Outside the war hall people began shrieking. The noise rose and grew worse. Mariush stood up from the stool where she had been sitting, with the baby heiress on her lap and called her Emir-al to her side. “This cannot go on.”
She swept out to where the doors were closing against the noise. “Stop that.” Their hesitance slowed the doors to a grinding halt, and His Radiance began pulling himself out of code.
“Kyrus Talain!” The woman's voice snapped across the hall. “I can deal with this.”
The Emperor hesitated but settled back down to his station and Mariush called for a chair, sank down on it in a flurry of veils. Homa, inside the third veil, on her mama's lap, looked out the doors at the funny screaming people, and sucked on her bare toes.
Mariush sank into code and Homa grabbed her mama's hair and climbed up to her feet, both of them staring out of the doors at the terrified mob.
*Code over-ride activation.* Mariush's thought echoed, even through the Milari and the Nadu. She gathered the ringing silence around her. *We are Lainz.*
*We will not be destroyed.*
*We will not be diminished.*
*Our Empress and Emperor saved our lives in the face of everything the planet could do to us.*
*We drank our birds' blood to stay alive.*
*We saved our children.*
We saved our technology.*
*We saved ourselves.*
Through storm and sand and drought, through failing resources and our own birds trying to kill us, through Prime's active attempt to bury us under a piece of ice the size of our city, we survived.*
*We are Lainz. We are Milar. We are Nadu. We will not die.*
She set Homa on her breast and the baby latched on and somehow her suckling was transmitted to every frozen, listening person. Mariush had the baby riot clutched tight in her hand and did not let it go, though her hold grew softer and gentler. *It is all right. We are all, every one of us, warriors and manders and cliners and zardukar and zon. We are living people and we will fight to stay alive. We have moments to prepare.*
*Let us not do our enemy's job for him.*
Let us show him and his warriors what it is to stick a hand into the bush-dragon's crack.*
*Let us not panic. Let us hurry to our safe places, get our children safe, prepare and brace to meet Prime's blows.*
Kyrus
could see a dozen people, frozen beyond the hall doors who were
clearly trying to fight back against Mariush's send but her thoughts
rolled on as unstoppable as a haboob.
*Your fear fights for Prime and against us. Be calm. We are all warriors on this battleground. Hurry, but do not scramble. We are not oyucks struggling to squeeze into a crack that is too small. We are not Stink-Tights shedding our tails, flailing wildly and with no effective action.*
Mariush stood up and Homa unlatched from her breast with a tiny pop that was somehow easy to hear. Homa rubbed a milky fist over her face, burped, and said – in code -- *Be good girl*
Werfas ran over to the door as Mariush and Homa held people near calm. “Hey... you're all called to be Rasheem! You're all called to defend yourselves and your Radiance and your home!”
Mariush sat down again as the crowd outside began to move again. Kyrus heard her sat 'thank you' to Werfas as he kept the space before the doors empty, or at least more empty, so that people wouldn't panic in a crush. He clined spaces to give people breathing room.
“Thank goodness,” the Amir breathed into Ky's ear as he watched. He looked pretty rough from where he'd hauled the young zardukar out of her fatal trance, apparently by the seat of her trousers and her hair. He looked more than a bit rumpled, even with his sarband sitting snug against his sweating and bald head.
“What can I do?” Kyrus said as the calm Mariush had imposed spread up and down the refugee road.
“Go back and get a drink. Sit with your wingbrother. You aren't running for your life and the lives for Nadu this time, boy. Your father will need you in code when the ice starts falling.”
“Only seventy-two minutes now,” Ky said. He was sweating great beads all down his back. I wished to be a warrior. My wish is here.
“I'm sure you can wait that long,” the Amir said. “I'll be there tah back yeh up, when yer da needs yah, lad.”
“All right.”
Werfas came back with one of the code-dogs riding in the crook of his arm. “I found a friend here. I have a feeling she'll be a good help.”
“Seventy minutes,” Ky said.
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