Survivors: Book 4 Circles of Light series (48 page)

In spite of long years
of cultivating an impassive exterior, Zerran could not hide his
shock at Tika’s words.

‘Quickly,’ she
forestalled any protest he could make. ‘Open your mind to me and I
will show you how to untie the threads of a soul.’

Thoughts whirled in
Zerran’s head but then images appeared, stark and clear. He drew a
deep breath as Tika broke contact with his mind.

‘You must show those of
your colleagues in whom you have complete faith how this is done.
It will be the only way to defeat Valesh if I fail, but again you
must understand you must be close to the Bound One. The ones you
choose to cast this power must be guarded by others, the strongest
mages you have.’

Zerran reached for her
hand, appalled at the smallness, the fragility of the bones of that
hand, but before he could find any words, Ren approached, Akomi
trotting at his heels. His chestnut silvered eyes narrowed briefly
then he smiled.

‘Taza’s dear wife and
daughter have food prepared – as always,’ he said lightly. ‘And
Salma has more new clothes for the gijan.’

Tika gave Zerran’s hand
a squeeze and got to her feet.

‘I have to thank her
for the ones she made me. Excuse me please Zerran, no doubt we will
speak again in the next few days.’

Zerran’s heart – an
organ that rarely troubled him the way it seemed to lesser mortals,
twisted with pain. Would he ever speak to this girl woman again? As
Tika vanished among the fluttering wings of the gijan, Zerran too
rose from the seat.

‘I must get back to the
College, young man, but I hope to return before twilight if I
may?’

‘Of course,’ Ren
agreed. ‘We will be here until a decision is made regarding what
course of action we must take.’

Zerran nodded, his
heart twisting again: the decision has been made, he thought with
deep anguish.

Chapter
Twenty-Seven

Zerran came back to the
temple as he’d said he would with about thirty mages. For the first
time that Taza could remember, the temple gates were closed and
barred, guarded by a detachment of Harbour City armsmen. Zerran had
told his chosen mages what the young woman planned to do: he had
also warned Chevra.

They joined the
companions to eat a meal in the lower common room and Ren asked
after the scholar Hariko. Zerran frowned.

‘He has not been seen
since you were last in the city.’

He checked around his
mages but all shook their heads �� they knew nothing more of
him.

Taza again offered the
companions the use of the upper apartments which Tika quickly
accepted. Tired from their journey over so many leagues of sea,
everyone seemed ready for sleep. The gijan refused to stay in the
apartment though, insisting on joining the Dragons in the garden.
Maressa and Tika watched from the window.

‘Seela is very
unsettled.’ Maressa sounded worried.

The purple Dragon had
refused to let the gijan on her back but they persisted until,
amazingly, she swung upon them with a snarl. Much confused and
chastened, Willow and Leaf retreated to Brin while Piper nestled
along Storm’s back.

‘I expect she is
tired,’ Tika replied. ‘Don’t forget she’s nearly as old as
Fenj.’

Maressa fought against
a yawn then moved to the door. ‘I’m for bed – are you
coming?’

‘In a
moment.’

The room seemed empty
now; just Tika by the window and Sket, as always, cleaning his
weapons. Khosa and Akomi had retired with Gan and the heaviness of
sleep weighed the air in the apartment. Tika stretched.

‘I’ll sleep with Farn,’
she began but Sket was already on his feet waiting to go with her.
She met his eyes and he smiled sadly. Oh stars, he knew! Tika
swallowed and went swiftly down the stairs.

She paused by the
arched doorway into the main part of the temple. Zerran’s mages
murmured together, passing papers and books between them. They grew
silent when they saw the small figure in the door. Zerran stayed
where he was, cross-legged on a heap of pillows, but he lifted a
hand towards her.

‘Gods and goddesses
save you,’ he said softly.

But she had gone. She
curled against Farn’s chest listening to the steady thump of his
heart. She wept bitterly, her hand on the egg pendant at her
breast. Should she leave the pendant with Farn? Would it help him
if - ? No, she finally decided, it must stay with her.

