Crisis of Faith by Timothy Zahn Read Free Book Online

riding on three bouncy and fragile-looking metal frameworks. On one of the other monitors, larger,.ore substantial vehicles were rumbling into the city along Setting Sun Avenue.
     
    And just like the soldiers, the large vehicles were moving in a straight line. Trevik didn’t know much about tactics, but even to him that seemed foolish.
     
    It apparently seemed that way to the Queen, as well. “I will order my Soldiers to attack,” she said, picking up the special far speak that rested beside her armrest, its wires snaking across the room to the
    connector in the wall. “They will make short work of them.”
     
    “Not yet,” Nuso Esva said, holding out a hand. “Not yet.”
     
    Trevik flinched. The outstretched hand was a signal of command, a gesture Trevik had used many times when overseeing Workers and one that he’d received in turn from senior Midlis and occasional Circlings No one ever used such a gesture toward the Queen of the Red. Ever. The very thought of such a blatant insult was both fantastic and outrageous.
     
    Yet once again, the Queen gave no indication of such outrage. “Then when?” she simply asked.
     
    “Be patient, O Queen,” Nuso Esva said. To Trevik’s relief, he lowered the discourteous hand again to his side. “The enemy fighter craft are about to make their first attempt to enter through my trap. When they  do, my soldiers will open fire with the blaster cannons I set up in concealment—”
     
    “The guns /my Workers/ set up in concealment,” the Queen corrected him.
     
    Nuso Esva’s eyes might have glittered with new fire. Trevik wasn’t certain. “The cannons your Workers set up,” he amended coolly. “Once they open fire, destroying or scattering the fighter craft, the cannons that I”—he inclined his head—“the cannons that your Workers set up along Setting Sun Avenue will destroy the first and last juggernauts in line.
    /Then/ you will order your Soldiers to destroy the stormtroopers. All is as I predicted.”
     
    Nuso Esva turned his eyes on Trevik. /“Exactly/ as I predicted,” he added.
     
    “Yes,” the Queen said, and out of the corner of his eye Trevik saw her turn to him. Automatically, he lifted the bowl as he likewise turned to face her.
     
    But to his surprise she didn’t drink. To his even greater surprise, she continued to stare at him. “O Queen?” he asked, not knowing what else to say.
     
    “Nuso Esva of the First of the Storm-hairs did indeed predict all,” she said. “You, Trevik of the Midli of the Seventh of the Red, have betrayed me.”
     
    Trevik froze, a horrible flood of fear and shame exploding inside him. She knew. She knew about his brother Jirvin and the others who’d been in the house that evening. She knew about the cam Trevik had brought into the Dwelling of Guests. She knew that Trevik had given that cam to his brother, who had then given it to the enemy Thrawn.
     
    And Trevik knew that he was dead. The Queen would call in her Soldiers from outside, and they would kill him—
     
    “Calm yourself, O Queen,” Nuso Esva said calmly. “You’re frightening him. At any rate, it’s hardly betrayal when his actions are a deliberate and necessary part of a plan.”
     
    “His actions may have been a part of /your/ plan,” the Queen said, still staring at Trevik. “But in his hidden heart, the Midli committed treason against his Queen.”
     
    “We thought he was controlling you,” Trevik breathed, finally finding his voice. “I was told he was controlling you.”
     
    “No one controls a Queen of the Quesoth,” the Queen said darkly. “It is /she/ who controls.”
     
    “Which you should have realized from the beginning,” Nuso Esva said. “ How else do you think that Circling was actually willing to pretend to treason? He acted that way under his Queen’s orders so that he could persuade you to take the pictures I wanted Thrawn to have.”
     
    Trevik tore his gaze away from the Queen’s stare. “To