Drogoya: Book 3 Circles of Light series, page 13
Gan reached down from his perch and hauled Tika onto their rock
‘It is amazing is it not Tika?’ he said. ‘So many different colours and never still.’
Ren rather ostentatiously sat down with his back to the sea. Olam waved at the beach.
‘Why is the sand wet for a certain width, then completely dry?’ he asked.
Ren pursed his lips. ‘The sea moves onto the land twice each day, then retreats again. It is called the tidal effect in Drogoya.’ He looked at the interested but uncomprehending faces and sighed.
‘Take in a deep breath,’ he ordered.
Eight people drew in their breaths.
‘Your shoulders rise as you do so – yes? Now, let out the breath. Your shoulders sink again. So it is with the water: it advances onto the land a certain distance, then draws back.’
The waves hissed and murmured while the group on the rocks pondered Ren’s words.
‘So is it a huge creature then, breathing in and out, but only twice a day?’ Pallin ventured at last.
Ren drew a very deep breath himself then exhaled slowly. ‘Possibly.’
‘It is rather beautiful,’ said Maressa.
‘Not when it is stormy,’ Ren replied shortly.
‘Do you not find it soothing to look upon?’ Gan asked.
Chestnut brown eyes framed in silver glared at him. ‘I do not.’
‘When will the beast breathe in again?’
‘I don’t know without keeping watch for a day or two Olam.’
Olam nodded thoughtfully.
‘I believe I may watch this event.’
‘I know very little of the workings of the sea,’ Ren admitted. ‘But I do know the waters can be very strong.’
Faces turned to him again.
‘Some writers maintain that the waters are beneficial, health giving, and they recommend those with certain ailments to immerse themselves in the salt water. But one should never venture too far from the beach. You no doubt notice that the waves surge up, then drag back? When they move back, sometimes they can pull hard enough to tug a person with them.’
‘And so the beast would feed,’ Olam agreed with satisfaction. ‘I shall see.’
Pallin’s remonstrations were to no avail. Off came Olam’s calf high boots, his trousers were turned back above his knees and he marched to the water’s edge, the others trailing after him. They watched as the Armschief eyed the waves then took two firm strides forward. The incoming wave rose a little and slapped down on Olam’s feet, flowed past and then rippled back. He laughed aloud.
‘A little cold, and a little ticklish, but really rather pleasant.’
Maressa was the next to wait for a wave to flood over her feet. She squeaked at the chill but then laughed as had Olam.
‘He is right – try for yourselves!’
Eventually, all but Ren, Sket and a scowling Pallin stood ankle deep in sea water. Ren had joined them but adamantly turned his back on the view.
‘Makes me a bit dizzy staring at all that water swaying about,’ Sket remarked.
Ren glanced at Tika’s personal Guard with approval.
‘It makes me feel positively ill,’ he confided.
Farn swooped along the water line, very low and fast, pulling up and over the group and trumpeting with delight, while Brin lazily drifted high overhead.
‘I’m going to start making a meal,’ Pallin finally announced. ‘By the time you have had enough of playing with water, it should be ready.’
He stumped back up the beach followed more slowly by Ren and Sket. Reluctantly, the rest of the party collected their boots and ambled back along the waves’ edge in the direction of their camp. All at once, Brin was plummeting down, wings closed to speed his descent, his bass call echoing across the water. Hands reached for swords and heads turned in all directions, trying to discover what had caused Brin’s alarm.
From the south, behind them, seven Dragons flew. Two broke away to rise to meet Brin, and Tika watched in horror as two others swerved towards a jutting headland in which direction Farn had gone. Tika started after them but Gan caught her arm.
‘Wait. This may be some sort of formal greetings of these Dragons.’
‘But Brin never spoke of Dragons here, I’m sure he didn’t.’ Tika tried to pull free of Gan’s hand.
‘Look,’ Olam called.
Brin changed direction from head first to tail first, hovering above their heads and trumpeting at the approaching Dragons. He had manoeuvred so fast that the two who had flown up towards him were only now changing direction back down again. Farn glided back from the headland, a strange Dragon to either side. With huge relief, Tika sensed only excited interest from her soul bond, no panic or fear.
