Soul Bonds Book 1 Circles of Light series by E.M. Sinclair Read Free Book Online Page B

about. Rarely were both equal in strength as with Tika. And Jeela was nearly as apt as Tika. Shar could far speak but could only hear from much shorter distances.
    Seti taught them mind healing as well as taking them outside the Gathering Place to find plants and roots that could be used as medicines. Shar was the one who always found the required plant quickest.
    In the ever earlier nightfalls, Fenj spent time with Farn and Tika, telling them all he could of the Golden Lady and reluctantly, of the Grey Guardian. He explained that between the two of them, harmony reigned in the world, each holding the other and so it must always be. Tika asked why the Lady had not suggested the Dragons destroy the Guardian so she could be solely in command of these Balancing Scales?
    Fenj sighed. ‘No, no. Always the two there must be. Think Tika, all must have its opposite to balance it – daytime must have night-time to follow, Hot Season follows Cold. Think small one, how could you know you are joyful if you have never known sorrow?
    ‘This Balance between the Lady and the Grey One is already failing. One of the weights in Her care has been lost and so the scales dip in the Grey One’s favour and we see already the consequences beginning.’
    ‘You mean Nula?’
    Fenj hissed. ‘Her name is unspeakable, she is Forsaken.’ He calmed himself. ‘The Forsaken could have been healed but the sourness within her grew until it outbalanced the goodness in her spirit.
    ‘There was a time when she was the kindest of Dragons. She lost her first brood in a terrible ice storm. The storm came from nowhere while she was hunting and when she was able to reach her cave again, her three hatchlings were frozen in death. She sorrowed, but then appeared to be recovered. Her second brood died in their eggs – it sometimes happens so.
    ‘All the Treasury grieved for her in her losses but she had fosterlings and seemed content. Four Cold Seasons past, she did not arrive here at the Gather – Dragon Kin do not HAVE to Gather but most of us enjoy this time. It is when we renew old friendships and exchange news – a social time.
    ‘When the Forsaken came to the next Gathering, all remarked her changed. She told no one of her doings, kept aloof. And all noticed her manner of sneering criticism. Many Dragons avoided her company from that time – they told me she made them feel unsettled – and hatchlings were kept out of her way.’
    Fenj fell silent and Tika and Farn waited patiently. Finally he shivered his wings and concluded: ‘Perhaps I should have challenged her, forced her to take healing. Perhaps Krea would live still but for my negligence.’
    ‘No,’ said Tika slowly. ‘I think she must have found or been found by the Grey Guardian. Does he speak to you as the Lady Emla does Fenj?’
    Fenj was startled. ‘He has never bespoken me, but now you suggest it, it would seem plain that he COULD do so. You think he spoke to the Forsaken and encouraged her feelings of ill will?’
    Tika shrugged trying to explain her idea. ‘It just came to me when you spoke of the Guardian. The Lady speaks to you and you listen and tell the Treasury of her words and – the Forsaken is so very different to all the other Dragons I’ve encountered, I just thought. . . If she hears the Guardian tell her opposite things to the Lady, as you say everything has an opposite, which could account for her cruelty?’
    Farn yawned then looked guiltily apologetic. Fenj chuckled. ‘Indeed Farn, you have worked hard these few days. Take Tika and rest. The time approaches all too soon when you must leave here.’

Chapter Five

    Next morning, despite Fenj’s warning last night, Tika and Farn were dismayed to find Kija and Seti waiting to bid them farewell. Kija’s eyes were a buttery gold blaze as she told Farn not to be boastful or rash but to consider his actions always as reflections of his Treasury birth. She asked Tika to take care of Farn, to beware of letting him