Survivors: Book 4 Circles of Light series (17 page)

Zeminth nodded. ‘Thank
you, sacred one. We have places to hide where we can survive for
many days. Raiders rarely stay more than a day.’

A woman came from the
largest house to invite everyone in for food and Tika offered an
arm to Zeminth. They found Gan sitting at one of the tables with
Olam and Pallin, in close conversation with Vanim and several other
village men. Khosa sat upright on Gan’s knees, turquoise eyes
surveying each speaker in turn. Tika settled Zeminth on a bench and
he caught her hand as she straightened.

‘That cat – is she a
sacred one?’

‘Do you know Zeminth,
I’m really not sure. But she is most definitely not just what she
appears to be.’

Tika and her friends
left early next morning amid exchanges of good wishes from both
sides. Zenidor walked with them for most of the morning, still
following the course of the river. They crested a low rise and
Zenidor halted.

‘This is where I must
leave you.’

He pointed ahead and
went over the details, yet again, of their route for the next three
days until they would reach the next village. He clasped hands with
each of them and the Dragons and gijan landed beside him to bid him
proper farewell.

‘May the stars guide
your paths,’ he said, stepping back from them all.

‘And may the stars
guard your heart,’ Tika replied in the ancient formal words of the
Dragon Kindred.

Chapter
Ten

The company made their
way south. Villages became more frequent and increased in size. The
Dragons and gijan stayed higher in the sky for longer each day,
only risking landing with the humans if they were camping between
villages and the night’s darkness concealed them. From one hilltop
they saw ahead of them a dark line of trees stretching to the
southern horizon. They trod a well worn track way now and carts and
wagons passed them regularly in both directions.

Once amid the forest,
it was too dangerous for the Dragons to land and for four days and
nights they communicated only by mind speech. Sket became concerned
for Tika after the first day and night, staying close to her
throughout the next day. It took the others a little longer to see
how badly the physical separation from her soul bond was affecting
her.

When Ren mind spoke
Seela, she reported that they were finding it harder all the time
to distract Farn. They’d had to stop him from plummeting down to
his beloved Tika, regardless of his immediate danger from the
closely packed trees. Tika became almost totally silent. Her eyes
fixed on the rutted track, in constant mind touch with Farn. Since
she’d seen him climb from his egg she had slept curled against his
side, ridden daily on his back. Only when he hunted, or played with
Storm, were they bodily apart. Gan remembered a conversation with
Tika in the Domain of Asat.

Tika had spoken of her
terror of being apart from Farn if he should choose a wandering
life like Brin. He also recalled Kija’s words, trying to explain
the pain soul bonds endured should they be parted too soon or
without the willing agreement of both. Tika knew Farn was nearby
although out of sight. But being in this dark oppressive forest
without the reassurance of Farn’s heart beat beneath her cheek when
she slept left a gaping ache inside her.

Sket held her as she
dozed and wept through the third night. Just before sunrise Leaf
fluttered down beside them. She demanded she be given a white cloak
and the gijan walked the day through, holding tight to Tika’s hand.
By then, they all knew they could not go on much longer with Tika’s
mind slipping into a permanent cry for Farn. Seela told them there
was a bare hilltop poking above the surrounding forest some three
leagues to the east of the track way they followed. Without
discussion Olam struck out in that direction.

At first the going was
fairly clear but after the first league brambles and thorns
hindered their path. Riff worked alongside Olam, hacking a narrow
way through the undergrowth. The one advantage was that they
encountered no other travellers crazy enough to try to pass through
the tangled bushes. Among the trees dusk darkened their way early
but Tika’s head suddenly jerked up. Leaf trilled a call which was
answered from above.

Branches swayed and
rustled as Piper and Willow worked their way down a gigantic oak.
All except Tika noted the ease with which the gijan hopped from
perch to perch, their wings adjusting to their every movement. Leaf
had discarded her cloak as soon as they were safely hidden from the
wider trail. Now she curved one wing around Tika, leaning
close.

