Sorcerers of the Frozen Isles

Chapter Four

All knew at once that it was Maldek who spoke through Zanos. The gladiator’s open, friendly features took on the cold disdain they had seen in Dirdra’s memory-but even as with one mind the Readers searched for a way to get Dirdra away from Zanos and subdue him without hurting him, they Read Zanos himself fighting for control.

Roaring like a wounded bear, he threw Dirdra from him and raised his sword-but there was nothing to strike at. “No man controls me against my will!” the gladiator exclaimed. Astra’s mind at once joined her husband’s to reject the Master Sorcerer’s influence.

Maldek was, of course, out of body, but he could project to the Readers. Melissa knelt beside Dirdra, Reading that her arm was badly bruised, but not broken. Then she became unReadable for a moment, as she focused healing power.

Torio, meanwhile, was wondering how far Maldek was from his body. It was somewhere on the island of Madura, obviously, across the strait separating that land from Brettonia. But the strait was narrow, if treacherous-less than a day’s journey by ship. If Maldek was near the shore, he was traveling no farther out of body than Torio had often done.

"I have no need to impress you, boy,” Maldek answered his thought. “If you are skilled at the inner sight, you may be useful to me… or at least amusing. Just what good do you think that sword will do you against powers such as mine?”

" I won’t know until we meet,” Torio replied, and Melissa looked up at him, smiling encouragement.

And that brought Maldek’s attention to Melissa. “Ahh… a dark beauty, as lovely in her way as Dirdra.

And with powers. My little Maduran minnow has lured quite a catch to my shores! Tell Dirdra I am pleased with the outcome of her adventure… as I trust all of you will be when you come to me. For come you must, will you nill you, though the way be hard and dangerous. By the end of your journey each of you will find what you seek… even if you do not now know what that is.”

With that, Maldek’s presence was gone-but they were not alone. The seven men Torio had noticed earlier were running into the baths, past the bubbling warm pool and into the cavern with the waterfall.

Brandishing their tools as weapons, they demanded, “Leave our land!”

“You Madurans-nothing but trouble!”

“You’ll bring the wrath of the Master Sorcerers down on us again!”

“Back to your ship-we’ll not shield you here!”

Zanos, Astra, and Torio could easily have subdued the seven poorly armed workmen, but they could Read their memories of Maldek’s search for Dirdra months ago-setting fire burning through people’s nerves, killing their livestock, blinding and laming their children as he demanded news of a beautiful red-haired woman no one had seen… for with all Maldek’s powers, he had not known that Dirdra had passed this way in the guise of a boy, and disappeared into the land of the Dark Forest before he knew she was out of Madura.

Rather than fight these poor people who had already suffered so much at Maldek’s hands, the five hastily threw on their outer garments and let themselves be pushed out of the caverns. The last thing Melissa reached for was the garland of flowers Torio had made for her… but it was brown and withered as if it had been seared with frost.

Outside, the workers prodded them along the cliff path. “Go back to Madura!” said one of the men, shoving Melissa with his pikestaff. “Stay where you belong-don’t bring your troubles on other folk!”

Torio pushed the man’s staff aside. “She’s not Maduran. She’s a healer!”

Another man laughed bitterly. “We know Madurans now, if we didn’t before! We send ‘em all back-even the dark uns!”

And Torio Read that the man saw him as obviously Maduran, even though his hair was brown, not red.

His eyes were a clear blue-green, revealed when one of the savage healers had removed his cataracts in the mistaken belief that that would cure his blindness.

I suppose I could pass for Maduran, he realized.

Dirdra remained silent, pale and tight-lipped, as they were herded to the ship. The crew were also being driven aboard, protesting all the way.

The captain was waiting for them. “If the sorcerers want you,” he told them, “let them come and get you!

I’ll not risk Madura now!”

“But you’ve been paid-” Zanos began.

“We’ll take you just as far,” the captain replied, “up north to Hrothsland. That’s a great seafaring nation-someone from there will be foolhardy enough to take you to Madura.”

“But we made an agreement,” Zanos protested.

Astra put her hand on his arm. “Let it go for now. No one’s been hurt. The captain will change his mind once we’re out to sea.”

But it was the sea that changed.

From calm swells, it developed into choppy waves that carried them inexorably westward-toward Madura.

The captain adjusted the sails and tried to steer northward, but the wind grew stronger… and colder.

Torio knew what was happening. He had been the Reader guiding Wulfston and Rolf when they had raised the storm to halt the attacking Aventine fleet. Melissa was a survivor of one of the resulting shipwrecks.

They wrapped up in woolen cloaks and stood at the rail, Reading as far as they could toward Madura-but it was beyond the range of any Reader aboard, unless one of them risked going out of body in the dangerously heaving ship.

No one had to do that to know that Maldek was causing the storm. The captain was forced to sub-mit, or lose his ship. Grimly, he ordered the helmsman to take a westward course. At once the sails billowed with a fresh breeze as, against the prevailing winds, the ship was carried toward Madura.

Once they had accepted the course Maldek wanted them to take, Torio expected the Adept influence to stop. But the breeze continued. “How long can he keep that up?” he wondered aloud.

“Maldek is not using his energy now,” Dirdra said in a hollow voice. “He controls hundreds of people with smaller powers. Some of his weather talents will drive themselves into collapse this night. Maldek won’t.”

She turned to her four companions, her face lit harshly by the late-afternoon sun. “I am so sorry. I did not think Maldek would even remember me-just another of the many he has used as his toys.”

“I understand the type,” said Zanos. “You escaped him-and that is something he cannot stand.”

“Yes. I knew he would take his revenge if I succeeded in freeing Kwinn-but I thought that by returning with a group of strangers I might reach Maldek’s castle unnoticed. Instead, I have brought Maldek’s attention to you-and you will suffer for my stupidity.”

“Dirdra, we came of our own free will,” Melissa pointed out. “Surely four people with both Reading and Adept powers would not long have escaped the notice of the Master Sorcerers. As it is, one of them is aiding us in reaching Madura.”

“The most powerful… and the most evil,” said Dirdra.

Remembering that Dirdra did not know what Maldek had told the Readers after Zanos had shaken off his possession, Torio said, “Maldek said the way would be hard and dangerous.”

“He is playing games with you already!” Dirdra replied. “Now he knows I am within the range of his powers, he will toy with us as a cat does with a field mouse before the kill. If he wanted us directly, he would have the ship sail up the river to his casde. We could be there by noon tomorrow.”

But the wind drove the ship south as well as west, all through the short night of early summer, and in the gray dawn light they anchored along an empty shore, bleak and uninhabited.

