Bellusdeo considered the fieflord’s request from the air; her response was to land.
“Don’t dismount,” she said in as quiet a voice as a Dragon could use.
“It’s going to be difficult to greet her properly from your back.”
“I believe we’ll survive it.”
“She’s not an outcaste.” Although Kaylin was seated on the Dragon’s back, she knew her well enough by now that she could practically see the grimace.
Hope squawked.
“Fine.” Bellusdeo then transformed, shedding wings, weight, length and most of her scales. The scales that remained were what Kaylin considered Dragon armor. When the transformation was complete, Bellusdeo looked every inch the warrior queen she had once been in a different world.
Chapter 10
“Lord Farlonne.” Plate armor wasn’t known for its flexibility. Or at least not the regular kind that was worn on dress parades and pretty much nowhere else in the city. Unless you counted the palace guard—but Kaylin considered them dress guards or status symbols. Or condescending jerks.
“Lord Bellusdeo.” Farlonne’s armor was not plate; she bowed.
“I apologize for my concern and my interference in your territory. My companions are Imperial Hawks, but they were asked to accompany me.”
“To the fiefs?”
“To the destination of my choice. I will admit,” she added, her lips curving in an odd smile, “that that destination is seldom the fiefs.”
“I would not imagine it would be. Very few people enter Farlonne without my consent—or my knowledge. You are a recent arrival in the fair city of Elantra, and perhaps events surrounding that arrival have been...hectic. Farlonne is walled. To pass into my territory, one either requires my permission or one sneaks in through the borders of either Durant or Liatt. Our borders are therefore watched.
“But I have heard only rumors. It has been long indeed since I have seen a Dragon in the flesh.”
“The Eternal Emperor would no doubt remember you.”
“And I, him.” Her smile was twin to Bellusdeo’s. For some reason, both women reminded Kaylin of Sedarias, which was not a terribly comforting thought. “You are welcome in Farlonne, should you desire to visit again. I would ask, as a courtesy, that you inform the guards at the gate of your arrival.” She lifted a hand again, and the guards—except for the Barrani—dispersed.
“You are gracious, Lord Farlonne.”
“That is not something of which I am often accused.” The hard smile slid off her face. “Now, you offer information about Candallar, and I would be...grateful...to hear it. I have heard idle gossip at Court—but it is surprisingly scant. Candallar is outcaste; the outcaste are not oft discussed unless they pose too great a threat.
“Were you, as claimed at Court, in the West March?”
“Not as an attacking Dragon Flight of one, but yes.”
“And you encountered the fieflord there?”
“No, of course not. I first encountered the fieflord in the area I am informed, by the corporals, is called the east warrens.”
“If you had not previously encountered Candallar, how can you be certain that the Shadow was carried across his Tower’s border, as has been claimed?”
Bellusdeo let the question settle before she punted. “Tell me, have you visited the High Halls in the past week?”
“No. I have heard that there have been some changes.”
“There have. All of the answers to the questions you ask can be found there—if you have the permission required to hear them. The subject is considered, politically, a matter for the Barrani caste Court, and I am notably not Barrani. I will therefore allow those with knowledge to dispense it as they see fit.
“But I have seen—personally—the damage thatRavelloncan do. I have seen a world lost. Not a city, but the whole of the world, enveloped in the end by the Shadows your Towers cage here.”
“The Towers have never fallen.”
“No. Not all worlds possessed such Towers. But Lord Farlonne, your cages have bars, and it is not beyond belief that the Shadows within can extend an arm between them.”
