Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light

by E. M. Sinclair

  Ren looked very uncomfortable. ‘Finn’s made it clear to me that they believe her to be Myata reborn. Sedka’s daughter, the woman who established the Oblaka in opposition to her father’s rigid beliefs.’

  Sket frowned. ‘Pretty important then huh? I remember her, not so long ago, as a fairly unpleasant child.’

  Tika gave him a warning poke with the toe of her boot. ‘I’d like Shea to take us to look at this picture when we go back inside.’

  ‘Mena might have concealed it. She has sufficient power to work a minor illusion,’ Shivan put in.

  Heads turned in his direction and he gave a slightly guilty shrug. Khosa jumped onto his knee and regarded him closely. She looked over her shoulder at Tika but everyone heard her mind voice.

  ‘I thought he was going to be really careful with his experiments?’

  ‘Well I was.’ Shivan defended himself against the amused faces of the company. ‘Her mental defences are minimal.’

  Tika continued to study him: she had a feeling there was more. Shivan cleared his throat.

  ‘We thought Namolos was somewhere out there.’ He waved towards the sea in front of them. ‘So I’ve been puzzling how we could deal with something under Dark knows how much water.’ His audience was listening intently now. ‘But he’s not there. He’s somewhere inland, and that thing with him.’

  Tika glared at him now. ‘You sought them out? Without bothering to warn me what you were doing?’

  Shivan ducked his head in embarrassed apology and missed Tika’s scowl changing to a smile.

  ‘Well, I’m quite glad they’ve moved. I admit to being a bit bothered by the thought, as you said, of all that water.’

  Sket snorted. ‘Scared witless more like.’ He looked around. ‘Can any of you lot swim?’

  When two of the ex Kelshan guards raised their hands, Sket glared at them.

  ‘Only fools mess about on or in large amounts of water,’ was his only comment.

  Tika got to her feet, rubbing the seat of her trousers: the ground was still far too wet to sit on. ‘I think we will leave tomorrow then, no matter if the weather turns again, and we will go east.’

  ‘Will we ask the Dragons to carry us or will we march?’ asked Sergeant Essa.

  ‘They have horses here,’ Kazbeck volunteered. ‘There’s a nice old fellow I’ve got talking to. He’s not happy here but he looks after various animals that have been brought in. From some things he’s said, I reckon he’s got more horses tucked away than he lets on, maybe hidden down in that town.’

  ‘Horses might be the best idea,’ Tika agreed, although not happily. Her few ventures on the back of such creatures had not left good memories.

  ‘We can go down a path just along here, or there is another way through the caves,’ Kazbeck suggested.

  ‘Lead on,’ Tika laughed. ‘Let’s stay outside a bit longer now we’ve got the chance shall we?’

  Tika wasn’t so sure this was a good idea when she saw what Kazbeck had called a path. A track wide enough for one foot at a time, she thought, and if your feet were the size of Essa’s, barely manageable at all. But Essa apparently found no problem and strode down the side of the cliff as nonchalantly as Khosa. Farn simply glided down and watched Tika’s descent with great amusement, although fortunately he was tactful enough to make no comment.

  They found themselves about halfway between the cliff top and the outermost houses of the town. A herd of goats, their cries uncannily like laughter, watched them from a distance where they foraged under the supervision of a couple of young children. Large boulders were strewn across the escarpment like great marbles tossed from a giant’s hand. Picking their way between them, they came upon picket lines where perhaps twenty horses were tied. A large stout figure approached and Kazbeck muttered his name to Tika.

  ‘That’s Volk, the man I spoke of.’

  Tika ignored the man for the moment, intent on Sergeant Essa. The huge woman had stopped, her back stiff, her hand on the hilt of one of her several knives. Tika moved closer, touching Essa’s left arm.

  ‘What is it Essa? What’s wrong?’

  She saw Essa’s nostrils expand, her pale blue eyes narrow. ‘He’s a Bear.’

  Tika looked more closely at the man who was now nearly upon them. He had a shambling gait and was heavily bearded but Tika wasn’t entirely sure what Essa meant. Did she recognise this man as someone from her own Bear tribe, thousands of leagues to the south? The man had halted a few paces away and leaned against one of the boulders. Dark brown eyes examined Tika as closely as she was studying him. Then his gaze flicked over the rest of Tika’s company and he nodded in recognition to Kazbeck.

