Emla’s green eyes flickered down to her hands briefly. Fear was still evident in them when she raised her head to reply.
‘The Nagum boy, Mim, who also soul bonded to a Great Dragon, and is Gremara’s Dragon Lord, forbids Tika to attempt contact with Rhaki.’ Emla spread her open hands helplessly. ‘I do not know on what he bases this order, but Kera tells me he was desperate that Tika be stopped from making any effort to face Rhaki yet.’
‘I have a suggestion.’ Lashek ended the silence that followed Emla’s words. ‘We should send two of our people through the circles to the Stronghold, as Jilla and Bagri have gone to Gaharn. Face to face discussions will throw up more ideas than this sending of written messages.’
All in the room were listening closely. Lashek fixed his gaze on Thryssa.
‘Forgive my presumption, my dear, but I feel sure you must have records of where all our circles were located. Now is the time to disclose those locations Thryssa, especially the ones that must exist in Sapphrea.’
Thryssa rubbed her eyes wearily. ‘I will have the maps retrieved and copied directly. Who shall we ask to go – this is not something I will order.’
‘Maressa?’ Orsim looked at his councillor.
She paled slightly but nodded. ‘I will go.’
Lashek’s councillor and nephew, Imshish, raised his hand. ‘I also offer to go.’
‘Then it is agreed.’ Thryssa sounded unutterably tired but Emla took one of the Speaker’s hands and pressed it to her own forehead.
‘I must go too Thryssa, and I would ask that one other accompanies us.’
Thryssa caught her breath. ‘No. Oh no. Emla, do not ask for her.’
But Emla held Thryssa’s hand tight when the Speaker would have drawn back from her.
‘If Elyssa is willing, and only if she is willing, I think it will help my people understand better something of what we too may have to face.’
Thryssa felt the other Speakers’ agreement to Emla’s proposal murmur through her mind. She bowed her head for a moment.
‘If Elyssa agrees, so be it. But protect her as well as you can Lady Emla, I beg of you.’
The formality of the meeting disintegrated, Imshish moving round the table to speak to Maressa. Thryssa went quietly from the room and all knew she had gone to talk with Elyssa and her parents. Kwanzi entered with refreshments, eventually arriving at Emla’s side.
‘I heard,’ he spoke softly. ‘I think you are correct in asking for Elyssa’s company. But my poor Thryssa is in such pain over all this.’
Sorrow and worry had etched deeper lines in Kwanzi’s face in such a very few days, Emla noted with sadness.
‘I know. I swear I will care for the child as I care for Tika and my Shan.’
Kwanzi smiled. ‘So you would have three daughters Lady Emla?’
Emla blinked in surprise then returned his smile warmly. ‘Indeed Kwanzi, I could not care for them more were they truly my children.’ She leaned closer. ‘Care for Thryssa my dear, I hate to see the change in her.’
Lashek joined them and Kwanzi went in search of his wife.
‘I have given Imshish copies of the map I found in our archive,’ he said. ‘And I have asked him to study the strange ornament your Dragon Lord wears. I would dearly love to be of your party but my place is here for now.’
Emla leaned down to kiss his cheek. ‘Thryssa will need your strength Lashek, but we can hope the day will come when you will visit places outside of Vagrantia.’
Imshish and Maressa left the council room to gather a few belongings to take with them to the Stronghold. Kallema also left to send a brief message to warn of the imminent arrival in the north, of the party from Vagrantia. Kallema’s councillor Prilla, drifted across the room to bid Emla farewell, then drifted away again as Thryssa, Kwanzi and Elyssa arrived.
The girl’s fair hair was braided now. She wore a thick blue shirt over dark grey woollen trousers which were tucked into half boots. A cloak hung from her arm and a pack was settled on her back. She was pale but composed as her silvered eyes met Emla’s.
‘I am honoured to be of any service to Vagrantia and to you, Lady Emla.’
Emla embraced the girl briefly then followed Lashek when he led the way to the Chamber of Harmony. Kwanzi handed Emla her own pack and cloak as they passed the men now permanently guarding access to the Chamber.
