I watched the expressions on every face in the room contort. The words were consumed by the chaos. I couldn't separate the words that mashed together in the air. I saw outrage on as many faces as righteous support. I hadn't understood the chamber was such a powder keg. I hadn't imagined there were so many here waiting to oust Balthazar. I had supposed the success of the Falling would have cemented his position. Lauren and Katya had said as much. Everyone had said as much.

Olaf leaned in, speaking to my ear. "Others want a chance to spend the Flows."

I looked at him, my face speaking my confusion.

He leaned in again. "He led the city to a good Falling. There are Flows to spend. People will remember how the Flows are spent more than they'll remember how they were won. If a lord gets those Flows to let the tractors plough his fields, he'll remember it forever. Darkwater, maybe some others, they want to be the Lord Supreme who spends the Flows and gets the credit."

I nodded slowly. I understood. In some ways this was the last chance to stop Balthazar from truly making himself unmovable.

I whispered back. For a moment I was distracted from the weight of shock and sorrow that clung to me. "But he's been passing all those motions, about using House relics, emergency powers. If he's got enough support to do that, how can he be challenged now?"

Olaf said, "Because of the threat of war. Lance's pa is right. He's a warmaker. Always has been. He's upped the budget on military spending every quarter since he won the seat. And now people are afraid. We've got things good. We've Flows. We've got promise for the future. The swing votes look like they've been riled up, scared of what a war might cost us."

I could barely hear him. There were men shouting across the room, trying to be heard by all. Others were screaming at each other, face to face, in clusters of two, three, or four.

Then there was an explosion. A vibration ripped through the room, a sound of deafening percussion assaulting every ear drum. I snapped my head to the dais in time to see Magneblade smash the haft of his axe into the floor for a second time, the ringing impact exploding on us again, churning the chaos into silence.

I felt the thrum of the blow vibrate through the floor and up my knees. I had grown so used to the power we wielded. Watching Magneblade employ it here, so casually, brought home to me the strength we wielded as Griidlords. The Tower was made of something born of the Griid. If this had been a conventional tower, the floor would have shattered.

In the silence, Balthazar spoke. "Wilric, that really wasn't necessary."

There was an implication to his words. The casual way he chided the living god who stood beside him. Magneblade as his pet, and Magneblade willing to let that be shown. There was almost a veiled threat in the display.

In the silence that hovered, a thin sheen moments from fracturing, Balthazar took the stage again. "Lord Darkwater would exercise his right to see me unseated from my position. All I've done is reverse the decades-long decline of this city. All I've done is oversee a progression from irrelevance to nearly claiming the Griid-crown. Our city had no Flows. Now we have Flows in abundance. Our city was weak. Now our armies are the envy of many. Our constitution was old, decrepit, and archaic. Now it is a modern document with the power to see us into the next era. But Lord Darkwater has every right to call for a vote of no confidence. Does he have a second?"

There was a sudden deafening silence. I had seen the faces, heard the voices. Somewhere around half the people in this room had been screaming in support of the motion a moment ago. Suddenly there were no voices. I saw Lady Ironveil glance at Darkwater. Something passed between them and Darkwater motioned her with the tiniest shake of the head. He knew there was no vote to win. He wouldn't conduct the theater only to affirm Balthazar's power.

After another minute of silence Balthazar resumed. "Shall we let the moment pass."

Olaf was in my ear again. "He's making a concession. Traditionally he would call for a counter vote of confidence. He's got the votes, obviously. If Darkwater can't get a second, he can't get the twenty-seven votes he'd need to kick Balthazar out of the chair. He's throwing Lance's dad a bone by just moving on."

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Darkwater resumed his seat and Balthazar cleared his throat.

I shot back to Olaf. "How do you know so much about this."

As Balthazar began to speak again, Olaf's attention turned completely to him. He hissed. "Later."

Balthazar said, "Lord Oakcrest. I want to extend my sympathies to you. And the sympathies of everyone in this room. Lord Darkwater meant no slight to your mourning in his motion. Emotions are high at this time. I was looking forward to contending with your daughter in this chamber. It saddens me that that will never come to pass."

Olaf hissed. "Yeah, right. He was totally looking forward to a charismatic speaker that was completely opposed to him."

