Lokant (13 page)

Eva scanned the rest of
the report quickly, her hands beginning to shake. The grey draykon
must have been Llandry, but the fact that the other draykon had
accompanied her was worrying. She couldn’t forget the way it had
snapped its fearsome jaws around Griel’s robust form, almost
breaking the sorcerer in half. And the way it had herded Llandry
into the sky and taken her away...

The Summoner Guild in
Waeverleyne had of course been notified about the re-emergence of
the draykons, though Eva suspected they hadn’t taken the tale very
seriously. Well, they would now.

She handed the paper
back to Vale, working to hide her alarm. ‘I wonder if Llandry
realises she’s causing a panic in her hometown,’ was all she said,
in her mildest tone.

‘The girl should never
have appeared in Waeverleyne like that,’ Vale grouched.

‘I imagine she wanted
to see her mother.’

‘That could have been
accomplished a little more subtly.’

‘I doubt she’s thinking
very rationally at the moment. An experience like hers would be
enough to overset the best of us, I think.’

Vale shrugged. ‘Well,
it’s too late now. That report’s all over the Seven already. The
bulletins are about to broadcast an article on it - a slightly less
alarmist format, of course, but there’ll be unease. I wouldn’t be
surprised if you’re summoned to Council tomorrow.’

Eva sighed,
exasperated. ‘I’m not
on
the Council anymore.’

‘Yes, but you’re still
the only person who knows anything about this draykon resurgence.
Especially if Warvel has absconded.’

‘I already gave the
Council everything that I know.’

Vale smiled crookedly
at her. ‘We can’t get along without your counsel, it seems.’

Eva was not mollified
by this. ‘It’d better be a brief meeting. I never will have
anything more to report on the matter if I’m not given enough time
to
find
the information.’

‘Oh yes? It’s not going
well then, I take it.’

‘Not swimmingly.’ She
recounted the progress - or lack thereof - that she and Tren had
made, dwelling on the disappearing books and Tren’s uninvited
visitor. Vale frowned as she reached this part, tightening his grip
on her waist.

‘Did she hurt you?’

‘I wasn’t even
there.’

‘Oh? Where were
you?’

‘Out. She didn’t hurt
Tren either, thanks for asking. Apparently all she did was take the
book and leave.’

Vale pondered this.
‘That is a huge problem for city security.’

‘Maybe,’ Eva mused. ‘It
depends what she’s after.’

‘Books, apparently. I’d
better place some wardens in the city library.’

‘If there was anything
in there she was interested in, Eyde, I imagine it’s already gone.’
There was a thought. Had she and Tren failed at the library because
the relevant books had been removed? If so, why?

Vale shifted in his
chair. ‘Didn’t you say that Ana did the same thing? Vanished like
that?’

‘I did. That thought
occurred to me, too. Tren said the book thief’s method looked
similar. An instant of translucency before she actually
vanished.’

‘If we could only get
hold of her,’ Vale mused. ‘Seems the best place to go for
answers.’

‘Yes, but hard to
catch,’ Eva replied dryly. ‘Any progress with Ullarn?’

‘None yet. I’ll let you
know.’

Eva nodded and moved to
stand up. He gripped her harder.

‘Eyde, I have work to
do.’

‘Don’t let this
distract you again, Eva. Please. You’ll be there?’

There
meant
ready and waiting in a wedding gown at the appointed time, only a
few short days away. Eva ignored the tightening sensation in her
stomach and gave a smooth reply. ‘Of course.’

He smiled at that. A
smile sat oddly on his usually grim face, but Eva had always liked
to see it. ‘Good. Don’t work too hard. I want you awake for our
wedding.’

Eva slipped off his lap
and brushed down her skirts. ‘I didn’t see anything in the reports
to suggest that the draykons hurt anyone. I’m not worried about
Llandry, but her companion... have you heard anything?’

‘To the best of my
knowledge, nothing more untoward happened than the two of them
flying over the city. No fire breathing, anyway.’

Eva smiled slightly.
The old stories attributed that ability to the draykon race, but
she hadn’t seen any evidence of it so far. When the blue draykon
had attacked Griel, he’d done so with his teeth.

