“They weren’t, no. They were Barrani, but they had the power necessary to transform themselves should they require it. I didn’t choose the shape,” he added.
“No, just the target.”
“The Consort meant to destroy us.”
“Shedid not.” Bellusdeo’s hand fell gently—for a Dragon, which meant bruises but not broken bones—on Kaylin’s shoulder. It was a warning. Kaylin couldn’t easily shrug it off, and didn’t try. “She hoped tosave you. She knew you were trapped.”
“You can’t possibly believe that.”
“I believe it becauseit’s true. None of you are prisoners. None of you are forced to stay with Alsanis. Not even you,” she added. “All of you are free.”
Terrano almost lost control of his face again, but managed to hold it—and his limbs—together. “Don’t confuse whatyouwanted with whatshewanted.”
“She hasn’t tried to harm you since.”
“Hasn’t she?” He shrugged. “If we’re all free, where are my friends?”
“I have no idea. That’s why I’m here.”
“You.”
“Chosen, remember?” she demanded, lifting her left arm and pulling back her sleeve. The marks were glowing brightly as they were exposed.
He spoke, then. She didn’t understand a word he was saying, but felt that if she listened hard enough, she would. And because she’d had this feeling before, she thought Terrano might be reading the marks somehow, that he might be speaking True Words. None of the marks became physical words; none separated themselves from her skin.
“Look—if you could find them on your own, you would have found them by now, right?” She let her sleeve fall back into place as she lowered her arm.
“‘By now’ signifies nothing. Time is only a constraint for the lesser races.”
“That is not true,” Bellusdeo said, coming out from behind Kaylin. “Timeisa factor in a state of emergency. We live forever, all things being equal. But all things are never equal. There are things that will kill us—in our mutual history, usually each other. It is possible that for the cohort, time is in short supply.”
Terrano’s eyes were black again. “You speak good High Barrani.”
“In which case,” Bellusdeo continued, ignoring the observation, “Lord Kaylin is best equipped to offer aid: she is a creature who is wed to time, her existence indivisible from it. What to either of our kin would be insignificant is not to her.”
“Why are you even here?” Terrano demanded. And Kaylin remembered the reason the twelve children had been surrendered to the ceremony in the green: the Draco-Barrani war. The High Court had decided to imbue the twelve children with the power necessary to defeat their ancient enemies. Those enemies, of course, being the Dragons.
“She lives with us,” Kaylin said quickly. “With Annarion and Mandoran. Mandoran doesn’t really like her,” she felt compelled to add, “but Annarion does, and so does Teela.”
“Teela?” This was said with open scorn. “Teelafought in the war. There’s no way—”
“She goes out drinking with Teela and Tain.”
“...And they get along?”
“Yes. Or at least no one’s reported them to the Halls of Law yet, and they all return home without wounds or burns.” She folded her arms.
Terrano seemed outraged. “I leave them alone for a little while, and they forgeteverything.”
“Sedarias forgets nothing.”
“She’s obviously forgotten how touse the portal paths.”
“I see that you have more in common with Mandoran than the rest of your cohort,” Bellusdeo said, voice cool.
The ground buckled beneath the Dragon’s feet. Since the Dragon could more or less fly with a brief change of shape, this was only a minor inconvenience. For her. Kaylin, however, couldn’t. She didn’t want to leave Bellusdeo’s side, because she was pretty certain that her presence was the one thing that kept Terrano from going all out.
“Not your presence alone, no,” Hallionne Orbaranne said. This time, she appeared in the center of the room, her Avatar form girded with armor that seemed made of crystal, and weapons that seemed made of night sky. Her eyes, however, were much like Terrano’s—black, opalescent.