Survivors: Book 4 Circles of Light series, page 6
Tika grunted. ‘Did you notice how totally unafraid the Qwah have been when they meet the Dragons?’ she asked. ‘And I most definitely would never ask the Dragons to attack or hurt anyone who has made no move against me.’
Farn’s head poked into the open window. ‘One of those Keepers approaches,’ he warned.
Moments later, a Keeper bowed in greeting. This one was a younger male than yesterday’s.
‘Kertiss will see you now,’ he said politely and stood aside, obviously waiting for them to leap to their feet.
Tika stretched slowly. ‘We can spare him a short time Keeper, but only a short time. We must resume our journey.’
She watched as the Keeper’s eyes unfocused: obviously he communicated with someone. And make what you like of that Kertiss dear, Tika thought as she strolled after the Keeper.
Chapter Five
They strolled slowly across the centre of the Dome and stood idly waiting. After a time, the floor hissed open to one side and Kertiss walked into view. His face was creased into what they knew was his normal expression: a frown verging on a scowl.
‘You have been shown how to access entry,’ he said, halting at the top of the ramp.
Tika raised an eyebrow at his tone then smiled. ‘I was made faint last night by the closeness below. I do not like being in enclosed places. We will stay here a while if you wish to speak with us.’
The Dragons had already reclined and now Tika sat cross legged against Farn’s chest. ‘We have appreciated your hospitality Kertiss, but we leave tomorrow.’
‘Nonsense.’ Kertiss took two strides forward. ‘You will stay here until I permit you to leave.’
‘Really? We are summoned by Namolos and so we go to him without delay.’ She was watching Kertiss closely. She was aware that the men except for Ren were tense, ready to act on any aggressive move from Kertiss.
His dark face grew waxen and he almost flinched back when Tika spoke Namolos’s name.
‘Where did you hear of him?’ He forced a laugh. ‘He is a senile old fool, his Ship lost in the seas and his wife long vanished. You will stay here. There is much I need to learn of you.’
Tika got back to her feet, Farn surging up behind her. ‘Much you need to learn Kertiss? Which part of me did you intend to use for your study?’ Her voice rang in the great Dome, cold as cracking ice.
Kertiss stared. ‘What did that Ship tell you?’ he snapped. ‘It is damaged I told you. Its mind is as warped as that of Namolos.’
‘The Ship told me nothing Kertiss,’ Tika lied calmly. ‘But Namolos asked that I go to him. And so we go.’
She turned away, her heart aching that she could not communicate with Singer, could not explain the reason for their sudden disappearance.
‘I will not pretend it has been a pleasure to meet you Kertiss, but I will admit it has been – interesting.’
She gave the slightest bow, hand on her sword hilt. As she moved to walk back across the Dome, she glanced at the great female statue and nearly faltered. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears but she kept moving, seeing in her mind’s eye the fan of feathered wings outstretched, the thin face lifting its chin.
‘And how do you propose to leave?’ Kertiss scoffed. ‘You will die within days if not hours, alone in the full heat of the desert.’
Tika turned back. ‘Surely you will send a Qwah to guide us? I think Namolos would be -.’ She paused, choosing her words with some care. ‘Namolos would be – concerned – should he hear that you hindered our journey to him or, stars forfend, let us die, unguided, in the desert.’
She studied Kertiss’s face feeling a faint shock. He looked like a spoiled child denied his treat. She thought of Hargon’s younger son Bartos and felt a shudder of revulsion. ‘We will leave before dawn.’
This time she kept walking, her friends around her, the Dragons behind, ignoring Kertiss’s incoherent words. Only Gan looked back when they reached the ramp beneath the arched entrance. He blinked. Storm was walking backwards, keeping his snarling face towards Kertiss, and his tail lashed from side to side. Far beyond Storm and behind Kertiss’s impotent figure the female statue seemed to shimmer. Gan blinked again and turned back to the ramp. The Keeper was not waiting outside and they weren’t sure if that boded well or ill, but when they reached their rooms they found Kirat squatting by the door.
