Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series (43 page)

‘The healer who began
to teach me, believed power came from the Light, or from the
Stars,’ Tika said slowly.

‘Pah! Light. Dark.
Names. Maybe in between.’

Tika frowned. ‘You mean
from one of the Places Between?’

‘No! In between Light
and Dark – Shadow.’

Tika shook her head.
‘I’ll have to think,’ she began.

Hag cackled. ‘Yes, yes.
You think. And I’ll think. And then we’ll have another little
chat.’

Hag drifted off the
wall and landed near Brin. ‘Now I’ll talk to you,’ she
announced.

Tika climbed down from
the wall and sent a pulse of sympathetic amusement in Brin’s
direction but left him to Hag’s mercy while she went in search of
food.

She slid onto a bench
beside Daylith who gave her a searching glance as he poured her a
bowl of fragrant tea.

‘Do you know where Hag
comes from?’ Tika asked him.

‘I’m not sure anyone
does. She’s just been around as long as the First Daughter, at the
very least.’

‘She introduced herself
as Anfled of the Dark when I saw her first, in the Palace. Who gave
her the name Anfled I wonder?’

When the meal was
finished, Tika headed for The Bear’s house. There seemed no one
about and Tika remembered that Emas had flown with Kija in search
of roots. Hoping she wasn’t breaking any rules of accepted
behaviour, she made her way to the den. The door was open and she
peered into the brightly lit room. Gossamer Tewk was crouched by
the wall opposite the door, apparently scribbling on a slate which
rested on her knee.

‘Am I interrupting?’
asked Tika.

Gossamer glanced over.
‘Not at all. I just can’t leave this painting alone.’ She
straightened and moved to a chair. ‘This is so very
odd.’

‘What is?’ Tika joined
Gossamer as Lemos entered behind her. He carried a tray with a
large steaming pot upon it and three drinking bowls. He smiled at
Tika.

‘I heard you come in,’
he explained, his voice a painful rasp.

‘I’ve just had several
bowls of tea with my meal, thank you all the same.’

Lemos stared at her.
‘Meal? Has the morning gone already?’ He seemed genuinely
surprised.

‘And I don’t drink
tea,’ Gossamer pointed out in an acid tone.

‘Oh. Ah. I was so
caught up in your ideas. I do apologise for any
offence.’

‘Oh nonsense Lemos.’
Gossamer flapped a hand in his direction.

‘What is so odd
Gossamer?’ Tika returned to Gossamer Tewk’s first remark to
her.

Gossamer scowled down
at the slate on her lap. She reached to another small table beside
her chair which, Tika saw, was covered with papers.

‘I’ve never seen a
picture like this. It goes on and on and it tells different
stories. When I first looked at it, it was a wonderful jumble of
beautiful colours and strange people and animals. I couldn’t really
make it out properly.’ She shuffled through the handful of papers
she’d picked up. ‘So I looked at it again from the beginning to its
end. Certain scenes seemed to come more into focus – a fight
between two small groups of people, a hunting party, a burial of
someone obviously important. But it still didn’t feel as though I
was really seeing it.’

Gossamer glared in
frustration, first at Lemos then at Tika.

Tika nodded. ‘I know
that feeling far too well,’ she said with sympathy.

‘Well.’ Gossamer leaned
back, her scowl fading. ‘I think I may have got closer. If you
squint at the wall, it goes blurry. But patterns suddenly show up.’
She got to her feet, papers and slate cascading onto a brilliantly
woven rug. ‘The pattern looks like lots of pipes, winding in and
out through different scenes. If they ran straight, you’d see it at
once.’

Tika stood up as well,
staring at the wall beside Gossamer. She shook her head in
confusion and looked at Lemos for help. But his face wore an
expression of deep worry and Tika turned back to the wall in rising
alarm.

‘I don’t see what you
mean Gossamer. Can you show me any more clearly?’

Gossamer walked right
up to the wall and raised both her hands, palms flat. She blocked
the picture above and below a little scene of animals being herded
down a mountainside. Slowly she moved her hands higher, then lower,
following a single section of the painting.

Tika gasped, her gaze
moving on without the guidance of Gossamer’s framing hands. Tika
stepped back. Now Gossamer had shown her, similar winding patterns
traced themselves along the wall, twisting in and out but never
breaking through each other. Tika met Lemos’s light hazel eyes and
knew he’d already reached the same conclusion. She
swallowed.

‘They’re not pipes
Gossamer. They’re tunnels. Like the tunnels of the Splintered
Kingdom.’

Chapter
Twenty-Four

Veranta slept soundly:
she always did. When she woke, she dismissed the young officer from
her bed and her suite almost absently. She couldn’t recall his name
but she didn’t think he had earned a second night with her anyway.
By the time she’d breakfasted and made her way to her office she’d
forgotten what he looked like. Sitting at her desk she frowned. She
called for one of the scribes in the adjoining room.

‘I was expecting
reports from the healers,’ said the Imperatrix, her hard brown eyes
boring into the man standing just inside the door.

‘Nothing has arrived my
lady. Should I send a messenger?’

‘No. Leave it for
now.’

She dismissed the
scribe and crossed the room to stare up at the map which hung on
the wall. Are they through those mountains yet, she wondered. She
smiled, anticipating, like Strannik, only glory and wealth. Well,
the glory didn’t bother her much, people’s opinions rarely did, but
the wealth would be greatly welcome. Wealth she liked.

Veranta thought she
should receive news of Strannik’s success within the next days, but
for now she had domestic matters to deal with. The ambassadors
representing several of the most powerful clans had presented her
with a joint document which, after a first quick reading, she had
pushed aside. Now she returned to her desk, sorting through the
papers spread untidily over it.

