Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 739
as he watched one toppled over, sending a ripple out through
the forest fire.
Something made of red-hot blades squatted at the center
of a blackened hectare of ground. Thin beams of light flicked
out of it every few seconds, incinerating the few remaining
trees nearby. Heat-haze made the thing shimmer like an
hallucination. It must be at least as big as Castor’s manor.
"3340," said Armiger. Jordan looked down at him. The
general lay staring at the roiling sky. "It only took Him
minutes to crack the codes of the Winds. He is able to
command them now. He’s ordered the swans to commit
suicide."
"Can't you stop him?" Jordan knew the answer even as
he spoke. Armiger shook his head.
Tamsin knelt by them. "What about the desals? Can’t
they do anything?"
"It’s paralyzed Mediation somehow too." Jordan
instinctively ducked as another explosion sounded somewhere
nearby. "That’s why the door stopped moving before."
"That’s it then," said Axel. "It’s up to the fleet. They’re
going to nuke this entire continent to make sure they get 3340.
If we’d only gotten to the ship."
Jordan stood up. "Armiger, is that red thing down there
3340?"
The general glanced at him. "Yes."
"He’s very hot. Like a fire. Is that all there is to him?"
"For now. He’s growing fast. He’s hot because he needs
energy..." Armiger drifted off again, eyes fixed on nothing.
Jordan leaned on the parapet. "Let me try something."
"What are you doing?" asked Axel.
"I was worried that we’d have nothing to bargain with,
between the Winds and Armiger," said Jordan. "So while we