‘I commit myself to nothing,’ said Drevane Sae, and then, ‘but what do you ask?’
‘I ask for every flier that can be spared,’ Taki said. ‘Even now I have insurrection being stirred up in Solarno, and I have Spiderlands troops ready to march. But I need orthopters, heliopters, fixed-wings, whatever you can give – all of you. From the Principality to the free corsairs of the Exalsee, I need you. I need you, every one.’
She realized that she was standing upright to her full minuscule height, and that they were all listening to her as though this was something entirely reasonable and necessary she was asking from them, and the responsibility of it scared her half to death.
It was raining in Solarno, a light, lukewarm drizzle coming in off the Exalsee and clouding the streets with mist. Late in the evening, the setting sun was striking rainbows far off over the water, and Nero was hurrying. The Wasp-kinden had imposed a curfew now, and for the next tenday. They were turning the screws of their power, constantly raising the pressure in the city as if to see what steam might escape.
We’ll show them steam. But Nero himself was not a fighter by choice, and this entire plan was looking more and more like a wild gamble.
He ducked past an imperial patrol, making himself just one more Fly-kinden in a city full of them, worse dressed than most and nothing remarkable. His path took him down an alley, and then he went straight up, flying along the vertical wall, into a second-storey window carelessly left unshuttered.
Jemeyn and Wen, the resistance fighters, were already there. Wen studied him, eyes hooded, from her seat in the corner. Jemeyn had been pacing the floor.
‘Where is everyone else?’ Nero demanded. ‘What’s gone wrong?’
‘Mostly downstairs,’ Wen explained briefly, and added, ‘Nothing is wrong.’
‘You might say say nothing,’ Jemeyn snapped at her, ‘but three of my men were arrested only today. Clearly we’ve been compromised-’
‘They were arrested while agitating against the Wasps, what else do you expect?’ Wen shot back angrily.
‘Can they lead the Wasps to you if interrogated?’ Nero asked nervously.
‘I don’t think so. The only place they know, I’m not there any more,’ Jemeyn said, and would have said more had there not been footsteps coming up the stone stairs. Nero shifted closer to the window just in case, but relaxed when he saw Taki enter. She spared a glance for the two resistance fighters, and then looked at Nero.
‘Not dead yet?’
He gave her a smile and it was returned. ‘If you want me to stop saving your city, you can ask any time.’
A Spider-kinden had slipped in with Taki, and Nero recognized her as Odyssa, Teornis’ agent. Alongside her was a heavily built halfbreed who presumably must be one of the free pilots of the Exalsee.
‘We’re all here?’ Taki enquired.
‘Not quite,’ Nero said. ‘I was expecting someone from the reds at least.’
‘They’re lying low, trying to get the Wasps to like them,’ Jemeyn said disgustedly.
‘We can’t do this without them,’ Nero pointed out. ‘We just haven’t got the numbers.’
‘If it kicks off,’ Wen decided, ‘they’ll join in. They just won’t help us start it.’
‘That’s a shaky place to stand,’ he said, looking to Taki for support.
‘For what it’s worth, I’ll get a message to Domina Genissa. I think the Satin Trail will rise,’ she said.
‘We’re all on the wire if they don’t,’ Nero insisted.
Taki nodded, shrugged. He was right but what could they do?
‘In four days’ time the Wasps will stamp their image on this city,’ Wen explained. ‘They’re doing it in proper Solarnese style: a full ceremony right out in front of everyone. They’re testing our boundaries. If they can perform their inauguration without trouble and get their governor installed, they’ll know we’ll stay beaten.’
‘So we strike later?’ Nero said. There was a silence; he looked from face to face. ‘What, now?’
‘You’re not Solarnese,’ Taki said.
He gave her an aggrieved look. ‘I’ve been risking my skin for Solarno, though.’
‘That’s not what I mean.’
‘Solarnese pride,’ said the big halfbreed. ‘That’s what she means. The Wasps know their business. Wait until it’s done, and no one will follow your flag.’
‘So…’ Nero took stock. ‘You’re saying now that the Wasps will be expecting trouble at the inauguration, and we should give it to them.’
It was indeed what they were saying. He shared a glance with Odyssa, and saw that she was as unhappy about this as he was.
‘There will be soldiers there, most of the garrison and-’ he started.
‘Precisely,’ interrupted Wen. ‘Which means that, if we can strike hard enough, we’ll finish them then and there.’
‘If,’ Nero echoed. ‘If. We’re going to need something pretty special to deal with that kind of opposition.’
‘I have pilots and machines,’ Taki said. ‘We have Spider troops and mercenaries ready to land at the docks. We have the resistance inside the city.’
‘Most of whom you hope will join you,’ Nero pointed out.
‘We can cut and cut at the Wasps forever, and that means they’ll just tighten their grip,’ Taki said, annoyed with him now. ‘The more time we give them, the deeper they’ll dig in. Your Lowlands is fighting them now, but for how long? If Solarno is to free itself, we have to break the chains before they can add any new ones.’
They were all in agreement. Nero ground his teeth. ‘If that’s the way you want to play it,’ he said, reluctantly. ‘We’ll need a signal…’ Before he could be pelted with their ideas on the subject, he raised a hand. ‘I’ll arrange the signal. Leave it to me.’
‘What will it be?’ Wen asked him.
‘Well, if I can’t arrange anything else, it’ll be me baring my buttocks and mooning the new governor. But let me work on it,’ he told them.
It got a smile out of Taki, and it was almost worthwhile, just for that.
When they had gone, he sat himself on the floor, as Fly-kinden from his part of the world were used to, and thought. After a while he said loudly, ‘You might as well come in now. I’m sure you heard it all.’
Cesta came into the room, head first through the window. He must have been crouching outside in the shadow of the eaves. With a lazy grace he dropped to the floor.
‘They’re right, you know,’ he said, ‘about the timing. I know this city. Let the Wasps have their ceremony, and any resistance will drain away. They’re all about fierce action and regret in this city.’
Nero gazed at him for a long time. Eventually he said, ‘I have no right to ask anything of you.’
Cesta nodded. ‘That’s true. So don’t.’ He wore a small smile. ‘What will you do if you win, Nero? What if the Empire is beaten back on all sides, and Solarno is saved? Back to the Lowlands with you, then?’
‘I’m a traveller,’ Nero said. ‘There’s a whole world out there. I’ll find somewhere.’
Cesta shrugged. ‘Perhaps the Lowlands has need of another assassin.’ His smile twisted. ‘You’ll have your signal, Nero, so don’t you worry. It will be unmistakable.’
Thirteen
It was a long road to Szar, travelling only at the dragging pace of the machine wagons. Drephos’ mobile workshops, his mechanisms and tools, pieces and parts, furnaces and refineries, had all been carefully packed into a convoy of a dozen great hauling automotives. The master artificer himself spent the time cursing the lack of rails, and fitfully designing a rail-laying automotive that would allow him to go anywhere, with his entire surroundings, as fast as he pleased.