He rose as they approached and bowed. ‘You leave tomorrow,’ he said. ‘My brothers and I will guide you again.’
Unsure whether Kirat was here by Kertiss’s order or by Grek’s “persuasion”, Tika managed only a weak smile.
‘How many horses will you need Lady? And at what hour shall I have them ready?’
‘The animals we came on,’ Gan began but Kirat shook his head.
‘They were weak before we came across the desert from the great sea,’ he said firmly. ‘We will supply horses and nurse your animals back to full health here.’
Pallin’s eyes gleamed at the prospect of getting his hands on one of the desert horses he admired so much despite Olam’s glare.
‘Then we will need at least six horses plus three pack animals,’ Gan told the Qwah.
Kirat bowed again. ‘I shall be here for you well before dawn Lord.’
They watched the desert man vanish into the gathering twilight under the colonnade and went inside their rooms. The three gijan stood in a row by the kitchen door, three packs by their cloth shoed feet, dark eyes fixed on Tika. Khosa stalked across to sit in front of them.
‘They will come with us to Namolos,’ she announced.
‘One perhaps, but all three?’ Gan protested.
Khosa gave him her most imperious stare. ‘They are litter mates. They stay together.’
The gijan moved their packs against the wall and gestured towards the kitchen.
‘It only seems a moment ago that we ate,’ Maressa groaned. ‘But perhaps we’d better eat what we can before we go into that awful desert again.’
They tried to sleep before full dark had fallen but only Pallin and Riff slept with their usual soundness. Most of the others only dozed, their minds preoccupied with the events of the last two days and with the prospects to come. Tika gave up trying to sleep when she heard movement outside. She peered into the colonnade and saw two Qwah leaving the bodies of goats near the Dragons.
‘Kirat?’ she asked.
One of the men moved closer to the door. ‘Lady. I will bring the horses for you to load your packs in a short while if that suits?’
‘Yes of course. I’ll rouse everyone.’ She hesitated. ‘Three gijan will be coming with us. Is there a problem with that?’
The light from the one lamp still burning in the sitting room shone onto Kirat’s face, which Tika watched closely. His eyebrows lifted slightly and he spread his hands palm up.
‘As you wish Lady. Gijan are rarely seen outside City dwellings, but if you say gijan travel with you, then so be it.’
When Kirat returned, his brothers were leading horses, their pale hides gleaming in the dark. Kirat carried a large bundle of white cloth which he dropped onto a chair. He lifted one piece of cloth and the companions saw it was in fact a hooded cloak. He handed one to Maressa who stood nearest, and picked up another.
‘The light colour keeps away some of the heat,’ he explained distributing cloaks to all the party.
Kirat even had three tiny cloaks for the gijan, really meant for Qwah children Tika guessed.
‘The first day will not be too bad,’ Kirat told them. ‘But the three following will be worse than any you experienced on our journey from the great sea. Then we will travel mostly at night and rest longer during the days.’
‘How many days through the desert?’ Olam asked.
Kirat shrugged. ‘This route has been travelled in ten days, but it can take twice that time if we meet dust storms.’
Sket elected to ride one of the desert horses to start with rather than travel with Gan on Seela’s back. Maressa would go with Brin and Tika as usual with Farn. The Dragons would fly high, marking the course of Kirat’s group. The pack horses were loaded, the riders mounted, when Storm crouched low. The three gijan pattered to his side and scrambled onto the sea Dragon’s back. Ren gave Tika a bemused grin and shook his head. Khosa, in her carry sack round Tika’s neck, settled herself more comfortably as Farn lifted into the air.
Once above the Domes a strong breeze buffeted their faces and Tika allowed herself to relax a little. She stared down at the central Dome and wondered if she would ever see Star Singer again.
‘I went back to speak with him once more.’ Grek spoke in her mind. ‘He asked me to tell you that he believes you will meet in the future and he sends you all his love and his music. He holds his mind tightly against Orla and Kertiss, although neither of them have much natural gift for mind speech.’ Grek was silent before adding: ‘Their machines can affect minds, as you learnt, did you not?’
