Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (20 page)

The hundreds of bodies
appeared quite unchanged from her last sight of them. The shadows
still raced back and forth across them, but Tika thought the
shadows looked darker, more solid. Then a slanting angle of light
shone from beneath the landing. Tika watched as two people picked
their way between the bodies: Ren and Mena. Tika let her mind float
lower, over the balustrade, to enable her to see the two more
clearly.

Ren stepped over one
body and stooped, the light from the open door illuminating both
his face and the woman on the stone floor. Tika knew her own body,
in an old cabin a league away, had stiffened as rigidly as the
woman who lay below her. She watched Ren’s hand push away yellow
blonde hair from where it had tumbled over the woman’s face. He
knelt, and using his thumbs, he peeled the eyelids up. The
brightness of the blue eyes was dulled, as was the silver around
the blue, and Tika knew Elyssa was truly gone.

Ren’s laugh startled
her and she turned her gaze to Babach’s student and friend. His
face had changed. In horror she saw the hint of what the First
Daughter had looked like when she rose from the Dark. His jaw had
lengthened and his forehead sloped more sharply back. The shape of
his eyes had changed, there was an uptilt at the outer corners,
something like the gijan’s eyes. He turned towards Mena to say
something and when his mouth opened Tika saw the beginnings of
tusks in his lower jaw. She fled, back to her body.

She jerked upright,
tears streaming down her face, and was pulled hard against Sket’s
chest. The cabin door banged open and four Dragon faces peered
anxiously in. Sket wrapped his arms tighter around Tika’s body, his
face set in anger and sorrow.

‘The woman was Elyssa,
a friend of ours,’ he managed to explain, before bowing his head
over Tika.

The company moved away,
quietly settling for the night and leaving Sket to comfort Tika as
best he could. But Shivan and Rhaki huddled together, talking
occasionally in hushed voices but mostly using mind speech between
them. No one attempted to close the cabin door and Farn spent the
rest of the night squeezed in as far as he could manage without
destroying the old place. Konya brewed a tea to which she added
some herbs and encouraged Tika to drink once the first storm of
grief had eased. When Tika slipped into a light doze Sket glared at
the healer.

‘What did you give
her?’

‘Only something very
mild, to relax her a little. Sleep is a healer Sket. While she will
still grieve when she wakes, the cruellest edge will have blunted a
little.’

The rain stopped just
before dawn and the sun was struggling weakly through thinning
clouds when the guards began to stir. Onion and Fedran went to
fetch more water to heat before their fire inside was allowed to
die, while Shea, Corim and Kazmat checked and fed the horses whose
only shelter had been the cabin’s end wall.

Khosa was curled
against Tika’s side and cried softly as Tika moved. Green silvered
eyes opened and stared into wide turquoise eyes. The green eyes
welled with tears. Khosa crept closer, her whiskers tickling Tika’s
face.

‘Hush. Elyssa was a
very special person I know, a dear friend of your heart. But she is
gone. Let her go dear one.’

Tika pressed her face
into Khosa’s soft fur. ‘I know. It was the shock of finding her
there.’

‘This company is worthy
of you Tika.’

Tika drew back to peer
into Khosa’s face. But the turquoise eyes blinked enigmatically and
Khosa would say nothing more.

Dog and Essa concocted
some sort of porridge which they ladled out to everyone for
breakfast. Shivan politely declined, claiming he was still full
from last evening’s meal. He sat on the floor, back to the wall,
and watched people eat. Or attempt to. Onion opened his mouth,
caught Dog’s eye, and bent over his bowl again. After her first
mouthful, Tika merely glared at Shivan: even her cooking wasn’t
quite this bad.

‘So what do we do?’
Essa asked, collecting up the bowls and dumping them on Kazbeck to
be washed.

Tika sighed. ‘I’m
sorry. I left too quickly last night.’ Her voice wavered and she
took a steadying breath. ‘Did all of you see Ren’s face?’ she
asked.

Heads nodded but it was
Shea who spoke, the first time she’d addressed Tika since the
morning by the lake.

