Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series

by E. M. Sinclair

  Shivan stared down over the village, where a few more people seemed to be moving around. Finally he looked into Tika’s face.

  ‘Cyrek has asked me to watch for certain things.’

  Tika nodded, unsurprised. ‘He didn’t see the Dragon,’ she said.

  Shivan grinned, his face young and clear once more. ‘He doesn’t know how to look, none of them do.’

  Tika leaned her head back against the stone of the wall and closed her eyes in the sunlight.

  ‘My first teacher told me, over and over, to look with my mind. It seems you’ve worked that out for yourself. So, have we a bargain Shivan, can I trust you?’

  ‘Yes. I don’t know if you can understand this Tika, but I have always felt as if I was born in the wrong place. My teachers said I never followed the rules in any of my lessons, and I was wasting my time and theirs. Father and Aunt Lerran never said that to me though.’ Shivan spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. ‘Aunt Lerran understood some of the little bits I tried to tell her.’

  ‘I’m hungry again.’ Tika stood up and began to walk back to The Bear’s house. ‘Can you use a sword?’

  ‘Of course.’ Shivan was indignant. ‘We all have training after our first transformation.’

  ‘Perhaps you should keep up your practise with Sket or the Kelshans.’

  Shivan had stopped and Tika turned back to him.

  ‘And what about you,’ he demanded. ‘You’re rarely without that sword of yours but I’ve not heard that you practise much.’

  Tika gave him a look he couldn’t decipher. ‘When I need to use it, I seem to manage.’

  In the next few days Tika’s condition improved greatly. She was still far too thin but no longer skeletal. The burn had finally formed a scab which had not broken open for a full day. Farn had stayed within the village most of this time and between him and Tika, Shivan’s ability to mind speak advanced rapidly.

  After supper one evening, Tika said she intended to travel on to Karmazen the next day. She felt the time had come to confer with Corman and Chindar, and to try to decide their next move. Gossamer Tewk scowled and Konya didn’t look much happier. Tika quelled the urge to laugh.

  ‘If you’re prepared to risk riding through the sky for two days, you can come with the Dragons rather than use a gateway,’ she suggested, half in jest.

  Gossamer didn’t stop to think. Those gateways were the epitome of torture in her opinion. Konya agreed, nearly as quickly. Dog announced firmly that she would travel with Tika, and one of the Kelshans, Corim, said that was his choice also.

  ‘Shivan can open a gateway for everyone else then and we’ll meet at the Palace.’

  Shea tugged Tika’s arm as they headed for their rooms. ‘I’m coming with you of course.’

  ‘And Kerris?’

  Shea smiled. She had begun to get to know her sister these last few days. ‘She’s staying here.’

  After farewells had been made and thanks given to The Bear and Emas, Gossamer Tewk and Dog climbed onto Kija’s great back, their faces set in determination. Shea had already ridden Storm and she scrambled onto his back with ease. Konya and Corim were to be Brin’s riders and Farn of course carried Sket and Tika.

  Shivan watched, with all the villagers, as the four Dragons lifted into the early morning sky, circled once, and then flew steadily to the south. Shivan sighed, wishing he was with them, and opened a gateway to take everyone else to the Palace courtyard in Karmazen.

  Sergeant Essa, returning to her duties, soon found accommodation within the town to suit Snail and Drengle List. Drengle had a tremendous admiration for the huge woman, until she offered to teach him basic knife skills. She had been bemused by his horrified reaction and rapid retreat to his chosen bedroom.

  Snail tactfully explained a few things about Drengle’s timid and sensitive nature and Essa never mentioned weapons in his hearing again. Drengle was comforted after this upset by discovering that there were ghosts in this Realm too. Snail could see them while Essa saw nothing at all. Snail was delighted with the house and workshop Essa had found. There was a spacious yard at the rear where she could grow plants and stand vats for dyes. There were four bedrooms, a large kitchen and bathing room, and the neighbours were friendly and helpful. She couldn’t wish for more.

