Hostiles (The Galactic Mage series) by John Daulton

Author:John Daulton [Daulton, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2013-06-11T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 32

They stood together looking out through the narrow window of Tytamon’s great tower, Altin shaking his head as they beheld the incredible cloud of Hostiles swarming above the Earth, and Orli covering her mouth in absolute disbelief.

“They are fools to think this is any doing of the Queen,” he said. “But I don’t blame them for blaming Blue Fire.”

Not mine, came the distant voice in his head.

“Yes, I know.” He spoke it as well as sending the thought, for Orli’s benefit, even though she could not hear what Blue Fire had to say.

“What do you know?” Orli asked, tearing her gaze away from the crumbling wreck of fire that of one of the few remaining Juggernaut-class war ships within their view had become. She’d been transfixed by the tiny flecks of debris spewing out of its broken bays and cracked open corridors, like crystallized blood from exposed capillaries, sparkling in the light of the distant sun like flashing gems. Tens of thousands of men and women had died just then, were dying as they watched. A shudder ran through her as she looked up into Altin’s face.

“Blue Fire didn’t send them. She must have read my thoughts.” He half expected Blue Fire to confirm it, but she did not. “Where is your red world from here?”

“Let me look.” She still held her tablet, but it was the work of several minutes to find a satellite she could access. “They’ve destroyed most of the net feeds,” she said. “There are hardly any satellites left. This one isn’t even in English.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“My language. I know enough Spanish from Roberto to get by. Give me a second.” She poked at the tablet for a time while Altin looked back out the window. A starship that looked just like the Aspect, the place he’d first met Orli, blew up at the eastern edge of Earth’s blue disk. His thoughts, like Orli’s, could not help but tally up the loss of life.

“Got it,” she said. “We’re on the wrong side of the sun.”

Altin didn’t need to ask questions about that, and he immediately cast a seeing spell and sent it plunging toward the sun, Sol, light of the beleaguered Earth. He took an angle just over its northern pole and tempered how much brilliance he would allow as he passed over it. With no seeing stones to use for this, he found himself grateful for the time he’d spent trying to catch up with the fleet ships several months ago, so long ago now it seemed, back when they’d been fleeing from Blue Fire and her orbs, before they’d known there was a Blue Fire at all. That was when Blue Fire was simply a Hostile. Like the new enemy they faced. Just Hostile. He couldn’t help wonder as he pushed his vision along at meteoric speeds if this other Hostile might not be like her, if it might not be making a terrible mistake. However it had found Earth, perhaps it could be reasoned with as well.

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