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“I know you’re upset at the sight of her wings.”
“They told me—” Kaylin exhaled. “They told me she’d been damaged by the ancestor’s fire. I didn’t actually get to see the damage. It’s a wonder she didn’t die; there’s no way she could keep herself in the air with wings like that.”
“No. But I have noticed the Hawks keep an eye out for their own. She is alive, Kaylin. But she is an older woman, and she clearly does not care for...coddling.”
Kaylin gave a little shriek in response. The small dragon whacked her face with his wing.
* * *
Marcus appeared to be looking for a suitable target for his obvious frustration. His eyes were a steady orange, and his facial fur was almost standing on end. Kaylin picked up the thrum of his growl just after she had time to reconsider the wisdom of entering the office. Of course. Leontine anger was never quiet or invisible.
She headed directly for his desk, bypassing the duty roster and anyone else who stood between them—except for Caitlin, who waved her over.
“Have you seen Moran?” Kaylin demanded, as Caitlin opened her mouth.
“Yes, dear.”
“Why is she even in the office? She should be at home recovering!”
“It’s...complicated,” the office mother replied. The tone of her voice had a dampening effect on Kaylin’s outrage.
“Complicated how?”
“Given that you’ve seen her—you didn’t start an argument with her, did you?”
“I didn’t start the argument, no.”
Caitlin sighed. It was as close as she generally came to open disapproval. “If Moran didn’t discuss it with you, I can’t. She is having some difficulty at home.”
“She thinks she’s going to be living here.”
“Her living quarters are definitely not your problem.”
“In the Halls, Caitlin.”
“You’ve lived in far less optimal conditions in your life. She won’t starve and she won’t be hunted; she’ll have a solid roof over her head. The Halls were designed, in part, with Aerians in mind. She will not suffer.”
“I want her to live with me.”
Caitlin’s eyes flicked briefly to the side, in Bellusdeo’s direction. She did not, however, tell Kaylin that she thought it was a bad idea. “Let me speak with her,” she said, rising. “I know Marcus and Lord Grammayre have attempted to do so, but I might have better luck with a different approach. You’re certain you want this?”
Kaylin nodded, trying not to look as mutinous as she felt.
She was rewarded by Caitlin’s smile. “Good. I wouldn’t have suggested it—but I think that might be for the best. We’re not certain that—” She shook her head. “You’d best speak with Marcus. He’s been waiting for you—and not terribly patiently.”
* * *
Marcus immediately barked Kaylin’s name. Or Kaylin’s rank, at any rate. No other private rushed to fill the space in front of his disaster of a desk.
“Since Moran is back, you can stop moping around in the infirmary and get back to work.”
That was unfair, but life generally was. The Sergeant growled at the mirror on his desk; it flickered instantly to life as an image began to coalesce. “Corporal Korrin! Corporal Danelle!”
Teela and Tain materialized almost instantly, which meant they’d been eavesdropping from a safer distance than most mortals—at least the non-Leontine ones—could manage. Severn joined them before his name could also be barked.
This was two people too many for Elani beat work. Kaylin pushed thoughts of Moran aside.
“There was a triple murder reported up the Winding Path.” The Winding Path was both the road’s official map name and an accurate description. It crossed two market areas at its lowest point and then headed toward the Southern Reach. It was not a particularly short street.
“Where on the Winding Path?”
“At the Keffeer crossing.” As he spoke, the mirror showed a clearly marked spot on the map. “The bodies are to be moved to the morgue when you’re done.”
“What are you not telling us?”
“I am not telling you anything other than the location. You are expected there as soon as you can make it. Take the carriage.”
Kaylin glanced nervously at Teela and shook her head. “We’ll get there faster if we walk.”
“Not if I’m driving,” Teela said.
“We’ll get there alive if we walk.”
Marcus growled, but his eyes lost a touch of their orange; Teela’s driving was the stuff of legend in the office. “Teela, take a mirror kit. The quartermaster is waiting with it. Private, there are Imperial mages on the property. Attempt not to offend them.”
“Yes, sir.” She hesitated.
“Yessss?” He turned the full force of his gaze on the silent Dragon by Kaylin’s side. His exhale was rumbling. “You intend to follow the private?”
“If that is permissible.”
“I don’t like it. You’re not a Hawk, and this is serious Hawk work; it’s not patrolling fraud central.”
Bellusdeo was helpful; she smiled benignly and held the Sergeant’s glare until he growled again. “Keep an eye on her.”
Kaylin tried not to bristle.
“I will.”
“If any of the idiots in the office attempt to buy you a drink or grovel their gratitude, I’d appreciate it if you ignored them.”
“Oh?”
“They’re grateful for your intervention. They’re not idiots. They’re aware that the Emperor wasn’t.”
Bellusdeo’s face stiffened. Had Kaylin been on the other side of the desk, she would’ve kicked him. She would’ve regretted it, of course—if he’d even noticed, that was.
“But they’re impressed, anyway. Private, are you going to stand around all day gaping like a new recruit?”
