Michelle Sagara (15 page)

* * *

She found servants. One man and one woman. They hadn’t, from the look of it, been conversing the way she was certain mortal servants would. But they were doing something. Her arms began to itch as she approached them. She was glad, then, that she’d chosen to wear the dress.

She was too tired to care much about tact or appropriate behavior. She wasn’t too tired to worry that Teela would be pissed at her. She left the ruder words out, which meant High Barrani as her chosen language of communication. “What are you doing?”

Their eyes were blue. It was a darker shade of blue than the usual; there hadn’t been a lot of green in these rooms. The man bowed. “We are securing the room. Mortals sleep.”

She really was in a bad mood. Everything made her suspicious. Even the explanation, which on the surface made sense. “No one is going to try to kill me—”

“You do not wear the dress in your sleep, Lord.”

She let her arms fall to her side, glancing at the layout of the hall. It was too narrow for sword work; daggers would be fine. But daggers against at least one mage? One Barrani mage? Toss-up.

Teela could—and occasionally did—use magic. She didn’t use it often. Kaylin couldn’t offhand think of another Barrani Hawk who could. She’d wondered about it at thirteen—and for several years after—because the mages who came to the Halls were pompous men who considered the ability
to
use magic a gift that set them above the rest of the people who had to work for a living.

Teela, however, was the only Lord to work as a Hawk. The rest of the Hawks—according to Teela—hadn’t taken the test of name. Kaylin had assumed, when she’d discovered Teela’s patrician background, that that was the difference. Maybe it hadn’t been. Maybe it was the test of name that somehow conferred that ability.

The test of name seemed to be a bit of a political sore spot for the denizens of the West March. Kaylin couldn’t believe that men and women who had survived it would work as servants.

The small dragon was sitting on her left shoulder, watching the servants. Watching Kaylin, as well. He didn’t seem to be concerned. Kaylin forced her hands to relax. These were Lirienne’s people. She recognized both of them; they hadn’t switched between shifts.

But they weren’t normally servants. She was now certain of it. She exhaled. “Were you both born in the West March?”

This caused them to exchange a glance, although they kept all expression off their faces. It was the woman who answered. “Yes.”

“Have you ever traveled to the High Court?”

“We have both made that pilgrimage. If you mean to ascertain whether or not we are Lords, we are not.”

“Actually, what I want to know is whether or not you’re normally servants.”

The woman’s eyes lightened; the man’s darkened. “We serve the Lord of the West March,” she said. “
Servant
has connotations in the High Halls that it does not in the West March. We are in the service of Lord Lirienne. It is he who decides what form that service takes, and where our specific talents are most needed.” She glanced at her companion. His eyes had not gotten any greener.

“You spent more time in Elantra than your friend.”

“I spent a great deal of time in Elantra,” she replied—in Elantran. “I will not ask you to return to your room, but I must warn you, there is some difficulty in the halls at the moment.”

Kaylin glanced at the small dragon; he was staring at the door farthest from where the three stood.

“What difficulty?” she asked, reaching uneasily for the daggers she always carried with her, although they weren’t in the usual place.

The drawing of the daggers caused the man’s eyes to go all the way to midnight-blue. The woman’s were the more traditional “this is bad” color with which Kaylin was most familiar.

“You are not to fight in that dress,” he said. “Lord Kaylin.” The title was clearly afterthought.

“I’m not going to stand here and do nothing if—”

“When,” the woman said, as the itchiness of Kaylin’s arms became a burning that spread across her entire skin. “Lord Kaylin, please retreat.”

But the back of Kaylin’s neck was burning as she turned to look down the small hall. “I don’t think that’s going to help,” she said in Elantran. She added a single Leontine phrase. The small dragon’s claws did their usual attempt to burrow. He hissed.

Kaylin didn’t even tell him not to breathe, because she could now hear the sounds of fighting in the hall beyond her rooms. She was surprised when he lifted his wings, because he didn’t attempt to fly; instead, he spread one until it covered her face.

In theory, his body was translucent, not transparent. In theory.

