Hammer of Time (The Reforged Trilogy) (25 page)

"I don't know. She hasn't seen it yet," Panna admitted. She gave Hyra a reassuring smile when the smith's wing sagged. "Everyone will see it tonight."

Hyra straightened a bit at that. She said goodbye, then she and Anthem left. The streets of Kaellisem were far from crowded, but Panna was still proud. It wasn't the largest gathering of Arcadians in the galaxy – not yet – but it had to be one of the best. Stray's ruddy sun cast only hazy shadows and pale glows through the glass city. Kaellisem was nothing like the imperial White City, less than a hundredth Arcadia's size and grandeur… But Panna had never seen Cavain's city. Kaellisem was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. Panna loved it even as she coughed on a mouthful of dust and spat onto the unpaved street. The desert drained away the moisture in seconds.

It was not until he repeated himself loudly that Panna realized Sir Anthem was speaking to her. "What?" she asked. "Sorry, I was thinking. What did you say?"

Anthem rearranged a gray scarf around his face. He must have spent a lot of time on Stray, Panna thought. The natives were used to the unpredictable wind and dust storms, always prepared and covered.

"I asked you where to find Ballad Avadain," Anthem repeated.

"Oh." Panna thought for a moment. "Well, I'm not sure. I haven't actually met him. But he's Prian and Duke Ferris said that he wears leather. I'm sure we can find him without too much trouble."

It didn't take long to locate Ballad. Only a few other fairies knew the newcomer's name, but several remembered him by description and pointed Panna to one of the new towers. It was banded like a Mirran in dark yellows and oranges. Like most of the Kaellisem towers, it had no stairs. Panna groaned. There was a door at ground level, but it led only into a single room where a small group of older fairies clustered around an even older Arcadian woman.

"Is Ballad Avadain here?" Panna asked. The old woman stared blankly, so she tried again.
"En alla Ballad Avadain?"

"I'm right here," said a voice to one side.

A young winged man stood in the door. Just as Ferris had complained, he wore his hair cut Prian short. A thin dark blue scarf hung around his neck in acquiescence to the necessities of Stray, but the rest of his garb was Prian, too. Denims with ragged and often-patched knees, heavy boots and a black leather jacket with long gashes up the back where his wigs jutted through. Panna wondered if she imagined the Prian squarishness to his features. It was not as if humans and Arcadians could interbreed.

"Who are you?" Ballad asked. "You want something?"

He stalked into the room, followed by another similarly dressed fairy boy. The pair eyed Panna and Anthem suspiciously. Panna crossed her arms over her narrow chest.

"Stop that," she said. "We're not your enemies. No one in Kaellisem is."

Ballad stopped circling and narrowed olive-green eyes. "You're Arcadian," he said, surprised. "What in the three hundred hells happened to your wings?"

"I had them removed," Panna said. Her face was flaming, she knew. She felt the heat in her cheeks like a sunburn.

"Why?" asked Ballad.

"That's none of your business!" Panna said, flustered. "I'm not the one who came to see you, anyway. This is Sir Anthem, the queen's consort and first of her knights."

She stepped back and swept her hand out to Anthem. Let
him
deal with the prickly Prian Arcadian boy. Ballad scowled at the knight.

"Consort?" he growled. "Queen Maeve's got a hawk. He's a friend of mine. Maybe you've met him… Tall, human, got a hand made of illonium. Good fighter."

"As am I," Anthem told Ballad. He strode across the room to peer closely at the much younger fairy. "And I am Queen Maeve's consort now. Do you challenge my right to court her?"

Ballad's jaw clenched. "Ain't my place. Logan should have the pleasure of ripping you apart."

Anthem lifted his sharp chin. "Logan Coldhand has agreed to the situation."

"Like hells. He would
never
–"

"He has," Anthem said with blade-edged finality. "It is the queen's decree. And it is also her wish that you become first of my students and newest knight of the White Kingdom."

Ballad's mouth worked for several seconds, but no sound came out. "You want
me
to be a knight? A proper glass knight?" he asked breathlessly.

