A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [238]
“I was bred to protect the Ildiran Empire.”
“No. You were conceived out of love, but I was taken prisoner and locked away here. I had only a few months to hold you as an infant…and then you were stolen from me. I wanted to be with you, but I was kept here, forced to endure…terrible things. You have been tricked.”
“That’s not true,” Osira’h said. “You don’t understand.”
Nira’s face twitched with a wan but genuine smile as she caressed the girl’s other cheek. Osira’h felt the bond strengthen between them, saw echoes of thoughts and painful memories that were not her own. “Of course I understand, my little girl. But the Designate tells you only what he wants you to know—not the truth. Not all of it. You are his tool, his prize.”
Osira’h grew resistant and angry. Her telepathic abilities had never come to her so powerfully, so easily, as now—yet she didn’t want to know. “My purpose is to save the Ildiran Empire! I’m the only one who has a chance of forming a bridge with the hydrogues, of establishing a lasting peace.”
Nira looked skeptical. Her tattoos were darkened lines, like scars on her face. “A peace that includes humans and Ildirans and hydrogues? Or just an alliance to save the Empire at the cost of my race?” She shook her head. “What am I saying to you? You’re just a child. You can’t possibly know.”
“Yes I can! I have absorbed years of instruction from the greatest teachers. My mind has been exercised by the most talented mentalists and lens kithmen. The Designate says the level of my intelligence, knowledge, and maturity is at least twice my physical years. That is how it has to be, because our time is short.” It sounded as if she were repeating memorized phrases.
Nira lowered her head with a disappointed frown. “I am so sorry, Osira’h. When I first learned I was pregnant, I knew the Prime Designate would want to raise you in the PrismPalace, but I never thought you would have to lose your childhood and be used like this. Oh, such a terrible fate. And you don’t even know why or what awful things they have done to you.”
Osira’h could sense that her mother was not lying, but she still wasn’t ready to believe what Nira said or doubt all the things the Designate had taught her. Her voice wavered. “But I am…the Mage-Imperator’s great hope.”
“Then listen to me, Osira’h. If you are to fill such an important role, then you should understand the consequences of everything you do. If you are indeed the Ildiran savior, don’t let yourself be a mindless soldier following orders that the secret-keepers give you.”
Osira’h reached her small hand through the fence, reluctant but forcing herself. “I can already hear some of your thoughts. Let me…let me see them all.”
Nira blinked at her. “You can take all the information from me? Directly?”
“I think I have that skill. Partly from you, partly from my father.”
The woman smiled strangely. “I suppose it’ll be like accessing information from the worldforest…but we don’t have a treeling to assist us. The bond between mother and daughter will have to suffice.”
Osira’h touched her mother’s skin, her brow, her temples. “It will be different from my other instruction, but this is the sort of thing the Designate has always wanted me to do—to open unorthodox lines of communication.” She took a deep breath, then spoke as if she were reciting a mantra. “Let the knowledge, memories, and information stored within your mind be like cool water, and I will be a thirsty sponge. Let me learn the truth in your heart and make it my own.”
As if afraid the girl would change her mind, Nira grabbed her daughter’s hand, pressing it hard against her skull. The green priest opened her mind and spilled out her memories and thoughts—and Osira’h was open to them.
As the flow began, Osira’h could not help but drink in the details: the first images of Jora’h, the wondrous times of her father and Nira in the