His brows rose; the distasteful question had surprised him, and not in a good way. “Perhaps this is not the time to have this conversation,” he pointed out as roaring grew.
Mandoran said, “It’s safe, for the moment.”
“That was pain.”
“Yes. Teela sliced off part of a toe. She survived. Some of her hair didn’t.”
“What?”
“He breathed on her. It was not the composition of normal Dragon breath. Her sword cut through most of it—but not all.”
“And Tain?”
“Tain has pulled back to a safe distance. He hasn’t been trained to fight Dragons up close.”
“Teela has.”
“Yes. She’s the only one of us who’s had the actual experience. Technically, she and Annarion were trained the same way.”
“Is Annarion—”
“Fighting, yes. But not the same way Teela is.” At Kaylin’s expression, he added, “You remember how he fought the ancestors?”
She nodded slowly.
“The outcaste is like us. He is in the Aerie, he is fighting the Emperor. But he is in a space that overlaps the Aerie, and he is—” Mandoran shook his head. “It’s too hard to explain clearly.”
“He’s phased?”
“That’ll do. Annarion is fighting him in an Aerie that overlaps the one you can see.”
“And you’re just standing here?”
He folded his arms and grinned his unrepentant, not-bored grin. “I’m keeping an eye on you. Teela seems to feel it’s necessary, given the role your familiar is playing.”
“...My familiar.”
“Yes.”
“Let me guess. He’s no longer small and squawky.”
“No longer small, no. But very squawky.”
* * *
Kaylin.
Definitely no longer small.
There is a danger in the Aerie.
There are a lot of dangers in the Aerie at the moment. Is there one I can do something about?
Silence.Bellusdeo has been injured.
This was not a surprise; it wasn’t the first time it had happened. One didn’t throw oneself in raging fury at a Dragon without injury—even if one were a Dragon.
It is not a normal injury. It is, to her mind, minor; she is too focused on destruction.
