Dragonlord of the Savage Empire

Chapter Eight

Lenardo dared not stop. Behind them, the guards left alive and uninjured were gathering for pursuit on horseback. Torio had fainted from the pain, but he was alive.

The arrow had gone through the boy's left shoulder, narrowly missing the top of his lung. Still he might bleed to death or fall off the horse before they could ride beyond pursuit. Lenardo clutched at Torio's arms, aggravating the wound but keeping the boy in place as he spurred the horse forward. Now they were out of range of the bowmen on the walls, but mounted guards were pouring through the gateway. Did I bring him with me only to have him die?

The brief stretch of smooth road meant that Lenardo could hold the horse steady while he tried to waken Torio. //Keep going,// he told Julia, who had slowed to the pace of the doubly burdened horse. //Ride ahead. Get help.//

The child did as she was told, fumbling in her saddlebag for something. Lenardo had no time to concentrate on her. The guards were gaining. There were woods ahead; they could try to hide, but with more than thirty men, the guards could spread out and comb the woods easily. Lenardo could never hang on to Torio during a ride over such rough terrain, and so he rode determinedly straight ahead, glad to come to the rutted, uneven part of the road, where his Reading could guide the horse to sure footing while the guards had to go by whatever they could see. The uneven pace, though, jarred Torio, increasing the damage the arrow was doing. Pain brought Torio semiconscious, and he clung to Lenardo with what strength he had.

//We'll get help for you soon,// Lenardo assured him, although he could not imagine where.

Desperately, he Read ahead and to his astonishment found rescue on the way. Men were running along the road toward him, some armed with bows and arrows, a few with swords, but most with pitchforks, clubs, knives, or other sharp implements lashed to tool handles-whatever they could find to defend their land. And their Lord.

For they bore Lenardo's ensign, the red dragon on the field of white. The pennants and ribbons given out at the festival had become the banners under which his people marched. They fluttered from poles, were glued to shields, and decorated the shoulders of troop commanders.

Directing the enthusiastic throng was Julia, wearing on her brow the golden fillet that marked her as the daughter of the Lord of the Land. "My lord!" They gave a great shout as they saw Lenardo. He raised his hand in greeting, consummately aware of the brand on his arm, seeing them look at it in awe. Then they rushed past him, at the oncoming Aventine guard. The guard might be mounted and better armed, but they were outnumbered three to one by men fighting to protect a lord they loved and were willing to die for.

I don't deserve such loyalty, Lenardo thought as the emotions of his people swept over him. Then Torio was saying in awe, "I have never Read anything like that, not even when the Emperor passes," and Lenardo realized that it was safe to stop now, draw the arrow, and treat the boy's injury. If only Sandor were here.

As he drew to a halt, several people approached to help ease Torio down from the horse. A motherly woman said, "My lord, I have healing powers."

"Thank the gods," Lenardo exclaimed. "This is Torio, a Reader. We need his help."

"Yes, my lord." She knelt beside Torio, who was being supported by two men, and frowned as she looked into his milky eyes. "You are blind?" "It doesn't matter. I'm a Reader." "Oh. Then can you Read your wound for me?" she asked as she placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder.

Lenardo Read Torio's astonishment as his pain disappeared. The "sorcery" was merely stopping the sensation through the nerves. Lenardo now knew it to be a simple and basic technique, but recalled that the first time it had been done to him he had been as awestruck as Torio.

The boy adjusted quickly and began explaining the injuries the arrow had created.

"It is good you didn't have to ride farther," the healer said. "You haven't lost enough blood to weaken you seriously, so the rest can be healed to prevent further damage until you can sleep and heal completely."

"Just do as… what is your name?" Lenardo asked the healer.

"Fila, my lord."

"Do as Fila says, Torio. Fila, you have my gratitude and will have more than that after we have driven our enemies from the land," he promised her, and turned his attention to the battle down the road. Three of Lenardo's men were dead, but so were seven of the Aventine guard, and the rest were retreating, sure now that they had lost their quarry.

Julia had ridden to watch the rout, and now she came back, laughing in glee. "They're running away. They're scared of us now, Father." Then she dismounted. "How's

Torio?"

"He'll be fine. You did well again, Daughter."

"Should we ride ahead?" Julia asked.

Although he was itching to ride on, Lenardo told her, "Sit do,wn and rest until we know whether Torio can travel." Torio's injury reminded him of how quickly a single Reader could be put out of action. If possible, he wanted both of them to guide the Adepts in Zendi.

Torio had all the Reading ability necessary to guide Fila, and so Lenardo sat down on the grass and Read to Zendi. Battle still raged, but the Adepts' part was over for the moment. They had worn themselves out. It was a typical pattern. Savages began with a battle of Adepts, but after they had used up their strength, their armies continued to fight. Hron and two of his cohorts were now deep in recovery sleep; the fourth Adept was tired but awake, ready to answer any further attack.

There would be no immediate attack from Zendi, however. In Lenardo's house, Wulfston slept the sleep of exhaustion, as did Arkus and Josa, who must have been working with him. Searching for Aradia, he Read the infirmary, where Sandor and his aides were working as quickly as they could, but still some of the wounded died before they received attention. Here he discovered Lilith, so deeply asleep that for a moment he thought her dead. She had been placed in one of the family's rooms, where she lay healing of crushed limbs. It seemed the attacking Adepts must have succeeded in one of their favorite tricks of dropping something-perhaps a building-on her. She was alive and would be well, but she would not wake until the battle was over, unless it went on for several more days.