‘We are nearly to the
hill Seela spoke of. Farn is there already.’

The ground rose sharply
and as they cleared the trees at last, they found themselves having
to grab at pieces of rock to pull themselves upwards. Gan and Sket,
on Tika’s heels, were nearly knocked backwards when Farn crashed
down the slope. They steadied themselves against Maressa and Pallin
who were immediately behind. Above them, they saw Seela, Brin and
Storm peering anxiously down. Tika clung to Farn, his silver blue
wings wrapped around her. Willow and Leaf flew on to join the three
Dragons but Piper stood between the soul bonded pair and their
companions. Her wings suddenly flared fully out and her expression
dared anyone to encroach upon Farn and Tika’s reunion. Gan reached
a hand to Maressa and tugged her the last of the way to the
hilltop.

‘You can rest here
tonight,’ Leaf announced. ‘Tomorrow Tika will come with us until
you are through this forest.’

A brisk wind whistled
over the exposed hilltop and Riff searched out the most sheltered
spot where they might light a small fire and spend the night. Seela
told them Tika and Farn were already asleep, both exhausted by the
stress of being parted, albeit for only four days.

‘We will fly on
tomorrow and wait for you beyond this forest,’ she told the
company. ‘I think it will be quicker for you to go back along the
path you made today to rejoin the wider way.’

Her eyes whirred, pale
and dark mauve mingled in the prisms. ‘I should have prevented Tika
walking with you. These last two days I feared Farn’s mind would
crumble in spite of Gremara’s healing.’

Olam was leaning
against the Dragon’s flank and he patted the purple scales. ‘We
should all of us have realised,’ he consoled. ‘But it is as well we
found out how badly they’d be affected here, rather than inside a
great City.’

Navan agreed. ‘Those
last two villages we passed were much different from the first
ones.’

Gan nodded. ‘The people
acted oddly towards us I thought.’

Maressa poked at the
fire with a twig. ‘Suspicious,’ she said. ‘Very wary of strangers
which is odd. Zeminth’s, and the first few villages after his,
welcomed us calmly and generously. Yet I would have expected them
to be far more cautious living so isolated and subject to raids
from the desert as they told us.’

Khosa climbed onto
Gan’s knee and began to wash herself, watching Brin. Brin had been
very quiet ever since they’d left Zeminth’s village. Now his great
head swung to face Ren and Maressa.

‘I have been searching
my memories which, we are taught, trace our ancestral lines back to
the first of the Kindred. But I find nothing of Dragons either in
the desert or beyond it. There are memories of sea Dragons, and of
snow Dragons, yet nothing of any others. Nor can I recall anything
of the gijan.’

Willow, lying along
Brin’s back, stretched a wing lazily. ‘We remember your race,’ he
said. ‘My memories tell me we often Gathered together in the Time
Before, on the great plains of your homeland.’

‘And my memories tell
only of the mountains far to the north.’ Brin’s mind tone was
worried. ‘Seela, do you remember? Is my mind damaged?’ His eyes
whirred in sudden alarm. ‘Could that affliction be affecting
me?’

‘No, no,’ Seela
soothed. ‘My memories contain nothing of southern Dragons or gijan
either, although I have yet to ponder the term “Elder Races”. I’m
sure I’ve heard that before.’

The Xantip Palace high
above Harbour City bore a great resemblance to a disturbed anthill.
White-faced messengers pelted along corridors, hesitating at
certain doors before mustering the courage to ask admittance to
deliver their news. When the doors reopened to permit the exit of
now green-faced messengers, loud alarmed voices echoed into the
corridors. Eventually the disturbance penetrated to the personal
quarters of the Grand Harbour Master Chevra himself.

One of his guards
reluctantly tapped on an inner door and kept his eyes glued to the
priceless Tooman carpet underfoot as the door opened.

‘What do you
want?’

The guard noted large,
rather grubby bare feet then resumed his study of the
carpet.

