The small dragon was silent.
Bodies, or house across the street from the bodies first? Tain asked.
House, Kaylin said.
* * *
Let Teela do the talking, Severn suggested as they followed the path of this indeterminate magic to what appeared to be its source. Records indicate that this house is occupied, that the taxes are paid up and that the owner is not a person of political significance.
Kaylin said nothing. That lasted for five seconds. Is it too much to ask, she said under her breath, that I not be shoved out in the dark with zero information whatsoever and asked to find something?
Were in the same dark. If you hadnt been arguing with Moranhow did that go, by the way?you wouldve been in the office when the request came in. When this failed to appreciably lighten Kaylins mood, he added, You know that magical precepts are both individual and susceptible to suggestion.
I bet Ironjaw has more information.
The Sergeant is not a mage.
Neither am I. She kept this to herself, aware that she was cranky in part because of her discussion with Moran. She was old enough not to be treated like a child.
Teela approached the gate, raised a hand, then lowered it. The frown she wore seemed etched into her otherwise perfect face. Kitling?
Kaylin shrugged off her resentment and came to stand by Teelas side. She also poked the small dragon, who squawked quietly, but lifted one transparent wing. He tapped her face gently, to make a point, but kept the wing extended so it covered her eyes.
To Kaylins visionwith the added interference of a translucent dragon wingthe gate looked weathered. It was slightly warped. The nails that held it in place had rusted a bit, but that was it. Its a gate. She turned to glance back at the road and froze. After a second, she lifted her hand to gently catch the small dragons wing. He expressed his appreciation of this loudly, but stopped short of biting her fingers.
Weve got a problem, Kaylin said.
Chapter 3
Hawks were not generally armed for lethal combat. Severn was an exception, and the exception had been made because he was, in theory, a Wolf. Teela and Tain, on the other hand, didnt require the usual edged implements to be deadly. Bellusdeo didnt, either.
Everyone turned toward Kaylin and then looked beyond her to the stretch of imperfect, inclining road.
I want one of those, Tain said, to no one in particular. The small dragon squawked anyway. What do you see?
Shadow, Kaylin said, her voice flat.
Bellusdeo stiffened on a single, sharp inhale. Her experience with Shadows had definedand almost destroyedher. She spoke a sharp word. The hair on the back of Kaylins neck rose in protest as the Dragon moved to stand slightly ahead of her, without impeding her view.
I cant see it. Tell me what you see.
Its a very narrow line, Kaylin said. Similar to what I saw as magic; its not solid, and its notthat I can seeactive.
Active, meaning?
Its not opalescent, and its notquitemoving. But its there.
In the heart of the city.
To one side of the heart of the city, but yes.
And the line of shadow goes into this house.
Or through it, yes.
Teela cursed in Leontine. Leontine coming from a Barrani throat was strangely musical. In this case, the phrase shed chosen was entirely appropriate. Theres nothing going to the house across the street where the murders took place?
Not that I can see.
Are you sure the idiots reporting this didnt Never mind. It wouldnt be the first time weve had a transcription error, she added darkly.
Severn hadnt set his chain spinning, but he carried one of the attached blades in hand. Mirror back.
Teela nodded. She glanced at Bellusdeo again.
I am not leaving, if thats the suggestion you intend to make, Bellusdeo said. I have been given Imperial permission to accompany Private Neya on her patrols.
This isnt exactly patrol material.
No. But it is part of her usual duties.
If anything goes wrong and anything happens to you, youre likely to lose that Imperial permission instantly. And Kaylin
The Emperor would not dream of harming Kaylin. The Dragons eyes had descended into orange; the orange was now tinged red.
Given that his first reaction upon hearing about Kaylins existence almost eight years ago had been to order her execution, this wasnt exactly accurate. But given Bellusdeos current mood, accuracy was irrelevant.
No one in Elantra has more experience with Shadows than Bellusdeo does. Kaylin folded her arms. If youre worried about me, dont be. Ive had enough worrying-about-me to last ten lifetimes. The only thing we might want is Maggaron.
