Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (9 page)

‘The one who pushed me
into this body, he said I had family, to whom I owed reparation.
You seem to know me – what have I done?’

Kija’s prismed eyes
whirred darker for a moment as she studied the man before her. Then
she sighed. This was going to be a long, painful,
evening.

The sun was above the
mountains to the left of the cave when Rhaki staggered outside next
morning. He had only slept briefly, just before dawn. His mind had
reeled at what the golden Dragon had told him and, even worse,
shown him, through pictures from her own memories. He had wept at
the horrors she’d described to him, unable to disbelieve what he
learnt: the information snapped into places where there had been
only gaps in his mind too neatly to be coincidence. When the first
shock had subsided a little, he had been astounded by the Dragon’s
compassion, and finally he had fallen asleep to the sound of a
gentle crooning song.

Now he stood, swaying
slightly with emotional exhaustion, in the empty entrance to his
cave and wondered if it had all been a terrible dream. He stared
out over the gently greening valley, a view which he had already
grown fond of. Then he saw the sun flash on golden scales and the
massive Dragon wheeled high above the valley’s end. She turned in a
lazy glide and he heard her voice in his mind again.

‘You have not slept
long Rhaki. Are you sure you are well?’

Rhaki was shaken again
to feel tears well into his eyes at the kindness in the mind voice.
Why should the Dragon be so gentle when the crimes he had committed
against her own family were so horrendous? He watched, his tears
drying, as Kija drifted lower and landed smoothly beside his fir
tree. And his decision was made. Kija settled into a reclining
position and folded her wings against her back. Rhaki returned her
steady gaze and drew in a deep breath.

‘I will travel to these
people, and I will begin my service to them. I do not believe I can
ever find forgiveness for what I have done.’

Kija lowered her head.
‘As you wish.’ She looked out over the quiet landscape. ‘Another
day or so will make no difference Rhaki. Pack what you wish to
take. I will conceal your cave for you when we leave, so all will
stay safe until you return.’

‘We?’ he asked in
surprise. He had thought he would be trekking on foot until he
found a town at least.

Kija’s laugh pealed
aloud, ringing round the hillside.

‘I will take you, when
you are ready.’

Rhaki went back into
the cave and looked around its crowded smallness. He’d found
several packs his predecessor must have used for many different
reasons: a couple had clearly been used to carry fish. They were
still richly pungent. He intended to take the notebooks and the
maps, nothing else besides a change of clothes. He sniffed one of
the shirts and wrinkled his nose. If the Dragon wasn’t in a hurry,
perhaps he should do some laundry.

The next day, Rhaki
stood outside his cave, a single large pack on his shoulder, and
watched the gold Dragon work power. The open face of the entrance
to the cave became sealed over. Rock, looking as weathered as
though it had stood there forever, was netted with winter killed
ferns and ivy. Kija moved away and crouched low.

‘Climb between my
wings. You will not fall.’

Rhaki did as he was
told. He felt powerful muscles tense and then they were aloft.
Although Kija flew slowly to begin with, the air whipped into
Rhaki’s face, icy against his cheeks and chin and causing tears to
blur his vision. He let go of Kija’s shoulder with one hand and
pulled the collar of his jacket up as far as he could. He found
that by squinting, he reduced the watering of his eyes, and
suddenly he saw they were already over the deserted buildings just
beyond his valley.

He twisted to peer back
towards his cave, but it was already too distant to make out. As
Kija sensed Rhaki growing more confident with being on her back, so
high above the ground, she increased her speed, powering
southwards. She didn’t fly nearly as fast as she had on her way to
Rhaki and landed before sunset in a tiny clearing which had been
made by the fall of an ancient tree during the past winter. When
Rhaki slid from her back, his legs gave way and he felt amusement
pulse from Kija’s mind.

‘There are few animals
around here yet,’ she said. ‘Light a fire, you will be cold this
night.’

Once his legs returned
to working order, Rhaki collected pieces of the fallen tree and
piled them on a clear piece of ground. Then he stared at his heaped
sticks helplessly. He felt amusement ripple from Kija
again.

