Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series (13 page)

‘Yes, we gave her a
strong sleeping draught. She was insisting on looking after
you.’

‘Nenat accepted a
medicine from you?’ Seola asked in disbelief.

Nesh chuckled. ‘She is
very fond of tea and alas she forgot to check it before she drank
it.’

Seola looked at him
with a certain admiration. ‘If I may suggest it, I think you should
be elsewhere when she wakes.’

The door opened and a
woman entered. Thryssa, Seola remembered. She smiled at
Seola.

‘For stars’ sake, off
to bed with you,’ she said to Nesh. ‘Go on,’ she commanded. ‘Your
strength will be needed again all too soon, so sleep whilst you
can.’

‘What about Kwanzi?’
Nesh asked, obediently moving to the door.

A shadow crossed
Thryssa’s face then the smile returned. ‘He is fast asleep – as you
should be.’

Seola studied the woman
as Thryssa bent over Nenat, checking the old woman’s skin and her
pulse. Thryssa was older than she appeared, her dark red hair
streaked with white. She met Seola’s eyes and seated herself in the
chair Nesh had vacated.

‘What about Kwanzi?’
Seola repeated Nesh’s question.

Thryssa’s hazel eyes
clouded for a moment. ‘He was exhausted of course. Taking so much
power into himself and then forcing it onwards is a frightful task.
Someone else will do it next time,’ she said firmly.

Seola suspected there
could well be a fairly heated exchange when Thryssa informed her
husband of this decision, but she fully sympathised with Thryssa’s
sentiment.

‘Is there someone else
who can do it?’

‘There are a couple of
people here who can. You don’t have to have strong powers yourself
to be the channel but you do have to have a great control. It is
easy to panic in that situation and great harm can come to all
involved if the channel wavers.’ Thryssa hesitated. ‘Can you tell
me what you found in Farn’s mind?’

Seola lay back. ‘He is
in the Dark. He has gone so far I am not sure any but the First
Daughter can reach him.’

Thryssa was silent.
‘Your companion, Cyrek. He summoned a great bird and spoke with it.
Was it one you use to take messages to your Dark Realm, as we use
Merigs?’

Seola snorted. ‘That
was Raven. She likes to be called Anfled, but mostly we call her
Hag. She takes information when it pleases her but Cyrek seems to
be able to bully her best of us all.’

‘And would the First
Daughter come so far to help one young Dragon?’

Seola closed her eyes,
suddenly exhausted again. ‘No, she would not. But then, she
wouldn’t need to.’

Thryssa bent over the
bed to pull the covers closer and Seola opened her eyes to see a
pendant swinging close to her face. She stared at it then up into
Thryssa’s hazel eyes.

‘Where did you get
that?’ she whispered.

Thryssa sat down again,
the pendant cupped in her palm. It was egg shaped and egg sized,
the back half a dark jade, and the front a paler olive. A small
golden fleck seemed to move within it.

‘It was a gift from
Mim. He is the Lord of the Northern Stronghold. He was soul bonded
with a young Dragon at the same time as Farn and Tika bonded. Mim
is a Dragon Lord.’

Seola stared at the
pendant but she could concentrate no longer. Her lids drooped and
in seconds, she was asleep.

When next Seola woke,
Thryssa still sat by the bed but Nenat had gone. Thryssa gave a
wicked smile.

‘I’m afraid your friend
was rather displeased. She’s gone looking for Nesh and
Emla.’

Seola’s return smile
was somewhat forced but at least it was there.

‘It’s nearly midday. Do
you feel up to a bath and going downstairs for some
lunch?’

Seola realised she felt
ravenous. Pushing the covers aside she followed Thryssa through a
door she’d not previously noticed. It opened into a small tiled
bathing room.

‘I’ll fetch your
clothes.’ Thryssa was half out of the door when Seola remembered
something else from yesterday.

‘How did you get here?’
she asked. ‘I felt a burst of power and Lady Emla said someone or
something had ��come through a circle.” What did she
mean?’

‘I’ll tell you in a
minute. Get in that bath.’

