Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series (40 page)

Gan nodded. ‘I had
worked most of that out for myself.’ He shrugged. ‘I can only
repeat what I told you before. I felt that I had failed in my duty
to Tika.’

‘But others, many
others, have failed at their tasks also,’ Chindar pointed
out.

‘So why me? The only
conclusion I can reach is that I serve Tika, and Tika seems to be
of very great interest to this creature of the Splintered Kingdom.
Twice now, he’s had her in his grasp, and twice. .’

‘What?’ Corman was on
his feet, leaning on the table, gold eyes brighter than Gan had yet
seen them. ‘What do you mean – twice?’

‘From what you told me,
Favrian, of the tunnels with the strange windows showing different
scenes, when you rescued her, it is the same as she described
before.’

‘When?’ Corman
demanded.

‘When Seela was killed
even as she destroyed the woman who sought to free part of the evil
from its prison. Tika said she was separated from Sket, but then
she smelled mint, and followed the smell. She saw windows, such as
you have described.’

‘And she got out?’
Corman whispered.

‘I don’t know if she
got free through her own power or if the gijan actually pulled her
out.’

They had discussed the
gijan before and Chindar had informed Gan that they knew of the
long imprisonment of the few surviving Elder gijan mages. Corman
straightened and paced restlessly round the room. Garrol cleared
his throat. It was rare that one who was only three quarters Dark
blood should reach the position of Shield Master, and he often felt
an impostor in councils such as this. He felt that his blue eyes
betrayed his diluted bloodline to every Dark One in the Realm, and
thus diminished him somehow. Heads turned to him
enquiringly.

‘The woman Tika is the
key, obviously. But she seems unaware of that, or of how to act
upon it. At the moment, I suggest that all we can do is let her
be.’

‘I agree.’ Chindar
nodded. ‘You said she was enjoying being in the mountains
Favrian?’

‘Yes, all of them seem
– more relaxed. The younger girl from Kelshan, Kerris, has only
spoken to her sister as yet, about what might be happening in the
Citadel. Jemin is hoping to get to know her a little too. She is
younger than Shea. She could either accept who Jemin is or reject
him out of hand.’

‘And if Jemin decides
to return to Kelshan now? Those girls are the heirs,’ asked
Garrol.

‘I’m sure neither of
them will wish to go back to the place which holds only unpleasant
memories for them.’ Corman sounded definite.

‘But if Jemin chooses
to go,’ Garrol persisted. ‘Will we support him now, or will we let
him go back to raise the clans?’

‘It must wait for now,’
said Chindar. He stared at Favrian. ‘We’ve known the location of
the Splintered Kingdom for half a year. Coby reported last night
that it’s moved again.’

‘Moved?’ Gan was
startled. ‘I didn’t know places moved.’

‘From talking with Lady
Emla, I believe you know a little of what you call the Places
Between? The Splintered Kingdom is – similar. All of them
fluctuate, approach this world more nearly, or recede from it. Coby
says the Splintered Kingdom is no longer where it was. More
importantly, she cannot divine even approximately where it is
now.’

‘Another thing,’ Corman
put in. ‘The Lady Emla told me your people have always had the
ability to speak mind to mind. Then she discovered that many other
species could do so. We did not know of this and we have never
known it here.’

Gan considered his
answer carefully before he spoke. ‘The people of Drogoya use mind
speech to a much lesser extent than we do,’ he said at last. ‘The
people of Malesh, south of the great desert that separates them
from our lands of Sapphrea, had no such gift. Among the mages I
think it was used a little, but it had to be taught. Do you think
this has a bearing on the Crazed One’s interest in
Tika?’

He looked round the
table at the serious faces watching him, waiting for one of them to
reply. He was surprised that it was the Shield Master who did
so.

‘As far as I can see,
it is the only thing that has any consistency. Something happened
in the north of your lands Gan, which to me smacks of influence by
the Crazed One.’

