Page 156 of Cast in Conflict

“We should leave,” Sedarias said.

“But—”

“He is unlikely to kill her. Or Lord Emmerian. Not when they’re like this.”

The roaring grew in volume; some of the pillars to either side seemed suddenly remarkably fragile. One cracked. Sedarias was right.

Leaving was easier said than done. The stone hall was longer than city blocks; Karriamis could have easily housed all of Elani in it. And while she hated much of Elani street, she wouldn’t really want to see it buried under tons of falling rock.

The entire hall shuddered, emphasizing the end fate of anything that remained in it. Kaylin had no doubt that the cohort could avoid falling rock; she was far less sure of herself.

Hope squawked loudly in her ear. The rock will not kill you. His tone implied, “if I haven’t, and I’m reconsidering.”

She had entirely forgotten his presence in Emmerian’s prison. He had not made a single sound.

I did make the attempt. Given the presence of Lord Emmerian, I decided against forcing the issue, but I am not pleased.

“Can you please remember that I’m not the one who trapped us there?”

Hope snorted. You wish to turn left here.

Since left more or less looked like the same configuration of shaking pillars and stone floor, Kaylin grimaced. Whatever it was Hope saw, she didn’t.

Clearly the cohort didn’t see it either.

“Sedarias!”

Sedarias came to a halt and turned toward Kaylin, her eyes blue, her expression annoyed.

“Hope says turn left here!”

The addition of the familiar’s name made a clear difference. “Does he say what’s to the left?”

She shook her head.

Sedarias gave Hope a very pointed glare. But she nodded to Terrano and Mandoran, and the entire small group headed toward the left. Beyond the closest pillar, Kaylin saw more wall; there was no door, no arch, to indicate that anything but wall existed.

Hope squawked loudly. The volume wasn’t necessary; Hope’s voice was either close enough to her ear Dragons shouting didn’t swamp it, or magical in nature. Or both.

Kaylin didn’t understand the squawking, which meant his words weren’t aimed at her. She no longer required him. It wasn’t a branching hallway they were looking for. It was the pillar itself. She closed her eyes as she approached it, collided—gently—with its curved, engraved surface—and then passed through it.

The roar of Dragons “conversing” vanished, which caused her to open her eyes and pivot. She saw Sedarias, Terrano, Mandoran. There was no pillar, and no obvious door, but absent either, this was a room that reminded Kaylin very much of Helen’s parlor when they had significant guests. There were chairs here, and the walls were adorned with shelves that held both books and the assorted detritus of various tenants. There was even a window that took up half of one wall; sunlight fell to the carpeted floor, without so much as a dust mote to break its beams.

“It’s only the three of you?” Kaylin asked.

“Here, yes.”

“Only three of you came to Karriamis?”

Sedarias shrugged, but behind her, Mandoran rolled his eyes. “Karriamis didn’t appear to be open to visitors.”

“So you just walked in without an invitation?”

“Bellusdeo insisted. Look—I’ve never seen her eyes that color before, and even if the rest of the fief is composed of flimsy, mortal buildings, from what you’ve said, the ones that are still standing are full of actual people. We didn’t think—”

“You didn’t,” Sedarias corrected him.

“—that the immediate buildings would survive. She was looking for a fight. There aren’t a lot of Dragons in this fief at best guess; people were probably huddling under tables. Point is, they weren’t fleeing their homes to get as far from the fire-blast radius as possible.

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