Belakane felt the collective deaths of many people as if she were hit by their death throes herself. The others on board Galantyne's cruiser seemed unaffected, but Belakane's mind was on fire with it. Sickness threatened to overcome her.

She knew what had happened. "Etrusia is no more." 

"A massive disturbance is registering..." The young Captain of Galantyne's army shouted into the stillness aboard Galantyne's great ship as it followed the lighted tracks out to Aquaria.

"Etrusia has imploded." Dmitri unbuckled himself from his seat and rushed to the fore where he could look at the screen in front of them. Belakane had begun to wail.

"What will it mean to us? What will it mean to Aquaria and Carrigah?" Belakane was saying. "Oh, my heart! My heart is failing me!"

"We are only a few minutes from Aquaria!" The young Captain said succinctly.

"Can Aquaria withstand the shock waves of an implosion of this magnitude?" Another of the Captains had come to stand with them. "Dmitri, when we arrive, assessing the situation will be of paramount importance, but the shock wave is taking precedence over the plague at the moment. We must alert the General, and evacuate the training fields immediately."

"Captain." Dmitri ordered. "I will assess the hospital first. Josh, you take Jacom and Garther to the fields and organize the men. Take as many as you can and go back to Galantyne."

"Yes, sir," Josh looked back at the screen and the barely visible tracks as the ship began to feel the buffetings of the wave. As the ship began to shake, and the rushing din of crashing particles hit the outer shell all four young captains rushed to the fore, taking seats that would allow them to pilot and secure the ship.

Dmitri, knowing nothing about piloting the ship, grabbed Belakane and shoved her roughly into her seat. She grabbed her throat and was turning gray as he yelled at her to fasten herself in. He realized something was seriously wrong with her. Shouting orders were heard, but Dmitri suddenly knew that his world was not just the danger the ship was in, but also the danger his wife was in. There was no healer to call, there was no procedure to perform, her agony was short lived, too short to confront with any sort of power. Dmitri held her in his arms, pulling her close, breathing her scent, pulling her hair away from her face, trying in vain to look into her eyes that had now clouded over. "Bela..." He whispered, not alerting anyone who might be distracted from saving their lives at this moment. "Oh, Bela!" The tears gathered and then began to stream down his cheeks. "No, sweetheart! Please don't go yet!"

He shook her, feeling the quaking of the ship as it lost touch with the tracks, spun off the lit pathway and began to twist with the turbulence of the undersea waves.

"Keep her steady! Keep her upright!" Came an order from the front and two men scrambled to hold the ship on course.

"The track is gone!"

"But we can see the city! Face her to the docks, Jacom!"

"The city lights are gone!"

"Hold her steady, fellas. Hold her now!"

"Face the docks, the docks are still lit."

"Come on, boys, we can make it."

"We're at the docks, Josh! We're at the docks!"

"Easy does it, boys. Careful, now!"

Dmitri felt the clamps of the docking bay secure the giant ship. He held his wife to him, staring out of large pain-filled eyes at the quiet way these four had handled the crisis. Finally one of them turned to look at him.

"What has happened?"  

"Her heart couldn't stand the shock and pain of losing Etrusia." Tears still streamed down his cheeks.

"Is she dead?" Ethem had pulled his glove off, and was feeling for a pulse. "I'm sorry, man, truly sorry."

"There is no time to waste here. Go do your jobs. I will take care of her." Dmitri said, and Ethem nodded. What he said was absolutely true, they had no choice but to charge ahead with their assignments. Dmitri could see the anxiety in their eyes as they each pulled the hazard suit helmets over their faces and locked them in place. He rocked Belakane back and forth still feeling the warmth of her on his lap, but knowing she would want him to go find her Council Ladies and secure them. She was a large woman, he would probably need help to get her someplace. There was no one, and every space would be needed for live bodies. He knew what needed to be done. Gently he lifted her back into his arms and stumbled to the main hatch, up a few steps and then started the long walk off the dock that crossed the small area of water that was boiling and bubbling viciously in the surge and heave from the implosion. He slipped and went down on one knee.

"Bela..." He whispered. "I have to let you go. I have to help the living. Bela, forgive me." He rolled her gently off the dock and into the water, noting that the whirling splash of her body was immediately pulled under the ship. A cry of pain and remorse was torn from his weathered lips. No time, no time for this! Like in battle, there had been no time to grieve, no time to honor the dead. So now...

