Free Perilous Shadows: Book 6 Circles of Light by E.M. Sinclair

was filled
with an enormous bulky shape, which blocked the light.
Uncomfortably close was a long scaled face with a faceted eye
bigger than his fist. The eye whirred lemon, yellow, gold, with
white and red flashes, and Rhaki felt as though his mind and body
had been turned inside out, shaken, and restored to its proper
state. His knees buckled, his eyes closed and he fought against a
wave of nausea. Then he felt calmness spreading through him and he
risked opening his eyes a fraction. The large shape, the face, and
the eye were still there. He swallowed and managed to lock his legs
so that he’d stay upright. He opened his mouth and a voice spoke
inside his mind.
    ‘I am Kija of the
Dragon Kindred. And you are Rhaki. But not.’
    The flashing colours in
the eye so close to him calmed, and settled to a buttery gold. His
visitor’s head craned past his rigid body and peered into the inner
cave. There was a certain amount of rustling, scraping and huffing,
and Kija managed to recline in the entrance. Rhaki saw that his
visitor really was a Dragon. He had only the vaguest memory of
seeing Dragons fly among the mountains west of Gaharn. His sister,
Emla, had been interested in them he seemed to recall. The Dragon’s
head was set on a long muscular neck, and as she turned to face him
again, he saw two small triangular scales set high to the sides of
the huge eyes. The scales flattened, and Rhaki guessed they
protected a different type of ear to those of most
creatures.
    But the eyes commanded
his attention as the voice spoke in his head again.
    ‘Emla is a
friend.’
    ‘She is?’ Rhaki spoke
aloud and in some surprise. Could this Dragon have read his
thought?
    ‘Well of course I did,’
the Dragon snapped. ‘Many of us use mind speech but we have found
most of you humans cannot do so.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘Your memories have
been tampered with.’
    Rhaki would like to sit
down but felt that would put him at a complete disadvantage, so he
leaned against the wall as casually as he could manage.
    ‘How do you know me? I
mean, Rhaki?’ He paused. This was not straightforward.
    The Dragon huffed, her
breath forming a cloud of vapour in the chill air, uncomfortably
similar to smoke.
    ‘Your mind is Rhaki. I
do not know who occupied the body you now use, but it was given to
you voluntarily. I would have killed you if it had been
otherwise.’
    The tone was calm,
dispassionate, but Rhaki believed the words utterly.
    ‘Do you remember
others?’ Now Kija sounded curious. ‘What of Ryla, Nesh, Iska, Cho
Petak, Bark?’
    Rhaki frowned in
concentration. ‘Bark was a friend from my childhood. The other
names sound familiar but,’ he shook his head. ‘The memory slips
away as I try to reach for it. Cho Petak is a bad name.’
    ‘Have you felt him
here?’
    ‘No. I have felt
nothing since I woke here. I can reach some power but I have
enjoyed being alone.’
    Kija remained silent,
watching this man who looked old, as humans judge age. Forgetting
his dignity, Rhaki slid down the wall and sat hugging his
knees.
    ‘The one who pushed me
into this body, he said I had family, to whom I owed reparation.
You seem to know me – what have I done?’
    Kija’s prismed eyes
whirred darker for a moment as she studied the man before her. Then
she sighed. This was going to be a long, painful,
evening.
     
    The sun was above the
mountains to the left of the cave when Rhaki staggered outside next
morning. He had only slept briefly, just before dawn. His mind had
reeled at what the golden Dragon had told him and, even worse,
shown him, through pictures from her own memories. He had wept at
the horrors she’d described to him, unable to disbelieve what he
learnt: the information snapped into places where there had been
only gaps in his mind too neatly to be coincidence. When the first
shock had subsided a little, he had been astounded by the Dragon’s
compassion, and finally he had fallen asleep to the sound of a
gentle crooning song.
    Now he