Heads were shaken but Shivan’s gold eyes narrowed.
‘You can’t be serious? Simert?’ he sounded incredulous.
Babach scowled. ‘That was definitely his name. I don’t understand your fuss.’
Tika laid a hand on his arm in apology. ‘It’s just that the god of death in the lands far, far south of Drogoya, is also known by that name.’
‘By the Light, that is very odd.’ Babach frowned, trying to make sense of the idea.
‘Could he have just – moved?’ Dog offered. ‘You know, no temples here anymore, no faithful followers.’ She shrugged. ‘Perhaps he just decided to set up business somewhere else?’
Shivan gave a shout of laughter. ‘There’s one way to find out,’ he suggested provocatively.
Tika scowled at him but she could just see the logic behind the idea. She stood up and put her hands in her pockets.
‘Simert!’ she called loudly.
A cone of smoke appeared, widening at the base and rising. The smoke cleared and an elderly, rather plump, pleasant faced man stood before them. He turned in a slow circle on the spot.
‘My word. It’s been a thousand years or more since I was last here.’
Chapter Eight
Simert gazed around until he faced Tika. A white eyebrow quirked.
‘There seems no need of my services just now, child,’ he observed mildly.
‘No,’ Tika agreed. ‘I was told you were once the god of death in this land, but having met you in Kelshan, I wasn’t sure if you – erm – travelled, so to speak.’
‘Well no one here has called on me for a very long time, but technically speaking, it is still my domain.’
‘Was it Sedka who drove you out?’
‘Drove me out?’
Smoke wisped around Simert’s feet and the company simultaneously moved back a few discreet paces. Tika felt a twinge of alarm but Simert appeared to calm down.
‘A particularly obtuse peasant, was Sedka,’ he said in a pensive tone. ‘Wanted every single thing to conform to his rigid rules and straight lines. No, he didn’t drive me, or any of the others, away. He kept the people so busy, they had no time to consider their lives for themselves. Dawn until dusk, they had to work at regulated tasks, every single one of them, poor dears. A few old ones, or those who were ill, they remembered and spoke to us. But once they’d gone, no one did.’
‘So who’s been collecting the souls since you left?’
Simert shrugged. ‘That Crazed One took a few thousand I think, then he lost interest. But I don’t know what he might have done with them. He doesn’t understand the dead, do you see?’
‘There seem to be no ghosts here,’ Tika said, feeling the conversation was already far beyond reality.
Simert gave a gusty sigh. ‘’Course not. The Crazed One doesn’t do ghosts. The ghosts that were here in my time, well, they’ve long faded now. Occasionally, one of my lot asks to come here, but they don’t like it much. Too lonely.’
‘If people call on you again – talk to you – would you come back?’
Simert’s smile was sad. ‘I’ve never really been away child. I’d always hear them call.’
He faded rapidly from sight.
‘Oh damn. I wanted to ask him about the other gods.’
‘Couldn’t you just call him back?’ A rather bemused Babach suggested.
Tika regarded him. ‘He was in a remarkably good temper just then Babach. I don’t think he would be quite so pleasant if I called him again so quickly, just to ask questions.’ She looked at her unusually quiet company. ‘I think we should be careful about mentioning – his – name, for now.’
Dog snorted. ‘At this rate, we’ll all end up such nicely mannered lords and ladies, no one will ever believe we’re engineers and guards.’
‘No chance anyone mistaking you for a lady, Dog,’ Corim grinned.
She leered at him and his grin faded. Essa chuckled and hauled Dog off to the lake side, one long arm draped over the engineer’s shoulders.
Volk called for guards to ride out on the horses not exercised that morning and started after them to the stables. He paused beside Tika, black beady eyes boring into hers.
‘I had forgotten him,’ he told her. ‘Old grandmothers’ tales when I was a lad. Never thought much about them.’
‘Perhaps you should start thinking about them.’
When Volk nodded, and would have walked on, she caught his arm.
‘Please Volk, any of them you do remember, like – him, tell me about them? It could be important.’
