Locked in the desperate struggle to maintain control of the magic, Harafin sensed the danger. Unrestrained power swelled to a magnitude almost beyond comprehension. Tremors from deep within the heart of the mountain shivered up through the palace roots. They triggered alarms that radiated up through his fingers from the protective sphere.

  He could not stop it. He barely held on against Kevlin's increasingly powerful attacks, and even that effort was on the brink of failure.

  Harafin abandoned himself to the task and surrendered all hope of his own survival. He threw every ounce of his strength into maintaining the defensive grid a little while longer. Perhaps he could save some of the people. He drew even more heavily upon the strength of those supporting him.

  It proved too much. Gifted men and women began dropping to the ground where they stood, drained of all strength. First one. Then a second.

  Then ten.

  Then fifty.

  Exhausted both in mind and spirit, they fell. Their minds tumbled from the grid into welcome unconsciousness. The last thought they universally shared was of desperate terror.

  They had failed.

  # # #

  The Catalyst shouted in victory with a voice that rocked the tower. His body burned with power that was slowly tearing him apart at the most fundamental level. He exulted in the pure joy of becoming one with the wild, uncontrolled magic. This would prove the ultimate triumph.

  Then he found the point where the grid was releasing magic into the earth, the safety valve keeping it from being overwhelmed.

  He blocked it.

  And poured magic into the palace foundation.

  # # #

  Instantly, Harafin felt the change. The magic no longer discharged out of the grid. Something blocked its release and the entire grid was now quickly becoming overloaded. With the loss of so many gifted from the grid, he lacked the capacity to handle it.

  In a desperate attempt to buy some more time, he threw open new channels to release the magic.

  Columns of fire erupted out of the ground in every sunken garden and soared hundreds of feet into the air. The towering flames consumed all breathable air and generated a deadly wind that raged through the gaps between buildings. Anyone exposed outside had only seconds to find shelter before the wind rose to hurricane strength and sucked the unwary or unlucky into the nearest column to be immolated in the inferno.

  They did not all make it.

  At the same time, a section of the cliff above the sea, wide enough for fifty men to have ridden through together simply disintegrated. A river of fire erupted through the gap.

  Flames hurtled far out over the waters of the formal port and crashed down into the sea. Water boiled as the ancient elemental rivals clashed and consumed each other. A wave of steam churned hundreds of feet into the air and rolled over the ships sitting helplessly at anchor nearby.

  # # #

  It was not enough.

  Despite everything he tried, Harafin could not vent enough magic safely from the grid. Already the wild magic was rising to a crescendo of destruction. If he threw aside any more restraints, the entire palace would be engulfed. None would survive.

  Still moving through the steps required to maintain the grid, still fighting to delay the inevitable, Harafin could no longer refuse to accept the hard truth. He lacked the strength to win this battle. Everything he had fought for was about to be destroyed, and it was partially his fault.

  As the grid matrix swelled to the bursting point, when he could no longer contain its explosive collapse, Harafin severed the connection to those Sentinels still part of the grid. It was the only way to protect their minds. It was the last gift he could grant them. Perhaps some few of them might survive the imminent destruction of the palace.

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  Only Leander remained.

  The indomitable old Stalwart spoke to Harafin's mind. Despite the chaos about to engulf them, his Mindvoice spoke calmly, devoid of the crazed fury that had consumed him earlier today.

  My strength is yours, brother, until the Light claims us.

  Harafin smiled.

  And severed the connection.

  Leander stumbled back into the waiting arms of his brethren when the link broke. He turned toward the sphere of magic, and his old friend still caged within.

  Inside the protective sphere, Harafin changed his movements, no longer working to preserve the grid matrix. All hope was lost, and he could no longer delay the inevitable. Instead, he focused all his fast-waning strength on preservation.

  Harafin gripped two symbols of power so hard the lightning-like magic tore into the flesh of his hands. He braced his legs and shoulders against the strain as he assumed part of the load with his physical strength.

  He shouted one final word of power.

  The dome rang again as if struck by a giant silver hammer, and the entire structure blazed with blinding golden light. The light flowed like living water toward the four primary compass points, then rivers of pure light exploded out through the windows situated just above the seventh level walkways.

