Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light (28 page)

The ice didn’t
melt.

Dromi brightened. ‘Some
of your guards call Essa, sir, don’t they, as they call Sket sir?
That’s how it is with us.’

The ice thawed. ‘I do
hope so Dromi. But you say it is a long way?’

‘On foot, it is maybe
fifteen days.’

Tika calculated. ‘The
Dragons could probably fly that distance in four days. Or we could
use a gateway.’

Dromi looked cautious.
‘I have yet to fully understand these gateways.’

‘Dreadful things.’
Konya pulled the tea kettle off the fire and began busying herself
with splitting a rabbit carcass. ‘Oh I can see how useful they
might be, but what’s the point in travelling thousands of miles in
a blink and then feeling so sick when you get there, you’re fit for
nothing?’

Dromi turned to Tika
and Sket in some alarm.

‘I get sick too,’ Sket
told him gloomily. ‘But most of this lot don’t.’

‘What is a mile?’ Dromi
eventually chose to ask.

‘It is how distance is
measured in Kelshan and the Dark Realm.’ Sket frowned. ‘I’d guess
it is three, perhaps four miles to a league, as near as I can make
it.’

Dromi stared at him.
‘These gateways take you thousands of your miles?’

Sket grinned. ‘In an
eye blink,’ he agreed.

Tika had been listening
with some amusement but a thought occurred to her.

‘Sket, when we
travelled the circles in Sapphrea you didn’t get sick.’

Sket thought about
that. ‘You’re right, I didn’t.’He met Tika’s eyes. ‘But Cyrek told
us gateways and circles were the same thing.’

‘And they can’t be.’
Tika felt excitement rising. Now why had Cyrek said the two methods
of travelling were the same? ‘Do you think he believes they really
are the same, but without having tried going through a
circle?’

Shivan had heard the
last exchange and sat opposite Sket.

‘My father used to
speak about Cyrek to my mother.’ Shivan shrugged. ‘Sometimes you
can’t help but overhear.’

Tika and Shea gave
broad grins. Shivan glared.

‘Father has spoken for
quite a few years about Cyrek’s self importance. It makes father
very angry when Cyrek acts as if he knows better than any other
Lord, and is laughing at Corman or father himself.’

Shivan studied his
hands. ‘I have heard father say that Aunt Lerran doesn’t trust
Cyrek’s family.’

‘Who are Cyrek’s
family?’ asked Shea.

‘The family name is
Vorstan, although we rarely use two names as is the custom among
some other people.’

‘Is his family counted
among the truly high ones in the Realm?’

Tika left Shea to ask
the questions. Shea knew far more about the intricacies of such
matters than Tika did.

‘No. No one in the
Vorstan family has ever excelled at anything. They are not
mentioned in any of the histories. They do make a very good living
from their lands – their wine is widely sought throughout the
Realm. But Cyrek and Seola both gained high honours at the Academy.
They have siblings and dozens of cousins, who all work on the
estate.’

‘So what does Cyrek
do?’ asked Rhaki.

‘I regret to say I
don’t know. He is a great deal older than me you must understand,
not someone I know well at all. He just seemed to drift in and out
of the Palace. He was very rarely at the Academy.’

‘And Seola?’

‘She and Cyrek shared
an apartment in the east section of the Palace.’ Shivan stopped
speaking and his brow furrowed. He met Tika’s eyes, his own
suddenly wide.

‘I heard rumours that
Seola reported to Chindar. I didn’t pay much attention – it was
just gossip – you know. Chindar was disliked by many of my
generation. And so were both Cyrek and Seola.’

‘He was? They were? You
never told me that.’ Tika was indignant. ‘Do you suppose Corman
knows that Seola reported to Chindar?’

‘I hope so.’ Shivan
sounded worried now. ‘Both Cyrek and Seola always seemed to have
free access to the Palace – my father complained about it quite a
lot.’

