Gods apparently took the form of giant flying snakes here.

  The specimen soaring though the panicked, scrambling Sighted Path traffic at Heaven's Tread's core could have comfortably stretched across a couple football fields. Its flat body featured wide frills like the flying lizard she'd seen at a zoo half-a-lifetime and several universes back. Each sinuous ripple twisting down its length echoed in her bones and her body swayed mesmerotically to its rhythms. Not only did it wave side-to-side as a normal snake might, but simultaneously wove up and down, frills flaring. The sinuous motion propelled it forward with startling speed. A Chinese dragon crossed with a king cobra.

  The monstrosity's mouth distended, swallowing anything in its path. Many travelers launched off drifting cargo to gamble on catching a net, platform, or a Reacher tentacle while risking a plummeting descent to the city below.

  At the tail end, the god's body widened into a spined fan and there the whole scene became even more bizarre. In several dozen places, hooks sank into scales to anchor a broad skein of ropes and wires. This trailing ropy web culminated in kites and gliders bound together in a riotously-colored snarl and stitched to one another by yet more lines. Squinting, Aida discerned human figures pulling themselves across the ropes or moving about the box kites that resolved in her mind as improbable tent-like dwellings.

  More figures crawled along ropes affixed about the god-snake's body, many carrying long hooked poles with which they snagged unescorted bundles of merchandise or snared the occasional helplessly-drifting traveler.

  "I... what are... those people..." Her brain and tongue couldn't seem to work together to form a coherent question.

  "God-dwellers, the godly nomads." Fallon said, tone reverential. "Sacrosanct and holy, devoted entirely to their god. Live and die in the god's wake or upon its scales."

  "Their whole lives?" Her imagination struggled and failed to envision it. "What about the stuff they're stealing?"

  Fallon's body swayed subtly with the snake's undulations. A glance around confirmed that all who watched it did likewise, entrained with its swaying motion. Nearby, a scruffy-looking adolescent exaggerated it to ridiculous extremes, drawing uproarious laughter from his watching mates and disapproving looks from his elders. Apparently, teenagers were teenagers no matter the universe.

  "Those items become holy offerings to the god and its keepers. Should those merchants survive, they will find many blessings upon them."

  Aida snorted. "With their livelihoods swiped by a bunch of snake monks I'd sure hope so."

  Fallon graced her with his patented disapproving look.

  "Why doesn't someone stop it or kill it? It's eating people!"

  "To be god-eaten is the holiest death." Fallon peered up at monstrosity plunging through a panicking convoy. "Every child memorizes the God's Rote before even the Sacrosanct Chant. 'The gods are uncreated, the First Ones. The gods are unique, no two alike. The Gods are undying-'"

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  "I get the gist." Aida pointed, horrified, as the caravaneers pushed off their baggage and launched in all directions. "They don't seem to be excited about dying holy."

  "Surprising how many prefer a terrible life to an excellent death."

  Aida felt the the great beast's movement in her blood like jazz. Memories flashed of the speakeasy her older sister snuck her into when she was ten. Like an idiot, she'd blabbed to her parents and gotten her sister kicked out of the house. The speakeasy, however, had been all thrills and excitement but now she felt a mix of horror and awe. Awe in the original sense of the word.

  A distinctive figure in a deep green dress and flowing black hair tumbled from the Sighted Path. The woman sailed past a Reacher's swinging tentacle, gaining speed until she slammed into a Wicker Way's scaffolding.

  Others died horribly as she watched, ground in a snake-gizzard or plummeting to their doom. She felt detached yet simultaneously caught up in the sensual sway and shocking spectacle.

  The ring at her throat jerked violently. She clasped it tight, afraid it would break free from the choker.

  "What the hell is this thing doing?" she muttered.

  Then the whispers started.

  A glance around failed to reveal a source for the sibilant sussurations. Only Ghillie stood close enough to Aida to whisper, but the mute girl couldn't possibly be the origin. Gradually, the sounds became louder. Insistent, hissing bursts of inhuman language.

  "Fallon." She shook her head, tapping at her ears. "Fallon, something's not right with my head."

  Halting at the carriage stairs as he climbed back inside, Fallon turned. "Perhaps the first statement you have made with which I can agree wholeheartedly."

  "No, I think there's something wrong with the strings. The ring keeps shaking and humming. And I'm hearing... what are those?"

  Sinuous figures darted, whirled, and writhed about the god's body, liquid smoke beings mimicking the movement of the huge beast they accompanied. Somehow Aida knew those shadowy beings produced the whispers and, at an equally instinctive level, knew they sensed her. Several twisted and thrashed about, seeking. Half-a-dozen turned her direction, broke away, and dove towards her.

