Page 163 of Cast in Conflict

Bellusdeo didn’t hear him. She followed the floor until it reached wall—although wall was the wrong word for it, as it was mostly window, and appeared to be open to the air. They had reached the Tower’s height; beneath them, the fief of Candallar spread out. The Dragon wasn’t looking at the fief.

She was looking at the skies, and what the skies contained. Shadows flew—but no, Kaylin thought, they couldn’t be Shadow. The Towers had control of the space. But they could be like the outcaste: not one thing, not the other. She didn’t understand—couldn’t understand—how the outcaste could get past all of the Tower barriers that kept Ravellon and its occupants caged.

At the heart of a cloud of wings was the outcaste; he was ebon, and wing-tip to wing-tip the size of Bellusdeo. As he approached with what seemed either escort or soldiers, she recognized the forms and the wings: Aerian. These were Aerian. But their wings? They were as black as the outcaste Dragon.

Kaylin turned to Karriamis, who stood at a distance. “Well?”

He met her eyes, his obsidian. “Well?”

“Did you allow Candallar’s friend to take a Shadow you knew was there? Or was the Shadow masked somehow by its carrier?”

“I would not have sensed it,” he finally replied. Bellusdeo wheeled.

“But you said—”

“I said I had hope, Lord Kaylin. I said that the outcome, in the end, was fortuitous. I said that I was aware of the plan.”

“You’re lying.”

“Yes.” He was watching the skies. “The outcaste, as the Barrani Lord, masters; he is not mastered by. I am aware of him; were he to land in my streets, I would know. But I would not know that he was of Shadow, or that he had consumed it; I would know because he is outcaste, and I am now aware of his existence.

“He entered the fief of Nightshade, I believe.”

Kaylin nodded.

“I think members of your cohort have taken to the air.”

Kaylin couldn’t see them. Neither could Bellusdeo—but at the moment, Bellusdeo had eyes for only one creature: the outcaste. Everything else was irrelevant detritus. Kaylin could see her face in profile, but didn’t need to look to know the color of her eyes.

“Look,” Karriamis said quietly, his voice much closer to her ear than the rest of him.

She did.

Bellusdeo’s eyes were orange with deep, deep flecks of crimson. Rage had not fully transformed their color. “How permeable is this window?” she asked, the question almost casual.

Karriamis wasn’t fooled. “As you suspect, the window can serve as a portal.”

The gold Dragon slid her hands behind her back as she watched.

Emmerian had reached the street; he had joined Teela and Nightshade, dwarfing them in his draconic form. Kaylin couldn’t hear what they were saying.

No, wait. She could.

Nightshade. She didn’t have to ask. He let her in as she closed her own eyes and looked through his. Emmerian and Teela were speaking; Nightshade, sword unsheathed, observed the skies while he listened.

“We have never attempted to fight a war as a cohesive unit,” the blue Dragon rumbled. “I do not feel that today is the correct time to make the attempt.”

“It won’t be the first time I’ve ridden on a Dragon’s back. Kariannos is capable of ranged attack, as you should well know.”

“I know that the sword was effective against Dragons when you did not have the simple option of flight,” the Dragon snapped.

How long have they been going at it?

Subjectively?

Objectively, Kaylin snapped, as annoyed as Teela sounded.

Since Lord Emmerian emerged from the Tower. I confess I do not understand the outcaste’s target, here. Karriamis will not accept the outcaste as its lord. There is a small possibility that other Towers might, but Karriamis is a Dragon at heart.

---