"How is something like that possible?"

"It's something I can do," I said. "Before we continue, are the five others outside friendly or are we about to have a problem?"

"They are part of the reason I have spent this much time before coming back to meet with you. I have been pulling them out of their teams as they get assigned. They also wish to escape from the rule of our Masters."

"How many people are you trying to pull out?" I asked. "The longer we wait to hit that base, the bigger the chance of more losses."

"That is why I am here," he said. "I still have a few to pull out, but they just brought three companies across. There are close to five hundred of the Shak'Tar at the base, and I think they plan to use overwhelming numbers in their strike teams. I had to move before I was ready."

"Then we need to hit that base," I said, "right now."

I could feel a burn beginning inside me. My rage was beating at the walls, and I felt a great anticipation. This I could do. Give me a target and I can bring more force to bear than they would believe. I don't even know the limitations of the power I can wield with enough support. And I intended to use everything at my disposal.

"The base is in Romania," he said. "All I can ask is to let me go in, and pull out my men before you hit it. I will understand if this is too much to ask. We all knew the score before we chose to head down this path."

"If there's any way to allow you this, we'll do it," I said, "but that base is going to be wiped from the face of the Earth. Count on it."

He nodded, "I have the coordinates for you here."

He handed me a paper with longitude and latitude coordinates written on it.

"Bring in your group," I said. "We are heading for the base to set up the movement of my troops."

I strode back to my friends who could probably guess what was coming by the look on my face.

"We got a target, Boss?"

"Damn straight, Ric," I said, "a base in Romania."

I watched the relief flood his aura. He had been as frustrated by the waiting as I was. Ric is a warrior and the cloak and dagger stuff gets under his skin as much as it does mine. I think there will be a great deal of happy Guards and Mages, both, when we could actually hit back at these assassins.

"'Bout damned time," he stood and headed for the door. "I'll start callin' in the troops. How many you want to use?"

"Every Mage we can get, Ric. I want overwhelming force, and I want as much power as I can get available."

He smiled and hit the door.

"Looks like our night out is over," I said and looked at Lyrica, "but not our last night out. We'll talk when I get back from this."

"When we get back," she said. "I'm not sitting here while you blow up Romania. I'll be right there with the marshmallows."

There's no use arguing with a woman who you can already see won't budge. I can see it in her Soul, and it would be useless to argue the point. Not to mention, I like knowing she would have my back when I try something this big.

I nodded and we headed for the door.

"See, you big ox," Mattie said, "that's how it's supposed to be. No argument, no fuss."

"You'd blow up if I didn't argue with you," he said. "It would absolutely kill you."

"Would not."

"Of course it would."

I heard Lyrica's musical laughter and it cascaded through my mind. It was beautiful and I was very happy that it was back. For a time it had been gone, and I hadn't realized how much I would miss it until then.

Chapter 32.

"Kel'Sin'Deres."

This was the answer I received when I asked if Touran Gorvelis knew who the Kresh was who I had met in Montana.

"He was the Kresh'Farrara'Ti in charge of this world for the last one hundred and fifty years. He was pushed out around ten years ago."

My eyes narrowed as I realized that I had let my parents' murderer return home. At least he had to have been the one responsible for the orders.

"Farrara'Ti?"

"There are many levels to the Kresh who control things," he said. "The Farrara'Ti are the rank above Kresh'Ma'Nar. Some control many Ma'Nar, some few, depending on the power of their minds. The Ma'Nar control what you call Wraiths. The number depends on the power of their minds. A weaker Farrara'Ti who controls multiple powerful Ma'Nar may have more forces at their disposal than a strong one controlling weaker Ma'Nar. A lot depends on chance and they compete fiercely."

The plane lurched and Gorvelis' face paled a little. We were on our way to Romania to meet with others that were in route. Flight seemed to be a relatively new experience for the man.

"And this Kel'Sin'Deres?"

"He controls fourteen powerful Ma'Nar. His clans are large, and when they pulled out of the competition for control of this world, many were surprised. He left the Hub and took all of his clans with him. It puzzles me as well, I know he is different from most, but his power should have assured that he would regain his place over this world. He had lost a lot of his authority when he failed to kill you multiple times."

"And he's the one in control of the Shak'Tar?"

"No," he said, "I am not sure why he was in Montana. He hasn't been the one running things for some time. His forces have been in Hub for the last ten years. His failure to kill you when you were relocated pushed him even farther out."

"If they knew how badly he failed the first time," I said, "he would really have trouble, then. His clan is the one responsible for the Kresh DNA I carry."

"Did you use the Lash when you faced him?"

"Yes."

"That would help explain why he didn't choose to fight in Montana," he said. "He could sense one of his own bloodline."

That may explain some of the feelings I had seen and felt from the giant Kresh I had met. It may not all have come from my reputation. He may have recognized his own bloodline when I lashed out at them with my mind.

"So he is my ancestor as well as Merlin," I muttered, "My life is so weird."

"I have heard this name, Merlin," he said, "His is one of the bloodlines that is hunted down and destroyed."

"Do you know why?"

"He and several others caused so much trouble when he lived that he was deemed too dangerous to remain. They say he may have been the one who destroyed the So'Doran Gate Facility nearly five centuries ago."

"So'Doran?"

