Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [186]
Watching the boiling, screaming faces manifest themselves on the fireballs, Ridek'h knew there were more, many more Ildirans the faeros had already killed. How many planets had they scorched across the Horizon Cluster? If, each time, the fiery beings cut their victims off from the , then the Mage-Imperator would not realize the full extent of the spreading disaster.
Rusa'h‘s booming voice tore through the comm system. 'The faeros need your soulfires. I have dampened their hunger and helped their numbers to grow by first quenching many lives in my former web. Now I have grown strong enough to rip Ildiran soulfires free wherever I find them. Even yours.‘
The soldiers in the command nucleus cried out, then yelled in pain. Their flesh glowed, their bones became incandescent, and with a final cry, the crew began to erupt into purifying flames.
But Ridek'h and the old tal remained untouched. ‘Stop! Stop this!' the boy shouted. But the fire kept growing. More crewmen vanished in a flash of heat, but the young Designate remained unharmed, as if Rusa'h did not intend to touch him. He turned to see crewmembers ignite at every station. The same thing must be happening on every warliner. ‘Why are you doing this?'
‘Because I need to,' Rusa'h‘s voice boomed back. The surrounding fireballs throbbed, drinking in the liberated soulfires.
Tal O'nh stood enraged but helpless at the command rail as all of his soldiers spontaneously burst into flame. The control panels melted and became inoperable. With final screams, the last crewmen disappeared into foul-smelling smoke.
And when he seemed sated, the faeros incarnate spoke again, pounding his words in the boy's head and sizzling across the now-unmonitored communications systems. ‘You, Ridek'h - you I will leave untouched. I want you to tell my corrupt brother Jora'h. I want him to know exactly what he will soon face. Not even the Ildiran Empire can stop me. I will come back for you, when you are ready.'
Furious yet impotent, Tal O'nh railed at the screen, barely discerning the face of the mad Designate from the dazzling fire.
The Solar Navy will destroy you! We defeated the hydrogues, and we will do the same to the faeros.‘
Rusa'h was unimpressed. ‘Let the sight of us be your last and brightest memory.'
A flare of light erupted directly in front of O'nh's face, a searing blast that took his remaining eye, reflected and flared inside the crystalline prosthetic in his other socket. O'nh reeled backward, his face blistered and burned. A low moan emerged from his throat.
Alone in the command nucleus, Ridek'h screamed. Each of the warliners had burned out, and the crews on all of the ships were dead. Only his mentor remained, and now O'nh was blinded.
At last, the faeros fireballs spread apart, turned, and streaked away. Ridek'h and O'nh were left to drift, sightless and helpless in the emptiness.
One hundred and fourteen
Nira
Theroc was as wonderful as she remembered, the worldtrees as glorious, the forest as mysterious and remarkable. I The nine verdani battleships in orbit were breathtaking as they parted to allow the Mage-Imperator's ceremonial warliner to pass through. Jora'h had brought her home at last!
The warliner occupied the entire meadow the Roamer engineers had cleared as a landing area for large ships. When she stepped out onto the familiar ground again, Nira felt reborn. The moment Theron sunlight touched her green skin, the troubles in the Spiral Arm vanished from her mind. The trees! The verdant smell in the air! She wept.
She looked up to see boughs overhead and jewel-winged condorflies buzzing about. ‘Oh, I should have brought Osira'h,' she said longingly, wiping tears from her cheeks. All of my children.‘
Jora'h took her hand. ‘You will. This place is part of them as well. They deserve to see it for themselves.'
Nira had offered to be his spokesperson, an ambassador