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I sobbed in Jeral's arms; he was brushing away tears, too.
"Lissa, I hate to interrupt," Thurlow appeared inside my study. Well, there wasn't any other way he could have just shown up as he did—the study door was closed and locked. He'd folded in. Conner didn't even blink.
"What is it, Thurlow?" My voice wasn't steady.
"The Ra'Ak have brought an army of spawn and are attacking your shield on Vionn. They intend to kill the Green Fae and the others inside the curtain."
There's nothing like fear and desperation to toss you right out of a grief session. Jeral was up and ready, too, the moment he heard the word spawn. Either he or Conner sent out the message; I had an army of my own at my back when I set out for Vionn. Toff was there. Maybe they'd planned this—knew I'd come to protect that baby, if nothing else. Thurlow was coming with us, I noticed, and Kifirin folded in, bringing Aryn and Rigo. I sure hoped it was night there, otherwise Rigo might fry and I sure didn't want that to happen. "Let's go," I said, and folded all of us away.
Spawn had just broken through the shield when I arrived with my hastily formed military might. Eight Ra'Ak were there, driving spawn through the hole in my shield. They'd been the ones to destroy the barrier, and had used considerable power to do it. A ninth Ra'Ak, still in humanoid form, stood nearby, watching. Saa Thalarr and Spawn Hunters went to work, challenging Ra'Ak and taking out what looked to be twenty thousand spawn pouring through a hole in my shield. All of them were heading toward the Green Fae's first valley as quickly as they could get there.
Dragon had come, as had Crane. Dragon went to his avatar immediately, preparing to wage war. Crane's giant Wyroc screamed a battle cry and engaged the first Ra'Ak he found. Drake and Drew, my twins, were also in Dragon form and fighting Ra'Ak. Radomir arrived and hit the ground as a giant Black Tiger, taking on one of two remaining Ra'Ak. My focus was on the one still in humanoid shape. I decided to have a parlay with him. First, he wouldn't expect it, and second, I figured all my mates, Kifirin included, were going to be mighty pissed if I told them before I did it.
"Perhaps I should have just gone to kill the Pelipu, rather than letting one of your cousins have him for dinner," I said amiably, misting right in front of the humanoid Ra'Ak.
He hid his surprise well; I'll give him that. "But you failed to do so," he said. "I hear he was quite tasty—just the right amount of fat, as you might imagine. You are a bit thin but still quite tender, I'd wager." He grinned. I was about to be dinner, too, if this creep had anything to say about it.
"I'll fight the whole way down," I warned him. Yeah, I was watching to make sure he didn't turn scaly and coppery. Ra'Ak can eat somebody for lunch pretty quick.
"We haven't had a Saa Thalarr as a meal in a very long time," he went on. He was watching my every move, just as I was watching his.
"And you still won't get one," I said. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
"But I intend to have you as a meal," he went on, trying to mesmerize me with his eyes and voice, somehow. Too bad he didn't know that wouldn't work. I heard sounds of fighting and shouting behind me, but I ignored it for the moment.
"And you still won't get a Saa Thalarr, even if you manage to make a meal out of me," I said. "I'm not one of them."
"Then what are you?" He was stepping up the mesmerizing—it vibrated about him, much like the feeling you get while standing next to giant speakers. Still, whatever he was doing wasn't working, although he expected it to. I smelled the confusion around him because of it.
"Justice," I answered his question. "Have you heard of me?"
"No. Should I?"
"Let me guess—you were one of those flunkies hiding in the void, weren't you?" I asked.
"Not a flunky—they answered to me," he replied. He wasn't that remarkable, in looks, anyway. Brown hair, brown eyes, medium looks, medium height, medium build. That whole boom-box compulsion thing, though, that was something. It sounded as though he were used to being obeyed.
"You gonna have a tantrum if you don't get your way?" I queried.
"I will take this world apart, if things go badly for my servants." He jerked his head toward the battle going on behind me.
"Well, that's too bad," I said. I wasn't about to waste any more time talking him; not if he planned to use his Ra'Ak power to blast the planet. I disappeared in front of him, which didn't cause much of a stir, actually. He should have paid more attention to his history and pondered why a whole bunch of Ra'Ak had died on Kifirin not long ago. His head exploded, just as anybody else's might, when I misted inside it and blew myself outward.
Dragon and Crane had taken down their targets, Radomir had gotten his and Drake and Drew, in Dragon form, were chasing after the last Ra'Ak, after dispatching two others. This one was snapping and snarling at them as they chased him across a wide field. I'd never seen my twins' Dragons before; they were impressive—Drew's was silver, Drake's black.
Want me to take care of that? I sent.
And spoil all our fun? Drake sent back.
Don't have too much fun; I don't want to watch Karzac put you in a healing sleep because you were dumb enough to get scale poison or something, I grumped.
Message received, Drew replied and went on the offensive. The Ra'Ak was beheaded by massive jaws in less than a blink and everybody ducked for the inevitable dusting of Ra'Ak chunks. Now, it was down to the spawn; what remained of them, anyway. They were still running toward the valley where the Green Fae lived as fast as they could get there. Spawn hunters were chasing after them; wolves, vampires—all were taking out spawn as quickly as they could catch them. Even one escaped spawn could destroy life on Vionn with a simple bite, and Toff was out there. Well, there was a solution to this and I was about to exercise my options.
Sorry, I sent to the Green Fae, but the Ra'Ak know you're here, now, and they likely know you have my child. That means you can't stay. I misted toward them swiftly, had all three thousand of them, including their half-Fae children and the Vionn who'd chosen to live alongside them, gathered and transported to Le-Ath Veronis in only a few seconds.
* * *
"I know these aren't your mountains and valleys," I said to Tiearan as he, the Green Fae and humanoid and half-humanoid alike blinked in shock at their new surroundings. "But it's the best I can do on short notice."
I'd set them down in an area just east of the last comesuli settlements and farms. The land there consisted of gently rolling hills, a river and a few streams and ponds. Plenty of ground, if you wanted to farm or raise animals. The Green Fae didn't consume meat, but their humanoid neighbors did. They liked their milk, cheese and eggs, too, so they had cows, chickens and goats. I'd brought their animals with them; I just couldn't uproot trees or plants. They'd have to start over with those, but the comesuli could provide seeds, cuttings and the like.
