Survivors: Book 4 Circles of Light series, page 21
‘She cannot surely. She would have got herself up there somehow, long before this, if she had the faintest inkling of such a place. Tavri, are you sure Vorna’s estate is close to a Bound One’s prison? Taseen spoke of one deep beneath the waters between here and Wendla, of one in the desert. He believes one is in the lands of Drogoya. He said he thought the fourth was also far north of the desert.’
Tavri stared at her. ‘Taseen was involved with the binding of the one in the desert and the one in the sea. Then he collapsed. Other mages dealt with the remaining two.’
‘If Taseen is correct in his assumption that two children are bound either far north or on the other side of the world, what could Vorna have disturbed on her estate? Tavri please tell me there is nothing else as bad as the Bound Ones – or, gods forbid, worse?’
Before he could answer, Sheoma stiffened in her chair. ‘Link with me Tavri, someone far speaks.’
‘I am Brin. Maressa cannot reach you – we are too distant now. I do not think even I will reach you after another day. Taseen says he begs you to beware Vorna. Also to speak with the one named Chevra.’
‘But wait Brin.’ Sheoma’s mind forced itself against Brin’s flow of thoughts. ‘Tell Taseen we don’t believe Vorna has discovered a Bound One, but we don’t know what it might be. We shall try to discover more but if you can’t far speak us for more than another day, how can we communicate?’
There was a pause as though the Dragon was relaying Sheoma’s thoughts.
‘Taseen says we will have to use Grek. Grek is -’
‘Grek has spoken to us this evening,’ Sheoma interrupted again. She could sense the Dragon was tiring and marvelled that he could even manage to send his thoughts so far.
‘Rest Brin,’ she warned him. ‘Try once more tomorrow but it will be too dangerous for you to far speak after that I’m sure.’
She saw Tavri nodding vigorously, a look of concern on his face.
‘We leave Dawn Island soon.’ Brin’s mind voice was fading to almost a whisper in their heads and then the contact was gone.
‘Gods and goddesses above and below!’ Tavri murmured. ‘What strength the Dragon has!’
‘Tavri!’ Sheoma hissed in alarm.
The door wardings shimmered and wavered, as if some unseen hand pushed at them from outside. Tavri stood a few paces from the door, head bowed, hands clasped in front of him as he concentrated. Sheoma caught her breath: the tiny tendrils of light indicating Tavri’s wardings flickered across the walls and ceiling. The lights shone brighter and steadied. Whoever was attempting to invade Tavri’s apartments was using a huge amount of energy to do so. But while Sheoma stared, the lights paled and winked out.
Tavri exhaled a gusty breath and staggered. Before Sheoma could reach him, he groped for the back of a chair to support himself. He managed a pale smile of reassurance when she helped him to the armchair and swung the kettle over the fire.
‘Who was it Tavri? Was it Vorna?’
Tavri leaned his head back against the cushions and closed his eyes.
‘Bajal.’
‘Bajal?’ Sheoma gaped at him. ‘But he is barely average in mage powers; he could not apply such pressure to your defences!’
Tavri opened his eyes with an obvious effort. ‘It was Bajal but he was being fed power from another source.’
‘So it was Vorna.’ Sheoma sat back on her heels by the fire. ‘What now Tavri? Do we pretend nothing happened, or confront Bajal?’
‘Bajal will be in his bed for the next two days at least. Vorna used him with no regard for his weakness. He was simply a conduit. Do you suggest we should confront Vorna herself?’
Chapter Seventeen
Unknown to Ren and the companions on board Spiral Star, Storm was in constant mind communication with those he called the great ones. The Sapphreans had been dumbfounded at the first sight of whales breaching once they had left Dawn Island a day in their wake. Storm was delighted to find that this group he spoke with knew his Flight. The enormous female who led them, whose name was Avgoor, said she had spoken many times with Mist and with Ice when she took her family to the cold northern waters each year. The other three Dragons and their riders listened to Storm’s conversation.
��I would know the names of your friends, little brother,’ Avgoor finally suggested once Storm’s excitement calmed. ‘They have a different shape against the Above to any I have seen.’
