Sword of Blue (Tales of a Dying Star Book 3)
Page 18
Besides, Katy thought, the Dawn isn't what we're coordinating with this time.
Onero was unworried, but Katy had her doubts. The sudden change by the Emperor, the hastily-reconfigured plans, the problems on the Ancillary. There were a lot of moving parts. A lot of things that could go wrong.
Onero struck out his hand, pointing upward. "Bathe them in your judgement! Drown them with your fire!"
"Drown them with your fire," they all intoned.
Katy held her breath.
That was it. The final signal before it should happen. Everyone craned their necks, lifting their eyes to Latea, the planet's geostationary moon. It was already illuminated with sunlight, a nearly-full crescent in the dark twilight sky. Descending from it was the Chain, faint lights glowing along its length.
A few Children in the crowd gasped.
A silent line of blue was suddenly there, connecting Latea to some unseen object far to the west. It was thin like a strand of spider's silk, almost invisible unless you were expecting it. But of course they all were. The beam was ordinary, routine, the means of transferring power from a solar power station to the planet Melis. That wasn't what they waited for.
The explosion was.
It only lasted a moment, the barest pinprick of yellow against white. It was enough. To the right the lights along the Chain flickered and went out, confirming it.
"Her will is known! Look at how she speaks!"
"She speaks! She speaks!"
"The false god has been cast down! Our Mother is all there is, and all there ever will be. It is time to go forth as her servants. As her Children!"
The army roared as they marched east, toward the inner city.
Drowned by Fire
JULY 2015