Drogoya: Book 3 Circles of Light series (26 page)

‘One hundred, two
hundred, of your steps,’ he suggested.

Tika moved across,
leaning to hug Farn and reaching to touch Storm’s face. ‘If it
turns out to be leagues and leagues, I might become very
annoyed.’

Both Farn and Storm
shivered in glee, recognising that Tika was teasing
them.

‘Go on then, we will
follow.’

Storm lifted at once,
closely followed by Farn. Tika turned to Brin.

‘You will be careful
old friend?’ she asked softly.

Brin’s eyes flashed
with affection as he heard the genuine concern in her mind
tone.

‘You know I will dear
child. We will be back before you have time to miss us.’

Tika put her arms
around as much of Brin as she could reach and he rubbed his long
face gently against her head.

‘May the stars guide
your path and guard your heart then Brin.’

She turned, coming face
to face with Maressa, who carried a pack containing a handful of
dried fruits, an end of flat tough travel bread and two flasks of
water.

‘I promise there will
be no risks taken. We will leave now – I dare not start looking at
any ruins, or I would never leave them!’

They hugged each other,
Maressa climbed between Brin’s great wings, and they lifted into
the sky. Brin circled once, then climbed higher and arrowed towards
the east.

Chapter
Sixteen

Finn Rah decided that
Lyeto was correct: if there were refugees from the terror still
wandering about outside, it was the duty and the obligation of
Myata’s followers to offer them sanctuary. Lyeto had gone out on
several more occasions, each time bringing one or two shocked,
frightened or injured people back with him. The worst time for
Finn, and for the rest of the community, was the night that Lyeto
returned with five terrified children, the eldest of whom was a
mere seven years old. The four younger ones clung to the eldest,
refusing to let him go until he gently persuaded them that these
strangers were trustworthy.

That night, Finn saw
more of the hidden Oblaka community in tears than ever before,
including the night that their House had been destroyed. Strangely,
it was the disfigured blind woman, Teal, who seemed best able to
calm the children. Three of them recognised her: their mothers had
often gone to buy Teal’s bread from the market, and so her face,
scarred as it was, was reassuringly familiar.

Finn was in Chakar’s
sitting room with Observer Soosha and Kooshak Sarryen.

‘The last two adults
Lyeto brought in came from just west of Krasato,’ Soosha was
saying. ‘I wonder what impelled them to flee so far in this
direction, particularly?’

Sarryen joined them at
the table with a fresh pot of tea. ‘I have to say that I have
noticed increasing whispers of Myata over the last few years as I
wander the lands,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps the people
remember the stories of her promise of welcome for all within her
House?’

‘It is interesting that
you should say that – I have heard fewer and fewer students mention
her of late.’ Finn looked over the rim of her tea bowl at the
Kooshak.

Soosha grunted. ‘I
suspect that Cho Petak may have examined would be students far more
closely than in the past. He would not want any other than blind
devotees of Sedka’s Order and, by extension, of himself as
Sacrifice.’

‘That makes sense
within the Menedula. But why the sudden interest in Myata in the
countryside?’ asked Sarryen.

‘The Balance?’ The
Observer suggested.

Finn nodded slowly. ‘I
remember some ridiculous cases about thirty years ago. People were
planting onions among their beans, as they always had. They were
accused of flouting Sedka’s fourth law, or some such nonsense. Do
you remember? It caused an unusual stir at the time then it all
seemed to disappear. I should have checked out the matter more
closely.’

Soosha patted her arm.
‘We can all be more knowledgeable with hindsight, my dear Finn. No
doubt the evidence is all there if we could but connect the various
pieces which would then prove Cho Petak to be the foulest sort of
impostor.’

‘Strong words
Soosha.’

‘Indeed. But only the
truth Finn. I have always worked best with earth and fire. Cho
Petak is stronger with earth and fire than he is with air and
water. Yet I have never felt the affinity with him that I would
expect. On the contrary, I have felt a strong aversion to him,
which is why I returned to the Oblaka after only the briefest of
sojourns in the Menedula.’

‘Chakar is greatly
gifted in air and water, yet she used nearly the same words in a
message to me some time ago,’ said Finn.

‘Neither Chakar or I
saw any way of overcoming him alone,’ Soosha spoke heavily. ‘We
thought we would need a minimum of four Observers to combat each of
his four talents. And there are not enough of us here to attempt
it.’

Finn pursed her lips.
‘You really think it would take four each?’

‘No,’ Soosha corrected
her. ‘That is what we estimated before this affliction beset the
land. Melena told me that Babach said he believed Cho Petak to come
from the Lost Realms.’

The two women stared at
him.

‘No one mentioned that
to me,’ Finn said at last.

Soosha nodded sadly.
‘And several of us attuned to the earth, together with a few who
are gifted in air, felt something happen some days
past.’

‘Felt what?’ Sarryen
spoke quietly but her face expressed her alarm.

‘A sort of shuddering,
a revulsion. As if earth and air across this land had been violated
in some way.’

‘But,’ Finn began, then
stopped to gather her thoughts. ‘I was taught, and have since so
believed, that the Lost Realms were light knows how far distant?
They were encapsulated, the ones who contrived the overthrow of the
First Age.’

‘It would appear to me
that Cho Petak escaped that fate somehow, and in turn has located
and freed some of his ancient followers.’

‘Then what hope have
we?’

Soosha patted the
Offering’s arm again. ‘There is always some hope, or so Myata
taught. But we have to sit tight here, keep this community safe,
alive and hopeful.’ He paused. ‘And wait for further news from the
Night Lands.’

‘If Babach survived
with Voron, then they and Chakar would be foolish to try to return
here now.’

Soosha laughed. ‘So you
say Finn. But in their circumstances, given the slightest chance,
would you not come home?’

