The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson [119]
“Rusa’h has finally guessed what we are about to do.” A smile formed on his scarred face. “But he cannot stop us.”
The flaming ellipsoids launched gouts of fire at the descending complex, but though they melted some of the framework, the shipyards were a falling projectile that could not be deflected.
Just then, he received a static-filled transmission from Prime Designate Daro’h. “I have good news for you, Tal O’nh. Ridek’h is alive! Osira’h and the others protected him. He is safe.”
O’nh drew a large breath, though it burned his lungs. He felt a deep, satisfying contentment. “Thank you, Prime Designate.”
The faeros fireballs continued to pummel the shipyards with increasing desperation. Flames licked through the framework, but even when two of the spacedock components and one warliner frame sheared away from the central mass, the separate projectiles continued to descend on the same trajectory.
Sitting in the middle of it all, protected for only a few moments more, the old veteran wished he could see. The nearest engineer kithman shouted, “There are flames all around us, Tal, but the clouds have just parted. We shot through them like a projectile.”
“What do you see?”
“Mijistra — it is beautiful! The city spreads out, but it is empty. And there’s the Prism Palace. I am glad I got to see it one last time. The whole Palace glows. It is lit up with the fire from within.”
O’nh nodded. “Good, then Rusa’h is likely still inside. He cannot get away.”
In the last moment, Tal O’nh felt as if he were bringing the very Lightsource itself to Ildira.
* * *
83
Prime Designate Daro’h
With Yazra’h at his side, her hair blowing wildly in the warm breeze, Daro’h stood on a hill far from the outskirts of Mijistra. With tears in his eyes he stared at his beloved majestic city and the shining gem of the Prism Palace. Having said his farewells to Tal O’nh, he set aside the communication device.
Words failed him as the flaming hand of vengeance descended toward Mijistra.
He heard a deafening shriek as the shipyards ripped a hole through the sky. They trailed a plume of vaporized metal like a comet’s tail of clotting blood. Fireballs harried the plummeting mass, but they could not stop its descent.
Yazra’h stared, unable to blink. Daro’h clutched his sister’s arm. Chief Scribe Ko’sh silently joined them.
The shipyards came down in a colossal explosion, as if an asteroid-sized hammer had slammed into the heart of Mijistra. Into the Prism Palace.
Daro’h covered his eyes from the blinding flash. Ripples of destruction flattened the buildings, erasing the greatest achievements of the Ildiran Empire. The capital city vanished in a rumble of unleashed kinetic energy.
The shockwave took only a few seconds to arrive, but it was strong enough to knock them to the ground. The explosion seemed to go on and on.
After a long, stunned moment Daro’h got to his hands and knees, then slowly, unsteadily, climbed to his feet. “My heart has been ripped from my chest.” His voice sounded strangely muffled in his ears.
Yazra’h had a feral look in her eyes, anger at what Rusa’h had forced them to do. “It is a devastating blow.”
“But a necessary one.” The Prime Designate was shuddering. The path of the descending shipyards left a scar like a black gash in the air.
The Chief Scribe brushed off his robes as he climbed to his feet. He was speechless as he watched tumbling waves of smoke and fire pour into the sky. The wondrous capital city had vanished, leaving only a vast, boiling crater. Finally, he said, “The Hall of Rememberers is lost! Our history, our Saga.”
“Our city, our Prism Palace,” Daro’h added. “But our race survives. Maybe this was an unforgivable act, but it is a second chance.”
“But the Saga — ” Ko’sh moaned.
“You are a rememberer! We will remember in our hearts and minds. Do not lose sight of what this has bought us. Now Adar Zan’nh can rejoin the Solar Navy. Without the faeros pursuing him, he will free the Mage-Imperator.” Daro’h prayed that his father would someday find a way to pardon him for what he had done.