There are two facilities that house the gates to each world. They are located in Hub. Hundreds of years ago, according to legend, a human walked through one of the gates in the So'Doran facility. There were hundreds of thousands of Kresh there, and it was unclear as to what happened. There were very few survivors, and the So'Doran facility was destroyed. There is a great crack in the world there now. I've seen it and sometimes I wonder what sort of man can leave so much destruction, alone?"

"A Soullord."

"And this is what you are?"

"That and a bit more, thanks to the efforts of Kel'Sin'Deres. I have Kresh DNA, unlike my ancestor. What I don't know yet is what that will truly mean. I have to fight this thing inside me all the time."

He looked at me with confusion rolling through his aura for a moment until I saw some sort of realization roll through it.

"You can't fight it," he said, "It is a part of who you are. You must embrace this part as a piece of yourself, or you will end up falling into insanity. I've seen it happen before. It is something we are taught as children, before the DNA truly begins to change us."

"I can't accept that," I said. "I've seen what I become when I let it out. I can't, I won't accept that I have to be that."

I stood in the darkness atop a mountain range looking down at a massive facility in the valley between two large mountains. The valley was more like a canyon, a box canyon at that. There looked to be only one approach to this place, unless you're a friggin' Soulguard. I know I can scale the rock face if need be.

That wasn't part of the plan though at the beginning. I just intended to use the power from three hundred and twenty two Mages to melt the whole place to slag.

"Plan A isn't gonna work."

"Why not?" asked Reyna. "That place is perfect for that sort of attack."

"There are people down there," Lyrica said, "And by the looks of their placement, they're prisoners. All of the regular Souls are in one place."

"Shit!" Ric exclaimed. "Why can't it be easy?"

I laughed softly, "You know better than that. It's never easy."

"So what sort of plan B have ya got in mind?" Kharl asked, "You do have a plan B don't you?"

"Of course I do," I said, "It's a lot like the last plan B."

"So you're gonna make some shit up," Prada returned with a nod, "Got it."

"While you make your plans, may we go in and pull out the rest of our men?" Gorvelis asked.

"That will go nicely with the plan I have in mind," I said, "You get your people and meet me at the prisoners. When everyone is there I'll raise a shield. Then I'll call in the rest on coms and they can blow the hell out of the place."

He looked at me with one eyebrow raised, "You plan to walk into a facility with five hundred telepathic assassins? With no training in how to hide your mind-glow from them?"

"Not exactly," I said, "I'll be coming from above, and I'll land directly on top of the prison."

"I'll wait until you get there before I jump and things will, most likely, go to hell as soon as I raise that shield, anyway. Shouldn't need to hide anything by then."

He shook his head, "It never ceases to amaze me what your people have become. There is no other colony that has come close to what you people have."

"One day we may just have to do something about that."

"I don't even doubt that you will," he said.

I turned to Ric, "When I send the signal to come in, you all come fast and hit hard. I don't want them to have time to use the telepathy. But not before I give the signal. I may have to adapt the plan as I go and I don't want to waste any lives if it looks like we can't keep going with that strategy. You know how things tend to go for us."

"Yeah," he said, "the enemy tends to screw up our plans pretty quickly."

I ran left toward the crescent of mountain ridge that surrounded the facility.

I tested my throat mike, "Test."

"Clear," Ric's voice returned.

I bounced along the top of the ridge until I was looking down on the facility. I worked around a little bit further until I was as close to the prison as my ridgeline reached. Then I scaled the cliff face downward toward the buildings below.

I stopped about halfway down the wall, "I'm in position."

"Acknowledged," came the voice of Gorvelis, "we are on approach."

I watched their Souls as they entered through the front gates. They moved at the speed a returning patrol would have, and split up a bit inside the perimeter, as if to head to their various barracks.

I watched patiently as...who am I kidding? I don't even know patience. It's a virtue I just don't possess. Yet I did wait. I saw the others approaching the prison. There were now twelve of them. I knew it was them because I could recognize Gorvelis' Soul at the head of them.

I was just about to launch myself when the clearing right beside the prison twisted with the darkness I have only seen with a portal. A big damn portal.

One of the seven Great Gates opened right below me and several forms walked through it. The one in the lead was huge. It was the size of Kel'Sin'Deres, and I knew it was a Farrara'Ti. My group of Shak'Tar stopped dead in their tracks, and I saw fear roll through them all. There was despair in the aura of Gorvelis, and I knew that the Farrara'Ti detected them right off.

He released a roar that reverberated across the box canyon and every Shak'Tar in the valley turned to face my guys. The clearing before the gate was full of Shak'Tar.

I launched myself out into the air as the world slowed to a crawl.

Chapter 33.

As I sailed through the air, I drew from the Source and opened all of the weapons at my disposal. I needed time to open a shield around the prison, and my guys weren't inside yet. I can't offer to be allies and leave them to die.

The time I would need was swiftly dwindling away so, as Prada had so eloquently put it, I made some shit up.

Much as I had done in Montana, I formed a Lash. There were so many Shak'Tar down there I didn't think a simple emotion would do so I used everything that made me who I am. I used my joy and my sorrows, my hate and my love, my honor and duty, everything that made me who I am. All of that nestled inside a great big nest of rage.