  Corman had seemed glad to welcome them back and they noticed, stepping from the roof terrace into Lerran’s great chamber, a delicate perfume of flowers. Tika saw pots, large and small scattered all around the room, filled with tiny perfect blooms of white, blue and palest lemon, rising from their beds of dark soil. Maids brought food and drink and Corman studied Tika carefully. He was more alarmed than he allowed to show, seeing the obvious punishment her body had endured during her descent into the Dark.

  Shield Master Garrol was present with Sword Master Favrian; neither seemed surprised by the presence of the engineer Dog, in her battered helmet, or of the Kelshan guard still in his green uniform. By the time only Tika and Sket were left with the Dark Lords, Tika had eaten most of the pastries on the nearest two plates. Corman thoughtfully passed over another dish and sat across from her.

  ‘Daylith reported what he’d witnessed. Cyrek told us more of course, but you gave us some concern my dear.’

  ‘She didn’t concern us,’ Sket put in. ‘She terrified us.’

  Corman met Sket’s belligerent stare and inclined his head. ‘If it comforts you Sket, I was terrified for her too,’ he said softly.

  Sket subsided although he remained watchful. Corman returned his attention to Tika.

  ‘Have you any recollection of how you went into the Dark? We deliberately told you nothing specific of such a descent, and I would never accept that anyone could descend accidentally.’

  Tika found Favrian holding yet another plate of fruit covered tarts under her nose and took the plate with a smile of thanks. She licked her fingers and contemplated the choice before her.

  ‘I’ve thought of little else,’ she admitted. ‘I am sure the Crazed One was within a breath of dragging me into his Kingdom again, when something else grabbed me, and pulled me into the Dark. Pulled,’ she emphasised. ‘I was definitely not pushed.’

  Corman steepled his fingers and tapped his lips.

  ‘And who, or what, pulled you?’ He was genuinely puzzled.

  Tika swallowed another mouthful. ‘Lord Dabray,’ she said, a little indistinctly.

  Corman had half risen from his chair at her words but sank back, his eyes wide with surprise. Dabray indeed! Now why, why would Lord Dabray have pulled this girl into the Dark? And what in the name of Mother Dark was Dabray doing there himself? Oh Chindar, he thought, we have puzzle mounting upon puzzle.

  ‘Are you sure it was Lord Dabray?’ he asked when he was certain his voice would be steady. ‘There can be much deception in the Dark.’

  Tika sat back in her chair, replete. ‘I’m quite sure,’ she replied. She had to make a conscious effort to keep her hand away from where the inner pocket of her shirt held Dabray’s pearly scale resting with Seela’s.

  Shield Master Garrol felt the pressure of the ensuing silence and got to his feet.

  ‘I don’t think you need me,’ he said. ‘I would like to test out your guards Lady Tika.’ His blue eyes twinkled in his serious face. ‘And I meant to ask you about uniforms too – do you want them all in our black?’

  ‘No,’ Tika said quickly. ‘Blue, if it is possible.’

  ‘The insignia?’

  She thought of Gan in his blue uniform with the golden stylised flower above his heart.

  ‘A Dragon,’ she said. ‘A silver Dragon.’

  Garrol’s left thumb touched his brow, his lips, his chest, then his hand swept out towards her. All merriment had gone from his eyes.

  ‘As you command, so shall it be.’

  He turned and marched briskly from the chamber.

  Tika missed the startled exchange of glances between Corman and Favrian. She was aware of something shifting within her when Garrol had
spoken those last words, of an inevitability about them. She blinked and caught Corman’s searching stare. She mustered a smile.

  ‘I’ll go and see my friends, if you don’t mind. There’ll be time for discussion with you and Chindar later, I’m sure.’

  Corman also got to his feet. ‘Chindar intended to be here to greet you but he was busy with Coby.’

  Tika started to shrug then remembered her burnt chest and stopped. ‘I’ll be here after supper then. I’d like to go down to the sea shore this afternoon.’ She headed for the door, Sket beside her, but paused. ‘Do you mind if Shivan continues to be a member of my party?’

  Both Corman and Favrian frowned. ‘I see no reason why not,’ Corman replied. ‘But you should ask his father. Shivan is not yet thirty, he is not an adult in our terms.’

  Tika nodded casually and walked on. They were on the third wide sweep of stairs before Sket spoke, and then he did so very quietly.

