Vagrants: Book 2 Circles of Light series (50 page)

‘I can understand in
one way, I think. Our records are not entirely accurate but there
are reports of that time. Several fire mages were working on a
project of which they lost control. Their carelessness, their
mistakes, caused massive explosions deep into the ground. They set
off natural explosions of the volcanic kind. The earth shook, the
cities fell and some sort of blight covered a very great deal of
the land.’

She spread her hands.
‘Many Sapphreans died, not just the mage bloods. Livestock,
farmlands – all were ruined, if not by the explosions then by the
blight.’

‘From what I have
read,’ Jilla put in. ‘The blight lasted many cycles, and the land
was utterly poisoned.’

‘Like the Wilderness,’
Ryla mused.

‘Anyway,’ Maressa
concluded. ‘The non mage bloods were right to blame our people for
the ruination of their lands and their lives. While I can never
condone or forgive their consequent slaughter of anyone they
believed to carry mage blood, I do understand the despair and the
hatred and the fear which must have driven them to it.’

‘Lord Kemti and Lord
Gan both reported no rumours of any circles other than the one near
to Return itself. How do we know these others have not been
destroyed – hammered to pieces by the locals cycles ago?’ Soran
asked.

Elyssa bit her lip.
‘Thryssa told me there is a way to “feel” if a circle is still in
place and functioning, and these do still exist.’ The silvered eyes
flickered round the group. ‘There is also a way of moving without
using a circle.’

Emla sat up. ‘How?’ she
demanded.

Elyssa shook her head.
‘It is very risky. Thryssa has told Maressa and I, but she begged
that we only do so if we are in truly desperate need.’

‘Can we ask a Merig to
take news to Lord Kemti and Lady Tika of this circle near Tagria?’
Khalim was still studying the maps. ‘Tagria is only a day or so
distant from Return. But our people should be there if anyone is
going to travel through the circles. The Tagrians may not
appreciate strangers appearing in their midst in that
fashion.’

‘But what if the circle
is buried – under soil, under rock, under a building?’ Ryla
asked.

‘I can tell if it is,’
Elyssa replied softly. May I go to the Pavilion again – I have to
be on a circle to test if another is in place and able to be used
safely.’

Emla nodded. ‘Go with
her Shan, and guard her as you would me.’

Shan looked from Emla
to Elyssa and back. She smiled as she got to her feet, holding a
hand out to tug Elyssa up.

‘Is there a Merig in
the area?’ Emla asked.

Soran laughed. ‘There
is always at least one of late, sitting outside your library
window.’

‘I trust no one leaves
the windows open,’ Emla said in mock alarm. ‘A lady Merig once
showed great interest in nest making in there.’ Her smile faded as
she remembered Iska laughing at the female Merig’s determined
efforts to clear a high shelf of its precious books.

‘How long does it take
a Merig to relay a message to Return?’ asked Bagri.

‘Usually four days,’
Nolli answered him.

‘Then we should tell
them to be prepared for us to reach that circle in – what? – six
days from now? Will that be enough time?’

Emla nodded. ‘Us?’ she
asked, an eyebrow rising.

Bagri grinned. ‘It is
no secret that I have long wanted to see what lay outside
Vagrantia’s encircling walls. If I may, I beg to be among the party
that goes to Sapphrea?’

Before Emla could
reply, a Merig strutted stiff legged into the hall, feathers glossy
and sleek. He hopped onto a stool, keeping an eye on Resh who sat
on Nolli’s knees once more. Emla used mind speech to
him.

‘Greetings Merig. I
would ask you to relay a message to Return.’

‘Greetings Lady. I will
be glad to do so.’

‘May I first say how
very handsome you look?’

The Merig clattered his
beak. ‘You may indeed say so Lady. It is the marrying season you
understand – we have to look our best.’

Nolli hid her face in
Resh’s furry back while Ryla’s face became sterner than ever in an
effort to hide her glee. Elyssa and Shan came back to the hall
before Emla had finished telling her message to the Merig. At
Elyssa’s nod she added:

‘You are to tell them
that we will be near Tagria six days from today, in the early
morning.’

