Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [138]
Daro'h sat on the dais next to the chrysalis chair. 'What do you wish, Liege?'
'I should ask you the same question, my son. It is plain you are troubled.'
'I fear for Dobro. Have we had word about the people there? Are they safe? They have been through so much - both the humans and the Ildirans - and now are left without a leader. Can they govern themselves?'
'They can if given the chance,' Nira said, perhaps a little too sharply. 'This may be what they need.'
'You have greater responsibilities now, Prime Designate,' Jora'h said. 'Concern yourself with all Ildiran people, not just those on Dobro.'
'I understand, Liege. And yet…' Daro'h was the opposite of callous and self-centred Thor'h. As the second noble-born son, he had followed in Designate Udru'h's footsteps, believing that his sole responsibility was the splinter colony of Dobro, never imagining he would become Prime Designate. 'What can we do about the faeros?'
'I do not know what happened with my brother Rusa'h. I do not even know how he remains alive. When he flew into the sun, he meant to plunge directly into the Lightsource, not to cause us any further damage.'
'The faeros changed him somehow,' Daro'h said. 'I saw it.'
Jora'h nodded. 'His injured mental state, his flawed , must have opened him to them. As bizarre as that may sound, it is not unheard-of. I have recently learned that other Ildirans were united with the faeros in the past.'
The research being done by Rememberer Vao'sh and his human counterpart had begun to shed light on the problems the Empire faced. Though Jora'h found it frightening to learn even more unexpected truths, he did find the knowledge invaluable. If only he could put it to use.
Their new information revealed part of what had really happened during the old war against the Shana Rei, creatures that swallowed up all light and drove Ildirans insane. Tales of the Shana Rei were used to describe Ildiran heroes in circumstances that required bravery and sacrifice. With careful reading some rememberers had discovered a layer of nuance that suggested the Shana Rei were entirely fabricated, a mere fiction created to fill in the blanks produced by covering up the original hydrogue war. Yet that itself was only another veneer of lies. Investigating further, Vao'sh had discovered that the Shana Rei were real after all. And the faeros had helped Ildirans defeat them.
For the first time, Jora'h shared the alarming story that Rememberer Vao'sh and Anton Colicos had found in the long-sealed apocrypha. 'Long ago, some Ildirans discovered how to link with the faeros, much as green priests can connect with the worldforest. When it looked as if all Ildirans would perish before the Shana Rei, an ancient Mage-Imperator named Xiba'h begged the faeros for assistance. He was sure that only their elemental fire could drive away the creatures of darkness. When he was unable to summon them, when he could not convince them even to speak with him, Mage-Imperator Xiba'h prepared his Prime Designate, and made a tremendous sacrifice to call the faeros.'
'What sacrifice?' Daro'h asked.
'He got the attention of the faeros by immolating himself. The Mage-Imperator set himself on fire in the middle of Mijistra. The blaze was potent and incredible. As the flames consumed Xiba'h, the anguish that he emanated through the attracted the faeros. The creatures came, after all, and agreed to offer their aid. Faeros fireballs struck the creatures of darkness.'
'That's a terrible story, Jora'h,' Nira said.
'And yet it is a true one.'
Daro'h asked something the Mage-Imperator had not considered. 'Is that why the faeros have turned against us now? When Rusa'h plunged into the sun, did he make a greater sacrifice? Did they go to him instead of to you?'
'I hope you are not right, but I have learned not to underestimate