Chapter 74

Commander Voss entered Katherine’s interrogation room, which filled her with dread.  Force that inspires loyalty radiated from him.  Katherine, not sure whether to rise, bow, or recoil, sat frozen in her seat.  Voss gave her the slightest of smiles before Katherine was distracted by Lillian’s entrance into the room.  The princess’ color was back, and she was walking by her own strength.  Katherine wasn’t sure she had seen Lillian in such a healthy state since the night Saw Yatha imprisoned her in Athens.

Katherine rose, compelled to hold the woman she had nursed for so many days.  “Keep your seat,” Voss’ baritone sat her back down.  He turned to Lillian, “This is the woman who took care of you?”  Lillian nodded and smiled broadly at Katherine.  Voss nodded back.  “I’m told you have interesting information that I may want to know.”

Taking a deep breath, Katherine lined up her thoughts about Saw Yatha and suddenly got cold feet.  Her brain suddenly filled with thoughts of doubt, doubt that she would have any information that Voss didn’t already have.  If she opened her mouth, would she end up showing herself a fool and causing Drex, Evan, and her more trouble?  Her eyes bounced helplessly between the Commander and the Princess.

Just then, a large concussion of sound and a shockwave of energy rocked the makeshift command center.  Alarms and sirens erupted.  Voss looked at Lillian, stood, and wordlessly exited the room.

“What’s going on?” Katherine asked Lillian, her voice barely audible above the chaotic warnings.

“I’m not sure,” Lillian replied.  “My vision is not fully restored.  If I’m seeing things correctly, the Merlain fragments have congealed a counter-attack. We need to leave.”

Lillian took Katherine by the wrist and pulled her out of the room, through the congested pathways of the command center, and finally to the open air.

“Where are we going?” Katherine shouted as soon as she could be heard over the sirens.  Lillian stopped.

“I need you to trust me.  I’m not even sure that what I’m seeing is real, but I have a sense that if I’m not in the middle of this battle, all of my people will die, and everything will be lost.”

“What?” Katherine said.  “You said that once your people landed…”

“I know.  But there was another vision.  I didn’t know what it meant at the time.  I gave it to that young boy so many years ago when he needed the courage to stay on the right path.  It was a vision of one knight dividing into five.  Only by using my powers could he defeat them all.  It was a vision.  I knew it was important, so I gave it to him.  I showed it to him in terms he understood – a coral, knights, swords, and he was in the middle of it all.  But now, I think the vision was for now and for my brother.  The buildings of the plaza are a trap.  The Merlain forces will split their leadership, divide the Coellum’s attention, overwhelm them.”

“Brother?”

“Voss.”

Katherine shook her head in a vain attempt to make sense of the situation.

“We have to get to the fighting.  You must carry me one last time.”

Before Katherine could protest or ask another question, Lillian transformed back into the shining orb.  Watching her body react, Lillian saw her hand reach and take the floating pearl.  All the while, her mind tried to convince her that it was all too much and she should run away.  Then she heard the sound of battle, turned her head, and then her feet in that direction.  Without another thought, she moved in the direction of the battle’s roar.

When she made the last turn around the command center’s tent, Katherine’s heart stalled.  There, in the middle of the plaza, were the glimmering white and gold uniforms of the Merlain soldiers firing endlessly at the stacks of blue-clad Coellum forces.  Her vision transformed from her normal vision to a narrow focus on some movement well behind the line of battle.  It was as if she were gazing through a telescope, and she saw a lone figure commanding the troops.  The figure was dressed in black and wore a shining silver eye patch over his right eye.  Saw Yatha.  Katherine’s stomach fell.  Where had he come from?  Hadn’t he died in the same blast that killed Amnon?  Was Saw impossible to kill?

Katherine heard Lillian’s voice in her mind.  “Do you see him?”  Katherine nodded.  “Good.  We need to get to Voss.  Do you see him?”

Katherine scanned the Coellum uniforms and quickly made out the Commander.

Katherine nodded.  “Now?” she asked.

“Not yet,” Lillian said.  “I’ll tell you when, and when I do, don’t think.  Just run to him.”

In that instant, the battle’s intensity climbed to a fever pitch.  Fireballs erupted from every corner of the plaza.  Katherine felt the blasts and the heat but remained focused on Voss.  It seemed with each passing moment, soldiers on both sides met grizzly ends.  Though the Merlain forces appeared to have the upper hand, the Coellum soldiers always seemed to have a good enough response to keep up the fight.

