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who was already privy to the knowledge—turned to stare at the Shadowlord.
    The High Lord nodded. “We have ships of our own and the men to fly them. This was the first time we had sent one out.”
    Arawn slumped in his seat. He had had no idea that the High Council had either flying ships at their disposal or the wherewithal to fly them. He was as surprised as the rest of his team—and angry that he hadn’t been told.
    “Our ships have stealth capability,” Lord Naois said, and at the confused looks on the Reapers’ faces explained that meant the ships were as undetectable to the Ceannus as their ships had been to the Shadowlords.
    “What the recon crew found was exactly as Lord Kasid explained it to us. There is a large settlement of Ceannus beyond the mountain range in Calizonia, hidden until now from us by their technology. As best we could count, there were three hundred balgairs residing in the camp and at least half that many cybots.”
    “Sweet Merciful Alel,” Owen Tohre whispered.
    “As soon as I learned of the encampment, I tried to contact the goddess but—as yet—She has not responded,” Lord Kheelan said. “There is no way we can defeat a Ceannus team that large and that well equipped without Her help.”
    “The Amhantareans provided us with a security system that will destroy any ship launched against us. That technology has been in place above the Citadel since Morrigunia brought us here,” Lord Dunham said. “We have never feared an attack from the skies on the Citadel. The Net is programmed so only Morrigunia can enter here whenever She takes the urge.”
    “What we should have done was extend that protective Net around the entire planet and not just over the area around the Citadel,” Lord Naois declared. “Had we done so, the first Ceannus ship would not have landed and the ghorets released.”
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    Charlotte Boyett-Compo
    “That oversight will need to be corrected but it will take a few months more to spread the Net to that part of the country. Charge pylons will have to be erected and that is no easy task,” Lord Kheelan told them. “But it has to be done. No other ships should ever land on Terra without our consent.”
    “Nor leave without it,” Lord Dunham said.
    At the mention of the ghorets—the deadly pit vipers from which one bite would instantly kill a human—Arawn sucked in an audible breath. “Have they brought more of those vile things with them?”
    “We don’t know,” Lord Naois said. “But my guess is they did.”
    “The first batch was brought here as eggs,” Lord Kheelan said. “They may be incubating for all we know.”
    “We don’t think any hatchlings have been released,” Lord Dunham said. “Not as yet anyway.”
    Cynyr ran a shaking hand over his face where sweat had suddenly formed. He knew all too well how bad a ghoret bite could be. It was something he wouldn’t wish on anyone—even Jaborn.
    “If you have ships, why can’t you just go and bomb the hell out of the encampment and—?” Arawn began, but Lord Kheelan was shaking his head. “Why not?”
    “Because the Ceannus are holding captives in the camp as shields,” the High Lord replied.
    “Even so, we’re talking about many lives compared to a few,” Glyn Kullen spoke up. “I hate to have us lose even one human life but—”
    “The captives are children,” Jaborn said quietly. He looked around at Kullen. “They are being used also for Sustenance for the balgairs .”
    Aingeal looked sick as she put her hand to her belly where her child was growing.
    “How many children?” Arawn asked Kheelan.
    “We believe somewhere in the vicinity of a hundred, perhaps more,” the Shadowlord answered.
    “What?” the Prime Reaper gasped. “How could that have happened? Where did they get that many children from?”
    A brilliant white light pulsed through the room along with a howling wind that dropped the temperature at least fifty degrees. “From Me!” came an enraged voice.