Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light

by E. M. Sinclair

  Tika ate very little, as her company noticed, and drank sparingly from her water flask. Then, without comment, she leaned back and sent her mind seeking once more. She was instantly suspicious: there were no barriers around her, none at all. Rather than penetrating the stone, Tika sent her mind at some speed, straight on along in the direction they were travelling. As soon as she was beyond sight of the company, following the slightly curving passage, she found the glow from the ceiling was extinguished.

  She paused, long enough to make her own tiny flicker of light reappear, and then she hurried on. She wished she had Konya’s sense of time but she couldn’t tell how long she sped through the winding tunnel. Then it forked. Tika halted, hovering uncertainly in the original passage. Only then did she see how the walls had contracted. It was much more obviously a narrowing tunnel now than a corridor made for or by humans. She studied the divided path in front of her closely. There was nothing whatsoever different between them to give her a hint as to which one she should take. Then she heard a faint scraping noise.

  Tika floated just inside the left hand passage. Silence. She moved to the right one and heard the noise again. Briefly she wished someone else could at least see or hear what she could, but Rhaki was only able to tether her life thread. He had only brief glimpses of what she was experiencing. She drifted tentatively forward, a little deeper into the right hand tunnel, constantly scanning the area immediately around her. The noise grew louder, a grinding scrunch, then a faint sighing sound.

  Tika moved ever slower, aware that her tiny glowing light betrayed her presence but knowing she would be totally blind without it. The tunnel was definitely smaller: perhaps most of her companions would be able to walk upright, but both Shivan and Essa would need to stoop to travel it. Her little light stopped. A spiral shape protruded directly ahead, taking up the entire diameter of the tunnel. As she watched, the scrunch sound came again, then the spiral juddered away from her a handspan.

  She probed the spiral, letting her light go close to it, almost touching it. Tika saw it was many coloured, not the solid pale grey she’d thought at first. Tiny flecks of colours were dotted along the line of the spiral and its tip, nearest her, was a deep dark green. Tika could feel no threat from this thing, stuck like a stopper in a pot in the tunnel before her. She was also conscious that the pendant lay quiescent against her chest, many miles back.

  Tika wound a net of power around herself before sending a tendril directly towards the thing. It felt rather as though she had stepped into a pleasantly warm bath, but then a voice whispered to her.

  ‘Who? What? Why here?’

  Tika’s first instinct was to pull free at once, but she held steady.

  ‘Who are you?’ she sent back along her probing tendril.

  She was aware of another scrunching noise, outside her mind, then the voice came again.

  ‘I Corax. You who?’

  ‘I’m Tika,’ was all she could think of to reply. What was this thing?

  ‘What Tika?’

  ‘Um – I come from – outside. I’m human.’

  ‘Um – outside? Bad outside. Safe Tika. Why here?’

  ‘I, and my friends, have been trapped in here.’

  There was a considerable pause.

  ‘Friends I know of. I have friends.’

  Tika waited but clearly Corax expected a reply.

  ‘I’m glad you have friends.’

  ‘Yes, yes. Many, many. Family you have?’

  ‘Yes,’ Tika answered slowly. ‘I do have family.’

  ‘Good, good.’

  After another pause and some more grinding noises, Corax spoke again.

  ‘Traps bad.’

  ‘Very.’

  ‘We in traps. Try dig out. You go easily out.’

  ‘We can?’ Tika asked in amazement. ‘Then why can’t you?’

  Tika’s mind was buffeted with a wave of ancient grief.

  ‘Live, die, here. Can’t untrap. You go easily out,’ Corax repeated.

  ‘If we could get out, how could we help you?’

  The flood of grief subsided to a sense of patience mixed with gratitude at her thought.

  ‘Call to us maybe. Not know. I ask my friends.’

  Tika began to form another question in her mind when she found herself borne up on the warm water and then flicked to whirl through the dark, much like travelling a Dark gateway.

  She landed with a thud that knocked the wind out of her. She struggled to sit up and found herself on the starlit hillside below the Oblaka, her friends strewn, groaning, around her. Tika had barely sat up when the Dragons landed and Farn practically flattened her again. Even as she calmed and soothed him, she sent her experiences directly to Kija’s mind. Her companions were recovering quickly from their violent expulsion from the Splintered Kingdom, Sket already reaching for the kettle steaming over Volk’s fire.

