Hammer of Time (The Reforged Trilogy) (14 page)

"Your people picked this galaxy clean and when there was no more to eat you left for a new one. Now that galaxy is no more than bones and your people are starving to death." Xartasia stared down both of the monstrous aliens, unafraid of the teeth and claws, or of the nanites clinging to their skin that could become a deadly cloud of blades in a heartbeat. "The whole of the universe will be your hunting ground when you control the Waygates once more. But I will not give that to you until my people are home and whole again. When that is done…"

"Anzo b'ho khavvna ghotek! Anzo khamen!"
Orix snarled at Dhozo. "You believe her?"

"We must eat," the Devourer commander said. His voice – his real voice, not the scratchy approximation created by his nanite swarm – was hard and cold as ice. "The Glorious must eat. Your pride can take the cut, Orix. So shut it."

The door slammed open, metal ringing on metal. A pair of glass-armored Arcadian men burst into the room, spears held with points low and wings spread wide to leap. One of them turned to Xartasia while the other kept his weapon leveled at the Devourers. "We heard shouting, Highness," he said. "Are you all right?"

"Of course," Xartasia told him. "Go wait outside."

Reluctantly, the two knights withdrew. Voices came from the corridor outside, echoing back and forth and distant, but many of them. Myriad voices chanting and singing. They faded again as the door closed.

Xartasia beckoned to Ailo. The woman crept closer, trembling as she emerged from the shadows. Clean, processed air whispered through the vents and ruffled her pale golden hair. She came slowly to her queen. The glass crown was cool and smooth against Xartasia's skin.

"You need not fear them," she said, pointing one wingtip to Dhozo and Orix. "They are our allies, our brothers."

"We won't be very helpful to anyone if we don't get to work," Dhozo rasped. "When do we begin? We need data, little queen, before we even know whether what you want can be done at all."

"Not yet. You know that. You are an engineer, Dhozo. You made the calculations. We need more of my people before we make any attempts. Many more."

She smiled beautifully at Ailo and swept out the door. The Arcadian and the Devourers fell into step behind her. They made their way down the black metal corridor, toward the chanting. Hundreds of voices raised in song, in praise to the White Queen. Xartasia paused in front of the final door, listening. She let the song wash over her like a tide over sand. It pushed and pulled, guided her… almost enough to drown the pain of her beloved Anthem's century-long silence. Even through the sealed bulkheads and airlocks, Xartasia could hear her people. They called out for her, for change. For the restoration of the White Kingdom and all they had lost.

"Horrible mistakes are just life lessons that really wanted to get your attention."

– Duaal Sinnay (234 PA)

Duaal need not have worried about collecting too many Arcadians in Nanpoor. There were no fairies in the city, only a mob of angry Ixthians and humans. They shouted at Maeve and threatened to call the police if she did not leave at once. Unwilling to face Sunjarran law enforcement again, Maeve retreated to the Blue Phoenix. Panna, Duaal and Logan were less eager to leave and followed her into the ship only at a distance. Duaal was still yelling at the crowd as the airlock sealed behind him.

Disappointed and dispirited, they returned to New Hennor. Duke Ferris and the other Arcadians were waiting at the edge of the sun-scorched corn. The fairies carried their meager possessions clutched in stick-thin arms: moth-eaten blankets and near-empty bags of food, a spare change of clothes and an occasional rainbow-hued shard of glass or cloth from their homeworld. Maeve greeted them at the cargo ramp. It would be a cramped and uncomfortable journey, but when they arrived on Stray, they could begin building a true home. A new kingdom. Maeve repeated her promise as reassuringly as she could manage.

Xia and Gripper escorted each new group to where they would be staying for the next few weeks. Every room of the Blue Phoenix was full. Everything that could be made into a bed or table had been pressed into service. The survival raft had even been patched and covered with a reflective blanket. Panna gave up her room in favor of Duke Ferris. The nobleman thanked her in a perfunctory sort of way that suggested he expected no less. Logan volunteered his own bunk to an old Arcadian woman from the city of Hallipon named A'lanu. Duke Ferris watched Duaal carefully guide A'lanu through the crowded hold and up the stairs.