"Queen Maeve Beltain Cavainna calls you to honor and glory," Anthem said in a ringing, formal voice. "Will you answer her, Ballad Avadain? Will you take up your spear for your queen and your people?"

"Yes!" Ballad answered fiercely. "Yes, I'll fight!"

The other leather-clad Arcadian and the old woman sang short, bright cries of pride and pleasure. Anthem held out his hand to Ballad, who hesitated and then clasped the other man's wrist.

"I still don't like you," Ballad told him.

"But we both serve the queen," Anthem said.

"No," Panna said. "We all serve Arcadia."

Anthem and Ballad shared a look and then nodded their agreement.

"Taxes are an investment in the future."

– CWA public campaign slogan (210 PA)

"Anthem Calloren?" Xia asked. "Are you sure that's his name? Long hair, dark eyes? Awkward Aver?"

"That's him," Duaal said.

"I know the man. At least, I've spoken with him." Xia leaned forward, propping her elbows on the dining room table as her eyes turned a pale blue-green. Her lunch still sat on the table, untouched.

"What?" Kessa exclaimed. She repositioned Baliend on her knee and the baby giggled. "When?"

"Remember when we brought you to Stray?" Xia said. "We were trying to find out if the Sisterhood had any groups here. I spoke with an Arcadian prostitute. That was Anthem."

"Are you sure? He says he's a knight," Gripper said. The Arboran perched precariously on a chair far too small for him. The plastic creaked in protest at every movement. "Is he lying?"

"I don't think so," Xia answered. "He mentioned having once been a knight.
In service to the Night,
I think he said."

"You remember that, Silver?" Gripper asked, impressed.

Xia smiled. "It was only a year ago. As I understand it,
a'shae
– what Ferris always calls Maeve – means
the night
. Anthem must have worked for the royal family."

"More than that," said Duaal. "He used to be Xartasia's man back when she went by Titania. They apparently traded several oathsongs. The two were effectively engaged."

"Anthem was engaged to Xartasia?" Kessa asked sharply. In her lap, Baliend whined. "Does Maeve know that?"

"Yeah, Glass knows," said Gripper. "So does Hunter. He's the one who convinced her to take Anthem. Hunter told her that it's a good political move. Anthem chose Glass over Xartasia and everyone in Kaellisem will know it."

"Logan
wants
Maeve to do this?" Kessa repeated with a frown. "Why?"

"I don't know, Blue. He told me what he said to Glass last night, but he didn't say why." Gripper clasped his hands around his knees. "Sometimes I don't think Hunter feels like he's good enough for Glass. Especially since this queen thing."

"That's silly," said Kessa. "They're perfect for each other."

Xia picked up her fork and rolled it between her smooth silver fingers. "There
are
issues. Their different lifespans, for example. Arcadians live for nine centuries or more. Maeve is only two hundred. If he can learn to take care of himself, Coldhand might survive another hundred years. And they can't breed," she said. "Humans and Arcadians don't have similar enough redprints."

"Hey," Duaal protested. "You
know
there is more to it than just how perfect your children will be."

Xia looked across the table and her slender antennae curled. "I'm not saying I agree with the decision, but the Arcadian government has been a hereditary monarchy for ten thousand years. That black hair means a lot to the fairies. If Maeve doesn't take an Arcadian mate, that part of their history will be lost forever."

"That doesn't mean she should have to drop Logan," argued Duaal.

Gripper nodded emphatically. "Politics don't mean anything up against love."

To his shock, Kessa actually frowned. She ran blunt fingers through Baliend's fine black hair. The baby boy sucked seriously on his chubby blue toes. "If love really won all battles," Kessa said, "then I wouldn't have had to run away from Axis."

"But you're here, Blue! With your husband and baby and a nice little house," Gripper protested. "Your love
did
win!"

"Only after I gave up everything," Kessa said, watching. "And even then, it took a lot of luck. Maeve is trying to save a lot more than one family."

