Drogoya: Book 3 Circles of Light series (33 page)

‘Many will not
believe,’ he said. ‘Myata taught that it was irrelevant whether
people believed her lessons or not. What will happen, will still
happen. It is of no importance my dear Chakar.’

Somehow, word had
spread that the Plavats now had nine eggs, and Chakar was blamed
for bringing the birds here in the first place. The majority of the
Guards liked the tiny Observer, but they felt she should have sent
the Plavats back where they came from as soon as they had delivered
her here. She quite understood, and even shared their feelings, but
it was Mim who eventually ordered the Guards to stop their
increasingly surly attitude towards Observer Chakar.

Sava ignored Chakar for
the most part. The owl seemed to feel that she had betrayed him,
leaving him behind and adventuring off with the hideous Plavats. So
Sava was usually to be found on, or near, old Lorak, and his
hooting became less doleful.

Elyssa spent longer
each day with the midnight blue Dragon Kadi and with Observer
Babach. The golden Dragon Kija also spent time with Elyssa, sharing
her memories of Farn’s hatching and of his bonding with Tika. Kija
was aware that Elyssa had heard much of these things from Tika and
Farn themselves, but Kija viewed these happenings slightly
differently. Tika had spoken of the terror she had experienced when
Farn was wounded near to death, but Kija let Elyssa see also the
wonder of the healing that was performed on her son.

This day, Elyssa sat
with Kija in the great hall. Lorak had dragged both the Observers
off to inspect his new gardens yet again and the other Dragons were
flying in the at last slightly warmer air above the
Stronghold.

‘How much longer do you
wait, child?’ Kija asked.

‘Until Kadi is strong
enough.’ Elyssa replied unguardedly. Then she looked up at the
golden Dragon and smiled. ‘Neatly done, dear Kija!’

Kija’s laugh seemed to
tickle Elyssa’s mind. ‘I am old child. I will hatch no more
children, but I am not an old fool. It has become clear to me that
you and Kadi, with the old man, plan to go to Drogoya.’

Elyssa sighed. ‘I do
not think we dare say that we “plan” anything Kija. The thought was
in each of our minds and it grows more insistent each day. But Kadi
must be as strong as may be for such a journey.’

Kija rattled her wings.
‘Where did Kadi take the child Mena? Even now she does not speak of
it to us. She says only that something affected her mind and that
she flew as if crazed.’

Kija felt a shield
tighten around the girl’s mind, then it melted away and bright blue
eyes set in silver stared up at her.

‘She took the child to
Drogoya of course – as you have already guessed. Now, we must
retrieve the child, bring her back here for a time.’

Smoke wisped from
Kija’s nose and her prismed eyes darkened.

‘Mena is the child of
Hargon, a so called Lord in the western lands. He bred my daughter
Tika as a slave.’ Anger pulsed from her. ‘Is his daughter worth the
lives of my dearest friend and clan sister Kadi, as well as you and
Babach?’

Elyssa held the
Dragon’s gaze steadily. ‘Yes,’ she replied.

Gold flared in Kija’s
stare. Elyssa got to her feet. She reached both hands to Kija’s
face and leaned her head against the Dragon’s brow.

‘Kadi must return the
pendant to the child.’ Her words were a bare whisper even in the
mind speech.

Kija jerked her head
out of Elyssa’s hands, confusion spilling through her thoughts.
Elyssa sat down again, watching Kija closely as the Dragon fitted
pieces of the puzzle into place. Finally Kija swung her long face
down to the girl who quietly sat at her side.

‘Do you believe it to
be so, or do you know it to be so?’

Elyssa’s smile was
radiant. ‘I know it.’

Silence fell between
them once more until Kija spoke again.

‘Where is she truly
from, this child Mena?’

Elyssa’s head tilted to
one side. ‘Two places I think, and this I do not know for sure. But
I think she is from here, and also, from Beyond.’

Kija moaned softly and
rocked from side. ‘If she is who you say, why must she be brought
here? Why is she but a child, untrained, when this world has need
of a powerful, experienced being, to ensure its
survival?’

