“You saw it in detail?” Tibby asked at the end. “The shielder under the castle?”
“Yes. It looked very destroyed, but I sensed… the faintest of magic about it. I thought it might be possible for a qualified engineer to repair it.” She gazed at her aunt.
Tibby blinked. “Iaman engineer, but… I’ve never been invited to work on one of the shielders. I’ve never even seen a schematic.”
“I don’t think they’ve previouslyneededworking on. It’s not like there’s a note on my mother’s desk with the address of a shielder repairman she had summoned on a regular basis.” Syla regretted the flippant words as soon as they came out. It was too soon forjokes involving her mother—anyone who’d passed—and it had only been minutes since she’d informed Tibby of their relatives’ deaths. Tibby had, however, taken that without surprise or much of a reaction at all. She’d either already known, or she’d suspected.
“I suppose not. They’re reputedly sturdy. I’ve never been invited to look at any of them though, not even the one under the castle.”
“I don’t know anyone else who could help.”
“I don’t suppose you brought me a schematic.”
“Sorry. I don’t know if such things exist.”
“They’d be on your mother’s desk.” Tibby smiled sadly. “Or in a cabinet, anyway. Maybe framed and pinned to the wall.” She touched her chest, as if to say that was whatshewould do with such a schematic.
“My mother mostly has—had—maps, spreadsheets, and notes related to enemy movements up there.” For all the good that last had done her…
“May I see your thoughts?” Tibby lifted the back of her hand, showing her moon-mark, and pointed to Syla’s.
“Pardon?”
“Telepathically. Just related to what happened in that chamber. If I can see what you saw, it might help me to guess if the shielder can be repaired.”
“I didn’t know anyone but dragons could speak telepathically. Or share experiences through a mental link.”
“You’ve never moon-linked with your siblings?”
Syla shook her head.
“Hm, I did with mine when we were children. I thought all of the family knew about that.”
“Maybe they did with each other when they were young. The difference in ages between me and the others… Well, they didn’t play much with me when we were children.”
“Hm. Here.” Tibby pointed at Syla’s hand. “You don’t have todo anything. Just don’t try to block me. It sounds like going to the castle would be dangerous, both because of enemies we might meet along the way—if not on this very farm—” she glanced toward the front doors, though Vorik and his dragon weren’t visible at the moment, “—and from those who would imprison us in the castle for our own good.”
She’d been sympathetic when Syla had shared that. Aunt Tibby wasn’t one who would put up with being locked in her room—or a dungeon cell—either.
“All right.” Syla didn’t know what to expect but held her hand out toward her aunt.
Instead of clasping it, Tibby angled hers so that their birthmarks came to rest back-to-back. She closed her eyes, and, a moment later, Syla sensed a tingle of magic. First, it felt like it was on the surface of her skin. Then, it flowed into her and up her arm and toward her head. Like healing magic but lighter, it brushed her nerves, and she sensed that it wouldn’t alter her brain or body in any way. Had an enemy been doing this, she would have been alarmed, but she’d known her aunt all her life and trusted her.
The magic tickled her thoughts, stirring up some of the events of the trek through the tunnels. Tears flowed from her eyes as she, once again, experienced walking into the chamber and finding her sister’s body. Tibby leaned over and squeezed her shoulder but didn’t stop sifting through Syla’s memories. Time seemed to slow during the moments when Syla had been investigating the shielder, even freezing at one point when she’d gazed into its innards.
“Hm,” Tibby murmured, letting time flow forward again.
The link started to fade, but Tibby paused when the stormer warrior sprang out of the sarcophagus, and she watched the ensuing battle, including the arrival of Vorik, before pulling away. After the two enemies had been killed, the memories stopped playing in Syla’s mind.
Tibby leaned back, gripping her chin and studying the wooden floor of the loft. “It may have an inkling of magic in it, but I wouldn’t begin to know how to repair it without a schematic. Even then… the engineering the gods did is nothing like what humans base everything on. I’m daunted at the thought of…tinkering.”
“But you will try, right?” Syla asked.
It wasn’t like it could get worse.
“Yes, but I think the other part of your plan is what we should pursue next.”
“Retrieving a shielder from one of the other islands?”
