Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series (38 page)

When they reached the
village, children came running. Tika was fascinated to see that
they were rushing to Farn, Storm and Brin.

‘I’ll wait for you
here, with my friends,’ Farn announced, his eyes sparkling with
mischief.

Tika watched in
disbelief as he twitched his tail and successfully tripped up three
children, maintaining an air of innocent surprise when they
shouted. Well, he’d certainly settled in quickly, she thought. A
small woman stood under a deep verandah to greet them. A little
further along, Kija reclined, studying a pile of bright cushions
and rugs spread on the stone, presumably for cleaning. Tika greeted
Kija with a hug and received an affectionate but slightly
distracted response. There was no time for more as Daylith called
her to join him within The Bear’s house.

Emas showed them all
inside, then hurried back to her verandah. Hands on hips, she
pursed her lips.

‘What is it that you
find of such interest in my furnishings?’ she finally asked the
golden Dragon.

Kija raised her head,
her eyes dreamy and distant. ‘They sparkle,’ she replied in mind
speech.

Emas frowned. Many of
the cushions were embroidered with gold and silver thread which
glinted softly in the setting sunlight.

‘Lady Emla and Lady
Lallia had many such things,’ Kija added. ‘But theirs didn’t
sparkle.’

Emas had no idea who
these ladies might be, but she lifted one cushion and went closer
to Kija.

‘It is called
embroidery. We women do a lot of such work, mostly during the long
winters. Some we keep and some we trade. This one I made years ago,
but it has kept its colours well.’

Kija’s prismed eyes
whirred with interest. ‘You made these things? But how?’

Emas marched back to
the door. ‘Wait right there,’ she commanded, and then realised she
was speaking to a very large Dragon.

She raced down the
inner passage to her tiny workroom, snatched up a piece of fabric
she was working on, and sped back out to Kija. She sat on the edge
of the verandah, under the Dragon’s nose.

‘See. I drew this
picture onto the cloth, and now I am sewing over it.’ She held the
material up for Kija’s close inspection.

‘I see marks and I see
some colours, but what is this sewing?’

Emas had left her
needle in the side of the work and now she waved it at Kija, a
thread of silver hanging from it. ‘Watch.’

Kija’s head came closer
and she watched Emas sew tiny stitches along a mark in the
cloth.

‘That is
extraordinary.’ Kija’s tone was reverent.

Emas laughed. ‘No, that
is sewing.’

Kija extended her
forearm and Emas saw the three fingers and thumb on the Dragon’s
hand, each finger the same size as all of hers together. Kija
clearly saw that there was no way a Dragon hand could do such
delicate work. Emas had been amused by Kija’s deep interest in the
rugs and cushions but she was suddenly aware of the sadness in the
Dragon. Able to appreciate these beautiful things, yet quite unable
to make them herself.

Emas glanced at the
heap of cushions beside her and picked one out. It depicted the
village by moonlight with stars gleaming above the snow covered
houses. She held it out.

‘Would you like this
one to keep?’ she asked impulsively. ‘If you describe a picture, or
perhaps you could mark one out, I would be glad to make one just
for you.’

Kija’s head drooped
lower, staring into Emas’s face. She took the proffered cushion
with immense gentleness and lifted it to her chest. ‘I am in your
debt, Lady Emas.’ Kija leaned forward, her brow pressing against
the woman’s.

‘Oh no my dear. It is a
gift; there is no debt.’

Inside, in The Bear’s
den, there was quite a crowd gathered. Gold Wing of the Eagles was
present with her mage and three warriors. The Chief of the Stoat
Tribe was seated beside her, alone of his people. The Chief of the
Mountain Cat Tribe sat in front of Tika and Sket. Representatives
of the Mad Goats across the room spoke with Favrian and Garrol.
Gossamer Tewk was studying the endless painting along the circular
wall while Essa sat on the floor near The Bear’s carved chair with
her brother Menagol and their tiny foster brother, Theap. General
Whilk sat silently, lost in thought, while Jemin talked to Kestis
and Lessur over his head.