Slowly, Brin’s enormous body settled on the sand in front of Tika’s party and reared erect, great wings outstretched as he called the formal greeting of the Broken Mountain Treasury to these strangers. Farn dropped beside him and followed suit.
The seven Dragons landed twenty paces from Farn and Brin. Their voices rang in the minds of all who watched, shriller and lighter toned than the voices of the great Dragons. Tika and Ren stepped cautiously up beside Brin. The female Dragon in the centre of the group tilted her head down to study first Tika, then Ren.
‘I am Cloud, Sea Mother of the Northern Flight.’
Tika bowed. ‘I am Tika, soul bond of Farn, both of us children of Kija.’
The sea Dragons shimmered in the morning light, their scales various shades of grey but with glints of rainbow hues scattered all over them. Cloud was the lightest, almost white, and Tika sensed she was aged, probably near to Fenj’s antiquity.
‘We have not seen your kind here before,’ Cloud commented.
Neither Tika nor her friends could fathom Cloud’s tone: it held no obvious menace, yet neither was it warm.
Brin’s deep bass answered. ‘We seek the places where once were great cities. Many buildings where dwelt the two legged kind.’
Cloud turned to stare at Brin. ‘Long are such places gone from these lands. We rule these parts now.’
Brin inclined his head. ‘So we see. We ask therefore, your permission to search for whatever may be left of the old places.’
Cloud’s eyes whirred. She was clearly communicating privately with her followers. ‘I must ask if you know of the other strangers here – are they of your Flight?’
‘Do you refer to the red eyed ones?’ Ren asked smoothly. Seven sea Dragons fixed their eyes on the Offering. ‘If so, then no. We were attacked ourselves last night, and were fortunate to destroy them with no loss to our own company.’
Prismed eyes flashed. ‘Destroyed them?’ Cloud sounded more than politely interested.
‘You have been bothered by these creatures?’ Ren enquired.
Again there was a pause while the sea Dragons conferred.
‘The second Flight, some days down the coast, were attacked.’ Cloud’s mind voice was bleak. ‘Seventeen of my kindred died and five survive with bad hurts.’
Tika’s breath hissed through her teeth. ‘Seventeen dead?’ she echoed in disbelief. ‘But why would they attack you?’
‘That we do not know.’ Cloud stared at Tika.
‘Perhaps they were looking for us, knowing that Brin and Farn were of our company.’ Maressa spoke aloud, glancing at Ren then back to Navan and Olam.
Gan nodded slowly. ‘They may have simply located Dragons and believed they would find us as well.’
‘So they hunt you?’
‘It seems so,’ Ren replied. ‘Although we do not know why we are their particular prey.’
Cloud raised her head towards Brin. ‘Do you hunt in the sea?’
Brin’s consternation was instantly hidden but Farn asked in alarm: ‘In the sea?’
Cloud laughed. ‘I thought not. Your bodies are shaped differently from ours. We occasionally hunt food on the land – there are small shoals of beasts who eat grass, further north a short flight. Sleet will show you where, if you wish.’
A smaller, clearly younger sea Dragon inclined his head.
‘We would certainly be grateful,’ Brin sounded relieved. ‘We have not fed for several days and I was beginning to wonder if any beasts did live in these barren lands.’
The Dragon named Sleet lifted into the air, closely followed by Brin.
‘You will be safe, my Tika? Would you prefer that I stay?’
Tika laughed. ‘Go on and hunt. I will be safe.’
Farn pressed his brow to Tika’s, his sapphire eyes whirring with affection.
The brief exchange between Tika and Farn had been closely followed by Cloud and her companions.
‘You called him your soul bond – is it really true?’
Tika laughed again. ‘It is a long story but yes, it is true.’
There was a stirring among the Dragons. ‘We are extremely fond of stories,’ Cloud began, then startled back as laughter erupted from the group before her.
Ren smiled. ‘I believe everyone in the world loves stories, Cloud. Will you join us at our camp over the cliff there, and we can exchange a few such tales?’