The five adventurers went ashore in a small boat-and by the time they had beached it, the ship was already well out to sea.

The morning was rainy and chill. They wore clothes suitable for an Aventine winter, and shivered as the cold penetrated.

“Which way?” asked Zanos as they slogged through mud up to a trail which followed a ridge overlooking the sea.

Torio Read east and west along the trail. “There’s an abandoned settlement about a mile to the east,” he reported. “We can shelter there long enough to dry out our clothes.”

“Torio’s right,” said Melissa. “None of us have enough Adept strength to use it for hours on end just to keep warm, dry, and healthy.”

“Not and be awake when we’re really needed!” Astra put in with a forced smile.

They were all starting out tired, as no one had thought of sleeping last night. They had eaten just before dawn-ship’s rations, though, for the aborted stop in Brettonia had not resulted in the intended acquisition of supplies. Thus only Zanos, whose combination of athlete’s and Adept’s metabolism made him perpetually hungry, had eaten much.

Tumbled walls and roofless buildings greeted them in what once must have been a fishing village.

Remnants of the stone supports for a pier still marched across the beach and disappeared into the water.

Gulls as gray as the sea and sky called harshly and hungrily as they skimmed over the deserted sand.

“This is not how I remember home!” protested Zanos. “At this time of year it should be warm- there should be flowers blooming in the gardens, roses climbing the walls. My village was laid out just like this-it has to be along this coast somewhere. But it was bright and cheerful… and alive!”

Only wisps of dry weeds blew in the sea wind. Torio knew Zanos was right-if the climate were as he described, wildflowers would bloom here as they did in Brettonia. Not even dead remains of rose vines clung to the walls; it had been cold and bleak here for a long time.

One building had a wooden roof, warped and gray with weathering, but offering the most shelter in the area. They built a fire with what few scraps of wood they could find, only Zanos’ Adept power able to get it started, and huddled around it to warm their hands and faces.

With the blankets from their bedrolls hung across the empty windows and doorway, they were able to get the one-room cottage warm enough to strip the boots and stockings off their freezing feet. Leaving their clothes to steam-dry, they toasted their toes and drank the herb tea Melissa made, feeling somewhat better.

Knowing that it was likely they would have to make part of their journey afoot, they had all packed money, as Decius had advised Torio. Now, though, having to use their bedding to keep the chill wind out of the cottage, they were left with nothing to wrap up in except dry undergarments, and each other.

Torio hefted the sack of gold coins he had brought. “It’s all very fine to plan to buy what we need-but where? I haven’t Read another human being since we came ashore. Have you, Astra, Melissa?” he asked the other Magister Readers.

“No one,” the women agreed.

“We don’t even know which way to go,” said Zanos, taking his maps out of their waterproof case and unrolling them on the stone floor. “Where are we?”

“Somewhere along this southern stretch,” Torio replied, running his finger along what on the map was many miles of shore. “Let me go out of body, and I’ll give you an accurate Reading.”

The stone floor was cold to stretch out on-but Zanos concentrated on him, and Torio felt his body warmth stop dissipating into the ground. He smiled a thank-you to the gladiator, then composed himself and let his “self drift upward.

When one escaped discomfort, it was always a sore temptation to remain out of body. No rain or cold assaulted him now, and he felt light and free as he followed the trail eastward-for the map showed far more settlements in that direction, suggesting a greater chance that some of them had survived.

Sure enough, where a main road met the trail they were on, there was a decent-sized town with an inn and a stable. They would have to walk all day to get there, but the knowledge that they could sleep in dry, warm beds and buy warm clothes and horses for the rest of their journey would make the trek more bearable.

Remembering the map, Torio followed the main road northward to where Maldek’s castle sat on the edge of a navigable river-the one Dirdra had said would have been the short route to reach the Master Sorcerer. Not knowing how sensitive a Reader he might be, Torio did not attempt to locate Maldek within the castle, but noted that it was protected by moats on three sides and the river on the other. A thriving city stood near the castle, with ships on the river loading and unloading trade goods. So not all of Madura was as desolate as this area where they had landed.

There was only one bridge across the river, leading to the main north-south road Torio was following. It entered the city several miles from the castle, which stood on the north bank to the east of the city, with a small strip of forest between.

There was a denser forest, though, on the north-south road between the southern coast and the city.

That, Torio guessed, was where lay the dangers that Maldek had promised. Even without lingering to examine closely, he Read both bears and wolves in the wood-hungry animals looking to feed their young.

What was missing from the picture was agriculture. Only a few of the cleared fields between the forest and the shore were cultivated. Most lay fallow, deserted, young trees beginning to encroach on their edges. There were a few swine and cows, and more sheep, but they were not thriving. There was not enough production here to feed the people of that city.

Maldek had to be either trading for food or letting his people go hungry. With even his limited knowledge of ruling a land, Torio knew that the former was merely a slower way of destroying the country than the latter. Yet power-mad rulers often took farmers away from the job of feeding their people to fight wars or be otherwise used at the lord’s pleasure. Eventually, it would lead to Maldek’s downfall, as just such neglect of his people had led to Drakonius’.

However, the five adventurers didn’t have time to wait for Maldek’s government to collapse. They had to reach Maldek’s castle, rescue Dirdra’s brother… and in the process try to find out about the sorcerers who might rule other Maduran lands. It was obvious already that Maldek was not the healer Melissa sought. Even if he could restore injured people to wholeness or return life to the slain, clearly he would not teach anyone else except at an unacceptable price.

But perhaps the Madura Zanos remembered flourished somewhere else in these islands. Torio certainly hoped so.

He returned to his body and told the others what he had found-but as he turned to show them on the map exactly where they were, he put his finger right on the place worn thin by Zanos’ own finger as he had made his plans to return… home.

The gladiator stiffened when he realized that this desolate deserted village was indeed the place where he had lived as a child, until the day slavers had raided it and carried him off to Tiberium.

Astra, Reading her husband’s feelings, reached out to empathize-only to waken his memories of that terrible day when the slavers had come.

The ship anchored offshore, and a boatload of men rowed to land-nothing unusual about that. Ships often arrived along this coast, looking to trade or to recruit strong young men for their crews.

Young Zanos sat on the pier, sunburned, hands blistered from the net he was trying to repair with as yet unskilled hands. He’d rather have been out with the fishing fleet, but his father insisted that he wait until he was ten-“Then maybe ye’ll get some strength to ye, lad!”

The first of today’s small fishing vessels were back already, and the air was redolent with the smell as women cleaned the fish that would become tonight’s supper all through the village, throwing the refuse off the pier for the gulls.

