Kaylin was accustomed to emergency forays into the streets of Elantra in the dead of night; that was often when the midwives’ guild mirrored her. But most of those emergencies involved Kaylin, and the danger was to the mother and child. It was too late to go out drinking, but this resembled—with the exception of the Dragon in gold plate—an ill-advised tavern crawl. It certainly didn’t look like a rescue crew.
Kaylin asked Allaron to stay behind with Sedarias; Allaron’s answer was a steady, almost unblinking stare.
“Bellusdeo is going with us,” Kaylin then said for Sedarias’s benefit. “Anything that can take out a Dragon could kill the rest of us with a sneeze. There’s no point in risking more people.”
“Remember what I said about arguing when there’s no point?” Mandoran then said. “And it’s not for your sake that Sedarias is sending him. It’s for his.” He nodded in the direction of a very grim, very blue-eyed Annarion. “The Dragon isn’t going to be able to restrain him if he loses it. Allaron probably can.”
“You win.” Kaylin exhaled. “I think we should start with either Tiamaris or Nightshade.”
Bellusdeo said, “Lead. We’ll follow.”
Kaylin had doubts about that, given that three of the cohort were with them. She looked at Teela.
“Where was the last place you had contact with Nightshade?” The Barrani Hawk was all business.
“He was entering the border zones between his fief and Liatt’s. I wasn’t following him closely, but I...” She frowned. “I think I was half listening. Like, when the cohort is talking out loud—stray words or the occasional shouting will catch my attention. It’s like that.”
“Did Nightshade do the equivalent of shouting?”
Kaylin shook her head. “But when you all stop talking and it’s utterly silent, I notice that, as well. It’s like the background noise is part of the house; I notice when it disappears.”
“There was no warning?”
“I was sleeping, Teela. Did Terrano give you any warning?”
“No, but he’s Terrano.”
“Is this the first time you’ve lost him? I mean, outside of the obvious?”
“Not like this,” Mandoran replied. “This is a lot more like what happened to Sedarias and the rest in the West March. There’s less panic,” he added.
“Not a lot less,” Teela said.
“I feel less panicked.” He had certainly been panicking when he’d lost contact with over half his cohort at once. “To be fair, Annarion’s making up for it.”
Annarion glared at Mandoran, but said nothing out loud.
Nightshade at night had Ferals. In fact, all of the fiefs did. In Tiamaris, there were patrols that hunted the Shadow dog packs before they could hunt the helpless. TheNorannircertainly didn’t fear them. But Nightshade didn’t have those patrols. Kaylin highly doubted that Candallar did, either; she suspected that Farlonne might.
“Ferals are not going to be a threat tonight.”
“Not to us.”
Teela raised a brow at Kaylin’s tone.
“I didn’t know you when I was ten. I didn’t know any of you. There are probably ten-year-olds squatting in silence hoping that the Ferals don’t find them tonight.”
The Barrani exchanged a glance. Bellusdeo and Maggaron said nothing.
Mandoran cleared his throat. “Sedarias has a question.”
“Coward.”
“It’s not my question. I wouldn’t ask it.”
“Fine.” They left the bridge into Nightshade and proceeded toward Liatt through streets that were empty and silent.
“The weak of any race and any species die. The strong survive.”
