Hello! Sorry it took me so long to get this new chapter out! Hope everyone enjoyed the latest book! Since we still haven't seen much Kaylin/Nightshade, I'm back to work on this. Not sure if people will still be interested now that we've moved on, but hopefully. Plot is always harder for me to write, so I really struggled with this. Like most people on the site, I am encouraged by reviews, so thanks to those who have followed, favourited, and always the best, reviewed! Also, if you spot any errors, please let me know. Thanks & enjoy!
Moran met them, blue-eyed, but without a guard, in the landing area. Kaylin wondered what it had taken to convince her guards to let her speak to the Hawks alone. Given how unhappy they were leaving earlier, she could only imagine they were even more vocal without witnesses. But then, Moran hadn't ruled the infirmary for so many years without being able to handle irrational tempers. Even Marcus listened to Moran when she was in a mood.
"Moran," Teela asked, looking out from the edge of the landing pad, as if she wasn't standing on the edge of a precipice hundreds of feet from the ground, "how many Aeries have a line of sight to the location of the attack?"
"You're thinking someone cast the spell on the Hawklord from an Aerie?" Kaylin interrupted. That would almost certainly make the attacker an Aerian, since someone from another race passing unnoticed through these halls just wasn't in the cards; somebody would have seen them.
"It's that or the ground," Teela pointed out. "If there were any magical signatures in here, you'd be complaining by now."
"Could this have been a spell keyed to the Hawklord and then set off?" Teela raised a brow in approval.
"Ordinarily it would be a possibility," she acknowledged, "but the timeframe here is small. If it had been keyed to the Hawklord, then it would have had to be placed after his arrival."
"Or he would have triggered it coming in," Kaylin mused.
"A spell like that is not suited to Shadow," Bellusdeo informed them, earning the undivided attention of all three Baranni present. "Because the spell has to wait, it has the opportunity to warp itself before it comes into effect. Shadow spells are most effectively used immediately."
"So we're assuming the assailant was in or around the Aerie," Kaylin reasoned, thinking out loud. She walked to the edge of the landing pad - nowhere near as close as Teela had been - and looked out. "There's some cover near the bottom of the Aerie, but approaching this it's just flat, open plains." The city could be seen, but not well. At least with human eyes. The Immortals could probably still spot the damn lice on people's heads.
"I would say that the probability of an Aerian being the culprit is high," Teela told Moran, "if not for the fact that you only have two Arcanists. The fact that our all of witnesses, excluding your Arcanist, were lying would support the possibility that someone from another race was present and convinced them to lie to hide the fact." Moran narrowed her eyes.
"They were lying?"
"Yeah, word for word. Someone coached them," Teela informed her.
"I'll have a word with them," she assured them, her eyes a hard blue.
"Sorry," Kaylin said, giving up her count and turning to the Aerian Hawk, "how many Aeries did you say had a view of where the Hawklord was attacked?"
"I was interrupted before I could say," Moran replied pointedly, making Kaylin flush. "There are two hundred and six Aeries that would have given the attacker a reasonable view of the Hawklord." Kaylin grimaced at the answer. Examining two hundred and six Aeries for magical traces would take for-bloody-ever. She wanted the Hawklord's attacker caught now. "When I arrived, one hundred and twelve of them were occupied."
"How do you know?" Kaylin asked.
"I am aware of everything that occurs within the Aerie," Moran reminded her. Kaylin tried to wrap her mind around that and couldn't. Her head was busy enough without tracking a whole bloody Aerie in it.
"But only when you're present, right?" She confirmed. The Aerian Hawk nodded. "What are the odds that someone got Lady Grammayre to contact the Hawklord so that he could be attacked while you were at work?"
"I'm not sure," Moran admitted. "I don't believe there's any love lost between Lord Grammayre and his wife, but people are aware of my regard for Lord Grammayre. If he had been killed, Lady Grammayre's position in Court would likely have dropped." Kaylin grimaced. Not conspiring to kill your husband because of how it would impact your position in society did not sit well with Kaylin. Politics were the bane of her existence.
"That's not to say that someone aware of Lady Grammayre's personality couldn't have insured she learned about her son's indiscretion at a suitable time," Tain reasoned. Which would have made Lady Grammayre an unwilling accomplice. Normally, when Kaylin didn't like someone, she was perfectly happy to have a reason to arrest them, but the thought of the Hawklord's own wife being involved in the assassination attempt made her ill.
"Getting back on track," Bellusdeo said, "this means that there are ninety-four Aeries someone could have broken into to launch the attack, assuming no one moved between the time of the attack and the time of your arrival."
"Did anyone report a break-in over the last twenty four hours?" Teela asked.
"No."