Relieved to find that Lilith had succeeded in reaching Zendi, Lenardo continued his search for Aradia. It was maddening. Would he have to do a building-by-building search to find her? Why was she not in his house, in recuperative sleep?

Then he thought to Read the bathhouse. It, too, held many wounded now. They were being taken there from the infirmary to sleep as they healed in the relative safety of the stone building.

But Aradia was not asleep. Her increased Adept powers had stood her in good stead. She might be tired, but she was nowhere near the total exhaustion of the others. Helmuth was with her in the room once used to store Zendi's treasures. Together they were poring over maps of Zendi and the surrounding countryside.

"I cannot find anything to use," Aradia was saying in frustration. "The land is all so flat around here, we can't drop a cliff on them. There's no bog to suck them under." She paced. "If they can find us, they can knock buildings down on us, but we have no way to attack them except with our full powers. Why was this city ever built here, where it's so hard to defend?"

"The Aventines built it, my lady," said Helmuth. "They have no Adepts."

"Yes, of course. If only Lenardo were here." "Surely he will come, my lady," Helmuth said with more loyalty than conviction. He knew, Lenardo Read, that there had been some serious disagreement before Lenardo left, and afterward a fight between Aradia and Wulfston. When things quieted, Wulfston had sent Arkus in search of Lenardo, but no one could find him.

Although he would never voice it, the old man was of the opinion that Lenardo had been driven away and that later Wulfston had made Aradia repent of her rash act. Whatever had happened, Wulfston no longer wore the wolf-stone.

But what had happened to Lenardo and Mia? I should have gone with them, Helmuth told himself. Why did I let my lord ride off alone with the child? They never reached the gates of the empire. What became of them?

Helmuth feared that, avoiding their own soldiers, they had perished in the earthquake. Why else would my lord not return when his people are under attack?

So Aradia had told no one but Wulfston about her Reading. It was no help to her now; she was making no attempt to Read, and all Lenardo's efforts could not make her notice him. I'll just have to go to Zendi.

When Lenardo drew his attention back to Torio, the boy was sitting up so mat Fila could wash the blood off his shoulder. The wound was closed and already half healed. Torio lifted his arm experimentally and laughed as only a dull ache throbbed through the area that a short time before had been pounding with agony.

"It's not my sword arm," he said. "I can fight." "You must rest first," said Fila. "Lie still now and let me complete the healing." She pushed him gently down and then touched his shoulder again, letting the healing heat tingle through it. Then she looked up at Lenardo. "My lord, it would be best if the young Reader slept for a few hours."

"No," Torio protested.

"Wait, Torio," said Lenardo. "Fila, Torio is a Reader, not an Adept. He won't be draining himself if he uses his powers. Zendi is under siege, but the Adepts on both sides are resting now. When they waken with their strength renewed, I must be there to guide Aradia and Wulfston. I want Torio there, too, not several hours away."

"I understand, my lord," said Fila, "but Lord Torio can rest in one of the supply wagons." "Very good."

Despite his protests, Torio was settled into a wagon between cases of supplies and sent helplessly to sleep. By that time, the men wounded in the skirmish with the Aventine guards were brought to Fila, who set to work healing them, promising to follow as soon as all were out of danger.

Lenardo rode among a veritable migration toward Zendi. Every road in the land was filled with people on their way to defend the capital. They would far outnumber the besieging army, but few of them were trained soldiers. Those had all heeded the watchers' summons yesterday and were already doing battle.

Reading ahead, Lenardo found that the attacking Adept army was forcing its way in a wedge toward Eastgate. Knowing that they would soon be surrounded, they were trying to break into the city, where, if they could capture them, they could hold Zendi's Adepts hostage.

Lenardo's heart sank. None of the four attacking Adepts was injured; within hours, their powers would be back to full strength. Lilith would be unconscious for days. Her son was just a child. That left Aradia and Wulfston, outnumbered two to one. If he could not reach them before they were captured or surrounded, his friends would be operating blind while their attackers still had their Reader. Try as he might, he could not contact Aradia. I must get there.

He pushed his horse forward, and people made way for him, cheering as he passed. He Read their hopes rising. The Lord of the Land was riding to the rescue. Julia followed him, and he could find no reason not to let her. If Zendi fell, it would be better if she died in the fighting than if she were taken and forced to Read for the enemy, like Galen.

Lenardo's troops fought bravely, but he was still half an hour away when they were forced back against the Eastgate portcullis, and the towers brought down on them by the newly wakened Adepts now working easily at close range. The enemy was within the walls. Their troops were met by Lenardo's, but they provided a safe path for the Adepts and Galen to enter the city.

As the news flashed through the city, all within rushed to block the enemy's progress through the streets. Wulfston, Arkus, Josa, Greg, Vona, and Aradia met in the forum, but instantly a sea of flame leaped about them and they scattered. Readerless, they were easy targets. Lilith's son came running out of one of the side streets and met Wulfston, who grabbed him and turned him around.

"Keep moving. They're four on one if we provide them a target."

"But-"

"They're in East Street. Can you remember the big brick building with the false tower on top? Think, Ivorn. You've seen it."

"Yes," the boy said uncertainly.

"We'll bring that front wall down on them. Can you focus on it?"