  The light split and flashed away, pouring through the inner city, then farther, boiling down along all four major spoke thoroughfares.

  People crowding the spokes all through the city cried out in fear as the light enveloped them with its glowing warmth. The air began to hum, and the sweet scent of honey and roses filled the air. People looked around with wondering expressions, some smiled hesitantly with a spark of renewed hope.

  Then a single strand of light burned down the center of every Spoke and knocked aside anyone standing in its path. The strand of light hung suspended for a second, then blazed with pure white brilliance. It grew, forming solid walls of light that split every Spoke.

  The walls of light began to expand, to push everyone off the Spokes. People cried out as they tumbled off the streets. Within three heartbeats, every Spoke lay completely empty, encased in brilliant white domes of light that reared higher than most of the flanking buildings.

  Harafin blew out an exhausted breath and managed a weary smile despite the ponderous weight driving against his mind and heart. He'd done all he could to protect his people. His hands shook with absolute weariness as he tried to shift to the next symbol of power to maintain the grid matrix a little longer.

  He slipped and fell to one knee.

  The grid matrix collapsed.

  The magic still caught within the inner-city defensive grid rebounded back against the sphere that stood at the nexus of the spell. The sphere glowed with a blinding brilliance for a single heartbeat as Harafin held at bay the overwhelming influx of the imploding matrix through sheer iron determination.

  He held it for a single, painful heartbeat.

  Then another.

  Then Harafin's strength failed.

  The sphere shrunk in on itself for half a heartbeat and an ominous silence enveloped the Great Dome.

  Leander whispered, "Goodbye, my friend."

  The sphere exploded in a dazzling sunburst that blinded those few looking directly at it and triggered a shockwave that hurled everyone on the short balcony backward like rag dolls.

  Magic radiated back down through the supporting columns and through every node attached to the walls of the Great Dome. The entire top half of the enormous structure shattered into ten thousand white-hot pieces that tumbled miles out into the Tamerlane Sea or crashed down into forest or farmland beyond the plain of Tamera.

  The explosion of the sphere catapulted Harafin high up toward where the apex of the dome had been. The thunderclap shook his body with bone-breaking force. He hung suspended for a second, arms and legs spread out limply like an offering on a broken altar.

  Then he began the awful plunge to the stones far below. A thunderous booming craaack shook the plateau, and a mighty cloud of dust shuddered off the ground into the air. Every palace shook, and several smaller structures imploded, adding to the noise and the clouds of dust blowing across the city.

  # # #

  Leander, his head pounding, and every muscle shaking from exhaustion, pulled himself over the groaning forms of his companions. He clutched a piece of still-intact rail, and scanned the devastation beyond the edge.

  There! A limp body plummeted toward the scarred and broken floor. With a cry of despair, Leander extended a hand, his lips calling a word of power that invoked a gift he no longer trusted, and once again he bent all his will to try to save a life.

  Just before striking the floor, Harafin's body slid sideways, skidding off an invisible shield that attempted to soften the angle of impact.

  It was almost enough.

  The Sentinel, tiny in the distance, struck the floor hard and slid through the debris, leaving a bloody scar through the dirt-covered floor. He came to a stop and lay unmoving, his face grey, his eyes unseeing, and his ears unable to hear the terrifying rumble beginning deep under the floor upon which he lay.

  # # #

  The Catalyst shouted with victory.

  Thus was the fate of all who opposed his supremacy. As the tower upon which he stood swayed dangerously, he called upon more power for the final, fatal blow that would shatter the very roots of the mountain and destroy everything within his domain.

  # # #

  People were dying.

  Indira could feel the despair, the terror, the overwhelming pain assaulting her senses from every direction. She could not save them.

  She had failed.

  As the tower swayed dangerously, and the insane monster that had once been Kevlin shouted with maniacal glee, she wept.

  Even as she sorrowed with those she could not save, she threw the last of her strength, the last of her determination, off the brink into the realm of blind faith.

  Following a prompting that she could not understand and lacked the will to question, she directed her healing powers across the room at two figures huddling helpless against the wall.