Survivors: Book 4 Circles of Light series (3 page)

Gazing along the Valley
in the gathering darkness, the City glittered with lights, the
three domes hulking dark against the illumination.

‘They will tell me
nothing of the domes,’ Ren remarked lightly.

‘Perhaps they are the
places where their councils meet,’ Gan suggested, smothering a
yawn.

Conversation had become
strained since Khosa’s warning.

‘We’ll soon find out
what they want with us,’ Sket muttered. He and Navan were checking
their weapons as they did every evening. He glanced at Storm who
watched Navan’s actions with close interest.

Seela picked up his
thought. ‘Brin and I will guard the young ones well, have no fear
of that.’

Farn’s eyes whirred
sapphire indignation but Tika reached to touch his face before he
could voice a protest and he settled back. Pallin and Riff
returned, talking excitedly of what they’d learned of Qwah horse
breeding and training, and the others wrapped themselves in their
blankets to sleep.

‘We stay together once
we’re in their City,’ Tika said into the darkness. ‘No matter what,
we must stay together.’

The Dragons, carrying
Gan, Sket, Maressa and Tika, flew much higher the next morning,
relying on Ren to tell them if and where they should land within
the City. The Dragon riders were astonished by the size of the
place: from their height they could see how it was laid out in a
series of circles around a great open space in the middle of which
stood the three massive domes.

All three domes shone
white in the glare of midday, but their tops were capped in a milky
substance that did not reflect the light as did the lower white
walls. The Dragons spiralled lazily above, tracking their
companions as they rode through broad streets, entering ring after
ring until they reached the centre.

‘Kirat says the Dragons
should land here.’ Ren sent the thought skywards and the great
purple Seela led the other Dragons slowly lower.

Farn landed next to
Seela, followed closely by Storm and Brin. They stood halfway
between the linked domes and the circling wall. Tika stared from
Farn’s back first at the dazzling blank domes rising behind her,
then to her friends just entering the area through an archway. All
around the outer circle, great columns rose at regular intervals,
supporting a tiled roof.

Set back in the shadows
beneath she saw windows and doorways. Three Qwah men came from one
such door to lead away the koninas. They were barefooted and wore
lengths of bright cloth twisted at the hip, and only sleeveless
jerkins covered their upper bodies.

Kirat smiled, watching
Tika slide slowly from Farn’s back and walk to Maressa’s side with
Sket close at her shoulder. ‘If you would follow, I will introduce
you to one of the Keepers of the Sanctuary.’ He waved his hand
taking in the domes and the great space they stood in. ‘This is the
Sanctuary. You will be allocated rooms over here.’

He began to lead them
towards the colonnade. They followed, Farn pacing steadily at
Tika’s heels. When they reached the covered walk, Kirat paused and
bowed to a woman emerging from one of the doors. She returned his
bow and smiled.

‘I am the Keeper on
duty,’ she said in heavily accented Common Tongue. ‘I will take you
to your accommodation. It is not far.’

She began to turn
away.

‘We will accept rooms
opening into this court,’ Tika said politely. ‘If that is not
possible, it is of no matter – we will simply remain with our
friends.’

Seela’s great head
lowered to peer beneath the roof, her eyes sparkling lilac. The
woman studied the great Dragon for a moment, inclined her head and
moved away from the door she’d first indicated.

‘As you will.’ Her tone
was cool. ‘I assure you that you will come to no harm in the
Sanctuary.’

‘We did not for one
moment think we would, but we prefer to be close by our friends.’
Tika replied equally coolly.

The Keeper shot a quick
glance over her shoulder and met Tika’s eyes, green ice set in
silver. She led them past several doors before opening one. She
pointed to the next one a few paces further along. ‘The rooms
within link between these two doors,’ she explained. Her lip
curled. ‘These two doors and the windows both here and above are
the only access to the rooms. I will send gijan to you to see to
your comfort.’ She turned on her heel, her pale green robe swirling
round her ankles and walked rapidly away.

