At the moment, the Campiaan Alliance was still a large collection of self-governing worlds. By this afternoon, if things went as planned, they would be bound under a single set of laws. It might be similar to watching a difficult birth. Under other circumstances, I might have been awestruck at witnessing such a momentous occasion. Instead, I was struggling to keep it alive.

My daughter's death fleetingly entered my thoughts, and the parallels didn't escape me. No, I wasn't willing to let this infant—the Campiaan Alliance—go. If it fell, I would fall with it. I clipped my knife to the waistband of my pants, squared my shoulders and skipped into the main ballroom at the San Gerxon Casino. I'd felt the tiniest bit of wrongness—Nidris was tapping the core.

* * *

"I want to thank all of you—and congratulate you as well—we will witness history today," Teeg San Gerxon announced to a capacity crowd. "In the coming months, we will pass laws and make adjustments until we have something that will bear the weight of the ages. My friends, we will depend upon our neighbors, just as they will lean upon us. We will conscript our armies and enforce the laws we forge together. Every citizen will be assured of equal treatment, no matter what world he stands upon within the Campiaan Alliance." Cheers broke out and every attendee stood and clapped. Just as five hundred Giffelithi mercenaries blasted their way inside, led by four warlocks.

* * *

I watched Teeg turn to mist as someone fired a ranos rifle at his head. Nidris and the core would have to wait; even I had no idea that the Strands would hire hundreds of Giffelithi mercenaries. I might go down with the Campiaan Alliance after all. Furious at Nidris, the Strands and their mercenary army, I turned to full Thifilatha, as Astralan, Stellan and the others began hurling blasts at the invaders. I ran toward the army, screaming out my anger.

A ranos bullet pierced my right shoulder. I swept the shooter aside, burning his body and crushing his remains against a wall. Others fell beneath my feet and turned to smoking ash as I ran over them. Many of them were running—I think they weren't expecting something such as I. The Strands' warlocks were hurling blasts in my direction, but they were ineffective. I felt another bullet sting my side. The pain was inconsequential. I went after the ones who still held pistols and rifles.

* * *

Father, they're hitting Reah! Lendill sent desperate and frightened mindspeech. Lendill felt helpless, watching Reah go after five hundred Giffelithi mercenaries. He didn't have time to wonder at the expense of that—he had to do something. Pulling his pistol, Lendill began firing at the enemy.

Child, we are coming, came his father's mental voice. Lendill didn't have time to worry about it, he fired as quickly as his pistol recharged.

* * *

Garde, Tory, anybody, Gavril's being attacked, Lissa sent a mental shout. She and Gavin were already on their way.

* * *

I may have howled in anguish when the third ranos blast hit me in the left thigh. Things became complicated quickly after that, or perhaps I was hallucinating—I imagined that a hundred Elvish warriors appeared, armed with bows and led by an angry Willem Drifft. What did they think to accomplish against ranos pistols and rifles, in addition to regular issue rapid-fires and other weapons? Nevertheless, those bows were aimed and none missed. It was as if the arrows were spelled to strike their targets.

Giffelithi were screaming and dying while more blasts came from Teeg's warlocks. I saw Wylend standing in a corner, surrounded by Erland, Wyatt and Ry. All of them were doing spellwork, killing with precision from afar. That's when I saw Nidris. He was glowing with the power he'd stolen from Campiaa's core. Anything aimed at him sizzled and disintegrated before striking his body. I saw him take aim at Wylend and those around him.

"No!" I shouted, flipping my wings out and leaping in his direction across the crowded, seething mass of people still trying to escape. My wings allowed me to glide overhead until I landed directly in front of Nidris. His spell was caught and deflected by my body as another spray of bullets hit me. Teeg was suddenly behind Nidris, lengthy claws out, eyes red and fangs showing. Nidris' head was lifted from his body so swiftly I barely saw it happen.

"Reah, get down!" Teeg shouted. I didn't. I couldn't. Teeg had his back turned and didn't see what I saw, since I was facing it and he wasn't. A ranos launcher. Aimed directly at him. Muting my ability to burn, I plucked Teeg off the floor and tossed him to the side while the launcher fired directly toward my chest.

* * *

"Wylend!" Erland shouted, preparing the spell and sending it on its way.

"No! In the name of the skies, no!" Wylend cried out, watching the launcher fire directly at Reah. Wyatt and Rylend grabbed him as Reah took the full blast of the launcher to her chest. The top of the ballroom was blasted away when Lissa, Gavin and three High Demons in full Thifilathi appeared, killing, burning and crushing their way through the rest of the mercenary army. Only moments later, when the entire army was either captured, subdued or dead, the ensuing silence was eerie. All of them turned to look as Kifirin, nearly twenty feet tall, his scales iridescent black, lifted Reah's lifeless Thifilatha from the ground and wept.

The End.