One by one, he pulled the cohort out of it. Allaron was next; he was as large as Kaylin remembered, towering over the rest of his cohort by half a head. It was almost comical to see Terrano supporting him, but he didn’t disperse as Sedarias had done. Sedarias, in turn, had come to stand slightly in front of Kaylin and Bellusdeo, and Kaylin was certain she was giving directions—to Allaron, at least. They were bound by True Name. Whatever she had done to breach the invisible threshold, she had clearly communicated to the rest of her friends. Whatever cut Kaylin off from the small host of people to whom she was likewise connected did not appear to affect the cohort. Then again, they were in this space together.
Valliant came next; his name in other circumstances still made Kaylin snicker. Fallessian, Serralyn, Torrisant, Karian and finally Eddorian, joined them. They were, to a person, as ghostly as Sedarias; none of them, however, looked as annoyed. No, Kaylin thought, she wasn’t annoyed, she was angry. If her eyes had had color, they’d be midnight blue.
Terrano turned to Kaylin once the last of the cohort were as present as they were going to get. He glanced at the familiar, his natural suspicion and caution immediately obvious. The familiar generally glared at the former member of the cohort, but he wasn’t doing that now; instead, he was surveying them all from Kaylin’s shoulder—which, given the difference in height, should have looked ridiculous, but didn’t.
The cohort couldn’t speak in any way that Kaylin could hear.
They suddenly turned toward her, all eyes moving as one, which was kind of creepy until she realized they were looking at the familiar. He was squawking, but quietly.
“This is going to get complicated,” the Hawk told the Dragon. “Spike?”
“I am here.”
“Can you hear them?”
There was a very long pause as the spiked silver ball digested the question. “You cannot hear them?” he finally asked, with far more hesitance than he generally displayed.
“No. Neither the Dragon nor I can hear them.”
“Terrano can?”
“Terrano,” Terrano said, “can. But not clearly, and not well.” He hesitated himself, and then added, “they can clearly hear each other.” Again, Kaylin thought there was something wistful in his comment, but he spoiled it by adding, “Listening to Sedarias in her current mood, on the other hand, anyone sane could do without.”
“She looks angry.”
“She’s beyond angry.”
“What happened to them?”
“They encountered a trap.”
“That thing we saw? The Shadow?”
He nodded. “It’s not a complicated Shadow.” Glancing at Kaylin’s left hand, he added, “Spike is complicated. This one wasn’t. But we spent centuries figuring out ways around Alsanis and his various walls and cages. Sedarias realized what was happening just before it did happen, and they all managed to avoid it.”
“So...their state is voluntary?”
He winced. “None of them were as good at it as I was. And Sedarias isn’t—wasn’t—notably flexible. She and Annarion weren’t the best.”
Kaylin had seen Annarion alter his shape—without intent—before. She disagreed with Terrano, but kept it to herself.
He glanced at Kaylin again, exhaled, and said, “But she heard you when you called her name. They all heard you.”
“Did they hear me because Sedarias heard me?”
He shook his head.
“You’re certain?”
“They are.”
“If it’s possible,” the Dragon interjected, “could we have the rest of this discussion somewhere else? I’m not entirely certain we’re safe here.”
Unfortunately for the Dragon, who was practicing common sense, Spike said, “If you desire it, I can translate for you. I did not realize your hearing was so inadequate.”
*
Bellusdeo had had enough experience with Gilbert that she barely flinched when Spike spoke. And she had had enough experience with being a captive pawn to Shadow, or the Shadow in Ravellon, that she was willing—with effort—to see Spike as someone who was, when free, no threat to all of the rest of the living. But it was hard, and her eyes remained a steady, burning orange.
“If you’d like,” Spike continued, “I can attempt to alter the range of your hearing; you would not require—”
“No, thank you,” Bellusdeo said, her voice falling into draconic rumbling.
“Kaylin?”
“Could you do it safely?”
The question caused Spike to whir a bit as he considered it. Terrano clearly found this more amusing than pulling almost insubstantial people out of a cave.
“I do not understand the question.”
“Oh?” the Dragon asked.
“I do not understand how you are using the term ‘safely.’ I cannot do so without making some changes in the actual mechanism, no.”
“No,” Bellusdeo repeated, making less effort to be polite since it was clearly wasted. “If Sedarias and her friends now exist on a plane with which we would never otherwise interact, the hearing—for our kind—is not required.”
“But Kaylin desires communication.”
Bellusdeo snorted. Small tufts of smoke were twined around the exhaled breath. The familiar also snorted, but then proceeded to squawk at Spike. Several times.
“I don’t know about you,” the Dragon added, “but I consider the possibility that there are unseen things living in the exact same space as I am extremely disturbing.”
Kaylin shrugged. “If we can’t normally see, hear, speak with, touch or otherwise be affected by them, I don’t see why.”
“You mean that?”
“For all intents and purposes, it’s like they’re not there.” She shrugged again, uncomfortably aware of the Dragon’s stare. “Look, you grew up in an Aerie, and you even remember a lot of it. I grew up in the fiefs. I had no fixed home; we had places where we squatted. Some were too exposed. I used to daydream of being able to live in a safe place—a single safe place—that we could call home.
“It’s like—like there’s a space, and more people can live in it. And they don’t get in each other’s way. They don’t hurt each other at all.” She exhaled. “That part’s the important one. We’re all minding our own business. We don’t have to be aware of everyone else’s.”
“I am never going to understand mortals.” The Dragon exhaled, and some of the tension left the stiff line of her shoulders. “Regardless, we need to get them out of wherever it is they are. I don’t want Spike to play around with our ears.”
“They’re not quite anywhere,” Terrano told them both. “They’re in between states.” When this clearly failed to enlighten either Kaylin or Bellusdeo, he added, “It’s like they’re stuck in a door between two rooms. They’re not in one and they’re not in the other.”
“Was that the point of the trap?”
“No. The trap was probably meant to devour them.”
“Was it Shadow?”
He hesitated, and then glanced at Spike.
Spike, on the other hand, said, “Yes. I do not believe you should remain here.”
“And you’re safe?”
“I am safe,” he replied, without a hint of smugness.
This, on the other hand, caught Bellusdeo’s attention. “There is Shadow here, or near here?”
“Yes.”
“But it will not affect you.”
“No.”
“I think she wants a bit more of an explanation, Spike.”
“It is not diverse enough to affect me. It was meant for you. Or for them,” he added.
“Can you see it?”
The ball had no face, and therefore made no facial expressions, but Kaylin could almost feel frustration radiating from its core.
“I can sense it,” Terrano broke in. He glanced at Spike and shrugged. “It’s gathering over there.” He lifted an arm and pointed into the distance to the left of where Kaylin was standing.
“And you’re not in danger either?” the Dragon demanded.
“Not from this, no.”