Dragonlord of the Savage Empire

Chapter Seven

Lenardo's panic subsided slightly as he remembered that he had Read Aradia in Zendi only a few hours before. She could not possibly have reached home yet, could not have been in the castle when it was blasted.

He found her in the rocky hills on the border between their lands, alive but besieged, trying desperately to Read where the blows were coming from that struck all around her. People and horses lay dead, and as Lenardo watched, another thunderbolt roared down just beside Aradia's horse. The horse screamed and reared. She fought it down and turned, constantly moving, zigzagging, for if she stopped, she became an easy target. There was no place to hide.

Her Reading powers could not begin to cover the distance between her and her attackers, until Lenardo Read with her. When his mind touched hers, she gasped.

//Lenardo! Where are you? Oh, Lenardo, I'm so sorry.//

//So am I. Read with me!//

He guided her northward, to where a circle of Adepts surrounded a Reader relaying instructions to them. //Get the Reader,// Lenardo instructed, but to project to Aradia, he projected to the renegade Reader as well. Aradia went blank to Reading to exercise her Adept power, and the thunderbolt she cast sizzled through the ground where he had been a moment before.

"It's Lenardo," the Reader told his Adept cohorts. "Even with him to guide her, Aradia's only one against four. Keep moving!"

The Reader… was Galen.

//But he's dead,// said Aradia.

//We never found his body,// Lenardo reminded her.//

//And I've fought one of those Adepts before: Hron. He and Galen must have survived the battle last spring. Never mind. Ride for Zendi while I distract them.//

//Is that where you are?//

//No, but I'll be there as soon as I can. Ride!//

Lenardo could sense that Galen was equally confused, Reading what Lenardo projected but unable to find him physically to give the Adepts a target. They would return to trying to kill Aradia unless he could distract them somehow. An idea formed slowly, a deception through Reading. Was it possible?

As Aradia and her train galloped off toward Zendi, Lenardo deliberately did not Read them but instead tried imagining them moving at a slightly different angle, imagined himself galloping with them. A sheet of flame scorched the ah- just in front of his imaginary horse. He resisted the urge to "ride" through it and instead imagined himself almost being thrown, fighting the animal back under control, and continuing toward where he wanted the Adepts to think Aradia was. He had to make them waste energy. Then they would have to spend hours in the Adepts' deep recuperative sleep, allowing him time to reach Zendi.

It's a three-day journey.

No, by the gods, I'll ride night and day, stealing fresh horses as I need them!

He could not think further. He was too busy making Galen think that he was with Aradia's train, ducking thunderbolts and sheets of flame, telling Aradia's false image truthfully, "We're almost out of Galen's range."

As he hoped, that brought a renewed volley of wasted shots. He envisioned a supply wagon going up in flames, the driver leaping for safety while the screaming horses dashed in panic, spreading sparks through the night. All the while Lenardo could clearly sense Galen Reading him, urging the Adepts to kill him while trying to make sense of the shifting perceptions. Had Galen never learned to leave his body? If he had, he declined to use the ability now, as Lenardo galloped his phantom retinue out of range of Galen's abilities.

It was a lesser range than the boy had had last spring.

He had Read farther both at the battle at Adigia and at the battle near Castle Nerius. Perhaps Galen was ill or not fully recovered from the injuries he had sustained in that last battle.

When he felt contact with Galen fade, Lenardo let his imaginary train of riders fade as well and, in the same state of heightened awareness in which he had eavesdropped on the Master Readers without their sensing him, sought out Galen and the circle of Lords Adept. There were four Adepts with the Reader, one of them Hron, Aradia's former ally who had betrayed her to join forces with Drakonius.

The other three Lenardo did not know: a man and two women, tired and- annoyed that their plan to pick off Aradia and her allies one at a time was not working.

"Lenardo was supposed to be in Zendi," Hron was saying threateningly to Galen. "What was he doing with Aradia? We would have had her without his help. Now she'll join with her brother and the Reader in Zendi."

"We must go north and take Lilith," said one of the women.

"Marava is right," the other man said. "If we proceed to Zendi, we could be trapped between Lenardo's forces there and Lilith's to the north."

Lenardo recognized their plan. They had circled far to the east and come to Aradia's land from that direction, thinking to take the strongest Adept first in a sneak attack, four against one.

And the earthquake-not a direct attack this time, but Julia had been right. It was set off by the Adepts, to throw Aradia's land into confusion to keep her watchers from noticing a party of four moving toward Castle Nerius.

