Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series (20 page)

The cat turned his head
over Tika’s arm and his golden eyes met Coby’s.

‘I thank you all for
saving me too.’ His words rang in the minds of all, and all stared
in astonishment at the tatty old cat. ‘I’m quite hungry,’ he added,
and blinked.

Coby got to her feet.
‘I must attend the First Daughter, but I’ll have food sent.’ She
paused.

‘Akomi. His name is
Akomi,’ Tika said shakily.

‘Akomi,’ Coby repeated,
and departed. She sent maids hurrying for food and then went back
to the First Daughter’s bed chamber.

She caught her breath.
She’d been gone such a short time yet the body on the bed had
wasted even further. Lerran’s face was a skull covered with a tight
layer of thin skin. Veins and capillaries threaded their way
beneath but the movement of the blood was sluggish. Coby turned
back, calling for healers. She instructed them to remove Harith: he
was unconscious, his hand no longer gripping Lerran’s. Coby took
his place, flinching as she lifted the First Daughter’s hand. It
was a cold bundle of fragile bones, the rings slipping
loose.

She finally looked
across Lerran’s body at Corman. His gold eyes had dulled but they
were still fixed on the First Daughter. Coby concentrated, sending
her mind carefully to the threshold of Lerran’s, braced for
whatever she might find.

‘No.’ Corman’s voice
was faint but insistent. ‘Coby, reach through me. I nearly have
them.’

Coby altered her focus,
channelling her strength to Corman. She ignored Lerran’s suddenly
rapid breathing, ignored the gasps, the tremors she could feel
through their joined hands, pouring all of herself to bolster
Corman’s depleted power. Coby was distantly aware of Alloc’s
presence, of his hands on her shoulders, of his strength in turn,
sustaining her. Without warning, it was gone. Coby snapped back to
herself, her eyes going immediately to the frail body on the
bed.

A handful of tiny
glittering particles seemed to drift above Lerran’s pillows, and
Coby could do nothing but stare. This she had never seen – the
physical essence of a living soul. Alloc’s hands tightened on her
shoulders. She heard his whisper.

‘Oh Dark be
merciful!’

Corman leaned forward,
at last releasing Lerran’s hand. He studied the drifting particles.
‘Lerran is there. She should not be, but the Dragon is much afraid.
Somehow she has won a measure of his trust, but to keep that trust,
she has had to emerge fully like this, with him.’

‘How long can they
remain this way?’ Coby asked hesitantly.

‘Not long at all.’
Before Corman could say more, there was a noise from the main
chamber beyond the archway. He leaned closer to Lerran. ‘They are
here First Daughter. Guide him safely and return to yourself with
all speed.’

Coby saw Chindar
waiting at the door as the glowing ball of tiny specks rose higher,
drifting in that direction. Chindar appeared to lead the way, the
ball slowly following him. Coby followed too, mesmerised by what
she was witnessing.

The great chamber was
silent but for the sound of sobbing. Coby saw healers and nurses
standing and sitting as if turned to statues. In the centre of the
chamber stood two very tall thin strangers, a man and a woman. Coby
recognised Cyrek with some relief, for behind the Dark Lord lay a
great gold scaled Dragon, its prismed eyes whirring in golds and
scarlets. One wing was partially extended over a much smaller
Dragon whose scales were a dull greyish blue. The small woman Tika,
was huddled between the Dragons, her sobs the only sound in the
chamber.

Coby saw Cyrek reach up
to touch the golden Dragon while Chindar came nearer. The eerie
ball of tiny lights floated where he led. Chindar stopped, began to
murmur words that even Coby, for all her long research and study,
didn’t understand. His hands moved rapidly, fingers weaving
intricate patterns above the smaller Dragon. A portion of the
sparkles split away from the rest, sinking lower until they touched
the Dragon scales. Then they vanished.

Chindar waited then he
turned to the remaining light specks. His hands flickered faster
and Coby recognised spells of most powerful command. The lights
elongated and shot back towards Lerran’s bed chamber. Nothing had
changed: the small Dragon still lay unmoving, Tika sobbing against
him. Coby returned to Lerran. The First Daughter looked tiny, a
miniature, wizened child. Coby went to a large chest and took
blankets from a drawer. She was spreading them over Lerran when a
breeze riffled through the room and she saw Corman turn his head
sharply.He pushed himself to his feet, placing himself between the
woman on the bed and the woman who now stood behind his chair. Coby
sagged against the bed realising who the new arrival was before
Corman spoke her name.

