Soul Bonds Book 1 Circles of Light series (12 page)

Emla moved a stool so that she could sit facing the Dragons, and then suggested that Mim and Tika made themselves comfortable near her.

‘There are things to say, dear ones. And they are hard things. I will say them to you straightly, and then you may question me. I swear by the stars that I will answer all I can as truly as I know.’

Tika and Mim waited, tension plain in both of them.

‘Tika, I would speak of you first. We know now that you are of our race more than you are human.’ Tika stared, her face white with shock. ‘I can tell you in more detail later if you wish, but for now I will say only that your mother, or maybe her mother, or maybe even further back, brought forth a child fathered by one of my race. Remember Krea spoke of abilities in your mind? We have also glimpsed such in your brief time here. We need to test you, ascertain your strengths and teach you how to live with them. I tell you truly child, we may not understand all your Powers, but unless you learn how to control them, you could do great harm both to others and to yourself.’

She raised her hand as Tika opened her mouth. ‘No dear one, wait until I have spoken to Mim.’ She turned her great green eyes to Mim’s odd, triangular face.

‘A Nagum you were born Mim, but you are no longer wholly Nagum. We believe Ashta’s mother, in healing your hurts when you arrived in her nesting cave, transmitted Dragon life into your body. Now, you are both Nagum and Dragon, dear one. I hope you will come to see this as not a lessening thing but as an enlarging one.’

Emla looked at the two young ones before her, then at the Dragons behind them. Ashta’s eyes were glowing softly and the Lady was aware that she was speaking privately to Mim’s mind. Farn’s eyes held excited sparkles. Emla knew he had not understood how deeply the information she had just imparted had hit Tika and Mim.

‘The Seniors whom you have met here, are the very best of the many brilliant minds we have in Gaharn. They are within call now and if you wish, they will join us and help me to answer your questions?’

Receiving no answer, Emla bespoke the Seniors to come to her anyway. Quietly, the four tall slender figures came down the stairs, Iska last. The three males ranged themselves behind Emla while Iska sat on the lower stairs, a hand resting lightly on each Dragon.

The silence lasted a long time but no one stirred. It was clear that Mim and Tika were speaking with the Dragons. It was Mim who spoke first, his fluting voice soft as he said, ‘This one finds your news beyond his understanding Lady. If this one is of the Dragon Kin, will he begin to look like a Dragon?’

‘Mim, this has never happened before,’ Yash replied. ‘Or if it has, we have no knowledge of it. I do not think your body will change, but I cannot say this for sure.’

The silence fell again, and again, it was Mim who broke it. ‘This one thinks it is perhaps best. His family is gone. Now he has true family again if he and Ashta share blood as well as the soul bond.’

At last, Tika seemed to rouse herself. She stood and walked to Gan. Her head reached scarcely to half his height. Standing beside him, she looked at the Golden Lady. ‘You say I am of your race – will I suddenly grow to be as tall as all of you?’

‘It seems unlikely,’ Kemti answered her. ‘I would surmise the female who first bore a child to a male of our race, came from a line of small humans.’

‘And this male, he bred with one female, then with the daughter he got on her? That is, if I understood the Lady rightly?’

The Seniors were taken aback at just how thoroughly Tika’s mind had grasped the full facts from Emla’s brief outline. ‘It would seem to be so, Tika,’ Kemti agreed. ‘We do not know if it was done knowingly or not, or if the male is aware of the existence of offspring. We believe not, but,’ he emphasised again, ‘we do not know.’

‘You keep saying “this male”. Are you sure there is only this one who has done this, to my mother’s mother, or maybe further back?’ Tika quoted Emla’s words back to her.

‘Tika, you must be aware how long-lived are the Dragons. Our race is to the Dragons, in longevity, what they are to humans.’

‘This one male,’ Tika continued doggedly. ‘You know who he is?’

Emla bowed her head for a moment then looked up directly at Tika. ‘We believe he is Rhaki. My brother. The Grey Guardian.’

The afternoon hours passed slowly, with silences broken by a question from Tika, a reply, then silence again. Farn had gradually realised Tika was not excited but enormously confused. He projected comfort, reassurance and love to her, as did Ashta and Mim, of which she was aware and deeply grateful.