The chatter ceased when
The Bear got to his feet. Tika realised just how huge the man was:
she’d thought Essa was the biggest person she’d ever seen but
beside her father and her brother, the Sergeant looked quite
delicately built. The Bear nodded round the room, his dark honey
eyes acknowledging every person there.

‘The Kelshans were
defeated,’ he announced, his voice a deep growling rumble. ‘Not
without cost. We have about eighteen hundred Kelshan guards who
surrendered without raising weapons against us, and it must be
decided where they are to go.’

Inna, Chief of the
Mountain Cats, rose. ‘They must not remain in the high lands,’ she
said softly. ‘Lest they be tempted to risk the mountain passes and
return to Kelshan.’

Arkov of the Mad Goats
also stood. ‘I agree. They must go to the middle plains at least or
some to the coasts. Let them choose to a certain extent, but they
must be far from these border lands.’

Heads nodded throughout
the room.

‘And the horses?’ Gold
Wing asked.

Lord Favrian inclined
his head. ‘We will take them, but we offer trade for them to you
who captured them.’

The Bear and Gold Wing
exchanged satisfied smiles. Their tribes lived in the very highest
lands, and faced great hardship if the winter was too long and
harsh, or their crops failed in the brief growing seasons. They
would accept supplies in exchange for the horses, of dried
foodstuffs to store against such times of hunger. Favrian turned to
Daylith first then to Tika.

‘This gathering would
hear what you learnt of the Crazed One in Kelshan.’

Tika met Daylith’s eyes
and got reluctantly to her feet.

‘I felt nothing at all.
Until Daylith opened a gateway into the Citadel, to Kerris’s room.
Almost at once, I felt blackness creeping towards us.’ She frowned,
trying to find words to adequately describe what she’d sensed. ‘It
felt – hungry.’ She shook her head impatiently. ‘No. Not hungry.
Envious? I don’t know what it was, but it wanted us, it wanted us
desperately.’

A breeze riffled
through the room and Tika saw hands reaching for talismans and
charms as the beautiful Ferag appeared right beside her. She
swallowed hard, unable to prevent herself taking one step back
which brought her up against Sket’s chest. Ferag’s red hair writhed
over her shoulders and her skirts twitched and undulated. Ferag was
displeased. She stared down her nose at all those in the
room.

‘Have you any idea how
busy I’ve been? Not one of you had the good manners to inform me
that there would be quite such an influx to my Realm. And most of
them were deeply unpleasant and disgracefully rude.’

‘Ferag, it always takes
a while for a soul to realise, let alone accept, that its body has
been killed. You know that very well.’ Favrian’s voice was a
soothing murmur in the room, where most people seemed to be holding
their breath.

‘Of course I know that,
but this lot were truly awful. I had to use considerable power to
subdue them.’ Ferag frowned. ‘And then,’ she continued with
petulance. ‘So many ghosts arrived I was almost
overwhelmed.’

Tika let out an
inadvertent gasp. Ferag swung to face her, the lovely eyes
narrowing. ‘You know of these ghosts?’

‘Do they come from
Kelshan?’ Tika’s voice shook slightly.

‘They did
indeed.’

‘They said they would
try to protect us while we – collected someone, using a
gateway.’

Ferag paced forward and
the people ahead of her took instinctive steps backwards. But Ferag
seemed not to notice. She looked back at Tika.

‘They were in shreds,
poor dears, exhausted, but full of – pride.’ She tilted her head.
‘What were they guarding you against?’

‘The Crazed One, or at
least, one of his servants.’ Tika could barely whisper the
words.

Ferag’s eyes glittered.
‘In Kelshan? I felt nothing of him when I was there. I spoke with
many ghosts then, but I didn’t recognise them when they arrived in
my Realm.’

Ferag vanished as
silently and abruptly as she had appeared.

Although Tika’s knees
felt shaky, she remained on her feet. ‘Lord Favrian, how is it that
your people know of this creature and its Splintered Kingdom? Why
have you deliberately chosen not to warn any other peoples of this
world?’

Favrian regarded her
steadily. ‘We could not defeat this evil. Do you believe any others
could?’ There was no arrogance in his question but a genuine
curiosity.