Maressa and Imshish awaited them there, both dressed similarly to Elyssa and Emla. Farewells were spoken, Thryssa clinging first to Emla, then to Elyssa, in a last desperate hug. Then the four stepped onto the outer rim of the circle.
Maressa led them, murmuring a low chant as she placed each foot deliberately on the mosaic pattern. They slowly wound their way round and inwards. There was a soft gulping sound and the circle was empty.
Chapter Thirty-One
Gan lifted Tika back onto her chair, Sket hovering at his elbow. Navan held a goblet to Kemti’s lips, urging him to sip the liquid he offered. Hargon strode to the door, pulling it open and barking orders to the armsmen outside to put all his men on alert. Shutting the door again, he realised that an orange Kephi had streaked between his boots and leapt upon Tika. He remembered seeing it on his female child’s knees at the lodge and stifled an urge to groan aloud.
Khosa spread-eagled herself across Tika’s chest, her whiskers bristling anxiously while she peered into Tika’s face. Automatically the girl’s hand moved to Khosa’s back and after a moment, her eyes opened. She looked at Khosa, then at Gan, and finally at Sket with a puzzled expression. Then memory rushed back and she twisted to see where Kemti was.
Standing between the two, Hargon nodded in relief.
‘Do you know what happened? You both just fainted.’
‘It was Rhaki,’ Tika’s tone was flat. ‘He killed someone in or near his tower.’ She hesitated, her eyes seeking Kemti’s.
The Discipline Senior straightened himself, his face still snow white. ‘It has been expounded as a theory but I have never heard of a single instance of it being put into practise,’ he said. ‘Rhaki killed someone and then transferred himself - his spirit, his soul, whatever you choose to call it – into his victim’s body. What Tika and I felt just now, was the utterly final destruction of not just someone’s physical body, but the annihilation of their spirit.’
The faces of the Sapphrean Lords and their Armschiefs expressed bafflement.
Tika struggled upright, clutching Khosa close to her.
‘Kemti means that Rhaki has left his own body and taken another’s.’
Hargon and Raben of Tagria both shuddered. Navan leaned back against the table.
‘In other words, if we go to the tower, we would find Rhaki’s body?’
Tika and Kemti both nodded.
‘And we do not know whose body Rhaki’s “spirit” now exists in?’
They nodded again, more slowly.
‘Do you know all of the workmen at the tower?’ Kemti asked.
Hargon scrubbed a hand through his short grey blond hair in exasperation. ‘No. The labourers work when they are free from other duties – in the fields, the market and so on. Some work two or three days there, in between their more usual tasks.’
‘Serim.’ Khosa’s voice in their minds made the Sapphreans stare hard at the Kephi. She yawned, then curled firmly on Tika’s lap.
Tika pursed her lips, glanced up at Gan.
‘Is that the little man who came here asking for Rhaki some time ago?’ Hargon queried.
‘Yes, did you speak with him?’ Kemti asked.
‘No, no. I was told by my seneschal that a man was asking for Rhaki. He stayed here a few nights I believe, then he moved into the tower the day Rhaki completed it. Traff said he was a very small man, seemed quite harmless, carried no weapon other than a belt knife.’
‘You said Rhaki appeared ill, the more he used the power for his building?’
Hargon nodded. ‘He ate practically nothing. Amazing he could still stand really, he became so thin. He trembled
too, as though he might just fall into pieces.’
‘Then I think he would have concluded he had no choice but to do what he has done,’ Kemti said.
Seeing the confusion on Hargon’s face, he explained further.
‘We have long known that prolonged or heavy drawing of power is most debilitating. That is why we have strict regulations governing its use, especially enforced among students. I suspect Rhaki’s body was actually dying, that it was far too damaged for him to attempt healing himself. He would have thus considered that he had no alternative but to place himself within another body.’
Tika let her hand slide over Khosa’s head. ‘I think we will find Khosa is correct, that Rhaki is using the Delver Serim’s body now.’
‘He may need time to adjust,’ Kemti said thoughtfully. ‘He is used to the height and long limbs of our People. It may not be so easy to immediately be able to function in another body. And Serim is surely the furthest extreme.’
