To prevent her from feeling this, the Walker had briefly paralyzed the nerves in her legs that sensed vibration. Those same nerves, she’d learned, also sensed the angle of her joints. Therefore, when they were disabled, it became hard for her to keep her balance when she wasn’t looking at her feet.
When Deirdre steadied herself, she found she was deaf again. The Savanna Walker was speaking.
“Typhon,” Deirdre said, though she could not hear her own voice. “I must … I have to tell you …” She stumbled to her left again. Suddenly her hearing and balance returned.
Typhon was frowning at her. “What did you do when you were free?”
She smiled. “The beast isn’t being open with you, is he?”
Typhon’s frown deepened. “What did you do?”
She bowed. “When I explain, you will want to reward my dedication. And you will want to protect me from any reprisal from the Savanna Walker.”
The demon only stared.
Deirdre pressed on. “You know I have long desired to learn how the Silent Blight figures into your plans for the Disjunction. How can I serve our cause without knowing of what you have called our most powerful tool? Perhaps now that I’ve protected the Disjunction from that beast, you will reward me by telling me of the Silent Blight.”
This time Deirdre was ready for the Walker’s reply; she spread her feet and waited until she could hear again. Then she looked up at Typhon as he spoke to her: “You’ve made”—again the Walker deafened her as Typhon spoke his true name—“defensive.” The demon stepped toward her. “Tell me now. What exactly did you do?”
She smiled. “I put Francesca into play.”
“I gave no such orders,” Typhon said coldly. “I’ve no intention of wounding Nicodemus yet.”
Deirdre’s smile grew. “And I beg your forgiveness, but it was necessary to … to …” The Walker had made her deaf to her own voice. She kept talking. “I had to put her into play to protect her and everything we’ve worked for. As your Regent of Spies, I’ve learned that the Savanna Walker has been manipulating you. He’s determined to remove her for himself.”
When she stopped, she was still deaf. Typhon pointed at the Savanna Walker and said something. Deirdre’s hearing returned.
The demon studied her. “You put Francesca into play to protect her from the Savanna Walker?”
She nodded. “Francesca will soon find Nicodemus. She can still keep him alive after you wound him. I couldn’t tell you what I was planning because the beast would have stolen or killed Francesca before my petition reached your ears.”
He studied her. “And so you planned to do this during Nicodemus’s little raid?”
“Raid?”
“Nicodemus snuck his students into the sanctuary when the lycanthropes attacked North Gate. The boy and his kobolds fought their way up into my private library.”
“I’m sorry, my lord, but I don’t understand. What happened?”
The demon snorted. “The shock on your face had better be genuine, or I’ll never trust your expression again.”
“It is not only genuine but also profound. What are you talking about, my lord?”
Typhon explained how Nicodemus had broken into his private library, nearly reaching him when his mind was partially deconstructed. “I should thank you, daughter. By bringing”—deafness as he said the Walker’s true name—“to the sanctuary, you forced Nicodemus to abandon his attack. Though the boy would have discovered a surprise if he had reached me.”
As comprehension sank into Deirdre’s mind, so did cold dread. Had she inadvertently stopped Nicodemus from freeing her? “My lord, I did not know—”
“Of course not, daughter. But that’s not the issue; Francesca is. Tell me everything she said.”
Deirdre took a deep breath. Whether or not she had foiled Nicodemus’s plan, she had to push on with her own. “My lord, I will humbly withhold my obedience unless you tell me the Walker’s true name so I can protect myself from his manipulation. I also humbly request an explanation of the Silent Blight so I might better know the Disjunction’s plans.”
“Humbly?” The demon laughed and crossed his arms. “I could peel the memories from your mind.”
“That would take you a day and leave me incapacitated for longer. You can’t afford that. My agents have found proof the Savanna Walker is stealing powerful objects from you again. Remember the Lornish necklace he swallowed two years ago? Or the Ixonian urn the year before that? Only this time the Walker’s greed is focused on Francesca.” Though the Savanna Walker had stolen from the demon in the past, Deirdre was presently lying; she knew the beast had no designs on Francesca. To induce Typhon to believe her she would have to produce evidence.
She continued, “I have learned that the Walker removed the anklet you put on Francesca. He did so to take power from it, and to hide Francesca from you so he might consume her. I couldn’t tell you of my suspicions, my lord, until I knew where the beast hid the anklet. I needed evidence. Now my agents have learned that the Walker is hiding the anklet in the body of one of his followers. One of the bodies that he … forgive me, my lord, but I don’t know how he consumes them. One of the bodies he swallows? that he magically preserves? Whatever the case, the anklet is in one of those.”
Typhon became still as the alabaster statue he resembled. Deirdre knew that the demon was now sending his mind in search of the magical anklet.
Suddenly, Deirdre tottered back a few steps. She was deaf again. When she looked up, she saw the cube of blindness advancing on her. “Don’t you dare touch me,” she said without hearing her own voice. She might not have the Savanna Walker’s ability to manipulate minds, but she was still Typhon’s avatar. She could summon enough strength to crush a block of marble with her hands. “I swear on the Creator’s name, I will break your—”
The cube stopped advancing. “Both of you will be silent!” It was Typhon, his alabaster body again animated. Moving with frightening speed, the demon marched into the cube of blindness.
For a moment Deirdre was left seemingly alone on the balcony. She took another step back, fought the urge to run.
Suddenly Typhon stepped back out of the cube of blindness. Both his arms up to the elbows were covered with dark, clotting blood. Between the giant thumb and forefinger of his right hand glinted a small silver chain.
Deirdre smiled.
Typhon turned his horrible white face to Deirdre. “Daughter,” he said, “you will explain everything you did to Francesca, or I will pluck it out of your mind.”
“My lord, you will not have my cooperation until I have the Savanna Walker’s true name and knowledge of the Silent Blight. I am the Disjunction’s true champion; he is not.”
“You are my Regent of Spies,” the demon repeated. “I have the right to know.”
“And because it is best for the Disjunction,” she said with a stiff bow, “I have the right to resist. If you steal the memories from my mind, you’ll be cutting our cause when we can’t afford to bleed.” She nodded at the Savanna Walker. “The beast is manipulating you to—”
“Quiet,” the demon snapped and then turned on the Walker. Deirdre heard nothing of what followed but judged by Typhon’s expression that he was demanding an explanation from the beast.
Deirdre smiled. The Savanna Walker might be a half-completed dragon, but he wasn’t much of a talker. As the demon’s avatar, Deirdre could vaguely sense Typhon’s emotions; his suspicion was rapidly growing. As well it should; the Walker had demonstrated his greedy and larcenous nature in the past. More important, Typhon had found the anklet in the stomach of one of the Walker’s consumed devotees. The