And she didnt doubt, looking at the blade whose runes still glowed, that good was what this sword deserved. But she lifted her hand, and Maggaron placed the sword across her palm hard enough that the blade bit the skin of the single hand shed lifted; the second was occupied. She wasnt willing to release him yet, and she therefore kept her hand around his name.
He shuddered once as the sword left him, and then took a step back.
Mejrah shouted at him.
Tiamaris, however, roared at Mejrah, and the old woman stilled. She didnt, however, shut up; instead, she lowered her voice and spoke quietly to Kaylin. Quiet didnt have the force of imperative behind it. What is she saying? she asked Maggaron. She couldnt focus clearly enough to pick up the language again.
His smile was slow and sweet around the edges; it was also sad. He shook his head. Go with her, Chosen.
Maggaron
She wishes you to bring me to the People here. I cannot take that risk.
You cant destroy yourself.
No. Butthe Shadows have less purchase here, and I do not think they will send me to the outlands again. He bowed. I must go. Can you not hear them?
Kaylin frowned. The rune beneath her palm was still warm, but it feltless solid. No, she told him, staring at the hatches and curved strokes beneath her palm. She began to speak the word again, and it gained brilliance, as if her syllables were filling it. His brows rose, and his eyes took on that light.
How important is this? she asked him. Ask Mejrah.
Mejrah replied almost before hed finished the sentence.
She says it is very important, Chosen.
Kaylin nodded. Tiamaris!
The Dragon rumbled, his language as unintelligible for the moment as Mejrahs. Hes been to the heart of the Shadows; he knows something about them that we dontor cantknow safely. I think its worth taking the riskbut its not my fief.
Good of you to remember, the Dragon Lord replied. She couldnt see what he did next, but she heard steps, and Sanabalis entered her peripheral vision. How strong is your hold?
I dont know, Sanabalis. I havent fought many wars inside a living person before.
If you arent careful, youll cut your hand in half, he observed. He walked past her until he stood like the third point of a very tight triangle, the other two of which were Kaylin and Maggaron. I am aware of your dislike for magic, he told her calmly. Unfortunately, some magic is now required.
She nodded. While she couldnt hear what Maggaron clearly could, she could feel it beneath her hand; the texture of the rune was shifting and changing. Not the word itselfthe parts didnt bend, split, or fold. But it was, once again, losing solidity. She knew that when it became permeable enough, hed be gone.
Sanabalis had given her warning. As usual, he had mastered the art of understatement. If shed plastered her entire bodyboth sides, bottom of feet and top of headagainst the most extreme door ward in the Imperial Palace, it would have tickled in comparison. She bit somethingher tongue, her lipand her mouth filled with the familiar and unpleasant salt of her own blood.
It was followed by the worst Leontine phrase she knew; it was all she could do not to drop the sword and the damn name simultaneously.
Sanabalis didnt seem to be particularly concernedat least not with her. But he studied Maggarons face, and as he did, Maggarons eyes began to shift colors in a rapid cycle. Shed never seen anything like it before, and had she, she would have immediately assumed the person possessing those eyes was dangerously insane. But Maggarons expression didnt change at all; he continued to stare at Kaylin. It was very disturbing.
Sanabalis, she said, forcing the syllables through gritted teeth, is this entirely necessary?
It is.
Will-it-be-over-soon?
Yes.
She didnt even ask him what he was doing because his answer might have prolonged the casting. But her eyes began to water, and her vision began to blur; she saw two or three of Maggaron begin to separate as she watched. The blood in her mouth did not help. People began to speakshout, cry, babble, and hissin a way that destroyed the actual weight of syllables. She bent slightly into her knees to brace herself, and then bent slightly more, because if her legs were too stiff shed probably topple, and folding usually left fewer bruises.
She could barely see Maggaron now; she could seeand feelhis name, and she clung to that, tightening her fingers into rigid claws. Unfortunately for Kaylin, her suspicion that the sensation of hand-on-rune was a metaphor that didnt actually involve her real hands was proved correct. It didnt hold her up.
Nothing did; she felt as if she were walkingslowlythrough the portal in Castle Nightshade. Or rather, that Sanabalis had uprooted said portal and had dropped it, in one go, on her head.
Kaylin. The single word was cool and clear, and none of its syllablesall twoclashed with anything else. Even given the source, it was a relief.
Nightshade?
