The Silent Army Read Online Free Page A

always were, Merros. They are simply farther away than you might expect.”
    “All the gods, Desh. How do you handle this?” Merros shivered. It wasn’t the surprise or the fear that caused his body to shake. It was the cold. Thinner air and colder weather were only a few of the challenges that came from their new, higher, altitude.
    Desh looked out over the landscape far below, where the Jeurgis River glittered in the fading sunlight. He could see the chaos in the towns beneath them. If being on a floating city was disorienting, how must it be for the people who realized that it wasn’t a storm cloud above them, but a landmass? How deeply afraid might they be that the approaching mountain-sized structure meant their death?
    “What is the other choice, Merros? Neither you nor I were ever meant to merely watch the world as it changes. We are not the sort. We prepare and we fight.”
    The general nodded and shook his head. “Have you discovered where the city is going?”
    Desh shook his head. “We’re… investigating. It will take a while.”
    “Let’s hope whatever is keeping Canhoon this high in the air does not decide to drop us somewhere along the way.”
    Desh did a few quick calculations in his head and then scowled. “Try not to put notions like that in my skull, Merros. It’s enough to wreck my cheerful disposition.”
    “This is your territory, not mine, First Advisor. Might I suggest you seek a solution?”
    “As I said, we’re investigating. These things take time.”
    The general looked away from the view below and stared at him for several seconds. “Yes, well, sooner is better I suspect.”
    “What are you so worried about, Merros? I mean beyond the obvious.”
    “We are currently heading, near as I can tell, directly east.”
    “Yes. I gathered as much myself.”
    “I was looking at the maps yesterday. I’ve been looking at them a lot. What is the one distinct landmark that is east of us?”
    “Oh. Damn.”
    The mountains. Fellein was a vast continent and most of it was easily traversable but there are always exceptions. In this case the Arkannen Mountains rose from the fertile lands like the spine of a god and separated the west from the east.
    “Wait. There’s always–”
    “Yes. The Lishter Gap.” Merros gestured with his left hand. “It’s a lovely notion. It is also few hundred miles to the north of us.”
    The Lishter Gap was the only actual break in the mountains. The granite and marble range was as tall as it was long, and the only spot aside from where the river cut through was the Lishter Gap where the Imperial Highway ran. The choice for travelers was always simple. Take the river, or take the gap.
    The problem that they faced was that the cut between the mountains where the river flowed was not nearly as wide as the city. There was a very real chance that Canhoon would smash into one of the peaks, and while Desh was a man who believed in the impossible, there was nothing in his arsenal of spells that would make moving mountains easy. If there were, he’d have long since done something about the volcanoes burning to the west.
    Desh had not yet discovered if there was a way to actually steer the city. He was working on it, granted, but there was very little time left for trial and error. Relatively speaking at least. Surely there was still time left.
    Hopefully.
    “Enough of this,” said Desh. “I came to find you because we have several different problems facing us, not the least of which is what to do with all of the extra people in town.”
    Merros nodded. For a moment he looked decades older than his age. Then he inhaled, squared his shoulders, and with a few changes in posture and a hardening of his features he went from a worried man to a general.
    He did not look at the edge of the wall again as he started walking toward the palace of the Empress. “So let us be on with it. The day is not growing any younger and I’d like sleep at some point.”

    Summoning the