But this wouldn’t be the first time she’d looked at the world through the veil of his wings.

“Lord Kaylin?”

“There’s magic here,” was her flat reply. The woman spoke to the man. The man didn’t speak at all for one held breath. When he did, Kaylin didn’t catch the word; it was almost—but not quite—inaudible. She was certain it was a useful word—and this was only the second time in her life she’d heard someone Barrani use one.

“Lord Kaylin!” the man shouted.

Kaylin didn’t need the warning. Black streaks appeared on the back wall, growing in number as she watched. They looked almost like the streaks fingers put on cold windows in the Halls, but there was something about their shape and the way they appeared that implied clumsy, hurried writing.

She couldn’t tell if what she saw was visible to the Barrani; she didn’t look back to see their reaction. She didn’t have to. The man pushed past her, moving to stand directly in front. The woman stayed where she was.

Lirienne, what’s happening?

No answer, but Kaylin could sense his presence. She was afraid to push for more than that because she knew he was fighting.

Nightshade—

We are under attack,
he replied. He had no trouble fighting and talking, at least not this way.

Yes, I guessed that—by what? The Ferals?

The black on the wall—or what she could see of the wall through Barrani back—had darkened and spread. It no longer looked like writing; it reached ceiling and spread from the wall to the surface above; she was certain it was doing the same thing on the floor.

Kaylin, what is happening?

Look.

At the moment, it is not feasible.

There’s a large, black patch on the wall I’m facing, and it’s spreading. There’s magic here, and it’s growing; it is
not
a small spell.

You are wearing the blood of the green?

Yes. But...I didn’t notice that stopping the forest Ferals. I don’t think—

Evarrim is down.

She was silent for a full beat; even her thoughts failed. She found them again, quickly.
Where is Teela? Can you see Teela?

She is with me,
the Lord of the West March replied.
We are fighting our way to you now.

Kaylin shook her head, although he couldn’t see it.
I don’t think you’re going to get here in time.

What Nightshade found inadvisable, Lirienne now did. He looked. It was an odd sensation; Nightshade’s touch was so unobtrusive she was largely unaware of it. Lirienne’s was not; she had to fight the instinctive urge to push him back.

He slid away again. Kaylin almost told his servants that he was on his way, but managed to shut her mouth before stupid words escaped them. They’d only wonder how she knew, and the answer was
so
not public information.

She reached out, caught the Barrani man by the shoulder, and pulled him back; he allowed it. “What do you see?”

He ignored the question. To the woman, he said, “We take the front door.” He lifted his arms, held them, palms out, in front of him as he continued to back down the hall.

The small dragon squawked.

“Yes,” Kaylin told him. “Buy us whatever time you can.”

He flew. He flew past the Barrani man who’d inserted himself as a shield between Kaylin and whatever was forming in her apartments. She turned toward the Barrani woman and headed away from the growing darkness. She stopped when she reached the door, and grabbed the woman, in much the same way she’d grabbed her partner.

The woman froze instantly.

“Not a good idea,” Kaylin said, her voice muted. It was true—she could hear the sounds of fighting. She could hear—and this was worse—the guttural roar of an angry beast, and in the depths of that rumble, syllables. But she could feel magic, and it was the wrong magic; it was too strong, too familiar.

Lirienne! Don’t come down the hall—my door is trapped!

“Is there any other way out of this apartment?” Kaylin demanded.

The woman didn’t even hesitate. She nodded.

“We need to leave. Someone’s sketched an Arcane rune on my door, and I think it’s going to go off if the Lord of the West March comes anywhere near it.” Her legs ached and the back of her neck felt rubbed raw.

“Gaedin,” the woman said.

Kaylin looked down the hall. The shadows had spread, inching their way across the floor as if—as if they were the shadows contained in the heart of the fiefs.

He nodded. “We will not have much time,” he told her.

The small dragon squawked.

“We’re leaving,” Kaylin told him. She didn’t reach for him, because he was now flapping in front of Gaedin’s face. He was facing the back wall.

