Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [235]
And she could never get lost. Every piece of the worldforest was a piece of her. Through telink, she learned many other things, news from around the Spiral Arm and close to home. Ah, Estarra had given birth to her baby! Celli felt a stab of disappointment because she hadn’t been there, but she would spend much of her time with the little boy, helping where she could. She knew that King Peter and her sister were going to name the child Reynald. Celli felt a lump in her throat. Of course they would name him Reynald!
When she reached the clearing beneath the fungus reef, several green priests were gathered, including Yarrod and his followers. The King and Queen were high above, gazing down from a balcony, Estarra held her baby in her arms, and, oh, the . way she smiled!
Solimar came toward her, and they embraced, connecting in a way that they had never done before. While she was still '“ cocooned within the worldforest thicket, she had contacted him through telink, and they had excitedly spoken with each other. But now that she saw him in the flesh, the connection seemed even stronger.
Now that she was familiar with telink, she sensed that Yarrod and his followers were distant, separated from the rest of the network. As the wonder began to fade away, she realized what had been a thrumming undertone in the back o^ her mind. The verdani were indeed restless, disturbed… angry - or was that fear? Something dark and dangerous was abroad in the Spiral Arm. Yarrod and his converted green priests seemed the most susceptible.
'What is it, Solimar? Do you understand it?’
He shook his head. 'No more than anyone does. Yarrod won’t tell us. It’s something his converts know--’
Then Yarrod’s body went rigid, his arms thrust straight out at his sides, his fingers splayed. His green skin shimmered with an inner energy. With a rush of combusted air, he became a pillar of fire. His fellow converts likewise ignited, standing together like human torches in the meadow. Something was rushing along their mental strands - something against which they could not defend. Yarrod and his companions fell to the ground as silhouettes painted in ash.
High up in orbit, the looming verdani battleships began to spin about. She could feel Beneto there, feel him fighting, cutting himself and his gigantic thorny form off from the rest of the worldforest. Then she felt one of the treeships catch fire, even in the vacuum of space, like a fever in the blood.
The trembling pain built and intensified. Celli staggered backward, and Solimar was with her. Both of them touched the overlapping gold-scale bark of the immense trees, desperately seeking an anchor. Trying to help the trees fight.
The worldtrees could not escape the horrific fire coursing invisibly toward them through their own network. All around the clearing, six of the largest trees physically trembled, then began to steam and smoke. The faeros had found their way inside the verdani network, like a spark to tinder. From its core outward, the largest tree exploded into a column of fire. The other giant trees began to blaze from the roots upward, but they were not consumed. Instead, the incandescent worldtrees shone with waves of heat, fire coursing through the heartwood, heating but not destroying. Flametrees.
The faeros had seized them, possessed them, and would not let the worldforest mind be burned. Like frozen torches towering over the canopy, the six trees blazed hotter and hotter, and the rest of the forest seemed to shrink away.
As Celli and Solimar ran away from the flames, the unquenchable fire spread.
Glossary
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ADAM, PRINCE - predecessor to Peter, considered unacceptable candidate.
ADAR - highest military rank in lldiran Solar Navy.
AGUERRA, CARLOS - Raymond’s younger brother.
AGUERRA, MICHAEL - Raymond’s youngest brother.
AGUERRA, RAYMOND - streetwise young man from Earth, former identity of King Peter.
AGUERRA, RITA - Raymond’s mother.