A fine drizzle began near dusk, driving the company into the building. In the hall their small number made the room seem over large, even with Farn present. Tika was by a window, idly watching the darkening lake when pale wings sped past. She had a brief glimpse of brown and cream feathers, then it was out of sight. She was not surprised therefore when a man in early middle age entered the hall from the kitchen. He met Tika’s gaze then glanced to Volk. At Volk’s nod, the man walked over to Tika.
‘I am Sabel, Lady. I come from the Menedula.’
Tika noticed he was trembling slightly and suggested they sat with the others, nearer the fire. Sabel sat with a sigh of relief.
‘Your report.’ Volk’s deep rumble ordered.
‘Three more groups came in during today – altogether about eight hundred people. All adults, no children, no elders.’ Sabel shivered. ‘And no one talking. All those people and no chatter, not a word.’
The company listened intently.
‘We managed to locate Dromi. Hesla had dropped him on one of the top balconies and by great good fortune, it led into the rooms the bitch Finn Rah is using. Most of the talk, he said, was about getting to the Balance.’
Volk growled. ‘That evil thing! It should have been destroyed as soon as Sedka died.’
Tika was startled. ‘Are you talking about the Weights of Balance?’ she asked.
‘Aye. Wicked things now.’
Even Babach looked astonished. ‘But how do you know of them?’ he asked. ‘I heard nothing of them until I was made an Offering. Even then, I have never seen them.’
Volk scowled. ‘They were there long before Sedka’s rule. I don’t know where they’re supposed to have come from, or why they exist. Stories say, they were a harmless oddity. People used to visit and leave little tokens for luck. Then Sedka came to power and the Weights were shut away. Our stories say that Sedka gained some sort of power over them, or the other way about. And it is also said that the Weights helped him gain such complete control over all the people so quickly. ’Cept the Old Bloods of course.’
Tika got up and prowled restlessly round the table. ‘You say they were harmless in the beginning Volk. Could people touch them?’
‘Oh yes. People would walk round and touch one of the Weights as they passed – for luck, like I said.’
Tika met Sket’s eyes, remembering poor Bark’s death.
‘Either Sedka accidentally altered something about them, or,’ she shrugged. ‘They couldn’t change themselves. They are just pieces of gold. I have sensed only a distortion of time when I’ve been near any of them, no active intelligence. Or even dormant intelligence for that matter.’
‘But why are Finn Rah and Ren so determined to get to the Weights?’ Shivan asked.
‘Ren acted peculiar from when we saw them,’ Essa put in. ‘He could barely hide his anger when you closed them away.’
‘He and Finn Rah must know much more about them. How to get them to do – whatever they do,’ Shea offered.
Tika noticed she was sitting on a pile of blankets: she suspected Shea might not be too keen to ride horseback again any time soon.
‘I thought Babach was more – senior, than Finn Rah? Why don’t you know about these Weights?’ Shea continued, looking at Babach.
Babach spread his hands palms up. ‘I was raised to Offering quite young – about the same age as Ren. But I found being an Offering was nearly all about administration �
�� no time for all my students, or my own studies. Cho Petak had been Sacrifice since long before I was born and was held in awe by all for his skills, especially for extending his own life span so spectacularly. I asked him if I might be released to become an Observer. He was very kind to me, very understanding, and I was allowed to step down at once. I rarely saw him after that, and Finn Rah even less.’
He stopped and his listeners knew he was thinking of Ren, his once beloved student and apprentice. Tika made up her mind abruptly.
‘I will far seek tonight.’ She held up her left hand, Garrol’s ring winking on her thumb, to quell the objections. ‘Farn can travel with my mind. So can Shivan. They will pull me back if the need should arise.’
She caught sight of Beela at the kitchen door and waved her in. ‘If food is ready, so are we.’
There was muttering among the companions which Tika refused to acknowledge. She understood that, for many and various reasons, those who had chosen to throw in their lot with hers, felt useless when she attempted travelling with her mind. They would much rather face the monsters that had appeared in Kelshan, than sit by her apparently unconscious body. Tika would in fact prefer Kija and Brin to be here to support her in what she planned to attempt.