"That is very kind of you, Logan," the duke said.

Logan shrugged. "I never use it, anyway."

"Yes." Ferris inspected one of his wings. "A man as skilled and dangerous as Logan Coldhand is surely busy at all hours. It is said by some that you do not sleep."

"You've heard of me?"

The Arcadian nobleman gave a noncommittal hum and swept off to look after a pair of younger fairies who were having trouble finding space to lay out their small basket of belongings. Maeve had not been standing far away. When Ferris was gone, she stepped close to Logan and kissed his fingertips. Many of the Arcadians were staring at them and Maeve fought not to blush.

"It is growing late," she told Logan. "We need to leave Sunjarrah. Duaal asks that you join him as copilot in the takeoff. We are carrying many more passengers and weight than usual."

"If he needs the help, sure."

Logan hurried up the stairs out of the cargo bay. Maeve smiled after him. Whatever her hunter said, she knew better. Logan was Prian. He loved to fly, even if only as occasional copilot on an old cargo ship. A shadow fell over Maeve and she stepped back, trying to get out of the way of whoever was trying to push their way through.

"A queen should not be carrying messages for a mere ship's captain," said Duke Ferris. He had not gone far, it seemed.

"He tried to call to Logan over the intercom," Maeve defended herself, "but it was too loud in here."

"But your ship has other…" Ferris struggled to find the word in Aver. "
Dryan'ii a nyan'ii.
Your duties are greater than those of a simple courier."

"My duties are whatever need to be done," Maeve said. "Whatever is required, I will do."

"Of course, a'shae," said Duke Ferris.

He dipped his wings to Maeve and the two of them went back to the cargo ramp to bring in the last of the Arcadians. The sun was rising bright blue-violet over the condemned Sunjarrah settlement. It was time to leave.

________

Every spare cenmark collected from the Arcadians and the Blue Phoenix crew had been spent on food and fuel, but by the end of the second week, everyone on board had to skip meals. The fairies were not unaccustomed to going hungry, but they had hoped for more from their new queen. Tempers frayed and in the close confines of the little freighter, there was no place to get away from each other. There were arguments over food and space, and even a few blows traded. Ferris did an impressive job of smoothing things over, but occasionally he brought Arcadians to Maeve for a royal decision.

The new queen was not above hiding from Duke Ferris when he came seeking her wisdom. He was older and wiser than Maeve, she reasoned. He was a nobleman, probably raised in the heart of the court. Leadership was a lot harder than doing dishes, or even than giving speeches. Let those who were suited to it settle the disputes.

She spotted Duke Ferris at the door to her room. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was accompanied by five Arcadians who stood packed together in the narrow hall. Maeve turned and strode quickly the way she had come. A'lanu saw her in the corridor and brought her wingtip to the floor, wincing as the arthritic joints struggled with the deferent gesture. Maeve moved swiftly on, feeling uncomfortable. She stopped in the mess, but it was crowded with fairies searching for food or sitting listlessly at the table. Instead, Maeve went to the medbay. The Arcadians were mistrustful of coreworld science and while they did not refuse Xia and her medicine, neither were they comfortable around the Ixthian.

But to Maeve's surprise, there was a pair of Arcadians in the small medical bay. Both were young, less than a century old. Like Panna, they had been born since the fall of the White Kingdom. These two did not even remember their home. One – a boy about Panna's age with his blond hair in a pair of long plaits that draped down his chest – sat on the edge of Xia's exam table, holding his right arm gingerly. The Ixthian medic sat on a metal stool, cleaning a painful-looking red burn that extended from the boy's wrist almost to the singed elbow of his shirt.

"You shouldn't be practicing fire spells on the ship, anyway," Xia was saying.