Seola gaped then did as
she was told. She ducked right under the water and came up
spluttering. How many centuries since anyone had ordered her to get
in a bath? She laughed. Somehow she didn’t see many people
disobeying Thryssa. How had Lady Emla introduced her? The High
Speaker of Vagrantia. What was a High Speaker, and where was
Vagrantia? She hoped Jemin might have got a look at some local maps
by now. Maps drawn with the help of Hag’s occasional comments were
notoriously unreliable for anything except large towns or cities.
Seola was vigorously towelling her dark curls when Thryssa returned
with a neat stack of clothes.

‘The circles?’ Seola
prompted, dragging on her trousers.

‘There are circles
throughout these lands, with mosaic patterns spiralling in to a
centre stone. If you walk the pattern, saying certain ritual words,
you vanish from the circle you are on and reappear on another.
There are certain key words for different circles of
course.’

Seola tucked her shirt
into her trousers. ‘Sounds like a gateway.’

‘A gateway?’

‘We used a gateway to
get here. Again, certain words are spoken and with the final word
the spell is closed and we travel to where we wish to
go.’

‘But you are not
restricted to travelling just between certain places then? We can
move only from circle to circle.’

‘Perhaps we will be
able to discuss this further sometime. Right now I think we have to
concentrate on the young Dragon and his soul bond.’

‘Tika,’ Thryssa
corrected opening the bedroom door. She led the way to the
stairs.

‘What does soul bond
mean exactly?’

‘Tika somehow managed
to be inside Kija’s nesting cave as Farn emerged from his egg.
Dragons apparently lock eyes with new hatchlings and transfer many
memories and histories of their clans, or Treasuries as they call
them. Farn locked eyes with Tika and somehow their souls combined.
The same thing happened to Mim. He was present when the female
Dragon Ashta climbed from her egg and their souls were united. To
part them causes great anguish; it can cause death in one or both,
so Fenj has told us.’

They reached the bottom
of the stairs and Seola realised they were in Emla’s great
hall.

‘You can help yourself
to food – through here.’ Thryssa took them to a far smaller dining
chamber where Seola was pleased to see Jemin with Captain
Soran.

They paused in their
conversation and Jemin enquired how she was feeling.

‘Fine,’ she lied.
‘How’s everyone else?’

Jemin choked on a
mouthful of meat pie. ‘Everyone else says they’re fine,’ he said
caustically. ‘And they all look as bad as you do.’

Seola scowled. ‘And the
hurt one – Farn.’

Captain Soran answered
her. ‘They had trouble again during the night. He roused enough to
thrash around somewhat. Two healers are in the infirmary. One has
concussion, the other a broken leg. Farn caught them with his
tail.’

Seola sensed an immense
sorrow in the Captain and surmised he knew the Dragon and the young
woman Tika, extremely well.

‘I hope they are soon
recovered.’ Seola felt inadequate, a feeling almost unknown to her,
in the face of Soran’s unhappiness. She was relieved when Cyrek
spoke behind her. She gave an apologetic smile to Jemin and Captain
Soran and crossed to Cyrek. They piled their plates with food from
the plentiful supply set out and moved to sit slightly apart from
the increasing numbers of people seeking lunch.

They studied each other
for a moment, then both smiled. ‘I suppose we have looked better,’
Seola admitted, biting into a hot cheese roll

Cyrek grunted agreement
and swallowed a mouthful of pie. ‘The Dragon must be quietened
soon,’ he said softly. ‘The healers here will soon be too tired to
maintain a permanent warding. But although the Dragon is weakening
physically, his mental torment is as strong as ever.’ He began on
another vegetable pie. ‘I have never known that a mind could go so
deep and survive.’

‘But has he survived?’
Seola pointed out. ‘His mind is still there yes, but how much
remains of who or what he is? His pain is all he knows.’

They were silent for a
while, each pondering their own thoughts, and still eating
hungrily.

