“There is no question. I have seen the evidence for myself. The hydrogues have shown themselves again. Even my combined thism is not strong enough to accomplish what must be done. I had hoped that a cross-breed might enhance those characteristics. There is no higher priority, no greater need. We must plan, and succeed, before anyone else understands the nature of the danger.” He clenched a pudgy fist so violently that blood began to stream down his palm. “We need at least one!”

Drawing strength and resolve, the Dobro Designate pressed forward. “Then I must make a risky proposal. There is new information, Father. Perhaps you have seen it yourself? I just met a human, one of their green priests from Theroc—a young and obviously fertile female. Her biological connection with the worldtrees suggests some … very interesting genetic possibilities.”

The Mage-Imperator gestured for his chrysalis chair to move out into the corridor. The attenders pushed him backward.

“Yes, indeed,” he said. “I have already thought of this myself. We may have to use her, break her—and take what we need.”

79: ADAR KORI’NH

79ADAR KORI’NH

The cohort of Ildiran warliners finally departed from the stark world of Dobro. Adar Kori’nh felt relieved to move on to the next military assignment. He could never escape a feeling of uneasiness when visiting this grim system, although he acted under the Mage-Imperator’s orders. What the Dobro Designate continued to do on that planet seemed dark, horrible to him. Even humans did not deserve such treatment.

Through the all-seeing eye of the thism, Mage-Imperator Cyroc’h understood far more than the most well-trained Adar. A Mage-Imperator was more than any other Ildiran, the sum of their race, its pinnacle; his actions, thoughts, and decisions dictated the entire story of the Ildiran Empire. Kori’nh could not challenge the decision, but that did not make him condone the darker necessities. The Mage-Imperator knew what was best for all Ildirans, even if some people had to pay a terrible price.

It was not Adar Kori’nh’s place to understand everything.

He muttered a quiet curse and sagged into the rounded seat of the lead warliner’s command nucleus. Even though the Mage-Imperator knew best, even if the outcome served the Ildiran race in some mysterious way, Kori’nh did not believe these sinister Dobro experiments could ever be viewed as heroic deeds. They would never be included in the Saga of Seven Suns.

“Our course is set for the Hyrillka system, Adar,” said the navigator, himself a septa commander who had been taken from his smaller grouping of ships to serve on the vanguard warliner. The navigator and all of the bridge crew looked similarly relieved to be departing from Dobro.