The strangers, it seemed, were looking for a tavern. The village had only old Walvo’s, where jugs of mead or ale were sold to be carried home. The newcomers insisted that would be fine-“We’ve got a great thirst on us,” said their leader, whose sunburst tattoo attracted Zanos’ immediate attention.

Maybe one day he would leave this small village and see the world. Maybe he would wear a tattoo like that one-which he saw on other arms and realized marked every member of the ship’s crew. Many wore gold hoop earrings, too-and one man’s grin displayed a golden tooth!

As the scouts waved the others ashore, Zanos left his work and tagged along in wide-eyed delight, only to lose the strangers’ attention to the village girls until their mothers called them in to help with supper.

Then the sailors, who could not possibly have all crowded into Walvo’s, sat on the sandy beach and played games with dice, or with throwing knives.

In the hubbub, Zanos found it easy to pretend he couldn’t hear his mother calling him as he mingled with the strangers, finding the ones who spoke some Maduran, begging for stories of far-off lands.

As the tide came in, so did the rest of the fishing fleet. The village men were none too happy to find their wives cooking extra food for strangers who had brought pins, scissors, and small, sharp paring knives-or their sons and daughters hanging on the sailors’ every word.

But the sailors bought a round of ale for everyone, and handed out glass and cork floats for the fishnets-and soon what had started as an ordinary day turned into one big party.

Zanos’ older brother, Bryen, had been out with the fishing fleet-he had just turned eleven, and had gone out with their father for a year now. Zanos’ had envied him-until today, when Bryen had missed half the fun.

But now Bryen came to spoil Zanos’ fun. “Mother needs you to do your chores, Zanos!” the older boy announced. “She needs kindling cut and water drawn-hurry up, now!”

All the household chores had fallen to Zanos once his brother started going out with the fleet, and he resented being the younger, smaller one, getting stuck ashore. I’ll show Bryen, he thought.

I’ll sneak aboard that ship and sail away- and-when I come back I’ll be as rich as those sailors, with gifts for everybody!

Muttering to himself, he set about his chores with bad grace-but as he trudged from the well with two heavy water buckets suspended from the yoke across his shoulders, he heard a sudden commotion from the beach. Looking down toward it, he saw that the ship had come in on the tide, and was now anchored at the end of the pier-and in the light of the flickering fires they had built on the beach at sunset, people were milling about-

To his horror, Zanos saw two sailors grab one of the village men and stab him through the heart!

Others were reaching for the women, shoving them toward the pier as they drew their weapons and slew unarmed fishermen right and left.

Letting the water buckets fall, Zanos sped toward his home, shouting, “Mother! Hwelda! Run- runV

His mother and his sister came to the door of their cottage to see what the commotion was.

“Run! Hurry!” Zanos cried as he ran up to them and tried to grab their hands and pull them toward the garden, where the smell of roses filled the air.

“Hwelda-go with Zanos!” their mother directed, and started toward the beach.

“Mother-no!” cried Hwelda. She was fifteen, stocky, and too strong for Zanos to hold. All he could do was tag after the two women, begging them to come back.

Then they saw Zanos’ father and brother running toward them. “Go back!” shouted their father. “Up the hill and onto the moor! Hurry!”

But five sailors ran after them-Zanos’ mother screamed as she saw her husband struck down from behind, brains and blood splashing across her feet.

With a shrieking wail, she fell to her knees beside her husband-and the same sailor stabbed her in the back. She slumped across her husband’s body.

Hwelda screamed, and began to keen in the way of the village women at the death of one of their family.

Zanos stood frozen in disbelief-this could not be happening!

Bryen somehow came to his senses. “Hwelda- come on!” he cried. “Zanos-help me!”

Bryen grasped his sister’s hand on one side, Zanos on the other-but the five sailors caught the three children easily. “Let go, damn you!” growled one with a blond beard, trying to shake Bryen’s grip off Hwelda’s arm. “Let me see what I’ve caught!”

“No! Let my sister alone!” shouted Bryen.

“Let her alone!” Zanos echoed, taking courage from his brother.

The sailors laughed, and one shoved Zanos aside, another grabbing his arms as he tried to reach for Hwelda’s hand again. He squirmed and kicked, but aroused only laughter in his captor. “This one’s got spirit,” said the sailor. “With that red hair and hot temper, he’ll bring a good price in Tiberium!”

Bryen was still trying to haul Hwelda away- and for a moment succeeded in dragging the trembling girl loose from the grip of her captors. “That’s enough!” said one of them-and with his sword he slashed off Bryen’s hand.

The hand still clung to Hwelda’s wrist as she shrieked again. Bryen made no sound, but fell to his knees, eyes wide in disbelief as he instinctively clasped his good hand around his mutilated wrist.

“You’ve ruined a good laborer, damn you, Shoff!” exclaimed the blond-bearded one. Then he turned Hwelda toward the light, and cursed roundly. “This one’s fat and freckled-the boy’d have brought three times as much! No use taking any but pretty women in the space we’ve got!” And he grabbed Hwelda’s hair, tilted her head back, and slit her throat.

“We’ll take that one,” he added, pointing at Zanos-and the boy found himself being picked up bodily and carried toward the pier.

“No!” he shouted, kicking as hard as he could.

The blond one paid no attention as he turned with his knife to dispatch Bryen-but over his captor’s shoulder Zanos saw that his brother was gone.

“Should I go after him?” asked one of the other men.

“Nah-he’s no good now. He’ll bleed to death anyhow. Come on-let’s get down there and see if we can catch us a good woman!”

Zanos’ memory came to an abrupt halt, as his eyes traveled about the circle of his friends and he realized that all the Readers had experienced it with him.

Then he stood, grabbed up his half-dry woolen cloak, and stalked out of the cottage.

“Zanos-” Torio began.

“Let him go,” said Astra. “He has dreamed of coming back for so long, and finding his home still here, his brother still alive. Now he must come to terms with the reality.”

“Maldek did it on purpose!” Dirdra said angrily, the only one who had not experienced the vision. “He must have Read what Zanos was searching for-and he brought us right here, just to hurt him!”

“He said we would each find what we came looking for,” said Melissa. “At least Zanos came with the knowledge that it was possible he would find his home exactly like this.”

But some time later, leaving the women to get ready for their journey, Torio went out to find Zanos.

The gladiator sat huddled in his cloak, on one of the mounds of stone on the beach. He was unReadable, using his Adept powers to keep warm. Wordlessly, Torio handed him leggings and boots.