Where are you? In Tiamaris.
You are not in Tiamaris, was his edged reply.
I amshe stopped. Im less than ten yards from the border of the fief.
Return to the fief. Now.
So much for relief. We have a bit of a situation here, she said as tersely as she could, given that she wasnt actually speaking any of this aloud. Im leaving the heartland as soon as Sanabalis stops
Stops what?
Whatever the bleeding hells hes doing.
What is he doing? Kaylinwhat are you doing?
Im falling over.
Nightshade had never had a sense of humor. He did, however, have a temper. He also had the universal condescending arrogance of the Immortal everywhere. She felt his frustration and his annoyance.
Tell Lord Sanabalis to stop whatever it is hes doing. Tell him to stop now. There is a danger.
She couldnt even see Sanabalis by this point, and what shed had of breakfast was threatening to revolt; telling a Dragon Lordeven one as tolerant as Sanabaliswhat to do was so far out of the question it hadnt even occurred as a possibility. The frosty and furious arrogance of the Barrani wasnt Kaylins by birth or inclination.
She started to think as muchsaying it was beyond herbut the flow of defensive thought was interrupted by something a lot less pleasant: thunder and the flash of something that looked like black lightning.
She heard Nightshade curse, and she understood the meaning. The syllables themselves wereor would have been in any other circumstancea delight of discovery because they were Barrani, and Barrani, to her knowledge, didnt have curse words. But delight at that discovery was swamped by the sudden certainty that the danger that Nightshade feared was about to arrive.
On the heels of Nightshades sharp word, she felt the pain and the disorientation recede in a rush, as if someone had pulled the plug. That someone was Sanabalis. As the pain and the visual distortion fled, she felt two things: the physical, full-body trembling that was often the result of portal crossing, and the hair-raising, sharp pain that was also the result of strong magic in such proximity.
Her hand was somehow still clasped around the broadest of strokes that comprised Maggarons name and she blinked rapidly as his multiple wavering images coalesced into a single shape again. She turned, still holding his name, and also holding the sword he had handed into her keeping by the blade, which would have caused any number of sword experts to deafen her in their rush to have her handle it properly. Since it had, in fact, cut her palm, she didnt require this. She set the blade on the ground, and picked it up again by its hilt.
Her hand was somehow still clasped around the broadest of strokes that comprised Maggarons name and she blinked rapidly as his multiple wavering images coalesced into a single shape again. She turned, still holding his name, and also holding the sword he had handed into her keeping by the blade, which would have caused any number of sword experts to deafen her in their rush to have her handle it properly. Since it had, in fact, cut her palm, she didnt require this. She set the blade on the ground, and picked it up again by its hilt.
It was, of course, in her off-hand, but at this point, it didnt matter; the hair on the back of her neck was rigid. She was afraid to release Maggarons name, and that fear was just a bit stronger than her fear of being unarmed. Adjusting the sword, she turned. Oddly enough, her grip on the name itself didnt change at all, even though Maggaron was now behind her. She could see the word; she couldnt see him. This meant something. She wasnt certain what.
At the moment, it didnt matter. She could see a black, amorphous cloud risingcoalescingin the not-far-enough distance; it was the source of the dark lightning.
Tiamaris roared a warning in all-out Dragon, and Sanabalis roared back. Before Kaylin could speakor reactat all, Sanabalis lifted her with ease and leaped toward the border, where Tiamaris and Tara were standing. The People had pulled back, and huddled more or less behind them. Kaylin noted that Sanabalis had also picked up Mejrah, who was, in theory, too large and cumbersome to be tossed around like a sack of potatoes.
Maggaron, however, didnt move. Kaylin tried to shout his name, and then, remembering what she held, thought it instead. Maggaron.
No, Chosen.
She cursed him in every language she couldwhich now included Barrani. Maggaron, cross the border, damn you.
It is not safe, Chosen
Its not safe to stand thereyou dont understand what that is.
Of all unexpected things, he laughed. It was a wild roar, just slightly quieter than the Dragons normal speaking voices would have been. I? he shouted. I do not understand what that is? He swept an arm toward the approaching cloud; as Kaylin watched it, she saw that it was eating the ground it passed over.
His laughter grew wilder, and she heard pain break free of amusement. It is the Shadowstorm, Chosen. What do you think I was born for? What do you think the Ascendants are?