I could picture Lauren standing here. I could see her confronting Balthazar. Even she might have been outmatched, but the fire of her spirit would have been worth something. I watched the Lord Supreme with new eyes. Lauren's death was more opportunity than tragedy for him. He could move this room with her death.

Balthazar let the moment rest briefly before returning his attention to the rest of the room. "My friends. It is time to choose a course of action. I know there are those among you who would call the banners now and march on Buffalo."

A voice shouted from the back rows. "We can't march on Buffalo. They've got an army of Greenmen. Thugs from every corner of every land."

Balthazar nodded slowly. "I think you'd be surprised what our forces are capable of. But, regardless, it is a moot point. Buffalo sent no assassins. Yes, they were negligent, but that can't be a casus belli. There is only one infraction that the city of Buffalo is guilty of that cannot be overlooked."

Another man roared. "They're shielding the monster."

I was startled. How could they know that. I had chased Perdinger across the land at the pace of an unencumbered Griidlord. Nobody could know he was there.

Balthazar nodded. "Yes. Perdinger is behind their walls. Perdinger, the man, not the city of Buffalo, committed this crime. Perdinger is the killer. Perdinger must be brought to justice. The Penacculum must be returned! Perdinger came into our land and stole lives and a priceless treasure. Buffalo must be given the opportunity to make good on this. We don't want war, we can't belive our neighbors would leave us with no other choice. But if they won't give him up and return our relic, then what choice will we have?"

The crowd stirred with these words, Balthazar's voice rising in volume and emotion as he finished.

Suddenly roaring, impassioned, he said again. "PERDINGER MUST BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE."

There were hoots, yells, uproaring support.

Balthazar spoke once more, impassioned still but no longer shouting. "He must be brought to justice, our justice. He committed his crime on our soil. He robbed us of one of the shining lights of our future. He inflicted grief and suffering on our friends, the Oakcrests. He stole one of our greatest treasures. There is only one outcome that we can accept, an outcome we must demand."

Voices rang out.

"They give the bastard to us."

"He hangs in our gallows."

"We should skin the mad bastard."

Balthazar nodded with every cry. "Yes. It is our right to bring him to justice. And this course will prevent the need for war. I propose we send envoys to the city and demand that Perdinger be handed over to us, stripped of his suit. Buffalo cannot refuse the demand."

"The Greenmen run the city now."

"They won't give him over. They're all killers and rapists."

Balthazar raised his hands for silence and was granted his wish. "My friends, I fear the worst as you do. Our neighbor has fallen on bad times. Unwanted elements wield disproportionate power in the city. But do you really believe they can deny this request. Do you really think the city has degraded so far that they would knowingly and willingly give sanctuary to a murderer."

Murmurs passed through the room.

Balthazar said, "Of course not. The very thought of it. If they would harbor a killer, especially a killer of a noble daughter and elected official, then it would prove beyond any doubt that the city had descended into total madness."

Then a voice shouted. "What if that's the case though? What if they won't hand him over."

Balthazar said, "My good sir, it just goes beyond imagining."

The voice came again, insistent. "Lord Supreme, we need an answer. What do we do if they deny our demands. What do we do if they insist on keeping the bastard inside their walls."

Balthazar chuckled, waving away the thought. "Speculation. Unhealthy speculation. No city, no leadership could ever choose that path. As bad as you imagine things have become in Buffalo, they simply can't have degraded so far."

The noble shouted once more. "We need to know. What if that is the case."

Balthazar paused, thinking as though the thought had never occurred to him. His expression grew somber, then darkened as though the imagined offense was blooming in his imagination. With sudden passionate intensity he raised his eyes and almost shouted. "If they won't give him over. Then. Then my friend, we call the banners. If they spit in the face of our envoys. If they protect a base killer. Then we put boots to the road. Then we rip the walls down and take him from them. More. If our neighbor has fallen so low, then we rip the leaders out and drain the swamp."

I had thought the room had exploded before. The uproar that followed made a mockery of that. The air was full of screams and roars and stomping feet. But this time, there were few dissenters. This time the chant was vengeance, bloody vengeance, and war.

Beside me Olaf shook his head and I barely heard him mutter. "Theater. Fucking theater."

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