Bressarian squared his shoulders and glanced, briefly, to the left. He then placed one hand on the very closed gates and spoke. The words didn’t carry to Kaylin’s ears. They clearly carried to Helen’s.
* * *
The Avatar of Kaylin’s home was an older woman with silvered hair and eyes with accumulated smile-lines in the corners. Her voice was gentle, except when she was annoyed; her words were gentle, regardless.
That Avatar had vanished. In her place was a giant in what appeared to be polished, obsidian armor. Her eyes were the same color as that armor; the whites had disappeared. Terrano spoke a series of words that Kaylin caught half of—they appeared to be Barrani.
Beneath her feet, the ground rumbled; she almost expected the floor to split. But she realized, as she braced herself, bending into her knees in case she needed necessary momentum to leap, that it wasn’t the ground. Bellusdeo was roaring.
Bellusdeo was roaring while the aide to an important High Court family was at the gates. Mandoran appeared beside Terrano; the rest of the cohort was still somewhere else. Mandoran’s eyes were Barrani blue, but they still had some white to them. “This is bad,” he said.
“Can you calm Bellusdeo down? Helen won’t let them in, but we can’t afford to have her go full Dragon while Barrani are knocking at the door.”
“She’s not the problem,” Mandoran replied.
“Tell me what the problem is. Right now.”
“The would-be visitor.”
“Which one?”
“The one who’s more or less normal.” He could see the other two. She wondered if Teela would, and mentally kicked herself. Teela didn’t materialize out of thin air the way Mandoran and Terrano could; no, she came up the stairs from the training rooms at a full-on in-pursuit run. Tain wasn’t far behind.
“What did he do? What did he say?”
“He attempted to invoke Helen’s command phrase. It’s like a name,” Terrano added, “but vastly less complicated. You have problems even trying to look at complex True Names; you’ve said that yourself. You aren’t the only one. Buildings like Helen were created for use by the powerful, but in times of war, the powerful ceased to exist.
“In order to make certain that the access to the building itself didn’t cease with them, there were invocations created that would allow the command of the building to be passed on.”
“And that’s what he just said.”
“Yes.”
Kaylin turned to Helen, understanding the change in her Avatar.
“It’s not going to force Helen to obey him.”
“No,” Helen said. She was angry.
Teela, however, had reached the front door. Without asking, she opened it. Kaylin was surprised; she was mostly certain Helen wouldn’t have let that door budge if she’d tried it herself.
“No,” Helen said again, the single word resonating beneath the ceiling of the foyer as if it were a miniature storm. “But Teela assures me that this is political.”
“Can you keep the other two from coming through an open gate?”
“Teela has no intention of opening that gate,” Helen replied.
“That means no,” Terrano added. His eyes had not reverted to regular Barrani eyes. “And even if the gate remains closed, I’m not certain we’ll be able to keep them out indefinitely. They shouldn’t be here,” he added.
“And water is wet.”
“Yes, it is—why is that relevant?”
“Are they trying to do here what they did to Alsanis?”
“That’s the worry, yes. It’s easier with Alsanis,” he added. “Alsanis is Hallionne; he is meant to be host to guests. He is sentinel against Shadow, but he doesn’t automatically expect the Barrani who comprise the largest part of his duties to carry that Shadow with them.”
Tain followed on Teela’s heels. Kaylin followed on Tain’s. Or tried. Helen’s armor-clad arm came up so quickly Kaylin bounced off it. Hope squawked, but it wasn’t the angry squawk.
“Not you,” Helen said.
“Terrano?”
Kaylin grimaced.
“I’d rather not be seen,” he said.
“Yes, I get that. But seeing you might put the other two—the ones that are less visible—off their stride.”
“Or it will alert them to his presence. He is not widely believed to be part of the cohort; he was not, after your duties in the green, among the guests who remained with Alsanis. Or who accompanied you here. If your suspicions are correct, much of their knowledge about what we will politely call an indeterminate state came from Terrano.
“What they’ve learned in his absence—and what he’s learned in his absence, as well—is not known. It would be best, at this point, that they remain ignorant. Terrano can be impulsive.”
“And water is still wet.” Although Kaylin could have said this, she hadn’t. She turned, as the doorway grew more crowded. Mandoran had arrived.
“Annarion’s coming, as well. Everyone else is trying to pin Sedarias down.”
Helen nodded her approval. “Annarion is levelheaded when his brother is not involved.” When he arrived, however, he looked a lot less levelheaded. Kaylin grimaced.
Mandoran began to visibly waver in Kaylin’s field of vision. In both eyes. Annarion glanced at Mandoran, who nodded, the gesture and expression so grim he actually gave off a Barrani vibe for a change.
They walked out of the doors side by side, following in the wake of Teela and Tain. Teela was not dressed for Court, but she wasn’t dressed for the Halls of Law, either, and as she approached the gate, she placed a hand on the hilt of her sword. Kaylin hadn’t even noticed the sword, which said something.
“Are you sure I can’t go out there?” Kaylin asked without much hope.
