Page 162 of Cast in Conflict

Kaylin started to dismount, and Bellusdeo growled. Clearly Emmerian was considered independent enough to make his own decision, and Kaylin was not.

To Severn, she said, Emmerian’s coming.

I heard. Tell Nightshade.

He’s not with you?

No. He and Teela headed into the street.

“That is unwise,” Karriamis said. “This is not the fief of Nightshade; he is far more vulnerable to attack here than he would be should he stand his ground in his own fief.”

“He also has a personal score to settle with the outcaste; the outcaste interfered with his fief. He’s not stupid enough to go into Ravellon to reach him, but if he comes out...”

“Perhaps you did not hear me.”

“Nightshade wields one of The Three. And Teela wields one as well. Look—they’ve fought Dragons before. They’ve survived.”

“Outcaste Dragons are not Dragons,” Karriamis snapped.

“No. Not entirely. But—Teela isn’t entirely Barrani either, and never say that where she can hear it. Her companions are here, and they’re definitely not normal Barrani. You met one. Mandoran. And Terrano. The swords were made to fight Dragons, and I’ve seen them in use.”

“The outcaste did not come here alone.”

Bellusdeo exhaled smoke. No fire, not yet. “Show us—please show us—what’s happening in the fief.”

“I cannot divert the power to do so,” Karriamis replied. His eyes were no longer Dragon eyes; they were shadow eyes, obsidian and flecked with moving color. “This is very poorly timed.”

“For you,” Kaylin replied. “It’s not poorly timed for the outcaste—he must know you have no captain. We need to join our friends.”

“No, you do not. Your Sedarias understands why the outcaste has come. It is not to take the Tower; he would not survive his entry should he be bold enough or foolish enough to make the attempt. It is entirely about Bellusdeo.”

The Dragon tensed beneath Kaylin.

“He can try.” Kaylin didn’t need to see the color of the Dragon’s eyes. She knew.

“Bellusdeo—” Before she could speak, Hope did. In his angry squawking voice, which happened to be beside Kaylin’s left ear.

This didn’t make Bellusdeo any less tense.

“He is right,” Karriamis said. He began to dwindle into a more familiar, mortal form. “If you follow me, you may see the state of the streets and the skies. You may make your decision at that time. I admit I am curious; I did not see The Three in active use.”

“But you knew of them.”

“Of course. We all did.”

Bellusdeo exhaled again, told Kaylin to get off of her back, and then resumed the much more familiar “mortal” form. “Lead,” she told the Avatar.

He raised a brow at her tone but nodded and turned.

Lead in this case had a slightly different meaning than it would in another building. The hall contracted without narrowing, and they reached the end of it between the first step and the second. The end led to stairs, and the stairs led up. They were wide—too wide, in Kaylin’s opinion; they were also tall, but the width made the height seem shorter than it actually was. They were constructed around a central pillar, very much like the stairs that occupied Helen’s training room, but at least these had rails, and the drop over the rails was well lit and ended in floor.

“They are constructed for your use, of course,” Karriamis said. “Stop dawdling.”

Kaylin would have resented this more, but Bellusdeo was jogging up the stairs. She was taller than Kaylin in this form but not by that much. Kaylin therefore sped up, allowing Bellusdeo to set the pace.

The stairs ended on a wide landing, and the landing became a large, wooden floor that extended without obvious doors or arches separating it from the stairs.

“I find them too fussy,” Karriamis said.

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