She returned to cleaning her feet.
‘Khosa, please.’ Tika leaned forward. ‘Please tell us what you’ve learned. There is rabbit here if you want.’
Khosa’s turquoise eyes slitted. ‘Fresh or cooked?’
‘Whichever you like. Khosa, don’t be difficult.
Khosa stared down her tiny nose. ‘I was once the Queen of the Kephis on the Lady Emla’s estate.’
There was an oddly wistful note in her mind voice and Tika scrambled round the fire to kneel by Essa. She lifted Khosa to her shoulder, stroking the soft warm fur.
‘I know Khosa, I know. Perhaps, one day, we can all go back.’
Khosa spoke to Tika’s mind alone. ‘No Tika. No one can ever go back to something lost in their lives.’
She wriggled and Tika let her go back to Essa’s lap.
‘There is a single tunnel which goes quite straight. It follows the line of that ridge I would say. There are a few little holes leading off it, but there were only some broken tools and candles in them.’
Khosa hunched down on Essa’s knees and Essa’s huge hand began to stroke along the cat’s back.
‘Then there was a hole in the floor which I couldn’t get down, but there was a bigger room just near it. That’s when I smelled the creature. Mena’s smell was faint and not really her. And then another smell, and then the one that is the Splintered Kingdom.’
She turned to look at Tika. ‘It smells of mint.’
Tika gasped in shock and Sket half rose. Shivan looked confused.
‘What does that mean?’
‘Thank you Khosa,’ Tika whispered, and made her way back to sit close to Farn, clearly shocked.
‘Tika,’ Shivan implored.
‘I, and others, smelled mint every now and then. In Sapphrea, in Malesh, in Wendla. I smelled it when I fell with Sket, when Seela died. The smell seemed to guide me. Someone told me it was a sign of Myata’s presence.’
‘Myata?’ Dromi’s voice rose in astonishment. ‘Myata?’
Tika nodded. ‘I was told she was the daughter of Sedka and she founded the Oblaka.’
Dromi’s round face registered unusual anger. ‘She was Sedka’s child. She was sent to the Oblaka. She had too much power.’ He drew a breath. ‘She was stark, raving mad.’
‘And who told you of Myata?’ Volk growled.
Tika shook her head. ‘Ren I think, or Babach, or Chakar. She is an Observer, still at the Stronghold, north of Gaharn.’ She looked from Volk to Dromi. ‘Whoever spoke of her, believed what they told me. I am sure I would have felt any deliberate lies. Is she really not respected here?’
Volk was thoughtful. ‘I have had small dealings with Sedka’s people. Maybe they believed they could hide their plans behind Myata’s name. But among Old Bloods, she is doubly cursed.’
‘It is difficult to understand.’ Tika rested her chin on her drawn up knees. ‘I believed that the smell of mint guided me to safety, several times, and now you say it is the smell of the Splintered Kingdom, Khosa.’
‘If Myata was mad, as Dromi says, surely the Crazed One would find her easy to persuade to his side.’ Khosa appeared to be asleep but was clearly paying close attention to the talk.
‘What did you mean Volk – that Myata is doubly cursed?’
Dromi was the one to reply.
‘She was born with Old Blood in her veins, Lady Tika. And with great mage powers. But she was also insane from birth.’
Chapter Fifteen
Sket had set guards that night, although in truth there was little need. Tika had dark smudges under her eyes in the morning, suggesting she’d not slept. There was less cloud today and slightly more warmth from the sun. The company seemed relaxed enough as they waited to hear the plans for the day. Tika was all too aware that these people looked to her to make all the decisions.
She climbed around the mine entrance and pulled herself the short distance to the top of the ridge. People glanced up but left her in peace. Except for Shea and Khosa. They arrived, slightly breathless, and sat down next to her.
‘Are you going to take us into the Splintered Kingdom then?’ Shea asked.
Tika laughed. ‘That’s something I’m really having trouble with. I don’t feel any pull towards it. It’s hard to explain Shea, but I get a – feeling – when I know something for sure. And I don’t feel it now. But I can’t think what else I can do.’
