Drogoya: Book 3 Circles of Light series (50 page)

‘I know this is hard
for you Offering Ren, but it is of great importance. I must take
you to speak with Mist.’

Ren swallowed and
darted a glance at the sheer cliff face to his left, gleaming in
the moon and starlight, pocked with the dark holes of Sea Dragon
caves.

‘I can make you unaware
for the few moments of flight,’ Salt offered.

Ren swallowed again.
Tika had not spoken of her talk with Mist, returning to the company
clearly distressed but unwilling to speak of her encounter. Ren
shook his head.

‘I’m sure you think me
very foolish, but I cannot help my dread of both heights and water.
As you say, it will be but a moment for you to take me up to
her.’

Salt scooped Khosa into
the crook of his arm and Ren strode determinedly to the Dragon’s
side and scrambled onto his shoulders. He clamped his hands to the
wing edges and closed his eyes. There was a hideous lurch in his
stomach but before he could decide whether he was actually going to
be sick he heard Salt’s taloned feet scraping against stone and
realised he was already at Mist’s cave.

Khosa bumped against
Ren’s left foot. ‘Step down here and keep your eyes closed,’ she
told him, and Ren noticed there was no sarcasm in her mind
voice.

He followed her
instructions and felt the draught of Salt’s departure.

‘Go further within my
cave,’ another voice spoke in his mind. ‘I will lie across my ledge
so you need not fear falling.’

One hand against the
stone wall, Ren stumbled a few paces further until he felt Khosa
batting at his leg again.

‘You’ll be all right
now. Turn round and sit down.’

Ren turned and sat
obediently before opening his eyes and Khosa climbed on his lap and
began her soft soothing buzz. Ren blinked and saw the silhouette of
a Dragon against a backdrop of stars. Mist shifted her body
slightly so that she could face Ren directly and he gasped. The
faint light was yet enough to reveal the disfigurement of the Sea
Dragon’s left side. But her right eye still reflected the stars.
She tilted her head.

‘I am touched that you
feel such grief for me as did the child. But as I told her, I am
well accustomed to my limitations now.’

Ren felt a flash of
disgust for his own whimpering dislike of heights and the sea in
the face of this Dragon’s stoical acceptance of a dreadful fate.
Mist angled her head to look up to the stars then back at the
Offering.

‘The Silver One has
spoken to me,’ she told him. ‘She approaches as we speak. None of
you have seen her I think?’

Ren shook his head. ‘I
only know what the others have told me of her. Maressa is the one
who knows most I think.’

‘Already she has
vouchsafed information which amazes me. Fills me with apprehension,
excitement and hope. She comes with another great Dragon and will
tell you that you must all travel south.’

‘But I am in the early
stages of excavating an important site,’ Ren objected.

‘No,’ Mist interrupted
firmly. ‘Hear what I am permitted to tell you and I believe you
will begin to understand.’

It was close to dawn
when a stunned Offering slid from Salt’s back and made his way
through the gap to the lower caves. Riff was keeping watch and made
way for him beside the fire, reaching for the kettle.

‘Sket said you’d gone
for a walk.’ Riff smiled easily. ‘Can’t see all that water so well
in the dark.’

Ren forced himself to
return the smile but made no other reply and Riff left him to his
thoughts.

That evening Ren
complained at the lack of artefacts they had so far uncovered and
suggested they should think of moving further south to find a more
promising site. Discussion raged back and forth over this
suggestion.

Ren was silent most of
the next day. Pallin suggested a dose of his never-known-to-fail
purgative - it was plain that Ren was seriously out of sorts. Ren
declined but without the acid comments they had all grown used to.
On the third morning after Ren’s interview with Mist, Khosa roused
them all just before dawn. She fussed and chivvied until they were
all on the beach. To their astonishment, most of the Sea Dragons
were gathered there too but for Mist and Ice, still high on their
ledges. All were facing northwards.

