Lords of the Seventh Swarm by David Farland Read Free Book Online Page A

wore a pair of clean blue tights, and had on a nice white tunic, stiff with embroidery about the neck, cuffs, and waist. Herm seemed bright, energetic, intelligent, and he affected a slightly superior smile. He seemed to be only a slightly altered human.
    But from her work with the aberlains of Fale, Maggie knew better. He’d have to be incredibly strong to fly with such mass. His bones would have to be hollow, which meant that his immune system might be vastly different from a human’s. She suspected that Felph would have simply resorted to a nanotech analog for that immune system, but she didn’t know.
    More troubling than Felph’s engineering his own children was the fact that Lord Felph made Herm wear a Guide.
    Maggie had worn one once, only for a few days; the memory horrified her. The artificial intelligence in the Guide linked directly to the brain, so that when Maggie wore one, she could not control her own muscles. The Guide even controlled her desires, at times, when her master wanted.
    Maggie could imagine nothing a father could do that would be more cruel than to enslave his children in their own bodies.
    Maggie suspected she would detest Felph. The vanity of such a man.
    Yet as they thundered through the first set of walls, then rose up to one of perhaps a hundred gorgeous verandas where the spraying fountains shone, Maggie recognized one important fact: Lord Felph had money, enough money to ensure that she got the best medical help possible when she delivered her child.
    So she had to wonder. Could she endure working for a man she would hate?
    The florafeem thundered to the ground in a broad veranda, settling next to four other florafeems. Apparently some other guests had already arrived.
    Maggie dismounted shakily, walking to the edge of the creature’s broad, gravelly back, then glancing down. It was a good three-foot drop, and in her tender condition she didn’t want to jump. She looked over her shoulder, saw half a dozen other florafeems floating over the valley. They looked like giant flowers blown on the wind, the tall pavilions gleaming like crimson and golden stamens at their centers.
    Herm himself walked up and took Maggie’s hand, helped her from the beast.
    Herm spoke a gracious welcome and bid the guests enter, waving under the wide stone arches toward a glittering chamber. Enormous tables held piles of food among dozens of candelabras, and several other guests had begun snacking near those tables.
    Herm guided Maggie, Gallen, Orick, and Tallea to the center of the great hall, nodding as he walked toward various small knots of people. A ragged foursome of men appeared, from their dirty and tattered tan outfits and numerous weapons, to be soldiers fresh from the tangle. The group looked toward Maggie, and she inwardly cringed. Something about their eyes, their unblinking eyes, unsettled her.
    “Poachers,” Herm whispered.
    “What do they poach?” Maggie asked.
    “Qualeewoohs,” Herm said. Maggie thought it repugnant that anyone would resort to eating a sentient alien species. As if reading her thoughts, Herm whispered. “They kill them for their spirit masks—and for any artifacts they might be carrying.”
    He nodded toward a knot of men and women talking at another table, people who looked almost as dirty as the poachers. “Xenobiologists and paleontologists.”
    Most of the rest of the people milling about—perhaps a dozen or two—all wore the same black tights and golden tunics that Dooring wore. Maggie recognized it as something of a servant’s uniform.
    “How many people on planet?” Gallen asked.
    “Maybe a hundred,” Herm answered. “At least it was close to that at last count, though doubtless some have died. Most are like those you see. Lord Felph employs a few workers, and we have some scientists and treasure hunters. Some are just recluses and madmen.”
    Maggie hadn’t imagined that so few people would live on a whole planet. True, they were in the Carina Galaxy