‘You will strike me no more, Yartay. I am the only one able to help you.’
‘Speak no more – the sounds you make hurt my mind. Go, or die. I will kill you if you stay now. You cannot help me.’
Cyrek stood trembling, but he must have heard, through his own anger, the truth in the creature’s words. His fingers flickered and he vanished.
The narrow gauzy space in the shadows round Tika darkened, but she could still see the shape which virtually filled the tunnel ahead. There was a clicking sound, rapid noises which changed to a guttural clucking. Was it talking to itself? What had Cyrek called it? Yartay?
‘I want to speak to it,’ Tika thought.
‘No. Bad. Peril.’
‘I will speak with it,’ she insisted.
She found herself higher in the tunnel; obviously the shadows thought they stood a better chance of whisking away if her feet were well off the floor.
‘Yartay.’ She spoke aloud, as firmly as she could.
The creature swivelled, this way and that. Stars, but it could move fast!
‘Yartay,’ she repeated.
She found herself moved to the other side of the tunnel, the chittering sound buzzing in her head.
‘Who comes to me now?’ The voice sounded human. ‘Who dares enter here?’
‘It doesn’t matter who I am. I want to know why you’re here, causing such harm to my world.’
‘Harm? I am only hungry, I cause no harm.’
‘What do you feed on?’
Tika did not understand or recognise a single word of what followed.
‘What are those things – they are not food I know of?’
‘There is none here.’ Yartay’s voice was barely a whisper, and Tika was appalled by a sudden thought. If there was nothing this thing could eat on this world, how had it survived these centuries?
‘If there is no food, why have you brought people here – why the Chyliax?’
‘Chyliax? I know nothing of them.’
‘Did you come here, looking for food?’
‘No!’ The word roared out, buffeting the shadows and banging Tika hard against the wall.
‘You trapped me! Caught me! Tangled me in your nasty nets! Evil, all of you with no intelligence, no minds to share with.’
‘You seem to talk with Cyrek,’ Tika tried to divert the explosion of fury but only succeeded in aggravating it.
‘The Cyrek animal got in. He used one of the nets. He has no intelligence to interest or amuse me.’
The huge black mass was quivering now. ‘And you, how are you here?’
Tika’s shields slammed tight as a mental probe came towards her at incredible speed.
‘Leave,’ she thought, and found herself slumped against Farn.
She ached everywhere but forced herself to straighten. Tika was relieved to see the sky still bright overhead, until Kija told her that a full day had passed.
‘Sket? Khosa?’
‘Hush my daughter. They are well and they believe you have been sleeping and thinking. We kept them away so they could not see that you weren’t here. Darallax came during the night, but we said you slept.’
‘You lied? To the Shadow Lord?’ Tika was shocked but also secretly proud of Kija.
The golden face lowered until their brows touched.
‘We saw the creature, and heard his words.’
‘Those shadows kept you safe.’ Farn didn’t sound entirely sure.
‘They did indeed Farn.’ Tika struggled to her feet and hugged first Farn and then Kija. ‘I’d better go and tell them what I did, and let them yell at me for a while.’
Farn moved his chest to let her out, his eyes whirring pearl and sapphire.
By the time Tika had explained where she had actually been, frowns darkened every one of her companions’ faces. Belatedly she saw that Kija’s assurances might well be doubted in future. Sket roared at her so loudly it drew Kija and Farn to the door. Sket whirled to face them.
‘You should be ashamed of yourselves, both of you, telling lies like that, when she could have been in danger.’
‘But I was in danger, Sket, sort of anyway, and here I am.’ Tika tried to lighten the mood.
Sket simply glared at her. ‘And did you know, for sure, that you’d get back here safely?’ he demanded.
‘I felt safe mostly. The creature couldn’t see me.’
Sket’s eyes narrowed. ‘What do you mean? You said you went bodily to the Kingdom, not mind seeking.’
‘Oh dear.’ Tika sent a thought to the shadows. ‘Hide me.’
