Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series (35 page)

‘You know that
something affected you in the Splintered Kingdom.’ Dabray’s voice
was fainter. ‘Both Lerran and I believe your heritage somehow holds
Dark blood. You have been empowered since your confinement by the
Crazed One. I ask you to do what you can.’

The eye blinked shut as
another clink chimed on the floor. Tika picked the object up,
knowing it was another scale. She bowed to the motionless shape on
the wall and retreated towards the archway, the room dimming behind
her. She paused when she emerged into the illumined corridor and
studied the two scales in her hand. Seela’s familiar purple, smooth
as silk. And now Dabray’s, shimmering as though with its own light;
a silvery pearl shot through with every other colour you could ever
imagine.

When Tika explained
that she would be going to Kelshan, Farn grew thoughtful. Storm
suggested that perhaps they could fly to meet Tika near the border
of the Dark Realm. Brin picked up the idea, emphasising how much
stronger Farn was getting, and pointing out the advantages of a
longer flight than he’d yet attempted. Lord Cyrek was present at
this discussion and asked if he might join them. Sergeant Essa,
Gossamer Tewk and Shea also listened to Brin’s plans. They were
rather taken aback when he turned towards them, prismed eyes
flashing pink and scarlet.

‘You should come with
us,’ he announced.

Farn and Storm were
immediately enthusiastic at this idea while Tika merely raised a
brow. Kija huffed but made no comment. Farn was apparently quite
calm in the face of separation from Tika, but having other human
company might well distract him should distraction be necessary. It
was agreed that Tika and Sket would leave through a Dark gateway in
two days time. Tika wished to spend some time with Lady Emla, who
would be returning to Gaharn tomorrow. The great chamber emptied as
people went on their various errands until only the Dragons, Shea
and Akomi remained.

Brin suggested a
hunting flight to Kija, who had eaten very little in the time since
Farn’s collapse. When she hesitated, Storm insisted he could stay
with Farn. They were having riddle contests with anyone who could
be inveigled into taking part and they would invent the most
amazing riddles while Brin and Kija were gone. Kija thought the
love of riddles was the most tedious thing she’d yet discovered
about humans, and she deplored the fact that Farn seemed so
enamoured of them. But she knew, that once started, riddle making
would keep both Farn and Storm happily occupied indefinitely. With
the strictest instructions to Shea to keep her eyes on the two
youngsters, Kija made her way to the roof terrace with
Brin.

Akomi and Shea listened
to Storm composing a complicated riddle about a particular kind of
fish that only a sea Dragon could possibly understand, when Farn
interrupted.

‘Have you seen the
First Daughter, Shea? I thought she would have come to see us by
now. Is she very busy?’

Shea felt Akomi’s claws
dig into her thigh.

‘She has been unwell
lately, Farn.’

Although nothing had
been said, Shea understood that Farn had no idea of the First
Daughter’s condition. She wasn’t sure if the information was
deliberately being kept from him or people just hadn’t thought to
tell him. It was never spoken of, but then, no one seemed to be
forbidden access to the First Daughter’s rooms, so it couldn’t be a
secret. Akomi’s claws relaxed.

‘Khosa says you could
visit her.’ His mind tone was soft with affection.

Farn pushed himself up
from his reclined position, his eyes whirring sapphire and pearl.
‘Well why didn’t someone says so?’ he asked indignantly. ‘She must
think I don’t care.’

Akomi slid from Shea’s
lap as she rose and moved to Farn. She stroked his
cheek.

‘She knows you care
Farn. She knows we all care.’

Farn huffed and paced
after Akomi who sat patiently waiting beside the smaller arched
doorway. Shea followed, trusting Khosa and Akomi’s judgement in
this, but also apprehensive of the young Dragon’s reaction. Storm
remained in the great chamber concentrating on an incredibly
brilliant riddle, and was hardly aware that he’d been left alone.
Shea slipped in front of Farn, watching nervously as he squeezed
carefully beneath the arch.

‘You won’t get stuck
will you?’

‘Of course I won’t,’
came his confident reply.

