Tika could see all too clearly, how simple Mena’s corruption would have been, well disguised, or delayed so that she remained a sweet child for long enough to get her inside the Oblaka. She dragged her mind back to what Volk was saying, but the crowd were shouting their approval of whatever she had missed. The meeting appeared to be over, the people dispersing, when Tika saw Hesla working through the throng towards Volk. He bent his head and listened as the young woman spoke urgently to him.
Shivan tapped Tika’s shoulder and jerked his head towards the door, one brow raised in query. She nodded and followed him and Sket, threading their way through the people to get outside. The Dragons lay in the starlight in a companionable heap, but Kija’s eyes opened as the three strolled past to the waterside.
‘I wasn’t listening in there I’m afraid. Did I miss anything particular?’ Tika asked.
Sket gave her a look of disapproval. He’d told her a dozen times, there was a time and place for thinking, and a possibly important meeting was neither. Kija’s voice spoke in their minds.
‘The young hunting bird returned just now. I think others have been out, too.’
Tika glanced back at Kija. ‘I saw her come inside, and talk to Volk.’
‘They are organising themselves,’ said Shivan. He grinned. ‘Volk was explaining that they’ll leave here tomorrow and keep a close watch on both the Menedula and the Oblaka.’
Tika looked out over the dark water just as a fingernail moon cleared the horizon. A fragile reflection wavered across the lake’s surface. It was quiet, very quiet. She sighed.
‘I wish there was a place like this, just for us, without monsters and evil and madness and worry,’ she said, almost to herself.
Then voices broke the silence and she turned again as her company came from the house to the place where they’d made camp. Essa joined them as they wandered along to the fire just lit by Darrick and Kazmat.
‘Interesting that only Volk’s done that changing thing in front of us, don’t you think?’
Tika craned to look up into the Sergeant’s face. Shea squeezed between them.
‘Perhaps they’re just shy,’ she suggested.
‘Who’s shy and why?’
Tika half turned to see Rhaki close behind.
‘Aah. We probably haven’t got that far in the explanations.’
He smiled, and Tika thought it was a rather pleasant smile. He seemed far more confident, yet it was barely a day since they’d met, and he had seemed nervous and unhappy then. Could it be the effect of the pendant? And she needed to talk to both him and Shivan about that too.
Next day, Sket and his guards were considerably dismayed to find nearly all of the Old Bloods had decamped in the night. They hadn’t heard or seen a thing. Sergeant Essa pointed out that most of them had probably transformed to their animal bodies to leave the Blue Mirror, and would therefore be able to move with none of the noise even the stealthiest humans might make. Volk emerged from the building.
‘Beela suggests you move in if you’re staying here a while. She’ll keep house for you – her own place isn’t far, and one of her duties is to care for this building.’
His gaze shifted to Rhaki, then back to Tika. ‘Beela says to tell you that Babach sleeps now. He dream walked last night. Some of us sat with him – it was not an easy night.’
Konya trotted towards the house, her satchel of remedies swinging from her shoulder. Volk sat beside Tika and accepted a bowl of tea from Onion. Khosa marched away from them to climb onto Essa’s lap where she sat, her back pointedly to Volk. Tika caught a grin beneath Volk’s beard.
‘Have you upset Khosa?’ she whispered.
Volk’s small eyes twinkled. ‘She tried to catch a rabbit for her supper.’
Tika nodded and waited. Then her mouth formed a circle of mingled horror and amusement. ‘And the rabbit?’
‘It turned back to Gilla, elderly cousin of Beela’s.’
Tika gasped, biting her cheek to keep her mirth under control. Khosa’s voice rang in her head.
‘It was NOT funny. It was deeply embarrassing.’
Tika got to her feet and fled towards the lake, shaking with laughter.
‘What was that about?’ Rhaki asked curiously.
‘Aah. Those explanations. You know these people call themselves Old Bloods?’
Rhaki nodded while Tika tried to compose herself.