In the darkest part of
the night, Brin sent a thought trickling into her mind.

‘They sleep deeply
dearest one, if you insist on this plan.’

Tika stood up, staring
at Farn’s beautiful face resting back between his wings. In the
starlight the scar down his neck showed dark between the glimmer of
his scales. She turned away, already aching at the idea of leaving
him, and moved to embrace Brin. Wordlessly he sent love and concern
pouring into her mind and she stepped across to Seela. As she
pulled herself onto Seela’s back, Sket climbed silently behind
her.

‘Thank you,’ she
whispered aloud.

His wiry arm held her
firmly round the waist. He said nothing, just sat like a rock, as
Seela lifted into the night sky, circling once before flying north
west towards Vorna’s estates and a meeting with one of the Bound
Ones.

All three were deep in
their own thoughts for half the flight. It was Seela who spoke
first.

‘There must be no room
for regrets, small one. I know it is easier for me to say that and
to believe it: I have had a long life and you are still new to the
world. But regret will stifle you my dear, and make you falter when
you should move without hesitation.’

‘I know, but it is so
hard.’

Seela felt Tika’s mind
struggling to push thoughts of Farn back behind a thick
wall.

‘Don’t do that,’ she
chided gently. ‘Your love for him should be your shield, your
support, not hidden away and denied.’

Tika considered Seela’s
suggestion while the leagues vanished beneath the Dragon’s huge
wings.

‘You’re right,’ she
agreed at last. ‘Together we are strong, so even the thought of him
encourages me a little more.’

Sket, listening in his
own mind to the conversation, tightened his arm round Tika’s
waist.

‘You shouldn’t have
come Sket.’ She spoke aloud, the wind of their flight blowing her
words back to him.

Sket snorted in
irritation. ‘And what should I do?’ he retorted. ‘My place is with
you, no matter what we face.’

Seela’s laugh rang in
their minds.

‘Of course he should be
here, silly child. You could have no one better beside you
now.’

Sket’s mouth opened in
astonishment at Seela’s compliment but he didn’t reply for she was
slowing the beat of her wings, flying lower with each stroke. The
sky behind them was less dark as the sun began to reach up to the
eastern horizon. Ahead, the sky was still littered with paling
stars but there was a blemish, a rising dome of grey nothingness
towards which they flew. Seela landed perhaps four hundred paces
from the ball of cloud, Tika and Sket sliding from her back. Sket
shivered. The air seemed to ripple and twist, like it had in the
heat of the desert.

As the pre dawn light
strengthened, they saw buildings within the distorted air. Seela
lowered her head towards Tika and Sket but before she could say
anything the ground on which they stood shuddered and heaved. The
purple Dragon extended her wings, hooking their talons into the
protesting earth while Tika and Sket were thrown flat. The ground
stilled again and Sket helped Tika back to her feet.

‘Was that the
creature?’ he asked.

Tika nodded. ‘She is so
close to freedom.

She threw her arms
round Seela’s neck, hugging as much as she could reach.

‘You are sure of this?’
she asked.

Seela nuzzled against
Tika’s head. ‘I will go now and you will know when to make the
attempt on this foulness. Succeed for me, small one, and for us
all.’

Tika forced herself to
release the purple Dragon and lifted her chin.

‘May the stars guide
your path and guard your heart Seela of Sun Mountain. And know that
I love you.’

Seela’s eyes whirred,
violet and lavender facets shot with gold and then she lifted from
the ground. She climbed rapidly until she was higher than the dome
of twisted air. Tika tore her gaze from the great Dragon and
concentrated on the buildings flickering within the murk. She found
the smaller building, set slightly apart from the large house in
the centre. That was where the twisted power emanated. She began to
run towards that place, Sket at her side. Tika stared only at the
building but as they neared the intangible wall of fog, Sket
glanced up.