  ‘Um – Tika.’

  She realised that all her friends could hear that whisper. She spoke aloud, concentrating ferociously on finding that quiet, gentle mind.

  ‘Yes, Corax?’

  ‘What is – um?’

  Tika was unaware of tears streaking down her face as she stared up at the cliff in front of her.

  ‘It’s a sound we make when we’re thinking.’

  ‘Oh. Are you outside? Are you safe?’

  ‘Yes thank you Corax. Why did you say outside was bad?’

  ‘Bad last time, long, long ago. Is it good now?’

  ‘Yes. Very good.’

  ‘Corax tell family. Maybe you call for family?’

  Then there was an emptiness in the air, and she knew something had come between Corax and herself, blocking communication. Tika leaned her head on her knees, and Shea plumped down next to her, an arm round her shoulders. Kija relayed Tika’s information to the company and Shivan came to sit opposite Tika.

  ‘It was the spiral shells you touched, on the painting, Tika.’

  She nodded, her tears glittering on her cheeks. Shivan reached across to lay a hand over hers.

  ‘His name is Corax?’ he said very quietly.

  She nodded again.

  ‘He is very young Tika, very, very young.’

  Tika frowned but she felt agreement surge from Kija. ‘Yes,’ she agreed, going back over the strange conversation she’d had with – with what? A sea creature?

  The sky above the cliff was a pale line heralding sunrise. Tika looked around her companions until she found Volk hunched by his fire.

  ‘Did you know something was wrong? That we’d been snatched away?’

  ‘I heard the young one scream,’ he growled. ‘That told me all I needed to know, Lady.’

  Tika couldn’t see the boy Rivan, but guessed he was asleep somewhere near to the Old Blood. The sound of hooves clattering over loose rock warned them of Daisy’s arrival. They saw the boy perched on the horse’s broad back. He slid off beside Volk, holding out his hand, but Volk gestured towards Tika. Shyly, Rivan picked his way through the companions until he reached Tika. He ducked his head, dark hair flopping over most of his thin face, and held out his clenched fist towards her.

  She lifted her left palm beneath his hand and he opened his fingers. Four small objects dropped into her palm. Light flared unexpectedly from the silver bound blood metal ring on her thumb. There was no pain from it, only a subtle tingle. Tika bent to study the objects in the faint light. Four shells, delicate spirals, rested on her palm. The boy, his shyness apparently forgotten, squatted close to her and prodded among the shells with a bony finger.

  ‘This one,’ he said, taking one of them. ‘See it still has an occupant! The others are empty.’

  Very white teeth gleamed as he grinned up at her. She peered into the wider base of the shell and saw flesh pulled tight inside.

  ‘Will it be all right?’ she asked the boy. ‘Shouldn’t it be in the water?’

  ‘They stay on the rocks or the sand for a while, when the sea goes out. I’ll take it back for you.’
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br />   ‘Oh yes please.’ Tika handed the occupied shell back to Rivan. ‘May I keep these?’

  ‘Of course Lady, I found them for you, didn’t I?’

  ‘Tika?’ Sket stood before her. ‘I’ve put your bed roll by Farn. Sleep for a while, we could all use some proper rest.’

  Tika’s brain felt numb. She had been tensed, alert, ready for danger. And she had met something utterly alien to her idea of an intelligent being. Something which had helped her and her friends, without any hesitation, after divulging the fact that it, and its fellows, had been imprisoned in the Splintered Kingdom for endless ages. Without a word, Tika went to Farn and settled on her blankets, pressed tight against his scaled side. He lowered his head to brush his cheek against hers.

  ‘This Corax who spoke to you,’ he whispered in her mind. ‘I think his people are a kindly race. And Shivan was right, my Tika; Corax is only a baby.’

