Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series (56 page)

Beslow led the way from
the barn attached to a large stable block, across a yard through
pouring rain, and in through one of the still accessible doors. He
watched the guards’ eyes studying his companions and knew word had
already spread. He took them back up yet more stairs to the public
level and showed them the Lesser Council hall. Four long windows
faced east over the City, as Tika had requested, and a large
rectangular table stood in the centre of the room. Tika nodded,
caught Sket’s eye and smiled.

‘Would there be a
kitchen close by?’ she asked.

‘There’s a small stove,
for making tea, in the guard post along the corridor,’ one of the
healed Kelshan guards informed her quickly.

‘Show me the way,’ Sket
ordered, and left with the guard.

Tika shrugged an
apology at Beslow. ‘Sket can’t last too long without his precious
tea.’

Beslow was saved from
having to reply by a breeze riffling through the hall. The General
saw alarm on most of the faces around him and wondered wearily what
might be happening now. Turning, he found an extraordinarily
beautiful woman standing at the far end of the table. Long red hair
swirled round her head and shoulders, and the skirts of her equally
dark red dress also moved as if a strong wind was gusting about
her. Perplexed as to how this woman had entered the room, he began
to ask her who she was. But the woman was striding around the
table, her face dark with anger.

‘Which one of you sent
her?’ she demanded, glaring from face to face.

Beslow became rather
more alarmed when he saw the apprehension on the great warrior’s
face.

‘She is quite
impossible. I will not have such people in my Realm. At the least,
you could have asked my permission.’ She folded her arms and
scowled at Cyrek.

‘It was a matter of
some urgency, Ferag,’ he replied in his most soothing tone. ‘The
Crazed One had possession of her.’

Ferag’s hair tossed in
a positive gale. ‘You could have sent the Crazed One into my Realm
with no warning to me?’ Her voice became lower and the temperature
in the room plummeted.

‘Obviously, I hoped it
would not be too much of an inconvenience,’ Cyrek began.

Ice formed on the stone
walls and Tika stuck her hands in her pockets, partly for warmth
and partly to conceal their shaking. Ferag bothered her quite
considerably.

‘Simert’s Teeth, who is
this woman?’ Beslow finally found his voice.

Ferag turned slowly and
the General flinched. But he received a smile rather than a blast
of ice as he’d rather feared.

‘Of course! Oh you
clever man! Simert could have her. She certainly can’t stay with
me. A particularly obnoxious female, strutting about, trying to
tell me what I should do.’

‘But I thought you said
Simert - ’ Shea unwisely interrupted.

Ferag moved nearer the
General. ‘I shall call Simert then.’ She overrode Shea’s
words.

There was a conical
burst of smoke from the floor. When it cleared, a small, somewhat
portly man stood near Ferag. He appeared weary and also rather
annoyed.

‘What is it?’ He
sounded annoyed as well. ‘I’m extremely busy at the moment Ferag.
Can’t it wait?’

‘No it can’t,’ Ferag
snapped back. ‘Somehow, these fools,’ she waved generally at the
group frozen by the other wall. ‘These fools have sent me something
called an Imperatrix, and I definitely don’t want her.’

The elderly man
grinned. ‘Really? Well she’s not too popular with my
lot.’

Ferag gave him a
wonderful smile. ‘Then they would surely enjoy playing with her
wouldn’t they Simert dear?’

Simert ruminated. ‘I
suppose so. But I think you should take a few of mine in exchange.
Fair’s fair.’

Ferag pouted. ‘Only a
few then darling, you know they often don’t settle well when we
swap them about.’

Simert nodded. ‘I’ll
expect her then. Can’t stop.’ He was gone.

‘Was that really
Simert?’ Gossamer Tewk’s whisper reached Ferag.

‘Of course it was
darling. A sweet man, most of the time. Well, I simply must be off.
I want that woman out of my Realm at once. But do not make a
mistake like that again.’

