Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (51 page)

‘Do you speak mind to
mind too?’ she asked.

Tika shrugged. ‘Many
people do in my land. And many other creatures besides Dragons and
humans. Khosa for example. All of her kind can use mind speech she
says, but usually they choose not to communicate with humans. Khosa
says humans are too stupid.’

Subaken studied Tika
carefully, decided she wasn’t – quite – serious, and strolled
on.

‘If you are your
father’s heir, is that because you are his only child?’ Tika hoped
she wasn’t being too tactless.

Subaken laughed. ‘My
father has many children. I am the youngest by far. But I have
Shadow within me, and I have made the descent, through Shadow into
Dark, and returned. Obviously.’

Tika shivered and
Subaken gave her a curious glance.

‘I went into the Dark.
Well, I was pushed really, both in and then out.’

Subaken stopped and
gestured at a half hidden seat buried amid dark blue
flowers.

‘You fell?’

They stared at each
other. Tika realised Subaken was beautiful. Her smooth domed skull
tapering down to a softly rounded chin, and those oddly angled
eyes: yes, beautiful was the right word. Tika explained as briefly
as she could, her descent into the Dark and her belief that it was
Lord Dabray who had both pulled her into the Dark and pushed her
back out.

‘May I tell my father
of this?’ Subaken asked when Tika had finished.

Tika shrugged. ‘If you
wish.’

They continued round
the large courtyard, so cleverly converted into a garden of small
intimate sections which gave glimpses of wider vistas which they
never quite came to.

‘Do you know of the
Chyliax?’ Tika asked idly.

Then she realised that
Subaken had stopped again, this time staring at Tika with her mouth
open. She managed to nod.

‘They were our dearest
friends from the beginning of time.’ Her emerald eyes glittered
with tears. ‘They were killed in the first attack by the Splintered
Kingdom.’

Tika went back and
caught Subaken’s shoulders. ‘The Crazed One has many imprisoned.
Imprisoned but living. They helped me and my friends escape the
Kingdom only days ago.’

A tear slid over one
eyelid and tracked down Subaken’s cheek. ‘Are you sure? Look, come
and see.’

Subaken grabbed Tika’s
hand and pulled her, at a run, into the centre of the garden, to
the open space Tika had seen when Konrik conducted them into
Darallax’s presence. Subaken halted, still clutching Tika’s hand,
staring down at the ground. Tika looked down and, for a moment, saw
only a jumble of tiny stones scattered across the grey stone. She
blinked, and slowly the jumble resolved itself into a mosaic of two
huge spiral shelled creatures, tentacles waving from the wide,
lipped bases. Different coloured stones speckled along each twist
of the spiral, forming a pattern of exquisite
perfection.

‘These are the
Chyliax,’ Subaken whispered. ‘And you tell me some of them still
live?’

‘Yes.’

Tika yelped as she was
dragged behind Subaken once more. They shot through the garden,
through the room where Tika’s companions gaped at their brief
passage, then into a corridor and up flights of stairs. Several
flights. Tika panted beside Subaken and decided Sket was absolutely
right. Stairs were a pain. She had no idea where they were going
until Subaken hurtled them through a door and she saw the Shadow
Lord and his Chancellor comfortably ensconced in
armchairs.

Subaken didn’t seem
even slightly out of breath Tika thought resentfully, as she bent
over, wheezing gently.

‘Father, Lady Tika has
spoken to the Chyliax.’

Tika heard only her own
gasping breaths and straightened. Darallax had risen to his
feet.

‘You tell me you have
met my beloved Anfled, and now you say you have seen
Chyliax.’

Tika nodded. ‘I met a
very young one called Corax, and then his grandfather’s grandfather
– something like that. He was named Marax.’

Darallax sank back into
his chair as though a ghost stood before him. As he seemed
disinclined to speak at the moment, Tika crossed to peek out of a
window. As she’d suspected, smoke now rose from the low chimneys of
most of the buildings in the town, and people moved between the
narrow rows. Where had they been concealed?

‘I want to believe you
child.’

Darallax spoke behind
her and Tika turned back to face him.

‘I can show you,’ she
said.

She sent pictures of
Hag and then of the tip of Corax’s shell and relayed her memories
of the conversations with both Corax and Marax. She let all three
of them see her mind pictures and felt guilty as she watched their
faces. The Second Son of Mother Dark, Darallax, and his Chancellor,
Konrik, wept unashamedly as they saw the pictures and heard the
words from her mind.

Subaken didn’t weep.
She stood staring at Tika, in complete amazement, mingled with
awe.

Chapter
Twenty-Eight

Tika waited, unsure
whether she should linger, or leave the Second Son to his privacy.
But Darallax drew in a steadying breath and scrubbed his hand over
his face.

‘Sit,’ he commanded,
indicating various chairs and stools around the room.

Tika chose a low stool
midway between the two men.

‘Do you think you could
call them out of that prison of rock?’

Tika frowned. ‘I admit
I have thought about it. And I had the feeling, when they said I
should call to them, that is the simple answer. Do you know
anything sir, of gods or such like in this world?’

‘Why do you ask that
again?’ Darallax steepled his fingers and tapped the tips against
his chin. ‘When my brother, the First Son, became human, he was
regarded as a god. He changed physically, but retained much of his
power. His children became human and, after his first offspring
born of human women survived, he abjured contact with me or our
sister. Our sister was always the fairest of us, and her appearance
altered only subtly.’

He gave Tika a sad
smile. ‘If you know how to look, Lerran is still much like my
people from what I remember.’

‘But you don’t change
your shape,’ Tika objected, then paused. ‘Or do you?’

‘We can change as we
please,’ Konrik told her.

