Swans Over the Moon Read Online Free PDF

limbs
thrust through massive metal rings on the coach's side. The
couriers were outfitted with baggy white robes and cloth gauntlets
that matched the pure white of the carriage itself, wide-brimmed
conical hats like inverted spinning tops, and round goggles with
matte-black lenses that completely hid the eyes underneath, making
their wearers look like four-limbed white insects from a distance.
Horses would have been instantly blinded in such searing white
light and, though they would have made the journey more quickly,
the beasts could not have endured the trip as well as the pygmies,
who had been bred for this very purpose, even retaining their eyes
for navigation, unlike their blind palatial cousins. Beneath their
flowing robes, their short, taut-muscled legs carried their human
cargo with more fluidity than seemed possible for such squat
creatures.
    The Judicar donned his own pair of insectoid
goggles to protect his eyes from the scalding sunlight before he
cautiously peered out from behind the window shade. Heterodymus
turned both heads away, holding up an arm for protection from the
unbearable light that blared into the carriage, illuminating every
interstice. The Judicar scanned the horizon to the south, spotting
the distant gray peak of Mons Vinogradov, then let the curtains
close. He removed the goggles, then pointed to a parchment map that
sat on the table situated between them. The borders of Procellarium
were outlined in white, making the nation look like some vast
amoeba, sending pseudopodical roads out to several craters outlying
the main body, stretching east to west from Crater Delisle to
Crater Schiaparelli, and north to south from Angstrom and the
Agricola Mountains to Bradley C and D. Euler lay straight east at a
distance as wide as Procellarium itself, across a vast stretch of
nothingness populated only by highwaymen and the hordes of foul
creatures, both pets and scavengers, that attended them. It was for
this reason that both the couriers and the carriage's passengers
traveled well-armed.
    The spots had just begun fading from
Heterodymus' four eyes when the Judicar finally spoke. “We are
making good time this eastward journey. Let's go over the situation
in Euler while we have a moment.”
    Dexter looked up at the Judicar, then to
Sinistrum, who rolled his eyes away to look at the carriage's roof.
Finally, avoiding a return to the Judicar's inquisitive gaze, the
younger head let his eyes rest on a pile of parchments that were
resting on his lap. He thumbed through the series of documents as
if he had not heard his liege's words. The Judicar was, at first,
simply annoyed by this strange behavior, then concerned as the
thought struck him that Dexter did not wish to address the Euler
issue.
    Sinistrum, taking his brother's cue, and
unable to distract himself with the hands that Dexter was using to
collate documents, spoke to the perplexed Judicar, who dropped his
head to the table to try to meet Dexter's averted gaze,
half-smiling, as if playing peek-a-boo with an angry child in an
effort to make it laugh.
    “Your majesty,” Sinistrum began with a stern
voice. The Judicar lifted his head to lock eyes with the left head
of his counselor. His smile fell, and consternation showed on the
ruler's face. Sinistrum continued: “Your majesty, Euler is not . .
. particularly amiable to, not aligned with our interests at the
moment.”
    The Judicar shoot his head, exasperated. He
put his head in his hands.
    “Not another war?” The scar tissue in his
leg, only months old, throbbed at the thought. “My men need time to
recover and train up replacements for those lost against the
Scaramouche.”
    “Our agents see no military buildup, sir,”
Sinistrum said.
    “At least not directed against us,” Dexter
cut in, finally daring to look up from his papers at the Judicar's
face. The ruler looked tired and batterfanged, Dexter thought,
ready to suffer a nervous breakdown at any moment. Still, the news
must be broken.