The Merig hopped off
the stool and strutted from the hall.

Nolli gasped. ‘We have
to look our best,’ she chortled.

Ryla spluttered with
merriment and Emla shook her head over the pair of them.

‘It feels as if you
have been home for days already my Lady, but you have only just
arrived. Should I not show Maressa and Elyssa to their
rooms?’

‘You must do so at
once, Shan dear. My manners get worse by the day.’ Emla
stopped.

A Merig strutted across
the floor towards her. For a moment she thought it was the one
which had just departed, then she saw this one was dusty and
dishevelled rather than sleek and glossy.

‘I bring a message from
the Lord Kemti in Return,’ the Merig began. He squawked as Resh
leapt suddenly from Nolli’s lap. Taking refuge on the mantelshelf
the Merig gave a harsh croak of disgust.

‘I do apologise for the
Kephi, Merig. Please continue,’ Nolli urged.

The Merig muttered for
a while then straightened himself again.

‘We are in Hargon’s
compound. Rhaki is not near by. He killed the Delver Serim and is
now using the Delver’s body for himself. Hargon’s eldest son died
in an accident. His younger son has vanished: we fear he is now
with Rhaki. We are all well although Tika’s eyes have become
silver.’

Chapter
Thirty-Three

Ren awoke in his tiny
cell-like room and stretched. The last few days had turned his
world upside down. Talking to Chakar and Babach, sometimes
together, sometimes separately, certain things had fallen into
place. It felt rather as though he had spent his previous years
trying to put together a puzzle, several parts of which had been
missing. Chakar had supplied him with many of those pieces and he
finally realised how blinkered he had allowed himself to
become.

When he felt he could
absorb no more information for a while, he took a lantern and
explored the caves in which he found himself. Several chambers were
packed with books and scrolls, others held objects whose function
was a complete mystery to him. He touched neither books nor objects
on his first explorations, promising himself he would discover the
extent of the caves before treating himself to the pleasure old
books always offered.

Some chambers had fuel
stacked floor to roof, another was stuffed with food supplies:
vegetables, grains, nuts, dried fruits and fish, pungent onions.
After three days of intermittent wanderings, he decided the caves
must surely continue forever, and gave up his quest for the end of
them.

Chakar had told them
that he and Voron were entirely safe while they stayed below
ground. She told him: ‘The rock itself acts as a shield, although I
add a small amount of my own shielding. That is really so that I
would know if anything or anyone had tried to enter.’

Another day, Chakar had
led the pair through the passages, telling them to remember the
turns she took as they went along. They turned yet another corner
and found themselves outside, on a broad ledge. Above them, the
cliff jutted out and up, while below, far too far below in Ren’s
private opinion, water crashed and foamed over a black pebbled
shore.

‘This opening is just
if you need some air, or want to enjoy the view.’ Chakar grinned as
Ren involuntarily stepped further back from the edge. ‘Come
along.’

And she trotted ahead
of them up a sloping passage, through twists and turns, until once
more they were in the open. She showed the two men a narrow step
half hidden on the left of this opening and explained that, with
great care, they could reach the shore down the pathway. Ren stared
at the path, the beach, and finally at Chakar. She laughed
aloud.

‘Well, perhaps you
wouldn’t care to try it Ren. Let me show you one more exit
today.’

Ren paused long enough
to stare again in disbelief at the vertical drop that Chakar
blithely and misguidedly called a path, and followed the Observer
and Voron back inside the cliff. The last exit was met with more
approval: for one thing it faced inland – no sign of all that
heaving water. They had to crouch, then crawl on hands and knees
before squeezing between an enormous chunk of split rock. Chakar
pointed.

‘Those trees are your
mark. Once there, turn left and you will see one solitary boulder.
Make for the boulder and the town is directly below.’