‘Gods.’ Tika dragged
the subject back to her earlier question. ‘Did you know of – um – a
being who collects the spirits of the dead?’

Darallax shook his head
but Konrik suddenly sat up.

‘Do you think she means
Simert? You remember him. Always interested in
mortality.’

Tika waited nervously,
but no stout person appeared in their midst.

‘Every time I mention
that name he – um – pops up.’

‘Really?’ Darallax and
Konrik regarded her with deep interest. ‘Do it now.’

‘Are you sure? He’s not
always pleased at being disturbed.’

When the two men
continued to stare at her, Tika shrugged, muttered one of Dog’s
more florid adjectives, and called: ‘Simert!’

Subaken gave a squeak
of surprise and retreated behind her father’s armchair. Smoke
swirled rather close to Tika but she forced herself not to flinch
away. The smoke rose in a conical cloud, then vanished as a plump
elderly man appeared. He scowled down at Tika.

‘I keep telling you,
I’m a very busy man.’

He glanced at the other
three people and his mouth gaped open. ‘Darallax?’ he whispered in
disbelief.

Darallax rose and held
out his arms.

‘I thought that you and
all our people were lost,’ Tika heard Simert murmur before he was
crushed against the Second Son’s chest.

Subaken watched for a
moment then moved to Tika, touching her shoulder lightly. When Tika
looked up, Subaken tilted her head to the door, and Tika followed
her out. They made their way down stairs.

‘So he is of Shadow,’
Tika said.

Subaken sighed. ‘He is
brother to my father, a couple of generations after my father of
course.’

Tika gave her a
quizzical look.

‘It is straightforward
to us, but I can see it might be complicated for you to really
understand.’ Subaken thought for a moment. ‘Just think of them as
“sort of” brothers.’

They reached the top of
the final staircase and Subaken caught Tika’s hand
again.

‘Do you think you could
really call the Chyliax back?’

Tika felt tired. She
wasn’t of the Light, or the Dark, or of Shadow, but they all seemed
to expect something of her. The two young women had now arrived in
the room which opened onto the courtyard, and Tika’s companions
looked relieved to see her back. She dropped into a chair next to
Essa.

‘The – um – elderly
gentleman is upstairs, having a nice chat with the Second Son,’ she
announced.

She saw several people
giving Subaken curious glances.

‘This is Subaken,
daughter and heir of the Shadow Lord.’ Tika squinted up at Subaken.
‘Tell us about the Chyliax. Do they live in rock all the
time?’

Subaken sat gracefully
on the floor, legs crossed and her hands on her knees.

‘The Chyliax live in
the sea,’ she began.

‘The sea?’ Shivan
interrupted in surprise.

Subaken nodded. ‘I do
not know more than that the Chyliax have been our dear friends
since the beginning of time. They have always been with
us.’

That phrase again, Tika
noted. It had been used several times here.

‘They often came to the
borders of the sea and the land to share their news and
celebrations with us. My people always build near free water –
rivers, lakes, the ocean. The Chyliax come to a new site and will
burrow through base rock, making cellars or removing serious
obstacles from harbours. They lived out of water for considerable
amounts of time, but always preferred to be in water. They breed in
deep water, although,’ Subaken looked uncertain. ‘You say you spoke
with a young one, and they live now only in rock?’

Tika nodded.

‘We loved the Chyliax
for their music – they made wonderful music, and for their kindness
and gentleness. My people still grieve for their loss.’

Subaken lapsed into
silence. Shea got up from her chair and went to squat beside
Subaken.

‘We found these in
Drogoya.’ She held out her hand and two tiny spiral shells lay on
her palm.

Subaken’s breath hissed
through her teeth. ‘I have never known they were that small at any
stage of their lives. The females give birth, to two, three at the
most, and they are already this big.’ She held her hands apart,
much wider than her shoulders.

She took one of the
shells from Shea. ‘This is without doubt a Chyliax, but so
small.’

‘Perhaps they got
smaller and smaller so they wouldn’t be noticed?’ Shea
suggested.

Essa narrowed her eyes
on the girl. Again, Shea had come up with an idea which had
occurred to none of the rest of them.

‘The place called
Steadfast, that your people fled from. Was that by the sea?’ Tika
enquired.

Subaken shook her head.
‘No. Inland quite a long way. And far north – very cold in the
winters. The river froze for nearly half the year, but as soon as
the thaw began, the Chyliax would come.’

Tika closed her eyes.
She had a feeling that unless something could be done about this
issue of the Chyliax, the Shadow Lord might well be slow to offer
her any guidance or, better still, actual assistance. She opened
her eyes and found Rhaki watching her from across the room. He
quirked a brow at her. She mind spoke Kija and explained her plan.
Kija paid close attention and after only brief consideration, she
offered whatever strength Tika might need.

‘Right.’ Tika sat up
straight. ‘Subaken, which water is best, fresh or salt? Would the
Chyliax prefer to be suddenly returned to the great expanse of
ocean around this island, or might they feel safer in the confines
of your river?’

Subaken’s emerald eyes
widened. ‘You will try?’ she breathed. ‘The river. It is deep where
it runs through our town, right until it joins with the sea. That
is why my father chose this place – for the convenience of the
Chyliax, should any ever reappear.’

‘Then I will go now.
None of your people will be alarmed by us, or the
Dragons?’

‘No. But please, let me
fetch father so that we may all bear witness.’

Tika felt a qualm of
doubt, which she firmly squashed, at Subaken’s confidence. The
Shadow Lord’s daughter raced out of the room and Tika’s company
drew closer.

‘Where is Dromi?’ Sket
hissed at her.

‘I’ve no idea. I asked
Khosa, she spat at me and disappeared out there.’ Tika waved a hand
in irritation towards the courtyard.

‘I think they know
about Dromi.’