The sky had been clouding from the south, heavy, grey, rain filled clouds, and as the servants left after bringing food to the guest pavilion, the rain began to fall. Mim and Tika sat by the fire, waiting for Ashta and Farn to return from their hunting.
‘This one does not know what to say to you, Tika.’ Mim said. ‘Does the Lady’s talk change a great deal for you?’
Tika sighed. ‘At least I know more of who I am I suppose. But there are so many pieces missing. This Rhaki is the Grey Guardian and he is the one who is trying to unbalance the world. Yet he is also my father in some way, and the Lady’s brother.’ She looked across at Mim, his high tilted eyes with their vertical pupils gazing back at her in deep concern. ‘And you Mim, how do you truly feel to know you have Dragon blood?’
He smiled his sweet smile. ‘This one was shocked at first hearing. Now, he is truly glad. Ashta is his blood sister, so this person has family again. Do you yet know of the Powers the Lords and Ladies spoke of Tika?’
She frowned. ‘There is something. It is like a tickling inside my head. Each time I think I have nearly got hold of it, it is gone again, or moved somewhere else. Oh.’
A small furry creature was stalking from one of the bedchambers. Mim and Tika watched. Tail aloft, it marched to the hearth and sat, its back to the warmth, and stared, first at Mim then at Tika.
‘I am Khosa,’ came the thought to their minds. ‘Queen of the Kephi of the Lady’s estate.’ Her blue eyes regarded them with interest.
‘Greetings,’ Mim and Tika managed to reply.
‘I hunted with the Dragons this morning.’
‘It was you they were talking to,’ exclaimed Tika.
Khosa inclined her head slightly. ‘Farn carried me. It was most interesting.’
‘The Lady has not spoken of Kephi to us, and this one has not seen you before. Are you usually hidden from people?’ asked Mim.
Khosa lifted a dainty paw, orange furred as was the rest of her, licked it thoroughly and swiped it round an ear several times. ‘Two-legs like the Kephi,’ she replied. ‘We stop squeakers overrunning the food stores, we are pleasing to look at, and we are quite friendly.’ She continued to wash herself fastidiously.
Tika and Mim watched, mesmerised by the rhythmic motions of the slim paw. Khosa now crouched lower, tucking her front paws neatly under her chest, and making a soft humming noise. ‘You see,’ she remarked smugly in their minds. ‘You are much calmer than when I first joined you.’
She was right. Mim and Tika looked at each other and Tika smiled for the first time for hours.
‘We Kephi do not speak with two-legs, as I am now speaking to you. The Lady has tried to get into our thoughts but it is a simple thing to bar her entry and pretend we are nearly as simple as hoppers. Thus we go anywhere we wish, in the House or the estate, and we know all that goes on.’ There was no mistaking the smugness in Khosa’s tone now.
‘So why are you speaking to us?’ Tika asked.
The eyes, which had closed, slitted half open again. ‘You and your Dragons interest me. I would journey with you when you leave here,’ she said calmly.
As she made this announcement, the clatter of wings at the door told of the Dragons return. Mim went to push back both of the double doors to let them inside. Ashta entered first, a few raindrops still sparkling on her face and head, but most of the wetness already gone from her scaled body.
‘Greetings Khosa,’ said Ashta politely. Farn was just behind her and he stopped abruptly. As Ashta moved to recline by the sidewall, Farn peered worriedly at the tiny orange shape before the fire.
‘Greetings Khosa. You were not wanting to hunt again were you, we’ve just come back,’ he asked.
Khosa did her hind-end-up, front-end-down stretch, then resumed her crouch as she replied. ‘It is too wet for the Kephi to enjoy the hunt at this moment.’
Tika felt Farn’s rush of relief and resolved to find out later just why such an insignificant creature made him so nervous.
‘No one notices Kephi, unless we wish to be noticed,’ Khosa continued. ‘I heard the talk earlier, of your changed life patterns. I have heard much of the Seniors’ discussions. They take no heed of a small Kephi apparently fast asleep on a sunny window seat.’ The smugness was back in her tone. ‘We have to be close to listen to minds,’ she admitted. ‘We cannot hear from far. I can be of great use to you I think, which is part of why I desire to join your party.’
