Vagrants: Book 2 Circles of Light series (18 page)

A soft rap sounded on
the door and Alya entered at Thryssa’s call.

‘Maressa was working
with me when Gremara cried out. She says the cry focused in the far
north. Her mind was caught when shields were raised against
Gremara, but she glimpsed the one who Gremara sought.’

Jilla was on her feet
and following Thryssa as the Chief Speaker went quickly down to
Alya’s study.

‘You say Maressa’s mind
was caught?’ Jilla asked. ‘Is she safe?’

‘Exhausted, but she
said the power was wielded by one with little or no experience in
its use.’ Alya caught up with Thryssa before they reached the study
door. ‘From Maressa’s words, and how she dealt with the
constriction of a shield against her, it seems obvious that she has
far sensed many times before.’

Thryssa looked at her,
then at Jilla. She smiled wryly.

‘I had managed to reach
that conclusion myself, but thank you anyway.’

Alya blushed furiously,
raising her eyebrows at Jilla’s smile.

In Alya’s study Elyssa
was sitting beside Maressa, helping her drink from a mug of tea.
Maressa’s face was pale but composed as she watched Thryssa come
in.

‘Where is the one
Gremara has sought for so long?’ Thryssa asked quietly.

‘In the far
north.’

‘Where one lives who,
for many cycles has changed the weather patterns there?’

Maressa smiled. ‘Yes
that is the place, but it was not that one whom she sought
for.’

Thryssa took a seat at
the worktable.

‘Another, untrained,
mind has worked the air in recent days – so Jilla advises
me.’

Maressa shook her head
slightly. ‘Not that one either. I saw him fully although only for a
brief moment. A youth, not of the usual human type originally, I
would guess, but -.’ She paused, sipping her tea. ‘He was scaled.
His face is golden scaled like a Dragon. His eyes are blue, unlike
ours in form, his hair a reddish gold. I think this may well be the
Dragon Lord Gremara has cried for through these many cycles. He is
named ‘Mim’’

‘In the earliest
reports of our people here, the silver Dragon always called for a
Dragon Lord,’ Alya said into the silence. ‘The few who spoke to the
Dragon and survived, said always the Dragon asked where this Lord
was to be found.’

‘This silver Dragon is
near to total insanity. The previous Dragons all ended lost in
madness. There was one other thing,’ Maressa said thoughtfully. She
reached for a scrap of paper and a writing stick, drawing quickly.
She held the paper out to Thryssa. ‘This seemed to be alight,
glowing, on his chest.’

The three women studied
the oval device Maressa had sketched. They could make nothing of
it.

‘Have you scryed this
place before Maressa?’ Thryssa asked.

Maressa studied her
hands while she considered the question. Finally she looked
squarely at Thryssa, her usual enigmatic expression quite
gone.

‘I have scryed that
place, yes, but not recently. A man ruled there who had some strong
talents and also great weaknesses in his abilities. I discovered
him long ago and became fascinated with watching him. Then I found
he experimented with living creatures, wanting to change them into
monstrosities. The last time, what I saw sickened me and his mind
was increasingly threaded with madness. I think he is no longer in
that place. There is a difference – I cannot explain more
clearly.’

She reached for the mug
of tea she’d put on the table. ‘You must do with me as you will
Thryssa. I have transgressed our laws and I understand if I must
stand trial before the assembly. I swear to you though that I have
only observed. I have not been discovered by any I have so watched,
nor have I interfered in any way with their lives or
thoughts.’

She drained her mug and
sat back, only her pallor indicating a nervousness in her while she
waited for Thryssa to reply. The silence extended and Alya quietly
fetched the jug of tea from the hearth and poured some for
everyone.

‘I cannot make
decisions out of hand on what you’ve been doing Maressa. I fear
many have been transgressing the laws, but I don’t recall any
admitting doing so, or being accused of doing so.’ Thryssa gave a
tired smile. ‘When those laws were decreed, all were in favour of
them. No punishments were named because no one dreamed they would
be needed.’