He straightened his old body and forced his feet to take the steps away from his beloved and off the floating docks that heaved and plunged in the turmoil. He knew where to find Sossana and Pellanor. They would be waiting.

*****

Rion flew at Quildor and knocked him off his horse, they both came up with swords drawn. Rion wasted no time, would have stabbed Quildor straight through the heart had he not been knocked off balance by the somersaulting motion of the earth. "Where is Crevan?"

Quildor regained his feet and lunged at Rion, pushing him in the direction of an uprooted tree just feet from where Rion stood. Rion leaped the splintered branches, racing after Quildor who was dodging boulders in his path.

"Isn't it enough that Folara itself is rebelling, Quildor, that you have to use your dark powers to thwart me? Fight like a man!"

Quildor got on top of a large boulder, yelling for help. Foemen rallied at the sight of their master atop the rock and came racing across the hillside with swords drawn. Quarso Fontayne caught up to Quildor and Rion expecting to see hordes of Valdemarians coming over the pathways from the swamp, and instead found the two fighting each other. He raised a fist to the oncoming army as he tried to assess the situation.

"Kill him!" Quildor screamed, leaping another boulder, as it slid down the hillside. Fontayne stared in confusion at the back of his Captain who was advancing on their liege. Why was Rion trying to kill Quildor? Why would Quildor order Rion's death? He scrambled up and over the ground as it bucked beneath him. Fontayne raced as fast as he could, but the closer he got, the more the earth trembled causing them all to fall and scramble back.

"Quildor is the rightful King! Quildor rules the land and the sea! Quildor rules the moons and the sun!" The Minions had begun to chant as they watched only Fontayne trying to reach the advancing battle between Quildor and Rion atop the boulder. When suddenly above the noise of the earth and the screams of the villagers, a rushing of giant wings could be heard. Quildor turned and threw up his hands to ward off the attack of the bird as it swooped down on him. He raised his sword slashing, thinking she was Ondrea, but she whipped her incredible wings and caused him to duck and cower, then lifted above him and flew straight at the gathering troops.

Fontayne never saw the bird, nor the way Quildor bent and covered his head, but he had just enough power to get to Rion and knock him with the butt of his sword on the back of his head before he could attack Quildor again. Rion crumpled to the ground unconscious. And Fontayne would have finished him off at his Lord's command had not the screeching of the bird alerted him to the presence of the Harpyiae above him. She came at him, arms and talons stretched out. She was close enough for him to see her face lit by the dawn, ravaged by tears and torn with grief. Her hair flew wildly in her wake, and though she could have destroyed him then and there, she landed beside the prone body of the Captain of the Quarso.

Quildor on the boulder above her watched in hideous fascination, realizing his mistake. This was not Ondrea, this was the Princess, Taan's daughter, Kara whom he had sought. This was Ondrea's child, the sister Harpyiae to the girl he'd caught before. She was more beautiful and more fearless and he knew he had to capture her. He drew his rope from his side pouch, and wrapped it around his wrists and fingers, shouting words he'd only heard Adara say as she used the vial to take away Ondrea's magic. 

He crouched, as Kara lit cleanly on the ground where Rion had fallen, and Fontayne stood staring, unable to move forward and kill either her in her glory or Rion in his helplessness. Her wings folded into her back and she became simply woman before his eyes, shrouded in gauzy white. She knelt and touched Rion, who was bleeding from a head wound, and another where Fontayne had hit him. She screamed his name in Zalez and her gaze lit on Fontayne who cowered away from her, one arm thrown up.

At that moment Quildor threw his rope and cinched it around Kara's neck. She clawed at it, turning to see who had trapped her, and in rage, her wings once again unfolded, the rope was shattered into a hundred frazzled ends, and Quildor slipped and fell over the edge of the boulder he'd been perched on.

"Kara! Save yourself! Get away, Kara!" Rion's voice in her head distracted her and Kara suddenly turned to see Rion lift himself on one arm, beckoning her away with the other, as blood streamed into his eyes and he lunged at Quildor once more. Fontayne had gotten his bearings as the huge bird woman looked away and he reached for Rion and pulled him off the rocks, as the Harpyiae advanced on Quildor, he hefted Rion over his shoulder and scrambled as far up the mountain as possible.

*****