Vagrants: Book 2 Circles of Light series

by E. M. Sinclair

  Tika had tried to offer him comfort but until she persuaded him to talk with Fenj and Lorak, there were a few days when she feared for Farn’s very sanity. Fenj warned Tika that Farn’s mind was fragile. From witnessing Krea’s murder in his earliest days, followed by the violent and bloody battles with Shardi and Cansharsi, Fenj was afraid that such things would always disturb the silver blue Dragon’s mind.

  Lorak supplied her with a wallet of herbs and instructions on how to administer them should the need arise if Farn suffered further shocks. Tika guessed that Gan had also spoken with Fenj and was aware of Farn’s possible limitations. Brin was always able to rouse Farn at least a little. His tales of distant lands and strange animals and people, drew Farn like a trailing thread drew Khosa’s children.

  Now, Rhaki’s rooms had been emptied and barred and Kija told Tika that Farn was able to travel, although he could not carry his soul bond as yet. The Snow Dragon, Ulla, had suggested she carry Tika. At the surprise everyone expressed at her offer, she explained that she had a wish to see where the Golden Lady dwelt. Brin would carry Drak and Kran, Kija would take Gan and Sket.

  As they made their final plans one evening, there was a bustle and a stir from the archway linking the stronghold with the Domain of Asat. The Dragons turned to observe, as did everyone else. Discipline Senior Kera’s tall figure strode into the hall, Senior Malesh beside her. She stopped and stared at the three massive Dragons and the four smaller ones before her, then a wide grin of delight spread over her face.

  ‘My dears, I bring messages from Emla, and I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to meet you all at last!’

  There were supplies on their way through from the Domain, Kera explained and she had met Nolli and Berri. She was eventually dragged off by Dessi to choose chambers in the upper levels and Malesh then explained many details Kera had left out. About the divisions among the Gathered Seniors, for instance.

  ‘I have noticed two legs need things explained frequently and simply before they manage to understand.’ Khosa remarked from Tika’s lap.

  Malesh laughed. ‘We had an odd message by way of a Merig, Gan. Emla wondered whether to send more Kephis or not.’

  Khosa’s eyes blazed furiously and she spat in a most unqueenly manner.

  ‘I think Khosa expresses her agreement with my view that there are sufficient Kephis here at present,’ Gan said, with feeling.

  Kera rejoined them, saying she had found a set of chambers that would suit Malesh and herself on the highest level. They would be ideal as workroom and living quarters.

  They sat on in the hall, talking long into the evening, Kera’s eyes rarely moving from golden Kija. When finally Tika’s yawns proved too infectious, Kera and Malesh rose as everyone prepared for rest. Kera approached Kija quietly where she half reclined along the sidewall. Kera was taller even than Gan and her face was level with the long delicate Dragon face.

  ‘I know you begin a hard journey tomorrow, beautiful one, but may I spend some time learning to know you a little before you must go?’

  Kija’s eyes whirred, their facets rainbow shimmers as she studied the tall figure.

  ‘I think so. You have things I would know of in your mind. Sleep is of no urgency to me. Yes. I will speak with you.’

  Thus Discipline Senior Kera of the People of Gaharn became the close friend of the golden She Dragon Kija of the Broken Mountain Treasury, learning more of the customs and ways of the Dragon Kin in that one long night than any before her.

  Chapter Eight

  Ryla and Emla had extracted a bare handful of references to circles from Khalim’s papers. Ryla was working on badly damaged scraps relating stories humans had told the first People. When the People arrived on this world, several of the younger ones had explored the lands to the west, as far as the Salt Sea. They had noted plants, animals, human settlements, and occasionally odd fragments of tales they’d heard in their travels.

  To Ryla’s fury, it appeared no one had collected any of this information into a coherent form. Clearly, most of the People had been concerned with the building of Gaharn and cultivating the land around their city.

  ‘Perhaps they were all just too busy,’ suggested Emla.

  ‘Nonsense,’ Ryla snapped. ‘There is always one who takes an interest in oddities and strange facts.’

  ‘If that is so, where is such a report? I know the sort of mind you mean, and such people make notes of everything. They usually keep them neat and safe too. Which again begs the question – where are those notes?’

