Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light

by E. M. Sinclair

  She looked questioningly at Rhaki and Essa. They nodded and got to their feet, joined by Dromi and Dog. Tika studied the three guards and the engineer Onion. Before she could speak, Onion did.

  ‘We’ll stay around here, Lady Tika, if you don’t mind. We don’t know the poor little cat like you do, but we’d still rather stay put.’

  ‘They’ll keep us company,’ Farn announced, bringing smiles to the men.

  ‘We can all play the riddle game,’ Storm added.

  Tika saw the smiles freezing in place but she was proud that they didn’t vanish. Onion heaved a long suffering sigh.

  ‘We’ll play the riddle game – for a little while, but we’ll teach you the spying game, too.’

  Tika left them to it and made her way up to the study room where Subaken had set out all the papers yesterday. She rubbed her left thumb: it was tingling under Garrol’s ring again. She found Shivan hovering on the first landing.

  ‘Konrik told me there was a trace of Cyrek in Kelshan,’ he said.

  ‘Yes, but only briefly, and there was no report of any trouble. Where’s Konya by the way?’

  Shivan rolled his eyes. ‘With the Shadow herbalists, where else?’

  ‘Shivan, there’s something we’re missing, in that painting, in what Darallax and Subaken have told us, in those documents. They’ve told us, and neither they nor we have recognised its importance.’

  Shivan paused outside the study door. ‘I can recall all they’ve said. Do you want me to go over it?’

  ‘Yes please. And Shivan, can you think of any real reason why Ferag would have taken care of me?’

  He opened his mouth to make a sarcastic reply then thought better of it. ‘I can’t. Nor could Corman. In fact, it worried him I think.’

  Tika reached for the door handle. ‘Oh, can you try to remember everything – everything – you’ve ever heard of Lord Dabray? I’ll talk to you tonight, after supper, about that.’

  She found everyone busy, even Dog was browsing through a large book but Tika thought it might be prudent not to check what she was reading. Subaken hadn’t joined them but Rhaki wanted more details on Khosa before settling to work, so Tika explained what she could.

  ‘So Namolos is Khosa’s father?’ Rhaki mused.

  ‘Was. I believe he has been killed. It’s most likely he and Cho Petak destroyed each other.’ Tika remembered the letter Konrik had given her and pulled it from her trouser pocket, smoothing it flat on the table.

  ‘I believe Namolos thought he was doing the right things. He came here in his Ship and found what he thought was a simple, ignorant world. He planned to guide its people in such a way that they would never face the evils that came to the worlds he knew. From the little I’ve managed to learn from Khosa, there were other Ships, which carried Namolos’s enemies. There were battles, out in the great spaces between the stars, in which Ships and people of both sides were lost. Namolos wanted to make sure that never happened to this world.’

  ‘So he convinced his daughter – his own daughter – to let him turn her into a cat for a thousand years or more.’ Sergeant Essa’s voice dripped with contempt.

  Tika looked across at her sadly. ‘Two daughters, Essa. The other one he turned into a Dragon. She became the mad Dragon of Talvo Circle in Vagrantia. But she has changed again, so I’ve heard and is now physically the same as Mim – a scaled human body with great feathered wings.’

  ‘And what were these two poor girls meant to do?’ Rhaki asked.

  Tika shrugged. ‘Spy. Keep watch on those who Namolos felt would have the most likely chance of ruling the whole world. The elder daughter, Gremara, was sent first, to Vagrantia. The remnants of a people had found sanctuary there. They were once great users of power, with marvellous cities throughout Sapphrea, but they brought devastation to the lands when they over stretched that power. Namolos sent Gremara there but loneliness drove her insane.

  ‘Khosa was sent when Emla’s people arrived from beyond the stars, to see if the Asatarians were the people from whom Namolos had fled. They weren’t.’

  ‘That’s what you get when you let men rule your life.’

  Heads turned to regard Dog.

  ‘I know I’ll regret this,’ Essa muttered. ‘Did a man try ruling your life then Dog?’

  The engineer turned another page of her book.

  ‘My ma died, leaving me the eldest with four brothers to raise. I was ten. Would have done it too, only the old bastard who sired us all, or so he said, he thought I should be wife to him too.’

