Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series (10 page)

Peshan slid his arm
across Lerran’s shoulders, resting his cheek against the side of
her head. ‘I wish I could take more of your burden sweet
sister.’

‘I know. And your care
gives me strength. Now, go on and let me speak with
Dabray.’

Peshan kissed her cheek
and was gone. Lerran closed her eyes, pressed her hands palm to
palm, and vanished from her high rooms. She reappeared deep in the
very roots of the mountain that was the Karmazen Palace.

There was no light but
a strange phosphorescent glow from the polished stone floor. Lerran
moved confidently towards one wall. The glow grew around her,
creeping higher up the wall. A huge shape emerged from that wall, a
carved body – legs, neck, half protruding from the black stone. The
neck stretched along and curved down to a long face which seemed
nearly out of the stone. One side of the face was clear and the
great eye slowly blinked open.

Lerran stretched to
touch the face, gently stroking the pearly grey surface. The eye
shone in a multitude of colours, flickering and changing until it
settled to a deep buttery gold.

‘Lerran.’ The voice was
soft but vibrated through the chamber. Lerran could feel the voice
through her feet, the tone shivering up through her whole
body.

‘Dabray,’ she replied
as softly.

‘I heard what you plan.
It is the only option but I fear greatly for Favrian and Peshan.
Theirs is the most perilous task of all.’

Lerran leaned against
the wall, her hand continuing to caress the half exposed face above
her.

‘You must make them
both swear, to you personally Lerran, that they will try to
retrieve the hostages in the Splintered Kingdom and no more. If
they fail to find those poor creatures they must return here at
once.’

‘I will do as you say,’
Lerran whispered.

‘You must,’ the deep
voice repeated. ‘What lives within the Splintered Kingdom could
track its way right to this world through either Favrian or
Peshan.’

Lerran stiffened.
‘Should I send two others?’ she asked, then answered her own
question. ‘No. Two full bloods must go. They will be needed to open
the gateways. And their power will afford some protection for
themselves and for Shea and Gossamer Tewk.’

‘You have chosen well
Lerran. I would have made the same choice. Take four tokens – each
of them must carry one.’

There was a faint
clatter as of stone on stone by Lerran’s feet. ‘I had a powerful
sense that the child should go Dabray. The Dark is strong in her.
It is also strong in Gossamer Tewk although I would wish for more
time to open her mind to what she can be.’

A silence fell and drew
out. Finally Dabray spoke again. ‘Send Gossamer to me at darkfall.
I would speak with her, alone.’ Another pause. ‘Visit me soon
Lerran. Our separation gets no easier even after all these
ages.’

Lerran pressed closer
to the great body embedded in the stone. Willing her tears back,
she stepped away. She stooped to pick up four flat disks from the
floor. The luminescence began to fade. She took another step
backwards, her gaze still fixed to that beautiful face, that
glittering eye. Tucking the disks into a corner of her shawl she
slowly brought her hands up, palm to palm.

‘Dark bless you and
keep you, dearest husband.’

Lerran popped into
existence in her high room once more. She groped blindly towards a
chair and slumped into it. She covered her face with her hands on
which the rings glittered. Facets sent crazy patterns of crimson,
azure, emerald, purple skittering across the wall. The First
Daughter drew shuddering breaths and finally lowered her hands.
Tears streaked her face but her eyes shone with a steady deep
golden light.

The decision they’d
taken so very long ago did in truth seem harder with the passing of
time. But they had chosen this path, knowing some of what was to
come. Already the creature whose construct was the Splintered
Kingdom, had been discovered, hovering so close to this world of
theirs. His attempt to infiltrate Drogoya, the land far to the
north, had been made too early. But it had achieved the release of
great wickedness that would serve to strengthen the creature.
Dabray had suggested the creature was meddling in too many
different places, his power splintered as was his Kingdom. And
therein, said Dabray, lay their hope.

First Daughter Lerran
was not convinced.

