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“Course not. Thing is, Patera, you got a piece of Pas.”
Shell, who had relaxed somewhat, stared again.
“He wants it back now. He sent us to get it for him.”
“My son—”
“That’s the job I been talking about, Patera. That’s what he asked me to do for him at the theophany.”
One of Auk’s followers called, “This afternoon, Patera! We were there!”
“There has been another?” Jerboa lifted his raddled old face to the vanishing thread of gold that was the long sun, and seemed at that moment nearly as tall as Auk.
“At Silk’s manteion!” the same follower called.
Auk nodded. “Only this time it was Pas, Patera. You know about that, don’t you? You seen him one time yourself, that’s what he said.”
“He did,” Shell a
“Dimber here.” Auk felt the last lingering doubt melt away, and gri
Shell looked beseechingly at Incus. “I don’t understand, Patera. The Peace of Pas? Patera’s brought the Peace of Pas to thousands, I’m sure, but—”
“A chunk of him,” Hammerstone explained. “Like a slice, sort of, or if I was to unscrew one of my fingers.”
“We need some animals for him,” Auk a
A sibyl, herself stooped and old, appeared like a shadow at Jerboa’s side. “Are they going to hurt you, Patera? I came through the manse. I broke the rule, but I don’t care. If you are — if they’re going to do something bad to you…”
“It will be all right, Maytera,” the old augur assured her. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
Still addressing his followers, Auk told them, “We did our job, and it’s your turn. You want to be part of this? Part of the biggest thing that’s ever happened yet? You want to bring Pas back for people everywhere in the whorl? You get us those animals now, good ones. Get ’em anyway you can, and bring ’em back to this manteion.”
“You can’t answer your own door,” Maytera Marble scolded Silk. “You simply ca
He resumed his seat, vaguely unhappy that the longed-for respite from the stacks of paper before him would be postponed. The city’s various accounts at the Fisc totalled — he tapped his pencil in unconscious imitation of Swallow — not much over four hundred thousand cards. In private hands it would have been a vast fortune; but the Guard had to be paid, as did the commissioners, clerks, and other functionaries, to say nothing of the contractors who sometimes cleaned the streets and were supposed to keep them in repair.
His mouth twisting, he recalled his promise — so lightly given — to reward those who had fought bravely on either side.
All four taluses would have to be paid for as well before Swallow would deliver even one; it was in the contract he had signed less than an hour ago. Long before those taluses were finished, the Guard would need food, ammunition, and repairs to five armed floaters. (For the tenth or twelfth time that day, Silk considered using those floaters in the tu
Maytera Marble reentered, bowing. “It’s Generalissimo Oosik, Patera. He desires to speak with you at once.” Oosik’s bulky form was visible in the reception hall beyond the ornate doorway, rocking back and forth with impatience.
“Of course,” Silk said heartily. “Show him in, please, Maytera. I apologize for asking you to get the door.”
“It was no trouble, Patera. I was glad to do it.”
Behind her, Oosik was already marching into the room; he halted before Silk’s work table and saluted with a flourish and a click of polished heels. “I trust that your wounds are not too troublesome, Calde.
“Not at all, Generalissimo. Thank you, Maytera — that will be all.”
“Coffee, Patera? Tea?”
Oosik shook his head.
“No, but thank you.” Silk waved her away. “Pull up a chair, Generalissimo. Sit down and relax. Have you found — ?”
Oosik shook his head. “I regret not, Calde.”
“Sit down. What is it, then?”
“You watched the parade, as I did.” Oosik carried over an armless chair that looked too small for him.
“The Guard detachment was amazingly trim, I thought, for having just been taken from the fighting.”
“Pah!” Oosik blew aside the detachment. “I thank you, Calde. You are gracious. But the Trivigauntis? That was the thing to see, Siyuf’s horde.”
Silk, who had been wondering how to bring up the matters that had occupied his mind earlier in the afternoon, tried to seize the opportunity. “It was what I didn’t see that seemed most significant. Sit down, please. I don’t like having to look up at you like this.”
Oosik sat. “You saw their infantry. I hope you were impressed, as I was.”
“Of course.”
“Also their cavalry. A great deal of that, Calde. Twice what I had expected.” Oosik wound one end of his white-tipped mustache around his finger and tugged.
“The cavalry was beautiful, certainly, but I was struck by their guns; I’d never seen big guns like that. Do we — do you have any, Generalissimo?”
“A few, yes. Never as many as I would like. What did you think of their floaters, Calde?”
“There weren’t any.”
“What of the taluses? I should like your opinion, Calde.”
Silk shook his head. “You won’t get it, Generalissimo. There weren’t any of those either. That is a matter—”
“Precisely so!” Oosik released his mustache and waved his forefinger to emphasize his point. “I do not seek to embarrass you, Calde. Every man knows much upon some subjects, little or nothing on others. It ca
Silk, who had been about to speak at length himself, said, “Please do, Generalissimo.”
“She will fight above ground, not in tu
“Of course you did; you were standing beside General Saba.”
“Exactly so. Why not taluses, Calde? In your Guard, we use our taluses to free mired guns and even wagons, and a talus is stronger than thirty mules. Why will she not use taluses, and tell you so?”
“Because she hasn’t got any. I noticed it at the time, and before the parade was over I became very conscious of it. It may be that no one in Trivigaunte knows how to make them, though I’d think unemployed taluses would go there seeking work if that were the case.”
“They have kept their taluses at home to defend their city, Calde. Their floaters, too. Those are best for forcing a city street, however. I would think them best for tu
“I agree.”
“They would have been destroyed in the tu
Silk, who feared that he saw only too well, said, “Not as clearly as I’d like. Go on, Generalissimo.”