the field that arvil had chosen to display was two away from where the brown and dry-leaved drakus plants were. not that far, really, but none of his guests would be seeing any of that. farzi, nenzi and the others had gotten away-i saw the top of the vehicle as nenzi drove them at a reasonable pace toward the plantation.

the plants were as high as my shoulder in the field-they were scheduled to be harvested in two days. more than tall enough to hide eight lion snakes as they made their way toward an old bus. i was thankful for that. i'd found a planet not far away-one that held mostly jungle around the equator. farzi and his brothers could live there until something else could be done. i had no intention of handing any of them to lendill schaff or norian keef.

"of course you may take a pod, my dear," arvil was smiling at one of his guest's pretty companion. "what you hold in your hand is worth one hundred thousand alliance credits," arvil went on when the woman broke off a branch of a plant.

"this one branch?" she sounded surprised.

"just that branch," arvil chuckled. his chuckle was cut short as bullets sprayed around us and shouts and screams sounded.

i was frightened out of my wits when i saw the hovercopters flying toward us, heading straight for the plantation. i had to do something fast to keep them occupied and pointed in a direction away from farzi and the others. the fields containing the brown-leaved plants were nearby and lay in the proper direction. everyone around me was still screaming and shouting as bullets continued to fly around us. i expected the hardlow's warlocks to send blasts toward the alliance attackers or the hovercopters. i was shocked when nothing of the sort came as i skipped away.

"asd!" arvil shouted at those around him, "get down. head toward the buses!" his words were proven useless only ticks later as all nine buses were firebombed by the attacking hovercopters. bullets were raining from the hovercopters too, as wilffox and his brother looked around for their warlocks. this should be a simple matter for those four, except they couldn't be found.

wilffox was shouting for astralan, even as he died in the midst of a drakus seed field. others were screaming and running now, while bullets brought anyone down who ran at the rear of the fleeing crowd. expensive heels were sucked into damp soil and left behind as women ran shrieking from the attack. wilffin was firing the pistol he'd carried inside his jacket when he was hit in the chest. he fell, bleeding from a wound dangerously close to his heart. more hovercopters came, herding the crowd before them. lendill, in the command copter, was shouting to keep as many as possible alive for questioning.

i was turned to thifilatha as soon as i landed in the field. what i reached out for after turning was the heat beneath the ground. it leapt to do as i bid-a volcano in its infancy. lava would have taken perhaps ten or twenty turns to make its way to the surface, but some power i held while thifilatha reached out toward it, calling it to the surface in a matter of ticks. still, it felt too long as the cone rose around me and the air grew hot and stifling. i urged it on, forcing it to answer my call. the cone roared to life, lifting me with it. i could feel the molten rock and ash beneath my feet. the hovercopters were whirring overhead as i commanded my volcano to erupt.

i didn't know until then that heat, even the heat of a volcano, cannot hurt any high demon in their other form. ash and fiery, molten lava spewed from the newly formed crater and fountained upward, forcing the hovercopters to veer away. i could hear the screams of people coming toward me-they would be compelled to find an alternate route to get away.

night was falling around me and the light from the eruption was spectacular, calling out to me to come and play within its heated frenzy. forcing myself to ignore the call, i focused on the reason i'd done this in the beginning-my reptanoids. i had to get back to them. take them to safety before the asd came and took them away. it made my heart sore to think of farzi and his brothers, locked inside a cage.

the kitchen was quiet as i landed inside it. my clothing had been burned away the moment i turned, so i stood naked upon the tiled floor. the staff must have run the moment the asd attacked-piles of dishes and glasses were everywhere, tossed aside by servants in favor of saving their lives. i couldn't blame them-i would have done the same. grabbing one of the white coats the pastry cooks had left behind, i tied it around myself and went to look for my reptanoids.

"farzi! nenzi!" i shouted, ghosting quickly from room to room. wiping frightened tears away, i frantically searched for my friends. i needed to hurry and get them away; the alliance and lendill could come at any moment. when i raced into my suite, hoping they'd gone there to wait for me, what greeted me instead shocked me to my core.

chapter 15

astralan, celestan, galaxsan and stellan all stood beside teeg, who held a pistol in his hand. what truly shocked me, however, was that galaxsan and celestan had farzi and his brothers gathered and held in a tight knot. the two warlocks disappeared with the reptanoids as i skidded to a stop inside my suite. "no!" i screamed. "bring them back! teeg, bring them back!"

