Cast in Wisdom

by Michelle Sagara

  “So you followed us?”

  “Not most of the way, no. I decided to head straight here to wait, but I caught up because you’re doing the Hawk-walk.” He glanced at Bellusdeo. “For what it’s worth, I think insisting on your presence on the inside of the High Halls is suicidal.”

  “Oh?” The Dragon’s voice was cool. “For who?”

  Mandoran grinned. “Mostly Kaylin.”

  Kaylin watched as flecks of gold appeared in Bellusdeo’s eyes. Mandoran had, once again, managed to set Bellusdeo at ease. Kaylin wondered if that was why he’d chosen to speak when he had. He never treated the Dragon with respect; had the Emperor been present for most of their spats, she wasn’t certain Mandoran wouldn’t be a pile of bleeding ash. Well, ash, because ash didn’t bleed, but still.

  “You left the rest of the cohort behind?” Kaylin asked.

  “We had a vote, and Helen decided it was safest to send me.”

  “She was the tie-breaker?”

  “Ah, no. She didn’t consider the first choice viable. But—we can all see what I see anyway, so unless there’s an attack, having more than one person here is superfluous. If Teela had been coming directly to the office, someone would have followed Teela.”

  “Not you?” Bellusdeo asked.

  “I had to live with Tain for a few years. Compressed into a few weeks, I might add. He’s stuffy and remarkably straightforward. Also, he hates fun.”

  “He hates mess,” Kaylin said, as they approached the stairs that led into the Halls of Law.

  “Define mess. No, wait, don’t. The problem with Tain—at least for me—is that Teela might actually kill us if we’re indirectly responsible for his death. He’s not like the rest of us; we can’t speak to him without shouting, and even if we can, he doesn’t listen half the time. So...it’s a lot less safe to tail Tain.”

  “I imagine it’s safer to tail Tain than it is to tail Kaylin if you’re worried about Teela’s reaction,” Bellusdeo said, frowning slightly.

  “You need a better imagination.”

  * * *

  It felt like it had been so long since Kaylin had seen Marcus’s furry face she wanted to run up and hug him. She wanted to keep her job more, but it was surprisingly close. His eyes were a blend of orange and gold, but they shaded mostly to gold as Kaylin approached the desk. Bellusdeo had stopped at Caitlin’s desk. Mandoran had wandered over to Teela’s.

  “I’m happy to see you remember you still have a job, Corporal,” the Leontine sergeant growled. He pointed to the duty board.

  Kaylin made it halfway there and then suddenly wheeled. “Did you say corporal?” She glanced at the roster. She and Severn were expected to resume their Elani beat. She then almost raced across the room to stand in front of Marcus’s desk. His eyes were pure gold now. He smiled.

  To people unfamiliar with Leontines, smiles looked a lot like bared fangs, never a good sign. Kaylin was familiar with Leontines. “Do I make mistakes when it comes to rank?”

  She tried not to bounce on the spot.

  “He just wants to be able to bust you down a rank when you screw up,” someone farther into the office shouted. Joey, she thought.

  “You’ve handled yourself well in a fraught situation for some time. You have been, by necessity, an ambassador for the Hawks.” Although Marcus spoke, Kaylin highly doubted the words were his. “Your reaction upon hearing this news has lost a few people some money.”

  “What were they betting? Less dignity on my part, or more?”

  “Less.” The smile deepened. Clearly Marcus had not lost money if he’d bet at all. “The Hawklord, however, wishes to speak with you before you leave for Elani.”

  At this very moment, the Emperor himself could demand to speak with her, and it wouldn’t put a dent in her mood.

  * * *

  Severn was already in the Hawklord’s tower when Kaylin arrived. Her breathlessness had nothing to do with the climb up the stairs, but she was breathless as she entered the office. She struggled to find the appropriate rigidity and failed.

  He doesn’t look happy, Hope said.