Storm remembered his manners and introduced the three great Dragons and Sket, Maressa and Tika. The whale was surprised to find the Dragons carried members of the two leg race which accounted for their odd silhouette against the sky.
‘They had never seen the great waters before they came to the place where my Flight spends the warmer time,’ Storm explained.
‘Indeed I had,’ Brin interrupted. ‘I had told of it to my Treasury although they did not believe me.’
‘I did.’ Farn was indignant. ‘And I believed about the snow Dragons.’
‘May I ask something Avgoor?’ asked Tika politely.
The huge shape below rose in the sea, spouting a jet of steam and water. ‘You may ask, but I may choose not to reply.’
‘Do you live all your lives in the great seas? How do you bear your children or do they come from eggs?’
Laughter rippled through her mind, laughter from several sources Tika noted.
‘But that is three questions! Well, our children are born breathing from our bodies. The two who swim beside me are my daughters.’
Peering down past Farn’s shoulder Tika saw one whale, perhaps half the size of Avgoor, swimming close to her left side. Another, nearly as large as Avgoor, swam to her right.
‘Jemchoo is my youngest child. She has completed only twelve journeys. Rakavina is nearly twice that age and will bear her own children soon.’
Tika looked across to where Maressa sat astride Brin’s shoulders.
‘Other sons and daughters swim in different clans,’ Avgoor continued.
Greatly daring, Sket ventured a question. ‘Don’t you find it – well, boring – swimming all your lives?’
Peals of laughter rang in their minds. They saw two much smaller whales splashing near the surface before diving to come close to two adults. Both Tika and Maressa grinned at Sket riding on Seela’s back and now blushing furiously at his own temerity.
‘How could it be boring?’ replied Avgoor at last, her tone amused but faintly puzzled. ‘There are many sea people with whom we talk. Many feeding places where the waters are different colours, different textures.’
‘Where do you travel now?’ asked Seela.
‘We go past the great island and then we go south to meet other clans and exchange songs for a while. But the currents say there is bad weather Above, near that island. It matters not to us but you might find it bothersome.’
Maressa instantly searched ahead and found the whale was correct: clouds boiled and raced in a storm system perhaps a day in front of them. Maressa sent a thought back to Culinth, on Kasmi’s main ship, and found the Sister of the Wind was already aware of the changing weather pattern. The three gijan had been visiting the ships as they usually did each day and Seela directed them to stay there. She had no idea how a bad storm would affect the ships, but she feared the gijan would come to grief if they attempted to fly on and rejoin the Dragons. Her tone was severe enough that the gijan did not attempt to argue with her.
Brin and Maressa had carefully located all possible landing places, even the smallest outcrops of rock, which would be large enough for the four Dragons to settle on between Dawn Island and Wendla. Now they directed Seela, Farn and Storm to one such place.
By the time they reached it, the weather system coming towards them was visible on the horizon. This islet resembled the one at which Kasmi’s ships had anchored a few days out from Harbour City. Maressa hoped it would be high enough to avoid flooding in the tempest that rapidly approached. They took refuge on the slightly more sheltered side and Sket produced thin ropes from his pack. Seela watched him in approval as he secured one end round Tika’s waist and the other above Farn’s foot. He did the same for Maressa and Brin before attaching himself to Seela.
In the short time it took him to do this, the sky had become livid, like a two day old bruise: yellow, purple, green, black. Lighter clouds fled before the storm, the wind thrashing the waves into frothing peaks. The Dragons dug the talons of their feet and wings into the sand and rock as firmly as they could and cowered down as the rain struck. The night that followed was terrifying for all except Storm.
He had experienced weather as bad in his short life on the wild cliffs of the north Sapphrean coast. But, he admitted there had at least been caves which gave the Dragons some respite from the onslaught. The hiss of lightning was loud even above the screaming howl of the wind, the roaring growl of waves pounding all too close to where they huddled. Rain hammered against scaled backs and leather wings until Brin and Seela ached from the battering. In spite of the shelter the two adult Dragons tried to provide, Tika, Khosa in her sack, Maressa and Sket were soaked in moments of the deluge descending.