  ‘Your friend there says you ain’t Kooshak.’ His voice was a soft rumble. ‘Not from these parts, he says.’

  Tika, Sket very close at her shoulder, moved nearer.

  ‘No we aren’t. But we need to move east. Kazbeck says you may have a few horses to spare?’

  Volk scratched his bearded chin. ‘Might have. I’ll be leaving tomorrow meself, Guess east would suit as well as any other direction. Going anywhere particular?’

  Shivan moved out of the group of guards and watched Volk take note of his gold eyes. ‘We search for an evil that is loose. Not just in this land as they seem to think.’ He jerked his head towards the cliffs.

  Volk spat on the ground by his foot. ‘They know nothing.’ His tone was full of contempt. ‘I think you might, though.’ He gave the companions an appraising look and pushed away from the boulder. ‘I’ll see what horses I might be able to – find.’ He grinned, revealing very white, square teeth, and pointed down towards the derelict town. ‘See that blue painted house, to the left? I’ll be there come dawn.’

  Chapter Two

  Tika knew that some of the Drogoyan mage trained had limited abilities to use mind speech. She’d discovered, through her own experience, that she could force her own words into virtually any mind, mage trained or not. But she was careful to speak to the Dragons only on a tightly focused thread directed to each individual, alerting them to her new plans.

  It was late afternoon, the sun sinking below the sea, by the time they all returned to the cave complex. There was a crowd of student survivors and refugees crammed into the big common room for the first serving of the evening meal. Shea led the way through passages in which Tika knew she’d have been lost in moments, until at last the girl hesitated.

  ‘I’m sure it was here.’ She sounded puzzled.

  Shivan smiled and concentrated on the left wall. Nothing happened. He turned his attention to the right wall and the stone shivered away, leaving a door sized gap. Tika nodded approval and was the first inside. Ren took a glow stone from his pocket and held it high. As Shea had described, there were many scenes of a solitary man planting crops and guiding regular columns of cattle through gates in fields.

  There was a flurry outside in the passage and the child Mena forced her way through, glaring up at Dog when the engineer refused to be pushed out of her way. The glare was turned to Shea, then to Tika. White blonde hair hung straight to her shoulders and violet eyes, surrounded by silver, blazed in anger. A young dark haired boy wriggled in behind her, looking apprehensive.

  ‘How dare you come in here?’ Mena spat the words, her fists clenched at her sides.

  Tika raised an eyebrow. ‘How dare you speak to me in such a manner?’ she returned mildly.

  Mena seemed taken aback to be answered in such a way and briefly hesitated.

  ‘You are strangers here. This is a sacred place, to be used only by those who are worthy.’

  Tika laughed aloud. ‘Really? I have seen several other places which are extraordinarily similar to this.’ Well, she thought, she’d seen one anyway. ‘And who exactly judges who is “worthy”? Please don’t suggest that you, daughter of Hargon, are the one to choose?’

  Mena’s face paled. ‘And you are a runaway slave. I could have you imprisoned, or killed.’

  The room became icy cold. Tika�
��s companions stood like statues, hardly daring to draw breath. Tika’s voice was steady but as cool as the temperature.

  ‘Truly I was slave born, but you can do nothing to me, child. That pendant you wear so boldly, it should not be around your neck. You have no knowledge of what it is and you are unworthy of it.’

  ‘What’s going on here?’

  Finn Rah and Babach came through the overcrowded room, Finn looking angry, Babach worried. Tika turned eyes like green ice to Finn Rah.

  ‘You misplace your belief and your trust in this child. Your guilt blinds you to her failings.’ She turned back to Mena. ‘That pendant, girl. Tell me what you think it is?’

  Mena glanced at Finn and shrugged. ‘It was Myata’s, a magical stone.’

  Tika stared at Mena for a moment, then she laughed. ‘A magical stone,’ she repeated.

  ‘Yes.’ Mena very nearly stamped her foot. ‘Something such as you could never understand.’

  Wordlessly, Tika drew her own pendant from beneath her shirt, and hid her surprise. The tiny shape deep within was pulsing in time with Tika’s heartbeat. Mena took a pace nearer and Tika held the glowing pendant out of her reach. Her face was stern.

