Selati, a big construct forced to work in the cobalt mines of Ilmare, is terrified of the overseers. Danger dogs his every breath, somehow the leader of his ragged work crew, and he finally has enough when the mine itself almost kills him. Humans or no humans, he refuses to let his crew die down in the dark. As his crew takes their stand in their bid for freedom, rescue comes. Freedom in the light and a whole new life awaits.<br><br>It’s a duty Aleledai takes great pride in, saving his fellow Caniean. Humans might have created them to mine and nothing more, but like all things, the Caniean are not the mindless beasts humans intended to work to death for resources. Selati’s rescue is probably his greatest accomplishment, because something about this one becomes everything Aleledai was missing, that made freedom perfect.<br><br>Humans don’t let go of their things easily, though and war is coming, no matter what the Caniean want. The price of freedom is always high. Aleledai only hopes the price isn’t everything he’s found worth living for.

A Soldier's Horizon

Cushions were outside his knowledge. “What are cushions?”


Aleledai laughed, not loud though full, all the same. “Great sacks of fabric, stuffed with soft fluff like grass and sewn shut so the fluff doesn’t escape when you lay on it. It helps keep the cold away.”


“I want one,” Selati murmured. It was the first thing he had ever wanted that wasn’t necessary to his crew’s survival.


“I had already planned on that.” Aleledai’s smile, the one he had seen on Tahahi, returned


That reminded him. “What is a Foreseen, exactly? You have told me what they can do, but not what they are.”


Aleledai’s expression became thoughtful. “I have a guess on what they are. When human genetic material was chosen for combination with serpent material, I think a small portion of the humans’ used had anomalies.”


Chapter 15