‘Move away a
little.’

He backed a few paces
and the Dragon spat a small gout of fire at the wood, which blazed
up fiercely. Rhaki felt his face stretch in a smile.

‘I don’t think I’ve
ever lit a fire,’ he said ruefully.

‘And you certainly
didn’t light that one,’ Kija retorted. Then her laugh rang through
the little clearing. ‘And you didn’t bring a pot to make your drink
either!’

She clearly found the
situation deeply entertaining, although by the time dawn arrived,
Rhaki yearned for a warming mug of tea rather than the ice cold
water he’d scooped from a spring.

‘We could reach the
lake where I left my friends by tonight, but we will halt again and
join them tomorrow.’

Rhaki didn’t pay too
close attention to Kija’s comment.

He was growing tired
though as the sun dipped out of sight and Kija’s flight curved down
again. Rhaki peered over her shoulder as they came lower and saw
the glow of a fire, its flames reflecting in the water of a small
pool close by. He felt an overwhelming surge of panic. Who could be
down there? He wasn’t ready to face people after all. He couldn’t
do it.

‘Yes, you can.’ And
Kija swept down to land a short distance from both fire and
pool.

The daylight had nearly
gone, down below the trees, and Rhaki only glimpsed two or three
figures standing near the fire. He slid carefully from Kija’s back
and was grateful that his legs didn’t buckle this time. He pushed
his collar away from his face and straightened his shoulders. He
found his legs were shakier than he’d have wished but they carried
him towards the blaze of the fire.

Something moved to his
right and he faltered, seeing another Dragon, half the size of
Kija, with scales of silvery sapphire. He stopped completely. Kija
had shown him this Dragon, in pictures from her mind. The Dragon
reclined, apparently relaxed, but his eyes flashed. Rhaki swallowed
and turned back to the two figures closer to the fire. He saw a
man, about the same height as Rhaki now was in this new body. The
man had a hand on his sword hilt and his gaze was hard, his posture
tense. He stood close to a small girl.

No, Rhaki realised. A
woman. His eyes met hers and widened in astonishment. Her eyes were
vivid emerald green, but where there should have been white
surrounding them, there was gleaming silver. He staggered, feeling
his mind being ripped inside out again, and fell to his knees as
his head spun and his stomach roiled. Gradually the dizziness faded
and he raised his head to find a bowl thrust under his nose. A
man’s voice roughly suggested he drink some tea, and Rhaki took the
bowl gratefully. When he’d drained the bowl, it was taken from him
and a hand caught his arm in a firm grip, pulling him upright then
leading him to the fire. Rhaki saw that the Dragons had moved
closer, their great bodies forming a wall behind the man and the
woman.

‘I have seen your
mind,’ said a cool clear voice, and Rhaki looked into those strange
green and silver eyes.

He did not reply: what
was there to say?

‘I am Tika, daughter of
Kija and sister and soul bond to Farn. And Sket is our
friend.’

Sket nodded curtly and
poured more tea for Rhaki.

‘We have never met, but
we have suffered at your orders.’

Rhaki nodded. ‘I know,’
he said simply.

The girl sighed and
leaned back against the blue Dragon.

‘I have held a fierce
anger and hatred towards you. But I have also had time to think.
Other things have happened too, and now I wonder how much of the
dreadful things were done by Rhaki, or by someone or something
working through you.’

She saw by Rhaki’s
blank expression that he knew nothing of what she mentioned. Sket
lifted a small bag onto his knee and produced bread and cheese and
some dried fruits which he shared among them. Tika watched Rhaki.
She could scarcely believe that the monster who had caused such
havoc in Gaharn and the Northern Stronghold was this rather tired
looking elderly man. She waited until he’d finished
eating.

‘Do you remember Bark?’
she asked softly.

She saw tears rise in
his eyes and marvelled that this could truly be Rhaki.