Chapter
Six

Hag twisted and tumbled
through her own strange version of a gateway. She emerged under a
cloudy sky above western Sapphrea. Hag knew few place names on this
continent as yet, but had seen this small town at the foot of a
long spine of mountains before. She shrieked with delight, feeling
a surge of magic push beneath her vast wings, sending her ever
higher. Keeping the mountains on her left, Hag flew steadily
eastwards, occasionally cackling with pleasure. Many leagues had
spooled out beneath her when she saw three black shapes ahead,
angling up towards her. She slowed, lazily swerving into a wide
spiral.

‘Little cousins!’ she
screamed as the three approached.

Hag knew them as crows
but they called themselves Merigs, and they spoke to her mind only,
unable to vocalise as Hag could. She was amused that they showed no
fear of her, despite her being more than twice their size. No, she
felt only curiosity from them, and a sad lack of respect. She
closed her wings and dived beneath them. Faster she fell then
twisted and spun to land finally on a weathered pine tree. She
almost dozed waiting for the crows to catch up with her. They
settled on another tree and one enquired, politely Hag had to
admit, who she might be.

Hag spread her wings,
beak agape, and announced she was Anfled, Raven of Dark. She felt
the three crows discuss her words but their mind speech slipped by
too swiftly for her to follow. She must concentrate she warned
herself. Hag restrained her impatience while the crows introduced
themselves. At some considerable length.

‘Yes, yes. I’m pleased
to meet you too,’ she snapped eventually. ‘You don’t seem to
understand, as Mother of all the Dark Feathered Ones, you should
listen to me rather than chatter. Now, I seek the one who screams
pain throughout the lands. I need to see exactly where he is
located.’

The crows stared at
her, eyes beady and bright. ‘He is quite near.’ The crow who made
the comment shifted his grip on the branch then lifted up and began
to gain height.

Well really, she would
need to instruct these crows in basic manners, she could see that.
With a harsh squawk of displeasure Hag rose behind the crows and
noted smugly how their wings beat so rapidly just to keep a little
ahead of her.

It was less than half a
day’s flight until they reached Gaharn. The crows explained the
Lady who ruled here lived some distance from the city, in a great
House in the foothills. Hag was a little taken aback when the crows
told her this Lady was a friend of theirs. She could speak to their
minds, the crows explained. She spoke with many creatures, even the
Great Dragons. Hag spluttered. Great Dragons! Such
pretensions.

They reached Lady
Emla’s House at sunset. Hag, although shielded, could feel the near
mad screams vibrating through the very air. She was perched on some
sort of wheeled thing which had been left upside down near a
cluster of shrubs. Two of the crows stood on the ground beside her,
the third having gone to find the Lady. Voices approached and Hag
drew herself up, mantling her great wings slightly.

A tall woman came round
the stone path and stopped abruptly. A much shorter man, dressed in
what Hag recognised as a uniform, stood on the right of the woman,
another very tall man on her left. Above them loomed a long black
face supported by a thick neck. Hag stared. One of the Dragons,
here, actually with these people? Hag gathered her wits. On closer
inspection, the tall man and woman appeared tired if not exhausted.
Faces grey, dark rings beneath their eyes. The shorter man looked
fractionally better.

‘The First Daughter
sent me.’ Hag announced. ‘I am Anfled, Raven of Dark.’

Her words were met with
blank stares. ‘The one who screams needs help – the First Daughter
is sending those who may be able to do just that. She hopes they
can heal him, or at least stop the noise,’ Hag ended
crossly.

These people seemed
unable to move or speak. Perhaps they were simply too stupid to
heal the hurt one after all, if they couldn’t answer her
straightforward remarks.

The woman moved a few
steps closer. ‘This First Daughter you speak of, Anfled – who is
she? I confess I have not heard of such a title.’

Hag leaped from her
perch and paced back and forth. She sensed great power from these
people, even from the Dragon, and power always excited her and made
her restless.

‘The First Daughter is
Lerran, of the Dark Realm.’ She spoke slowly, trying to calm
herself.

