~
"Isobel, get up," Montgomery said, nudging her.
Isobel startled awake from a deep sleep. Her cheek was pressed into his chest and she had been drooling. She patted the drool spot on his coat with a mumbled apology and looked to the lightening sky.
"What happened to the sensing drone?" she asked.
"It's long gone. I checked on it a bit earlier."
Isobel stood up and stretched, her buttocks frozen from sitting on the cold concrete roof. She felt the puncture wounds at her forehead and winced as she pulled the hair stuck to the raw flesh.
The canopy over central Landgraevan was live with newscasters covering the unfolding Ismaynian conflict.
"How long have we been here? I feel frozen solid."
"A few hours. Let's get going," he said.
She turned to follow Montgomery when the screens synced, and the hologram dawn overhead turned to Dareas Evander, ruler of Landgraevan.
One immediately felt small under the sharp gaze of Dareas Evander. He typically addressed his nation from the height of the canopy, boring down on his subjects with eyes like deep pools of black oil, his sparse countenance seemingly chiseled from marble. His head was shorn, adorned with a subdermal tattoo of a softly glowing wreath of laurels. A gold brooch secured his blood red necktie and gleamed in the holographic glare, illuminating him from below, casting ghoulish shadows across his face.
"People of Landgraevan, Ismay's sovereign has informed me that she takes full responsibility for the breach in our surveillance facility. Know that I do not enter war lightly, but to a war we have been called. To the many citizens of Ismay and the surrounding territories, I offer my condolences in advance. Tomorrow we conquer."
The canopy flickered, and he was gone as quickly as he'd appeared. The sky over the residential neighborhoods faded again to a soft lavender dawn.
"Let's catch a few hours sleep and we'll head out to the station. Admiral Vin will have the latest news," Isobel said.
"Let's hope it's good news," Montgomery said, waiting for her to pass ahead of him.
"Yes," she replied, "Let's hope."
Chapter Six
Emergent, Book One : Isobel Page 11
