and respected, helpless in the face of her private battle.
Gossamer Tewk, The Bear’s mage Lemos, and Tika, had made quite a mess of the den. Chairs were pulled clear of the wall and they each concentrated on different sections of the vast mural. Papers lay, like fallen leaves, across the floor, over tables and couches. It was quiet but for the occasional mutter as one or other talked to themselves. They all jumped when a sharp voice asked exactly what they thought they were doing.
Emas stood at the door, scowling at the untidiness, a large sack clasped in her arms. Gossamer and Tika turned as one to Lemos: it was his sister after all – let him explain. Emas listened to a few hoarse sentences and interest took over from the scowl.
‘Let me put these in the kitchen.’ She indicated the sack with her chin. ‘We found far more than I could have hoped.’
She vanished and Lemos gave a sigh of relief. He saw Gossamer and Tika grinning at him and returned a scowl, identical to Emas’s.
‘She can be very difficult if she’s annoyed,’ he defended himself.
Gossamer smirked. ‘I think you’ll find most women can be difficult when men are particularly irritating.’
Lemos opened his mouth to argue, thought better of it and turned back to his part of the painting in dignified silence.
Gossamer winked at Tika as Emas re-entered the den, wiping her hands on a towel. She went straight to her husband’s enormous chair and curled herself into the wide seat.
‘Right. Explain what you’ve found,’ she commanded.
Somehow, despite three people interrupting, and contradicting, each other, and having numerous papers thrust under her nose, Emas did seem to understand what they’d discovered. She studied the sketches they’d drawn and then went to compare them with the actual mural. Tika and Lemos, suddenly exhausted, slumped on couches, but Gossamer stood behind Emas watching which parts she was following.
Emas looked back at her brother with a triumphant smile.
‘All very well, but you have left out the Dragons.’
Lemos and Tika lurched up and shot across to Emas. She pointed to first one tiny figure, then another, and a third.
‘They are not inside your pipe things. I’ll wager none of them are, and they are all through the whole painting.’ She folded her arms and looked smug. ‘I’ve checked them lots of times.’
Lemos was on his knees, a paper in his hand, as he hunted along the bottom of the wall. Emas wandered back to the great chair and sat calmly watching them. A smile tugged at her mouth when she heard Gossamer Tewk speak to Tika in a tone of deep annoyance.
‘Simert’s Balls, Tika, she’s absolutely right.’
‘I know what balls are, but who is Simert?’ Emas enquired, her expression all innocence.
Tika blushed but Gossamer shrugged. ‘In Kelshan he is the God of Death.’
Emas frowned. ‘Really? Don’t they know of Ferag in your land then Gossamer?’
‘No,’ Gossamer replied shortly.
Tika rubbed her eyes. ‘I can’t concentrate anymore,’ she admitted and sat on a couch near Emas with her eyes closed. After a while, she open
ed them and met Emas’s gaze.
‘Do you mind if I ask you something?’
Emas shrugged.
‘What will you do with the girls? With Shea and Kerris?’
To Tika’s surprise it was the mage Lemos who answered her. He came to sit down next to Tika.
‘We think The Bear is using this trip to the Eagles’ village to speak with Kerris. Both girls would be most welcome to stay here.’
Emas nodded vigorously. Lemos took a sip of the cold, long forgotten tea to moisten his throat and grimaced. Tika closed her eyes again, thinking.
‘Kerris would be very happy here I believe. I’m not sure that Shea would want to stay here all the time.’
Lemos smiled. ‘You don’t know, do you?’
Tika’s eyes snapped open. ‘Don’t know what?’
‘Shea told us that she has sworn an oath, on her father’s name, that she will serve you.’
Tika was appalled. ‘But she can’t. She just can’t.’
Emas laughed. ‘But she has.’ She grew serious. ‘We would be happy for her to regard this as her home, us as her family, but she is utterly sincere in her determination to serve you.’
‘But she’s only a child.’
‘Huh, a child,’ Emas scoffed. ‘She has seen nearly thirteen summers. Are you so very much older?’
Tika opened her mouth, and closed it.
‘Shea knows more about deviousness, about duplicity, and about when to listen and when to speak, than most adults ever learn.’ Emas continued. ‘She also knows that if you hadn’t healed her, as my daughter Essa witnessed, she would have a permanently crippled arm.’
‘But I told her, she owes me nothing for that,’ Tika protested.
Emas clapped her hands in irritation. ‘You say she owes you nothing. She feels that she does. Do you belittle her feeling?’
‘I’m going into a dangerous place,’ Tika spoke very softly. ‘I would not risk her life.’
Gossamer sat next to Emas and snorted. ‘And you think she didn’t understand what we risked, fishing you and Sket out of the Splintered Kingdom?’
Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series Page 32