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    Time Crystal 3: The Icosahedron
    Time Crystal 3: The Icosahedron
    Time Crystal 3: The Icosahedron
    Ebook399 pages4 hours

    Time Crystal 3: The Icosahedron

    By Ethan Somerville and Max Kenny

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Using her Crystal to gain passage through Eridon’s force-field, the evil Warlord of Etiros invades the peaceful planet. W’taa Ofdrin Kitirrith’s hardened warriors easily overrun the unprepared world and take the Great Council prisoner. However the man most wanted by the Warlord, Adelrid Merylon, inventor of the time-ships, manages to escape her clutches.

    Adelrid warns Heathcliff and his half-castes about Ofdrin’s arrival, and they land in a distant forest and hide their ship. Their plan is to get their Crystal to someone in power. However, on their their journey to the Eridon capital Saren, they are ambushed by Etiran warriors, and the Warlord forces Heathcliff and Charlotte to bring the stone to her.

    Gleefully Ofdrin unites their Crystal with her own, creating a truly enormous icon of power, strong enough to bend space-time itself. She is virtually invincible and unstoppable.

    Aidan, Con, Kirsty and Katarine meet up with the Human/Eridon Half-caste Team and Adelrid Merylon, who has taken refuge with them. They believe the situation is hopeless until Con wonders if they can fight Ofdrin by joining psionically and using mindwave enhancers, outdated machines only kept for research purposes.

    Now the future of Eridon lies in the hands of four inexperienced half-castes, a team of mad scientists and one bad-tempered master mentalist. If they fail, the Eridon people will be conquered and enslaved forever.

    Also available in the Eridon Chronicles:
    Half-caste
    Time Crystal 1 - The Convergence
    Time Crystal 2 - Delsaron's World
    Time Crystal 4 - The Singularity

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStorm Publishing
    Release dateOct 18, 2012
    ISBN9781301523900
    Time Crystal 3: The Icosahedron
    Author

    Ethan Somerville

    Ethan Somerville is a prolific Australian author with over 20 books published, and many more to come. These novels cover many different genres, including romance, historical, children's and young adult fiction. However Ethan's favourite genres have always been science fiction and fantasy. Ethan has also collaborated with other Australian authors and artists, including Max Kenny, Emma Daniels, Anthony Newton, Colin Forest, Tanya Nicholls and Carter Rydyr.

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      Book preview

      Time Crystal 3 - Ethan Somerville

      The Eridon Chronicles 4

      TIME CRYSTAL 3

      The Icosahedron

      By Ethan Somerville and Max Kenny

      * * * *

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

      * * * *

      PUBLISHED BY:

      Storm Publishing on Smashwords

      Time Crystal 3 – The Icosahedron

      Copyright 2010/2017 by Ethan Somerville and Max Kenny

      www.stormpublishing.net

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

      * * * *

      Chapter 1

      In the Name of Nattanru

      W’taa Ofdrin Kitirrith gazed into the smooth, transparent crystal cradled in her green-skinned hands. Her high brow furrowed first in concentration, then in annoyance, finally in frustrated anger. The swirling chaos within continued to tell her nothing. She still had no idea where the other Crystal was or even if it still existed.

      The regally beautiful reptilian Warlord sighed, dragging her jade-green gaze from the Crystal’s mesmerising interior and directing it upwards at the opulent chamber in which she lounged in her gigantic throne. Possessing a moody, medieval aspect due to dim lighting and high, vaulted spaces, Ofdrin’s personal suite on the Imperial battle cruiser, the Ai S’kartos, was furnished in ostentatious style. Enormous wooden tables and chairs, carved with grotesque faces and leering monsters, lurked in gloomy corners beneath elaborate weavings of ancient battles. Weapons decorated the walls above shelves crammed with old books; swords, axes, hammers, halberds and bows.

      However, Ofdrin’s most prized possession was the mounted head of a kurt’ki. These vicious, crocodile-like creatures, averaging thirty metres in length, were cultivated so young Etiran warriors could hunt them as soon as they came of age. The particular trophy hanging above her throne, glaring malevolently at the doorway opposite, had been nearly sixty metres long - a true giant among Kurt’ki.