Tears tracked down Tika’s cheeks and her hand clenched on Farn’s shoulder. ‘The great eyes in Orla’s room. She said they do dreadful things to animals in there. She told of pipes being put into brains and of wings damaged on purpose, things grown in those gen tanks – half one creature, half another. I would never have believed I would find people worse than Rhaki and yet those two are.’
Seela led them slowly eastwards, watching those on horseback below working their way through the still sleeping City. Tika suddenly remembered the gijan and twisted round to find Storm a length behind. The three gijan sat straight on his back. All Tika could see beneath the enveloping white cloaks was the first gijan’s dark eyes shining with reflected star light.
‘Grek?’ she asked tentatively.
‘I am here.’
‘What of these gijan?’
‘I cannot tell you much more than Khosa has. They come from the salt marsh regions both south and east of this great desert.’
‘Do you know why Storm offered to carry them?’
‘There is an affinity.’
‘Grek?’ But this time, Grek did not reply.
At last Kirat led the horses through the City’s final gate. They picked up their pace, cantering along beside the many fields which lapped against the City’s outermost buildings. They reached the place where a trail led off to their right, twisting and turning as it climbed to the high peaks. Dawn was still some time away when Kirat slowed the riders to a more cautious speed.
Seela led the Dragons higher still, keeping her eyes on the direction of the trail as well as the distance separating them from the horse riders. Eventually dawn’s fingers touched the Dragons and Farn called aloud with delight at the first warmth. Seela swung round in a slow circling swoop before resuming her leading place.
‘We will land there,’ she announced.
The Dragon riders peered down, seeing the trail Kirat followed opened onto a broad flat area. Accordingly, the Dragons spiralled down, settling on rough grass. Tika slid from Farn’s back and watched the gijan slip from Storm. The three immediately set about making a camp: one dug away turf for a fire pit, another trotted off, seeking fuel for that fire, and the third clambered over a large boulder from beyond which came the sound of fast flowing water.
Maressa joined her. ‘I cannot reach their minds,’ she spoke quietly. ‘They seem so docile, so timid, yet they shield their minds to an extent I cannot breach.’
Tika glanced up at the air mage. ‘I glimpsed something enormous and intricate when the first gijan allowed me that brief entry to his mind,’ Tika admitted. ‘But I haven’t tried to touch their thoughts since.’
Gan had knelt to help the gijan clear a patch of ground for the fire. He looked up smiling when the two women drew near.
‘It feels such a relief, just being clear of that strange place,’ he said.
They all stared back down, into the deep Valley. The rising sun was just gilding the tops of the three great Domes even as Kirat appeared over the edge of the plateau. He dismounted and loosened his saddle.
‘We will stop only long enough for a quick meal,’ he called to the other riders. ‘We must make as good time as we can today.’
Pallin joined the gijan by the fire and produced two kettles. Why were armsmen so devoted to their tea, Tika wondered absently? When Kirat and his brothers joined the group round the fire, she noticed all three gijan drew closer to Sket, leaving a considerable space between themselves and the Qwah. She met Ren’s eyes and knew the Offering had also noticed the behaviour of the gijan.
The Dragons flew slowly on, holding back while the horsemen below negotiated a torturous pass and a perilously steep descent the other side. Once through the pass, the earthbound group could see what the Dragons had already noted: endlessly arid desert lands again. Maressa was relieved to find how effective the white cloaks were as the sun climbed to its highest point. While by no means comfortable, she was not tortured by the blazing heat as she had been on her previous experience of desert travel.
‘Kirat says we will halt soon,’ Ren bespoke Tika, and she looked down to see the horses were at last picking their way along a flatter path.
With Farn spiralling lower Tika stared back at the line of mountains marching from horizon to horizon. Who would believe such a fertile, populous Valley could possibly exist behind those forbidding ramparts?
They camped amid vast slabs of rock, some sharply edged as though sliced from the mountainsides in some distant past. Large awnings were stretched between such rocks, offering shade to people and animals alike. Warned by their earlier journey, Seela insisted that Farn and Storm take refuge from the heat beneath the awnings.
