“We are not in his dominion, yet,” Lirienne said. He had not drawn sword, but had brought both of his palms together in a strangely deliberate way that implied prayer without any of its actual reverence.
The familiar flew to Terrano. No, she thought, he flew to the butterfly. And now that she looked, she realized it had the appearance of a butterfly, but not its delicate, haphazard flight. Its colors were bright, the wings strangely glittery. And as she watched, she realized that the colors were not fixed; they were changing.
The familiar roared, its voice a kind of high screech given his size. Where the butterfly darted—with speed—from place to place, the familiar did not; his wings allowed him to hover as he inhaled. And inhaled. And inhaled.
“Terrano, watch out!” she shouted, and Terrano turned to see the familiar just as the small, translucent lizard exhaled.
No fool, Terrano leapt to the side, rolling along the ground, and uttering more unfamiliar Barrani as he did. Both Lirienne and Lord Barian appeared to be shocked by whatever it was he was saying. Bellusdeo didn’t, but then again, she lived with Mandoran.
A stream of silver smoke left the familiar’s open jaws, billowing as it expanded in a rush, like a kind of portable fog that could be wielded on command. It enveloped the courtyard, and Kaylin ran into it, unafraid. Bellusdeo did not move; Lord Barian attempted to withdraw. Lirienne, however, did not.
From his hands, sprouting suddenly, came a familiar globe; it covered him. It was permeable enough to allow Lord Barian entry. More than that, Kaylin didn’t see, because the fog lifted itself from the ground it had first touched and rose.
“I’m not sure this is wise,” Bellusdeo said, somewhere to Kaylin’s left.
Terrano continued to curse.
“We don’t want to hurt him!” Kaylin shouted. She could no longer see Hope.
“It will not hurt him,” a familiar voice replied. Her familiar. “Unless he attempts to control it or fight it, it will not cause him harm.”
The barrage of cursing stopped. “What are you doing?” Terrano demanded.
“I am attempting to contain the creature you were chasing,” came the reasonable reply. “Did you recognize it?”
“Not exactly.”
“You attempted to apprehend it.”
“Yes.” This was said with unraveling patience. “It wasn’t exactly subtle.”
To Kaylin, until Terrano began to chase it around the courtyard, it had been entirely inconsequential. “It looked like a butterfly.”
“Are you blind?” he shrieked. She could imagine his expression, which was just as well, because she couldn’t actually see it.
“She is not,” Bellusdeo replied. “To my eyes, and to the eyes of Lord Barian, it resembled a butterfly.”
Kaylin could not see a butterfly. She couldn’t see anyone. She couldn’t hear Lord Barian or Lirienne, either.
Lirienne?
No answer. She wheeled, then, heading back in the direction she’d come from. “Hope! Drop the fog!”
“That is not the way it works,” the familiar replied, “and I do not think it wise. The Lord of the West March attempts to protect himself, and his Warden.”
She knew, then, where the butterfly was headed. “He’s not answering me!”
“Kaylin—he’s the Lord of the West March,” Bellusdeo rumbled. And she did rumble. Kaylin stumbled, righting herself. Bellusdeo could speak perfect Dragon when in her human form. But Kaylin had a sinking feeling that wasn’t what was happening here. “He is not helpless, he is not an orphan or a foundling, he is not mortal. He has had to hold his title against all who would wrest it from him, by either force of arms or magic. You are not responsible for him.”
She felt the earth shake beneath her feet.
A plume of raw fire cut through the fog.
“I’ve got it!” Terrano shouted. She couldn’t track the direction of his voice; it seemed to surround her. The fog rippled; the familiar squawked in outrage, presumably at the Dragon’s fiery breath. “I have it now,” Terrano repeated. The fog continued its odd climb, and Terrano cursed liberally. Kaylin was too worried to memorize the words.
“Kaylin, can you do something about him?”
“I don’t think he thinks it’s safe.”
“He’s making it less safe for some of us! I’ve got the damn thing—tell him to cut it out!”
Shouting he doesn’t listen to me in front of Lirienne and Lord Barian didn’t seem like a wise idea.
It is not, Lirienne said. And we are both safe. He is yours?
He stays with me. Yes, he’s mine. I don’t think he’d do anything that he thought would really upset me.
But?
Well, he’s not me, and he’s not mortal; he can keep up with Mandoran and Annarion, but he doesn’t cause the issues they can—she stopped. Turned her thoughts to something else: Terrano’s language.
This amused the Lord of the West March. You are becoming wiser.
Can you see?
I see fog. And Lord Barian. I admit that the fog is more pleasant. No harm has come to us. Although it pains me to concur with a Dragon, Lord Bellusdeo is correct. I am not your responsibility.
Can you see her?
No.
“Bellusdeo—”
“Yes, I understand.” Her voice was a rumble of sound. Kaylin turned to her right, because unlike Terrano’s voice, Bellusdeo’s seemed to come from a concrete location. The fog drifted slowly away, and Lord Bellusdeo of the Dragon Court now stood in gleaming plate armor. Of course she did. Dragon clothing wasn’t magical; it didn’t change shape and form when its wearer did. It turned into expensive cloth scraps.
Both Lirienne and Barian froze as Bellusdeo crossed the courtyard to join Kaylin. The Dragon’s eyes were a dark orange. She carried no weapon; Dragon armor didn’t include swords. But they weren’t really necessary for Dragons. She couldn’t exactly bow well in the armor that she now wore, but ditching the armor—while it seldom seemed to cause Bellusdeo any embarrassment—wasn’t an option at the moment.
“Lord of the West March. Lord Barian.” She couldn’t bow, and didn’t make the attempt. “Terrano?”
They were staring at her, but there was, in their regard, both respect and something that might have been admiration. Kaylin did not understand the Barrani, and thought she never would. She had expected anger, fear, hostility.
Lirienne bowed to the Dragon. “We are unharmed,” he said quietly. “You considered this a danger?”
The Dragon exhaled. “I do not know what you’ve been told about my life before my return to these lands, but most of it was spent fighting Shadow. And that small creature was very like the small Shadows sent ahead to scout communities that were not—yet—infested.” She lifted her head. “Terrano?”
“Here,” Terrano replied. His voice echoed, and Kaylin felt a sudden, sharp chill in the air.
Damn it, she thought.
Bellusdeo’s eyes were almost red, because Dragon eyes were not quite the same as human eyes, and she caught sight of Terrano before Kaylin did. He didn’t seem to notice her.