The floating wasp arrests their attention again as it releases a stream of sorcerous light from its crystal, producing a vision that chills the blood in Ilapara’s veins: the emperor himself, wearing a simple crown of moongold, outlined in red light, as though he were standing before them. Damn you, Salo, she curses. Why did you have to be so clever? His ingenious network of mobile mechanical skimmers was the inspiration behind the emperor’s own system of surveillance, except the emperor has had time to refine it.