‘We could visit your Lady Emla, or the First Daughter, or -’
‘Oh Shea, I wish we could!’ Tika laughed. ‘Last night I realised that whole thing about smelling mint everywhere, then being told about Myata, that was all just to draw me in. But they call him the Crazed One. That seems quite a complicated bit of planning, over some length of time for someone who is crazy.’
Khosa squeezed between them and squirmed onto her back. Shea scratched the paler fur from Khosa’s chin to her belly and the cat nearly choked herself on her purrs of ecstasy.
‘I thought about that too,’ Shea agreed. ‘Have you asked Shivan or anyone if they know what he looks like?’
Tika looked at the girl curiously. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Well is he human, or one of those monster things, or what?’
‘I’ve no idea. Do you think it matters?’
Shea scowled in concentrated thought. ‘Yes.’
‘Let’s ask them then.’
Tika got to her feet and reached out a hand to pull Shea up. Dog offered them tea when they reached the fire. Tika saw faces turn towards her and decided she would have to try and clear her own mind perhaps by laying all her information out for them to consider. She sat beside Sket and looked up at Volk and Shivan.
‘I do not understand about this smell of mint. Some of my friends were also able to smell it, but not all of them. How can a smell be made manifest?’
Volk wandered off to his horses and Shivan shook his head.
‘I’ve never heard of such a thing,’ he admitted, and Rhaki nodded his agreement.
‘There is visual illusion of course, which isn’t too difficult to perform,’ Shivan went on. ‘Although I’ve never seen it or been taught of it, I think sound could be conjured. But scent? I can’t imagine how that might be done.’
Essa’s head moved and Tika followed the Sergeant’s gaze. Dromi smiled.
‘Conjuring scent is not difficult,’ he said softly. ‘Beasts rely on their sense of smell far more than do humans.’
Tika remembered the gentle fragrance in the Menedula’s great hall, that had replaced the charnel stench of hundreds of corpses.
‘Does that imply that Myata must have been close by each time to cause the smell of mint?’
Dromi joined them by the fire. ‘I don’t know. I have never heard of someone causing a scent from a distance, but then we must consider whether it is Myata’s spirit form that was doing this, or the one you called Crazed, working with what he had taken from her perhaps.’
‘Spirit form?’ Shea asked. ‘Do you mean ghosts?’
Dromi lifted one shoulder. ‘We believe there are spirits in this world; ghosts are visible spirits who are not ready to move on, or feel they need to remain near where they died. They are held to be unlucky.’
Shea snorted. ‘I have found ghosts are terribly nice, and very helpful, poor dears. Unlucky indeed!’
Dromi’s eyes widened. ‘You have met ghosts?’
Tika hid a smile when Shea waved a hand airily.
‘Lots. They helped us in Kelshan, and it cost a lot of them their existence. They had to return to the Dark because they used up all their energy helping us.’
She glanced at Tika, not entirely sure her description was accurate. Tika gave her a covert wink and Shea drew another breath.
‘So I think you’d better be polite if any turn up here, Dromi. Tika asked -’
There was a collective gasp and Geffal, being nearest, slapped his hand over Shea’s mouth. Her eyes bulged with indignation and she yanked his hand away.
‘I was going to s
ay, Tika asked a gentleman if any of his ghosts fancied a visit here.’ She glared round the group. ‘Do you really think I’m stupid enough to say Simert’s name out lo - ’
A wisp of smoke rose from between Tika and Sket, rising in a conical shape. A plump, elderly man stood there. To everyone’s enormous relief, he wore a benign expression.Dromi stared open mouthed while Shea jumped to her feet, her face scarlet with mortification.
‘I’m so sorry Lord Simert. We were talking about ghosts, and I got a bit annoyed. I am sorry. Sir.’
‘There, there child. Don’t upset yourself. I was meaning to pay you a visit anyway.’
Faces blanched around the camp and Simert frowned. ‘Oh don’t be so conceited. I wasn’t coming for any of you. You asked for volunteers from my lot. I was quite surprised I must admit by the numbers who came forward. There are about a hundred. I picked the stronger ones, you understand.’
Simert regarded Dromi sadly. ‘You really shouldn’t have forgotten me, you know.’
