The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson [8]
By seizing a whole battle group and turning her back on her beloved EDF, she had set wheels in motion — wheels that might well run her over. After dumping Lanyan, Conrad Brindle, and a handful of hard-line loyalists on the outskirts of Earth’s solar system, she was taking her ships to Theroc, to join King Peter and his Confederation.
No matter how many times she tried to rationalize her decision, though, it still felt like desertion. Her brain was simply wired that way. She scanned the people on her bridge for signs of uneasiness. Willis was surprised at just how many of them had volunteered to burn their bridges and join her. Abandoning their homes, friends, families, and possessions was not a decision to make lightly. Obviously, she wasn’t the only one who had smelled something rotten in the Hansa.
The last time she had brought these particular Mantas to Theroc, Willis had been under orders to arrest Peter as an outlaw ruler. . . .
“Approaching destination, Admiral,” said her helmsman.
“Make sure you announce our arrival politely. We don’t want them to pee their pants when all these warships show up.” She took a few moments to adjust her posture, her uniform, her expression. Ready to go meet the new boss.
As soon as the eleven ships entered planetary orbit, however, Willis saw that something was wrong. A flurry of mismatched Roamer ships had been launched into erratic orbits. Cargo craft, fast scouts, lumbering barges all lifted off from the forested continent and raced away from the planet in all directions. Two of the larger Roamer ships nearly collided with each other.
Her young comm officer’s skin turned prominently pink. “Admiral, it’s total pandemonium down there! Frantic distress calls, screams — Theroc is being attacked, but I can’t see how.”
The threatening verdani treeships that circled the lush forested world like a crown of thorns were in trouble. Thrashing their enormous thorny branches, they did not even react to the oncoming EDF war vessels. They were battling some pervasive, unseen enemy.
“Ask how we can assist them,” Willis barked. She looked around for any unexpected threat . . . perhaps the return of the hydrogues or one of General Lanyan’s vessels. “Get close enough to respond as needed. We’re supposed to be the cavalry here — I’d like to make a great first impression.”
The feedback shrieks coming over the comm system were worse than fingernails scraping across a chalkboard.
Cruising directly in front of them, its boughs twisting and snapping as if in extreme internal pain, one of the thorny tree battleships literally burst into flames. Despite the cold vacuum of space, bright yellow-orange fire cracked out of its core and spread across the branches, devouring the energized wood.
On the high-res surveillance scans of the forests below, Willis saw intense blazes appear, spontaneously igniting and beginning to spread through the dense worldforest . . . exactly where she knew King Peter had established the Confederation’s headquarters.
* * *
2
King Peter
Another worldtree shuddered and then erupted into flames as the faeros possessed its heartwood. With sounds like cannon shots, the malicious fires crackled through the delicate fronds, striving toward the canopy — burning, but not entirely consuming the heartwood.
High up within the fungus-reef city, King Peter shouted for the people to evacuate. The smoke and heat in the air bit the back of his throat. From an opening in the organic walls, he and Estarra saw the flames race greedily up one trunk after another, but none of the living verdani turned to ash. Not yet.
The green priests who remained inside the white-walled tree city clamped hands like vises against their smooth emerald scalps as pain surged through the worldforest mind. The followers of Yarrod and