  ‘When you mentioned Dabray,’ he said. ‘Did you notice the hush? Felt as though the walls were bending in to listen. Creepy.’

  Tika flashed a grin up at him. ‘But they were.’

  Sket mulled that over as they continued downwards. Tika ignored the corridor leading outside, turning to the right instead. The narrower passage led to yet more stairs and she trotted down them.

  ‘We going anywhere in particular?’

  ‘To visit Lord Dabray.’

  ‘Oh. Right. Silly question really.’

  Sket judged they had dropped below ground about the same sort of distance as the Karmazen Palace rose upwards.

  ‘Always stars cursed tunnels and caves,’ he muttered.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  The passage suddenly widened ahead of them, light glowing evenly from an unseen source. At the end of the passage a towering arch loomed over darkness. When they reached the arch, Tika stopped.

  ‘You can wait here if you’d rather.’

  ‘Nah. I’m with you.’

  Tika led the way into the gloom, one hand on the curving wall. After twenty paces or so the darkness began to brighten to a pale grey luminescence. She stopped again, Sket slightly behind her. She heard his indrawn hiss of breath when he saw the enormous Dragon embedded in the rock wall. She reached back to press her hand against his chest, indicating he should stay still, just as the great eye flickered open. Tika went closer.

  ‘I thank you for saving me in the Dark, Lord Dabray.’ Her voice was clear in the muffling emptiness of the huge cavern. ‘I am in your debt, as I am in your wife’s.’

  A sigh gusted through the air. ‘There is no debt child.’

  Tika waited but apparently Dabray had nothing further to say on that subject.

  ‘Why were you there, at that time?’

  Another sigh. ‘I seek my wife.’

  Tika bit her lip, realising she should have guessed that was the likely reason.

  The eyelid drooped then lifted again. ‘Both Lerran and I have worried that our people have drifted into a state of – stillness. Not quite the stagnation you spoke of. They all seem to be merely enduring, existing, but not living now.’

  Tika settled cross legged on the floor in front of Dabray as he continued.

  ‘They drift through their days. They research the past more than speculate on the future. They endure.’

  ‘Shivan has a great curiosity.’ Tika felt interest welling in the atmosphere around Dabray’s frozen form.

  ‘I’ve been aware of that since his birth. Lerran had great hopes for Shivan. But of late, the constant reprimands of his elders has shadowed the boy’s spirit.’

  ‘He’s asked to travel with us,’ said Tika. ‘And he can use mind speech. He has yet to fully trust me I think, but I do believe he knows more than any such as Corman. I promised not to tell – about the mind speech.’

  A dry rasping laugh came from Dabray. ‘You’ve just told me. I could inform every Dark One in the Realm.’

  ‘But you won’t.’ Tika said with conviction.

  ‘No, I won’t. And he will travel with you.’ There was a long pause. ‘I will beg Mother Dark to encourage Shivan to return to us one day, and reignite the curiosity of his people.’

  ‘Have you any suggestion about what I should do now? Where I should go?’

  ‘You have spoken of the Drogoyan lands. I believe you should follow your instinct. Beyond that, I can offer no help.’

  Tika climbed to her feet. ‘Why do you not speak to others – Corman or Favrian? You must be so lonely. I know you can see and hear everything that goes on in this Palace, but it isn’t the same as talking face to face with someone, is it?’

  Dabray’s reply was the sound of dry leaves stirred by a faint wind. ‘I wish only to speak with Lerran.’

  Impulsively, Tika moved closer, her hand stretching up to touch the half exposed face above her.

  ‘You found me in the Dark. How can you not find her?’

  Did the stone move beneath her hand, as if a breath had expanded the cheek?

  ‘She is too deep. Far too deep.’

  The eyelid fluttered closed and Tika knew that Dabray would not speak more, at the moment at least. She leaned against the Dragon in the wall, feeling a chill strike through from the stone as the grey light began to fade. Sket touched her arm, and they left, making their way round the curved entrance to the archway. The yellow glow of the corridor stretched ahead. Their footfalls were muted and they walked to the stairs unspeaking. It was Sket who spoke first.

  ‘How long has the poor beast been like that Tika?’