Under that gray sky, even Zanos’ fire-red hair seemed faded. The drizzling rain obscured the cottages from the beach. Torio stopped visualizing, wondering how nonReaders coped by sight alone on such days-it was less depressing, too, merely to Read where he was going by the “feel” of it, without having to see the bleakness of the seascape.

Even the waves pounding the shore sounded desolate in Torio’s ears. Zanos, though, had recovered some of his optimism. “I knew it might be like this,” he said. “Just because no one’s living here anymore, that doesn’t mean my brother isn’t living somewhere else. I didn’t see him die-he had the strength to run away from the slavers. Men have recovered from such wounds. Since our home is gone, it will simply be harder to find him, that’s all.”

And Torio felt the sea wind whip through his cloak again as the roar of the waves sounded for a moment more like the rumbling of doom, bearing down upon them in their helpless darkness. Yet… “When you find your brother,” he said, “he will have his hand again.”

Zanos stared at him. “Is that-?”

“Yes. I don’t know how I know it, and I don’t know any more than what I just told you… but you will find your brother.”

The gladiator managed a small smile. “Thank you, Torio… even though I somehow knew that much myself.”

But then Melissa called, “Torio! Zanos! We’re ready!” and the two men joined the three women for the long, weary journey to the town Torio had found.

Everything went amazingly as planned. Although they were all weary when they arrived-especially the three with Adept powers, who had shored everyone up along the way-there were actually rooms at the inn, and Torio and Dirdra were able to haggle down the price of horses so that all could ride in the morning.

After a good meal, they retired to their rooms just as most people were arriving at the inn. Dirdra took the first watch-on the assumption that if anyone planned to attack them, it would be later, when it was more likely for travelers to be asleep. After four hours, she woke Torio, for the Adepts were the ones who needed to restore their energies.

He Read all secure-suspiciously so. Had Maldek forgotten them? Been distracted by something else?

Or was it part of his game to give them this time to recover? Possibly he had some notion of fair play, or simply lost interest if his opposition were too easy to defeat. Torio longed to go out of body to spy on Maldek, but dared not do so without someone guarding his body. So he Read as far as he could, and waited.

Whatever the reason, absolutely nothing happened that night, and in the morning the travelers ate a hearty breakfast and set off on the road north to the capital city.

It was a two-day ride-and Torio could Read no place to break their journey except within the forest.

Although there were many people on the road when they left the seacoast town, the farther north they traveled the fewer people they saw, and the worse the road became.

They had bought some more layers of warm clothing before leaving town, and today the sun shone, although the breeze was brisk. Once they were a few miles away from the sea wind, they were actually comfortable on their ride. Everyone cheered up.

Until they entered the forest. It loomed abruptly, like a wall across the road ahead-although once they got there they could see the road disappearing into it. Huge trees cut off the sun, and met above the roadway-which in many places was overgrown to a narrow path where they had to ride single-file.

Dense undergrowth spread in every direction, and beneath the canopy of trees the sunny day became dim as twilight.

The Readers kept a watch for dangers, and for the proper trail, for there were often forks and byways.

Off in the woods, a few deer fled at the sound of their passage, but wolves and bears sniffed the air and listened, deciding whether they were hungry enough to risk attacking.

Although he Read no people in the forest, Torio was reminded powerfully of a journey he had made with Wulfston over a year ago, when the roads between Zendi and Wulfston’s lands were not yet free of bandits. Noticing Dirdra shivering, not with cold but with apprehension, he said, “Don’t worry-you’re with Readers and Adepts. We can handle wild animals, or anything else that comes along.” And, to pass the weary miles, he began to tell of the adventure he had had that day with Wulfston.

As he and Wulfston rode through the glorious spring afternoon, Torio Read carefully ahead. Nothing difficult lay before them; the streams had calmed from their recent torrents, and they could relax and enjoy a pleasant ride.

Suddenly, though, something out of the ordinary impinged on Torio’s contentment. “Wulfston- there’s a band of men waiting in that wood ahead of us.”

“Can you Read anything about them? Fear? Anger?”

“Some of both. They haven’t seen us yet… but we’re what they’re waiting for. It’s an ambush!”

“Foolish!” said Wulfston. “You’d think they’d know by now that with a Reader to guide him, a Lord Adept is practically invulnerable. Do you recognize anyone?”

“No-not your people. Hill bandits, from their dress. They might be waiting to try to take any travelers who come along.”

“They probably don’t know you’re a Reader, even if they’ve recognized me.” The black Adept knew well how conspicuous he was. “Are they on both sides of the road?”

“Yes.” Torio explained how far ahead their would-be attackers were, and watched as Wulfston concentrated.

Torio didn’t know what the Adept would do. He must find a way to work with nature, not waste his strength working against her, for they had spent the morning aiding flatlands villagers to dig a well to water their fields in the dry season, Torio guiding and Wulfston using his Adept power to break through rock layers and hold back the debris so that the villagers could shovel it out without hindrance. The Adept had used considerable power, but had taken only a meal and a short rest before they started for home.

Torio feared Wulfston would use fire against their ambushers-it was one of the first powers he had learned to use as a child, and once started, it would take on a life of its own.

But the woods were full of new growth, baby animals-

Before Torio could draw breath to protest against fire, he Read that Wulfston had called upon a different power. On one side of the road, a mother bear stood up and sniffed the air, scenting the gathered bandits as danger to her cubs. She began lumbering in their direction as on the other side a pair of wolves herded their young into their den and set off at a lope toward the second group of hiding men.

Ordinarily, both bear and wolves would have ignored the men near the road, for the animals were not hungry and the men had made no actual move toward their cubs. But under Wulfston’s strange power to

“call” animals, they moved swiftly through the underbrush.

Wulfston urged his horse forward, Torio following.

The bear broke through the brush behind the first group and rose to her full height with a growl. Horses shied and men panicked, dashing for the road as across from them the pair of wolves raced between the legs of the other gang’s horses, nipping and snarling.

Both groups of bandits swarmed onto the road, running into each other as Wulfston and Torio converged upon them. The Adept raised his hand, and a thunderbolt roared toward the terrified men, missing the nearest of them by a handspan.

All three wild animals, released from Wulfston’s hypnotic power, turned tail and ran back into the woods at the flash and noise, but the bandits fled along the road, Wulfston and Torio now in pursuit.

“We didn’t have to chase them far,” Torio finished, noting with satisfaction that his audience were all grinning at the image of the fleeing bandits. “I’m sure they’re still spinning tall tales of the day they had the bad judgment to ambush a Lord Adept-although we never saw them again.”

“I wish I’d been there,” said Melissa. “I’ve never seen Lord Wulfston use that ability-but Torio, don’t you agree that it has to be related to Reading? How does he know there are any animals out there to call?”

