Drogoya: Book 3 Circles of Light series (14 page)

Riff and Pallin were
already saddling the koninas, redistributing the packs from one of
the spare animals to give Navan a mount. After Sket had assured
himself Tika was her normal self again, he hurried to help take
down the awnings.

‘Would the Dragons know
of any defensive locations ahead?’ Olam asked Tika.

A rumbling laugh echoed
in their minds.

‘Olam, you are able to
mind speak me yourself you know,’ Brin chided gently. ‘But no. It
is all open country until we reach the high cliffs along the
coast.’

‘Which is five days
travel I think you said?’ Olam attempted to sound as though he had
always conversed with Dragons using the mind speech.

‘Yes. The next water
place is two days more from here, but it has no trees or large
rocks from where you might make a fight.’

‘And if we are caught
between watering places,’ Gan started to say.

‘We would be in bad
trouble.’ Olam finished for him.

Brin went carefully
over the route with Farn, using stars as sight guides. Farn was to
stay close to the front of the armsmen and Ren, while Brin would
fly at the rear. And so they proceeded each night, setting a watch
during the day as well as relying on the Dragons or Khosa to sense
any unwanted followers.

Ren had never been
garrulous but during these days he became almost taciturn. The
first time that he ignored a question from Olam, the Armschief was
inclined to irritation. It was Sket who informed him that judging
by the vacant unfocused look of Offering Ren, he believed him to be
either deep in thought or trying to far speak someone. Sket advised
Olam to leave Ren be.

‘Even my Lady Tika can
be a little odd sometimes,’ he admitted, but with a look which
plainly said others might be ill advised to criticise Tika even
thus far.

Shortly before dawn on
the fifteenth day from Far, the party began their routine of
raising their awnings, making a meal and preparing to sleep through
the heat of the day. The temperature reached the highest yet and by
midday they were all uncomfortably awake. Farn could scarcely
contain his excitement, his eyes whirring and flashing as he stared
at the western horizon. Light seemed to glitter all along the line
where sky met land, and it was only slowly that Tika realised that
the sparkling line must be the sea.

‘How much further
Brin?’ she asked.

‘If you left now, you
would be there well before nightfall – it is truly not a great
distance now.’

Tika called Gan and
Olam to the edge of the awning. ‘The sea.’ She pointed. ‘I think we
should move on now, despite the heat.’

‘It would be cooler
beside the great water,’ Ren said unexpectedly. ‘There is usually a
breeze at least.’

Gan nodded and turned
to give orders to the armsmen. Farn’s excitement was contagious:
all of the riders, with the possible exception of Ren, sat their
koninas straighter, staring eagerly ahead at the line of
brightness. Farn’s delight rang through their minds when he lifted
from the ground, carrying Tika and Khosa higher, where they could
see the narrow line broadening into a vast expanse of
water.

Ren proved correct:
half a league from rising cliffs, a breeze swept in over the land.
It had an odd tang to it, a smell unfamiliar to all except the
Offering. The water was hidden as they made the final approach.
Although the land they had ridden across had appeared flat, in fact
it rose and fell in gentle waves, and now they were angling down
behind a sharply rising band of high grey cliffs. Now the
travellers could hear a steady noise, a regular sighing and booming
as though some monstrous creature slept on the other side of those
cliffs.

There was a narrow
split in the cliffs directly before them and while Brin and Farn
swooped and soared over the beach and water beyond, Tika released
Khosa from her carry sack. She joined Gan and Olam as they chose
the best place to camp. Maressa had been unusually subdued
throughout the previous night and this day, which Tika attributed
to the heat. But now, as the koninas were led into a small curved
section of the cliff, Maressa stiffened, turning to stare back the
way they had come.

Ren spun round at the
same moment and Khosa, every hair standing out from her small body,
leaped onto a boulder, spitting and hissing. Olam looked round, his
newly awakened mind sensing the urgency filling the air. Tika sent
her mind out into the quickly gathering twilight and once more hit
a solid wall of shielding.

