Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (3 page)

There was a flurry
outside in the passage and the child Mena forced her way through,
glaring up at Dog when the engineer refused to be pushed out of her
way. The glare was turned to Shea, then to Tika. White blonde hair
hung straight to her shoulders and violet eyes, surrounded by
silver, blazed in anger. A young dark haired boy wriggled in behind
her, looking apprehensive.

‘How dare you come in
here?’ Mena spat the words, her fists clenched at her
sides.

Tika raised an eyebrow.
‘How dare you speak to me in such a manner?’ she returned
mildly.

Mena seemed taken aback
to be answered in such a way and briefly hesitated.

‘You are strangers
here. This is a sacred place, to be used only by those who are
worthy.’

Tika laughed aloud.
‘Really? I have seen several other places which are extraordinarily
similar to this.’ Well, she thought, she’d seen one anyway. ‘And
who exactly judges who is “worthy”? Please don’t suggest that you,
daughter of Hargon, are the one to choose?’

Mena’s face paled. ‘And
you are a runaway slave. I could have you imprisoned, or
killed.’

The room became icy
cold. Tika’s companions stood like statues, hardly daring to draw
breath. Tika’s voice was steady but as cool as the
temperature.

‘Truly I was slave
born, but you can do nothing to me, child. That pendant you wear so
boldly, it should not be around your neck. You have no knowledge of
what it is and you are unworthy of it.’

‘What’s going on
here?’

Finn Rah and Babach
came through the overcrowded room, Finn looking angry, Babach
worried. Tika turned eyes like green ice to Finn Rah.

‘You misplace your
belief and your trust in this child. Your guilt blinds you to her
failings.’ She turned back to Mena. ‘That pendant, girl. Tell me
what you think it is?’

Mena glanced at Finn
and shrugged. ‘It was Myata’s, a magical stone.’

Tika stared at Mena for
a moment, then she laughed. ‘A magical stone,’ she
repeated.

‘Yes.’ Mena very nearly
stamped her foot. ‘Something such as you could never
understand.’

Wordlessly, Tika drew
her own pendant from beneath her shirt, and hid her surprise. The
tiny shape deep within was pulsing in time with Tika’s heartbeat.
Mena took a pace nearer and Tika held the glowing pendant out of
her reach. Her face was stern.

‘This is not for the
likes of you child, no matter what these foolish people have chosen
to think.’ Her expression didn’t soften when she looked at Finn
Rah. ‘We leave at dawn,’ was all she said, walking past Finn and
Babach.

Her company snapped to
attention in two lines, between which she passed to the passage
beyond. Instead of seeking the rooms they’d been allocated, Tika
took them straight to the widened ledge the Dragons used, and they
settled there for the rest of the night. The complex was quiet,
even the usual crowd in the common room had wandered off to their
beds. Tika’s companions understood that she was deep in thought and
also still fending off the anger which had risen so fast in the
painted room.

Stars pricked the sky
beyond the ledge when Babach crept among them. Tika’s face showed
no emotion in the faint starlight which reflected back from the
silver around Babach’s faded blue eyes.

‘I know,’ he said
softly. ‘I fear I have doubted her from the start, but she cured
Finn’s illness when she first reached us. Finn is convinced she is
Myata reborn.’

Tika sighed. ‘She
isn’t. But how you deal with it is your affair. I have far more
urgent things to work on. I will say this though – beware. I have
seen a far more powerful mind than hers twisted, partly through a
belief in its great superiority. I see the beginnings of that with
this girl.’

Babach bowed his head.
‘Light bless your journeys my dear.’

Babach had not left
them long when both Tika and Shivan gasped, clutching at their
heads. Sket and Dog were instantly alert while all five Dragons
shifted restlessly where they lay.

‘What is it?’ Sket
hissed into Tika’s ear.

She caught his arm, her
eyes squeezed shut and her breathing harsh. Sket glanced over at
Shivan and saw the Dark Lord was in a similar state.

‘Kija, are they being
attacked?’