  Ryla scowled as she shuffled more papers around the table. ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Jerak. He wouldn’t have destroyed anything of that nature, would he?’ Emla asked, suddenly fearful of Ryla’s answer.

  Ryla sighed. ‘No of course not, child. You would not know, but Jerak strongly opposed the Seniors of the previous generation’s decision to censor the knowledge we had access to. But he was constrained by the continuing decision of the majority of the Gathering to keep silent on many such things. Are you listening to me?’

  ‘No. I’m sorry.’ Emla’s face shone with excitement. ‘A Dragon bespoke me Ryla. She says her name is Kadi and she will be here before nightfall.’

  Ryla stared at her. ‘Truly? Here? Oh Emla, let me be taken downstairs that I may meet her. Please Emla, let’s be ready to welcome her properly.’

  Emla laughed affectionately at the ancient Senior’s eager anticipation. She glanced at the window where faint sunlight was still reflecting from the snow-covered gardens.

  ‘Let me get the hall really warm for you, then I promise I will have you brought down.’

  She pulled the bell cord by the fireplace and Shan soon appeared. ‘My Lady?’

  ‘Make sure the fire in the hall is blazing well, Shan. Lady Ryla will need two men to carry her down there in a while.’

  Shan looked surprised. Emla grinned.

  ‘A Dragon is on her way to us Shan! She is called Kadi.’

  Shan beamed. ‘Really? Oh it will be good to see a Dragon again, my lady. It’s odd, isn’t it, how you seem to miss them?’

  ‘Yes Shan, it is indeed.’ Emla laughed.

  Ryla fussed until two menservants arrived in the library and lifted her, chair and all, and bore her down to the hall. She was placed beside the fire and Shan bustled with extra quilts and pillows until Ryla was beside herself with rage. Emla arrived with some spice tea as Ryla was firmly refusing to be shielded with a screen – to save her from the draughts from the already half-opened doors, as Shan explained.

  ‘It’s all right Shan. Let her see this Dragon come in, and put the screen around her later if there is need.’ Emla said softly. ‘Leave her some dignity, my dear.’

  Shan’s round blue eyes widened and she bit her lip. Surprisingly, she bent and kissed Ryla’s pale thin cheek, and murmured: ‘Sorry my lady.’

  Word had spread through the household and an amazing number of staff found they had some cause to be in or near the hall as a melodious call sounded from the gardens. There was a great flurry of wings and a long pale blue face peered in through the doors. It was rapidly withdrawn and replaced by a larger, much darker, blue face. Servants hurried to hold the doors wide and the great midnight blue Kadi advanced a short way into the hall before rearing erect in formal greeting.

  ‘May the stars guide your path, Lady. I am Kadi of the Broken Mountain Treasury, and I give you greeting.’

  Before Emla could move, three smaller Dragons crept inside the doorway. Kadi lowered herself and her eyes flashed.

  ‘These are Kija’s three other hatchlings Lady, and mischief could be the name for each.’

  Ryla’s rich laugh rang out and she clapped her hands.

  ‘Oh my dear, it is such a joy to greet you. I am Ryla, and too old to get to my feet to give you proper greeting.’

  Kadi looked at the painfully thin creature, tall even sitting in the chair and bowed her head gracefully.

  ‘May the stars guide your path Lady. Kija’
s children will make their greeting, then I think they should rest,’ she said hopefully. ‘Ikram, second son of Kija.’

  The silvery blue male was identical to Farn as he stretched up in the formal greeting. He lowered himself, moved slightly to one side and sat down.

  A dreadful scream alarmed everyone and Ikram leapt to his feet, eyes whirring in panic. As he rose, a half-grown Kephi shot beneath a wooden chest. An irate face peeped out as a series of wailing howls continued to pierce eardrums. Ikram looked wildly from the Kephi to the Golden Lady to Kadi.

  ‘I am most sorry Lady,’ he stuttered. ‘Of course, I would not have sat on it had I known it was there. I meant it no harm!’

  Emla felt Kadi’s wrath rising and intervened quickly. ‘Certainly you would not Ikram. And clearly the Kephi is unharmed.’

  Ikram calmed himself but remained standing.

  ‘This is Shar, first daughter of Kija.’

