First Lord's Fury (Codex Alera 6)

"If there are, I'll burn them out, too, sir." Crassus started signaling to the other Pisces in the air around him, and they all streaked back down toward the Legion lines.

Tavi watched the fight at the wall for another moment or two, but it was over. The vord were beginning to break, and the Aleran ranks moved forward with a steady, professional rhythm that silently declared their expectation of victory.

"Aleran?" Kitai asked quietly.

"I'm all right," Tavi said.

She shook her head. "You succeeded today."

"Hmmm?" He glanced at her. "Oh. The furycrafting."

"Yes. Does this not make you happy?"

He nodded. "Oh, yes. I suppose. But now... Now it's all on my shoulders. There's no escaping that."

"It always was, my Aleran," Kitai said. "You were just too stupid to realize it."

Tavi snorted out a laugh and smiled at her.

Kitai nodded in satisfaction. "Come. You need to get back to your wagon and rest. Varg has things well in hand."

"I should stay," Tavi said. "Watch. Who knows, there might be something here, some clue as to their weakness."

Kitai looked at him with what looked like enormous patience that was nonetheless clearly being tried. "Aleran," she said between her teeth, "you should rest. In your wagon. Your enclosed, covered wagon. While nearly everyone else is busy with the battle."

Tavi blinked at her owlishly, then his eyes widened. "Oh," he said. A sudden smile lifted his mouth. "Oh."

And Kitai was suddenly pressed against him. There was a limited amount of sensuality available, given all the steel that was between them, but her kiss was so searing that Tavi felt in danger of having the armor melt from his back. She drew back from him, green eyes bright behind heavy lids. "You were smart today. You were strong. It suits you." Her eyes smoldered brighter. "I like the way it looks on you."

They kissed again, slow and heated. Then he smiled, and said, his lips brushing hers, "Race you there."

Kitai's eyes danced. Then she elbowed him aside, sending him into a brief, tumbling spin as she kicked out her own windstream behind her and dived for the camp.

Tavi laughed and sent himself rushing after her.

Chapter 34

Isana had all but fallen asleep when she was awakened by a trilling vord cry she had never heard before. The ululating wail rose and fell so swiftly that it almost seemed a chattering sound. Odder still, it rang through the quiet green light of the hive with ear-piercing intensity.

Isana sat on the floor at Araris's feet, leaning back against the cushionlike warmth of the croach. Both the wall and the floor sank gently beneath her as she sat reclined, essentially forming a couch under her. In point of fact, it was actually quite comfortable as long as one did not dwell upon the fact that it might at any time engulf and dissolve one's flesh.

Isana opened her eyes only enough to be able to see, and remained silent and still.

The Queen came out of her little sunken bower-alcove in a darting motion that reminded Isana of a spider, rushing out of its funnel-shaped web to seize helpless prey. She crouched at the side of a shallow pool of water - or what Isana assumed was water - on the opposite side of the hive. Her rigid-looking lips peeled back from black chitin teeth, and she let out a furious hissing sound, staring down at the pool.

The Queen was looking at a watercrafted image, Isana thought. Which meant that the pool wasn't simply a water-filled dimple in the floor. It was connected, somehow, to the water system of the surrounding area, where furies would be able to bring images and sounds.

Quiet footsteps sounded, and Invidia entered. She made some irritated gesture at one of the walls, and the ear-tearing wail ended. "What has happened?"

"My progenitors have arrived," the Queen murmured softly.

"That's impossible," Invidia said. "The attack is about to begin. You cannot divert your attention now."

"Not impossible, obviously," the Queen said, a very faint tinge of displeasure in her tone.

The creature on Invidia's chest rippled. She closed her eyes, and her cheeks lost all color for a moment.

"I suppose he could have been flown from Antillus in that time," Invidia said, much more quietly. "Where is he?"

"In Riva," the vord Queen said distantly. "Destroying the food stores."

Invidia lifted her eyebrows. Or rather, where her eyebrows should have been, had they not been seared off. Her skin was still a patchwork of burned flesh. The scars, Isana thought, would surely be permanent. Not even a watercrafter of Invidia's skill could remove them now, days after she received the burns. "The larder... but we needed the supply line from Riva to feed the warriors."

The Queen lifted her dark, multifaceted eyes and stared coldly at Invidia.

Invidia folded her arms. "Your anger does not change the fact that the horde cannot possibly find enough food to support active operations."

The Queen's expression darkened more. Then she raised a hand and waved it vaguely at the air. "I will send a portion of the force into sleep. They will not require food. I will mark out the smallest warrior in every group of ten."

Invidia looked slightly ill. "You're feeding them upon their own?"

The Queen went back to staring at the pool. "It is necessary. They are the least useful soldiers at the moment. It will be done before the assault, so that they can maintain their activity levels." Her mouth twitched a tiny bit at one corner. "And after, there will be other sources available."

"You cannot sustain a campaign without supplies," Invidia said.

"I do not need to sustain a campaign," the Queen replied calmly. "All I need to do is break them, here, in this valley. Once the Alerans are broken here, they are broken forever. If I lose every warrior, drone" - she paused to glance at Invidia - "and slave under my command but accomplish that, it will be well worth it."

"I understand," Invidia said, frost edging her words.

The Queen remained calm and remote. "Anger will not change the fact that the most intelligent course of action, in your position, is to go forth and position your fellow slaves in such a fashion as to maximize the cost for the Alerans to neutralize the warriors with furycraft."

Invidia was silent for a long moment before she said, calmly, "Of course." She turned to leave.

"Invidia," the Queen said.

The burn-scarred woman paused.

"You are not replaceable," the Queen said quietly. "I will therefore sacrifice you the most reluctantly. I would prefer it if you took whatever action you could to avoid becoming the victim of chance."