Drogoya: Book 3 Circles of Light series (19 page)

‘I have never seen such
a great fish.’

All nodded agreement:
fish bigger than a man’s forearm were unknown in the lands from
Sapphrea to Vagrantia, and this one was five times that length. Two
more Dragons rose and flew to the south, presumably to gather the
kindred of whom Cloud had spoken. The remaining sea Dragons flew to
the camp and were being inspected by Khosa when Olam led the
company back through the gap. The Dragons had never encountered
such a creature and clearly had mixed views about her superior
manner. Pallin, Riff and Sket had cleaned the fish on the beach and
now set about baking all four that the Dragons had
provided.

‘What are you doing to
them?’ one Dragon asked in alarm.

‘Cooking them,’ Tika
explained. ‘We do not eat our food raw as Dragons do. Can you use
fire like the great Dragons?’

‘Of course,’ a young
Dragon sounded affronted.

Another had peeped
beneath the awning and sent the koninas into hysterics.

‘What are they? I get
no response from mind speaking them. Are they food?’

‘No,’ Maressa said
hurriedly. ‘They carry us on their backs, much faster than we can
walk or run.’

‘But they can’t fly,’
the Dragon sounded smug. ‘No wings,’ he murmured to his
neighbour.

Navan found himself
grinning, for the first time for a very long time, as he caught
Gan’s eye. Clearly, some of these Dragons were as young as Farn,
and as inquisitive.

‘Do these fish use mind
speech?’ Olam asked Cloud.

‘No, no. They live in
vast shoals, countless numbers together. They have a sort of shoal
mind, they cannot act individually.’

‘Is there any creature
in the sea who does use mind speech?’

Cloud’s laugh pealed
through their heads. ‘Of course there are. The great shelled ones,
the water giants and their smaller kindred. Oh yes, many speak with
us.’

Ren regarded the
Dragons reclining round the camp. ‘Have you ever seen Plavats
here?’ he asked, rather too casually.

‘Plavats?’

Ren envisioned Baryet
and all the Dragons stirred in annoyance, to Ren’s
delight.

‘Sometimes they try to
take our nesting caves, but we are far stronger than they.’ Cloud’s
eyes flashed with amusement. ‘They become dreadfully upset when we
singe their silly feathers. Our hatchlings find it a most amusing
sport.’

Ren felt himself
warming greatly to Cloud and her kindred, beaming his approval at
her. Cloud lifted her head, a clear call sounding from some
distance. She called in response, upsetting the koninas once more,
and nearly twenty more Dragons appeared above the cliff. They
landed a little distance away and paced towards Cloud. Obviously,
there was a considerable amount of communication between them all
and heads turned to inspect the two legged strangers.

By the time Brin and
Farn returned and had been duly welcomed by Cloud’s kindred, Tika’s
company were replete with baked fish. The sea Dragons waited
politely until dishes were cleaned and put away under the canvas
shelter. Finally Cloud asked:

‘You were going to tell
us of your soul bonding.’

Tika, leaning against
Farn’s chest, stifled a yawn and began her story. The Dragons
listened closely to the whole tale: from her fall into Kija’s
nesting cave, to the battle in the Stronghold, to her arrival once
more in Sapphrea, where she had woken with her eyes silvered. When
she finished there was a collective sigh of appreciation. Then the
questions rained down upon her.

Eventually, she
suggested that Maressa tell the story of Vagrantia and the
affliction recently suffered there. Again, the Dragons were most
attentive and asked many pertinent questions when Maressa ended her
account. Then Ren told of Drogoya and of his arrival in the
Stronghold, far north of Gaharn. He too suffered close questioning
when he had finished. The subject of a Dragon Lord in the north,
seemed of great fascination to the sea Dragons, but of equal
interest was the affliction in both Vagrantia and
Drogoya.

