Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (19 page)

Tika nodded. ‘I guessed
you’d tried that. But Shivan, it was dangerous.’ She raised her
hand against his protest. ‘You should have told someone what you
intended. You know that. And you promised you would follow the few
rules I lay down.’

Shivan sighed. ‘I know.
You were brought back and I found myself alone with him.’ He
shrugged. ‘I am truly sorry.’

Tika hid her surprise
at Shivan’s genuine apology. She had expected him to argue with her
over this.

‘Clearly your
suggestion was correct though, Tika.’ Rhaki handed her a bowl of
tea as he spoke. ‘Shadows are taking their place in this
game.’

Tika glanced over at
Essa. ‘Have you seen anything to do with shadows, Essa?’

Essa looked
uncomfortable as all eyes turned to her. ‘Nothing particular.’ She
kept her reply brief.

Tika didn’t press the
Sergeant; she would speak to her later.

‘Right. I don’t like to
suggest this, but we must get closer to the Menedula.’ She smiled
at Beela. ‘Is there anywhere we could lie up, about a league or so
from that place?’

‘Yes.’

Tika realised Dromi was
among the company. ‘I’m glad you are recovered,’ she told him. ‘And
thank you, for risking so much.’

Dromi spread his hands.
‘A necessary risk,’ he replied. ‘There is an old cabin, big enough
for all I’d guess. Used to be used by hunters and trappers, but
it’s been empty for years now I think.’

Tika nodded. ‘We’ll
leave in the morning then.’

When the numbers in the
hall had thinned, Tika watched Dromi come hesitantly towards her.
He was an odd looking little man, she thought. Not a great deal
taller than her, and shaped, at first glance, like two circles –
the smaller his head, which sat almost directly on the second
circle, his plump body. But his arms and legs seemed too thin, and
his fingers were not only thin, they were long. She pushed the
chair beside her to invite him to sit.

‘Lady Tika, I ask to be
of your company.’

He looked almost
shocked by what he’d said.

‘Being in my company is
not always a wise choice,’ she replied.

He twined his long
fingers together in his lap. He looked at Sket, Shivan and Rhaki
who remained beside Tika. Then he raised his eyes to Farn, who
reclined behind Tika’s chair with his head over her shoulder. Dromi
drew a deep breath and met Tika’s eyes.

‘My people here know
me,’ he began. ‘They know I, and others of my calling, travel
constantly through the lands.’ He took another breath. ‘We gather
information, Lady, which is taken or sent back to a place known to
very few. Not only to collect what news I can, do I ask to join
you. I would like to stay near you to record all that befalls you
and your friends. The head of my order foresaw your coming. I
begged the honour of asking first to join with you. But if the idea
displeases you, there are others you could choose from. One of us
must accompany you.’

Tika saw Dromi’s eyes
were an indefinite colour, one moment grey, the next blue, and the
next hazel.

‘The head of your
order?’ she queried.

Dromi nodded but said
nothing.

‘You are welcome to
join us Dromi, but we may travel long and far. Do you not have
family?’

He studied her for a
moment, then gave her a brilliant smile.

‘The order is my
family, Lady’

Tika felt no need to
touch his mind: his words rang with simple truth.

It was only mid
afternoon and Tika went outside again but firmly escorted by Sket,
Essa, Shea and Rhaki. Shea was very quiet and Tika put an arm
across her shoulders.

‘I’m sorry Babach
died,’ she said softly.

‘I liked him,’ Shea
said fiercely. ‘I hate this thing in that rotten Kingdom of
his.’

Tika tightened her arm
briefly. ‘I know. So did I.’

They’d walked several
paces before Shea stopped, turning to face Tika.

‘What do you mean – you
did? Do you mean you don’t hate him now?’

Tika jammed her hands
behind her sword belt: Sket had been furious when he’d noticed she
hadn’t put on the sword that morning and had then gone off for a
walk, alone.

