Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 542
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They were in sight of the palace walls when Jordan
began to hear the song. It came from directly overhead, far
above the smoky air and late autumn clouds. The last time
he’d heard something like remotely like this, the sky had been
filling with vagabond moons at the Boros estate. The sky was
empty now.
Periodically as they trudged toward the siege, Jordan had
paused and closed his eyes, to watch the events there unfolding
through Armiger’s eyes. He knew an assault on the palace was
in full swing, but beyond that everything was confused.
Armiger seemed to be moving purposefully, but since he didn’t
talk to himself he wasn’t letting Jordan in on his thoughts.
"Going in there is suicide," Tamsin had said when he told
her of the assault. "We need to stop and wait for it to end."
Maybe. But Jordan feared that the seemingly empty
landscape around them would erupt at any second with minions
of thalience. He could easily be caught by them before they
reached the palace.
Only Armiger could oppose the Winds. Compared to
them, the threat of these human armies seemed almost trivial.
"We have to tell him about Mediation and thalience," he
told her. "He would have acted by now if he knew exactly
what was going on. I don’t believe the queen told him what he
needed to know."