Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (18 page)

‘I think I missed
something there?’

That set Tika off again
and it was a while before she was capable of speech. Shivan had got
to his feet and stalked out of the building long before then. Tika
sniffed and drew a final steadying breath.

‘Sorry,’ she said to
Rhaki who was patiently waiting for her to recover.

‘I don’t know the name,
Ferag. Is she a lady of importance?’

‘Yes. She is the
Mistress of Death in the Dark Realm.’

‘Like – the
gentleman?’

‘Yes and no. I don’t
think Ferag has as many ghosts. And she can let people come back,
in the half death. Like Corman. It is a choice you understand.
Corman felt he had failed in his duty to the First Daughter so he
asked to return to the living world.’

Rhaki nodded. ‘What
upset Shivan? It all sounds reasonable to me.’

‘Ferag can be –
unpredictable.’

A breeze riffled
through the room, and Rhaki realised Tika and all the others
present had frozen in place.

‘You are a darling,’ a
velvety voice cooed just above Rhaki’s head. ‘I do love to be
unpredictable. The living are boring enough most of the time, you
can’t imagine how tedious the dead can be.’

Very cautiously Rhaki
turned his head and his mouth fell open. The most stunningly
beautiful woman stood beside him, long dark red hair waving to her
waist over a dress the same shade of dark red. Long cold fingers
brushed his cheek. Her voice changed.

‘Now darlings, I am
terribly busy at the moment. Why did you call?’

Tika swallowed hard.
‘I’m so sorry Mistress Ferag. My friend did not know of you, so I
was explaining.’

‘Well that’s not really
good enough poppet.’

To Rhaki’s fascinated
alarm, the woman’s hair began to curl and writhe, the skirt of her
dress to waft and lift. He leaped into the breach.

‘My lady, I am so proud
and honoured to have met you. Please forgive Lady Tika’s summons –
I will never be able to get your beauty from my heart.’

He’d got to his feet
and now he bowed low. The long red hair grew still on Ferag’s
shoulders, the dress clung close to her body.

‘What an enchanting
creature you are!’ she cried. ‘What a pity you aren’t dead
yet.’

Rhaki inclined his head
modestly. ‘Alas, I vowed a mighty vow to serve Lady Tika, and I
fear I must hold to that vow. I knew nothing of such glory as yours
until this very moment.’

Ferag clasped her hands
under her chin and regarded him, dewy eyed. ‘I so look forward to
visiting again.’ She turned to Tika. ‘I hope you realise what a
treasure you have here. But I must dash. Duty calls.’ And she was
gone.

Rhaki found his legs
felt oddly weak and so he sat down. Glancing round, he found
several of the others who’d been present during Ferag’s visit were
beginning to move. But they were regarding him with expressions of
awed admiration. The door banged open and Shivan returned. He
glared at Tika.

‘She was here, wasn’t
she? I warned you.’

‘Yes she was, and I
forgot to ask her about shadows.’

Admiring expressions
turned to horror but it was Rhaki who reached across the table to
take Tika’s hand.

‘I really think that we
should leave it some time, some considerable time, before we bother
the lady again.’

Babach remained
unconscious all night. Tika made no attempt to touch his mind but
Konya was confident that Babach was genuinely unconscious. She
couldn’t understand why, because he should have woken from Essa’s
blow fairly rapidly. Sket made sure the guards were changed
throughout the night and, after Tika had spoken to him, he took
Kazmat and Dog aside. His conversation was conducted quietly but
the two apologised, rather shamefacedly, to Shivan for their
overzealous reaction earlier.

Tika was restless
throughout the night. She had the feeling that pressure was
building around her but could find no hard reason or source to
account for that feeling. She felt overloaded with information,
while at the same time, unable to see how that information related
to her situation. By dawn, Tika’s eyes felt gritty from lack of
sleep and she was glad when she heard Beela raking the embers in
the kitchen stove.

