Cast In Ruin Part 24

"Oh, no," Tara said, on cue. "I know the Dragons don't actually eat mortals."

Red walked to one of the empty slabs and opened his bag; he took out the long, cloth roll in which he kept scalpels, tweezers, pliers, and G.o.ds only knew what else. Kaylin frowned. Red had been silent in the carriage, which she expected given Sanabalis's mood. But he'd been remarkably subdued when Tara had pretty much announced the most hated word in his past vocabulary, and he'd bowed to Tiamaris.

"Red," she said, clearing her throat.

He continued to lay out scalpels, and he also drew a small mirror from the depths of his bag, which he laid beside them. "Private?"

"Did you get the Records information you were looking for?"

"Yes." It was a curt, cool word. That tone of voice would usually have muted any further conversation, because Red, like Caitlin, had ways of making a person suffer when they'd annoyed him. It muted Kaylin for entirely different reasons, and it made his deep bow suspicious in exactly the wrong way.

But she no longer had the desire to pester Red while he worked; she had, instead, the much stronger desire to grab Severn's arm and drag him into the streets of the fief, where they could do the work they were, in theory, meant to do while they were here. It was always a bonus when you could hide cowardice behind the facade of responsibility.

She chanced a look at Sanabalis; to her relief, he didn't immediately return it. Red, however, had most of his attention, and Red moved very, very cautiously toward one of the bodies that he hadn't yet touched. His scalpel hand was, to Kaylin's genuine surprise, shaking-and he hadn't even picked up a scalpel, yet.

Instead, he said, "Private, bring me my mirror." She did exactly as ordered, which brought her closer to the body and the man under the glare of two pairs of Dragon eyes than she'd've liked. "Records."

The small mirror flared in a brief, blue flash, its edges glittering in the dull and steady light of the morgue. Kaylin was surprised when marks on her arm began their low, distinct itch. Mirror magic didn't generally cause her pain the way stronger magics did. She said nothing, although she had to force herself not to absently rub her sleeves against the skin of her inner arms.

Images began to form in the mirror, then. In the past, Kaylin had pulled up a stool while Red worked; he'd explain what he was doing and what he was looking for, so she knew what the inner cavity of a human body looked like. She knew more or less what bruises looked like beneath skin; she knew what damaged organs looked like. She didn't really have that strong a sense of what living, healthy organs looked like; seeing parts of someone's internal organs spill out was one of her personal nightmares.

But dead people were dead people. They felt no pain. They felt no shame or humiliation. She reminded herself of this when she lost the detachment necessary to function in a job that saw so many deliberate deaths. Still, watching the image form on the smaller mirror surface made her squint, because it looked...wrong, somehow.

"Red?"

He was silent; they were both looking at the same image.

"Red, what is that supposed to be?"

"Private," Sanabalis barked. "Let the coroner do his job." The words were very loud; they echoed in the chamber.

Red spoke a few more words to the mirror; they were technical enough that Kaylin didn't immediately recognize them-which she guessed was his intent. She watched the mirror as the images s.h.i.+fted; in one case the mirror came up entirely gray, which was a mirror's version of "no clue in h.e.l.ls."

"Coroner, will it be enough?" Sanabalis asked.

Red nodded. He then took the scalpel and began to cut into the skin just below the corpse's exposed b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Kaylin, who'd seen this done many times, was surprised because the woman's skin seemed to resist the blade's edge. Either that or it was very, very blunt, and given Red, this was unlikely.

Red then motioned the two Dragon Lords toward the slab. He ordered the mirror to change its orientation, which was just lazy, because he could have rotated it himself; the Dragons, however, studied the image in the mirror.

They then studied the cut-the two cuts-that Red had made, watching as he pulled the skin back.

Kaylin understood, then. She couldn't figure out why it had taken her so long.

"Yes," Sanabalis said. "Your guess was correct. She is-or was-a Dragon."

Kaylin was the first person to speak, as she so often was, and the words that fell unplanned out of her mouth weren't particularly bright. "But-that's impossible. There's no way-"

"Oh?" Sanabalis said, proving that fiery breath and icy chill were not, in fact, incompatible.

Tara turned to Kaylin. "Why?"

"Dragons have scales. You've seen Tiamaris when he's wearing them in his human form-it's armor, and it'd blunt most swords produced in the Empire."

"Only by mortals," she replied.

"The scalpels Red's using were created by mortals, Tara. And if it wasn't easy, they did cut skin."

Tara tilted her head to one side. It was mimicry of a human gesture, and it was off. Before Tara could speak, Kaylin said, "Because it looks deliberate, Tara, and I'll explain more later. Sanabalis will turn me to ash otherwise."

