Cast in Wisdom (Chronicles of Elantra #15) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,153
at her.
“Mandoran says the halls are occupied with people who appear to be more martial in nature; they didn’t catch him, but they’re not letting anyone pass. Terrano believes they have the ability to interfere—no classes in this repetitive day take place on the route to the chancellor’s office, and it is not yet mealtime.”
“The day repeats?” Starrante asked Kaylin.
“Yes. Apparently it’s been the same day of classes for...actually, I don’t know how long it’s been. But the day itself repeats. Today, for the first time, there’s been a break in the pattern. Killian decided to give a lecture on the nature of True Words in the primal ether.”
“An interesting choice of lecture, given the situation in which we find ourselves.”
“I thought so.” She hesitated, which didn’t annoy Starrante—but did annoy Bellusdeo. “Do you know how to get to the chancellor’s office from here?” She might as well have asked him if he knew how to breathe. “There are people in the halls who don’t want anyone to approach that office—but my companions are waiting for us there.”
“I believe I can deal with fractious students.”
“Some of those fractious students started a firefight in the library.”
Given the color of his eyes—a different color than the ones they’d taken so far, Starrante was outraged and offended. “In the library?” His voice was a very, very loud screech.
“Yes, sorry. I believe they want the Arbiters’ books.”
His eyes became larger and far more luminous—a shade of gold that was almost white. “That must not be allowed to happen.”
“Kavallac and Androsse are certainly fighting to make sure it doesn’t.”
Starrante began to move. He could cover half a hall by the time Kaylin had taken two steps—two wide steps, given the length of her stride. Neither Bellusdeo nor Sedarias chose to run to keep pace with him; they fell in on either side of Kaylin.
“I think he’s heading straight for the roadblock,” Kaylin told them.
“We’ll soon find out if all of Candallar’s associates were aware of Starrante, then.”
* * *
They followed in Starrante’s wake. It became clear that Starrante had chosen to use the same halls that Robin had; Severn marked the turns as they progressed.
Mandoran says Sedarias is in a mood.
Yes. A bad one.
She could feel his brief chuckle. Before she could reply, she could hear the panicked shouts of people in the distance.
“I guess that answers that question: no, they weren’t.”
The distant language was mostly Barrani, but she recognized the word for Shadow: they made the same assumption that Kaylin would have made were it not for the Arkon. Starrante was, physically, a walking nightmare. She picked up her pace, breaking from a fast walk into a jog. All of the attention would be focused on Starrante.
“Dragon?” Bellusdeo asked as she caught up.
“Up to you. I think Starrante has—” The sound of steel against steel could be heard in the distance. Jog became run. Starrante hadn’t been carrying swords, and Kaylin was pretty sure swords were being used.
* * *
The main hall that had been cut off was a mass of bodies in motion. One of those bodies was Starrante. He was neither Dragon nor Barrani, with their immediate history of war; he was the thing that had forced pockets of peace upon both peoples at the height of their conflict.
Shadow.
Ravellon.
He was also apparently proof against the swords wielded by the mostly Barrani intruders; some of the humans had them, but most were standing back. Kaylin could feel the hair on her arms begin to rise as a precursor to cast magic; none of it caused by her companions.
Starrante didn’t appear to be casting spells. He had lifted four of his eight legs and was using them to parry the swords wielded by his attackers—people who had formed a line across the width of the hall. It was a wide hall. The width allowed three people to stand and fight, but not safely, and not well.
She wondered what was happening in the library now that she was no longer in it; she couldn’t speak to anyone she’d left behind. Sedarias could—unless Terrano had been blown out of the library by Candallar’s command, but in an entirely different direction. Or dimension.
Stay there, Kaylin said when she felt Severn’s decision to come down the hall from the other side, which would leave the effective equivalent of Barrani thugs trapped and fighting on two fronts.
Should I send Emmerian?
No—if Candallar retreats to that office, we want Emmerian with you. Can Robin get out a different way?