Orlind by Charlotte E. English Page A

themselves with new entries, or existing entries
developed colour.
    ‘ It’s
a genealogy tracking system,’ Llandry explained as Orillin began
wandering the walls. ‘Draykon and Lokant blood. We’ll find you on
here, somewhere.’
    ‘ Amazing!’ Orillin enthused. ‘And the colours mean?’
    ‘ Blue
for summoners, purple for sorcs. Silver means Lokant heritage, gold
is draykoni.’
    Orillin thought
about that. ‘So my name would be...’
    ‘ Gold
and blue, mostly. Like mine.’
    He whirled to
face her, beaming. ‘That’s true! I forgot we were related. Cousins
of some sort, I suppose, a few times removed?’ He trotted back to
her, his hand out. ‘Well-met, Cousin!’ He shook her hand with an
enthusiasm she couldn’t quite match. His eagerness was a little
disconcerting.
    ‘ I’ve
never had a cousin before,’ she offered.
    ‘ Oh, I
have a few,’ Orillin said. ‘Didn’t like most of them, though. Stuck
up people. You aren’t stuck up, I hope?’
    Llan blinked.
‘Um. I hope not.’
    He looked at her
narrowly. ‘Just shy, I think. That’ll soon pass. We’re bound to be
friends, and I’m relying on you to make sense out of this
craziness.’
    She laughed a
bit. ‘As soon as I can make sense of it myself, I’ll be happy to.
But I’m not sure how long that will take. As far as I can
tell, the Lokants delight in refusing to make sense.’
    He grinned.
‘Limbane’s a tricky one, that’s for certain. And that other one,
the woman? Andraly? Scary!’
    Orillin’s manner
was interesting. He didn’t try to put her at ease or to make her
comfortable. He didn’t try to be kind at all. He merely treated her
as if they were already the best of friends.
    To her surprise,
it was working pretty well. Already her discomfort was
fading.
    ‘ I
can’t call you Cousin forever,’ Orillin was saying. ‘Do you prefer
Llandry, or something else?’
    ‘ Llan,’ she said. ‘That’s what people usually call me.’ Not
many people - only her parents and Devary - but she supposed it
still qualified as a nickname.
    ‘ Llan,’ he repeated, then pointed at himself. ‘Ori. My parents
called me Lin for a while, but it sounded girly so I asked them to
stop.’
    She grinned.
‘When was that?’
    ‘ I was
five.’
    She chuckled. He
could be strong-minded, then, in spite of his cheeriness of
temper.
    Avane arrived as
Ori and Pensould were acquainting themselves with one another.
She’d detected a touch of suspicion in Pensould’s manner when Ori
was around, recognising it as jealousy waiting to erupt. Hopefully
Ori’s completely unthreatening personality would put his mind at
rest. Her cousin wanted her for a friend, nothing more.
    ‘ Let’s
sit down for a minute,’ she said, and waited while the other three
collected themselves around her. She looked at Ori, then at Avane.
‘How much has anyone told you about the situation in
Glinnery?’
    ‘ Bits
and pieces,’ Avane said.
    ‘ Almost nothing,’ said Ori.
    ‘ Well,
let’s start there.’ She recounted the whole story, starting with
the draykon - Isand - that she and Pensould had woken, and
everything the enraged creature had said. No one interrupted as she
explained the ensuing series of events, right up until the meeting
in Rheas’s house.
    Finally, she
looked at Avane, who came from the Darklands. ‘Isand spoke of
Glour, or Everum as she calls it. They want it, but as far as I
know they’ve focused on Glinnery first. Hopefully we can stop them
before they turn on the other realms.’
    Avane nodded, her
dark eyes wide. ‘I’m willing to help. Whatever I can
do.’
    ‘ Me as
well,’ Ori said, all traces of fun gone from his manner. ‘How are
the defences holding in Waeverleyne?’
    ‘ I
don’t know. We have a voice-box connection to my father, but it’s
either broken or he’s too busy to answer.’ Or dead, a dark
voice insisted on whispering at the back of her mind. She stepped
on it. ‘Our task is to train you two. Once you’ve