Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [81]
The faeros began to burn the whole camp, setting the temporary structures afire. The researchers ran about frantically, but they could not flee fast enough. Some begged for mercy, and Rusa'h would show them mercy: he would grant them a wondrous gift by converting their soulfires into faeros energy. The scientists and engineers screamed as their very bones ignited, and they disappeared in a flash of bright flame and greasy smoke.
Now that he was back home, Rusa'h walked the empty streets, remembering how Hyrillka had been.
After climbing the hill, he strode through his empty citadel palace. His very touch was fire, and he set everything alight, incinerating the thick hanging vines, liquefying even the stone and crystal support structures. When the whole citadel palace was burning, he sat back in his melting throne and revelled in the blaze.
Forty-seven
Cesca Peroni
Though she loved Jess as much as ever, Cesca couldn't ignore her responsibilities to the Roamers, who still considered her Speaker and looked to her for guidance.
'I feel as if I need to do something for our people. Jay Okiah selected me to be her successor. The Roamers are still recovering from this devastating war, and I'm alone with you on an entire planet, happier than I've ever been in my life. Shouldn't I be helping the clans?'
'Can you still lead the Roamers? Really?' Jess lifted his hand and looked at it. Runnels of silvery water glided down his wrist and into the swaying waves. 'Is it fair to them to have a Speaker who is no longer like they are?'
Her expression was troubled. Water plastered her dark hair against her head. 'I don't know. Would it be best for the Roamers if I turned over the reins of leadership? And soon?'
'Maybe we should ask them what they think.'
'Then let's go find them.'
After leaving Charybdis, she and Jess first visited the ruins of Rendezvous, then the bustling commercial hub of Yreka, before travelling to the centre of the new government at Theroc.
'I'm pleased to see that the clans have found allies and protectors,' Cesca said to Jess, as their ship descended towards the vast forest.'We were so alone before.'
'Impossible enemies brought us together in ways we couldn't imagine.'
'As long as they brought the factions of humanity together, Jess. Husband.' She smiled. 'Now we represent the wentals as well as ourselves.'
Through the shimmering walls of the bubble, the couple peered down at the thick worldtrees and the large clearings made into landing areas for Roamer ships. With Jess's help, she had considered what she wanted to do, and what she could do. What was her new Guiding Star? What was her plan?
Like a giant raindrop, their wental-formed ship descended to a meadow near a small diamond sphere--an empty hydrogue derelict? As traders and green priests hurried forward to greet them, the pair stepped through the pliable membrane. Holding hands, she and Jess stood in the Theron sunlight, sparkling with droplets of moisture. The wental energy permeating their bodies gave them a faint, crackling aura.
The last time Cesca had come here, she had helped the Roamers clear debris and assist the Therons after the hydrogue attack. And before that, she had visited with an entourage of clans to celebrate her impending marriage to Reynald.
Now her father hurried forward, practically running. The grin on Denn Peroni's face warmed her heart. Since joining with the wentals, Cesca had seen him once on Yreka to explain what had happened to her, and to enlist his aid in recruiting Roamer ships for the final battle against the hydrogues.
Knowing that he couldn't touch her, Denn stopped a few steps away. 'Well, I'm glad the Speaker has come back to resume her role among the Roamer clans again. We were beginning to wonder!'
The fact that she couldn't allow anyone close enough to touch her only reinforced Cesca's decision. Her father's