Cast in Sorrow
Chronicles of Elantra - 9
by
Michelle Sagara
Chapter 1
To say that Private Kaylin Neya was out of her element was to master the art of understatement. Fish out of water had nothing on the groundhawk whose entire life had been lived within the boundaries of Elantraeither on the city streets or in the fiefs at its heart.
This had become obvious the moment she entered the forest, walking between Severn and Teela and surroundedliterallyby Barrani. Or as she walked through forest, at any rate, because this far across the known map, it was all forest. Never an aficionado of fine art, shed nonetheless seen paintings, and the occasional diorama of ancient forests, and she had known what to expect: tall, majestic trees, shade-dappled forest floors and shafts of brilliant, solid sunlight illuminating strategic patches of charming undergrowth, with the occasional frail animal thrown in for good measure. In the paintings, there were no Barrani, no dragons, and no angry Leontines; there were no drug dealers, no muggers, no frauds, and no rapists. The artists evoked a sense of peaceful idyll.
Hah.
Painters should have been Court diplomatsmen and women whod mastered the art of telling pretentious lies with more or less straight faces. For one, they left out the bugs. On some level, Kaylin didnt blame themif shed had the choice, shedve left them out, too. Unfortunately, she didnt. The insects didnt appear to bother the Barrani. She was gladin an entirely petty waythat they occasionally bit Severn, because it made their choice of dinner snacks racial, rather than purely personal. He didnt appear to take offense as much.
Then again, he had other things on his mind, chief among them, not tripping over inconveniently placed tree roots and landing on his face. His left eye had, over the course of two days, developed a purple-black tinge. Hed taken one wound to his upper left thigh, and two broad gashes across his left rib cage, one of which had exposed bone. Hed allowed her to heal the wounds by a few days worth, no more.
This was a greater liberty than any of the injured Barrani allowed her, and she was tired enough not to push the point. The Barrani version of gratitude for the gift of healing involved knivesor worsein dark alleys.
Avoiding Barrani, however, was not an option.
The Lord of the West March and what remained of his soldiers formed up at the frontand the rearof the delegation. To either side, what was left of the party that had set out from the High Halls walked in single file. Kaylin wasnt given the option of choosing her position in that delegation: she was wearing a very fine, obviously magical, green dress, and the dress demanded respect, even if the wearer didnt.
Travel, some idiot in her office had said, is fun.
Kaylin, surrounded by somber, tenseand deeply blue-eyed Barranihad a few words to say about that. Teela made clear she could say them with her mouth shut. So Kaylin, navigating forest, footpaths, and a plague of blood-drinking, buzzing insects, began to make a list. It was, in her mind, titled Things Not to Do if You Want to Have Fun During Your Involuntary Leave of (Probably Unpaid) Absence.
First on the list: avoid making deals for crucial information with a fieflord. Even if the Halls of Law were desperate for that information. The particular fieflord in question, Lord Nightshade, didnt seem to have any trouble navigating the forest, and the insects avoided him. He wore a tiara with an emerald at its peak, and robes that looked ridiculously fine in comparison to the practical Barrani armor that almost everyone else was wearing. She added a corollary to the first point: do not agree to attend a religious rite in the West March without first ascertaining that the fieflord in question did not also plan to attend.
Second on the list: do not travel with the Barrani High Court. It had seemed both convenient and smart to accept their offer of transportation; after all, the Barrani knew where they were going. Kaylin didnt. Her knowledge of Elantran streets was second to noneor closebut the West March wasnt in Elantra. At the time, because shed had no idea how to reach the West March, getting there on her own had seemed impossible.
Impossible couldnt be worse than this. She slapped her arm and squashed an insect. The chill in the air, as she smeared insect body across the sleeve of her incredibly important ceremonial dress, could have frozen moving water.
If the imaginary person for whom the list was being created had had no choice in either of the first two, she emphatically underlined point three: if you see a strange dress in a closet that only appeared after youd entered the room of your inn, ignore it. Under no circumstances was such a dress to be worn. Unless you were Barrani, and maybe not even then. Yes, the dress was a lovely shade of green. Yes, it was comfortable. Yes, it was suitable for the Barrani High Courtand it didnt require the help of two strong people to put on. It was even practical; the skirts were wide enough that Kaylin could runat full stridewhile wearing it.
