Drogoya: Book 3 Circles of Light series Read online

  Drogoya

  (Circles Of Light - Book Three)

  E.M. Sinclair

  Copyright 2006 by E.M. Sinclair

  Smashwords Edition

  In Memory Of

  F.K. 1880-1970

  M.H.I. 1920-2006

  For John and Ben, with love always

  Cover Painting - ‘Brin’ by Bethan Town-Jones

  Cover Design by David Dempsey

  Chapter One

  Farn had overheard Gan speaking with Kija. Gan referred to Tika and Elyssa as “the two girls” during the conversation. Farn was greatly taken with the phrase, much to everyone else’s irritation, especially the two girls themselves. He let no opportunity pass where mention of “my two girls” might be made. Kija grew so disgusted that she announced she was flying north to the Sun Mountains to visit the Elder Seela. At least she would enjoy some intelligent conversation there, she pointed out icily. She instructed Brin to keep a careful eye on Farn, Tika and Elyssa, and most definitely not to encourage Farn in any nonsense. With that, the golden Dragon flew north in a cloud of annoyance.

  When Emla, Shan and their three Vagrantian companions appeared in the circle to the north of Tagria, they learnt that Rhaki was gone from his tower. Emla held council with the Lords of Far, Tagria and Andla in the comfort of Raben of Tagria’s manor. The Lords were at first cautious and sceptical of this Golden Lady of Gaharn, but were won over by Emla’s transparent openness. As Zalom of Andla pointed out privately, she had not needed to admit that the dreadful Rhaki was in fact her brother.

  Her distress was genuine when she heard of the death of Lord Hargon of Return’s eldest son and the disappearance of both his younger son and his daughter. A long day was spent in talks with these Lords and their advisors which lasted into the early hours. It was agreed that Raben and Zalom would escort the Golden Lady to Return to meet Hargon but their departure was delayed by the arrival of a Merig. He insisted on speaking to Emla alone and gave her the news of the Drogoyans presence in the Stronghold. He also told her of the mutilated remains appearing in the circle in the Asataria, of Rhaki using Serim’s body, and of Bartos, Hargon’s younger son.

  Emla decided to disclose the latter news for now only to Kemti and the Sapphrean Lords. She asked how she should tell Hargon of this new bereavement. Both Tika and Elyssa became unaccountably distressed and it was with some relief to Emla that Seboth of Far suggested some of her party might like to rest at his town for a few days. So they divided. Gan, Sket and Riff remained with Tika, Elyssa and Maressa. The two other Guards would accompany Emla, Shan, Bagri and Kemti to Return.

  Hard on the heels of that message, came another. Emla heard that Discipline Senior Fayet had staged some kind of revolt and barricaded himself within the Asataria buildings. Emla’s head ached as well as her body, jogging along on the konina she was expected to ride with ease. Kemti grinned at her discomfort.

  ‘Will you tell Hargon of his son’s death?’ he asked.

  ‘I will have to,’ she replied, wincing as her konina did a silly side stepping hop and nearly unseated her. ‘Stars forfend that he asks after his daughter. Kija was much disturbed at the child’s disappearance with Kadi. I think part of her reason for going to visit Seela is to see if she can glean any hint of their whereabouts.’

  ‘And what was Vagrantia like?’ Kemti’s face was innocent. ‘I believe you had intended to travel to the Stronghold – it must have been quite a surprise to find yourself and poor Shan so far across the Wilderness?’

  Emla sniffed. ‘Using the circles is a little more complicated than I had believed. But to answer your question: Vagrantia is quite extraordinary. I only saw Parima Circle of course, in the short time I was there, but I look forward to many more visits. And hopefully, things will not be so fraught – the High Speaker Thryssa was devastated wover the affliction her people suffered. The death of her councillor affected her badly.’

  After a night at a way station, Navan, Armschief of Return, met their party half a league from the town. The escort he brought formed up around Emla and the Lords of Tagria and Andla, riding on towards Return’s western gate. Navan eased his konina alongside Emla.

  ‘Lady, Hargon is beset with worry,’ he said quietly.