Tika and her companions
stared just as hard. The Dragons were completely silent, no hint of
communication among them. Brin and Farn watched with interest,
obviously as ignorant of what might be happening as were the
humans. Suddenly, Ice called from her ledge and two specks appeared
in the sky. Slowly the specks resolved into two Dragons, one huge
even at this distance, the other much smaller and flying with a
different, almost swimming motion.

‘It is Seela of Sun
Mountain!’ Brin exclaimed, but Maressa spoke at almost the same
moment.

‘It is Gremara, Silver
One of Talvo!’

The Sea Dragons reared
erect, screaming aloud their formal challenge and greeting. Human
hands clamped over human ears as the unusual cacophony shrieked on.
Then silence fell again when Dragons reared upright across the
beach as the two arrivals spiralled down. Now the Dragons’ mind
voices rose in glorious song – a wild song befitting wild Sea
Dragons.

Seela stretched to her
full height when the song ended and announced her name and
Treasury. But most eyes were fixed on the Silver One, Gremara. She
lay on the sand, her wings furled along her slender body. Her
rainbow prismed eyes swept over the crowd before her, lingering on
Tika’s small person then lifting to rest on Ice and Mist high on
the cliff.

To her own surprise,
Maressa caught hold of Tika’s hand and took two steps forward. She
bowed.

‘I am Maressa, air mage
of Vagrantia. I am glad to see you Gremara.’

Amusement rippled from
the Silver One. ‘And most relieved to know I am restored in mind no
doubt.’

Maressa looked aghast.
‘I meant no rudeness,’ she stammered.

Outright laughter
pealed from Gremara. ‘I know, I know. I do but jest with you –
forgive my foolishness.’

The Sea Dragons paced
forward in order of seniority to touch brows with the Silver One
but Tika stood to one side, finding herself with Ren, Gan and
Sket.

‘Is she as you
thought?’ asked Gan quietly.

‘I don’t know,’ Tika
replied thoughtfully. ‘She looks like no other Dragon I’ve seen. I
suppose, from all the rumours, I had imagined she would be as large
as Fenj but silver. I hadn’t thought she would be quite so –
different. But she has vast powers, and she is shielding her
mind.’

Frowns appeared on both
Gan’s face and Sket’s.

‘Why would she shield
herself here? Among friends?’

Tika shrugged, smiling
as she watched Farn formally greet both Gremara and Seela then wind
his neck affectionately around the great purple Dragon. Gremara
looked across the mass of Sea Dragons, catching first Ren’s gaze
then holding Tika’s longer. Tika shivered and repeated: ‘She has
vast powers.’

‘I will speak now with
Ice and with Mist.’ Gremara announced. ‘Perhaps you could make
Seela welcome – I think she may be hungry.’

Laughter rang across
the shore and two young Dragons leaped seawards. Gremara rose above
Seela’s head and hovered for a moment, her eyes flashing as once
more she located Tika and Ren. Her tail flicked and she undulated
through the air up to the high ledges.

Attention turned to
Seela who made her way through the Sea Dragons towards Tika. She
bent her head to the girl, affection spilling warmly through Tika’s
mind. Farn proudly introduced her to all the company, including
Khosa. The Kephi sat neatly on a rock, her orange tail curled
tidily over her front paws, and surveyed the massive Seela.
Something passed between them Tika realised, but it was a private
linking and she wondered what it might mean.

On the high ledge Mist
lay before Gremara. She had spoken briefly to Ice who had then left
them alone. Gremara had not known of Mist’s long endurance of pain
and disablement and she crooned her sorrow even as she called to
those Beyond.

The whole Flight moved
behind the cliff as the day grew to its peak and tipped again to
evening. Pallin and Riff baked some of the huge fish supplied by
young Storm and his friends. Seela had little news to impart: she
lived a solitary life in her mountains except for the Gatherings of
her Treasury. She had to tell (several times over), of Gremara’s
arrival in the Sun Mountains and of their rapid flight here in
search of Tika and her friends. Each time she reached this point in
her story, Tika interrupted.

‘But why does she seek
me? If it is something so urgent, why has she not yet told
me?’

And each time Seela
pleaded ignorance of the Silver One’s intent.