The Adepts were preparing a message in their own watcher's Code. Would they flash visible signals through Aradia's land even if no one there could interpret them? Their combined army was gathered north of Lilith's border, waiting for the signal to attack. The Adepts would sleep, renewing their strength, but meanwhile their army was to breach Lilith's borders in a surprise attack. By the time she could call her troops into action, the Adepts would be at full strength again-and in concert with their army they could move freely, give chase if by some chance she should escape. Although pinned between an army to the north and a circle of Adepts to the south, there was little hope for Lilith.

If only there were more Readers in my land, Lenardo thought desperately. But there was no one to whom to relay the message except Aradia. She would have to warn Lilith any way she could.

Lenardo Read, fascinated as Hron, Marava, and the others worded their message, unpacking and consuming as they did so one of those tremendous meals Adepts ate. It no longer surprised Lenardo; he had frequently seen the slender, delicate Aradia consume a meal worthy of three men who had worked in the fields all day.

Meal and message complete, the four Adepts sat down on the ground, arms extended and hands clasped to form a literal circle.

"Galen," said Hron, "is our army in position as agreed?

The lantern in place?''

"You know I can't Read that far," Galen said sullenly.

"If you had-"

"Help us win this battle," Hron said, "and I will heal you completely."

Lenardo had not been Reading Galen physically, but he would have noticed if the boy were in pain. Now he Read visually.

He would never have recognized Galen by sight. He was hideously disfigured from the burns he had received in the battle of Adepts last spring. Hron, Lenardo noted, was unscarred, with only his short hair and beard attesting to the fact that they had been burned away four months ago.

Both Hron and Galen must have been horribly burned. Lenardo had been convinced that no one had survived the fire in the canyon. Only Adept powers could have saved these two when they somehow escaped alive.

It was easy enough to guess what Hron had done. Although he had applied his powers to his own complete recovery, all he had done for Galen was to keep him alive, letting his burns heal as they would. His skin was a mass of scar tissue, his face a mockery, with holes for eyes, nose, and mouth in an otherwise shapeless blob. His hands were stiffened into claws. He could move and walk without pain but also without the ease necessary to effect an escape, and his horrible appearance would mark him wherever he might go.

Sick at heart, Lenardo was reminded of the legends of the founding of the Aventine Empire, when Readers were just developing their powers. The first Emperor was reputed to have gained the throne with the aid of a Reader whom he lamed so that the man could not run away.

If Hron had the power to heal himself, he could have healed Galen, but he didn't trust him. Perhaps he never would, but by dangling the promise of being fully healed before Galen, he would make the Reader perform as desired.

Lenardo watched the Adepts concentrate, chanting in unison the rhythm of the code they were transmitting. To the north of Lilith's land, soldiers kept watch by a lantern. When the flame began to dance rhythmically, they quickly called their commander.

The message was repeated several times. Then the commander began to mobilize his troops while the four Adepts fell into deep recuperative sleep.

Lenardo returned his attention to Aradia. //You drew them away,// she said. //How, Lenardo?//

Ill used Reading to fool Galen. The Masters who taught me would disapprove, but it worked. Aradia, you must get word to Lilith. There is an army moving against her from the north, to trap her between them and the circle of Adepts.//

//The watchers will send the message, and I'll send riders as well. She and her son must join me in Zendi. And you, Lenardo-//

//I will be there as quickly as I can. Hurry, now. You and Wulfston join the minor Adepts you've been training. You can equal the four Adepts attacking.//

He had withdrawn his attention back to where he was, at the inn in Tiberium, before he remembered that he had intended to Read whether Aradia was pregnant. Julia was still sleeping peacefully. A few more minutesFirst he Read the immediate area of the inn, a superficial scan. Of course, no one was coming after them here.

It was almost midnight. Downstairs, the landlord had barred the door for the night. Most of the guests were asleep. A couple of revelers walked laughing down the street outside toward a discreet house of prostitution a small distance away.

And then Lenardo Read another figure moving swiftly through the night, as surefooted as most men walked at noon. Torio! He was Reading only his way, projecting nothing, but it was obvious he was headed straight for the inn.

Lenardo didn't want the boy pounding on the door and rousing the household. He slipped quietly out of his room and down the stairs. No one was stirring. Lenardo unbarred the door for Torio and then barred it again.

//What are you doing here?//

"Don't Read," Torio whispered. "I tried to come undetected. Take me up to your room."

He took Lenardo's arm, willing to be led blindly through the inn rather than risk notice by Reading further. What could he possibly fear that much?,

"You can't come into my room," Lenardo reminded him. "My daughter is there. A female Reader."

"It doesn't matter," Torio said, his voice choked with tears. "They've failed me, so it doesn't matter anymore."

"Failed?"

"Shh! Master Lenardo, it has to do with you. Please, let's go where we can't be overheard."

Lenardo led Torio up the stairs and into his room, installing him in the single chair.

