Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [45]
Vao'sh moved his lips, quietly mumbling words, as if rehearsing how he would tell the story to his fellow rememberers. Below, the robots scrambled to find effective shelter.
Yazra'h clenched and unclenched her hands as she watched the attack, obviously hoping that the Adar would leave some of the black machines for her to deal with personally.
Twenty-five
Mage-Imperator Jora'h
With Yazra'h and Zan'nh gone off to recapture Maratha, Jora'h turned his efforts to the multitude of other tasks involved in restoring stability to his Empire. His staff assembled maps and a strategic inventory as the first step in reclaiming all that had recently been lost. Hyrillka, the centre of Rusa'h's rebellion, had been evacuated while faeros and hydrogues battled in the system's primary sun. But perhaps now the world was habitable again. The Mage-Imperator sent a scientific team to Hyrillka to study the solar flux and monitor the climate. That would tell him if there was still cause for concern.
He also summoned Tal O'nh, the one-eyed military commander who had evacuated Hyrillka, along with Designate Ridek'h, the boy who would have been the leader there. Jora'h dispatched them on a procession across the worlds in the Horizon Cluster to inspect planets that had been damaged in the rebellion. Another key step in regaining Ildiran strength and unity.
So many pieces… so many fragments of the Empire now splintered apart, and only the Mage-Imperator could draw them together. How glad he was that his son Daro'h was returning from Dobro today! Now that the hydrogues were defeated and Rusa'h's civil war was over, the Ildiran Empire needed its Prime Designate again. The Mage-Imperator wanted to see Daro'h as soon as his transport touched down.
A semicircular ledge extended from the Palace wing set aside as the domain of the new Prime Designate. The ledge was both a balcony and a landing pad, expansive enough to hold more than seventy Ildirans. Sadly, Nira had chosen not to join Jora'h. Her memories of Dobro were still raw, and though this young man had not asked for his position as Designate there, Daro'h still represented the terrible camps to her.
A few servant kithmen hurriedly strung reflective banners to thin poles with braided ropes. Others arranged food on such a sprawling array of tables that Jora'h wondered if the pilot would find room to land on the crowded balcony. Court rememberers stood listening and watching, ready to retell every aspect of Daro'h's arrival. Bureaucratic kithmen determined which people were allowed to stand on the landing ledge and which must be relegated to nearby balconies. Guard kithmen stood at attention, pointing their crystal katanas to the sky.
Posturing for attention, anxious females were dressed in reflective solar-energy clothing, their scalps shaved, oiled, and painted with colourful designs. The women, many of whom were already on the breeding roster, enthusiastically waved at the small ceremonial cutter as it came down. It was the Prime Designate's job to have many children, from many kiths, and to begin a new generation of noble-born sons who would become his Designates-in-Waiting.
Daro'h's life here would be much different from before. Because of his birth order, upbringing, and training, he had never believed he would be anything more than the Designate of Dobro.
But everything had changed with the death of the turncoat Thor'h.
This time, the Mage-Imperator wouldn't allow his son to lead a completely pampered life. A Prime Designate had many pleasant obligations and tended to follow hedonistic pleasures for a time, but Jora'h had suffered from the mistake of indulging Thor'h. Daro'h must be put through a trial by fire, beginning the moment he arrived.
Servant kithmen had polished the transparent tiles of the balcony ledge surface so perfectly that it looked as if the cutter were landing on clear air. The ceremonial vessel was embellished with sigils and colourful markings. With a cough of jets and a flare of heat, the cutter settled into place. Jora'h moved forward as the