Helen didn’t answer. Kaylin realized that she could insist, and Helen would allow it. But she thought Helen would be far more worried, and therefore more likely to react in a way that might have political repercussions they wanted to avoid.
It’s why Bellusdeo wasn’t here and heading out the doors, either.
Kaylin poked her familiar. He bit her finger, without drawing blood. But he also shook his head, shifting the position of his wing so that it once again covered both of her eyes.
Mandoran and Annarion reached Teela and Tain, and then both stepped to the side of the stone drive. She realized, as they did, that the shadows they cast on what looked, even through the familiar’s wing, like normal grass were not the shadows she would have cast had she been standing where they were standing.
“No,” Helen said quietly. “If Hope removes his wing, you will no longer see the boys. But the two who are effectively invisible can see them quite clearly. No threat has been made; no warning has been uttered. This is the heart of Barrani politics; all of the possible and probable death is implied in every action.”
“Mandoran or Annarion just said something, didn’t they?”
“Yes. But I believe it’s Teela who is having the greatest effect. I find her sword disturbing,” Helen added in a much more normal voice. Kaylin glanced at her. She had shifted out of armor into her normal clothing, but her eyes were still obsidian.
“Are they still trying to invoke commands?”
“No. I think they believe that someone more powerful has taken control of me.”
“Well, technically, that’s not wrong.”
“It’s worrying,” Helen continued, as if Kaylin hadn’t spoken. “Because if that’s their supposition, they will be attempting to remove the person who has that control.”
“Either that or they’ll just wait until we all descend on the High Halls, which would make more sense.”
“I think they hoped to enter and prevent that from occurring. If I had not damaged myself quite so badly in the past, all of my guests would likely be dead. They clearly do not want the cohort to en
ter the High Halls.”
Chapter 15
Things at the front gate were not going well. Angry Barrani—for someone with Kaylin’s childhood experience—were a flag that could be seen at a distance, because distance was the only way to survive that anger. Time spent with the Hawks had lessened the visceral fear. The Hawks contained both Barrani and bureaucracy, so some anger was inevitable.
Bressarian was an angry Barrani. Kaylin couldn’t see Teela’s face, but the line of the Barrani Hawk’s shoulders implied that she wasn’t particularly cheerful, either.
“Is he demanding that we let him in?”
“I don’t think that he would be foolish enough to make that demand of Teela,” Helen replied.
“He’s probably learned bad habits from Coravante,” Terrano said. “He wants to be a power, so he’s trying to act like he is one. Weren’t you ever told that?” he asked Kaylin.
“Told what?”
“If you want to be a power, you have to act like you already are one?”
“No. I was raised in a rougher part of town.”
“What were you told?”
“Keep your head down, don’t attract attention because all attention is bad, learn when to run like hell.” She shrugged. “Don’t get involved in games of power when you don’t have any. Stuff like that.”
“Were you expected to live your entire life like that?”
Fief shrug. “It beat the alternative.” Until it hadn’t. “Being dead,” she added, in case Terrano was slow on the uptake.
“Teela’s just dropped her hand to her sword hilt.”
“I believe he believes that Teela is the master of this house,” Helen told them both. “And her refusal to even allow him entry is personally vexing.” She smiled, but this time the smile was cold, hard and more than a little smug. “One of his companions is attempting to invoke words of command. I believe it is the woman.”
“Meaning she doesn’t believe Teela’s in charge.”
“I believe that is what it indicates. I am glad you are here,” she added. “It reminds me of the possible cost of losing my temper. Yes,” she added before Kaylin could speak. “I am angry. It has been a long time since I have felt this particular anger. I hope the two do not find a point of entry—I cannot guarantee that they would survive.”
“They could do a lot of damage,” Kaylin said, thinking of Alsanis.
“Yes, but so can I, dear. You have had a remarkable array of guests since you became my tenant, and I have had to expand my understanding of the spaces they occupy in order to properly house—or contain—them. Gilbert’s last visit was especially trying, but I am glad that he did return.” Speaking seemed to calm her.
“It does. It reminds me of the reasons I became what I am now. I am not all that I was, and at times I regret what I lack—but you would not be here had I made that choice. And I like your home, although it is more...lively. Oh, dear.”
Teela had drawn her sword.
The blade seemed to absorb the sunlight; it didn’t so much reflect it as glow with it, and the area around Teela darkened in comparison. No, Kaylin thought, eyes narrowing, not in comparison. Had she ever seen Teela use that sword? Did she want to see it now?
Without thought, she headed out the door. Or tried. “Helen.”
“Teela does not require your aid at this time.”
“Helen, please. It’s my home, not Teela’s. She wouldn’t be living here at all if she’d managed to talk sense into the cohort.”
“And you want them to know that the person they have to kill in order to possibly gain entry and access to your guests is you?”
Kaylin let her hand fall away. “It sounds stupid when put that way.”
“Because it is stupid,” Terrano snapped. “You’re the only mortal here—you’re the weakest.”
“Severn’s here.”
“You honestly think he’s easier to kill than you?”