"Now what is this about failing you?"

"It's true." Torio's milky eyes drifted, unfocused, when he was not Reading. Tears slid down his cheeks as he continued. "After I made sure all the younger boys were asleep, I went to Master Clement's room to find out what he had heard from you. While I was there, Portia contacted us. She said-" his voice broke again "she said my conduct in not reporting that you contacted me last week was a breach of the Code. She said I'm unfit to teach and that my skills are not up to the standards required to continue training."

"That's a lie," Lenardo said angrily. "Torio, your skills are far beyond what mine were at your age, and I was passed without question."

"Master Clement tried to reason with her, but she says it's settled. I've been failed. Tomorrow-"

"Yes, Torio? What about tomorrow?"

"Master, they won't let me have medical training or serve with the army or anything. Portia told me to report to her at noon tomorrow… to meet my wife." He struck away his tears angrily, but there was a wealth of despair behind the gesture. "Master Lenardo, what am I going to do?"

"You're not going to report to Portia, that's certain. And you're not getting married, unless some day you want to."

"I'll never-"

"Don't say never, Torio. I plan to get married as soon as I get home and reclaim my land."

"Home? Your land?"

"That's right. A land where no one but a Reader himself decides what he can or cannot do. Where Readers and Adepts share their powers for the good of all."

"That's not possible," the boy said.

"Would you like it to be?"

A pause. Then, "Oh, Master Lenardo, if only it could be."

"It can be, Torio, but only if we make it so. Come with me. We need Readers desperately. Poor Julia's been carrying a full work load at her age."

At the mention of her name, Julia woke up, squirming and rubbing her eyes. Then she stared at Torio. "I know you. I've seen you in Father's mind. You were there when he got the wolf-stone. Torio."

"That's right," the boy replied, resisting the urge to Read the child. "And you are Julia. Master Lenardo has told me about you."

"Torio is going home with us, Julia," said Lenardo.

"Get dressed now. We must be well out of the city before dawn."

"My horse is stabled near the Academy," said Torio, "and I must get my sword and some clothes."

"Bring two horses," said Lenardo. "Master Clement won't set the guard on you. Julia and I rode double from the border, but now we've got to ride hard. My friends are under attack."

"What?" Julia demanded, wide-eyed. "Why did you let me sleep? Why are you talking? Let's go."

"We mustn't arouse suspicion." Lenardo handed the girl a coin. "Go down to the pantry and pack food for three people, and leave this on the shelf for it. Meet me in the innyard. I'll get the horse. Torio, fast as you can, meet us at-"

Of the three, only Lenardo was Reading, and so only he reacted to Master Clement's, //Lenardo!//

"Torio, Julia! Read," he instructed aloud.

//Yes, Master?//

//Torio is with you. Good. I'd hoped that was where you had gone, son. You must flee at once. At dawn the soldiers of the guard will be there to arrest you, Lenardo.//

//What?//Torio gasped.

Lenardo, though, was not surprised.

//Portia has denounced you as a traitor.//

//Master, they'll know you've warned me, and you will be arrested,// said Lenardo. //Come with us.//

//No, Lenardo, I have work here.//

//Master, there is corruption in the Council of Masters. You're not safe-// Lenardo began.

//Son, I am not so foolish as Portia thinks, but as long as she considers me a harmless old man, I can work toward returning the Council of Masters to the body it was meant to be. Since I came here to Tiberium, I have seen many things that sadden me, but I am not alone. Not all the Masters are corrupt, only those in Portia's special circle.//

//But if they find out you've warned me-//

//Torio warned you, not I. They'll believe that easily enough, without Oath of Truth. Now go, all of you. And may the gods protect you.//

They felt the warmth of the old man's caring, and then he stopped Reading. There was a moment of bitter silence. Then Torio said, "I can't go back."

Lenardo realized that the boy knew already what he himself had taken until now to absorb, but he deliberately took the words as applying to their immediate situation. "No, so we'll have to steal horses from two other guests. Come on!"

"Father," said Julia, not at all disapprovingly, "you've told me it's wrong to steal."

"It is. We'll just borrow the horses, Julia, and return them if we ever get the opportunity." She laughed. "You're thinking like a savage, Father." "That's what I am, Daughter, and so are you. And we'll have to teach Torio to be one, too."

By this time they had packed their meager belongings. "Go ahead and Read, both of you," said Lenardo. "No one will be looking for us till dawn."

They crept easily through the sleeping inn, and Julia slipped into the pantry for food while Torio and Lenardo went to the stables. The horse he and Julia had ridden was still tired, and so he chose another that was fresh and eager and two more like it. The stableboy had gone home when the inn closed, and the porter at the innyard gate was deep in drunken slumber, not stirring even when the horses' hooves clattered on the cobbles.

