Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (34 page)

Shiral looked puzzled.
‘Who?’

She had no ability with
mind speech, despite much conversation on the subject since her
arrival in Gaharn. Essa nudged Tika.

‘Shall I go and
look?’

‘No. I’ll let Farn and
Storm see if they can find them.’

Mind speaking the young
Dragons, she found them on their way back to the House. They were
delighted at the prospect of seeking out Tika’s four men and
promised to tell her the instant they located them. A fair haired
man, wearing a white shirt under grey leathers, came hurrying from
the passage leading back into the House beyond the stairs. The man
searched the faces in the hall but Tika was already pushing through
the many people. The man saw her and simply grinned, holding out
his arms.

‘Navan!’ She hurled
herself at him, knocking him back a pace.

He held her tight
before holding her away and beaming down at her. Discipline Senior
Doochay appeared beside them.

‘I had a word with
Emla’s staff my dear, and we thought you would prefer to stay
together in the guest pavilion.’

‘That was kind of you
Doochay. May we go now? I’d like to get my friends settled and also
catch up on news with Navan.’

‘Of course you can. You
know what we’re like once we start asking questions, and then more
questions! But those dear Dragons seem happy to talk for the rest
of the night.’

Tika towed Navan across
to Sket, who greeted him with delight. She rounded up her reduced
company and took them through the rapidly darkening garden to one
of several pavilions around the main House. They found lamps lit
and beds made, and just a few dishes of pies and cakes – in case
they could possibly still be hungry. Tika hugged Navan
again.

‘It’s so good to see
you Navan.’

‘It’s wonderful to see
you too, but I only know Sket now, among your
companions.’

‘You haven’t heard.
This is Rhaki.’

Navan stared in
horror.

‘No, no, Navan. We’ll
explain it all but for now, please, just trust me when I say he is
a valued member of this company.’

‘And you know
me.’

Navan looked round and
saw Khosa perched on a window seat, turquoise eyes wide. He bent to
rub her chest.

‘I have missed your
remarks in my head, my lady Khosa.’

Khosa’s eyes half
closed in bliss. ‘You see? Navan understands my
importance.’

Amid the general
laughter, only Tika heard Dragons landing outside. Farn and Storm
paced in to the pavilion’s central room and Tika was touched to see
Storm’s immense and genuine delight in seeing Navan again. Farn was
just as excited and Tika waited patiently until both Dragons had
calmed a little but finally she had to ask.

‘Did you find the
others?’

Two long faces peered
round Navan to regard Tika.

‘No, my Tika. We could
not sense them anywhere in these grounds.’ Farn’s eyes whirred
gently. ‘They are not here, unless they are under the
ground.’

Tika stared at Navan.
‘Do you know what Soran’s been up to lately?’ she asked him. ‘Emla
has stripped him of rank and confined him. He was – offensive
towards me among other things.’

Navan’s face darkened.
‘I had a bad argument with him. Perhaps twenty days ago. He’d
ordered Jakri to leave as far as I could work out but I don’t know
what happened then. He’s been obstructing Seniors who want to see
Lady Emla, but I’ve not spoken to him since we argued.’

‘Do you know anything
about the poppers?’ Essa asked.

Navan seemed to notice
Essa’s huge person for the first time and he blinked. Then he shook
his head. ‘Poppers?’

‘Exploding
things.’

‘Oh those. Prince Jemin
made a couple when he was here.’

‘And Soran, according
to Kran, has made thousands since.’

Navan gaped.
‘Seriously?’

Before Essa could reply
there was a tremendous explosion, quite close by. The pavilion
rocked briefly then steadied. Tika was rushing to the entrance when
four men in dark blue uniforms tumbled in. Tika skidded to a halt
and glared at the four. Onion, his face smeared with mud, grinned
at her. Darrick was hopping from foot to foot in glee. Tika noted
that both engineers had a definite touch of madness in their eyes.
She turned her attention to the guards Fedran and Geffal and felt a
rather smug pleasure in realising they were scared
witless.