  She was still startled to hear her familiar speak actual syllables. He did sound kind of like a bird, though. Hope’s eyes were clearly better than hers; at this distance, she couldn’t quite make out the color of the Hawklord’s eyes. But he couldn’t be entirely unhappy; his wings were in the rest position.

  Severn was standing at ease and turned to face Kaylin as she made her entrance.

  “Visit the quartermaster before you leave for Elani,” the Hawklord said.

  This dimmed her enthusiasm somewhat. But of course, she needed to visit said quartermaster, who still held a grudge about a damaged dress. She was a corporal now. She needed to bear the insignia of that rank.

  She saluted smartly, standing at attention in front of the Aerian who ruled the Hawks.

  The Hawklord nodded to acknowledge this, and she lowered her arm. “It is my hope,” he said, “that you will be able to pursue your normal duties for some time.” Something about his tone implied that he doubted this would be possible. It wasn’t the weary not-this-again tone, either.

  “At the moment, you have Lord Bellusdeo by your side.”

  She nodded.

  “The Emperor has made clear to me that Lord Bellusdeo will continue to—what was his word?—observe. He was not best pleased when that observation led you to the West March. The Arkon has requested some use of your time, as well. The Emperor wishes to prioritize this.”

  The Hawklord didn’t. His eyes were gray. Not ash gray, just gray. It was the equivalent of orange in the Leontine gaze. “You are the only two Hawks currently on the roster who have extensive experience in the fiefs.”

  Kaylin glanced at Severn. Severn nodded. He seemed calm, but it was always hard to tell whether or not he was surprised.

  “I know that your experience is centered around the fiefs of Nightshade and what is now Tiamaris. Corporal Handred, have you ever entered Candallar?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you encountered the fieflord?”

  Severn nodded. “Never within the boundaries of his fief.”

  “He has been spending some time in the warrens, according to your report. Kaylin’s written report has failed to reach the sergeant’s desk. I expect this to be remedied.”

  The Hawklord did not dismiss them, which Kaylin half expected. He walked to the tall oval mirror that stood to his left. “Records.”

  The surface of the mirror rippled as if the silver were liquid. The ripple extended from the center of the mirror and spread, changing silver into a multitude of colors as it traveled. “The Emperor does not require a written report of your activities in the High Halls.”

  That was something.

  “I believe, however, that the Arkon does and will. You are not required to obey his request, by law.”

  Theoretical law vs. angry Dragon. Not much of a choice. She kept her eyes on the mirror that had become a Records conduit. The whole of Elantra, the city she protected and policed, appeared. The edges were gold. The center was red. Where river passed around that center, it was blue; the walls that served as a dividing line when the river deviated were also blue.

  One of the red fiefs became a bright purple. Candallar.

  “We have received some assurance that Candallar, and his crimes, fall within the laws of exemption.”

  “Meaning we’ve been told to leave it alone?”

  “As we do not serve the Barrani Court, no, not in so many words.”

  “The Emperor?”

  “Understands the use of the laws of exemption.”

  “They won’t apply to Candallar, though.”

  “Oh?”

  “He’s outcaste. If they want to smack us with the exemption, they’re going to have to repatriate him. Even if they did,” she continued
, frowning, “I doubt he’d allow himself to be culled behind the screen of those laws. He understands Elantran laws. If he’s dead, it’s going to be impossible for us to investigate that death if it occurs on this side. The Barrani are going to call in the laws of exemption, and as he won’t be able to speak for himself—being dead and all—we’re going to knuckle under.

  “But if he’s injured, I think he might come directly here.”

  “To the Halls of Law.”

  She nodded.

  “I dislike any attempt to wield the Halls as a political tool.” His eyes shaded to blue—the same blue as angry Barrani eyes. “We are aware that some of the political difficulties of the very recent past might have involved either the fieflord of Candallar or the fief he rules. The Emperor will not allow the laws of exemption to stand if his actions have endangered the city or any member of any race that calls it home.

  “In my opinion, they’ve indirectly endangered the entire city.” Even speaking, she hesitated.