"Yes, Lord Wulfston," the boy replied grimly.

"Good. Front foundation. Make the mortar crumble. Together," he said, halting and taking the boy's hands.

"Now!"

Lenardo Read the result of their effort: the crumbling mortar, shifting bricks, swaying wall falling with amazing slowness, but still too fast for the advancing enemy troops to escape. The wall crushed at least twenty to death and injured a dozen more.

But the Adepts and Galen were not among the dead and injured. As the wall was falling, Hron turned on Galen.

"Who-"

"Wulfston and that boy, Lilith's son."

"Where?"

Wulfston and Ivorn were still concentrating, not knowing the effect of their effort until the heavy vibration rumbled through the ground beneath them. They were still standing together as Galen hastily described their location and the Adepts hurled a thunderbolt.

It was almost a direct hit, and they were flung apart. Wulfston was hurled against a wall, where he struck his head and fell unconscious. Ivorn was thrown high in the air to land in a heap on the cobbles, knocked breathless, with several ribs and the small bone of his right forearm broken. Neither could move. Now it would be easy for the Adepts to kill them. //Galen,// Lenardo projected intensely. //Lenardo! Where are you?// But the question was academic; Galen already had him spotted. "Lenardo's coming," he told Hron. "We must keep him out of the city." "He can't do anything from out there," Hron replied. "Did that blow kill Wulfston and the boy?"

//Galen,// Lenardo projected again, determined to distract the Reader, //my people will open Southgate for me. You can't win now.//

"Lenardo's at Southgate," said Galen, creating a new eddy of confusion in the already boiling mob as he turned his horse and began struggling back toward one of the streets that curved around to Southgate. //This time you won't escape, Lenardo. This time I'll kill you!//

Hron followed Galen. The other Adepts, rather than waste their strength clearing the debris out of the street before them, turned back as well.

Inside Southgate, Lenardo's troops surged through the streets toward the approaching enemy. As the first ranks came into view of the Adepts, a roaring wall of flame consumed them. Those just behind retreated before the heat and the death screams of their companions, but Lenardo's plan called for their retreat.

If he could entice Galen and the four Adepts to Southgate, he could destroy them all. A watcher on the Southgate tower signaled the approach of the enemy to the army outside, and they began moving toward the gate, which would be opened for them.

"Halt," Lenardo shouted, galloping to the front of the first column. "Stay back, and when I signal, retreat."

"My lord?" But the astonished question immediately dissolved into obedience. "Yes, my lord."

"Get me a signaling mirror and someone with the talent to start fires. Hurry!"

Galen was Reading him, and so Lenardo once more created a false scenario in his mind: his troops advancing, himself at their head. At Galen's direction, the Adepts shot thunderbolts at his phantom. Lenardo enticed them to waste their energy over and over again.

A watcher's polished mirror was thrust into his hands, and he tried to concentrate on two things at once: keeping Galen occupied with his phantom and signaling his true message to the watcher on the Southgate tower.

Retreat before Hron's troops, he signaled. Let them win Southgate. Then take shelter as far from the gate as you can.

He could Read the watcher's indecision and feared that Galen would. He told the boy, //It's no use, Galen. Tell your Adept Lords to surrender.//

//You always were a fool, Lenardo.//

The watcher finally signaled Message acknowledged and turned to relay it to the other soldiers. The retreat began as Lenardo projected to Galen an image of his troops approaching the gate from the outside, while in reality they drew back, bewilderedly obeying their lord's orders.

"Where's that fire talent?" Lenardo demanded.

"He's coming, my lord," someone assured him, and indeed, a man in peasant garb was soon brought to him. "This is Mib."

"My lord," the man stuttered, eyes downcast, more terrified of Lenardo than of the battle.

"I need your help* Mib," said Lenardo, dismounting from his horse so that he could speak quietly and reassuringly to the man. "The enemy is approaching Southgate, and our own men are pulling away. We are going to blow up the gate."

"Blow up, my lord?"

"There is marsh gas under the gate," Lenardo explained, andjbund that that meant nothing to Mib.

Trying to keep Galen occupied with false images so that he would not Read what was really happening put a deadly strain on Lenardo's patience. Precious time was passing. With a fine show of effort, the troops inside the city retreated before Hron's oncoming army. Lenardo was still trying to make Mib understand that if he would cause a fire at a certain spot under the ground, the whole area would explode. The man didn't understand but was willing to try.

"How deep, my lord?" he repeated for the third time.

Again Lenardo tried to find a measurement Mib would comprehend, just as Hron's troops took Southgate, scrambled up the tower, and called down to the Adepts and Galen that there was no one outside the gate.

Galen still Read what Lenardo was projecting: Lenardo's army trying to break down the gates. "You're lying!" he shouted at the soldiers on the tower, and forced his crippled body up the tower stairs, blocking the way of Hron behind him. Marava and the other two Adepts were working their way to the tower.

"Now," Lenardo told Mib. "Start that fire now."

The man went blank to Reading as he concentrated his effort. Lenardo Read the underground cavern where the culverts had collapsed. Nothing happened. He located the spot of heat in the ground.

"Move east!"

Mib gasped and panted; then he began to concentrate again.

Galen came out on top of the tower and looked at the scene below. His eyes and his Reading told him two different things. In utter terror, he clasped his hands to his head and screamed. Hron came up beside him, took one look at the scene so different from the one Galen had been describing, and dealt Galen an open-handed cuff that sent him sprawling.

