The hovering fireballs plunged down toward the Prism Palace.

78

Osira’h

With her special sensitivity to changes in thethism, Osira’h felt the disruption from Mijistra like a roar in her mind: vibrations, stresses. danger. She knew that Designate Ridek’h had arrived at the Prism Palace and confronted the faeros incarnate.

She raced down a mine shaft to gather her brothers and sisters, but they had sensed the threat too and were already running toward her. No one but the half-breed children of the green priest Nira could turn thethism against the flames that Ridek’h was facing.

Everyone else had already given up on the young Designate, assuming him to be dead. Adar Zan’nh and Prime Designate Daro’h had set events in motion that could not be halted. Tal O’nh was on his way up to the orbiting shipyards with a very small crew; together they would create an incredible diversion that should buy Adar Zan’nh all the time he needed to get his ships away unharmed.

“Concentrate!” Rod’h urged.

“We need to protect Ridek’h long enough for him to get away,” Osira’h agreed.

With his impetuous mission to Mijistra, the young Hyrillka Designate had unwittingly done his part in the bold and risky plan to rescue the Mage-Imperator, and now the half-breed children would not let go of him.

Sitting in a circle on the stone floor, the children joined hands and cast thethism net in their minds far and wide to create a sort of shield for the young man. Riding thethism forward, they found Mijistra, the Prism Palace. and brave Ridek’h, as he faced the flaming fury of the mad Designate, whose heat made the air blister and shimmer.

While he had the boy trapped, Rusa’h attempted to rip away his soulfire and add the fresh life force to the growing faeros — but Osira’h and her siblings cut him off. Combined, they protected the young Designate’sthism and all the threads that surrounded him with a sort of mental insulation, making him impervious to the first wave of attack.

Rusa’h blasted his victim, but he was unable to crash through the unexpected barrier. When the mad Designate could not seize the soulfire he wanted, he was momentarily stunned. But if the faeros incarnate should choose to lash out with physical, incinerating fire.

Run!Osira’h shouted to the young Designate through her mind.Come back to us!

Ridek’h heard them, but echoes of the mental shout also resonated through the barrier, and the faeros incarnate realized that someone was helping his victim. Burning Rusa’h stood nonplussed at the blackened dry mouth where the seven streams converged, curious about what could be powerful enough to prevent him from taking what he wanted.

Run, Ridek’h!

Osira’h caught a ripple of the young man’s thoughts, feeling his resolve as he faced death, his satisfaction that he had accomplished what he had wanted to. She shouted out again, penetrating his awareness with a glimmer of the plan that was under way to destroy the mad Designate and divert the faeros.Your work is done, Ridek’h. Go — we will help you escape.

Reeling, the boy scrambled from the blazing Prism Palace while the faeros incarnate was momentarily paralyzed with surprise. Ridek’h ran headlong down the well-trodden path that led away from the hill.

Nira’s five children found the strength to maintain their shield, but now the mad Designate came after them along the mental pathways. Tracing theirthism connections, Rusa’h used all his strength to lash out at Osira’h and her siblings. But they thwarted him, diverting his concentration using the protective powers ofthism and the verdani telink, as well as their own synergy.

Rusa’h bellowed in their minds, demanding to take all of their soulfires for the salvation of the Ildiran people. Osira’h could feel him battering at her mind, trying to rip information from her. The faeros incarnate sensed something was about to happen.

And young Ridek’h kept running.

In her mind, Osira’h felt the mad Designate become suspicious. He had caught a glimpse of the trap about to be sprung.

She clenched her brother’s hand tightly. They had to keep Rusa’h busy for at least a short while longer. The boy Designate had far to go before he could hope to escape the impending holocaust. The timing would be close.

Adar Zan’nh was ready to launch his ships. Prime Designate Daro’h remained in the cave shelter, prepared to seize back the Empire. Up in the shipyards Tal O’nh had implemented the initial stages of his plan.

The end was coming.

Somehow, in their efforts to protect Ridek’h, fear and anticipation trickled through the barriers the children had set up around themselves. A few revelatory thoughts slipped free — and the faeros incarnate caught a hint of what the Prime Designate planned to do. He knew his danger.

Osira’h could hear his flaming roar throughout the web ofthism.

By the time he unleashed his fury from the Prism Palace, Rusa’h was no longer concerned about one defiant boy, but his own survival.

79

General Kurt Lanyan

General Lanyan had already faced the subhive on Pym with a small group of soldiers, and he had no interest in repeating the escapade, but Chairman Wenceslas hadn’t given him a choice. So, he kept reminding himself that this was an opportunity to show what he was made of. At least this time he had a strong enough military force to really do some damage to the bugs.

Though he was glad to be at the helm of a Juggernaut again, feeling secure in the giant ship’s mass and armor, he still had plenty of concerns. In a single Manta, Admiral Diente had been too easily overwhelmed. With theThunder Child and seven accompanying Mantas, though, Lanyan had a great deal of firepower, including atmospheric-dispersal bombardment capabilities that would turn half a continent into a lake of molten glass. From what he had seen of Pym before, that could only improve the scenery.

This time, he vowed the Klikiss wouldn’t take him by surprise. Unlike Diente, Lanyan did not plan to negotiate.

As his ships approached, Lanyan transmitted over a coded channel (not that he expected the bugs were eavesdropping on EDF transmissions), “Admiral Brindle, I want this to be a swift and devastating operation. As soon as we acquire a target, drop the scorchers and level any structures down there. Wave after wave, constant bombardment. That should do the trick.”

“Yes, General,” Brindle said from the helm of his own cruiser.

He sat stoically in the command chair. He had to achieve a victory here that exceeded the Chairman’s expectations. He had ships full of armaments, and he would bomb the living daylights out of everything even remotely resembling a bug structure.