  “But?”

  “But if it weren’t for his intervention, I’m not sure we’d have a city. What he allowed to be brought out of the heart of the fiefs—we’re pretty sure it was transported through Candallar—was necessary to communicate with the High Halls.”

  “Ah. You are perhaps aware of the changes in those halls?”

  Kaylin glanced at the mirror. She wanted to know, of course, but the Hawklord hadn’t yet moved the mirror’s image from the fief of Candallar. She nodded because she was aware of some of those changes, and she was pretty certain she could easily fill in the rest—or at least the parts the Halls of Law knew—on her own time.

  “Very well. The Emperor was concerned, but his advisors were less so.” The Hawklord frowned, and the mirror image shifted instantly, as if it were a card that could be flipped.

  A building Kaylin did not recognize filled the mirror.

  Chapter 2

  “As of two days ago,” the Hawklord said, when Kaylin failed to speak, “this is the High Halls.”

  The only things she recognized were the statues that had once girded the exterior. They remained untouched. In size, the building seemed to occupy roughly the same plot of land, but the similarity ended there.

  “...two days ago.”

  “Yes. I am assured that the building as it is now will be very, very difficult to infiltrate in any way.”

  “It’s like a Hallionne.”

  “That is the supposition of the Imperial advisors.”

  Kaylin assumed that the Imperial advisors were the Arkon.

  “It is the Emperor’s desire that you have little to do with the physical High Halls in the near future.”

  “How near is that future?” she asked with what she hoped was a perfectly neutral expression.

  The Hawklord raised his face. He exhaled as he lowered it. “Inasmuch as your activities outside of the Halls of Law are private, personal and legal, we do not have the right of command. If we assume the right of that command—”

  “You have to pay me.”

  “—your actions in those activities are the work of a Hawk. It is therefore not a command; it is Imperial preference.” The Hawklord’s glance flicked to the side, but Severn’s expression gave nothing away. “At this remove, we have a Barrani Hawk who can enter the High Halls and stand shoulder to shoulder with the High Lords who linger there. It is not your job.

  “Your job, however—” and here, the mirror once again flipped, returning to the prior image of a slightly purple Candallar “—will be the fiefs. We wish to know what Candallar wants, what his connections are and what other decisions he’s made with regard to the heart of the fiefs and what it contains. We have little information to offer. Our knowledge is secondhand, at best. Your knowledge is not.”

  “I’ve never been to Candallar.”

  “No. Corporal Handred has.”

  * * *

  For the first time in the history of ever, Kaylin was excited to talk to the quartermaster. This excitement was not without anxiety, given the quartermaster’s long memory and his ability to hold grudges, but she had a good reason to be here. She had the best reason to be here.

  To her surprise, the quartermaster was almost friendly. He was actively friendly to Severn, possibly to emphasize the difference between grudging respect and genuine respect. At this point, however, Kaylin was willing to take the grudging with both hands and hold it fast. Since respect was, in the immediate present, intangible, she transferred that to the kit he handed across the counter.

  He stared at her, his lips twitching. “You’re going to have to let go of it to put it on. And you are not changing here. You’ve got a locker room for that. Get out.” He paused and then added, “Congratulations.”

  * * *

  It became clear to Kaylin that the world outside of the Halls of Law couldn’t tell the difference between a corporal and a private. In any practical sense, the change in rank didn’t saddle her with new duties, although in an emergency she had more pull than a private, in theory. None of that appeared to be evident to the Elani street regulars. Kaylin glanced at Margot’s ever-present sandwich board. She had the strong urge to borrow one side of it to announce her promotion to the street—but she had no chalk.

  Severn said, “Don’t even think it. Marcus will be up to his armpits in paperwork from Margot’s complaints—he’ll probably have to bust you down a rank to mollify her.”

  Given how Marcus felt about paperwork, losing the newly gained rank would not be the worst of her worries. Hope hissed laughter.