Dog pushed Tika
unceremoniously to one side and confronted Onion, her feet apart,
her hands on her hips.

‘What, exactly, have
you done?’ Her muted roar made everyone spring to
attention.

‘Oh come on Dog. We
heard that worm had made lots of poppers and hid ’em. Well you know
Darrick, he can sniff out anything that explodes.’ Onion’s grin
returned. ‘Didn’t take him long to find the stuff. About a mile
from the House. It looked like a bit of garden all heaped up with
rocks and plants in among ’em. Found a trapdoor to get in
easy.’

‘And?’ Dog’s roar had
reduced to a mere bark.

Onion shrugged. ‘Set
fuses didn’t we, and got out.’

‘Was a really good one
though Dog. Really good,’ Darrick put in.

‘And has it left a
lovely messy hole in the Lady Emla’s garden boys?’

‘Aah.’ Onion looked
thoughtful. ‘Won’t take long to fill it in again
though.’

Emla, several Seniors
and Acting Captain Kran rushed in, all looking worried.

‘Sorry Emla,’ Tika said
immediately. ‘My men found Soran’s explosives.’

‘But was anyone
hurt?’

‘Oh no, my lady,’ Onion
beamed at Emla. ‘No problems at all.’

Emla visibly relaxed.
‘How lucky that you have such wonderfully resourceful men in your
company Tika. Well done. I trust we’ll all have a peaceful
night.’

Emla departed and Dog
groaned. Onion’s smile threatened to split his face in
two.

‘See? Wonderfully
resourceful, that’s what we are. The Lady said so.’

‘And may Mother Dark
have mercy on your demented souls,’ Essa intoned.

Darrick and Onion were
sent off to clean up in one of the washing rooms and Tika
considered Fedran and Geffal. They appeared to be still shaking
slightly.

‘Enjoy yourselves?’ she
enquired.

‘No Lady Tika. I’ve
seen engineers work in the mines, and clearing rock falls in the
mountains, but that, that was dreadful.’

Fedran glanced at
Geffal who nodded his agreement.

Tika smiled sweetly.
‘If those two ever so much as hint that they are up to anything of
a similar nature, you will inform me, or Captain Sket, or Sergeant
Essa, at once. Is that absolutely, utterly, completely,
understood?’

‘Yes my
lady.’

Both guards raised
their left hands, thumbs touching brows, lips and hearts. As they
did so, the blood metal and silver ring on Tika’s own thumb tingled
gently and she looked at it in surprise. Then Shan and Shea
arrived, Shea much excited by the explosion. Shan backed towards
the door but Tika caught her in a hug: it seemed a day for
hugs.

‘How are you Shan?’ she
asked, refusing to let her pull away.

‘I’m fine, or I will be
now.’

‘What does that
mean?’

‘Soran said no women
could train anymore. Lady Emla called him in but she couldn’t budge
him and she wouldn’t over rule him then. That was three whole moons
ago. There are thirty eight of us women. We’d been training when
Soran was out of the way with Kran or Trem instructing, but Soran
caught us four days since. He said Kran was dismissed the Lady’s
service.’

‘But now Kran is
Captain it will be all right again?’

‘Oh yes. But it’s
strange about Soran, don’t you think? He went north with us, fought
with us. But he suddenly started acting so odd, really nasty. We’re
all glad him and his cronies are locked up. I must go. I still look
after the Lady’s things for her.’

Shan kissed Tika’s
cheek and started to turn to the door. Then she turned back and
bent close.

‘That child Shea. I
like her, but that game she likes to play? Shouldn’t be
allowed!’

It was Tika’s turn to
grab Shan to delay her again. ‘Shan, Navan said he had argued with
Soran because Soran ordered Jakri to leave. Do you know if he did
leave?’

Shan grinned. ‘Senior
Kera has Jakri hidden safely away in the Asataria in the City.
She’s very fond of Master Jakri, if you know what I
mean.’