The wildness of the winds, the black darkness broken by incessant flashes made it impossible for Maressa to send her mind out to try to discover when they might expect the storm to pass. All of them were utterly spent by the time that happened and it was no surprise to see, by the position of the stars in the slowly clearing sky, that it was close to dawn.
Storm moved first, down the beach a short way where waves purled less wildly now against the pebbled shore. He beat his wings vigorously, the rising sun glinting on his grey scales. Tika, worn out herself, felt Seela’s weariness and knew it was exacerbated by the terror this night had brought them all. Farn was first to copy Storm, rearing erect and beating his wings to force his circulation to bring some warmth back to his chilled body. Tika sensed Brin and Seela’s spirits lifting once they too became a little warmer but she and Khosa with Sket and Maressa, still crouched, shivering uncontrollably.
By the time Brin heated stones for them and they were beginning to feel fingers and toes once more, the sun was strong enough to cause the rain water to evaporate, in writhing tendrils of mist, from the thin soil of their islet.
‘I thank the stars I wasn’t in a floating box last night,’ said Sket fervently.
The company on Kasmi’s leading ship Spiral Star would have agreed wholeheartedly with Sket’s opinion. Culinth had given warning in time for safety lines to be checked ready to be used by the deck crew and sails had been shortened. Navan snatched a hasty meal and warned Gan a bad storm appeared to be heading directly for them. Kasmi was worried that the ships were still too close to a line of reefs, he told him. Gan and the companions usually ate together. Occupied differently around the ship as they had become, it gave them a chance to talk. Now, they listened to Navan with varying degrees of alarm.
‘Seela mind spoke the gijan,’ he continued. ‘They are to stay with us rather than risk flying into the approaching weather. Culinth called it a rotating system and she didn’t look too happy. Kasmi says you must all stay below as soon as he gives the order: he doesn’t want any of us going overboard.’
Ren stared at him. Navan shrugged.
‘He said that I could stay in the pilot’s house if I keep out of his way and don’t venture out of it.’
Olam disappeared up the ladder, closely followed by Riff. The others guessed they’d gone to see if Kasmi meant his order to apply to them too. They had both quickly learned many of the basic tasks involved in sailing a ship and were determined to stay on deck. Gan nodded to Ren and made his way to the deck and thence down again to his cabin. Pallin merely grunted. Strange as it seemed, not only to the companions but also to Spiral Star’s crew, Pallin spent most of his time now with the demented cook. Neither spoke the other’s language, shrieks and roars regularly erupted from the tiny galley kitchen, but they seemed to enjoy each other’s company.
Ren followed Navan on deck and felt the change already. The wind was much stronger, gusting more from the left than from directly behind them. Navan headed for the pilot’s house on the raised deck while Ren looked for the gijan. He found Willow and Leaf by the rail beyond the main mast. They smiled as he joined them.
‘Kasmi says we must all keep out of the way and stay below when the storm comes,’ he began.
The gijans’ smiles widened. ‘We will stay with Navan,’ said Leaf firmly. ‘We cannot go below – it is too closed in for us.’
‘Have you asked Kasmi if that will be acceptable?’ Ren envisioned Kasmi squashed in the pilot’s house with his helmsman, Culinth, Navan and three young gijan.
Leaf’s smile disappeared, replaced by a haughty look. ‘Piper is telling him now – we do not ask permission.’
Ren decided to leave the gijan to argue with Kasmi without his presence and made his way down to the tiny cabin he shared with Taseen. The old mage was on the lower bunk, writing in a leather bound book. He smiled as Ren lurched against the sudden movement of the ship. He eased his legs over the side of the bunk.
‘Well then Ren. It looks as if we’re in for a blow.’
‘A blow? Is that what it’s called?’
Taseen laughed at Ren’s expression then grew serious.
‘It will be a bad one I fear. Culinth is afraid the ships have not made enough distance south of the reefs. Kasmi reckoned overconfidently that the weather would hold fair until we were past the reefs.’
‘Have they a name – are they marked on those maps of Kasmi’s?’
The ship juddered and Ren sat down involuntarily next to Taseen.
‘Charts, my friend, charts. Shipmasters from the different islands have their own names for the area. All know how dangerous these waters are – which is why they are rarely travelled.’
