Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series

by E. M. Sinclair

  ‘Of course I do. By the way, Sket is very good with a sword, isn’t he? I’m not surprised you chose him for your personal guard.’

  Tika laughed aloud. ‘I didn’t exactly choose him. He appointed himself.’

  Tika found herself introduced to so many people, whose names she forgot the moment she was moved on to the next person. She had thought that Chindar and Corman intended a fairly small gathering to discuss their next move to defend against the Splintered Kingdom, if not its total destruction. Sket stayed close throughout, sharing her suspicion of this unexpected crowd.

  At last Chindar stepped up onto the raised dais by the great fireplace and people grew silent as they turned towards him.

  ‘The First Daughter is obviously unable to advise us at present,’ he began. ‘Therefore the senior council have met in her name, and it is our decision to send the Lady Tika back to her lands across the sea.’

  Tika’s hand found Sket’s and gripped it, hard, as anger began to build within her. Firstly, she had not heard of any senior council. Secondly, she would not be “sent” anywhere on that council’s whimsical decision. A Dark Lord, one Tika did actually recognise as being a regular attendant on Lerran, raised a casual hand.

  ‘You have consulted Lord Dabray on this of course?’

  For a fraction of a breath, annoyance flew across Chindar’s face. ‘As we all know, sadly, Lord Dabray is beyond speech, and has been for many years now.’

  Tika missed Chindar’s next words, her eyes searching the crowd until she found Corman. ‘What is this?’ She sent the thought, narrowly focused, to Corman alone.

  His dull gold eyes searched the crowd in turn, until he met her gaze. ‘I do not know.’

  He flinched visibly as Tika tore into his mind to see if he lied. She withdrew, concentrating again on Lord Chindar. She felt Sket squeezing her hand and knew he thought she should speak. Stepping clear of him, she gathered her power tightly around her, both as shield and as weapon. She was vaguely aware that of all in this room, only Shivan realised what she was doing.

  Chindar appeared surprised that she obviously intended to speak, but gave a gracious nod. Tika’s skin prickled as so many pairs of gold eyes fastened upon her.

  ‘Whatever decision your council has taken, does not concern me, Lord Chindar.’ Her voice was clear and even. ‘I go where I choose. No one “sends” me anywhere. I expected a discussion tonight, not that you might presume to give me orders.’

  Whispers rustled through the gathering. Chindar remained calm but Tika could sense his rage – and something else.

  ‘You are in my Realm. I can send you where I will.’

  Tika smiled. ‘Your Realm, Lord Chindar? I thought this Realm belongs to Mother Dark. And I don’t believe you can send me anywhere.’

  She felt Sket close up to her right shoulder and out of the corner of her eye she saw Shivan moving quietly through the throng to her left. Chindar raised a hand, fingers upright and the edge of his hand facing her. He snapped his hand closed and Tika felt a surging pull against her shield. It took surprisingly little effort to resist the tug of an opening gateway through which Chindar had attempted to force her.

  His expression of astonishment would have been amusing had not the air in the room become suddenly thick and heavy. There was a creaking, cracking noise and the walls appeared to bow inward. The floor quivered, causing many to clutch at their neighbours to retain their footing. Chindar’s anger showed now as he glared down at Tika.

  ‘What evil magic have you loosed?’ he snarled, and faces turned again to her in consternation.

  Tika folded her arms and shook her head but before she could speak, someone else did. A dry, rasping voice breathed through the great chamber.

  ‘I have not yet ceased to speak Chindar. I have chosen not to speak. Perhaps I have allowed my sorrow to consume me too far, but I cannot ignore what you attempt now. You will never speak on my behalf, or Lerran’s while one of us can still speak for ourselves. I offer you a choice.’

  ‘No!’ Chindar interrupted, staring wildly round at the stone walls of the chamber. ‘You cannot force me to any choice. I am in the half death. Only full death awaits.’ He put his fists on his hips in a defiant gesture. ‘You are nothing Dabray, nothing more than a pitiful ghost, lurking round the Palace.’

  Horror slowly spread over his expression. ‘You cannot!’

  There came a grinding sound, as of stone settling after a small earth tremor, and Chindar vanished. Tika could not suppress a shudder, but glancing round, she saw that none present realised what had befallen Chindar. Favrian drew his sword, the black blood metal drinking in the light of the countless lamps. He began to walk towards her but a gasp arose as Shield Master Garrol stepped in front of Tika. Favrian halted.