Farn suddenly mind
spoke them. ‘My Tika, Shivan must warn Corman. I am sure what Khosa
smelled inside that hole was Cyrek. A gateway leaves a sort of mark
in the air to us, and we have spoken of it. Storm is sure a gateway
opened here only a short time before we arrived.’

Tika walked across to
Farn and Kija, looking between mother and son.

‘You can sense
gateways?’

‘Not sense; feel. We
could feel the circles – they seem much stronger to us than
gateways. The air – tingles.’ Kija gave up trying to describe
something so nebulous.

Tika turned towards the
fire. ‘Go, Shivan. Tell Corman of our suspicions. We will wait here
for your return.’

Shivan got to his feet
and moved away. His form shimmered and the man became a Dragon,
larger than Kija by far, but seeming almost ephemerally fragile.
Great translucent wings extended and Shivan rose, the air wafting
around them with the scent of burnt cinnamon. He flew to the south,
but within four heartbeats, he had vanished.

Dromi stared at the
empty sky. ‘Volk told me that man changed to Dragon form,’ he
whispered. ‘I wasn’t sure if he spoke truth. But where did he
go?’

Tika sat down. ‘He
opened a Dragon gateway. It’s a little different from the more
usual gateways.’

She glanced at Kija,
but the gold Dragon appeared to be dozing. Dromi finally gave up
staring at the sky to stare at Tika instead.

‘The Dark Ones only
change to Dragon form. I think.’ She raised a questioning brow at
Essa and Onion who both nodded. ‘And in Dragon form, the gateways
they make are in some way different.’

As Dromi seemed bereft
of speech, Tika decided to go down to the empty town of Merriton
and see the strange burial place Kazmat had spoken of. Kija
remained where she was, with Khosa asleep on a cushion against
Kija’s chest. The cushion was carried in Tika’s pack and was Kija’s
only, and deeply cherished, possession. Essa’s mother did fine
embroidery work and she had presented this cushion to Kija before
they left the Bear tribe’s village.

Kija spent much time
looking at this cushion. The silver and gold threads depicted the
Bears’ village, high in the mountains on a snowy winter night. The
threads sparkled in a manner quite enchanting to Dragon eyes. Only
occasionally was Khosa allowed to sit on it. Farn drifted just
overhead as most of the company strolled along the track to the
town.

Volk had joined them
but Dromi remained by the fire, apparently watching Konya sort
through her many pouches of herbs. The companions entered the first
streets, following Kazmat and Onion. Finding herself beside Volk,
Tika glanced up at him.

‘Why was Dromi quite so
shocked when Shivan changed?’

‘There are legends,
stories – very old stories – of Dragons here. No one believes they
could be true.’ He pursed his lips.’ ‘Perhaps Dromi knows more than
ordinary folk such as I.’

Tika kept her gaze on
Sket’s back. ‘Who is Dromi?’ she asked, as casually as she
could.

They walked on some
distance before Volk replied. ‘He is a Spider.’

Shea, unnoticed till
now, drew level with Tika and peered round her at Volk.

‘General Whilk was a
Spider in Kelshan.’

Tika stopped. ‘What are
you talking about?’

‘I um heard him talking
to Jemin one day. He said there were several in the City but they
had only one contact to pass their news on to. His contact was
Snail, although he never met her in Kelshan.’

Volk had halted a pace
or two further on and listened to Shea. He nodded. ‘They pass
information.’

Shea nodded back, then
frowned. ‘Seola was the one who collected the information.’ Her
hazel eyes met Tika’s, worry evident.

‘Does Snail know
another Spider then?’

Shea shook her head. ‘I
don’t know. Waxin Pule knew Seola, but I’m not sure if he was a
Spider.’

‘It worries me, that
the very name Spider should be used in your land,’ said Volk, his
voice a soft rumble.

Tika snorted and began
to walk on again. ‘There seems to be quite a large number of spies
around, so I’ve learned. I was told in the Dark Realm that their
spies, and they actually named Seola, only watch and listen to make
sure their Realm remains undiscovered and unthreatened.’

‘And Dromi would tell
you the same.’