The dryness of the air seemed to steal away any drop of moisture, even from their mouths and eyes. No one wanted food yet, only a few swallows of water, before lying down and trying to sleep. Tika drowsed against Farn, only vaguely aware of the gijan curled against Storm, well away from the Qwah.
She woke suddenly and felt Farn’s steady breathing under her cheek. Moving her head a little, she saw three small shapes silhouetted against a sky streaked with sunset ribbons of high cloud. She blinked, her eyes sore from sand grits. The gijan were hunched close around her but she could see their dark eyes regarding her. Carefully, Tika pushed herself up to a sitting position, never taking her own gaze from the gijan. She tilted her head to one side and held out a hand questioningly. What did they want?
One gijan shuffled closer and a tiny three fingered hand rested on hers. He looked at their lightly joined hands then lifted his other hand and pointed to her chest. Tika’s mind whirled with speculation while with her free hand she reached inside her shirt, tugging the oval pendant out into sight. The chain was warm against her neck and she let the amber fronted, gold backed egg swing gently. The gijan hand in hers suddenly tightened its grip as breath hissed from all three of them. Without warning, they all dropped forward, foreheads pressed to the ground. Then they were gone, back behind Storm’s still sleeping body.
From first twilight they travelled relentlessly, stopping only for brief halts for the horses to be given a little water and to have their feet and legs checked for damage. The sky to their left was beginning to lighten before Kirat let them stop again. They were still among the residue of the mountains and Kirat chose a place where slabs of stone had fallen across others, making half caves which would help them shelter through the day.
This time Pallin and Hadjay cooked a substantial meal which Kirat insisted all partake of. Sirak disappeared for a while and returned with several sand swimmers, the large lizards he’d found for the Dragons days ago on their journey from the coast.
‘We have been well provided with food since we entered your Valley,’ Brin told him. ‘We can survive well enough now until this desert is crossed. But we thank you for your thought for us.’
Privately, Farn told Tika that the sand lizards were extremely chewy and not particularly flavoursome.
The Qwah fussed over the horses, seeing to their comfort, checking for sores, as though their were their children. Maressa commented casually on this fact and earned severe looks from all three Qwah.
‘Do you think we could so easily risk travelling these lands without our horses Lady?’ Hadjay demanded reproachfully. ‘They are more precious than our own lives and must be treated so.’
They slept the day away, aware when they occasionally roused of the fiery heat beyond the awnings and the sheltering boulders. Hadjay distributed handfuls of fruit and bowls of tea when they gathered, watching the sun sink behind the mountains.
‘Have you often met with the Survivors in the City Kirat?’ Ren enquired, sipping his tea.
Kirat blanched. ‘No one meets the Survivors except selected Keepers of the Sanctuary. It is death to even enquire of them.’
‘But why? And we were invited to meet them, and we’re still alive.’
Kirat frowned. ‘A Keeper sent a message to me that we were to go to the great sea to meet your company. To be directly asked to perform a particular task for the Survivors is deemed great honour.’
‘How long have they lived in your City though?’ Ren persisted. ‘The Domes have been there far longer than the Survivors I would guess.’
Kirat stood up, still white around his lips and swung onto his horse. ‘We must ride,’ he called. Not waiting to see if the rest mounted up, he rode on along a trail only he could see.
‘Perhaps such questions could wait Ren? At least until we can see the end of this stars forsaken desert.’ Olam grinned at the Offering. ‘Might be better not to risk being abandoned, yes?’
Ren grinned back at the Arms Chief. ‘Oh I think we’re safe enough – you heard him. He would rather die than disobey the Survivors and it would appear that dear Kertiss has ordered him to guide us south.’
‘I’d just as soon not press our luck lad,’ Pallin grunted, pulling himself into his saddle. But he winked as he rode past.
The next day they cowered under the awnings while heat hammered mercilessly down from the white sky. Even Seela and Brin were forced to squeeze their massive bodies under the awning. Tika saw one of the gijan stumble when he got to his feet in the late afternoon to prepare for their night’s travelling. She watched the other two gijan press close to the third, seeming to support him. She bit her lip and glanced around, catching Ren watching her. He crossed to her side.
