The Queen was looking at a watercrafted image, Isana thought. Which meant that the pool wasn’t simply a water-filled dimple in the floor. It was connected, somehow, to the water system of the surrounding area, where furies would be able to bring images and sounds.

Quiet footsteps sounded, and Invidia entered. She made some irritated gesture at one of the walls, and the ear-tearing wail ended. “What has happened?”

“My progenitors have arrived,” the Queen murmured softly.

“That’s impossible,” Invidia said. “The attack is about to begin. You cannot divert your attention now.”

“Not impossible, obviously,” the Queen said, a very faint tinge of displeasure in her tone.

The creature on Invidia’s chest rippled. She closed her eyes, and her cheeks lost all color for a moment.

“I suppose he could have been flown from Antillus in that time,” Invidia said, much more quietly. “Where is he?”

“In Riva,” the vord Queen said distantly. “Destroying the food stores.”

Invidia lifted her eyebrows. Or rather, where her eyebrows should have been, had they not been seared off. Her skin was still a patchwork of burned flesh. The scars, Isana thought, would surely be permanent. Not even a watercrafter of Invidia’s skill could remove them now, days after she received the burns. “The larder... but we needed the supply line from Riva to feed the warriors.”

The Queen lifted her dark, multifaceted eyes and stared coldly at Invidia.

Invidia folded her arms. “Your anger does not change the fact that the horde cannot possibly find enough food to support active operations.”

The Queen’s expression darkened more. Then she raised a hand and waved it vaguely at the air. “I will send a portion of the force into sleep. They will not require food. I will mark out the smallest warrior in every group of ten.”

Invidia looked slightly ill. “You’re feeding them upon their own?”

The Queen went back to staring at the pool. “It is necessary. They are the least useful soldiers at the moment. It will be done before the assault, so that they can maintain their activity levels.” Her mouth twitched a tiny bit at one corner. “And after, there will be other sources available.”

“You cannot sustain a campaign without supplies,” Invidia said.

“I do not need to sustain a campaign,” the Queen replied calmly. “All I need to do is break them, here, in this valley. Once the Alerans are broken here, they are broken forever. If I lose every warrior, drone”—she paused to glance at Invidia—“and slave under my command but accomplish that, it will be well worth it.”

“I understand,” Invidia said, frost edging her words.

The Queen remained calm and remote. “Anger will not change the fact that the most intelligent course of action, in your position, is to go forth and position your fellow slaves in such a fashion as to maximize the cost for the Alerans to neutralize the warriors with furycraft.”