Seola glanced at Cyrek. ‘This is not done among my people. We help each other to a degree but you are describing a melding of your power with another’s?’ She looked to Kwanzi for confirmation and at his nod she continued. ‘You surprise me. You must have complete trust to merge your mind with another. Perhaps my people should learn to trust more fully. How does it work – how would your strength help mine when I examine this hurt one?’
It was Thryssa who answered. ‘Can you let me in to the border of your mind, or can you enter mine?’
Seola nodded, and Thryssa felt a tentative touch at the barriers of her thoughts. She opened the first path and saw Seola’s eyes widen. Thryssa pushed back, towards Seola’s mind, then gently withdrew.
‘It can be a strange sensation if you are unaccustomed to it,’ Kwanzi smiled. ‘I would willingly offer myself as the conduit. You would then only notice me, everyone else would direct their strength to me and I in turn would channel it to you. A dozen other minds in your head can be confusing.’
Seola looked slightly alarmed but nodded. ‘And you believe the strength of many will be needed for this healing?’
Kwanzi’s expression was suddenly desolate. ‘I do not know your strength Lady Seola, but I fear all of us combined may still not be enough. We have to bring him back from the deepest depths to a level where we might be able to restore him.’
Kija had joined them and now her eyes whirred in muted shades. ‘If we cannot reach him, then he must be killed. If he cannot be restored, he must be killed.’ Her voice was a whisper of anguish in their heads.
The old herb woman went close to the gold Dragon. ‘You are right my poor dear,’ she said aloud. ‘We will do everything we can, but there may have to be an ending.’
Kija lowered her head, pressing her face gently against Nenat’s. Nenat turned away but the onlookers saw tears sparkling on her lashes. Seola looked towards the Pavilion again.
‘Who maintains the wards?’ she asked.
Emla moved up beside her. ‘Six of my healers and Fenj.’
‘And at the moment, the hurt one’s mind is unfettered? You are only keeping his torment contained within the building?’
Emla nodded.
Seola began to walk to the three shallow steps leading to the doors of the Pavilion, Emla and Nesh beside her. Cyrek followed with Nenat. Kwanzi and Thryssa, still arm in arm, reached the others under the overhanging eaves just as Nesh twisted the door handles and pushed them inwards.
The black Dragon Fenj reclined to the left of the door and six healers sat cross legged around the body slumped in the centre of the floor. The hiss of an indrawn breath from Cyrek was the only sound in the chamber. A silver blue Dragon lay curled on his side, his face towards the door. He seemed slightly larger than the grey Dragon Storm, who waited outside. Cyrek moved closer. The scales were dull, reflected no light. Cyrek squatted near the Dragon’s head and saw a long scar trailing down his neck, bare of scales. Cyrek’s voice was the faintest breath.
‘He is but a baby!’ He looked over his shoulder to Emla, his eyes blazing. ‘Yet already he has seen battle and come close to death. Who healed this?’
Emla sank to her knees beside Cyrek, tears pouring down her face unheeded. ‘Tika, his soul bond. She healed him.’
Cyrek was astonished: the small woman they’d seen asleep in a tunnel had healed an injury of this severity? ‘She is healer trained then,’ he murmured.
Emla shook her head, dark hair whipping across her face. ‘It was the first time she had reached for power.’
Cyrek stared at her, his thoughts racing. No wonder the First Daughter risked so much for this Dragon and the female human. He stood up, helping Emla to her feet. Seola came forward and sat within reach of Farn’s head, cross legged like the other healers. She met Kwanzi’s eyes.
‘Will you know when I may need help?’
He sat beside her. ‘If you let me join to your mind, a little thread, tagging on to your power.’
‘Very well. Nenat, I will begin.’
Cautiously, like the thinnest possible needle, Seola’s thought slid into the Dragon’s mind. She gasped aloud, her eyes blazing. Kwanzi’s arm went round her shoulders and Cyrek knelt at Nenat’s back, supporting her suddenly slumped body. Everyone present, and the Dragons outside, clung to Kwanzi’s mind where he struggled to keep contact with Seola. A pulse of strength came from Brin, Kwanzi recognised the crimson Dragon’s mind in the instant he pushed the power around Seola.
