Now that she looked at them, neither Mandoran or Annarion were looking all that great, either. They weren’t physically injured, but she had seen dead Barrani that had healthier color.
“He was trying to crack the house open,” Annarion said. It took Kaylin a moment to realize that he was answering the question she’d asked the disembodied eyes. “The house is where we have to go. Gilbert has—arranged things in a way that won’t destroy you.”
You. Not us.
“He can’t make it all safe. He’s—he’s placed us all in the same layer of time. But he requires power and he can’t make it stick for long—something is pushing against it.”
“In the house.”
Annarion nodded.
“When you say ‘you’ and not ‘us,’ does that mean—”
“We can see...more.” His smile was strained.
“I can hear your brother. He is very, very clear now.”
Annarion seemed to sag, as if something had been cut. “I don’t imagine he’s saying anything repeatable.”
“Not really—but some of it’s Barrani, so it might be useful later.”
Mandoran managed a weak grin. “What kind of Barrani? Ouch!”
Annarion hadn’t touched him.
“We need to enter the building. I guess the Arkon made it easier; it’s not like the walls are going to keep us out. The Arcanist was doing something with the three bodies. They were laid out as if they were part of a ritual. I’m guessing,” she added, staring up at the frozen shroud of darkness, “that ritual is almost complete, and that Gilbert is buying us time.” She picked her way over the few bodies that remained; there was no smell, here, which made it easier. Or rather, there was—but it was cinnamon. Evidently the familiar’s cloud was still protecting them.
Mandoran and Annarion hesitated.
“Stay here,” Kaylin told them. “I’ll go with the Arkon.”
Teela said, “They are not staying here.” Her eyes were a murderous blue, and her lower lip was swollen. “And I’m not, either.” She pulled herself away from Mandoran. Sprain, then.
“Teela, I don’t think it’s safe for them.”
“And you think it’s safe for you?”
“Chosen, remember?”
“You don’t even know what that means.”
She is not wrong, the familiar said.
Do not foolishly insult her, Nightshade said. An’Teela is known for both her cunning and her ability to nurse a long grudge.
Severn, on the other hand, said nothing. It was a comforting nothing; an acceptance of things he couldn’t change.
She looked at the floating eyes. “Can you keep them coherent? Can you keep them safe, here?”
Gilbert didn’t answer. The two of his eyes that had once been set into the water’s Avatar floated away, gaining speed as they approached the two Barrani. Mandoran raised his hands to swat them away. Annarion, on the other hand, had an armful of Tain to deal with.
Regardless, the eyes gained enough speed to ram into the foreheads of both Mandoran and Annarion.
Mandoran had developed very, very impressive Leontine. Annarion, Kaylin decided, was just one of those people to whom cursing would never come naturally. Which was a pity; Kaylin would be swearing herself blue in the face had one of those eyes attached themselves to her actual forehead.
Both the Barrani now had a third eye—an open third eye that was the wrong color—just above the bridge of their noses, between their brows. Their natural eyes blinked rapidly; the borrowed eyes did not.
When Annarion fell to one knee, Kaylin ran toward him. It surprised her—and his older brother—when he didn’t wave her off. Instead, he allowed her to slide an arm beneath his arms and take some of his weight while he regained his footing. “My brother can see all this, can’t he?”
“...Sorry.”
“Not as sorry as I’m going to be.” He inhaled deeply, exhaled and said, “Thank you, Gilbert.”
Gilbert didn’t respond.
“Does it help you to see?”
“Yes. It helps me to see only one thing. It helps Mandoran, too, but he’s more vain. He really dislikes the look of the extra eye.”
“Gentlemen,” the Arkon said, in the testiest of voices. “You are all incredibly unattractive to me; the extra eye makes no difference. Shall we?”
Both Barrani had the grace to redden, which added welcome color to their faces. Nightshade was not impressed.
“What should we do with Tain?” Annarion asked.
“Give him to me,” Teela demanded. “I’d wait outside, but I don’t think outside is going to be any safer.”
Chapter 28
“What do you see with the extra eye?” Kaylin asked. The Arkon’s breath had gotten rid of the stairs that led to the front door—which was fine, because they’d also done away with the door. At the moment, Kaylin’s primary concern was what remained of the first-story floor in the wake of Dragon breath.
The Arkon wasn’t worried about the flooring or the possible fall, but he was a Dragon, after all. Kaylin, however, couldn’t expect to fall through a crumbling floor and land without injury.
He pushed Kaylin out of the way and pretty much stomped in. “Where is the—” He froze.