Page 50 of Kingdoms of Shadow and Ash

'What of accessibility?' said Fyia.

'Lord Fredrik and I have implemented a new system to allocate market stalls,' said Nara. 'It's still not perfect, but it's better than before.'

'Good,' said Fyia. She was pleased to see they'd made progress, despite the reluctance of many influential loud mouths.

'The Spider and Essa have appointed a new university chancellor, as well as new leaders of the guilds,' said Starfall.

'Any backlash?' asked Fyia.

'Of course,' said the Spider, 'and we’ll see more.'

'Such as?'

'Protests, barricades to prevent women from entering buildings, there's even been an assassination attempt on the new chancellor.'

'Who's behind it?' said Fyia.

'Too many to name, although I'm keeping a close watch on Lord Antice, and Sensis has deployed troops on the ground.'

'It's true,' said Sensis, 'which has slowed progress on training at the military academy.'

'Are they resisting too?' said Fyia.

'Some did,' said Sensis, 'but most of the ringleaders left of their own accord. Unfortunately, they've joined the troublemakers. We're making progress; those who stayed want to learn. Our tactics bested theirs, after all. We've also recruited three new intakes, many of whom are women.'

'Good,' said Fyia. 'What do you suggest we do about the troublemakers?'

'Stay the course,' said Sensis. 'The protests will run out of steam eventually … assuming they don’t get a big win before that happens.'

'You've put security on all the new leaders?' said Fyia.

'Of course,' said Sensis.

'What about the woman we captured from the airship?' asked Fyia. 'Has she revealed anything?'

'No,' said the Spider and Starfall together.

'We've tried everything we can think of,' said the Spider, 'but she's refusing to answer a single question.'

'She cackles and babbles and tears out chunks of her hair,' said Starfall. 'We tried hypnosis, light and art therapy, aromatic scents, coercion … we tried it all, and none of it worked.'

The doors at the back of the chamber clunked and whirled as they swung inwards, and Lord Venir—uncharacteristically disheveled—stood in the doorway. Fyia covered her surprise as he strode to the table, then bowed low, no sign of his previous pretense of being hampered by age.

'Your Majesty,' he said, without his usual sneer. 'I came as fast as I could, bearing bad news. The Emperor has taken your silence as a snub. He believes you question his word …'

'You've seen the dragons?' said Fyia.

'No. No one has. The Emperor is on the warpath. He's sending troops.'

'When?'

'A few days at most. I came as soon as I heard. They have a fleet of airships … it won't be long.'

'Where will they attack?'

'I didn't have time to find out.'

'Get Essa,' said Fyia.

---