‘Good,’ she murmured.
‘Let’s hope they stay peaceful. I dread to think how much damage
that thing could do if it really got riled up.’

For an awful moment
Llandry thought that Devary had set her up. The timing was so neat
that any other explanation paled in contrast with the horrible idea
that Devary had betrayed her. But she could see sincere horror
written over his face; more importantly she could
feel
the
dismay and guilt radiating from him.

‘You weren’t asking me
to find Llandry,’ he said at last, bitterly. ‘You were using me as
bait.’

‘We took the liberty of
installing a tracer when we put you back together,’ the man
admitted comfortably. ‘Your loyalties have never been where they
ought to be.’

Devary’s emotions
changed suddenly to anger. ‘Where should they have been? With
you?
Who
are
you? You’re no countryman of mine. And
what do you want with Llandry, that I should help you instead of
her?’

The man merely gazed at
Devary thoughtfully. ‘You were suggested as a candidate for
promotion, but I think not. You would go the way of our last
partials.’

This speech made no
sense to Llandry, and apparently it made little to Devary either.
He frowned, radiating confusion.

But the man’s attention
shifted back to Llandry. ‘Don’t try to Change,’ he said.

She tried it, but his
words acted like a binding on her. The part of her that attempted
the transformation was relegated to a tiny corner of her mind; the
rest obeyed his command with alarming docility. Panic fluttered at
the edges of her constrained consciousness. What had he done?

She gathered her will.
Pensould,
she cried. He was far away but at her call she
felt him come hurtling towards her.

Minchu?

She tried to answer him
but most of her will had gone, taken over by the pale-haired man
that stood at her elbow. She felt herself move closer to him,
taking his hand. Devary stared at her as if she had gone mad.

It’s not me,
she
tried desperately to tell him, but he couldn’t hear her the way
Pensould could, and her lips would not speak for her. That discreet
gateway opened again and she was pulled into it.

... or only half in, as
Devary lunged forward and grabbed her free arm, pulling her back.
‘
No,’
he said. ‘Llan, no! You have to fight.’

She wanted to, but her
will slipped away as she grasped at it and she could only stand,
immobile, as Devary and his enigmatic employer fought over her.

Then Pensould was upon
them. He dropped out of the sky almost on top of them, radiating
extreme anger. He plucked the pale-haired man off the ground and
lifted him, digging his talons into the man’s flesh. Pulled away by
Devary, Llandry fell unharmed to the ground. They watched in awe as
Pensould carried the man into the skies, moving so fast that his
prey had no time to react.

Pensould dropped
him.

The man hurtled towards
the ground, bleeding and cursing. Llandry felt him slash a hole in
the fabric of Iskyr, opening a gateway with none of his former
precision. He fell through it and vanished.

Nobody spoke for a long
moment. Enraged Pensould, deprived of his prey, circled furiously
above, clutching at the air with his wicked claws as though doing
so would bring Llandry’s attacker back.

Llandry, though, kept
her eyes fixed on Devary.

‘Tell me you didn’t,
Dev.’ She wanted to trust his word, but the tale he’d told her
dampened her faith in him. He was obviously capable of long-term
deception if he felt it worthwhile.

‘I swear, Llan. I came
here to warn you, to help you if I could. I would never have
willingly brought him to you.’ He stood downtrodden, shoulders
slumped, his face a picture of dismay and guilt.

‘All right,’ she said,
still feeling wary. Was it an act? ‘He said he “put you back
together”. Is that how you healed so fast?’

‘I suppose so,’ Devary
replied. ‘I was at your mother’s house. He appeared... gave me a
choice. If I would consent to find you, he would heal my wounds. If
I didn’t... well, I would be killed, and someone else would be sent
after you.’

‘That’s dramatic.
People don’t make a habit of killing their employees, that I
know.’

Devary spread his
hands. ‘This is not a normal contract of employment. I have not
been allowed to retire when I chose. I have been threatened more
than once, and abducted. And they are displeased with me. I have
not cooperated as they feel I should. Do I believe they would kill
me? If they thought I was no longer useful, perhaps they
would.’