She was beautiful, with
a beauty such as Coby had never seen. Her eyes were perfectly
shaped under slender brows, a light colour with gold flecks in
their depths. Her figure was graceful, a narrow waist emphasising
her full bosom and hips. Dark red hair hung loosely curling over
her shoulders and her mouth curved in a bewitching
smile.

‘Ferag.’ Corman’s tone
was flat. ‘What do you here?’

The lovely smile became
a pout. ‘That’s no way to welcome me. Not if you want me to help
your little plans along – the ones we discussed the other
day.’

‘Those plans need no
further discussion for now, most definitely not in this place. Why
are you here?’

Ferag took a step to
the side and Corman matched her, remaining between her and the
First Daughter. Coby shrank back. The flecks in Ferag’s eyes blazed
with an anger which slowly faded to a glow of annoyance.

‘Poor Lerran. I’ve seen
her look better I must say.’ The smile reappeared. ‘Don’t worry so,
Corman. She cannot pass through to my domain, not just
yet.’

Corman’s rigid
shoulders relaxed a little. ‘I confess I wasn’t sure,’ he admitted.
‘So will she mend?’

‘Well I didn’t say
that.’ The pout was back. Ferag stepped closer to the bed, one
finger on Corman’s chest which caused him to stumble as though he’d
been violently pushed. ‘Hmm. At least as long as the last time –
perhaps a full year. Poor darling.’ She gave Corman a bright smile
and bent to peer into Coby’s face. ‘You might be fun when you come
to me.’

Coby looked ill with
horror and Ferag straightened. ‘It’s not as bad as that,’ she
sniffed. Her dress, the darkest red, like her hair, made no sound
as an unnatural wind ruffled the long skirt and loose sleeves. ‘See
you soon darling. I do so like discussions with you.’ Ferag blew
Corman a kiss, and vanished.

Corman touched Coby’s
cheek. ‘She’s not bad, just has a bizarre sense of humour and is
totally untrustworthy.’ He gave her a wry shrug.

Alloc entered the
chamber with the two most senior healers in the Palace, Mull and
Cutha. They had waited, reserving their strength for the First
Daughter’s need. Waxin Pule accompanied them, his face paling at
his first sight of Lerran. Mull tapped Corman’s arm.

‘You must recoup your
strength Corman, and you Coby.’ His tone was firm and brooked no
argument.

He waited until Corman
helped Coby up and had taken her from the chamber before he turned
to his patient. ‘Mother Dark be merciful and help us in this
task.’

Waxin Pule approached
the bed. ‘You say she has recovered from something this bad
before?’ he asked in disbelief.

Cutha smiled grimly.
‘This is worse, and she is older by a thousand years or more. But
yes, she recovered before.’

‘I can scarcely detect
a pulse,’ Pule protested, laying Lerran’s bony wrist back by her
side.

Cutha sighed. ‘We work
on her body Waxin. All day and all night, every day and every
night. We don’t know where she is, or how long it will take for her
to get back. She has to gather all the pieces of herself before she
can be as she was.’

Mull began removing the
covers. ‘It took half a year last time.’ He met Waxin Pule’s eyes.
‘This will take longer.’

The strain of the last
days caught up with Coby near the great chamber. Her knees gave way
and Corman handed her over to nurses who took her off to the
infirmary. Corman found himself being pushed unceremoniously into a
chair and a goblet of the blood drink thrust into his hand. He
drank half the contents straight down, before grunting his thanks
to Favrian. Then Corman saw the two Dragons. He stared, took
another swallow.

‘They are smaller than
us,’ he said. ‘Is the young one showing any awareness?’

Favrian shook his head.
‘Tevros and Kija – the gold one – she’s Farn’s mother – say he
should sleep again, not be forced awake yet. His mind was damaged
before this, soon after his birth. They use mind speech by the way,
as do those two cats.’

‘Cats?’ Corman frowned.
‘What cats?’