The sun was falling
close to the rim of the sea when Gremara was suddenly in their
midst. Storm shyly offered her one of the remaining uncooked fish
and she ate a few mouthfuls with appreciation. She looked around at
the many Dragon faces and the nine humans.

‘I am here to warn
you,’ she said softly.

Her listeners became
utterly still.

‘Evil is abroad in the
distant lands from whence Offering Ren has come. I cannot say if it
can be halted, or slowed, or overcome. A similar fate may already
be unfolding here.’ She turned her brilliant rainbow eyes towards
Tika.

‘You and your friends
must flee south. There is a Sanctuary there where together a
solution may be discovered. Many leagues south is a desert
land.’

Gremara noted Olam and
Pallin nod confirmation.

‘There live a wild
people, but they have kept faith more closely than any other people
in this world, and they will do what they can to aid you. Salt, I
must warn you to be prepared for dangers such as you cannot have
ever imagined. When Mist awakens she will tell you more.

‘I am proud to have met
you no matter how briefly. I would speak alone with Tika and then I
must leave. There is a great need of my presence in Vagrantia again
and I find –‘ Gremara amazingly, seemed to falter for a moment then
recovered herself. ‘I face a great peril of my own. I must be in
Talvo by that time which I fear is only days away. May the stars
guide your paths and guard your hearts my dearest ones.’

She moved gracefully to
the nearest Dragon and pressed her brow to his, working her way
round the entire gathering. She repeated the action to an
astonished Pallin, then Riff, Olam and Navan. Their expressions
showed plainly that the Silver One communicated something privately
to each. She studied Maressa carefully for a moment before lowering
her head to the young woman, and moved on to Gan. Then she moved to
Ren, whose face showed no emotion at all.

When it was Sket’s
turn, his face flushed scarlet but the watchers realised it was
pride, not embarrassment as he straightened his back and pulled his
shoulders square. The Silver One spoke with Brin and with Seela
before turning to Farn. She rested her cheek against his and his
eyes half closed. Gremara rose slowly above him, her body curving
and twisting above his back. Tiny blue lights flickered around the
silver blue Farn and he leaned more heavily against Brin. Gremara
spun on her tail, locked eyes with Tika and flew over the gap to
the beach.

It seemed only a few
moments before Tika returned from her talk with Gremara but the sky
was dusky with approaching night. She stared at Ren and he gave a
tiny shrug and a rueful smile. Gremara appeared high above them,
circled twice and shot away to the east.

Dragons and humans were
staring at each other, unable to fully understand what had taken
place among them when Salt’s head whipped round towards the high
caves. A Dragon drifted over the cliffs, landing a little apart.
Hundreds of eyes stared at Mist. Her one eye whirred and glittered,
and streamed with tears as she stretched out her wings and drew
herself upright. Her two, whole, wings.

Chapter
Thirty-One

It took Volk three days
to reach Valoon. Dislike the smell of mint though he did, he
decided it at least blocked the worst of the other stench. He’d
kept well clear of the ruins of Oblaka town but hidden up on an old
hunting trail as he was, he still caught glimpses of the bodies in
the fields. Some of them were twisted and charred, others were half
chewed, he didn’t like to think what or who had done that. There
were several occasions when his horse sidestepped and snorted,
baulking at something on the path ahead. Body parts
mostly.

Volk was unbelievably
bad tempered by the time he overlooked Valoon. He dismounted and
tied the three horses loosely at the edge of the trail. He had no
wish to lose them, but he would rather they stood a chance of
pulling free should anything threaten them. He sat half hidden by
scrubby bushes and studied his town.

It was quiet as death.
But he could see no bodies in the streets or in the few fields. Six
or seven houses at the far end of the main street were burned out,
but most of the rest seemed untouched. He watched the silent town
for most of the afternoon and nothing moved at all. As it grew
darker, Volk moved back to the horses and, staying on foot, led
them on another two hundred paces. Again he tethered them, this
time above the old track leading to the rarely used back gate of
the stable yard behind his inn.