Dromi offered his listeners a sad smile. ‘There is a line of sixty-three hills in my land. We call them the Mage Hills of course.’
Emla had listened intently. ‘When our people first settled here, we found a very basic civilisation. The local people lived in very small farming or hunting communities. They had no writing.’ She glanced at Kemti for confirmation.
Kemti nodded. ‘They had an oral tradition, which, from my recent reading, was concerned with invented stories of fairly small matters. It seems, from these tales, they were mostly peaceable folk, co existing without violent enmities. There are no stories of one village taking over another, for example.’
Sket frowned. ‘But Nolli told us that her people fled into the tunnels of Asat to escape attacks from a warlike group. When we travelled north through the Domain, all the children were hidden away from us because they had been caught before – letting “strangers” into the Domain who then slaughtered all they could find, including the children.’
‘You’re right,’ Emla agreed slowly. ‘But there were no such warrior people around when we came.’
‘Did you cross the great mountains to reach here?’ Sket asked.
Kemti shook his head. ‘Jerak’s records are the oldest we have. All he says is that after the crash, the survivors travelled south with a range of enormous mountains always on their right hand, until they found the site to settle which became Gaharn City.’
‘So in fact they only saw the eastern plains, they never travelled the western side, which is where Nolli said the warriors came from.’
Emla glanced round at Tika’s companions. ‘If Nolli’s people suddenly vanished within the mountains, surely a race of warriors would be aware of settlers moving in to Gaharn? The north western plains are barren and icy. A few solitary families may still try to make a living there, but no large groups of fighters have ever approached Gaharn from there.’
‘As they surely would have done if they scented easy pickings,’ Essa put in.
‘These solitaries you speak of,’ Dromi asked. ‘What do you know of them?’
Emla looked blank and Kemti spread his hands palm up. ‘Nothing at all. Nolli said her people had occasional contact with some of them. They would trade goods and news, but I know nothing more.’
‘I’ll ask the Merigs,’ Emla decided, getting to her feet. ‘Do you think the reports of people living isolated is of importance then, Dromi?’
Dromi gave her a slightly embarrassed smile. ‘I fear I am simply curious, my lady. My people – Old Bloods – survived by living alone and scattered. I wondered what the ones you speak of may wish to conceal from the world.’
Emla gave him a thoughtful look, then went out into the gardens. Shea crashed back into the pavilion moments later, causing considerable alarm, until she assured the company all was well with Tika. She sat beside Geffal.
‘Tika and I were talking by Grib’s shed, with Daisy. We hadn’t been there long when Hag arrived.’
Sket growled but Shea waved a dismissive hand. ‘It was Hag, the proper Hag. But she was very – upset. No cackling or boasting. She looked almost afraid to come near Tika but Daisy snuffled at her and Khosa wailed something and then Hag came a bit closer.’
Shea beamed at everyone and was apparently unaware that they would all quite enjoy shaking the rest of her news out of her. After what she deemed a suitably anticipatory pause, she drew another breath to continue.
‘Hag said she had been investigating, and she’d found several things which upset her. She wasn’t terribly clear.’
Shea frowned. ‘Tika approached her and Hag looked frightened, but Tika just knelt by her and stroked her. That seemed to upset Hag more – I thought she was going to cry. Can birds cry?’ She twisted to direct her question to Volk, who simply shrugged.
‘Anyway, Hag said she had more to find out and that Tika must beware Cyrek, that he is more danger at the moment that the Crazed One.’
Shea gave her audience another beaming smile. Sket swore. ‘Where is Tika now? Why have you come back alone?’
‘Oh. Hag said she had to tell Tika something dreadfully secret, so they went out onto the grass – you know that big patch Daisy likes?’
Sket and Essa were already out of the door, Fedran and Kazmat close behind. Geffal nudged Shea as he stood up.
‘You’d better hope Lady Tika’s still there and in one piece.’ He hurried after the others.
Shea gaped at Rhaki. ‘What’s the matter with them? ’Course she’s all right.’
