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. Yehppael, she cried again. Please.I need you here. Thecontinuous blasts burned her back.Her armor couldn't takemuch more.Then, a reprieve.A wide arch of the True Light cut through them.She feltthe wonderful warmth entering her, filling her with strength.The Dahhak simply disappeared, their weapons and armordropping.The disciplined demons panicked.They tore at eachother to get away.200 The Shivered Skyby Matt DinnimanWhen the humans had told their tale earlier, she had beenenraptured by the part about the Light cutting through thedemons, eradicating them completely.And even though sheknew this is what the True Light did, part of her still hadn'tbelieved it.It seemed too easy.It was beautiful in a way.Clean.Perfect.She turned to search for Yehppael and the humans.Thevisor located them, but they were moving running.Unprotected through the field.One of them was thrown overYehppael's shoulder.Below, the ground that had seemed to momentarily settle,erupted in an explosion of rock and dirt.Two claws emerged,each one twice the size of a Foray.Then its black, eyelesshead appeared.The six-legged monstrosity extracted itself from the hole inthe ground.It pounded on the unexploded missiles with itsmassive feet, sending the already uprooted rock flying witheach stomp.The Light arced into the sky like a spotlight, and Dahhakand Pazuzu fled madly.The power, the sheer magnitude ofthe weapon was still sinking in.Hitomi aimed the lightweapon at the giant monster, but it had no effect. To the rally point, she ordered.She didn't follow her own troops.Before she could talkherself out of it, she dove over the monstrosity, which wasstill stomping about, and toward the humans and Yehppael.She picked four angels all true Powers and had themaccompany her.201 The Shivered Skyby Matt Dinniman Yehppael, we're coming in, she said. We're getting themout of here. * * * *Within Cibola, the Overseer watched the heated battleintently on several screens.The helmet-mounted cameraswere scattered amongst officers within the regiments.With one meaty hand, he stroked the head of a childhuman slave intently milking a pleasure node.With the otherhe constantly changed the angle of display, trying desperatelyto get the feel of the battle.He yelled at his assistant, Ko, tolocate better cameras.The fool Geyrun apologized profusely.There simply weren't better shots available.The death of anangel was too anticlimactic for his tastes, but their screams ofpain were a suitable consolation.He almost wished he wasthere.Almost.The accidental overdose, and subsequent death, of two ofthe Burrowers had in fact turned out for the best.The angelshad focused their weaponry on the flying machinesmachines designed to withstand the turbulent storms of hishomeworld.They hadn't even managed to inconvenience thepilots.The one remaining Burrower had been released far fromthe base, and the radio flares had been fired off at the groundabove.As predicted, the creature dug deep to flee thesignals, but was stopped at the ice core.It then homed in onthe flares, attempting to destroy them.It had ripped throughthe base.The results were spectacular.Brilliant.Simplybrilliant.202 The Shivered Skyby Matt DinnimanHe watched with joy as the angels fled the base.It wasalmost unfair. Ko, I need a flagon of extract, he bellowed down to hisassistant. I must celebrate. But the fool's eyes were gluedto the screens. Ko, he barked.His groveling assistant normally jumpedat his commands.His last two Geyrun personal assistants hadto be executed because they were too slow.And Ko knewthis. Ko! The screens, My Lord, Ko said with a nervous titter. Look. It only took a moment to register why a whole regimentwas suddenly decimated.He watched in horrified fascinationas the True Light annihilated his elaborate battle plan. What was that? he roared. That would be a periscepter, My Lord, Ko said.The periscepters.They were here.He was astonished.They weren't just an illusion as the idiot Charun hadsuggested.He had pulled his hands into tight fists.In one hand, thedisplay controller had been crushed.In the other, the human. Call a meeting, he roared, wiping his hand on his divan. I want all my commanders here. He drove his heel into theground, and an angry crack spiderwebbed around theindentation.Ko giggled.They were soon going to have toevacuate this headquarters too.Couldn't these worthlessangels build anything right?203 The Shivered Skyby Matt DinnimanA communication window popped up.It was the grande-commander, Pooljab.He was a Dahhak.One of the few theOverseer considered competent. What is it? the Overseer growled. I'm busy. I have someone here who needs to speak with you. He grunted
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