Kija’s eyes whirred in
some agitation. ‘No. But someone used power. In an uncontrolled way
– a large burst.’

Cautiously Tika opened
her eyes a fraction and drew a steadying breath. ‘I’m all right.
It’s gone.’

She met Shivan’s gaze
and he nodded. ‘It was from the east.’

‘Namolos?’ Ren
asked.

‘I don’t think so, but
there was something about it that felt almost familiar.’

Kija spoke to Tika’s
mind alone. ‘There was something familiar, small one. I glimpsed
the mind signature. It was Rhaki.’

Kadi was much
distressed by Mena’s confrontation with Tika. She admitted to Tika
that she had grown increasingly concerned by Mena’s attitude to
many things within the Oblaka community. The midnight blue Dragon
was torn between wanting to travel with her old friend Kija, and
feeling that she should remain at the Oblaka. Tika hugged
her.

‘Stay for now,’ she
told her. ‘But Mena already treats you as a servant doesn’t she?
Stay as long as you feel you must Kadi, but no longer.’

Kadi pressed her brow
to Tika’s and Tika’s heart ached at the confusion and sorrow she
felt within the Dragon.

Just before dawn Kadi
helped the other Dragons fly Tika’s company from the Oblaka to the
eastern edge of the town. Kadi didn’t wait to watch them leave,
returning instead to the ledge in the cliff side. The burly figure
of Volk emerged from a nearly intact building. They saw the gleam
of his teeth as he grinned.

‘Twelve horses in
there,’ he told them. ‘Best I’ve found around here. So who’s riding
horses and who’s riding Dragons?’

It was quickly arranged
with seven of the company choosing to ride horses, the rest
dividing among the Dragons. Tika was faintly surprised that Shivan
chose horseback but he just laughed and told her he’d always loved
riding. Volk heaved himself onto a solid block of a horse and
regarded Tika who still stood beside Farn.

‘Where we off to
then?’

Tika chewed her lip.
‘Does anything particular lie in that direction?’

Volk snorted. ‘Only
forest for leagues and leagues. Till you get to Syet, the town
where the Menedula stands.’

‘Aah. Oh well. Let’s
get started then.’

Tika scrambled onto
Farn’s back, took Khosa in her travelling sack from Sket, and they
lifted into the dawn sky.

Volk led them
confidently through the seemingly trackless coniferous forest,
which they entered around mid morning. From above, it was
impossible to see anyone or anything moving below. Tika was
beginning to worry about open space for the Dragons to land in,
when the trees parted to reveal a narrow lake in their midst. The
sun was high overhead and Shivan had just mind spoken Tika to tell
her that Volk wanted a halt beside the further end of the
lake.

They found that Volk
had packed an amazing amount in the way of supplies for both humans
and for horses. Essa eyed the bulging saddle bags and extra
packages appreciatively.

‘Travel a lot, do you?’
she asked casually.

He laughed. ‘Aye, quite
a bit. Gave it up for a few years to be a tavern keeper. This is
the better life though.’

Volk wanted a fairly
long halt: he pointed out that the horses had done no work for half
a year and they needed to be eased along for a while. Several
guards wandered down to the lake’s edge to admire Storm’s fishing
expertise, while Konya and Shea poked among the new plant growth.
Tika noticed Konya looked brighter than she’d yet seen the elderly
healer, and Konya laughed when Tika mentioned the fact.

‘I’ve been inside the
Citadel’s infirmary for over fifteen years. It is such a joy to be
outside.’

‘I know what you mean,’
Shea agreed with feeling.

Khosa sat in a patch of
sunshine and washed herself. ‘I think Essa wants to tell you
something,’ she said in Tika’s mind. Turquoise eyes stared
unblinkingly and Khosa would say no more.

Tika shrugged and
strolled over to where Essa sat with her back to a tree trunk. Pale
blue eyes glinted up as Tika stood over her. It was probably the
first time she had ever looked down on Sergeant Essa Tika
reflected.

‘Are you all right,
flying with Brin and Geffal?’ she asked.

