Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 555
terminus in the desert...
"I’ve got it!" That knot of men and horses, surrounding a
tumble of stones, must be the end of the tunnel. It only
remained for Jordan to orient himself, open his eyes, and find
the distant smudge of figures with his own vision. Then he
was up and running.
He went back down the hillside, out of sight of the palace
and the now
abandoned, smoking siege engines. An eery silence was
descending as the Swans touched down in the valley. He
couldn’t see what was happening there, unless he went back
into Ka’s perspective. That might be too dangerous at this
point. But for all he knew, the swans were killing everyone.
When he estimated they were near the causeway, Jordan
jogged cautiously up the hillside again. The long causeway
was visible below them. It ended well outside the tents of
Lavin’s encampment, in the tumble of ruins Jordan had seen
from above.
"Look!"
Tamsin was pointing at the palace. Jordan was afraid to
look. Reluctantly, he turned his head, expecting to see the
Swans descending on them.
Something huge was rising out of the earth near the
palace’s main gate. It was as big as one of the towers, rounded,
and colored in mottled rust and beige shades. The Swans were
darting around it like flies. A low drone carried from that
direction.
"Our distraction," said Jordan. "Mediation was listening
after all!"
A troop of nervous soldiers crouched at the ruins. They
were watching the living flames walk the palace walls, but duty
or fear kept them at their posts around the entrance to the