‘They have the ability to change their shape. Always to the same creature, I think. Shivan can do it, but he doesn’t think it’s quite the same method as with these people.’
Rhaki looked puzzled. ‘I don’t think I follow.’
Tika glanced back at the company and used mind speech to Shivan alone. ‘I don’t want you to think I’m asking you to change as a sort of party trick, Shivan, but Rhaki doesn’t know about your transformations. Or Volk’s people.’
Shivan didn’t reply. He got to his feet and began to walk towards Rhaki and Tika, shimmering into his Dragon shape after two or three paces. Rhaki could only stare as the Dragon that was Shivan paced almost daintily towards the lake. Tika watched Rhaki’s face express first shock and then fascination. Shivan seemed to float up into the air. Although bigger than Kija or Brin, he rose more gracefully, and now he drifted in a lazy curve back towards the shore. A gust of burnt cinnamon blew into their faces and Shivan the Dark Lord stood before them again. Rhaki looked back at the company and saw Volk walking towards them
He nodded with a rueful smile. ‘At a guess, I’d say your friend Volk changes to a bear’s form.’
Tika was surprised but Rhaki laughed. ‘I was told, when I woke in the cave, that a bear might visit. Yesterday, Volk recognised me – this body I now have anyway.’
Without warning, the ground shook and both Rhaki and Shivan reached for Tika, all trying to keep their balance. Within five heartbeats the ground was still. Volk had fallen but was climbing to his feet. The Dragons were hunting some distance away and now sent urgent questions to Tika. She reassured them even as she reached Volk.
‘Is this land liable to shake like that?’ she asked him.
Volk shook his head. ‘Such quakes happen very rarely, far south and east. I’ve never heard tell of it happening here. Never.’
Tika heard her name called and saw Konya wave from the door of the building. Making her way there, she discovered her company had brought in their packs and bed rolls, as Volk had suggested. When she crossed the threshold, there was a tremendous crash of thunder. Tika spun round to look over the lake.
The clear sky was filling almost impossibly fast with swollen black clouds, and even as she stared, pellets of rain and ice began to hurtle down. Sket dragged her inside the door. She looked at him, his expression equal parts anger and fear. Yes, he too was remembering those spears of ice which had killed Maressa and Gan.
Konya caught Tika’s arm and gave her a little shake to get her attention. ‘You must speak with Babach,’ she began.
‘I am quite capable of getting out of bed woman,’ Babach retorted from behind the healer.
Tika saw the dark rings under the old man’s eyes and slid her arm through his, drawing him to one of the many benches in the main room. The building was made of wood: thick logs, split and packed lengthways, covered on the outside with clay or mud, but left exposed within. There were few windows but her friends were clustered by those windows, watching the lightning make ferocious stabs down into the lake. Thunder crashed endlessly and voices had to be raised to be heard.
‘What is it Babach? Volk told me you dream walked.’
‘This storm is not natural,’ he said.
Tika leaned her shoulder against the old man’s. ‘No. It isn’t. No more than the ground shaking just before it began.’
Babach rubbed his hands over his cheeks. ‘The Menedula. Power is centred there and it is building. But I was unable to see who the power is concentrated through.’
‘And we have three main choices.’
Babach nodded.
‘I must talk to Shivan, although I really don’t know how we fight this way.’
She got to her feet but Babach drew her back. ‘Child, you didn’t ask so I thought perhaps you’d heard. Elyssa, your friend, she – disappeared – at the same time as Sarryen. I’m sorry, so sorry.’
Tika sat down again, staring at her hands, and began to work the ring on her left thumb round and round.
‘I hoped she might have gone home, with Kija, but when no one spoke of her, so I began to fear.’
A hand rested on her bowed head and she didn’t need to look up to know that Sket was there.
A creaking noise from the far side of the room made Tika glance up. She saw Volk pulling the wall inwards, and realised it was a very cleverly constructed doorway. Before it was fully open, Farn came hurrying in, followed by Storm and Kija. Tika saw trees close outside the door as Volk pushed it shut again.