      She’d killed the fearsome monster all by herself, armed only with a broadsword and her wits; stalked it for hours through the stinking, mosquito-infested swamps in which its kind were grown, to finally leap upon its scaly back and drive her blade into the soft flesh between its jaw and neck. For dispatching such an enormous specimen so quickly and easily, the Empress Swarm Mother Nattanru had immediately awarded Ofdrin a place in the great warrior elite of the Etiran Empire; the Order of the Heratora. From there to Warlord of Etiros it had been only a series of short, quick steps. Blazing intelligence, ruthless determination, a domineering personality and the ability to backstab without conscience had granted Ofdrin her heart’s desire; leadership of the Order of the Heratora and the Imperial Battle fleet.

      As Ofdrin’s narrow eyes swept the enormous throne-room, several sex-drones who had been gazing out of tall windows at the lightning-shot wastes of hyperspace snapped to attention and bowed low. Their limited male minds brimmed with blind obedience. She acknowledged the handsome young men in their leather G-strings with a curt nod and stabbed a clawed finger into a tiny computer panel set into the arm of her chair. A glowing readout appeared on its flat screen, describing the fleet’s current trajectory through the dimension between dimensions.

      She smiled on realising that they had almost reached their destination, and laced her fingers together beneath her pointed chin. Despite the traumatic loss of the second Crystal, and the steady increase of the strange, alien hunger deep within her belly, her anticipation swelled. Oh sweet Eridon! Soon you, your technologies and Galactic Order will be mine! The thought of swooping down on that pathetic, peace-loving planet excited her.

      Now, if only she knew where that other Crystal had gone...

      Memories returned.

      The enormous glowing diamond seemed to be calling to her. She deactivated the energy cage surrounding it and scooped it up with an exultant shriek. Closing her eyes she saw hundreds of gently-glowing pinpricks. It didn’t take her long to realise that they represented other Crystals of Power, singing softly from across the endless reaches of space. Naturally assuming they all existed in the one time-zone, she ordered a course set for the closest one, concealed on a grossly polluted world inhabited by primitive carbon-based beings with the misfortune to resemble the Eridon Li Kari.

      The Ai S’kartos orbited the planet beneath a psychic cloak designed to confuse all natural and electronic sensors. Confident they couldn’t possibly be detected, Ofdrin began her search for the Crystal.

      She found absolutely nothing.

      After meditating on the last known location of the Crystal, a crowded dock, she realised she was seeing the Stone as it had been in the past. Somehow her Crystal was giving her the power to see other Stones not just across space, but through time as well! She assumed she was seeing them at their most powerful.

      She continued to meditate on Earth’s Crystal and discovered she could move her mind backwards in time from the Stone’s last location to when it had first been found and utilised by that weak-minded half-caste, Jason Stephens.

      Ofdrin remembered the fun she’d had influencing that young man’s dreams, and the glorious visions she’d entertained while organising her troops into the vicious attack-force that was now streaking towards the oldest planet in the known universe. Although almost fifty Etiran years separated her from the Crystal, she’d still been able to probe Jason’s flabby, unveiled mind with the greatest of ease.

      But now that Stone was gone.

      She leaned back in the throne, flicking her muscular tail over one of its curved arms. She couldn’t stop it; her last terrifying vision before the Crystal disappeared from her enhanced perception.

      The naive Jason was dying, his fully Eridon body mortally wounded. Across time Ofdrin experienced his death-throes and licked at his pain, enjoying the salty flavour of his blood - a small compensation for his lack of spine. Finally realising how she’d deceived him he wailed his despair, providing more delicious agony for her to feed on.

      Then he died, his murky consciousness fading from the Crystal’s purity into the ever-present ether. Ofdrin waited. She knew who was going to claim the Stone next; a mysterious Eridon youth named Heath. He had also been searching for the crystal, helped by five half-caste companions who looked like they’d been removed from different periods of Earth’s history. Despite all the lies Ofdrin had fed Jason about this Eridon, she had no idea who he and his friends actually were.

      But the hands that scooped up the Stone didn’t belong to Heath; they were too dark and hairy. They belonged to a man whose Crystal-enhanced strength far exceeded Jason Stephens’.

