His brows rose, outrage at her insolence changing the shape of his face. “Do you think to threatenme?”
“No. If your friends are under your command, I suggest you call them back.” She turned to her familiar. “If, that is, you value them at all.” The familiar stretched his wings, straightening the lines of his already perfect posture. He then pushed his slight weight off Kaylin’s shoulder.
“The ground,” she told him. “Teela, don’t move.” This last, in Elantran.
Teela said nothing in response. Hope squawked. He didn’t slap Kaylin’s face with his wing or clip her cheek with his tail; he treated her as if she were his master, or rather, as if she were a master that commanded respect and obedience. She wondered how she’d pay for it later.
“Mandoran?” She did not want to use Terrano’s name in front of Bressarian.
I’ve isolated one of them, Terrano replied, understanding who she was really trying to speak with. His voice was a crackle of energy that suited his appearance. She had no idea if Bressarian could see him, but Bressarian wasn’t her main concern. Helen was. Kaylin had been watching the front gates for all but a few minutes, but she hadn’t seen the two quasi-invisible Barrani disappear. She had no idea where they had gone, or how, but she had a good idea of where they were trying to go.
Hope floated toward the ground, hovering about the circle of shadow in which Teela stood. Like liquid, it had begun to spread, seeping across—and probably into—the ground. This ground, however, was not like the ground beyond the gates; it was all part of Helen. Her skin.
Could you maybe hurry?Terrano added.It’s going to be hard to separate the invaders from Helen in a few minutes.
She couldn’t even see them, but felt no need to share that with Bressarian. Instead, she watched as the familiar inhaled, a tiny Dragon in miniature. The inside of his mouth and his eyes were solid red; the rest of his body remained transparent. Bressarian could see him, but his eyes were dark enough that they didn’t change color.
The familiar exhaled a stream of silver cloud that resembled—at a distance—steam. Kaylin was not at enough of a distance; she could see the flickering hints of opalescent color in the jet of expelled breath. The stream made contact with the edge of that messy, slowly spreading circle.
Something or someone screamed. The tenor implied pain. And rage.
Kaylin looked up at Bressarian; his eyes were midnight blue, his expression rigid. He said nothing, but the hands at his sides had become fists. Where breath met circle, the circle itself seemed to change; it became a silver that caught light at odd angles as it froze. Maybe solidified was a better description.
Spike whirred to life in Kaylin’s hand.
Terrano began to move. He was at Kaylin’s back. She didn’t have eyes in the back of her head, but she was aware of his shift in position, aware of the way the air currents seemed to warp to accommodate him. Mandoran cursed. In Leontine.
“Teela.”
Teela drove her sword into the ground, and the frozen circle shattered. This time, however, no shards remained. They were absorbed almost instantly by air and light. The familiar came back to Kaylin’s shoulder, but landed with his eyes facing backward, as if he were now watching Terrano.
Squawk.
Bressarian said nothing; he did not move at all. Even his hair seemed immune to the breeze.
The path around Teela’s feet was once again immaculate. She sheathed her sword as Bressarian stood frozen. “Lord Kaylin?”
Kaylin didn’t even flinch. “An’Teela,” she replied. “The grounds are now safe. I assume,” she added, “that the reason Lord Bressarian was denied entry has now been resolved. You will,” she added, turning to that lord, “now be safe. We would not impede any mission of import to the Lady.” She bowed. It was the best way to hide the grimace that even having to speak the High Barrani words had caused.
And then, because she was Kaylin, she added, “There’s an unfortunate stain on the side of your carriage just beneath the crest. If you’d like, we can have it removed while you wait.”
To her astonishment, Bressarian bowed. “Lord Kaylin,” he said. “I would consider myself in your debt should you be so gracious.”
It wassonot the answer she’d expected.
“We have the intruder,” Helen said when Kaylin reentered her home.
“Both of them?”
“No. Only the one that survived. Mandoran and Terrano are more flexible in their modes of attack and containment than your familiar.”
Terrano was glimmering and his eyes were the color of green fire. He was otherwise once again the Terrano she knew.
“You look terrible,” she told him.
“Why, thank you. Do youreallythink it’s a good idea to let that bastard in?”
“Helen thought it would be safe now.”