She sat down to go over
the document again, swearing at various points as she reached them.
The Imperatrix tossed the paper back on her desk. They dared
criticise her! They demanded – demanded indeed! – a cessation of
the capture of women and children on no formal charges. They
demanded the release of any prisoners held in Kelshan garrisons who
likewise had no charges levelled against them. Strannik would soon
put a stop to such sentiments. Then Veranta recalled that Strannik
could well be absent for too long – this needed to be dealt with at
once. Let the clans know who ruled these lands.

She rose and stared out
of the window. She had her doubts about Beslow. She’d thought he’d
return to the Citadel a frail, doddering, quite possibly senile,
old man. But she suspected there was still steel and fire in that
upright figure. There were a few officers whose loyalty to her she
was sure of. But should she send one of them to the clan borders or
keep them here? Making her decision she went to the scribes’
room.

‘Send for Captain
Mettich to attend me after the midday meal,’ she ordered. ‘I will
be in the infirmary for the next while.’

Her two escorts saluted
when the Imperatrix arrived in the antechamber where duty guards
and messengers waited until they were needed. One guard opened the
door, the two guards outside leaped to attention, and Veranta
passed them without a glance. She led the way down the broad green
marble staircase, past more saluting guards, then turned to the
corridor leading to the infirmary.

Various healers,
novices, anatomists and even a couple of ambulatory patients,
flattened themselves to the walls as the Imperatrix scuttled by.
Reaching the barrier of the reception area, she halted. A healer in
a dark green gown came forward and bowed.

‘A body was brought
here last evening. I expected the preliminary results on my desk by
now.’

The healer nodded,
picking up a paper from her desk. ‘I was not on duty my lady, but I
saw that a body arrived for detailed examination.’ She called to a
young man hovering to one side. ‘Nurse, check room four
please.’

As the young man
hurried off, the healer turned back to Veranta, her eyes worried.
‘They should have finished long since my lady,’ she began, but a
shout of horror and fear interrupted her.

Veranta signalled one
of her escort to go after the healer who was already running in the
direction of the cry. Veranta followed with her remaining guard who
held his sword at the ready. She and her guard came to a halt by an
open door and stared into the room. Five bodies lay on the bare
stone floor, one still moving slightly. Another body lay naked on
the stone table.

The healer and the
nurse were trying to pull the now groaning person out of the room.
Veranta glanced at the man’s face as the healer hauled him through
the door. She couldn’t name him but she recognised him as one of
the healers from last night. Another healer pushed into the room,
stooping over the four motionless bodies. He looked back at the
Imperatrix.

‘They have no wounds my
lady,’ he said.

Veranta stepped closer
and stared down at the nearest body which the healer had pulled
over, so that it lay on its back. The face wore a frozen expression
of unbelieving horror, the eyes bulging from their sockets in fear.
Veranta studied Ternik lying on the table. She seemed unchanged in
any degree from how she’d appeared last night. Except. Veranta
cautiously went closer still.

The dark red jelly
filling Ternik’s opened body appeared definitely less. Veranta
raised her eyes, and blinked. The stone wall in front of her was
rippled and ridged. Just as in Ternik’s own room. Veranta stepped
back.

‘Put liquid fire in
here,’ she ordered abruptly. ‘Set it alight, close the door and
leave it thus for a full day. At once.’

The healer looked
fearful but hurried from the room. Veranta gestured to her two
escorts and withdrew to the corridor. Four servants appeared,
carrying two flagons each which they merely placed on the floor
outside the room. Veranta rolled her eyes.

‘Take it inside, fools.
Pour it all over the room but particularly over the bodies. Do not
touch the bodies at all. Leave the flagons in there.’

The servants obeyed
although obviously reluctant to do so.

‘Fetch a lamp,’ Veranta
ordered a nurse who seemed to be just standing open
mouthed.

The servants left the
room much more quickly than they’d entered it. Veranta nodded to
one of her guards and prudently moved some distance down the
corridor. The guard took the glowing lamp from the nurse and
stepped up to the threshold. He drew his arm back and gripped the
side of the door with his other hand. The lamp hit the examination
table and fire flashed up immediately. The guard slammed the door
shut and returned to the Imperatrix.

‘I want this corridor
watched until this time tomorrow. Do you know what is outside the
windows of that room? And what’s in the adjacent rooms?’

The healer who’d first
greeted Veranta spoke from behind the Imperatrix. ‘The room this
side is another room used for the dissection of bodies my lady. It
is empty – I checked it myself only a few moments ago. On the
further side are rooms containing supplies. The first holds
bandages, splints, crutches and other such equipment. The next
along on the same side holds dried medicines. The room opposite is
for patients recovering from surgery, and this room is where that
surgery is performed.’

‘Your name healer?’
Veranta was interested. This woman had given her the information
she’d asked for calmly and concisely. She wished more of her
immediate staff and advisors could do as well.

She didn’t hear the
healer’s name because a loud boom reverberated around them. Veranta
chewed her lip, the healer forgotten. Bodies did not explode like
that and she was fairly sure the detonation was caused by that dark
stuff inside Ternik. Veranta turned back to the healer.

‘The one who survived –
what is his name?’

‘Tomin my
lady.’

‘What are his
injuries?’

The healer shook her
head. ‘There seem no physical injuries at all my lady. He was
stripped and examined immediately but there are no wounds. He seems
sleepy, he says he aches, and his body feels wrong, but we can
discern no cause for these symptoms.’

‘Hmm. Sounds like a
simple ague to me. Nonetheless, I want him held in a secure room
and observed closely for a few days. Report any change in his
condition at once.’

Without waiting for any
acknowledgement, the Imperatrix retraced her route from the
infirmary to her office. One of her escort shivered violently as
they climbed the marble staircase. His partner noticed but said
nothing until Veranta left them in the antechamber.