Drogoya: Book 3 Circles of Light series (13 page)

‘Olam is riding on
until dark, to make up the lost distance,’ she told Gan and
Tika.

Brin led them to a
point he thought Olam was likely to reach by nightfall and Gan set
about building a fire. It was crackling cheerily when Olam’s party
rode up, a light to welcome them.

Each sunset Maressa or
Ren far spoke Lady Lallia in Far, and on the ninth evening, Maressa
immediately called the travellers together.

‘All of you, listen to
Lallia. Ren, help them to hear her.’

She closed her eyes
again and they heard her call Lallia’s name.

‘Maressa? I feared you
had gone too great a distance. There is uproar in Return. Hargon is
killing many of his own people, saying they are tainted with
ancient poisons, and he demands that the other Lords join him in
wiping all such people from the face of the land. Seboth sent a
message to warn me and instructing that Far begins preparations to
defend itself. He hopes to be here tomorrow but Maressa listen!
Hargon ordered the death of his own Armschief, Navan!’

Tika gasped and Maressa
opened her eyes briefly to share a worried look with
her.

‘Navan fled Return. He
stopped here long enough to confirm my Seboth’s letter and eat a
meal. I gave him supplies and a fresh konina, and he follows you
now, into the bad lands. Will he be able to find you?’

‘Worry not, Lady.’ Brin
spoke at once. ‘I will fly back along our route tomorrow and find
him, you may rest assured.’

They all felt the
relief surge along the mind link.

‘Be very careful
Lallia,’ Tika added. ‘Remember the shielding we taught you. I fear
that Hargon himself may have enough old blood to somehow sense it
in others without realising how he does it. Please Lallia,’ she
repeated, ‘be very careful, and Seboth likewise.’

Maressa broke the link
and they all stared silently at each other around their little
fire.

At dawn next day, Brin
lifted into the air and arrowed towards the south east. He flew
high, to gain the widest view of the empty land. The rest of the
party put up two awnings: they had found the temperature rose
rapidly in the day time on this strange plain, although the cold
season had barely passed when they left Far, and then they settled
in to wait.

Brin bespoke Tika as
the sun beat down at midday. The glare off the grey white ground
made them all squint. Brin told her he had just spotted Navan and
would reach him in moments.

‘You have flown a great
distance in this short time Brin, will you wait and rest before
bringing Navan to us?’ Tika asked.

‘It is hot Tika. I will
rest a short while but I will fly through the night I think. It
will be better for this Navan in the cooler time.’ Tika relayed
Brin’s words as they all huddled away from the sun’s
glare.

Farn enjoyed the heat,
basking, wings outstretched to soak in the warmth through every
piece of his body. Pallin was the only other who seemed unbothered
by the high temperature.

‘Wonderful for elderly
bones,’ he explained to a wilting Maressa.

Olam had raised another
canvas awning under which the koninas stood. The heat did not seem
to worry them too much at present and Sket remarked that no flies
had appeared to pester them, as he would have expected. Farn snored
gently, and Tika, Ren and Maressa listened to the armsmen’s talk of
koninas and fengars. Sket gave an accurate if lurid description of
the savage fengars, which Olam and Pallin clearly thought was pure
invention. Eventually, Gan came to Sket’s defence, agreeing that
although very alike in appearance, koninas were far preferable to
fengars in temperament.

Ren glanced at Tika.
‘Fengars sound as bad as Plavats.’

Tika grinned. ‘I do not
recall that your Plavat attacked you, or tried to eat you, during
your journey. At least, you didn’t mention that it did
anyway.’

‘Fengars are really
that dreadful?’ he asked, doubt still in his voice.

‘Look.’ Tika made an
image of the fengars that had taken them on that first journey into
the High Lands.

Ren winced. ‘You make
your point.’ He subsided into silence again then smiled. ‘And this
is a Plavat.’

