The Seal of the Worm (78 page)

Until the city’s clocks had struck twelve, Eujen and Straessa had been exchanging anecdotes with General Varsec and that Spider Arista from the Aldanraic States. But, now that it was just the two of them and half a bottle of wine, Eujen was beginning to think about that walk home, and how much easier it would be with Straessa to keep him company.

Then Arvi burst in on them, or as close as he ever came to doing so. He knocked, but only in passing as he barrelled in through the door.

‘Master Speaker!’ he exclaimed.

‘What are you even doing up?’ Eujen demanded of him, earning a reproachful look that eloquently conveyed the message,
Do you not know how hard I work on your behalf?

‘There are some new delegates arrived,’ the Fly reported. ‘Or they claim they’re delegates.’

‘Can you not find rooms for them and let it wait until morning?’ Eujen asked plaintively.

‘Well, left to my own devices I certainly could, Master Speaker, no matter who they say they are,’ Arvi said primly. ‘However, the Chief Officer of the Coldstone Company says, no, you must come see them immediately.’

‘Gorenn?’ Straessa demanded. ‘What now? Does she think they’re Wasp spies or something?’

‘Please, Master Speaker?’ Arvi pressed, and Eujen nodded and began the difficult process of getting to his feet.

He found them in one of the smaller clerk’s rooms, watched over by a couple of Company soldiers and the Dragonfly, Gorenn, for whom the war, Eujen sometimes thought, had never quite finished.

He saw three visitors there, looking like beggars dusty from the road and wearing just coarse, heavy garments of crude cut. Nothing about them said
ambassador
, except . . .

One was a Wasp man, broad shouldered, scarred, bearded, perhaps forty years or so but still strong. Beside him there was a Beetle woman, a few years Eujen’s senior at least, her hair cut unfashionably short, and there was something about her he could not place – more in the way that Gorenn was keeping her distance than anything Eujen himself could see.

The third stranger had no eyes. Eujen blinked, seeing a leathery face without even sockets, and yet plainly he had the man’s focused attention.

‘Good evening to you all,’ he managed politely. ‘Welcome to Collegium. I am Eujen Leadswell, Speaker for the Assembly.’
The Collegiate Assembly, I should say. We’re not the only one, after all.

‘You seem very young for it,’ the Beetle woman remarked frankly.

Eujen spread his hands, conceding the point. ‘These are unusual times,’ he told her. ‘Now, I was told that you are delegates . . . Don’t I know you?’
It must be my day for women who look slightly familiar.

‘Master Leadswell, my name is Cheerwell Maker. This is Thalric, my husband, and this man is Ambassador Messel of the Underworld Assembly. I understand that you are holding a meeting of powers here. He has come to take his place amongst your guests and to speak for his people – all his many people. And I have come home.’