Rhaki’s grey eyes held amusement. ‘I know she is. You know she is. They have to check for themselves.’
Kemti chuckled. ‘If that Raven is still talking, in confidence, to our Tika, I do hope Sket doesn’t barge in too fast. Have you seen the child lose her temper?’
Rhaki began to smile. ‘I’m rather glad to say that I haven’t.’
Farn huffed behind them. ‘She was very cross with me once.’ His mind tone was rueful. ‘It wasn’t very nice.’
Shea went to hug him. ‘But when she’s cross with you Farn, it’s because you’ve worried her; it’s not the same as being really angry.’
Four men studied Shea’s back, all thoughtful. At times Shea seemed still a child, but occasional remarks she made indicated a mind far older than it should be. But then, none of them knew of her early years as the middle daughter of the Imperatrix Veranta of Kelshan. Shea had lived in such close confinement permeated with fear that she had learned to act the simple minded idiot. But behind the façade of stupidity, she had watched, and listened, and, in secret, read every book she could get her hands on. No, the child with the dark curls so similar to Tika’s was a much more complex creature than a brief glance might suggest.
Shadows fell across the entrance and two people came in, arm in arm. Farn’s eyes whirred faster, the facets softest blue and pearl, and it was he who spoke first.
‘Welcome back, Onion. I am truly glad to see you are feeling better.’
There was affection in his tone but no pity.
Dog led Onion to one of the several couches and helped him lower himself onto it. She looked around with a scowl.
‘Has our dear Captain allowed the tea kettle to boil dry?’ she demanded, and went to the tiny kitchen to rectify the matter.
Shea crossed to stand by Onion’s knees, her head on one side as she studied his face. He was very pale and had a white line straight across his cheek. There was a circular pad, a dressing, over his right eye, held in place by a strip of cloth which was tied behind his head. Finally Shea grinned.
‘That patch is definitely impressive,’ she announced. ‘It makes you look like a pirate. We had a lot of pirates in Kelshan, you know.’
Onion’s lips twitched into a faint smile and his remaining brown eye winked at her. ‘Never met any pirates.’
His voice wasn’t as strong as usual, but it was steady. Shea gave him a look of wide eyed innocence.
‘If you’ve got to rest for a while, would you like a nice little game of snap-the-rat?’ she enquired.
‘Or riddles?’ Farn suggested with enthusiasm.
It might have been imagination but Rhaki thought Onion grew a little paler.
‘I think it’s probably best if Onion just sits quietly and does nothing for now,’ he suggested.
‘That’s exactly what Senior Kollas said,’ Onion agreed rather too fast.
Before either Shea or Farn could protest, voices were heard from without. Kemti caught Rhaki’s eye and they both assumed blank expressions.
‘Such absolute bloody nonsense, Sket,’ Tika was saying as she entered.
‘You were fooled by that copy of her before,’ Sket argued.
‘So I would be careful to make certain she is who she seems next time, wouldn’t I? You scared her away before she’d told me everything.’
Sket stared at her. ‘I scared Hag?’ he repeated in disbelief.
‘Yes you did,’ Tika snapped back, then she saw Onion and her mood changed at
once. She sat beside him, reaching for his hand. ‘How do you feel?’
‘Walking from the House to here felt like an awful long walk,’ he had to confess. ‘And I wobble; my balance feels wrong. And it itches.’
Tika grinned.
‘I know,’ Onion groaned. ‘Every healer I’ve ever had dealings with, says itching is a good sign of healing.’ He lifted his right hand and cupped it over his patch. ‘I just want to scratch it though.’
‘I can make you less aware of the itching, but I wouldn’t stop it completely. If I did, you also wouldn’t notice if you started to get pain there.’
‘I’d be grateful to have some of the itch gone Lady Tika. I’ll go mad for sure with it as it is.’
Tika’s healing sense touched the wound beneath the patch. It was healing cleanly and she felt no hint of infection. She blocked most of the itching from Onion’s awareness but noticed he had a fairly bad headache which she also eased.
