Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (50 page)

For this courtyard
garden was open to the sky, now, at least. Subtle scents filled the
room from the many flowers they could see as they waited while
Konrik spoke to a young woman in a pale yellow gown. The woman
hurried off and Konrik turned to Tika.

‘We will wait here
until we know my master’s wishes.’

‘Your master – I fear I
do not know his name, only that he is the Lord of
Shadow.’

Again, she felt
Chancellor Konrik assessing her, but not by attempting to open her
mind. She felt sure he could do so if he wanted. Well, he could
try.

‘He is Darallax, Second
Son of Mother Dark.’

Konrik turned away as
the woman in yellow returned. She spoke softly in the language
Konrik had first used. Tika saw Shivan’s look of astonishment
quickly hidden beneath a blandly polite expression.

‘If you are ready?’
Konrik enquired.

Tika squared her
shoulders, very aware of not feeling her sword bang against her hip
as she walked, and followed the Chancellor to meet his master. Much
of the courtyard was in shadow, the sun not having risen above the
high roof line. Bushes and creepers, trained over wooden frames,
grew profusely, forming little nooks and arbours. Flowers bloomed
everywhere, all shades of blues and purples, with an occasional
pale pink or bright yellow to make a startling contrast.

Small green and brown
birds hopped, almost underfoot and darted into the dark green
foliage. They turned yet another corner and found themselves in
what was clearly the centre of the garden. A square space, twenty
or more paces across, floored in tiny brilliant stones. The company
had no time for more than a quick glance as Chancellor Konrik led
them on, between columns supporting vines bearing huge black
trumpet flowers with pale gold centres.

Konrik halted and Tika
saw several long, high backed benches of plain grey wood. A man sat
alone on the bench furthest away, flowers bending and bowing over
the back of the seat.

Konrik spoke in their
own language then switched to the common tongue.

‘The Lady Tika visits
you, Second Son, and her companions with her.’

Only then did Tika
realise the man Konrik called the Second Son had a small orange cat
curled comfortably on his knee. He wore a shirt and loose trousers,
of the deepest purple, but was barefoot. Konrik stepped to one
side, indicating she should approach his master, and she finally
met the man’s eyes. They were as emerald as Lady Emla’s. As emerald
as her own. Tika knew at once that he was of vast age, although he
looked to be only in his middle years by human standards. Darallax,
Second Son of Mother Dark, smiled and lifted his right hand towards
her.

‘You are welcome, Lady
Tika. It is very long since visitors came here.’

His voice was
melodious, and as he kept his hand stretched out, Tika moved closer
to clasp his hand with her left. He drew her nearer, to sit beside
him, then waved his other hand at her company.

‘Please, sit, take your
ease.’

Konya dithered, and
Tika groaned inwardly.

‘Might I look at your
plants, sir?’ Konya asked, ignoring Tika’s glare.

Darallax smiled. ‘Of
course.’

Then he shot a
mischievous glance at Tika. ‘I believe there is room for your other
friends, if you wish.’

When he pointed
straight upwards, Tika saw for the first time that his hand had
three fingers and a thumb, like the gijan, like the Dragons. But
she had no time to think of that as she looked where he pointed.
Two Dragon faces peered anxiously down from the edges of the
roof.

‘Come down if you
wish.’ Tika sent the thought. ‘But do please be careful of the
flowers.’

Before she’d finished
the thought, Farn was halfway down, Kija following.

‘And this of course is
also a friend of yours.’

Darallax stroked
Khosa’s back.

‘She is,’ Tika
replied.

Khosa yawned but
refused to open her eyes. Farn paced towards them, clearly still
worried. Darallax studied him for a few moments.

‘You are indeed a
beautiful child,’ he said aloud.

Kija appeared beside
Farn and Darallax lifted Khosa and placed her on the seat. He rose
and moved to Kija. She lowered her head and he placed his hands on
each side of her long beautiful face. Tika made no attempt to
overhear the mental communication that took place, but she filed
away the observation that the Second Son was able to use mind
speech, which was not common among the Dark Ones.

