A Forest of Stars A Forest of Stars The Saga of Seven Suns - Book 02 Kevin J. Anderson The Saga of the Seven Suns is a multi-volume chronicle of a legendary war that spans half the Galaxy and nearly shatters the cosmos. This series follows the family intrigues, the loves and tragedies, pomp and pageantry among several competing races in an expanding stellar empire. Five years have passed since the beginning of an epic war with the Hydrogues. Tensions are high as Hydrogues scour the many systems of the Spiral Arm searching out and destroying planets they think hold humans or trees of file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...even%20Suns%2002%20-%20A%20Forest%20of%20Stars.html (1 of 420)19-2-2006 3:37:58 A Forest of Stars the Worldforest. And with their gas-giant planets off limits, Earth’s government has tightened the economic reins on its colonies, which leads to hardship and rebellion. King Peter wages a fierce rebellion of his own against Hansa Chairman Basil Wenceslas. Prime Designate Jora’h, longing for his missing Nira, clashes with his dying father, the Mage Imperator, over the horrid things done “in the name of the empire.” Meanwhile on Theroc, Reynald asks Cesca Peroni of the Roamer clan to be his bride. Cesca, knowing an alliance with the Therans is for the good of her Roamers, must give up Jess Tamblyn and their bright future. Meanwhile Jess Tamblyn, isolated in a skimmer ship stumbles across a possible new ally. It’s the last of an old race of water-based creatures called Wentals. Humankind has awakened the wrath of a formidable and ancient enemy in the Hydrogues, for once a vast and horrible war took place across the galaxy. As there are more sightings of the fearsome sun-bearing Faeros creatures, it seems this war has only just begun. These creatures have the ability to destroy planets and defuse stars. Will they take apart the spiral arm with their rage? BOOKS BY KEVIN J. ANDERSON Available from Warner Aspect The Saga of Seven Suns Hidden Empire A Forest of Stars Horizon Storms (coming in 2004) To JAIME LEVINE, the “fairy godmother” of this series, who has takenThe Saga of Seven Suns under her firm editorial wing … while also loving the stories as a true fan. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Iwould especially like to thank Rob Teranishi and Igor Kordey, visual geniuses whose imagination and input into the graphic novel portions of theSeven Suns universe have helped to crystallize many of my own ideas, as well as sending me off on fascinating new tangents. And Jeff Mariotte and John Nee of Wildstorm, for letting me pursue this big epic in a different direction. Also, my cover artists, Stephen Youll and Chris Moore, have done excellent work conveying at a glance some of the things I take many pages to do. My wife, Rebecca Moesta, provided enormous input both in the big picture as well as line by line… seeing both file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...even%20Suns%2002%20-%20A%20Forest%20of%20Stars.html (2 of 420)19-2-2006 3:37:58 A Forest of Stars the forestand the trees. Catherine Sidor transcribed this novel almost as fast as I could dictate it into my tape recorder, and gave me her running commentary and suggestions as well as spotting inconsistencies. Diane Jones and Brian Herbert were early readers, offering valuable ideas and input, helping to shape the story into its best form. My British editors John Jarrold and Darren Nash gave me excellent comments and support. The exceedingly competent Melissa Weatherill kept all the production matters running smoothly from half a world away, while at Warner Aspect, Devi Pillai and Penina Sacks kept track of enough maddening details so that the rest of us could have moments of sanity. My agents Matt Bialer, Robert Gottlieb, and Kim Whalen at Trident Media Group have always shown great fervor for this series and have helped enormously to make it a success both in the U.S. and in many languages around the world. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Copyright ©2003 by WordFire, Inc. All rights reserved. Aspect®name and logo are registered trademarks of Warner Books, Inc. Warner Books, Inc., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 Visit our Web site at www.twbookmark.com. An AOL Time Warner Company First eBook Edition: July 2003 ISBN: 0-7595-8782-5 Contents Acknowledgments The Story So Far file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...even%20Suns%2002%20-%20A%20Forest%20of%20Stars.html (3 of 420)19-2-2006 3:37:58 A Forest of Stars 1 Jess Tamblyn 2 King Peter 3 Estarra 4 Prime Designate Jora’h 5 Nira Khali 6 Adar Kori’nh 7 Cesca Peroni 8 Jess Tamblyn 9 Tasia Tamblyn 10 King Peter 