At last, Iska slipped forward onto her knees beside Tika and held her shoulders lightly. ‘Enough child,’ she murmured. ‘No more for now. Tomorrow you can ask more, but enough for today.’ She glanced at Emla who nodded and said:

‘You will do better I think, to return to the pavilion now, just the four of you. I will have food brought to you later, and if you have need of us, you only have to call with your minds.’

Iska and Emla rose, both gently pulling Tika to her feet. She looked dazed, dark marks of exhaustion round her eyes. Gan watched as she turned to the doorway, admiration for her courage filling him suddenly. She stopped, half turned to look back at Emla and said, ‘If my sort-of father is your brother, then we are truly blood kin Lady?’

‘Indeed we are,’ the Lady smiled compassionately. ‘I am your “sort-of” aunt.’

Chapter Twelve

The sky had been clouding from the south, heavy, grey, rain filled clouds, and as the servants left after bringing food to the guest pavilion, the rain began to fall. Mim and Tika sat by the fire, waiting for Ashta and Farn to return from their hunting.

‘This one does not know what to say to you, Tika.’ Mim said. ‘Does the Lady’s talk change a great deal for you?’

Tika sighed. ‘At least I know more of who I am I suppose. But there are so many pieces missing. This Rhaki is the Grey Guardian and he is the one who is trying to unbalance the world. Yet he is also my father in some way, and the Lady’s brother.’ She looked across at Mim, his high tilted eyes with their vertical pupils gazing back at her in deep concern. ‘And you Mim, how do you truly feel to know you have Dragon blood?’

He smiled his sweet smile. ‘This one was shocked at first hearing. Now, he is truly glad. Ashta is his blood sister, so this person has family again. Do you yet know of the Powers the Lords and Ladies spoke of Tika?’

She frowned. ‘There is something. It is like a tickling inside my head. Each time I think I have nearly got hold of it, it is gone again, or moved somewhere else. Oh.’

A small furry creature was stalking from one of the bedchambers. Mim and Tika watched. Tail aloft, it marched to the hearth and sat, its back to the warmth, and stared, first at Mim then at Tika.

‘I am Khosa,’ came the thought to their minds. ‘Queen of the Kephi of the Lady’s estate.’ Her blue eyes regarded them with interest.

‘Greetings,’ Mim and Tika managed to reply.

‘I hunted with the Dragons this morning.’

‘It was you they were talking to,’ exclaimed Tika.

Khosa inclined her head slightly. ‘Farn carried me. It was most interesting.’

‘The Lady has not spoken of Kephi to us, and this one has not seen you before. Are you usually hidden from people?’ asked Mim.

Khosa lifted a dainty paw, orange furred as was the rest of her, licked it thoroughly and swiped it round an ear several times. ‘Two-legs like the Kephi,’ she replied. ‘We stop squeakers overrunning the food stores, we are pleasing to look at, and we are quite friendly.’ She continued to wash herself fastidiously.

Tika and Mim watched, mesmerised by the rhythmic motions of the slim paw. Khosa now crouched lower, tucking her front paws neatly under her chest, and making a soft humming noise. ‘You see,’ she remarked smugly in their minds. ‘You are much calmer than when I first joined you.’

She was right. Mim and Tika looked at each other and Tika smiled for the first time for hours.

‘We Kephi do not speak with two-legs, as I am now speaking to you. The Lady has tried to get into our thoughts but it is a simple thing to bar her entry and pretend we are nearly as simple as hoppers. Thus we go anywhere we wish, in the House or the estate, and we know all that goes on.’ There was no mistaking the smugness in Khosa’s tone now.

‘So why are you speaking to us?’ Tika asked.

The eyes, which had closed, slitted half open again. ‘You and your Dragons interest me. I would journey with you when you leave here,’ she said calmly.

As she made this announcement, the clatter of wings at the door told of the Dragons return. Mim went to push back both of the double doors to let them inside. Ashta entered first, a few raindrops still sparkling on her face and head, but most of the wetness already gone from her scaled body.

‘Greetings Khosa,’ said Ashta politely. Farn was just behind her and he stopped abruptly. As Ashta moved to recline by the sidewall, Farn peered worriedly at the tiny orange shape before the fire.

‘Greetings Khosa. You were not wanting to hunt again were you, we’ve just come back,’ he asked.

Khosa did her hind-end-up, front-end-down stretch, then resumed her crouch as she replied. ‘It is too wet for the Kephi to enjoy the hunt at this moment.’