‘Where is Brin?’ she demanded aloud, even as she hugged Farn and reached to stroke Storm’s wet face.
‘He’s staying outside until the lightning goes away. Then he wants to fly to the Menedula.’
With the awful memory of those ice spears clear in her mind, Tika swung towards Kija.
‘How could you let him?’
‘Hush.’ Kija’s mind tone was calm, soothing. ‘Brin is sheltered by some overhanging rocks, all hidden by trees. He will wait until the weather clears.’
Tika drew a deep steadying breath. How could she protect everyone, she thought, in sudden panic? She’d already lost friends she cared desperately for - she couldn’t face losing more. She felt two minds touch hers and realised that both Rhaki and Shivan were offering comfort. Tika’s eyes stung with tears and she leaned in to Farn’s shoulder. He lowered his head to rest his chin comfortingly on the top of her head.
‘Storm and I thought we could all play that riddle game, until the thunder’s gone.’
Babach looked up with interest. ‘That sounds fun. How do you play?’
Tika managed a smile. ‘You’ll regret those words, Babach.’ She stepped away from Farn. ‘You explain the rules,’ she said. ‘I have plans to make.’
‘What riddle game?’ Rhaki hissed.
‘Don’t ask,’ Shivan hissed back.
‘Oh. That sort of game.’
‘And while we’re talking of games,’ Shivan continued. ‘Never, never, play a game called snap-the-rat with anyone, particularly Shea.’
Abandoning Babach and Konya to endure the riddle game, the rest of the company settled round a couple of long tables across the room. After a quick glance at Tika’s preoccupied face, Shivan began.
‘Clearly the Menedula is the focus now, as the Citadel was in Kelshan and to a lesser extent, the Karmazen Palace. We know strange beasts roamed these lands for most of last summer, but they seem to have – gone.’
Shivan looked to Volk for further details. Volk shrugged.
‘Some were killed. Some killed each other. We found a lot of their bodies but we couldn’t see why they might have died – no injuries or such.’
‘None of them just lay down and died in Kelshan, did they?’ Sket asked.
No one seemed entirely sure, but all agreed the creatures had all been killed in Karmazen.
‘They seemed less – organised – here,’ Sket suggested. ‘Could that have been due to any influence by Namolos?’
Khosa hunched lower on Dog’s lap. ‘I have heard nothing through mind speech from Namolos since Tika was snatched away.’
Faces turned to the small orange cat, then away. They had all noticed she clearly felt guilty about something whenever Namolos’s name was mentioned. Tika listened but made no contribution to the talk. The thunder seemed to lessen and Essa wandered over to peer out of one of the windows. They could all see the sky above Essa’s head was clearing and the rain had all but stopped.
Tika joined Essa, then went to the door. She pulled it open and took one step outside, Essa at her shoulder. Tika frowned. The air tasted wrong, it tingled and prickled against her face. Essa dragged her back inside even as Tika realised there was something seriously amiss.
Essa was calling orders to the guards and, after the briefest hesitation, Volk strode to the hearth calling for water. Beela hurried in with a full pail which Volk dashed into the fire. He upended a table and jammed it across the front of the hearth, holding it tight to the wall.
‘What is it?’ Babach called anxiously.
‘The air’s wrong,’ Tika called back as she rammed a blanket along the bottom of the outer door.
Dog had pushed Khosa into Shea’s arms and joined the other guards checking every door and window in the building was tightly secured. Beela’s kitchen fire had been doused and blocked off, and now she stood, with the few Old Bloods who remained, by the door into the hall.
Tika noticed that none of them seemed afraid, only watchful. She guessed all of them could transform, so that would give them an edge if escape was called for. But Tika’s lungs felt tight, after only two or three breaths of that air. If escape was needed, could anyone, man or beast, survive in obviously tainted air?
