“Probably less than Tiamaris; we had different goals.”
“He was trying to study ancient, mostly lost things, right?”
Severn shrugged. It wasn’t precisely a fief shrug. “I would say that it wasn’t entirely academic. He did want that information.”
“Lannagaros wanted that information,” Bellusdeo said. “I would bet on it.”
“Tiamaris was interested in it, but...the Arkon, for whatever reason, doesn’t seem to move much. I wouldn’t be surprised if the interest overlapped; Tiamaris wanted to explore, and the Arkon wanted the information Tiamaris could dig up.”
“Fair enough.”
Kaylin looked at Bellusdeo. “You’re worried,” she finally said, voice flat.
“What gives it away? The eye color?”
“Your eyes are always that color when you’re anywhere near the fiefs. They’re probably mostly that color when you’re sleeping.”
Hope squawked; Bellusdeo snorted. “Let’s take a look at the Liatt border.” By which she meant theRavellonborder in Liatt.
The fief of Liatt’s border intoRavellonresembled what Kaylin had come to expect: the buildings were run-down, the streets deserted. Only the truly desperate would choose to live here, and Kaylin doubted that they’d stay for long. Ferals could come into buildings, but buildings weren’t their first choice—only if their prey fled through a door did they follow.
It was scant protection, but it was better than none.
Maybe. Kaylin had never had the entirety of a building collapse on her, and she guessed that that would do as much damage, but in different ways.
Bellusdeo was not impressed by the border itself, although it appeared to be similar to Nightshade’s to Kaylin’s eye. Perhaps the foray into Farlonne had given her hope that the other fieflords were not as neglectful. She could find nothing—aside from a total lack of early warning system—that indicated that there had been a breach. Kaylin wasn’t certain how she determined this, and any attempt to get answers resulted in more confusion. Later, when they had time, she would try again.
None of the citizens of Liatt attempted to impede Bellusdeo’s progress, and the gold Dragon followed theRavellonborder, heading toward Nightshade in silence.
Kaylin could see Castle Nightshade clearly as they entered the border zone; it was not as fanciful as Liatt’s Tower, but nowhere near as mundane as Durant’s. She had more experience with Nightshade’s Tower, and very, very little of it had been positive. It was from Nightshade’s Tower that the Barrani Ancestors had emerged, to wreak so much havoc in Elantra.
She didn’t like the Tower; the Tower did not like her.
But it was in the Tower, or in the basement of the Tower, that she had first been called Chosen by the Ancients, or the ghosts of Ancients.
Nightshade—the Lord, not the fief—was waiting for them when they emerged. He offered Bellusdeo a deep and respectful bow.
“Lord Nightshade,” the Dragon said, returning that bow with more reserve.
“My brother feels he owes you a great debt.”
The Dragon’s shrug was uncomfortable. “I do not consider him—or the rest of his cohort—to be in my debt.” She began to walk, and Nightshade fell in beside her, aware—because of his bond with Kaylin—exactly what she intended. He made no move to dissuade her.
“I have seldom crossed the border zone in the fashion you chose to cross it today. Ah, that is inaccurate. I have not chosen to visit all of the border zones in sequence in that fashion. It has been enlightening.”
“Oh?”
“Kaylin’s observations about the visibility of the Towers, for one. I was aware that the border zone appears to extend toRavellonin the same fashion it does into the rest of the fiefs. It is possible that Candallar’s ally entered through the border zone itself. His exit might have been more difficult; the border zone from the other side is...not the same. If that were somehow the case, he might exit across the fief-Ravellonborder.”
“That doesn’t explain how he could move, carrying Spike, across that border.”
“No. But I feel that possible answers to that very question—which seems the heart of Lord Bellusdeo’s concern—might be obtained if you visit the High Halls. It is not an avenue of research open to one such as me.” He waited until Bellusdeo had finished her inspection, which was cursory at best. Although the buildings that facedRavellonwere, as remembered, in very questionable condition, the gold Dragon did not fear that Nightshade was Candallar.
Only when that inspection was complete did he stop. “You will cross over to Tiamaris,” he said. “But I wish to return to the area you investigated yesterday.”
“You want to see the building.”
“I want to see if it is at all fixed in place. It is not—as the rest of the buildings contained within that space—a simple continuation of what the eye sees before one crosses the border; I had some sense of what Kaylin was seeing, but the connection was not perfect and it required active concentration to fully see what she was seeing.” His tone implied that he had failed.