A sword hung on the wall near where the porter slept. The blade was rusty; it had obviously not been used for years. But after pondering a moment, Torio tiptoed past the porter and took it down. //Better than nothing, though not much better.// //Take mine,// said Lenardo, //and give me that one. Go on. You're the better swordsman, just as I'm the better Reader.// //Yes, Master.//

Just then Lenardo felt something: Portia Reading them. //We're found out. Off we go.//

Lenardo ran to the open gates as Julia dashed out of the inn. Torio lifted the girl onto her horse and mounted his own as the porter woke with a snort, saw them, and shouted, "Ho! Stop, thief!"

The man tried to leap on Lenardo, but he was clumsy and still half drunk. Lenardo shoved him back, running to his own horse as Torio and Julia galloped out. The horse was fresh and nervous and didn't know Lenardo. It danced away as he tried to mount, and the porter was on him again. He turned and slugged the man, the kind of punch he hadn't thrown since boyhood fights. With a man's strength behind it, it sent the porter reeling long enough for Lenardo to swing into the saddle and escape.

Behind him, the porter shouted, "Thieves! Thieves! Horse thieves!" and began to pound on a bucket hanging on the wall. People woke and ran from their rooms, but Lenardo and his entourage were already out the gate.

Wakened by the clamor, people looked out of nearby windows, but none ventured into the street as the three Readers rode for the north gate of Tiberium. The city had outgrown its ancient walls centuries ago. Deep and safe within the empire, it did not close its gates at night, nor were they guarded.

The broad street, however, narrowed at the old gate, and Lenardo Read a troop of guardsmen from a garrison outside the old walls marching to intercept them there. They were guided by a Reader, a young man of Torio's age named Meleus.

Torio could Read for himself over that distance, while Julia was Reading with Lenardo. Twenty trained guardsmen against two men and a child.

Torio grasped his sword, ready to go down fighting as the guards marched through the gate and moved unrelentingly toward them. Julia pulled from her pack a sharp butcher's knife; the savage child had armed herself on her trip through the kitchen.

But it was no use. They could not fight twenty guardsmen, nor could they hide from the Reader.

Lenardo recalled the way he had fooled Galen, but Julia and Torio didn't know about that. "Julia, Torio," he said sharply. Pointing straight ahead, he said, "Follow me, and pay no attention to what you Read."

"I can't-" Torio began.

"Read your surroundings, not me," Lenardo explained hastily, sensing Meleus trying to Read their discussion. They would soon be within his range to do so. "Not me," he repeated, and then projected intensely. //Guards ahead. Split up and spread out. We've got to lose them.//

To his relief, the two young Readers, although thoroughly confused, continued to follow him along the broad street. Lenardo projected kicking his horse's flanks and darting into a side street with Julia at his side, while Torio galloped off in the opposite direction.

"They've Read us," he Read Meleus reporting to the guards. "Lenardo has turned into Mill Street, Torio into Cobbler's Lane."

Lenardo caught Julia's delight at this new game, and Torio's horror. To deliberately confound a fellow Reader- But then Torio remembered what he was leaving behind and grimly withheld his protest.

Unfortunately, Lenardo was not familiar with the tangled side streets of Tiberium and quickly discovered that he had sent his phantom Torio into a cul-de-sac. Meleus knew that and was sending some of the guards down the main street to the entrance to Cobbler's Lane while he led the rest in a path that would intercept the images of Julia and Lenardo.

That left the gate ahead unguarded, but six armed men were headed straight toward them, while Lenardo had to keep up the images of himself and Julia in the twisted lanes to draw Meleus and other guards away from where they really where.

Torio recognized Lenardo's dilemma, pointed Julia into another side street, and followed himself as soon as he was sure that Lenardo saw what they must do: hide out of sight until the guards passed them and turned into Cobbler's Lane.

The guards went by at a run, expecting Torio either to charge out of the lane again, having discovered his error, or lie in wait for them, having Read their approach. These were nonReaders. Lenardo could project nothing to fool them, and so he abandoned the false image of Torio while he concentrated on keeping Meleus and the rest of the guards chasing the phantom Lenardo and Julia through the winding streets.

"Come on," Torio shouted, and urged his horse out into the street. Lenardo and Julia followed, galloping for the unguarded gate.

They clattered through, their cloaks billowing with the wind of freedom as they streaked along the main road out of town. Lenardo, meanwhile, led Meleus and his men into a blind alley, where Meleus "saw"-and the guards did not-the images of Lenardo and Julia. Then they disappeared before the young Reader's astonished eyes, and he cried, "Sorcery! The traitor has learned the savage sorcery!"