Farn sat up, his eyes whirring blue, green and gold colours. ‘Join our party? Tika, did she say she would come with us?’ He sounded horrified at the idea.
Khosa fixed him with the uncompromising stare he remembered from this morning. ‘Kephi can slip into tiny places, and listen to any talk we wish. Could something your size do the same? If we are seen, most of the two-legs make strange noises that they believe we find attractive, then they feed us, or caress us.’
‘But,’ Farn went on weakly, ‘you are Queen of the Kephi here. Do you mean to bring all your tribe too?’
Tika and Mim looked alarmed now. Khosa’s eyes closed. ‘No,’ she said shortly. ‘I tire of being Queen. I tire of the demands of my own, too numerous Kephlings, and of deciding silly disputes. I wish to see more of the world than this estate and I wish to be without clamorous Kephi bothering me.’
Next morning, Tika awoke to find Khosa sitting on her chest. ‘I would prefer you not to mention our talk last night, to any other two-legs. If any remark on my presence with you now, you have only to say that you are greatly taken with my beauty and sweet nature. I go to hunt now with the Dragons.’ And she was gone.
Despite the demands she knew the day would bring, Tika smiled. Farn would not be greatly pleased at Khosa’s decision to hunt this morning. The claws had dug into his shoulders once only, due to Khosa’s excitement apparently. But once had been enough for poor Farn.
Gan was the only Senior at the breakfast table. He looked up as Mim and Tika arrived. ‘We thought we would continue your instruction with weapons this morning. Lady Emla and the other Seniors are busy, but I am to tell you they will come to speak with you now, if you would prefer?’
‘No Lord Gan,’ Mim answered. ‘This person would not wish to interrupt the Lady’s work.’
Tika agreed. ‘The news I was given yesterday was a great shock Gan,’ she told him. ‘But it seems more manageable this morning. I am willing to do whatever has been arranged.’
It was a strenuous morning, at the end of which, Tika and Mim found themselves sore and bruised. Gan pronounced himself moderately satisfied with their progress and suggested they have one last bout with Sket and Motass called in as their opponents. Until now, Gan had worked with them separately. Now they must each try to defend themselves against men with a new approach.
Sket and Motass both took up practice swords, as did Tika, while Mim used a staff. They found this practice bout very different, realising too late that Gan had indeed been dealing fairly gently with them. Gan stood aside watching closely, calling a sharp word now and then.
Unfortunately, Tika and Mim were far too occupied to notice Farn’s arrival. He stared aghast as two males attacked Tika, and Lord Gan stood by and permitted it! He belched.
A jet of flame hit Sket’s sword, which he dropped with a yell. Tika spun round, using rapid mind speech to explain to Farn what was happening here. Sket held his hands clamped in his armpits as Motass jumped up and down on the burning sword.
As Farn understood he had witnessed a sort of game, he drooped. The sapphire eyes whirred miserably. ‘This Gan will be angry with me again!’ he moaned. Tika hugged him soothingly, glancing back towards the others. Her eye caught Mim’s and she saw he was losing a battle against laughter. He bowed to Gan then left the barn hastily, a huge grin spreading over his face as he passed Tika and Farn.
Tika looked at Gan. He was speaking to the men, telling Motass to put some salve on Sket’s burned palms, and then dismissing them. As they turned to leave, Tika called: ‘Farn is sorry he hurt you Sket. Truly, he thou
ght you were really attacking me and meant me real harm.’
Sket managed a grin. ‘You need a lot more practice with a sword, lady, but with a Dragon on your side, I can’t see as you’d need the sword. Come in right handy in a true battle, they would Lord Gan!’
‘You had better get cleaned up before you join the Lady, Tika. And tell Mim he controlled himself well.’ Tika looked at Gan’s face more closely. By the stars, he thought it had been funny too. Perhaps there was a sense of humour under that grim exterior, after all.
