Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [160]
Osira’h stopped before the dais and waited in silence. When the Mage-Imperator saw her, his chest ached with all the hopes he had invested in this child. Only the day before, after making his final decision, he had called the girl to spend an hour with him up on the highest tower platform of the Prism Palace. Together, they had gazed out at the majesty of Ildira. Air traffic flew in an intricate dance overhead, while below them the seven streams fanned out from the Palace’s hill like the spokes of a wheel, and a line of pilgrims, made tiny by distance, moved along in an unending thread.
He had tried to express to the girl how much he had loved her mother, but even a Mage-Imperator found some things too difficult to communicate. Oddly enough, Osira’h showed little surprise at anything he told her. Jora’h wondered what Udru’h had said to her about Nira. Nothing kind, he was sure.
If she survived, if she succeeded and returned, the Mage-Imperator promised himself he would do much better for this amazing child who stood at the base of his dais. Now there was no time. With each passing hour he received new and disturbing vibrations through the thism, and he could not delay his daughter’s crucial mission to the fresh stellar corpse of Durris-B. But before he could send Osira’h on her dangerous journey, a messenger ran shouting into the skysphere hall.
“Mage-Imperator, the hydrogues are attacking our cloud harvester on Qronha 3. We just received a desperate signal from Chief Miner Hroa’x. The destruction has only just begun, but our facility will surely be destroyed!”
Pushing himself up out of his chrysalis chair, Jora’h addressed Yazra’h and Osira’h with new urgency. “Then you must go there, rather than the dead sun. We have an obligation to defend our cloud-harvesting city, and since the hydrogues have chosen to strike us again on Qronha 3, that is where we will meet them.” He placed his strong hands on the girl’s small shoulders. “Osira’h you must get through to the enemy before they destroy us all. Bring them to me, whatever it takes. Let me speak with them so that I can somehow make peace.”
Guards and bureaucrats swirled around Osira’h and whisked her away toward the warliners. Jora’h stared after the girl, and his hopes went with her.
This was a day of great changes and momentous events. He had sent his daughter to her destiny, and it was time to deal with Hyrillka. Now. Several whole worlds were already lost. Enough! He could no longer tolerate this blindness in the thism.
Today was also the Dobro Designate’s deadline to face Rusa’h.
“Summon Tal O’nh,” he called. “We depart for Dobro within the hour. And we must hope that Designate Udru’h has done his part.”
Chapter 79—CELLI
The Beneto golem led Celli and Solimar along wide paths where Roamer heavy machinery had removed the wrecked tree hulks. Celli grabbed Solimar’s hand, and the three of them went deeper into the charred and splintered wasteland.
“Are you ready for this, Solimar?” she whispered. “Whatever it is?”
He kept walking. “Whatever it is. I’m sure the worldforest has its reasons for picking the two of us.”
“I selected you, not the worldforest,” Beneto said. “You are the two most suitable, and I hope you can get a message across, something the trees need to hear.”
Celli looked at Solimar, whose gaze reflected his confusion. “Well,” she said, “that explains everything.”
Beneto strode onward, full of purpose. She watched his wooden body move like flesh, reminded of a legendary forest spirit from the old fairy tales that novice green priests read aloud to the trees.
The three arrived at a glen that showed damage worse than in any other area Celli had seen in a long while. The golem spread his arms directly out to his sides, then splayed his fingers like the twigs at the end of a long branch. “Despite what you see around you, this glen retains some of the deep energy of the worldforest. The true power