  Emla looked at him searchingly. ‘I have heard Gan speak highly of you Navan, so I beg your advice. Hargon’s second son is dead in Gaharn. How best may I tell your lord of this unfortunate news?’ She told him briefly and bluntly what she knew of the circumstances.

  Navan’s breath hissed through his teeth. He rode in silent thought for a few paces.

  ‘Let me ride on and inform him Lady. I may not tell him all the details you have given me.’

  Emla nodded gratefully and Navan spurred his konina forward, barking an order to one of his men. The armsman took up Navan’s position and the company of riders drew nearer Return. The seneschal Traff greeted them formally in the inner courtyard and conducted them to guest rooms.

  ‘My Lord is engaged at present, but he will join you shortly for the midday meal.’

  ‘Not a very big place, is it?’ Shan commented, poking into cupboards in the room Emla had been given.

  ‘It is large by the general standards of Sapphrea Shan. Do try to be a little tactful.’ Emla stared out of the window. ‘What must it be like to lose two sons within days of each other?’ she thought aloud.

  ‘People in Gaharn lost all their children when that fever came four cold seasons past,’ Shan reminded her.

  ‘Yes I know. You might come to terms with deaths by a rampant fever, but Hargon’s boys did not die so simply.’

  ‘My Lady? Why are Tika’s eyes changed? There has been no sign here of that dreadful affliction we saw in Vagrantia. And do you see how she and Elyssa could almost be sisters? Oh I know Tika is so dark and Elyssa so fair, but you know what I mean Lady – alike in their heads.’

  Emla laughed. ‘No I have no idea why Tika’s eyes have silvered, and yes, I have seen the strange closeness of the two. What it all means, my dear Shan, who knows yet?’

  There was a light rap at the door and Kemti came in with Bagri. As Kemti was about to speak another knock sounded and a young serving boy announced that he was to take them to the dining hall.

  ‘We will talk here later,’ Emla murmured, following the boy to the meeting with Lord Hargon.

  Hargon advanced to greet the Golden Lady, bowing politely and mouthing the ritual words of welcome. Emla’s heart smote her, seeing the pallor under the man’s tanned face, the emptiness in his blue eyes.

  Conversation languished, helped only by the efforts of Lord Raben, Lord Zalom and Emla, their host sitting silent and leaving his food untouched. An awkward silence fell as servants cleared away the last dishes, broken at last by Hargon. He roused and looked round the table as if surprised to find himself in company.

  ‘Forgive me my Lords, Lady Emla. I am a poor host of late.’ His eyes met Emla’s. ‘I have to tell you honestly Lady, I am glad to hear of Rhaki’s death. I do not understand how my son should come to die with him, but I choose to believe he may have helped to achieve the end of that evil being.’

  Emla’s expression remained sympathetic. Now was not the time to inform Hargon that Rhaki was not dead, that somehow his spirit, if not his body, lived on in this world.

  ‘I will take another wife and, stars willing, there will be other sons,’ Hargon said with a determined effort.

  ‘Your daughter’ Zalom began inadvisedly.

  ‘I have no children left,’ Hargon declared. ‘The girl is dead to me. I would not have her here to remind me of my lost sons.’

  Emla thanked the stars that Tika had not come on this visit to Hargo
n: she could imagine the angry response Hargon would have faced had Tika heard that comment. She caught Navan’s eye and read the mingled relief and worry he felt.

  ‘How long might you guest with us Lady Emla? We can provide entertainments for you should you wish.’

  ‘No. No thank you Lord Hargon. I have – erm - matters to attend to in Gaharn of some urgency, but I must go to this tower which Rhaki constructed before I leave.’

  Hargon’s face hardened. ‘As you will. You will excuse me if I do not join you. Navan will escort you of course, but I have no wish to go there.’

  The next morning, Navan led them out of the town’s southern gate. They rode through fields where men and women worked steadily, hoeing along the rows of plants. Rhaki’s tower came into view when they had passed the last fields, and a short while later they saw armsmen posted at a hundred paces from the tower itself. The smell hit them as they rode within the ring of sentries, the koninas tossing their heads and snorting.

  ‘I did not realise it was this bad Lady,’ Navan apologised.