While she waited for
Darallax to finish speaking to Kija, three women entered the
arbour, bearing trays. They offered them to Tika’s companions while
another woman, this one in a pale pink gown, came to Tika. She
offered a tray which held two silver bowls of a green
liquid.

‘It is the juice from
our favourite fruit,’ she said, a faint accent marking her use of
the common tongue.

Darallax rejoined Tika,
taking the other bowl from the tray. He stroked a hand lightly over
the woman’s bald head. ‘This is my consort, Rueshen.’

The woman inclined her
head and sat at Tika’s other side.

‘I do not wish to seem
hasty, Lady Tika, but I would know two things. How did you find
this place, and why are you here?’

‘I am trying to find a
way to reach the Crazed One in the Splintered Kingdom,’ Tika
replied, and watched the Second Son’s expression darken. ‘Do you
know of the Ships which came from the stars, long ago?’

He nodded.

‘Navan, may I see the
map of this island please?’ she called.

Navan brought the
scroll case and soon found the map she meant.

‘These are pictures
those Ships made of all this world. But that was a very long time
past, yet this island is blurred, difficult to make
out.’

‘Shadowy,’ Shea pointed
out, from under Navan’s arm. ‘I suggested that.’ She gave the
Second Son a beam of pride.

The consort, Rueshen,
bit her lip but was unable to stop her smile when the rest of
Tika’s companions wandered closer and helped their Lady with
explanations. The Chancellor too, abandoned his dignified stance
and sat next to Rueshen, watching each face as different people
offered, at times, conflicting comments. At last there was silence.
Onion, sitting on the ground next to Fedran, grinned at the Second
Son.

‘We can explain it all
again if that was a bit confused, sir.’

Tika held her breath
but Darallax gave the engineer a slow smile.

‘I think I followed
most of it,’ he said. He glanced up at the sky where the sun was
nearly in view over the southern roof. ‘I will tell you what no
others have heard, but only while my brother’s Light shines fully
on us.’

He clasped his hands
loosely on his knees and studied them for a moment. Then he looked
directly at Shivan.

‘You are of my sister’s
people, are you not?’

‘I am sir. She is my
aunt.’

Darallax’s hairless
brows creased, then relaxed. ‘Your mother or father is one of the
later generations then. When the Splintered Kingdom first arrived
here, my people lived elsewhere. The First Son, who chose Light,
lived in lands quite near us, but his power seemed to change. He
lived a human life and he forgot our Mother and the vows we had all
exchanged.

‘My sister Lerran, and
her consort Dabray, fought magnificently, but they only just
survived. The Dark Ones fled, to hide and recoup their strength. My
people of Shadow had never wielded the powers of Dark or Light. We
were always far weaker, so we tried to stay hidden.’

Darallax was staring
into space, lost in his memories.

‘Then the Splintered
Kingdom seemed to withdraw; we dared hope it had gone, to attack
some other helpless world perhaps. But then there was a renewed
surge, and my people were all but destroyed. I opened a gateway and
begged Mother Dark to find us a new haven. We found ourselves here,
and although I have watchers among my people, we know little of
what happens in the rest of this world now.

‘All of the watchers
have warned of new stirrings over the last year, but we had no idea
of your coming until you actually arrived.’

He fell silent. It was
Sket who spoke first.

‘Do you know the land
of Drogoya sir, or Sapphrea?’

Darallax shook his
head. ‘Our city was called Steadfast, because I thought I would be
steadfast in my vows to Mother Dark.’ His tone was bitter and Khosa
climbed back onto the Shadow Lord’s knees, purring
softly.

‘Forgive me sir, but
the Dark Ones look human, like us, I mean. We have found several of
our friends either dying or dead, whose bodies have been
transformed so they resemble you.’ Rhaki spoke quietly. ‘Except for
the fact that the ones we found have tusks.’