  "They're coming at for me!" she shouted, blood turning to ice. Her knees gave out as she stepped backwards and she found herself clinging to Ghillie as the girl motioned some indecipherable signs.

  Fallon stood over Aida, staring up at the snake and shaking his head. "I see nothing, what are you on about-"

  "They're coming!" She screamed, covering her ears with her hands. "The voices, they're getting louder. They won't stop. I can't stand it! Get them out of my head!"

  "What are?" Fallon raised his hands in confusion and spun about. Ghillie stepped back, watching her critically. Clearly, neither saw snake-ghosts hurtling towards her. Overlapping scraping and hissing voices overwhelmed all other sound, every other sense, all thought and sensation.

  "Get away from me!" she screamed, clutching her head and crumpling into a crouched ball.

  Fallon reached for her. "Dynast, I think... wha!"

  Ghillie tackled Fallon, driving him to the ground.

  Aida's whole body shook. "Get... AWAY!"

  Something snapped.

  Energy surged through her in an overwhelming flood, propelling her upright. She convulsed. Her scream never made it to her lips but caught resonantly at her throat. The wire-strung ring shuddered. Aida clawed at it, choking as the reverberations inside grew to shake her very bones. As it amplified, her body arched backwards, gathering energy like a bow stave pulled taut to the point of breaking. She thought she might come apart.

  It exploded from her, amplified beyond even the God-voice in the Black Court.

  Passersby, the teens at their antics, and everyone else nearby hurtled through the air or flattened to the ground clutching their ears as the scream unleashed a tornado-force blast in all directions.

  A nearby clay-brick tenement collapsed completely.

  The royal strider toppled over with a bellowing groan.

  And every glass pane in the Optomime's shop shattered simultaneously.

  Next chapter: Inro gets to meet the families of the warriors he killed

  Characters and terms

  Characters (alphabetical)

  Aida: MC.

  Aj: a long-slumbering, powerful being which annihilated Inro's Sunset Legions. Also "almost destroyed the Dynasty single-handedly six-and-some centuries ago"

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Ghillie: a 3rd Feral who wears a primitive Ghillie suit. Carries cross between kunai and acupuncture needles

  Goboro: a fat scribe friend of Hassani's in Libriam

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Jaxe: Dynast of Stacks. "Young", wealthy. Also has "the Pale" (an Albino)

  Ocyl: Dynast of Heaven's Tread, powerful and unpredictable

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  Venner: Grandmaster of Optimimes in Jadeye, "best in the entire Book"

  Rega: Inro's sister

  The Fallen

  Feral: a bone-masked woman of violence (Feral) in Aida's service. Knife wielder. Killed by Ghillie in Jadeye.

  "Toothy": leader of a group of thugs who accosted Aida in Heaven's Tread. Killed by Feral in Jadeye

  Valeer: a mentally challenged, unkempt individual able to manipulate Thorns. Died in Jadeye to "Braid".

  White Spiral: an older Feral in Aida's service. Archer. Died protecting Aida in Jadeye

  Terms (alphabetical)

  All, The: ?

  Anchorites: individuals capable of creating anchor points affixed to nothing.

  Annalis compound: sprawling complex in Libriam, heart of The Book's bureaucracy. Arrivals 'Dirt' home to new dispatches, Archives 'Dust' storage for old material. Paths and Ways storage for 'nails.

  Ascen, The/The Ascendant: divinities "watching over every verse"?

  Assessor: census-taker

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Black Court: a realm of pure darkness. Also, those who rule there. Where Partaking happens.

  Blood, The: imbibed at Partaking, transforms one into a Dynast if they survive

  Book of Verses, The: the 1,000 verses ruled by the Dynasty. "Kiloverse"

  Broadcliff, Tallmarket: cities in Stacks

  Century Thread: additional threads appearing elsewhere on the body every century a Dynast lives

  Cerebrist: creator of slavants

  Chant, The/Sacrosanct Chant: some sort of law in the Dynasty?

  Chant of Innoculation: chant supposed to protect against disease

  Chapters: ?

  ConMach: convoy?

  Crowmen: buy corpses to return them to life and service as rotters

  Cupola Thorn: the main Thorn in the city Jadeye in Heaven's Tread, a stone dome built over it

  Currence: something valuable inside old coins?

  Current: some form of energy that powers "artifices"?

  Dynast: individual given rule of a verse if they survive Partaking. Ageless and hard to kill. Regenerative. Sustained by "the Blood"; no food or water necessary.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebonese: the language of the Book

  Echoseer shells: devices to allow one to "see" in the Black Court

  Feral: bone-masked bodyguards who require the essence of their master to survive. "Damned to Ferals" as a form of capital punishment. "the damned", "damned to a Feral"

  First Thread/Primus: a fresh Dynast/the first luminescent silver thread etched into their foreheads.

