It didn't explain Lysithea, though.
Distraction? It was probably a distraction, and she growled as she realized that if that was what it had been, it had worked. The final youma came back to dig its teeth into her leg, and perhaps that was a distraction, too, but it was a distraction that could kill her. She kicked at it again, and finally, that one, too, was dust.
She saw the fire out of the corner of her eye. She felt the heat flicker against her skin again. The parts of her that were already burned ached from the blistering heat of it as she whirled around.
She saw the monster then. She watched as it condensed itself back into something almost human. She saw the hand coming for her chest, and, injured as she was, she stumbled back just out of reach. The fingers closed around air.
She did not see the General behind her. That one found its mark. Cybele gave a pained gasp at the familiar feeling of fingers closing around her starseed.
Strickenized