"It's just magic," answered the other Arcadian sullenly. She looked a little older than the boy and wore her hair the same way. At least she had… Now one of the braids was gone, burned away no more than a few blackened strands left in its place. Soot smudged her face as if the girl had fallen into ink.

Maeve paused in the doorway, struggling to remember the two young fairies' names. Malla and… Hanno? No, Hannu. They were brother and sister, but their parents were not among those Arcadians on the Blue Phoenix.

"Fire is fire," Xia told the fairies. "It consumes oxygen and we don't have that much to spare. If you must practice, please no fire or lightning."

Malla started to roll her eyes, but caught sight of Maeve halfway through and jerked upright. "Your Highness," she gasped.

Hannu sat up straighter and tried to pull his hand from Xia's grasp, but the Ixthian was much larger and had six silver fingers wrapped around the boy's wrist. He had to settle for inclining his head. His cheeks were flaming. Xia looked up, too, and smiled at Maeve.

"I thought I was done with this sort of thing," she said. "Duaal doesn't butcher his spells anymore."

"No," Maeve agreed. "He has become a great mage."

"That's the human who captains this ship, isn't it?" Hannu asked. "The one with the dark skin?"

Maeve nodded. "He used to burn himself, as well. And much of the ship. There is a spot on the ceiling of the hold that still bears the scars of his younger days. That was before Gripper put his planters in."

"Did you teach him, Highness?" Malla asked. She tugged self-consciously on the remains of her burnt braid.

"No," said Maeve. "I know only a few charms. I was a knight, not a spellsinger."

"But I thought…" Hannu trailed off, blushing an even darker red.

Maeve was curious. "What?"

Malla exchanged a look with her brother that suggested there was a good smack in store for him just as soon as there was no royalty watching. "We heard that queen–" she began and then corrected herself. "That is, Xartasia… Sir Calathan said that she is a great mage. We assumed that you were, too."

"You spoke to Calathan?"

"No," Hannu said. "Not ourselves. We heard him in Rassinmar, before he came to New Hennor."

"It's a good thing you were more eloquent, Maeve," Xia said. She finished cleaning his burnt arm and wrapped it in soft white gauze.

Malla and Hannu looked at each other again. This time, it was the fairy girl who colored. Maeve cocked her head. "What is it?" she asked the younger Arcadians.

"Nothing," Malla mumbled.

"Tell me, please."

"Well… We're glad to be here, Your Highness," Malla said in a rush, the words running together like spilled paint. "But we… we would have gone to Xartasia if we had been allowed. Most of the others in Rassinmar went to Xartasia, but Calathan wouldn't take us."

"Why not?" Maeve wondered.

"He said that we were too young," Hannu admitted. "Anyone born in the core isn't welcome in the White Queen's court."

Maeve scowled. Was her cousin truly so cold? Was she really turning away the youngest of their people just because they had never known the green grass and endless blue skies of Arcadia? She supposed she should be grateful, whatever Xartasia's reasons. Hannu and Malla were here on the Blue Phoenix because of them.

"Listen to Xia," Maeve said. "I am glad that you are practicing the charm songs. There are so few magi left among our people. But do avoid fire and lightning while we are in flight."

"Yes, Your Highness," they answered.

Xia checked her work and released Hannu. He and his sister bowed their wings to Maeve and edged around the medbay to the door. They vanished quickly down the corridor, whispering behind their wings.

"Do you think they will listen?" Maeve asked.

"Did Duaal?" Xia laughed and cleaned up the supplies she had used on Hannu's burn. She replaced the remaining gauze and sighed. The cupboards were looking more than a little bare.

"Not to me, perhaps, but Duaal listens to you," Maeve pointed out.

The Ixthian laughed again. "Really? I hadn't noticed."

Maeve closed the medbay door. She didn't want Ferris walking by and noticing his wayward queen. "Since Prianus," she said. "You and Duaal grew very close while we were there."

"Yes." Xia locked the cabinets securely. "I suppose we did."

"What happened?" Maeve asked. "You no longer…"