In vast relief, Lenardo let go of the phantom scene, concentrating fully on Mib. "Lower," he told him.

"Hurry!"

Already sheets of flame and thunderbolts were erupting all about them as the Adepts now saw the army massed a good distance from Southgate, but not too far for their Adept tricks.

"Now," Lenardo shouted to Mib. "Do it now, before they realize we lured them-"

//Murderer,// Galen's voice screamed in Lenardo's head. //I'll kill you! I'll kill you!// He scrambled to Hron's side and pointed. "My lord, Lenardo is there. He tricked me, my lord. Kill him!"

Hron could not have made out individual figures at that distance, but whether he believed Galen or not, his blows would kill his enemies. Sheets of flame lighted the ah". Thunderbolts shook the ground. Even as Lenardo urged Mib to fire the marsh gas, the man's body convulsed, a bolt seared through it, and he fell blasted, dead at Lenardo's feet.

Horrified, Lenardo leaped back, his shocked cry lost in the noise of thunderbolts, the screams of the dying, and the galloping of panicked horses. He had to find someone"Can you start fires?" he cried to anyone who came near, but no one answered.

//Master Lenardo, get out of the front ranks.// It was Torio, freshly arrived and Reading the scene of carnage.

Lenardo Read widely and found that inside Zendi, word had reached Aradia of the assault on Southgate. She could fire the gas with hardly an effort. //Aradia, Aradia!// he projected, but it was no use. Concentrating her Adept powers, she was completely blind to Reading, and she was leading a small band toward Southgate. Within minutes she would be in range to be killed in the explosion of the gas. If Lenardo did not set it off, though, she would be one Adept against four-certain death even with her increased powers.

Lenardo remained in the front ranks of the retreating army, calling on every side for a fire talent, Reading Aradia approaching her doom. No time! No time to find anyone else.

Torio reached him, Reading with him, saying, "I can't find a fire talent, either. It won't work, Master Lenardo."

And Galen easily focused on the two Readers together and began describing their location to Hjon.

//Galen,// Torio gasped. //Galen, it's Torio. We were friends.//

//If you're Lenardo's friend, you're not mine. You chose the wrong side, Torio. My friends have the power, not yours.//

"I have it," Lenardo said suddenly, desperately.

"Have what?" Torio asked in bewilderment.

"The power to fire the gas. If Aradia can Read, why can't I do Adept tricks? Fire is easy, she says. Easiest of all-"

He stopped, knelt, and concentrated, Reading the pocket of gas, trying to visualize it flaming. His head began to hurt, but nothing happened. Aradia was only a few streets away. He couldn't warn her.

He couldn't warn her because she couldn't Read and do Adept tricks at the same time. He had to work blind- Read the spot-stop Reading-concentrate-heat-fire- flame-willThe earth beneath him heaved and buckled, and then Lenardo was slammed to the ground on a wave of compression. He tried to Read what was happening but couldn't. Blind as he had never been since earliest childhood, he knew only the physical pain of the air knocked from his lungs, the roar of the explosion, the screams, the choking dust, grit in his eyes keeping him from seeing as Torio rolled him off his cloak and covered both of them with it to shelter them from the debris raining out of the sky.

The noise and the feel of matter falling on them went on and on as Lenardo's horror built. He could not Read. He was trapped within his physical senses… forever? On a wave of physical and emotional exhaustion, he passed out.

Lenardo woke to the ground shivering beneath him. He had no sense of passing time and for an instant thought it the explosion of another pocket of marsh gas. But it was a tremor, not a jolt, and he felt at once that he was no longer tangled with Torio on the rocky ground but alone in a comfortable bed.

A soft weight dropped beside him on the bed, and Aradia's hand touched his forehead. "Lenardo! Lenardo, can you Read? Who's doing it this time?"

The tremor was already dying away as he tried to Read. He could. No vast range, but he could find the center of this slight quake and be thoroughly certain that no Adept was causing it.

"Just an aftershock," he said to reassure Aradia, opening his eyes to meet anxiety in hers.

She smiled in relief. "I can't Read well enough. I thought…" Her normal calm returned. "No, we have killed all of our enemies this time. You did it, Lenardo. You saved us..And we found all the bodies. No one escaped." "Galen?" "I'm sorry."

He sighed, too tired to feel genuine grief. His body felt like lead. Before he could allow himself to sleep again, he asked, "Julia? Torio?"

"They're both fine. They were of great help, though Torio was guarding you like some fierce animal when I finally reached you. He told me what you did." Her violet eyes glowed in triumph. "I was right, Lenardo. Now nothing can stop us."

He didn't have the strength to argue. It would have to wait until he was fully recovered. But he managed a sardonic smile. "It certainly stopped me."

She laughed. "You did what every new Adept does: expended far too much energy on a simple task. You'll learn. Sleep now." "If I'm needed-"

"You're not. It's all over. All the wounded are recovered or in healing sleep. The dead will wait for the funeral tomorrow. Now that I know you will recover, I can sleep as well."

"Recover? I wasn't hurt."

"You couldn't Read. Torio was terrified for you. I'll tell him that his fears were groundless. Stop fighting sleep, Lenardo. Your people are safe."

There was something else nagging at the back of his mind, but it would not come clear before he sank once more into unconsciousness.

