A smooth silver figure stood by the crate. Adena saw it had the curves of a woman with the merest suggestion of features. Two slight depressions where the eyes should be, a low bump and two indentations for a nose, a shallow horizontal crease for a mouth. Yet when it turned its head, she felt the power of an intense gaze.
Erinacht clutched his eyes and emitted a low keening noise. The silver lady turned to look at him. Erinacht stopped keening, lowered his hands, and went rigid. Adena stared and shuddered. Erinacht's eyes had turned a milky white.
The two Overseers overcame their shock. They roared and lurched into action, beefy arms and gnarled, clawed hands the size of hams clutching for the woman. Her form blurred then went still. The Overseers stopped in their tracks and disintegrated before them.
Erinacht gave a shriek that almost matched the sound made by the silver being's appearance. Adena saw a look of sheer panic fill his aquiline face as he turned and ran for the door. In spite of his blindness, he ran a true path, reaching the door far quicker than any human could manage.
The silver creature beat him to the door all the same. Erinacht couldn't stop himself running full-tilt into the circle of its arms. For a second it held him rigid in its clasp and sniffed him in a manner that seemed almost tender. Erinacht whimpered.
The being put its mouth to the top of his head as if kissing it. Erinacht's blind eyes turned crimson, then, before Adena's horrified gaze, his flesh shrank onto his bones until the skin grew taut. The silver being released the husk that had once been a proud member of the Pure Blood race, letting it fall to the ground. For a second it gazed down at the remains then deliberately stamped on the skull, crushing it to shards.
Greg recovered first. "What do we do?" he whispered.
"To begin with, we don't attract its attention," she whispered back.
The being glanced at them then turned and walked through the door without bothering to open it first. Pieces of wood clattered to the ground. Its departure released the people of Oculus Nightingale from their spell of horrified fascination.
Adena looked around. Zared laid senseless on the ground, a large bruise on his forehead. The woman slave cowered in a silent fetal ball a few yards away. Adena gestured to them and turned to her crew. "Bring them aboard. Clap Zared in irons — he's got some explaining to do. See that she's looked after."
Adena’s lips twisted in a mockery of a smile. "It's her lucky day — she just got freed."
"What do we do, Adena?" Greg demanded.
A distant scream sounded from beyond the shattered doorway. Adena looked at Greg. "You want to find your friend? Let's go get her. I think House Caronel has found other things to worry about."
Scenes of devastation greeted Greg's eyes wherever he looked. Whatever the nature of the silver being, its purpose seemed clear — the total destruction of the Pure Bloods and their Overseer and Quadsang attendants.
Most of the buildings they passed through were little more than shells. They reminded Greg of pictures he'd seen of World War II bomb sites, and the ruins of Stalingrad. As they went further, the buildings looked in better shape, some with furnishings in rooms and passageways as he and Adena passed through. Once they had to leap back as a wall collapsed with a heavy rumble of ancient masonry, dust flying thick in the air. Adena pulled a wrap of cloth about her face to mask her mouth. Greg had to hold his sleeve over his lips and nose.
"How deep do you think that silver thing's going into this city?" Greg asked as they came to the base of a tower which seemed intact.
"Until it's done what it needs to do or someone stops it." Adena paused at an archway and peered through. "Dear gods, I don't think it'll be done anytime soon."
The archway gave onto a kind of guardroom. Scattered bodies covered the floor, none of them intact that Greg could see. The stench of blood filled the frigid air. A door beyond the room had been obliterated. Faint screams reached his ears, then ceased with disconcerting abruptness.
Adena stared at one set of remains. "What is it?" he asked.
She pointed at it. "It's what's left of a Pure Blood. I thought they were damned near invulnerable."
Greg glanced at it. His stomach was far from delicate. Engineering work in the field had no place for those who would lose their lunch over a dead body or a mere bad smell; even so, he felt queasy. "That one learned otherwise. Can we go now?"
She set her teeth and nodded. "Come on."
They made their way through the shattered doorway and into a much larger chamber with a cross-vaulted ceiling three stories overhead. Banners bearing strange devices hung from staffs projecting from the walls. Trophies of arms filled the spaces between columns, and the whole chamber had a martial air.
Greg saw a set of bloody footprints crossing the room toward a stairway in the opposite wall. "Well, I guess that's where it went next."
Adena opened her mouth to reply but the sound of activity behind them stopped her. They turned as one to look back as a group of armed Quadsang guards headed by a Pure Blood woman with white upswept hair entered the chamber behind them.
The woman glared, raised a slender hand, pointed and said, "Seize them!"
Greg raised his pistol, but the guards moved faster. In the blink of an eye two of the swarthy creatures pointed silvery cylindrical devices at them. Metallic cords shot out the end of the cylinders and wrapped around Greg and Adena, holding them fast. Struggle as he might, Greg could not break free. A sharp tug brought him and Adena to their knees.
"Take them