Kirat had a frown on
his face. ‘I fear you may have offended the Keeper, Lady,’ he
began.

Tika smiled at the
Desert man. ‘Your Keeper would deeply offend us had she tried to
insist we part from the Dragons.’

Kirat opened his mouth
to reply but Brin’s crimson face ducked under the roof. His mind
voice was extremely gentle.

‘Have you ever seen an
offended Dragon?’ he enquired.

Kirat blanched. He drew
a breath and bowed. ‘I will leave you to rest and eat,’ he
murmured, keeping his gaze firmly on the stone floor.

As he turned away
Maressa asked if he would return.

He bowed again. ‘I have
other duties Lady.’ He risked a quick glance around all the
company. ‘It has been my honour to guide you here. If the Survivors
desire me to lead you further, I will return.’

‘Thank you then Kirat.
We will surely see you again for you will be guiding us to our
proper destination.’

Maressa bent to
retrieve her pack from the floor while Kirat continued to stare at
her in some confusion. Straightening, she raised a questioning brow
but he merely gave a hasty bow and practically fled in the
direction the horses had been taken.

Gan stooped to enter
the door in front of them and Riff quickly followed. When Maressa
would also have followed, Sket caught her arm, shaking his
head.

‘Let them check first
Lady.’

The door along the
colonnade opened and Riff stepped out, nodded and retreated
again.

‘Come then.’ Olam led
the company into their rooms.

There were four quite
large rooms on the ground floor – two sitting rooms to the front
with a bathing room and kitchen behind, neither of which had
windows. A flight of stone stairs led from the front up to the
upper floor where they gave onto a passage running along a blank
wall one side and four doors opening off to the other. These rooms
were narrower than below but all had a window overlooking the area
dominated by the domes. Maressa had just announced that she and
Tika would use the bathing room first when three small figures
appeared in the door. The three wore loose trousers and long
sleeved over shirts of a plain undyed coarse material. They also
wore strange hoods which reached to their shoulders and were drawn
across their faces leaving only their eyes revealed.

These odd creatures
bowed low, the one on the left raising up a little to speak. The
only word Tika and her friends recognised in the soft sibilant
sounds was “gijan”, a word the Keeper had used. Ren finally sat on
a long bench, leaning towards the three.

‘Gijan?’ he asked
gently.

Three heads lifted and
three pairs of unusual eyes fixed on the Offering. The one who’d
spoken nodded and pointed to himself then the two beside
him.

‘Gijan’ he
agreed.

Ren spread his hands,
palms up, and looked perplexed. There was more nodding and one of
the three lifted two of the companions’ packs, scuttling towards
the stairs with them. Another hurried to the kitchen while their
spokesman gazed steadily at Ren.

‘Is gijan his name or
does it just mean servant?’ Maressa asked.

Ren pointed to his own
chest. ‘Ren,’ he said clearly. He poked his chest again. ‘Gijan?’
he queried.

Eyes above the mask
widened in horror and the creature dropped to its knees, head bowed
to the floor.

‘Oh stars, what have
you done to the poor thing?’ Tika knelt on the floor beside this
strange creature who wasn’t even as tall as she was: not even as
tall as a Delver, she reflected, resting her hand on the trembling
shoulder.

She met Ren’s eyes and
nodded, gently reaching for the gijan’s mind. She blinked, shocked
by the complexity she found, but she ignored it in her urgency to
communicate. Only too conscious of Khosa’s warning, she kept her
mind tightly focused. Quickly she exchanged information with the
gijan who slowly sat back on his heels, staring at her with rapt
attention. He got to his feet and went to the kitchen as Tika
hurriedly stood up herself. She turned to the outer door just as
the Keeper appeared.

‘These rooms are
suitable?’ she asked.

‘Perfectly thank you
Keeper. But we do not understand either your Qwah speech or the
speech the gijan use. Could you perhaps tell us their names at
least so we may address them correctly?’

