Drogoya: Book 3 Circles of Light series, page 11
Chakar looked uncomfortable while the sound that emerged from Babach was unmistakably a giggle. Chakar scowled at him.
‘I believe it is usually five eggs, but in favourable circumstances, I understand there may be twice that number.’
The laughter vanished as people tried to imagine five, or, stars forfend, ten, young Plavats strutting about the Stronghold.
‘They will surely remove themselves,’ Mim suggested. ‘Find a nice cosy cliff to live on.’
Chakar sank back onto her seat. ‘Baryet and Syecha both think that except for its absence of sea, this is a very pleasant place. They think they may well stay here.’
Chakar flinched at the wave of outraged disbelief that swept towards her from the Stronghold’s residents.
Mim’s personal Guard, Motass, escorted Observer Babach to the Dragon Lord’s chambers later that evening. He walked deliberately slowly as he realised the old man was far from recovered. Babach conceded his exhaustion on arriving in Mim’s rooms, sinking into an armchair beside a small fire and closing his eyes for a few moments. Motass murmured to Mim, then disappeared. He returned in short order and passed a small flask to Mim. The Dragon Lord pushed a goblet into Babach’s unbandaged hand and obediently Babach raised it to his lips. His eyes opened and he smiled, sipping the drink appreciatively. They sat in silence for a while, Ashta dozing against the wall beside Mim.
‘You recognised the egg that Kadi now wears as being the one Chakar brought from Drogoya, of course,’ Mim finally commented.
Babach nodded. ‘The young man named Imshish told me that Chakar felt impelled to put it beneath the Dragon’s head. And the Dragon roused soon afterwards.’ He looked enquiringly at Mim.
‘Kija suggested it in fact, but Gremara confirmed it. It was Gremara who told me to go to the place where several of these eggs are hidden and to find another that would be specifically Chakar’s. Again, Gremara instructed me to fetch one for you when your healing took place.’
‘I still find it hard to believe I have been made whole. I saw my injuries when first I received them. I knew I could not survive them. Yet that tiny child healed me.’
Mim smiled. ‘Dessi has a great power, but it was also the other Delver healers who assisted her, not to mention the Dragons lending their endurance, which all helped in your healing Babach.’
The faded blue in the silver eyes regarded Mim shrewdly. ‘And something within this egg, you believe? And who is this Gremara of whom you speak? I have not met the lady I think?’
Mim laughed softly. ‘Link your mind with mine and I will show you Gremara.’
Babach felt a total trust in all the people he had met within the Stronghold, and for this strange boy in particular. Now he leaned his head back against his chair. ‘My mind is open, and yours to command.’
Mim locked his gaze with the Observer. ‘This is Gremara.’
Despite himself, Babach gasped. The mind that met theirs was a brilliant dazzle of light. Mim briefly showed him Gremara’s physical form and tears welled in Babach’s eyes as the sinuous silver Dragon spiralled above an ancient volcanic crater. Then the dazzle filled his mind again.
‘I am glad you are mending Babach. You have much to do in restoring the Balance of this world. Your task will be closely allied to my Lord’s, so it is well you are with him in his Stronghold.’
Babach’s right hand, resting on the egg pendant at his chest, tingled and grew warm. The brightness in his mind flared then dimmed again.
‘The time is not yet when that will be of greater significance than you can guess. For now, let your body heal fully, and spend some of your days with Kadi.’
The brilliance winked out and Babach stared at Mim.
‘But who is she?’ he asked.
Mim sighed and began yet another explanation.
Motass, guarding Mim’s door, eventually informed them that Voron and Daro were insisting that Babach be put back to bed, forcibly if necessary. Mim guiltily leapt to his feet.
‘I am sorry Babach. I seem to need less sleep of late, and I forget that others do. You especially, at the moment. We will talk again when you have had time to consider my words.’
He helped Babach out of the chair and accepted the reproving looks delivered to him by Voron and Daro.