Julia, Reading with Lenardo, laughed out loud in delight. //That's the way to use your powers, Father.//

And Meleus had them pinpointed again. "They've escaped. They're outside the walls!" //Relay! Relay! Escaped traitors on the Northern Way.//

Jjistantly, another Reader on the outskirts of town asked, //Who? What did they do?//

Meleus explained, and the message was sent on to a Reader in a small village beyond, and so on up the road. Within the hour, it would reach Adigia, but Lenardo and his entourage could not hope to be there until well after noon, even riding hard with fresh horses every few miles.

"We're trapped," said Torio.

"We weren't trapped in Tiberium, and we won't be now," Lenardo replied. "Torio, interfere with mat message."

"What?"

Julia understood at once. "Send a false message."

"Lie through Reading? My Oath-"

"Your Oath binds you to protect your fellow Readers," Lenardo reminded him. "Is Portia your fellow now? Are her corrupt circle your fellows? Or Master Clement, Julia, I?"

"I don't know!" Torio answered wretchedly. "We're not supposed to turn against each other."

"I know, you don't know whether to trust me now. But surely you trust Master Clement. He wants you safely out of the empire, Torio."

"Yes." But the boy was still uncertain, "They'll kill us if they catch us," Lenardo reminded him. "Stay alive to see what life is like outside the pale, and then make your decision." "All right. I'll distract the relays." A short distance ahead of them, a sleepy Reader brought suddenly awake was seeking to gain the attention of the next link in the relay system, a woman coping with her teething child. The child's pain was making her own teeth ache as she held and rocked him. Her husband slept as only someone who had worked hard all day after keeping vigil himself the night before could have, despite the child's screams.

//Delia,// projected the Reader trying to get his message through. //Delia, put the child down or wake your husband. You must relay a message!// But nothing could penetrate Delia's concern and frustration with her baby.

Torio was a much better Reader than either Delia or the man trying to contact her. It was easy for him to Read beyond Delia the mile or so to the next relay, another lesser Reader dutifully awake and Reading, easily located when so few minds were alert and active.

//Relay,// Torio announced, and the Reader, a man in his fifties, sat up with interest. //Traitors,// Torio told him. //They left Tiberium by the Northern Way, then turned off cross-country. They should pass to the east of your location. Keep a sharp watch and relay when you Read them.//

//When? Who? How many?//

Lenardo dared not interrupt, but Torio had the sense not to embroider his lie too elaborately. //Three: two men and a girl. The guard is after them. Keep a sharp lookout for the next hour to the east.//

//Where's Delia?// the man asked suspiciously.

//Her baby's sick. We're having to skip over her tonight. Relay both ways if you spot the traitors.// He broke contact.

//Very good,// Lenardo told him. //Close enough to the truth to be thought an honest mistake caused by an overextended relay link.//

For almost an hour, they were able to keep ahead of the relays, planting false messages and distracting the attention of these minor Readers from their true path. It was alarmingly easy until they approached Villa Blanca, a small city mat housed a female Academy. Here there was a direct relay link with Tiberium, and they found the accurate message being transmitted to one of the teachers there.

//A different message has already come through here from Cassius,// she reported. //The traitors left the road just north of Tiberium, riding cross-country to the northeast. If they continued in that direction, they should pass far to the east of here.//

//What? No such message was relayed back to us. Read around you, Magister.//

They were on the open road, close to the city. There was no hope of escaping the Reader's scan. This time they split up in reality as the city guard came pouring out of Southgate on horseback. Torio rode west, Lenardo and Julia east. The guards had no Readers among them; they could not be misled by false images, but they also could not Read exactly where their quarry were.

Villa Blanca was a small city, completely contained behind its walls, and at night only nine men guarded it: two at each gate (for it had gates only at the north and south) and five others prepared for any disturbance. Those five now sought the three fugitives, riding on either side of the road to intercept them.

There were no buildings outside the walls, nothing to hide in. The moon threw long shadows of the moving riders. As three guards bore down on him and Julia, Lenardo had to let Torio take care of himself. They could not hope to outrun the guardsmen's fresh horses.

As they approached, the guards flung their spears, but neither Reader had the least trouble ducking them. Then, swords drawn, they closed. Lenardo held one off with the rusty blade from the inn, while Julia, counting on a grown man's reluctance to harm a child, pulled her horse between his and the guard attempting to attack from the other side. Reading gave Lenardo the advantage of knowing his adversary's moves before they were made. He got a quick thrust in under the first guard's lifted arm, withdrew the blade, and turned to the second while Julia continued to cover his back. The guard on her side gave a vicious slap to her horse's flank, but the child clung to the reins and retained command of the tired animal, keeping it between the soldier and Lenardo.