  Emla dismounted and glimpsed several green faces. ‘I will go on alone. There is nothing to fear, but I have to go inside. You may all wait for me here.’

  Shan obstinately moved to Emla’s shoulder at the same moment Navan stepped forward. They began to walk to the unfinished and now abandoned building that adjoined the tower. To distract herself from the stench, Emla studied the way the blocks of the tower fitted seamlessly together and admitted how far Rhaki’s skill and strength in using power must have grown.

  Shan bolted aside and bent double, violently sick.

  ‘Go back Shan. That is an order child.’

  Navan stepped through the half built doorway and glanced about. A narrow stairway protruded from the blocks of the tower which he indicated to Emla. Nodding, she moved ahead of him and began to climb.

  The Golden Lady stared down at the remains of her brother’s body. A quilt partially covered him but even through the decomposition, the gaping ulcers were still visible. His eyes were open, red scaled but for the black pupils, and his face was contorted in what may have been final agony or a laugh. She tore her gaze from the hideous corpse, seeing the room was empty of anything except a few pots and jars on the floor near the body.

  ‘Enough Navan, let us go.’

  Neither spoke as they retraced their steps to where their escort waited. Shan sat on the ground, white faced, Kemti crouched beside her. Emla smiled at the girl but spoke to Kemti.

  ‘Can you join with me, to call fire? That must be destroyed at once.’

  ‘What of the circle that must be close by?’ Kemti came and stood at her side.

  Emla lifted her chin towards a low rise of hills.

  ‘Thryssa showed me how to feel the presence of a circle, and Bagri can too. It is over there. We must find it once this is no more.’ Emla touched Navan’s sleeve. ‘Move your men back Navan. Kemti and I will fire this monstrosity.’

  Navan stared for a moment, realising she meant to use the power. He nodded and ordered his men back, past the ring of sentries.

  Kemti and Emla faced the tower, letting their minds expand into the web of power which embraced the world.

  ‘Now,’ Kemti said softly.

  Flames flowered through the tower roof, blooming down the walls and smothering the annex with creepers of fire. Sharp cracks ripped through the air as stone cracked and split in a heat far too intense to be natural. The sun moved across the sky, and still the two tall thin figures stood facing the conflagration until it was a tumbled, smouldering shell.

  Their shoulders slumped and Emla swayed against Kemti for a moment. Without speaking, they turned back to their silently watching escort. Emla was grateful for Shan’s shoulder to lean on as Bagri hurried to support Kemti. She drew herself up to face Navan.

  ‘Now we must search over there to find the circle. Then your men must guard it Navan, but it will not be as unpleasant for them as this duty has been.’

  Tika was astonished by the turmoil in her emotions when she first saw Elyssa. It was similar to the instant bonding she had experienced with Farn, but not quite the same. She somehow felt that Elyssa was a mirror image, the other half that made her a whole person. She wept when she saw Elyssa, and Elyssa had come straight to her, holding her until the tears ceased. From that moment they were inseparable and Farn had accepted Elyssa as immediately and fully as had Tika.

  Tika scarcely paid any attention to why Emla had arrived in Sapphrea, although the air mage Maressa intrigued her. Farn appreciated Maressa’s compliments on the beautiful colour of his scales and his eyes. When Tika told the two Vagrantians of the battle with Rhaki’s creatures, the Cansharsi, and they saw the long scar snaking down Farn’s neck, tears flowed down both faces. Tika cried too at the remembering and Farn proudly folded all three in his wings to offer comfort. Kija had been outraged at hearing Farn’s account of his bravery and had taken Tika severely to task for encouraging such boastfulness in her son.

  When Emla told them of the bodies found in the circle inside the Asataria, Tika and Elyssa sensed a great tearing apart of something inexplicable, and both became agitated and distressed. Maressa was the only one who seemed able to calm them and had offered to stay behind when Kemti expressed doubts about making the two travel to Return.

  Tika found it strange to be in Seboth of Far’s manor. She was amazed to find that Seboth did not spend most of his time in his great hall with his armsmen, drinking and shouting. On the contrary, Seboth had apartments above his hall where his womenfolk moved freely and without fear of reprimand. She was struck speechless to find that Seboth’s wife, Lallia, could both read and write.