"Let's start by examining the ground," Teela decided, walking over to Kaylin to poke small and squawky. He opened an eye and glared at her, but after a moment jumped from Kaylin's shoulders. Watching him go from something so small to so big always surprised Kaylin, but she hopped on as soon as he was fully shifted, letting Teela settle behind her.
"Are you coming, Moran?" Kaylin asked. Moran shook her head regretfully.
"Someone needs to babysit these idiots before they get themselves into more trouble," she answered, making Kaylin wince in sympathy.
"It's nowhere near as bad as babysitting Kaylin," Tain assured her, making Kaylin snap her neck around to look at him in outrage.
"I don't need a babysitter, Tain!"
"Yes, you do," three Immortal voices answered in unison. Kaylin wilted, ignoring her familiar's hissing laugh. The only one on her side was Andellen. After one final wave to Moran, whose eyes were no longer quite Baranni blue, they dove off the edge of the landing pad. Flying straight down on dragonback was never going to be Kaylin's favourite activity, but her discomfort was ignored as she spotted a splash of colour on the surface.
"There!" Kaylin shouted. Her familiar and Bellusdeo followed her pointing to the ground. Kaylin hopped off, not even waiting for Hope to touch down and was vaguely aware of the Baranni doing the same. She flinched when Teela cast her spell, but continued examining the ground.
"Does that look like someone spilled water on it to you?" Kaylin asked.
"If you mean do I believe the sigil to be deformed, then yes, Kitling, I do."
"That's expected of anyone casting Shadow," Bellusdeo pointed out. Kaylin nodded, surprised the mark wasn't bigger considering the state the Hawklord was in when she healed him. Before they could continue the discussion, Andellen called out from a short distance away, near the base of the Aerie.
"Lord Kaylin," he said, causing her head to swing around. "I have found something." Everyone moved to where he was.
"Mirror?" Kaylin asked, squatting down to look at the shards scattered across the ground. Andellen nodded. Kaylin frowned in thought. "Nightshade has a mirror he can travel through. Is it possible the assailant used this mirror to escape?"
"Those mirrors are not easily transported," Teela told her, which wasn't a no.
"If someone brought a mirror here, this was premeditated," Tain pointed out, which wasn't really a surprise; an assassination attempt with Shadow magic hardly shouted 'spontaneous', but they all understood that knowing it and proving it were two different things.
"Do you think he had an accomplice?" Kaylin asked Teela.
"What makes you think that?"
"If the mirror needed to be brought here and set up-" Kaylin hesitated over that, but continued once Teela nodded, "how did no one see him?" She looked around trying to evaluate which Aeries would have had the assailant in their line of sight.
"It's not a bad spot, considering," Teela said, moving to stand beside her. "In as much as there's any natural shelter, there is a protrusion here. And even Aerians aren't going to stand at the edge of their Aeries and look straight down very frequently."
"Wait a minute, if the assailant went through the mirror, doesn't that mean someone had to break it after they left?"
"Yes," Bellusdeo agreed, not sounding pleased. Then again, they were investigating an attempted assassination on the Hawklord, so no one was precisely happy.
"Meaning that the accomplice would still have been here when Moran returned," Teela said, probably to make sure Kaylin didn't miss the implications of the broken mirror. Kaylin grimaced. She got it.
"So we have an Aerian accomplice," Kaylin summarized, "and an assassin of unknown origins." She felt something small die in her at the thought of an Aerian trying to assassinate her lord. She'd only recently realized how much she had idolized the Aerians, and news like this still stung.
"Baranni," Teela clarified, because magic and Baranni were almost the same to Teela.
"So what's our next step?" Kaylin asked. They could scour the ground all day, but people didn't exactly walk to the Aerie, so they were hardly likely to find footprints.
"Lord Kaylin," Andellen commented, drawing her attention, "am I correct in assuming that if the mirror had been here for an extended period, someone would have spotted it?" Kaylin nodded, frowning. Andellen didn't say anything else, so she was forced to connect the dots on her own.
"I don't think the Aerians keep extensive Records, but let's see what we can find about who's been here recently and who may have brought the mirror to the Aerie."
Kaylin was thankful her familiar hadn't bothered shrinking considering they were getting right back on. She clambered back on, her thighs slightly sore from all the flying - she wasn't used to it after all - and was regretting not asking Clint to join them so her could carry her around. Aerian flight was so much more comfortable for the passenger. Not that anyone else seemed to be having a problem: maybe sore legs was a mortal thing. They landed on the pad to find Moran re-entering.
"It will take some time for me to convince the witnesses to tell me the truth," she told them, Baranni blue-eyed. "I am new to my position and need to be careful in how I handle things." Kaylin nodded, worrying about Moran and the Caste Court, but knowing better than to let herself be distracted.
