“Not long enough.”
“Indeed.” Yveun laced and unlaced his fingers in thought. “I suppose I should be impressed that enough vicars survived to have such a gathering.”
“Fenthri lives are fleeting.” Coletta sat back in her chair, thinking of the brief periods of time the Fenthri walked the earth. A Dragon could easily live upwards of one hundred twenty years; Fenthri were lucky if they saw forty-five. How did one approach life knowing existence would be nothing more than a wink in time’s great eye? “I’m sure they rotated new ones in hastily.”
“Too true.” Yveun placed his wine glass down. “I shall go to this Tribunal.”
Coletta’s eyes fluttered closed as she inhaled slowly. “Why would you deliver yourself to them?”
“Did we not raze them as vengeful gods do? Now, I shall descend as a god appeased, merciful and calm. I will show them the beauty of their submission.”
“You mistake poetry for practicality.” Coletta shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She knew from the look in her mate’s eye that the battle was lost.
“I will bring order and offer peace. Even House Xin was offered that.”
“And what great dividends that paid.”
“The Fenthri know they have been beaten.”
“They have not known it ever. How many times must we destroy them before you see that they will never bow willingly?”
“We have never destroyed them so completely before,” Yveun countered.
Coletta was ready to strike back by pointing out the fact that they were far from destroyed if they were already organizing a Tribunal. But she knew when his mind was made up. There was little point in fighting the matter now.
“Very well.” Coletta gripped and released the arms of her chair. “Go to them when you please. But meet with the leaders only, and do so under the banner of peace. Outnumber them in manpower, but avoid striking.”
“It is hard to parlay for peace when claws are drawn.”
“If they accept the natural order of things—” Dragons on top, Fenthri groveling far below “—then we shall all rejoice for the peace and prosperity our world will share. However, should they refuse—” and Coletta already knew they would “—then you shall heed me on such matters henceforth until Loom has returned to sense and order.”
Yveun was silent for a long moment. Long enough that Coletta was afraid he truly had lost all sense and was going to deny her. “Very well. Your guidance has yet to lead me astray. And in any case, should Loom deny me yet again, I fear my patience will have been exhausted for good.”
Coletta was counting on exactly that.
Arianna
Like a swarm of angry hornets, airships of all shapes and sizes buzzed in the skies above Ter.0. The roar of engines below mirrored the sound, magnifying it, harmonizing with it. It was more life than the barren earth had seen in years.
Arianna stood on the deck of Louie’s airship, goggles on, wind whipping her hair across her face. She could barely see land from around the back fin of the vessel and the stretch of the wings, but what was visible filled her with curiosity and dread. Ter.0 had been the foundation on which the order of Loom once stood. What would this new world order look like, built on the ruins of the old?
The airship touched down on a rocky stretch of mostly flat earth. Arianna worked her way through the narrow interior to the hatch that was currently being opened by one of Louie’s other lackeys—a man whose name Arianna had never thought learn.
A sliver of light peeked from behind the door as the latches disengaged. Arianna’s eyes adjusted quickly as the door swung open wide. Nothing would ever be as bright as the sunlight on Nova.
Raven-tattooed men and women rushed around the makeshift airfield, waving flags and directing passengers off landing strips. Runners sprinted between high points of rock, delivering messages after every new ship landed.
There were massive ballooned ships and tiny glider-like vessels parked side by side. Most were Raven-marked; the next most common guild symbol was for Rivets. After that, Alchemists . . .
Arianna didn’t see a single Revolver or Harvester.
“You may find it easier if you disembark.” Louie’s voice cut through her thoughts.
She offered no explanation or apology for her hesitation and ignored the man trying to work around her to get the departure stairs set up. Impatient, Arianna jumped the short distance from the airship to the ground. She landed in a crouch, then recovered, taking in the sights and smells of the world she was no longer observing from the shadows.
This was the land where the Vicar Tribunal was founded. This was where Loom had thrived, where she had been born. This was where the Council of Five banded together against the Dragons, where her lover died, where her life was forever changed. It seemed a piece of cosmic poetry that this could well be where she would die.
As promptly as the thoughts came, Arianna moved on from the notion of her own mortality. That was something she’d written off as unimportant years ago.
“Where are you going?” Helen called after her.
“To find Florence,” Arianna shouted back, half-turning. They had now exchanged a total of seven words in one week.
“Perhaps you may find it faster to come with us.” Louie motioned toward the trike lurching to a stop beside them.
A woman with long white hair, hanging loose and becoming a knotted mess, pushed a pair of streamlined, single-lens goggles up onto her forehead. “Sorry I’m late,” she said, speaking directly to Louie.
“Hardly so.” Louie walked around to the cart attached to the back of the trike, accepting one of his bigger lackey’s help in getting into it. “How is our favorite rebel?”
“Fine, fine. It’s a bit of a mess here, with everyone.”
“A Raven’s nightmare.” Arianna was close enough to hear Helen mumble.
“Logistically, yes, but it’s kind of like the Underground, I’ve heard some say. They never get to have this much fun driving or piloting in the sunlight. Not a single rule or regulation on vehicles in sight. Speaking of, looks like your ship had some interesting modifications . . . Heard you’d have a rainbow tail, didn’t expect it to be so clean.”
Arianna couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes as she began to make her way to the benched cart with everyone else.
“We had a Master Rivet to conceive and implement the modifications.” Louie motioned to her, bringing their driver’s attention with it.
“You must be Arianna.” The slate-skinned woman didn’t miss a beat.
“And you are?”
“Shannra,” the woman replied. “Florence told me all about you.”
Arianna’s blood seemed to boil and freeze at once. She wanted to know everything about Florence and didn’t want to think of some random stranger knowing more than her. Fear at this idea rose like bile.
So much had happened. Would Florence still look to her for guidance as she once had? Would the girl value her as she once did?