‘He’s beginning to look
like the First Daughter did, when she went into the
Dark.’

Shivan nodded.
‘Exactly. So there must be a link between the Dark, the Splintered
Kingdom, and Shadow.’

Rhaki clasped his hands
round his knee. ‘Both Shivan and Sergeant Essa have given me a
great deal of information about the Dark Realm,’ he began. ‘I truly
believe Shivan is correct in this, and that the link is a close
one.’

Tika frowned. ‘That’s
as maybe, but how do we force that link apart? It will only give
strength to the Splintered Kingdom if the shadows are allowed to
grow.’

‘Your Splintered
Kingdom and the shadows are one and the same.’

Heads turned to Dromi,
who smiled faintly. ‘We know of Places Beyond. We know there has
long been one such place whose aim is to either obliterate us and
all our world, or rule over it. We have also long known of a Shadow
Place, where many things from this world are echoed but in a
deformed fashion. Things you have told me are already clarifying
much we have suspected.’

Tika began to pace
around the cabin. ‘Are you saying the shadows were part of the
Splintered Kingdom and – broke away?’

Dromi nodded. ‘Our
theories point to that,’ he agreed.

‘So in fact, we have
two perilous opponents?’

Dromi’s fingers twined
together and rested on his upper stomach. ‘We believe both to be of
great power, and to offer great danger. Yes.’

‘But?’ Tika knew there
just had to be a but.

‘Our greatest
archivists and thinkers cannot decide whether the Shadows broke
away from what you call the Splintered Kingdom, or the other way
about.’

‘Does it matter?’ Dog
frowned.

‘Oh yes,’ Dromi nodded
vigorously. ‘Very definitely.’

Blank expressions
greeted this statement but Dromi apparently felt he’d said all that
was needed. Essa muttered something under her breath then stood up,
her head just clear of the roof.

‘I think we should
check that building. Just to see if there are any tricks or traps
around it. Or if they think they’re so tight and cosy inside they
don’t need guards outside.’

Tika opened her mouth
to object, then closed it. Essa wanted something to do, Tika knew
that. She was fairly sure the area around the Menedula was safe.
She nodded.

‘Very well. But Essa,
absolutely no attempt to get inside.’

Essa grinned, revealing
her filed purple teeth. ‘Yes sir,’ she agreed then turned to choose
who would accompany her.

Eventually, Shea was
persuaded to remain with Dog and Sket as Tika’s guards and Essa
headed off with the five other guards.

‘Gives them something
to do besides pick their noses,’ Dog observed with
satisfaction.

Tika snorted. ‘You do
put things so delicately, Dog.’

‘That’s me,’ Dog
grinned. ‘Just a natural born lady.’

They were still
laughing when Kija and Farn came alert at the same moment a raucous
shriek sounded overhead. Sket and Shivan were on their feet, hands
on swords, while Tika backed against the cabin wall. Hag landed
amidst them, beak agape. But she cocked her head, turning quickly
to scan those around her.

‘What has happened?’
The words rasped from her as a glittering eye fixed on
Tika.

Tika relaxed slightly.
The huge amount of power she sensed was unmistakeably Hag’s. Hag
listened while Tika explained about the impostor, the evil that had
taken Hag’s form. When Tika’d finished, Hag came a little
closer.

‘You know it wasn’t
me?’ she asked. ‘I am your friend.’

Tika gave a gusty sigh.
‘I know you are. My dear.’

Hag sidled nearer. ‘I
will seek out this thing and I will deal with it.’ Her voice was
very cold, very angry.

‘Hag, wait. Do you know
anything of shadows?’

The great Raven
staggered back, her eyes blazing wildly.

‘Shadows? Shadows you
say? You ask Hag of Shadows?’

She began to strut in a
small circle, muttering unintelligibly to herself. They watched her
in astonishment, but it was Shea who went to the great Raven and
knelt just outside the circle she was pacing. As Hag drew level
with Shea, the girl held out an arm in front of the bird. Hag
stopped and looked down. Shea, kneeling upright was not as tall as
the Raven.

