“Yes, Lord Kaylin. We are now aware.”
“I think there’s a chance that—” Kaylin faltered. She could not mention the High Lord in this context. She might have problems keeping her mouth shut when things got heated, but even she knew that there were some things that were never to be said out loud.
The Consort waited, as if testing that resolve, but when Kaylin failed to finish the sentence she’d impulsively started, she said, “We are aware of that, now. The situation is complicated. Will the cohort, as you call them, travel to Elantra?”
“I think there is no chance whatsoever that Sedarias will now remain here.” Kaylin hesitated and then added, “I’m sorry about skipping out on dinner.”
The Consort laughed.
Kaylin did not. “I know that everything with the Barrani is politics and misdirection. But—Mandoran and Annarion are part of my home, and the whole damn cohort comes with them.”
“They are not kin.”
“No—they’re closer than kin. You don’t get to choose your kin. But you do get to choose your kyuthe. And frankly, Sedarias killed her sister—who’s tried to kill her before—and Teela killed her father. I’m not sure the Barrani really understand family the way the rest of us do.”
“When you say ‘us,’ ask Bellusdeo about Dragon family, sometime. My brother will not be in favor of the cohort arriving in Elantra.”
“You mean Lirienne?”
“I did, but actually, neither brother considers it wise.”
“You don’t think—”
The Consort lifted a hand. “I have spoken with the Hallionne. I am currently resident in Kariastos. Bertolle has sent his brothers to watch the byways, now that we are aware of some of the possible difficulties. But Kaylin, the portal paths are fraught. It would be safer if you traveled overland.”
“That’ll take weeks!”
“Yes.”
“...And we’ve got Bellusdeo. We’re not going to be safer overland right now—there’s a war band camped outside of Alsanis. They’re not going to just let us commandeer four carriages and leave with the Dragon.”
“Do you have so little faith in the Lord of the West March?”
“Lord Barian went to speak with the war band. When he returned, he was bleeding.”
Silence.
“He’s not the Lord of the West March,” Kaylin continued, uneasy with the texture of that silence. “He’s the Warden. But...he is the Warden. And I think it might be his mother who’s leading the war band.”
The Consort looked once over her shoulder; whatever she was looking at was outside of the mirror’s field of vision. The Consort then returned to the mirror, and to Kaylin. She was not wearing armor; she did not carry a sword or shield. But everything about her now seemed like the very essence of a warrior queen, not the mother of an entire race.
As if she could hear the thought, the Consort said, “When children are endangered, is there much difference between the two? Very well. The portal paths.”
“I believe,” Alsanis said, his voice a rumble, “that you should leave very soon. Sedarias and Terrano are returning, in haste; I believe Sedarias is injured.”
25
The mirror vanished. It wasn’t that the image faded, as it did in mirrors in the Halls of Law; the entirety of the basin that contained the water disappeared. Kaylin turned to look over her shoulder; she could see the Avatar of Alsanis. If the Consort had somehow conjured the essence of warrior queen without bothering with the trappings, Alsanis had reformed his entire physical presence.
“Well it was stupid!” Kaylin heard someone shout.
“They were looking for Dragons!” Sedarias replied. Loudly.
Kaylin careened around the nearest corner; Alsanis had not bothered with subtlety, and had reformed the halls and the doors so that Kaylin was yards away from the room which now contained the rest of the cohort and Bellusdeo.
“It’s not like someone, oh, just tried to assassinate you.”
“I think it was a reasonable assumption that the war band that is hunting Dragons is not connected with the sister who was hunting me.”
“Obviously not entirely reasonable, given the injury. You said it yourself,” Serralyn told Sedarias. She looked up. They weren’t speaking out loud for either Bellusdeo’s or Kaylin’s sake; they were speaking out loud for Terrano’s.
Kaylin pushed them aside. “Let me see.” Sedarias’s arm had been slashed open. The cut didn’t seem to be deep, but it was long.
“It would have been worse,” Eddorian told Kaylin, “but Terrano pulled her back.”
Terrano shrugged. “And for thanks, my ears are still ringing.”
“Who did this?”
“One of the war band, and before you ask, no, I don’t know which one; he was wearing a helm that covered most of his face.”
“So...they mistook you for a Dragon?”
“I think the word was traitor.”
Kaylin rolled her eyes so far back they should have been sprained.
“I’m not happy with it, either. Teela, on the other hand, is blistering. You should hear her.”
“I’ve only seen her angry a few times—genuinely angry, not irritated. And I kind of like to avoid the hells out of her when she’s raging.”
“If it makes you feel better,” Allaron said, “Teela’s at least impressed that you weren’t stupid enough to go out to take a look at the war band.”
“Tell her thanks.”
“She would have been annoyed had you gone. But...she kind of expects better of Sedarias.”
Sedarias, however, was clearly angry at herself. Kaylin wondered if Sedarias was an anger-pointing-inward person or an anger-pointing-outward one. If the latter, she was going to be worse than a raging bear. And Barrani had long memories. On most days, Kaylin envied that, because her memory was a honed, mortal one. On days like today, however, she was grateful for the lack.
“Alsanis says—”
“It’s time to leave, yes.” Sedarias rose. Her arm had been bandaged by one of the cohort; Kaylin expected the work to be sloppy. It wasn’t.
“Teela told us what to do,” Serralyn said, by way of explanation. She glanced at Terrano. “We’re heading to Kariastos.”
“Shouldn’t we stop at Orbaranne?” Kaylin asked.
They all stared at her.
It was Terrano, not connected to the cohort, who said, “Orbaranne does everything within the scope and limits of her power to aid the Lord of the West March.”
“I highly doubt the Lord of the West March is involved with the war band.”
“So do they.” They. The rest of the cohort. “But doubting isn’t the same as certainty. And Alsanis was breached here, in the heart of his domain. They don’t want to take the risk.”
Put that way, it was the smart choice. Kaylin nodded and glanced at Bellusdeo, who also nodded.
“Here,” Terrano added. He handed Spike to Kaylin.
“You didn’t need to carry him. He seems to be mobile on his own.”
Terrano shrugged. “I didn’t want to lose him. And I’m certain we would have. They have at least one Arcanist in the war band.”
“Arcanist?”
“War bands have Arcanists, given what they were composed to fight.”