//Good girl,// he told her, but just then the wounded guardsman came up beside Lenardo's horse and jabbed it with his sword. The animal screamed and reared, unseating Lenardo^ His rusty sword hit the hard ground and broke.

He scrambled to his feet, facing three mounted men. Grasping the wounded man's arm when he tried to thrust again, Lenardo attempted to unseat him. Pain shot down the man's arm, and he dropped his sword. Lenardo retrieved it, Reading that this guard was close to fainting and no danger now. But the other two were oh him, one slashing from his horse, the other dismounting to face him on foot, the two in perfect concert, attacking him on both levels.

The man on foot was a fine swordsman. Lenardo parried his thrusts but was relentlessly driven toward a position where the mounted guard could get in a crippling blow. He tried to draw the swordsman away, but the other fought his horse into position again.

//Julia, if they take me, flee. Take Torio home to Zendi.//

No answer, but the child was Reading him and the guards. The wounded man had passed out. It was only two on one. I've met such odds before.

But he had rarely met such an expert swordsman as the one driving him back, and his foreknowledge of the moves was little help against the skill with which they were executed. He thrust and slashed, trying to keep from being driven like a sheep by a dog. But the aggression was too tiring, and he couldn't keep it up. The horseman was in position behind him, sword ready. Lenardo could not maneuver away.

The horseman screamed as Julia, with every bit of strength in her small body, sank her butcher knife between his ribs.

The man on the ground looked up in astonishment, and in that moment of distraction, Lenardo lunged and skewered him. He sank back, doubly surprised, and fell.

Lenardo turned to Julia, who slid off her horse into his arms, trembling but refusing to cry. "Oh, Julia," he whispered into her hair, "you shouldn't have to do such things. You saved my life again, Daughter."

There was no time, though, for thought or recovery. They Read for Torio and found him just dispatching the second of his pursuers.

//Take the best horse,// Lenardo instructed him as he and Julia took the two best of the three fresh animals the guards had inadvertently provided them and once more galloped off into the night.

Lenardo had not expected to leave a trail of dead and wounded, certainly not provincial guardsmen doing their duty without even knowing what the fight was about.

//They're our enemies,// Julia said as if in answer to his thought. He realized that she was working it out in her own mind. Savage she might be, but she had never before deliberately killed someone. //They're just like those men who tried to sneak in and kill you that time, Father. You were a Reader, so they wanted to kill you. Here we're savages, so they all want to kill us. What can we do but kill them instead?//

//Nothing here, Julia. All we can do is hope to change things in our own land so that people won't go on killing one another.//

Torio kept his thoughts to himself but rode steadily beside them. The teacher from the Academy at Villa Blanca relayed the message ahead of them again, and the next step after that was Adigia.

//Master Lenardo,// Torio suddenly broke his mental silence, //can you Read from here to Adigia?//

//Yes.//

//Who's on relay duty?//

Lenardo took his attention from their immediate surroundings, knowing that Torio was quite adequate to prevent their riding into ambush, and Read far ahead to the town where he had grown up.

A sturdy wooden tower had already replaced the stone one that had fallen in the earthquake, and there above the gate, two guards stretched and yawned, facing the hardest part of their watch, just before dawn. With them was the man Lenardo had Read a few days ago. He didn't even know his name.

Even as he Read, the message that there were fugitives headed their direction was relayed to the Reader. Instantly alert, he told the guards. The alarm was sounded, and the garrison was roused.

Lenardo removed his attention, letting Torio and Julia Read what he had seen. "Now what do we do? We can't fight the whole garrison."

"We'll have to go back to that place where we came through the wall," said Julia.

Lenardo turned his attention there, only to find a troop of soldiers headed in that direction to block them. Why did I have to show that to Portia?

"Then it must be Adigia," said Torio. "All three Readers there know me, and the relays are not reporting my name." Lenardo realized that that was true and wondered whether Master Clement had anything to do with the omission. Torio continued, "When we get close enough, I'll make contact and try to bluff our way through." "How?" asked Julia.

"I don't know," Torio replied in frustration. "Be quiet and let me think."

They were fortunate to be able to steal horses from a pasture just after dawn, although it delayed them while they changed the saddles to the new horses. Then they drank at a stream and rode on while they ate bread and cheese, knowing that they were riding straight into ambush but not knowing what to do about it.

Lenardo Read over the obstacle ahead, to Zendi, and his heart sank. Aradia had managed to get back there, but the city was under siege. Aradia and Wulfston were atop the Northgate tower, with a young boy whom Lenardo did not recognize but who was unReadable and thus apparently Adept. All three were peering into the melee of fighting outside the walls, obviously trying to figure out where to direct their powers. Aradia made no attempt to Read, and so Lenardo could not contact her, could not tell her that the group of Adepts she sought was circling to the east and that Galen was directing them to join forces to throw all their blows at the top of the tower.