11 Rlinda Kett 12 Basil Wenceslas 13 Davlin Lotze 14 Anton Colicos 15 Adar Kori’nh 16 Mage-Imperator 17 Jess Tamblyn 18 Tasia Tamblyn 19 King Peter 20 Basil Wenceslas 21 Estarra 22 Beneto file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...even%20Suns%2002%20-%20A%20Forest%20of%20Stars.html (4 of 420)19-2-2006 3:37:58 A Forest of Stars 23 DD 24 Tasia Tamblyn 25 Rlinda Kett 26 Adar Kori’nh 27 Prime Designate Jora’h 28 Nira 29 Dobro Designate 30 Rlinda Kett 31 Anton Colicos 32 Reynald 33 King Peter 34 Prime Designate Jora’h 35 Tasia Tamblyn 36 General Kurt Lanyan 37 Cesca Peroni 38 Adar Kori’nh 39 Rlinda Kett 40 Anton Colicos 41 Nira 42 Prime Designate Jora’h 43 Jess Tamblyn 44 Reynald 45 King Peter file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...even%20Suns%2002%20-%20A%20Forest%20of%20Stars.html (5 of 420)19-2-2006 3:37:59 A Forest of Stars 46 Tasia Tamblyn 47 Cesca Peroni 48 Jess Tamblyn 49 Tasia Tamblyn 50 Prime Designate Jora’h 51 Robb Brindle 52 Rlinda Kett 53 Anton Colicos 54 Adar Kori’nh 55 Tasia Tamblyn 56 DD 57 Cesca Peroni 58 Kotto Okiah 59 King Peter 60 Estarra 61 Beneto 62 Sarein 63 Nira 64 Osira’h 65 Prime Designate Jora’h 66 Del Kellum 67 King Peter file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...even%20Suns%2002%20-%20A%20Forest%20of%20Stars.html (6 of 420)19-2-2006 3:37:59 A Forest of Stars 68 Estarra 69 General Kurt Lanyan 70 Cesca Peroni 71 Jess Tamblyn 72 Basil Wenceslas 73 Davlin Lotze 74 King Peter 75 Prime Designate Jora’h 76 Rlinda Kett 77 Davlin Lotze 78 Anton Colicos 79 Prime Designate Jora’h 80 Adar Kori’nh 81 Estarra 82 King Peter 83 Rossia 84 Basil Wenceslas 85 Tasia Tamblyn 86 Tasia Tamblyn 87 Zhett Kellum 88 Estarra 89 Jess Tamblyn file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...even%20Suns%2002%20-%20A%20Forest%20of%20Stars.html (7 of 420)19-2-2006 3:37:59 A Forest of Stars 90 Tasia Tamblyn 91 Prime Designate Jora’h 92 Nira 93 Estarra 94 Kotto Okiah 95 Zhett Kellum 96 King Peter 97 Rlinda Kett 98 DD 99 Anton Colicos 100 King Peter 101 Mage-Imperator 102 Nira 103 King Peter 104 Tasia Tamblyn 105 Jess Tamblyn 106 Cesca Peroni 107 Admiral Stromo 108 Beneto 109 Father Reynald 110 Queen Estarra 111 King Peter 112 Basil Wenceslas file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...even%20Suns%2002%20-%20A%20Forest%20of%20Stars.html (8 of 420)19-2-2006 3:37:59 A Forest of Stars 113 Zhett Kellum 114 Kotto Okiah 115 Queen Estarra 116 Osira’h 117 Mage-Imperator 118 Prime Designate Jora’h 119 Adar Kori’nh 120 Queen Estarra 121 Jess Tamblyn 122 Dobro Designate 123 Osira’h 124 King Peter 125 Father Reynald 126 Adar Kori’nh 127 Sarein 128 Father Reynald 129 Mage-Imperator Jora’h 130 Cesca Peroni 131 Jess Tamblyn 132 Basil Wenceslas 133 Anton Colicos 134 Tasia Tamblyn file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...even%20Suns%2002%20-%20A%20Forest%20of%20Stars.html (9 of 420)19-2-2006 3:37:59 A Forest of Stars 135 King Peter Command Structure Of The Earth Defense Forces Selected Noble-Born Children Of Prime Designate Jora’h (Designates-In-Waiting) The Ruling Family Of Theroc Clan Tamblyn Glossary Of Characters And Terminology SPECIAL EBOOK FEATURE:SKETCHBOOK Klikiss Robot Hydrogue Warglobes The Whisper Palace Worldforest on Theroc The Fungus-Reef City Ildiran Features and Outfits An Ildiran Female THE STORY SO FAR In the ruins of the ancient Klikiss civilization, human archaeologists MARGARET and LOUIS COLICOS discovered an exotic technology capable of igniting gas-giant planets to create new suns. For the first test of the Klikiss Torch, at the gas giant Oncier, observers included BASIL WENCESLAS, suave Chairman of the Terran Hanseatic League (the Hansa), and the alien ADAR KORI’NH, military commander of the vast but stagnant Ildiran Empire. Though the humanoid Ildirans helped Earth colonize the Spiral Arm, they still see humans as ambitious upstarts. They considered the test of the Klikiss Torch unnecessary hubris, since many other planets were available for colonization. When Oncier was ignited, collapsing into a compact sun, instant reports of the event were transmitted around the Galaxy by the green priest BENETO, a human from the forested planet Theroc, who has a special symbiosis with semisentient worldtrees. Green priests, like living telegraph stations, can send thoughts anywhere through the interconnected forest network, providing the only form of instant communication across vast distances. At the end of the Oncier test, observers saw a cluster of diamond spheres race away from the collapsing gas giant file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...even%20Suns%2002%20-%20A%20Forest%20of%20Stars.html (10 of 420)19-2-2006 3:37:59