“We need to cross the border,” she told Tiamaris. The familiar painful tingle of magic made her arms highly sensitive to the cloth that was rubbing against them. “Can you stop that?” she asked, trying—and failing—to sound less annoyed.
“Stop what?”
“The spell. Whatever you’re casting, stop.”
Silence.
Kaylin frowned. “It wasn’t you who cast the spell, was it?”
“No. I will have to have a word with the Arkon if you can even ask that question.”
Kaylin was at a loss for words. This level of magic, at a distance she couldn’t even see, was the equivalent of an Arcane bomb. A very big one.
But the buildings beneath Tiamaris’s massive wingspan hadn’t been destroyed, and a bomb that felt this large at this distance could level part of a city block. Maybe the border buildings were different. Or maybe there was no Arcane bomb.
Nightshade couldn’t have been in Castle Nightshade; the Tower’s defenses were ferocious. Even if an invited guest had tried to harm or kill him, the Tower would have prevented it. She didn’t think he could be in the streets of his fief, although there, assassination stood a better chance.
If what had threatened him had come fromRavellon, the Tower’s defenses would aid him within the boundaries of the fief itself. But what if the threat wasn’t Shadow? How useful could the Tower be?
She feltcertainthat he was in the border zone. She didn’t bother to put that into words. Tiamaris was already flying there.
“Have Shadows been more active recently?” Kaylin shouted in what she hoped was the direction of draconic ears.
“Not notably. Some of the Norranir remain at our borders; most have migrated to the fief of Bellusdeo. They are very, very sensitive to incursion; no alarm has been raised. Do you fear Shadow has managed to infiltrate Nightshade?”
Did she? Or was she just hoping? And if shewashoping it was Shadow, what in the hells was wrong with her?
The border zone emerged beneath Tiamaris’s wings. She wanted to tell the Dragon to fly lower, to fly more slowly. The latter he could do, but not without circling, and that felt like almost no movement at all. But as he wheeled, as he came closer to the ground, as his shadow darkened buildings, she felt the painful slap of magic grow stronger.
She shouted directions.
“She means the other left,” Severn said, raising his voice.“There—the building on the very edge of the border zone from the Nightshade side. You can see the smoke rising from it.”
“I do not have permission to land within the fief itself.”
Kaylin almost shrieked in frustration—and pain.
“Set us down at the edge of the border!”
“Where the bodies are,” Severn added. He didn’t seem to be shouting—Kaylin certainly was—but his voice carried.
Tiamaris offered no further argument; he landed.
Severn had been right. There were bodies. Some were missing limbs, some missing heads—although the heads, detached at the neck, weren’t far away. Not all of them were dead, but most were dying. They were armed and armored in a style consistent with the High Halls, the High Court—and its many members.
They are, Ynpharion said. His focus was so intent, she could almost feel it and pushed him back.They are not Nightshade’s people.
They aren’t anyone’s people anymore, she snapped. She didn’t understand how she hadn’t seen this from Tiamaris’s back.
Magic, Severn said.
But you could see it?
I cheated. Be careful.
She nodded, waiting beside the Dragon until Severn had fully dismounted. She waited until he was armed. He’d pulled the twin blades of his most significant weapon but hadn’t unwound the chain.
Kaylin had long knives, and she drew one. She then glanced at Tiamaris.