“They do more than that,” Mandoran said. Kaylin wanted to kick him. Given the way his jaw snapped shut, Teela probably had, and more effectively. This did not, however, shut him up. “What were you trying to do, there?”
“The wards are, as I said, rudimentary. The words I was attempting to speak are less so. They prevent unwanted intrusion. You wish to add something, Private?”
She didn’t. The Arkon, however, was glaring at her. “I wouldn’t walk past them if I had any choice.”
He raised a brow.
“They were true words.”
“Indeed.”
“They weren’t friendly.”
“They are not inflected. They serve a very specific purpose and they are seldom spoken.”
“I couldn’t hear you speak them at all.”
He frowned. To Mandoran, he asked, “Could you?”
“I can still hear the echoes.”
“And your friend?”
Annarion was tight-lipped and blue-eyed. He did not respond.
Mandoran answered for him. “Yes.”
Teela cleared her throat. “The man with whom you are conversing is Mandoran of Casarre.”
“And his companion?”
Teela exhaled. “Annarion.”
“Annarion.”
“Of Solanace,” Annarion added.
Teela’s breath cut the air.
“Interesting.” The Arkon clearly understood the significance of what had just been said. “I was under the impression that that line had come to an end.”
“You were mistaken.”
It was Mandoran’s turn to look queasy.
“I am a Dragon. I am not Barrani. The information that comes to us is, of necessity, incomplete. I apologize if I have been misinformed.” He turned to Kaylin. “Your familiar has claimed full responsibility for the safety of my archive.”
Meaning it would be her fault if anything unexpected happened. She exhaled a few inches of height. “Yes, sir.”
“Bellusdeo is waiting. She has been keeping an old man company.”
“Did she mention our latest investigation?”
“Yes. She also extended an invitation to dinner. Do not stand in the library gawking. If you have something to say, say it while we walk. Ah. My apologies,” he said, turning once again to the two Barrani visitors. “I am the Arkon of the Emperor’s flight. This library and the contents of its archives is my hoard.”
*
Kaylin’s biggest question, as she followed the Arkon’s impatient lead, was Yes, but are you going to accept?
Squawk.
She missed a step, her eyes narrowing in the rough direction of the small dragon voice. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Several, if history is our guide.”
“Why are you willing to trust my familiar?”
“That question is even intelligent.”
Squawk.
“Yes, intelligent enough that I will answer it.”
If he’d been sitting on her shoulder, she’d have clamped a hand over his tiny mouth.
“I am willing to trust him because he is yours.”
“But—but—”
“Yes?”
“You don’t trust me that much!”
“Ah. I don’t trust your competence, no. You are far too impulsive—too young—but I see that you have that in common with the two visitors you have brought.” Mandoran, who had started to look smug, frowned. “Your familiar’s competence, I trust. He is not young. I am not certain he has ever been young.”
“But he was just born—”
“—during the chaos spell, yes. But born is inexact in this case. He emerged. If you think that his existence began with an eggshell, you are wrong. His competence is wed to your intent. Your intent, Private Neya, only a fool would distrust.” When Kaylin failed to reply, he continued, “You do not understand the forces with which you now interact. That is to be expected; even I do not understand them fully.
“Your familiar understands them far better than either of us. But he is your familiar. He has chosen you. Until you perish—and given your history, that is likely to be sooner than later—he serves you. You can command him, but you do not; you will not learn how. Nor,” he added, lifting a hand to still her protest, “can I teach you. What your familiar would be in my hands, he cannot be in yours—but I do not think, in the end, he would have consented to serve me. He came to you.”
“He wasn’t born to me,” she pointed out.
“Was he not?” He gestured at a patch of blank wall, and the wall faded. As far as doors went, this was preferable—the wall had no wards that Kaylin was expected to touch. Bellusdeo was, as the Arkon had said, waiting. She was seated in a room that was almost shockingly bare.
Usually, there was so much stuff everywhere that it wasn’t even safe to walk.
Bellusdeo rose to greet them. “Lannagaros and I have been discussing the investigation to which you are currently assigned.”
“Can he make any more sense of it than we can?”