Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [232]
General Lanyan had already received a report from his engineering team. "If we all work together, Adar, we could have the basic repairs finished in a few days."
Zan'nh hesitated. He wanted to rush back to the Prism Palace, to learn what had happened with the watchdog warglobes once he'd turned the tables during the hydrogue ambush. He knew that his father was still alive--he would have felt the Mage-Imperator's death like a scream through the thism--and he knew that the hydrogues were vanquished, though many thousands of Ildirans had died.
Zan'nh pondered the options and then reached his decision. He would send Tal Lorie'nh back with his cohort of warliners to assist at Ildira. For the moment, that was enough. "No, thank you, Tal. I will keep one warliner here to assist me. Meanwhile, return to Mijistra and make your report to the Mage-Imperator. I will come home soon, in my own flagship."
137
QUEEN ESTARRA
Connected through telink to the verdani battleships, green priests followed the battles across the Spiral Arm, the vanquishing of hydrogue gas giants, the tremendous last stand at Earth. All of the new verdani seedships had uprooted themselves from the forest floor and joined the other monstrous trees in space, fighting against their ancient enemies.
But Theroc itself was quiet and undefended.
The arrival of a small hydrogue craft created quite a stir. The worldtrees rustled, preparing to defend themselves with a barrage of seed-projectiles. Green priests rushed out to see. Mother Alexa and Father Idriss stood together on a high open balcony of the fungus-reef city, looking fearfully into the sky.
But the tiny diamond bubble made no threatening moves. It hovered over a ragged gap in the thick canopy, then passed down to settle onto the churned dirt where Beneto's five-trunked treeship had torn itself from the ground.
When the small sphere's hatch finally hissed open, releasing a breath of Earth-normal air, King Peter and Queen Estarra stepped out. They were accompanied by a stiffly formal Teacher compy.
Estarra was overjoyed. "We're home!"
It had been so long. She could not absorb enough details of her beautiful world: the color of the sky, the quality of the sunlight, the overarching majesty of the great trees that had twice survived hydrogue devastation. The smells were fresh and wonderful, perfumes of flowers, sharp oils from dark green leaves, and the warm musk exuded by the worldtrees.
In the years since the horrific attack that had killed her brother Reynald, the people had worked slavishly to heal the wounds. Dead trees had been cleared away, new treelings planted. The surge of life from the wental comet had covered many of the freshest scars.
Estarra clung to Peter's arm with great pleasure. "I never knew how much I'd miss everything about Theroc. I can't wait to show you my world."
Peter stroked her hair, more interested in his Queen's happiness than in answering the questions of the cheering people who came to meet them. "You talk about Theroc so much, and I've seen images . . . but no words or pictures could do justice to this. It's a perfect place for us."
"A place to stay, and a place to keep our family safe."
"And a place to live while we help guide the human race--far from the Chairman. That's the best part, I think."
Celli bounded forward, dragging her big-shouldered green priest friend by the hand. Estarra saw with amazement that her wiry little sister not only was older, but also appeared much more mature. "Celli, look at you!"
The younger girl couldn't tear her eyes from Estarra's belly. "And you, you're so . . . so pregnant! Are you about to have the baby?"
Estarra laughed. "Not for a little while yet." She patted her stomach. "I'm at six and a half months--I don't even want to imagine how much bigger I'm going to get."
Celli introduced herself to Peter as if she had just noticed him, then she did a double