Survivors: Book 4 Circles of Light series (61 page)

‘Can someone help me
move this?’

One of the Wendlan
Mages was beside her nearly as quickly as Sket. Tika glared as Sket
put his bandaged hand on the box and he glared back. There was room
for most of them to stand around the large construct.

‘This is a lid I think.
Maybe we can slide it off between us. It probably opened by means
of Survivor magic, like the ramp in the Dome. Push that way.’ Tika,
at one of the shorter sides, pointed the way she meant.

At first there was no
movement. Then an Imperial Blossom gently moved Tika and took her
place, Gan next to him. They heaved again and there was a loud
sucking noise. The lid slid rather too rapidly towards the further
end. When the men had lowered the surprisingly heavy piece to the
floor, they peered within the box. It seemed three quarters full of
a totally black, viscous fluid. When Shiro extended a cautious
finger, Tika warned him away.

‘I have no idea what it
is Keeper Shiro, but I think it is definitely wiser to be safe than
sorry with any of the Survivors’ things.’

‘Sefri might know,’
Maressa suggested.

Tika met her gaze. ‘She
might. If anyone is in contact with Hiramo or Oniko in Wendla, they
should ask. But until we know, we don’t touch.’

‘What are these
things?’ Edo had turned to examine the second box.

Ren frowned, recalling
Kertiss’s explanations of some of the things he seemed so proud of.
‘Kertiss called it a – a regeneration tank.’ His brow cleared then
darkened again. ‘He said he could grow new life – arms and legs. He
told us that he and Orla spent time inside these “tanks” to keep
themselves always healthy and young.’

His words were received
in a queasy silence. Tika moved to the second box.

‘Let’s get this over
with,’ she said grimly.

Again the lid was at
first reluctant to move, then there was the sucking noise and the
lid slid smoothly away. The stench that arose was overpoweringly
awful and there was a rush for the corridor. Tika stayed where she
was, hand clapped over her nose and mouth, Sket the same at her
side. The bloated, naked and disintegrating corpse stared
sightlessly back at them. She caught Sket’s arm and walked
unsteadily to join the others still gasping in the passage. She
swallowed back her nausea.

‘Well, now we know
where Kertiss is.’

Shiro wiped
perspiration from his forehead. ‘I’ll get this area thoroughly
cleansed Lady.’

‘Not until we know what
that liquid is,’ Tika corrected him. ‘Better to seal this room
until you’re sure it’s safe to touch that stuff.’

They made their way
quite rapidly to the junction of tunnels leading to the Ring
Complex, all more than relieved to leave that gruesome discovery
behind them. Hezwa led them straight up to a door which accessed
the Sanctuary and everyone stood for a time, gulping clean air into
their shocked bodies.

‘We’ll rest for a
while, then we must travel on at nightfall,’ Tika told
Hezwa.

The Wendlan Mages and
their guardian Blossoms had already vanished into the Ring Complex.
Now the companions began to walk across to where the Dragons
reclined, basking in heat even after two days in a desert. Tika
hung back a moment.

‘I wondered, Keeper
Hezwa, if you know anything of the places Between?’ she asked. She
could almost see the Keeper’s mind racing through her archives,
sorting references.

‘I think I’ve heard of
them. I will search for you. I’m sure I have heard of them – a
passing comment in a text perhaps. I’ll look at once.’

‘Thank you, I’d
appreciate it. But we must leave as soon as the sun
sets.’

Hezwa hurried away in
the direction of the Dome of Knowledge but Shiro remained with
Tika, his expression deeply concerned.

‘I have only heard
tales of the places Between – years ago when I was an insignificant
student. They were referred to as places of darkest terror and
although we all believed them to be stories told just to frighten
the wits from us, there was something about them that was truly
frightening.’

Tika merely nodded and
mind spoke Maressa. She smiled up at Keeper Shiro.

‘May we go to the Dome
of Assembly? We have to check something – please come with
us.’

