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"Why are they waiting?" she asked "The Arbiter can’t possibly have more than a thousand troops in there He’s under attack yet nobody has come to his aid ‘Telcam attracts more supporters by the hour You have at least one ship that could destroy the entire keep Just do it End it"
"This is politics" Forze landed and shut down the drives "And ‘Telcam is devout I suspect he wants to hear the Arbiter recant his heresy before he kil s his"
"Do you?"
"Not always But I knohat I believe in"
"Not the gods"
"Perhaps not, but I do believe in restoring a strong Sanghelios that doesn’t need to sign peace treaties"
"But ‘Telcam doesn’t even want the Arbiter’s power Who wil rule, Forze? When we cut off the flawed head that we have, what do we put in its place? Anarchy? Confusion? Lesser leaders? Puppets?"
"A kaidon wil step up Someone always does" Forze sounded convinced "It’s better to cut out the source of an infection than to let it poison the whole body while ait for a cure"
Raia snorted to herself Yes, it was typical Warriors were brought up to refuse medical aid as a mark of shame, the fools She stil saw no honor in that, even if it instil ed endurance There was far ht back She was sure she knehich path the humans would choose
Hue of the creatures beyond the occasional stories that Jul told her and the evidence of her own eyes--that they’d spread throughout the galaxy, settling on hundreds of worlds that had not been theirs in her forebears’ day Now she’d seen them face to face, and they confused her They landed on her world with no visible fear or reverence They were even given assistance Forze had been told to rescue one of them, and even help them with repairs This wasn’t the future she wanted for her children
What ga? He was devout Why didn’t he just kil every human he met? What was this favor he had to repay?
As soon as she clih the lines, so her eyes and she could taste dust in her e fro silences It left her with the i stones at a her to provoke hiht a war for decades, a real war of destruction, and they hadn’t lost their courage now
‘Telca some distance behind the front barrier, ar so Buran, the shipmaster who seemed to be his lieutenant, paced up and down a fewthe sle tree or bush left intact in the space between the rebels and the wal s of the keep It was a forest of s charcoal She couldn’t tel if the area had been cleared deliberately or if it was simply random destruction froly,holes in the stonework so big that if she stood in a certain position she could look straight through to the courtyard, but she couldn’t see how e had been done inside
‘Telcam didn’t seem to notice her for a moment Then he turned around
"My lady, you shouldn’t be here" He was polite but angry, lips drawn back just a little over his fangs She was no longer someone he needed to placate "Go back to Shipo ho for your husband"
"Why do you tolerate the humans?"
"What?"
"What benefit are they to us? Why do you owe them favors?"
He clenched his jaws That question had unsettled him for some reason "Politics," he said
It seemed to be the universal answer to tel her to ue the point with hi back would feel like she’d given up her search far too easily and too soon It made no sense, because Jul could have been anywhere and she had no more reason to believe he was in Vadao home and carry on as before
"I stil fail to understand the role of humans in this," Raia said
"It’s a complex situation because humans are devious creatures They have a ship in orbit, and I have no idea what it plans to do, if anything"
"Then destroy it I knoe have feorking ships, but surely we can destroy one human vessel"
‘Telcaoing to be a very difficult task Now, please go somewhere safer Take cover"
Raia walked away butback toward Forze She didn’t want to be seen to obey ‘Telcaoy
She could hear ruinning to recognize--but she couldn’t see where they were co from, and turned around in a ful circle to spot whatever wasit Then it started: triumphant shouts picked up across the caed into a wave of sound that swept past her toward the forest at their backs
"‘Rduan’s co!"
"It’s ‘Rduan!"
Raia blocked the path of the first warrior she sahen she turned around She seized his arm "Who’s ‘Rduan?"
"That’s ‘Rduan," he said, pointing behind her "Shipmaster ‘Rduan Or perhaps I should say that’s Defender of Faith "