Chapter Seven
His skull was elongated and bald, the skin cracked into gullies and ravines. His eyes were almond shaped, tilted upward at the outer corners, and were a very light but definite green. The enforced rest after the debacle in both Kelshan and the Dark Realm had brought a more complete healing. To parts of his body at least. The Crazed One’s mind was still a chaotic jumble of seething contradictions.
He returned to awareness on the floor where he’d fallen, convulsed with impotent rage and exhaustion. The matter of how long he’d lain thus was of no consequence. Time was meaningless to him. He sat for a while, leaning against a rippled wall and studied his legs. They seemed more solid to him now, the many breaks having had time to heal more firmly. Solid, yes, but rather twisted. No matter. They would support him as he needed. If they broke again, as they would, they’d mend.
He frowned at his hands resting on his thighs. The frown cracked the skin between his eyes but he didn’t even notice. The hands had three fingers and a thumb, each digit tipped with a narrow horny nail, more like a claw. The skin was dark grey, and the knuckles looked to be misplaced, as of course they were, having been smashed countless times. He raised his eyes and watched the shadows scuttle away into the lopsided corners of the room.
His small ears swivelled, catching the faintest sound from outside. His mind pulsed a command and the door banged open. A skeletal human entered on hands and knees, eyes averted from its master. The Crazed One considered the wretched specimen. It had been newly caught last time he’d seen it, plump and polished. How long did it take humans to sink to this condition? He quested beyond the door and found three bodies: one had been nibbled at.
He stared at the thing almost prostrate before him in disgust. To eat the flesh of one’s own kind stirred an ancient contempt deep, deep in his shattered mind. He snarled. The human whimpered but squirmed closer to the monstrous creature propped against the wall. Tusks and claws flashed and the whimpering ceased abruptly.
The Crazed One flung the corpse back out through the door and a single thought blistered all the corpses to oblivion. He felt amazingly calm at this instant, the shambles of his mind pushed into a shadowed distance. He leaned his head back, feeling the ridges running down the black wall against his skull.
Always there was this strange period of peaceful emptiness when he first woke after one of his bad times. But he never remembered each separate episode, and he could no longer maintain his hold on this quiet, nearly sane interval. He let his chin sink to rest on his deformed chest. It hurt, and slowly the other pains from his constantly tormented bones crept into his awareness. And with the pain, his madness began to flicker into existence once more.
It had been a nerve wracking day and night for those sealed inside the building at the side of Blue Mirror. Nothing whatsoever had happened, no attack, no shaking of the ground, no more thunder or rain. The su
n rose in a clear sky and most of those within were peering out when the door slammed inwards, its hinges groaning as it banged repeatedly against the wall. A raucous cackle announced Hag’s appearance. The great Raven stood in the entrance, scanning the room, beak agape in silent amusement. Then she spotted Tika and strutted purposefully in her direction.
‘Why are you all shut in here?’ she enquired.
Almost boneless with relief, Tika sank onto a chair.
‘I wish you wouldn’t do that Hag. It’s very – alarming.’
Hag tilted her head to one side and a black shining eye rimmed with gold regarded Tika closely. Hag hopped closer then bounced up onto the table on which Tika was leaning an elbow.
‘I’m sorry. My dear.’
Tika heard someone snort, guessed it was Shea, and sent a glare in her general direction.
‘The ground shook yesterday. Then there was a very bad storm around midday. It came out of nowhere. When the weather cleared, the air felt tainted, unfit to breathe.’
Tika rubbed her chest, which still felt sore despite the disgusting potions Konya had forced her to drink. Hag strutted the length of the table and back, stooping to peer into Tika’s face.
‘I can taste no magic here,’ she said. ‘The bad air was probably just because of the ground shaking.’
Tika stared at the bird. Hag ruffled her feathers and adjusted one in a wing which looked very much as if it had been chewed.
‘You said the ground shook? Gases sometimes escape when that happens. The water out there is very unsettled, at the far end,’ Hag’s voice was soothing.
‘Gases?’ Tika repeated.
Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light Page 8