‘Is there nothing in
your histories that might help solve this riddle?’ Gan suggested.
Many pairs of faceted eyes rested on his tall form. ‘The great
Dragons tell of their kindred back into the most long ago times,
yet they have no memories of this affliction which affects people’s
eyes.’

‘There are three of us
left at the nesting caves, watching over the eggs. They are the
eldest of our Flight.’ Cloud paused. ‘We will go back now and tell
them your words. Perhaps one of them may know something. I am
sorry, but I do not. We will come back to you tomorrow.’

The Dragon the company
recognised as Sleet, murmured and Cloud continued.

‘We are agreed that we
will suggest to the three elders that you move down the coast and
stay with us. There are several empty caves you could
use.’

Ren cleared his throat.
‘These caves. They would not be at a great height in the cliffs
would they?’

Cloud’s eyes whirred.
‘Some are, but many are not,’ she told him gravely.

Farewells were much
less formal and the company watched as the Flight rose into the
twilight and slowly flew south over the cliff. There was much
discussion of the sea Dragons as they gathered round the small fire
for a final mug of tea before they prepared to sleep.

‘They are quite wild,
in spite of their good manners here,’ Khosa remarked.

‘What do you mean?’
Navan asked, long past feeling odd at addressing a small
Kephi.

It was Brin who
answered and surprisingly, he concurred with Khosa’s
judgement.

‘They do not always
have an easy life here,’ he said. ‘They have to endure great storms
and hazards. I think there is a fierceness and wildness in them
which is absent from us.’

On that more sober note
people began to fetch blankets and settle for sleep, some under the
stars, some beneath the awning. Tika sniffed, emerging from the
shelter wrapped in a blanket. Gan raised a brow at her as she
sniffed again.

‘What is it?’ he
asked.

Tika frowned. ‘Can you
smell mint?’

Chapter
Twelve

Cho Petak was studying
charts. It had been his favourite occupation for centuries. He had
found many likely places but had been unable to do more than note
their locations. Now, his strength was no longer needed to keep in
contact with the Void and he could do more. With the added strength
of Grek and D’Lah, he could do very much more. And of course, there
was Rashpil. Cho Petak had not bothered to try to find him yet. He
suspected Rashpil was in the Night Lands, but for now that was not
an important matter.

The air on the other
side of his work table quivered and Cho raised his eyes. Flames
flickered within them as he studied the air.

‘You wish to speak to
me Rhaki?’

His tone was cool. He
wondered whether it might not be time to force D’Lah to untangle
his mind from this Rhaki after all. There was an arrogance in Rhaki
that had not been obvious in D’Lah. But D’Lah had perhaps spent too
long with just the one host, and his soul was so tightly entwined
now with Rhaki’s, that Cho was not entirely sure he could separate
them.

‘You said I must remain
within this building.’ Rhaki sounded petulant. ‘I have explored it
all, and I am bored.’

Cho controlled his urge
to destroy this unbodied fool, but he could not afford to lose
D’Lah as well.

‘Then wander where you
will my dear. But beware some of my servants. Those newly arrived
here will be aware of your presence among them. Do not underrate
them, no matter what form you might find them in now.’

He felt Rhaki’s
impatience and disbelief.

‘I warn you, two or
three of them together could destroy you.’ Cho repeated. ‘Is there
anything else? I was working – as you see.’

‘That female child. Why
are you keeping her – you do not seem to use her for
anything?’

Cho leaned back in his
chair, the flames in his eyes burning ever more brightly although
his voice remained calm.

‘It amuses me to keep
her here. And while it continues to afford me amusement, she will
be untouched by anyone else. Is that quite clear my
dear?’

It seemed that even
Rhaki finally realised that Cho Petak was somewhat
irritated.

‘Of course, of course.
I shall go and see these lands of yours then.’

‘You do so,’ Cho
nodded. ‘I can contact you in an instant, you understand, should I
need your presence here?’