The rain beat down harder than ever and the heavy clouds made it necessary to uncover the glow lamps in the central hall of the Lady’s House. Emla smiled at Mim and Tika, saying, ‘I am relieved you seem to accept what has happened to you. I know that what we had to tell you yesterday must have affected you both deeply. We have tried to arrange how best we may help your Powers develop Tika, and yours also Mim.’
He looked startled. ‘This person has no Powers Lady, except for the mind speech.’
‘Oh yes you have, dear one. You have the Power to help plants grow, do you not? And there is more in you that we will help you learn how to use.’
‘This one has no wish to learn magics, Lady. Nagums believe there is a great wrongness in magic.’
‘Mim, I will tell you the first lesson: all magic is the same. Do you understand? Do you Tika?’
Tika was studying the tiny Dragon set in the depths of the pendant she wore. She thought for a few moments longer, then met Emla’s gaze. ‘I think you are telling us that magic is magic, like – water is water? It is what a person does with it that matters. If you use magic for a bad purpose, it is not the magic itself that is bad but the will behind it. Is that it?’
‘Exactly so, Tika,’ agreed the Lady. ‘Do you understand Mim? The magic, or the Power, is simply something there to be used if you know how to. It is not available to all. But someone such as you, Mim, could not do harm with the Power.’
‘But I could.’ Tika spoke softly.
‘Yes Tika, you could do great harm, as you could do great good. This is why you must let us try to teach you how to manage the Power you are capable of drawing to yourself.
‘Now, if it is agreeable, Yash and Gan and I will work here with Mim for a while. You go with Iska and Kemti to the library. Tomorrow, perhaps, we will change around.’
Iska and Kemti were rising from their couches when Tika asked: ‘Lady there is one thing.’ Emla waited for her to continue. ‘What is the meaning of these ornaments both Mim and I had to find in the Treasury collections? I understand the need of swords perhaps, but what is the use of these?’
‘We are still trying to find out ourselves, dear one. We have been through so many old books and papers. They are described clearly in many writings, but the purpose of them is hidden in riddles. Iska and Kemti will read some to you – maybe you yourself will understand where it is all confusion to us.’
Iska and Kemti were gentle as they tried to show Tika how to go into her own mind. ‘The tiny part that is “you”, that you send into another mind, send it deep into your own.’
Frustration grew as Tika found herself just unable to catch the tickle she had described to Mim. When a rather pretty teapot, full of hot spiced tea brought by a maid, crumpled into a mess of pottery shards and dark liquid, Iska called a halt.
‘I did that,’ Tika exclaimed in horror. ‘I didn’t mean to!’
‘No, we know,’ said Kemti, as Iska removed the tray and went to arrange for more tea to be brought. ‘But perhaps it is good that it did. You can see what can happen without control, and this was a very small thing – it could so easily be far worse. Try once more Tika, focus your mind as narrow as the moonlight’s path on water.’
Iska had returned and sat beside Kemti, watching as Tika concentrated. ‘She’s there,’ murmured Kemti.
‘I believe she is,’ agreed Iska.
Tika’s voice sounded distant as she said, ‘I can see it! It is wound round and through my mind – but wrongly!’
‘No!’ both Iska and Kemti cried, and then both slid into Tika’s mind, and stopped, stunned by what they saw. Tika was right, there was something wrong. The golden threads of the Power were tangled in places, not forming the filigree patterned net the Seniors knew from each other’s minds. But as they watched, the tangles unsnarled here, were rippled into a smooth curve there. Tika’s concentration was absolute, and by the time the threads of Power glittered in a delicate tangle-free net, she was beginning to shake.
At last it was done, and Kemti caught her as she began to topple forward from her chair. He looked at Iska over Tika’s unconscious body. Her face reflected the awed amazement he himself was feeling, then the two Seniors busied themselves laying Tika gently on a couch and tucking Iska’s woollen shawl around her. A maid tapped the door and Kemti went to take a tray of fresh tea from her.