She knew at once that it was the dark shadows that had responded to her call because, once more, she couldn’t see a thing. ‘Let me see and hear.’
Her companions were all on their feet, talking, and expressions veered from fright to outrage.
‘Reveal me.’
When Tika reappeared, standing exactly where she’d been, silence fell. She sighed. ‘Hide only my hand.’
She held out her left hand and it vanished, looking as though it was cut cleanly at the wrist.
‘Shadows leave me for now, and I thank you for your help.’ She spoke aloud and she saw understanding beginning to dawn on some of the faces staring at her.
‘You should have told us,’ Sket insisted.
‘Enough,’ she said quietly. ‘I am tired of telling you that I make my own decisions in all that concerns me. If you find this too difficult to accept, there is a solution.’
There was absolute silence as the implications of her words sank in. Sket came to attention, right fist across his chest against the Dragon insignia on his shirt.
‘I am yours to command, Lady Tika.’
Tika met his eyes and saw that he understood. She knew Sket’s ranting at her stemmed only from his deep affection and devotion. But if she was going to be a real leader – of this company or something more – he must know that he could no longer talk to her publicly as if she was an ignorant child. Tika’s gaze moved to Dromi.
‘Could you ask someone if we might hold council with the Shadow Lord and whichever advisors among his people he would think helpful, please Dromi?’
Dromi left the room without a word. Tika poured herself a bowl of juice from one of several crystal jugs on a long sideboard. She drank it down, only now aware of how thirsty she was.
‘I will go to Khosa now. Someone fetch me if Darallax has time to meet us soon.’
She heard the talk start as she made for the stairs, but she also heard a word inside her head.
‘Friends?’
She stopped abruptly and stared around the landing she’d reached. There were what she thought were “normal” shadows, lying motionless in the corners but the voice was the one she’d heard from the dark shadows.
‘Where are you?’ she thought.
‘Hand.’
She spread her hands out in front of her and saw another ring fitted snugly round her thumb beneath Garrol’s ring.
‘Why are you still here?’
‘Protect.’
‘Oh. What do you mean – friends?’
‘Those below who shout.’
‘Yes, they are friends. Why do you ask?’
‘Kill.’
‘What?’
‘Protect.’
Tika’s mind spun. When would she have time to find out just how these shadows might react around her? She certainly didn’t have the time now.
‘Are you staying there?’
‘Yes.’
Tika rolled her eyes and marched on to Khosa’s room. She found Konya, Shea and Navan sitting on the bed with Khosa cuddled in Navan’s arms. They were laughing when Tika entered and Tika was delighted to see Khosa’s head turn towards her, the turquoise eyes bright with returning health. She was still much too thin, but that would soon be remedied. Khosa used mind speech that all four could hear.
‘Where have you been? Shea peeked out of a top window into the garden and saw you weren’t really there.’
Khosa’s tone
was smug and Tika laughed.
‘I’ll tell you about it later. You certainly seem better, but perhaps you should stay here, resting, while I meet with the Shadow Lord and everyone else.’
Thick white whiskers bristled and the turquoise eyes slitted. ‘Navan can carry me, and I will attend. And what’s that new ring on your thumb?’
Tika groaned. ‘I’ll explain in a while – I really can’t keep repeating myself.’
The door opened and Sket poked his head round the side. ‘We are invited to the meeting room in the other house, my lady.’
Tika nodded. ‘I’m sorry Sket.’
Sket grinned. ‘You were right. Don’t worry.’
She kissed his cheek as she passed him.
‘Come on everyone, let’s go and see Darallax.’
The company were met at the entrance to what Darallax had called the people’s house by Subaken, which suggested to Tika more formality than she’d expected. There were quite a large number of people wandering the halls, presumably having matters to discuss with Shadow officials. But again, Tika was struck by the uncanny quiet: no chatter, only the rustle of bare feet on stone.
