Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series (60 page)

He limped across the
room, precious stones crunching under his boots. He was so used to
pain the broken bone scarcely bothered him. It would heal in half a
day. His power ensured such rapid healing in his own body.Outside
this room, servants cowered, terrified of his summons. He turned
again and hobbled to the window behind his chair.

He stared out into a
bright scene, sunshine glinting on gentle waves, a fair haired man
supported by others and watched by stupid Dragons. He lifted a
hand, clenched his fist and twisted it viciously. The man jerked,
his back arching convulsively before he slumped lifeless in the
arms of one who held him. He threw back his head and gave a shout
of laughter which turned into a hacking cough. Scowling, he pulled
a curtain across the window.

Rubbing his upper
chest, he limped to a long table and poured liquid from one of
several exquisite crystal decanters. When had his chest bones
snapped? He couldn’t remember. They’d healed of course but as they
had not been set properly they constricted his chest now. He drank
down the contents of another goblet and went back to his chair.
Once more he watched the shadows writhe as if living, round the
edges of his room, and began plotting the capture of that brat,
again.

Chapter
Thirty-Three

Tika woke with an
immense sense of relief. She lay still in the small bed, watching
the light grow brighter in the long horizontal slit of a window
that ran high along the wall. It was sufficient to shed light into
the room she realised, but not large enough for any attacker to get
in. Sket’s head rose above the edge of the bed and she smiled at
him.

‘I’m fine,’ she said
before he could ask.

He grinned. ‘Then I’ll
find some tea.’

It was then that she
saw Dog huddled under blankets across the room. When Sket had gone,
Tika struggled to sit up, cursing quietly as she felt the scab tear
between her breasts. Dog’s large square hands lifted her easily but
when she would have moved away, Tika caught the engineer’s
arm.

‘Why do you stay Dog?’
Tika asked.

‘Partly ’cause you
fixed my leg.’ Dog lowered her head so Tika couldn’t see her face.
‘You took the pain about Rose too. And I just knew that my life is
somehow tied up with yours now. I have to stay close.’ Her head
came up again. ‘’Sides, that poor old Sket has to sleep some time.
Can’t guard you all night and day.’ Dog stood as Sket
reappeared.

‘Nobody about much
yet,’ he commented, handing tea to both Tika and Dog. ‘After last
night, I doubt many will be up before midday.’

‘Did I miss something?’
Tika enquired.

Sket grunted. ‘The Bear
gave a very - ’

‘Colourful,’
interrupted Dog.

‘Colourful,’ agreed
Sket. ‘A colourful account of what happened in Kelshan. And that
young Kerris won’t be budged from here any time soon. These Bears
make two different sorts of drink in the villages. A kind of ale
and something else, a bit like Lorak’s restorative.’

‘Call it honey spirit,’
Dog put in. ‘Deadly.’

‘Hmm. I only had a
couple of sips. But Lorak would love it.’

Tika made a mental note
to avoid any contact with the stuff.

Dog went to answer a
gentle rap at the door. Shivan stood there, holding a large tray
heaped with food and with something of a nervous
expression.

‘Emas says you must eat
all of it.’

‘Come in,’ Tika invited
him.

Sket relieved the young
Dark Lord of the tray and Shivan shifted from foot to foot. Tika
narrowed her eyes and pointed to the end of her bed.

‘Sit.’

Shivan flinched but did
as she ordered. What ever had happened to him, she
wondered.

‘Erm, I had a long
talk, a very long talk, with Kija,’ he began, and Sket choked on a
mouthful of bread.

Dog thumped his back
with vigour while Tika fought to keep her expression
serious.

‘She’s a very forceful
character, isn’t she?’ Shivan spoke with some feeling. ‘She
actually frightened me.’

He sent those words
directly into her mind and Tika spilt her tea over the bed
covers.

‘You can use mind
speech,’ she said aloud in astonishment. ‘Corman told me it was
unknown among your people. And you were much too loud,’ she added
as an afterthought.