Farn’s head poked into the open window. ‘One of those Keepers approaches,’ he warned.
Moments later, a Keeper bowed in greeting. This one was a younger male than yesterday’s.
‘Kertiss will see you now,’ he said politely and stood aside, obviously waiting for them to leap to their feet.
Tika stretched slowly. ‘We can spare him a short time Keeper, but only a short time. We must resume our journey.’
She watched as the Keeper’s eyes unfocused: obviously he communicated with someone. And make what you like of that Kertiss dear, Tika thought as she strolled after the Keeper.
Chapter Five
They strolled slowly across the centre of the Dome and stood idly waiting. After a time, the floor hissed open to one side and Kertiss walked into view. His face was creased into what they knew was his normal expression: a frown verging on a scowl.
‘You have been shown how to access entry,’ he said, halting at the top of the ramp.
Tika raised an eyebrow at his tone then smiled. ‘I was made faint last night by the closeness below. I do not like being in enclosed places. We will stay here a while if you wish to speak with us.’
The Dragons had already reclined and now Tika sat cross legged against Farn’s chest. ‘We have appreciated your hospitality Kertiss, but we leave tomorrow.’
‘Nonsense.’ Kertiss took two strides forward. ‘You will stay here until I permit you to leave.’
‘Really? We are summoned by Namolos and so we go to him without delay.’ She was watching Kertiss closely. She was aware that the men except for Ren were tense, ready to act on any aggressive move from Kertiss.
His dark face grew waxen and he almost flinched back when Tika spoke Namolos’s name.
‘Where did you hear of him?’ He forced a laugh. ‘He is a senile old fool, his Ship lost in the seas and his wife long vanished. You will stay here. There is much I need to learn of you.’
Tika got back to her feet, Farn surging up behind her. ‘Much you need to learn Kertiss? Which part of me did you intend to use for your study?’ Her voice rang in the great Dome, cold as cracking ice.
Kertiss stared. ‘What did that Ship tell you?’ he snapped. ‘It is damaged I told you. Its mind is as warped as that of Namolos.’
‘The Ship told me nothing Kertiss,’ Tika lied calmly. ‘But Namolos asked that I go to him. And so we go.’
She turned away, her heart aching that she could not communicate with Singer, could not explain the reason for their sudden disappearance.
‘I will not pretend it has been a pleasure to meet you Kertiss, but I will admit it has been – interesting.’
She gave the slightest bow, hand on her sword hilt. As she moved to walk back across the Dome, she glanced at the great female statue and nearly faltered. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears but she kept moving, seeing in her mind’s eye the fan of feathered wings outstretched, the thin face lifting its chin.
‘And how do you propose to leave?’ Kertiss scoffed. ‘You will die within days if not hours, alone in the full heat of the desert.’
Tika turned back. ‘Surely you will send a Qwah to guide us? I think Namolos would be -.’ She paused, choosing her words with some care. ‘Namolos would be – concerned – should he hear that you hindered our journey to him or, stars forfend, let us die, unguided, in the desert.’
She studied Kertiss’s face feeling a faint shock. He looked like a spoiled child denied his treat. She thought of Hargon’s younger son Bartos and felt a shudder of revulsion. ‘We will leave before dawn.’
This time she kept walking, her friends around her, the Dragons behind, ignoring Kertiss’s incoherent words. Only Gan looked back when they reached the ramp beneath the arched entrance. He blinked. Storm was walking backwards, keeping his snarling face towards Kertiss, and his tail lashed from side to side. Far beyond Storm and behind Kertiss’s impotent figure the female statue seemed to shimmer. Gan blinked again and turned back to the ramp. The Keeper was not waiting outside and they weren’t sure if that boded well or ill, but when they reached their rooms they found Kirat squatting by the door.
He rose as they approached and bowed. ‘You leave tomorrow,’ he said. ‘My brothers and I will guide you again.’