‘How long has your head hurt?’ she asked.
‘Since I woke up.’
‘Hmm. You are up and about a bit soon, Onion. I don’t want to see you doing much, if anything for a few days.’
‘Playing snap-the-rat isn’t strenuous,’ Shea muttered from behind Tika.
Onion’s single eye rolled towards the ceiling and Tika bit her lip. ‘Not strenuous, no,’ she agreed. ‘But not a good idea when his one eye has to learn to do the work for both now.’
Onion’s sigh of relief was just audible.
‘What did Hag have to say?’ Kemti asked.
Tika leaned back on the couch beside Onion. ‘There is something getting to Hag. I admit she frightened me the first time I really talked to her in Essa’s village, but Shea was right. Besides having a vast power within her, she’s a lonely old bird, and she seems to have taken a liking to us.’
‘Fortunately,’ Shivan added from the bedroom door.
‘Have you slept well enough?’ Tika asked sternly.
‘Of course.’
‘Hag is upset about what happened at Blue Mirror lake. She was even more upset when I asked her about Shadow – I’m still not sure why. I think she’s found out something about Cyrek which has really rattled her. But she left,’ Tika glared at Sket again. ‘Before she told me more.’
‘But we know we must be on guard against Cyrek,’ Essa objected. ‘And you said that he didn’t guess you knew of his treachery when you saw him earlier.’
‘Would he have the cheek to turn up here, Lady Tika?’
‘I don’t know, Fedran. I knew Cyrek was powerful as soon as I met him, but I felt that power was limited – less than yours for instance Kemti. Although his talents are sharpened they have a different aim in view to yours. There was something else in him when I saw him this time.’
‘The Crazed One?’ asked Shea, her hazel eyes quite flat and hard.
‘Probably.’ Tika checked the members of her company. ‘Where are Navan and Konya?’
‘Konya’s with Nesh, and Navan’s rummaging through his maps,’ Kemti told her. ‘He’s obsessed with them.’
‘Are you still banished from your room?’
The Senior looked glum. ‘Emla thinks Something Will Have To Be Done. There are three nests in there now and the females are quite extraordinarily noisy.’
Khosa appeared unexpectedly and leapt onto Onion’s lap.
‘You could have moved them easily enough.’
Her mind voice was definitely condescending in tone. She curled herself in a tidy circle and began to purr soothingly for Onion’s comfort, well aware that everyone waited for her to explain. She glanced over her shoulder.
‘Think compulsion, my dears. Compulsion.’
Kemti closed his eyes and slapped his forehead. Tika was laughing.
‘What do you think would be best, Volk?’ she managed to ask. ‘What would make those crows believe Kemti’s bedroom is the worst possible place to build their nests?’
Volk’s smile was the widest she’d yet seen from him.
‘Do they know of Plavats?’ he asked.
‘If they don’t, I’m sure they’d realise immediately just how foul Plavats are.’ Kemti’s grin was as broad as Volk’s. ‘An illusion, I think, Khosa, rather than a compulsion. I shall go and do it at once. I think the moment they leave, I will have to get in fast and shut that window.’
Kazmat and Geffal also got to their feet. ‘We’ll help you to – um – move the nests,’ Kazmat offered.
‘I hope the poor dears never work out what you’ve done,’ Tika remarked. ‘Emla’s talking to one now I think.’
She saw Dog nod towards Onion and turned to find he was asleep. She eased off the couch and took the blanket Dog already held, dropping it gently over the engineer. Tika moved away so as not to disturb him. She ended up beside Shivan.
‘I suggest we make an attempt on the Splintered Kingdom very soon,’ he said quietly.
The companions still present froze, then drew closer to listen.
‘Why?’ Tika propped herself on the window seat.
‘I watched you speak to my people and I saw Cyrek. Then I tried to seek him, before you came back upstairs. He had vanished.’
‘Did you follow his mind signature?’
‘As far as one of the night gardens, by the eastern wing of the Palace. Then he literally vanished. He did not open a gateway. He was removed, whether by his choice or not, I wouldn’t like to guess.’