“I don’t know,” Torio replied. “All I know is that it works-but nothing any of us have done can get Wulfston to learn to Read, any more than I can learn Adept tricks.”

“You will,” said Zanos. “It’s all the same-”

Suddenly, without warning, the wind rose, howling into cyclone force right there in the’ middle of the forest. Trees whipped, birds screamed, and the five travelers had to fight their terrified horses. Ahead of them, huge trees were ripped up by the roots-and fell right across the path they had to take.

It was over as fast as it had come, the wind dropping to nothing, forest debris floating down through the dappled light, the birds and animals still silent in their fear.

With one mind, the Readers Read outward to their limits-but they could find no sign of Maldek or anyone else spying on them. Then they turned to the trees in their path-four of them, tangled into a pile that thoroughly blocked their way forward.

“This is only the beginning,” said Zanos. “We don’t have the physical strength to shove them aside. Is there a way around?”

The better Readers only confirmed what the gladiator already knew: there was not.

“Then it’s fire,” said Zanos. “I’ll start it. Astra, Melissa-you confine it, so it just gives us a path. I’ll have to concentrate on keeping it small. We don’t want to start a forest fire.”

Torio was accustomed to Wulfston’s Adept strength; this situation would hardly have been a challenge to him. But Zanos’ powers were small compared to Wulfston’s; he coaxed a small flame to begin among the dry leaves, then guided it along a branch to the trunk. It was slow work, as they dared not let it leap into flames which might be beyond the powers of the three with Adept ability to control.

It took almost an hour, first to guide the fire, then to Read for every spark and make certain it was completely out before they could ride their horses over the ashes now paving the trail.

And no sooner were they beyond that wearying task than Torio Read a pack of wolves slinking up on them, fearful but hungry.

This trial was easier. Astra said, “I’ll scare them off,” and reached for the animals’ minds with hers. It was a technique neither Torio nor Melissa had studied, but they knew it was the way Readers treated sick minds, combined with Adept powers. Astra let herself Read the wolves’ simple thoughts and desires, then somehow, becoming unReadable, twisted them so that instead of five people and five horses-potential food-the wolves saw five huge, angry bears. Saw them, smelled them- and turned tail and ran.

But as Torio was about to congratulate Astra on ridding them of that nuisance with so little use of power, he realized that while he had been concentrating on what she was doing he had neglected to notice something else-there were people coming toward them through the woods.

“Melissa-Read!” he exclaimed, for she, too, had been fascinated with Astra’s trick, which presumably she could duplicate.

In every direction that they Read, they found people. People? There were flesh-and-blood human bodies moving toward them, breathing, hearts beating-but there seemed to be no minds within them to Read!

All Adepts braced to use their powers? So many? Then it was hopeless, for there must be fifty of them moving purposefully toward them through the dense underbrush, ignoring scratches and bruises, stumbling and picking themselves up-

They moved like no Adepts Torio had ever known. They were more like puppets-like the two people they had seen in Dirdra’s memory.

But these were not the beautiful young people of that scene in Maldek’s castle. These were repulsive creatures, dressed in rags, skin peeling off, missing fingers or toes, eyelids gone to reveal staring eyes-

It seemed an army of the dead!

“Orbu!” gasped Dirdra as the first of them came into sight through the brush.

“They’re mindless-but they are alive!” said Melissa. And as one of them raised a spear as if to heave it at her, she neatly stopped the creature’” heart. It dropped, truly dead.

As if that were the signal, the rest increased their pace, converging on the five travelers, giving off the stench of rotting flesh.

Torio and Zanos drew their swords, lopping off heads as the mindless beings made no attempt to defend themselves, but pressed forward with knives and spears, attempting to reach their prey, trampling the bodies of the fallen as they came.

And behind them another wave of orbu followed, equally mindless although physically in somewhat better condition, as if Maldek had first sent the most defective ones, the most expendable.

Wave after wave of them surged through the woods, enveloping the five companions in their sheer numbers. Torio could not count how many he killed before one reached him with a knife and gashed his thigh. Too late, he cut the thing’s arm off as another pulled him off his horse and stabbed him in his left biceps.

Wherever he sliced at one, another came from a different direction, slashing at him without aim other than to draw blood. Around him, the others fought equally hard, Dirdra kicking them away, stabbing them with a spear she had picked up from one of them, until finally she, too, disappeared under a mass of bodies.

The latecomers were sturdier-heads and limbs were harder to cut off, and Torio’s strength was giving out. This was not the fighting he was trained in-there was no art here. Zanos grabbed one of the creatures and used it to knock down half a dozen others-but they felt no pain, and were up again at once, charging at him. He looked at one and stopped its heart, but three others caught him from behind, and he went down under their weight.

Torio Read a knife slip between Zanos’ ribs and slice through the vessels in his lung-a death blow if he were not healed almost at once! “Astra!” he shouted-but Zanos’ wife was waging her own private war against the loathsome creatures, swinging a short sword in either hand as he had seen her practicing with Zanos aboard ship.

Torio drove his sword through the heart of another orbu, grabbed the spear it dropped, turned, and lunged at two of them, skewering both on the same spear with their own momentum. The things seemed even more agitated, more determined.

And daring to focus beyond his immediate vicinity, he realized-“Maldek’s run out of them! These are the last!”

His cry gave heart to the other fighters. Slipping on blood and flesh, Torio dispatched the last three in the group attacking him, Read Dirdra fling her way out from under the bodies piled on her, Melissa, the only one still on her horse, stop the hearts of two more, and Astra slash the throats of her three final attackers.

Only Zanos did not move. He was unconscious, under a heap of dead orbu.

Frantically, the other four dug Zanos out. Together, Astra and Melissa stopped his bleeding and closed the wound, but they were exhausted. None of the Adepts could perform further until they had rested-but not here, amid the gore of battle.

Limping, Torio helped Dirdra round up the horses. It took the strength of Torio and all three women to heave Zanos across his saddle. Astra and Melissa were fighting sleep, and the use of Adept powers had reduced their Reading ability to that of children. Torio was their only lookout, and he could feel the stinging of his wounds now, Read the infection from the filthy implements with which he had been cut.

Blinking, Melissa swayed as she faced him. “Torio… I have to heal you-no choice.” She touched his shoulder, and the heat of Adept healing cleansed the wound. Then his thigh-a deep wound, and painful.

He winced as the heat increased the pain, but knew she dared not put him to sleep. He would have to stand it somehow, until they got to where it was safe for him to let go consciousness.