‘Perhaps even the old
gods of Valsheba can miscalculate?’ Elyssa suggested. ‘The child is
at least born, and she will grow to her power very swiftly I
suspect. Babach and I think that she is not strong enough yet to
resist Cho Petak with all his newly arrived creatures. She must
therefore come here.’

‘Has this Cho Petak not
discovered what she might be? He would surely destroy her so easily
should he find her now and suspect her potential?’

Elyssa bit her lip.
‘From what Kadi has been able to recall, she left the child close
to the building which Babach calls the Menedula. It is where Cho
Petak dwells. Therefore she may be with him at this
moment.’

Kija was aghast. ‘The
child is under his control even now?’

‘Babach thinks that she
will find her way to the House of Oblaka,’ Elyssa began but Kija
did not let her finish.

‘This Oblaka is the
place the old man says was burnt, the place where he was so
grievously hurt!’

‘Kija, listen to me.
You have heard both the Observers tell of hidden caves below the
House of Oblaka. That is where the child will try to go, and once
there, she will be safe, for a time at least.’

Smoke wisped again and
Kija’s eyes blazed with fury.

‘I understood from the
old man and the woman Chakar that it takes six days or more for
them to ride some sort of animal from the building where dwells
Petak to the coast. Will the child find animals to ride do you
think? She will surely have to walk. How long then would it take a
child, travelling unknown ways, and with dangers all around, to get
to this safety you speak of with such frightening
complacency?’

A scribe scratched at
the door of the High Speaker’s study and poked his head into the
room.

‘Forgive the
interruption High Speaker, but the mage Pachela begs a few moments
of your time – she says it is most important.’

Thryssa nodded and
Pajar started to get to his feet.

‘No, stay please
Pajar,’ Thryssa murmured as Pachela came into the study.

The girl bowed to both
Thryssa and the first councillor and then sat on the very edge of
the chair offered to her.

‘Gremara spoke with me
High Speaker. She says she will have to leave Talvo, at least for a
while. She has instructed Jeela in many things but by no means all
the silver one’s successor should rightly know.’

Pachela looked from
face to face. ‘Gremara said that Prilla is no longer Prilla, and
one of the three Firans within the Corvida is likewise altered. She
said what appears to be Prilla, plans to move against Parima within
days and if shielding is to work, it will take every mage here
working in concert to make it so.'

Thryssa had grown pale
listening to Pachela repeat Gremara’s warning.

‘The three Firans,’ she
said slowly looking to her first councillor.

‘Destroy them at once.’
Pajar did not hesitate.

Pachela stared at him,
gulped but nodded her head. ‘Gremara said Speaker Lashek and
Speaker Orsim are on their way here now?’

Pajar
nodded.

‘She said that they are
in danger while – while the three Firans live.’

Without further
comment, Pajar left the room. Thryssa looked at the closed door in
silence then folded her hands together on the table.

‘Dear stars, what is
happening to us? I do not recall a death sentence being enacted in
all the cycles since Vagrantia was found.’

‘Gremara said it was
necessary,’ Pachela whispered, her silvered eyes fixed on
Thryssa.

The High Speaker forced
a tiny smile. ‘I am sure she knows more than she has told us. But
where is she going? Only once before has she left Talvo, and that
only recently to reach Jeela and Kadi.’

Pachela shook her head
but before she could speak, the Corvida rocked. Thryssa’s hands
clenched on the table, her mind flashing to find Pajar’s mental
signature. He was close to the apartments the Firans had been moved
to, but he did not respond to her thought. Kwanzi burst into the
study.

‘What now?’ he asked
tersely.

Again, the Corvida
building moved, a rippling sensation making the walls shudder. The
window to Thryssa’s left fell inwards, glass ringing on the stone
floor.

‘The three Firans,’
Thryssa told him equally tersely as she hurried past
him.

Kwanzi glanced at the
girl already on her feet to follow the High Speaker.

‘Pajar went to destroy
the Firans in their chambers.’