Shan gave Tika a saucy
wink and was gone into the dark gardens.

Chapter
Nineteen

Although the company
talked half the night, they were still on their way to the House
early next morning. They found the hall nearly empty compared to
the crowd of yesterday. Navan took them through to the dining hall
where they found maids were just bringing breakfast from the
kitchen. Kemti appeared, his face grave.

‘Three of the guards we
confined are dead,’ he said without preamble. ‘And there’s
something very wrong with Soran.’

‘Let me see him.’ Tika
pushed back her chair.

Kemti shrugged. ‘Emla’s
on her way.’

He took them out
through a passage beside the kitchens and across to the barracks.
Tika hurried to keep up with Kemti’s strides.

‘Did Emla show you the
mind picture I showed her yesterday?’

‘No. Was it something
special?’

‘I think so,
yes.’

They turned a corner
and found Kran standing with a dozen men by a separate stone
building. Kran looked tired and baffled.

‘Anything changed?’
Kemti asked.

‘No sir. Soran won’t
answer and – I don’t want to go in to him sir. I’m sorry but it
feels so wrong in there.’

Kran was unable to
repress a shudder. Tika moved between the men, Shivan and Rhaki
directly behind her.

‘Let me in.’

Kran waited for Kemti’s
nod and then took a large key from his belt. He handed it to Tika
who inserted it in the door’s lock. As the mechanism clicked she
didn’t hesitate to push the door wide. The room was simple – one
large room divided into two halves, each half divided again into
six cells, fronted with metal bars. A mattress was the only
furnishing in the cells and in the first four cells on Tika’s left,
a single man in each sat sullenly staring out at her. But after a
quick glance, Tika walked further into the room.

In the furthest cell on
the right a man lay on his mattress, his back to the bars.
Instinctively, Tika stayed a good arm’s length from the bars.
Narrow barred windows ran the length of the back wall, just below
the ceiling, and, with the door wide open, there was plenty of
light. She felt someone beside her and knew it was
Shivan.

‘Look.’ He barely
breathed the word.

Shadows seemed to ooze
from the mattress, skittering towards the barred front of the cell,
and then racing back. Grey shadows flickered over the man’s body,
faster and faster until they were no longer individual shapes. Tika
drew on her power, wrapping it tightly around herself and extending
a shield across the others in the room.

‘Soran.’ She spoke the
name clearly. When there was no response, she repeated
it.

The man moved, his legs
straightening, and as if with effort, he rolled onto his back. His
head twisted to the side, towards Tika. She was unaware of the
gasps from Kemti and other Gaharnians; those of her company who
were there, were silent. Soran’s face had elongated, his fair hair
was gone and his skull was oval rather than round. His eyes tilted
up at the corners, his nose was slightly smaller and flatter.
Tusks, gleaming white ivory, were visible above his lower lip. His
ears had grown bigger, the whorls of a human ear gone, the shape
triangular and smooth, close to the sides of the bald grey
skull.

His right hand, nearest
to Tika, stretched out in her direction. A clawed hand in which two
digits seemed to have fused to make a thicker middle finger. The
hand trembled slightly as it lifted towards her. Slowly Tika sank
to her knees, staring only into Soran’s eyes.

‘Can you hear me Soran?
Can you speak to me?’

‘It is so hard.’ The
words rustled out in a dry whisper. ‘We want to belong, to help
you, but he interferes and we are too weakened.’

‘Who does Soran? Who
wants to help us?’

Soran’s eyes closed for
a moment, as though pain drove through him, then they opened
again.

‘The other is so mad my
lady, his pain is unbearable. But so is ours.’

‘Who Soran,
who?’

‘The Prince of Shadows,
son of Mother Dark. But he tries to mimic us because we are so
reduced, Lady Tika.’

Soran’s body stiffened,
his out flung hand clenched and relaxed, and light fled from his
eyes. Tika shot to her feet, shaking the bars of the
cell.