The next time he woke, it was dawn, and Aradia lay beside him, her head on his chest, her pale hair shimmering in the morning light.

Aside from being ravenously hungry, Lenardo felt normal. He tried Reading, easily locating Julia asleep in her room, Torio in one nearby, Wulfston hi the suite on the other side of the courtyard, and Cook already preparing breakfast in the kitchen.

Outside, the forum was the same as on any morning, with a few people stirring, drawing water from the fountain. All the buildings, though, were as crowded as they bad been at the festival. His people would not go home until their familiar rituals had been completed.

Where Southgate had been, there was a huge crater. No need to barricade that entry point now. Repairs had already been effected at Eastgate, although surely after the abysmal failure of an alliance of four Adepts to take the city, there would be no further attacks.

I did it, he thought contentedly, and knew himself worthy to be Lord of the Land. Worthy in powers. Now I must be worthy in devotion. I will never desert my people again.

His powers. Would they be passed on to another generation? At last he Read Aradia. He had been wrong. She was not pregnant.

She woke and looked at him hi puzzlement. "What's wrong?"

"You are not carrying my child."

"No. You knew that.".

"I was so ready to run from you that I did not Read you thoroughly before I left, Aradia. It was unforgivable."

"You thought I lied to you?"

"No, I forgot how limited your Reading is and took your word. You could have been wrong, though you were not."

She sat up. "Lenardo, we must attend to our duties. Before we face the others, though, I must ask your forgiveness."

"And I yours," he replied.

She took his hand. "I want your child. I will risk my powers willingly. But I am glad I am not pregnant now." She squeezed his hand tightly. "Read the truth, please! I was glad I dared use my powers to the fullest in the battle just past and neither have them impaired by pregnancy nor fear that I might harm our child. You know that is true, Lenardo."

"Yes."

"But there is a more important reason to me. If I carried your child now, I would never know if it had been conceived in love or in deceit. It could have happened the day I tricked you, Lenardo. It may seem foolish to you, but I am very glad that I will never have to wonder if a child of ours was conceived against your will."

"Never fear," he said tenderly, drawing her into his arms and kissing her. Then he said, "We are still going to disagree, you know."

"I know," she replied, "but we'll do it openly. No more deceit. That goes for you, too, Lenardo."

"I deeply regret the one time I sought to deceive you."

"More than once. I was your liege lady, and you chose Julia as your heir without consulting me. My father would have considered that reason enough for anything I cared to do to you. My brother did not."

"Wulfston?"

"When I told him why you left-" she swallowed hard. "He is much like you, open and direct. He was horrified, not at my taking action but at my method. He is right, Lenardo: I should have told you plainly of my disapproval. From now on, I shall."

"I'm sorry, Aradia. I'm afraid I wasn't fully aware of what I had done. I intended only to make Julia my daughter. Whether she will be my heir-"

"Could have become a serious problem one day," said Aradia. "Fortunately, some good came out of this latest attack. We have acquired even more lands, and young as she is, Julia proved herself. So we shall set aside now the lands she will one day rule and thus avoid a potential rivalry between Julia and the child you and I will have." Lenardo groaned. "We sound like the family of the Aventine Emperor, intriguing about children not yet born.'' "No intrigue. No deception. But we must plan, Lenardo. We have a future to build. The law of nature is that those with power will rule, and so we must see that those with power have their own lands. Otherwise, they will challenge, and there will be more wars."

They raided the kitchen, to Cook's delight, and then got ready to face the world, dressing in gray funeral garments, for the preparations were already going on outside for the rite later in the day.

"As Lord of the Land, you must light the funeral pyre," said Aradia.

"Either I'll do it with a burning brand or I'll pretend and you light it, Aradia. I do not want to pass out at a public ceremony."

"You won't if you do it right. You're completely recovered now, Lenardo. Let's see what you can do. Lift something."

He was standing before the chest from which he had taken the clothes he wore. The wolf-stone still lay where he had left it when he fled with Julia.

Wulfston, he recalled, had been only three years old when he revealed his Adept powers by lifting the wolf-stone Nerius wore. Can I match the powers of a three-year-old?

As he tried to concentrate, he felt again the utter terror he had known when his Reading disappeared after he blew up the gate. It came back, he reminded himself, but he still fought down fear.

Aradia saw what he was trying to do. "You can move it," she told him. "Remember, work with nature."

Nature? Gravity held the pendant firmly to the top of the chest. The chain formed a kind of nest for the wolfs head, and so it did not even have a tendency to roll. It had, indeed, stayed right there through every vibration that had shaken the house in the past few days. Lenardo Read that the top of the chest had a faint slant toward the left front corner. He began to concentrate, stopped Reading, envisioned the stone tilting, rolling over the chain, sliding toward that left front corner. He put his hand there to catch it, although it had not yet moved.

Aradia stood beside him, saying nothing, but her presence was a palpable encouragement. The stone tilted, lurched over the chain, and then gathered momentum as it rolled to the edge and fell with a plop into Lenardo's hand.

He stared at it and then looked at Aradia. "Did you-"

"No," she said with her wolflike grin. "I was Reading, so I couldn't help." She hugged him. "That was wonderful. And you see? You didn't deplete yourself."

He was trembling, and his knees were weak, but it was more from his astonishment at what he had done than from physical depletion. He tried to Read and for a moment felt a stir of terror, for his power was gone again.