Quickly, Lenardo superimposed over the true picture Galen was Reading his own version, in which Wulfston shouted, "They're going to spot us soon. Let's get down from here!"

"Keep moving," his phantom Aradia agreed, and started for the tower stair. As Lenardo carefully Read the strange boy, who seemed vaguely familiar, he noticed the symbol of the blue lion woven into his tunic. Was this Lilith's son? And where was Lilith?

He had no time to ponder, for he was too busy making Galen think his quarry on the move, making the Adepts cast their thunderbolts futilely into the street near the Northgate tower. As the strikes made a pattern in the street below them, the real Aradia and Wulfston turned to look in surprise and then stared at each other.

"Lenardo?" Aradia said in disbelief, and opened to Reading-very weakly. She had been using her Adept powers, weakening her body and thus impairing her Reading ability. It took all of Lenardo's strength to contact her. //Get off the tower and keep moving. Galen is close enough to pinpoint you. I'm on my way, but it will be hours yet. Stay alive, Aradia. I'm coming!//

Then he projected exactly where Galen and the circle of Adepts were. But even as Aradia was telling Wulfston and the boy, it was too late. Galen could not help but Read everything Lenardo projected strongly enough for Aradia. "Master Lenardo!" Torio tugged at the bridle of his horse, bringing him back to the fields they were riding through. "We're not going to be able to help them if we don't get out of the empire," the boy said, and Lenardo realized that when he had begun to project strongly, Torio could not help Reading it, either.

Julia, though, was not Reading. She was struggling to stay awake and in her saddle, which was not suited to a child of her size.

"Come here, Daughter," said Lenardo, and lifted her onto his horse before him. "There, now, sleep while you can. We'll need your help later."

With Torio he Read all around them, but it seemed that the attempts at ambush along the way had stopped. They were assumed to be trying to leave the empire, and all exits were blocked by empire troops. Lenardo Read that even far to the west, at the seaports, armed guards were watching the gangplank of every vessel.

But for the time being they rode swiftly, with Julia so tired that she slept despite the rough ride. And then they were within Torio's range of Adigia.

By this time, Secundus was on duty with the soldiers. "That's good," said Torio. "He thinks I'm still a little kid with skinned knees. He'd never dream I'm one of the fugitives the army is after." //Secundus,// Torio projected. //Torio. What are you doing in the relay, son?// //I'm not. I'm on my way to Adigia. Master Clement sent me.// Truth, so far as it went. //Why?//

//Because Master Lenardo was a friend of mine. Portia wants him alive. Perhaps I can persuade him to give himself up.//

A sad sigh. //Aye, son, I hope you can. Lenardo a traitor. I never understood it, from his day of exile.// //You haven't located him?// Torio asked. //No, not yet. Come join me on the tower, Torio. You're a better Reader than I am. Perhaps you can help find him.//

//I'll be there in a few minutes.// Torio stopped Reading and said to Lenardo, "So your name came through the relays, but not mine. I'll ride on ahead and join Secundus on the tower. Somehow I'll have the gates open by the time you get there." "Torio."

The young Reader turned his face toward Lenardo but could not "look" at him because he was not Reading. "I know," he said. "I'll be careful. Use that trick you have of Reading without being Read, and choose the right moment."

"I will."

Then Torio rode on, Reading only ahead of him, not behind. He rode openly through the streets of the city, greeted by everyone who saw him. Lenardo Read no suspicion. Everyone knew that something was afoot, and so the arrival of a better Reader than their three regulars was no surprise.

Alerted by Secundus, the tower guards were waiting to take Torio's horse and let him mount the tower, where he had access to the pulley system that drew up the immense bar holding the well-fortified gates in place. But there were two guards in the gate tower and others on the walls nearby who could turn and cast spears or shoot arrows at the tower. Torio had not chosen an easy task.

To Lenardo's surprise, Torio greeted Secundus with a hug, but then he realized that the boy dared act no differently now from any other time when he might meet an old friend after several months' separation.

Then Secundus was asking, "Who is with Lenardo, Torio? We were told another Reader has turned traitor and they've stolen a child."

"I don't know. Another Reader and a child was all I was told, too."

Even though Torio was a better Reader than Secundus, the older man had known Torio since he entered the Academy. Lenardo doubted that the boy could lie to him for long. He was approaching the outskirts of Adigia now, with Julia still sleeping in his arms. He sat her up, but she merely gave a murmur of annoyance and tried to snuggle back into his arms.