  The larger green blue female gave formal greeting, her mind tone gentle and polite.

  ‘And this is Nya, second daughter of Kija.’

  The smallest of the three, a blue that was nearly mauve, greeted the Golden Lady, sounding very like Ikram.

  When Emla had replied, she suggested the Dragons rest in the guest pavilions used by Kija previously. Kadi’s relief was apparent and Emla quickly asked Shan to conduct the three hatchlings there at once.

  Shan smiled happily as she went to the doors. ‘Come along then, and I’ll tell you of the adventures we’ve had with your brother.’

  Servants closed the door after Shar’s tail had slid through and Kadi’s groan was audible.

  ‘Are they truly that bad?’ Ryla asked sympathetically.

  ‘Oh truly,’ Kadi replied, then she admitted honestly: ‘Shar is quiet and eager to learn, but the other two -. But I am old to foster hatchlings. Maybe I would foster one, but three such as these.’

  She left the thought unfinished as she reclined beside Ryla, half-resting along the wall.

  ‘Delighted as I am by your presence Kadi, is there a reason that you have come here now?’

  ‘Merigs informed me of some happenings in the far north. They also said that Kija is on her way here very soon. I thought the long journey from the south might tire these three.’

  Her tone left no doubt that such a hope had proved fruitless.

  ‘The Merigs said that Farn was injured?’

  Emla sat on a stool by Ryla’s chair. ‘He was, Kadi, grievously.’

  Kadi’s prismed eyes glittered in the firelight as she listened.

  ‘Tika healed him. I do not know how. And Mim – did you meet Mim, and Ashta, daughter of Hani? No? Mim is, was, a child of the Nagum people of the woodlands beyond the Sun Mountains. He is now a Dragon Lord.’

  Kadi’s eyes whirred a muted blue, Emla and Ryla both sensing confusion at the term ‘Dragon Lord’.

  ‘And Brin joined them before they reached the Delvers hidden Domain.’

  Kadi snorted. ‘Brin! Kija would not be pleased at that. They squabbled from their first Gathering.’

  ‘Farn thinks Brin is marvellous.’

  ‘Oh dear. Poor Kija then.’

  Emla failed to stifle a yawn and Ryla saw it.

  ‘Bed for you, child. If you could fetch me a large pot of tea, I will be happy here this night.’

  While Emla went for Ryla’s tea, a small orange Kephi crept furtively around the edge of the hall. Ryla started as it leaped onto her lap.

  ‘I am Bakra, son of Khosa, and I wish to listen to this Dragon.’

  Kadi lowered her head and stretched her neck until her face was a mere handspan from the Kephi’s.

  ‘Greetings Bakra. I have not met such as you before.’

  Next morning, Kadi took the three young Dragons hunting beyond the boundaries of the Lady Emla’s estate while Ryla was having her brief sleep. When the Dragons returned, Emla suggested the young ones should get to know any of her staff who wished to do so. ‘Outside, in the snowy gardens,’ she added hastily.

  Kadi sounded admiring as she said: ‘That’s really clever – it makes them feel important and keeps them well away from us.’ Her eyes whirred for a moment. ‘They can do no damage can they Lady?’

  ‘No,’ Emla assured her. ‘Let them play, as should all young things. And, who knows, they may even tire themselves!’

  Tagria was a similar distance from Return as was Far, only directly south rather than west. Hargon arrived to find Seboth and Zalom already there as promised. Hargon and Navan hastily cleaned off the worst of the travel dust from themselves and joined Seboth, Zalom and their host, Raben. Their Arms Chiefs also sat with them as they listened to Hargon’s story of Rhaki’s murder of two men.

  When he had finished, eight men sat in silent thought. Raben’s Arms Chief asked if Hargon had brought the knife retrieved from the heap of ash.

  ‘No Zekel,’ Navan replied, drawing his own belt knife. ‘But it was identical to this one. Standard issue for all our armsmen.’

  The knife was passed from hand to hand, the Arms Chiefs comparing it to their own knives.

  ‘It feels heavier than ours,’ Zalom of Andla remarked finally.

  His Arms Chief Niram agreed. ‘It is of a different mix of metals is it not?’

  Hargon nodded. ‘Our smiths use more iron than yours. The alloy is harder to work, they say, but longer lasting and less likely to become brittle. Why?’