Two elderly Dark
healers stood at the foot of a great bed. The bed had a strange
cloth roof over it, such as Farn had never seen. He hesitated as
Akomi climbed up to settle beside Khosa. One of the men took a step
towards Farn.

‘My name is Mull. I
welcome you, young one. We hoped you might visit.’

Farn took a cautious
pace and ducked his head under the canopy. He became still, utterly
still. Shea looked at Mull in consternation but he shook his head,
holding his hand out to her. Khosa’s vivid turquoise eyes watched
Farn steadily.

‘She is still very far
away, Farn, but we keep her company. We hope she will remember, and
come back.’

The body on the bed was
so frail it barely caused the covers to be raised. The face was a
devastation.

‘Because of me?’ Farn
whispered in horror.

‘No.’ The other healer,
Treska, came round the bed and rested a hand between Farn’s wings.
‘She would have taken this path sooner or later, and your
predicament gave her reason to take it sooner. She was glad to have
a purpose other than to seek out the Crazed One.’

Farn lowered his face
until his nose nearly touched Lerran’s chin. Great tears splashed
onto the tusks protruding from her swollen mouth. Very carefully,
Farn backed away, turning in a tight circle in the much smaller
room. He paced to the door, looking back over his shoulder once
before manoeuvring himself out into the passage.

Shea moved to follow
him but Mull tightened his hold on her hand.

‘He is calm Shea. He is
shocked and grieved, but he remains in control. Tika told us that
his mind was fragile before this happened. Somehow, in the Dark, he
has found strength.’

Akomi was cuddled up to
Khosa, eyes closed, so Shea left him and returned to the great
chamber. She was alarmed to see Storm alone, almost entranced with
his own composing of devious riddles, but then she saw Farn
reclining just beyond the arch to the terrace. She went to him but
then didn’t know what to say. His long face swung to study her and
she saw tears still rolling down his cheeks.

‘Oh don’t cry,’ she
begged, springing forward and using her sleeve to mop his
face.

‘She was beautiful,’ he
said in her mind. ‘In the Dark place, she looked like Lady Emla,
and now. .’

‘Shh.’ Shea put her
arms round his neck, hugging him tight. ‘We must believe she will
be beautiful again Farn. The healers all think there is hope she
will mend.’

Farn rested his chin on
Shea’s head and made no reply. The silence was comfortable though,
and was only broken by Storm bustling out to ask them the riddle
he’d invented. When he finally told them the answer, in great
triumph, he was met with blank stares, so it was fortunate perhaps
that Kija and Brin arrived at that moment. Storm instantly engaged
Brin’s attention but Kija came straight to where Shea still clung
to Farn. She spoke to Shea’s mind, her tone filled with
concern.

‘What has happened,
little one? I sense sorrow from you both.’

‘He went to see the
First Daughter.’ Shea knew at once that Kija knew nothing of
Lerran’s state, and she wondered why even Tika hadn’t informed
her.

‘Make me a picture in
your head child, so that I may see.’

Shea thought of Lerran
lying so still in her great bed, and held it in her mind. A wail
began to rise from the golden Dragon but it was instantly cut off.
Her eyes whirred a pale creamy yellow as she looked at
Shea.

‘I didn’t know she had
suffered so to help my child.’

Shea stretched her hand
to touch Kija’s chest, holding on to Farn with the
other.

‘I think that is why
Tika will do whatever they ask of her,’ Shea whispered
aloud.

Farn sighed. ‘Yes,’ he
said. ‘And I too will do whatever they wish, if it will make the
poor lady well again.’

Within the Citadel,
Veranta gave way to yet another bout of temper. She was in the
schoolroom in her daughters’ apartments and Mellia had made the bad
mistake of speaking to her mother before being spoken to. Kerris
shrivelled in her seat but didn’t actually move, her grey eyes wide
with fright. Veranta screamed and raged at Mellia’s foolishness, at
her stupid questions. Mellia was on her knees at Veranta’s feet,
bowed over, hands clutching her cheeks.