‘Will he do this again?’ asked Zalom of Andla.
They all waited while Kemti considered. ‘I fear he will. Rhaki will find Serim’s body unsuitable I suspect. He was always proud of the fact that he could look down on most of the world.’
Gan gave a humourless laugh. ‘He always detested me because I grew taller than him.’
‘A meal should have been served by now,’ Hargon frowned, but the door opened at that moment to admit the seneschal Traff.
He saluted Hargon and awaited his Lord’s permission to speak.
‘I regret Sir Lord, that your son is not in the compound. I took him to his tutor as you instructed. His tutor came to my office a short time ago. He is heavily cut and bruised about the head and face. I have had the compound thoroughly searched Sir Lord, but there is no sign of the Lord Bartos.’
Hargon sat down, staring blankly at his seneschal while the visiting Lords murmured to each other.
‘He is gone to Rhaki.’ Again, Khosa’s imperious tone rang in their minds. ‘And that baby is in the courtyard.’
Khosa spat as she was dropped between Tika’s knees, but Sket, Tika and Gan were already out of the door. Hargon looked pitifully confused as it was left to Kemti to explain some of Khosa’s statement.
‘Lord Hargon, sadly, we suspected that Rhaki had touched the mind of your son Bartos already. Mena told us that his bullying had become more frequent and more vicious over the last few ten days – since Rhaki’s appearance here in other words. Now I fear Rhaki has summoned the boy.’
‘But we can find them, get him back.’ Hargon’s face revealed that he knew in his heart that he voiced a false hope.
Kemti shook his head. ‘You will not get Bartos back. He is already altered. He is Rhaki’s creature now I fear.’
A distant uproar was gradually getting nearer and heads turned to the door as hands moved to sword hilts. The door flew open to reveal Hargon’s sentries pressed to the walls, disbelieving horror on their faces. Tika entered first, followed by a silvery blue Dragon, then Sket and Gan.
The visiting Sapphrean Lords and their Armschiefs could only gape when the Dragon stopped before Hargon. He lowered his long face to be level with Hargon, and his prismed eyes whirred sapphire and gold.
‘I am sorry your son is gone, Lord Hargon. And I am sorry if my arrival has disturbed some of your guards.’ His eyes whirred a little faster as he made such a glaring understatement. ‘My Tika was distressed, I could not reach her for a time. I had to come to her.’
Hargon stared into Farn’s face as if bemused.
‘Farn, come here and meet the other Lords of this land.’
Tika came to Hargon’s rescue, ironic as she realised that was.
‘Yes,’ agreed Hargon. ‘If you would all excuse me, I would go to see if anything else may be discovered of my son. And I will have a meal sent to you.’
The remaining men scarcely noticed Hargon leave the room with Navan. They were riveted by the Dragon, who had moved to the side of the room where there was considerably less furniture and reclined gracefully against a wall. Kija’s voice spoke privately in Tika’s head.
‘Farn became distraught my daughter. I thought it best to let him come to you. We are close by, should you need us, but Rhaki’s presence has moved away from this area.’
‘We think he has put his mind into Serim’s body, but I cannot speak longer Kija. I have to introduce your son to these Lords.’
With a peal of laughter, Kija vanished from Tika’s mind. She took a deep breath and began those introductions.
The Lords and Armschiefs quickly became accustomed to the fact of mind speech. They also recognised the gentle hint Gan gave them regarding Farn’s extreme youth and thus the accuracy of some of his statements. Servants began to bring platters of food for the company, their eyes popping at the sight of the Dragon. Eating did not seem to lessen the Lords fascination with the Dragon in their midst.
Tika let Farn hold everyone’s attention – it gave her a chance to think about what Rhaki had done. She gave little thought to Bartos: he had always been an odious child in her view, and deserved all he was likely to get from Rhaki. A glance at Kemti told her that he too was deeply engrossed in similar thoughts.
