In the lead vessel, Nevitta dogged the harried Navigators, urging greater speed. Below decks, the war chargers snorted and stomped the steel decks, sensing the tension of the coming clash in the close, smoky air of the spaceships.
Kieron stood beside the forward port with Alys, looking out into the strangely distorted night of space. As speed increased, the stars vanished and the night that pressed against the flanks of the hurtling ship grew grey and unsteady. Still velocity climbed, and then beyond the great curving glass screen there was nothing. Not blackness, or emptiness. A soul-chilling nothingness that twisted the mind and refused to be accepted by human eyes. Hyperspace.
Kieron drew the draperies closed and the observation lounge of the huge ancient liner grew dim and warm.
"What's ahead, Kieron?" the girl asked with a sigh. "More fighting and killing?"
The Valkyr shook his head. "Your Imperium, Your Majesty," he said formally, "a crown of stars that a thousand generations have gathered for you. That lies ahead."
"Oh, Kieron! Can't you forget the Empire for the space of an hour?" Alys demanded angrily.
The Warlord of Valkyr looked at his Empress in perplexity. There were times when women were hard to fathom.
"Forget it, I say!" the girl cried, her eyes suddenly flaming.
"If Your Majesty wishes, I'll not speak of it again," said Kieron stiffly.
Alys took a step toward him. "There was a time when you looked at me as a woman. When you thought of me as a woman! Am I so different now?"