“While you’re posing questions, ponder this one: How do you think those with vested interests in faith would react if the Savior arose from the Vault of Ages, the Builder’s will incarnate, possessed of the powers of all the saints and free from corruption? She carries in her hands the ability to finish the work of the saints, to expel the Breaker from Creation, to free the souls of the clayborn dead from Torment, to restore the Primus Mundi and create Paradise Everlasting. All she requires of mortalkind is that we give up hatred, envy, greed, and fear. We must forgive our enemies, admit our sins, seek atonement, give up our wealth, and trust the stranger. Will she be beloved and obeyed or burned as an Abomination?”

Quill frowned. “Prophecy says it is the Savior who will bring such a lasting peace, which is why we seek to prepare the world for his arrival.”

“Precisely.” Isabelle swept her hands together asymptotically, fingertips never quite meeting. “We are supposed to improve the world. The problem with believers is that they always want the Savior to do the hard part for them.”

CHAPTER

Ten

The orrery showed the Thunderclap had been blown several hundred kilometers off course and put them in a position trailing Joubert’s Folly in its slow scud around the northern eddy of the Hoary Gyre. That would add days onto the expedition, but the mission had built in as much slack as possible to the schedule.

Isabelle ordered best speed for Joubert’s Folly. With the prevailing wind, that would take the Thunderclap through the tail of the archipelago. There was no immediate sign of the Dame Formue or any other pursuit. Given that the storm that had tossed them around for two days had certainly done the same to their adversaries, Isabelle hoped to reach the fleet depot, resupply, and depart before they were espied. With luck, the Thunderclap might be able to avoid pursuit completely. Then all she’d have to worry about, from a military point of view, was the Skaladin Fleet.

She stood in the chartroom, listening to Lieutenant Vrain’s most recent report from Fleet Command. The storm had driven l’Empire’s Hoary Fleet to seek shelter in Port Verduin, closer in to Craton Massif, which put them several days out from the Spiral Archipelago.

“Is there any more news on the Skaladin Fleet?” Isabelle asked.

Vrain said, “The last time we had eyes on them they were still on course for the Lorentz Trough.” There the aethercurrent and the prevailing winds could let them sweep down on imperial outposts in the Hoary Gyre so quickly that an out-of-position fleet would not be able to intercept them.

“Strike to the heart,” said Capitana Falconé, gesturing at the palace walls. “The master has sneaked away to woo his mistress, and has cleared a path for his own return.”