      We are whole!

      The voices engulfed her, forced her identity into some tiny forgotten corner, and thundered through every atom of her being.

      I own you! I am your new master!

      Shrieking, Ofdrin reeled from her couch as the hungry alien being devoured her suddenly tiny consciousness. She blundered through her palatial apartments, scrabbling at her temples and howling in despair. Eventually, surrounded by helpless attendants, she lost consciousness, her mind finally shattering beneath the psychic pressure of the other Crystal’s new owner.

      When she finally awoke, sick and trembling, but mentally whole, she found the other Crystal’s emanations gone as though it had somehow been obliterated from all time. Grief stabbed into her like a physical agony.

      But she managed to overcome it. One of the first lessons the Order of the Heratora taught its warrior elite was how to ignore pain and continue with the fight.

      Now Ofdrin’s pain resembled the growing emptiness inside her; little more than a throbbing ache that only manifested itself when she was alone with time to think. But the thousands of questions that had chased their tails through the endless corridors of her mind continued to circle. Why had the mysterious Eridon boy-child Heath and his half-caste friends started seeking the Crystal at that particular point in time? Who was the powerful being who’d claimed the Stone instead of the young male? Did he destroy it? Did it destroy him?

      She thrust her own Stone back into the elaborate gold clasp around her swanlike neck and stretched her muscular arms. She had figured out one possible answer to why Heath and his motley crew had appeared only thirty Earth days after Jason had discovered the Crystal.

      The Eridon Li Kari had a fantastic secret they didn’t want anyone else to share – the secret of time travel.

      Realising that Ofdrin would be able to track any ship they sent out, the Eridons decided to send a young mentalist back through time to locate the Crystal before Ofdrin’s own birth!

      Very clever, Eridons, Ofdrin thought, pleased with her reasoning, but not clever enough! For the Crystals’ mystical linkages have allowed me to see back through time and discover the truth!

      Although the loss of the other Crystal had been as painful as losing a limb, one Stone was still more than enough to conquer Eridon and take over the Galactic Order. She could worry about tracking the remaining Crystals later, after she’d subdued Eridon and gained its fantastic powers.

      She smiled again, sensuous lips creeping back from vampiric fangs. If the Eridons really do possess the power of time-travel then nothing will stop the Etiran Empire from ruling the galaxy, she thought. Just like it did in the days of the all-powerful Heratora!

      She threw her head back and bellowed her laughter at the ceiling. Then she directed her gaze at an enormous hanging suspended from the wall beside the doorway. It depicted the powerful and mysterious ancestors of the Etiran people, the Heratora, at war with the ancient mammalian natives of Etiros. They stood over two and a half metres tall, obviously reptilian, with sinuous tails, long, tapering skulls, clawed hands and razor-sharp fangs. Magnificent horns sprang from their highly domed foreheads, considerably longer and curlier than modern Etirans’. Scrawny primates fled from their retractable metal spears, blasters and psychic discharges.

      Until ten Etiran years ago, very little was known about the mysterious Heratora or Old Lords. Most Etirans thought that beings so strong and perfect could not possibly have existed. Only Etiran archaeologists believed them to have once been real, a long-dead evolutionary line. For years they searched for samples of Heratorian remains to fill their museums, and found nothing. Then an archaeologist named Ka Suktakth Teralj unearthed the remains of an underground fortress. It contained hundreds of enormous skeletons contorted into agonised positions. Almost overcome with excitement, Suktakth identified them all as Heratorian. Intensive study of the fort and its grisly contents not only revealed the ancient legends to be true, but some startling new facts.

      The Heratora hadn’t been native inhabitants of Etiros. They’d descended from the stars in spaceships similar to the ones modern Etiros now possessed, and claimed the young, fertile planet as their own. They’d named it Aetairos, meaning new home. After annihilating the native apelike inhabitants with their formidable physical and mental weapons, the ancient beings then waged bitter and bloody battle amongst themselves, unable to decide who should rule their new home. The ensuing war destroyed ninety percent of their race and all of their technology. The few Heratora to stumble out of the tail-end of the feud were forced to eke out a miserable living from the soil. Over the next few millennia they evolved into modern Etirans; smaller, thinner, less menacing, but still determined to bend the universe to their will.

