Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (36 page)

She surveyed the
remaining five members of her company. ‘I’m sure you know what your
task is for the day?’

‘I didn’t make that
bloody hole,’ Dog objected.

‘No, but you can
supervise those four filling it in.’

Tika turned to go to
the House. ‘Oh. If a small unsavoury creature, called Grib, offers
you a drink – of any sort, you will refuse it.
Understood?’

‘Yes sir.’

Daisy, dozing by the
pool, gave a loud derisive snort, and Tika narrowed her eyes at the
horse. Deciding not to get involved, she marched off with Rhaki,
Shivan and Konya. Sket and Navan watched Dog order her four men off
in the other direction and then slowly made their own way back to
the House. It was the first chance they’d had to talk privately and
Sket told Navan of Gan’s short return from the Realm of
Death.

‘Tika hasn’t spoken of
him since we had his message, saying the half death was too hard.
He chose to return to the Dark.’

‘Tell me of this Dark.
I only heard bits and pieces when Lady Emla and Nesh went to the
Dark Realm with Farn. And Farn seems well restored – much better
than I would have dreamed of.’

Sket nodded. ‘Better
than I’ve seen him since his wounding in that dreadful battle. Most
of the Dark Ones seem pleasant enough – young Shivan for instance.
A nice lad. And their Shield Master and Armourer, Garrol, he’s a
really good man. He made that ring Tika wears.’

Catching up on gossip,
they made their way through the house to the pleasant room Lady
Emla had given Navan, and began going through the many maps which
were Navan’s most prized possession.

He writhed in pain ,
his howls echoing and re-echoing from the grooved walls. The tusks
were gone, as were the claws, but now every fraction of his broken
body was covered in a pelt of tangled hair. Three he’d found. Three
he’d thought he could work through, and still he was thwarted. The
one who had talked to him, told him only lies. Lies! The word
screamed passed his torn lips. He tasted blood but didn’t know
where it came from. That creature who suggested where he might
strike next – where was he when he needed him?

He believed nothing the
human told him. And was it human, or was it reptile? Both forms
seemed real to his senses but he couldn’t trust himself anymore. He
bellowed the name anyway, again and again, but with no response. He
lay panting on the stone floor, trying to calm himself, to force
his body to heal sensibly again rather than in the uncaring way
he’d allowed of late. Three. Did this Corman begin to understand
just how much energy he needed to expend to gain a modicum of
control? And why those in particular?

He wanted the female
he’d seen in one of his windows and who, ever since, was gone from
every seeing he conjured. Did Corman want this Kingdom, to rule for
himself? The thing sprawling on the floor laughed, a hollow,
pitiful sound, if he’d but known. He opened his eyes, round eyes,
sunk above flat cheek bones, and looked about his room. He thought
he’d mended all the furniture, tidied up the wreckage, but there it
still was. His beautiful table smashed through the centre, shards
of glass sparkling among splinters of wood.

His eyes closed. His
mind probed the passages beyond this room but found nothing – no
servants left living, nothing. His breathing slowed and he opened
his eyes again. Shadows swarmed across the runnelled walls, raced
towards him over the uneven floor. But as he stared, they
retreated, withdrawing on themselves, hiding in the skirting
boards. He didn’t understand these shadows, why they should
sometimes be black, sometimes grey.

He might have slept.
Time meant nothing to him, had no relevance to his existence. But
the sound of footsteps woke him – definitely woke him. So. It was
the human who visited him this time. The door was awkward to open,
but eventually it did, and the human leaned against the jamb, arms
folded as he stared down at the creature on the floor.

‘Corman.’ His voice was
a dry husk.

The Dark Lord Cyrek
smiled.

Tika pushed yet another
book aside and started to get up from the table. She groaned and
clutched her back. Dromi glanced up with a smile of sympathy. Tika
saw her reflection in the window opposite and realised the day was
gone. Had they really been in here the entire day? She groaned
again and sank back on her chair.

