CIRCE

xix

Lonan and Tannier rush back to their party with haste. The former shakes Princess Kahle awake, who blinks groggily, trying to rub her eyes clear of sleep in the sudden stir. The two Selenian guards stir as well.

"What?" Princess Kahle mumbles.

Frantic, Lonan states; "The theotans are here."

For a moment all Princess Kahle does it blink at her, then Lonan's words sink in and her eyes widen.

"Where?" She asks as she rises to her feet.

"In the sky," Lonan points up to the three stationary lights hovering too close to be stars. "Those are their ships."

Princess Kahle's brows knit.

"How do you know it's them?"

Lonan wavers. There's no evidence she holds, nothing that makes those three ships stick out as theotan. She can't see them nor can she communicate to them. All she has is instinct, but it's a strong one, an ill feeling crawling on her skin every time she looks at those lights.

"Intuition," Lonan says. "The humans have never called for more than one ship at a time. It -"

"Lonan," Tannier states.

He touches her arm, drawing her attention to the sky, where a plume of muted orange and smokey gray puffs among the stars. Off-white fumes branch off in arches that taper and fade as sparks of yellow gleam and wane. Something dreadful sinks in Lonan's gut as she watches the explosion churn in the sky, her cheeks pale.

"What is that?" Princess Kahle asks.

Lonan shakes her head and tries to speak, but her words fail even as her lips move. Princess Kahle is quicker than she as she turns to her guards.

"Go and warn the August Prince of the theotans."

With her firm, certain command, the two guards turn and hurry up the beach, back into the Daoine Forest. However, as Princess Kahle returns to convene with Lonan and Tannier, a boom echoes down the beach, shivering through the ground and shaking the trees. Tannier takes Lonan's hand, his grip unbreakable. As the trembles pass, creaking and groaning fill its place, and then the rumbling sound of a collapsing building thunders through.

Lonan glances between Tannier and Princess Kahle, both of who are wide-eyed in shock, the latter scouring their surroundings. However, when Lonan meets Princess Kahle's eyes of ink, her thoughts fall suddenly into place.

The theotans are attacking.

"Come on!" Lonan says.

She tugs Tannier's hang and gestures down the beach, in the direction of Odysseus Outpost and The Eijoa further beyond. That rumble, so close by, has to be some western part of The Eijoa. Maybe the Outpost. Hopefully the Outpost, if Lonan is honest. She knows it's a sick thought, but at least then none of her citizens would be injured, her people spared.

They hurry their way across the beach, but still several hours out from the Outpost, it isn't as quick of journey as Lonan would like for it to be. It isn't until midnight that they finally see first glimpses of the Outpost through the trees.

It's ruined. Reduced to rubble. Lonan spots the mangled pieces of metal and crumbled fragments of stone, shattered as though it is glass. Tannier grabs her before she can get a good look though as footsteps grow near. He tucks her behind a bush, himself crouching behind the base of a trunk as Princess Kahle folds against a tree. Murmuring accompanies the footsteps, murmurings of English.

"We'll set camp here," Someone says. They move, the audibility of their voice shifting with it. Lonan only catches "recovery efforts over there. Security..." before the voice fades completely.