‘My kindred would be most upset to miss a tale telling.’ Cloud said thoughtfully, although her eyes glittered with undisguised mischief.
Ren sighed. ‘Perhaps you should summon your kindred then,’ he agreed. ‘We will go to our camp and have some food, then we will share stories.’
‘Do you like fish?’ Cloud asked suddenly. Her laughter at their confusion chimed in their minds.
Two sea Dragons rose and arrowed out over the sea then flew parallel to the shore. Tika’s party gasped as one of the Dragons closed its wings and plunged into the water. Moments later, it emerged, water droplets spraying from its slender body, and it flew back towards them. It dropped a large, gasping fish onto the sand at Navan’s feet and swung back out over the sea. Riff dealt the fish a blow and lifted it in amazement.
‘I have never seen such a great fish.’
All nodded agreement: fish bigger than a man’s forearm were unknown in the lands from Sapphrea to Vagrantia, and this one was five times that length. Two more Dragons rose and flew to the south, presumably to gather the kindred of whom Cloud had spoken. The remaining sea Dragons flew to the camp and were being inspected by Khosa when Olam led the company back through the gap. The Dragons had never encountered such a creature and clearly had mixed views about her superior manner. Pallin, Riff and Sket had cleaned the fish on the beach and now set about baking all four that the Dragons had provided.
‘What are you doing to them?’ one Dragon asked in alarm.
‘Cooking them,’ Tika explained. ‘We do not eat our food raw as Dragons do. Can you use fire like the great Dragons?’
‘Of course,’ a young Dragon sounded affronted.
Another had peeped beneath the awning and sent the koninas into hysterics.
‘What are they? I get no response from mind speaking them. Are they food?’
‘No,’ Maressa said hurriedly. ‘They carry us on their backs, much faster than we can walk or run.’
‘But they can’t fly,’ the Dragon sounded smug. ‘No wings,’ he murmured to his neighbour.
Navan found himself grinning, for the first time for a very long time, as he caught Gan’s eye. Clearly, some of these Dragons were as young as Farn, and as inquisitive.
‘Do these fish use mind speech?’ Olam asked Cloud.
‘No, no. They live in vast shoals, countless numbers together. They have a sort of shoal mind, they cannot act individually.’
‘Is there any creature in the sea who does use mind speech?’
Cloud’s laugh pealed through their heads. ‘Of course there are. The great shelled ones, the water giants and their smaller kindred. Oh yes, many speak with us.’
Ren regarded the Dragons reclining round the camp. ‘Have you ever seen Plavats here?’ he asked, rather too casually.
‘Plavats?’
Ren envisioned Baryet and all the Dragons stirred in annoyance, to Ren’s delight.
‘Sometimes they try to take our nesting caves, but we are far stronger than they.’ Cloud’s eyes flashed with amusement. ‘They become dreadfully upset when we singe their silly feathers. Our hatchlings find it a most amusing sport.’
Ren felt himself warming greatly to Cloud and her kindred, beaming his approval at her. Cloud lifted her head, a clear call sounding from some distance. She called in response, upsetting the koninas once more, and nearly twenty more Dragons appeared above the cliff. They landed a little distance away and paced towards Cloud. Obviously, there was a considerable amount of communication between them all and heads turned to inspect the two legged strangers.
By the time Brin and Farn returned and had been duly welcomed by Cloud’s kindred, Tika’s company were replete with baked fish. The sea Dragons waited politely until dishes were cleaned and put away under the canvas shelter. Finally Cloud asked:
‘You were going to tell us of your soul bonding.’
Tika, leaning against Farn’s chest, stifled a yawn and began her story. The Dragons listened closely to the whole tale: from her fall into Kija’s nesting cave, to the battle in the Stronghold, to her arrival once more in Sapphrea, where she had woken with her eyes silvered. When she finished there was a collective sigh of appreciation. Then the questions rained down upon her.