‘Kija has told me,’ he
replied as quietly. ‘My memory was tampered with, so Kija believes,
when I was sent into this body. She has restored most of it I
think. And I will have to live with those memories to the end of my
days.’

He carefully set aside
his tea bowl and stared across the fire at Tika. ‘I can make no
excuses, offer no defence. As the things I have done have been
shown to me, I would expect to be shunned at the least by all who
knew me. But I didn’t remember then what Kija has since shown
me.’

His gaze moved to Sket,
then to Kija and finally to the young blue Dragon. A piece of wood
flared under the pot on the fire and Rhaki saw the long scar
winding, bare of scales, down the Dragon’s neck.

‘Because of me,’ he
whispered. He looked again at Tika. ‘I thought this was some kind
of second chance, but now I know that I do not deserve a second
chance.’

The silence stretched
on, Rhaki staring down at his square hands that were so different
from the hands he remembered. He was startled when the man, Sket,
was the one to break the silence.

Sket busied himself
making yet more tea as he spoke. ‘This is not the man we fought
Tika. Perhaps Lady Emla would remember this one, but it’s my guess
he was infected by the Splintered Kingdom, years and years back.
This is the man he should have been.’

‘Splintered Kingdom?’
Rhaki was clearly puzzled.

‘A Place Beyond,’ Tika
explained.

Rhaki shook his head.
‘I had little interest in such things. Bark was always intrigued by
such discussions. But you speak of this – Splintered Kingdom? – as
if it is real, present here and now?’

Kija sighed loudly. It
looked like being another long night. She leaned her neck along
Farn’s back and closed her eyes.

Sket had called a halt
to the talking eventually, insisting both Tika and Rhaki got some
sleep. With his head churning with the extraordinary things he’d
heard, Rhaki didn’t think he could possibly sleep. The fact that he
did, was due to Kija’s light touch of compulsion, although it would
be some time before Rhaki quite appreciated the way the Dragons
could manipulate power.

In the morning, after
the briefest flight, they arrived at the lake called Blue Mirror,
and Rhaki understood that Kija had halted so close last night
simply so that Tika could speak to him in privacy. He wondered if
Tika would have killed him herself, if she had so decided, and he
rather thought she would. The idea didn’t bother him. He’d received
too much unpleasant information and gruesome shocks in the last
three days for the thought of his death to seem overly
alarming.

Kija began to descend
towards a long building on the lake shore. Rhaki saw two more
Dragons; an enormous crimson reclining on the short grass between
the building and the water. And a much more slender grey Dragon was
plunging into the water and then rising with a fat fish in his
jaws. Both Dragons watched as Kija and Farn landed and the grey
swooped in to settle beside the crimson. Rhaki slid from Kija’s
back and stood hesitantly as people in dark blue uniforms, similar
to what Tika and Sket wore, came hurrying to join them.

He took a step forward
and stopped. The crimson Dragon got to his feet and was pacing
directly towards him. Rhaki’s mouth dropped open when the Dragon
reared onto his hindquarters and spread his wings wide. Rhaki
stared up and met huge glittering eyes, a soft pink shot through
with darker scarlet. A voice boomed in his head.

‘I welcome you to our
company, Rhaki of Gaharn. I am Brin, son of Fenj.’ The huge
creature lowered himself again and his face came close to Rhaki’s.
‘I never thought to welcome you among us, but I find I can because
you too have been used by this Crazed One we hunt.’

Rhaki had no idea how
one responded to a Dragon’s formal greeting and glanced helplessly
to Sket. Sket grinned and moved to slap a hand against the broad
crimson chest.

‘The poor man has to
get used to you yet, Brin,’ he said aloud. ‘Don’t you tease
him.’

Then the uniformed
people were around him, eyeing him curiously but with no
recognition. He saw a young girl among them, in the same uniform,
and, apart from her hazel eyes, she very much resembled Tika. Then
a woman approached and he had to tilt his head back to look up into
her broad face and her unusually light blue eyes. She grinned and
he only just managed to stand his ground. Her filed teeth were
stained a delicate purple and he saw more of them as her grin
widened.