‘I hate what he does,
the misery he causes, but – if he is crazed, then perhaps, just
perhaps, he should be pitied?’

Shea stared at her in
disbelief. ‘You feel sorry for him?’ Her voice rose in a squeak of
outrage. ‘Tika, somehow he’s the reason the First Daughter made the
descent into the Dark. You saw her. You saw her! How can you pity
something that can inflict that sort of torment?’

She spun away and went
racing back towards Storm. Tika watched until Storm rose in the
air, Shea clinging to his back, and swept high over the
lake.

‘I’d say you could have
put that a little differently,’ Essa observed, her gaze studiously
on the grey Dragon’s flight.

Rhaki laughed. ‘I would
have to agree.’ He sobered. ‘I think I understand what you meant,
but you must admit it rather came out wrong.’

Farn lowered his head
and peered into Tika’s face. There was mischief in his
eyes.

‘Would you say that you
were tactless, my Tika?’

Khosa wound between
Farn’s legs. ‘Oh I would certainly say so,’ she agreed. ‘But
probably not quite as tactless as you have been in the
past.’

Smoke wisped from
Farn’s nose and he twisted his neck to try to keep track of the
small orange cat. But Khosa had glided behind Rhaki. Tika stroked
Farn’s long beautiful face.

‘You have become so
tactful lately, dear one, I will learn from you.’

Amid general laughter,
they strolled on but stopped again as Volk appeared from the trees
some way ahead. They waited until he’d reached them, unsure how to
greet him. He nodded curtly when he drew level.

‘I am sorry Lady, that
I left in such haste and without thought for your safety. I have
been told what happened to the old man, and to you. I came back as
fast as I could travel.’

Tika saw that Volk
would say nothing of his rage, the rage that had sent him storming
into the forest two days ago. She decided to make no comment about
Sabel going back to the Oblaka to find signs of one of Volk’s
grandsons. Maybe one of the Old Blood women who remained in the
building would tell him, but she rather thought not.

‘We are leaving
tomorrow, Volk. I need to be nearer the Menedula. Dromi has told us
of an old cabin, about a league from there.’

Volk rubbed his bearded
chin. ‘I know the place he means.’

‘Dromi will be coming
with us.’

Volk nodded. ‘Guessed
he would.’ He began to move away then paused. ‘Once we’re there,
I’d rather move the horses back again. A league is too close to a
place where people are short of food.’

Tika grimaced. ‘As you
please, Volk, but I don’t think we’ll find many people scavenging
for food of any kind.’

Volk gave her a quick
look then nodded and walked on to the building.

Tika had ordered an
early night, but before everyone settled in their beds or their
blankets, she sent them a mind picture of what she had seen from
the landing above the vast hall within the Menedula.

Volk grunted. ‘They are
still alive, I think.’

Tika gave him an
appraising glance. ‘That’s what I thought. It almost suggested to
me that those shadows were feeding on the people, but I don’t see
how that can be.’

‘They can take their
mental strength,’ Rhaki observed.

Dromi nodded. ‘Their
heads can be emptied, leaving their bodies alive.’

‘For what
purpose?’

No one answered and
shortly afterwards people settled to their rest. Tika lay on top of
her blankets against Farn’s chest.

‘I don’t see why this
evil one would leave all those empty bodies lying around, my Tika.’
Farn spoke on a singular mind thread to her thoughts
alone.

‘We really know little
of the truth about Ren,’ she replied. ‘But Mena, or whatever is
working through her, could surely find a use for vacant bodies. I
want to know where their minds are being taken.’

Chapter
Eleven

In the short time
they’d been at Blue Mirror, life had begun to return, noticeable
not just by the greening of the trees. The sky was filled with
skein after skein of geese, noisily making their way north. Some
stopped on the lake for a brief rest before sweeping on. Many
different types of smaller birds had arrived and, as Tika’s company
prepared to travel south to the Menedula, the air was full of
various songs as the birds staked their claims to prime nesting
sites.

