Cast In Ruin Part 17

"And how is the fief of Tiamaris?" Teela asked, as if a change of subject could bring momentary relief.

Kaylin's shrug was less graceful than Teela's, but not by much. This caused Teela to raise one dark brow over eyes that were a little too blue to be emerald. "Lord Diarmat has pet.i.tioned the Hawklord for your services."

"I know."

"Ah, no, you don't. He sent a second request in, directly, by his personal courier, citing the lack of legal jurisdiction for your current deployment."

Kaylin grimaced. "I think that'll be withdrawn."

"You have information you can bring to bear on Diarmat?" the Barrani Hawk said as her second brow joined the first in its high arch above her eyes. "Spill."

Kaylin almost laughed. "I have no information that I could use against Diarmat, and even if I did, I wouldn't touch it-I like breathing. But there's something going on in the fiefs of Tiamaris, and I think it's important."

"Diarmat is not going to care what you think."

"I think it's important because the Arkon thinks it's important."

"Better. How important?"

"He was...intemperate enough...to breathe fire on the only person in the room it wouldn't kill?"

"That's important," was the grave reply. "Anything else?"

Kaylin leaned over her folded arms. "We spent an hour at the interior borders in Tiamaris. The Shadows were there-and focused-in an all-out attack."

Teela stilled. "The borders held?"

"Yes. But as far as I can tell, that's the point of the borders."

"That's the public point of the borders, yes. But, kitling, you've seen the borders before, albeit in Nightshade, not Tiamaris. Was there an obvious, physical barrier then?"

"No."

"Did Shadows cross the Nightshade border?"

"Yes."

"And you weren't alarmed."

"I was almost killed, Teela. How much alarm do I have to show?"

Teela laughed, and reaching out, she ruffled Kaylin's hair. Kaylin, used to this, didn't resent it as much as she probably should have. "No. I wasn't alarmed by the crossing. I didn't know what purpose the Towers served at the time."

"And now?"

Kaylin was thoughtful. "Now? I think Nightshade must have allowed them to cross."

"You need to rethink that."

"You weren't there."

"No. But, Kaylin, think on this: the Shadows are contained or confined unless the borders become destabilized."

"I know that."

"Not everything that can speak to-or hear-Shadow is entirely of it. It's why the Dragon Outcaste is considered such a threat. He can move between the borders of the fiefs and into the Empire, should he so choose, because he is a Dragon. His power is not in its entirety of the Shadow."

She thought about this for a moment. "And the Leontines?"

"The same. They are not, or were not, entirely of the Shadow, but they were very, very vulnerable to its voice and its words." Teela shook her head.

"And Ferals?"

Teela shrugged. "They were probably once rats; they certainly have, or had, a physical, mortal component."

"Which is why they can come to the fiefs."

"Yes. It is also why they aren't a danger." Kaylin glared; Teela was so preoccupied, she didn't notice.

Kaylin leaned even farther over her arms, tilting the chair to bring herself closer to Teela. "I wanted to ask you a question."

"No, really?"

"Have you ever taken someone else's name?"

If she'd asked a mortal that question, she would have been talking about marriage-itself a hot topic on any given day in the office, as some people were trying to avoid it, some were actively courting it, and some were in the midst of discovering that they hadn't really learned anything from their previous mistakes. True, some of the naming customs were race and cla.s.s dependent, itself a topic for some heat when the days were slow and the Sergeant was somewhere else, but it still had that meaning.

She was talking to a Barrani, an Immortal, and a Lord of the High Court.

"Kitling," that Lord said, "this is not the time for that discussion. And, in case you're slouching on Barrani social custom-"

"No cla.s.ses covered this."

"It's not unlike asking for the explicit details of your s.e.x life. But more offensive." All of this was said in Elantran. "I know you, and I've known you for years, so I choose not to take offense. For now. What might solidify that position would be your careful explanation about why you're asking."

"Because I don't understand how it works."

"Clearly. What I don't understand is why it's relevant." She lifted a hand. "What you know-or do not know-is something you had best keep to yourself. Why are you asking what I know?"

Kaylin hesitated. Teela's eyes shaded toward a blue that had no green in it. "Kitling, I asked you a question."

"I...accepted...the name of a man who came out of the Shadows on the wrong side of the border."

Teela stared at her as if she'd grown two extra heads, neither of which had the brains she clearly thought Kaylin was missing. "Is *accept' a human euphemism for *take'?"

"...Maybe."

Teela was silent for a minute. Her eyes didn't get any greener as the time pa.s.sed. "When you say he came out of Shadow, what exactly do you mean? Was he fleeing the Shadows? Had he somehow wandered across the border without realizing it?" Her tone made it clear that she found this improbable.