‘I’m sorry. My back
will probably never recover and I can’t see straight anymore. And
I’m starving.’

She saw an empty plate
on the table in front of her and frowned. ‘Did we eat
today?’

Rhaki laughed. ‘Emla’s
staff have kept us regularly supplied, but I have to admit I’ve had
about enough today.’

Dromi put a feather
between the pages of the book he was studying and closed it with a
sigh. ‘I must confess the different scripts make it very difficult
for me to read with any fluency.’

Kemti got to his feet.
‘I’m out numbered. Let’s go and find a large meal and then you
three get some sleep. I think I’ll work on a little longer though,
when we’ve eaten.’

By the time they’d gone
downstairs, Tika realised her back wasn’t permanently damaged and
the smell of food from the dining hall restored her spirits
further. She saw all her company were present except for Konya, and
she was relieved to see the guards were sober. Dog must have read
her expression because she laughed.

‘Grib came and watched
us fill in the hole,’ she began.

‘Us? Us?’ Onion glared
at her. ‘I didn’t notice you lift a shovel the entire bloody
day.’

‘Figure of
speech.’

Onion frowned. ‘Figure
of what?’

While he was
distracted, Dog continued. ‘He offered us refreshment, but I
refused, on their behalf.’

Tika wouldn’t have
believed that Dog could look quite so genuinely
virtuous.

‘Then he decided he
needed plants moved and put in different places where the hole had
been.’

Tika helped herself to
a huge plateful of roasted vegetables but nodded for Dog to carry
on.

Dog smiled. ‘Turned out
Grib needed plants from right over the other side of the estate.
’Course, we were happy to oblige.’

Tika noticed that
Fedran and Geffal both wore rueful smiles whereas Darrick and Onion
were seriously put out.

‘I’ll have a look
tomorrow,’ she said. ‘I’m sure you’ve made the most wonderful job
of it.’

She beamed at the
disgruntled engineers until they looked a little mollified. ‘And
Lady Emla will be thrilled too.’

‘I’ll be thrilled about
what?’ Emla enquired, as she joined them at the table.

‘Your new flower bed,
where the – um – hole was.’

‘Oh. Yes. I know
they’ll have done a marvellous job, the dears. But I would like to
ask all of you a favour.’

Faces turned to
Emla.

‘Could you all possibly
keep doors and windows closed?’

Tika choked and Sket
pounded her back.

‘I have to tell you,’
Emla continued. ‘Three Merigs seem to have chosen your room to nest
in. I am sorry Kemti, but what can one do? There’s an egg in one of
the nests, I’m afraid.’

Chapter
Twenty

Next day at breakfast,
Kemti arrived with a broad smile on his face.

‘A runner is on his way
from the City,’ he announced. ‘They’ve found several books so far,
which mention the belief systems practised in the region when our
people first came here. They are still searching for more, but the
ones they’ve found should be here by mid morning.’

Shea gasped, and Kemti
looked at her with concern.

‘Are you well
child?’

‘Oh yes sir. Thank
you.’

‘I’ll go and tell Emla
the good news.’

‘Oh sir,’ Onion called
after him. ‘How is your leg, since Lady Tika fixed it?’

Kemti opened his mouth,
then closed it. ‘It seems fine. Of course, it – um – aches a
little, from time to time.’

‘Thought it might,’
Onion nodded.

‘Yes, well, I’ll see
you later then.’

When the door closed
behind Kemti, Shea glared across the table. ‘Why did you kick me so
hard?’

‘Because,’ Tika replied
calmly. ‘You were about to raise the unfortunate subject of crows
in Kemti’s room.’

Shea gave her a smirk.
‘Do you think he really spent the night there?’

‘He didn’t. I offered
him my room as I was in the pavilion with all of you,’ Navan told
her.

‘The doors to the hall
are still open,’ Shea went on. ‘But those crows don’t seem to want
to spend time in there with Kija and Brin watching
them.’