“When I say run, run,” Lillian reminded Katherine.

Katherine steeled her eyes on Voss.  Then, off to her left, she saw a fireball finally bring down Dol’s tower.  As the weakened tower crumpled under its weight, Katherine heard Lillian’s voice clearly in her mind, “Run!”

Before Katherine could think, her legs moved in the direction of Voss.  As she ran, Katherine heard gunfire and more explosions.  More than once, she heard the whine of blasts moving too close to her ears.  She ran and ran and ran.  It seemed like the more she ran, the further Voss’ position moved away, but eventually, she crossed the space and heard Lillian say, “Drop!”

Katherine dropped to her stomach as she heard a blast fly over her head before hitting a transport and engulfing it in flames.  She lay on the ground, panting, eyes wide, and heart pounding.”

“Bravely done,” Lillian said.

Voss noticed Katherine lying on the ground and barked at her, “What are you doing here?  Get out of the way, or you’ll get yourself or others killed.”

Instantly, a new barrage of fire came for the Coellum.  They were pinned down, and there was no way out except with highly accurate shooting on their part.  Then, the Central Processing Unit building fell.  With each tower falling, the horizon opened up a little, but the debris blocked possible retreats and reduced the size of the available fighting space.  Come what may, the Merlain and Coellum forces were being squeezed closer together.

“Get out of here,” Voss shouted at Katherine.

“I’ve got Lillian with me,” she shouted back.

“Get her out of here, too.  I didn’t come all this way to rescue her just to have her killed by your incompetence.”

“What I mean is she’s speaking to me.”  Katherine opened her hand to show the commander Lillian’s shimmering orb.

Voss shook his head and moved away from Katherine.  The commander found a group of soldiers.  Katherine saw him speak to them and point in various directions.  Moments later, the soldiers scattered.  Katherine closed her hand on Lillian and lay stomach-first on the ground.

“What do I do now?” she whispered, hoping Lillian would hear her.

“Stay put for now.  The time is close.”

Suddenly, all of the soldiers Voss had spoken to opened fire at a different building at the edge of the plaza.  The Merlain in that area fired back, but then that tall building also collapsed, and all the fighting Merlain were covered in building and dust.

Silence came to the plaza.  Katherine rose slowly, daring to peak her eyes above her cover.  What she saw chilled her blood.  Saw Yatha stood not more than a football geld away from her position.  She heard him call out, “Parley!  Parley with the Coellum generals!.”

Commander Voss shot his fist into the air and held it there to make sure all of his men had a chance to see it.  “Merlain seeks parley!” he shouted, and suddenly, he was flanked by four officers.

“Hold steady,” Lillian said to Katherine.

Katherine spied Voss and Yatha standing with less than the length of her house between them.  Then, gunfire came at the Colleum team.  Voss was hit in the shoulder, and the four officers dropped like sacks of gravel.

“Now!” Lillian shouted in Katherine’s mind.  Instantly, Katherine’s hand heated up, and in pain, she opened her hand.  Lillian was already glowing and transforming into her normal shape.  The princess raced toward the Merlain while gunfire continued.  She was a streak of light brighter than lightning on a collision course with Yatha and his men.  

Katherine shielded her eyes.  If this was the end of Lillian, she didn’t want to see it.  She counted down this distance in her mind: five… four… three… two… Light surrounded everything, brighter than Katherine thought possible.  Even with her hand over her closed eyes, the light hurt her pupils.  There was no escaping it.  

Then, the extra light dimmed to nothing.  Katherine wasn’t sure if she had died in a nuclear blast.  She felt alive.  Everything was quiet.  Katherine dared to open her eyes, and what she saw made her doubt her eyes.  In the place where Saw Yatha stood was Lillian, barely shining and alone.  There was no sign of any Merlain.  It was as if they had all vanished in Lillian’s brilliance.

The sight of Talon Voss struggling to his feet snapped Katherine into action.  She sprang to her feet and made her way over the debris, equipment, and bewildered soldiers to Lillian and Voss.  Lillian was back to her pale and weakened state.  Katherine helped her to sit.

“What was that?” Katherine asked the princess.  “Did you kill them all?”

Lillian shook her head.  “No, but they won’t be able to regroup again.”

“Are you done showing off your talents, Your Highness?” Voss asked, leaning on some piece of broken building.

Lillian closed her eyes and nodded.  Then she curled up on the ground and fell asleep.