‘One we brought back
from the Splintered Kingdom and the other came with the Lady Emla
from Gaharn.’

Corman leaned his head
back against the chair and groaned. ‘Tell me the rest later,’ he
begged.

He looked across at the
Dragons again then around the chamber. ‘Where’s Seola, or Jemin for
that matter?’

‘Still in Gaharn. Cyrek
opened the gateway.’

Corman focused on
Favrian. ‘And you my friend? Are you unhurt? And
Peshan?’

Favrian grimaced.
‘We’re in one piece at least. Gossamer Tewk’s courage was more than
I’d thought possible, and the child too. The child was burned quite
badly though.’ Favrian refilled Corman’s goblet. ‘Things have
certainly got interesting of late, wouldn’t you agree?’

He laughed at Corman’s
expression of disgust.

The small orange cat,
Khosa, had leaped from Emla’s arms to Akomi crouched on a low bed.
She began to give him a thorough wash, scolding him throughout.
Akomi told her all he could recall of falling into the strange
place with Tika and Sket, of the wild voice shouting with glee as
they fell. He told her what he’d learned of their rescue, twitching
an ear in the direction of the adjacent cots.

‘The woman carried Tika
and the child carried me,’ he told Khosa. ‘They had to run through
a fire. The child was burned.’

Khosa paused in her
ministrations. ‘I will go and see,’ she said.

‘We will both go and
see,’ Akomi corrected. He trotted after Khosa, a trifle wobbly but
stronger by far than when he’d first awoken.

A nurse still sat at
Shea’s side and she smiled as the two cats approached.

‘May I see this child?’
Khosa asked politely in the nurse’s mind.

The nurse leant down,
lifting Khosa onto the cot. ‘Her shoulder is bad,’ she said softly.
‘It will take a long time to heal.’

Khosa stared at Shea:
dark curly hair cut short, dark lashes curved against a pale cheek.
Khosa remembered the first time she’d seen Tika. She’d been asleep
too and this child looked very like her. Khosa fixed her turquoise
gaze on Akomi sitting by the nurse’s feet, then on the
nurse.

‘I understand that Farn
must be left to sleep?’

The nurse frowned.
‘You’d have to ask the healers but yes, I believe that’s
so.’

Khosa licked a paw
thoughtfully. ‘Wait here,’ she ordered Akomi, and stalked towards
the Dragons.

Time passed and when
Akomi cried a little, the nurse lifted him to her lap and talked
nonsense to him, which he found immensely comforting. He felt the
nurse’s hands grow still and he opened his eyes. One of the men of
this place was walking towards them and Tika walked beside him,
Khosa riding her shoulder. Tika sat on the cot close to the nurse
in her chair. The brilliant green eyes surrounded with silver
stared at the child beside her. Akomi wailed, very softly, and Tika
smiled, her hand scratching one of his ears.

‘You were so very brave
Akomi.’ The tatty old cat pushed his head against her hand and
purred.

The healer stood
silently by. Tika glanced up at him. ‘You’ll have to take the
bandages away.’

The nurse gave a small
gasp but Tevros merely went to the other side and unlaced the ties
of Shea’s nightgown. Another man arrived, a singularly tall
stranger to the nurse. Tika introduced him as Nesh, also a healer.
Nesh bent to hold Shea’s inert body whilst Tevros deftly removed
the bandages and dressings from the girl’s left shoulder and upper
arm. Nesh looked at Tika when the deep and angry burns were
exposed.

She moved to the other
side of the cot, leaning against Tevros quite naturally. ‘Can you
give me any strength?’ she asked him.

He shook his head in
bewilderment, not understanding her question. Tika looked beyond
Tevros to the Dragons and the golden one raised her head to stare
directly back. Something clearly passed between them then Tika
turned back to Shea. She lifted a strange, egg shaped pendant out
from beneath the nightgown she still wore, and clasped it in one
hand. Khosa crouched watching, Akomi beside her.

Tika was astonished at
how easy it seemed. Even as she began to rebuild spoilt muscles,
blood vessels, tissues, she understood something had changed within
her. Was it the tremendous power she felt in this place? She forced
such speculation from her mind but the thought lingered that maybe,
just maybe, she could help Farn.