Sket opened an eye as
she pulled on her boots but she gestured for him to stay where he
was. All four Dragons still slept and Tika moved north, along the
edge of the tree line. She saw that in the short time they’d been
here, the tight buds had begun to unfurl into crumpled baby leaves.
She pulled a branch lower, examining the delicate, paper thin new
green, then let it swing gently back into place. She whirled
suddenly, aware she was not alone, then sighed.

‘You startled me. My
dear.’

Tika leaned against the
tree trunk and hoped her heart would soon slow its frantic pace.
She stared at the Raven. It was the first time Hag had arrived
without a shriek or cackle. Hag tilted her head, one eye focusing
on Tika. Tika went cold, and very still. The eye fixed upon her was
glittering black, but there was no gold rimming that eye. The beak
gaped, but it was a smooth, clean beak, it had no cracks or scrapes
or nicks marring it. Tika began to pull power around her, forming a
tight shielding between her and the bird. The bird seemed to swell
until it stood nearly as tall as Tika.

She realised Hag’s
feathers, although often tattered and dishevelled, were always a
glossy shining black. This bird’s feathers were dull, lifeless. And
they were grey, not black. Belatedly, Tika felt her pendant growing
hot against her skin. Slowly she lifted her hand to tug it free of
her shirt, never taking her eyes from the bird. A hiss came from
the gaping beak and the bird took a step closer. Tika drew more
power, until she felt her body would burst with it. The bird in
front of her seemed to melt around its edges but the black eyes
intensified their glare.

Shouts and a Dragon’s
scream came to her, but distantly, as though her shield blocked the
sound. The bird’s shape wavered and it lurched towards her. Tika
released some of the power she’d gathered, directing it in a broad
band at the bird. The power flashed back briefly, suggesting the
bird had some measure of shielding too. Instead of widening the
line of power, she maintained it at the same strength, but she also
wove another beam, twisting it rapidly above and around the
bird.

She clasped her pendant
tight in her left hand, feeling its searing heat, and tightened the
noose she’d woven. There was a screaming sound that was so high
pitched it felt that her ear drums were actually split, and that
split was working its way through her skull. But what had become a
distorted copy of Hag was distorting further, the central part of
the bird’s body melting inwards. Tika felt herself shaking but
gripped the pendant and braced her legs, forcing herself to remain
upright.

Then she could see the
lake through a circular hole in the middle of the bird. The noise
stopped so suddenly, her ears hurt all over again, and nothing
whatsoever stood between her and the water. Tika found herself on
her knees, her breath coming in harsh gasps while sweat soaked her
body. She was unaware of the Dragons landing, their rush towards
her, until Farn’s familiar presence wrapped round her. Heartbeats
later, Sket led her companions at a wild run up towards the trees
in whose shelter she huddled.

‘What was it? Are you
hurt?’

Sket took hold of her
shoulders, gently pulling her up from where she’d slumped forward
over her knees. He was afraid when he felt her shirt, as soaked as
if she’d been dunked in the lake, but he was more concerned when he
saw her left hand clamped around her pendant. He drew her against
him and her lashes flickered up. A glint of green and silver showed
before her head dropped against his shoulder. Sket lifted her and
paused beside Farn, letting the silver blue Dragon examine his soul
bond carefully.

‘It’s not far, only a
few paces Farn. I will carry her to the hall and you can come
inside.’

All four Dragons were
agitated, faceted eyes flashing in colours more brilliant than
usual. But they paced back, allowing Sket to carry his precious
burden back to the building. Kija used mind speech as they made
their way along the lake side.

‘She is all right. She
drew a great quantity of power and when she released it she felt
weakened. She is truly unharmed.’

Her tone was soothing
and rang with truth, but most of Tika’s company would only be
convinced when Tika herself told them the same thing. The Old
Bloods were waiting at the back of the building, the concealed door
swung wide for the Dragons. Farn was treading on Sket’s heels by
the time Tika was laid on a tabletop piled with pillows.

