Survivors: Book 4 Circles of Light series (13 page)

‘I will need strength
for what I must attempt my dears. Will you share yours with me in
this endeavour?’

Brin and Seela both
lowered their heads, nuzzling affection at Tika’s face and
shoulders. They accompanied her to where the gijan lay in a small
still row.

‘The one who collapsed
first is most advanced in this process. Gan, would you move the
other two closer to Olam. Olam, call out should they stir while we
work upon this gijan.’

Tika watched Storm
supervise the moving of the two gijan and saw how he settled
protectively around them including Olam in his concern. She rolled
her sleeves up above her elbows, turning finally to Farn and taking
his long beautiful face between her hands.

‘Love of my heart, this
will be hard. Stay strong for me and calm I beg you.’

Farn’s eyes whirred,
shining pale silver blue with affection. He huffed softly into her
face.

‘But of course I will
help my Tika. I will stay calm. And you will succeed wonderfully of
course.’

In spite of her fears
Tika laughed at Farn’s endless faith and confidence in her. She
hugged him tight, took a deep breath and moved to wash her hands in
the bowl Maressa held ready.

Navan turned the gijan
from its side to lie face down. Sket, Maressa and Pallin sorted
what medicinal herbs each still carried. Riff had foraged for
mosses of a kind well known to armsmen for their blood clotting
properties and their suitability to pack wounds. Ren knelt at the
gijan’s head, as Daro had for Mim. He touched the gijan’s mind
lightly to check the depth of its unconsciousness and gave Tika a
quick nod.

Tika placed her hands
on one of the swellings on the gijan’s back and bit back a moan.
Fiery pain leapt up her arms. For a moment, as at Farn’s healing,
panic threatened to swamp her. Then she felt other hands rest
lightly over hers.

‘Put my hands under
yours if you wish. I do not mind the blood.’

Shocked, she met
Navan’s gaze over the gijan’s body. She drew a shaky
breath.

‘I thank you Navan but
I believe I must be the one to touch him.’

Navan withdrew his
hands and sat back on his heels. ‘Remember we are all here Tika and
we will help with whatever you ask of us.’

As soon as Tika applied
a slight pressure, the gijan’s skin split and hot thick lavender
coloured fluid spurted over her hands. Slowly, she applied the same
pressure down the length of the ridged swelling, the skin parting
like an overripe fruit. Other hands mopped away the strange blood
and Tika felt a surge of power within her and knew that Brin and
Seela were lending her strength. Tika grabbed a piece of cloth and
gently wiped directly down the open wound, trying to see
within.

‘Your mind small one,
use your mind,’ Seela whispered.

Tika let the cloth drop
and sent her mind within the gijan’s back. The musculature was
slightly different, the blood vessels not as she would have
expected in a human, but she could see none of the major muscles or
arteries were involved here. There was a long piece of matted stuff
within the wound, almost like a splinter which has become infected
in a finger. Her fingers dug firmly beneath what she knew to be a
wing, and worked steadily to pull it up and out.

She was scarcely aware
of the blood coating her hands and wrists, soaking her trousers.
She was totally focused within the gijan’s back. There was a wet
sucking sound and the wing came free. With great tenderness Tika
stretched it outwards, shuffling back on her knees to have space to
lay it along the ground. It was darkly wet with lavender blood, and
far larger than any of them expected, even though they had seen how
large Mim’s were. She left Pallin and Sket to wash and clean the
wing and scrambled to the other side of the gijan.

Tika had no idea when
Ren’s glow stones took the place of natural light. She was
astonished to see the sun well up in the sky by the time the second
wing lay extended on the grass.

‘His mind is still
deeply shielded,’ Ren murmured. ‘I think he has shut himself away
to deal with the pain – I did nothing to cause this
sleep.’

Tika nodded wearily.
‘There is still some fever and his body is shocked, but as far as I
can tell, he will recover.’

She lifted her pendant
over her head and put it against the curve of the gijan’s shoulder.
Then Sket’s arm was round her and Farn’s face peered over her
shoulder, eyes flashing with concern.