Elyssa started to
speak, blushed and buried her face in her mug.

‘Speak out Elyssa,’
Thryssa said.

‘Well. It’s just that
I’ve been going through reports – as you know.’ The High Speaker’s
presence and attention flustered Elyssa. ‘I’ve just read a report
by Keejal. He was from Segra and he went several times to speak
with Gremara.’

‘And obviously
survived,’ Maressa interjected, her brows raised
questioningly.

Elyssa nodded. ‘He
found that Gremara hates to be asked questions directly. He made
various statements to her, as if he knew of what he spoke. Most
times she answered quite calmly, discussing what he’d said and
explaining many details. He says she responded to flattery and he
approached her humbly and with respect, and she did him no
hurt.’

‘But many others have
tried to speak with her,’ Alya objected. ‘And were fortunate indeed
to get away with only serious burns if she didn’t kill them
outright.’

Elyssa jumped up and
began to rummage through a heap of parchments and leather folders
on a smaller side table. She grabbed one of the folders
triumphantly as the rest of the heap slithered across the table to
the floor. Extracting a thick wedge of papers, she flicked through
them rapidly.

‘Here it is! He wrote
this less than six hundred cycles ago. He says Gremara waits for a
Dragon Lord – could that be who you saw Maressa? The Dragon Lord
will come to her, she must wait for him here and when he comes -.
Well, she didn’t seem to tell Keejal what would happen
then.’

Elyssa trailed off,
passing the papers to Thryssa.

‘Why would he not tell
all of us the safest way to approach Gremara?’ Alya
asked.

‘He has,’ Elyssa said.
‘In these writings at least. He says she is very lonely and would
welcome the right visitors occasionally. He also says, some have
gone to her saying they would be her apprentices. Gremara mistook
them for possible Dragon Lords and when she realised they were not
what she thought, she killed them in her despair. Keejal wrote that
he planned to arrange visits by selected groups of Vagrantians,
because he was sure it would check her madness.’

Elyssa fetched another
parchment. ‘The report just stopped and I wondered why. Keejal was
clearly a meticulous observer and recorder. In this census of
Segra’s births and deaths, it is written that Keejal died in an
accident – there was a rock slip and he and two others were
killed.’

She passed the
parchment over to Thryssa. Alya asked:

‘Is this why the Chimes
of Discord rang?’

‘No.’ Thryssa and
Maressa answered together. Thryssa continued.

‘This is connected, in
a way I cannot see, but the Chimes rang because the Circles were
used.’

‘In Kedara,’ Jilla said
slowly. ‘There are those who see the future. I am not sure if any
can do so today, but some wrote down what they saw and when they
died their papers were brought to our library.’

Maressa agreed. ‘I do
not think any do so now. We could ask,’ she suggested. ‘I have
admitted to scrying. I know many others do also, although we do not
speak of what we see, to each other or anyone else. Until now. I
know some of them, only by sensing their minds in the air when I
too am travelling the winds.’

Alya opened the door at
a light tap, and Kwanzi came in. He held a message tube in his
hand, which had the mark of Kedara on its side.

‘A bird brought this a
few minutes ago Jilla.’

He handed the tube to
her. She broke the wax seals with her thumbnail and eased out the
tightly rolled flimsy paper. Carefully, she unrolled it and spread
it on the table before her. She caught her breath, scanned the rest
of the message, and looked up at the watching faces.

‘It is from my father
Orsim. He says Dashka came to him in great agitation. He admitted
to far sensing the strangers beyond the Wilderness, who made their
city at the south end of the High Land Mountains. When Gremara
cried out, many of them were hurt. Some are dead. Dashka says never
before has a silver Dragon sent such a call. But the strangers are
hurt. And if they are, who else has Gremara harmed?’

Thryssa read the
message paper and sighed.

