“Bellusdeo.”
“On it already,” the Dragon said. She took two steps, and caught Terrano by the collar. With her teeth.
The land upon which he’d been standing reared up in a wave. It rounded, as if about to burst, and when it did, Kaylin was reminded of an egg, because something emerged from it. It had eyes, or what looked like eyes; it was hard to count them because they opened and closed at random. There was a least one mouth, but Kaylin had the queasy impression that mouths, like eyes, appeared and disappeared as they opened or closed. There were teeth, though.
She wondered, then, if this is what the cohort had faced.
Bellusdeo couldn’t breathe fire without dropping Terrano. She didn’t try. She lifted off, having secured him, and the moment her claws lost contact with the ground he had somehow created, the creature began to fissure and melt simultaneously.
Terrano was not familiar with Leontine, and unlike Mandoran or Annarion, couldn’t hear Teela’s internal voice; he hadn’t learned it. Kaylin was therefore learning alotof new Barrani words. “Land!” he shouted. “Land there!”
Bellusdeo’s reply was muffled. Given she was speaking with full Dragon throat, this didn’t mean inaudible. “There’s no there!”
He didn’t tell the Dragon to let him go. “It’s not a danger—we need to land before we lose it!”
It’s not a danger my butt, Kaylin thought. “Bellusdeo—”
“He’s insane. That’s a Shadow—”
The familiar squawked. Although in theory his throat and jaws were much, much smaller, his screeching got through, and the Dragon immediately changed direction.
* * *
Terrano did not stop cursing when they landed; the landing was rough, but he managed to squeak out a single command:stay on the ground!
And ground still existed. It was the lake that had vanished. So had the creature, although something amorphous and foggy remained in its place; something smaller, with—thankfully—less visible definition. Terrano shook himself free of the Dragon’s teeth; the Dragon was making spitting noises, as if he’d left something behind and she didn’t want it staying in her mouth.
Terrano, however, didn’t seem to notice. He raced across the ground, his stride almost unnaturally long.
The familiar squawked loudly, and Terrano shuddered at the sound, but his stride narrowed and although he didn’t stop moving once, he slowed. Kaylin had no idea what he intended to do; she expected him to stop once he reached what her eyes perceived as the edge of the mass.
But no, that would have been too sensible. He did pause, but only to bend into his knees, readjust his weight, and throw his arms back to provide momentum.
He leapt into the shimmering mass, and disappeared from sight.
21
“Should we be worried?” Bellusdeo asked; she retained draconic shape and size.
“You’re not?” Kaylin replied, the words drifting over her shoulder as she ran. The familiar on her shoulder was sitting upright, and his squawk was shrill. He lifted a wing and smacked it across Kaylin’s face, but didn’t withdraw it. The wing did not reveal anything that her own eyes didn’t see.
He bit her ear as she slowed. She could hear voices.
“Do you intend to follow?” Bellusdeo could move. Although the size of the form made her movementsfeelslower, they weren’t.
“I don’t know where he went. What do you see?”
“Haze.”
Kaylin nodded. “Terrano!”
No answer.
“He really does remind me of Mandoran,” the Dragon said, in a far more natural voice. “I want to strangle him.”
“Stand in line.” And then, casting a backward glance at her companion, Kaylin added, “You sure you want to lose the size advantage?”
“The ground is still here. Terrano, in some fashion, is still present. And I think he may need help.”