Subaken took them up staircases and along corridors, threading through and round groups of people quite casually. Clearly, the Shadow people were more than used to their rulers mixing among them with no ceremony or pomp. Only when they finally approached a pair of double doors was there an indication of the importance of who might be within. Two men stood before the doors, wearing grey tunics but also wearing scabbarded short swords, the first weapons Tika had seen here.
They stepped aside, pushing the doors wide. Tika followed Subaken, Sket at her left shoulder and her company two by two behind him. They found themselves in a corner room with long windows on two sides. In the centre of the room was a large oval table made of the same silvery grey wood as the doors, polished to a gloss which made its surface ripple like water. Of the ten people seated around the table, Tika recognised only three: Darallax, Rueshen and Chancellor Konrik. Konrik was the one to rise to greet them.
‘Lady Tika, please join us with your officers.’
He gestured along the two inner walls where benches were set. ‘For your guards.’
Tika whispered in mind speech to Essa, Sket, Dromi and Rhaki to seat themselves with her at the table. Khosa squeaked indignantly and Tika lifted her from Navan’s arms and sat down, the cat against her shoulder. For the second time, and with more detail, Tika related her visit to the Splintered Kingdom. She filled the minds of the Shadow Lord and his councillors with the sight of the creature apparently named Yartay, and with the sound of the conversation, if it could be called that, which she’d had with him. Tika watched their faces and saw the shock and the concentration. She withdrew from their minds and spoke aloud.
‘One question we need to answer, is how do I destroy something like that? There is power there, very different from mine, and possibly stronger. He is very fast to react – as you saw. And perhaps most importantly, where is this Kingdom?’
She got to her feet, Khosa still propped against her shoulder, and began her usual pacing.
‘I thought my engineers might explode the thing, but if they do, we have to be absolutely sure where the Kingdom is. It would need a lot of their – um – devices to destroy it I suspect, and damage could be severe to any surrounding region. Another question is what does it mean by being trapped in our nets?’
‘I would suggest he speaks of the Places Between as you call them. We call them Planes of Existence.’ A woman spoke from the further end of the table.
Tika frowned. That hadn’t occurred to her, although she’d heard of them often enough. She met the woman’s eyes and admitted as much.
‘Can you tell more of these Places?’
The woman who’d spoken leaned her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her linked fingers.
‘It is not something easily explained. Do you know anything of dreams?’
Tika began to shake her head then remembered Babach. ‘Do you mean like dream walkers?’
The woman’s bright grey eyes sparkled. ‘Precisely. Dreaming is a Place Between and some few are able to – infiltrate – the dreams of others. They can both observe the other’s dream and, even more rarely, communicate with the dreamer. Passing information, giving instruction and so on. That is the simplest example. There are many others we believe although we have managed to explore very few.’
Essa caught Tika’s eye. ‘Ferag?’ she suggested. ‘Or the gentleman?’
‘Is the Realm of Death such a Place?’ Tika asked.
‘It is indeed.’ The Shadow Lord answered her. ‘Have you been there?’
‘Yes, but only by invitation.’
Darallax’s up tilted eyes widened. ‘Invitation?’ he echoed. ‘Ferag invited you?’
‘Well yes. It was with Sket first, to meet a member of my – family. And the last time she took me to look after me when I was – um – not well.’
She saw the Shadow Ones gaping around the table and felt it was time to return to the proper subject.
‘So where is Ferag’s Realm?’
Darallax shook his head. ‘That’s the point, my dear. Can you tell me where a dream might be?’
Tika stared at him. Khosa dug her claws into Tika’s shoulder.
‘Why not just ask her? She likes you.’
Tika swallowed. ‘Ferag, Can you hear me? If you can spare the time, I would speak with you.’
A breeze riffled through the room and Tika fought back a giggle, seeing all the Shadow Ones shudder.
‘How lovely to see you after all this time.’
