Page 114 of Gates of Rapture
He had heard both Thorne and Leto talk about obsidian flame folding something somewhere, but if they were doing so right now, it wasn’t on the parade grounds.
He glanced at the monitors and spoke to his staff.“Do any of you see movement, like some kind of mass movement of the troops?”
When he received a general negation, he peered once more at the monitors.What he was seeing looked like plain old spectacle to him.
An aide approached.He would have brushed him off, but he held a piece of paper, was sweating like a pig, and had a wild look in his eyes.Greaves got a really bad feeling.“What?”he barked.
The aide shoved the paper at him.“Your… your Mongolian army is gone.”
Greaves blinked.He looked at the paper.Glanced at the aide.Shifted to stare at his generals, who wore blank looks.He didn’t bother asking what the aide meant.
To his staff, he asked, “Has Thorne made another fold request?”
The aide that kept the monitors alive with ongoing footage, said, “Warrior Thorne just spoke of a fourth fold to his sister, Grace.”
When Greaves saw another aide flying at him from down the hall, Greaves knew.
Leto.Fucking Leto.
His army.
The fold wasn’t on the parade route.The spectacle was one big fucking distraction.
“Launch the artillery now.”
Approach the gates of rapture with wonder,
Lay down the past,
Then fall.
—Collected Poems,Beatrice of Fourth
CHAPTER 17
Grace had just heard Brynna confirm the fourth and final fold when Thorne’s voice intruded again, this time with an edge.“Obsidian flame, get us the hell out of here.”
Grace’s heart rose in her throat.This was it.She was still in possession of Fiona and she needed to do the mass fold of the parade route, but she couldn’t calm down.Then Leto’s words filled her mind:Ease down, Warrior, and focus on the coordinates.You can do this.
Grace took a deep breath and turned her attention to the spectacle performers in the air, to the slow flap of Fiona’s wings, to the troops on the ground and in the stands.She took another deep breath and simply let the fold begin.
She began the slide through nether-space just as the first bomb exploded.
Her mind swirled around and around.Her head hurt.Then her mind went blank.
After a long moment, she opened her eyes and blinked.She was on her feet, and Leto was holding her upright.Her wings flapped slowly.In the distance, she could hear bombs exploding.
She gave her head a shake.Leto was in front of her, his hands on her waist as he looked into her eyes.She could tell he was worried.“Are you all right?”he asked.
“Did we make it?Was I too late?Is everyone safe?”
“Obsidian flame got everyone out, to the last swan.You’ve been dazed for about five minutes, which is why you feel disoriented right now.”
“Dazed?”
“Yes.I think it happened because you folded while in your split-self configuration and within half a second a shell exploded as we were all mid-fold.”
“That was close.”She looked around, but all she saw was the row of tanks.She was alone with Leto in the desert.“And are you sure all our troops got away?”