"Do you have Records of who has arrived here?" Kaylin asked instead. "We probably only need the twenty-four hours or so before the attack." Any longer and the mirror would have been spotted. Moran raised both brows, but nodded.
"I will send the information directly to Helen," Moran assured them. After a moment, she added, "what are you doing Kaylin?"
"Trying to get the feeling back in my legs," Kaylin replied curtly, as she continued to rub her thighs.
I could not carry you, her familiar offered, sounding very unamused. Kaylin sighed and took a moment.
"I apologize," she told him. "I'm sore and upset about the Hawklord. I appreciate you carrying us up." He looked at her a long moment before nodding in acceptance.
"So I gather you're attending a ball in a few days," Moran said, raising a brow. Teela spun around to face Kaylin.
"You're what?" She demanded. "Who the hell thought having you attend a bloody ball was a good idea?"
"The Emperor, apparently," Bellusdeo replied, before Kaylin could try to defend herself. Teela let loose a volley of Leontine that impressed even Kaylin.
"Look," she said, trying to be reasonable, "it's not that bad-"
"Not that bad?" Teela almost shrieked. "Do you remember that time we tried to take you dancing - not an Imperial ball, just some casual human dancing - and you broke that guy's leg?" Andellen made a muffled noise and Kaylin looked over to see his eyes bright green as he tried to restrain his laughter. "Or there was that time-"
"We get it, Teela," Kaylin cut in quickly, because she was fairly certain she knew which story was next and she really didn't want it told in company. Or ever. "Look, I'm taking dance lessons with Nightshade-"
"Lord Nightshade," Andellen corrected, although why he still bothered was a mystery to Kaylin.
"-and I'll figure something out for the ball." The something occurred to her. "Annarion knows all about this. Why didn't he tell you?" Watching Teela's eyes darken, Kaylin wanted to take the question back. Looking at Teela's expression, Kaylin would have suspected that Annarion was evading the question, except he was, well, Annarion.
"Let's go home and take a look at the Records," Kaylin suggested, not wanting to pursue this topic any further. She knew by the time they landed that Moran would have gotten them the information they needed. With one last hug for Moran, Kaylin got up on Hope, being careful not to groan as she forced her muscles to move. Teela gracefully leapt up behind Kaylin and once Bellusdeo's passengers were settled - which took seconds, because they were bloody Baranni - they took off.
The flight home was quiet - meaning Teela was quiet and Kaylin couldn't hear anything anyone else might have said over the sound of the wind - so it was a relief when they landed. Kaylin knew Teela's silences, and this brooding contemplation did not blonde well for her. It wasn't a variety of anger that would have her ducking behind the nearest wall, but it wasn't fun.
"Um, Teela?" Kaylin said tentatively while the others sorted themselves out and, after a quick glance at the three of them, were herded inside by Helen. The familiar settled back on Kaylin's shoulders and she ignored her aching legs in favour of watching Teela. She couldn't ask Teela what was wrong - you just don't do that, to the Baranni - but knew her face would say enough.
"I should have known about the ball," Teela answered, clearly irritated. "Especially since you and Bellusdeo will be attending."
"Why? I mean, it's Dragon stuff, so why does it matter? Apart from the dancing." Because she expected Teela to find the idea of Kaylin humiliating herself in public funny. The Baranni had the worst sense of humour.
"Kaylin, you will be meeting with those who pass for powerful amongst the Human Caste Court. Including the Castelord." Kaylin froze as her brain shuddered to a halt.
"My… father will be there." That was not a good thought. Kaylin hadn't had time to consider how she felt about the man who had driven her mother to an early grave in the fief. If she met him now, she'd probably draw blood. Or punch him, at the very least. Even she knew that was al kinds of bad etiquette.
"I take it the Dragons aren't aware of your relationship to the Castelord."
"Bellusdeo is," Kaylin replied vaguely, still lost in thought.
"There's no way you can fail to attend," Teela pointed out, knowing that was Kaylin's first reaction, "so I will attend with you."
"Can you?" Kaylin asked hopefully, because she trusted Teela, especially when it came to politics. Kaylin gave her a smile that was all teeth. It was only the fact that she had known Teela for years that prevented her from taking a step back.
"I'm hurt I haven't been invited yet. Let's go inside and I'll chat with Annarion then we can check the Records." Kaylin winced for Annarion, but nodded and trailed after her.
"Um, Teela," she said, causing the Baranni to glance back at her. "Thanks."
"You'll owe me drinks, after," Teela assured her, the blue in her eyes lightening.
"Teela I know how much you can drink!" Kaylin protested, stepping through the doorway.