________

Vyron pulled the scarf back up around his mouth. As the sun set and the temperature dropped, the wind was whipping up and filled the deepening twilight with red dust. He bent nearly double to hear Xyn. "What?" he asked his employer. "What did you say?"

"I'm starving," Xyn grumped. "Where's the food?"

"We paid for all this," Vyron reminded the fat little Ixthian. "Duke Ferris wanted a feast, but we couldn't afford it."

"Damn it. How can these people basically live in diamond towers and still be so poor?"

They were walking – slowly at Xyn's short stride – down the central thoroughfare of Kaellisem. Towers rose up all around them, slender and pointed as a line of spears. Arcadians flew overhead like huge birds, singing as they soared through the darkening sky. Coreworlders walked and drove along the road below them. Not as numerous as the fairies, but more than Vyron had expected. They moved in close, curious groups through the flame-colored shadows of Kaellisem.

"Who the hells are these people?" Xyn asked. He glared at a nearby family of Lyrans. "This is an Arcadian coronation."

"Did you forget your wings at home? You're not Arcadian, either. You don't even like them."

"Well, I
am
footing the bill for this whole thing," said Xyn. "And I'm curious."

"So are they." Vyron pointed to the Lyrans, who had stopped to admire an arch of ruby-colored glass.

A horn blared behind them and Vyron pulled Xyn off to the side of the road. A black police car floated by on its cloudy orange null-inertia field and bright lights flashed on top.

"What do they want?" Xyn asked. "We never see cops in Gharib."

Vyron wasn't sure. He broke into a jog and then run, following the police car through Kaellisem's narrow streets, leaving the Ixthian cursing in the road behind him.

Kaellisem was not a large town and Vyron was barely winded when he caught up with the police. They had stopped at Kaellisem's edge, where the fairy towers gave way to desert once more. The patchwork stage where Maeve had given her first speech had been replaced by a polished plateau of multi-colored glass. The sun was a tiny sliver of red on the horizon and Stray's single moon shone pewter between the sparse lavender clouds. For the moment, the glass stage was empty.

Two thousand Arcadians and coreworlders pulled back from the black police vehicle. Vyron could just make out several more stopped around the edge of the crowd. People muttered unhappily. Two humans stepped out of the car he had followed – a man and a woman, both with dark Hadrian skin and white-filmed eyes. Their hands remained close to the lasers on their belts. Vyron smoothed his hair and put on his best salesman's smile.

"Good evening, officers," he said, waving to the police. "What can we do for you?"

"We've heard that you folks are planning to crown up a fairy queen," said the female officer. The black plastic badge on her shoulder read
Janse
.

"That's right," Vyron said slowly. "Is there a problem? It's going to be a peaceful affair."

"Stray has a government," Janse told him. "You can't create a sovereign nation on our planet. You establish a formalized government and that's exactly what you'll have."

A shadow fell over Vyron and an Arcadian man landed beside him. Vyron had heard of Duke Ferris and seen him a few times, but never met the old fairy noble. Ferris' hair was only half braided and the sash that held his silver robes closed was hastily tied.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded of the two Gharib cops. "This is an Arcadian matter! You have no right to be here."

Vyron groaned inwardly. He was
not
helping. The Dailon brightened his smile. "It's all right, Duke Ferris. These officers are just here to discuss some legal issues."

"You have no right or ability to found a sovereign nation on this planet," Janse told Ferris. "That is rebellion under CWA law."

"We're not trying to," Vyron said quickly. "Arcadians aren't Alliance citizens, right?"

"Right," Janse agreed.

"Well, then they can't really rebel, can they? They're just setting up a sort of enclave," Vyron said.

The cops looked at each other, unconvinced. Vyron ran his tongue over his teeth, thinking. A year ago, Kessa had to all but bribe the Gharib police into helping Maeve and the rest of the Blue Phoenix crew. They were not out here on the fringes of their city to enforce Alliance law. That was CWAAF's job, as they had told Kessa. The cops wanted something else.