Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [18]
"Fortunately, no one knows he is here," Daro'h said.
"And we will keep him so drugged with shiing that he cannot reconnect with the thism. He no longer deserves to be part of it." Even after such vile betrayal, Jora'h was too weak to command the execution of his own son. Instead, he had ordered Designate Udru'h to hide Thor'h and make sure he never again felt the thism. The planet Dobro already had more than its share of dark secrets.
Designate-in-waiting Daro'h had offered no complaints or naïvely stern judgments when he'd been told about the genetic experiments, the human captives taken from the generation ship Burton. Instead, he accepted the reasons for the overall scheme, and the secrecy. Daro'h did not try to second-guess the Mage-Imperator or his predecessors. He was a smart young man, despite his sheltered upbringing at the PrismPalace. Udru'h was very proud of him.
A commotion and shouts came from the main part of the Designate's dwelling. Daro'h looked up with a hopeful expression. "Maybe someone has found the missing green priest."
"I doubt it, though that would solve many of my problems."
When Udru'h had revealed to the Mage-Imperator that his beloved Nira was alive after all, he had considered the matter to be over. He had promised to retrieve the green priest woman from her isolation, but like one last slap in the face, she had escaped, leaving no clue as to where she had gone. He had to find her again before the Mage-Imperator suspected anything had gone wrong. After having to lie to Jora'h so many times, he could not return to the PrismPalace and say he had failed again. He needed to find Nira, and he had very little time to do so.
Sealing comatose Thor'h in his chamber, Udru'h hurried off with Daro'h at his heels. Standing breathless beside four advisers and guard kithmen, a glitter-eyed courier waited anxiously. "Designate Udru'h! Adar Zan'nh has sent me here with a report. Hundreds of hydrogue warglobes fill the skies over Mijistra!"
Daro'h gasped. "Have they come to attack?"
"No, the girl Osira'h is with them. My team was sent on the fastest ship to relay this message to you. Osira'h succeeded. Dobro has succeeded!"
Udru'h felt a weight lift from him as the courier finished his report. Jora'h still needed to make a pact with the hydrogues no matter what the cost; nevertheless, centuries of work had paid off. All his training and devotion to the half-breed girl had helped her fulfill her destiny! He missed Osira'h, but he had done what was necessary. If she had failed, then Udru'h would have sent her brother Rod'h on the same mission, and each of her half-breed siblings would have gone until every possible chance was exhausted.
Then, as a guard kithman ushered the courier out of the room, Udru'h realized that this turn of events gave him a second chance, an unexpected reprieve. If a hydrogue armada was now over the PrismPalace, the Mage-Imperator would be completely preoccupied. He had more time to find Nira!
"Daro'h, we must take advantage of this opportunity. While the Mage-Imperator is distracted with other obligations, we must locate his green priest. If we hurry, we may never need tell him she was missing. Find her!"
"But we already went to the island--"
"Perform a full-scale search across the whole southern continent if necessary. Do everything you can--except give up. I have disappointed the Mage-Imperator too often." Udru'h lowered his voice. "He may not have been willing to kill Thor'h . . . but if I tell him that I have lost Nira yet again, he will surely command my execution."
10
QUEEN ESTARRA
Now that news of her pregnancy had spread, the public demanded frequent sightings of the Queen. As a diversion for the increasingly anxious populace, the Chairman allowed her to roam occasionally so she could be seen. He generally saw Estarra as no more than a pawn to force the King's cooperation.
She hoped he continued to underestimate