Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [132]
The long ropelike braid hanging down around the Mage-Imperator's heavy body lay draped across his stomach and coiled next to his hips. It twitched like a restless pet anaconda. His eyes studied the rememberer as if he were a succulent meal.
"Yes, Liege. Crenna was...very difficult for me. Rememberer Vao'sh is helping me to compile the true and permanent story of the blindness plague, so that your son the Crenna Designate and all the other Ildiran victims will be remembered and honored in our Saga of Seven Suns."
The leader's face remained placid, even bored. "Every Ildiran born lives his life hoping to achieve something significant enough to warrant inclusion in our Saga. Even though those people on Crenna died of a terrible sickness, they will now be revered forever."
Bowing again, Dio'sh said, "That is my sincerest hope, Liege." Then he lifted the documents cradled in his hands. "It is regarding the Saga of Seven Suns that I have requested to speak with you."
He held the documents forward, but the Mage-Imperator did not lift a stubby hand. "Tell me what you have found." His braid twitched again, and his voice carried a strong note of wariness. "I sense that it has upset you to your very heart."
Dio'sh clutched the documents to his chest and spoke without embellishment. "After our rescue from Crenna, I came back to Mijistra and began to study the records of other epidemics in our history. In the deepest Palace archives, I searched through many preserved documents of apocrypha, learning hidden fragments of our history."
"The apocrypha are not a legitimate part of the Saga, " the Mage-Imperator cautioned.
"True, but they are still eyewitness accounts and pieces of relevant information, not to be disregarded. I was searching for background material about the Lost Times, when accepted history tells us that all members of the rememberer kith perished in the firefever."
"Yes." The Mage-Imperator's pasty face drooped into a frown, yet his sadness seemed false. "That was a terrible time."
"But the truth is not what we thought, Liege!" Dio'sh said, ready to burst. "I learned something about all of those missing lines from the Saga. I have found evidence of what occurred during that period. Something shocking."
"There have always been rumors, Dio'sh. Ildirans love their mysteries."
"Yes, Liege, but I have found that, in reality, the firefever never occurred."
"All the rememberers died," the Mage-Imperator insisted, disturbed and obviously skeptical. The historian did not notice his glowering expression. "It is clear that a section of our epic was lost."
Dio'sh stepped closer, his face lobes ablaze with colorful emotions. "No, Liege. Not lost. The rememberers were killed in order to hide the truth, and then a portion of the Saga was intentionally censored so that no one would ever know what really happened. I believe it must have been an order given by an ancient Mage-Imperator."
"Preposterous. No Mage-Imperator would commit such a heinous act."
A flood of words poured from Dio'sh's mouth. He waved the incontrovertible documents. "The lost verses tell of an ancient and devastating conflict in the galaxy, an ultimate war against powerful creatures called hydrogues, aliens that live within the cores of gas-giant planets."
The Mage-Imperator was wide-awake now, fascinated. Dangerous. Dio'sh continued. "This ancient war, I believe, is related to the extinction or disappearance of the Klikiss race, but it has remained hidden for these ten thousand years." He shuffled through the documents, eagerly seeking passages to quote. "Liege, the evidence is clear. Our accepted version of the Saga does not tell the entire truth. We must change what has been written."
Dio'sh was so excited that he paid no heed to the displeasure