Relieved, Jora'h held out an etched-diamondfilm plaque. "Here, I have composed another letter for Reynald to share among the green priests on Theroc. I would like to dispatch it with one of our commercial vessels."

The leader reached out to take the message. "It may require some time and a roundabout route. Theroc is not a frequently visited world."

"I know, Father, but at least it's something I can do. It is my way of maintaining contact."

Cyroc'h held the shimmering glassy plaque. "You must not think of the human woman again."

"Thank you for granting me this favor." Jora'h backed out of the chamber and departed with a spring in his step.

As soon as he was gone, the Mage-Imperator summoned his bodyguard forward. "Take this and destroy it. Make certain Jora'h is not allowed to send any message to Theroc."

Bron'n took the diamondfilm letter in his clawed hands and, with great strength, snapped it in half. He would incinerate the pieces in a power plant furnace. "Yes, Liege. I understand."

5

NIRA KHALI

Standing inside the Dobro breeding camp, isolated but joined by hundreds of other human test subjects, Nira stared through the thin fences. The fences were a mere formality to demarcate boundaries, a convenience for the captors, since the prisoners had no place to go.

The camp was situated at the foot of mountains to the east, rolling grassy hills to the west, with dry lakes and bleak terrain in a central valley. The ground itself was striated with arroyos cut by furious washes of rain, making it look as if the skin of the world had stretched too fast and broken open like festering scabs.

For five years as a prisoner of the Ildiran Empire, she had held on to her inner self, just staying alive despite all the unspeakable acts she'd had to endure. None of the camp guardians or Ildiran supervisors would answer when she begged to know why they were doing this to her.

Her love, Jora'h, could not possibly be aware of her situation. With a single command, he could have freed her and all the other prisoners. Nira doubted the Prime Designate would ever participate in such awful schemes. He was too gentle and caring. She believed that in her heart. Did Jora'h even know she was still alive? Could she have misjudged him so much?

Nira didn't think so. Unsuspecting, Jora'h had been sent to Theroc-obviously to get him out of the way, so he couldn't interfere when they abducted me.The Mage-Imperator must have kept this a secret from his own son, even though she had been carrying Jora'h's child.

The Dobro Designate, second son of the Mage-Imperator, used the human descendants here as breeding stock for Ildiran experiments. For some reason, Designate Udru'h considered Nira the most interesting of all the prisoners, and she had suffered greatly because of it.

After she had given birth to a perfect, beautiful half-breed daughter named Osira'h-my little Princess-the Dobro Designate had kept Nira here in this awful camp, so she could be impregnated again and again, like some horrible broodmare...