But she hadn’t tried to reach their minds, knowing that they did need a little time to themselves occasionally. Sket kept the others from her now. He’d had to sit by, often enough, when Tika did these things. He found it hard, but he had more understanding of what she was doing than these new companions. Only Khosa approached, curling into a ball on Tika’s lap and purring softly.
Instead of going to the smaller rooms they’d been using as bedrooms, every one of the company, and the few remaining Old Bloods, brought blankets back to the hall tonight. Konya set out a pile of pillows near the fire and left a quilt neatly folded beside the makeshift bed. The muted conversations ceased entirely when Tika settled on the pillows and let Shivan throw the quilt across her legs. Farn reclined by her head and Khosa lay against her arm.
Tika took one last glance at the worried faces surrounding her and closed her eyes. Shivan sat cross legged by her feet, head bowed, and let his mind slide free, to tag onto Tika’s. Farn’s mind felt far stronger to Shivan than he’d yet felt it, but to Tika it felt utterly familiar as Farn bolstered her mental strength.
Tika’s mind sped south, under a sky thick with dark clouds. She had the odd sensation of darting between fat raindrops, and wished she could laugh aloud.
‘No need to go so fast.’
She felt Farn’s murmur brush her thoughts but paid no heed. The great black building was suddenly beneath her and she let her mind drift around the topmost floor. Sabel had reported that Dromi was in a room with a balcony, but she could see four balconies.
Shivan whispered: ‘The one on the end.’
She wondered briefly how he knew that, then floated towards that particular balcony. The room within was brightly lit and Tika’s mind hovered by the tall glass doors. She saw several people inside, a couple of faces vaguely familiar from the Oblaka, but she was searching for only three. A child with white blonde hair strode into view, her face flushed with temper and violet eyes surrounded by silver, blazing. She gesticulated wildly but Tika couldn’t hear any words. She examined the glass doors until she felt Shivan’s mind pushing hers. Annoyed, she followed his silent instruction and simply pushed herself through the glass. Her mind gave a slight lurch, an unpleasant sensation, but then she was inside the room.
‘Ren is a fool,’ Mena was screaming. ‘He said he’d been shown how to move from place to place, leagues apart. How many times has he tried today, to go only a few paces past this wall?’
‘He must have misheard the instructions.’ Finn Rah sounded exhausted and annoyed.
‘If he really knew in the first place,’ Mena snapped back. ‘Like I said, he’s a fool. Why isn’t he still trying?’
Tika saw Finn Rah, seated at the large table, her head propped on her hand.
‘He collapsed again,’ was her short reply.
Mena marched to the wall where the concealed door led to the Weights of Balance and pounded her fists against the black stone. She spun back to move closer to Finn Rah. The child stood across the table, hands on hips and glared at the woman.
‘And Babach. How could you let him go like that?’
Finn Rah shook her head wearily. ‘He was dead. You saw the armsman strike him down and that creature take him in her mouth. Surely she will have eaten him by now.’
‘No!’ Mena shrieked, leaning on the table and pushing her face close to Finn Rah’s. ‘You are so stupid compared to him,’ she hissed.
Tika saw Finn Rah’s eyes widen in shock at Mena’s words.
‘There were things in that old man’s head he didn’t even realise. And you managed to let him go.’
Tika felt both Farn and Shivan tugging at her, insistently. It was always difficult to judge time when she was far seeking so she guessed that Farn felt she had been gone from her body long enough. But she wanted just a little longer. The door was open and Tika’s mind sped out and down, down to the landing which overlooked the great hall. She hovered there, staring over the ornate balustrade.
Hundreds of people lay in unmoving rows, neatly spaced. Shadows flowed and flickered over and round the people before scuttling back to the darker patches against the walls. It looked like a constant tide, shadows emerging and retreating, and all the while the people lay still as corpses. But Tika knew they still lived, although she felt it would be far better for them if they were in fact dead.
