the far end; a T-junction formed between this open, almost majestic space and a hall that was slightly narrower. Ybelline paused and then turned to the right. An’Tellarus had already begun to move to the left; she was forced to correct her trajectory, making it clear that it was indeed Ybelline who led.
Ybelline, for her part, paused to allow An’Tellarus to join her.
“You are certain?” An’Tellarus asked, her voice soft.
Ybelline nodded.
Elluvian, eyes darkening with every step they took, glanced once at Severn. One glance appeared to be all he was willing to spare for the Wolf, but it was a telling glance, a commanding one. He had been alert while they proceeded through the main gallery; he was actively worried now. He said nothing to either Ybelline or An’Tellarus.
* * *
In this second hall, there were far fewer people. Those they did encounter appeared intent on travel; this was not a hall in which to gather, apparently. The ceilings were as high as the main hall’s, but the light that fell from it, less; there were statues here that seemed older and more severe, placed between paintings and tapestries, all of which seemed to depict war.
Severn almost wished that this hall was An’Tellarus’s hall; he might have asked her to identify which wars, although the answer was semi-obvious: there were Dragons in these paintings. Dragons whose wingspan became almost all of the sky; Dragons who, scales cracked, had taken root in the earth, where they continued to exhale the fire for which they were known, even in the stories meant for very young children.
Three of the paintings were smaller in width and height. They portrayed a central figure each; all three wore armor that resembled burnished silver, and all three wielded great swords. One man wielded a two-handed sword in one hand, a shield in the other, but the other two—one man, one woman—had chosen to forgo shields.
Severn knew, peripherally, that the Dragons and the Barrani had gone to war three times in the distant past. To the Barrani and the Dragons, Immortal both, he wondered if the final war had truly ended. Maybe war never did. But given the choice between a Barrani fieflord and a Dragon Emperor, he would choose the Dragon every time.
Ybelline stopped twice in this hall. The second time, she allowed An’Tellarus to walk ahead. The air around the lord seemed almost viscous for those few steps, although An’Tellarus herself lifted neither hand nor voice to pass through it. Severn could see odd ripples in the air, marked more easily because of its effect on the paintings on either wall. He reached for his dagger, but Elluvian lifted a staying hand. He, too, said nothing.
Severn remained behind Ybelline; Elluvian stepped in to the side An’Tellarus didn’t occupy.
Ybelline hadn’t spoken a word. In silence, they continued.
* * *
When they reached the final set of doors, they had passed through a total of three areas in which both Elluvian and An’Tellarus took the lead. There was no fourth.
The doors appeared to lack guards, but the door itself was warded; it was An’Tellarus who placed her palm against the engraved surface of dark wood. She stood, hand against door, but lowered her hand when the doors themselves began to glow, the light pale but distinct.
“I have never liked these doors,” An’Tellarus said. “There is something distinctly messy about the ward.”
Ybelline, however, seemed to be almost smiling. She recognized the magic that An’Tellarus disliked.
“Please,” a disembodied voice said, “enter and be welcome.”
Ybelline spoke in a language Severn did not immediately understand; it surprised him. He had never heard her speak her native tongue before.
“Yes,” the voice replied. Ybelline spoke again.
“The choice, I leave to you, Ybelline Rabon’alani. There are things that must be discussed that may affect you in your new role; among my own kin the fewer witnesses, the better.”
Ybelline turned back to Severn, and offered him one hand. He took it with almost no hesitation. She touched his brow, her antennae brushing strands of hair out of their way, and said, I do not think you will be able to enter if you are not physically anchored.
What about Elluvian and An’Tellarus?
They are his kin; the risk is his, and therefore the decision.
You don’t care if they know?
I believe An’Tellarus already does, but I am not certain what she was told when she was asked to escort a guest through the High Halls.
Elluvian?
He is a Wolf, as you are; he will know what you know, in the end,