  ‘This is not for the likes of you child, no matter what these foolish people have chosen to think.’ Her expression didn’t soften when she looked at Finn Rah. ‘We leave at dawn,’ was all she said, walking past Finn and Babach.

  Her company snapped to attention in two lines, between which she passed to the passage beyond. Instead of seeking the rooms they’d been allocated, Tika took them straight to the widened ledge the Dragons used, and they settled there for the rest of the night. The complex was quiet, even the usual crowd in the common room had wandered off to their beds. Tika’s companions understood that she was deep in thought and also still fending off the anger which had risen so fast in the painted room.

  Stars pricked the sky beyond the ledge when Babach crept among them. Tika’s face showed no emotion in the faint starlight which reflected back from the silver around Babach’s faded blue eyes.

  ‘I know,’ he said softly. ‘I fear I have doubted her from the start, but she cured Finn’s illness when she first reached us. Finn is convinced she is Myata reborn.’

  Tika sighed. ‘She isn’t. But how you deal with it is your affair. I have far more urgent things to work on. I will say this though – beware. I have seen a far more powerful mind than hers twisted, partly through a belief in its great superiority. I see the beginnings of that with this girl.’

  Babach bowed his head. ‘Light bless your journeys my dear.’

  Babach had not left them long when both Tika and Shivan gasped, clutching at their heads. Sket and Dog were instantly alert while all five Dragons shifted restlessly where they lay.

  ‘What is it?’ Sket hissed into Tika’s ear.

  She caught his arm, her eyes squeezed shut and her breathing harsh. Sket glanced over at Shivan and saw the Dark Lord was in a similar state.

  ‘Kija, are they being attacked?’

  Kija’s eyes whirred in some agitation. ‘No. But someone used power. In an uncontrolled way – a large burst.’

  Cautiously Tika opened her eyes a fraction and drew a steadying breath. ‘I’m all right. It’s gone.’

  She met Shivan’s gaze and he nodded. ‘It was from the east.’

  ‘Namolos?’ Ren asked.

  ‘I don’t think so, but there was something about it that felt almost familiar.’

  Kija spoke to Tika’s mind alone. ‘There was something familiar, small one. I glimpsed the mind signature. It was Rhaki.’

  Kadi was much distressed by Mena’s confrontation with Tika. She admitted to Tika that she had grown increasingly concerned by Mena’s attitude to many things within the Oblaka community. The midnight blue Dragon was torn between wanting to travel with her old friend Kija, and feeling that she should remain at the Oblaka. Tika hugged her.

  ‘Stay for now,’ she told her. ‘But Mena already treats you as a servant doesn’t she? Stay as long as you feel you must Kadi, but no longer.’

  Kadi pressed her brow to Tika’s and Tika’s heart ached at the confusion and sorrow she felt within the Dragon.

  Just before dawn Kadi helped the other Dragons fly Tika’s company from the Oblaka to the eastern edge of the town. Kadi didn’t wait to watch them leave, returning instead to the ledge in the cliff side. The burly figure of Volk emerged from a nearly intact building. They saw the gleam of his teeth as he grinned.

  ‘Twelve horses in there,’ he told them. ‘Best I’ve found around here. So who’s riding horses and who’s riding Dragons?’

  It was quickly arranged with seven of the company choosing to ride horses, the rest dividing among the Dragons. Tika was faintly surprised that Shivan chose horseback but he just laughed and told her he’d always loved riding. Volk heaved himself onto a solid block of a horse and regarded Tika who still stood beside Farn.

  ‘Where we off to then?’

  Tika chewed her lip. ‘Does anything particular lie in that direction?’

  Volk snorted. ‘Only forest for leagues and leagues. Till you get to Syet, the town where the Menedula stands.’

  ‘Aah. Oh well. Let’s get started then.’

  Tika scrambled onto Farn’s back, took Khosa in her travelling sack from Sket, and they lifted into the dawn sky.

  Volk led them confidently through the seemingly trackless coniferous forest, which they entered around mid morning. From above, it was impossible to see anyone or anything moving below. Tika was beginning to worry about open space for the Dragons to land in, when the trees parted to reveal a narrow lake in their midst. The sun was high overhead and Shivan had just mind spoken Tika to tell her that Volk wanted a halt beside the further end of the lake.

