Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [172]
"Y-yes, we can," she stammered. "The worldforest is vast and holds many thoughts. A green priest can touch all of them. Once we join with the forest, once we 'take the green,' we have access to telink."
"Is this skill genetically based?" the Dobro Designate asked, stepping closer to her. "How is it possible?"
"Not...exactly genetic," Nira said. "Although some Therons are better suited to the calling than others, the desire and ability does not necessarily breed true. The forest itself actually chooses. Many of our people know from childhood that they are meant to link with the worldforest. We commune with the trees, and we serve them."
The Designate continued to scrutinize her, assessing, calculating. Then he dismissed her. "That is all. You may go."
Startled and disoriented, Nira retreated down the corridor. Unsettled by the encounter, she paused and turned to watch as the Dobro Designate strode in the opposite direction. The dour man walked through several security gates and past bristling guard kith until he was allowed into the private chambers of his father, the Mage-Imperator.
78 MAGE-IMPERATOR
The door to the private contemplation chamber sealed behind the Dobro Designate, and the transparent magnifying walls misted over to become milky and impenetrable. No one could see them now. No one could guess what they intended to discuss.
The Designate bowed formally before the Mage-Imperator's curved chrysalis chair. "I have arrived with my report as you commanded, Father."
The corpulent leader sat up, his placid face slipping into an expression of malicious eagerness. "You have brought the most remarkable examples of your experiments?"
"Yes, Liege," the Dobro Designate said. He was the Mage-Imperator's second son, after Jora'h, but he followed the leader's thinking more closely. "You will find them astonishing. Clearly your father's farsighted wisdom has seized an opportunity for the Ildiran race."
The Mage-Imperator operated a set of controls with his stubby fingers so that the cradle platform tilted him upright. The sides closed in, making the platform compact and streamlined; handles extruded from the sides. "I wish to see these specimens with my own eyes."
He called for attenders, and a group of small-statured helpers scurried in. They fought each other for the right to grasp the handles on the palanquin. Levitators switched on, lifting the enormous throne from the floor. The leader stroked his serpentlike braid and gestured forward with his chubby right hand. "Follow my son. The Dobro Designate will show the way."
Wearing a hard smile of confidence, the Designate exited through the opposite arched doorway. He led them out of the contemplation chamber and down sloping ramps to lower, more isolated rooms. He knew the Mage-Imperator would reward him for all the hard and unpleasant work he'd been forced to do on dreary Dobro. The end results of these experiments would justify all of the miserable effort.
Despite his eagerness, the Designate set a slow pace as the attenders carried the chrysalis chair, guiding it through wide passageways, always downhill. At this depth, other Ildiran workers—mainly guards and maintenance kith—stared in awe at their unaccustomed visitor under the harsh light; then they either bowed or rushed out of the way. The Designate paused on a hovering lift platform, which dropped them down several levels, through the sculptured hillside and into well-lit catacombs within the citadel. Blazers shone at every intersection.
Finally, they stopped at a private door guarded by four monstrous-looking warrior kithmen. The bodyguards stood aside, clearing the passage so the attenders could scuttle forward, hauling the floating palanquin chair. The Mage-Imperator looked around, his interest piqued, impatient with anything that got in his way.
They entered a gallery of glass-walled rooms. The transparent cells held strange humanoid