And where was that? Melissa leaned on him. “Can’t sleep,” she murmured, although he could feel how hard she had to fight it.

“Get on your horse,” he said. “I’ll lead you.”

Astra was half asleep, leaning against Zanos as she sent her husband from unconsciousness into the healing sleep. Dirdra guided her to her horse and helped her into the saddle, then mounted her own horse, holding Astra’s reins.

Torio led both Zanos and Melissa. It was slow going, but already hungry predators were converging on the scene of battle. At least if they were busy gorging themselves there, they would not be available to attack the helpless travelers.

The path was as rough as ever, and as the sun slanted westward the horses stumbled. When Torio Read a rocky outcropping ahead that formed almost a shallow cave, he decided it was time to stop. He could Read no trace of Maldek, but of course if the Master Sorcerer were simply watching them out of body, not trying to Read their thoughts, he could not be Read unless he wanted to be-or unless he slipped up and projected his presence unintentionally.

Besides, Maldek had said he wanted them to come to him. And he had not used his Adept powers to strike them down now that they were virtually helpless. Sharp waves of pain went through Torio’s thigh with every step of his horse, and the healing heat only increased it. Still, he knew that if he lay down, he would fall asleep despite the pain. It would leave them without a lookout, for Astra was in no better shape than Melissa. But they had to stop somewhere.

Dared he assume that Maldek would find no pleasure in slaughtering them in their sleep?

“I’ll stand watch, Torio,” said Dirdra when they came to a halt at the obvious campsite.

“You’re not a Reader.”

“And how much of a Reader are you when you’re injured and exhausted? Just help me get the others settled, and then you sleep. I’ll build a fire to keep the animals away. I doubt there’ll be any people stirring in this wood by night. And,” she echoed his thought, “if Maldek meant to take us while we cannot fight back, he would surely have done so by now.”

Torio was simply too tired to protest. He sagged into his bedroll and was asleep without another thought.

Torio woke to some sound that had stopped by the time he dragged himself fully conscious. The moment he Read where he was, he remembered- and without moving assessed his situation.

It was just before dawn-but in these northern climes the sun rose early in the summer. Summer? There was frost on the ground-even on the blankets covering the travelers!

No one else was awake. Zanos was in healing sleep, Melissa and Astra equally deep in the dreamless sleep of recovery from the use of Adept powers. Dirdra sat with her back against the stone outcropping, spear at her side, but she was in that same deep sleep bordering on coma. NonReader, nonAdept, she had not entered that state by herself.

The sound that had wakened Torio came again- a growl. A very deep, threatening growl.

He Read its source sniffing around the outskirts of their camp, attracted by the stench of blood and gore from the battle they had waged against the orbu. Torio felt half sick from the putrid stink of his own splattered clothing.

The animal attracted by the stench was a wolf. No-a dog. A dog bigger than a wolf, easily outweighing Torio, but lean, built like a racing hound and covered in shaggy gray hair. It was all muscle, sinew, and teeth-and it was hungry.

The beast sniffed again, smelling the death smell of the splattered gore and the life smell of the five travelers. Its stomach rumbled, and it moved toward Dirdra, prepared to kill and eat.

“No!” ordered Torio, sitting up. “Get back!”

The animal turned, hackles rising, and bared its teeth at him with a threatening growl.

How he longed for Wulfston’s gift of controlling animals!

But if it was a form of Reading, then-

He Read the animal-the stench increasing in his nostrils with the dog’s sensitive nose, but becoming attractive, increasing the hunger, the hunting instinct.

But there was another instinct in the animal. It was dog, not wolf-it had once been accustomed to obeying man, until its master had died and it had gone wild to survive.

Hunger drove it now-and hatred of men who had driven it off with pitchforks and clubs when it had gone after sheep or chickens. It sought vengeance for the many blows it had received, food stolen right out of its mouth.

The dog growled again, slavering, lips pulled back completely, the hair on its back standing straight up as it faced Torio, stiff-legged, assessing him as prey. Helpless prey in the dark-to his astonishment, Torio Read that the animal sensed he was blind.

Where was his sword? In its scabbard, under the blankets-he’d been so exhausted he’d fallen asleep wearing it. He’d never get it out and untangled from his bedroll before the animal tore his throat out.

He Read the dog catch a whiff of his startlement and crouch to spring.

“No!” he projected instinctively, as if to a child who had just begun to Read. “No-you don’t want to hurt me. You want someone to care for you-to feed you.”

The animal stopped in confusion, growling again but not attacking.

There was food in the packs somewhere-supplies they had bought in town. Torio projected an image: the dog sitting before him, Torio stroking him and giving-giving him; the animal was male-a piece of cheese. He projected intense pleasure, security, love.

The dog sat down, sniffing the air in confusion.

Again Torio projected the image. The dog whined.

Holding his breath, Torio pulled his legs up and slid out of his bedroll, moving very slowly as he found his supplies where Dirdra had placed his saddlebags under his head as a pillow. He pulled out his food packet and unwrapped a chunk of cheese, broke off a piece, and held it out toward the dog.

Again projecting the image of petting and feeding the dog, Torio offered the tidbit, saying, “Here, boy.

Come on. No one’s going to hurt you.”

He held his breath as the animal sniffed his outstretched hand-and then took the cheese. The dog sat back, waiting, and Torio broke off another piece and fed it again. There was nowhere near enough to satisfy the animal’s appetite-but his need for human companionship was almost as strong. When the cheese was gone, he accepted bread until the desperate ache in his gut was appeased.

And then he butted his huge head against Torio’s hand, as if demanding the petting he had promised!

He stroked the dog’s head uncertainly-there had been no dogs at the Academy, just a cat that spent most of its time lounging before the fire in the kitchen. Wulfston had dogs, but Torio had never paid much attention to them.

But he quickly Read where the beast felt the most pleasure, scratching behind his ears, the sides of his face.

After a time, the beast got up and turned in a circle-then flopped down next to Torio, pressed his great body against Torio’s, and fell asleep.

Dawn was breaking, but although they had fallen asleep before sunset, Zanos, Astra, and Melissa were still deeply asleep. Now that his charge of adrenaline from being awakened by the dog was gone, Torio was sleepy again. The warmth of the animal was comforting.

He thought of waking Dirdra, but suspected that the dog was a much better guardian than she could be.

And something told him that a rapport had formed-from this point on, the great gray dog was his.

Sometime later, though, Torio woke alone. The sun was high in the sky. His companions were asleep-unharmed. For a moment Torio wondered if the incident with the animal had been a dream-

but no, there was the empty napkin that had wrapped his cheese, and half his bread was gone as well.