Unsure whether Kirat was here by Kertiss’s order or by Grek’s “persuasion”, Tika managed only a weak smile.
‘How many horses will you need Lady? And at what hour shall I have them ready?’
‘The animals we came on,’ Gan began but Kirat shook his head.
‘They were weak before we came across the desert from the great sea,’ he said firmly. ‘We will supply horses and nurse your animals back to full health here.’
Pallin’s eyes gleamed at the prospect of getting his hands on one of the desert horses he admired so much despite Olam’s glare.
‘Then we will need at least six horses plus three pack animals,’ Gan told the Qwah.
Kirat bowed again. ‘I shall be here for you well before dawn Lord.’
They watched the desert man vanish into the gathering twilight under the colonnade and went inside their rooms. The three gijan stood in a row by the kitchen door, three packs by their cloth shoed feet, dark eyes fixed on Tika. Khosa stalked across to sit in front of them.
‘They will come with us to Namolos,’ she announced.
‘One perhaps, but all three?’ Gan protested.
Khosa gave him her most imperious stare. ‘They are litter mates. They stay together.’
The gijan moved their packs against the wall and gestured towards the kitchen.
‘It only seems a moment ago that we ate,’ Maressa groaned. ‘But perhaps we’d better eat what we can before we go into that awful desert again.’
They tried to sleep before full dark had fallen but only Pallin and Riff slept with their usual soundness. Most of the others only dozed, their minds preoccupied with the events of the last two days and with the prospects to come. Tika gave up trying to sleep when she heard movement outside. She peered into the colonnade and saw two Qwah leaving the bodies of goats near the Dragons.
‘Kirat?’ she asked.
One of the men moved closer to the door. ‘Lady. I will bring the horses for you to load your packs in a short while if that suits?’
‘Yes of course. I’ll rouse everyone.’ She hesitated. ‘Three gijan will be coming with us. Is there a problem with that?’
The light from the one lamp still burning in the sitting room shone onto Kirat’s face, which Tika watched closely. His eyebrows lifted slightly and he spread his hands palm up.
‘As you wish Lady. Gijan are rarely seen outside City dwellings, but if you say gijan travel with you, then so be it.’
When Kirat returned, his brothers were leading horses, their pale hides gleaming in the dark. Kirat carried a large bundle of white cloth which he dropped onto a chair. He lifted one piece of cloth and the companions saw it was in fact a hooded cloak. He handed one to Maressa who stood nearest, and picked up another.
‘The light colour keeps away some of the heat,’ he explained distributing cloaks to all the party.
Kirat even had three tiny cloaks for the gijan, really meant for Qwah children Tika guessed.
‘The first day will not be too bad,’ Kirat told them. ‘But the three following will be worse than any you experienced on our journey from the great sea. Then we will travel mostly at night and rest longer during the days.’
‘How many days through the desert?’ Olam asked.
Kirat shrugged. ‘This route has been travelled in ten days, but it can take twice that time if we meet dust storms.’
Sket elected to ride one of the desert horses to start with rather than travel with Gan on Seela’s back. Maressa would go with Brin and Tika as usual with Farn. The Dragons would fly high, marking the course of Kirat’s group. The pack horses were loaded, the riders mounted, when Storm crouched low. The three gijan pattered to his side and scrambled onto the sea Dragon’s back. Ren gave Tika a bemused grin and shook his head. Khosa, in her carry sack round Tika’s neck, settled herself more comfortably as Farn lifted into the air.
Once above the Domes a strong breeze buffeted their faces and Tika allowed herself to relax a little. She stared down at the central Dome and wondered if she would ever see Star Singer again.
‘I went back to speak with him once more.’ Grek spoke in her mind. ‘He asked me to tell you that he believes you will meet in the future and he sends you all his love and his music. He holds his mind tightly against Orla and Kertiss, although neither of them have much natural gift for mind speech.’ Grek was silent before adding: ‘Their machines can affect minds, as you learnt, did you not?’