She frowned and then nodded. "It is true, though. There should be scales." Her frown deepened, and she said what Kaylin was thinking. "Unless female Dragons have substantially different forms or physical rules?"

"They don't," was Sanabalis's curt reply. "I am sorry, Lord Tiamaris. We must either move the bodies, or bring the Arkon here; I do not think the portable mirror and its recall will prove satisfactory to him."

"Move them," Kaylin said, thinking of Marcus and the general relief he'd feel to have this particular set of autopsies off-loaded to someone-anyone-else.

"Bring him here," Tiamaris said, at about the same time.

They exchanged a glance. Sanabalis intervened. "Lord Tiamaris is correct, Private. The Arkon has had some small suspicion about the results of this autopsy, but matters within the Palace at the moment are such that he has not-that we have not-chosen to disturb the Emperor. Nor will we, unless the Arkon feels there is sufficient cause."

"Dead Dragons wouldn't be sufficient cause?"

"Ah, you mistake me. Yes, they would. But the objections you voiced are entirely reasonable, and without the Arkon's aid, it is likely that they will not be addressed. The fiefs are not, as you are aware, part of the Empire. The Emperor does not control them and he does not claim them.

"The bodies were discovered in the fief of Tiamaris. We have no idea whether similar bodies have appeared elsewhere, although some attempt to confirm or deny is being made. You," he added, "are part of that attempt. We wish you to speak with Lord Nightshade at your earliest convenience.

"In the meantime, we will send word-by mirror-to the Palace. The Arkon's part in the other investigations is minimal."

"If the fiefs are outside of Imperial Law and control..."

"You can't even finish the thought. Yes, even if they are outside of his control, should our suspicion prove correct, the Emperor may feel a need to act upon this discovery." He turned to Severn. "Corporal. Private. Please proceed from here to Nightshade. Gather what information you can, but be brief and to the point. I will return to the Imperial Palace and fetch the Arkon."

"I don't understand why in the h.e.l.ls we can't just have proper mirror access in the G.o.ds-cursed fiefs!"

"At the rate you're stamping along the streets, we won't have much left of the roads in the fiefs, never mind mirrors."

"If we had mirror access I wouldn't be in the streets."

"No. You'd be in the morgue with one disturbed Dragon, one extremely worried Red, and a completely silent and immobile Avatar. Oh, and seven identical corpses."

"That's better than Nightshade."

"There's no reason mirror access couldn't be negotiated, but it would be a negotiation. I believe Tiamaris is considering it now-but it means allowing full access to Imperial mages, and not for an insignificant period of time."

Every so often, conversations like this were necessary to remind Kaylin that mages did, indeed, serve useful and necessary functions.

"We're only going to ask one question," he reminded her.

"It's never just one question with Nightshade."

"Kaylin." Severn stopped walking. "What are you so afraid of?"

She lifted one hand to her cheek, and touched the mark there. It was easy to forget it existed on most days-but not on the ones that saw her heading into the fief of the Barrani who had placed it there. "I'm not afraid." It was more or less true. But she was nervous. Nervous enough that thoughts of Nightshade displaced hunger or thirst and caused her hands to drop to her dagger hilts for simple comfort's sake. Severn started to walk and she fell in beside him; they traveled a few blocks before she spoke again. "I don't understand what he wants from me."

"Don't you?"

She shook her head. "I understand part of what I think he wants."

"Is it greatly different from part of what I want?"

"Severn-"

He lifted a hand. "Sorry, that was unfair and uncalled for."

"But it's not-it's not wrong. I understand that part. Sort of. Barrani aren't generally interested in mortals. There are stories and legends, yes-but in reality? We're brief, boring, timid lives that go by too quickly. We're old before we're fully interesting, and we're never going to be beautiful or strong the way Barrani are. The only interest, historically speaking, that the Barrani have showed in mortals usually involves slavery or benign servitude; it frequently involves bizarre ritual murders. It seldom involves just...s.e.x.

"It's not the Barrani who were crossing the bridges into Barren's fief, after all."

"Nightshade's interest is not that simple."

"No."

"And yours?"

This was the question she had wanted to avoid. No, in truth, it was the question she had avoided. She didn't lie to Severn; she ran away from him. But she could only run so far from herself. "I...I don't know, Severn. I don't know that I want to know. If I could, I'd avoid him. I avoid him as much as possible. But my life seems to lead to his castle, over and over again.

"I've been a fieflord's lapdog. And worse. I never want to be in that position again."

"It's not the same."

"No," she said, feeling hunted. "It's not. I don't know why-but it's not."