Furthermore, his blankets now sported a coating of wiry gray hairs.

He Read out beyond their camp, and found no sign of people. The dog was almost a mile away, following some kind of trail.

Torio turned his attention to his companions. Melissa woke when he Read her, and got up, stretching and yawning. She curled her lip. “Auf! I stink! We all do-and there’s no place to wash.”

“Sorry-this was the best camp I could find last night,” said Torio.

“I’m not complaining,” she replied. “I certainly was no help. You and Dirdra did very well, considering.”

At the mention of her name, Dirdra woke, all apologies for having fallen asleep without waking Torio first. “We could have been murdered in our beds!”

“Eaten alive, rather,” Torio told her.

“What?”

“You’ll see-I think.”

He was right. Melissa examined Torio’s wounds, which, although only partly healed, had stopped hurting.

Astra wakened and decided to wake Zanos to feed him, touching him on the forehead between the eyes-the only safe way to wake an Adept. By the time the gladiator had shaken off his drowsiness, the dog returned.

He brought back a rabbit, laid it at Torio’s feet, and sat grinning at him proudly, tongue lolling out one side of his giant mouth.

The other four travelers stared as Torio patted the animal on the head. “I hate to tell you this, boy, but Readers are vegetarians.”

“Adepts aren’t!” said Zanos. “Where’d you get that creature, Torio?”

“He came in the middle of the night, and decided to adopt me,” Torio replied, taking the rabbit and handing it to the gladiator. “I think we’d better share this with him, though.” And as they built a fire to cook the rabbit and make tea, he told what had happened.

“It was Maldek again,” said Dirdra. “I was too upset to sleep-but he must have made me. And then sent this beast to murder us.”

“Don’t blame the dog,” said Torio. “He’s just a poor stray that’s been trying to survive since his master died. Look how he responded to a little bread and cheese.”

“Fine animal,” agreed Zanos. “They choose people, you know. People Ahink they choose the dogs, but it’s not so. The dog trainer at the arena used to tell me that only when the dog chose the man would they make a good team in the ring. You know how-? No, of course you never went to the games. But sometimes you’d swear man and dog were Reading one another.”

Torio grinned. “This one’s a Reader, all right- that’s how I got through to him this morning.”

“Really?” asked Melissa. “Here, boy!” she projected, as Torio had done.

But the huge dog didn’t stir, just sat staring at Torio. Out of curiosity, he projected, “Go ahead,” and the image of Melissa petting the animal. At once the dog got up and walked over to Melissa, and let her scratch his shaggy head.

But he would take his orders only from Torio. Even when Zanos offered him the rabbit’s entrails, he looked to Torio for permission before accepting food from anyone else. “He’s chosen you, all right,” said Zanos. “Now you’ll have to name him.”

“He probably has a name,” said Torio. “What’s your name, boy? What did your master call you?”

The dog understood only that Torio was asking something of him-he didn’t understand what. So he dropped to the ground, looking up at Torio from under his eyebrows. When that was not the answer, he sat up and offered a hoof-sized paw. Torio took it, and patted him on the head. “You’re trying to please me-I understand. But I want to know what to call you.”

The dog tilted his head to one side, listening intently, frustrated that he could not make out what his new master wanted.

So Torio tried projecting to the dog the image of a man calling to him-the dog too far away to see his master, but hearing-what? What did he hear that caused him to stop what he was doing and run to the man?

And all the Readers heard it plain as could be in the dog’s mind: “Gray!”

Torio laughed. “Gray! Good boy, Gray!” The dog grinned in delight, and almost knocked Torio over as his tail wagged the whole rest of his body. “Your master wasn’t very original, but he loved you, didn’t he?”

Again Gray didn’t understand, but this time he knew it didn’t matter-he had found his person, and he was happy.

It was late morning by the time the travelers set out once more, wending their way through dense forest until nearly sunset. Gray loped alongside Torio’s horse most of the way, sometimes running off to trail interesting scents, sometimes leaping ahead, but it was clear he would stay with his new master.

Although the Readers remained alert, there were no new trials. When they came to a small creek at midafternoon, despite the chill air they stripped off their gory outer garments and washed them as clean as they could-until one of their group dared waste Adept powers on such a trivial task, some of the stains would remain permanent. But at least the smell was washed away.

As long as they had stopped, they ate while their clothes dried, and Zanos, whose wound was still bothering him, napped.

“Dirdra,” asked Melissa, “exactly what are orbu?”

“They were people once,” the Maduran woman answered. “The sorcerers steal their souls, and make their bodies do their bidding.”

Astra shivered. “That’s exactly what they felt like!”

Dirdra looked down at the bread she had been eating, and set it aside. “Maldek has made thousands of them. When the peasants would not give him in tribute the food they needed to feed their children, he took one out of every family, made him orbu, and left him living with his family, working the fields-someone they loved there beside them every day, eating and drinking and resting, but… dead!”

“Mindless,” Melissa agreed.

“He has ruined our land,” said Dirdra. “The orbu live only for a year or two. The first ones he set on us yesterday-they would have been dead in a few weeks anyway. They feel no pain. They simply go on doing as the sorcerer directs until they drop-or until they are killed as we killed those who attacked us.

But Maldek has made so many, now there are not enough living people to till the fields and pay his tribute. He… seems to have learned that lesson, or else he has so much treasure in his castle now that he thinks he needs no more. At least for the past year or two he has stopped demanding tribute in goods, and has stopped turning masses of people orbu.

“Now he uses it more as an individual threat- and he demands a different tribute.” She raised her eyes, flashing green fire. “I was the tribute he demanded from our village. He has turned other women orbu to serve him, but I think he has tired of that now. He was determined that I serve him freely-but I would not! He is evil! And I have brought his evil down upon you, who have become my friends.”

“He’s holding your brother hostage,” said Torio. “Dirdra, we consider you our friend, as well. We’re going to do everything we can to help you set your brother free.”

She shook her head. “It is no use. Maldek holds in thrall too many with powers. Everyone fears him, for his own powers are greater than those of any Master Sorcerer in memory. He will take you, and toy with you like some great black cat-and then he will devour you!”

The sun was setting when they reached the northern edge of the forest, only a few miles from the city. By mutual consent, they rode on, planning to stay in the city overnight, and find out what they could about Maldek’s castle in the morning.

But as they clattered across the bridge into the city, armed guards waited for them on the opposite shore.

The Readers knew it, of course-but they Read that the men had orders simply to take them to Maldek’s castle. There was little use resisting.

“Maldek is honored by your visit,” the officer in charge of the troop informed them. “We are your escort.”

