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Maytera Mint told him, “Yours is worse.”
She glanced at Silk, who told Potto, “We have a strategy, you see — one that you ca
Loris nodded.
“I listened to Generalissimo Siyuf outline her plans last night, and I’ve been thinking about our options all day. In order to win, all that we have to do now is sit back and let them carry out those plans. She is a rigid disciplinarian, and she’s never been down in those tu
Silk leaned back, his fingers joined in a pointed tower. “As I said, all we have to do is to let her do as she plans. There will be a terrible war of attrition, fought underneath the city between foreigners and soldiers most of the men and women who live in it have scarcely seen. In the end, one side or the other will triumph, and it won’t make much difference which it is, since the wi
Potto sneered. Loris said smoothly, “A few minutes ago somebody was saying we’re all Vironese here, with a single exception. Was it you, General? You, whose troops are to complete the destruction once Viron’s army has defeated the Trivigauntis for you?”
“Yes,” she told him. “It was.
Silk said, “There are at least three major objections to the strategy I have just outlined, Councillor, though I do not doubt that it would succeed — that it will, if we choose to employ it. You’ve voiced the first yourself: it entails the destruction of Viron’s army. The second is that it will take at least half a year, and very possibly several years; either would be too long, as we’ll explain in a moment. The third is that there is one part of Siyuf’s force that we must have, and it is exactly the part that would almost certainly escape us. I refer to General Saba’s airship.
“Sciathan, will you please tell these councillors what you told me?”
The Flier nodded, his small, pinched face solemn. “We of Mainframe, we Crew, were visited by the god you call Tartaros. It was the morning of the day on which I was captured.”
Auk put in, “Right after he left me, see?”
“His instructions were urgent. We were to find this man Auk,” Sciathan pointed, “and bring him and his followers to Mainframe, so that they can leave the Whorl to journey to a short-sun sphere outside.” Sciathan turned to Silk. “They do not believe me.”
“They need only believe that I believe you,” Silk told him, “as I do. Continue.”
“This very wise man Calde Silk has spoken to you of the airship, the great vessel that flies without wings, stirring the air with wooden arms. The god also spoke to us of this airship. We were to employ it to carry back this man who is my friend now, and those who wish to accompany him.”
Profound conviction lent intensity to Sciathan’s voice. “It ca
“We’d need enough bucks with slug guns and launchers to fight our way past anybody that tried to stop us,” Auk added. “We ain’t got them.” Seeing Chenille enter with a tray, he inquired, “What you got there, Jugs? Tea and cookies?”
She nodded, “Maytera thought you might like something. She’s busy with Stony and Patera, so Nettle and I baked.”
“There is too much eating here,” Sciathan protested in a whisper, “also, too much drinking. Behold that one.” He indicated Potto with a nod.
“I agree,” Silk said, accepting a cup of tea, “but we must consider hospitality.”
“In short,” Loris was saying, “you want us to help you take over the airship. I won’t argue about your reason for wanting it, though I might if I thought we could do it. I doubt that we can.”
Potto rocked from side to side, bubbling with mirth. “I might. Yes, I might! Silk, I’ll make you an offer on behalf of my cousins and myself, but you’ll have to trust me.”
Maytera Mint shook her head, but Silk told her, “This is progress, whether we accept it or not. Let’s hear it.”
“I’ll seize the airship for you within a month, capturing as many of the technicians who operate it as possible. I’ll turn them over to you after they’ve agreed to cooperate with you in every way.” He tittered. “They will, I promise you, when I’ve had them for a few days. Ask the general there.”
He turned to Chenille, who was serving Remora. “May I have a cup of your tea, my dear? I can’t drink it, but I like the smell.”
Maytera Mint snorted.
“I do, my dear young General. You think I’m mocking you, when I’m simply indulging the only pleasure of the flesh left to me.” As Chenille poured, he added, “Thank you very, very much. Five bits? Would that be acceptable?”
Chenille stared. “Is this… I don’t—”
Silk said, “Councillor Potto is merely using you to make a point, Chenille. He prefers to make his points in the most objectionable way possible, as General Mint and I can testify. What is it, Councillor?”
“That even trivial things are seldom free.” Potto smiled. “That there is a price to pay, even when it’s a trivial price. Want to hear mine for the airship?”
Silk nodded, feeling Hyacinth’s hand tighten about his,
Loris said, “I’ve no idea what he has in mind, but I’m going to attach one of my own first. You’re to do nothing to interfere with us during the month specified. No attacks on any position of ours, including Erne’s.”
Silk said, “We wouldn’t, of course — if we accepted. But it’s your cousin’s price that concerns me.”
“Two men.” Potto held up two fingers. “I want to borrow one and keep the other. Can’t you guess which they are?”
“I believe so. Perhaps I should have made it clear that I haven’t the least intention of accepting. Even if you had offered to do it for nothing, as a gesture of goodwill, I still could not have accepted.”
Auk started to protest, but Silk cut him off. “Let me say this once and for all, not just to you, Auk, and not just to these councillors; but to everyone present. Trivigaunte is our ally. There has been friction between us, true. I daresay that there is always friction in every alliance, even the small and simple alliance of husband with wife.”
Hyacinth’s lips brushed his cheek.
“I did not ask the Rani to send us help, but I welcomed it with open arms when she did. I have no intention of turning against her and her people now, because of a little friction. Maytera Marble often tells me things she’s learned from watching children’s games, and I received the greatest lesson of my life during one such game; now I want to propose a game for us. Let us pretend for a few minutes that I’m Generalissimo Siyuf. Will all of you accept that, for the sake of the game?”
His eyes went from face to face. “Very well, I am Siyuf. I understand that some of you are nursing grievances in spite of my long and swift march to your rescue, and in spite of the aid I brought you. Let me hear them now. There is not one I ca
Loris said, “I hope you’re not so deep in your part as to shoot me.”
Silk smiled and shook his head.
“Very well then, Generalissimo Siyuf. I have a complaint, exactly as you said. I’m speaking as the presiding officer of the Ayuntamiento, the legitimate government of this city. You and your troops are interfering in our internal affairs. That is an act of war.”
Silk heaved a sigh, and his gaze strayed to Chenille, who was pouring tea for Maytera Mint. “Councillor, your government was never legitimate, because it was established by murdering your lawful calde. I can’t say which of you ordered his murder, or whether you acted jointly. For the purposes of discussion, let’s assume it was Councillor Lemur, and that he acted alone. You nevertheless—”