Unfortunately, the Barrani didnt respect or revere it because it was practical. They revered it because it was the manifestation of the will of the heart of the green. Some poor sucker, shoehorned into the dress, was meant to serve in a primary role in the recitation of the regaliathe very rite that a smart person would have gone out of their way to avoid attending if they were paying attention to point one.
Fourth on the listalthough technically, it might be better placed between points two and three: avoid Barrani inns. The Barrani version of an inn was known as a Hallionne. Or the Hallionne, in plural. As inns went they were creepy, in part because they were alive and sentientand mind-reading. Best not to forget the mind-reading part. They reminded Kaylin of nothing so much as the Towers or Castles in the fiefs, and no one with two brain cells to rub together voluntarily lived in either. She felt a twinge of guilt at this because she counted Tara, the Tower of Tiamaris, as a friend. But it had been a long two daysit was a very minor twinge.
Because the Hallionne were sentient, they were able to do things that normal inns couldntlike, say, choose the rooms in which their guests stayed. Want a different room? Too damn bad. You could stay in the room the Hallionne chose for youor you could sleep under the trees, where the forest version of Ferals would eat your liver for a midnight snack. The Hallionne also had a pretty broad idea of physical shape and changed it apparently at whim.
The small dragon perched on her shoulder tilted his head, and after a pause, squawked in her ear.
Point five, which might also be point zero: do not take large, strange eggs home with you. They hatched into delicate, small dragons. Not that the actual dragons of Kaylins acquaintance thought sobut honestly, the little guy had miniature dragon breath. Except he didnt spew flame; he spewed...clouds. That could melt steel without heating it first. That could kill Ferals. That could bypass the usual magical wards placed on doors.
Squawk.
Or maybe point five should be: do not have a dragon for a roommate. Because dragons for roommates attracted assassins the way Kaylin was currently attracting insectsand if you were planning on killing a dragon, youd need enough magical conflagration to destroy a city block.
Or two.
And that much magic had certainly been enough to destroy the only home Kaylin had ever truly owned. Or rented. On the other hand, if your life goal was to live in the Palace, dragon roommates who just happened to be the only living female of the species were definitely the way to go.
The small dragon squawked again.
All right, all right. Scratch that. Unhatched eggs are good. Especially since the act of hatching seemed responsible for the fact that Kaylinand Bellusdeo, the maligned dragon roommate in questionwere still alive. That was not the usual outcome when an Arcane bomb exploded in your face.
He squawked.
Theyre bad?
Lord Kaylin, Severn said. She glanced at him. Is there some difficulty? His words were both High Barrani and stiff as boards. They reminded her, immediately, that she was surrounded by Barrani Lords who were just as stiff, but probably less friendly. You could get some warmth out of most boards by burning them; at this point, Kaylin wasnt so certain the same could be said of the High Court, or at least its present members.
Only Nightshade looked amused.
Amusing Nightshade was not high on her list of things to do, although it didnt quite make the list of things not to do she was composing.
Lets see. Six? Six: if a Hallionne offered to let you stay in his special, safe space, and the space looked like a haunted graveyard, dont do it.
She was aware, as she stubbed her toe for the thousandth time, that she was being more than a little unfair. But the imitation graveyard had been a bedroom, of sorts. In the heart of the Hallionne, his brothers slept.
Small and squawky dragon sidekick had breathed on their tombstones, which had caused them to wake. The waking had been disturbing. The brothers themselves, disturbing as well but in a different waytheyd adopted the forms of Barrani Lords, but the minute theyd opened their collective mouths it was clear they had very, very little in common with the Hallionnes most frequent guests.
Seven: if the Hallionne offers to let you take the portal paths through the outlands to the West March, say no. Loudly. Leontine optional. In theory, the portal paths were risky. Theory and practice aligned, but not in the ways shed been told to expect.
In theory, the outlands existed as a kind of potential space. They were gray and formless in their natural state. An entire groupsuch as, say, the group that set out from the High Halls what felt like months agocould pass through the arch of the portal intent on reaching the same destination, but only two people were guaranteed to do so.
One of them was Kaylin Neya, wearer of the dress that deserved respect.
The other was Lord Nightshade, wearer of the emerald tiara. Like Kaylins dress, the tiara was given to someone chosen to participate directly in the recitation of the regalia. Unlike Kaylin, Nightshade seemed to approve.