Even as he stood there, though, his Reading cleared. As if a fog had drawn back, he could Read Aradia, then the room, then the house, the city"Aradia, for a moment my Reading was gone again. Now it's returning."

She nodded. "When I was using my Adept powers in battle, I found I could not Read at all. We have much to learn, Lenardo, but we'll learn it together."

He started to put on the wolf-stone, but Aradia stayed his hand.

"No, Lenardo, you are my sworn man no longer. You have well repaid me for the lands I granted you by saving my life and Wulfston's and Lilith's as well. In fact, I should not be telling you what to do with the lands of those whom you destroyed for attacking your people. You could keep them all if you desired."

"I won't," he replied, and laid the wolf-stone back on the chest. "I would not want to, and even if I did, I could not rule so much land."

"Oh, you could," said Aradia. "We could."

"I thought you had given up wanting to rule the world," Lenardo said lightly, hoping to turn it off as a joke.

"We must rule," she said firmly, refusing to be distracted. "Our alliance of four lasted hardly a season before you and I betrayed one another. And we love each other. Wulfston refuses to be my sworn man any longer and defies me to take his lands."

"But he helped you."

"Of course. He is my brother." She gave Lenardo a sad smile. "Wulfston sees me more clearly than you do, not only because we were children together but because his love for me is family love. He see what he considers to be my faults and loves me in spite of them."

"But Wulfston will not hear of forming an empire, nor will Lilith."

"By our laws, those with power rule those with lesser or no powers. They have no choice, for only you and I have both Adept and Reading powers."

Sick at heart, Lenardo said flatly, "I will not do it. I don't want to fight you, Aradia. I want to marry you and live the rest of my life with you. But I will not help you subject Wulfston, Lilith, Julia, Torio-"

"Not subjects, allies. But you and I will make the final decisions if there is a dispute."

"Semantics," he said. "Calling it something else doesn!t change it. We'll see what Wulfston and Lilith have to say."

They left it at that and went to breakfast, their second meal of the day. Julia and Torio were at the table. Lenardo's daughter leaped up to hug him, but Torio gave only polite responses and otherwise remained silent and withdrawn. Lenardo found no trouble doing justice a second time to Cook's efforts.

When they had eaten, Torio asked, "Master Lenardo, may I speak with you?"

"Of course. Come into my room. I've heard nothing but glowing praise about how you helped after the battle. You saved many lives, Torio, by helping the healers."

"Yes," replied Torio, "I am fit for that. But Master Lenardo, one of your servants brought me clothes to wear for some kind of ceremony tomorrow, the robes of a Magister Reader. I can't wear them"

That was quick work. Lenardo had issued the order at dawn, hardly two hours since. "Why can't you wear them?"

"I have not achieved magister rank. I was denied testing. I was failed."

"You did not fail, Torio. I have tested you and found you worthy."

"You?"

Lenardo sat. behind his desk, guiding Torio into the chair opposite. "Do you deny my right to test you?"

"You are a Master Reader," Torio said uncertainly. "But the Council of Masters-"

"Never had the opportunity to examine you. When a Reader proves himself in an emergency, any Master can elevate him, as Master Clement elevated me. The ancient tradition of the Academies is still honored, Torio. We have carried it beyond the pale. I am the only Master Reader here..Do you challenge my authority?"

The boy gasped. "Oh, no, Master."

"Then accept what you are. You have passed every test for the rank of magister except age, and you will find that in the world you have entered, you will be judged by your accomplishments, not your years."

Torio sat silently for a few moments. "Yes, Master," he said at last.

"Something else is disturbing you," Lenardo observed.

"I don't know what I'm doing here," the boy replied. "I ran from Portia and her plans to harm you and me. Master Clement told me to go. I trust him. I trust you. But what did I run to?"

"A whole new world," said Lenardo. "A world where no one will attempt to limit your powers. You will learn Adept powers, too, Torio."

"That frightens me. What you did-I was Reading. I still can't believe it."

Torio was dressed like Lenardo, in a gray ankle-length tunic with a shorter gray tunic over it, ash-colored garments appropriate to a savage funeral. Without moving from his chair behind the desk, Lenardo concentrated on the belt tied loosely around the boy's slim waist and tugged. Torio jumped as if stung. Lenardo smiled grimly and said, "Believe it."

It was easier each time. He breathed a bit hard from the effort, and that was all, except that he had blanked out his Reading again.

Torio lifted his face, as if "looking" at Lenardo as he concentrated, undoubtedly trying to Read him. Lenardo noticed that the boy's eyes were no longer milky but a clear bluish green. Then his Reading returned as it had that morning, spreading outward from himself, and Torio relaxed with a shiver.

"I'm becoming accustomed to the Adepts doing such things. But you-"

"You'll learn to do them yourself. What happened to your eyes?"

"Fila, I think. She must have thought the cataracts were the cause of my blindness, so while my shoulder was healing, she had them dissolve away. I didn't even notice until Julia did."

"We must find Fila and reward her at the ceremony tomorrow. She did save your life, although she will probably be disappointed that she did not restore your sight."

"But many people are blind because of cataracts," said Torio. "Do you think… could I learn to heal? The way the Adepts do?"

"We're all going to learn and teach the Adepts to Read. We'll build an Academy here, Torio, where Readers and Adepts will work together. Will you help me do that?"

"Yes, Master," the boy said eagerly.

"My lord," Lenardo corrected. "That is my title here."

