"You don't believe in the Shepherdor the Lady, Chalcus," Merota said sternly.
"Aye, there you have me, dear one," said the sailor, but the banter was only in his tone and not his eyes. "Nor perhaps in the Sister who rules the Underworld. But if there was a Sister and a Hell for her to rule, I think we might find them in a place that looks much-"
Chalcus nodded toward the column of steam, still rising and now seeming to sparkle at the core.
"-as that one does."
"Yes," said Ilna, her eyes on the horizon. "And I've never found such a lack of trouble in this world that I needed to borrow it from the heavens."
Chapter 2
"This is the palace," Protas said, standing in the stern of the barge that was carrying Cashel with the delegation returning to Mona, the island's capital. He cleared his throat. "I suppose you've seen much better ones, though? Haven't you, Cashel?"
Mona had a good harbor unless the wind came from the southwest, but it wasn't big enough by half to hold the battered royal fleet. That wasn't a surprise: Cashel didn't guess there was a handful of places in all the kingdom that could. There'd be ships dragged up on every bit of bare shore for miles around the city tonight, trying to make good damage from the meteor.
At least the beaches of First Atara seemed to be sand, not the fist-sized basalt shingle that lay beyond the ancient seawall of Barca's Hamlet. That was hard on keels, and for all their size warships were built lighter than the fishing dories that were the only ships Cashel'd known while he was growing up.
"I've seen bigger places, palaces and temples and even the main market-building in Valles," he said. "I don't know I've ever seen a nicer one. Still, I'm not one to talk. I spend most of my time outdoors when people let me."