  Bellusdeo, however, paused in front of the sandwich board. While burning a message into the board would satisfy Kaylin—briefly—it was likely to destroy the board, which would be a crime. A petty crime, but a crime.

  “Severn’s right about the paperwork,” Kaylin told their companion.

  “I don’t have to look at the paperwork,” the Dragon replied, her eyes all gold. “And he can’t demote me or fire me.” She shrugged and stepped away from Margot’s storefront. “But it’s true that he has been more polite of late than he was when I initially entered the office.”

  “I told you why he doesn’t like Dragons.”

  “Yes. I happen to agree with his assessment.”

  It was Kaylin’s turn to shrug. “I didn’t know about it at the time, and in hindsight, I understand why the Emperor considered me a risk.” She lifted her arm and the bracer that kept her magic under control—or under complete wraps, as she had to remove it to do anything magically useful—caught sunlight. “The only important point—to me, the person who was at risk of execution—was that he listened to people who actually knew me.”

  “They no doubt downplayed your penchant for wandering into inconceivably dangerous trouble.”

  “Probably. You can check.”

  “Oh?”

  “Well, the Arkon was there. The Emperor was there. It wasn’t an actual trial, but I’ve heard it was pretty formal, so there are probably accessible Records—but palace Records, not Halls of Law. Or maybe not,” she added, catching Severn’s brief shake of head. “It’s old news now.”

  Bellusdeo’s eyes gathered a hint of orange.

  Sorry, Kaylin told Severn. I wasn’t thinking. I mean, if I’m not mad about it, and it was my fate being discussed, I don’t get why other people would be mad. I don’t think Teela’s mad about it, and she was there.

  The orange deepened.

  “So, we won’t be on Elani for the next couple of weeks,” Kaylin said in an attempt to divert the Dragon’s focus.

  “You’re going back to the warrens?”

  “In a manner of speaking.” The orange faded. It would. The warrens were considered a ground beat designed for Barrani; mortal Hawks without wings didn’t fare well there. The Barrani always did, and any injuries that were inflicted were taken entirely by their attackers—none of
whom then wandered into the Halls of Law to make a formal complaint.

  Kaylin had only patrolled there at the side of Teela and Tain—or Bellusdeo. Bellusdeo had absolutely nothing to fear from the street gangs that ruled the warrens.

  “Does this involve Candallar?”

  “It does.”

  “When does this start?”

  “Tomorrow. We’ll probably start in Tiamaris, though. It’s one of the two fiefs that border Candallar, and he’s bound to have more accurate information than the Halls of Law.”

  “Maggaron will be excited.”

  * * *

  Although Kaylin hated the fiefs that had been her childhood home, she made an exception for the fief of Tiamaris. Ruled by Lord Tiamaris of the Dragon Court, its interior laws mirrored the Emperor’s laws. That had not always been the case, and it made Kaylin aware of how much a fief changed under different rulers.

  She understood the necessity of the fiefs: each existed around a central Tower, and the Towers were created to stand sentinel against the fief of Ravellon—the only fief that had neither Tower nor lord that she knew of.

  Ravellon was the home of the most dangerous of the Shadows, the one-offs that had unique abilities. She wasn’t certain if they were spawned in the heart of Ravellon, or if they, like Spike, were prisoners enslaved and in service to...something.

  But she knew that Ravellon—unlike the rest of the fiefs—appeared to exist in all worlds. One of those worlds had been Bellusdeo’s home. It had been her kingdom, her empire. It was gone now. The Shadows had devoured it. They had taken control of Maggaron, Bellusdeo’s Ascendant, and Bellusdeo had become some part of him—his weapon, to be exact.

  Maggaron and Bellusdeo had escaped Ravellon, but the Dragon’s hatred of Shadow, and of the outcaste Dragon who appeared to make Ravellon his home, would end only when Ravellon did. Being a Dragon, Bellusdeo had perfect memory. There was nothing she had experienced that she couldn’t recall.