  No one moved; Tika scarcely dared breathe. Dog looked up at her five listeners and gave a cold, cold smile.

  ‘Cut his throat and took the boys to an aunt. Then I ran. Joined the guards when I was twelve, made corporal when I was fifteen. No man rules me.’

  It was perhaps fortunate that Subaken arrived at that moment and Dog retired behind her book. Tika broke the seal on her letter and unfolded the stiff paper. Corman wrote to emphasise his warning to beware of Cyrek, to be watchful at all times. He told her First Daughter Lerran had woken occasionally and spoken four times. Corman had tried to make contact with Lord Dabray but with no success. He ended his letter by wishing her safe and asking Mother Dark to guard her and her companions. Tika refolded the letter thoughtfully, and pushed it back in her pocket.

  At midday she went with Rhaki and Essa to Khosa’s room. The three of them stood watching for a moment. Sket was sitting on the bed with Shea close to him and he cradled Khosa’s fragile body in his arms. Sket looked up, meeting Tika’s eyes and she was deeply touched to see the marks of tears on his cheeks. Very, very gently, he laid Khosa’s limp form back on the bed, and slid to his feet. Tika caught his hand as she moved to the bedside.

  ‘Always after a cuddle, cheeky old cat,’ he said gruffly.

  Tika sent a thread of power to link with Khosa’s mind. Again she called her, the softest whisper of mind speech, encouraging her, pleading with her, at the same time as she let a trickle of her own strength seep into Khosa’s weakened flesh. There was little apparent change, but Tika knew Khosa’s heart beat more strongly and her other organs were less sluggish. She stepped back and Essa took Navan’s place on the stool while Rhaki leaned against the bed. Quietly, Tika left with Shea, Navan and Sket.

  When supper was finished, Tika went once again to offer her strength to the still unconscious Khosa. Shea and Dog went with her, carrying blankets and adamant that they would watch through the night. Tika knew that Khosa was aware of her presence but she didn’t push, didn’t force the cat to acknowledge her. When she left, she surprised herself by hugging both Shea and the engineer, who hugged her back quite fiercely.

  Saying nothing, she went quickly downstairs to find Shivan. But before she could locate him, the Shadow Lord appeared. He glanced at the companions, who calmly stared back, obviously having no intention of leaving the room so he could speak privately with their Lady. Repressing a smile, Tika inclined her head, just a fraction.

  ‘You have news sir?’ she enquired.

  ‘Would you walk in the garden with me, Lady Tika?’ he replied, formally enough to banish any thought of amusement from her mind.

  Her answer was simply to walk through the wide doors into the night air. The scent of the flowers was always different after sunset she’d noticed. Many of the blooms of the day shut their petals tight, while others she never even glimpsed during the day were now wide open, filling the air with quite different fragrances. She had only walked a few paces when Darallax came alongside. He took them to what she guessed was his favourite arbour and gestured her to a bench.

  ‘My watchers have tried to find the messenger who came last night,’ he said without preamble.

  Tika frowned, not understanding. He paced back and forth in front of her, his bare feet silent on the stone.

  ‘There are ways to follow the track of a portal – gateway as the Dark Ones call them. You reminded us of the attacks on our portals in the first battle, so I commanded that watch
be kept over the messenger’s return last evening. The portal disrupted after four heartbeats.’

  Tika gaped at him in horror, the single lantern on one of the columns showing Darallax her face white as milk.

  ‘What does that mean?’ she whispered. ‘And who was the messenger?’

  Darallax rubbed a hand over his domed hairless skull and sighed.

  ‘I regret that I didn’t learn his name. He was here only briefly and I didn’t even meet him myself. When a portal disrupts, anything within it is reduced to less than dust.’

  For the first time since she’d arrived here, Tika noticed the shadows. They came from the corners of the arbour, from beneath the benches and from under the wide leaves of the trumpet vine. They writhed across the stone to nestle around the Shadow Lord’s feet. She surmised it must be an indication of how upset and disturbed Darallax was – the shadows were curling round his ankles and calves, offering what comfort they could to their Lord.

