Survivors: Book 4 Circles of Light series (28 page)

The Asatarian turned
sharply, staring down into Ren’s silvered eyes. After a moment’s
pause he slowly nodded.

‘I have been
considering why, and indeed how, I could be so rude to the old man.
You think someone may have reached me? But why me, rather than you
or Maressa?’

‘Because we would have
noticed at once.’ Ren smiled and let his mind slide into Gan’s. He
saw at once some alteration had been attempted to the muted web of
power about Gan’s mind. There! Even as Ren grasped a wisp of an
identifying thread, it was gone.

Chapter
Sixteen

Chevra sat alone in the
Debating Chamber within the Xantip Palace. He shifted his position
again: the intricately carved and ancient throne looked impressive
but was most uncomfortable to sit on for too long. Six days ago he
had snapped out orders to his generals and administrators,
demanding reports. Now he was struggling to work his way through
the copious papers which had flooded back in response. There seemed
an inordinate number from General Koolis and his staff officers.
They used ponderous phrases and constructed sentences in the most
convoluted fashion that drove Chevra to fury.

The Commander of the
Coastal Defenders had sent a brief report on the state of seven
warships, long forgotten in a small inlet: two were beyond salvage;
the remaining five would need a tremendous amount of work to make
them seaworthy again. As a footnote, the Commander quoted the cost
he estimated it would take to repair one ship alone. Chevra
blanched at the figure but when it dawned on him that it was the
cost for one ship only, he felt positively ill.

He shouted with rage
when informed by Tavri that the Mage Taseen had retreated to his
estates, citing his illness as excuse. Tavri became quite tearful
as he described Taseen’s near comatose state. At least Vorna had
reappeared although she didn’t seem to be as interested in the
prospective retaliatory attack he planned on Wendla as Chevra would
have wished.

Even to Chevra’s
apolitical eyes, it had grown apparent that the Councillors Bajal
and Fental were more eager to do Vorna’s bidding than his. The
Grand Harbour Master stood up, rubbing his backside. He began to
pace round the Chamber, his feet vaguely following the mosaic
patterning of the floor tiles. He knew the Council of Mages
considered him a blustering simpleton. It suited him most of the
time to let them think they ran Harbour City, but now this trouble
with Wendla had arisen. And he would be making the
decisions.

Vorna had always been
pleasant to him, treating him in a mildly maternal fashion; but
Chevra was not the fool he seemed. Vorna had recently become more
insistent that he heed her advice above his other Councillors –
discreetly so far of course, but he was aware of it nonetheless. He
knew Fental and Bajal were her creatures to the marrow of their
bones. And now Taseen had taken himself off, gods knew
why.

Chevra believed not a
word of Tavri’s sorrowful account of the old mage’s desperate
illness. But it left only Tavri, Sheoma and Lessna to balance
against Vorna. Chevra had faith in Tavri and Sheoma but held some
doubts about Lessna’s inclinations. If Lessna chose to vote with
Vorna and her minions, they could force their decisions upon him.
And Vorna was not interested in any dealings – warlike or not –
with Wendla. She was deeply involved in some investigations of an
archaic nature: Chevra had heard mention of the Bound
Ones.

Gods and goddesses
above and below! The senior most mage left at his Council wasting
her time chasing mythical ghosts! Vorna had stormed into his
apartments last night on her return from her estates, arriving at a
most inopportune moment too. She had curtly dismissed his companion
and demanded to know where he had hidden the sacred ones. By the
time she’d left after ascertaining that he had no idea what she was
talking about, it had taken him most of the night to persuade that
rather luscious companion to stop sulking.

Despite his denials to
Vorna, Chevra had heard of the sacred ones being seen in the City.
As Grand Harbour Master he attended rituals in many of the
different temples scattered through the City, but he had been born
to a family who followed the Way of the Elder Races. His childhood
had been punctuated by the rituals and festivals devoted to the Way
and that devotion remained, albeit in private now rather than in
public.