Darallax sighed. ‘So
did we in the beginnings of time. I can only think that the Crazed
One found some of my people who did not manage to escape with us,
and he chooses to mimic our forms. We know he was able to shape
shift, something only my sister’s people still do regularly. Or
did.’

Tika got to her feet
and wandered across to Farn. ‘Do you know Hag? Or any of the gods
of the lands you once lived in?’

The Second Son looked
puzzled. ‘Hag?’ he repeated.

‘Anfled,’ Essa put in.
‘She called herself Anfled of the Dark.’

Darallax’s eyes widened
in shock. ‘Anfled? Anfled? You know of Anfled? She was given to me,
a farewell gift from Mother Dark. But she was lost during the first
great battle with the Splintered Kingdom.’

‘I think something must
have happened to her, sir.’

Tika knew Darallax’s
pain was genuine: he had spent centuries grieving for the
Raven.

‘I spoke to her of
Shadow and she was very shocked, as though my words had jolted a
memory.’

Dog intervened,
explaining how a shadow version of Hag had tried to snare Tika.
Darallax rubbed a hand over his scalp.

‘You must excuse me.’
He stood. ‘I need time to consider all you have told me, and to
speak with my advisors. We will have a meal together later. Please,
you need only ask any of my people if you wish for food, or drink,
or rooms in which to rest.’

Chancellor Konrik had
also climbed to his feet and left with Darallax, arm in arm, but
who was supporting whom, Tika wasn’t sure.

‘If you would wait
here, I will arrange rooms for you.’ Rueshen saw Shea’s pitifully
hungry expression. ‘And I will fetch food, unless of course, you
would like to come with me?’

Shea and Onion promptly
departed with the Second Son’s consort.

‘He is so skinny,’ Dog
complained. ‘Never known anyone stuff his face as much as he does
and yet he stays bone skinny.’

Onion made a rude
gesture behind his back and disappeared.

‘Where is Dromi?’ Tika
hissed at Khosa.

Khosa hissed back and
jumped down from the bench, diving into the nearest
shrubs.

‘This is fascinating,’
Shivan remarked, having missed Tika’s question to the
cat.

He was taken aback
therefore, when green silvered eyes blazed up at him.

‘Um – I’m sorry. I know
we should be concentrating on the Crazed One but to actually find
the Shadow Realm is just amazing.’

‘I’m not cross with you
Shivan. It’s that bloody cat.’

Then Rueshen returned,
suggesting they go to the inner room, where they had first entered
the garden, as food had been readied for them there.

‘Shea and Onion are
already busy,’ she added, as if in warning.

The other guards, Dog
and Navan, hurriedly made their way back to the room, muttering
darkly about the greed of some people. Another woman came round the
column of trumpet vines. She was about Tika’s height, dressed in
shirt and loose trousers of the same dark purple Darallax wore.
Rueshen caught her hand.

‘This is our daughter
Subaken, Lady Tika.. She is heir to Darallax.’

Except that Tika’s eyes
were surrounded by silver scaling, and Subaken’s eyes had golden
pupils, they were the exact shade of emerald green. Subaken offered
a tiny smile.

‘Are you hungry?’ she
asked in the common tongue.

‘Not
really.’

‘Will you walk with me
then? We can go right round the garden and then join your
friends.’

Tika nodded, ignoring
Sket’s scowl. Subaken paused as she neared the two
Dragons.

‘They are truly
beautiful,’ she murmured.

‘And you are beautiful
too, child.’ Kija spoke in their minds. ‘Like my daughter
Tika.’

‘Yes,’ Farn agreed, his
eyes flashing pearl and sapphire. ‘Two beautiful girls.’

Tika winced aloud,
about to apologise, but realised Subaken was only intent on the
fact that the Dragons had used mind speech. She turned to
Tika.