‘I’ve been practising,’
Shivan told her eagerly. ‘With my cat.’

‘Aah. Cats.’ Sket
nodded. ‘I hope our two are all right. Khosa’s been odd lately
don’t you think Tika?’

Shivan didn’t recognise
the name so Sket explained about Khosa and Akomi while Tika watched
Shivan.

‘Have you seen the
First Daughter?’ Tika interrupted the discussion on
cats.

Shivan sobered. ‘Father
took me to visit her just before I left Karmazen. There is no
change in her he said.’

‘And you have descended
into the Dark?’

Shivan shot her a
guilty glance. ‘We have to, once we’ve taken Dragon
form.’

‘Under supervision I
would guess?’ Tika persisted.

‘Hmm.’

‘But you’ve done it
since – without that supervision.’

‘Well, perhaps, once or
twice.’

Tika nodded, accepting
more bread from Sket. It was still warm, thickly sliced and spread
with a delicious creamy cheese. She thought as she ate. Shivan was
very different from the Dark Ones she’d met so far. Cyrek had been
right in saying his mind was “different”. Shivan was curious about
everything, but he had not yet learned caution. She suspected Kija
might have some interesting ideas about this young man. Swallowing
her last mouthful she swung her legs out of bed. Shivan leapt to
the door when Tika began to pull off her borrowed nightgown, but
she called him back.

‘Look at this while I
dress.’ She handed him the pouch which contained her
pendant.

Shivan crossed the room
to get the best of the light to examine the pendant and Konya
arrived with a pot of salve to apply to Tika’s burn. A sharp clean
scent spiked through the room when the pot was
unstoppered.

‘If you could just keep
absolutely still for two or three days, this would be able to
mend.’ Konya sat back while Tika closed her shirt. ‘I know, I know,
you won’t stay still. But can you not help your body heal
itself?’

Tika shook her head.
‘Can you?’ she asked.

Konya gave a rueful
smile. ‘No. I’ve not yet met a healer who can.’

Tika stood up. ‘I
intend to stay in the village for a few days,’ she announced. ‘And
I will try not to move too much,’ she added to Konya.

Tika went out to the
wide verandah which circled The Bear’s house and shivered. The sun
was just above the mountains, the sky was clear and already a
brilliant blue, but the wind smelled of snow as it rushed down from
the great peaks to the north of the village.

Emas emerged, a bundle
in her arms. ‘Here, put this on. Thin as you are you’ll feel the
cold.’

A bright green woollen
jacket was tugged over Tika’s shirt and Emas fastened long bone
buttons across the front. Almost immediately Tika felt warmer. The
jacket was thick – she’d thought it would feel heavy but she hardly
noticed its weight. Emas nodded approval at Tika’s
surprise.

‘I’ll sort out some
more for you,’ she said, turning to go back indoors. ‘And just make
sure you keep eating.’

Tika walked slowly
along the verandah and found Kija comfortably reclined on the side
sheltered from the wind. The pillow Emas had given her was beside
the golden Dragon. Kija’s eyes whirred, the prisms buttery yellow.
Tika hugged her, careful of her burnt chest.

‘You told Farn all of
it.’ Kija spoke to her mind alone.

‘And I think you gave
Shivan a pretty thorough questioning.’

Kija huffed. ‘Of course
I did. He reminds me a little of you and a little of Mim. He has a
good soul.’

‘He’s very young,’ Tika
began.

Kija’s laugh pealed
over the village and people going about their early chores glanced
towards their chief’s house.

‘He’s older than you
are.’

‘But he’s been
sheltered safe in Karmazen. He hasn’t faced Shardi, or fought sword
to sword with any enemy.’ Tika retorted. ‘And he hasn’t met a
Plavat.’

Kija had loathed the
giant birds who’d arrived in the Northern Stronghold. Mention of
them was enough to cause smoke to curl round her face.

‘And we might well
travel to Drogoya next. That is where they breed I
believe.’

