Oh. Pause. You dont look like a Dragon.
Not at the moment, no. But remember when you asked me why my eyes were red?
The girl nodded.
Dragon eyesunlike yourschange color in different situations.
Is red bad?
It is very, very bad, Kaylin answered, before Bellusdeo could.
Kattea fell silent. It didnt last. Can you turn into a real Dragon?
Yes. I wont do it here, thoughI dont think your house would survive it.
Gilbert looked wearier by the passing second.
Kattea surprised them all. Rising, she walked to the curtains and shut them. Gilbert did not resume his seat. None of the Hawks stood, but it didnt matter; Teela and Tain could be out of their seats, armed and deadly by the time Kaylin had blinked twice. Gilbert was obviously aware of this.
We did not see anything out of the ordinary, he said. Nor did we hear anything out of the ordinary. When did you say this took place?
Late last night or very early this morning, Kaylin replied.
Ah. Kattea
No, Im not leaving, she told him, folding her arms and suddenly looking older. I dont think theyll hurt you while Im here.
Chapter 4
Gilbert smiled. It was a drawn, but affectionate, expression. Kattea believes many things with absolute confidence. His smile was pained, but again, laced with resigned affection. She does not always understand the world in which you live.
Shes not wrong in theory, Kaylin countered. But we do have a few questions.
I will answer, as I may, but first, I must ask: What brought you to our home?
Do Katteas parents also live here? Bellusdeo asked.
The child stilled. After a long pause, and in a much quieter voice, she said, My parents are dead.
Kaylins heart echoed Katteas obvious pain. Mine, too, she said. I was five years old and living in the fiefs.
Katteas eyes almost fell out of her head. She turned, excited again, to Gilbert. Gilbert! Gilbert! Shes just like us! Which fief?
Nightshade.
Gilbert! Gilbert!
Gilbert closed his eyes; in the darkened room, he looked less pale. Kattea was born in the fief of Nightshade, he said quietly.
Gilbert found me. Gilbert saved me from She stopped, paling at the memory. Gilbert saved me. And then we came here. Wellnot right here, but after.
So your parents didnt live in the city.
Kattea shook her head.
And you made it across the bridge.
She nodded.
When did this happen?
Months ago, the young girl said.
Three weeks ago, Gilbert clarified.
Three weeks. Every Hawk present exchanged a glance. Three weeks, Kaylin said slowly. This was on the night that the Dragons were flying above the city?
Kattea nodded.
Katteas confidence in the city across the bridge was...high.
Kaylins had been, too. In some ways, it still was; if the ideal city shed imagined was tarnished, it was still a far better place to live than the fiefs had been. Why did you bring her here?
Because the fiefs were not suitable. I do not think she would have survived them long. Had I not found her, she would not have survived at all.
Where were you born? Bellusdeo asked.
In Ravellon, Gilbert replied.
Bellusdeo rose then. Kattea stepped, instantly, in front of Gilbert, her arms wide-open; Kaylin reached out and placed a handgentlyon the Dragons shoulder. Forgive us, she said, the words aimed more at Kattea than at Gilbert, but only Shadow dwells within Ravellon now.
That is true, he replied. But it was not always so.
If you come from Ravellon now, its true, the Dragon said. Her eyes, which had lightened slightly while Kattea spoke, now shifted back into true red.
It is not was the quiet reply. Perhaps you cannot discern the difference, but there is one. Understand that while we share mutual goals, we are not one creature, and those of us who maintain a shred of sanity retain some element of choice.
The Dragon stared at him, unmoved.
Kaylin said quietly, Bellusdeo walked the path between worlds to arrive in Elantra. Her world was lost to the Shadows.
I did not say that there was no danger; there is always an element of danger when dealing with the powerful. You, he said, nodding to Bellusdeo, are a danger to everyone in this room. I intend youand your citizensno harm.
And the child? Bellusdeo asked.
It is as she said. When I stumbled into the fiefand it seems an odd demarcationI met Kattea. Minor creatures are given free rein in the streets of the fief; she would not have survived them. She called out to me; she asked me to come to her aid. I chose, for reasons of my own, to do so.