‘And you are saying the Crazed One moved him?’
‘Who else?’
Tika stood up. ‘I don’t like not knowing what’s really going on any more than you do Shivan. But perhaps you could remember that it will be me who makes an attempt on the Splintered Kingdom, not us. And I have no intention of doing so until I have much more idea of what I’ll have to face.’ Her eyes were green ice, freezing any attempt Shivan might have made to reply.
‘I want to speak to Navan, and then to Emla. I’ll see you later.’
The silence held for some time after Tika had gone. Volk gave a gusty sigh and ambled off, presumably in search of his peculiar horse. Dromi went to a small table where he had begun writing up his notes on Lady Tika’s travels so far. Sket had drawn his sword and was wiping the blade. It was ingrained habit since Shield Master Garrol had presented Tika’s company with blood metal blades, cleaning and honing were superfluous activities.
Provided the metal was allowed to drink the tiniest drop of blood whenever it was drawn, it needed neither sharpening nor cleaning. Sergeant Essa watched Sket’s hands moving over the blade, keeping her gaze away from Lord Shivan. Finally Shivan sat forward, elbows on his knees.
‘All right. I know that came out wrong, but I meant neither presumption nor offence. I never do.’
‘Nor do I.’
They all looked at Farn. The young blue Dragon, soul bound to their lady Tika, shot a nervous glance at Khosa, but she appeared to be asleep on Onion’s lap. Farn’s voice was a sad murmur in their minds.
‘I was always saying things that came out rude, but I never meant them as rude. I offended many I fear, but I try very hard not to do it now. My mother says that I must think what I’m going to say before I say it, to make sure it’s right.’
Shivan gave a grunt of laughter. ‘My parents, not to mention my teachers, have been telling me the same thing for the last twenty years.’
Farn’s eyes flashed with worry. ‘Twenty years? And you still haven’t learnt?’ He sounded horrified.
Two heartbeats, three, then people began to laugh aloud. Farn stared. Essa’s purple teeth, that he so admired, were fully exposed as she leaned her head back and roared. Dog was leaning in to Shea, both of them with watering eyes. A reluctant smile was on Shivan’s face and a grin on Sket’s. Sket laid aside his sword and went to stroke Farn’s face.
‘You just did it again my lad,’ he said fondly. ‘But you have been so much more tactful of late, one slip is soon forgotten.’
Tika found Navan after a detour to see how Kemti was get
ting on with the removal of the three nesting Merigs. Kazmat and Geffal were leaning on the wall opposite Kemti’s door. Kemti stood before that door, his eyes unfocused as he conjured the illusion of not one but two Plavats screaming and strutting within his room.
Plavats, birds standing as tall as Farn and possessed of low intelligence and high temper, were seriously unpleasant creatures. Judging by the hysterical uproar inside the room, the Merig females were fighting back furiously. Tika joined Kazmat and Geffal, probing within the room.
She was astonished at the strength, the realism of Kemti’s illusion. And appalled at the state of the room. Glass shattered as a female Merig’s bony beak swung too close to a window, but the battle was virtually lost. The Merigs were beaten back, the illusory Plavats rushing after them.
Tika admired the way Kemti successfully made one Plavat give aerial chase while the other strutted, shrieking, still inside the room. Tika jumped when she heard an infuriated bellow.
‘Quick Kemti! Block the windows up. The Dragons have seen the Plavat you sent out. When they realise what you’ve done, so will those poor Merigs. And then they’ll be back fast.’
Kemti opened the door. Kazmat and Geffal followed him and Tika heard their muffled chuckles as they barricaded the windows against enraged female Merigs. Watching the men stumble and crunch their way over scattered books and large twigs, Tika chose to leave them to it, and continued on her way to Navan. He glanced up as she came into his room and observed her smile.
‘That dreadful noise isn’t anything to do with you I trust?’ he enquired.
‘Absolutely not,’ she replied. ‘It’s just Kemti, getting his room back.
Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light Page 30