Margit shrugged again, looking pleased. A lady doesnt tell. Then her expression hardened. She extended her hand. Hand it over. Now . We have a lot to do, and youre wasting my time.
The rooftop trembled under Veneras feet. Past the pall of smoke, Spyre itself shimmered like a dissolving dream.
Shed almost had the power she needed, power to take revenge against the Pilot of Slipstream for the death of her husband. Enough wealth to set herself up somewhere in independence. Maybe she was even growing past the need for vengeance. It was possible she could have stayed here with her newfound friends, maybe in the mansion of Buridan in Lesser Spyre. Such possibilities had trembled just out of reach ever since her arrival among these baroque, ancient, and inward-turned people. It had all been within her grasp.
And Margit was right: she could still turn away. The key was hers and with it, untold power and riches if she chose to exercise it. True, she would have to move immediately to secure her own safety, else the council would try to take it from her. But she was sure she could do that, with Sartos help and Bryces. Maybe Spyre would survive, if they spun its rotation down in time and repaired it under lesser gravity. She could still have Buridan, her place on the council, and power. All she had to do was give up the prisoners who stood watching her now.
The Venera Fanning who had woken in Garth Diamandiss bed those scant weeks ago could have done that.
She reached slowly into her jacket and brought out the slim white wand that had caused so
much griefand doubtless would be the cause of much more. Step by step she closed the distance between herself and Margits outstretched hand. Venera raised her hand and Margit leaned forward, but Venera would not look her in the eye.
Selene Diamandis put her foot in Margits lower back and pushed .
As the former botanist sprawled onto Venera, bringing them both down, Selene pulled her own pistol and aimed it at the face of the man whose gun was touching Garths ear. Father, jump! she cried.
Margit snarled and punched Venera in the chin. The explosion of pain was nothing compared to the spasms she usually got there so Venera didnt even blink. She grabbed Margits wrist and the two rolled over and away from the platform.
Lower your guns, Selene was shouting. Venera caught a confused glimpse of men and women stepping out of the way as she and Margit tumbled to the edge of the roof by the courtyard. Nobody moved to help herif anyone laid a hand on either her or Margit, everyone would start shooting.
Margit elbowed Venera in the face and her head snapped back. She had an upside-down view of the courtyard below; it was an inferno.
That red looks good on the trees, dont you think? Margit muttered. She struck Venera again. Dazed, Venera couldnt recover fast enough and suddenly found Margit standing over her, pistol aimed at her.
The key, she said, or you die.
A shadow flickered from overhead. Margit glanced up, said, What and then Moss collided with her and the two of them sailed off the roof. In the blink of an eye they were gone, disappearing silently into the smoke.
No one spoke. On her knees, gazing into the fire, Venera realized that she was waiting like everyone else for the end: a scream, a crash, or some other evidence that Margit and Moss had landed. It didnt come. There was only the dry crackle of the flames. Someone coughed and the spell was broken. Venera took a proffered arm and stood up.
It was Samson Odess who had helped her to her feet. A short distance away Garth Diamandis was hugging his daughter fiercely as the remaining Sacrus troops climbed down from the platform. The building was swaying, its stones cracking and grinding now. The whole landscape of Spyre was transforming as trees fell and buildings quivered on the verge of collapse. Soldiers and officers of both sides looked at one another in wonder and terror. Their alliances suddenly didnt matter.
Odess pointed to the grandly spinning town-wheels miles overhead. Come on, he said. Lesser Spyre will survive when the world comes apart. Itll all fall away from the town-wheels.
Venera followed his gaze, then looked around. The little elevator platform might hold twelve or fifteen people; she could save her friends. Then what? Repeat the stand-off shed just undergone, this time at the docks? Sacruss leaders were there. They probably held the entire city by now.
Who are you going to save, Samson? she asked him. These are your people now. Youre the senior official in Lirisyoure the new botanist now, do you understand? These people are your responsibility.
She saw the realization hit him, but the result wasnt what she might have expected. Samson seemed to stand a little taller. His eyes, which had always darted around nervously, were now steady. He walked over to where Eilen lay crumpled. Kneeling, he arranged her limbs and closed her eyes, so that it looked like she was sleeping with her cheek and the palm of one hand pressed against the stones of Liris. Then he looked up at Venera. We have to save them all, he said.