‘Well,’ he said.
‘Well indeed,’ echoed Iska.
‘Could you make out how she did that?’ Kemti asked, as Iska handed him some tea. ‘It was a form of healing, but faster, and more complex than I have ever seen.’
‘Yes. And when you realise that she has not been able to see the Power in our minds, to be able to do what she has, to herself. . . Kemti, the Power she has is far greater than I have heard of, let alone ever seen.’
Iska tried to reach into Tika’s mind, and was not entirely surprised to find her way blocked. She nodded. ‘She is guarding herself. I believe with the net of Power correctly in place, much knowledge has already been absorbed by her mind.’
‘I told Bara to ask Emla to come, when she could leave Mim.’
‘I think she will sleep now. She is drained of strength, but even as she sleeps, the Power will be working within her.’
The door opened and Emla was there. Kemti and Iska explained what had taken place and Iska opened her mind to let the Lady see what they had seen.
‘Events seem to be moving faster than we imagined,’ Emla said. ‘We must pray to the stars she wakes safe – and sane – but I think we must not try to waken her.’
Again the door opened. Gan said, ‘Mim said the Dragons were becoming upset, Farn especially. He tried to climb the stairs to reach Tika. Mim calmed them and has come to verify Tika’s safety.’
Emla gestured to Tika’s sleeping form. ‘As you see Mim, she sleeps. We think she will sleep long. Somehow she has – rearranged – her mind. It was as great a shock as was the news of her relationship to us was yesterday.’
‘She should be in their pavilion, where Farn can be with her,’ said Gan surprisingly, and he stooped, lifting Tika easily. Mim hurried down the stairs after him. Gan stopped as Farn’s body surged onto the lower stairs. He held Tika slightly away from himself, towards Farn. The Dragon bent his long face close over Tika’s, many colours whirring in the prismed eyes. A long moment passed, then Farn backed away to allow Gan to continue. As Gan reached the outer door, he slowed, waiting for Farn to keep pace with him. The blue head was slightly higher than Gan’s as Farn kept as close as he could.
Mim ran ahead, opening the doors wide, and Gan carried Tika through to the bedchamber that Mim indicated. It was a tight fit, but Farn forced his large body through the smaller door. The attendants had already uncovered glow lamps, but now Gan recovered most of the ones in Tika’s room, leaving only a single lamp softly lighting the chamber. He pulled up the quilts, tucking them loosely around her. Farn had already reclined close to the bed, resting his head on the covers, close to Tika’s face. Gan found himself placing his hand lightly on the Dragon’s head in understanding of his concern.
‘I will wait with you, if you permit it Farn.’ He spoke to the Dragon’s mind. ‘I will sit with Mim and Ashta until she awakens.’
‘Thank you Lord Gan,’ Farn replied, his distress blurring the words.
Supper was brought, but no one had any appetite, and eventually Mim curled up against Ashta and slept. Ashta remained awake, her senses alert to Farn. Gan also stayed awake,
rising several times from his chair to look in where Tika lay still sleeping. He hadn’t noticed the Kephi slip in at some point during that long evening and endless night. It was just there when he looked in, curled between Farn’s head and Tika’s arm. It did not seem to be bothering Farn so Gan left it there.
Just before dawn, Tika began to swim up to consciousness. She was immediately aware of a change in herself. She felt as though her mind was stretching, widening. A buzzing sound roused her further and as she recognised it as Khosa’s odd music, her eyes struggled open.
Two pairs of blue eyes stared at her from very close range. One pair was quite calm, the other pair was whirring madly. She smiled at them both, reaching one hand to scratch Khosa’s ears (a caress the Kephi was inordinately fond of) and gently touching Farn’s face with the other. Her mind was flooded with Farn’s relief, his explanations, his worry.
In the main room, Ashta bespoke Gan and Mim: ‘Tika has woken, and she is well.’
Chapter Thirteen
Soul Bonds: Book 1 Circles of Light series Page 12