The door banged and Ren’s pack toppled from the top bunk to the floor. Ren latched the door securely and staggered back to Taseen.
‘Kasmi hoped we’d have good weather long enough to pick our way through the reefs. I’d guess we still have some way to clear them.’ Taseen frowned, glancing at the circular window against which water was now battering although whether rain or sea water Ren couldn’t tell.
‘It feels as though we’ve reduced sail. I trust Kasmi takes us south as speedily as he can.’
Ren climbed into his bunk and lay flat, bracing himself against the increased roll of the ship. Timbers creaked and groaned and he felt the strain vibrating through the wood by his head as the sea pressed ever harder against the ship’s side. He had no idea of the passage of time. It had been mid afternoon when he’d come to the cabin but the sky outside the tiny window darkened fast.
The wind’s scream rose like a giant creature in pain, plucking and whistling through the rigging above. Ren decided later that he had been too terrified to feel sick, too busy concentrating on Taseen’s voice rather than the fearful noise around him. The old mage talked steadily, occasionally inviting Ren’s comments but when he found Ren silent, he just carried on talking. He paused only a few times: once when distant screams were followed by the sound of feet pounding over their heads. The second time was when the ship seemed to shiver and then hold steady for a moment before plunging on.
‘Stream warps,’ Taseen said. ‘We must be free of the reefs but perhaps the other ships aren’t. Kasmi is trying to slow us a little and that would surely only be to wait for another ship to find us.’
‘Culinth,’ said Ren suddenly. ‘Can she not find the other ships if we are separated?’
‘Yes, she could. She travels on whichever ship Kasmi is on. He spends time on each of these three.’
At last Taseen became silent. Ren’s hand was cramped where he’d gripped the bunk side for so long but he remained wide awake and was perfectly certain Taseen lay sleepless below him. How long they lay, each in their own thoughts, before the faintest light seeped into the cabin, Ren couldn’t guess. He turned his head to the light and realised the ship was steadier, still moving quite jerkily but not tossing and pitching as it had been for so long.
‘Taseen?’
‘Yes Ren?’
‘Is it over?’
Taseen struggled to sit up. ‘Perhaps. But I think Culinth said it was a rotating storm so it may return within half a day unless Kasmi can get us clear. It will depend on how the sea is running - the height of the waves.’
Ren lowered himself cautiously from his bunk. He saw Taseen’s eyes shining under the unruly brows.
‘If you felt like finding a bowl of tea for an old man, it would be deeply appreciated.’
Ren found himself chuckling. ‘I’ll see what I can do. But if I don’t like the look of the deck once I put my head through the hatch, you can wait for your tea old man.’
He unlatched the door and gasped. Gan stood in the deeper gloom of the narrow passageway.
‘That was quite a night,’ Gan remarked with masterly understatement.
Ren laughed, light-headed with relief at having apparently survived the night.
‘Taseen requests tea.’
‘Let’s see if we can find some then.’
Gan climbed the ladder and slid the hatch aside. He flinched when water dashed into his face, half ducking back. Squinting, he straightened and surveyed what he could see of the deck. Climbing from the hatch he reached back to pull Ren up beside him, both glad of each other’s support.
The deck still tossed and tilted but at nothing like the sharp angles of the night barely past. Splintered timbers tangled with ropes lay at a crazy slant towards the bows. A bare leg protruded from under the broken fore mast but Ren and Gan knew that if the shipman or woman lived, they would have been pulled clear by now. Most of the crew were in the rigging of the main and third masts, jumping to the first officer’s shouted orders. Ren nudged Gan, nodding towards Olam halfway across a sail’s spar. Riff was on deck working opposite a shipwoman, winding in thick dripping rope from over the stern.
The deck canted again and gripping Ren’s arm, Gan crossed to the galley hatch. Ren pulled against Gan’s hold and caught the outer rail. He peered through the gusting drizzle out over the water. The gentle waves through which he’d watched the dolphins curve and dive were transformed – the white foamed crests reached halfway up the ship’s side with a sullen threat. Far enough distant to seem a toy, he saw another ship, a square of red canvas just visible from its fore mast. But stare as he might, Ren saw no sign of a third ship.