  ‘It was not the same wild, flailing disruptiveness we’ve experienced before,’ Darallax said softly. ‘This was a very specific, very precise, attack. We have spent this day trying to discover its source.’

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Darallax finally subsided onto a bench at an angle from Tika. She watched as shadows clambered over his knees and crawled up his arms.

  ‘Did you find that source?’

  ‘There was a mind signature. The one that Shivan showed us.’

  ‘Cyrek.’ Tika’s tone was flat.

  ‘Cyrek.’ Darallax agreed. ‘And yet we could not find the location – it was as though he was everywhere and yet nowhere.’

  ‘Could he have been flying, in Dragon form?’

  ‘That is a possibility.’

  ‘How far can you reach with mind speech?’

  ‘Considerably.’

  ‘To the Dark Realm?’

  ‘Alas no. Not that far.’

  Tika struggled to visualise one of Navan’s maps to estimate how far they were from the Dark Realm. And failed completely. Yet Farn’s screams had been heard, all around this world, as far as she had been told. He had caused dreadful mental distress among the Dark Ones while he was thousands of miles away on the southern plains of Sapphrea.

  ‘Would the shielding over Skaratay have blocked mind communication completely?’

  Darallax nodded. ‘We removed the shielding the day after you arrived, but even before the Splintered Kingdom came, we could not reach the Dark Ones from Steadfast through mind speech.’

  ‘Where were they based, before that happened?’

  Darallax waved a hand, scattering clumps of shadows which then scurried back to his feet.

  ‘The Dark Ones chose an island, much like this one, while we chose the land you call Drogoya and which we called Skaratay. Their island was named Karmazen.’

  Tika strongly suspected that the island of Karmazen could well prove to be called Wendla in these times, but she said nothing.

  ‘I would ask you not to use portals – gateways – for now.’ He forestalled her question. ‘Corman will have been aware of what happened to this messenger. He will not risk sending another yet.’

  Tika twisted Garrol’s ring round her thumb.

  ‘What about far seeking? When I far seek, my mind remains anchored to one of the Dragons, or to Rhaki or Shivan. Do you think Cyrek could sense that, or attack me then?’

  ‘Far seeking is not a skill we possess.’ Darallax stared down at the shadows twining through his fingers. ‘I could send shadows,’ he said slowly. He looked up. ‘It is a game played by some of our more gifted children: sending shadows to startle a friend – things like that.’

  ‘But could shadows bring you information? Are they capable of thought?’ Tika sounded doubtful.

  ‘Well these aren’t particularly intelligent.’ He lifted his hand, a clump of shadow filling his palm. ‘They know me of course, and show their affection as you can see. But I can command others, darker shadows, which possess much intelligence.’

  ‘And are they linked to you?’

  ‘No.’ There was a hint of – what?Hope, excitement? ‘Shadows are free to come and go. I can command them to do something, but unless I am very specific, they will accomplish their task by their own methods and means.’

  Despite her increasing burden of worries, Tika found herself intrigued by the idea of sending out shadows to spy, or to - .

  ‘How can shadows survive?’ she asked, ‘Can they be attacked or destroyed? Can they defend themselves?’

  Darallax’s emerald eyes glinted in the lantern light. ‘They can kill,’ he said simply.

  Tika saw that all the shadows clinging to him seemed to freeze, to solidify, as though they had been listening to their master’s words and now awaited his orders.

  ‘Could they get into the Kingdom?’

  ‘It could perhaps be possible.’ There was definite excitement in Darallax’s tone now.

  Tika got up and began pacing as the Shadow Lord had done before, being careful to avoid stepping on any shadows. Just in case.

  ‘Your shielding Darallax, was that done by the shadows?’

  He looked a little surprised. ‘But of course.’

  ‘So could they shield me?’

  Without a word or movement from the Shadow Lord, the shadows fled from him towards Tika. She gritted her teeth but felt nothing. Darallax grinned at her.

  ‘I can see you of course, but if you call any of your friends, they would not.’

  Really?’ Tika extended her hand – it was perfectly visible to her.

  Darallax stood and came close. He looked thoughtful. ‘You can command them,’ he said in surprise. ‘Tell them to hide something – a flower, a bench, whatever.’

