“Enzo, get those children out of here.”
“Get the…what?” He stared at her for a moment, then nodded. “Right. The children.” And he dashed away to the first group of little figures huddled beside the body of a young woman.
Qhora strode across the grassy field, scanning for the old woman with the cat.
What was her name? Chow?
Instinct drew her toward the burning wreckage at the far end of the lawn where she found a scrapheap of blackened, shredded parts of machines strewn all around her. A handful of bodies lay on the manicured grass, all impaled by broken brass rods and iron plates. One man had a long shard of glass through his neck. Qhora didn’t bother to check whether any of them were still alive.
She found the old woman kneeling a few yards from one of the smoking machines. A thin trickle of blood ran from her temple. The cat in her hands was not moving.
“Chaou!” Qhora yelled. “Put the cat down.”
Chaou stood up, one hand pressed to her bleeding head. She looked once at Qhora and then turned to the wreckage behind her. Qhora followed her stare to see a well-dressed woman lying beside two soldiers. To the left she saw a maid and five children slowly regaining consciousness a few yards from the broken machines.
Chaou held up the cat. “This is it. This is the moment. The end and the beginning!”
“Get away from them!” Qhora circled to place herself between Chaou and the children. “Put the cat down.”
“Get out of the way, girl.” Chaou inched closer to the queen, who was still motionless on the ground. One of the soldiers began to stir beside her.
“You’re not killing these children!” Qhora lifted her bayonet, ready to throw it, unsure of what might happen if she stabbed the dead cat by accident. Her best guess was the cat carried an infectious pathogen, perhaps the Mazigh equivalent of the Golden Death.
Chaou stumbled forward a few more steps, still clutching her head. Qhora yelled over her shoulder at the maid in her broken Mazigh, “Go! Take the children! Go!” The maid nodded and grabbed up the children, barking orders in a shaking voice. The group got to their feet, boys and girls from three to thirteen, all stumbling and crying. When Qhora looked back at Chaou she saw the anger in the old woman’s eyes, and Chaou started toward the children.
“No!” Qhora hurled the bayonet and the long thin blade sank into the dead cat clasped to the old woman’s chest. The cat and woman vanished into a sudden flash of light and flame and a blast of hot air shoved Qhora back onto the ground. She sat up to see the grass burning, Chaou’s body burning, and the wreckage behind them awash in fresh flames. Beneath the collapsing, burning metal and wood, Qhora saw the queen and her soldiers. The queen’s head shifted and her hand rose an inch off the ground. For a moment, the two women’s eyes met. The queen’s lips moved, her trembling hand reaching out.
Qhora stood up, brushed herself off, and walked away after the retreating children. A moment later, she heard the roar and the crush of the burning balloon falling back to earth behind her. She looked back once to see the queen’s barge hidden by curtains of flame, and then she went to find Lorenzo.
Chapter 47. Taziri
When she opened her eyes, Taziri saw her grandfather leaning over her, except his face was all wrong. It was too old and too serious, and too blotchy. After a few seconds of looking and blinking she recognized the doctor, Evander.
Her head was throbbing and her mouth had gone dry. “I crashed the ship. I’m sorry.” Her memory of the crash was a blur of images and fear, but the idea was clear enough. She felt her hand trembling on the sheets. “I couldn’t think of anything else.”
He nodded. “It’s all right. Everything is all right. How do you feel?”
She wanted to throw up, sleep for a week, and then die. “Fine. I’m fine.”
“You’ve been asleep for most of the day, but you’re going to be just fine. That gash in your side was ugly, but you only lost a kidney, which you shouldn’t miss too much.” He sniffed. “I like that brace on your left arm. Very nice piece of work. Too bad you didn’t show me that burn when it happened or I might have been able to save you the trouble.”
Her hand glided down under the sheets to the bandages wrapped around her belly, and then she glanced around the room as she sat up in the huge bed. The room was like nothing she had ever seen before. Paintings of strange lands on the walls, statues of strange people in the corners, and thick carpets on the floor. Through the open window she saw stars and felt a cool breeze blowing. I’m in the palace. “Ghanima?”
Evander shook his head. “I’m sorry. She died in the crash.”
Taziri stared at him, her jaw trembling. It’s my fault. I should have been in that chair.
“But the major is still in one piece,” the doctor said. “They found him in the street somewhere with just a few hundred bruises and some mild acid burns. Nothing he won’t shrug off in a few days.”
Taziri swallowed a renewed desire to vomit. She nodded and blinked hard.
“It’s been quite a day,” Evander continued. “They’ve kept me busy enough. Lots of folks were hurt up there in your little stunt. Luckily, most of them turned out to be minor injuries and the guards are saying that if you hadn’t knocked that balloon into the sky, a lot of people would have died. I assume you did all that on purpose.”
Taziri nodded. Thank God for that.
“Back in Arafez you mentioned a detective who helped you. An older woman? Yes? Well, I’m sorry to tell you that she’s dead as well. Lady Sade shot her. Then the guards shot the lady.” Evander sighed. “Damned madhouse of a country you have here. I remember when guns were so slow and heavy and sloppy that only a fool would carry one. I suppose those were the good old days.”
The detective? Taziri frowned. How is that possible? How did she get here? And…she’s dead too? “Anyone else?”
“Yes.” Evander squinted at her. “The queen is dead. But her children and sister escaped. Speaking of which, the princess wanted to talk to you. Are you feeling up to it?”
She nodded and he started to stand up, but she said, “Wait. Doctor?”
“Hm?”
“Why did the queen ask you to come here? Did she know that this would happen? Did you come to take care of the royal family in case there was an attack?”
“No,” he said softly. “I was summoned to attend the queen personally. Pregnancies can be complicated for women of a certain age.”
Taziri nodded dumbly and waited as the doctor padded out the door. She had time to wiggle her numb fingers and prod her tender ribs. A minute later, a young woman entered the room. She was tall and plain-faced, her eyes red, and her lips thin. She came over to the bed and sat in the doctor’s chair. “Lieutenant Ohana? I am Lady Tzeddig.”
“It’s an honor to meet you, my lady.” Taziri tried to look calm and professional in her sick bed, but a sudden fit of coughing had her doubled over and clutching her injured side. When the coughs stopped, she felt more exhausted than ever. “Excuse me.”
“It’s all right. It’s been a long day for everyone.” Lady Tzeddig swallowed and exhaled slowly. Then she met the pilot’s eyes and said, “First, let me thank you for risking your life to save my family. Your friend, the pilot who died?”
“Ghanima.”
“She’ll be receiving a medal of honor and her family will be taken care of, of course.” Tzeddig’s hands trembled in her lap. “I understand you were helping the marshals investigating Ambassador Chaou and Lady Sade. The guards have taken over that investigation. They will probably want to talk to you.” Her voice shook and she covered her eyes.
Taziri reached over and took the princess’s hand and they both sat and stared down at their laps for a moment.
Lady Tzeddig looked up and spoke in a soft but steady voice. “The preliminary report says that your airship was electric. All electric. If it had been steam-powered, the boiler would have exploded on impact. Was that your idea?”