Farn and Shivan ran out of patience and Tika was dragged, in a wild swirling maelstrom, back to her own cold, shivering body. She opened her eyes and saw Sket’s relieved face hanging above her. Tika tried to sit up but she was so cold she could barely move. Sket slid between her and Farn’s chest and wrapped the quilt tight around her.
Kazbeck was piling more wood on the fire and Beela creaked to her knees, offering a bowl of steaming soup. Sket held the bowl for Tika to sip and waited patiently until she’d drunk it all. By the time the soup was finished, warmth was slowly seeping back into Tika’s bones.
‘I didn’t think I was gone all that long,’ was the first thing she said.
Dog grunted. ‘Nearly dawn already, girl. It’s been a long night for everyone.’
Tika twisted her head to see Sket’s nod of confirmation. She grimaced.
‘Sorry. It never feels that I’m away more than a few moments.’ She struggled to free one hand from the quilt cocoon.
‘It seems that Mena is in charge. She was tearing into Finn Rah. Apparently Ren tried to open a gateway into the small chamber where the Weights of Balance hang. Mena seemed to think his suggestion that he really could do that was merely his imagination going mad. Finn Rah told her Ren had collapsed again.’
Tika regarded Shivan with a mixture of sternness and curiosity. ‘What exactly were the “restrictions” Corman put on Ren’s ability to open gateways?’
Shivan grinned. ‘Unless one of us are with him – that is, any with Dark blood, Ren will just get very sick. No gateway will open.’
There were a few appreciative chuckles around the group. Tika nodded; she’d suspected something along those lines. But now she looked for Babach. The old man was in a chair, swathed in blankets, and he looked exhausted. Clearly he had stayed awake with the rest while Tika’s mind was travelling.
‘Babach, Mena raged at Finn Rah about you too. I think she suspects Kija rescued you, rather than ate you.’
Farn hissed angrily above Tika’s head and his eyes flashed and whirred.
‘Ate him?’ he echoed in horror. ‘Ate him?’
‘Hush dear one. We all know that is a foul suggestion for Finn Rah to make. Mena didn’t believe it anyway.’
Tika’s hand caressed his face above her shoulder, but she continued to study Babach.
‘Mena told Finn Rah there were things in your head that you know nothing of. Could that be
possible?’
Babach’s face showed bewilderment.
‘I have no idea. You mean something, some information, could have been hidden in my mind without my knowledge?’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t know how such a thing might be done, but if it can, how can I know what such information might be?’
Tika pushed the quilt away, noting absently that yet again she seemed to recover far more quickly than she had before she’d descended into the Dark. She smiled round at the company.
‘Thank you all for watching over me, but really we should all get a little sleep. Babach we must talk more, but later, when you’re rested.’
Khosa wriggled under the abandoned quilt and curled up, her tail over her nose, and slowly Tika’s companions began to move away. Some headed for the bedrooms while a few remained in the hall, determined to stay near their Lady. Tika stayed sitting against Farn’s chest. Shivan sat across from her, his hand gently stroking the curve of Khosa’s spine.
‘I would speak with Corman,’ he said in mind speech.
When Tika nodded, he rose and went quietly out of the hall. As the door closed behind him, he heard Tika’s whisper in his head.
‘Give the First Daughter, and Garrol, my love.’
Dragon gateways were swifter to travel than the more usual Dark gateways. Shivan arrived on the roof terrace of the Karmazen Palace as the rising sun flashed along the horizon, turning the sea to a brilliant dazzle. The massively fragile Dragon shape shimmered, and the young Dark Lord Shivan strode towards the arched entrance. He was greeted as soon as he set foot in the chamber: his father caught him in a tight hug.
‘Are you well, boy?’ were Peshan’s first words, and Shivan was touched by the concern and love in his father’s voice.
Shivan knew he had been the cause of great worry for his parents and his aunt, First Daughter Lerran.
‘I am indeed, father.’
Peshan held his son away from him, studying his face closely. He nodded.
‘It is right that you have travelled with Lady Tika. But don’t forget us, my son. Will you have time to see your mother and sisters?’
Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light Page 10