Tears tracked down Tika’s cheeks and her hand clenched on Farn’s shoulder. ‘The great eyes in Orla’s room. She said they do dreadful things to animals in there. She told of pipes being put into brains and of wings damaged on purpose, things grown in those gen tanks – half one creature, half another. I would never have believed I would find people worse than Rhaki and yet those two are.’
Seela led them slowly eastwards, watching those on horseback below working their way through the still sleeping City. Tika suddenly remembered the gijan and twisted round to find Storm a length behind. The three gijan sat straight on his back. All Tika could see beneath the enveloping white cloaks was the first gijan’s dark eyes shining with reflected star light.
‘Grek?’ she asked tentatively.
‘I am here.’
‘What of these gijan?’
‘I cannot tell you much more than Khosa has. They come from the salt marsh regions both south and east of this great desert.’
‘Do you know why Storm offered to carry them?’
‘There is an affinity.’
‘Grek?’ But this time, Grek did not reply.
At last Kirat led the horses through the City’s final gate. They picked up their pace, cantering along beside the many fields which lapped against the City’s outermost buildings. They reached the place where a trail led off to their right, twisting and turning as it climbed to the high peaks. Dawn was still some time away when Kirat slowed the riders to a more cautious speed.
Seela led the Dragons higher still, keeping her eyes on the direction of the trail as well as the distance separating them from the horse riders. Eventually dawn’s fingers touched the Dragons and Farn called aloud with delight at the first warmth. Seela swung round in a slow circling swoop before resuming her leading place.
‘We will land there,’ she announced.
The Dragon riders peered down, seeing the trail Kirat followed opened onto a broad flat area. Accordingly, the Dragons spiralled down, settling on rough grass. Tika slid from Farn’s back and watched the gijan slip from Storm. The three immediately set about making a camp: one dug away turf for a fire pit, another trotted off, seeking fuel for that fire, and the third clambered over a large boulder from beyond which came the sound of fast flowing water.
Maressa joined her. ‘I cannot reach their minds,’ she spoke quietly. ‘They seem so docile, so timid, yet they shield their minds to an extent I cannot breach.’
Tika glanced up at the air mage. ‘I glimpsed something enormous and intricate when the first gijan allowed me that brief entry to his mind,’ Tika admitted. ‘But I haven’t tried to touch their thoughts since.’
Gan had knelt to help the gijan clear a patch of ground for the fire. He looked up smiling when the two women drew near.
‘It feels such a relief, just being clear of that strange place,’ he said.
They all stared back down, into the deep Valley. The rising sun was just gilding the tops of the three great Domes even as Kirat appeared over the edge of the plateau. He dismounted and loosened his saddle.
‘We will stop only long enough for a quick meal,’ he called to the other riders. ‘We must make as good time as we can today.’
Pallin joined the gijan by the fire and produced two kettles. Why were armsmen so devoted to their tea, Tika wondered absently? When Kirat and his brothers joined the group round the fire, she noticed all three gijan drew closer to Sket, leaving a considerable space between themselves and the Qwah. She met Ren’s eyes and knew the Offering had also noticed the behaviour of the gijan.
The Dragons flew slowly on, holding back while the horsemen below negotiated a torturous pass and a perilously steep descent the other side. Once through the pass, the earthbound group could see what the Dragons had already noted: endlessly arid desert lands again. Maressa was relieved to find how effective the white cloaks were as the sun climbed to its highest point. While by no means comfortable, she was not tortured by the blazing heat as she had been on her previous experience of desert travel.
‘Kirat says we will halt soon,’ Ren bespoke Tika, and she looked down to see the horses were at last picking their way along a flatter path.
With Farn spiralling lower Tika stared back at the line of mountains marching from horizon to horizon. Who would believe such a fertile, populous Valley could possibly exist behind those forbidding ramparts?
They camped amid vast slabs of rock, some sharply edged as though sliced from the mountainsides in some distant past. Large awnings were stretched between such rocks, offering shade to people and animals alike. Warned by their earlier journey, Seela insisted that Farn and Storm take refuge from the heat beneath the awnings.