“Leave him,” Kaylin told the Barrani servant as he reached—with some reluctance—for the small dragon’s hind legs. “There’s nothing here that can hurt him.”

He didn’t argue. He did take the lead; the woman surrendered it without hesitation. Which was good; he didn’t attempt to head into the bedroom or out the arch that was diagonal from it, and those were the only two possible exits Kaylin could see.

Instead, he began to descend through a patch of floor—without lifting it first.

This did not, on the other hand, make Kaylin’s skin feel any worse, although considering the exit and the end of the hall, she might not have noticed anyway. There must be stairs, given his movements.

“Lord Kaylin,” the woman at her back said, voice low.

Kaylin took a step forward, and fell.

* * *

Gaedin was waiting to catch her. Given that her hands weren’t full, Kaylin might have been able to land—but her ankle hadn’t recovered from the last fall, and she really wasn’t looking forward to an all-out sprint if it became necessary.

“Serian?” Gaedin said, voice low.

“Here.” The perfect neutrality of the servant’s expression had fallen by the wayside. It made Kaylin feel vastly more comfortable. Given the Arcane rune and the creeping shadow, this was stupid, but sometimes she was stupid. “Does this happen frequently where you’re involved?” Serian asked Kaylin, in slightly brittle Elantran.

“Define
frequently.
”

Gaedin looked at Kaylin with slightly widened eyes. “I now understand why we were given the roles we were given.” He headed down the hall, pausing to cast a spell that meant Kaylin wasn’t tripping over her own feet in the dark, since it
was
dark here.

It was also uneven, because the ground seemed to be badly carved rock. Kaylin looked up, and saw no hatch, no trapdoor, and no break in the height of what was clearly tunnel. But she hadn’t felt the dislocation—and nausea—that usually accompanied portal transitions.

“You’re sensitive to magical energies,” Gaedin said. He surprised her; he spoke in reasonable, if accented, Elantran.

“Yes.”

“Is there magic here?”

Kaylin frowned. “Yours. Where exactly are we?”

Neither answered.

Squawk. The small dragon alighted on her shoulder. He remained upright and alert, staring ahead into the tunnel. Gaedin’s expression made clear that he hadn’t expected to see the small dragon again anytime soon.

“He’s like a cat,” Kaylin explained. “He pretty much goes where he wants; I don’t think there’s anywhere he can’t reach, and no, it doesn’t seem to matter if there’s magic preventing anyone else from entering. I think he wants us to move.”

“He’s not the only one,” Serian said. “We’ll pick up weapons as we go.”

* * *

If she wondered what weapons could be picked up in a rocky tunnel, the answer was swords. Swords, bracers, and rudimentary armor. They’d been placed in a standing crate in an alcove carved into the rock.

Kaylin.

We’re safe. We’re not in my rooms anymore, but we’re safe.
Have you found the Lord of the West March?

We know where he is. It is not possible to join him at the moment.

Who is
we?

Corporal Handred is with us.

Frustrated, she looked; she caught a glimpse of Andellen. He was carrying a familiar Barrani Arcanist.
There are Ferals near the Lord of the West March. And, Nightshade? I think someone was trying to open a portal to the outlands. In my rooms.

Silence. It was the word
outlands
that had caused it. He didn’t ask if she was certain; he knew she wasn’t. But he also knew that she was. Something about the magic that was spreading across the hall had reminded her—for reasons she couldn’t pin down—of the door near the no-man’s-land between the fiefs of Nightshade and Tiamaris.

How would that even be possible?
she asked.

No answer.

She added it to her list of things that made no sense as she followed the Barrani.

* * *

“Why are you hobbling?” Serian finally asked. Her eyes were Barrani blue. Gaedin’s hadn’t shaded much away from midnight.

“I fell and twisted my ankle. It’ll support my weight.”

“If you’re standing still,” Serian replied. She hadn’t drifted out of Elantran, but Kaylin thought she understood why. It was always easier to say forbidden things in a language that wasn’t your mother tongue.

“How much farther are we going?”

They glanced at each other.

“Are we going to come up somewhere in Lord Lirienne’s hall?”