Kadi was not yet able to hunt for herself. The Snow Dragons had brought meat to her in the Domain and now Kija or Fenj brought her food. They preyed on the small herds of hardy grazing beasts that managed to exist this far north in the Wilderness. Servants were cleaning the vast expanse of stone floor in the hall this morning, leaving Kadi and Babach marooned by the great hearth.
‘Gremara spoke to me, in Mim’s company, last night,’ Babach began.
Dark blue eyes whirred softly. ‘I know. She spoke to me also.’
Babach waited when Kadi fell silent. She shifted her weight slightly and half stretched a wing.
‘I am to tell you alone of what befell me and the child Mena, before I was brought down on Asat’s mountains.’
Babach had not yet heard anything of Sapphrea, or Lord Hargon, or his children, and had no idea who Mena might be. But he asked no questions, simply waiting for the great Dragon to speak.
‘We left Gaharn and flew west to Sapphrea. Tika believed that she was to face Rhaki and try to destroy him, remove him from this world. We met Lord Hargon on the slopes of the Ancient Mountains. He had three children, all of whom had talented minds.’
Babach nodded, understanding the gist of Kadi’s words if not some of the terms she used.
‘One boy child was already in Rhaki’s thrall. The other had learnt hatred from his father, Hargon. The girl Mena,’ Kadi fell silent again and Babach said nothing.
‘I felt something within the child. She touched me in a way I cannot describe. Her mind had been deliberately shielded and I removed that shielding.’
Kadi’s eyes whirred faster as she lowered her face closer to Babach’s.
‘Briefly, there was a feeling of rightness, of wholeness, then -’
Babach felt confusion and distress flow from Kadi’s mind. He put his bandaged left hand lightly against her neck, his right hand grasping the obsidian shelled pendant at his chest.
‘Some of our party remained in the mountains while others went to Hargon’s town. Hargon’s elder boy died on the way, and I knew that Mena had contrived his death. I took her with me when I went to hunt next and I confronted her with my suspicions. Her eyes became red. It was as if flames danced within her and I feared I would burn should she stare too long at me.’
Kadi paused again. ‘No. I just feared Babach. Never have I felt such terror as facing that small female two legs. But then her eyes returned to normal and I thought I had imagined it all, although in my heart I knew I had not. I resolved to remain with her until I learned what was wrong with her, as something most surely was.’
There was a discreet throat clearing behind them and the chamberlain Yoral bowed, offering a tray of tea and pastries. Babach thanked him and after several more bows, Yoral left the Observer and the great Dragon alone again.
‘That same day, the child’s eyes changed again and power screamed from her. I could do nothing but obey her commands. She made me fly north. We took only the briefest rests and came north, flying on the Waste Land side of these mountains, rather than the Wilderness side. The child allowed one full day’s rest about five leagues south of here, and ordered me to feed well and prepare for a much further flight.’
Kadi’s head drooped lower still. Her voice in Babach’s mind was the merest whisper.
‘I had never flown beyond the coasts. Brin told tales that he had done so, but I never had. Twice Mena allowed me to make a landing on rocks that stuck out from the water. I think she realised that I could not go on without some rest. At last, I flew over land again. Mena made me fly high. It was cold and I was exhausted. I set her down – I know not where it was. She filled my mind with power and sent me forth again. I only remember flying until I truly thought my heart would burst, or my wings would fail, or both.
‘After all the water became land again, I rested upon snow and ice – how long, I do not know. My mind did not seem to work: I felt as if I, Kadi, was shut in a dark corner and something or someone else made my body work.’
Babach was listening so intently he could himself feel the chill of ice where Kadi’s body rested, feel her sense of terror and loss.
‘I knew I would die in the cold lands I had reached, so I flew once more until, after I don’t know how long, I felt the minds here in the Stronghold. I was so very cold that I flew to the south for a while, over the Wilderness. Then I heard a Dragon’s challenge. I thought perhaps I had somehow encroached on the Silver One’s territory, but it was Nula, the Forsaken.’
Babach saw the dark green Dragon storming towards the exhausted Kadi, saw the fire jetting from the gaping jaws, felt agony in his wings, and knew he was experiencing exactly what Kadi had suffered.
