He nodded. But all our leaders are't-trapped.
Well, not all. She strode across the roof to the battlements that overlooked the bramble-choked acres. He came to stand at her side. Together they gazed out at the army that lay tantalizingly out of reach.
If the semaphore were working She stopped, remembering Bryce. Moss shook his head anyway.
S-Sacrus has encircled the't-tower. They would read every letter.
But we need to coordinate an attackfrom outside and inside at the same time. To break through
He shrugged. Simple matter. If we c-can get one p-person through the lines.
She speculated. If she showed up there among the brambles, would the generals of that army have her arrested? How far had news of her deceptions spread?
Get them ready, she said. Everyone into armor, everyone armed. Ill be back in two minutes. She headed for the stairs.
Where are you g-going?
She shot him a grim smile. To check in on our bargaining chip.
As shed suspected, the guards had deserted their posts when the roof was attacked. The main door was ajar; Venera slowed when she saw this. Warily, she toed it open and aimed her pistol through. There was nobody in the antechamber. She sidled in.
Hello?
That was Jacoby Sartos voice. Venera had never heard him sound worried, but he was clearly rattled by what was happening. Hes never been in a battle before, she realizednor had any of these people. It was shocking to think that she was the veteran here.
Venera went on her tiptoes to look through the doors little window into the green-walled reception room. Sarto was the sole occupant of a bench designed to seat thirty; he sat in the very center of a room that could have held a hundred. He squinted at the door, then said, Fanning?
She threw open the door and stepped in. Did you tell them?
He appeared puzzled. Tell who what?
She showed him her pistol; he wouldnt know it was empty. Dont play games, Sarto. Someone told Guinevera who I really am. Was it you?
He smiled with a trace of his usual arrogance. He stood up and adjusted the sleeves of the formal shirt he still wore. Things not going your way out there?
Two points, said Venera, holding up two fingers. First: Im holding a gun on you. Second: youre rapidly becoming expendable.
All right, all right, he said irritably. Dont be so prickly. After all, I came here of my own free will.
And thats supposed to impress me? She leaned on the doorjamb and crossed her arms.
Think about it, he said. What do I have to gain from revealing who you are?
I dont know. Suppose you tell me?
Now he scowled at her, as if she were some common servant girl whod had the temerity to interrupt him while he was talking. I have spent thirty-two years learning the ins and outs of council politics. All that time, becoming an expertmaybe the experton Spyre, learning who is beholden to whom, whos ambitious and who just wants to keep their heads down. I have been the public face of Sacrus for much of that time, their most important operative, because for all those years, Spyres politics was all that mattered. But look at whats happening. He waved a hand to indicate the siege and battle going on beyond Liriss thick walls. Everything that made me valuable is being swept away.
This was not what Venera had been expecting to hear from him. She came into the room and sat down on a bench facing Sarto. He looked at her levelly and said, Change is inconceivable to most people in Spyre; to them a catastrophe is a tree falling across their fence. A vast political upheaval would be somebody snubbing somebody else at a party. Thats the system I was bred and trained to work in. But my masters have always known that theres much bigger game out there. Theyve been biding their time, lo these many centuries. Now they finally have in their grasp a tool with which to conquer the worldthe real world, not just this squalid imitation were standing in. On the scale of Sacruss new ambitions, all of my accomplishments count for nothing.
Venera nodded slowly. Spyre is having all its borders redrawn around you. Even if they never get the key from me, Sacrus will be facing a new Spyre once the fighting stops. Ill bet theyve been grooming someone young and malleable to take your place in that new world.
He grimaced. No one likes to be discarded. I could see it coming, though. It was inevitable, really, unless
Unless you could prove your continuing usefulness to your masters, she said. Say, by personally bringing them the key?
He shrugged. Yesterdays council meeting would otherwise have been my last public performance. At least here, as your, uh, guest, I might have the opportunity to act as Sacruss negotiator. Think about ityoure surrounded, outgunned, youre approaching the point where you have to admit youre going to lose. But I can tell you the semaphore codes to signal our commanders that weve reached an accommodation. As long as you had power here, you could have functioned as the perfect traitor. A few bad orders, your forces ordered into a trap, then its over the wall for you and I, the key safely into my masters hands, you on your way home to wherever it is you came from.