Cast in Wisdom (Chronicles of Elantra #15) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,17
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?”
“Not exactly.” She lifted a hand. Hope smacked her face with the wing she was looking through, and she lowered her hand again. “I...don’t think this is actually carved.” To Hope she said, “Can you let Severn look?”
No.
“You’ve done it before.”
No.
“You have—”
What I did there was not what can be done here with any safety. We are not near the portal paths. We are not near the outlands. He holds your name. He has other ways of seeing what you see. This last was accompanied by a second smack.
“He doesn’t like to do that.”
Hope tightened his grip on her shoulder.
Hope says—
I guessed, Severn replied, speaking internally. He asked permission without using the actual words, and she gave it. In his position, she wasn’t certain she’d ask.
I think you’re right.
“You think these used to be people.”
He nodded.
“Do you recognize any of them?”
She expected the answer to be no. Or perhaps she hoped that it would be. He directed her gaze to the wall. “Bellusdeo?”
The Dragon nodded.
“When I was being grilled by Ironjaw one afternoon, you wandered off to Missing Persons.”
“I did.”
“Did you look through our current Records of unsolved cases?”
“I did.”
Hope sighed. Loudly. In Kaylin’s ear. She lost sight of the reliefs that might not be the work of an artist as the familiar pushed himself off her shoulder.
“What is he doing?” the Dragon asked, voice sharper.
“I’m not entirely sure—but I’d guess he’s about to breathe on part of the wall.”
“I don’t consider that wise.”
Kaylin shrugged. “He’s annoyed and frustrated, but he’s not worried.”
Hope squawked loudly before he stopped in front of one section of that wall. Hovering there, he inhaled. When he exhaled, it was the silver stream of smoke that seemed to terrify Barrani when it was aimed in their direction.
The smoke touched the wall as if the familiar was exhaling liquid; the liquid splashed against the stone and then dripped toward the floor, melting stone as it did—but not all of the stone. Some solid parts remained, and they formed a recognizable shape; Kaylin had seen it through Hope’s wing. Severn had seen it through Kaylin’s eyes. It was the figure that Severn thought he recognized.
Bellusdeo’s breath was slower but sharper. “Yes,” she finally said. “This could be one of two or three missing children reported to Missing Persons. I’m sorry, but the Hawk’s artist’s rendition is not as precise as this statue.”
“This boy was reported missing at the Halls of Law?”
It was Severn who said, “I believe so. Robin Perse. Twelve years of age.”
“Missing from where?”
“Outside of the west warrens. Assumed missing in the warrens. The Barrani Hawks searched, but he couldn’t be found, dead or alive.”
“What is he doing here?”
“That would be the question.”
Bellusdeo frowned. “There are others like this boy in the wall?”
Kaylin could no longer see anything. “There were.”
“How many?”
“I didn’t count. At least a dozen. Probably more.”
“Probably?”
“They weren’t completely distinct. It was like looking at a crowd made of stone.”
“Were they all human?”
“I’m not sure.”
“All, or almost all,” Severn said at about the same time. “There may have been Barrani, but they were at the back of the crowd, not the forefront.”
The familiar returned to Kaylin’s shoulder, where he wrapped himself around her neck like a limp shawl. When she poked him, he swiveled one eye balefully in her direction. “Sorry, buddy, but—the wing would be helpful.”
He pushed himself into his relaxed seated position and lifted his wing. He didn’t even hit her with it first.
She then began a slower examination of the wall. “What do you think the wall is?”
Severn shrugged. “At the very least, a convenient way to get rid of