Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series (53 page)

‘And if ordinary people
come out of their houses? Do we ask, politely, if they support the
Imperatrix or Jemin?’

Barlis led the way
rapidly towards the upper City. They passed several bodies: after a
brief examination of the first, they didn’t stop to look at the
others. There were very few people about, shops stayed shuttered,
although it was well past dawn by now. Barlis halted, listening
intently. Above the hiss of the rain they heard shouts some
distance ahead. Jemin pointed across the street. A narrow stone
stair led in a zigzag up four floors. The roof was sloping but a
ledge ran along the front which looked sturdy enough from down
here.

Onion was already
scrambling up to the ledge, Jemin at his heels. The Bear followed
Barlis, agile despite his size. Onion jumped across a gap between
buildings, his pack clutched to his chest. Jemin muttered a prayer
to Mother Dark, imploring Her not to let the engineer fall. The
shouts sounded closer and Onion slowed, crouching lower against the
next roof. There was a low ornamental balustrade atop the next
building which was sited at a corner where three streets met.
Hunkering down behind this inadequate barrier, Onion unfastened his
pack.

Jemin wiped rain off
his face and risked a look over the top of the balustrade. A large
number of City militia and a lesser number of regular guards fought
a desperate battle. They had a single creature surrounded and Jemin
saw several pikes dangling from parts of its torso. They’d managed
to wound the thing. Jemin ducked back behind the balustrade as The
Bear in turn peered over. He squatted back beside Jemin.

‘They should have gone
for its legs as soon as they saw they could hurt it,’ he
rumbled.

Jemin was watching
Onion free one of his poppers lovingly from its
wrappings.

‘Even if you hit it
square Onion, you’ll get a lot of those fighters too.’

Onion stared into
Jemin’s eyes, cradling the popper in his right hand. He said
nothing.

Jemin felt the full
force of responsibility descend on his shoulders at that instant,
and settle there. His jaw muscles bunched then he
nodded.

‘Do it.’

Onion stood up, seeking
out the creature below. He drew his arm back and threw the popper,
watching it fall. Straight to its target. The clay pot hit the
creature halfway down its back, and exploded.

After the explosion,
ears rang in a brief moment of absolute quiet. Then moans and
screams rose to the four men watching from the roof. The lower
walls opposite were liberally spattered with gore. Body parts and
what looked like large lumps of meat from a butcher’s stall lay
around a shallow dip in the centre of the junction of the three
streets. Bone fragments ringed the dip; some human, most
not.

‘Six.’ The Bear said.
‘Three or four with light wounds.’

Jemin’s face was like
stone. He watched the remaining men in the street helping their
wounded away from the steaming, smoking mess they had somehow
survived.

The Bear studied
Jemin’s expression. ‘Do you wish to continue, or to go back to
Gossamer Tewk’s house to report this success?’

‘Success?’ Jemin
flushed, glaring up at The Bear.

‘Yes. Success.’ The
Bear spoke firmly.

The rain was easing a
little by the time they splashed back through the tangled garden to
find everyone waiting for them in some anxiety. Jemin seemed
preoccupied, towelling his hair and accepting tea from Snail. The
Bear waited, but when it became apparent Jemin was going to say
nothing, he chose to speak.

‘One popper destroyed
one creature.’ His deep voice growled through the kitchen. ‘I
suggest that General Whilk takes eleven men and one engineer.
Prince Jemin the same. I will accompany Lady Tika’s
group.’

‘Lord Daylith must be
with the Prince,’ said Cyrek.

The Bear nodded,
although Jemin still had not spoken. Finally Jemin faced
them.

‘Although a popper
destroyed the creature, it also killed six guards. I have thought
only of this since it happened, and I find it hard, very hard, to
accept that we will probably have to kill more guards, or worse,
citizens, while we try to destroy these creatures. We have no way
of knowing how many of them there are for a start.’

Snail interrupted him.
‘The ghosts know. Last time one came back, he said there were about
thirty of the things gathering along the curtain wall in front of
the Citadel.’ She blushed, realising who she’d just
interrupted.