He showed them a vision
of Baryet standing in the great hall of the Stronghold, peering
down over his hooked black bill at Mim, dwarfed in front of him. He
allowed the image to fill everyone’s minds and mouths fell open,
heads turning to the Offering in horror.

‘Are those a common
sort of bird in your land?’ Riff asked faintly.

Ren grinned in
satisfaction. ‘Fortunately no. They restrict themselves to the
northern coasts.’

The heat gradually
lessened and they were able to leave the shade and move around,
gathering a pile of the near dead bushes for the night’s
fire.

‘Why does it get so
cold at night when it is so very hot in the day?’ Riff enquired
generally.

‘It is to do with the
physical laws,’ Ren began. He studied the blank faces around him
and shrugged. ‘It is just one of those things,’ he finished
lamely.

They slept, knowing
that Brin would warn of his imminent arrival, and most of the night
slipped away. Dawn was fingering the sky with pale rose and lemon
light when Tika and Farn both jerked awake. Tika coaxed the embers
of the fire to a more enthusiastic blaze and carefully rationed
some water into the kettle. The others were stirring as Brin landed
some paces from the camp, the koninas only twitching slightly at
his presence now.

Navan slid from the
crimson Dragon’s back, carrying saddle bags and a pack, and
staggered. Tika and Sket ran to help him, exchanging glances at the
Armschief’s haggard appearance. He also wore the green uniform of
Far rather than Return’s dark grey, a fact noted by all the now
awakened party. Maressa had tea brewed to push into Navan’s hands
when he sank onto the ground by the fire. Olam stood over him for a
moment.

‘Sleep Navan. We know
your news is not good. You can tell us all when you have had some
rest.’

Gan helped Olam get
Navan under the awning and he was asleep before they had
straightened up. They turned back to Brin.

‘He is deeply sad,’
Brin told them mournfully. ‘He spoke a little to me, but I will
leave it for him to tell you later.’

The great Dragon yawned
and stretched himself along the ground, but he did not seem
particularly tired. Ren tried to work out the distance the Dragon
had covered in the last few hours and could only marvel at the
creature’s stamina. They waited out another hot day while Navan
slept unmoving, so exhausted was he. The air cooled again and they
sat round their fire, waiting for Navan to rouse.

‘This daytime heat is
too much for us to journey in,’ said Olam. Heads nodded in
agreement. ‘It does not bother the Dragons, so I have thought that
they might scout ahead for the next water hole and ensure that the
way remains without hazard. We could then begin to move once the
heat cools and ride through the night.’

‘It will take another
five or six days to reach the coast,’ Brin told them. ‘There are
two places for water between here and there. The last is only a
small way from the great water.’ His eyes whirred in
excitement.

As always, Brin was
ready to wander in search of new places, new things, wherever the
wind or his mood chose to take him. Farn had yet to see this ocean
of which Brin had so often spoken, and his eyes too sparkled at the
prospect.

‘I am glad I have
waited,’ he announced. ‘I will see it first with my
Tika.’

Tika hugged him then
went still as Navan came from the shelter. The awful weariness was
gone from his face but Tika saw new shadows in his eyes. Accepting
food from Pallin, Navan sat between Tika and Gan.

‘Lady Lallia said that
she told you some of what has happened?’ he asked.

‘She did. But we have
not contacted her since then,’ Maressa explained. ‘She told us that
Seboth was due home and we felt it best to speak with you before
putting either her or Seboth at any risk.’

‘Hargon looks terrible.
He has scarcely eaten since the news of his younger son’s death.
His eyes grow more bloodshot by the day.’

Maressa and Ren both
became alert at Navan’s words but said nothing as he
continued.

‘He sent an order
through another officer to start killing any townspeople suspected
of either dabbling with power, or thought to have old blood
lineage.’ Navan put down his half eaten meal. ‘I knew nothing of it
until the seneschal, Traff, told me. He was terrified, because his
mother’s sister had been known as a teller of fortunes. My second
officer, Triss, came to tell me to flee. Traff had already been
killed he said, by Hargon himself as he walked across the hall. I
was to die because Hargon remembered my great grandmother told
tales of a “magic circle” close by Return.’

