“We can see them.”
“None of you saw them the last time we were here,” Kaylin said. “Regardless, I’m not sure Killian can. If he could, they’d be in the same student rooms you are.”
“Maybe that’s why most of them are on the outside of the building.” Kaylin could almost hear Terrano shrug.
The Arkon now cleared his throat very, very loudly. “It is my belief that the border zones are the frayed outer edges of Killian’s territory.”
Kaylin had whiplash from the change of topic. “But they’re all over the place. I mean—they exist between all the fiefs. Your Records didn’t—”
He cleared his voice loudly. Bellusdeo stepped on her foot at almost the same time.
Fine. “The location of the school—the Academia—was pretty fixed. I mean, it was actual geography, not theoretical geography. Larrantin implied—no, I inferred from what he said—that warning had been given to the occupants of the Academia when the Towers were to rise.”
“So people who got the warnings deserted the building?” Terrano asked.
“That’s probably all of the student body and all of the teachers. But... Killian’s been finding new students, probably slowly, in at least the Candallar border zone. It’s how we found him in the first place.”
“But he didn’t keep you here as a student—he showed you the way out. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
She shrugged. “It does now. Now all we want is to deliver a message to Killian and possibly have Killian eject all of the people he doesn’t seem to see.”
“You don’t want to know what they’re trying to do?”
“I’d consider that a bonus. I’m assuming—call me a cynic—that whatever it is they’re trying to do is bad. The Arkon says that there used to be a chancellor, someone who was like Helen’s tenant. He either died or abandoned his post. I’m going to assume died, because—”
“If Helen wanted to preserve you in this exact situation, she’d eject you,” Terrano helpfully pointed out. “It’s possible that he ejected the former chancellor. Sedarias asks who that chancellor was.”
The Arkon answered. “It was Terramonte, according to Killianas. Understand that the Chancellors of the Academia did not retire in the fashion to which you are accustomed. Terramonte was, I believe, an emergency choice; someone to fill that role until Aramechtis returned from the war. But Aramechtis did not return. The last true chancellor was probably Aramechtis.” His eyes were a shade of copper now. “He was chancellor in my early years in this institution. He had a terrible habit of singing in the morning.”
“Why is that terrible?”
“He was a Dragon, and he liked to project his voice. To retreat from the Academia almost killed him; the war finished off what survived. He had some difficulty facing his former students and former council members on battlefields. I remember the sound of his roaring when the Towers did rise.”
“He didn’t know that Killian had survived.”
“No. No one did. Inform us if you encounter a door or something that looks like a room.” He spoke to Terrano.
“Why a room or a door?”
“It is my hope that we are here to speak with Killian.”
Terrano cursed liberally. “We have a problem on our end, and it’s—” The sentence came to an unnatural end.
“Terrano?”
Silence.
Nightshade?
There has been a bit of a disturbance, the fieflord replied. He sounded vaguely irritated.If I am to be entrapped as a student possessed of no great knowledge, the only possible advantage is the knowledge provided. Most of what has been discussed by the lecturer is known material; some of his conjectures are not.
Kaylin did not shriek in frustration.What’s the disturbance? We had Terrano—Terrano’s voice—for a bit, and now it’s gone, and not in a “talk to you later” sort of way.
She felt a glimmer of amusement.It is unclear to me what the disturbance is, but given the presence of my brother and his friends, I can guess.
Given Terrano’s reaction, I can’t. If they caused trouble, they didn’t do it intentionally. You’ve been here for a day. You’ve been hereasa student.
I have only been here for a day. It appears—from limited exposure—that we are students who are caught in the classes and routine of the Academia’s final day. Or a random day before its final day.