  Tika sent a pulse of love to Farn’s mind but made no other reply. She lay, the sky lightening overhead, and studied the shells Rivan had brought her. All were of a dull amber colour – they would look brighter in water she knew. Each spiral curved in the same direction, up to a delicate tip. Then the sun rose over the top of the cliff, and it glinted on the ring Garrol had made for her.

  Tika licked a finger and rubbed it against one of the shells. It instantly glowed in her palm, and focusing intently on it, she saw minute specks of different colours following the lines of the spiral. Her eyelids felt so heavy. She closed her fingers round the three shells, pulling her hand against her chest as she fell into dreamless sleep.

  Lellex had moved as quickly as she could, driving new tunnels through the endless rock until she found her child. He lay where he’d lain since that very odd creature had spoken to him. He had told his family, had relayed every word, every tone, as it was spoken. Now he sensed his mother nearby and was delighted. The family was scattered throughout this dreadful place – it was safer. The twisted thing who held them captive enjoyed killing them if he could find several of them together, but he usually ignored them if they stayed solitary.

  ‘What was the Tika?’ Corax asked when his mother emerged through the wall.

  ‘It was similar to the ones we find.’

  ‘The dead ones?’

  ‘Yes. We think the Tika was one of those.’

  ‘But we pushed the Tika out,’ Corax said with satisfaction. ‘Did you hear me speak to it?’

  Lellex sighed. ‘The one who rules this place heard you too,’ she said. ‘Now you must move quickly. Follow the tunnels that I have eaten and I will go another way.’

  ‘If the Tika calls will we be pulled out? Outside is good here – the Tika said so.’

  Lellex was silent for a little while then a tentacle stroked gently over the wide lip of her son’s shell and twined briefly with his.

  ‘We can hope, little Corax, we can hope.’

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  It was barely mid morning when Tika woke, but she felt as refreshed as if she’d slept a full night. She stretched luxuriously before opening her eyes. When she did, she was surprised to find Rivan squatting patiently beside her. She blinked, meeting those pale, pale eyes, then his teeth glinted as he smiled at her.

  ‘The one I put back is still on his rock. I’ll show you if you want.’

  Tika struggled free of her blankets, scrubbed at her eyes and said the first thing that came into her head.

  ‘What are you when you change, Rivan?’

  Only when the words were out did she wonder if she’d overstepped Old Blood forms of protocol. But Rivan didn’t seem to mind, judging by his grin.

  ‘Wolf.’

  For less than a breath, Tika could indeed see the wolf under the boy’s thin face.

  ‘Yes.’ She stood up, brushing a hand along Farn’s face to say good morning. ‘Show me the shell please, Rivan.’

  He caught her hand and found she still held the shells he’d given her. ‘Put those safe,’ he instructed, and watched as she tucked them inside her shirt.

  She put them in the pocket which held Seela and Dabray’s scales, and then Rivan took her hand again, pulling her down the slope towards the sea.

  ‘That’s a pretty ring,’ he remarked, lifting their linked hands to look more closely at the band around her thumb.

  ‘A friend made it for me. His name is Garrol and he is a Shield Master and Armourer in a land far away.’

  Tika saw that most of her company were around a larger fire to her left and she gave them a wave as Rivan marched her on towards the beach.

  ‘Rivan, when you are a wolf, do you hunt?’

  His fingers tightened briefly around hers. ‘I’ve only started to change recently,’ he confided. ‘Just after Volk left with all of you, but he had asked other Bloods here to help me.’ He glanced up through the tangle of dark hair. ‘It’s scary the first few times.’

  ‘I’m sure it must be.’

  ‘I can hunt, and I can kill, but I mustn’t eat what I kill while I’m in wolf shape. If I did, I could get stuck as a wolf and not change back to me.’

  ‘Volk told me something like that, I think.’ Tika frowned. Had it been Volk, or someone else?

  They were crunching over shingle now and Tika saw that Rivan was barefoot. He noticed her glance.

  ‘You ought to take those fine boots off, Lady,’ he told her, nodding at the water ahead.

  It was nearly a year since she’d gone unshod, but as her bare feet landed on the cool gritty sand, she remembered her loathing of boots when Emla had first insisted she wore them. Rivan led her towards a large flat rock through gentle, knee deep waves. He scrambled onto the rock, pulling her up behind him.