Tika felt Farn’s rush of relief and resolved to find out later just why such an insignificant creature made him so nervous.

‘No one notices Kephi, unless we wish to be noticed,’ Khosa continued. ‘I heard the talk earlier, of your changed life patterns. I have heard much of the Seniors’ discussions. They take no heed of a small Kephi apparently fast asleep on a sunny window seat.’ The smugness was back in her tone. ‘We have to be close to listen to minds,’ she admitted. ‘We cannot hear from far. I can be of great use to you I think, which is part of why I desire to join your party.’

Farn sat up, his eyes whirring blue, green and gold colours. ‘Join our party? Tika, did she say she would come with us?’ He sounded horrified at the idea.

Khosa fixed him with the uncompromising stare he remembered from this morning. ‘Kephi can slip into tiny places, and listen to any talk we wish. Could something your size do the same? If we are seen, most of the two-legs make strange noises that they believe we find attractive, then they feed us, or caress us.’

‘But,’ Farn went on weakly, ‘you are Queen of the Kephi here. Do you mean to bring all your tribe too?’

Tika and Mim looked alarmed now. Khosa’s eyes closed. ‘No,’ she said shortly. ‘I tire of being Queen. I tire of the demands of my own, too numerous Kephlings, and of deciding silly disputes. I wish to see more of the world than this estate and I wish to be without clamorous Kephi bothering me.’

Next morning, Tika awoke to find Khosa sitting on her chest. ‘I would prefer you not to mention our talk last night, to any other two-legs. If any remark on my presence with you now, you have only to say that you are greatly taken with my beauty and sweet nature. I go to hunt now with the Dragons.’ And she was gone.

Despite the demands she knew the day would bring, Tika smiled. Farn would not be greatly pleased at Khosa’s decision to hunt this morning. The claws had dug into his shoulders once only, due to Khosa’s excitement apparently. But once had been enough for poor Farn.

Gan was the only Senior at the breakfast table. He looked up as Mim and Tika arrived. ‘We thought we would continue your instruction with weapons this morning. Lady Emla and the other Seniors are busy, but I am to tell you they will come to speak with you now, if you would prefer?’

‘No Lord Gan,’ Mim answered. ‘This person would not wish to interrupt the Lady’s work.’

Tika agreed. ‘The news I was given yesterday was a great shock Gan,’ she told him. ‘But it seems more manageable this morning. I am willing to do whatever has been arranged.’

It was a strenuous morning, at the end of which, Tika and Mim found themselves sore and bruised. Gan pronounced himself moderately satisfied with their progress and suggested they have one last bout with Sket and Motass called in as their opponents. Until now, Gan had worked with them separately. Now they must each try to defend themselves against men with a new approach.

Sket and Motass both took up practice swords, as did Tika, while Mim used a staff. They found this practice bout very different, realising too late that Gan had indeed been dealing fairly gently with them. Gan stood aside watching closely, calling a sharp word now and then.

Unfortunately, Tika and Mim were far too occupied to notice Farn’s arrival. He stared aghast as two males attacked Tika, and Lord Gan stood by and permitted it! He belched.

A jet of flame hit Sket’s sword, which he dropped with a yell. Tika spun round, using rapid mind speech to explain to Farn what was happening here. Sket held his hands clamped in his armpits as Motass jumped up and down on the burning sword.

As Farn understood he had witnessed a sort of game, he drooped. The sapphire eyes whirred miserably. ‘This Gan will be angry with me again!’ he moaned. Tika hugged him soothingly, glancing back towards the others. Her eye caught Mim’s and she saw he was losing a battle against laughter. He bowed to Gan then left the barn hastily, a huge grin spreading over his face as he passed Tika and Farn.

Tika looked at Gan. He was speaking to the men, telling Motass to put some salve on Sket’s burned palms, and then dismissing them. As they turned to leave, Tika called: ‘Farn is sorry he hurt you Sket. Truly, he thought you were really attacking me and meant me real harm.’

Sket managed a grin. ‘You need a lot more practice with a sword, lady, but with a Dragon on your side, I can’t see as you’d need the sword. Come in right handy in a true battle, they would Lord Gan!’

‘You had better get cleaned up before you join the Lady, Tika. And tell Mim he controlled himself well.’ Tika looked at Gan’s face more closely. By the stars, he thought it had been funny too. Perhaps there was a sense of humour under that grim exterior, after all.