"You're not thirteen. You're not helpless. You're not alone. There are many, many reasons why it's different." He spoke calmly and softly, the way he usually did when she was upset-but she could feel the thread of his own unease twisting beneath the spoken words; it was the first bad thing giving him her name had exposed. She didn't want it. She thought he might be either jealous or hurt, and-she didn't want that.

Which was strange, because she'd wanted to kill Severn for years, and that hadn't bothered her at all.

"Sometimes, when he's close, I can't breathe. I'm afraid, but it's not just fear. But sometimes, Severn, sometimes-he's just so far above me. There's nothing I can do that'll hurt him. Nothing I can do that can kill him or indirectly cause his death. He's just impervious."

"You'll never be responsible for him?"

"How could I be? I don't know what he'll do, and even if I did, I couldn't stop him. I can't control him. I can't even ask-" She shook her head. "Sometimes I think the reason he's almost attractive is that. He's untouchable."

"And I'm not."

She closed her eyes. Stubbed her toes. Opened them again, biting back a curse. "No. You're not. I don't want to lose you. I don't want you to die. I don't want to be unable to save you."

"I can take care of myself, Kaylin."

"I know that. But I don't know it. Not the same way." She hesitated, and then added, "Is it stupid?"

"To be attracted to someone because he can't be harmed?"

She nodded.

"I don't know. And given the number of bets you lose, stupidity probably doesn't matter."

"The thing is, he's not Barren. What he wants-it's complicated, but it's not what Barren wanted. Barren wanted power over me. He wanted me to know how little power I had. Nightshade wants power. He even wants my power, I think. But not like that."

"Do you think he loves you?"

"What does that mean to a Barrani? I'm not even sure they have a native word for it." Aware that more was wanted, she added, "No. I'm certain he doesn't."

The border between Tiamaris and Nightshade was invisible; all the fief borders, as far as Kaylin knew-and that was only two fiefs' worth at the moment-were. But crossing borders was strictly forbidden on either side of the boundary that only residents clearly knew or understood. For that reason, they took the long way-crossing the Ablayne into the City proper and walking the length of the road that followed it until they reached another bridge.

That bridge led to Nightshade, and unlike the crossing to Tiamaris it was deserted, as it had almost always been. Kaylin stopped at its height and gazed into the river running beneath it. The sound of water against either bank was like a muted, continuous whisper; as a child, she had thought it a language of its own. Once conquered, she could understand the secrets of living a happy life, because a happy life was guaranteed to anyone who made it to the other side.

So much for the dreams of childhood.

"I'm sorry," she said to Severn without looking away from the water.

"For what?"

"I can talk to Nightshade from a distance, but I...I hate it. I don't do it unless it's an emergency. It just feels...wrong."

"Kaylin." He caught her face in his hands and turned it toward him. "Believe that you never need to apologize for that." His smile was gentle, its edges softened by something that almost felt like relief. His hands were warm and callused, his face scarred in ways Nightshade's would never be. He gave her five more minutes before he let her go.

CHAPTER 14.

The streets of Nightshade really hadn't changed much, but the lack of change drove home just how much the streets of Tiamaris had. There were no carpenters here, and no wagons; the roaming groups of would-be thugs were both common and undirected. It had never occurred to Kaylin, while begging and stealing sc.r.a.ps of food in these streets, to wonder how it was that anyone survived in them. In Tiamaris, the thugs were either dead or now served Tiamaris, and the terms of his service usually meant they were the unofficial guards of construction sites.

Some construction was done in Nightshade, often by people who lived in the buildings that lined the streets, but it was repair work, and generally shoddy. Peeling paint, cracked boarding, warped shutters-these were streetside adornments. Through some of those warped shutters, people watched as Severn and Kaylin walked toward the castle that most of the residents avoided. Kaylin had once been one of those people; she wondered if they were children.

But children did play, both in Nightshade and in Tiamaris. In Tiamaris, however, they didn't avoid the Tower. They never avoided Tara. They did avoid the Norannir, but hopefully time would change that. Time, Kaylin thought, or a better grasp on the part of the newcomers of appropriate weaponry. Still, Tara took pains to make clear that the Norannir were dying on the borders in order to defend the fief, and Kaylin thought Tara's words would carry weight.

She hoped they would.

Nightshade knew she was coming; she felt his presence as she approached the Castle, and was certain that he'd been aware of hers for longer-probably the moment she crossed the Ablayne and stepped across his border.

"Heads up," Severn said quietly as they approached.

She smiled; she could see Lord Andellen waiting for them a few yards from the fake portcullis. Her smile froze when he bowed. It wasn't a bow that she could execute in that much armor if she didn't want to topple into the person before whom she was bowing. He rose before she could say as much.