  ‘What is this, Shield Master? You defend an enemy of the Dark?’

  ‘No, Sword Master.’ Garrol unhooked the round black shield at his back and held it ready. ‘I defend someone the First Daughter has suffered for. The First Daughter believed this young woman and her Dragons to be of such worth to our Realm and to the wider world, that she was prepared to risk all. I too will risk all to defend both the First Daughter and Lady Tika.’

  Time seemed to freeze while thoughts and arguments raced through the minds of all in the room, interrupted by a cry from the door which led to the First Daughter’s bed chamber. Peshan seemed unaware of the tension, of the Sword Master, weapon drawn, threatening the Shield Master. Tika’s heart lurched as she saw Khosa racing between the numerous legs. She knelt, catching her as she hurtled into Tika’s arms. Tears poured down Tika’s face even as they flooded Peshan’s cheeks.

  ‘She’s nearly awake!’ he cried. ‘Lerran is nearly back!’

  In the ensuing uproar, Farn pushed his way into the great chamber, seeking Tika. Kija, Brin and Storm followed, which had the effect of emptying the room considerably of many of the Dark Ones. Corman had nearly run to Peshan, going with him to see Lerran for himself. Favrian nicked his thumb with his blade and resheathed his sword. Garrol lowered his shield. Favrian looked at the young woman clutching a small cat while her tears soaked the orange fur.

  ‘What happened to Chindar?’ he asked.

  Green eyes surrounded with silver, looked up into Favrian’s stern face.

  ‘Dabray pulled him into the Dark,’ she told him quietly. ‘Completely.’

  Favrian blanched. ‘Completely?’ he echoed. ‘Body and soul?’

  Tika nodded and Favrian found himself unceremoniously pushed aside as Farn reached his soul bond. Akomi too, came towards her, in fitful stops and starts, until he reached the safety of her lap. He blinked up at her as he set about washing Khosa’s ears.

  ‘It can be dangerous, among so many feet,’ he said to Tika’s mind.

  She laughed and rubbed her shirt sleeve across her eyes.

  ‘I’m sure it can. But you are my brave Akomi.’

  The purring croon grew louder as the old cat settled to his washing. Farn lowered his head over her shoulder, his body curved round Tika and the two cats. His eyes whirred a pearly sapphire when he spoke to Garrol’s mind.

  ‘You have my thanks for defending my Tika,’ he said. ‘I will repay you whenever you have need of me.’

  Garrol regarded the silver blue Dragon solemnly, then he laughed. ‘You could have protected her yourself I’m quite sure. Couldn’t you have fired this room to ash?’

  Farn’s eyes flashed but Tika gave Garrol a reproving glare. ‘Please don’t give him ideas, Shield Master.’

  Garrol touched his thumb to his brow, lips, and heart. ‘I must see the First Daughter. If what Peshan says is true, and she is nearly home, it must be by some working of Mother Dark Herself.’ He hurried away with Sword Master Favrian following more slowly.

  Shivan knelt beside Farn and met Tika’s eyes. She sighed.

  ‘I know. Dabray’s strength must be vast. But I haven’t felt him, since he cast Chindar down.’

  ‘I’ve never heard of anyone resi
sting a gateway.’ He bent closer and lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘Chindar said the senior council had decided where you were to go. I’ve never heard of such a council.’

  Tika nodded thoughtfully. ‘And if there is indeed a council, that implies that Chindar was not acting alone. So who else has conspired with him?’

  Shivan chewed the side of his thumb. Tika’d noticed he did that often when deep in thought. She slapped his hand lightly. He looked startled then blushed.

  ‘Sorry. I do try not to. But I didn’t notice anyone else in here actually look as if they knew what Chindar was talking about.’

  ‘On the other hand,’ Tika retorted. ‘No one looked surprised or questioning when he spoke of this senior council.’

  They both looked up as Farn shifted slightly. Lord Corman approached, almost hesitantly. Tika passed a snoring Akomi to Konya and got to her feet. Khosa trotted back towards Lerran’s room, her tail fluffed upright. Corman halted. He seemed lost for words. Tika knew, from her quick search of his thoughts, that he was not party to whatever Chindar had planned.

