in silence.
Kaylin could see Castle Nightshade clearly as they entered the border zone; it was not as fanciful as Liatt’s Tower, but nowhere near as mundane as Durant’s. She had more experience with Nightshade’s Tower, and very, very little of it had been positive. It was from Nightshade’s Tower that the Barrani Ancestors had emerged, to wreak so much havoc in Elantra.
She didn’t like the Tower; the Tower did not like her.
But it was in the Tower, or in the basement of the Tower, that she had first been called Chosen by the Ancients, or the ghosts of Ancients.
* * *
Nightshade—the Lord, not the fief—was waiting for them when they emerged. He offered Bellusdeo a deep and respectful bow.
“Lord Nightshade,” the Dragon said, returning that bow with more reserve.
“My brother feels he owes you a great debt.”
The Dragon’s shrug was uncomfortable. “I do not consider him—or the rest of his cohort—to be in my debt.” She began to walk, and Nightshade fell in beside her, aware—because of his bond with Kaylin—exactly what she intended. He made no move to dissuade her.
“I have seldom crossed the border zone in the fashion you chose to cross it today. Ah, that is inaccurate. I have not chosen to visit all of the border zones in sequence in that fashion. It has been enlightening.”
“Oh?”
“Kaylin’s observations about the visibility of the Towers, for one. I was aware that the border zone appears to extend to Ravellon in the same fashion it does into the rest of the fiefs. It is possible that Candallar’s ally entered through the border zone itself. His exit might have been more difficult; the border zone from the other side is...not the same. If that were somehow the case, he might exit across the fief-Ravellon border.”
“That doesn’t explain how he could move, carrying Spike, across that border.”
“No. But I feel that possible answers to that very question—which seems the heart of Lord Bellusdeo’s concern—might be obtained if you visit the High Halls. It is not an avenue of research open to one such as me.” He waited until Bellusdeo had finished her inspection, which was cursory at best. Although the buildings that faced Ravellon were, as remembered, in very questionable condition, the gold Dragon did not fear that Nightshade was Candallar.
Only when that inspection was complete did he stop. “You will cross over to Tiamaris,” he said. “But I wish to return to the area you investigated yesterday.”
“You want to see the building.”
“I want to see if it is at all fixed in place. It is not—as the rest of the buildings contained within that space—a simple continuation of what the eye sees before one crosses the border; I had some sense of what Kaylin was seeing, but the connection was not perfect and it required active concentration to fully see what she was seeing.” His tone implied that he had failed.
“There was some chance that the situation in which you found yourself was both unstable and unsafe. It was not the correct time to attempt to view what you viewed. Since you are now here, I wish to know whether or not you can find that building again.”
Kaylin glanced at Bellusdeo. The gold Dragon considered this for a moment, and then nodded. “Why not?”
* * *
Kaylin could have answered: lunch. She didn’t; she knew better. Her stomach argued. But she fell in beside Severn and began to walk as if Nightshade were her beat. Bellusdeo was therefore in the lead. It was a politeness extended by Nightshade; Kaylin was fairly certain that he knew the exact geographic location from which they’d exited the border zone.
I do. But you have been in the border zone before; it is often elastic. You believe that you see streets when you peer into it; those streets conform to what you expect to see; they seem a continuation of the actual street.
Kaylin nodded, although he didn’t have eyes in the back of his head.
That has not been my experience. When I gaze into the border zone, I do not see what you see.
What do you see, then?
Sometimes I see the continuation you see. Sometimes I see nothing but a thick fog. Sometimes I see the vague outline of the road on which I stand as it continues into that fog. I believe that my view is influenced by the Tower and the Tower’s awareness of the boundaries of its duties. I find it interesting that you thought to look for Towers; I found it interesting