      The old archaeologist Suktakth was elevated to swarm mother status for her wonderful discoveries.

      Ofdrin often wondered what the Old Lords had been like. Suktakth had shed much light on them, but a great deal still remained a mystery. Where did they originally come from? Why did they leave their old world? What kind of creature was this Necronis the Unmaker they kept referring to? Who were the Nightbringers, and why had the Old Lords lived in such terror of them?

      Abruptly, the writhing colours of hyperspace vanished in a flash of light as the enormous Etiran battle fleet burst through into normal space. The configuration of stars studding the black velvet night told the Warlord that they had finally arrived. Sweeping down from her throne, W’taa Ofdrin Kitirrith consumed the distance across the carpeted floor to the windows to gaze hungrily at the cloud-shrouded orb of Eridon. Its big blue sun, which the Eridons called Danira, was just starting to peep over the eastern horizon, bringing the cloud to glittering life.

      The Warlord cracked her knuckles. You’re mine, beautiful orb. In the name of the Empress Swarm Mother Nattanru I claim you!

      We are now orbiting our destination Eridon, my Lady Ofdrin, a fawning voice announced. Ofdrin stalked over to the intercom, set into the table beside the computer terminal.

      I was wondering why we’d stopped, she growled. She despised crawlers - especially ones like her featherbrained deputy Takt W’taa Morkana Nattanru. I assume Eridon’s force-field is still active?

      Morkana gave an embarrassed cough. It appears to be at full strength, my Lady.

      Paranoid worms. Inform the navigators I will be appearing on the bridge in five mituks. She switched off the intercom and grabbed a fur-lined cloak, gold-hilted broadsword and helmet fashioned from the skull of a t’randos beast. After making sure she looked as imposing as possible, Ofdrin folded her arms, filled her mind with a picture of the Ai S’kartos’ main control room and vanished in a loud report of displacing air.

      Despite the warning Takt W’taa Morkana Nattanru had given the navigators, the Warlord’s thunderous appearance sent all three young women staggering back in shock. No-one on the planet Etiros - not even her most powerful mentat - could teleport the tiniest distance. Ofdrin smiled wickedly at the navigators’ horror and directed her attention to the enormous, semi-circular bank of controls. The rest of the battle fleet and the unsuspecting planet Eridon were clearly visible through the gigantic transparent dome above. The sleek fighter craft, visible only to Etiran eyes, shimmered as though distorted by powerful waves of heat.

      Ofdrin studied some flickering readouts and nodded in approval. Orbiting at ten thousand zekads ... shields on maximum ... excellent ... excellent.

      She looked up on hearing running feet. Her plump War Deputy Morkana, elaborate garments in disarray, had appeared at the far end of the main control room. Ofdrin sneered in contempt and turned away in disgust. So what if she hatched from one of the Empress Nattanru’s own eggs? At least I was born with a brain in my head! At least I worked for my position! So what if my swarm mother Kitirrith was young and inexperienced?

      Right, She swung around to face the nervous navigators. Time to lower the cloak.

      The young women obeyed, their trust in Ofdrin unshakable.

      Now it begins. Ofdrin tilted her head back and closed her eyes, shrouding the enormous mother ship in a complex psychic illusion. The cloak lifted, and instead of a sleek, white Etiran battle cruiser, a lumpy, irregular craft appeared, resembling an enormous fungus. Tendrils snaked from its underbelly and pink flower-shaped energy collectors opened delicate petals to draw stray protons into their magnetic funnels. Start the approach.

      The out of shape War Deputy finally clambered up onto the bridge, wheezing like a bellows. It’s time, my Lady! She rubbed her fat hands together.

      Don’t disturb me, Morkana! Ofdrin snarled.

      The fawning deputy backed away, apologising profusely. I’m sorry, my Lady!

      "The Ai S’kartos is approaching Eridon’s force field, my Lady, one of the navigators announced. Receiving incoming transmission."

      Put it through.