Ren did not much like
the sound of “below”, remembering the steep switchback climb he and
Voron had made when they arrived, but he said nothing. At least
there did not appear to be any vertigo-inducing sheer drops from
this side as far as he could see.

Babach spent more time
with Voron than with Ren. He instructed the Aspirant in much the
same way as he would have, had they still been at the Menedula.
Chakar instructed Ren in the ways of the Oblaka and, more
specifically, in the Order of Myata. Almost at once, Ren realised
that Myata’s teachings differed only subtly from Sedka’s, but
enough to lead to widely divergent conclusions.

Now Ren yawned hugely
and swung his legs over the side of the bed. The temperature seemed
always constant within this underground complex – Ren had yet to
ask Chakar why that should be. Going along the passage, he entered
the washing cave as he called it to himself. Water entered
continuously from a pipe protruding from the inner wall, poured
into a basin, then into a deeper trough, large enough to bathe in.
Finally the water disappeared through another hole which, Ren
assumed, led to the outer cliff face. The water was always warm,
not as hot as Ren preferred for a long soaking bath, but pleasant
enough.

Entering the main room,
he found Voron already eating breakfast. A pan of oatmeal was
keeping hot by the side of the fire and a pot of tea was on the
table at Voron’s elbow. Ren filled a dish with the porridge,
sprinkled some dried berries over it, and joined Voron at the
table.

‘We’ve slept much later
today,’ Voron told him. The Aspirant found being constantly below
ground a little harder to deal with than Ren did. First thing when
he woke therefore, Voron went along to the viewing ledge where he
sat for a while, watching the endlessly changing sky and
sea.

Ren raised an eyebrow,
his mouth full.

‘The sun is nearly half
way to midday, but no one has come down to us,’ Voron explained.
There was a trace of concern in his tone.

Ren swallowed and
poured himself a bowl of tea. ‘Perhaps they have duties in the
Oblaka – they may have to take classes or something.’

‘They would have told
us.’ Voron frowned. ‘Ren, I believe I will stay here now, no matter
what happens. It feels right to me somehow.’

Before Ren could reply,
the door to the tiny cellar swung open and Babach entered. He
carried a scroll tube and excitement exuded from him.

‘What has happened?’
Voron asked at once.

‘Chakar’s great bird
returned earlier. He reached the Night Lands!’ Babach beamed
triumphantly, tapping the scroll case. ‘He found intelligent beings
and they have sent replies to my messages. Clear the table, we will
examine them thoroughly.’

‘Shouldn’t Chakar be
here too?’ Voron asked.

‘She is still with
Baryet. He spoke with the people he found and Chakar needs to get
every scrap of information from him as soon as she can. His memory
is not as good as one would wish, so she decided to work with him
immediately.’

‘How long has it taken
him to fly so far?’ Voron cleared dishes from the table as Babach
had ordered.

‘Five days. He says he
flew faster than he would usually. Plavats generally glide with the
winds but Baryet had to fly against the air currents at times on
both journeys.’

Babach tilted the tube
and rolls of parchment slid onto the table. For a moment, all three
of them stared in silence at this proof of existence of the Night
Lands and of intelligent beings living there. Babach gave a sigh of
anticipation and unwound the first scroll.

When Chakar joined them
much later in the day, she found the three men buzzing with
excitement. The very air in the room seemed to crackle with it.
Sava perched on her shoulder, hooting unhappily. He did not approve
at all of Chakar’s association with a Plavat.

Chakar sat curled in
her usual armchair and gave them the vivid pictures she had
extracted from Baryet’s memories. They sat, silenced by the first
image of an enormous black Dragon standing upright, great wings
extended to the sides, prismed eyes flashing. Then, an incredibly
tall thin woman stood before them. They heard her greeting,
understanding her words without too much difficulty. She was
interrupted by a small furry creature who then scrambled up to the
top of the Dragon’s head. The three men watching the scenes
transferred to their minds by Chakar, stiffened as a slim boy came
into view. Babach’s gasp sounded loud when the boy’s scales became
clearly visible.