Glossary

Characters

Aagen
– renegade Wasp, now of Princep Salma

Alysaine
– servant of Auder Bellowern

Argastos
– ancient Moth mystic

Arvi
– Fly-kinden secretary to Jodry Drillen

Atraea
– Moth-kinden leader of Cold Well

Auder Bellowern
– Imperial Beetle Consortium magnate

Averic
–Wasp student at Collegium

Balkus
– renegade Sarnesh Ant, now of Princep Salma

Bergild
–Wasp Air Corps captain with the Second Army

Brakker
– Wasp colonel with the First Army

Brugan
– Wasp general of the Rekef

Castre Gorenn
– Dragonfly archer with the Coldstone Company

Ceremon
– Netheryen Mantis, consort of Amalthae

Cheerwell Maker (Che)
– Inapt Beetle magician, niece of Stenwold Maker

Chenni
– Rosander’s chief engineer

Dariandrephos (Drephos)
– master artificer and leader of the Iron Glove

Darmeyr Forge-Iron
– Mole Cricket slave of the Worm

Despard
– Fly artificer,
Tidenfree
crew

Edvic
– Wasp governor of Solarno

Ernain
– Bee engineer captain, Second Army

Esmail
– Assassin Bug spy

Eujen Leadswell
– Beetle student and leader of the Student Company

Gannic
– Wasp lieutenant with the Engineers

Honory Bellowern
– Beetle diplomat

Gerethwy
– Woodlouse student at the College

Giselle
– Spider Arista of the Arkaetien

Greenwise Artector
– Beetle magnate of Helleron

Gude
– Fly helmswoman of the
Tidenfree

The Hermit
– renegade Scarred Priest of the Worm

Jen Reader
– Beetle College librarian and wife of Willem Reader

Kymene
– Mynan commander in exile

Laszlo
– Fly agent and occasional pirate

Lien
– Wasp general of the Engineers

Lissart
– Firefly agent, prisoner of Milus

Lycena
– Sarnesh Ant commander

Madagnus
– Ant-kinden chief officer, Coldstone Company

Marent –
Wasp general of the Third Army

Maure
– halfbreed magician from the Commonweal

Messel
– Cave Cricket, renegade slave of the Worm

Metyssa
– Spider-kinden writer, in hiding in Collegium

Merva
– Wasp-kinden, wife of Edvic, governor of Solarno

Milus
– Sarnesh Ant tactician

Nessen
– Wasp colonel, governor of Helleron

Orothellin
– ancient Slug-kinden master, trapped by the Seal

Mycella of the Aldanrael
– Spider noblewoman, Tynan’s lover

Oski
– Fly engineer major, Second Army

Paladrya
– Kerebroi adviser of the Sea-kinden

Poll Awlbreaker
– Beetle artificer of Collegium

Raullo Mummers
– Beetle-kinden artist of Collegium

Rosander
– Sea-Kinden, Nauarch of the Thousand Spines Train

Sartaea te Mosca
– Fly lecturer and magician

Seda
– Empress of the Wasps

Sperra
– Fly of Princep Salma

Stenwold Maker
– Beetle-kinden, War Master of Collegium

Straessa
– the Antspider, officer of Coldstone Company

Taki
– Fly aviator of Solarno and Collegium

Thalric
– renegade Wasp, former servant of Seda, now lover of Cheerwell Maker

Tisamon
– dead Mantis Weaponsmaster raised by Seda

Tomasso
– Fly-kinden pirate and merchant, captain of the
Tidenfree

Totho
– halfbreed artificer of the Iron Glove, second-in-command to Drephos

Tynan
– Wasp general, Second Army

Tynisa
– halfbreed Weaponsmaster, Tisamon’s daughter

Varsec
– Wasp colonel with the Engineers

Vorken
– Wasp major with the Slave Corps

Vrakir
– Wasp Red Watch major

Willem Reader
– Beetle Collegiate artificer

Wys
– Smallclaw artificer and trader

Places

Capitas
– capital of the Empire

Chasme
– pirate city on the Exalsee

Cold Well
– Mining Community under the Worm

Collegium
– Beetle city-state

Commonweal
– Dragonfly domain north of the Lowlands

Darakyon
– Mantis forest, formerly haunted

Dirovashni
– Bee-kinden city on the Exalsee

Dorax
– Moth retreat

Exalsee
– large lake north-east of Spiderlands

Helleron
– Beetle city-state

Hermatyre
– Sea-kinden city

Kes
– Ant island city-state

Khanaphes
– ancient Beetle city-state

Malkan’s Folly/Malkan’s Stand
– battlefield, former site of Sarnesh fortress

Myna
– Beetle city-state, formerly part of the Empire

Netheryon
– Mantis hold

Princep Salma
– city founded by refugees of the last war

Sarn
– Ant city-state, ally of Collegium

Seldis
– Spider city

Solarno
– Beetle city on the Exalsee

Sonn
– Beetle city in the Empire

Spiderlands
– large domain south of the Lowlands

Tark
– Ant city-state

Tharn
– Moth retreat

Vek
– Ant city-state, recently at peace with Collegium

Vesserett
– Bee-kinden city in the Empire

Organizations and Things

Amphiophos
– Collegiate centre of government

Aldanrael
– Spider Aristoi house

Aristoi
– the Spider-kinden ruling class

Arkaetien
– Spider Aristoi house

Assembly
– Collegiate ruling body

Coldstone Company
– Collegiate Merchant Company

Consortium
– Imperial mercantile arm

Engineering Corps
(‘the Engineers’) – Imperial army corps

Farsphex
– Imperial model of orthopter

greatshotter
– Iron Glove-developed artillery

Imperial Second Army
– ‘the Gears’, commanded by General Tynan

Imperial Third Army
– commanded by General Marent

Iron Glove
– artificing cartel led by Drephos out of Chasme

lorn detachment
– soldiers sent on a suicide mission

Maker’s Own
– Collegiate Merchant Company

Prowess Forum
– Collegiate duelling school

Quartermaster Corps
– Imperial army corps

Red Watch
– Imperial corps, the mouth of the Empress

Rekef
– Imperial secret service, divided into Inlander and Outlander

Slave Corps
– Imperial army corps

Spearflight
– Imperial model of orthopter

Stormreader
– Collegiate model of orthopter

Tidenfree
– Fly-kinden pirate ship

Twelve-year War
– Imperial war against the Commonweal

Praise for
Shadows of the Apt

‘A novel brimming with imagination and execution’

SciFiNow

‘Epic fantasy at its best. Gripping, original and multi-layered storytelling from a writer bursting with lots of fascinating ideas’

WalkerofWorlds.com

‘Superb world building, great characters and extreme inventiveness’

FantasyBookCritic
blog

‘Adrian is continuing to go from strength to strength. Magic’

FalcataTimes
blog

‘Reminiscent of much that’s gone before from the likes of Gemmel, Erikson, Sanderson and Cook but with its own unique and clever touch, this is another terrific outing from Mr Tchaikovsky’

Sci-Fi-London.com

‘I still cannot deny the greatness of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s books . . . a glorious success of fantasy literature’

LECBookReviews.com

‘Tchaikovsky’s series is a pretty great one – he has taken some classic fantasy elements and added a unique (as far as I’m aware) twist and element to his characters and the world . . . Tchaikovsky has created a world that blends epic fantasy and technology’

CivilianReader
blog

‘Tchaikovsky manages to blend these insect characteristics with human traits convincingly, giving a fresh slant to the inhabitants of his classic tale’

SFReader.com

About the Author

Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire before heading off to Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself he subsequently ended up in law and has worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds, where he now lives. Married, he is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor, has trained in stage-fighting, and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind, possibly excepting his son.

Catch up with Adrian at www.shadowsoftheapt.com for further information plus bonus material including short stories and artwork.

Seal of the Worm
is the tenth and final novel in the Shadows of the Apt series.

BY ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY

Shadows of the Apt

Empire in Black and Gold

Dragonfly Falling

Blood of the Mantis

Salute the Dark

The Scarab Path

The Sea Watch

Heirs of the Blade

The Air War

War Master’s Gate

Seal of the Worm

Acknowledgements

It’s been a long road from the gates of Myna to the lair of the Worm. I’d like to thank everyone who has walked it with me.