As Simert’s stout body vanished, a cloud of white and grey fog swirled in his place. The company heard a faint murmuring and glimpsed eyes, noses, mouths, briefly visible in the cloud. Then it thinned and dissipated.
‘They’ve gone off to explore,’ Kija told the company. ‘They won’t be long.’
Dog poured tea for Dromi, gently folding his long fingers around the wooden bowl, then guiding it to his mouth. He took a sip then stared at Tika.
‘That was really - ?’
‘It really isn’t a good idea to mention his name,’ Tika interrupted hurriedly. ‘We refer to him as the gentleman, otherwise, as you saw, he turns up. He was in a very pleasant temper this time.’
‘And that – cloud?’
‘Hmm. He said he would ask if any ghosts wanted to come. He hasn’t collected any souls from here for centuries so he said. Sedka’s doing of course.’
‘I must send word,’ Dromi spoke urgently. ‘To my brothers. They must know of this. It could change a great many things.’
Tika regarded him curiously. ‘Really? I’m afraid you are going to have to explain about your brothers – at least a little.’
Conflicting emotions flickered across Dromi’s usually bland round face, then he nodded. ‘As you say, Lady Tika. As you say.’
Tika turned her attention to Shivan again. ‘Do you, or any of your people, know what the Crazed One looks like? Has he a proper, physical form?’
Shivan spread his hands, palms up. ‘I’ve never heard or seen any description. It may even be that he is a she. I suspect the word “he” could well have been used quite arbitrarily, not because anyone knew for sure that the Crazed One is male.’
‘Bound to be though,’ Dog grunted.
‘Rhaki, what do you know of the Places Between – of one in particular which corresponds to the Splintered Kingdom of the Dark Ones, and the Broken Realm Konya’s people know of?’
‘Nothing,’ he said, his tone flat. ‘Bark was always interested in the Places Between. I was at first, but then my interests were – diverted. I know no more than a student might.’
‘Any ideas anyone?’ Tika looked hopefully round her company, but there was no response.
Just then, Kazmat and Onion came trotting up from the direction of the track.
‘We found an odd place, just by the town,’ Onion announced.
‘Looked like a place of the dead to me,’ Kazmat added. ‘Upright posts, made of a sort of clay or plaster. Not as high as you Lady Tika. Writing engraved on the posts but we couldn’t read the writing.’
Volk had rejoined them and hunkered down beside Fedran.
‘Burial ground,’ he agreed.
‘Are those little posts markers?’ Kazmat asked. ‘They seemed very close together.’
Volk grunted. ‘Drogoyans bury their dead standing up. The lower half is in the ground, the top half sticks out and is covered in a stone mixture that sets hard when it dries. Sedka told them to do this. He said it stops their spirits wandering about and causing mischief.’
‘Well of course that wouldn’t work,’ Shea began, but Tika poked her in the ribs.
‘Don’t even think of getting to the point again where you just might say anyone’s name.’
Shea subsided.
‘We didn’t see any such places in Syet,’ Tika continued.
Volk grinned nastily. ‘Those in power decreed such unpleasant things as the dead should not be allowed near their precious Menedula. Or even where those high and mighty Offerings could see them. There are burial places, but hidden within the forests.’
‘I presume this sort of burial is not the way of Old Bloods?’ asked Essa.
‘No.’
With Volk so obviously unwilling to enlarge on the subject, Tika came back to the Crazed One.
‘You don’t have any idea what the Crazed One might look like Shivan? But do you know what Mother Dark looks like? And what about the Children of Light? Where I grew up, I only heard of people calling on the stars for help, or blessing, or whatever. And we can all see the stars on a clear night. Ren and Babach called on Light. Dromi, is Light a person, or just what it is – daylight, lamplight – that sort of thing?’
‘I do not know a great deal of the belief in Light Lady Tika. It did not compel my interest when I was in training. I have seen candles lit, and constantly replaced. People believing that the Light must never be permitted to go out. But there is little else I can tell you.’
‘I have travelled a great deal through this country, and in the middle lands they honour a child, supposedly made of Light. It is neither male nor female, yet somehow it is both. This child is said to govern every human event. But I have never seen or heard of this child outside those middle lands.’
