He shook his head. In the second-hand light he did look a bit disheveled and soot stained. A bunch of us got knocked off the roof, but none of us were hurt. He laughed. We landed in the brambles and then had to claw our way through with Sacruss boys firing at our arses all the way. Damn near got shot by our own side as well, before we convinced them who we were.
Now she did hug him and damn the consequences. Have you been able to contact any of ouryour people?
He nodded. Theres a semaphore station on the roof. The whole Buridan networks in contact. Do you have orders?
As Venera realized what was possible, she grinned. Yes! She took Bryce by one arm and Sarto by the other and dragged them across the floor. I think I know a way to break the siege and save the other commanders. You need to get up there and get Buridan to send us something. Jacoby, you get up there too. You need to convince Sacrus that Im ready to double-cross my people. She pushed them both away.
And what are you going to do? asked Bryce.
She smiled past the throbbing in her jaw. What I do best, she said. Ill set the ball rolling.
Venera stalked over to the black, bedewed snout of a locomotive and pulled herself up to stand in front of its headlamp. She was drenched in light from it and the overhead spots, aware that her pale face and hands must be as bright as lantern flames against the dark metal surrounding her. She raised her arms.
It is tüüüme!
She screamed it with all her might, squeezed all the anger and the pain from her twisted family and poisonous intrigues of her youth, the indifferent bullet and her loss of her husband Chaison, the blood on her hands after she stabbed Aubri Mahallan, the smoke from her pistols as she shot men and women alike, all of it into that one word. As the echoes subsided everyone in the roundhouse came to their feet. All eyes were on her and that was exactly right, exactly how it should be.
Today the old debts will be settled! Two hundred years and more the truth has waited in Buridan towerthe truth of what Sacrus is and what they have done! Nearly too late, but not too late, because you, here today, will be the ones to settle those debts and at the same time, prevent Sacrus from ever committing such atrocities again!
Let me describe my home. Let me describe Buridan tower! Out of the corner of her eye she saw the army commanders running from their map table, but they had to shoulder their way through hundreds of soldiers to reach her, and the soldiers were raptly attentive to her alone. Like a vast musical instrument, a flute thrust into the sky and played on by the ceaseless hurricane winds of the airfall.
Cold, its corridors decorated with grit and wavering, torn ribbons that once were tapestries. Wet, with nothing to burn except the feathers of birds. Never silent, never still as the beams it stands on sway under the onslaught of air. A roaring tomb, that is Buridan tower! That is what Sacrus made. It is what they promise to make of your homes as well, make no mistake.
Thats right, she nodded. Youre fighting for far more than you may know. This isnt just a matter of historical grudges, nor is it a skirmish over Sacruss kidnapping and torture of your women and children. This is about your future. Do you want all of Spyre to become like Buridan, an empty tomb, a capricious playground for the winds? Because that is what Sacrus has planned for Spyre.
The officers had stopped at the head of the crowd. She could see that the commander was about to order her to be taken off her perch, so Venera hurried on to her main point. You have not been told the truth about this war! Before we leave this place you need to know why Sacrus has moved against us all. It is because they believe they have outgrown Spyre the way a wasp outgrows its cocoon. Centuries ago they attacked and destroyed Buridan to gain a treasure from us. They failed to capture it, but never gave up their ambition. Ever since Buridans fall they have bided their time, awaiting the chance to get their hands on something Buridan has guarded for the sake of Spyre, since the very beginning of time. She was really winding herself up now, and for the moment the officers had stopped, curious no doubt about what she was about to say.
Since the creation of Spyre, my family has guarded one of the most powerful relics in the world! It was for the sake of this trust that we kept to Buridan tower for generations, not venturing out because we feared Sacrus would learn that the tower is not the empty shell they believedafraid they would learn that it can be entered. The thing we guarded is so dangerous that my brothers and sisters, my parents, grandparents, and their grandparents, all sacrificed their lives to prevent even a hint of its existence from escaping our walls.
Time came when we could no longer sustain ourselves, she said more softly, and I had to venture forth. Dimly, Venera wondered at this grand fib she was making up on the spot; it was a rousing story, and if it proved rousing enough, then nobody would believe Guinevera if he survived to accuse her of being an imposter.