War had scarred them all, destroying any lives they had planned before they were swept up in its currents.
Alsanis created a tall, rectangular arch; Kaylin watched as it went up, inch by inch, from both the left and the right, meeting at last in the unusual keystone at its height. There was a word carved out of the keystone that seemed to glow, and she looked at her arms almost automatically. Her own marks were flat.
To Kaylin’s eyes, the portal resembled a mirror—a normal one. The central image it contained coalesced out of multi-hued, swirling fog, until it turned into a flat, almost empty plain.
“Yes,” Alsanis said, to Kaylin’s unasked question. “In general, we attempt to enforce a familiar landscape upon these pathways. It is far easier for those who choose to walk them not to stray.”
“And today?”
“That shift in appearance requires more power, and more planning. Some essential part of the path itself is diverted into maintaining its appearance.” He did not need to point out all the reasons why that was a bad idea today.
Kaylin’s gaze returned to the portal. Something was moving across the plain; it seemed to be running toward them. As it grew closer, she realized that it was not one thing, but two; they looked like long-legged animals, too light of foot and musculature to be horses. Only when they were almost at the portal did she recognize them. Or at least their faces. Grimacing, she told the cohort and the Dragon, “They’re safe.”
Bellusdeo eyed them dubiously.
“It’s Winston and one of his brothers.”
“And Winston and his brothers are?”
“The core of the Hallionne are people. Different races, but...people. I have no idea what Alsanis used to be; I suspect Orbaranne was once human. Bertolle was neither. When Bertolle chose to become a Hallionne, his brothers remained with him. They were sleeping. I woke them up on the way to the West March my first time through. They...don’t really understand bodies.”
“They do,” Terrano said quietly. “They just don’t understand our bodies.”
*
Winston was delighted to see Kaylin. He was delighted to see the cohort. He was momentarily stunned at the sight of Bellusdeo, but not in the usual Barrani way. His passably Barrani head, attached to a much longer neck, swiveled from person to person until Kaylin felt queasy.
“Winston, please—just take a normal Barrani shape.”
“Oh. Sorry. We had to move at speed and we were forbidden faster modes of transportation, so we had to improvise,” Winston helpfully explained, while the rest of his body melted and reassembled itself beneath his face. “The Consort is waiting with Kariastos.”
“Did you have any trouble finding us?”
The question confused Winston, who glanced at his brother. His brother had also disassembled and reassembled himself, and was blinking rapidly. When he opened his mouth to answer, he didn’t use words; something very like a screeching insect buzz left his lips instead.
Spike whirred to life, and answered.
The two brothers exchanged a glance, and this time it was Winston who spoke.
“Can you understand them?” Kaylin asked Alsanis.
“Yes, Lord Kaylin.”
“Can you translate what they’re saying so it makes sense to me?”
A longer pause. “I am uncertain. Your friend is capable of communicating across species, and he may be able to explain the situation. I believe there is some concern.”
“About Spike’s presence?”
“About the portal paths.”
“Were you two attacked on the way here?” Kaylin asked.
Winston blinked. “No.”
“Why are you worried about Spike?”
“I believe that he’ll be noticed.”
“...And you weren’t worried about being noticed yourselves.”
“No—I told you, we avoided forms of travel that would be notable.”
Bellusdeo coughed into her hand.
“There are hunters abroad,” Winston continued.
“And that’s different from the norm.”
He nodded gravely. “Something is waking, Lord Kaylin.”
She blinked. “Why are you calling me that?”
Winston blinked as well, but with more obvious confusion and less grimace. “We were told by Bertolle that that is the correct form of address. And that we must endeavor to use it.”
“Bertolle was wrong. You can call me Private Neya, if you absolutely insist on using something that isn’t my name.” Which was irrelevant. Kaylin mentally kicked herself. “What do you mean, something’s waking?”
The two brothers exchanged a glance, and the other brother then spoke, whirring and clicking at Spike. Spike replied in kind, and as he talked, Winston forgot about his eyes; they lost their resemblance to Barrani eyes, widening in his face until the upper half was a kind of black mess that resembled open eyes seen through a magnifying glass.
All of the cohort found this obviously disturbing, judging by their expressions. Bellusdeo, orange-eyed, turned to Kaylin. “You are certain they are safe?”
Kaylin nodded. In a much quieter voice, she added, “They’re not quite used to having bodies like ours. I think. When they first woke, they reminded me of foundlings; they were extremely excited to see what these bodies could do. I think one of them grew both arms by several yards, and knotted them.”
“That is...not comforting.”
“It was very helpful when we were on the portal paths. They literally threw themselves down and became a road we could follow, which would occasionally open its eyes and mouths beneath our feet.” Kaylin grimaced, remembering it. “But they were the reason we managed to travel in more or less the same direction. If you fall off the portal paths, you wander a lot.”
“Do you think that was the intent with the cohort? That they fall off those paths and become lost?”
“It’s a thought.”
“Which means no.”
“I think someone wants Sedarias out of the picture. I don’t think they care whether or not the rest of the cohort arrives—but I could be wrong.”
“You’re wrong,” Sedarias said. She glanced at Terrano, and her expression softened.
“Terrano, you said you ducked into Hallionne Orbaranne’s space because something was chasing you?”
He nodded, his own expression uncharacteristically grim. “There are often things that will hurt you, off the pathways in the outlands. But most of them will hurt you unintentionally. They’re just not equipped to interact with people like you. Winston—I’m going to assume you came up with that name—is a good example. He’s flexible, and he can exist in a bunch of different states. He’s more aware of the dangers out there because he can.”
“Was the thing you were hiding from the same thing Winston’s worried about?”
“It shouldn’t be.” Terrano frowned.
“Is it possible that you attracted attention while you were exploring? And now that you have, something that wasn’t aware of us is now searching?”
The hesitation before the answer was longer than it needed to be. Kaylin chalked it down as maybe. She was therefore surprised when Winston said, “No. It is possible that he did attract attention; he is not like the others here. But what is hunting now is far more like him than we are. Something is waking,” he said again.