But she was battling to maintain control against the deafening screams, the agony searing through her whole body. She fought to isolate herself, to put even a tiny distance between her mind and Farn’s. He could swamp her with his pain: she must maintain her thoughts distinct from his. But how far had he gone? Seola was gasping, Kwanzi pouring strength into her from more and more of the willing volunteers. Her mind hovered above a vast darkness then slowly drifted down. Seola was unaware of her body, panting and twitching; she saw only blackness, above her now, and below. She had no idea how deep she’d gone, only that Farn was even lower, his mind threshing like a vast creature in the ocean. Seola opened her eyes. Cyrek was thumping her chest while Emla and another woman held her convulsing limbs. Then she knew no more until the headache woke her hours later.
She found herself in a narrow bed in a shadowy room. She saw a shape, a person, in a chair to one side. Then the outline of another bed came into focus with someone lying in it. Seola tried to sit up and groaned, clutching her head with both hands as nausea roiled through her stomach. Hands held her shoulders, easing her back against pillows, then she felt the edge of a cup against her mouth and drank its contents thirstily. She opened her eyes again just the smallest crack and recognised Lady Emla’s healer, Nesh.
‘You, or that drink?’ she croaked.
He smiled. ‘A little of both. I’m afraid we are all rather low on strength right now.’
Seola remembered what had happened and groaned again. ‘How many of you used your strength to pull me back?
‘Most of us, including the Dragons.’
Seola’s eyes opened fully and she realised the pain had receded to a dull discomfort and the nausea was gone completely. ‘It took all of you?’ she whispered in dawning horror.
Nesh nodded, knowing she was gradually realising how close she’d come to being lost together with Farn. Cautiously she pushed herself higher and looked across to the other bed. ‘Nenat, will she be all right?’ she asked with concern.
‘Yes, we gave her a strong sleeping draught. She was insisting on looking after you.’
‘Nenat accepted a medicine from you?’ Seola asked in disbelief.
Nesh chuckled. ‘She is very fond of tea and alas she forgot to check it before she drank it.’
Seola looked at him with a certain admiration. ‘If I may suggest it, I think you should be elsewhere when she wakes.’
The door opened and a woman entered. Thryssa, Seola remembered. She smiled at Seola.
‘For stars’ sake, off to bed with you,’ she said to Nesh. ‘Go on,’ she commanded. ‘Your strength will be needed again all too soon, so sleep whilst you can.’
‘What about Kwanzi?’ Nesh asked, obediently moving to the door.
A shadow crossed Thryssa’s face then the smile returned. ‘He is fast asleep – as you should be.’
Seola studied the woman as Thryssa bent over Nenat, checking the old woman’s skin and her pulse. Thryssa was older than she appeared, her dark red hair streaked with white. She met Seola’s eyes and seated herself in the chair Nesh had vacated.
‘What about Kwanzi?’ Seola repeated Nesh’s question.
Thryssa’s hazel eyes clouded for a moment. ‘He was exhausted of course. Taking so much power into himself and then forcing it onwards is a frightful task. Someone else will do it next time,’ she said firmly.
Seola suspected there could well be a fairly heated exchange when Thryssa informed her husband of this decision, but she fully sympathised with Thryssa
’s sentiment.
‘Is there someone else who can do it?’
‘There are a couple of people here who can. You don’t have to have strong powers yourself to be the channel but you do have to have a great control. It is easy to panic in that situation and great harm can come to all involved if the channel wavers.’ Thryssa hesitated. ‘Can you tell me what you found in Farn’s mind?’
Seola lay back. ‘He is in the Dark. He has gone so far I am not sure any but the First Daughter can reach him.’
Thryssa was silent. ‘Your companion, Cyrek. He summoned a great bird and spoke with it. Was it one you use to take messages to your Dark Realm, as we use Merigs?’
Seola snorted. ‘That was Raven. She likes to be called Anfled, but mostly we call her Hag. She takes information when it pleases her but Cyrek seems to be able to bully her best of us all.’
‘And would the First Daughter come so far to help one young Dragon?’