Seela hovered directly
above the spot on which Tika concentrated. Seela’s scream of rage
and pride rocked Sket back on his heels for a moment but Tika
neither paused nor looked up. The ground underfoot began to buckle
again and Tika grabbed Sket’s arm, trying to keep her footing on
the shifting earth. Sket caught a last glimpse of the newly risen
sun firing Seela’s scales to a blaze of purple light when she
closed her wings, diving into the cloud, fire spewing from her open
jaws.

Then Sket was inside
the fog, pulled in Tika’s wake. The ground writhed beneath them and
sound battered Sket nearly senseless: inhuman sounds from somewhere
below him and shrieking bellows from a great Dragon. He tried to
breathe but the air tasted poisonous and there didn’t seem to be
enough to fill his lungs anyway. Tika pulled his arm and he peered
at her, disorientated. She sat down cross-legged, one hand pulling
her pendant free of her shirt, the other drawing her sword and
laying it across her knees.

Sket, gasping, fell
beside her, sweat streaming down his face as the ground heaved yet
again. He dug the fingers of one hand into the soil, the other
hooking into Tika’s belt. He blinked, trying to see what it was
that Tika focused on as he felt her back stiffen against his hand.
Seela was on top of the smaller building, her wings thrashing the
disrupted air, fire still pouring directly down. A rumble began far
underground and, as Sket stared, the main building slid sideways,
disintegrating as it fell.

A wind sprang up from
nowhere, gusting from all directions, hot and foetid. Sket covered
his nose and mouth with a hand, glancing at Tika. She remained
rigid, her eyes open but unseeing. He shuffled closer to her,
trying to protect her as things began to fly through the air –
branches, fence posts, a whirlwind of straw, roof tiles – all
hurtling madly around them. Crouched over Tika, he felt power
thrumming through her whole body. Her right hand clenched on her
sword hilt and light flashed along its blade. Sket’s ears rang with
the continuous noise and he hunched lower. He gasped in terror when
he saw Tika’s left hand clasped around the egg pendant.

The oval glowed a deep
amber, so brilliant it shone through her skin to reveal the darker
lines of her bones. Should he leave her? Should he pull her hand
free? He couldn’t think, for the noise increased now to a rapid
drumming which rose through the earth into his very body. He looked
frantically towards the smaller building and felt Tika convulse
within the shelter of his arm. A line of blackness streaked up from
the burning building, impaling Seela and rising through her body up
towards the sky. The Dragon screamed, a cry of mingled pain and
triumph, and then her body exploded into a thousand glittering
fragments.

Pain roared through
Sket. A tiny part of his mind still functioned clearly enough for
him to realise he was experiencing some of Tika’s agony because he
held her so tightly against himself. He stared down at her. Her
face was a rictus of torment, her eyes still open, staring at
something awful beyond imagining. Her knuckles were white where she
gripped her sword but the blade itself slipped from her left knee,
its tip sinking into the ground. Sket turned his eyes away when
brilliant light flared and danced along the metal and Tika’s body
arched backwards in agony.

Sket’s head was
spinning, he could scarcely breathe and dawn seemed to have changed
its mind: darkness increased about them. The ground contorted more
viciously than ever and Sket, Tika clutched in his arms, was tossed
about as easily as the chaff flew at winnowing. He was aware of
things hitting his back, his head, then of sliding downwards,
endlessly down. Finally a roar grew loud enough to burst his
eardrums and the entire world seemed to explode about
him.

In Harbour City the
first earthquake struck at dawn. Brin had to rouse Storm and Farn
from the deep sleep he’d induced in them and perhaps fortunately,
both young Dragons were at first sluggish and slow to awareness.
The gijan woke together, instantly alert. Brin flinched at the
sharp stab of fury they sent to his mind. Willow and Piper streaked
skywards before Brin could recover and were swiftly gone from
sight. Leaf stood in front of him, dark eyes blazing at
him.

‘Our lives are hers,’
she hissed aloud as the companions hurried from the
temple.