Kadi hesitated. ‘I am not entirely sure, and I have not asked her, but I think Gremara was aware and somehow present. I fell out of the air and was fortunate to land where I did. I would have tried to rise, to fight back, but Gremara ordered me to lie still. I believe she made Nula think that I was dead, and made her leave me there.’
A huge sigh gusted from the massive blue Dragon. She turned her face to the Observer.
‘I believe it is my task to fetch back the child Mena. It was your land of Drogoya that I took her to, was it not?’ She rattled her wings. ‘I remember pain and fire, fire and pain, flying over your land, Babach. And although I am sore afraid, I will have to go back there.’
‘Know that I too am afraid, Kadi. But I will go with you when you return for the child.’
Chapter Ten
As soon as Thryssa had brought the Lady Emla and the first group of her Guards through the circle to the room high in the Asataria, she ordered them to move out to stand against the walls. Several Guards looked a little pale and dizzy, but they obeyed the order as promptly as those unaffected by their method of travel. A few moments passed in tense silence, then there was a soft explosion of air and Elyssa stood in the centre of the room with the second group of Guards.
Soran, in the first group, had placed himself by the door and was pressed to it, listening for any sound from without. Jilla and Lashek had fashioned a dozen glow stones, which gave a considerable amount of light. Small enough to fit in to the palm of a hand, the light was extinguished by the simple expedient of closing the fingers over it. Jilla told them that the lights would last for three days, then they would revert to being the plain round pebbles they had been before.
Many of the Guards chosen by Soran knew the Asataria building reasonably well, having escorted the Lady between her House and the City on numerous occasions. Discipline Seniors in their houses in the City were ready to shield three other forces of Guards who were to attempt entry by way of the places Ryla had remembered. The third force was clearly visible in front of the building’s main gates. In all, two hundred Guards were deployed outside and Soran tried to be confident of the mere thirty two here under his command inside the Asataria.
Emla whispered her thanks to High Speaker Thryssa and moved to join Soran, Shan at her left shoulder. Soran eased open the door and strained to hear any sound from below. The room they were in was at an upper corner of the building: there could be no attack from behind them until they reached the first stairway. Shan twitched Emla’s sleeve and the Lady turned her head, frowning. Her eyes widened seeing Thryssa and Bagri directly behind her. Glancing back into the room, Emla saw Kwanzi and Elyssa sitting calmly at the worktable. This was certainly not the moment to indulge in even a whispered argument so Emla could only shrug and follow Soran.
Only three glow stones were in use, just enough to see where they were walking. Reaching the first flight of stairs, Soran halted them. He motioned half the Guards up to him and murmured into Emla’s ear.
‘It is too quiet. They know we are here Lady. They probably wait for us directly below, assuming that we will take the quickest route to the Chamber of Gathering.’
Thryssa had pressed closer to hear Soran and she nodded.
‘Is there another, less used way, Emla?’
Emla thought rapidly. ‘The servants’ stairs, about fifty paces further on the right, concealed by a door.’
One of the Guards ghosted away, returning almost at once to nod to the Captain. Two Guards remained by the door while the rest of the party crept down a narrow and steep flight of stairs. Soran recognised where they were as soon as they emerged from a second door at the foot of the stairs. He was signalling Guards forward as Emla and Thryssa reached the lower door. Light flared from the junior students’ dining hall opposite and City Guards fell upon the Lady’s men.
Bagri pushed past Emla until he was close to Soran who was defending himself against two swords. A strange quiet hung over the passageway, broken by the grunts and clatter of metal on metal, a quiet that seemed to expand. Bagri raised his left hand, the fingers slightly curled, and Soran’s opponents reeled away clutching their faces. Emla blocked a side swinging sword, pushing it up and away as Shan darted forward, thrusting economically directly into the belly thus exposed. The rebel Guard gasped and fell, almost pulling Shan with him.
Emla grabbed the back of Shan’s jacket, jerking her upright even as a spear of green flame whisked past her head. A group of City Guards, advancing from the left corridor, screamed as the green fire hit the first man and then bloomed out to engulf several others. Shouts could be heard from a lower level to Emla’s left. Soran let out a bellowing shout in response and glanced quickly to the Lady, pulling his blade free of a body.