  Her eyes were green pools of grief when she turned her face up to him. ‘I don’t know Sket, but for hundreds of years I fear.’

  Sket nodded, slipping a hand under her elbow to help her up the steps. ‘It felt like that to me,’ he agreed. ‘It’s a wonder he’s not mad. Stuck in the stone like that. I couldn’t have borne such a fate.’

  They climbed on until they reached the hall they recognised and turned to the corridor which would take them towards the barracks.

  ‘I believe Shivan should speak with Dabray,’ Tika said, lifting her face to the sun as they stepped outside. ‘I will take him with me, next time I visit.’

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  When Tika visited the First Daughter’s bedchamber in the early evening, Akomi was ecstatic. Judging by Khosa’s look of contempt, his delirious squirming and soft wails were a disgraceful display of emotion in her opinion. When Tika was at last able to take the chair beside the bed, Khosa slid from Lerran’s pillow, swatted Akomi briskly across his ears, and bumped her face against Tika’s.

  ‘I know you have been in trouble.’ Khosa’s familiar mind voice spoke in Tika’s head. ‘But I have to stay here, until she rises. I don’t know why exactly. It has something to do with Namolos, and repairing the dreadful mistakes he’s made.’

  Turquoise eyes stared up into Tika’s face. She leaned forward and dropped a kiss on the tiny nose.

  ‘I know, but I leave soon, for Ren’s land of Drogoya.’

  Khosa anxiously kneaded her front paws into Tika’s arm, clearly torn.

  ‘I would prefer you to stay with the First Daughter,’ murmured Tika. ‘She will need your comfort for a long while yet. And I will be glad to know she has such a friend of mine close to her.’

  Khosa backed carefully away to curl once more beside the First Daughter’s head.

  Tika looked at Lerran’s face for the first time since she’d come into the room. Tusks still protruded from the elongated lower jaw, but the cheekbones were even, no longer asymmetrical. Paper thin lids covered her eyes, traced with the faintest veins. Thick white hair was spread over the pillow but it wasn’t tangled: someone had brushed it smooth. But she was still gaunt. How were they feeding her, Tika wondered hopelessly? Surely liquid might be got into her but Lerran needed solid food as she herself had.

  The First Daughter’s arms lay unmoving above the covers. They looked straight now, the bones as they should be rath
er than twisted out of a natural shape, but so thin Tika could see veins and sinews clearly defined. The hands were relaxed, long fingered but oh so fragile. After her own recent experience, Tika made no effort to reach out with her senses. She admitted to herself that the thought of repeating that fall into the Dark filled her with fear. She looked again at Lerran’s face, strangely peaceful, and wished she had been able to meet this woman sooner, to talk to her and perhaps learn from her.

  Tika gave Akomi a final cuddle, put him on the bed and moved to the door. She nodded at the two healers who smiled in return, and only then noted Peshan’s presence. He came with her into the passageway.

  ‘Shivan tells me you would take him with your companions when you travel from here.’ He spoke quietly, as if afraid too loud a voice might disturb his unconscious sister.

  Tika nodded. Peshan bent lower, his face close to hers.

  ‘His mother and I love Shivan, but we know it must be as Lerran foretold long ago. He must either leave the Realm, at least for a time, or the Realm will destroy him. These things have only been spoken of within the family, you understand.’

  Tika nodded and entered the great chamber. A buzz of conversation greeted her. She saw many more Dark Ones gathered than she’d yet seen in the whole Palace. Consequently she recognised very few of the faces that turned in her direction as she passed on her way to join Konya and Sket near the open arch to the roof terrace. Favrian smiled when she drew level with him.

  ‘Did you visit the shore?’

  ‘Oh yes. Storm loves it of course, but the others like to paddle about at the edge too.’

  Favrian appeared rather nonplussed by the comment and Tika wondered if he even realised that Storm was a Sea Dragon. Favrian was distracted by the two golden eyed women with whom he’d been speaking and Tika continued through the crowd. Shivan emerged from the press, his eyes brighter than she’d seen them. He gave her a grateful smile.

  ‘Father told me I am free to travel with you,’ he told her in obvious delight.

  ‘Good. But you do remember our bargain?’