By the time Hargon rejoined them, the remains of the meal had been cleared away and the sky was dark at the windows. The visiting Lords looked a little guilty at enjoying their evening so well at sight of Hargon’s face. With a slight jolt of pity, Tika saw that he looked greyer and older than he had but a few hours earlier. She got to her feet.
‘If you wouldn’t mind Lord Hargon, I will stay here with Farn this night. He dislikes our being separated and I do not think he could manage the stairs too well.’
Hargon nodded distractedly. ‘Whatever you wish. I beg your forgiveness, all of you, but I feel I must search on, for a while at least. You must be appalled at my poor manners towards guests,’ he lifted his hands helplessly. ‘I have to search on.’
The Lords and Armschiefs, and Gan also, immediately offered their assistance, late as it was. Hargon seemed overcome by their offers and left with them all, surrounded by sympathy.
Tika’s Guards slipped back into the room and settled on the floor around the fireplace. Kemti pulled a chair round for himself and purloined cushions to wedge behind his back. Tika leaned against Farn and yawned. Khosa sprawled across her knees, fast asleep already.
‘I was so frightened my Tika,’ Farn whispered privately to Tika’s mind.
She reached a hand to rub the side of his face. ‘I know. I am glad you came.’ She yawned again.
‘Mena had the same sort of fever that you had,’ Farn continued. ‘But she will be alright of course – you were better after a day were you not?’
Tika smiled. ‘Of course,’ she agreed, and burrowed lower against her soul bond.
She woke to find the windows outlined in the faint greenish light of a pre dawn sky. She felt rested and calm, aware of Farn’s slow, steady breathing against her back. Tika lay still until Sket and Riff moved quietly to the door, presumably to find the kitchens and some hot tea. She smiled. The Guards swore they could do nothing without a bucket of tea first thing each morning. The others were stirring when Sket and Riff returned triumphantly with their precious tea. Kemti stretched, groaning, in his chair and looked towards Tika.
‘I do not know how you can sleep on the floor so well,’ he complained. Then he sat forward suddenly, staring at her.
She pushed herself into a sitting position as he dropped to his knees and peered into her face.
‘What is it Kemti? What’s the matter?’
His long fingers caught her chin, tilting her face from side to side to catch the early light.
‘Your eyes,’ he murmured. ‘Your eyes are silver.’
Ren found it difficult to believe – the extent of the warren of rooms beneath Chakar’s tiny cottage. It was clear that most rooms were naturally formed, dug out by the sea countless years ago, before the cliffs were pushed high above the water. Or the sea level
became lower, as Voron pointed out.
After the two had been given a perfunctory tour and allotted two cubby holes for themselves, they settled in the main room with their host. Chakar explained that over many years, certain Observers had used this cottage and its hidden rooms. Each was selected by their predecessor and were not told of the cottage’s secrets until they had proved worthy.
‘How did you prove worthy Chakar, and, if it is such a secret, why have you allowed Voron and myself to learn of it?’ Ren asked.
Chakar and Babach glanced at each other.
‘This is really Babach’s place, but he decided he was needed at the Menedula some years ago. At that time, he and I had worked together in the Oblaka and he chose me to succeed him here.’ She gave Ren a suddenly cold stare. ‘If we find we have doubts about either of you keeping your knowledge of this place secret, we could easily silence you. One way or another.’
Ren felt a finger of ice stroke down his spine and he swallowed nervously.
‘I do not understand why you, an Observer, should need a place hidden from everyone?’ His tone was apologetic but firm: he really had to know what was going on.
Chakar rose from where she sat curled in an armchair and silently left the room. Babach crossed his legs and folded his hands over his stomach.
‘Ren, I have given you hints that something is dreadfully awry with the Order – and its leader.’
Ren nodded: he had realised that much at least, but this was news to Voron and concern showed on his face.
‘This illness that is virtually out of control throughout lower Drogoya has shown itself only in a handful of cases during the past thousand years. Now there is this rapid increase. Think Ren. Once those of the order have fulfilled three quarters of Aspirant status, their lifespans are extended. Cho Petak became Sacrifice that long ago, and he is very close to his body’s limit.’
Vagrants: Book 2 Circles of Light series Page 33