  They found that Volk had packed an amazing amount in the way of supplies for both humans and for horses. Essa eyed the bulging saddle bags and extra packages appreciatively.

  ‘Travel a lot, do you?’ she asked casually.

  He laughed. ‘Aye, quite a bit. Gave it up for a few years to be a tavern keeper. This is the better life though.’

  Volk wanted a fairly long halt: he pointed out that the horses had done no work for half a year and they needed to be eased along for a while. Several guards wandered down to the lake’s edge to admire Storm’s fishing expertise, while Konya and Shea poked among the new plant growth. Tika noticed Konya looked brighter than she’d yet seen the elderly healer, and Konya laughed when Tika mentioned the fact.

  ‘I’ve been inside the Citadel’s infirmary for over fifteen years. It is such a joy to be outside.’

  ‘I know what you mean,’ Shea agreed with feeling.

  Khosa sat in a patch of sunshine and washed herself. ‘I think Essa wants to tell you something,’ she said in Tika’s mind. Turquoise eyes stared unblinkingly and Khosa would say no more.

  Tika shrugged and strolled over to where Essa sat with her back to a tree trunk. Pale blue eyes glinted up as Tika stood over her. It was probably the first time she had ever looked down on Sergeant Essa Tika reflected.

  ‘Are you all right, flying with Brin and Geffal?’ she asked.

  Essa nodded. She reached into a shirt pocket and held out a closed fist towards Tika. Intrigued, Tika held her hand under Essa’s. Essa’s fingers opened and a pendant dropped into Tika’s palm. Tika gaped. The pendant Mena had worn, white honey marbled back and clear obsidian front, on a thick gold chain. She focused her gaze and saw the white speck inside was moving and twisting: it had been dormant, motionless, when Mena wore it. Essa’s massive shoulders lifted in a shrug.

  ‘Didn’t belong with her. You said so,’ she said, as if that was more than enough explanation.

  Tika sank down beside her, caught Essa’s hand and placed the pendant in her palm. She watched. The white spark was even more animated. Carefully she folded Essa’s thick fingers over the pendant.

  ‘It’s yours.’

  Essa frowned in surprise, her brows fo
rming one straight line.

  ‘How can that be?’

  Tika touched Essa’s mind gently and showed her what she herself saw, deep within the obsidian. When she withdrew, she was shocked to realise that Essa could still see that moving shape, with no help from her.

  They continued through the forest for several days, Volk somehow finding large enough clearings for their halting places without the need for Brin or Storm to search ahead. Tika found these days restful and observed the deepening connection among her company, isolated as they now were. In the Oblaka they had mingled with the students and refugees, but now they were learning to know each other’s characters.

  They’d made camp one evening when Ren spoke of the Weights of Balance he had seen in Gaharn. He mentioned that there were said to be similar Weights in the Menedula, but only the Sacrifice and most senior Offerings had been allowed to see them. Shivan was most interested: he had never heard of such things. Tika explained there were Weights in the Northern Stronghold but no one knew who, in the distant past, had made them or for what true purpose. The conversation became general and Tika leaned back against Farn’s chest.

  ‘It was that stolen Weight that started all our travels,’ Farn murmured in her mind.

  ‘I was just thinking the same,’ she agreed. ‘But I can’t see any connection with the Crazed One through those Weights. They seem so – precise, and all of his actions seem so chaotic.’

  Looking at her company, relaxed and at ease around the cook fire, she caught Volk watching her. She felt no threat from him. She had made no attempt to touch his mind to learn whatever it was he was keeping so well hidden. And there was something, she was sure. Tika’s gaze drifted on and found Essa, apparently arguing amicably with Shea, Darrick and Kazmat over a game of snap-the-rat. But Tika knew Essa kept an unobtrusive watch on Volk: she sensed something about the man too.

  Essa wore the pendant she’d stolen from Mena, out of sight beneath her shirt, and Tika was fairly sure no one, other than herself, Sket and the Dragons were aware of the fact. Neither Tika nor Shivan had felt any bursts of power again, which Kija was adamant had borne Rhaki’s mental signature. Sket was long accustomed to Tika’s silences when they flew on Farn’s back. He knew she used the time to mull over many things which bothered her. He was content to watch the land flow by beneath Farn’s wings and leave Tika to her thoughts.