“Am I on my hands and knees struggling not to throw up?”
“No. I would be willing to make a bet, though.”
“Stakes?”
Bellusdeo snorted. Fire followed smoke; it was a slender stream of flame that didn’t appear to be directed at anything but air. “Do you consider illumination safe?”
“I’d take the risk,” Severn replied before Kaylin could. Bellusdeo spoke again, and a light appeared, suspended at shoulder height. Unlike the flame, it was bright, its color steady. “You should be the one doing this,” she added to Kaylin.
“That’s not what Sanabalis has been teaching me. Not that I’ve had time for his lessons for a little while now.”
“I fail to see why you cannot miss Lord Diarmat’s so-called lessons instead; Lord Sanabalis’s lessons seem to be far more practical.”
“I believe the Hawklord and the Emperor consider not causing offense to the rich and powerful to be more practical than creating lights. The lights can be bought or commandeered; an attempt to placate the aforementioned powerful—” Severn began.
“—can also be bought.”
“For far more money or other less desirable concessions. We’re still suffering the repercussions of your unexpected visit to the West March.”
“That wasn’t my fault!” Kaylin snapped.
“No. It wasn’t Bellusdeo’s, either. But the fact of her presence could be—and has been—used as a justification for political unrest among the Barrani.”
“Etiquette lessons wouldn’t have prevented that!” She wanted to shout; she hissed instead.
“No, probably not. I’m not the Hawklord or the Emperor; I don’t get to make that decision. What do you see here?”
She turned in the direction of Severn’s back, which wasn’t transparent. Moving to his left, she squinted through Hope’s raised wing.
“A statue, or a series of statues. Or reliefs. There’s a wall there, right?”
“I see only an unbroken wall.”
“I see what the corporal sees,” Bellusdeo added.
“Hey—I’m a corporal now, too.”
“Fine. I see what Severn sees.”
“Let me take point,” Kaylin told her partner.
Severn nodded. It was Bellusdeo who spoke. “Don’t touch anything without giving the rest of us some warning.”
The ground was, and remained, stone beneath her feet. The wall, which had seemed attached to the ceiling and the floor in the usual way, was farther from where Kaylin had been standing than it had first appeared; either that or the ground was enchanted in a particularly annoying way. It wouldn’t be the first time this had happened, although the first time had been during training with the Hawks. Magic was often a criminal tool, and a subtle use of magic involved running in place. Or rather, making your pursuers run in place.
That magic, on the other hand, Kaylin could generally detect. Standing above it would be painful. At the moment, there was enough background use of magic that she couldn’t separate spells in any useful fashion, but she had a strong suspicion that the floor itself was not a clever way of keeping her at a distance.
No. The wall was simply farther away than she had realized.
She gestured, and Severn followed, Bellusdeo by his side.
“You still see the wall?” Kaylin asked.
“Stone block wall. The stone is smooth; there are no marks on it at all.”
“I see reliefs carved across its surface.” She hesitated, and then said, “But not by anyone with any artistic sensibility.”
Bellusdeo snorted. “By that you mean your sensibilities?”