Llandry flexed her left
arm, wincing. She had landed on that arm when she fell, and the
wrist felt sprained. ‘How did you fail to cooperate?’ She sent a
silent communication to Pensould as Devary formulated his reply.
Pensould, calm down. All is well.

‘I was selected for
surveillance on your mother’s house - on
you
- because I was
already acquainted with the family. But I did not report anything
to them.’

Llandry folded her arms
and glared at him. ‘And you told all this to my mother, but not to
me?’

Devary blinked. ‘How do
you know that I told your mother?’

‘Because I was
listening. And besides, nobody rational would deceive Mamma for
long.’

‘You were listening?’
Dev looked faintly scandalised.

‘You’ve kept me under a
false impression since we were first introduced, so don’t try to
moralise with me.’

‘You knew, then.’

‘Knew? Not really. I
heard you tell Mamma that you’d been sent by somebody, and I
gathered that there was some bad business between the two of you
before. But that was it. I never guessed that you... that you
would...
spy
on my parents.’

Devary winced. ‘That is
a harsh construction. I am not a spy, not really. I am merely
placed in situations where I might happen to learn things that my
employers might find useful.’

Llandry shook her head.
‘I can’t believe she forgave you for that.’

‘Perhaps she has
not.’

Llandry grinned. ‘You
think not? She left you in sole charge of me for actual
days.
’

Devary smiled, a little
hesitantly. ‘Is that the test? Very well, then. We will assume that
your mother is generous enough to overlook my youthful indiscretion
in, er, eavesdropping on her family. But you?’

Pensould’s rage was
finally cooling. Llandry felt him coming up behind her, and a
moment later his hand - human now - came to rest on her arm. She
gave him a brief smile over her shoulder.

‘I just don’t
understand why you didn’t tell me.’

‘Because it ruined my
relationship with your mother. It took her more than twenty years
to forgive me. I did not want you to resent me as well.’

Llandry mulled that
over. Devary looked so hang-dog that it was impossible for her to
harden her heart against him entirely. She elected to trust her
mother’s judgement. If she had forgiven him for his earlier
betrayal, she must have done so with good reason.

She surprised herself
by awarding Devary a hug. ‘It’s okay. Just don’t keep secrets from
me anymore. Please.’

Devary returned her
embrace a little awkwardly. ‘Agreed.’

Hands grabbed Llandry
from behind and jerked her out of Devary’s arms. She turned to find
Pensould alternately glaring at her and casting suspicious looks at
Dev. She patted his arm soothingly.

Mine,
he told
her.

Not yours.

MINE.

Llandry sighed.
Pensould alternated between endearingly affectionate and violently
possessive with alarming frequency.

Not his anyway. All
right?

Pensould relaxed
slightly, though he didn’t take his eyes off Devary. Dev wisely
backed away.

‘We need to get away
from here,’ Llandry said. ‘Dev, if you know anything at all about
those people you need to tell me. Why do they want me?’ She spoke
the words calmly but internally she was deeply unsettled. She had
undergone similar experiences recently when she was hunted for the
draykon bone; now that the bones were no longer under her control
she had hoped she would no longer be a target. Apparently she was
wrong. She tried desperately to repress the flutter of panic that
rose in her at this thought, but to no avail; her breath grew short
and her hands began to tingle as anxiety gripped her. And the tonic
she usually took to calm herself was back at her mother’s
house...

Pensould cast her an
alarmed look and then wrapped his arms around her. Suddenly she was
flooded with cooling, soothing energy, mixed up with Pensould’s
affection and protectiveness. Her anxiety melted away
instantly.

‘Um. Thank you.’ She
stared at Pensould, startled. How had he done that?

Pensould kissed her
neck.
See, there are advantages to being mine. You are
safe.

Llandry couldn’t
believe him, not quite. She remembered too well how easily Devary’s
“employer” had immobilised her. Could he do the same to
Pensould?

Devary watched
Pensould’s actions with an expression of puzzlement. ‘I know little
about these people, Llandry,’ he said after a moment. ‘I have met
only the man we saw just now, and one other person. I do not know
their names. The power they wield is entirely beyond me. And I do
not know why they are looking for you.’