‘Destroy?’ Kwanzi
echoed in horror.

Pachela brushed past
him. ‘It was necessary. One is not truly Firan.’

She ran along the
corridor in Thryssa’s wake while Kwanzi was still gaping. Ordering
the men standing watch at the end of the corridor to come at once,
Kwanzi rushed after Pachela and his wife. He caught them up near to
the apartment which the Firans now occupied. Thryssa had come to a
halt outside the main door leading into this suite of chambers. The
door glowed red, the heat from it reaching ten paces or more into
the corridor. To Kwanzi’s left, he saw three bodies sprawled on the
floor, two in the brown and green robes of healers. The third
body’s flaming red hair identified him as first councillor
Pajar.

Kwanzi hesitated only
briefly. Pachela stood by Thryssa, her arm linked through the High
Speaker’s. More healers and armed guards were coming from corridors
to either side and Kwanzi moved to bend over Pajar. He turned the
first councillor onto his back and laid his fingers to the pulse in
his throat. He could see no obvious injury but Pajar’s mind was
blanketed in deep unconsciousness. He stooped to check the healer
lying by Pajar’s feet and found her dead. Other healers had reached
him now and Kwanzi quickly told all he knew: that Pajar had come
here to destroy the Firans. Two older healers remained by Kwanzi
and at his nod they linked minds and tried to penetrate into the
rooms behind the glowing door.

The man beside Kwanzi
swayed against him with a gasp but pulled himself upright
again.

‘Whatever is it?’ The
woman on Kwanzi’s other side murmured aloud, her voice husky with
fear.

‘A creature from the
Void, or so we suspect.’ It was Pachela who answered.

She and Thryssa had
crossed to join Kwanzi. The two women felt a surge of power as the
three linked minds manoeuvred together against an unseen force.
There came an ear splitting scream of mingled surprise, anger and
pain, then the heat around the door died away. Guards moved as
Thryssa walked to the door and one, at her gesture, tentatively
reached for the latch. When his fingers found that the metal was
cool, he lifted it and pushed it wide, slipping quickly into the
room, sword drawn and three comrades at his heels.

Thryssa found herself
gripping her pendant which did not feel overly warm but throbbed
insistently against her palm. Three more guards followed Thryssa
into the chamber, the first four already searching through the
adjoining rooms. A guard called from what Thryssa remembered was a
sitting room overlooking the gardens to the side of the Corvida.
She went quickly through to that room, aware that Pachela was close
behind her. She heard Pachela’s indrawn breath and nodded slightly.
The velvet smoothness of the black walls was corrugated as though
it had been heated far above any natural temperature. Thryssa’s
gaze moved from the walls to the floor where two of the young
Firans lay.

One of the girls,
Thryssa thought it was Graza, stared up with sightless blue and
silvered eyes, her face twisted in a rictus of terror. She lay half
behind an armchair, as if she had tried to find a hiding place. The
boy Kralo lay under the window, his face pressed against the wall,
his back to the room. A guard rolled him onto his back and
Thryssa’s mouth tightened when she saw a similar grimace of fear on
his face. She bent, pushing up his eyelids and saw his blue
silvered eyes were already dulled.

Thryssa glanced up at
Pachela. ‘I made a mistake. I was sure it would be Kralo.’ The High
Speaker rose. ‘Where is Mokray then, we must find her.’

Guards emerging from
other rooms, shook their heads: the apartments were empty other
than this room. Pachela caught Thryssa’s arm and pointed at a
narrow low door at the side of the hearth. Thryssa frowned. It was
merely a cupboard used to store extra cushions. She signalled a
guard to open the cupboard and flinched as a body sitting sideways
on the floor within, toppled out. The guard’s sword was at the
girl’s throat immediately but he raised it after a moment. He
turned to Thryssa, his face rather pale.

‘Dead as well, High
Speaker.’

Thryssa walked round a
long low table to look down at the girl. Her eyes were no longer
brown set in silver: they were burnt sockets, and blood smeared her
face like red tear tracks.