The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson [17]
Solimar shouted, tried to stop her. Too late, Celli realized her mistake. As soon as she made the connection, the mental uproar hit her like a cannon blast. She could not block the overpowering cacophony.
Solimar threw himself to the tree beside her, held her with one arm and touched the bark with his free hand. Instead of dragging her away and breaking the connection, he added his strength, helped her hold on. Celli squeezed her eyes shut and fought the background roar. Her narrow shoulders shuddered, but she forced herself to keep her palms in place. For the worldforest. She shouted through telink. We are here for you. Draw on our strength.
She suddenly realized who else might be able to help them, just as he had helped the verdani understand the power behind the treedancing. Beneto had fused with one of the giant verdani treeships circling Theroc, and he was still up in orbit. Even in cold, dark space, the great battleship trees struggled against the newborn faeros trying to reach them through the telink conduits. Two of the treeships out there had already caught fire and were surrounded by an unnatural blaze.
Celli sought out the distant mind she missed so much, and Beneto broke through to her briefly. The burning trees must cut themselves off. Stop the spread of the fire before the faeros conquer all the worldforest.
Like the sound of shattering crystal in her mind, a burst of pain nearly deafened her. Traveling invisible pathways, the faeros had jumped to Beneto — and now his immense battleship body became a torch high above Theroc . . . too far away for her to help him, burning and burning, but not dying.
* * *
8
Queen Estarra
Huddled inside the sealed hydrogue derelict, Estarra held the baby close. In the panicked flight from the fungus reef, she hadn’t even noticed how her hands and arms were blistered and smudged from falling embers. Peter’s face was scalded, his voice raspy from inhaling so much smoke.
Outside the insulated diamond walls, the flames roared so brightly that she had to shield her eyes. The meadow was entirely ablaze, and another huge branch crashed down.
“I can still fly this vessel,” the Teacher compy offered. “Its systems are functional. I am perfectly capable of guiding it out of the fire.”
Estarra felt a surge of relief. “Of course you are, OX!”
The compy placed his polymer hands on the crystal knobs and accessed the complex etched circuitry. The hydrogue engines made no sound; there was no roar of liftoff or blast of rockets, but the small sphere heaved itself up from the ground. OX guided them higher, above the conflagration, above the torch trees.
Across the sweep of the canopy Estarra spotted other islands of fire where faeros had caught on specific trees, perhaps weak points in the telink network, or places where Yarrod’s green priests had inadvertently created a vulnerability. But most of the worldforest had not yet succumbed. It was bad, she knew, but it could have been worse.
Past the circle of fire that had trapped them, they saw many Therons running to scattered Roamer cargo craft. “Better land among them, OX,” Peter said, his eyes darting from side to side as he raced through possible options. “We might need those vessels to take people to safety.”
“Eleven large military ships have just arrived in orbit, King Peter,” the Teacher compy announced. “They belong to the Earth Defense Forces.”
Estarra felt sick inside as she jumped to the obvious conclusion. “The EDF is attacking us now?”
Peter’s left hand unconsciously tightened. “Damn the Chairman! Send a message, OX. Tell them that we intend to vigorously resist any Hansa aggression. Don’t let them think we’re vulnerable.”
An older woman’s voice replied to the transmission in a hard drawl; Estarra recognized Admiral Willis. “King Peter, I’m not here to give you a black eye — I came to offer a helping hand. Looks like you could use it, too. My ships and I no