Most people in the
Palace, including the Councillors were virtually unaware of
Chevra’s cousin Harrip. Harrip was adopted by Chevra’s parents when
his own were lost at sea. When Chevra married the previous Grand
Harbour Master’s daughter Eorlas and moved into the Palace, Harrip
went too. If he was noticed he was vaguely thought to be Chevra’s
personal servant, or secretary. In fact he did fill those positions
but he was also Chevra’s eyes and ears both within the Palace and
throughout the City.

Harrip ran the most
extensive network of informers of any Grand Harbour Master. He had
begun it when Chevra’s trading business interests first grew
successful. Chevra still had a huge business of course but Harrip
had diversified: his informers brought him news not only of rival
merchants but also of the manoeuvrings of the leaders of various
independent minded islands. Harrip learnt of the party of nine
strangers arriving at the north central gate within moments of
their appearance.

Two white cloaked
sacred ones and seven others: one woman and one man taller than any
seen before. He had been unable to infiltrate the temple precincts
but that gave him no cause for concern: like Chevra, he did not
believe a priest of the Way would shelter anyone threatening the
security of the City or the lands of Malesh. But when the priest
Taza summoned a chairman, it was Harrip himself who drew Taseen to
the docks. So of course Chevra yelled at Tavri’s playacting lies
over the matter of Taseen’s ill health.

Now Chevra dropped back
onto the carved throne. What could Taseen be up to? If only the old
man had given a hint of what he planned! Coming to a decision,
Chevra bellowed for a guard. One of the doors opened and a head
peered in.

‘Fetch Councillors
Tavri and Sheoma. No – wait. Tell them to meet me in the Garden of
Harmony. At once.’

The door closed and
Chevra stared down at the pile of papers in front of him in
disgust. He snorted, pushed them further down the table and went
off to the Garden to await Tavri and Sheoma. The Garden of Harmony
was a large space encircled by stone walls. The southern wall was
part of the battlements, remnants of the earliest Palace buildings.
The inner walls contained Palace apartments and corridors. Small
trees and shrubs formed a twisting maze, their blossoms of yellow,
red and white reflected in an oval pool at the Garden’s centre. The
pool was lined with blue, yellow, red and white tiles – the four
colours of harmonious life.

The air was cool this
early in the day and the smells of moist earth mingled with that of
the flowering bushes. Chevra squatted by the pool, peering in at
the great gold and white fish that swam languidly through the
stalks of the water lilies. He glanced up as Sheoma and Tavri came
round the last curving bank of shrubs.

‘Attractive things but
dreadfully boring,’ he remarked.

Before either mage
could respond he stood up. Staring down into the pool, he asked
very softly: ‘Can Vorna hear or see us?’

Both mages grew still
then shook their heads.

‘She could if she
wished but at present no one over looks us.’

Chevra shot a quick
glance at Tavri. ‘I want the truth. Why has Taseen taken ship? He
took one of the sacred ones with him, one who no longer wore his
white cloak. But where is the other?’

Chevra turned to face
them squarely. The blustering, yelling Grand Master was now a
serious man studying them with more intelligence in his eyes than
had ever been noticeable in any Council gatherings.

‘Sheoma, would you make
sure we are not – overheard?’ Tavri asked.

He drew a deep breath.
Then he told Chevra everything. Since Chevra became Grand Harbour
Master, Taseen had commented many times and with some admiration,
that he suspected Chevra of being nearly as devious as himself.
Taseen’s last letter instructed Tavri to be honest with Chevra
should he ask questions, and so he was.

Both Tavri and Sheoma
were ruefully aware that old Taseen had been correct: Chevra was no
fool. His face remained expressionless while Tavri recounted all he
knew of the nine strangers who had entered Harbour City. When Tavri
finally stopped speaking the sun had just lifted above the
battlements, warming the perfumed air to a heady intensity. Small
birds hopped down to the edge of the pool then fled back under
cover when Chevra moved. He gave a wry smile.