"too late, reah nilvas of the asd," teeg checked the charge of his ranos pistol, his face an expressionless mask. the moment he'd said my last name and asd, i'd gone cold. was he going to kill me? ask one of the warlocks to try? i had a defense against the warlocks. i had nothing against a ranos pistol. i wondered if turning thifilatha would do any good, but teeg's next words stopped me.

"arvil and the hardlows are already dead, reah. your doing, no doubt." his dark eyes were hard as he stared at me. he hadn't pointed the pistol at me, yet. yet. "i have to thank you for that," teeg went on. "that leaves it all to me. the warlocks know where everything the hardlows have is located; all i have to do is take it. they're willing to work with me on this." teeg offered me a beautiful smile, then. if i wasn't so stunned, it might have brought an answering smile from me. as it was, i could only gape at him in shock.

teeg had planned this, and i should have seen it. the warlocks calling him boss and asking him what he wanted, instead of consulting arvil or the hardlows. i should have seen it coming from clicks away. i'd been foolish enough to think he loved me, when all he truly wanted was everything the biggest criminals on this side of the galaxy owned. now, as arvil's heir, he would get it, especially if he were backed by the four most powerful warlocks anyone might find to hire for that sort of thing. eventually, my sense and my voice returned.

"where did you take farzi and his brothers?" i demanded, stalling for time. perhaps lendill would show up soon, although i had my doubts that he could capture teeg if he were supported by the warlocks.

"they're on campiaa," teeg's voice sounded different-harder.

"set them free, teeg," i begged. "they don't belong to you or anyone else, and they certainly don't belong on that cesspit of a planetoid."

"that's for me to decide," teeg snapped. "don't be so shocked, reah, there's more," teeg's lip curled in a nasty grin. "what you just did-getting arvil killed-well, that voids your claim to any of his empire. it all comes to me, now. i'm his sole heir and i have the records to prove it."

i gaped at teeg again; i know i did-with my mouth open and everything. i could hear gunfire in the distance; the asd was coming closer. i didn't have much time.

"you did this purposely, just so you'd get it all," my voice quavered. i didn't give a damn about anything arvil had. what i'd cared for was teeg. now, he was pulling that rug from beneath my feet and allowing me to hit the floor hard, knocking the breath right out of me. my heart squeezed in my chest and it hurt. "and i thought delvin was the real betraying difik. too bad he's dead now or i'd go and apologize to him for calling him the blackest of betrayers." i wanted to throw teeg into a wall. i wanted to curl up in a corner and weep. i did neither. "i hope you enjoy it," i said and skipped away.

shouting and crying from the moment i landed at the palace on le-ath veronis, it took karzac and a larentii to place me in a healing sleep. i didn't learn until later that tory had sent mindspeech to vice-director schaff, telling him i was safe and there with him. lendill and his operatives had cleaned up bodies and arrested the others, making a complete sweep of all of arvil's guests. the ones he didn't get, of course, were teeg san gerxon, his four warlocks and the eight reptanoids.

i didn't want to do anything except be by myself for the next moon-turn. the only person welcome anywhere near me was gavril. he truly was my best friend. he never told me i shouldn't behave as i was, or eat more or sleep better. he just huddled with me most of the time when he was free, or asked about his research as he worked on an assignment for master morwin. finally, after the moon-turn was up, he spoke.

"reah, you can't let this ruin your life. tory and aurelius are just about to go crazy without you."

"i know," i muttered. we sat on the tallest, widest dome that covered the central hall of his mother's palace. i'd skipped us there-he'd asked me to take him somewhere so we wouldn't be bothered. chash i would humor. even vice-director schaff was wary of approaching me. he did try to ask me to dinner one night, though. i'd slammed my bedroom door in his face. that was probably a black mark on my record, but right then i really didn't care.

"i'll be thirteen tomorrow," gavril went on, bringing me back to the present.

"chash, i didn't know," i sighed, pulling his head over and planting a kiss there. he grinned and looked flushed when i let him go. "can i take you to casino city tomorrow and buy something for you?" i focused on his dark eyes.

"if you want to. what i'd like most is for you to feel better, reah."

"i know. i don't know when that's going to happen."

"reah, must i fold myself to the tops of tall buildings, just so i can court you?" wylend arden appeared from nothing and sat down on my other side.

"king wylend," i nodded respectfully. he wanted to court me? i swallowed nervously. that was unexpected. he had come and given me spelled jewels on zephili, though. now i knew why.