Cast in Honor (Chronicles of Elantra, #11)(133)

“This...is not good,” Mandoran said, from behind her.

The Arkon roared. There were words in it. Kaylin turned, and this time, the familiar did not attempt to prevent it.

A golden Dragon reared its very large body in a street with a lot fewer corpses, and roared again.

And another Dragon answered.

*

“Bellusdeo!” Kaylin shouted. The bodies that had been a mountain and a nightmare were sparser now. Kaylin could see the house in which the three men had first been discovered. The front of the house was irrelevant; the Arkon breathed, and fire turned it to ash and melted stone almost instantly.

“Arkon—stop—”

He roared again. Kaylin said, to the familiar, “Stop him from destroying the house—”

Stop him from attempting to enter it, Kaylin.

Her brows rose in outrage. The Arkon was full-on Dragon; she was full-on Kaylin. She couldn’t stop him from walking across a street when he was in human form; she had no chance—at all—of stopping him if he decided to go on a rampage.

Stop him; it is not safe.

“For him or for me?”

For any of us.

Bellusdeo is there—

Yes.

Kaylin nodded. “Arkon! Bellusdeo is in the house; if you destroy it, we’ll lose her!” She wasn’t actually certain that this was true. But she was certain it was the only way to catch his attention. And it worked. Of course, this meant she had the full attention of a red-eyed, raging Dragon.

“Gilbert?”

Silence.

She looked at her hand. It was wet, but the water was now absent. All that remained of what had been a pillar was...two eyes. She could no longer hear the water’s voice. She could no longer hear the voices of anyone who wasn’t actually standing in the street beside her. Well, plus Severn and Nightshade.

The two eyes the water had taken had not returned to Gilbert. They floated at roughly eye level, as if they were still part of the nonexistent element. As she repeated Gilbert’s name, they swiveled to look at her.

“Were you trying to destroy the house? Or preserve it?”

“One question at a time,” Mandoran suggested. He walked to where Kaylin was standing. Teela was by his side—literally. It looked as if her leg was broken or badly sprained, which was almost enough of a shock that she forgot to think. Annarion was carrying Tain. He was in worse shape.

But he was certainly well enough to open an eye and growl at Kaylin—in mewling Leontine.

“Fine. Suffer. It’s not like we actually need backup that’s useful and mobile.”

Teela snickered. Tain growled again.

Now that she looked at them, neither Mandoran or Annarion were looking all that great, either. They weren’t physically injured, but she had seen dead Barrani that had healthier color.

“He was trying to crack the house open,” Annarion said. It took Kaylin a moment to realize that he was answering the question she’d asked the disembodied eyes. “The house is where we have to go. Gilbert has—arranged things in a way that won’t destroy you.”

You. Not us.

“He can’t make it all safe. He’s—he’s placed us all in the same layer of time. But he requires power and he can’t make it stick for long—something is pushing against it.”

“In the house.”

Annarion nodded.

“When you say ‘you’ and not ‘us,’ does that mean—”

“We can see...more.” His smile was strained.

“I can hear your brother. He is very, very clear now.”

Annarion seemed to sag, as if something had been cut. “I don’t imagine he’s saying anything repeatable.”

“Not really—but some of it’s Barrani, so it might be useful later.”

Mandoran managed a weak grin. “What kind of Barrani? Ouch!”

Annarion hadn’t touched him.

“We need to enter the building. I guess the Arkon made it easier; it’s not like the walls are going to keep us out. The Arcanist was doing something with the three bodies. They were laid out as if they were part of a ritual. I’m guessing,” she added, staring up at the frozen shroud of darkness, “that ritual is almost complete, and that Gilbert is buying us time.” She picked her way over the few bodies that remained; there was no smell, here, which made it easier. Or rather, there was—but it was cinnamon. Evidently the familiar’s cloud was still protecting them.

Mandoran and Annarion hesitated.

“Stay here,” Kaylin told them. “I’ll go with the Arkon.”

Teela said, “They are not staying here.” Her eyes were a murderous blue, and her lower lip was swollen. “And I’m not, either.” She pulled herself away from Mandoran. Sprain, then.

“Teela, I don’t think it’s safe for them.”

“And you think it’s safe for you?”

“Chosen, remember?”

“You don’t even know what that means.”

She is not wrong, the familiar said.

Do not foolishly insult her, Nightshade said. An’Teela is known for both her cunning and her ability to nurse a long grudge.

Severn, on the other hand, said nothing. It was a comforting nothing; an acceptance of things he couldn’t change.