‘Some of that I already
knew, but there was much I did not.’ He looked up at the Palace’s
inner walls. ‘Harrip will arrange someone to be with each of you –
a runner or a servant, so you may let me know anything more of
Taseen’s travels.’ He paused. ‘Is the old man serious about Vorna’s
plans? Is what she’s doing truly that dangerous to us
all?’

Sheoma smiled. ‘He is
serious. She is putting us in the most dreadful peril.’

Silence fell again,
broken only by the soft sound of the water circulating into the
pool and occasional rustles among the leaves.

‘The Council gathers
shortly,’ said Chevra at last. ‘Let us see what Vorna suggests
next. I will have to shout at Koolis I’m afraid.’ He started along
the path leading back into the Palace.

Sheoma and Tavri
followed more slowly.

‘If only Taseen could
reply – I can scarcely reach him now. I’m not able to hear his
thoughts – I can but tell him a brief message and get myself
back.’

Tavri nodded in
sympathy. ‘Even messenger birds would be useless. We have none
trained to go beyond Dawn Island.’

He referred to the
furthermost inhabited island of the eastern archipelago. Harbour
City traders commonly used birds to carry messages from the City to
their home islands and vice versa.

‘The Wendlan mages seem
able to send their minds this far – but how can that be?’ Sheoma
picked up her pace in frustration.

‘Even Taseen hadn’t
heard of such an achievement for centuries,’ Tavri told her. ‘He
believes the Wendlans have taken the study of mental arts in a
different direction to us and have been encouraged to do so since
they isolated themselves after the last battle. He only knew a
couple of Wendlan mages personally at that time and he said they
were far more able to focus specifically in many areas of power
whereas Taseen had been trained more generally.’

They had passed the
more crowded sections of the administration complex and entered the
quieter corridors leading to the Debating Chamber and to Chevra’s
private apartments. Guards stood outside the great double doors of
almaz wood, which they pushed open to allow the two mages through.
Vorna was already seated and smiled benignly when Sheoma took a
chair opposite. Bajal was scribbling in a small notebook and Fental
was browsing through a sheaf of papers. Sheoma scarcely had time to
return Vorna’s greeting before the doors opened again to allow
Lessna to rush in just in front of Chevra. The guards didn’t have
time to close the doors properly as General Koolis arrived with the
Commander of the Coastal Defenders.

Chevra ignored the
faint murmurs of greeting from Fental and Bajal and waved the
General and the Commander to chairs at the furthest end of the
table.

‘You will take a third
of the mustered armsmen to the northern borderlands,’ Chevra
announced.

Koolis’s florid
complexion darkened, his long moustaches quivered.

‘They have just been
recalled from there sir,’ he said with amazing
restraint.

‘Then send them back,’
Chevra snapped. ‘I have heard a rumour to the effect that the
desert tribes are about to launch a more concerted attack on our
border villages. Not just raiding by small groups but a massed
attack.’

Koolis’s face was a
rich purple by now. ‘How do you know?’ he demanded. ‘I have
informers in the region and they have sent me no such
word.’

Chevra gave him a nasty
smile. ‘Perhaps your informers write their reports sitting safely
by their fires rather than checking the borders themselves. I have
given you your orders General. Put them into effect at
once.’

Bristling with fury,
Koolis stamped from the room, a faint growl emanating from
him.

Vorna smiled. ‘Grand
Master, you really shouldn’t upset the poor man so. I fear his
health won’t stand such teasing.’

Chevra stared at Vorna.
‘Upset him? Tease him? I gave him an order. The man’s a fool but
his officers have even less sense so I’m stuck with him. Perhaps
you should remember that, as Grand Harbour Master, I speak as I
choose.’

He turned his attention
to the Commander of the Defenders’ fleet, ignoring Vorna’s frown at
the reprimand he’d given her.

‘Bavvis.’

The Commander’s
expression was wary as he awaited Chevra’s orders.

‘I want three defenders
ships moved to the Palace wharf. I will inspect them later this
afternoon.’