And those reasons are?
I say, again, that I have no harmful intent.
And we are to trust you? Your kind has done irreparable harm here, as well as elsewhere.
I am aware that it will be difficult to convince you. You have long held my kind in contempt. I am to be judged, always, by the actions of othersactions I would not have chosen to take. To Kaylin, he said, How is it that you chose to come first to my home? What error did I make?
Kaylin shook her head to clear it. What Gilbert appeared to be claimingthat Shadows had free will and that they functioned as individualswas a new thought, at least to Kaylin. It went against everything she had been told about Shadows; it went against anything she had ever personally experienced.
Yes, Shadows were not uniform in shape or size, although there were Ferals. There were one-offs, as her old friend Morse called them: creatures with too many limbs or no limbs or too many heads or too many mouths in one headthe list was endless. Shadows could be freaking weather. But every Shadow of any stripe Kaylin had encountered thus far had been attempting to kill. Or worse. The Shadows in Kaylins day-to-day life existed solely to torment, corrupt and ultimately destroy. Oh, and rule everything.
The Towers had been created by the Ancients to guard against the Shadow incursions that could otherwise destroy not only a city, but a world. Helen had defenses against Shadows, and she wasnt even built in the fiefs.
Kaylins first thoughtand second, and thirdwas that Gilbert was lying. That he had to be lying. But Kattea seemed neither injured nor cowed. She seemed, if anything, apprehensive and indignanton Gilberts behalf, as he certainly wasnt either on his own.
Bellusdeo, Teela said, is this possible? You have the greater experience.
Bellusdeo opened her mouth seconds after the small dragon opened his. This time, the translucent creature breathed.
Kaylin had seen this a few times now. The first time, she had understood the pearlescent cloud to be dangerous by the quality of blue in Barrani eyes. The second had confirmed the earlier Barrani opinion. A group of giant Feralsfor want of a better wordhad attacked them on their recent journey to the West March and swallowed those clouds.
The clouds had destroyed them.
This seemed fair to Kaylin, because the Ferals blood had attempted to destroy the Barrani, and in what she assumed was a similar fashion: it spread, transmuting Barrani flesh intowell, into something that was no longer Barrani. Kaylins ability to heal couldnt stop that transformation: shed had to cut out the bad bits and start from there. The changes made by the combination of flesh and Shadow blood had instantly become the healthy or default state of the body. What the finished product of that default state would look like, she didnt know; shed worked desperately to make sure that it never happened.
This cloud hovered above the food in the still air of the room.
Since Teela and Tain were already on high alert, its existence didnt noticeably change their expressions or their eye colorsin fact, Teelas eyes might have actually lightened.
Gilbert stared intently at the cloud. Kattea sensibly asked, Is it dangerous? She spoke to Gilbert.
Indeterminate, he replied. At Katteas frown, he added, Im not certain yet. Is it? he asked the small dragon.
The small dragon squawked.
Gilbert frowned. When he answered, he spoke in a language that Kaylin couldnt understand. It was not a language that felt familiar, either; its vowels seemed sharp enough to cut the tongue on.
The small dragon squawked.
Oddly enough, this interchange seemed to set everyone else at easeor as much at ease as they were likely to getexcept Kattea, who frowned. Why cant you speak a language I can understand? she demanded.
I do not believe he is capable of it, Gilbert replied. And even if he is, there are some concepts I cannot easily discuss in your tongue. It is not always comfortable to exist in this fashion. My kin are often less confined in the shapes they choose to take.
He wont teach me, Kattea said to Kaylin. It was the first time shed sounded less than perky.
I dont think he can, Kaylin replied.
Why not?
Because hes not human.
Kattea rolled her eyes. So?