"Julia, you must wake up," he told her, and touched her on the forehead, between the eyes, the way one woke an Adept. It was the way people accustomed to Adepts also woke Lenardo, and it always brought him wide awake at once. It worked with Julia, too.

"Where are we?" she asked. "Where's Torio?" "On the tower. He's going to try to open the gates for us. Julia, I want you to ride into Adigia alone." " But Father-" "Hush! They're looking for two Readers and a child, together. Torio's already fooled them. Now you ride on ahead of me. Don't Read. I'll be Reading you. There are guards along the way, so try to ride close to a family group. Let the guards think you're with them. Work your way to the gate tower. You can see it over the houses straight ahead."

"Yes, Father. But what about you?" "If I'm taken, you and Torio try to escape. If you want to come back to rescue me, don't do it until you have Aradia and Wulfston to help you. The important thing right now is to get Readers to them in Zendi-if not all of us, then as many as we can. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Father," she said bleakly. She hugged him and then got on her own horse and rode ahead.

Julia had no problem escaping the notice of the guards. She followed an old woman for a while and then seemed to be part of a family of peddlers. She was well on her way to the gate tower by the time Lenardo entered town. He arranged his cloak to disguise his long, lean silhouette and recalled that the many people of Adigia who knew him had never seen him with a beard. He Read no recognition, although several guards scrutinized him as he passed. He rode boldly forward and Read Torio Reading him, carefully keeping it a visual Reading without recognition, waiting for the moment when Lenardo and Julia would be near the gates.

"There he is," Torio shouted. "It's Lenardo!" In a moment's shock at Torio's betrayal, Lenardo almost did not react when the guards at the gate began running at him. Then Torio grabbed one of the guards on the tower crying, "Go get him!" and shoving him down the tower stairs-as if by accident in his excitement causing the man to fall but in reality very deliberately tripping him.

That guard screamed in pain as his leg twisted under him and broke. His fellow started down the stairs to his aid, and Torio leaped to the mechanism to raise the bar from the gates.

"Torio, what are you doing?" cried Secundus, and that brought the second guard back to the top of the tower, sword in hand. Torio turned, drawing his weapon, and closed with the guard as Secundus retreated in shock.

In broad daylight, Torio took advantage of his disconcerting blind eyes. He had learned years ago to appear to be "looking" at a person he was conversing with, but when he fought, he let his sightless eyes drift where they would, causing confusion in anyone used to seeking advantage by looking into an opponent's face. Torio's skill with a sword was well beyond Lenardo's. He outclassed the guardsman easily.

Meanwhile, Lenardo fought with the guards below in the narrow gateway, Julia beside him, both knowing that time was against them as more guards came running in the direction of the struggle. They would be surrounded and taken if Torio didn't get those gates open…

Torio backed his opponent against the tower railing. With sword at his throat, he pushed the guard over. Secundus, unarmed, nonetheless lunged at Torio, who cried, "Let me go, Secundus. I don't want to hurt you."

"You're a traitor," the man cried, trying to grasp Torio's sword arm.

Between a gasp and a sob, Torio said, "Not by my choice. You don't understand what is happening. I'm sorry." He swung his arm high, bringing the sword hilt down on Secundus's head, knocking him unconscious.

Now Torio turned back to the pulleys, straining to turn the wheel meant to be turned by two men. As the bar creaked and began to rise slowly from its brackets, the guards on the walls, who had been looking into the melee by the gate and trying to decide where to shoot, suddenly realized that someone on the tower was raising the bar. A shower of arrows rained about Torio. Miraculously, none hit home. He ducked down and tried to turn the wheel from there, but he lacked leverage. Reading the archers, he stood, drawing their fire, and then he ducked. While they drew new arrows from their quivers, he gave the wheel one more turn. The bar hung free above its brackets. By their own weight, the massive gates creaked outward a handspan. Lenardo and Julia spurred their horses, surging toward the guards to drive them against the gates, shoving.

The mighty bar was now dangling by its ropes just over the guards' heads.

Torio climbed out atop the gate, shielded behind the pulley mechanism from the rain pf arrows, and with a swift swing of his sword-cut through the ropes. The bar fell on the guardsmen, and those it didn't hit were knocked over like toy soldiers by those it did. The gates swung wide open. Torio clung giddily to his perch as Lenardo and Julia struggled over bar and bodies. Lenardo swerved to ride directly under Torio, shouting, "Jump!"

The boy did, landing behind Lenardo on his horse, clutching for a hold, finding it. And then they were riding madly for safety as spears and arrows filled the air about them.

A shattering burst of pain, a single scream, and then Torio's dead weight slumped forward against Lenardo, an arrow through his body.