Page 155 of Cast in Conflict

The walls, that is, that weren’t gold and orange and red; Bellusdeo’s roar contained fire. Kaylin couldn’t see the color of her eyes immediately, but didn’t really want to; she knew they’d be blood red.

What she hadn’t expected was the presence of the third Dragon.

He was not gold, not red, not indigo or blue or purple; he was not green—which was often the color of Dragons in art and storybooks. He reminded her of Kavallac, the Arbiter librarian, although she couldn’t say why; he was...white or silver or something in between—like a Dragon ghost, and not an actual Dragon.

Bellusdeo’s fire hit him.

So did Emmerian’s.

She would have been surprised had either injured him, and she remained unsurprised, but the fire didn’t pass through him; he wasn’t insubstantial; both streams struck him and pierced him, and he seemed to absorb the white and orange and yellow, his scales shifting in color as he did.

It was almost disturbing.

Had he chosen to return fire, she might have moved. His mouth was open, but his words weren’t accompanied by flame, or even streams of speckled cloud.

The marks on her arms were glowing a bright, bright gold.

She wasn’t surprised to see them rise, leaving her skin as if they were concentric, moving bracers; she lowered her hands.

“I think,” a familiar voice said into the ears she had just exposed, “it’s time to leave.”

“Past time,” she told Mandoran. “Is it safe?”

“About as safe as any place that features enraged Dragons trying to destroy something, yes.” That was Terrano.

“Is Sedarias here?”

“Sedarias was with Bellusdeo—I don’t think she joined her in the descent.”

“She didn’t,” Terrano confirmed.

She felt two hands on either of her arms.

“You might want to close your eyes,” Mandoran said. “We’re not moving through normal space here.”

“Portal space?”

“You said it was okay inside the Hallionne. This should be like that.”

She closed her eyes.

The Dragons could still be heard when the trio landed, if landing was even the right word. Kaylin, between them, opened her eyes; she didn’t feel queasy and didn’t immediately drop to her knees—which would have been difficult in any case, as her arms were still attached to Terrano and Mandoran, and they weren’t kneeling.

They stood in a long, stone hall, the ceilings high enough to allow Dragons some flight; they were certainly wide enough and empty enough.

Sedarias was standing there, arms folded, expression pinched. She opened her mouth, but her words were lost to the sound of Dragon rage. If Kaylin couldn’t understand the words, she couldn’t ignore the tone.

You are an idiot. Sedarias chose to mouth the words, lips moving emphatically over very familiar syllables. Teela is worried.

“She’s not allowed to worry about me,” Kaylin shouted. Dragons clearly had humongous lungs; there was almost no break into which normal words could be wedged.

“You tell her that,” Sedarias shouted back.

She’s not here, Severn added.

You’re sure?

She felt his nod.

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