Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 748
soldiers and Armiger. "Killing Armiger now won’t end it," he
said quickly. "The thalience Winds have decided to destroy
humanity. We have to convince them not to."
Galas laughed. "And how do we do that? We can’t even
talk to them!"
"You can’t. I can."
The queen tilted her head, considering. "Maybe you can.
But you can’t compel them, can you?"
"Not by myself, no." Turning to Armiger, he said, "you
have the skill to command the Winds. I have the means to
communicate with them. Through me, you can accomplish
what you came here to do. Correct?"
The general stared at Jordan for a long moment. Then he
shrugged, and said, "Correct."
"How do we know he won’t do the same thing 3340
planned?" said Galas. "Destroy the world to build his own?"
Armiger looked at her wearily. "What would I build?
Nothing I do could possibly bring Megan back. Anything
less... is meaningless to me now."
He crossed his arms. "What would you have us do?" he
asked Jordan.
"Destroy Thalience," said Marya.
Axel nodded. "If this Mediation thing wins, then Ventus
will be under the command of humanity again," he said.
"That’s what we want, isn’t it?"
Jordan felt his heart sink. It seemed the only option, but
he remembered vividly how Mediation had created the animal
army that had escorted Jordan and Tamsin here. To Mediation,
the world was nothing more than a giant machine. Perhaps
Armiger could command Thalience into silence, and make the
Winds listen to humanity again. What then? The world would
become the toybox of Man’s ego.