The slender, outrageously beautiful woman drifted round the table, her fingers brushing Darallax’s domed hairless skull. He closed his eyes, but Tika was fairly sure it wasn’t in bliss. Ferag turned.
‘Now sweetie, what did you want? I am fairly busy you know. Simert’s been sending me an awful lot just lately, some sort of trouble I think.’
‘Trouble? Where? Where is there trouble Ferag?’
‘Oh I’m not good with places my poppet. Northern Kelshan? Or was it southern Drogoya? No matter. But they all have to be sorted out and that can take an unconscionable time.’
Ferag beamed as she advanced on Tika, who was quite proud of the fact that she didn’t flinch and could offer a genuine smile in return.
‘I need to know where your Realm actually is Ferag.’
Tika felt a twinge of nervousness when Ferag’s long deep red hair began to curl and writhe around her shoulders.
‘I mean, I am certainly not prying, but if it is what we call a Place Between, would you perhaps know how we could really locate the Splintered Kingdom? You see, I think the Kingdom has got itself tangled among the Places Between and it cannot get free.’
She knew she was babbling but to her immense relied, Ferag’s hair settled to a smooth stillness again.
‘Oh do you think so?’ Ferag brushed the curls away from Tika’s forehead. ‘Do you know, darling, you might have an idea there. Now, I have simply dozens of poor souls to deal with first but I will have a look round. Then I’ll just pop back and let you know. Would that suit you?’
‘Thank you Ferag. You’re wonderful.’
‘Oh sweetie that is so kind. See you soon.’’
She stooped, planted a smacking kiss on Tika’s cheek and vanished.
‘What’s the trouble in Kelshan or Drogoya?’ Essa asked into the silence.
Tika couldn’t resist. ‘Why don’t you ask her for more details yourself, when she comes back?’ she replied innocently.
Essa tried to scowl but her lips tugged up in a reluctant smile. ‘I’d rather not.’
The sigh that gusted from Darallax suggested he’d been holding his breath for some time.
‘You do indeed know many strange people,’ he murmured.
Tika arched a brow. ‘You would call the Mistress of Death, strange, my lord?’
Darallax cleared his throat. ‘No, no.
Not strange.’
‘Perhaps you mean unusual, dear,’ Rueshen put in softly.
‘Quite so. Unusual.’
‘Destroying this creature,’ Konrik seemed perfectly calm again. ‘I agree with Lady Tika: it has great power and very swift reflexes. Mental as well as physical, I deduce.’
‘Should the poor thing just be untangled, do you think, and set free?’ Konya asked from her bench by the wall.
She blinked when heads turned, faces registering disapproval. Tika returned to her chair.
‘That poor thing, Konya, is what took so many in the Citadel. Don’t you remember telling me of the sort of jelly inside the bodies? A clear sign that Yartay can somehow send at least a fragment of himself out into this world.’
Konrik had listened closely. ‘We must all think of destroying the creature. Destroying it,’ he repeated. ‘If we turn it loose what is to say it will not return, or wreak the same havoc on another world, as it has on this?’
‘I agree,’ Tika nodded. ‘I’ll discuss the idea of exploding devices with my engineers and also think of how my power might be used.’
Konrik rose. ‘We too will consider that aspect. I think we must decide if the creature could absorb our power to augment his own – it has been known that this is possible.’
As chairs were pushed back and people made to leave, Darallax spoke again.
‘What are these engineers you speak of?’
‘Dog and Onion, my lord.’
The two named stepped smartly forward.
‘They use – chemicals I think they call them – which, when mixed properly cause great destruction.’
Darallax regarded Dog carefully, then Onion, his gaze lingering on Onion’s eye patch.
‘I’m sure it is something needing great skill and care.’
Tika bit the inside of her cheek when she heard Shea’s snort from somewhere behind Essa’s huge frame.
‘That’s very true sir,’ she agreed, and followed her company from the room.
‘It was odd that the thing didn’t seem to know what the Chyliax were. Yet they said he killed them if he found them together.’
Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light Page 43