‘I remember something of that,’ Dromi frowned. ‘Several years ago, weren’t some of those people brought for trial to Syet? I was travelling east so I was not witness.’
Volk snarled. ‘Three hundred men, women and children. Burnt, one by one.’ He spat to the side. ‘Cho Petak standing at the top of those steps saying they should appreciate being consumed by the light of cleansing fire.’
Tika sighed and squinted up at the sun. ‘There’s no point in moving on today. As I have no idea where we should move anyway, a day or two here can’t hurt.’
She watched her people busy themselves with small tasks and saw Dromi wander out of the camp and disappear down the track. He reappeared only a few moments later and, after a brief hesitation, he came to stand beside her.
‘Sit down Dromi,’ she invited. ‘And do try to stop calling me Lady. I really don’t like it.’
‘Lady,’ he began, then started again. ‘Tika, I have asked a messenger to go with all speed to Steadfast Rock. It is some distance for your company to travel, but if you feel you can allow the time, I believe you could learn much there.’
‘Steadfast Rock,’ Tika repeated. ‘This is where you were trained?’
He nodded. Tika brushed dust from her trouser legs.
‘You spoke of your brothers. I do trust you have sisters?’
Eyes of green ice studied him closely.
Dromi looked slightly confused then his expression cleared. ‘Oh. Oh yes. Among us women are equal to men, but we call all of us brothers.’
The ice didn’t melt.
Dromi brightened. ‘Some of your guards call Essa, sir, don’t they, as they call Sket sir? That’s how it is with us.’
The ice thawed. ‘I do hope so Dromi. But you say it is a long way?’
‘On foot, it is maybe fifteen days.’
Tika calculated. ‘The Dragons could probably fly that distance in four days. Or we could use a gateway.’
Dromi looked cautious. ‘I have yet to fully understand these gateways.’
‘Dreadful things.’ Konya pulled the tea kettle off the fire and began busying herself with splitting a rabbit carcass. ‘Oh I can see how useful they might be, but what’s the point in travelling thousands of miles in a blink and then feeli
ng so sick when you get there, you’re fit for nothing?’
Dromi turned to Tika and Sket in some alarm.
‘I get sick too,’ Sket told him gloomily. ‘But most of this lot don’t.’
‘What is a mile?’ Dromi eventually chose to ask.
‘It is how distance is measured in Kelshan and the Dark Realm.’ Sket frowned. ‘I’d guess it is three, perhaps four miles to a league, as near as I can make it.’
Dromi stared at him. ‘These gateways take you thousands of your miles?’
Sket grinned. ‘In an eye blink,’ he agreed.
Tika had been listening with some amusement but a thought occurred to her.
‘Sket, when we travelled the circles in Sapphrea you didn’t get sick.’
Sket thought about that. ‘You’re right, I didn’t.’He met Tika’s eyes. ‘But Cyrek told us gateways and circles were the same thing.’
‘And they can’t be.’ Tika felt excitement rising. Now why had Cyrek said the two methods of travelling were the same? ‘Do you think he believes they really are the same, but without having tried going through a circle?’
Shivan had heard the last exchange and sat opposite Sket.
‘My father used to speak about Cyrek to my mother.’ Shivan shrugged. ‘Sometimes you can’t help but overhear.’
Tika and Shea gave broad grins. Shivan glared.
‘Father has spoken for quite a few years about Cyrek’s self importance. It makes father very angry when Cyrek acts as if he knows better than any other Lord, and is laughing at Corman or father himself.’
Shivan studied his hands. ‘I have heard father say that Aunt Lerran doesn’t trust Cyrek’s family.’
‘Who are Cyrek’s family?’ asked Shea.
‘The family name is Vorstan, although we rarely use two names as is the custom among some other people.’
‘Is his family counted among the truly high ones in the Realm?’
Tika left Shea to ask the questions. Shea knew far more about the intricacies of such matters than Tika did.
‘No. No one in the Vorstan family has ever excelled at anything. They are not mentioned in any of the histories. They do make a very good living from their lands – their wine is widely sought throughout the Realm. But Cyrek and Seola both gained high honours at the Academy. They have siblings and dozens of cousins, who all work on the estate.’
Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light Page 19