Were mostly stuck being what we are, Kaylin replied. We can learn to do moreor lesswith what we are. We can live on either side of the bridge. We can learn to hunt Ferals Kattea shrunk into Gilberts side, at this even if we start out hiding in abandoned buildings and praying they cant get in. But Teela is Barrani. Shes immortal. Shes going to live forever. She doesnt really get cold and she doesnt need to sleep. There are a lot of things we can do together, but Im never going to be immortal, and when I get no sleep, its really bad.
Gilbert isnt like us.
I have explained this to Kattea before, Gilbert added. But apparently the word of a Hawk carries more weight.
The word of a mortal, Kaylin countered. The immortal dont generally know much about us, except that were weak and not much of a threat.
Thats harsh, Teela said.
I notice youre not denying it.
I didnt say it wasnt true. She turned to Gilbert. Why are you in Elantra?
It was safer for Kattea.
Are you responsible for the deaths of your neighbors?
Did they die?
Yes. Their deaths are the reason you have Hawks in your parlor.
Small and squawky came back to Kaylins shoulder and settled there. He didnt seem to dislike or distrust Gilbertand that, more than anything else, was the deciding factor for Kaylin. If Marcus ever learned of it, hed bite her head off. While immortals tended to take the small creature seriouslypossibly because he didnt sound like an irate chicken to themmortals didnt.
Private Neya, Gilbert said, may I ask one question?
Kaylin nodded.
The mark on your facewhere did you come by it?
* * *
Teela reacted first. In a voice that implied that frost was her natural element, she said, Why do you ask?
It is unusual. I have not spent the majority of my existence in your streets, but I have spent some time observingand I have not encountered its like anywhere else.
I should hope not, Tain said.
Does it break your laws?
Our laws, yes. The laws of the Emperor, no. In general, Imperial Laws are designed to deal with difficulties that are well understood and even common.
Is it painful? Gilbert continued.
Kaylin ignored the question. Can I offer you some advice for blending in? she asked him.
He looked surprised at the question. Yes, of course.
Blink occasionally. And stare less.
This confused him. Which, given his origins, was probably to be expected. The mark on my face was put there by the fieflord of Nightshade.
Gilbert rose and bowed. Then it is to you I must speak. You are Lord Kaylin?
I am Private Neya, she replied, uncomfortableas she always waswith the Barrani title. It had a weight she didnt understand how to shoulder, and even if she could, wasnt certain she wanted. Im a Hawk, and I serve the Emperors law.
Yes. I do not see that these are mutually exclusive.
What, exactly, do you need to speak with me about?
Lord Nightshade, he replied. I carry a message for you.
Nightshades namehis True Namereverberated in the hush that followed.
Calarnenne.
There was no answer. There had been no answer for weeks now, and the silence was slowly driving his younger brother insane.
It was Kaylin who attempted to repair the break in the conversation. Youve met him?
Yes, and no. If you enter Ravellon now, you will not find him.
Kaylin nodded.
But he is to be found thereor so he hopesin the future.
* * *
She is not traveling to Ravellon, Bellusdeo said flatly.
Its illegal, Kaylin added, although the clarification probably wasnt necessary, given the color of Bellusdeos eyes.
It is not safe, Gilbert agreed, as if that was the entire subtext of Bellusdeos statement. But I was tasked with delivering a message.
From whom?
Gilbert frowned. Kaylin considered the question a bit pointless, all things considered. From and here he spoke a word that was thunder. With lightning for emphasis.
All of the hair on Kaylins body stood on end; her skin instantly broke out in the worst of the rashes that magic caused. In case there was any doubt, her armsbeneath the shroud of long sleevesbegan to glow. It was not a glow that could be easily missed. Kaylin couldnt fit syllables into the wordor wordsthat Gilbert had just uttered. She could not repeat the sounds.
The small dragon, however, lifted his head, squawking, and the pearly gray cloud that had hovered in place since hed exhaled it began to move. It descended, and when it was a foot away from the top of the table on which Kattea had settled both food and drink, Kaylin leaped forward to rescue them.
The small dragon bit her ear without drawing blood; his eye rolling would have been at home on a Barrani face, if Barrani faces had contained eyes that looked like black opals.