The last words were
addressed to Cyrek. Before Ferag could vanish, Tika forced herself
a step forward.

‘Can any like Simert
have any power over the Crazed One do you think?’ she
asked.

Ferag’s deliciously
arched brows swept down in the slightest frown of concentration.
Then she shrugged.

‘Some of them might I
suppose my dear. But you’d have to ask them.’ She vanished, and ice
on the walls melted and ran down to puddle on the floor.

The healer Konya
cleared her throat. ‘Was that truly Simert, the God of Death?
Forgive my doubting the lady’s words but I – erm – am not used to
such – happenings. And who was that lady anyway?’

Tika laughed, tension
draining away. ‘Yes, that was Simert, and the lady was Ferag,
Mistress of Death in the Dark Realm. Of the two, I think I’d prefer
to take my chances with Simert.’

Sket and the Kelshan
guard reappeared with two large trays on which pots of tea steamed.
Sket stopped and stared round the hall frowning.

‘Ferag just visited,’
Shea informed him. ‘And she brought Simert with her.’

‘Ah. Right. But she’s
gone now?’

Sket met Tika’s eyes.
Tika nodded that all was well.

Beslow seemed to have
reached the end of his endurance and he sat heavily on the nearest
chair. Konya began pouring bowls of tea and took one to the
General. A guard marched into the hall and saluted.

‘General Whilk is at
the south entrance sir. Shall we bring him here?’

Beslow nodded, feeling
older, and more tired, than he would have believed
possible.

Chapter
Thirty-One

General Whilk and his
surviving officers arrived looking the worse for wear. Tika noticed
several faces missing and felt a spasm of guilt that she couldn’t
think of the names. She sat at the table, leaning back, a tea bowl
warming her chilly fingers, and watched the different people in
this company she found herself part of. She noted Onion, Darrick
and Dog were in deep conversation with two quite young Kelshan
guards. No doubt discussing the making of those awful
poppers.

Shea was with Lemos and
the healer Konya, clearly interested in their earnest talk. Like
her, Daylith sat quietly near the other end of the table, listening
to the Generals and Jemin. As ever, Gossamer Tewk seemed aloof, but
Tika knew she was really watching and listening with the closest
attention. Cyrek stood by one of the long windows, idly tracing the
line a raindrop was making down the glass.

Tika strolled across to
stand next to him. ‘Tell me what happened,’ she said
softly.

The Dark Lord slanted a
glance at her, then resumed his observation of the raindrop. ‘I
killed her, and her escort. That is what happened.’

‘When did you know he
had taken the Imperatrix?’

‘Shortly after you, I
believe.’

‘Did you think you
could destroy him if you destroyed her?’

‘No.’ Cyrek looked at
her. His gold eyes blazed and she saw a savagery there she’d not
seen before.

She waited.

‘In Dragon form it is
very hard to quell the hunger. Especially knowing what that woman
had made her daughters suffer.’ The blaze died and he was Lord
Cyrek once more. He sighed. ‘We are trained never to feed when we
are in our Dragon form.’ Now his expression revealed only sadness.
‘We would become wholly Dragon when once we get a taste for raw
flesh. There is no turning back from that path. But today, the
temptation was very strong.’

‘People saw you as
Dragon.’

‘Not many. Guards on
the watch walk, a very few in the streets. What can you sense of
the creatures Tika? Beslow said he’d had reports of maybe thirty
sightings. I would guess there are far more.’

‘I think you’re right.
I’m not sure if there is a way opened to this place – like the one
I saw in the room below, or if they are appearing by some other
means. Will the Crazed One make another attempt at
once?’

Cyrek stretched,
abandoning his contemplation of the raindrop. ‘He will need to
recover within his Kingdom for a while. At least, that has been the
pattern before.’ He glanced at Tika again. ‘Can you reach your
Dragons?’

Tika smiled. ‘I am
surprised that yes, I can. I would have said the distance is too
great, but Farn bespoke me earlier. He’s gone fishing with Storm
and most of the Bear children.’