‘I noticed a slight –
difference of opinion earlier,’ Essa joined in. ‘Brin and a crow, I
pretended I hadn’t noticed.’

‘When are we laying
Soran to rest?’ Sket asked when the laughter had
quietened.

‘Emla has suggested
later this afternoon,’ answered Tika. She looked at Volk. ‘Did you
remember any words to say for the children?’

He shook his head.
‘From what you’ve said of the poor man, words addressed to the –
gentleman – wouldn’t apply to him.’

‘We’ll go back to the
pavilion, until the books arrive anyway,’ Tika decided. ‘I’d like
those maps explained to me again. I know, I know. But I really find
it hard to make sense of the things.’

Navan had spread out
many maps on the floor in the centre of the pavilion, the ends
weighted by any handy object.

‘This is where we are.’
He put a small pebble on one of the maps.

Tika stared at it
doubtfully. Kneeling by her feet, Navan traced a finger west and
north.

‘There’s the town of
Far.’ He pointed to a place on the map which looked identical to
the rest. He crawled back to another map which he aligned below the
first one.

‘These are the plains
south of here.’

Tika saw five circles
clustered to the right of the map. ‘Is that Vagrantia?’ she asked
hesitantly.

Navan beamed at her.
She joined him on the floor.

‘South from Vagrantia?’
he asked.

Tika studied an expanse
of greyish green which ran down into a broad band of light
brown.

‘The Desert.’ She let
her finger slide down further, to where land ran out and blue ocean
curved in and out of a long coastline.

‘Harbour City.’ She
sounded a little more confident.

Navan nodded and
dragged other maps closer. Tika was peering at dots of land
scattered along the edges of Harbour City.

‘Where is the island
Namolos settled on?’

Navan sat on his heels.
‘We were told it was hidden somewhere to the west. So one of these
I would guess.’

Tika bent closer.
‘There are lots but then there’s a gap and just two, look. And
which direction was Wendla?’

Navan shuffled on his
knees past Tika to a map showing a vast stretch of empty blue. A
fringe of land showed on the furthest edge of the map and, with a
flourish, Navan pulled another map to join it. Tika stared at it,
scowling.

‘Green Shade was in the
north. There?’

Navan grinned and moved
her finger some distance. ‘There.’

‘Emperor Kasheen’s city
was inland wasn’t it?’

Navan waited for Tika
to notice the waterways. It took some time, but finally she
did.

‘Oh. Rivers don’t run
in straight lines so those must be those canals?’

Navan regarded her like
a proud father seeing his child toddle for the first
time.

‘Is this what we’re
looking for?’ Shea asked.

She was on the floor
some distance away, poring over yet another map with Dog and Dromi.
Navan got to his feet and as Tika followed suit, she wondered if
her bones were actually older than the rest of her body. She limped
round the edge of the maps. So many heads were bent over Shea’s
section that Tika could see nothing of it. With a sigh, she lowered
herself to her knees once more and wormed her way between Dog and
Dromi. She saw an island maybe slightly more than half the size of
Wendla, surrounded by ocean in every direction, right to the edges
of the page.

There was only the
sound of breathing as they stared at the island. It was a jagged
oval in shape, lying on its side, longer west to east than it was
north to south. With some effort, Tika stretched to touch the
island. She frowned and sat back.

‘Is that the only
picture you’ve got of that part Navan? It looks
smudged.’

‘I have two copies of
every one of these, but both of that section look like
that.’

Shea pushed herself
back to sit on her heels. ‘Shadowy in fact.’

When faces turned to
stare at her, she gave them a bright smile. ‘Obvious, I would have
thought.’

Dog snarled and also
straightened herself. People began to stand and Tika laughed as
feet were stamped to restore circulation amid groans and grimaces.
Essa helped Navan gather the many large sheets and reroll most of
them for safety. Sket emerged from the pavilion’s tiny kitchen with
tea.