The rain beat down harder than ever and the heavy clouds made it necessary to uncover the glow lamps in the central hall of the Lady’s House. Emla smiled at Mim and Tika, saying, ‘I am relieved you seem to accept what has happened to you. I know that what we had to tell you yesterday must have affected you both deeply. We have tried to arrange how best we may help your Powers develop Tika, and yours also Mim.’

He looked startled. ‘This person has no Powers Lady, except for the mind speech.’

‘Oh yes you have, dear one. You have the Power to help plants grow, do you not? And there is more in you that we will help you learn how to use.’

‘This one has no wish to learn magics, Lady. Nagums believe there is a great wrongness in magic.’

‘Mim, I will tell you the first lesson: all magic is the same. Do you understand? Do you Tika?’

Tika was studying the tiny Dragon set in the depths of the pendant she wore. She thought for a few moments longer, then met Emla’s gaze. ‘I think you are telling us that magic is magic, like – water is water? It is what a person does with it that matters. If you use magic for a bad purpose, it is not the magic itself that is bad but the will behind it. Is that it?’

‘Exactly so, Tika,’ agreed the Lady. ‘Do you understand Mim? The magic, or the Power, is simply something there to be used if you know how to. It is not available to all. But someone such as you, Mim, could not do harm with the Power.’

‘But I could.’ Tika spoke softly.

‘Yes Tika, you could do great harm, as you could do great good. This is why you must let us try to teach you how to manage the Power you are capable of drawing to yourself.

‘Now, if it is agreeable, Yash and Gan and I will work here with Mim for a while. You go with Iska and Kemti to the library. Tomorrow, perhaps, we will change around.’

Iska and Kemti were rising from their couches when Tika asked: ‘Lady there is one thing.’ Emla waited for her to continue. ‘What is the meaning of these ornaments both Mim and I had to find in the Treasury collections? I understand the need of swords perhaps, but what is the use of these?’

‘We are still trying to find out ourselves, dear one. We have been through so many old books and papers. They are described clearly in many writings, but the purpose of them is hidden in riddles. Iska and Kemti will read some to you – maybe you yourself will understand where it is all confusion to us.’

Iska and Kemti were gentle as they tried to show Tika how to go into her own mind. ‘The tiny part that is “you”, that you send into another mind, send it deep into your own.’

Frustration grew as Tika found herself just unable to catch the tickle she had described to Mim. When a rather pretty teapot, full of hot spiced tea brought by a maid, crumpled into a mess of pottery shards and dark liquid, Iska called a halt.

‘I did that,’ Tika exclaimed in horror. ‘I didn’t mean to!’

‘No, we know,’ said Kemti, as Iska removed the tray and went to arrange for more tea to be brought. ‘But perhaps it is good that it did. You can see what can happen without control, and this was a very small thing – it could so easily be far worse. Try once more Tika, focus your mind as narrow as the moonlight’s path on water.’

Iska had returned and sat beside Kemti, watching as Tika concentrated. ‘She’s there,’ murmured Kemti.

‘I believe she is,’ agreed Iska.

Tika’s voice sounded distant as she said, ‘I can see it! It is wound round and through my mind – but wrongly!’

‘No!’ both Iska and Kemti cried, and then both slid into Tika’s mind, and stopped, stunned by what they saw. Tika was right, there was something wrong. The golden threads of the Power were tangled in places, not forming the filigree patterned net the Seniors knew from each other’s minds. But as they watched, the tangles unsnarled here, were rippled into a smooth curve there. Tika’s concentration was absolute, and by the time the threads of Power glittered in a delicate tangle-free net, she was beginning to shake.

At last it was done, and Kemti caught her as she began to topple forward from her chair. He looked at Iska over Tika’s unconscious body. Her face reflected the awed amazement he himself was feeling, then the two Seniors busied themselves laying Tika gently on a couch and tucking Iska’s woollen shawl around her. A maid tapped the door and Kemti went to take a tray of fresh tea from her.

‘Well,’ he said.

‘Well indeed,’ echoed Iska.

‘Could you make out how she did that?’ Kemti asked, as Iska handed him some tea. ‘It was a form of healing, but faster, and more complex than I have ever seen.’

‘Yes. And when you realise that she has not been able to see the Power in our minds, to be able to do what she has, to herself. . . Kemti, the Power she has is far greater than I have heard of, let alone ever seen.’