“Which part?”
“Shadowlord. That is—” Squawk. “Ah. Apologies. I find your language inexact and frustrating. I have now absorbed the entire lexicon, but it is extremely difficult to match it to actual meaning. Your peoples use the same words to mean entirely different things. I do not see how you communicate clearly. At all.” This was more than Spike generally managed to say.
“Is Dragon any better?”
The Arkon cleared his throat. Loudly. “Perhaps you will attempt to focus on the very serious topic at hand. You may interrogate him about the inferiority or superiority of other languages at a different time.”
Kaylin turned toward the Arkon. “If it’s easier for Spike—”
“It is not easier, and the only people who would understand a majority of what was said if it were are Dragons. We are guests. I have a multitude of questions I wish to ask Spike, and if I, a guest, refrain, you have a duty as host to do so, as well.”
Right. Kaylin reddened, but one glance at Bellusdeo made clear that the Arkon was the only thing in the room that could lighten the color of her eyes at all.
She exhaled. “So what you’re saying,” she said to Spike, “is the creature in the High Halls is in league with the ruler at the heart ofRavellon.”
“I do not believe that is what I am saying,” Spike replied.
Kaylin wanted to be closer to a wall so she could pound her head into it. She managed not to shriek in frustration and considered that an etiquette win.
“I am ofRavellon,” Spike continued. “And I am no longer entrapped. Because of you, Lord Kaylin.”
“I am not...” She exhaled. “So you’re saying whatever is at the base of the High Halls is, or could be, like you? That it’s not entrapped or enslaved?”
“It is difficult for the ruler at the heart ofRavellonto enslave your kind. They do not generally survive the attempt.”
“Do you mean it is difficult to enslave mortals?” the Consort asked. “Or do you refer to any of us?”
“To me, you all seem similar,” Spike admitted. “But no, in this case, I meant mortals.”
“Because we don’t have words at our core.”
“Because you lack True Words, yes. Some of the words can sustain life even under the weight of Shadow—but not many, not when the words are singular or less innately attuned.”
“Can you tell, by looking?”
“Of course not. No more can the Shadow at the heart ofRavellon. ButRavellonis contained, if imperfectly. I do not know what lives at the base of the Tower you have referenced. But there were, inRavellon, those with a sensitivity to the language of the Ancients, and a mastery of its speech.”
“Before or after the Shadow consumedRavellon?”
“Both before and after,” Spike replied, the words almost tentative.
“And those could see the True Words at the core of the Barrani and the Dragons?”
“Not as such, and not immediately. But they understood the tone and the feel of the words; they understood the...attenuated vibrations, and therefore found it easier to convince those who held those words to surrender them.”
“What did they look like?” Kaylin asked.
Helen immediately raised a hand. “Do not attempt to answer that question,” she all but snapped. “My apologies,” she added to the guests. “But Spike’s attempts to answer questions sometimes cause difficulty. I do not think it will cause harm, but I cannot be certain.”
Fair enough. “Spike, would you recognize a significant Shadow if you could only perceive what we perceive?”
“I am uncertain.”
“Perhaps,” the Consort said quietly, “I may be able to help. I assure you,” she added to Helen, “that any attempt I make will not cause the disturbance—the unintentional disturbance—that Spike might.”
Helen said nothing.
The Consort closed her eyes.