‘Hag, we’re all your
friends. Please, what’s upset you so?’

Hag stared into Shea’s
hazel eyes, almost as though she didn’t recognise the girl. The
heavy beak went closer and those watching tensed. But Hag suddenly
seemed to deflate and for the briefest moment, she leaned against
Shea.

‘Friends,’ she
murmured. ‘It is so good to have friends, but so long since Hag had
any.’

She straightened and
shuffled her feathers. Her gaze flicked over the people and Dragons
around her, then she pushed up into the air. She shot straight up,
and vanished.

‘What was that about?’
Shivan asked, only now taking his hand from his sword.

Tika crossed to Shea.
The girl looked stricken.

‘She hurts so much.
Tika, did you feel it?’

Tika helped her to her
feet. ‘Yes, I felt it.’

She saw Dromi standing
between Kija and Farn, a thoughtful expression on his round face.
Konya had joined her and Shea and Tika left them to speak to the
Old Blood.

‘Do you know what upset
Hag?’ she asked bluntly.

He blinked. ‘Perhaps
Hag knows too much of Shadow. But you say she is of the
Dark?’

Tika frowned. ‘She
introduced herself as Anfled of the Dark the first time we
met.’

‘I have an idea Lady,
but I must consider it more before I can offer it to you. Hag is no
threat to you,’ he added. ‘Rather, the contrary.’

And with that, Tika had
to be content.

Brin and Storm had gone
after Essa and her unit, reaching a height from which they were
unidentifiable as Dragons: any human glancing up would misjudge the
height and conclude they were two hunting birds. Occasionally Brin
mind spoke Kija and Farn about Essa’s furtive progress around the
Menedula and the outskirts of the town of Syet.

Essa and her guards had
all noted that the atmosphere had changed since their first visit
to this place. Then, it felt as though they were in a death house,
with just dead souls lingering angrily near their empty bodies.
That heavy watchfulness had gone, and now it was simply what it
seemed – a collection of deserted buildings.

Essa split the guards
into three pairs. She ordered them to return to the ruin of the
tavern in which they now stood, by midday, and sent them to get as
close to the Menedula as they could. That building loomed above the
town, visible from every street and alley, a black glowering
presence. Essa’s partner was Onion and they moved steadily forward,
heading towards the wide plaza from which the black steps swept up
to the Menedula’s huge double doors.

Essa halted in the
remains of a burnt out shop near the edge of the black paved space,
Onion at her side.

‘Clever,’ muttered
Onion. ‘No cover anywhere round that square.’

Essa merely grunted.
She tilted her head back to study the town at their backs. Several
buildings rose three and four floors, but none came close to half
the height of the Menedula. She could see no way of overlooking the
place. She hunkered down behind what was left of the shop front and
tried to remember the layout of the inside of the
building.

They had entered from
the back, Ren leading them along passages and up many flights of
stairs. Before Tika’d seen the hidden door leading to the Weights
of Balance, she, Essa, had looked out of one of the windows. Essa
closed her eyes and conjured up the memory of what she’d seen then.
Buildings to the right, fields leading quite quickly to woodland on
the left. So she must have looked out from a window on the eastern
end of the Menedula.

She opened her eyes and
glanced at Onion. She scowled and slapped his hand away from his
satchel of explosives.

‘Bloody engineers,’ she
hissed. ‘Come on.’

They worked their way
through the tumbled buildings, occasionally surprised to find one
virtually untouched. They finally reached what looked to be a
storage shed, as large as some of the houses, but half burnt and
completely ransacked. It was the last building before open pasture.
Essa tested the rungs of a ladder still propped up to a hatchway.
Onion grunted and pushed her aside.

‘I’ll go first. You’ll
probably break the bloody thing,’ he growled and began, cautiously,
to climb.

Behind him Essa
grinned, purple teeth gleaming unseen by the engineer. Part of the
roof had collapsed but the chimney remained and they were able to
crawl out to shelter behind the stack.