Kaylin almost laughed out loud, but it would have been bitter, cynical laughter, and she didn’t want to have to explain it to the cohort.No kidding.
You have not attracted attention, yet. The Lady asks—the Ladybegs—that you come away while you have the chance. She is willing, and he clearly begrudged the word,to guarantee the safety—and freedom—of your...friends.
The astonishment must have shown on Kaylin’s face, because Sedarias asked, instantly, what had happened.
“I’m indirectly in contact with the Consort.”
Since Barrani eyes in this gathering were already all the bad blue color, Sedarias’s didn’t get any darker. “And?”
“She—she wants us to go back.”
“And we’d like to be wealthy and powerful beyond all compare. What of it?”
“No, I mean—she says she’ll guarantee your safety and freedom.”
“Ours?” Sedarias glanced at Bellusdeo. This surprised Kaylin.
“She already promised that she wouldn’t harm either me or the Dragon.”
“Oh?”
“When we left Kariastos, and the portal path. She made it clear she had never had any intention of harming or caging us.” At Sedarias’s expression, she continued. “She didn’t want us to come to Ravellon. She was afraid of what would happen.”
“To you.”
Kaylin shrugged.
“Are you a complete fool?” One of the cohort laughed. It certainly wasn’t Sedarias, who had asked the outraged question. “We have historicallyalreadyclashed at least once with the Consort and her forces. You must remember it—you were there. She has every right to be suspicious of us; she hasevery rightto takesensibleprecautions!”
“And you wanted to be trapped in those sensible precautions? You wanted me to accept them without even knowing what they were? Without being informed, or asked for an opinion or anything?”
“Of course not! But there is no reason whatsoever why you—and the Dragon—should not have accepted the Hallionne’s safety and hospitality!”
Terrano’s attention was bouncing between Kaylin and Sedarias. “I think,” he said, when it was Kaylin’s turn to speak, “we should stop shouting. I’m not certain how much the Shadows in Ravellon are aware of, but we probably don’t want to attract attention. Any attention. At all.” He was glaring at the cohort, not Kaylin.
Sedarias was fuming. She was capable of the stony neutrality of her kind, but it had apparently failed to become her natural, normal expression.
It was Bellusdeo who came to the rescue, metaphorically speaking. She said, “I know where Tiamaris is.”
The cohort looked at Kaylin as Kaylin turned to Bellusdeo. “How?”
“We lost our lands, and our world, to Shadow. But we fought it for a long time. Do you see the reddish glow there, in the distance?”
Kaylin’s eyes were neither draconian nor Barrani. Terrano said, “To the left?”
Bellusdeo nodded. “Those are specific signal lights; we used them to mark decaying borders and areas of great concern. They are magical in nature, and they can be seen if Shadows envelope the land. The Norannir are there, and they keep those fires burning. They don’t,” she added, half-apologetically, “trust your Towers.”
“Can you lead us there?”
The Dragon nodded. “I am ill-prepared for combat, but—yes. Can we assume that the Tower closest to the fires is the one we want?”
“I hope so.”
* * *
Bellusdeo followed a circuitous route to reach the fires, which became visible to Kaylin only after they’d been walking for ten minutes. There was a direct path to Kaylin’s eyes, and apparently to Terrano’s as well, given the looks he was aiming at the side of the Dragon’s face, but both were willing to trust Bellusdeo’s greater experience.
Sedarias also said nothing. And that, Kaylin thought, was the benefit of living with Mandoran. His constant sniping—and to be fair, Bellusdeo’s—had rendered the gold Dragon harmless. For a value of harmless that suited a very large, golden Dragon with blood-red eyes.