A look of
incomprehension spread across the Keeper’s face. ‘Names? They have
no names – they are merely gijan.’

‘Thank you so much
Keeper,’ Tika repeated as calmly as she could.

‘We thought it best
that you rest here for the remainder of this day. Gijan will bring
food for you and meat for your – friends. A Keeper will come
tomorrow to take you within the domes.’ She inclined her head with
haughty disdain and left them.

When they’d all bathed,
they found the gijan had readied a selection of hot and cold drinks
and one of them had brought baskets of food from somewhere in this
complex building. Sket murmured to Tika that he had left Khosa in
one of the upper rooms and she nodded her understanding.

‘Not one person out on
that open area since we’ve been here,’ Navan remarked as daylight
faded. ‘Yet it is all well laid stone, swept, not a weed in a crack
anywhere.’

Pallin snorted. ‘And
not a dratted crack that I could see either.’

‘There have been people
moving around under this covered walk.’ Olam sipped from his bowl
of tea. ‘None near us though.’

‘Are we being spied on
Lady?’ Navan’s voice was low, his lips hidden behind his
hand.

Tika shared a look with
Ren. ‘We don’t think so Navan, unless they have far different means
than us.’

Brin was sprawled
outside their rooms, his head and shoulders under the colonnade.
‘Tell us of these little gijan people Tika,’ he
suggested.

She laughed. Brin’s
curiosity was still as strong as Farn’s or Storm’s. Then she became
serious. ‘Enough to know they are less even than I was when I was
Hargon’s slave. At least I had a name.’

‘Yet the Qwah have
seemed friendly, pleasant people,’ Ren mused. ‘I saw none of these
gijan earlier as we came through the Valley.

Turquoise eyes shone
from the shadows within the room behind them. ‘Namolos must be told
of the gijan.’

The company found it
impossible to interpret Khosa’s tone.

‘I think he cannot know
some of them are here, and he will be much distressed to learn of
their treatment.’

The Kephi moved deeper
into the shadows. ‘I must be with you tomorrow but I do not wish to
let two of the Survivors know of my presence, at least, not at
once. One I must speak with. Can you get me in with
you?’

Gan astonished Tika by
replying at once. ‘I will wear my Captain’s cloak. Your carry sack
will be easily concealed beneath it.’

‘Will these Survivors
be like those red eyed things?’ Storm could not hide his concern
and Seela curved her great bulk protectively round his small
form.

‘No.’ Tika spoke
decisively. ‘None of them are here. I’m not sure how I know, but I
do.’

She felt Storm’s
relief, and Farn’s, and got to her feet.

‘I’m sleeping out
here,’ she announced. ‘Tomorrow we might get some
answers.’

They found that the
gijan had washed their clothes and polished boots and belts during
the night. Thus the company looked smarter than for many days when
a Keeper bowed from the door the next morning. This Keeper was
male, in his late middle age and wore a friendly smile. A genuine
smile, Tika noted with some relief. He wore a grey robe, similar to
that worn by yesterday’s Keeper. Most of the great open area was
still in shadow although the upper parts of the domes shone in the
morning light.

‘I will show you the
Domes before your meeting with Kertiss.’

‘Kertiss?’ Gan
asked.

The Keeper merely
nodded and moved towards the Dragons.

‘Such very beautiful
beings,’ he said, tilting his head to gaze up at Brin’s
face.

‘Indeed they are,’ Tika
replied. ‘And they will also be interested to see inside your
Domes.’

‘But of course. Please,
follow me.’

The nine members of
Tika’s party walked close to each other, the Dragons behind them.
The Keeper led them round an endlessly curving wall to a space
between two of the Domes. It was wide enough perhaps for Brin to
stretch his wings but then it opened again to a wider space with
the third and largest Dome directly ahead. The Keeper turned left
into a vaulting arch deeply shadowed. Gan, his blue cloak loosely
clasped at his throat, moved closer to Tika as they walked into
darkness.