“No, sir.”
“Good. Head out.”
“Going, sir.”
“Good.” He ran a claw through what was fast becoming a collection of loosely connected splinters. “If you can talk sense into Sergeant Carafel, I’ll send your rank request up to the Tower immediately.” Seeing the change in her expression at the mention of Moran, he added, “No, I did not bring this up.”
“You’re at least the same rank—”
“And the Hawklord outranks her. She is not listening to either of us.”
Kaylin shrugged. “Caitlin went to talk to her. I want her to move in with me.”
He growled his way through a Leontine phrase for which there was no Elantran equivalent. Teela caught Kaylin’s arm and dragged her toward the nearest exit.
Kaylin shook her off as soon as they’d made it out the doors. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not let the quartermaster see my face. He’s pissed off at Jenkins at the moment, and I’d like him to stay that way.”
“Jenkins has offended you? He’s a bit green, but—”
“No, he hasn’t. But it’s the first time in months that someone else has been the quartermaster’s official problem child.” Jenkins had recently lost a sword. “I’d just as soon not remind him that I exist.”
* * *
The Winding Path met Keffeer about a third of the way up the gentle incline on which the southern part of the city was built. It was well away from the Ablayne, although one small stream trickled down from the rocky heights of the unoccupied reach and fed into it.
The homes were not as fine as they were in the expensive districts around the Imperial Palace, but they weren’t as run-down as the buildings in the fiefs, either. There were fences and gates that fronted the street, but they weren’t uniform.
“Did he even give us an address?” Kaylin asked, as Keffeer came into view.
“You were there. You heard just as much as we did,” Teela said. She was, as Mandoran had said earlier, in a mood.
“Yes, but I remember less clearly.”
“No, he didn’t.”
Tain, silent, cast a sidelong glance at Bellusdeo. “You might want to sit this one out,” he told her.
She raised a golden brow. The line of the arch was almost identical to the line of the Arkon’s when he did the same thing. “Do you feel that I am in marked danger in this investigation?”
“It’s a distinct possibility.”
“And you think that I am likely to fall prey to this theoretical danger when two mortals will not?” She glanced pointedly at Kaylin and Severn, neither of whom were stupid enough to say anything.
Teela grinned. “Give it up,” she told her partner before turning to Bellusdeo. “The reason he’s attempting to be cautious is the lack of information we’ve been given. It implies—heavily—that the star of this leg of the investigation is going to be Kaylin.”
“Kaylin? Why?”
“Thanks,” Kaylin interjected.
“Kaylin is particularly sensitive to magic and its remnants. You’ve probably heard her whining about door wards?”
“I’m breathing, so yes,” Bellusdeo replied.
“It’s not just door wards. Any use of normal magic—”
“How are we defining normal?”
“Magic that might be used by a mage of the Imperial Order and most of the Arcanum. The Arcanum does have some branches— You know what, never mind. We can discuss this in a tavern on an off-night. The point is, Kaylin’s sensitive enough to see magic without using any of her own—that we can detect, anyway. The Sergeant doesn’t wish to influence what she might—or might not—see. He’ll have some inkling of what the Imperial mages discovered.”
“Inkling?”
“They’ll write a report, but it won’t come in until tomorrow at the earliest.”
“Is everything in your city reliant on reports of this nature?”
“Yes. Paper is easier to lose than Records.” She turned to Kaylin. “What are you looking at?”
Kaylin swore under her breath. Mostly. “I think I know where we’re heading.”
* * *
Magic gave Kaylin hives. She’d gotten used to this in the West March, though the magic of the green didn’t cause the same reaction as the magic on the streets here did. The Imperial roads, such as they were, were well kept, from the merchant gates to the city’s economic center.
But the stones on the Winding Path were cracked.
Kaylin knelt.
“Did we get any witness reports?” she asked, as she touched the cracks she could see.
“Let me access Records,” Teela replied, and did so. Kaylin felt a twinge as the pocket mirror came to life in the Barrani Hawk’s hand. “Yes.”
“What did they say?”
“Marcus has put a hold on that information until you tender your first report.”
Kaylin was annoyed, but she tempered her reaction. “Do these cracks look strange to you?” she asked.
“What cracks?”
Which answered that question. “You know, when I first started training with the two of you, we had normal cases.”
“Technically, yes. Your first case—”
“Don’t mention it. I wasn’t a Hawk then.” She rose. The street, in her view, was cracked, the stones listing toward the crack as if something very large or very heavy had recently traveled on this road. But the cracks themselves felt odd. She stopped a yard up the path and knelt again.
At her back, she heard the familiar clink of metal against metal. Severn was unwinding his weapon chain. Neither Teela nor Tain told him to stop. “What does the road look like to you?” she asked him.
“Flat, for the most part. It’s a relatively smooth incline; there are patches of weeds to either side. You don’t see that.” It wasn’t a question, but Kaylin answered it as if it were, describing what she could see.
