Margit glanced back. Her eyes found Garth lying prone on the flagstones.
Dont be ridiculous, she said with a smile. Those things werent real .
She shot Eilen in the head.
Veneras friend flopped to the rooftop in a tumble of limbs. The other captives screamed and quailed. Where is she? shrieked Margit, waving the pistol. Now, too late, Selene was running to her side. The younger woman put her hand on Margits arm, spoke in her ear, tugged her away from the prisoners.
As she led Margit away Selene glanced over at Garth. It was his turn to look away.
There was a lot of running and shouting then, though little shooting because, he supposed, the men on the roof were afraid of hitting their own men. Garth didnt care. He lay on his stomach with his cheek pressed against the cold stone and cried.
Someone hauled him to his feet. Dimly he realized that a great roaring sound was coming from beyond the roofs edge. Now the men on the roof did start firingand cursing, and looking at one another helplessly.
Garth knew exactly what had happened. Venera had broken the line around Guineveras men. They were pouring out of their defensive position and attacking Sacruss force beneath no-mans land. That group was now itself isolated and surrounded.
He wouldnt be surprised if Venera herself had moved on, perhaps circling the building to connect up with the main bulk of the council army. If she did that, then none of the ladders and elevator platforms to this roof would be safe for Sacrus.
Come on. Garth was hauled to his feet and pushed to the middle of the roof. He coughed and realized that smoke was pouring up from the courtyard. The prisoners were wailing and screaming.
Margits soldiers had set the cherry trees alight.
Get on the platform or Ill shoot you. Garth blinked and saw that he was standing next to the elevator that climbed Liriss cable. Margit and Selene were already on the platform, with a crowd of soldiers and several Liris prisoners including Moss and Odess.
He climbed aboard.
Margit smiled with supreme confidence. This, she said as if to no one in particular, is where well defeat her.
He ducked his head slightly, conceding the point. Were grateful, Fanning, he said.
Venera finally let herself feel her triumph and relief, and slumped a bit in her saddle. Fragmentary memories of the past minutes came and went; who would have thought that the skin of Spyre would bounce under the gallop of a horse?
Scattered gunfire echoed around the corner of the building, but Sacruss army was in full retreat. Their force below no-mans land had surrendered. No one had any stomach for fighting anyway; Sacrus and council soldiers stood side by side, exchanging uneasy glances as another long slow undulation moved through the ground.
Council troops were swarming up the sides of Liris, but there was no sound from up there, and an ominous flag of smoke was fluttering from the roof line.
Seeing that, Veneras anxiety about her friends returned. Garth, Eilen, and Mosswhat had become of them during Sacruss brief occupation? Her eyes were drawn to the cable that stretched from Liris up to Lesser Spyre. It seemed oddly slack, and somehow that tiny detail filled her with more fear than anything else shed seen today.
Closer at hand, she spotted Jacoby Sarto walking, unescorted, past ranks of huddling Sacrus prisoners. He looked up at her, his face eloquently expressing the unease she too felt.
Another undulation, stronger this time. She saw trees sway and a sharp crack! echoed from Liriss masonry wall. Some of the soldiers cried out.
Guinevera looked around. Ever the dramatist, his florid lips quivered as he said, This should have been our moment of triumph. But what have we won? What have we done to Spyre?
Venera did her best to look unimpressed, though she was worried too. Look, theres no way to know, she said. That was a lie: she could feel it, they all could. Something was wrong.
A captain ran up. He saluted them both, but it was almost an afterthought. Maam, he said to Venera. Its theyre waiting for you. On the roof.
A cold feeling came over her. For just a second she remembered lying on the marble floor of the Rush admiralty, bleeding from the mouth and sure she would die there alone. And then, curled around herself inside Candesce, feeling the Sun of Suns come to life, minutes to go before she was burnt alive. Shed almost lost it all. She could lose it all now.
She flipped down the little ladder attached to her saddle and climbed down. Her thighs and lower back spasmed with pain, but there was no echo from her jaw. She wouldnt have cared if there had been. As a tremor ran through the earth, Jacoby Sarto reached to steady her. She looked him in the eye.
If you come with me, she said, whose side will you be on?
He shrugged and staggered as the ground lurched again. I dont think sides matter anymore, he said.
Then come. They ran for the ladders.
21
She put one hand over the other and tried to focus on the rungs above her. She could see the peaked helmets of some of Guineveras men up there and was pathetically glad that she wouldnt have to face this alone.