"Not exactly."

"Kaylin."

"He was kind of leading the attack."

Teela looked at Severn, who nodded. "You took his name presumably to end the attack?"

"Yes."

Teela raised a brow.

"Mostly."

"Kaylin."

"I took his name because he wanted me to take his name, Teela. I'm not the only one who holds it-and the other person, persons, or unknown ent.i.ties were what caused him to start the attack in the first place. He didn't want to be fighting for the Shadows; his people hate them."

"His people?" Teela frowned. "Are you telling me he's one of the refugees?"

"Yes. And no. He was, but I think his role was special."

"So he arrived here with his people-Kaylin, they're mortal as far as I can tell. They don't have names. He then wandered across the border where he gave a name he shouldn't be able to possess to the Shadows on the other side?"

"No."

Tain had come to stand to one side of Teela, and was gazing pointedly at the untouched reports by her elbow when he inserted his stare into the conversation.

"He says he fell in battle while in his own world."

"And he ended up here how?"

"I don't know."

"Kaylin, did it not occur to you that he was lying?"

"He couldn't."

"Because?"

"I held his name."

"You understand," Teela said, rising and grabbing the stack of papers that needed her attention, "that this is not like taking in a mangy stray, unless the stray just happens to be rabid? If he is indeed bound to the Shadows, your binding takes precedence if and only if you enforce it. Your will against theirs, for as long as the person being pulled between you survives." She shoved her chair to one side, glanced at the papers in a hand that was now almost fist, and then said, "Where is he now?"

"I left him in the Tower of Tiamaris."

This seemed to be the right answer, even if it plainly followed a host of the wrong ones. "You can't hold him," Teela said, voice flat.

Tain touched her shoulder, and she flicked his hand aside without even looking at him.

"If I can't hold him, the Shadows have-"

"An agent in the heart of the fiefs, yes."

"I don't know how to let his name go," Kaylin finally said, after a long pause. "I don't know how to just forget I know it."

Tain coughed, and this time, Teela did look at him. It wasn't particularly friendly. "You can't," was her flat, cool reply. "If you are ever in a position where you need to break the binding of a name, there is only one option available to both you and the named. You kill him. Or her.

"There's more-much more-that needs to be said, and I don't have the time if I want to keep my job and if the Hawklord wants to mollify the Emperor. But, kitling, do not do anything stupid in the fiefs. You are playing with something you don't understand."

"It's not the only name-"

"That you've seen?" She raised a hand. "What I suspect, I suspect, and it is best left-if you value my life-as mere suspicion. But let me remind you of the most basic truth about True Names: if you seek to use the name against the person who gives it life and force, you will have to have, and sustain, the greater will, and all of your focus must be upon the destruction of any spirit or free will standing between you and domination.

"Any. The stories in which the knowledge itself is enough are just that-stories. Only mortals believe them. You do not have the force of will to take and use any of the names you might possibly have seen in the past.

"I have to go. But-inasmuch as I understand the Towers, and really, I don't, the Tower is possibly the safest place in the Empire to leave him for the moment. Until you have a better grasp of what you've started, leave him there." Her eyes were almost midnight blue as she suddenly looked at the sword. "This blade-did it come from your servitor?"

"...Yes."

"And you're carrying it unsheathed?"

Since the answer was obvious, Teela didn't wait for it. In stead, she stormed off into an office that had, apparently, fallen as silent as the office ever fell.

"Well, that could have gone better," Kaylin said as she rose.

"It could have gone worse. You're still standing, and there's no blood." Severn nodded in Marcus's direction. "Come on."

"She was p.i.s.sed off."

"Yes. She's worried."

Kaylin exhaled. "The Exchequer-"

"Not about the Exchequer, Kaylin," Severn replied, raising a brow. "About you."

Before Kaylin could reply, he walked toward Marcus's desk, where the mirror could be heard conveying someone's raised voice. Or voices.

Sergeant Ka.s.san looked as if he'd gained a lot of weight, but Leontines looked like that when their fur was almost standing on end. His eyes, the best indicator of mood, were a wary, but pale, orange. "If it's not life-threatening, I don't have time," he said, before he looked up.

The person on the other end of the mirror looked surprisingly official by dress and age. Kaylin didn't recognize him.

Marcus, however, considered Kaylin's presence life-threatening enough. "Please excuse me, Councilor. A matter of some import has come up."

"More important than this?" was the loud and angry reply.

Marcus exhaled on a low growl. "It had better be." The mirror's image froze, and he turned to his Private and his Corporal who, to their credit, were not trying to become instantly invisible. "Did I tell you to report in?"

"Yes, sir."