Torio frowned. "People keep calling me 'my lord,' too."

"A title you deserve by virtue of your powers. Torio, we have not settled the details, but there are lands won in the battle just past that will be set aside for you to rule as soon as you come into your full powers."

"To rule? I can't."

"Yes, you can. You must. All your life, you have been taught to fear power. So long as you fear it, it will control you. Master your fears and you will master your powers. Master your powers and you will master your fears."

It was time for the funeral, after which Lenardo would meet with Aradia, Wulfston, and Lilith to decide the future. He dreaded the meeting. It could end with the four of us enemies if Aradia persists in her plan to rule us all.

The mass funeral was sad and solemn, but this time Lenardo spoke for Galen. "He was never evil, he was only weak. Let us build a world in which bright and clever young people like Galen need not fear being forced to do the will of those who have power. A world in which power is used for good."

Torio also spoke for Galen, whom he had once known well. "He was wrong… for the right reasons. I hope… that I will do right for the right reasons."

Aradia and Wulfston spoke for Hron, but Lenardo received another shock when Lilith stepped forward with her son, Ivorn.

"At one time," she said, "Hron and I were closest of friends. He gave me the most precious gift possible: my son. I shall treasure always the memory of Hron in those days and vow to work for a world in which no one like Drakonius can grow so powerful as to draw good men like Hron from their vows of friendship and alliance into power plays and vengeance."

Voice breaking with adolescent perversity, Ivorn said, "I found out only today that Hron was my father. He gave me rife, and yet yesterday he would have taken it. My mother would not have chosen an evil man to give her a child, so I vow to be as my father must have been as a young man" and revere his memory, but to be like my mother in keeping my w^rd."

This time it was Lenardo's duty to sprinkle earth and water over the funeral pyre and then unite all four elements by lighting it. He had no doubt that he could do it now. Torio Read him grimly, Julia expectantly.

//Show me how, Father.//

He concentrated, shutting out Reading, imagining the flame. A wisp of smoke rose, a tiny flicker of fire, and Lenardo rocked on his heels, but he didn't feel faint-and his Reading cleared in just a few moments.

//Very good,// Aradia told him joyously, and then became blank to Reading herself as the pitiful flicker roared into white-hot flame that would reduce the immense pyre to ashes within minutes.

His people must have known that the other Adepts had taken over to create the conflagration, but that did not lessen their pride in then- lord's accomplishment. He felt them quell the urge to cheer him and knew that it would be indulged at the ceremony tomorrow, when he appeared before them in his scarlet robes.

If there was to be such a ceremony. If he did not betray the trust these people had in him and destroy the future so healthily represented in Torio, Ivom, Julia, solemnly watching the bodies of the hundreds who had died reduced to nothing but a scattering of ash-and memory.

A rousing cheer startled him, and he tardily remembered the savage custom of following a funeral with a feast, a celebration of victory and of life. Music started, and people ran to change their garments. Banners bearing the red dragon appeared out of nowhere-and just as many with Aradia's white wolf's head. Scattered among them were Wulfston's black wolfs head and Lilith's blue lion, but the watchword of the day was the old saying, "In the day of the white wolf and the red dragon, there will be peace throughout the world."

Food was brought out: bread and cheese and fruit, kegs of wine and ale, meat that had been roasting all morning. The city rang with celebration, and Lenardo prepared to meet with the Adepts to try to make the ancient prophecy come true.

They met in Lenardo's house, around the same table they had used before. All had taken time to change out of their funeral garb: Wulfston into his richly embroidered dark brown garments, Aradia into her favorite purple, Lilith into a dark green dress with a vivid green surcoat.

They were ready to go out and join the dancing if the occasion called for it. Lenardo, too, had dressed optimistically, in dark blue hose, shirt, and embroidered tabard that had been made for him in Aradia's land.

When they sat down, Lenardo found the eyes of the three Adepts on him. As he was searching for the right way to begin, Wulfston said, "It is your right to determine how the lands we have taken shall be divided, Lenardo. No One can deny that you alone were responsible for the victory."

"No," said Lenardo. "I cannot act like a savage lord, give you lands, expect loyalty in return, and not worry about what happens in the next generation provided that my own lands have an heir."

Aradia smiled. "Then you have decided to act on my suggestion, Lenardo? Form an empire, make-"

"No," he said, interrupting her, feeling Lilith and Wulfston already bristling. "All of you-can't you see we must find a new way of governing? The way you have traditionally used brings on ceaseless wars-while the way of the Aventine Empire results in weakness and corruption. We must find another way."

He turned to Lilith. "You do not wear the wolf-stone. What are you to Aradia, Lilith, that you are ever loyal?"

"A friend," Lilith replied. "An ally, as I was to Nerius. I have never been sworn woman to either father or daughter, but I have always agreed with their aims to rule by kindness rather than cruelty, love rather than fear. That is the reason I am your ally, too, Lenardo."

"And I," Wulfston said.

"No one intends to change those aims," said Aradia. "It is simply that we now have so much land, so many people, that we must form a closer alliance. And we have three young people well deserving of lands of their own but too young to rule them. Even Torio-"

"What about Torio?" Wulfston asked. "Where is his place among us? I do not question his powers, but what of his loyalties?"

"He trusts me, and he has no place else to go," explained Lenardo, "but he is not my sworn man, nor can I ask that of him."