  Tika stared helplessly round the arbour. ‘Hide the lantern,’ she thought. The light disappeared instantly and Tika gaped. ‘Reveal the light.’ The lantern shone as steadily as before.

  ‘But why should they obey me, I am not of Shadow?’

  Darallax reached for her hand, holding it loosely in his. His up tilted eyes seemed unfocused for a moment.

  ‘There are markers of Shadow within you.’

  Tika sighed. ‘Lady Emla’s people are not originally of this world as you know, but they say there are indications I have their blood within me too. The Dark Ones have claimed the same. How can this be?’

  ‘Perhaps Mother Dark knows.’

  Oh and I’m definitely going to jump into the Dark just to ask her aren’t I, Tika thought irritably.

  ‘We should join your friends,’ Darallax suggested. He moved to leave the small arbour. ‘I looked in on Khosa earlier. She is much improved.’

  Tika began to follow the Shadow Lord but when they reached the great mosaic in the centre of the courtyard he stopped. His face was serious but his eyes twinkled.

  ‘Maybe you should dismiss the shadows concealing you or your friends might wonder where you are?’ he suggested mildly.

  ‘Oh.’ Tika thought what she should say. ‘Shadows leave me – for now.’ Just to be sure, she called them back. ‘Shadows hide me.’

  Darallax’s smile began to broaden. A little embarrassed, she dismissed the shadows again and walked on.

  ‘Can they communicate?’ she asked. ‘I mean, obviously they understood my thoughts, but can I hear theirs?’

  ‘Sometimes.’

  Tika found Darallax’s reply singularly unhelpful but they had reached the heap of reclining Dragons and Tika did not want to share this new ability just yet. Darallax nodded politely to the companions and passed on through the room with no comment. Tika stood in front of Shivan.

  ‘Do you know who the messenger was, who came from Corman last night?’

  ‘No. I was aware that a gateway had opened close by, but I was not summoned.’

  ‘The gate was destroyed.’

  Shivan’s pale skin paled further impossible as that seemed.

  ‘You are on no account to attempt opening a gate until I give you leave. Is
that clear?’

  Shivan swallowed. ‘Yes. Was it Cyrek?’

  ‘Darallax’s watchers caught Cyrek’s mind signature, yes.’

  Tika perched on the arm of Onion’s chair. ‘Did you find anything, when you recalled those conversations?’

  ‘Nothing. But you asked me about Dabray too. I only know that he is nearly as old as the First Daughter, and she is the oldest of all. They have been together since they were young children. This is only from stories, nothing definite you understand. The stories that whisper among students, as they always do, say they had twins, a boy and a girl. But no more is known of them, not even their names. Both Dabray and Lerran were in the thick of the battle with the Splintered Kingdom and while Lerran was recovering – she was in a similar state as she is now – Dabray vanished.

  ‘Rumours said he was hidden in the Palace, that he had been hideously disfigured, or that he had become mad.’ Shivan glanced around at the companions. ‘My father must have known the truth of course, but although he spoke of Dabray at home sometimes, I never repeated what he said, to anyone. It was family, private, not gossip.’

  Essa nodded encouragingly when he met her eyes.

  ‘I knew that Dabray was deep below the Palace and that he had struck a bargain with Mother Dark. It wasn’t until you agreed to let me be of your company that Corman took me down to actually meet Dabray. My heart broke for him, and for Lerran. If our survival has cost him over a thousand years of slowly being absorbed into the very stone of Karmazen, then it should be known. We should salute his unbelievable courage and endurance, not let silly stories be whispered among the children that old Dabray is hidden away, mad and in chains.’

  Silence fell as everyone considered Shivan’s words.

  ‘From what you’ve said, Tika, it was Lord Dabray who aided you in Kelshan? So the powers of the Dark Ones extend much further than do mine for instance,’ Rhaki spoke thoughtfully.

  ‘I don’t think so. I asked Darallax just now and he said he and the Dark Realm could not reach each other by mind speech even long ago.’

  She gave Navan a rather sheepish smile. ‘I’m not too good about the distances, but we contacted Corman through gateways in Kelshan, not through mind speech.’