‘Dark?’ The taller man
moved up beside the woman. ‘We are followers of the
Light.’

Hag cackled and hopped
back on her perch. ‘Light, Dark. You’ll say you are the embodiment
of good next, and anyone who believes differently is evil or
worse.’ She tilted her head, one eye glittering at the man with an
undeniable intelligence.

The woman raised a hand
to the man’s arm. ‘Forgive us. I am Emla, Lady of Gaharn. This is
Kemti, and Soran is the Captain of my Guards. And Fenj, Elder of
the Broken Mountain Treasury. If your Lady offers help in the
mending of Farn’s mind, it matters not to me if you are followers
of Dark or Light.’

The black Dragon paced
forward, his faceted eyes whirring a slate grey. Hag lost her
balance and squawked indignantly.

‘You are also called
Hag.’ The Dragon’s deep voice spoke in her mind. ‘But you speak
truly.’ Fenj lowered his head towards Emla. ‘I agree Lady. If there
is anything anyone can do for the young one, we should accept that
help with gratitude.’

‘The First Daughter has
formed two teams.’ Hag kept a wary eye on the Dragon. ‘One team is
to come here within the next days. The other goes – somewhere else
– to find the sleepers.’

‘Sleepers?’ Emla asked
urgently. ‘What sleepers do you speak of?’

Hag cackled. ‘A small
female, a male, and a cat.’

‘And your Lady, this
First Daughter, she is sending people to get them?’

‘They will try. That is
all I can say. Where is the hurt one?’

‘He is inside one of
the Pavilions.’ Emla pointed over her shoulder. ‘We have warded the
building as strongly as we can, but it is an exhausting
task.’

Hag launched herself
into the air.

‘But when will these
people come? Where will they arrive?’ Emla called after the great
Raven, but the only reply was a mocking screech.

They watched the dark
shape rise rapidly, wheeling towards the north-east.

‘We don’t even know
where she comes from, her and her “First Daughter”.’

‘She spoke of sleepers.
That’s the only reference we’ve had to Tika and Sket’s
whereabouts.’ Emla began to walk back to the main House in the
gathering twilight. ‘Only Jakri has seen, once, the two of them
asleep in a tunnel.’

‘And he thought they
were dead. Oh I’m sorry.’ Kemti slipped his arm round Emla’s waist.
‘I am just so very tired it becomes harder to find hope each
day.’

‘Go on in and rest.
Tell Shan I will be there shortly.’ Emla gave him a little push and
Kemti trudged wearily down the path. Emla’s heart, so torn and
battered of late, gave a new twinge at sight of his bowed
shoulders. They told all too plainly of his increasing
despair.

‘Should I increase the
guard numbers around the House, Lady?’ asked Soran.

‘I don’t think there is
need Soran, but perhaps ask the men to be prepared – just in case.’
She managed a smile in return to Soran’s salute and watched him
march to the side of the House. She hated the pain and guilt in his
eyes. Soran had served under Captain Gan Jal Sarl and while all her
household mourned Gan’s death, Soran still found it nearly
impossible to accept. She knew Soran felt he was merely standing
in, until his true Captain returned. So much turmoil, so many
puzzles, so much grief.

Emla straightened her
shoulders and walked towards the Pavilion in which Farn was being
held.

‘He sleeps Lady.’ Fenj
murmured in her mind.

She stopped, glancing
back at the black Dragon. She looked ahead again to the Pavilion
then retraced her steps. She’d seen the shape of Fenj’s son Brin, a
crimson Dragon even larger than his father, reclining on the lawn
near the Pavilion’s entrance. Storm’s smaller, paler body paced
restlessly around him.

‘We should all rest
when we have these small opportunities,’ said Fenj.

‘You’re right, dear
one.’ Emla reached her arms as far round Fenj’s chest as she could
reach. She drew back, her hands each side of his long beautiful
face. ‘This Anfled has raised a breath of hope within me. You said
she spoke truly Fenj; we must trust now that these people of whom
she spoke can really help Farn.’