Gan frowned. ‘You mean
Lady Emla’s brother Rhaki? He had long been known to crave power,
then he moved north to the Stronghold. He experimented with
genetics, of which we knew nothing. I know Emla suspects he was
somehow reached by Cho Petak, the leader of Drogoya, but we have
heard nothing of him since he fled the Stronghold.’

‘And before that? Had
this Rhaki met Tika?’

Gan struggled to
remember what Tika might have mentioned to him. ‘He may have
visited Lord Hargon – the man who owned Tika from her birth – so he
just might have seen her as a much younger child.’ He sounded
doubtful.

Chindar and Corman both
nodded.

‘There is a link,’ said
Chindar. ‘Tenuous it may be, but Tika has been noticed over many
years. But for what specific reason? I would say, on the strength
of a few brief chats with her, that she has no dreams of wealth, or
power, nor has an inclination to enjoy the pain of others. So what
can he want with her?’

There was another long
silence while each man pondered. Shield Master Garrol got to his
feet and walked to the door.

‘I will visit the First
Daughter, then check the duty lists before I go to bed.’ He paused
as he was pulling the door closed behind him. ‘Seems to me, Tika
and the Crazed One are complete opposites. I can see no
similarities to link them. Good night.’

Corman also stood. ‘I
think Garrol has the right of it, but why would the Crazed One want
to possess his very opposite – I’d have thought he’d keep as far
from her as possible.’

Gan left with Corman
and they walked in silence towards Lerran’s great chamber. Corman
went to the long sideboard and poured two goblets of the blood
drink. He brought one to Gan who stood by the outer archway,
watching the moonlight dance on the vast expanse of sea far
below.

‘Failure or no, I don’t
think I can do this for long, Corman.’

Corman studied the very
tall, thin Asatarian who was now dressed in similar black shirt,
trousers and boots as himself.

‘I know. It is very
difficult being in this world yet not part of it.’

‘How have you managed
for so very long?’

Corman sipped his
drink. ‘I failed Lerran. I will serve until I redeem that failure.
I have different reasons though Gan, which are mine
alone.’

Corman strolled to the
edge of the terrace and Gan followed.

‘And what will you ask
of Ferag?’

Gan gave a rueful
smile. ‘We have found Asatarians cannot breed successfully with the
people of this world. Do you think then that my soul might survive
a rebirth in a human child?’

‘A dilemma I agree. I
think you should ask Coby, or another who studies such
things.’

‘What if I choose to go
to your Mother Dark?’ asked Gan, genuinely curious.

‘Your memories will
return to her, to hold forever, but that little spark of your soul
will go back in rebirth.’

Gan laughed. ‘So either
way I’ll have to risk rebirth. Not such a choice after
all.’

‘If you choose rebirth,
you may, just may, remember some of this life. If Mother Dark sends
you forth again, you will remember nothing.’

A screeching laugh
brought both men swinging round fast. Hag strutted in front of
them, her eyes glittering in the light of the moon.

‘Why are you here?’
Corman snapped.

‘Ferag’s quite right –
you have no manners.’ Hag peered at Gan and cackled. ‘I smell the
Realm of Death about you. One of Ferag’s games?’ she
sneered.

‘Since when have you
been so free with Ferag’s name, Hag? You lost some feathers last
time you annoyed her, if I remember right.’

Hag hissed and spread
her wings, gliding into the archway without further comment. Gan
looked rather alarmed.

‘Where is she
going?’

‘Probably to visit
Lerran.’

A screech echoed out to
them, followed by a man’s bellow of rage. Corman raised a
brow.

‘It sounds as though
Hag discovered Peshan visiting his sister.’

At Gan’s confused
expression he added: ‘No one knows, or can recall, why they detest
each other so. It’s just one of those things.’

A black winged fury
hurtled from the archway, wheeling up and north, over the town.
Corman drained his goblet and wandered back inside.

‘Will the First
Daughter recover?’ Gan asked, watching Corman refill their goblets.
He had been stunned when he’d first seen the woman’s ruined body,
and he found it hard, if not impossible, to believe that she could
regain even a semblance of normality.