She saw Maressa emerge
from their rooms across the Sanctuary and began to walk with Shiro
towards the Domes. She nearly fell over Akomi and stooped to lift
him, scolding him gently. Maressa caught up with them at the arched
entrance and they followed Shiro inside. The tiered seats rose
around them but the great circle on the floor was what drew Maressa
and Tika’s attention. Shiro watched as the two women moved slowly
round the black edge of the circle. Maressa closed her eyes and
Shiro was startled by the sudden surge of power. She let her breath
out in a gusty sigh.

‘It hasn’t been used
for far longer than any other I’ve seen,’ she said. ‘And it is
uncontaminated.’

Tika smiled with
relief. ‘We will go to our rooms, Keeper Shiro, but if you and
Keeper Hezwa would meet us here again shortly before sunset, we
will show you what your circle does.’

The companions managed
to sleep through the middle of the day, dozing rather than sleeping
deeply. Maressa had obtained paper and she had written to both Lady
Emla and to Grand Harbour Master Chevra. She rolled the papers and
tied them with thread, ready to send through the circle. When
students arrived with food as the heat of the day began to cool,
there was little talk. No one knew how Orla might have changed;
affected as it seemed likely she was, by the influence of
Qwah.

Tika noticed Khosa was
quiet again, staying close to Ren, whereas Akomi was busily begging
choice titbits from everyone’s plates. When he was given something
he retreated, every time, to crouch by Tika to eat his prize. It
was with a certain reluctance that they put their packs outside and
walked across the Sanctuary. Brin stayed where he was but Farn
paced steadily behind Tika and Storm followed him.

They found Hezwa and
Shiro waiting just inside the Dome of Assembly. Maressa explained
the functions of the circles, as far as they were understood now at
least. Tika stopped listening at that point, her thoughts veering
off to follow the idea Maressa had suggested. Who had made the
circles? Every one she’d seen had been a work of art: beautiful
patterns laid out in different coloured stones, many of those
stones valuable and rare. Yet only Thryssa, and Rhaki she corrected
herself, had known the circles could move people and objects across
incredible distances. Maressa was shown how to use the circles by
Thryssa: apparently only the High Speakers of Vagrantia had
retained the information, passing it on to their successors
alone.

But Tika had a strong
feeling the circles predated the Vagrantian, or Valsheban
civilisations. The circles still functioned. Who, or what, could
build such a thing that would endure through time as they had? She
brought her attention back to the Dome. Maressa had placed one of
the rolled parchments on the dark green square in the centre of the
circle and moved back to stand outside the black edging tiles. She
spoke the words of the chant and Tika frowned.

She had heard the chant
many times, but always softly murmured. Now she heard Maressa
saying words she could not understand. What language was she using?
Did she even know the meaning of the words she spoke? There was a
soft pop and the parchment vanished. Shiro and Hezwa gasped in
astonishment. Maressa placed the second parchment on the central
stone and repeated the words. She sat on the first row of benches
and began to explain how the messages, or people, could be directed
to different circles. She gave the Keepers the words for the
circles in Harbour City, Gaharn and Vagrantia, and made them repeat
the words over and over.

Again, Tika realised
she hadn’t known each circle was called into use through a changed
word within the chant. And how did Maressa know the different
words? She guessed it was somehow revealed when Maressa first
approached a new circle – she always stood outside it, eyes closed
as though in mind contact with someone. In contact with the circle
itself? But there was a soft sound, followed almost at once by
another and two scrolls lay on the green square. Maressa went to
fetch them, unrolling them and reading them quickly before passing
them to the Keepers.

‘I have shown you how
to use the circle to send messages,’ Maressa told them. ‘One of you
could send a person through but I have not shown you how to move
yourselves through. That is more involved and I haven’t the time to
explain. We will show you when we return.’

Her eyes met Tika’s and
Tika knew Maressa had very serious doubts that they would in fact
come back to this City hidden in the middle of the desert. Maressa
scribbled a few words on the bottom of one of the parchments and
gave it to Hezwa. The Keeper’s trepidation was plain to see as she
returned the scroll to the centre of the circle. She drew a deep
breath and recited the words Maressa had used. There was a mixed
expression on her face when the parchment disappeared: part
delight, part apprehension. Maressa stood up.