General Whilk glanced
at the Prince. ‘Beslow would surely think of liquid fire? It is
stored in the lowest part of the Citadel where it is cold. It is
never kept in the City – too dangerous by far. He must know these
things are making for the Citadel.’

One of his officers,
Kestis, got to his feet. ‘Beslow would send barrels of the stuff
along the watch walk, pour it down on any approaching creature,’ he
agreed with some excitement.

Jemin pulled at his
lower lip as he thought. ‘But where might the Imperatrix be? And do
we know if any of these things are within the building
itself?’

‘One of the ghosts
heard the man Beslow speak to the Imperatrix. He said he thought
those creatures are probably from the Dark Realm, retaliation for
her sending an invading force there. The ghost said Beslow ordered
the woman to stay in her rooms.’ Tika regarded the Prince as she
spoke. ‘I feel, more and more insistently, that I must go to the
place the mage’s body was taken. I cannot explain more.’

Both Cyrek and Lemos
frowned at Tika’s words, and exchanged a quick glance. Jemin gave
her a curt nod.

‘Then I will go to the
private apartments of the Imperatrix. General Whilk has instructed
Daylith closely on certain locations within the Citadel, so there
should be no problems.’

He turned away to begin
sorting out which men would travel in which group and Sket raised
his brows at Tika. She gave a faint smile in return. They had
learned never to assume there would be “no problems” in any
situation. The three engineers had been huddled together, sorting
out their packs and dividing up their dreadful toys. Dog was to go
with Tika’s group, Onion with Prince Jemin, and Darrick with
General Whilk.

The General intended to
go through the City streets. He hoped he might meet militias or
guards, and be able to explain what he was trying to do. He rather
wished he’d insisted on retaining his green Kelshan uniform but the
Dark Ones had refused the idea. Daylith was taking Jemin’s company
through a Dark gateway to the apartments once used by the daughters
of the Imperatrix. From there he could choose to go to the
Imperatrix’s offices or to her private rooms. The ghosts had
explained, with immense difficulty, where the mage Ternik’s body
had been taken and how it had been destroyed with four barrels of
liquid fire.

Shea had no knowledge
of any places in the Citadel other than the rooms where she’d spent
all of her nearly thirteen years. But Cyrek apparently saw no
difficulties in locating the infirmary, although Tika had serious
reservations about how forming gateways in virtual ignorance of the
destination could be possible. Shea, Dog and The Bear had no qualms
at all, though Tika was sure Sket and Gossamer shared her own
nervousness. Even Lemos looked rather pale as he moved closer to
Cyrek.

The Dark Lord opened
the gateway with no warning, and after a few vertiginous heartbeats
they found themselves in a well lit corridor. Voices came from one
direction and The Bear moved silently towards the sound, his great
axe loosely grasped in his hand. He glided back shaking his head,
implying nothing to worry about. Tika was only vaguely aware of the
others.

She walked slowly down
the corridor, in the opposite direction from the one The Bear had
checked, and stopped beside a closed door. Cyrek was at her
shoulder and Sket, sword drawn, at her other side. Tika felt a hazy
tugging in her mind, unlike the overwhelming evil she’d experienced
in Shea’s room. She touched the door with only a thought, and it
swung inwards. She was peripherally aware that Cyrek’s mind had
altered, he was fully alert and very close to activating the pulse
which changed his physical shape to that of the Dragon.

‘No, Cyrek,’ she
murmured, and took a few paces inside the room.

The room smelled cold,
rancid. The walls were soot covered but seemed strangely rippled
beneath the soot. A few shards of bone could be seen in four heaps
of ash on the floor. But on the stone table was only a fine thick
layer of black ash, no bits of heavier bone, no curve of skull.
Tika took a step closer. The ash looked like fur, soft, inviting.
Her hand was reaching towards it when Lemos grabbed her
arm.

‘I think that’s not a
good idea,’ he whispered.

Tika blinked, inwardly
berating herself. Whatever it was must be chuckling now – she
seemed to be so easily lured. Dog stayed by the door with The
Bear.

