Cast in Wisdom (Chronicles of Elantra #15) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,72

does this say?

His silence made clear that he couldn’t read the word, either.

“He asked me to take this to Killian.”

“Did he say why?”

“No. Who is Larrantin? Or who was he?”

“He was a researcher of some renown, or perhaps a scholar might be the better word. I did not know him well; I barely knew him at all. His distinguishing characteristic, visually, was his hair.”

“It was always like that?”

“It was always what mortals call gray, yes. He was born that way. Not much is known of him, beyond that; he disappeared almost a millennium ago.”

“In the fiefs?”

“It was not clear at the time.” Teela’s smile was grim. “Renown, in Elantran parlance, always paints a target on the person who’s earned it. If he had not been so odd, his disappearance would have been chalked down to simple assassination.”

“He was political?”

“You’re giving Sedarias a headache,” Annarion said in a remarkably cheerful tone of voice for Annarion.

“Fine. Never mind.”

“The Arkon was not considered political,” Bellusdeo said. “But he fought in the wars, and he influenced the composition of the Flights. By your standards, Lannagaros was apolitical; his interests were never in the accumulation of power. But power is necessary to preserve both oneself and the things one cares about.” She lifted an arm. “That,” she said, pointing to a large building that occupied most of the distance, “is the building from which we emerged.

“If you are tasked with taking the book to Killian, I would suggest you do so now.”

* * *

Killian—or the building in which he currently resided—had doors similar to the doors of the building which housed or contained Larrantin. They approached those doors with less caution. The doors were closed.

Kaylin had once again tucked the book between her arm and the side of her body, which was better than carrying it in her hands, but not, as the distance increased, by much. There were other reasons for wanting to reach Killian, though. Chief among them were the missing members of the cohort—Mandoran, Terrano and Nightshade. She had hope that they were somehow lost within Killian’s many rooms; that opening the door and entering the building would break whatever barrier prevented them from communicating.

Helen could prevent exactly that communication between Kaylin and any of the nameheld; if Killian was somehow a building, it made sense that he could do the same.

The doors, however, were locked. The lock wasn’t mechanical, or not in a way that Kaylin understood mechanical locks.

“Is it warded?” Bellusdeo asked.

“I can’t see—or feel—a ward.” Given that door wards caused Kaylin’s magical allergy to flare anytime she came in physical contact with one, she felt she was a reluctant expert. “But we’re in the border zone.”

“Try knocking?” Allaron suggested.

Annarion, however, moved to the left of the doors, to a smaller section of the wall. The stairs were wide and meant to accommodate either the very, very space-conscious or multiple people at once. “Here,” he said.

“It’s a wall,” Kaylin offered. “Or at least it looks like a wall to me. What do you see?”

“I see a symbol. It’s not a door ward,” he added, “but it has a similar function. It’s meant to be like your bells.”

“Can you see the wall clearly?”

“I think I can see it more clearly than you can. Since we’ve followed this street, the fog has lifted. There’s sun here,” he said, glancing over his shoulder, “and the buildings themselves are not, as you put it, washed out. There are trees, and those trees are vividly green and green-blue. The only things here that seem...faded, I guess, are the birds and the squirrels.”

Kaylin turned immediately to look out to the large circle transcribed by the street to which those stairs led. She could see no birds, no squirrels, could hear no insects, and see no sun. “I suppose the skies are blue?”

“They are. It’s ridiculously clear here. Hold on.” Annarion lifted a hand to the wall, spreading the whole of his palm against it. His fingers were long and slender.

* * *

Only Annarion and Allaron could see this brightly colored version of the building; everyone else could see what Kaylin could see. But the inside of Larrantin’s building had seemed as solid, as real, as any normal building. From the inside, Kaylin couldn’t tell that she wasn’t in Elantra.

From the inside of Killian, the same held true, or it had on their first visit. But the inside of Killian had seemed more run-down. Larrantin’s building had not. The floors hadn’t been scuffed or scratched—or warped, as