      This is the North Spaceport flight control tower, a bored voice declared. Please state your identification and purpose for your visit to Eridon.

      This is the freighter Nu’blarrg from Mu’Taah, one of the navigators began, her voice distorted into a throaty gurgle by the Warlord’s powerful suggestion. We are carrying a consignment of worellian wine for trade. Permission to land, please.

      Stand by for scanning.

      All the navigators held their breath. Would Ofdrin’s suggestion extend to the correct electronic signature?

      The North Spaceport flight controller continued, You are late, Nu’blarrg. You were scheduled to arrive yesterday at 6.30 AN.

      We experienced difficulties in the Nervora sector, Control. Etiran privateers. Permission to land, please. We are very low on fuel, and several of my crew are dangerously dehydrated, requiring immediate and total immersion to replenish their energies.

      Ofdrin smiled wickedly. The Ai S’kartos’ crew would make good use of the alcoholic supplies plundered from the woregs’ ship. As for the bloated, foul-smelling monsters from that distant swamp planet - the Ai S’kartos’ plasma cannons had reduced them to a few complex organic molecules floating in the void.

      Permission granted, the flight controller declared in the same lethargic tone.

      Thank you.

      Please stand by until the force field is open. You will be notified of your landing destination once you have passed through.

      The Etiran invaders watched as an enormous light-ringed hole appeared in the invisible shield surrounding Eridon.

      You may now proceed.

      With a vibration of powerful thrusters the enormous battle-cruiser approached the gap.

      Nothing can stop us now! Morkana gushed, her green cheeks dark with excitement. Eridon is ours!

      My sentiments exactly, Ofdrin thought as she maintained her suggestion. Except I wouldn’t have sounded so idiotic about expressing them!

      * * * *

      Chapter 2

      The Only True Reality

      Jalsad Varen, Leader of the Great Council of Eridon, stood on the Council Chamber’s balcony, resting his elbows on its ancient stone wall. His soft brown eyes roamed the heavy clouds, but his mind was elsewhere, lost on the endless waves of the Great Ocean of Time.

      No matter how hard the tall old man with the reddish-brown hair Looked with his higher vision he could not recall the bizarre images he’d Glimpsed just before Omadon’s departure; the horrifying sights that had prompted him to tell the boy to change the half-castes and bring them back to Eridon.

      Maybe they were just figments of my ageing mind, Jalsad thought gloomily.

      Maybe the saviour isn’t going to return after all.

      The old councillor found in the months ahead only visions of death and chaos.

      Etiran warriors swarm all over his beloved planet

      the Crystal around W’taa Ofdrin Kitirrith’s neck glows like a red giant, expressing her insatiable lust for blood

      Eridon soldiers fall before the marauding battalions, unprepared for battle, and not nearly powerful enough to stand up to the Etiran Warlord

      Death-screams fill the Leader’s mind with pain and terror

      Jalsad dropped his aching head into his hands, the last of the terrible vision fading as he yanked his mind back into his body.

      Everything he had Seen would happen if Hira Omadon Delfay didn’t return with the Crystal.

      As Jalsad clasped his hands in prayer he remembered what Adelrid Merylon had told him late the day before, when he had gone down to the TCC to enquire about the lad’s progress.

      He knew as soon as he saw the Chief Time-Controller’s pale face, devoid of its usual snarling, contemptuous expression, that something was very wrong. The tall, thin man in black was bent over a terminal, studying some readouts and shaking his head in disbelief.

      Kara - the Leader’s here to see you, announced the technician who’d escorted Jalsad onto the TC Floor.

      Adelrid straightened and flicked his long black braid over his shoulder.

      Yes Leader? he asked. His usually penetrating voice was soft and husky.

      Jalsad didn’t waste any time. I am here to enquire about Hira Omadon Delfay’s progress. What’s wrong?

      Adelrid seemed to sag into himself. Eridos, he looks like he’s just lost his best friend - or his mother - all over again, Jalsad thought. Oh Leader, after the child completed his mission and was on his way back to Eridon, his timeship disappeared from this spacetime into a naked singularity - a wound in the fabric of the-

      I know what a naked singularity is, Jalsad snapped before he could stop himself. Quickly he adjusted his tone. This was not the time nor place to express his extreme dislike of the Chief Time-Controller. Where is the boy now?