Essa nodded. She
reached into a shirt pocket and held out a closed fist towards
Tika. Intrigued, Tika held her hand under Essa’s. Essa’s fingers
opened and a pendant dropped into Tika’s palm. Tika gaped. The
pendant Mena had worn, white honey marbled back and clear obsidian
front, on a thick gold chain. She focused her gaze and saw the
white speck inside was moving and twisting: it had been dormant,
motionless, when Mena wore it. Essa’s massive shoulders lifted in a
shrug.

‘Didn’t belong with
her. You said so,’ she said, as if that was more than enough
explanation.

Tika sank down beside
her, caught Essa’s hand and placed the pendant in her palm. She
watched. The white spark was even more animated. Carefully she
folded Essa’s thick fingers over the pendant.

‘It’s
yours.’

Essa frowned in
surprise, her brows forming one straight line.

‘How can that
be?’

Tika touched Essa’s
mind gently and showed her what she herself saw, deep within the
obsidian. When she withdrew, she was shocked to realise that Essa
could still see that moving shape, with no help from
her.

They continued through
the forest for several days, Volk somehow finding large enough
clearings for their halting places without the need for Brin or
Storm to search ahead. Tika found these days restful and observed
the deepening connection among her company, isolated as they now
were. In the Oblaka they had mingled with the students and
refugees, but now they were learning to know each other’s
characters.

They’d made camp one
evening when Ren spoke of the Weights of Balance he had seen in
Gaharn. He mentioned that there were said to be similar Weights in
the Menedula, but only the Sacrifice and most senior Offerings had
been allowed to see them. Shivan was most interested: he had never
heard of such things. Tika explained there were Weights in the
Northern Stronghold but no one knew who, in the distant past, had
made them or for what true purpose. The conversation became general
and Tika leaned back against Farn’s chest.

‘It was that stolen
Weight that started all our travels,’ Farn murmured in her
mind.

‘I was just thinking
the same,’ she agreed. ‘But I can’t see any connection with the
Crazed One through those Weights. They seem so – precise, and all
of his actions seem so chaotic.’

Looking at her company,
relaxed and at ease around the cook fire, she caught Volk watching
her. She felt no threat from him. She had made no attempt to touch
his mind to learn whatever it was he was keeping so well hidden.
And there was something, she was sure. Tika’s gaze drifted on and
found Essa, apparently arguing amicably with Shea, Darrick and
Kazmat over a game of snap-the-rat. But Tika knew Essa kept an
unobtrusive watch on Volk: she sensed something about the man
too.

Essa wore the pendant
she’d stolen from Mena, out of sight beneath her shirt, and Tika
was fairly sure no one, other than herself, Sket and the Dragons
were aware of the fact. Neither Tika nor Shivan had felt any bursts
of power again, which Kija was adamant had borne Rhaki’s mental
signature. Sket was long accustomed to Tika’s silences when they
flew on Farn’s back. He knew she used the time to mull over many
things which bothered her. He was content to watch the land flow by
beneath Farn’s wings and leave Tika to her thoughts.

A day later, they’d
stopped when the sun was at its height and were scattered along the
side of a shallow but wide stream. A piercing shriek came from high
overhead and the Dragons pushed themselves up onto their haunches,
eyes whirring but showing no aggression. The horses, having grown
used to the proximity of Dragons, did not appreciate this new noise
and plunged and pulled on their picket lines. An enormous Raven
wheeled down to land among the company, most of whom prudently
backed a few paces to give her a respectful space.

Hag’s beak gaped, then
she strutted towards Tika.

‘To what do we owe the
honour of your company, Hag?’

Hag took the words
literally and almost purred with pleasure. ‘Just thought I’d visit,
my dear,’ she said. ‘Funny place, this though.’

Tika frowned. ‘What do
you mean by funny?’

Hag bounced slightly.
‘Most of the people in the whole land are dead.’

Ren gasped and Hag
tilted her head to peer at him.

‘A few places, here and
there, seem untouched,’ she told him in a kindly tone. ‘But not
many.’