Tika had learned that
Beela lived with her family deeper in the woods, north west of Blue
Mirror. No doubt another Old Blood would alert Beela to visitors
approaching so she could come to ready the building for guests.
Tika suspected that far more Old Bloods had been observing her
company than Volk would ever admit, but she asked no
questions.

When she went to bid
farewell to Beela, the woman held out both hands to her, palms
up.

‘Thank you for your
generosity,’ Tika said, resting her hands on the woman’s palms. ‘I
hope we may meet again in safer times. May the stars guide your
path and guard your hearts.’

Beela smiled at the
unfamiliar formal farewell but she gave Tika’s hands a gentle
squeeze.

‘Come Home whenever you
can.’

Tika elected to walk
for the first part of that day, behind the horses. Rhaki, Sket,
Essa and Dromi walked with her. Shea and Konya had gone with the
Dragons, all of whom flew far above, keeping watch over a wide
area. When they reached the southern end of the lake, Tika paused
and looked back. The unusual blue of the water, seen best from the
higher ground, lay calm and still. The long low building halfway
along its western shore was already partially hidden by the
greening vegetation.

‘Does the building have
a name, Dromi?’ Tika asked, turning to continue after the
horses.

‘We call it
Home.’

Five days later they
reached the cabin Dromi had told them of. It was set on the
southern side of a small hill. The hilltop was bare of trees,
covered with scrubby bushes and creepers. When the horses had been
unloaded, Volk left three with the guards and retreated with the
remaining nine. Tika guessed that he knew Old Bloods who lived
quite near with whom he could safely leave the horses. Her guess
was confirmed when he said he would be gone only a day and a
half.

The cabin was basic:
four walls and a pitched roof covered with a thick stemmed vine.
But it was sound and the floor was dry. A spring fed a small pool
to one side. Sket asked Dromi about the wisdom of lighting a fire
here, but Dromi saw no difficulty. The Menedula was just visible
from the top of the hill, but if they lit a fire inside only at
dusk, he thought no smoke would be noticed.

The cabin was snug
enough that evening and they were grateful for its shelter when the
wind rose, driving an icy rain slanting across the hill.

‘I will far seek,’ Tika
said quietly.

She looked round at
concerned faces and huffed out an annoyed breath. ‘I have to do
these things. You know it isn’t dangerous if I have other minds
supporting me.’

The concern on their
faces didn’t lessen so Tika abandoned the point. She settled back
on her bed roll.

‘Brin is travelling
with my mind tonight, and Shivan.’

She closed her eyes,
partly to escaped the worried faces, and let her mind slip
free.

The Menedula was shut
tight. Tika’s mind searched thoroughly and found no unlocked door
or open window anywhere at all. That presented no problem to her
and she merely pushed her mind through a glass door behind a
balcony as she’d done before. She knew Kija was relaying what she
saw from Brin’s mind, to the company, and she wondered what they
made of this eerily quiet black building.

She’d entered a room
beneath the one where she’d seen Finn Rah and Mena. It seemed to be
a library of sorts, not as big as others she’d seen, and with far
fewer books on the shelves. There were a few small lamps in here
and two men and three women sat at a long table, piles of books
around their individual lamps. Tika hovered above one, then the
next, but could make no sense of what they were studying, or
searching for. She had glimpses of ancient parchment pages
carelessly flicked over, diagrams of stars, maps of the land of
Drogoya, rhymes and lines of historical treatise so abstruse as to
be as meaningless as the nursery rhymes.

Tika studied the faces
of the men and women; she thought she’d seen them all within the
Oblaka complex but didn’t recall any names. She pushed her mind
through the door and found she was in an unlit corridor close to a
flight of stairs. She sent her mind upwards, knowing she would
emerge on that landing. She hovered by the elaborately worked
balustrade and forced herself to look down.