As was so often the
case, the girls had been left to get on with work set them by
Ternik, but Veranta’s raised voice brought the tutor to the
room.

‘Something wrong my
lady?’ Ternik’s quiet query cut into Veranta’s tirade.

The Imperatrix drew in
a deep breath, still glaring down at her cringing
daughter.

‘I sought your counsel
Ternik, and yet you are absent from your duties.’

‘I had merely gone to
fetch a book I needed to help explain some points, my lady.’ Ternik
proffered a book as evidence.

Veranta blinked. There
was something irritating her eyes of late: shapes seemed to get
fuzzy round the edges, as Ternik seemed now.

‘The guards brought in
a man several days ago. He had no information of any use, but he
mentioned spiders. I noticed it when I was going through the
reports just now. That was the third one. Of course, the fool
questioners let him die before I’d seen the report.’

Ternik calmly crossed
to her chair and seated herself, just in front of
Kerris.

‘Three of those put to
the question spoke of spiders?’ She raised a brow very slightly.
‘Who were these three – anyone of importance?’

Veranta sat behind
Shea’s abandoned desk, feeling a bit queasy. What was wrong with
her eyes? She brought her mind back to Ternik’s
question.

‘Raffer, the
Councillor, was the first. The second was an old woman who has a
stall in the lower market. This last was a labourer at the
docks.’

‘A fear of spiders is a
very common failing,’ Ternik remarked.

‘I thought it might
indicate some sort of society, a group of traitors.’ Even to
herself, Veranta’s words sounded lame. She stood up. ‘Well, I’ve
told the questioners to halt if there is any other mention of
spiders.’ Now she sounded defiant. She must see a herbalist, she
thought distractedly. Veranta turned to go and nearly fell over
Mellia’s crouched figure. She aimed a kick at the girl and passed
on without comment, the door slamming behind her.

Kerris stared down at
her page of writing, her hands clenched beneath the
desk.

‘Do get up Mellia;
grovelling is so very unladylike.’

Mellia stood, trembling
uncontrollably.

‘Oh dear, we seem to
have had a little accident, don’t we. And you so nearly grown up.
Go and change.’

Mellia fled sobbing,
leaving Kerris and Ternik alone in the schoolroom. Ternik strolled
down to stand just behind Kerris’s shoulder. Kerris closed her eyes
briefly then forced her right hand to unclench and rise above her
desk. She picked up her pen, dipped it into the ink pot and
continued the sentence she’d left unfinished. She was proud that
her hand didn’t shake at all.

‘You are improving
child,’ Ternik observed. She pointed to the text book at the top of
the desk. ‘Copy the whole of that page and then you can continue
with your reading book.’

Kerris wrote on until
the door clicked quietly. A quick glance proved Ternik had left and
Kerris’s breath heaved out in a gasp. She put her elbows on her
desk and clutched her head in her hands as shudders rippled through
her. There was something so wrong, so bad, but she didn’t know what
it was. She never looked directly at Ternik, not since she’d
returned to the classroom after her collapse just after Shea
vanished.

There was something
nasty inside Ternik and it kept oozing out, a bit at a time, here
and there. Mellia was in a permanent state of terror but she let it
show, inviting their mother’s wrathful disdain and Ternik’s sugary
sarcasm. Kerris was just as fearful but somehow she’d managed to
hide it. So far.

Kerris woke next
morning to the sound of running feet and urgent cries. She opened
her bedroom door a crack to see maids fluttering around Ternik, who
stood at the entrance to Mellia’s suite.

‘Cut her down.’ Kerris
heard Ternik order. ‘Then send for the Imperatrix. I’ll check the
Lady Kerris.’

Kerris shot back to her
bed, under the covers, and forced herself to relax and breath as
though she still slept. Her door swung open and someone stood by
her bed. Then they were gone and her door gently closed. Kerris
opened her eyes and stared at the door. She’d understood. Mellia
had killed herself. Shea had run away. What could she do? She knew
no one at all outside these apartments. Oh why hadn’t Shea taken
her too?