Kaylin shrugged, but that took effort; she was annoyed. “Neither of us are dead yet, and—”
Something shattered. Kaylin wheeled toward the foyer windows and almost froze there. This time, when she tried to exit the front door, Helen didn’t stop her.
* * *
She brought the sword down, Severn said as Kaylin strode down the drive, her hands balled in fists so that she wouldn’t draw both daggers.
Where are you?
At an upstairs window. Helen thought to alert me to the possible danger. I’m almost at the door, now.
Don’t come out yet.
I will stay with Helen.
Teela’s sword arm was slightly lifted, but the position of her back hadn’t changed. Tain, however, was now combat ready. He didn’t carry a sword; he was now sporting two long knives.
Brought it down on what? She’s on the inside of Helen’s boundary!
There were no bodies, no corpses and no obvious blood on either side of the fence; Teela hadn’t inserted the blade of the sword through the tines of the gates to impale Bressarian. Nor had she brought her sword down through the iron tines of the fence, which was what Kaylin had been desperately afraid she’d done.
But she’d hit something.
The familiar squawked in her ear, adjusting his position on her shoulder, and as he did, Kaylin could see the shards that had fallen in a jagged circle around Teela’s feet. They were melting, their edges disappearing as they slowly blended together.
Kaylin’s arms, legs and marked skin suddenly caught fire. Or that’s what it felt like. She stumbled, gritting her teeth as the movement of cloth and leather against that skin made it feel like the skin was being removed.
When this was over—and if she survived—she was going to go to the Arkon’s library, endure his annoyance and his condescension and make him tell her everything he knew about the Chosen. She’d study it without his advice, but most of his prized collection wasn’t conveniently written in either Barrani or Elantran. She was tired of her own ignorance. She had stumbled through crises trusting luck and instinct; she had taken the only gift the words had provided—the healing—and used that power without ambivalence about its source.
But she needed to know what the words did. She needed to know why some magic made her want to cut her own limbs off just to avoid the pain, and others—that were just as obvious, just as visible—did not. Maybe the Arkon wouldn’t have answers. But there were clues that might lead to answers in his collection, and she could handle the detective work now.
Even if the marks were somehow a dark conspiracy, even if their existence had caused the deaths of those children over half her lifetime ago, she hadn’t murdered them and their murderers hadn’t managed to turn Kaylin into a monster. Being ignorant wouldn’t help her avoid that eventual fate if that’s what was in the cards. Knowledge would.
She exhaled and inhaled in short, sharp breaths, riding the pain, waiting for it to subside; she assumed that the pain was caused by the remnants of what now lay across the ground.
Mandoran barked a command in a language that wasn’t quite Barrani. Kaylin could hear it, but couldn’t quite make sense of it in the small gaps between waves of pain. She meant to tell him as much, but Hope bit her ear. Hard. She barely felt it over the rest of the pain.
She did, however, feel Spike, because if Hope had to settle for biting her ear—which, given his wing position, must have been almost impossible—Spike didn’t. She’d named him—badly, according to almost everyone—because he was a round ball composed primarily of spikes. They were clearly extendable. His attempt to get her attention, unlike Hope’s, worked. She only hoped that there was something left of her hand, because her instinctive attempt to dislodge him utterly failed.
“Cut it out!” she shouted. “You’re going to upset Helen!”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” Terrano was beside her. She glanced at him and froze. Sp
ike’s spikes had traveled through her hand—but all of the pain she experienced was now concentrated in that hand. Her hearing returned, as did Mandoran’s voice, but it was Terrano who caught and held her attention.
If it weren’t for his voice, she wouldn’t have recognized him. All of his body was somehow translucent, and it had spread upward, thinning as if it were traveling toward the sky in a rush. He had arms, but his legs seemed fused into a pillar, and the light he shed implied fire—if fire were the color of the green.
“What are you doing?” Kaylin demanded.
Mandoran, however, had moved to stand beside this iteration of Terrano. He reached out with a hand that looked very much like a normal Barrani hand, and Terrano grasped it, flickers of something that looked like green fire forming fingers.
Spike said, He is containing a threat.
What threat?
Spike’s answer was a word she didn’t know. It set her teeth on edge almost instantly, there was so much high-pitched buzzing in it.
I didn’t understand a word of that—if it was more than one word.
He tried again. The third time, he said, Shadow.
Teela did not sheathe her sword. Nor did she attempt to take a step outside of the circle that enclosed her. Tain stepped back. Kaylin was fairly certain he couldn’t see what she now saw—but the two Hawks had been partners for Kaylin’s entire tenure in the Hawks, and in a time of crisis, they were practically one person, but with the competence of three.
Annarion moved—but only to step onto the drive, readjusting his position because Mandoran was now with Terrano.
“Teela!” Terrano shouted.
Teela didn’t move. She didn’t sheathe her sword. Bressarian was speaking. Kaylin inhaled and began to walk up the drive. She paused beside Tain. Tain’s eyes were midnight blue. He didn’t look in her direction. He did, however, send a few words her way. “Go back inside the house.”
Teela didn’t move, either. She didn’t seem willing to take her eyes off Bressarian. Bressarian wasn’t the problem.
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