The dryness of the air seemed to steal away any drop of moisture, even from their mouths and eyes. No one wanted food yet, only a few swallows of water, before lying down and trying to sleep. Tika drowsed against Farn, only vaguely aware of the gijan curled against Storm, well away from the Qwah.
She woke suddenly and felt Farn’s steady breathing under her cheek. Moving her head a little, she saw three small shapes silhouetted against a sky streaked with sunset ribbons of high cloud. She blinked, her eyes sore from sand grits. The gijan were hunched close around her but she could see their dark eyes regarding her. Carefully, Tika pushed herself up to a sitting position, never taking her own gaze from the gijan. She tilted her head to one side and held out a hand questioningly. What did they want?
One gijan shuffled closer and a tiny three fingered hand rested on hers. He looked at their lightly joined hands then lifted his other hand and pointed to her chest. Tika’s mind whirled with speculation while with her free hand she reached inside her shirt, tugging the oval pendant out into sight. The chain was warm against her neck and she let the amber fronted, gold backed egg swing gently. The gijan hand in hers suddenly tightened its grip as breath hissed from all three of them. Without warning, they all dropped forward, foreheads pressed to the ground. Then they were gone, back behind Storm’s still sleeping body.
From first twilight they travelled relentlessly, stopping only for brief halts for the horses to be given a little water and to have their feet and legs checked for damage. The sky to their left was beginning to lighten before Kirat let them stop again. They were still among the residue of the mountains and Kirat chose a place where slabs of stone had fallen across others, making half caves which would help them shelter through the day.
This time Pallin and Hadjay cooked a substantial meal which Kirat insisted all partake of. Sirak disappeared for a while and returned with several sand swimmers, the large lizards he’d found for the Dragons days ago on their journey from the coast.
‘We have been well provided with food since we entered your Valley,’ Brin told him. ‘We can survive well enough now until this desert is crossed. But we thank you for your thought for us.’
Privately, Farn told Tika that the sand lizards were extremely chewy and not particularly flavoursome.
The Qwah fussed over the horses, seeing to their comfort, checking for sores, as though their were their children. Maressa commented casually on this fact and earned severe looks from all three Qwah.
‘Do you think we could so easily risk travelling these lands without our horses Lady?’ Hadjay demanded reproachfully. ‘They are more precious than our own lives and must be treated so.’
They slept the day away, aware when they occasionally roused of the fiery heat beyond the awnings and the sheltering boulders. Hadjay distributed handfuls of fruit and bowls of tea when they gathered, watching the sun sink behind the mountains.
‘Have you often met with the Survivors in the City Kirat?’ Ren enquired, sipping his tea.
Kirat blanched. ‘No one meets the Survivors except selected Keepers of the Sanctuary. It is death to even enquire of them.’
‘But why? And we were invited to meet them, and we’re still alive.’
Kirat frowned. ‘A Keeper sent a message to me that we were to go to the great sea to meet your company. To be directly asked to perform a particular task for the Survivors is deemed great honour.’
‘How long have they lived in your City though?’ Ren persisted. ‘The Domes have been there far longer than the Survivors I would guess.’
Kirat stood up, still white around his lips and swung onto his horse. ‘We must ride,’ he called. Not waiting to see if the rest mounted up, he rode on along a trail only he could see.
‘Perhaps such questions could wait Ren? At least until we can see the end of this stars forsaken desert.’ Olam grinned at the Offering. ‘Might be better not to risk being abandoned, yes?’
Ren grinned back at the Arms Chief. ‘Oh I think we’re safe enough – you heard him. He would rather die than disobey the Survivors and it would appear that dear Kertiss has ordered him to guide us south.’
‘I’d just as soon not press our luck lad,’ Pallin grunted, pulling himself into his saddle. But he winked as he rode past.
The next day they cowered under the awnings while heat hammered mercilessly down from the white sky. Even Seela and Brin were forced to squeeze their massive bodies under the awning. Tika saw one of the gijan stumble when he got to his feet in the late afternoon to prepare for their night’s travelling. She watched the other two gijan press close to the third, seeming to support him. She bit her lip and glanced around, catching Ren watching her. He crossed to her side.