  ‘Well,’ Niram rubbed his nose thoughtfully. ‘You say the knives were all that remained except for dust?’

  Navan and Hargon both nodded.

  ‘Were they wearing belts perhaps, with buckles? Or had they anything else of metal upon them? It seems everything melted, or burnt, except the knives. So this Rhaki’s power is unable to touch this particular alloy.’

  ‘If I sent an armsman against him, he would still be able to fry the man before the man could use the knife,’ Hargon objected.

  ‘Arrowheads? Shields?’ Navan’s mind was already searching for other uses whereby this metal might be turned to their greater advantage against Rhaki.

  Raben tapped a scroll against his palm. ‘You say this Lord has been cast out from his northern Realm. Do we know for sure he was the Guardian as he claimed? You say he has only visited you alone Hargon. He never brings any escort. This seems strange to me.’

  ‘I agree,’ said Zalom. ‘He could be unimportant among the People. We know all of them use the cursed power. He may have been cast out by them as a trouble maker or such.’

  Olam, Arms Chief of Far, said slowly: ‘I do not think the People would just let such a one loose in the world. They would know what he is capable of doing and therefore what a danger he could be. I would be interested to see him though, see him cutting stone as you have told us, Sir Hargon.’

  ‘I have promised an entertainment to celebrate the assembling of the first stones of his tower. I see no reason why you should not all attend. I have let him believe we border Lords frequently visit each other, so it would not appear unusual if you come to Return.’

  ‘You did not tell us what two of your armsmen were doing – disguised as labourers you said? – that caused the Lord such anger that he killed them?’

  Hargon sat back in his chair. ‘An old female in my household perversely claimed that she had blood from those outcasts from Sapphrea in ancient times. She said there was a cave close by Return, which held great magic. I learned, after the two men died, that they knew a cave was thereabouts and resolved to see if there was anything which would have encouraged Rhaki to build so near. There are several places better suited for his building, I would have said.’

  ‘I think we must decide now whether to let messages go forth to the south and west to tell of this newcomer. At least they will be aware, and can make some preparations, as we are doing.’ Zalom tugged his grey blonde beard as he spoke. ‘Many of them will ignore us, just the ramblings of wild border Lords as usual.’

  Hargon drummed his fingers on the tabletop. ‘Why don’t you decid
e how you will come to Return – together or separately. I think if you come within the next ten-day, I may tempt him to display his power and let us all witness his use of it. I warn you though, he thinks all humans are fools, so do not let him think any differently of us. At least, not yet!’

  Navan touched Hargon’s arm and murmured: ‘Children.’

  ‘Ah yes. Rhaki shows too much interest in my children, especially the female.’ Rumbles of disapproval spread round the men. ‘So bring no children under thirteen or fourteen cycles, and definitely no females. I have plenty of females if you need their services, but I keep them from Rhaki’s sight more than I would ever think of before a neighbouring lord.’

  ‘Always most generous, Hargon,’ agreed Zalom.

  ‘Has the Lord looked out the land around Return Sir Hargon?’ Zekel enquired. ‘You lie nearest the Ancient Mountains and I recall there were defensive walls or

  some such, built during the worst of the Ganger raids.’

  Raben nodded at his Arms Chief. ‘I remember being sent there by my father. My first taste of action. Are they still usable Hargon?’

  Hargon glanced at Navan. ‘I will check as soon as we are back in Return Sir. With the numbers of Gangers so greatly reduced, we have needed no bands barracked there for several cycles.’

  ‘I will check my northern defences too,’ said Seboth. ‘I have not had need of them either. I wonder if Rhaki is but the first.’

  Heads turned to him questioningly.

  ‘What if the People have decided to spread themselves to our lands and Rhaki is but the first to test us?’

  ‘I think not,’ Zalom said finally. ‘They would surely have moved against us by now. Vagrants! But they’ve been sitting in Gaharn long enough!’

  ‘Navan mentioned the great Dragons which are sometimes seen in the foothills north of Return. Rhaki was clearly perturbed. We have always known the Dragons are not our enemies. He was plainly surprised, and not pleasantly, I’d guess, when Navan told him they were sometimes seen near Return.’