  ‘How is the First Daughter?’ She spoke first.

  ‘She is very near the surface. It may still take some days for her to wake, but not the seasons we had feared.’

  ‘And is she - ’ Tika couldn’t bring herself to speak of Lerran’s altered appearance but Corman understood.

  ‘There is improvement,’ he replied carefully, and Tika did not press him.

  She moved away from the Dragons a little, nearer to Lord Corman.

  ‘Who else would join with Chindar? Was his comment about his “senior council” simply a lie to make people think other Dark Ones supported him, when really he was acting alone?’

  ‘I believe there are others.’

  ‘And will you be able to scent them out?’

  Corman looked worried now, his usual bland mask stripped away. ‘Those I trust will help with that. Meanwhile Garrol and Favrian will increase the guards immediately around the First Daughter.’

  Tika turned to face him. ‘You trusted Chindar I think.’

  Corman sank into a chair. ‘I have known him nearly two thousand years,’ he whispered.

  Tika put a hand on the Dark Lord’s shoulder. ‘I felt something when he spoke. Not the Crazed One, but I cannot be absolutely sure of that. But it wasn’t wholly Chindar.’

  ‘You think Chindar could have been touched by something from the Splintered Kingdom?’ Corman shook his head vigorously. ‘Chindar was in the half death. While restricting our ability to actively participate in action against the Crazed One, our condition confers some immunity from his wiles.’

  ‘Then maybe Chindar saw some advantage in joining with him, or appearing to do so? Perhaps he thought himself so superior, the Crazed One would become his tool rather than the other way about?’

  They fell silent, both deep in thought.

  ‘When I returned this morning, you met me. You said you’d expected Chindar to be present, but he was busy.’

  Corman met her eyes. ‘With Coby,’ he agreed, rubbing his forehead. ‘I’ll go and see her now.’

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ Tika said at once, and Sket was at her side in an instant.

  Corman strode through the corridors, Tika and Sket almost trotting to keep pace. They passed guards and Tika realised Garrol’s instructions were already being implemented. When Corman halted at a plain, dark wood door, he hesitated briefly before he rapped on it. They waited. Corman rapped again. Tika extended her senses: the room was empty. Corman had already turned the handle and pushed open the door.

  Two lamps still burned, high above the fireplace illuminating the chaos in the room. Chairs overturned, papers scattered across the floor, books wrenched from shelves and flung, to land broken spined upon the papers. Tika and Sket stood on the threshold staring at the devastation within, but Corman hurried through to the smaller rooms – Coby’s bedroom, kitchen and bathing room. Tika followed when she heard his cry of dismay. She and Sket found themselves in an equally tumbled bedroom where Corman stood beside a long open window, staring down. He turned a stricken fact to Tika.

  ‘I’ll send guards but I’m sure she’s down there. It’s too dark for me to be sure.’

  Again Tika extended her senses and found Coby’s body sprawled across rocks far below. She leaned out over the broad sill. Coby’s room was on the eastern side of the Palace, where the black stone walls buried their feet in the rock of the higher shore. Tika intensified her focus, taking every scrap of starlight to enhance her vision.

  Coby lay on her back, the sleeves of her gown ripped, her arms flung above her head. Tika saw wounds on the woman’s arms, suggesting she had tried to defend herself against blows to her body and head. Tika could see a wide black line across Coby’s throat, deep enough to be the reason the head fell back at too awkward an angle. Tika pushed herself back into the bedroom then paused, leaning out once more.

  ‘What? What is it?’ Corman asked, catching her sudden tension.

  Tika spun towards Sket. ‘Get the engineers. I’ll meet you down there.’

  ‘But what have you seen?’ Corman hurried after the already running pair.

  ‘There’s a fragment down there,’ Tika called back over her shoulder. ‘Same as I felt in Kelshan.’

  Corman stopped, staring along the now empty passage. Oh Mother Dark have mercy, he thought with desperation. He stretched his hand out to touch the stone of the wall, grey blue, veined with black in this part of the Palace. He spread his fingers, pressing as if he could penetrate the stone. Corman closed his eyes and leaned his forehead on the back of his hand. Dabray, if you can hear me, help us now. He straightened. Was it his imagination, wishful thinking, or had the wall quivered beneath his palm?