‘Liquid fire for sure,’
she said, sniffing. ‘But something else, which I don’t
recognise.’

Gossamer Tewk had only
ventured one step inside. ‘Burned flesh?’ she suggested.

Dog gave her a pitying
look. ‘Nah. Smelled plenty of that. A chemical sort of
smell.’

Cyrek nodded. ‘You’re
right. It’s nearly familiar to me.’

Tika heard these
comments from a distance, the table still held her attention.
Shielding herself, she focused the tightest probe she could and let
it sink into the black ash. Almost at once the ash seemed gone. A
circle, perhaps a handspan across appeared. No, she corrected,
withdrawing the probe quickly: a tunnel. A way into or out of the
Splintered Kingdom. And if it could tempt her so easily, what of
any other people who came in here?

She knew she could test
no more at this moment, too much else was at stake today. She
turned to the door. ‘Everybody outside.’

Tika had spoken softly
but the ring of command was there. Once they were in the corridor,
she used her mind to close the door. Concentrating, she transformed
the wood of the door into the same stone as the corridor
walls.

‘No one must enter,’
was all she said.

‘Can you sense anything
in this place?’ asked Cyrek. ‘Other than whatever you obviously
felt in there.’

‘Did you not see it? It
was an entrance to the Splintered Kingdom.’

Cyrek’s gold eyes
glittered but he shook his head. ‘I was aware of
nothing.’

Tika closed her own
eyes in order to send her mind in a widening area around them. She
opened them again abruptly.

‘Yes, but I can’t tell
if it is a weak form of one of the creatures, or being shielded to
give me that illusion.’ She pointed at the ceiling.
‘Higher.’

Cyrek frowned. ‘I could
open another gateway.’

Tika saw both Gossamer
and Sket grimace. ‘We could surely walk there.’

She looked round the
group. Only Dog and Cyrek wore the black uniforms of the Dark
Realm; Gossamer’s shirt and trousers were grey. Sket, Shea and she
herself wore blue. The Bear and Lemos wore different shades of
brown. Would they stand out too much? People wore all sorts of
different clothes and colours in most of the places Tika had been.
No, surely only The Bear’s great height would make them
noticeable.

At that moment, three
people came from the end of the corridor that The Bear had checked.
As soon as they saw the strangers, the three stopped in their
tracks. Cyrek’s voice rose in a gentle keening croon and Tika,
startled, realised it was a sound Kija often made.

‘What shall we do?’
Cyrek murmured.

The three ahead, all
wearing long green gowns, stood, swaying slightly, their eyes open,
fastened on Cyrek. Tika extended her senses and found Cyrek had
wrapped their minds in a calm stillness. Ah, so simple, yet she
didn’t think Kija had ever done such a thing as this.

‘Can we speak to them,
without them running away or yelling?’

Cyrek altered the note
of his croon and the three walked towards them. He let his song
fade again and one of the three blinked as though
waking.

‘Who are you?’ she
whispered, staring into Cyrek’s gold eyes.

‘We are strangers
here,’ Tika replied. ‘Are you a healer?’

The woman nodded, now
seeing Tika’s green silvered eyes in growing disbelief.

‘We have come to try to
rid this place of the evil which has burst forth here.’

‘We have been told it
is an evil sent from the Dark Realm,’ said the woman.

‘No,’ Tika said firmly.
‘It is not from the Dark Realm. Some of the Dark Ones are indeed
here in your City, but they seek to destroy the evil. They know it
of old, from far back in their history. I come from another land,
and I too have seen this evil there.’

She hesitated, glancing
at Shea but to her surprise the girl moved to stand between her and
Cyrek.

‘I am Shea.’ Her voice
was clear and steady.

The woman looked hard
at her and Shea’s chin came up.

‘I am the daughter of
the unworthy Imperatrix Veranta, and of Cawlin, of the Weasel Clan.
My uncle Jemin is in the City to claim the Imperium. But any Dark
Lords,’ she indicated Cyrek, ‘are here as Lady Tika has said, to
fight an evil such as we never dreamed could exist.’