First Lord's Fury (Page 23)

"Tavar," Gradash called. "With your consent, I will take you forward."

"Thank you, huntmaster," Tavi replied.

Gradash bared his throat again and began shouting more commands. In short order, gawkers found themselves savagely shoved aside, and the Alerans’ horses began moving forward once more.

They drew near the central watering pool within a moment, and found dozens of Alerans there, mixed in among the Canim to gather around the pool. Tavi saw why, and sucked in a breath through his teeth.

No wonder everyone had come to stare.

A cloaked form stood upon the surface of the water. The cloak was made of rich, grey fabric with a deep hood. Tavi couldn’t see any of the features of whoever was beneath the cloak, except for dark lips and a pale, delicate chin. His heart lurched in his chest, even so.

It was the vord Queen.

The troop of Canim soldiers led Tavi and his party to the far side of the pool, where Varg and Nasaug were standing, together with a grey-furred old Cane wearing sections of vord chitin that had been fashioned into armor. He wore a red mantle and hood over that, the cut of which was identical to the garments worn by Canim ritualists – but this was the first time Tavi had seen such a garment made of anything but the pale, supple leather of human flesh.

The vord Queen never moved. Tavi glanced down the line of pools and saw what seemed to be identical images standing upon each of them. Crowds continued to gather.

"Bloody crows," Max swore. "That’s a watersending."

Tavi felt his jaw tighten. Projecting an image through a watercrafting was a relatively difficult use of furycraft. Projecting several of them was impossi – Well, not impossible, clearly… but very, very improbable. Tavi wasn’t sure if Gaius Sextus himself could have managed it.

"She’s just standing there," Max said, frowning. "Why is she just standing there?"

"Ferus," Tavi said to one of his guards. "Go back to the camp. Tell Crassus I want every Knight Aeris we have immediately flying reconnaissance out to fifty miles. I want our Knights Terra to patrol out to ten miles and make sure nothing is tunneling toward us. Cavalry is to ride escort, no group smaller than twenty, back before nightfall."

Ferus slammed his fist to his chest and turned his mount to begin working his way out of the Canim camp.

Max grunted. "You think it’s supposed to be a distraction?"

Tavi gestured at the crowds. "If it isn’t, it’s doing a crowbegotten good job of it. No reason to take chances. Come on." Tavi nudged his horse forward until he was standing next to Varg and Nasaug.

"Morning," Varg said, studying the watersending.

"Good morning," Tavi replied.

"I ordered my fastest ships put out to sea already," Varg replied. "Borrowed some of your witchmen to go along and keep an eye on the ocean."

Many of the watercrafters who professionally used their talents to conceal ships from leviathans had grown used to the Canim during the pair of voyages over the past six months. Canim in general were not disposed to admiration of furycrafting, but their ships’ crews had been more than mildly impressed with the skills of the witchmen. "You think they’re coming in by sea?"

Varg’s ears twitched in an ambivalent motion, a Cane gesture that meant more than a shrug but less than "no." "I think that the Queen had to come back here after she went to Canea. I think she did not use one of our ships. They have carried out operations in all terrain. No reason to take chances."

Tavi nodded. "I sent scouts by land and air."

"Expected you would," Varg said, showing his teeth in a gesture that might have been meant to be an Aleran smile of approval – or a Canim gesture of threat. Given Varg’s personality, Tavi decided it was probably both. Varg knew Tavi well enough to anticipate his reaction and had wanted him to know it. Such ability was an invaluable asset in an ally. In an enemy, it was terrifying.

Max snorted out a breath, and observed, to Nasaug, "You fellows throw out the most complimentary threats of anyone I ever met."

"Thank you," Nasaug said gravely. "It will be an honor to kill one so courteous as you, Tribune Antillar."

Max barked out a belly laugh and bowed his head slightly to one side, showing his throat to Nasaug. The younger Cane’s mouth lolled open in a small Canim grin.

They waited in silence for several more minutes as the crowd continued to grow.

"Ah," Tavi said.

Varg glanced at him.

"That’s why the Queen hasn’t spoken," Tavi explained. "She’s causing her image to appear. And she’s waiting for word to spread about it, so that there’s time for an audience to gather." He frowned. "Which means…"

"Means she can’t see through it," Varg rumbled. "She isn’t gaining intelligence this way."

Tavi nodded. It would explain how the vord Queen was making multiple images appear. Sending the projection forth wasn’t the difficult part of the watersending. Bringing light and sound back from the other side was the difficult part. "She wants to speak to us," Tavi said. "Everyone, I mean. Crows, she must be causing this image to appear in every body of water large enough to support it." Tavi shook his head. "I wish I’d thought of that."

Varg grunted. "Handy, in time of war. Issue orders to the populace. Alert them to enemy movements. Keep your makers from being taken by surprise. Tell them what you need produced, save the time lost to waiting on messengers." Varg narrowed his eyes. "Vord Queen doesn’t need any of that, though."

"No," Tavi said. "She doesn’t."

"The vord are orderly. Logical. She must have an objective in this."

"She does," Tavi said. He felt his mouth harden into a line. "It’s an attack."

The image stirred, and silence fell over the gathering.

The vord Queen lifted her hand in a gesture of greeting. There was something unnatural in the gesture that made it look like a formal motion, as if she was consciously forcing the movements of her joints to adhere to constraints to which she was not accustomed.

"Alerans," she said, and her voice rang out loudly, amplified to be heard for hundreds of yards in every direction. The Canim nearest the pool folded their ears back against their skulls and erupted into a chorus of snarls in reaction to the explosion of sound.

"I am the vord. I have taken the heart of your lands. I have laid siege to your strong places. I have slain your First Lord. You cannot destroy me. You cannot withstand me."

Silence fell for long heartbeats. The vord Queen let the words sink in.