‘She’ll be all right
young Farn,’ Sket said confidently. ‘Let’s get her washed and a
nice bowl of hot tea inside her then she can sleep.’

Sket helped her to the
lake and stripped off her shirt and trousers. She realised she was
covered in lavender blood and shivered passively while Sket
scrubbed her clean. Farn held her steady between his wings and his
chest when Sket towelled her dry and wrapped a blanket round her.
They had nearly reached the fire before Tika’s knees gave out. Sket
caught her up, carrying her the rest of the way but she didn’t have
her promised bowl of tea: she was asleep.

Tika woke to yet
another day to find two Dragon faces watching her. Storm’s grey
eyes sparkled at her.

‘Maressa thinks the
gijan may wake soon,’ he said. ‘They are all waiting to see if she
will know how to fly or if we’ll have to teach her.’

‘Her?’ Tika stared at
Farn, aware of her soul bond’s delight in both her waking and in
her surprise at hearing the gijan was female.

‘She’s a girl, Maressa
says. I like girls.’ Farn nudged her gently. ‘Are you going to put
some covers over you?’

Belatedly Tika realised
she was naked beneath the blanket. Trousers and a shirt were neatly
folded under Farn’s front leg. They were rumpled but at least they
were clean. She dressed quickly, a vague memory of Sket stripping
her and scrubbing her like a child giving her a twinge of
embarrassment. Getting to her feet, she looked to the fireside.
Sket grinned and waved a bowl at her. There was no sign of Brin or
Riff, but Olam was sitting up, a more normal colour in his face
once more.

Before joining them,
she detoured to where the gijan lay. She was amazed to see how much
the skin had healed already; sealing itself closed along the line
of the extruded wings. Navan and Ren looked up as Tika reached
them, broad smiles on both their faces. Navan stroked his hand down
one of the outspread wings.

‘She is so beautiful
Tika. So beautiful. Why would the Qwah kill them? It must be gijan
people whose statues stand in Singer’s Dome, don’t you
think?’

Tika couldn’t answer.
The feathers below her were immaculate: a glossy blue black. But
then Navan lifted the wing slightly and she saw the underside was
the softest deepest pink. She shook her head helplessly.

‘Will she wake soon
Ren?’

He grinned. ‘You’re the
expert – you tell us.’

She stooped to feel the
gijan’s skin: it was warm now but not hot. She sent her mind
lightly into the healing lines along the spine and found no
infection. Tika picked up her pendant and slipped the chain over
her head. It was cool to her touch once more.

Later, they were
digesting their lunch – fish discovered in the lake by a very
cheerful Storm – when Maressa called. They turned to look in her
direction and Tika quickly went to the air mage. They stood a pace
away as the tiny gijan’s body stretched right down to the feet.
Tika noted the four taloned toes, the high arches to the feet, the
incredibly fragile ankles. Then the gijan’s wings shivered and
furled closed against its back.

With a soft moan the
gijan pushed to hands and knees, head hanging down. Tika squatted
beside the gijan’s shoulder and held out her hands.

‘Let me help you,’ she
said gently.

The head came up: broad
forehead, high cheekbones, pointed chin, black up tilted eyes. The
gijan took Tika’s hand and sat back on its heels. Tika noted that
the topmost pair of nipples were fuller, the definite female look
to the small body. She stood up, still holding the gijan’s hands,
and smiled.

‘I am Tika. Do you have
a name at last little gijan?’

The gijan’s head tilted
to one side, then the other. The small mouth opened in a smile,
revealing tiny pointed teeth. She pulled against Tika’s hands,
rising to her feet and her wings flared open.

‘My life is yours. I am
Leaf.’

Chapter
Eight

Brin reported no signs
of human habitation south, west or east for at least a half day’s
flight, so Tika and her companions were able to relax while they
waited for Olam’s wound to heal fully. They also knew that they
would need to wait until both of the remaining gijan reached the
point where Tika could help their wings from their bodies. The
first gijan, the female Leaf, had been two days recovering, in a
deep sleep, from the time her wings were freed. Gan estimated it
would be ten days at least before they could think of travelling
on.

