Page 98 of Cast in Conflict

Kaylin hesitated. She was now in territory that Bellusdeo herself would barely acknowledge and would not consider; she couldn’t speak for the Dragon here, couldn’t speak in her stead. “The cost of a mistake...”

“Yes. That is fear speaking. Fear is, with the correct mix of experience and knowledge, the foundation of caution, and caution is admirable. But tell me, Chosen, did you not have this very argument with the Consort of the Barrani?”

“No?”

“Ah, perhaps the term Shadow is confusing you. Let me say, instead, the Devourer.”

Kaylin looked down at her food as all appetite deserted her. “Oh. That.”

Karriamis’s eyes had shaded toward gold as he chuckled. “I see them as fundamentally the same. Bellusdeo does not. It was the remnants of her people that you saved. But the risk was as large as the risk of unknown Shadow: the loss of an entire world.”

He then turned to Bellusdeo. “Or is it different for you because you have, and have had, a vested interest in the outcome?”

“I wasn’t aware of the struggle at the time.”

“Ah, no, forgive me. Bellusdeo does not and would not fault the Consort for her decision or her anger. Had you been mistaken, this world would be gone. I personally believe the Consort was correct; the risk was too high. And yet, again, the outcome is desirable. It is certainly desirable for my people. It is not a risk I would have taken. It is not a risk the Consort could take. And I believe that it is not a risk Bellusdeo herself would condone.

“Would you change what you did?”

Kaylin shook her head.

“It is a combination of risk and belief that allows such changes to happen. When they do not work well, it’s considered an act of dangerous idealism, dangerous naivete after the fact. But without it, I feel that too little would change, and whole new avenues of existence would never be explored or brought to light.”

“That’s not why you let him leave the border zone with a Shadow in his hands.”

“They were not in his hands. Perhaps, however, you do not understand the function of your Spike prior to the fall of worlds. Spike would have been at home as an Arbiter in the Academia. They would have been at home—more than at home—as one of the experts and scholars who dwelled there. In the fullness of time, I believe they may apply to do just that. I believe your Robin would be delighted.”

Nightshade was right. This Tower was dangerous in a way the other sentient buildings were not. His advice—to leave immediately—was going to be difficult to follow without the building’s permission.

Karriamis chose not to comment on that. “Spike was a historian. A recorder of truths and events.”

“Wait—how do you know this?”

Karriamis said nothing.

Bellusdeo, however, said, “Did you know Spike?”

“I knew of Spike’s people—they were, like Starrante’s, few.”

But the gold Dragon shook her head. “You thought you recognized him.”

“Enslaved as he was? How would that be possible?”

“You tell us. I will concede your points: Spike was enslaved. When freed from that enslavement, that control, he was helpful.” She exhaled. “He was more than helpful. And I, too, was enslaved for years beyond count. But I was not of the Shadow, and I believe Spike was.”

“Both Spike and Starrante’s people require certain environments in which to thrive, yes. But you speak of Shadow as if it is one thing.” He held up a hand before she could breathe flame. “And those who are enslaved by it become part of it. It drives their thoughts, their desires, their intent. Do you understand, you who spent so much time in its thrall, what Shadow is?”

“No.”

“A pity. And a further pity that I cannot visit the High Halls in person to ask the question of those who might have a broader perspective. But Spike—honestly, I am trying not to find the name offensively dismissive—was, if I am not mistaken, instrumental in your escape from the West March. You have seen what Spike is capable of, and you have seen it put to a use of which you must approve.”

“The most dangerous incursions are always the subtle ones.”

“Indeed. But if, as a people, we assume that nothing changes—”

“The very nature of Shadow is change.”

“—then we make assumptions that can be harmful to both our own development and our defenses. If you demand, of a Tower, that rigidity, you have failed to understand the nature of Towers.”

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