have left.”
Kaylin nodded.
“Something directed Spike toward the Barrani Lord. Something knew that the Barrani Lord was coming.”
Kaylin nodded again.
“I doubt that Candallar himself is on speaking terms—for want of a better word—with Ravellon. Were he, he would no longer be fieflord. There is a creature that calls Ravellon home, but he is capable of leaving it at his discretion.”
“The outcaste Dragon.”
“The outcaste Dragon,” Tara agreed. “It would be trivial for the outcaste himself to approach members of the High Court. Or even Candallar. The outcaste is not of Shadow.”
Chapter 3
“I don’t understand what the outcaste wants,” Kaylin said, breaking an awkward silence. “I don’t think it’s revenge—from all I’ve heard of his history as a Dragon, the revenge motive would fit better in the other direction. He’s done damage to the Dragons. They might want to hunt him down. Bellusdeo certainly does.
“But from here it looks like he wanted the Shadow beneath the High Halls freed. Giving Spike to a member of the previous Mellarionne faction would be part of that. Spike was not happy with whatever it was Sedarias’s brother was doing before he died.” At Severn’s expression, she added, “By not happy, I mean afraid. He was afraid of both the ritual and the trapped creature.”
“But he remained with that creature when it was freed,” Tiamaris said with a slight rise at the end of the sentence.
“Yes. I think Towers get lonely—it just takes them longer. But no. You’re right. We could unlock the chains binding that Shadow to Ravellon—because it had those chains. So did Spike. Some essential part of their beings was also part of Ravellon—like a continuous mirror connection, without the need for actual mirrors, but with the compulsion to obey every order, every whim.” Kaylin turned thoughtful. “I don’t think the Shadows are evil. But whatever lies at the heart of Ravellon might be.”
“Might?” The single word was heated.
Kaylin shrugged. “It’s going to try to escape its prison. If it manages, we’ll all die in the process—but I’m not sure that it cares about our deaths, one way or the other. We’re collateral damage. And I care more about us and our lives than I care about its freedom. I don’t think that makes me a monster, either.”
“Why do you think this?”
“Which part?”
“That our destruction is not its intent?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, after puzzling it through. “I’ve talked with Shadows we would have once destroyed on sight. Gilbert. Spike. The being beneath the High Halls, although admittedly that wasn’t a lot of talk. They’re afraid of Ravellon. They don’t want to go back. They don’t like being slaves. I think they’d be happy if Ravellon’s Lord was dead and gone.
“But they’ve never implied that they were sent to destroy everything. Or us. We didn’t figure at all. The Barrani might. The Dragons might. They’re immortal, and they wield a power that the Shadows understand on some level.”
“The breach of Barren’s defenses killed a significant number of people,” Tiamaris said.
“Yes—but I’m not certain that that wasn’t the intent of whatever it was that controls them. Attract attention. Divert attention. Killing the people achieves both of those. I don’t get the sense that the heart of Ravellon derives power from those deaths.”
Silence.
“If whatever dwells at the heart of Ravellon could derive power from deaths—and I know there are schools of totally forbidden magic that can—don’t you think it would be free by now? It’s eaten worlds—at least one that we know of for certain. The life of a world? It’s got to be worth more than my life or your life or the lives of a single fief.
“So...that’s why I don’t think sacrifice gives Ravellon power.”
Tiamaris nodded. Tara’s nod was reluctant and stiff, but any discussion about Shadow had that effect on a building that would rather be an outdoor gardener. A vegetable gardener.
“The Dragon outcaste was certainly driving the Aerians.” Kaylin hesitated, and then added, “He was driving the Aerians from within the Aerie as an Aerian. The Aerians couldn’t tell the difference. Neither could the rest of us.”
Tiamaris exhaled smoke, and not a small amount.
“If we understood what the outcaste wants, we’d have a better chance of blocking him. Right now, we don’t know. We only know that he’s interested in Bellusdeo; that he wants her to join him.”
More Draconic silence, but this time, it was accompanied by an orange that was shading to red as Kaylin watched.
“And that doesn’t change the concerns about Candallar.”
“Are you certain that Lord Nightshade has not been