Maressa and Pallin
spent much of their time searching out herbs along the lake side.
Riff had taken to flying with Brin when the crimson Dragon hunted.
All of them watched Leaf’s development with absorbed interest. The
first day, she furled and unfurled her wings, seeming to be
fascinated by them. Then, the companions watched her begin to beat
those amazing wings, lifting herself gradually further off the
ground.

At twilight that day,
she was suddenly flying, swooping erratically over Seela’s head.
Storm and Farn also lifted into the air, curving round Leaf and
encouraging her to chase them. To begin with she stayed quite low
but as Storm and Farn spiralled up over the lake, the gijan gained
more height and then she was above the two young Dragons, soaring
and twisting, as though she had flown forever.

Farn and Storm drifted
down to land, watching Leaf pirouette against the evening sky. A
piercing, ululating scream reach them, and again. After momentary
alarm, the companions heard the delight in the cry and knew it must
be a gijan’s usual call of greeting. Leaf was breathless when she
landed, her eyes glowing with excitement.

‘The mothers tell us
stories of gijan flying when we are very small, but I never knew
they were true stories,’ she exclaimed.

Her head came only just
level with Tika’s chest but she threw her arms around Tika,
enfolding them both in her glorious feathers. Leaf spoke in the
Common Tongue of Sapphrea although still with a liquid trilling
sound. Birdlike Tika thought suddenly, returning the tiny female’s
embrace.

Over the next four days
that thought recurred often to Tika. Leaf pattered around the camp,
taking a deep interest in whatever anyone seemed occupied with. But
when they collected at the fireside for meals or for their usual
evening conversations, she was restless. At midday on the second
day Seela solved the problem.

‘Rest on me little
Leaf. I would be glad of your company.’

Often then the company
saw Leaf perched happily on Seela’s massive purple back, the
gijan’s feet dangling one side, her wings the other. Sometimes she
lay on her stomach along Seela’s neck, her open wings drooping
which gave Seela a most unusual aspect.

‘Her wings lie straight
to her ankles,’ Olam remarked, watching Leaf apparently singing to
Storm and Farn from Seela’s shoulders. ‘They don’t touch the ground
as she walks, but she couldn’t sit on the ground
comfortably.’

Once Olam drew their
attention to the fact, of course it was obvious. On the fifth
morning after Leaf’s waking, Tika was roused by Farn.

‘My Tika, another gijan
needs you,’ his mind voice was urgent but calm.

Tika rubbed sleep from
her eyes and found Leaf leaning over Storm’s back, peering at her.
She looked frightened. She had paid only cursory attention to her
litter mates so far, but clearly she was now disturbed. Tika called
Sket and Maressa to prepare water and herbs again. Navan tugged
Tika aside on the pretext of pouring her a bowl of tea.

‘Can you get one of the
Dragons to take Leaf away from here for the day? I think she will
be very afraid if she sees what you must do.’

Tika nodded, still
surprised by this sensitive Navan. She thought Arms Chief Navan had
almost completely vanished and this new Navan was a vast
improvement.

‘I will need one of
them, Seela or Brin, to support me, but not both I don’t think. And
Farn won’t leave me while I work.’

Ren had approached and
overheard the conversation. He glanced towards the Dragons. Farn
was still near Seela and Brin but Storm was diving in the lake,
rising in a splatter of rainbow droplets. Leaf hovered just out of
range of his antics, clapping her hands excitedly. Ren hurried to
Brin’s side. It was Seela who lifted into the air, flying slowly
towards the lake. She circled once, obviously mind speaking Storm
and the gijan. All three flew south over the water, Leaf like a
black butterfly beside Seela’s huge body.

Almost at once Tika
knew the second gijan’s wings were going to be far more difficult
to release than Leaf’s had been. As soon as the skin began to
split, lavender blood pumped strongly over her hands and legs.
There were mutters of alarm around her but her mind plunged into
the gijan’s body. There! A major blood vessel had grown across the
outer side of the embedded wing, stretched with the swelling and
burst as soon as she’d pressed against it.