‘Everyone back in here.
Now!’ Gan barked, even as Tika summoned Farn and Brin from their
play.

She grabbed Khosa with
one hand and pulled Maressa with the other, back against the cliff.
Swords were loosened in sheaths and arrows nocked and ready to
fly.

‘Do you know what it
is?’ Gan asked calmly, his eyes never ceasing to scan the darkening
ground in front of them.

Tika glanced at
Maressa. ‘It is almost like a huge ball, a round shield, but stars
know what it may hold.’

The air quivered and
there was a sound similar to fabric being torn. Pain lanced through
Tika’s head and she knew that Maressa, Olam and Ren, also felt it.
She forced herself to stay where she was, Gan and Sket to either
side of her.

Ten or maybe more,
figures suddenly formed, solidifying as Tika watched. Eyes red as
coals burned with hungry hatred when the figures swung to face the
group backed against the cliff. Arrows hummed past Tika and half
the number of creatures fell. The cheer died in her throat when she
saw them rise, arrows protruding from necks and chests, and
continue their shambling advance.

Ren reached for
Maressa’s hand, pushing his other hand between Gan and Sket to
grasp Tika’s shoulder. Immediately, Tika felt the immense power
within the Offering, and she willingly linked her mind to his. Ten
paces, and Riff danced forward, dealing a massive down sweep of his
sword which almost cut one of the things in half. As Riff was
jerked back by a scowling Pallin, the creature climbed back to its
feet, its eyes redder than before.

Suddenly two of the
things screamed, their bodies convulsing into positions impossible
for a normal human form. Their comrades spared them not a glance,
moving another step forward even as more screams ripped from two
more creatures. Tika felt power surging through her from Ren and
was also distantly aware of the pendant she wore beginning to burn
her chest. She would have fallen if not for Sket’s support and felt
rather than saw Navan hold Ren’s body upright. Her teeth were
chattering as power such as she had never imagined shrieked through
her again, and Brin and Farn dived from the sky.

Flames scoured the
earth a mere pace from the defenders. Flames, and more flames,
until nothing remained but a greasy black ash. Ren fell senseless
and was laid gently against the cliff. Tika’s head rang and echoed
like an empty chamber. She saw Olam sitting on the ground,
clutching his head in his hands, and Pallin carrying Maressa’s limp
form to lay beside Ren. Farn’s long beautiful face wavered in front
of her, then she too fainted.

Chapter
Nine

Babach’s recovery was
slow but steady. The shock to his entire system was the main
obstacle to overcome, although the major burns were now only tender
patches of skin. He wore loose robes provided by the Delvers, which
rested lightly on his frame. Sava had taken up residence in Lorak’s
workroom, from whence he emerged only when he was certain Baryet
was absent from the hall. Lorak was highly amused by the owl,
although both Kera and Chakar suspected he was encouraging Sava to
develop a taste for his infamous restorative. Sava was seen to
wobble rather more frequently in his erratic flights across the
Stronghold’s great hall.

Despite being much
weakened, once the healers allowed him to sleep less, Babach
insisted on being brought up to date on all that had happened.
Chakar had gone into the Domain to visit Kadi the first day Babach
roused properly so it fell to Voron to describe the appalling
journey on the Plavat’s back to this Stronghold. There were few in
the hall at this time of day and Babach had assumed that he and
Voron were quite alone. Then a long golden face lowered over his
pallet and he recognised Kija. He stretched up a hand still wrapped
in dressings to the Dragon.

‘You spoke to me,
before the healing was performed.’

Kija inclined her head,
her prismed eyes whirring a soft butter shade.

‘I did indeed Observer.
The healing was a mighty task and we could not risk you deciding to
fight against us. So many minds had to help you, you might have
feared they were attacking you rather than trying to
help.’

‘When might I be
allowed out of this bed, I wonder?’

Kija’s laughter was a
joyful sound. ‘I see no reason why you must stay helpless in your
nest, but then, I am of a different race.’

‘Speaking of nests,’ a
voice said from behind them. Mim and Ashta stood there, Mim smiling
at Babach. ‘Have you yet learned that Baryet’s wife has occupied my
chamber? She is apparently with egg.’