‘Mayla,’ Tika
murmured.

Navan nodded. ‘Mayla,’
he repeated.

Gan cast Tika a
questioning look.

‘I told them in Lady
Emla’s House when first I was there. An old woman taught me to read
and write. Then she had me beaten so that I would never betray the
fact that I had learnt such a forbidden thing from her. That was
Mayla.’

Khosa had been
extremely reclusive during this journey. She had enjoyed the heat
for the first few days but quickly found it overpowering. So she
slept throughout the days in whatever shade she found with Tika on
Farn’s back and latterly under the awnings. At dusk she wandered
off exploring. She had scarcely spoken to anyone in the last ten
days, so it was with some surprise that Tika now saw the Queen of
the Kephis stalk out of the dark and into the circle of
firelight.

She climbed daintily
onto Tika’s lap and began to buzz quietly. Olam was explaining
their plans to travel at night to Navan when Khosa murmured to Tika
alone.

‘Something follows
us.’

Tika’s hand paused in
its rhythmic stroking along Khosa’s back.

‘Some thing? Do you
know what?’

‘Something bad. It is
some way back yet, but it follows our trail exactly.’

‘Could it be Hargon, or
men he has sent after us?’

Khosa yawned. ‘None of
you have bothered to watch behind you. Only I.’

‘Yes, yes, yes. I am
sure we have been very stupid not to do so. How far is this
something?’

‘It was ahead of Navan
I think, so maybe a day or so distant.’

‘Show me.’

Tika closed her
silvered eyes and followed the faint wisp of pale thread that was
Khosa’s mind, and travelled out over the dark land. Khosa
stopped.

‘It is
there.’

Tika could see nothing
at all, but she sent a probing thought cautiously forward. And came
up against a hard wall of shielding. For a moment the wall shivered
and blazing red eyes glared out straight at her. Then they were
gone.

Khosa was pushing at
her mind. ‘Back now! Back Tika, to the camp.’

Tika slumped over
against Navan, causing him to spill the last of his tea.

‘You should be asleep
Lady Tika,’ he began but stopped as Farn’s head snaked over his
shoulder to peer anxiously into Tika’s closed face.

Brin rattled his wings
and Gan and Maressa were already at Tika’s side.

‘What happened?’ Gan
snapped. ‘Tika! Who did you contact?’

Dark lashes fluttered
while Sket propped Tika against his shoulder. When she managed to
describe what Khosa had led her to, Maressa instantly sent her mind
back along their route. Ren monitored her, ready to pull her away
should the need arise. But Maressa found nothing at all.

‘Show me exactly what
you saw.’ Maressa knelt in front of Tika. When she saw the red eyes
that Tika had seen, she gasped. She looked at Ren. ‘Like the
affliction,’ she said.

The Offering was deeply
perturbed. He had seen no cases of the affliction personally in
Drogoya. He had learned much from Maressa of those she had seen
within Vagrantia. In Drogoya there had been no mention of any
victims’ eyes changing to silver, only to the red with its
concomitant insanity. He had made no attempt to examine this child
Tika’s mind. Maressa told him that the golden Dragon Kija had
assured her there was a very slight change. She was sure it was not
harmful but more than that she was unable to say.

Ren was still trying to
adjust to being here in what he had always believed were the
virtually mythical Night Lands. The previous three years he had
spent secluded within the Menedula, and just travelling with Voron
to the Oblaka had been strange enough. Six days on the back of a
Plavat, meeting great Dragons within the Stronghold of that
changeling boy, the Dragon Lord, travelling the mysterious circles,
and now riding these horse like creatures across a barren land. Ren
suddenly longed for his quiet rooms in the Menedula and old
Babach’s gentle company.

‘I had thought to stay
here another day, to allow Navan more time to recover.’ Olam looked
at Gan as he spoke. ‘I think now that we should make what progress
we can at once.’