Lieutenant Faral saw it, and there was a faint flicker behind her eyes as Kendall thought about just how dangerous Kellian could be. But then two other Kellian followed her blurring entrance, and she sounded as proper and correct as ever when she said: "My Lady, there are fires in the city."
"Fires?" Lady Weston looked briefly puzzled, then said: "Of course. A city asleep where it stands. There are bound to have been injuries and accidents. Muster what you can and bring in the fire crews from outside the main circle. But set a small force to locating Helecho Montjuste-Surclere."
"Yes, My Lady." Lieutenant Faral saluted, and added a tidy little bow in the Queen’s direction before sending the other two Kellian speeding back out of the room. She made a second, more thorough survey of the room, lingering for a moment on Kendall, who had propped Sukata on her lap in an effort to try and work out if she was alive. And then Rennyn, all bloody and broken.
Swiftly, she crossed to the two Claires and knelt on the other side from Sebastian. Taking hold of both his wrists, she said: "Stop panicking."
This at least made Sebastian look at her, though his eyes were so full of impending loss that Kendall wasn’t sure he understood what she’d said.
"Your sister needs a healing mage, Sebastian," Lieutenant Faral said, thin voice very clear and steady. "And quickly. You need to wake one up." She let go of his wrists and pressed lightly on the bloody coat. "I’ll look after Lady Rennyn. You help Lady Weston with a healer."
Sebastian stared at her, then nodded jerkily. "Yes. Of course." He took a deep breath and pulled himself together, turning to Lady Weston.
With that settled, Kendall shifted her attention back to Sukata, who wasn’t burned and felt properly warm and alive, but didn’t wake even when Kendall pinched the skin on the back of her hand. Her chest did seem to be moving, but it wasn’t something as simple as sleep, or surely she’d react a little. Kendall stared from Captain Faille’s body to Rennyn. This was what she’d been hiding? The price of killing the Black Queen?
Lieutenant Faral had finished checking over Rennyn’s injuries, and stopped to smooth strands of hair off her face. The movement was very tender, like a mother with a new baby, not revealing any anger underneath. But probably she didn’t know what Rennyn had done. Used the Kellian to win.
Painfully unhappy, Kendall focused on picking bits of crystal out of Sukata and her own skin. Everyone in the room had been peppered, but most of the pieces were small and at least no-one seemed to have been hit in the eye.
It didn’t take long for Sebastian to find a way to wake people up, though he could only do it one by one. But once he’d woken a couple of mages who didn’t have bracelets, and shown them what to do, things really started moving. The room grew confusing and Kendall lost sight of Sebastian until he showed up trailing a tall, thin woman with a long neck who took over Rennyn, freezing Lieutenant Faral out with a cold stare.
"Let me look after her now," said a deep voice, and Kendall looked up at Captain Medan.
"She won’t wake," Kendall explained, closing her fingers tighter around Sukata.
"I know." Captain Medan looked calm, but Kendall could see he was upset underneath. "But she’s not going to get better lying here on the floor."
That was hard to argue with, so Kendall let her fingers relax. The big Sentene mage lifted Sukata easily, nodded, then carried her away.
Kendall almost followed them, but then she saw Sebastian walking after Lady Weston and changed direction. She needed to hear what he knew, needed to know if using the Kellian was what he and Rennyn had planned all along.
"Lediage Sorathar is the Queen’s own healer," Lady Weston was saying, leading Sebastian deeper into the palace. "Your sister could not be in better hands."
"I’d still rather stay with her," Sebastian said, but in the resigned tone of someone who knows he’s lost an argument.
"Soon enough. You know very well this explanation cannot wait."
The Queen had lost patience with the Claires carrying out their plans without telling her anything, Kendall bet. From a room ahead Kendall heard Princess Sera’s voice in very definite, determined tones. It sounded like she didn’t intend to miss the explanations either. Kendall shook her head. She mightn’t like the princess, but no-one could say she didn’t bounce back quick from being scared half out of her mind. Or that she didn’t know how to get her way.
The room was some kind of sitting-room, all brocaded chairs and glittery ornaments. Princess Sera, having won her argument, was enthroned on a couch all to herself being fussed over by a lady in a long white apron. Prince Justin was picking some more crystal out of his hand. The Queen’s dress was blood-specked, but she looked a lot tidier and more regal now. Two of the nobles who’d been in the room, the man called Tassin and a sleepy-looking woman, shared another couch and even though this made it a lot of people, Kendall abruptly realised that it was probably far less than usual for an audience with the Queen. They were all still wearing the horrid bracelets, and there weren’t any guards or servants other than the nurse. Most of those who had been woken couldn’t be spared from trying to fix the mess caused by an entire city sleeping all at once. Fires. People who’d been standing at the tops of flights of stairs. Holding babies. People on horses or driving carts. Had the animals fallen asleep as well? Would birds have just dropped out of the sky? Kendall hadn’t even begun to think through the implications.
"Have there been any sightings of the one called Helecho?" the Queen asked Lady Weston, making a sweeping gesture to sit down. Sebastian bowed first, and Kendall bobbed a belated curtsey, remembering that she was from a village and this was Tyrland’s Queen. The only one.
"Not yet, Your Majesty," Lady Weston said, her movements stiff as she sat down. "The indicator Lady Rennyn placed on the city’s circle was reacting to him in the Hall, but it hasn’t been sighted since Queen Solace’s focus shattered. Most likely he teleported."
"What level of threat does he pose?"
Lady Weston hesitated, then looked at Sebastian. "He was able to command the Kellian when Rennyn could not, Sebastian."
"Solace probably ordered them to obey him while the distortion kept her from giving them more than general commands." Sebastian was acting more like himself, but he didn’t manage to sound so detached when he added: "But he’d be heir after me. If Ren and I die, he’ll inherit control."
Inherit. The word made them less somehow. Kendall saw the two nobles exchange glances, and wished she could tell what the Queen was thinking. What if she decided it would be simplest to get rid of the Kellian?
"Regardless, an Eferum-Get of that calibre who is also a mage is a considerable threat, Your Majesty," Lady Weston said. "Unique. A creature who can bypass the circles, who can command other Eferum-Get. If he chose, he could raise an army of the creatures, could kill with impunity."
"But he didn’t." This was Prince Justin, strained but unflagging. "He could have killed us easily, and he didn’t. He didn’t even seem that interested in stopping whatever it was you did which killed his mother."
"Perhaps he wanted to be free of her," Sebastian said, with the faintest of shrugs. "Ren thought he might be under an injunction. Once Solace was dead, he just – left."
"Once she was dead," the Queen repeated. "And that has been your intention all along? Despite this performance with Queen Solace’s focus?"
"That was – oh, not just a distraction, but a backup plan as well." If Sebastian had noticed the Queen’s flat tone he pretended not to.