Tika bit her lip.
‘Perhaps not. Not individually that is. But if you’d told the rest
of us what might lie in wait for all, maybe someone could have
thought of something. Perhaps, if we all combined our different
kinds of power, we could achieve some success? But you haven’t
given us that chance.’

Her words dropped into
a silent room. Favrian bowed his head.

‘You may well be
right,’ he admitted quietly. ‘We were so damaged, so weakened, we
wanted only to find sanctuary in which to heal.’

‘The people of Malesh
fought a great battle. I suspect now that it was caused by this
creature. Thousands of their people died. It seems to me that you
are not the only ones to suffer horribly in this cause. I have been
told that although you keep yourselves hidden away in these lands,
you know a great deal of what happens elsewhere. Your people can
travel through gateways and spy on others. Do you think we are all
too inferior to know of you, or to offer our help against a
creature that seems set to destroy us and our world?’

There was an even
longer silence. It was broken by Favrian’s sigh.

‘Again, you could well
be right Lady Tika. Much must change I think, and perhaps our roads
should have joined long before this.’

Tika sat down abruptly.
‘Lord Favrian, I come from lands where it was believed that all
things must be held in a constant balance; light against dark, joy
against sorrow, heat against cold. But in my journeys, I have
discovered nothing changes if a balance is always maintained;
nothing grows, nothing is learned. When the balance is held thus
for generations and suddenly it tilts, there is panic, chaos, no
one knows what to do. Because no one has bothered to think of other
ways to do things.

‘You call me Lady, yet
I was born a slave. A slave I should still be, but the balance
moved. I found the courage to run away and now I’m here, in a land
I didn’t even know existed.’

‘You give me a great
deal to think of, Lady.’ Favrian turned to Garrol and began to
speak quietly.

Conversation welled
slowly through the room and The Bear sat down, his eyes fixed on
Tika. He said something and Theap got up and approached Tika and
Sket.

‘The Bear would like to
speak with you Lady,’ said Theap. ‘When the crowd thins out a bit.’
He gave her a grin she couldn’t help but respond to.

‘I do hope I haven’t
offended anyone too much?’

Theap laughed aloud.
‘You’ve probably given a lot of them nightmares,’ he confided. ‘Do
them good, too.’

The sound of drums came
from outside and most of the tribes’ representatives headed for the
door.

‘They will celebrate
tonight,’ Theap explained. ‘There is food and drink, and dancing
outside for everyone.’

Sket licked his lips.
Theap leaned closer. ‘Food and drink will also be served in here
soon. Tea, or beer?’ His brown eyes sparkled although his
expression was solemn.

Tika dug her elbow into
Sket’s ribs. ‘Decisions, my friend!’ she teased.

‘I might try both,’
Sket replied with dignity. ‘Those stars damned gateways make me
thirsty.’

‘I thought they made
you sick,’ she retorted.

A woman stopped in
front of them and Tika tried to remember if she knew her name. She
was dressed in plain grey leathers and her hair was done in several
long braids of a slightly lighter shade of grey. The woman
smiled.

‘I am Inna,’ she said.
‘I’ve been told you are sister to the young blue Dragon, and
daughter to the golden one. I am intrigued to know how this might
be. Perhaps you could spare time to talk before my people return
home tomorrow?’

Tika nodded. ‘Of
course.’ How many more little talks might be requested of her, she
wondered in resignation.

The woman inclined her
head and left with her warriors, joining another woman near the
door.

‘That was the Chief of
the Mountain Cats,’ Theap explained quietly. ‘And the one she has
just left with, was Gold Wing, of the Eagles.’

Men and women entered
with plates and dishes and jugs which were passed among the few
guests still in the den. With most people gone, Tika saw the room
more clearly with its brilliant rugs and furnishings, the gleaming
paint on the walls. She saw there were no windows in this room
which was why so many lamps were lit. She also saw that The Bear
still had his eye on her, so she moved across to stand by his
chair, feeling even smaller beside him than she’d ever felt by Gan
or Sergeant Essa.