The Children of the Sky

“Tycoon is sounding less and less pleased with Nevil’s advice,” Jefri whispered to her. Two of Tycoon looked up at Jef’s words, but otherwise the pack continued to ignore them.

Twenty minutes passed. They had lost sight of the ground. Who knew what mountain height lurked just ahead? Then, in the space of ten seconds, the ship broke through the edge of the squall line, emerging from bright cliffs of cloud. They were well within the Domain, past the hardscrabble farms of cotters and peasants, approaching the highest of the rich steadings. The land was splotched with snow and muddy waterfalls.

Spring in Woodcarver’s Domain was tendays of mud and rain. The land was not yet to the middle of that season, but this was one of those miracle days, when the storms briefly called truce and endless blue skies appeared, a tantalizing promise of summer. Mixed with the mud and avalanches and melting snow, the first flowers had turned meadows all the colors a human could see (including tints to which the poor Tines were blind). They could see all the way to the horizon through air swept clean by wind and rain. The horizon was a glistening line of silver, broken here and there by dark serrations.

The conversation between Tycoon and his various advisors had become mutually congratulatory. Tycoon gave a hoot of triumph and spoke to Ravna: “You’re surprised? Vendacious has radio contact with Nevil, so we have all the power of the starship in our support. No more do we have to skulk around, afraid that you would see us.”

“Indeed,” said Vendacious. “Your decision to abduct Ravna Bergsndot was a brilliant move, my lord. It has revolutionized our operations.”

“Ah, but it was truly your suggestion, Vendacious.” He made a noses-up gesture that was probably lost in Zek’s relaying. “I commend you.”

Jefri rolled his eyes, but remained blessedly silent as Vendacious continued with his analysis: “Things are sunny and clear in all ways now. We’re on schedule for the alliance show we’ve planned with Nevil. The raft fleet is even now at Hidden Island.”

“There’s still the Ravna faction to deal with,” said Tycoon.

“Trust me, sir. You recall our discussions about that. We and Nevil must simply make the proper show of our landing. And frankly, Ravna never had any powerful support, bar the absent Johanna and Pilgrim. Woodcarver has discovered her own reasons for disliking Ravna. If we play things aright, Woodcarver will have to accommodate the new order of things.”

“There will still be Flenser,” said Tycoon. “He may be our ally, and I have always admired him, but I fear he plays his own game.”

“Yes,” Vendacious’ voice trailed off in a thoughtful hiss. “Flenser will always be a problem…” For once, sincerity?

Through this, Jefri had been staring intently at the horizon. “There! I can see Whale Island!” Ravna followed his gesture. They were just two tiny blips on the edge the world, but she recognized the Notch and the Arch.

“Just follow right half a degree,” Jef continued, “and that should be Starship Hill.” The directions were clear, but all she could see were blotches of green and gray and white.

“Finally, a proper use for humans!” said Tycoon. “As lookouts … if only they could be believed.” Tycoon dragged up two long brass cylinders and set them in pintle mounts beside his outermost members. Four other members, still facing Ravna, were gazing down at a map set before their thrones. The two on the ends swept the telescopes back and forth in concert. “Vendacious! I see the starship! It’s exactly the magical glassy green you’ve always said.” He admired his telescopic view a few seconds more, then seemed to worry about further dangers: “Here’s where we bet we’ve found a human we can trust.” One of Tycoon was still looking at Ravna. “It’s true, is it not, that your ship could destroy us in an instant, even from this range?”

“… Yes,” said Ravna. If Nevil had installed the amplifier stage, the beam gun could burn anything in its line of sight. And in Ravna’s absence, Nevil’s sysadmin authority was probably sufficient to use it as a weapon.

Vendacious had his own ideas about the matter: “That’s still another reason to keep Ravna captive. Yes, Nevil is another two-legs, but he really needs us.”

•  •  •

Johanna’s flotilla was strung out along the direction of their course. As usual, her raft had ended up at the front. She looked back along the line of rafts. They stretched in a slight arc across two thousand meters. Hah. Blur your vision enough and they might be great sea battleships of the sort that Ravna had shown them back when she still thought Nyjoran history might mean something to Straumers. (Johanna, of course, had cherished the Princess tales since she was five.)

Altogether, there were over two thousand Tines aboard the flotilla. Once ashore, they would be the kind of trouble Tropical shipwrecks always were—times ten. Or maybe not. These Tines were her allies.