Page 52 of Cast in Conflict

“You’ve met Tiamaris?” Durant asked, as he began to walk.

Bellusdeo fell in on his left, Kaylin on his right. Mandoran, however, lagged slightly behind as he stared at the Durant Tower. Hope’s imperious squawk caused him to blink, shake himself, and follow.

“This is where the border zone was.” It was Marshalle who spoke. Durant had come to a halt. His eyes were slightly narrowed as he studied the street—a street that continued, unbroken and unobscured by the mist or fog that had previously characterized that zone.

Bellusdeo nodded. “The fog has cleared from all of the areas known, in the fiefs, as the border zones.”

“You’ve visited them all?”

“Yes. Both before—shortly before—and after. The fog wasn’t visible in the same way from the air before the zone vanished.”

“We discovered that the border zone affected individuals—or individual races—in different ways,” Kaylin added.

This was news to Durant, or appeared to be.

“Maggaron didn’t see the buildings we saw once we entered it; much of what he saw were buildings that conform to his size and his people.”

“His people?”

Clearly news traveled poorly between fiefs. “The Norranir. They arrived here from the ruins of another world—and it was a long walk. They make their home on the Ravellon border in Tiamaris.”

“Are they all as tall as he is?”

“More or less. Not the children,” she added.

“Some of the children are taller than the corporal.” Bellusdeo’s nod indicated which corporal. “You haven’t heard about them?”

Durant shook his head.

“And you knew about Candallar because you share a border with him?”

He nodded again. “I would know if either Candallar or Farlonne fell.”

“Had you met Candallar or Farlonne?”

“Not directly, no.” He grinned again. “The fieflords tend to remain in their own territories. Acquisition of land means nothing in the fiefs; the borders are fixed and solid. Or they were.” His gaze once again returned to the nonexistent border zone.

“Have you spoken to your Tower about the border zone—or its lack?”

“Some.” It was a noncommittal answer. Fair enough.

“How long have you held Durant?” Bellusdeo asked, the question casual.

The lack of answer implied that the answer wasn’t. “Long enough,” the fieflord eventually said, when it was clear that the Dragon was waiting for an answer anyway. “The Academia is this way?”

The Dragon nodded.

Marshalle cleared her throat; Durant shook his head, a short no.

“If it helps,” Kaylin said to the woman who seemed to be second in command here, “Nightshade has visited the Academia multiple times in the past week.”

“Interesting. Do you know why?”

Kaylin shrugged. “I think, at heart, he wants what the Academia offers. If he’d had a less Barrani life, he’d probably have made a good student.”

“Student of what?”

“The Academia,” Mandoran said, the word almost brusque for Mandoran.

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