Eventually, she suggested that Maressa tell the story of Vagrantia and the affliction recently suffered there. Again, the Dragons were most attentive and asked many pertinent questions when Maressa ended her account. Then Ren told of Drogoya and of his arrival in the Stronghold, far north of Gaharn. He too suffered close questioning when he had finished. The subject of a Dragon Lord in the north, seemed of great fascination to the sea Dragons, but of equal interest was the affliction in both Vagrantia and Drogoya.
‘Is there nothing in your histories that might help solve this riddle?’ Gan suggested. Many pairs of faceted eyes rested on his tall form. ‘The great Dragons tell of their kindred back into the most long ago times, yet they have no memories of this affliction which affects people’s eyes.’
‘There are three of us left at the nesting caves, watching over the eggs. They are the eldest of our Flight.’ Cloud paused. ‘We will go back now and tell them your words. Perhaps one of them may know something. I am sorry, but I do not. We will come back to you tomorrow.’
The Dragon the company recognised as Sleet, murmured and Cloud continued.
‘We are agreed that we will suggest to the three elders that you move down the coast and stay with us. There are several empty caves you could use.’
Ren cleared his throat. ‘These caves. They would not be at a great height in the cliffs would they?’
Cloud’s eyes whirred. ‘Some are, but many are not,’ she told him gravely.
Farewells were much less formal and the company watched as the Flight rose into the twilight and slowly flew south over the cliff. There was much discussion of the sea Dragons as they gathered round the small fire for a final mug of tea before they prepared to sleep.
‘They are quite wild, in spite of their good manners here,’ Khosa remarked.
‘What do you mean?’ Navan asked, long past feeling odd at addressing a small Kephi.
It was Brin who answered and surprisingly, he concurred with Khosa’s judgement.
‘They do not always have an easy life here,’ he said. ‘They have to endure great storms and hazards. I think there is a fierceness and wildness in them which is absent from us.’
On that more sober note people began to fetch blankets and settle for sleep, some under the stars, some beneath the awning. Tika sniffed, emerging from the shelter wrapped in a blanket. Gan raised a brow at her as she sniffed again.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
Tika frowned. ‘Can you smell mint?’
Chapter Twelve
Cho Petak was studying charts. It had been his favourite occupation for centuries. He had found many likely places but had been unable to do more than note their locations. Now, his strength was no longer needed to keep in contact with the Void and he could do more. With the added strength of Grek and D’Lah, he could do very much more. And of course, there was Rashpil. Cho Petak had not bothered to try to find him yet. He suspected Rashpil was in the Night Lands, but for now that was not an important matter.
The air on the other side of his work table quivered and Cho raised his eyes. Flames flickered within them as he studied the air.
‘You wish to speak to me Rhaki?’
His tone was cool. He wondered whether it might not be time to force D’Lah to untangle his mind from this Rhaki after all. There was an arrogance in Rhaki that had not been obvious in D’Lah. But D’Lah had perhaps spent too long with just the one host, and his soul was so tightly entwined now with Rhaki’s, that Cho was not entirely sure he could separate them.
‘You said I must remain within this building.’ Rhaki sounded petulant. ‘I have explored it all, and I am bored.’
Cho controlled his urge to destroy this unbodied fool, but he could not afford to lose D’Lah as well.
‘Then wander where you will my dear. But beware some of my servants. Those newly arrived here will be aware of your presence among them. Do not underrate them, no matter what form you might find them in now.’
He felt Rhaki’s impatience and disbelief.
‘I warn you, two or three of them together could destroy you.’ Cho repeated. ‘Is there anything else? I was working – as you see.’
‘That female child. Why are you keeping her – you do not seem to use her for anything?’
Cho leaned back in his chair, the flames in his eyes burning ever more brightly although his voice remained calm.
‘It amuses me to keep her here. And while it continues to afford me amusement, she will be untouched by anyone else. Is that quite clear my dear?’
It seemed that even Rhaki finally realised that Cho Petak was somewhat irritated.
‘Of course, of course. I shall go and see these lands of yours then.’
‘You do so,’ Cho nodded. ‘I can contact you in an instant, you understand, should I need your presence here?’