Seola closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted again. ‘No, she would not. But then, she wouldn’t need to.’
Thryssa bent over the bed to pull the covers closer and Seola opened her eyes to see a pendant swinging close to her face. She stared at it then up into Thryssa’s hazel eyes.
‘Where did you get that?’ she whispered.
Thryssa sat down again, the pendant cupped in her palm. It was egg shaped and egg sized, the back half a dark jade, and the front a paler olive. A small golden fleck seemed to move within it.
‘It was a gift from Mim. He is the Lord of the Northern Stronghold. He was soul bonded with a young Dragon at the same time as Farn and Tika bonded. Mim is a Dragon Lord.’
Seola stared at the pendant but she could concentrate no longer. Her lids drooped and in seconds, she was asleep.
When next Seola woke, Thryssa still sat by the bed but Nenat had gone. Thryssa gave a wicked smile.
‘I’m afraid your friend was rather displeased. She’s gone looking for Nesh and Emla.’
Seola’s return smile was somewhat forced but at least it was there.
‘It’s nearly midday. Do you feel up to a bath and going downstairs for some lunch?’
Seola realised she felt ravenous. Pushing the covers aside she followed Thryssa through a door she’d not previously noticed. It opened into a small tiled bathing room.
‘I’ll fetch your clothes.’ Thryssa was half out of the door when Seola remembered something else from yesterday.
‘How did you get here?’ she asked. ‘I felt a burst of power and Lady Emla said someone or something had ��come through a circle.” What did she mean?’
‘I’ll tell you in a minute. Get in that bath.’
Seola gaped then did as she was told. She ducked right under the water and came up spluttering. How many centuries since anyone had ordered her to get in a bath? She laughed. Somehow she didn’t see many people disobeying Thryssa. How had Lady Emla introduced her? The High Speaker of Vagrantia. What was a High Speaker, and where was Vagrantia? She hoped Jemin might have got a look at some local maps by now. Maps drawn with the help of Hag’s occasional comments were notoriously unreliable for anything except large towns or cities. Seola was vigorously towelling her dark curls when Thryssa returned with a neat stack of clothes.
‘The circles?’ Seola prompted, dragging on her trousers.
‘There are circles throughout these lands, with mosaic patterns spiralling in to a centre stone. If you walk the pattern, saying certain ritual words, you vanish from the circle you are on and reappear on another. There are certain key words for different circles of course.’
Seola tucked her shirt into her trousers. ‘Sounds like a gateway.’
‘A gateway?’
‘We used a gateway to get here. Again, certain words are spoken and with the final word the spell is closed and we travel to where we wish to go.’
‘But you are not restricted to travelling just between certain places then? We can move only from circle to circle.’
‘Perhaps we will be able to discuss this further sometime. Right now I think we have to concentrate on the young Dragon and his soul bond.’
‘Tika,’ Thryssa corrected opening the bedroom door. She led the way to the stairs.
‘What does soul bond mean exactly?’
‘Tika somehow managed to be inside Kija’s nesting cave as Farn emerged from his egg. Dragons apparently lock eyes with new hatchlings and transfer many memories and histories of their clans, or Treasuries as they call them. Farn locked eyes with Tika and somehow their souls combined. The same thing happened to Mim. He was present when the female Dragon Ashta climbed from her egg and their souls were united. To part them causes great anguish; it can cause death in one or both, so Fenj has told us.’
They reached the bottom of the stairs and Seola realised they were in Emla’s great hall.
‘You can help yourself to food – through here.’ Thryssa took them to a far smaller dining chamber where Seola was pleased to see Jemin with Captain Soran.
They paused in their conversation and Jemin enquired how she was feeling.
‘Fine,’ she lied. ‘How’s everyone else?’
Jemin choked on a mouthful of meat pie. ‘Everyone else says they’re fine,’ he said caustically. ‘And they all look as bad as you do.’
Seola scowled. ‘And the hurt one – Farn.’
Captain Soran answered her. ‘They had trouble again during the night. He roused enough to thrash around somewhat. Two healers are in the infirmary. One has concussion, the other a broken leg. Farn caught them with his tail.’
