Standing together, Tasia and Robb enjoyed watching the happy reunions. Without even looking at each other, they reached out at the same moment to clasp hands. “I’m proud of what we did, Brindle, but I’m also mad as hell. We’re going to have to do something about the Klikiss, and pretty damn quick.”

Robb followed. “You’re ready to lock and load, aren’t you, Tamblyn?”

“I’m anxious to go back to Llaro and clean up the mess. I want to teach those bugs a lesson.” Too many — including Davlin Lotze — had sacrificed their lives during the rescue so that others could get away.

“At least let me grab a shower before you jump headfirst into another battle.”

“This is a Roamer complex with standard resource-management protocols.” She looked into his amber eyes. “We’d better take that shower together — to conserve water.”

Kotto Okiah, who was acting administrator of the shipyards, scratched his curly hair and blinked his owlish eyes at all the people who had showed up unexpectedly. When he spotted Tasia and Robb, he hurried over. “Well, it looks like you’ve got this under control.” Tasia wasn’t sure he even recalled why the rescue ship had gone to Llaro in the first place.

She said, “Kotto, there’s another danger that the whole Confederation needs to prepare for. We’re going to need some brand-new weapons and defenses.”

“Oh? That’s excellent.” The engineer raised his eyebrows. “Which enemy are we talking about now? I thought the hydrogues were defeated. There’s the Hansa, of course, but nothing really new. Is there something I’m missing?”

“Worse than the Big Goose, maybe worse than the drogues.” Taking Kotto by the elbow, Tasia said, “You’ve still got a green priest at the shipyards, right?”

“Yes. Liona should be on her way over here. I, uh, sent for her in case the clans wanted to hear news of their loved ones. Planning ahead — ”

Tasia cut him off. “We need to send out messages to rally all the Confederation fighters. King Peter knows the Klikiss have returned, but I doubt he knows they’re attacking colonies. No time to lose.”

The din in the reception bay was deafening as refugees chattered eagerly with clan members. When the female green priest finally entered the admin complex through the metal-lined hall, many Roamers rushed toward her, hoping to send telink notices to friends and family.

But something was wrong with Liona; Tasia picked up on it immediately. The green priest looked aghast as she pushed her way into the clamor. She gripped her small potted tree, and the delicate fronds seemed to shudder. Liona’s distraught shout brought everyone to a startled silence.

She looked around wildly. “The faeros are burning the worldforest!”

7

Celli

Asearing, sentient heat engulfed the stately trees and worked its way to their very cores. Yet the verdani heartwood refused to burn, so that the possessed trees shone like torches, unable to throw off the fiery elementals. Meanwhile, a normal fire had spread to vulnerable wood and underbrush, ravaging the forest as well.

At the edge of the meadow, Celli clenched her fists. “What can we do for the worldtrees, Solimar? How can we help them fight?”

“The faeros are torturing the trees they’ve captured.” Her friend pressed his hands against his smooth scalp, wincing and then forcing his eyes open again. “Burning! It is hard to concentrate.”

Though new to her abilities as a green priest, Celli could hear the wordless agony of trees. When the fires attacked one of them, they all felt the pain. Many green priests in the forest nearby were overwhelmed by the tragedy, unable to disconnect from their bond. Others fought back the clamor and the horror, afraid to open themselves to telink at all.

Though most of the trees in the central grove were caught up in elemental fire, Celli realized that the large trees were struggling tohold on to the faeros, to keep the fire from jumping to other worldtrees. She could feel the verdani fighting, but they were losing the battle.

With a shudder and then a surge of dismay, one of the weakening trees could no longer maintain its hold, and the faeros gleefully leaped to another towering trunk. Energetic flames raced up the golden bark scales to reach the vulnerable fronds, and within moments that tree had also become a living torch.

Solimar turned to her, his face drawn but determined. “Those faeros were transmitted through telink along mental pathways opened by Yarrod and his green priests. But these faeros are different somehow from the ones we’ve seen before.”

Celli sorted the information from the bedlam in her mind. The telink/thismconnection had inadvertently created a passage for faeros sparks to hurtle through. After consuming the green priest conduits, they had possessed the nearest trees. Yarrod himself had been the first to die, and Celli was unable to drive the horrible image of her uncle bursting into flames from her mind. He had tried to do a good thing, and it had incinerated him.

“These are newborn sparks — and they aren’t as strong as the others,” Celli said. “We can fight them, if the green priests will rally. We can strengthen the trees, give them hope, just like you and I did with our treedancing!”

She felt a rush of optimism. When the worldforest had nearly given up after the first hydrogue holocaust, she and Solimar had danced for the trees. That exuberance, that show oflife, had awakened a new strength in the worldforest, had let the deep roots tap into something the verdani had not previously known how to summon. Their human spirit had shaken the worldforest out of its old malaise.

She and Solimar could do the same thing now. “We have to tell the other green priests!” Impulsively, she placed her palms against the bark of a nearby tree and opened her mind to telink.

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.