‘I asked Administrator
Fenelon in Harbour City to send back to prove you reached her. It
will not take long I’m sure. But we must leave. Stars bless you
Keeper Hezwa, Keeper Shiro.’

They were rising above
the Domes within moments of returning to Brin, and none of them
looked back. It was a shorter distance to the northern edge of the
desert – as Navan had judged from his map. Evening of the second
day saw them landing on scrubby hills. Rough grasses grew in
scattered patches but no other vegetation had managed to root in
the poor soil. Behind them to the west rose ranges of the high
mountains through which they’d travelled when they left the
coast.

The sky was clear, the
wind blowing from the east, strong enough to flatten the grass.
Northwards were endless flat lands, broken only by occasional low
hills. The companions set up their usual camp as dusk fell and
stars began to appear.

‘Is something wrong?’
asked Maressa.

Heads turned towards
Jakri to whom Maressa had addressed her question. He held out his
arm and the gold bracelet, given him by Emperor Kasheen, glinted in
the firelight.

‘I’ve told you how it
shrank to fit my wrist as soon as I put it on. It keeps loosening
and tightening now, and it feels warm all the time.’

Tika stepped over Gan’s
long legs to squat beside the Wendlan. She examined the bracelet
with her eyes, her fingers, and her mind. There was no sign of any
join: it was as though made in one piece to fit Jakri’s wrist. She
touched her pendant. Since her burning she had worn it round her
neck still but within its leather pouch, in the faint hope of some
protection should it heat again. Tika shook her head.

‘There is something
about it but it is beyond my ability to see exactly how it has been
charged.’

‘Charged?’ Ren sounded
alarmed.

Tika shrugged.
‘Something works within the metal but what it is or what it does I
cannot see.’

Navan tossed a thin
strip of leather across the fire to land on Jakri’s lap. ‘Next time
it loosens, slip that beneath it.’

Tika gave him an
approving grin.

‘Can you sense Orla
ahead of us yet?’ Gan’s question sobered Tika at once.

‘She is closer than I
expected her to be,’ Maressa replied. ‘She should be leagues
further north, given the length of time since she left the
City.’

‘Why would she hang
about?’ Sket asked. ‘Is she expecting our company?’

Brin rattled his wings.
‘I have sensed a change in the air.’ His mind tone was uncertain.
‘It is like the way the air altered around Valesh, but not quite
the same, nor so definite.’

Maressa sighed. ‘There
is a patch that I cannot see inside when I look north.’

‘Like the cloud around
Vorna’s estates?’

Maressa kept her
expression neutral although her heart ached at Tika’s question. She
knew that of them all, Tika would again bear the brunt of whatever
faced them, and she also knew how afraid she was.

‘Something like that,’
she agreed calmly. ‘Less dense.’

No one felt much like
talking after that. Tika wrapped her blanket around her, Akomi
draped over her shoulder, and leaned against Farn.

‘I will be with you
this time, my Tika.’

She opened her eyes to
see Farn had angled his head down close to hers. ‘Brin told me,
when you and Sket were lost, that I could survive without you.’ The
large prismed eyes reflected dizzy patterns of stars. ‘I would not
wish to though. So we will stay together.’

Tika stretched to press
her palm along Farn’s cheek. ‘We will stay together,’ she
repeated.

‘Me too,’ a sleepy
voice agreed.

Farn inspected Akomi
and huffed softly but said no more.

Brin called a warning
before midday. Below, they saw a dark shape, motionless on the
plain. The Dragons spiralled lower until they could see it was one
of the desert horses. Only small patches of its white hide were
visible, the rest was the dark reddish brown of drying and dried
blood. They landed at a distance and Jakri, Navan and Gan
approached. They walked round the carcass touching nothing, then
rejoined the others. Gan stared back at the dead animal.