‘I have this feeling of
being forced in a direction not of my own choosing. Is this the
time we must be forced to relinquish our safe isolation? Must we go
into the world again to try to help the strangers and no doubt some
of the humans who still carry our blood? Surely those with any
power in them will have felt Gremara’s force this time and they
will be suffering.’

Kwanzi slid his arm
round her waist and she leaned against him gratefully for a brief
moment. Then she straightened.

‘Summon the full
councils, Kwanzi. The time for procrastination is over.’

Chapter
Thirteen

Mim felt a wild mind
screaming towards him. He drew more power than he had ever
attempted before to hurl shields as extensively as he could over
the stronghold and the northern parts of the Domain of Asat. He was
in Dessi’s chamber with Ashta and Rofu, watching as the Delver girl
slept. The mind that sought his was not Rhaki’s, but there was the
same hint of madness threading through it. There was also a
strength beyond any Mim had felt before. Rofu whimpered while
Ashta’s eyes whirred in terror.

‘Stay here with Dessi,’
Mim told Ashta, rushing from the chamber.

He went straight to the
quarters that had been Rhaki’s, flicking the wardings aside with
scarcely a thought. He hurried on to the Chamber of Balance and
found the weights shivering in their impossible suspension. They
were in the same position as before – he thought – but without
doubt, something had shaken them where they hung.

Slowly Mim made his way
back to Dessi’s chamber, resetting the wards only at the outermost
door of the set of rooms. The scaled tips of his ears stung as
though a loud noise had offended them, although there had been no
audible sound. He found Dessi sitting on the side of her bed, Rofu
clinging to the front of her bed gown. Ashta had calmed, her
prismed eyes their usual gold-flecked green.

Dessi stared hard at
Mim as he dropped into the chair by the bed, but said
nothing.

‘Did you feel it?’ Mim
asked her.

‘Not really. A slight
disturbance only, but I was asleep. What happened Mim?’

Mim sighed. ‘The silver
one, Gremara, she found me. I only had a glimpse of her. She is
beautiful Dessi, but she is nearly mad.’

‘Does this mean you’ll
have to go to her? And where is she, anyway?’

Before Mim could
answer, Jal came into the room.

‘No one seems to know
what happened Mim, but many Delvers have died in Asat. Fenj and
Malesh said they felt pain briefly, but Malesh and the healer Nesh
have gone to see what help they can give. Fenj asked me to see if
you two were unhurt.’

Jal stared at Mim as
Dessi had done but Mim didn’t notice as he asked Jal to stay with
Dessi for a while. Ashta followed Mim to the place they’d named
‘the Broken Chamber’ and the pale green Dragon flew them quickly to
the entrance hall of the stronghold.

‘It was Gremara was it
not Mim?’ Fenj asked as soon as Mim appeared.

‘Yes it was.’ He felt
Fenj’s mixture of anticipation and apprehension. He touched the old
black face gently. ‘I know much more now, but not enough. I will
tell you all of it later, but I must first see if I may be of help
in Asat.’

Snow Dragons had sent
news in mindspeech of a great affliction among the southern
settlements of Asat. Many deaths were reported and Delver healers
from the northern settlements, who’d been protected by Mim’s
shielding, were hastening to assist in the stricken areas. Berri
had been on her way to the stronghold from Asat settlement and was
unharmed. Kera was with her, having spent the previous days in
Asat’s library talking with the archivists and
recorders.

By the time Berri, Kera
and their escorting Delvers arrived at the stronghold, the evening
meal was being set on the long table. Guards already seated, rose
to their feet but Kera waved them back down. She and Berri joined
Mim, Lorak, Bikram and Soran at the end reserved, by unspoken
agreement, for the leaders. Jal came down the slope from the upper
levels, his left arm supporting Dessi. Berri went quickly to the
Delver girl, bringing her to sit at the table beside
her.

Jal was moving away
when Mim told him to sit with them too. As Soran and Kera nodded,
Jal eased onto the bench at Soran’s side. Fenj had moved his great
bulk so that he was near them, as had Ashta, Jeela and
Talli.