Page 68 of Cast in Conflict

“Maggaron?”

Maggaron had stopped walking. He had practically stopped breathing. He shook his head, wordless.

Bellusdeo was instantly almost red-eyed as she turned to her Ascendant. “What?” she demanded. “What do you see?”

“I’ve seen buildings like this before,” he whispered, the softness of his words belying his size.

Bellusdeo didn’t ask where. She knew.

Kaylin suspected, because she now remembered the first time she had seen Maggaron. He had been on the wrong side of the Ravellon border, wielding a sword that had once been a person: Bellusdeo herself.

They had been lost to Shadow with the fall of their world, and Kaylin had, with the marks of the Chosen on her skin, somehow managed to draw them back.

It was Kaylin who said, “In Ravellon?”

Maggaron nodded. “They were not...exactly like this. But close, except for the color.”

“Starrante said his people—talking, sentient, giant spiders—lived in Ravellon. I think they might have been responsible for the portals that lead to other worlds, and that lead other worlds here.”

Maggaron was almost green. “Spiders?”

She nodded. “The main body is probably my size; the legs make it all look larger. And eyes. There are lots of eyes. They can spin webs, but their webs aren’t the usual envelop-your-prey kind of webs.” She thought they could be, but tried, hard, to keep this to herself. “Did you see spiders like that in Ravellon? Do you remember?”

He was silent. The green tinge to his skin didn’t improve.

“He did,” Bellusdeo replied. Her eyes remained almost crimson as she stared up at the Tower’s height. Her lips were compressed in a thin line, as if to stop a draconic roar from emerging. “I have very little memory of my time in that place. Maggaron has more.”

“Starrante’s people were likely enslaved, just as he was,” Kaylin said. “And Starrante saved our lives. We owe him.”

“He did not save mine,” the Dragon snapped. She closed her eyes, the inner membrane rising first, the lids falling second. She then exhaled slowly. Kaylin was surprised to see the lack of smoke.

“Starrante’s kinsman was chosen to be the heart of this Tower. Liatt’s Tower.”

Bellusdeo nodded.

“No one chosen to be the heart of the Tower could be associated with Ravellon. Perhaps Aggarok—I think that was his name—was chosen because he understood what his people could do. They needed someone who understood the nature of the portals woven by Starrante’s people in order to block their access to the rest of this world.”

“You’re thinking out loud,” the Dragon observed.

“It’s relevant, though.” Kaylin watched as the Dragon opened her eyelids; the lower membrane stayed in place, muting the orange her eyes had become. There were still flecks of red in the iris, but it was a distinct improvement.

“It is.” Bellusdeo inhaled. “Thank you.”

Maggaron was less grateful, but not less green. Clearly, he had the same spider buttons Kaylin had. Or maybe worse; he had seen more.

“They spin together,” he whispered. “They create gates and portals that can move hundreds of those in the Shadow’s command.”

“Is there a central command?”

“What does central mean? Are you asking if Shadow has a king?”

“Maybe?”

He shook his head. “It is not the way Shadows think of themselves. They are part of a whole, not separate individuals.”

“Were you?”

He nodded.

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