‘He must have some of
his mind,’ Cyrek said finally. ‘He is not in actual physical pain
so he must be still aware of the loss of this woman, Tika. You know
what full insanity feels like: we were taught it at the very
beginning of training.’ He grinned at her scowl but the grin
quickly faded. ‘I remember anyway. The tutors said it could be
possible, in a few cases, to build an entirely new personality if
the original mind had been completely destroyed. Don’t you
remember? You had nightmares for weeks.’

‘So did you,’ Seola
snapped back. ‘It was horrid having to work with those poor souls.
I’ve always thought it would have been kinder to let them pass to
full death rather than keep them as they were. Confused and
unhappy, yet never understanding why.’

‘My point is that this
Dragon knows why he is in such pain: he remembers his loss. He is
still present.’

Seola poured herself
another bowl of tea and sat back, her hunger satisfied. ‘I’m
inclined to agree with you. But he’s gone so far.’ She sipped her
tea. ‘Do you believe Lerran can reach so far?’

‘She is the First
Daughter.’ He met Seola’s gaze. ‘Have any of us seen her full
powers or her full capabilities? She has always been First Daughter
of Mother Dark.’

Seola sighed. ‘And as
far as I know, her position has never been questioned.’

Cyrek looked appalled.
‘What are you saying? Do you really think those such as Peshan,
Corman, Favrian, Garrol – any of the other full bloods whether
direct family or not – would pretend their respect?’

‘No of course not, but
I can’t help thinking these things sometimes.’

‘Well I hope you keep
those thoughts well and truly concealed around any of us.’ Cyrek
stared at her until, to her intense annoyance, she felt herself
blush.

‘So what do we
do?’

Cyrek pushed his empty
plate away. ‘Wait to hear from Lerran. I think we should make no
further attempt yet. Clearly he was aware of your presence
yesterday. He so nearly pulled you down with him.’

Seola reached across
and patted his hand. ‘Never mind little brother, he didn’t manage
it.’

Cyrek gave her a stern
look. ‘Only because a dozen others dragged you clear,’ he pointed
out.

Seola remembered the
shadows in Thryssa’s eyes when she’d spoken about her husband
Kwanzi, and bit her lip. ‘Let’s find Thryssa or Lady Emla and look
at these circles they use to travel.’

‘Someone spoke of them
to me last night. They sound like gateways.’

‘That’s what I thought.
Are you joining me?’

Cyrek nodded and
followed Seola out of the dining chamber to the hall. The black
Dragon Fenj reclined against a wall, apparently asleep, but as
Seola and Cyrek moved past, his huge eyes opened.

‘I thank you for what
you tried yesterday, Lady Seola.’ His deep voice vibrated through
them.

They stopped and faced
him.

‘May I join you, if you
are walking in the gardens?’

‘Well – yes – of course
– if you wish to.’

Fenj rose and paced
towards the great doors and Seola and Cyrek found themselves
strolling each side of him. They let the Dragon direct their steps,
eventually finding themselves in a small area enclosed by huge
shrubs. A wooden shed huddled under one particularly luxuriant
bush, and a man sat outside it doing something to a
wheelbarrow.

‘Hello m’dear.’ A
weather-beaten face peered up from beneath a very odd piece of
headgear with a smile which quickly changed to a frown when the man
saw Cyrek and Seola.

Fenj reclined close to
the man and propped his chin on the strange hat.

‘These are friends who
have come to help dear Farn. The Lady Seola and the Lord
Cyrek.’

The man struggled to
get to his feet but was unable to move under the weight of Fenj’s
head.

‘And this is Grib,
Gardener to the Lady Emla.’

Cyrek sat down near the
Dragon. There was no mistaking the affection in Fenj’s mind
voice.

‘I have discovered that
gardeners are splendid fellows,’ Fenj continued. ‘Loyal and
trustworthy.’

Seola and Cyrek both
marked Grib’s expression of deep discomfort. Fenj’s prismed eyes
whirred, their colour that of shadows on snow. His tone became
confidential.

‘Grib makes the most
wonderful restorative. Not quite as good as dear Lorak’s, but
close.’ Fenj removed his chin from Grib’s head. ‘I’m sure you could
find a tiny taste for our guests.’