Part 36 (1/2)
Kaylin hesitated, and then said, ”The eighth asked me to kill her.”
”Explain.” The word was so sharp it almost cut. Kaylin very carefully explained what had been asked of her.
”You are certain?”
”As certain as mortal memory can make me, yes.”
The Arkon's frown was like a chiseled crevice. Several of them.
”From what Maggaron said, and from what you've said here, I think I understand what she wanted.”
”The name?”
”I...think so. She was very specific about the weapon I was carrying. I think she wanted me to run her through with the sword that Maggaron is holding. I'm not sure what that would do to her, though. I'm not sure if it would return some part of her name to her and make her whole-or if it would simply kill her and release them both.”
”Both?”
”She and Maggaron. I don't understand why he has a True Name at all, but I do understand that his name is some part of hers, and it sustains him.”
It sustains us both, Chosen.
Kaylin looked around the room. Her eyes met Maggaron's-they weren't a livid orange, so it was almost reflexive-and stopped there. ”Was that the sword?”
He nodded, his eyes wet with unshed tears. ”I am not to let you sheathe her again.”
”I won't try. Did she hear what we were saying?”
”She heard what I heard, and I,” he added, ”heard what you heard.”
Kaylin sometimes talked to walls-usually rudely. This was the first time she'd ever deliberately tried to talk to a sword's blade.
I am not Bellusdeo, the sword said.
”But you're a part of her, somehow?”
Silence.
”If I kill her while wielding you, what happens to you?”
I do not know.
”What happens to her?”
I do not know.
”Fine. What happens to Maggaron?”
The blade rippled, sheen of steel giving way-briefly-to something vastly less metallic. It was disturbing. Almost as disturbing as the Arkon's demand that she relate-clearly-what was being said.
”That is forbidden,” Maggaron told him. He said it as respectfully as one could possibly say words of that nature to an angry Dragon.
The sword snickered and Kaylin realized she'd heard that voice before. Once before. ”What will become of Maggaron?” she repeated.
The sword's light rippled again. Clearly, this wasn't a question she-or it-wanted to hear.
Maggaron said, ”It doesn't matter.”
”No. It doesn't matter to you. It matters to me-”
”Why?” He demanded. His eyes shaded to a familiar blue.
”And it matters to the sword,” she continued, unwilling to get into that argument in front of the Dragon Lords. If the sword wanted to have that argument, it was fine; the Dragons couldn't hear most of it.
She turned her attention to the blade again. ”What did you mean? How does his name sustain you?”
This was apparently a better question to ask. He bears the brunt of discovery, not I. Where we go, the risk of discovery has always been high.
”How?”
Chosen, we do not know. But in the heart of Ravellon lies one who can read the whole of what is written-even our most secret selves. One of my kin discovered this, to our lasting regret. We could not engage the enemy without becoming the enemy.
We being the Dragons?
The sword fell silent.
”I'm sorry. I don't mean to offend; I don't understand the connection.”
”It's not the connection,” Maggaron said gently. ”The sword is part of me, but it is a distinct ent.i.ty. Where it came from, how it was forged or birthed-it doesn't matter. It is not a limb or an appendage; it exists.” He frowned; clearly, the sword could focus its voice when it chose. ”A child-if you ever bear one-will be part of you; without you, it cannot exist. But once it is birthed, once it is free of you, that dependency slowly changes; it becomes a thing separate from you, but influenced in all ways by its birth.
”Thus it is with the sword. The sword is part of me,” he added. ”But it is also not me. When my name fell to our enemy, the sword was trapped within me, but the enemy could not reach her. I could,” he added bitterly, ”but in the end, I could not change her.”
”She was your weapon when you were a.s.saulting our borders,” Kaylin pointed out.
”Yes.”
”I'm thinking that that wasn't in her plans of action before you were discovered.”
”She is my sword. No,” he added, voice dropping. ”She was. I was not all of what she is; she was not all of what I am-but we are bound.” He was starting to get frustrated; Kaylin could sympathize. ”Bellusdeo understood the danger. But she also understood our need for her. The Dragons convened their great Council, and in the end, they created the Ascendants. For our sake,” he added. ”For the sake of the People.”
”Then the numbers of the Dragons decreased as the numbers of the Ascendants grew?”
He nodded. ”It was not widely known,” he added. ”The Elders would never have accepted such a sacrifice if it were.” He lowered the sword slowly. Had it been in Kaylin's hands, it would have hit the ground when she tried to lift it.
To the sword she said, ”What would you have me do? Aside from never put you in a sheath again, I mean. Bellusdeo has asked me to kill her-while wielding you. I can do it, but I have some reservations. If you don't know what will happen to either you or Maggaron, what do you want me to do?”
The pause that followed was so long, Kaylin almost gave up on getting an answer. But the sword finally said, Kill her. It wasn't the answer Kaylin wanted; it was the answer she'd expected.