A knock at the door
sounded before Finn could answer and Soosha and Sarryen were
already getting to their feet.

‘I have students to
instruct,’ Soosha said, opening the door to reveal
Lyeto.

The young man stood
aside to allow the Observer and the Kooshak past him.

‘Come in Lyeto.’ Finn
moved from the table to the hearth.

‘I did not intend to
interrupt you, Offering. Volk suggested you might like to sample
this.’

He held out a tall
narrow dark blue bottle.

‘Aah.’ Finn took it
from him and broke the wax seal. She sniffed cautiously, then with
more enthusiasm. ‘I shall try this I think. And you did not
interrupt me Lyeto.’

A colourless liquid
came from the bottle as Finn poured it generously into a mug. She
sipped, swallowed, and waited. A smile spread across the Offering’s
face.

‘A vast improvement on
the last lot,’ she announced. ‘Have you tried it?’

‘Oh no, thank you,’
Lyeto said hastily. ‘I find such drink just gives me a headache
without the pleasure most seem to derive from it.’

Finn glanced across at
him. ‘Well, sit down if you want to talk. You haven’t come to
suggest that you go outside tonight have you? Because I will not
permit it. You work hard during the day with all the new arrivals,
and you have been outside each of the last three nights. Tonight
you will sleep. That is an order Lyeto.’

He gave a faint smile
and stared into the fire. Finn frowned.

‘I know I am not
Chakar, but you can talk to me you know.’

The young man looked
uncomfortable. Light, what could he have done now, she wondered. He
drew in an audible breath.

‘You remember when I
brought in Teal and Giff and the boy?’

‘I am hardly likely to
forget.’

‘I asked if you heard
singing and you said you did not.’

He had Finn’s full
attention now.

‘I have heard the same
singing now, each time I come back from outside with
refugees.’

Finn noted his long
fingered hands were knotted on his knee, the knuckles
white.

‘What sort of singing
do you mean Lyeto?’

‘That’s just it.’ He
sounded exasperated. ‘There are no words, but it is singing not
humming. It is full of a joyous gladness. I do not recognise any
tune, yet it is familiar. Am I touched with the affliction do you
think?’

Blue silvered eyes
regarded Finn with something close to panic.

‘No Lyeto, you are
neither touched with the affliction nor any other kind of madness.’
She took another sip of Volk’s latest brew while she considered
what Lyeto had told her.

‘Has anyone else heard
any singing?’ she asked.

‘I mentioned it to a
few people but they had no idea what I was talking
about.’

‘Does it stay in your
mind, or just vanish when it ceases?’

Lyeto frowned. ‘It is
still in my mind.’

‘Would you allow me to
hear it?’

‘Oh yes please. It is
beginning to worry me Offering Finn Rah.’

‘Then relax and open
your mind to me.’

Finn’s jaw slackened as
Lyeto’s mind played the singing back from his memories. She stared
hard at him.

‘Have you heard such
singing before Offering?’ he asked hopefully.

‘No. I have not.’ Finn
swallowed the remains of her drink and had a brief fit of coughing.
‘Have I your permission to speak of this to the Observer Soosha and
the two Kooshak? They may ask to hear it, as I have
done.’

‘Whatever you think
best. Do you think it is something harmful?’

‘Oh no,’ Finn laughed.
‘Something as beautiful as that singing could not be harmful. Well.
It could,’ she corrected herself truthfully. ‘But there is
something just too – joyous was the word you used I think? No
Lyeto, it is not harmful to you I am quite positive.’

Lyeto visibly relaxed
and soon afterwards Finn sent him to his bed with strict orders to
sleep soundly. Finn sat thinking for a while then went in search of
Soosha, Arryol and Sarryen. Soosha was delighted with Volk’s newest
brew and joined Finn Rah in her choice of beverage while the
Kooshak brewed themselves berry tea with a faintly righteous
air.

‘Lyeto came to see me.
He has heard voices singing. Have any of you?’

Soosha and Sarryen
looked puzzled and shook their heads, but Arryol frowned. Finn
waited.

‘Well I thought it was
just when I am very tired – my imagination playing tricks.’ He
looked at the other three warily.

‘Would you let us into
your mind so we might hear it?’ Finn asked quietly.

Arryol shrugged. ‘If
you think it important.’

‘Oh I do Arryol. I
think it is very important.’

A few moments later,
Arryol shifted uneasily in his chair, the astonished expressions on
the faces of Sarryen and the Offering quite unnerving
him.

‘It is the same as
Lyeto hears. He said he first heard it when you worked on the boy
he brought in with Teal. He hears it now each time he brings in
people from the outside. He feared it was a form of
madness.’

Soosha chuckled at
Finn’s words.

‘No madness,’ he said.
‘The most marvellous of signs.’

Three faces turned to
the Observer.

‘It is a sign that we
are not abandoned, that we may yet find help from a long forgotten
source.’

Krolik, Cho Petak’s
chosen Master of Aspirants, was now Cho’s menial. It was Krolik who
cooked the light, easily digestible meals that were all Cho’s body
could accept. He brought the same meals to Mena but with the
addition of bread, cheese and fruits. Krolik no longer possessed a
mind fully his own and moved only on Cho’s orders.

Cho visited Mena twice
each day. Sometimes he simply sat watching her; occasionally, he
spoke or asked questions of Sapphrea. Mena had told him that, as
only a worthless female child, she knew nothing of the government
of Return and very little of the surrounding
countryside.

This morning, Cho came
silently to Mena’s rooms and stood by the table looking down on the
drawing she was copying from a large book propped up in front of
her.

‘That is a fair copy,’
he remarked. ‘But why do you choose to draw a Plavat?’