The pale blue eyes
inset in silver, sparkled, then Babach winced as his grin pulled at
the tender skin of his cheeks. The grin grew no smaller though when
Mim sat on the edge of the pallet.

‘Ashta and I went to
the chamber and Syecha made the most excruciating squawks and tried
to peck my poor Ashta. Baryet was most annoyed that I had disturbed
his delicate wife.’

‘Oh stop,’ Babach
groaned. ‘I can see it perfectly. I always thought Plavats the most
ghastly birds ever created.’

‘And I thought you
liked the things,’ Voron said indignantly.

‘Are you all supposed
to be bothering my patient?’ Dessi came round the end of the
pallet, a mock glare on her still pale face.

Babach instantly held
out both bandaged hands to her when she perched opposite
Mim.

‘And I have you to
thank for my life,’ he said softly.

Dessi rested her tiny
hands gently on Babach’s burnt ones and he lifted them to his
brow.

‘To use so much of your
strength on this old man is a debt I can never hope to
repay.’

Dessi studied him for a
moment then, smiling, changed the subject.

‘There is talk of Kadi
moving up here,’ she said.

Mim nodded. ‘We saw her
take her first flight a day or so ago. The space there is cramped
and the Delvers need to plant their crops,’ he added to Voron and
Babach.

‘Kadi is a great Dragon
who was dreadfully injured.’ Voron murmured a quick explanation to
the Observer.

‘And she still has not
told us how she was injured,’ Kija remarked. ‘Or given any hint of
where the child might be, whom she carried on her back when last I
saw her.’

Babach gradually
regained his strength and pottered about the hall in the days that
followed. He found a great pleasure in spending the afternoons
sitting with Fenj, who appreciated Babach’s conversation greatly.
Lula so far accepted the Observer as to curl on his knees when he
came visiting. He was surreptitiously introduced to Lorak’s
medicine and instantly agreed with Fenj’s view that the old
gardener was indeed a splendid fellow.

Voron noticed, trailing
in the old man’s wake, that Babach’s bandaged hand rested
frequently on the egg that hung at his chest. When the dressings on
his burnt hands were changed on the fourth day since he had risen
from his bed, the healers agreed that his right hand could remain
uncovered. The palm was healed but scarred and he was told to be
cautious in using it for a while longer.

That same day, as
Babach sat with Fenj, a melodious call sounded from without the
gate. Fenj pushed himself up to a sitting position, his eyes
glittering with sudden excitement. Lula deserted Babach’s knees and
flew up Fenj’s spine to perch in her usual place atop his head. Mim
and Ashta hurried in from the gateway, a broad smile on Mim’s face
and happiness radiating from Ashta.

‘It is Kadi,’ Fenj
murmured to Babach and Voron.

Hastily they stood,
awaiting the appearance of this new Dragon. Voron caught his breath
when the huge, midnight blue Dragon paced into the hall, Chakar
trotting at her side. The Dragon came straight to Fenj, leaning her
head towards him to touch his brow with hers.

‘It is good to see you
here Kadi, and to know you are strong enough to fly once
more.’

Kadi’s eyes whirred all
shades of blue as she turned to survey Babach and Voron. Babach
bowed formally.

‘I am truly honoured to
meet you Kadi. We have both been invalids over long I think.’ He
smiled up at her then saw the pendant on its obsidian links that
hung just below her long jaw. He looked back to her face and saw
that she was staring at his pendant.

‘You and I must speak
Observer Babach,’ Kadi spoke to his mind alone before turning to
greet Kera and Jal.

Babach watched her move
towards the long tables where Guards were beginning to gather. He
noted the many places on the great body where there were no scales,
only dark blue hide. Lines ran down and across her wings, of a much
lighter blue: surely scarring from her recent wounds. He sniffed.
There was a faint scent of mint, he could swear to it. Perhaps it
was being used in one of the supper dishes. He swayed slightly and
Voron caught his arm, leading him to the table to join
Chakar.