      Adelrid looked away, no longer able to meet Jalsad’s eyes. The old man had never seen him looking so defeated. We have absolutely no idea. We don’t seem to be receiving any readings from his ship’s beacon.

      You mean the naked singularity’s spat him out into some other universe? Jalsad gasped.

      Adelrid nodded solemnly. With no way of ever returning.

      Sweet Eridos! Two small tears crawled down Jalsad’s pale, haggard cheeks. What is Your purpose in removing the poor boy from this time and space?

      The Leader gazed up into the leaden sky again, this time he saw clouds instead of the mind-speckled grey of the temporal ether.

      He fancied he understood the Father’s reasoning.

      In taking Omadon from the universe, Eridos - the only being able to perform such a miracle - had altered the course of fate. The young man had been transformed into a loose element independent of destiny. He had the power to change history; both what had passed and what was to come. Because time was now proceeding without him, Jalsad and the Seerkind saw only one of two possible futures; Eridon under the dominion of the bloodthirsty Etirans. The other future, which contained Omadon’s return and hopefully Eridon’s salvation, was concealed from them.

      Jalsad smiled humourlessly at the irony. Adelrid Merylon was right after all. History could be changed by someone who had become independent of it!

      Now if only Eridos will allow Omadon to come back...

      Jalsad bowed his head and started to pray.

      Like so many the old man knew Ofdrin Kitirrith was coming to conquer Eridon. And like so many he was powerless to stop her. The common people harboured a venomous hatred for the special vision that enabled him - and the entire Seerkind - to see through time. It was called the Sight.

      The Leader remembered back to the time the Chief Time-Controller had managed to become a member of the Great Council of Eridon, some five and a half Eridon years ago now. Everyone had loved him. Everyone, that is, save the hated and feared Seerkind and the fanatically religious Kamrytes. Then Rhys Kelly, the first half-caste who had ever been brought back to Eridon, uncovered some terrifying truths about Adelrid Merylon. Their latest initiate was in fact a cold-hearted murderer who’d condemned a seeress to the painful eternity of hyperspace and sent a Karogin huntress, a ruthless assassin from Ledius III, after the new Eridon. Her mission had been to dispose of him in the most painful way possible, by using a mindstorm inducer to turn his worst fears against him.

      Unfortunately, because of Adelrid’s high esteem and important position as Chief Time-Controller, the Great Council couldn’t pass the appropriate sentence for murder. Adelrid was not terminated. Nor was he sent to the remote prison colony known as Incata Bogor. All they could do was discretely remove him from the Council. He was even restored as Chief Time-Controller because none of his techs could do the job as well as he. He might have had some twisted views, but his timeships were state of the art and no-one else could replicate his temporal technology.

      Once more his popularity was rising. On Eridon five years was a long time, and Adelrid’s scientific achievements far outweighed his evil. It wouldn’t be long before he made another bid for a seat on the Great Council. Jalsad shivered. Thank Eridos there are enough of us left who remember his treachery; Katryse, Rameella, Astaran...

      A soft hand dropped onto the old man’s shoulder, startling him from his brood. He turned to face the concerned blue eyes of the Great Council’s newest member; the Kamryte seer Belryana. The gentle-faced yellow-haired man looked terrible; his eyes ringed with black and deep lines framing his mouth. Are you alright, Jalsad? he asked softly.

      I should ask you the same thing, Belryana.

      The other man sighed. I had a restless night. Nightmares.

      About W’taa Ofdrin Kitirrith?

      Er, yes, Belryana answered quickly, but Jalsad could tell there was something else bothering him. Everyone’s here, the seer continued. It’s time you started the session.

      Thank you Belryana. Jalsad stepped into the Council Chamber, wondering what was troubling the younger man. I can’t ask him - if he wanted to talk about it he would have. Seers rarely kept secrets from each other.