Seola sensed an immense sorrow in the Captain and surmised he knew the Dragon and the young woman Tika, extremely well.
‘I hope they are soon recovered.’ Seola felt inadequate, a feeling almost unknown to her, in the face of Soran’s unhappiness. She was relieved when Cyrek spoke behind her. She gave an apologetic smile to Jemin and Captain Soran and crossed to Cyrek. They piled their plates with food from the plentiful supply set out and moved to sit slightly apart from the increasing numbers of people seeking lunch.
They studied each other for a moment, then both smiled. ‘I suppose we have looked better,’ Seola admitted, biting into a hot cheese roll
Cyrek grunted agreement and swallowed a mouthful of pie. ‘The Dragon must be quietened soon,’ he said softly. ‘The healers here will soon be too tired to maintain a permanent warding. But although the Dragon is weakening physically, his mental torment is as strong as ever.’ He began on another vegetable pie. ‘I have never known that a mind could go so deep and survive.’
‘But has he survived?’ Seola pointed out. ‘His mind is still there yes, but how much remains of who or what he is? His pain is all he knows.’
They were silent for a while, each pondering their own thoughts, and still eating hungrily.
‘He must have some of his mind,’ Cyrek said finally. ‘He is not in actual physical pain so he must be still aware of the loss of this woman, Tika. You know what full insanity feels like: we were taught it at the very beginning of training.’ He grinned at her scowl but the grin quickly faded. ‘I remember anyway. The tutors said it could be possible, in a few cases, to build an entirely new personality if the original mind had been completely destroyed. Don’t you remember? You had nightmares for weeks.’
‘So did you,’ Seola snapped back. ‘It was horrid having to work with those poor souls. I’ve always thought it would have been kinder to let them pass to full death rather than keep them as they were. Confused and unhappy, yet never understanding why.’
‘My point is that this Dragon knows why he is in such pain: he remembers his loss. He is still present.’
Seola poured herself another bowl of tea and sat back, her hunger satisfied. ‘I’m inclined to agree with you. But he’s gone so far.’ She sipped her tea. ‘Do you believe Lerran can reach so far?’
‘She is the First Daughter.’ He met Seola’s gaze. ‘Have any of us seen her full powers or her full capabilities? She has always been Firs
t Daughter of Mother Dark.’
Seola sighed. ‘And as far as I know, her position has never been questioned.’
Cyrek looked appalled. ‘What are you saying? Do you really think those such as Peshan, Corman, Favrian, Garrol – any of the other full bloods whether direct family or not – would pretend their respect?’
‘No of course not, but I can’t help thinking these things sometimes.’
‘Well I hope you keep those thoughts well and truly concealed around any of us.’ Cyrek stared at her until, to her intense annoyance, she felt herself blush.
‘So what do we do?’
Cyrek pushed his empty plate away. ‘Wait to hear from Lerran. I think we should make no further attempt yet. Clearly he was aware of your presence yesterday. He so nearly pulled you down with him.’
Seola reached across and patted his hand. ‘Never mind little brother, he didn’t manage it.’
Cyrek gave her a stern look. ‘Only because a dozen others dragged you clear,’ he pointed out.
Seola remembered the shadows in Thryssa’s eyes when she’d spoken about her husband Kwanzi, and bit her lip. ‘Let’s find Thryssa or Lady Emla and look at these circles they use to travel.’
‘Someone spoke of them to me last night. They sound like gateways.’
‘That’s what I thought. Are you joining me?’
Cyrek nodded and followed Seola out of the dining chamber to the hall. The black Dragon Fenj reclined against a wall, apparently asleep, but as Seola and Cyrek moved past, his huge eyes opened.
‘I thank you for what you tried yesterday, Lady Seola.’ His deep voice vibrated through them.
They stopped and faced him.
‘May I join you, if you are walking in the gardens?’
‘Well – yes – of course – if you wish to.’
Fenj rose and paced towards the great doors and Seola and Cyrek found themselves strolling each side of him. They let the Dragon direct their steps, eventually finding themselves in a small area enclosed by huge shrubs. A wooden shed huddled under one particularly luxuriant bush, and a man sat outside it doing something to a wheelbarrow.
Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series Page 9