Sket glanced round the
hall. ‘Where’s that stars damned healer?’ he roared.

‘Right here,’ Konya
snapped back, hurrying from the inner corridor.

Sket looked quickly at
the guards present and noted Essa, Geffal and Onion were absent,
watching over Babach he guessed. And Shivan must be with them.
Konya was listening to Kija’s account of what had happened as far
as the Dragon could tell. Konya cautiously lifted Tika’s left hand
which was still clutched around the pendant. Another hand reached
over to support Tika’s as the healer attempted to pry the fingers
loose. Konya glanced up to see the Old Blood woman, Beela, beside
her. She nodded and turned back to her patient.

Without warning, Tika’s
fingers relaxed and her hand lay empty in Beela’s, the pendant
slipping down onto her chest. Sket peered over from Tika’s other
side.

‘But there’s no burn,’
he sounded puzzled. ‘I was afraid it would have burnt her to the
bone – it’s done that before.’

Konya examined Tika’s
hand minutely. ‘It’s fine, but her clothes are soaking. Someone
find her pack and fetch fresh clothes. We’ll need hot water to
bathe her first.’

‘There’s a tub in the
kitchen.’ Beela was already on her way to heat more
water.

Dog carefully lifted
Tika and began to follow Beela. She stopped by the kitchen door and
scowled.

‘Ladies only, thank
you,’ she snarled.

Sket stared at the
engineer in astonishment. ‘But I’ve bathed her dozens of times,’ he
began.

Dog sniffed. ‘Well not
this time, you won’t.’

And the door closed in
Sket’s face.

Tika woke while Beela
and Dog were getting her out of the tub and into a towel the size
of a blanket. She blinked, completely at a loss to think who these
women were and why they should be washing her like a baby. Then
memory rushed back and she stiffened.

‘It’s all right,’ Beela
crooned. ‘You’re safe now, little lady.’

Tika let Beela’s arms
enfold her in the soft towel. ‘No,’ she said quietly. ‘Not
safe.’

There was a soft knock
at the door and it opened enough to allow Essa to squeeze in. Her
expression was sombre as she looked at Tika. Tika gave up trying to
fasten her shirt buttons, leaving the job to Dog. She felt – empty,
that was the word.

‘Babach?’ she
asked.

Essa nodded. ‘In spite
of the herbs Konya got down him, he began those spasms again, at
dawn.’

Tika gave a weary
nod.

‘It looked like shadows
were chasing all over his body for a while. We heard your Farn
scream and people shouting, and then Babach screamed.’

Essa was unable to
repress a shiver. ‘Although we could see him, and feel his body
where we were trying to hold him down, something seemed wrong.
Konya thinks his heart just gave out, but when we moved away a
little, he was covered with feathers.’

‘Were they growing from
him?’

‘No. It was as if
someone just emptied a sack of feathers over the bed.’

‘Grey
feathers.’

Essa swallowed hard and
nodded.

‘Poor Babach. He should
have stayed in the Stronghold.’

The door opened again
and somehow Tika wasn’t surprised to see Rhaki enter. She was
surprised when he stretched out his hand and cupped her face
gently.

‘Are you well?’ was all
he asked, but Tika felt much more behind those three
words.

She managed a smile and
tried to stand up. Eventually she stood, swaying slightly. She
thanked Beela for the bath and moved carefully to the door. The
chattering in the hall stilled as Tika came out of the kitchen.
Sket was by the door and his gaze raked over her. He grunted and
slid an arm round her waist to dump her bodily in a chair by the
nearest table.

It didn’t take long for
Tika to relate what had happened, but by the time she’d finished
she was feeling a great deal better. Again she wondered just what
had happened to her in the Dark, or perhaps, what Lord Dabray might
have done when he pushed her out, that made her so much more
resilient now.

‘Clearly the imitation
of Hag was manifested through Babach,’ said Shivan. He hesitated.
‘I remained with Babach when Konya left to come to you. I tried to
retrieve his memories, but they were already gone.’