  Gates, The: ?

  God, A: unique, "undying" creatures of immense size, The First Ones

  God's Rote: child's first memorization, what gods are

  God-dwellers: "monks" who live on a god

  Gonist: organ dealers and traders

  Heaven's Tread: a verse "inside a hollow rolling pin", host to Jadeye, the largest city in the Book

  Ink: home verse of the Skeinry and Keens

  Innoculist: doctors?

  Inviolate: agents of the black court who "serve the Black Court, protect the Dynasty, uphold the Chant, root out corruption."

  Inviolate Vial: carried by Inviolates as badge of office

  Iode: substance that ignites when crushed

  Iris: the giant portals leading between one cylinder of Heaven's Tread to the next

  Jade Eye, The: the "giant emerald" at the middle of Ocyl's Spire in Jadeye

  Jadeye: the largest city in the Book and major trade hub, in Heaven's Trade

  Jaxeday: holiday in Stacks with boat carvings, feasts, games of Fishhead, dances, and storytelling

  Jaxestack: a whitewashed stack on Stacks home to Jaxekin

  Keen: Ink warriors wearing impossibly-heavy iron armor whose power source drains color from the area about it.

  Kin: descendants of a Dynast

  Kiss, The: ?

  Letch: sect bred leech-like creature designed to stop bleeding on wounds

  Libriam: a swampy verse home to the Annalis, heart of The Book's bureaucracy

  Lineage: ?

  Linemen: workers on the Stacks trolleys who pull the cars along the lines

  Logos: ?

  Mancers: ?

  Menial: common folk

  Molt: person able to shed skins (see skins)

  Mon, The: ?

  Mourne, The: something dangerous that lurks in the Vale, "the why we do not tarry"

  Nameday: when children are named

  Ocyl's Spire: the tower home to the court of Ocyl, Dyanst of Heaven's Tread

  One-Eighth Shithole: Aida's verse. Unfortunately. A desolate place home to volcanoes and a giant dead turtle

  Optomime: gadgeteer?

  Pale, The: light-skinned people, conquered by Ebon during the founding of the Dynasty

  Paragon: warrior who can see the future

  Partaking: the ritual that creates Dynasts (or kills those who try). Performed by some unknown, large creature in the Black Court.

  'pillar: fuzzy Sect-bred giant caterpillar pet

  Reachers: massive, Sect-bred creatures that direct traffic and rescue unfortunates in the Sighted Path in Jadeye

  Rotters: sack-clothed, crudely-masked 'zombies' uses as pack-beasts and simple laborers. Created/sold by Crowmen.

  Royal Strider: giant striders which carry carriages of the wealthy slung underneath them

  Sect, The: breeders of useful insectoid- and/or sauroid-like creatures

  Seneschal: chief servant of a Dynast, bear permanent strings allowing them to speak and understand any language

  Sighted Path: the zero-g road down the center of Heaven's Tread

  Sixth Tier Rebellion: last major uprising, in Ziggurat a century ago

  Skeinry: iron-plated communication centers where Skeiners translate vibrations sent by wyre from other verses

  Skin/Hollow: animate skin of a molt able to move, talk, and share snatches of its experience with its molt

  Skinscribe: individuals brailled with lore, walking libraries

  Slavant: an individual who "loses much" to be implanted with an ability

  Soresearer: ?

  Stacks: An ocean verse comprised of tall pillars jutting up from the seas. Trolleys run on long ropes between them "affixed by Anchorites to airy nothing"

  Striders: "stilt-legged gray-skinned insect-lizard"s used as fast mounts, large enough to carry several riders

  Strings: worn or implanted wire devices that translate speech

  Subterrane, The: ?

  Sunset: the verse where Aj was 'contained', formerly protected by Dynast Inro. The "Prison of Prisons"

  Sunset Legions/Vault Legions: Inro's Legions, wiped out by Aj in Sunset

  Surgon: person able to remove organs

  Terminus:a verse?

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries

  Thrum: guide in the Black Court

  Unkillable Swordsman: a Paragon killed by Deia long ago

  Vale: "The Place Between". A realm of high-contrast black and white full of thorns and Thorns.

  Valeer: people capable of activating Thorns, barely functional of anything else

  Valeer's 'nail: crystals containing wafers that allow travel within the Vale to specific verses without a Valeer

  Verse: a pocket universe or world

  Verser Lord/Lady: agents of an individual Dynast who rule part of a verse at the whim of their Dynast

  Watter: an energetic liquid

  Wicker Way: towers of stone, wood, and rope that connect opposite far sides of Jadeye

  World Spear: an immense stack on Stacks

  Wretch: untouchables forced to walk on all fours, "the human refuse that cleans up the literal waste piles"

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between

  Ziggurat: the verse basing the Legions