"I wish I could," said Wulfston. "I need a Reader, Lenardo. Julia will have to have years of training yet, but Torio is fully trained. I am willing to swear to protect the lands you grant to him and release them to him whenever you decide he has come into his full powers if he will Read for me in the meantime."

"You are getting ahead of me, Wulfston," said Lenardo. "First, you are going to learn to Read for yourself, as Aradia has done. Second, you will have to arrange with Torio himself to exchange services and lessons. However, I will heartily recommend to him that he accept your offer."

"Then Torio's lands should border on Wulfston's," said Lilith. "None of the newly taken lands do. Lenardo, I was of no help whatsoever in the battle just past, but my son-"

"Will be granted lands, of course, Lilith, and who but you could be his guardian?" Lenardo fought down exasperation.

Lilith began, "Then I will trade some of my land which borders on Wulfston's-"

"Stop," said Aradia. "I see what you are doing, Lilith, and you, too, my brother. You seek to divert this meeting from its true purpose, for you refuse to admit that because Lenardo and I have powers you do not-"

"Aradia, no," said Lenardo. "I have told you I will not be party to your attempts to form an empire. I grew up in an empire. I know what happens when when power becomes entrenched in one family and a small circle of men-friends."

"Then what would you have us do?" Aradia demanded. "Go on as we are and spread our influence ever farther with ever less strength? We are four; soon we will be seven. We will trust Ivorn, Julia-but what of Torio? Lenardo, you know him and trust him, and we take your word. But what happens when Torio brings someone else into our alliance, or Julia does, or any one of us? What happens when we are ten? Twenty? A hundred? Your empire has a senate, Lenardo, but it cannot rule without one person who can make final decisions."

"Not my empire any longer," he reminded her. "You need not fear that I have any lingering loyalties there."

"I don't. I am pointing out that there must be one voice above the rest when many voices disagree. The Aventine succession is foolish; the whole system of suppressing those with powers is ridiculous. The person who rules here must be the person with the greatest powers."

"And if he is another Drakonius?" asked Wulfston.

"Then," said Lenardo, "the council has the power to eject him."

Lilith gasped. "You are turning to Aradia's side, Lenardo?"

"Only insofar as she is right," he replied. "Our alliance has weathered two attacks now. Other lords will wonder what we have, and some will want to join us. Aradia is right that our ranks will grow and that we must formalize our government. Casual agreements among four friends have worked tolerably well so far, but we all agree, I think, that they will not work much longer."

"Then what do you suggest?" Lilith asked.

"A government based not on the Aventine system but on the organization of the Academies. Right now that system is being tested by Portia and her cohorts, but other Master Readers are already working to weed out the corruption. Aradia is right that those with power must rule, but there must be safeguards on them, such as the Council of Masters. Portia will not hold her office much longer. She is corrupt, but the system is not.

"What I propose, then, is a council to which every Lord Adept and Reader automatically belongs by virtue of his powers. The one who can demonstrate the greatest power will have the deciding vote in matters of dispute. But," he added, Reading Aradia's glee and the strong reservations still held by Wulfston and Lilith, "there must be safeguards. The Readers have only the protection of the Reader's Oath, but it is a strong protection. I saw clearly that Portia had forfeited a large portion of her powers by violating her Oath."

"You propose such an oath for Adepts?" Lilith asked.

"Yes. An Oath and a Law that will pass from one generation to another, long after we are gone. Something beyond personal loyalties, beyond family ties-an Oath every Reader and Adept must honor, no matter how he may disagree with us in other matters."

"And it would be our duty," said Lilith, beginning to like the idea, "to formulate such an oath."

"Yes," Lenardo said. "You may be certain we will have many disputes before we are satisfied, but it will be worth all of them."

"What happens," Aradia asked skeptically, "if a Lord Adept breaks this marvelous Oath?"

"I should think," Lenardo said, "that the other safeguard would be obvious to you, Aradia. Adepts can join their powers. You are the most powerful Adept here. My powers are minimal, but Lilith and Wulfston are powerful Adepts. Would you care to stand against the three of us-" he took Wulfston's hand on top of the table, and the black Adept took the cue and grasped Lilith's hand with bis other "-if we linked our powers against you?"

Aradia stared at them, and for one horrible moment Lenardo feared that she actually would strike some blow at them. But then she smiled, her wolflike grin merging into a laugh. "Oh, Lenardo, you are certainly learning quickly how to use power." She took his hand and Lilith's, completing the circle. "You win," she said. "We'll form a council, and we'll formulate an Oath. It won't be easy."

"Nothing as important as this can be easy," said Wulfston.

"But it will be worth the effort," Lilith said, her eyes shining.

They left it at that and after deciding on the division of lands for the next day's ceremony left the room to join the celebration. Lenardo stopped hi the doorway and looked back at the bare room with its plain wooden table and four mismatched chairs. Aradia turned to see why he had not followed her, and then she laughed.

"The council chamber in which was formed the new empire-the greatest the world has ever known."

"Not an empire-" Lenardo began, but Aradia put a finger over his lips.

"Semantics again," she said. "Call it what you want, it's still an empire. Call us what you want, we'll still rule. Can you Read how proud of you I am, Lenardo, and how much I love you?"

She kissed him, and he held her slight, lithe body close, knowing the power in her. But I have power, too, and I don't fear to use it anymore. Confidently, he took her hand and led her out to join the celebration in the forum.