Corman’s gold eyes met
Gan’s briefly then flicked away to the lamps above the empty
hearth. He sat in an armchair and stretched out his legs, crossing
them at the ankle.

‘Once before she
descended deep into the Dark. But not this deep. It took half a
year for her to return to us and another two full years to regain
the strength she had before that descent. The physical alterations
were much less apparent; there was no facial disfigurement. This
time – who knows? Only Mother Dark.’

Gan took the armchair
opposite Corman and they sat, lost in their own thoughts, long into
the night.

The first the
Imperatrix knew of anything wrong was a messenger saying her
presence was urgently requested in the young ladies’ apartments.
Again. Veranta had been having a long bath and enjoying several
large glasses of a particularly good wine. Mellia’s suicide had
exasperated her. All that work on a marriage alliance gone for
nothing. The girl had resembled her father physically, clearly she
was as mentally weak as he’d been too.

As soon as she’d
inspected Mellia’s body and been convinced the girl had taken her
own life rather than been murdered, she hurried to her own suite.
In the ornate chest where she kept such important papers, she dug
out the banker’s settlement. Signed, sealed and witnessed a few
days after Mellia’s birth, and less than a moon before his own
sudden death. Where such things were concerned, Veranta was
extremely thorough. The settlement had been witnessed by Waxin Pule
and two of the most respected lawyers in Kelshan. The banker’s
considerable fortune indeed reverted to Mellia’s mother in the
event of Mellia dying without issue.

Veranta debated briefly
whether to change into her usual trousers and jacket and decided to
stay in the hideous floral silk dressing gown she’d put on after
her bath. It had been a tedious and endless morning in the public
hall, listening to Councillors and Guild Masters and Mistresses
mouthing nonsensical platitudes about Mellia’s beauty and wisdom.
Then she’d had to deal with army matters and ridiculous trade
proposals.

She’d hoped for a quiet
evening, enlivened with conversation, of sorts, with a very young,
very newly promoted junior officer. And instead she was tramping
half across the Citadel’s top storey to her daughters’ rooms once
more. Her escorting guards halted as Veranta approached the great
door. The two men guarding that door sprang to attention, both
older men, familiar to the Imperatrix.

‘What now?’ she asked
curtly.

The man on the left
replied. ‘My lady, the maids came out a short time ago in great
distress. All they said was that something has happened. They
became afraid and ran to the tutor’s room but it was locked against
them. They heard groans and screams from within. They ran to the
Lady Kerris but she was not in her room. Then they came out to us
and I sent a messenger to you my lady. Although the maids seemed
near hysteria they were adamant there were no intruders or signs of
any. Thus we have not yet entered, preferring to await your
instruction, lady.’

Veranta nodded and
gestured at the door. The guard who’d spoken opened it for her, his
sword at the ready.

‘I presumed to send a
warning to the guards at the servants’ entrance lady, that no one
was to be allowed in or out.’

Veranta gave a grunt of
approval as she followed him inside. The door guards moved ahead,
Veranta’s escort closing up behind her. The maids were huddled in
the sitting room. Veranta gave them a cursory glance and moved
along the hall. She tapped on Ternik’s door. Getting no reply, she
rattled the handle.

‘Open it,’ she
ordered.

While one of the guards
began to force the lock, the Imperatrix walked on to Kerris’s room.
That door opened normally and Veranta stared around. The coverlet
on the bed was crumpled, the pillows indented as they would be if
Kerris had lain there reading. An open book, face down, was on the
carpet. Nothing untoward. Noise from the direction of Ternik’s room
brought Veranta back along the hall.

The stench hit her
first. She clapped a hand over her nose and mouth, seeing the guard
who’d forced the door retching helplessly. The maids began to wail:
the smell must have reached the sitting room. Veranta marched
straight into the doorway and halted abruptly. She saw the body on
the floor first but studied the room carefully before approaching
that body.