Bellusdeo opened her mouth.
Kaylin continued quickly, He fought by your side against the Shadows that consumed your world. He knows them as well as you doprobably better. He was there for a long damn time.
The Dragon snapped her jaws shut. Normal-sized jaws shouldnt have made that much noise. We should destroy this part of the roadand that house.
Its not as simple as that. If the house isnt contaminatedand you know what that looks likewell be destroying someones home. Itsamong other thingsagainst the law, unless the Emperor orders it done.
You dont understand the risk youre taking.
Kaylin wanted to argue, but she understood what Bellusdeo had faced in the past. Lets just check out the house.
* * *
Teela did, indeed, take point. It wasnt always smart to have Barrani be the lead investigators when dealing with mortals. It wasnt always smart to have any lead investigator cross racial lines. In the very, very few instances when the Halls of Law were called in to deal with the Leontine quarter, Marcus took point. It was always the bestand smartestapproach.
In some instances, though, Barrani were the most effective. Most mortals didnt believe that a simple thing like a hawk on a tabard guaranteed good behavior from immortals. Kaylin attempted to point this out, but Teela pulled rank. Literally.
She opened the gate more or less carefully, glanced at Kaylin and waited. Kaylin nodded. The thread goes to the door.
Beneath it?
Its hard to say. When I looked at the road normally, it looked as if something very, very heavy and very thin had just landed. There was a V-shaped indent and a crack at the bottom of it. The path to the house isnt made of the same stone, but its staved in the same way.
The stairs?
There were only two steps up to the door. Same as the road. The door doesnt appear to be damaged, though. Im not sure whether the line goes into the house or beneath it.
Is it active? Bellusdeo asked.
I dont know. Its Shadow. She hesitated and then said, Its like what we might seethe Shadow part, not the staved-in stoneif a living person had been deeply cut but could still keep moving. I think it might be the equivalent of
Bleeding?
Kaylin nodded. This is not an expert opinion, she added, as Teela lifted the mirror. And Id just as soon not enter that opinion in Records if I can avoid it.
Youve got far stupider opinions entered in Records.
I was thirteen, Teela.
* * *
The home itself was not large; it was not one of the grand manors nestled in the heart of the wealthy district. It was modest in size, but seemed to be in good repair. The stairs were stone, and the foundation appeared to be stone as wellbut in Elantra, that wasnt entirely unusual. Kaylin had been told that it was, farther away from the city, but her only experience outside of the city had been the West March, which didnt count.
The front door was not warded. That was also unusual, but not unheard-of; Kaylins previous home had been without door wards, as had almost all of the other apartments in the same building. Door wards were expensive. Even if they didnt make her hand numb and her skin ache, she would have had a decent excuse for not having one.
Teela knocked on the door. Given Kaylins description of the stairs, she chose not to stand in the center of them. They would have carried her weight, regardless. Bellusdeo stood back, beside Kaylin.
You cant see anything? Kaylin asked.
Bellusdeo shook her head. We have some methods of drawing Shadow outof forcing it outof its inanimate hiding places. But many of those methods are complicated; they cant be done in an instant. To do it, the Norannir would have to come, and that would probably cause panic. You might recall the war drums?
Kaylin nodded.
Theyre very effective, but definitely not quiet. I think Imperial permission would probably be necessary; at the very least, we would want to clear the drumming with the Swords. It is likely to cause some...unrest. Besides, your marks arent glowing.
How can you tell?
When they glow, theyre visible, even through your sleeves. She glanced at the small dragon. And Hope is alert, but not yet worried.
The small dragon crooned. It was not one of his regular noises. He then glanced at Severn and made the same sound. Severn nodded as if he understood. It was very frustrating. The familiar, in theory, was hers, and she seemed to be the only person who couldnt understand him.
Teela ignored them and knocked again, this time with more force. Tain lifted Kaylinliterallyand set her to one side; he then joined Teela in the space hed cleared. Bellusdeo clearly found this amusing.