  He swore and began to run again. He wanted the whole section of the Palace which contained the First Daughter’s rooms and the First Daughter herself, ringed with guards. And the young woman, Tika, who’d gone racing off with just her personal guard – he wanted men around her, too. Corman skidded round a corner and crashed into Treska. Corman explained the situation quickly and sent Treska running back towards Lerran’s bed chamber while he continued to rush down the stairs. Already he heard with relief booted feet marching through the lower halls and orders being called, urgency in the voices.

  Tika, running beside Sket, had mind spoken the Dragons, asking them to meet her on the shore at a distance from the Palace walls. Hurrying along the corridor leading to the exercise yards, they met the three Kelshans, the engineers, Shea and Konya. They trotted behind Tika and she told them what she suspected they might face. Bursting into the open air, Tika slid to a stop. Sergeant Essa stood there, a looming figure at the head of about forty guards. She grinned.

  ‘Shield Master ordered two squads to stay with you. Where are we going?’

  Tika grinned back. ‘Down to the shore. Do you know a quicker way than through all the gardens?’

  Essa nodded and began to stride ahead. Shivan joined them as they all followed Essa into a narrow alley, wide enough only for single file. Tika lost all sense of direction as the alley twisted and turned, but gradually the salty tang in the air told her they were indeed nearing the seashore. At last they came out onto broad slabs of black rock, still well above the highest reach of the water. As they did so, light burst out above them, and Tika realised someone had ordered torches lit all along the line of lowest windows still far above their heads. It gave some illumination to the ground below – well, it was an improvement on just starlight at least, Tika thought.

  A Dragon called, and Tika recognised Storm’s voice. She knew Brin and Kija were circling at about the height of the Palace roof, while Farn landed with a flurry of wings, ahead, where the rocks gave way to black sand. Tika was aware of Essa’s voice, ordering her squads to move in a semicircle, with Tika at the centre of that formation. She saw many more guards moving towards them from the distant end of the Karmazen Palace, some walking on the sand, some, more cautiously, climb
ing over the rocks. Tika turned, knowing Shivan was close behind her.

  ‘Focus your mind,’ she told him. ‘Like this.’ She sent a picture of lights and threads that were a pattern within her own brain, and he nodded, grasping her meaning at once. ‘You look down here. I’ll go above, with Farn.’

  She ran, surefooted over the tilted slabs, Sket at her heels, and climbed onto Farn’s back. He was lifting into the air as Sket settled himself securely behind Tika.

  ‘This is what we seek.’ Tika projected the strange, unformed blackness to all the Dragon minds, and felt them move closer to her, and lower.

  As Farn flew over the heads of the guards, Tika called to Essa.

  ‘Guard Shivan as you were ordered to guard me.’

  Essa raised a hand in salute and called to the squads under her command.

  ‘I feel it too.’ Farn’s mind voice spoke to both Tika and Sket.

  Sket had long been accustomed to this method of communication; Farn and Tika widening their minds to include his.

  ‘But where?’ Sket asked aloud. ‘I can’t make out anything, except that poor lady.’

  Tika was crouched low, staring over Farn’s shoulder. ‘It isn’t one,’ she said in alarm. ‘There are several of them now.’

  At the same moment Kija called to her mind. ‘They leave a trail – see!’

  Tika readjusted her vision to see what it was that Kija had observed and found silvery grey trails leading in a spreading pattern from the place where Coby’s body lay. She sent the picture on to Shivan’s mind and urged Farn faster.

  ‘We are too close to the walls,’ he remarked mildly.

  Tika glanced up in time to realise Farn’s left wing tip was indeed barely a handspan from the Palace wall.

  ‘Can you go up higher, and just keep us over the line of this wall?’

  ‘Of course.’ Farn sounded indignant and shot, unnecessarily sharply, higher into the air.

  ‘I think I’m used to this flying business and then you have to make him do something like that,’ Sket grumbled to Tika’s back.

  She scarcely heard, trying to concentrate on the mysterious trails she could see. They seemed to flare briefly, vanish, and reappear several paces distant, and it seemed impossible to predict which direction they would take. Tika watched for long precious moments. Then she cursed. The guards below were unwittingly driving the things towards the Palace, and at the same time there was apparent confusion – the silvery trails tangling and moving aimlessly. She fixed on one faint track, ignoring those around it, and swore again.