He felt Rhaki’s sudden
uncertainty, his reluctant acceptance that Cho Petak’s powers were
infinitely greater than his own. The air quivered again and Rhaki’s
presence was no longer there. Scarcely had Cho calmed himself
sufficiently to return to his contemplation of his charts, than
Grek was in the room, the air stirring with his mental agitation.
Cho Petak sighed and pushed his charts away again.

‘Are you sure of D’Lah
still?’ Grek demanded. ‘At times that Rhaki creature seems to
dominate entirely – I cannot believe D’Lah permits it!’

Cho watched as the air
distorted in a jerky zigzag down the room. He waited until Grek
settled by his table again.

‘D’Lah is our old
friend,’ he said soothingly. ‘He has spent too long within the body
and mind of Rhaki – as you suggest. But D’Lah is still there. He
will never let us down.’

‘I wish I could feel so
sure,’ Grek worried on. ‘Can he still separate himself, do you
think? Tell me truly Cho, for I doubt he can.’

‘D’Lah was made fearful
when Rhaki became unbodied. I admit that I was surprised by that
show of weakness. We have all experienced that state.’

‘You haven’t for even
longer than D’Lah,’ Grek pointed out. ‘Would you be willing to
unbody this instant?’

Cho considered the
question. ‘I see no problem making such a decision,’ he said
finally. ‘Should it be necessary, it would be done. It has its
advantages after all.’

‘And its
disadvantages,’ Grek retorted. ‘And I have had more opportunity
than you to study both positions.’

‘What is your worry
Grek my old friend? It will be a while before the time is ripe for
the next stage of my plan. If you wish to take a solid form again,
there are plenty of hosts still available out there.’ He waved in
the direction of the window.

‘You miss the point
Cho,’ Grek sounded exasperated.

Where was the laughing
boy now? But before Cho could reply, Grek was gone.

More disturbed than he
liked, Cho walked to the window. Of late, he took what little sleep
he needed around the middle of the day. No longer did he have to
hide the fact that he greatly disliked the bright glare of
daylight. Now, he stared up at the star filled night, noting that
the constellation of the Weeping Willow was lower in the west and
that the Wolf was dominating the sky.

Many times had Cho
congratulated himself on taking the body of that farmer’s son in
the far south lands when he first reached this world. He had been
an average boy: average height, average looks, but it was the
sturdy solidity which had appealed to Cho. It was a body bred for
endurance, for hard work in the fields. Now it was nearing the end
of its usefulness.

Cho had slowed the
ageing process further than any of the then Sacrifice and Offerings
would have thought possible had they known of it. But over the last
years, he had more and more often to retreat from public life for a
day, to restore some degree of function to the body’s vital organs.
The bones were fragile and broke with tedious regularity, again
necessitating a day’s worth of repair.

It would be some time
before the resources of this world were utterly depleted by his
servants from the Void – he should calculate just how long it would
take them to reduce the place to barren ruin. So much to think of!
Cho turned from the window and made his way slowly to the rooms
next to his, traditionally reserved for the most important visitors
to the Menedula. Noiselessly, he opened a door and entered. A
single lamp burned on a table which seemed haphazardly piled with
books. More books lay scattered on the floor around a large
armchair. Silently, Cho moved in front of the chair, staring down
at its occupant.

The female child who
had hosted Grek since before her birth slept, curled into the deep
chair, an open book on her knees. Cho bent to peer at the book,
glanced at a couple on the floor and smiled. Books with lots of
pictures in them, pictures of plants, animals, birds. Grek had
sworn the child had not been taught to read – how could she without
his knowing? Cho had his doubts and before he ordered Grek from the
child’s body, he had tried a little experiment.

Consequently, he had
not revealed to Grek just how simple it had been for one of Cho’s
ability to block Grek’s awareness without Grek even suspecting such
a thing had happened. He had touched the child’s mind and come up
against the hard core that even he had not been able to infiltrate.
But he had proved to himself that a person of great power could
have taught the child many things, without Grek’s
knowledge.