Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 230
place. If he tried to run, Turcaret was prepared to kill him.
"I don't know why they're doing it," Mason said simply.
He seemed guileless; whatever he had done, he was probably
too stupid to remember or connect it to tonight's events.
The Heaven hooks would keep tearing the estate apart
until they found Mason. He was the cancer at the heart of the
night, and only his removal would restore the correct order to
things.
Killing him would also surely make the Winds notice
Turcaret at last.
"Stand still," he instructed the youth. He stepped forward
and raised the sword.
Lightning flashed again, and Turcaret caught a glimpse
of Mason’s eyes. In them Turcaret saw something he had
never believed he would see.
Words and images flickered like heat lightning in those
eyes. Somehow, this youth was both Man and Wind. The
whispering voices of nature spoke from within him. All the
people on this estate--all people everywhere--appeared to
Turcaret as absences, silhouettes against the glow of the
Winds. All except Mason, who shone like nature itself.
Mason glanced up at the sky. Suddenly everyone in the
courtyard was screaming.
Mason jumped back. People were running for the walls,
so finally Turcaret tore his gaze away from the youth.
He just had time to count the claws on the giant hand
before it fell on him, took him, and crushed out his life.
Jordan met August Ostler in a cellar hallway choked with
dust and swarming with terrified people. The soldier looked
stunned, and Jordan had to take him by the shoulders and shout
in his face to get his attention.