‘Our men,’ he gasped. ‘From the first entrance.’
Emla nodded, ducking as a blade hissed over her head.
The fighting was swift and brutal: Thryssa and Bagri did not dare use their magic too much in the melee for fear of hurting their own side. Suddenly Soran’s men found they had no more to fight, the few City Guards on their feet fled along the corridor towards the main chambers.
Three of the Lady’s Guards were dead, and four had serious wounds. Soran detailed men to get the wounded back up to Kera’s room as quickly as they could. Several others had taken minor cuts and everyone would no doubt have bruises, but Soran had twenty five Guards still fit for action, and more approaching he hoped. Sure enough, around fifty men came from the left hand corridor, and their officer saluted Soran with a grim nod.
‘Sir, they are fighting strangely. Almost as if they are sleep walking. Oh they still fight hard, but there is something amiss.’
Soran leaned on his sword to regain some breath.
‘I noticed that too. And the ones here all ran back in that direction. Bait I would guess.’
‘And do we take the bait Captain?’ Emla asked.
Soran straightened and wiped blood from his blade onto a body near his feet.
‘I think we have to Lady. You said you believed they would make the Chamber of Gathering the place they would try to hold against us.’ He shrugged. ‘That is in the direction we are being invited to follow.’
The party moved quickly through the corridors towards the great Chamber of Gathering, glow stones illuminating their way as none of the lamps were lit in their high brackets. The quiet that filled the usually bustling Asataria was affecting them all and as they crossed the last hall in front of the massive doors to the Gathering Chamber, the lack of sound felt smothering. They came to a halt half a dozen paces from the doors.
‘This is the only entrance Emla?’ Thryssa asked softly.
Emla nodded. Bagri moved closer to the two women.
‘There is power being used in there,’ he told them. ‘Can you feel it Thryssa? And it is all around and through those doors.’
Thryssa narrowed her eyes. ‘But extraordinarily primitive wardings, wouldn’t you say?’
Emla studied the door, remembering the wardings in Rhaki’s rooms in the Stronghold. What she could discern here was indeed much less complicated than had been Rhaki’s.
‘But there is something else I feel,’ she said slowly. ‘A mind whose type I do not recognise. Nearly human or Asatarian, but not quite.’
‘Shall I remove the wards and let your Guards rush the room Emla? I can distract those within with some effective displays if you wish?’ Bagri looked hopefully from Thryssa to Emla.
‘It is your command Soran,’ Emla said.
‘Are we quite sure they cannot use the circle?’ the Captain asked.
‘Yes.’ Thryssa’s tone brooked no disagreement. ‘This circle has been somewhat – tampered with, but there is no one here who has been able to use it properly in the last days at least.’
‘In that case, the sooner we have control here the better.’ Soran saluted Thryssa and Emla and turned to form his men up before the doors.
‘Bagri.’ Thryssa held him back when he would have followed Soran. ‘Be ready to shield at all times. There is something very unpleasant here.’
‘I can only sense something unfamiliar,’ Emla said.
‘Our knowledge has so long been confined within Vagrantia and we have had only our own histories to study and learn from. But this presence recalls something of that past to me. I sincerely hope I am wrong Emla, but I suspect I am not. Can you hold a shield for Shan and myself too? I will need all my energy focused on one thing.’
There was no time to ask Thryssa questions: Bagri and Soran were looking towards the women for the signal to begin the attack. Much as she hated her ignorance of Thryssa’s fears, Emla nodded sharply to her Captain of Guards. She formed a mental shield around herself, Shan and Thryssa as Bagri raised a hand. Lines of light zigzagged across the huge doors and they seemed to shiver on their hinges, but they remained closed.
Soran reached for the handle of one half of the doors and Bagri for the other. Soran kicked at his side of the door, sending it swinging inwards. Officer Nomis plunged past Bagri to kick the other half of the door. Soran raised his sword, and a squad of the City Guards trotted silently into the hall behind, three of the rebel Discipline Seniors with them.