Shes not furniture, Teela pointed out, as she waited for some sort of response from the resident of the house.
No. Shes too bony and too loud.
Teela knocked a third time. Nothing. Kaylin knew there wouldnt be a fourth attempt.
True to form, Teela raised her voice to let the occupants of the houseif they were presentknow that Hawks were standing on their doorstep and were about to enter. This still elicited no response.
It wasnt completely unheard-of for a house to be empty at this time of day, but it was rare. The streets often felt as if they were full of small children and their elderly minders, but many actually stayed home if they had yards or a small space outdoorssomething Kaylin had never had in her childhood.
Teela tried the doorknob. The door was locked. Placing a hand on the door itself, the Barrani Hawk closed her eyes. Bolted, she murmured.
We can kick it in, Tain offered.
Teela, however, shook her head, her expression shifting. To Kaylins wing-masked eyes, the door looked entirely normal. Kitling, the door?
Kaylin reached up and pushed the dragon wing aside. No magic that I can see.
None?
She pushed her way past Tain and looked again, bringing her eyes inches away from Teelas resting palm. She frowned. ...Maybe.
Best guess?
Someone may have bolted the door from the outside. It wouldnt be difficult for most mages.
Not diligent students, at any rate. Teela opened the bolt. Magically. She pushed the door inward and entered.
* * *
The house appeared to be empty, which wasnt Kaylins immediate concern. As she once again lifted the dragons wing, she looked down at the floor. The crack theyd followed to this particular door couldnt be seen; the wooden floor was worn in some areas, but solid. The sense of magic was absent.
Teela walked into the house, announcing her presence loudly without actually shouting, a trick Kaylin had not quite mastered. The Barrani Hawks voice almost echoed. The house appeared to be empty. For one long beat, Kaylin felt that the house had always been empty.
The building had two stories. They searched the first floor. Aside from the accumulated mess any house gathered and displayed when visitors werent expected, there was nothing that caught the eye. Teela headed upstairs, Tain in tow. Severn, Kaylin and Bellusdeo headed toward the back door to investigate the yard.
The back door, like the front, was bolted; the windows that faced the yard were glassed and barred. The bars appeared to be new. Kaylin studied the bolt, first with small and squawkys translucent wing, and then without; it appeared to be exactly what it was.
The bolt looks new, Severn said.
Kaylin nodded. She opened the door and looked down the few steps into a fenced yard. The fence, like the bars on the window, appeared to be newly constructedand in this area of town, fences were rare. The yards were generally like one great common.
The steps just beneath the door bore cracks similar to the road and the front steps of the house. They alsoin winged viewlooked as if theyd been broken instantly by too great a weight. The line led out into the yard. Kaylin followed it; it seemed to bisect one of the paths between cultivated vegetables, heading toward the distant quarries that provided the city with stone, among other things.
No, she thought, as she slowed an already crawling pace. Severn, does this look like normal yard to you?
Yes. Except for the fence.
I think theres a...hatch. Up ahead.
I cant see it.
Right. Theres obviously a basement here; lets assume the invisible hatch and the basement are connected.
I think its time we paid a visit to the house where the murders took place.
Basement first.
* * *
Teela and Tain had found nothing of importance upstairs. There were two obvious bedrooms and one sitting room; the sitting room was so pristine it was clear it wasnt used for much. The bedrooms had small, shallow closets that were filled with clothing and linen, and dirty laundry had accumulated in the usual placesat least in Kaylins experience.
The basement, however, was different.
The moment Kaylin opened the door, her arms began to tingle. Teela, moving slowly and scanning carefully, sucked in air; when Kaylin glanced back at her, the Barranis eyes were a much darker shade of blue.
Teela?
Be careful here. She glanced once at the Dragon.
The Dragon nodded, and the tingling across Kaylins marked skin grew sharper, though it was not yet painful. What do you see?
Magic was Teelas curt reply. She didnt bother to draw a weapon; Kaylin drew a silent dagger. Severn had not let go of his blade.