No sinister intent could be Read beyond his words-only curiosity as to who this ragtag band of weary travelers might be, that had aroused such interest in the Master Sorcerer.

They had to ride on for more than an hour to reach the castle-but then it might have taken that long to find accommodations in the city. The road through the forest which separated the castle from the city was broad and well cared for-no need to thread their horses through a tangle of undergrowth here.

The drawbridge was down for them-but it was pulled up behind them with a sinister rumble once they were inside the courtyard. Torio noted that it was manipulated with a huge chain, not ropes-no sword slash could let this drawbridge fall, nor could a minor Adept easily break or burn through that chain.

Maldek expected to hold in-or out-people of both cleverness and power.

Servants came running out to the courtyard, boys to take their horses, women in clean dresses with fresh white aprons, and a majordomo who announced, “Maldek bids you welcome, gracious ladies and gentlemen. If it will please you to follow, his servants will take you where you may refresh yourselves before he grants you an interview.”

One of the boys came toward Gray with a collar and leash. The dog, who was leaning so tightly against Torio as almost to knock him over, growled menacingly, and the boy backed off.

Trusting the animal’s instincts, Torio said, “He stays with me,” and hoped the beast was house-broken.

“As you wish, sir,” said the lad with a bow, and Gray followed Torio inside.

They were taken to baths that rivaled the great bathhouse at Zendi. While they soaked away grime and weariness in the warm pool, servants brought them fruit and wine, nuts and cheese. Then other servants washed them with sweet-smelling soap- even Gray, who, although he enjoyed splashing in the cold pool, submitted to the lathering only at Torio’s insistence. In the process, of course, he shook soapsuds so far into the corners that Torio was sure people would be slipping on them for weeks to come.

Finally, they were dried with soft towels and wrapped in silken robes. “If you gentlemen will come this way,” said the majordomo, “I believe we can find garments suitable for you. The women will take care of the ladies.”

“No-” began Zanos.

“It’s all right,” his wife told him. “Zanos, they’ve let us keep our weapons-which can only mean Maldek knows how little use they would be if he chose to use his powers against us now. We are Readers-he knows we can find one another, no matter what he does.”

So Zanos, Torio, and Gray were taken to a room where the men had their hair and beards combed and trimmed, and even the dog was brushed until he looked twice his size. Then the two men were fitted with silken tunics, covered with fur-trimmed, embroidered velvet robes. Under them went silken hose and soft felt ankle boots-warm indoor attire against the chill of the stone castle.

When they finally met with the approval of the majordomo, they were led through huge arched hallways inlaid with marble, gold, and precious stones, into a chamber only twice as large as the great hall in Lenardo’s villa.

But where Lenardo’s hall was light and decorated with bright colors, this room was paneled in dark wood that glinted softly in the torchlight. There was a fireplace, with a blaze that was somehow warm without being cheery, but there were no furnishings beyond a strip of rich, thick carpet on the floor leading up some steps to a platform, also thickly carpeted. On the platform was a throne-and on the throne lounged Maldek, leaning back with his right leg thrown across the padded arm of his throne. He thus leaned to the left, his left hand casually caressing an animal of some kind that sat in the shadows on the carpeted platform, leaning into his caresses just as Gray did for Torio.

When Gray saw the animal, he growled, and the beast opened surprising green eyes and chattered in a high-pitched voice.

Torio put a hand on Gray’s head and silently ordered him to sit. Obediently, the dog did-but although his growls were no longer audible, Torio could feel them as vibrations in the dog’s skull.

It took several commands for Maldek to silence the other animal’s chattering-an ape of some sort, Torio recognized, as large as a man in the torso but with short dwarfed and bowed legs, so that its hands touched the ground when it stood. It was covered in thick reddish hair, except right around those strange eyes, and the disturbingly human hands.

Maldek was just as they had seen him in Dirdra’s memory: very large and powerfully built, and dressed all in black. Tonight his robe was furred, with little of the silver embroidery they had seen before, but his face wore the same self-satisfied smile, chiseled perfection, carved in ice.

“Welcome to my castle,” he greeted them in tones that attempted sincerity without warmth. “I trust my servants have treated you well. You deserve it-you passed all my tests with alacrity. I rarely find such worthy opponents.”

“We have not come to oppose you, Maldek,” Torio said. “Until you attacked us, we had no quarrel with you at all. Since we were able to defeat you at every turn, we will now consider-”

“Defeat?” The sorcerer laughed heartily. “You think you have defeated me, simply because you managed to get here through the obstacles? My dear Torio, the contest has not yet begun. Tell him, Zanos-you have merely passed the qualifying rounds to enter the games!”

“We are not here to play games,” Torio began, but just then the doors to the chamber were opened once more, to admit the women.

Maldek rose to his feet. “Ah-the ladies. Please enter. The lovely Astra, wife of Zanos-you are a fortunate man, sir.” He grinned lasciviously at the gladiator, and Torio Read Zanos quell his fighting instinct.

Astra was dressed in robes of a deep wine-colored velvet, trimmed in gray fur and encrusted with garnets. Her hair was elaborately styled and entwined with velvet ribbons sparkling with the same jewels.

Melissa was in gold velvet with dark brown fur trim that matched her hair-which had been styled so that part of it was braided and curled with bands of gold mesh, but the rest hung loosely down her back, displaying its natural curl. Her dress was heavily encrusted with gold. “Melissa,” said Maldek, “Reader and healer-but also a woman of Adept powers. You have come to me to learn how to expand those powers.”

“Only in the direction of healing,” she replied warily, trying as Torio was to Read what the peculiar look in Maldek’s eyes meant. But he was braced against their Reading him.

After what seemed to Torio far too long a study of Melissa, Maldek reached between her and Astra to pull forward the woman half-hidden behind them. “Dirdra!”

The Maduran woman’s exquisite beauty was enhanced by a green velvet gown the exact color of her eyes. Instead of fur, feathers in iridescent greens decorated her robe. She was magnificently beautiful, but deathly pale.

Maldek pulled her forward into the torchlight. “Why, Dirdra, you haven’t deserted us after all. Look, Kwinn-your sister has come back to us!”

And as he spoke, the creature that had remained crouched beside the throne, afraid to pass Gray to follow its master, gave a great cry and fairly flew across the room to hug Dirdra about the knees, gasping painful sounds that they all knew now were meant to be words of joyful greeting.

Dirdra dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms about his shoulders, holding him close, her tears dropping like diamonds onto the trembling furred pelt as she whispered, “I couldn’t leave you like this!

Oh, Kwinn-I had to come back for you. I couldn’t leave you in his evil power, my brother!”