‘Cubs,’ Cyrek corrected
with mock severity. ‘Bears always have cubs. And I must try to
teach you about gateways very soon – it was remiss of us not to
instruct you before.’

‘There is no change
with Lerran,’ she said very quietly.

Cyrek looked at her
sharply and sighed again. ‘There will not be any change for a long
time,’ he murmured back. ‘But she chose to do what she did
Tika.’

To change the suddenly
sombre mood, Tika spoke of Ferag’s remarks.

‘Ferag said she didn’t
know if beings like Simert could help us, or even overcome the
Crazed One. How do we contact them? Are they gods as the Kelshans
call them?’

‘They are creatures
that dwell in the Planes of Existence, all of which touch this
world. Those like Simert, rule their particular Planes and on
occasion, change something here, or interfere. That’s how they came
to be called gods. Some seem to have become genuinely concerned
about humanity – like Simert again. I know of a few others, but
you’d need to ask a Kelshan to tell you more.’

A bustle around the
table drew their attention. All of the military men departed,
except for General Beslow and the engineer Dog. Three Kelshan
guards remained – those Tika had healed, but The Bear and Lemos
followed Jemin. Beslow looked tired to death and Tika approached
him, brushing her fingers lightly along his brow. Colour crept back
into his sallow cheeks and he straightened in his chair. He gave
her a surprisingly shy smile.

‘You did something
didn’t you?’

Tika smiled back. ‘I
only lifted some of your weariness, but I think some sleep would be
the best remedy.’

The General pushed
himself to his feet, leaning heavily on the table as he did
so.

‘The Imperator has just
given me the same order my lady.’

Tika groaned. ‘Please.
I am not a lady. My name is Tika, daughter of Kija.’

Beslow walked, unsteady
with exhaustion, to the door. Konya took hold of one arm and Shea
took the other.

‘Kija is a Dragon you
know,’ Shea remarked helpfully.

Poor Beslow stiffened
for a moment then allowed himself to be led away to the nearest
bed.

‘Do you think that was
a whimper?’ Gossamer enquired, smiling at Tika.

‘Quite possibly,’ Tika
agreed.’ But the poor old man is worn out.’

‘Officers never know
when to retire, or stay retired,’ said Sket, nursing yet another
bowl of tea.

‘They tried to promote
me once.’

They all turned to
stare at Dog.

‘Well they did,’ she
said defiantly. ‘Made me a sergeant, like Essa. Couldn’t put up
with that.’

‘What happened?’ Tika
was fascinated.

‘Got drunk and beat up
Sergeant Peach. Busted his nose and his cheekbone. Locked up for
ten days, sergeant’s rank removed. Joined up with the engineers as
soon as they let me out. Engineers don’t get promoted.’ Dog beamed
in satisfaction.

Cyrek joined her and
Sket at the table and gave her an evil grin.

‘I’ve never known an
engineer live long enough to be promoted.’

They all laughed even
the three Kelshan guards. They were obviously still cautious of the
easiness which existed between these people who seemed unaware of
their rank or position.

Shea popped back into
the hall. ‘The General is fast asleep already. Does anyone remember
if we’ve eaten anything since breakfast? I’m starving.’

By the time the grey
day had become a dark cold evening, there had been reports brought
in that nine of the creatures had been destroyed. Tika had expected
Dog to want to go out with one of the many patrols but the engineer
seemed happy enough to sit by the fire that had been lit in the
hall, gossiping with Sket. Tika looked round for Daylith but
couldn’t see him. Cyrek joined her at the table where she sat with
her feet propped on its edge.

‘I sent Daylith
home.’

Tika wondered, not for
the first time, if Cyrek could really read her thoughts.

‘He was badly shaken
when the Crazed One loosed that surge of power when he possessed
the Imperatrix. This is not work for him.’

Tika tried to recall
what Daylith had told her of himself. ‘His parents work in the
Karmazen Academy don’t they?’ she asked.