      The Leader took his place at the shiny round table on the dais at the centre of the Council Chamber. It used to be the throne room of Eridon’s first and greatest leader; Kamrys Elservarlyn Mei-Illamareth. The worn floor was decorated with beautiful mosaics as elaborate and detailed as those adorning the walls. They told the story of Kamrys Elservarlyn as he fought to pull the country of Mynorax from the tenacious grip of Ansharedan shar mei Sondarth T’Gatrae. The peacemaker was depicted as tall and beautiful, with poker-straight red hair; a representation drawn from descriptions that had been handed down through many generations. On the other hand, the Son of Necronis appeared as a shadowy, featureless monster, contaminating everything it touched. For some reason no-one could remember what the evil Nightbringer had looked like. Even Kamrys’ own detailed memoirs - the Sarenese Chronicles - failed to provide him with a physical appearance. Some sceptics even believed that Kamrys never actually faced a physical entity. Rather Ansharedan the Nightbringer was simply a personification of the Peacemaker’s own internal demons.

      Evil is faceless, Jalsad thought as he met the eyes of the other Councillors; the conservative, no-nonsense Rameella, the mousy Astaran, the shadow-faced Belryana, and last of all the fidgety Katryse – his own eccentric lover. The bleak visions he’d been having lately weren’t doing anything for her mental state, which had always been shaky.

      The time had come. Clearing his throat Jalsad began. Today on this, the 39th day of the first quarter of the year 8105 we will decide what to do if any of our Galactic Order planets are threatened by the expanding Etiran Empire.

      The other councillors agreed. Jalsad was surprised. Usually by now Rameella and Astaran were arguing over something trivial and completely unrelated to the issues at hand. Maybe they were ill or something.

      Eridon and Terestron are relatively safe because of our force-fields, but what about Mu’taah or Feldensca? They’re simple, swampy worlds - they do not have the capacity for planet-wide shielding. Are we prepared to protect them when the power-hungry Empire decides to invade for their resources?

      We can’t just sit back and let those reptilian filrans annihilate them! Katryse cried, slapping the wooden table with a delicate hand.

      But do we have the firepower such protection will need? Astaran asked softly.

      We’ve spent so many years sealed up in our peaceful little force-field that our arsenals have deteriorated, the pale-faced Rameella announced, for once agreeing with the meek old man at her side. To rearm enough to send protection would take years. And by then the Etirans would have conquered the entire galaxy!

      Belryana sighed. Rameella is right. But then so is Katryse. We simply cannot sit by while the Warlord gleefully plunders our planets and sells their inhabitants into slavery. And because there is no way to rearm in time, our only recourse is to purchase arms ... from either the Karogins or the Elviri.

      Silence dropped with a crash.

      Are you serious? Katryse managed to croak after a few choked seconds.

      Very. Belryana’s fair face was grave.

      How can you, a Kamryte, suggest that we turn to those races - whose loyalty to the Order has always been questionable at the best of times - and buy weapons from them? Rameella gasped.

      Belryana stroked his white-gold Kamryte earring. My beliefs do not blind me to the sad truth behind this deplorable situation. W’taa Ofdrin Kitirrith will not listen to peace. If any of you know of a peaceful method of stopping her then tell us about it - Jalsad and I would love to hear.

      The Leader sighed. Now Ofdrin has the Crystal she will not listen to peace, he agreed. It has magnified not only her mental powers but her darkest primal urges. If the only way to protect our Order planets is to buy arms from disreputable worlds like Ortagas and Ledius III, then so be it.

      Kamrytes, talking so candidly about waging war! This is an historic occasion! Rameella smirked. The Chermendrians will be pleased!

      Ky Rameella Ethrish, if you have nothing constructive to say, keep your mouth shut! Jalsad snarled.

      The old woman paled. Never had the Leader spoken to her with such vehemence. Maybe I was a little out of line, she decided, shrinking into her chair. I’m sorry, she mumbled.

      Apology accepted. Jalsad wiped his brow with the sleeve of his robe. We’re all a little tense. Now, who is in favour of importing arms?

      Aye, said Belryana.

      Aye, said Jalsad.

      I have no objections, Rameella announced.

      Three votes - a majority. What about you Katryse? Astaran?

      Aye, the quiet, brown haired man whispered.

      Katryse

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