‘The Councillors beg
you attend them Grand Master.’

‘They what? Gods and
goddesses, what’s wrong with them now?’

The guard tried not to
hear the giggles from within the Grand Master’s chamber.

‘Well man, have we
declared war on someone?’

The giggles were
difficult to ignore but the guard was well practised at appearing
partially deaf as well as wholly dense. ‘Two ships have been taken
Grand Master, of the four traders returning from Meorlah. The two
which escaped sought shelter at Kessal from whence came the news.’
The guard refrained from fidgeting in the ensuing
silence.

‘I will be there
shortly.’

The door slammed shut,
the guard expelled a sigh of relief and trudged back to his
post.

A surprisingly short
time later guards swung open the great doors of the Debating
Chamber and saluted as Grand Harbour Master Chevra strode into the
room. Only two of those Councillors present bothered to get to
their feet. The others merely glanced up then resumed arguing over
a map spread before them on the table. Lessna and Tavri bowed to
the Grand Master who acknowledged their courtesy with a nod. He
stood at the head of the table, his hand on the back of his
intricately carved throne, and scowled at the still seated
Councillors.

‘Is someone going to
bother to explain?’ he barked.

Argument quietened. A
short plump woman with grey hair pulled into a tight knot at the
back of her head, leaned back in her chair and smiled at the Grand
Master. She looked more like a shopkeeper – a pastry cook even –
than a Mage Councillor.

‘From the description
of the ships which attacked ours, it would seem they were
Wendlan.’

The Grand Master sat
down frowning. ‘We’ve had treaties with Wendla since my
father-in-law’s time Vorna. They don’t bother us, we don’t bother
them. Why would they suddenly attack our trading ships?’

The youngest looking
Councillor answered him. ‘We have noted for some time that students
at the Higher Academy have been reporting odd dreams of a
revolutionary nature. We alerted everyone naturally, but it seems
to be increasing among the lesser trained.’

‘And that means
precisely what Bajal?’ The Grand Master was testy.

‘At first we thought it
may be a curious Wendlan mage student trying to reach someone
similar here but now we suspect it is more sinister.’

As Chevra still looked
confused, Lessna’s characteristic kindness – a major flaw in the
opinion of her peers, led her to explain more concisely.

‘There was a new leader
came to power in Wendla quite recently we heard. He appears to have
ideas of expanding his realm.’

‘In this direction,’
Chevra finished for her as light dawned. He drummed short stubby
fingers on the table. ‘Where is our army at present?’

There was a brief
silence then Bajal cleared his throat. ‘Army sir? Navy might be
more use really, in the circumstance don’t you think?’

‘Well of course I know
that!’ Chevra glared. ‘But I think the army should be strategically
positioned rather than wandering around various borders all over
the country.’

‘There has been rather
an increase in reported incursions in the north of late sir, from
the desert.’

The Grand Harbour
Master stared around the table at each of his Councillors. He
folded his arms.

‘You’re supposed to
counsel me. So counsel.’

One Councillor sighed.
‘Sir, we have a fleet of fast small ships, as you well know – not
warships of the type described to us in this attack. We’ve had no
reason to for so long after all. A few pirates now and then –
that’s all we’ve had to protect against. And fast ships are best
for that. I believe there are a few warships still moored beyond
Harbour limits, but their condition must be parlous by now, if
indeed they haven’t sunk.’

‘Are you saying,
Fental, that MY warships have been left to rot?’

Fental
nodded.

‘Perhaps someone could
go and check on their condition,’ Chevra continued frostily. ‘You
say the surviving traders are at Kessal.’

‘Here.’ Tavri pushed
the map up the table. The large island of Wendla was only just
visible on the eastern edge of the map. To the south of Harbour
City many islands clustered, trailing into a sparser region. Then
the large expanse of empty sea and at last the outermost coast of
Wendla. The island of Kessal under Tavri’s fingertip was within the
closely grouped islands.