  ‘Here.’

  She crouched beside him and saw a small depression in the rock, in which the spiral shell sat in solitary splendour. Water was slowly filling its own private little pool and spray misted over Tika as she studied the shell. Rivan poked it, but it didn’t move.

  ‘It sticks itself tight,’ he explained. ‘It might stay here for days, or it might swim off when the water’s nice and deep.’

  ‘It swims?’

  Rivan nodded. ‘Little threads come out the bottom, and they waggle, and it moves where it wants.’

  Tika sent a mental probe towards the tiny shell but felt nothing respond, no awareness within it. She stood up, and gasped when a larger wave hit the end of their rock and showered her with cold water. Rivan hopped out of range and laughed. They jumped back to the beach and began to stroll towards the camp, collecting Tika’s boots on the way.

  ‘I heard that Corax speak,’ Rivan said suddenly. ‘Your friends said he was a baby, but he must be bigger than those ones.’

  ‘Across the base of his shell, which I didn’t see, I would guess he must be wider than I am tall.’

  Rivan’s eyes narrowed. ‘So how big are his parents?’

  Tika smiled. ‘Much bigger. Race you.’

  She gave the boy a shove to push him off balance and sprinted up the shingle onto the rocks above. She heard Rivan’s yelp of outrage and then concentrated on ignoring the sharp stones underfoot to reach the fire first. But they arrived together and collapsed, both giggling. Sket whisked Tika’s boots out of her hand, and scowling, checked them for water stains. Konya passed over two bowls of stew which roused Tika’s appetite instantly. Volk watched both Tika and Rivan with approval as they began to eat.

  ‘Animals are coming back,’ he said. ‘Wherever they hid, they’re coming out again. Rabbits by the dozen along on the dunes. And my goats have turned up.’

  ‘So they must thinks it’s safe then?’

  Volk shrugged. Tika’s companions watched her finish her food and accept a second helping from Konya. They had all been afraid last night. She had been so white faced, so grief stricken, they had worried for her. But now she looked flushed and cheerful, no older than Rivan or Shea, as though nothing had happened. They all knew that her inner thoughts could well be very different from what showed on the
outside but, she did seem genuinely happier.

  Rhaki realised that no one wanted to spoil her mood, but he also understood that time mattered. Increasingly, the sense grew on him that time was an important factor in this contest with the Crazed One. He listened to the general chatter, watching Tika check on Onion’s eye; giving a word to every one of them. Finally she stood up.

  ‘Today we do nothing,’ she told them quietly. ‘Tomorrow we move on.’ She gave a wry grimace. ‘I still have to decide where.’

  Rhaki jumped in before there were any questions. ‘Did you two look for that shell just now? Can we find any more Rivan?’

  Rivan looked pleased by the suggestion and snatched Tika’s hand again, while Rhaki was dragged to his feet by Shea. They started back to the beach, Shivan and Dog ambling behind them. The weather stayed dry throughout the day, the sun not hot but warm enough. When they gathered again at dusk, all of them were at ease: tension and strain smoothed from every face.

  Rivan and Shea had a hoard of shells and different coloured pebbles they were sorting out on Tika’s blankets, discussing the merits of each with Farn. Storm had spent the day diving and swimming, glorying in the chance to fish and play in his natural element. Kija and Brin, as usual, had found themselves nice sheltered rocks on which to bask. Now, the four Dragons lay like walls around the company. Volk’s strange horse leaned in a companionable fashion against Kija’s haunches. Tika clasped her hands around her knees

  ‘I want to see if I can speak to Corax, or one of his family. I’ll try in a moment. Tomorrow, I would ask Shivan to open a gateway to the island we suspect might be the home of Shadow. If we find Shadow, or whoever rules that place, we may be able to learn more of the Splintered Kingdom. If not, we return here, to this place, and I will try again from here.’

  Silence followed her words; every one of her friends knowing she wanted no discussion. Tika sent a thought to all four Dragons.

  ‘Can you try to push my mind and my voice? I’m not sure which Corax will hear most clearly.’

  She settled cross legged against Farn’s chest and drew in a breath.