Vagrants: Book 2 Circles of Light series

by E. M. Sinclair

  Ren snorted. ‘Tried I said. But I have no idea who it could have been.’ He held his hands out to the warmth of their small fire. ‘Each mind has its own signature and cannot be duplicated or disguised. Or so I have always understood.’

  Voron looked up abruptly. ‘You think someone knows how to conceal themselves like that?’

  Ren rubbed his forehead again. ‘You have an exceptionally hard skull,’ he sounded peevish. ‘But yes, I fear I do begin to believe just that.’

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  People had become a little more accustomed to the presence of the gigantic bird in the great hall of the Stronghold. Baryet was interested in everything around him and engaged anyone who strayed too near him in deep conversation. It was quickly obvious that Baryet was impervious to sarcasm and given to a condescending attitude. After the near disastrous first encounter with Fenj and Lula, Fenj had become rather amused by the bird. Lula abandoned spitting at him but ignored him as far as she could.

  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, fir
elight 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.

  ‘Whatever did you do to them Shan?’ Bagri chuckled, sitting opposite Jilla.

  ‘Gave them a talking to,’ Shan retorted. ‘Ryla forgets everything when she is on the trail of something new. You just have to be firm with her.’

  Jilla looked doubtful. ‘She is so very old and so thin. I would be terrified of upsetting her lest she became ill.’

  Shan snorted. ‘Old and frail they may both seem, but tough as old leather inside.’

  ‘So. Having gained our escape from yet more questions on the drainage and irrigation systems in the Vagrantian Circles, what do you plan for us today?’ Bagri poured more tea as he spoke.

  Shan stared at him. ‘Is that truly what they have been asking about?’

  ‘It is indeed,’ Jilla answered with a grimace. ‘Our world is beset with strange portents and we spent all of yesterday discussing drainage.’

  The door opened to admit Soran. He saluted but also offered a smile.

  ‘I was told you might need me Shan?’

  Shan blushed furiously and muttered something beneath her breath. ‘Only if you have any suggestions on entertaining Jilla and Bagri as a change from them being closeted in the hall all day.’

  He shrugged. ‘The snow is nearly gone from the ground, the day is bright although chilly. Inspect Lorak’s gardens why don’t you? I have been told that you should not leave the Estate lands though,’ he added.

  ‘Did you know that the Assembly has not been informed of our guests?’ Shan demanded.

  Bagri and Jill looked startled while Soran appeared uncomfortable.

  ‘I am only Captain of Guards Shan. I answer first to the Golden Lady and Senior Ryla stands in her place for now.’ He saluted Bagri and Jilla. ‘I have matters to attend to, but I will join you later if that is agreeable.’

  The Vagrantians nodded and Soran left the dining chamber.

  ‘What is it Shan?’ Jilla asked.

  Shan was slumped into a chair, her head in her hands. Jilla had become fond of Shan when they had first met in Parima. She admired the girl’s determination to protect her Lady Emla in spite of her obvious fear and confusion at finding herself in completely unknown surroundings. Shan’s blue eyes shone with tears when she looked up.

  ‘I was only Lady Emla’s personal maid. Then I asked to train at arms. Lady Emla calls me her personal Guard now, although I have so much still to learn of weaponry.’ She chewed
her lower lip. ‘If I am a Guard, I should answer to Soran as my Captian. Yet you heard how I spoke to him just then. And speaking to those old ones as I did – I am ashamed.’ One large tear slid down Shan’s cheek.

  ‘Oh Shan,’ Jilla smiled. ‘It is only because you care that you spoke so. I am sure Lady Emla would have done exactly the same. Bagri and I do not see you as a maid, or as a Guard, despite that sword at your side. We see you as a friend in a strange place, and we accept your invitation to show us the Lady’s gardens’

  Shan did not seem entirely convinced by Jilla’s argument but she rose and suggested she send for their cloaks: it was still far cooler in Gaharn than it had been in Parima Circle.

  Shan led them away from the great House, past the pool where golden swimmers moved lazily among the water plants. Bagri wanted an explanation of why the water did not freeze and Shan gave him a wildly inaccurate description of heated pipes.

  Jilla laughed. ‘Please Bagri, no more mention of water, pipes, or drains today.’

  They emerged from a tour of Lorak’s hot houses, where flowers and fruits grew in a profusion of scent and colour. A silver blue Dragon sat on his haunches, blocking their way. His eyes whirred a darker blue and the sun winked and sparkled off his scales.

  ‘You have not really met any of the Dragons properly have you? This is Farn’s brother, Ikram.’

  Ikram reared erect. ‘May the stars guide your path,’ he said politely, dropping down again as one pale green and one mauvy blue Dragon bustled round the corner, nearly crashing into him.

  ‘Ikram’s sister Nya, and Hani’s daughter Lilli.’ Shan continued the introductions. She narrowed her eyes at the three young Dragons. ‘What are you up to? Where are the other two?’

  Nya huffed and a wisp of smoke curled from her nose. ‘They are listening to one of Hani’s lessons. We are – um – studying plants.’

  Jilla chuckled. ‘Most of the plants are either still in their cold season sleep or under snow. Which plants are you studying then?’

  Nya’s eyes whirred faster but Lilli replied first. ‘We look at the strange ones in the hot place.’