Part 25 (1/2)
”Lord Kaylin,” he said, voice grave. His visor rose over emerald eyes that had a little too much blue in them to indicate happiness. ”Lord Nightshade will join you shortly.”
”I can enter the portcullis,” she replied. ”The danger's been contained.”
”I merely follow my Lord's orders.”
She grimaced. It wasn't that she was eager to cross the Castle threshold; she wasn't. The portcullis always landed her on her knees, and she always had to fight the horrible nausea that accompanied its pa.s.sage. But there were some conversations she didn't want to have in the open street, and the back door into the Castle involved a long drop into an unused well.
”We've heard of the difficulties facing Lord Tiamaris,” Andellen said as Kaylin more or less shuffled her feet. She stopped.
”From who?”
It wasn't a question that Andellen would answer. Fair enough; she was the one who had come, like a beggar, for information. ”Tiamaris has a few difficulties. Some of them-the introduction of a few thousand foreigners-are mostly under control.”
”The border?”
”It's solid. What's attempting to break the barrier is pretty d.a.m.n solid, too-but so far, the Tower is winning.” She hesitated for a moment and then added, ”The storms are bad, though.”
”Have they been markedly worse since the introduction of your foreigners?”
”They're not my foreigners.”
”Ah.”
”It is a figure of speech that can surely be forgiven,” a new voice said. A new, familiar voice. Lord Nightshade, in perfect silence, had arrived through the portcullis. Unlike Andellen, he wore no armor; he wore dark robes and a long cape that was the same night black of his hair. His eyes were a mix of green and blue, and even at this distance, Kaylin had the distinctly uncomfortable impression that she could see her reflection in them.
But he nodded to Severn. ”Corporal Handred.”
Severn nodded-a bit stiffly-back. ”Lord Nightshade.”
”You have a personal interest in the fief of Tiamaris, do you not?” the Lord of Nightshade asked, as if his greeting, once offered, could be entirely discarded.
Kaylin stopped herself from shrugging. ”I do.”
”It is interesting. I have watched the borders with care since Lord Tiamaris took the Tower. He appears to be building.”
”He's been building.”
”To what end?”
”He wants a different fief than the one occupied by either Illien or Barren. Not more, not less.”
”He has, if rumor is true, cut off the source of most of Barren's previous wealth.”
”It's true.”
”What, then, does he do to fund his...reconstruction?”
”You can ask him. I'm not an accountant.”
Nightshade's eyes shaded to a more definite blue. It distanced him. She wanted that. ”I had not expected Lord Tiamaris to show such an unnatural concern for mortals.”
Kaylin bridled, but managed to say nothing. Not that it mattered; Nightshade generally knew what she was thinking. Then again, so did Diarmat, and he gave her points for strict adherence to the forms of protocol. It was, she told herself grimly, good practice.
”The borders of Tiamaris are not the only borders to see an increase of activity. Yet they are the only borders to face such a proliferation of Shadowstorm. Do you-or does Lord Tiamaris-have any opinion as to why?”
”No.”
”And that is not why you have come.”
”No. It probably should be,” she added.
He raised a brow, no more. ”Come,” he finally said. ”I will escort you through the portal. I have wine and sweet water, if you will take either, and some refreshments have been prepared.”
By ”escort,” Nightshade meant carry. It should have been more uncomfortable; Severn wasn't happy with it. But while Kaylin was in his arms, the portal became a dark pa.s.sage, no more, no less; Nightshade made himself a barrier through which the worst of the portal's magical effects appeared to be too terrified to pa.s.s.
It is not the portal, he told her, but the Castle; I am its Lord. I control it when I so choose.
They exited the portal in the foyer, as they always did. It was almost obscenely brilliant, and if she felt no nausea and none of the usual disorientation, she still had to close her eyes. Nightshade, taking little notice of her weight-and even less of her dignity-continued to move. She opened her eyes as quickly as possible, and asked him to put her down.
He did, and he did it gracefully. He then led them to the room in which he often entertained Kaylin; she a.s.sumed it was where he entertained any other guests he didn't intend to torture to death as an example for the rest of the fief. She held on to that thought as if her life depended on it.
”Welcome,” Nightshade said, ”to my Castle. Corporal, Private, please take a seat and make yourselves comfortable.”
Food had been arranged in the usual artful, spa.r.s.e way on several small dishes that ran the length of the low table. Kaylin sunk into the long couch. Severn hesitated for a minute and then joined her. Nightshade waited until they were as settled as they were going to be before he also sat.
”Kaylin, when you faced the Devourer, or perhaps directly afterward, you were in the streets. Did you understand the singular nature of what you witnessed?”
Thinking of streets packed with near-giants, all bristling with completely practical weaponry-if one happened to be that large-she nodded.
He raised a brow. ”The foreigners were, I admit, unusual, but it was not of their arrival that I spoke. It was of the flight of the Dragon Court, absent only the Emperor and the Arkon.”
”Oh. That. Yes, I saw it.” She could still see it if she closed her eyes and concentrated, although the image was growing fuzzy. What remained in memory in a way that time couldn't dislodge was the sound of their voices, the trumpeting roar of defiance or anger or-something.
”Were you aware of the reason for their flight?”
Frowning, she nodded. ”Something rose from the fiefs.”
”From the heart of the fiefs, Kaylin.”
”I saw it. It looked like smoke or shadow.”
”You heard it. What did it sound like to you?”
She closed her eyes. ”Roaring.”
”Yes.”
”...Dragon's roar.”
”Yes, I believe so. I heard it,” he added quietly. ”And Meliannos, my sword, heard it, as well. It was the voice of the Outcaste Dragon.”