Crazy. She didnt say the word. And then cursed as his laughter deepened. We dont have time for this.
You cannot take the risk of
Yes, damn it, I can. She took a deep breath as Sanabalis deposited her more or less on her feet beside the Avatar of the Tower. Tara was glowing. The whole of her formwinged, an echo of Aerianswas made of shining alabaster. But stone or not, she moved; Tiamaris didnt.
Tara, he said, speaking in sharp Elantran, do not risk too much.
It is a test, was the cool reply, of the boundaries and the area over which my responsibility lies. Kaylin, she added in a tone of voice that no friendly, itinerant gardener should have been able to use, bring your follower across the border.
Im trying. Hes afraid that the Shadow
I am the Tower. I am the border. Bring him; the responsibility will be on my head.
On her head, Kaylin thought, but if she failedif Maggaron was rightit would be writ in the bodies of the People and the humans who still lived in the fief of Tiamaris. She was willing to take that risk; shed already attempted to call Maggaron. At Nightshades insistence she had done that beforeto himand she had felt his counter.
No; it wasnt the same. She had called. She hadnt commanded.
Shed never truly attempted to impose her will on Maggaron in a way that she didnt try to force it on anyone else in her lifeby shouting, pleading, swearing, cajoling, even demanding. What the name gave her meant that she could do more.
Would she? If he stood in the streets in the path of a storm that couldif the Dragons were rightliterally unmake, re-make, or worseeverything that he was, could she force him to do what she desired?
Maggaron!
He didnt, and wouldnt, move. Everyone was shouting now. Mejrah, in Kaylins ear, as if volume could compensate for lack of comprehension. Tiamaris was roaring, and if it wasnt in her ear, he was less than ten feet away, so it had the same effect.
Swallowing air and strengthening resolve, Kaylin looked at Maggaron, and his name flashed like lightning or gold. Yes, she thought grimly. Yes, I would. He had given her the ability.
His folly gave her the right. She called his name as if his name were part of her, and she pulled him, focusing all her will on the simple act of motion: his.
It hurt her. It hurt, and she almost stopped. But Maggaron had moved, taking drunken steps toward Kaylinand, more important, away from the moving cloud.
She heard Nightshades chuckle as she hesitated. Do you think that power is takenor practicedfree of cost, little one?
Since the answer was more or less yes, and since he now already knew it, she didnt reply. Instead, she looked at Maggaron and said, Dont make me do this. Please.
She could see his eyes so clearly they might have been inches from her face. If you cannot do even this, Chosen, how will you protect them from me, should the time come?
Damn you, she thought, hating him for testing her this way. Damn it, if it comes down to their lives, I can. But this isnt their livesits yours. Maggaron, please.
She felt his laughter; it was sharp and unkind. But he wasnt wholly unkind; he did as she all but begged. He walkedquicklytoward where she now stood, his name in her hand. She grimaced, and then, as if letting go of a security blanket, she removed her hand from the rune; it remained in her vision, something Nightshades name had never done.
Kaylin, Nightshade said. He, too, was laughing. You are far too weak for the power you have been granted. But you will learn.
The first thing Tiamaris did was order a retreat from the edge of the border. Everyone obeyedand given he spoke Dragon, Kaylin was surprised that the People understood his command. Then again, she didnt understand Dragon, either, and she had. Severn was waitingalways, and in his usual grim silence.
But Severn wasnt looking at Maggaron, although the rest of the People sure as hells were. He was looking at Kaylin. More accurately, he was looking at the sword in her hand. She glanced at it, and her gaze stuck. It had changed shape. The blade was shorternot long-knife short, but short-sword short; the hilt was practical and almost unadorned. It was straight and it lookedto her eyeslike a normal weapon, except for the obvious runes along the flat.
Her first thought was, I broke it.
Her second thought was, on the other hand, Maggaron. He was watching her, his eyes a flat shade between blue and brown. Your enemies will not hesitate to do what you could not do.
If I have to do it, Ill do it.
To say he looked dubious was an understatement. She started to speak, and stopped as Tara touched her shoulder.
Kaylin, the Avatar said. Come.
Where?
In answer, Tara led her to the edge of the border, which had once again become an invisible, theoretical line across the ground. The storm that she had seen so clearly was still moving, and it moved toward where the People had gathered. Kaylin tried to see not the cloud itself, but what its passage left behind; she couldnt. The billowing darkness was too dense.