  ‘Most of us can, my dear,’ Lallia confided. ‘Seboth doesn’t mind in the least, as long as we do not let too many outsiders know.’ She laughed at Tika’s expression. ‘Seboth loves people to think he is a little bit stupid, a little bit slow, but indeed he is neither. Lord Hargon spoke of the old legends and Seboth made light of it. In truth, he has many of the oldest texts still existing in his library here. He has sought them out all over the land, and buys them wherever he finds one for sale. He does not regard the legends as Lord Hargon does. Seboth sees them as a history, a true history of this land, not tales to frighten children.'

  Maressa gently laid a now sleeping baby on a pile of pillows and stretched.

  ‘I too would learn the history of this land Lady Lallia.’

  Seboth’s wife studied the air mage thoughtfully, then glanced at Elyssa. ‘I think you have not yet told exactly who you are. You say you came from the north with Lady Emla, but that is not your home I think?’

  Elyssa’s eyes locked with Maressa’s and Maressa gave a tiny shrug, turning her attention back to the baby. Elyssa drew a breath.

  ‘You are correct Lady Lallia. Maressa and I come from a place we call Vagrantia, many leagues across the Wilderness, far east of Gaharn.’

  Lallia frowned in thought and repeated the name: ‘Vagrantia.’

  Elyssa waited while Lallia’s mind juggled with the word. The frown vanished.

  ‘Vagrantia!’ she exclaimed, excitement in her voice. ‘Vagrants. You are one of the Vagrants?’

  Elyssa smiled. ‘A descendant of one of the Vagrants, yes. Our ancestors wandered all over this land until they found safe haven inside five craters left from long dead volcanoes. I suppose it was a sort of stubbornness that made those survivors call the place Vagrantia. Taking the word that most people used to curse us and making it a name to be proud of – as we are.’

  ‘Vagrants.’ Lallia breathed the word. ‘May I tell Seboth? I swear I will not if you so desire him not to know, but he would be enchanted.’

  Elyssa laughed aloud. ‘I hope he will not decide to chase us away.’

  ‘Farn would not permit that,’ Tika said quietly.

  Maressa chuckled. ‘I have yet to see one of these Great Dragons annoyed.’

  A disturbance at the door proved to be Lord Seboth and his Armschief – wh
o was also, they had learnt, Seboth’s brother. Seboth waved a scroll case and joined the group of women by the hearth.

  ‘Raben’s man brought this – it is named for Maressa.’ He pointed to a tag on the seal.

  Maressa took it with some surprise. ‘It is from the High Speaker of Vagrantia,’ she told them, reading the upper seal. She flattened the roll of paper and read silently. ‘I have to go to the circle tomorrow Lord Seboth. Two will arrive from the Stronghold at mid morning.’

  Seboth settled on a large pillow and poked a stubby finger into the baby’s midriff.

  ‘Leave that child alone Seboth, he has only just decided to sleep at last,’ Lallia told him sharply. She arched her brows at him. ‘Have you connected the name of Vagrantia with anything yet?’

  Seboth sat up straighter. ‘I have, but it seems a rather wild connection,’ he admitted, looking at his wife then at the three visitors.

  Elyssa repeated to the Lord of Far and his brother what she had told Lallia and watched their rising excitement.

  ‘All these cycles you have been hidden safely away,’ he exclaimed. ‘I suspected as much.’ He gave them a shrewd look. ‘And do you now intend to lay claim to your old lands? They were once called Valsheba, but the local leader of those left after the catastrophe was named Sappher and the lands were thus called Sapphrea in honour of his slaughter of the greatest number of your people.’

  Maressa paled. ‘I had not known that. We have had no contact beyond Vagrantia’s walls for near two thousand cycles Lord Seboth.’

  ‘So you know nothing of the Ganger Wars, or the appearance of the tall ones in Gaharn?’ Olam asked with interest.

  Maressa shook her head. ‘Nothing of the world at all since the catastrophe. But we have had to learn rather a lot, rather quickly in the past days,’ she added ruefully.

  ‘And who are the two who will travel your magic circle tomorrow?’ Olam questioned.