‘Do you dislike Dromi,
or distrust him?’ Tika asked.

Volk grunted. ‘Old
Bloods have always been taught to succour the Spiders; to offer aid
and protection whenever it is required or asked for. They keep our
histories at Steadfast Rock. They are also known as the
Keepers.’

‘Keepers?’

The name was familiar
but Tika couldn’t track it down in her memory. They’d caught up
with the others now and Tika let it go. She saw they had reached an
open area, about the size of a market square. But the space was
filled with pillars of white stone, as Kazmat had described. The
pillars reached to Tika’s waist and the ground around was flat,
covered in white dust. Tika bent to examine the nearest pillar.
Marks were incised, deep into the stone, but it was a script
strange to her: all straight lines and odd dots.

‘Can you read it?’ She
looked up at Volk.

‘No. It is a writing
only used by the servants of the Menedula.’

Tika straightened and
surveyed the countless identical pillars, row after row of them
that filled the area.

‘How did the people
know where their loved ones are?’ Geffal asked from behind her. ‘We
visit our dead once a year. We have a party where their bodies lay,
and tell them all the news.’ He gestured at the dusty white stones.
‘You couldn’t have a party squashed in here.’

‘The priests dealt with
the dead,’ Volk explained. ‘They took the body from its home and
after a day and a night in Sedka’s House, they brought it here. No
family member saw the corpse once it was taken by the
priests.’

‘Sedka’s House?’ asked
Darrick.

Volk pointed north.
‘The house where the priests, the servants of Sedka and the
Menedula, lived, is always furthest from the burial
places.’

‘Let’s find Sedka’s
House then,’ Darrick suggested, and he and Essa headed down the
nearest street.

Sket and Rhaki waited
for Tika and Volk before they followed.

‘You didn’t answer my
other question Volk.’

‘I neither like nor
dislike Dromi personally,’ Volk answered. ‘I have never spent much
time in his company. As for trust,’ Volk shrugged. ‘He is a member
of the Brotherhood of Keepers. I’ll agree they probably do a good
and valuable job, saving the histories of the Old Blood people, but
all the ones I’ve ever met give themselves a few too many airs.
Dromi is not too bad,’ he amended. ‘But some of them treat ordinary
folk like dirt.’

Sket glanced over his
shoulder at Tika. ‘Odd name that, Brotherhood of
Keepers.’

‘I’m sure I’ve heard of
Keepers before,’ Tika agreed.

Sket laughed. ‘Nolli
was a Keeper, wasn’t she?’

Tika came to an abrupt
halt and Shea bumped into her back. ‘So she was. Of course.’ She
started walking again.

‘I suppose it’s quite a
common word – you could be a Keeper of anything really. Just
coincidence.’

‘Lorak, Keeper of the
Gardens,’ Sket intoned thoughtfully.

Tika thumped his
shoulder in an amiable fashion.

‘Volk, do you know
anything of the pendant I wear, or like Babach wore?’

Volk’s beard seemed to
bristle. ‘That cursed child wore one too, in the Oblaka.’ He spat.
‘No, Lady Tika, they signify nothing particular to me. Has Dromi
seen the one you wear?’

Tika frowned. ‘No, I
don’t think he has. I’ll show him when we get back to
camp.’

She began to pay
attention to the streets they passed through, comparing them with
other places she’d seen. Merriton seemed less spacious than Kelshan
City or Karmazen, the streets much less wide. There had clearly
been shops along some of the more central streets but not as many
as might have been expected for the size of the town. Occasionally,
a faded strip of ragged material blew from a broken upper window,
but nothing else moved. There were no bones, no heaped
skeletons.

‘If the people here
were all killed, why is there no sign of their bodies?’ Shea
wondered aloud, voicing the thoughts of the others.

They walked for longer
than they’d estimated before reaching another open area. Directly
across from them rose a house, much like all the others in the
town. Except that it was black. Not made of black stone but painted
black, dark and forbidding. A short flight of only a dozen shallow
steps led up to double doors. They stared at the Menedula in
miniature.