Then the dance ended.
Sagiri's final step carried him to stillness, and for the first time since he had risen into the sky, he stopped moving.
The desert answered immediately. The roaring winds weakened and subsided. The towering vortex unraveled. Rivers of sand drifted gently back toward the earth, spilling across rooftops, streets, and walls before settling into silence.
Zaira's massive coils slowed and came to rest behind him like a mountain of living darkness. Yet the blades did not fall. Thousands upon thousands of black blades remained suspended in the sky. They hung motionless above the inner city, above the fortress, above the execution square.
More stretched beyond the walls into the outer city until it seemed as though a storm of steel had frozen in place over all of Thazir. Every person who looked up found a blade pointed somewhere in their direction. The sight stole the breath from the city.