Shivan joined them but
after a glance at Kija he started to back away. ‘I brought your
pendant, but I can see you’re busy.’

‘No,’ Tika grinned at
him. ‘Let’s walk a little. Kija is trying not to think about some
birds we met.’

‘Birds?’ Shivan glanced
at Kija who sent him a mind picture of Baryet standing eyeball to
eyeball with Brin in the great hall of the Northern
Stronghold.

Shivan’s mouth dropped
open. ‘Tell me that isn’t real,’ he begged as Tika pulled him away
along the verandah.

‘Sorry. They’re very
real and very awful.’

Shivan tried to gather
his wits, handing her back the pouch with the pendant inside. Tika
led them down the steps and towards the northern gate, drawing her
woollen jacket closer round her. Once they’d regained some shelter
from the wind, she sat on a stone slab which jutted from the
wall.

‘What did you make of
it?’ she asked.

Shivan hunkered beside
her. ‘Corman and my father had told me of it,’ he admitted. ‘They
think it is some sort of focus you use to call your powers. You
know, like some whose talents lie in seeking lost things use a
stone or a mirror to stare at. They say such objects aid their
concentration.’

Shivan looked at her
but Tika remained silent.

‘That is not what it
is,’ Shivan said slowly.

Tika’s pulse quickened.
Did this boy have some insight into the pendant?

‘No one mentioned there
is a Dragon inside.’ He spoke so softly she barely heard
him.

‘How did you see the
Dragon?’ she asked as softly.

‘I’ve discovered that I
can make things clearer if I tighten the way my mind looks at
things. That’s how I first mind spoke my cat. That’s how I saw the
Dragon.’

‘And no one knows you
can do this?’

Shivan’s brief laugh
was suddenly far too bitter. ‘Just another of my crazy
ideas.’

Memories of things
she’d heard about Rhaki popped into Tika’s head. Hadn’t many of his
ideas and suggestions been scoffed at by the Seniors in the
Asataria? Was that mockery the spur to his determined attempts to
experiment with genetics once he was in a position to do so
unchecked? She looked at Shivan’s sour expression. If he was
ignored, his ideas scorned, could his mind twist to become like
Rhaki’s?

She reached a decision.
‘Shivan, you asked if you might travel with us. I will agree if you
remain honest with me. I suspect there are many aspects of the use
of power which you have been playing with. If I ask you about any
of them, I want a truthful reply.’ She raised a hand to stop him
interrupting her. ‘On my side, I will not pass on anything that you
would prefer the Dark Ones not know about at the moment. But I must
insist on knowing what you might be experimenting with while you
are in our company.’

Shivan stared down over
the village, where a few more people seemed to be moving around.
Finally he looked into Tika’s face.

‘Cyrek has asked me to
watch for certain things.’

Tika nodded,
unsurprised. ‘He didn’t see the Dragon,’ she said.

Shivan grinned, his
face young and clear once more. ‘He doesn’t know how to look, none
of them do.’

Tika leaned her head
back against the stone of the wall and closed her eyes in the
sunlight.

‘My first teacher told
me, over and over, to look with my mind. It seems you’ve worked
that out for yourself. So, have we a bargain Shivan, can I trust
you?’

‘Yes. I don’t know if
you can understand this Tika, but I have always felt as if I was
born in the wrong place. My teachers said I never followed the
rules in any of my lessons, and I was wasting my time and theirs.
Father and Aunt Lerran never said that to me though.’ Shivan spread
his hands in a gesture of helplessness. ‘Aunt Lerran understood
some of the little bits I tried to tell her.’

‘I’m hungry again.’
Tika stood up and began to walk back to The Bear’s house. ‘Can you
use a sword?’

‘Of course.’ Shivan was
indignant. ‘We all have training after our first
transformation.’

‘Perhaps you should
keep up your practise with Sket or the Kelshans.’

Shivan had stopped and
Tika turned back to him.

‘And what about you,’
he demanded. ‘You’re rarely without that sword of yours but I’ve
not heard that you practise much.’