Dragonlord of the Savage Empire se-2

by Jean Lorrah

  “My lord, forgive me,” said Helmuth. “We should have been able to question him, find out how many traitors there are among your army.” As he said it, he looked at Arkus, holding his bloody sword at the ready.

  “My lord, I knew nothing of their plot,” Arkus said, pleading.

  “I know,“‘Lenardo tried to reassure him. “Helmuth, there was no plot.”

  “Those men swore loyalty to you,” the old man said.

  “True, nor did they begin this journey with the intent to turn on me. They were simply afraid and uncertain of how well a Reader could rule. When I went dashing off the road for no apparent reason, their worst doubts were confirmed, and that is when they decided they’d be better off without me. I Read them, Helmuth. Believe me-and believe Arkus. He didn’t have to save my life just now, you know.”

  “I did have to, my lord,” Arkus said firmly. “It was my duty as your sworn man.”

  Helmuth wiped off his sword and sheathed it. “I’m sorry I doubted you, lad. My lord, your horse is injured. You’d best ride one of these others. Arkus, help me put the bodies up on horses. We’ll show the others what happens to those who think they can betray my lord.”

  When they rejoined their followers, shock went through the soldiers at seeing their fellows dead. Although Arkus and Helmuth told exactly what had happened, Lenardo Read the rumors that immediately started to spread. Before they had gone five miles, he had become a brilliant leader who had set a trap to test the loyalty of his followers. There was no resentment. Those who had had no part in the plot against him felt themselves that much safer in having so clever a lord.

  Lenardo sighed to himself. The logic of savages. What if they knew his intention to make an alliance with the empire? Would he ever be able to? If he earned the trust of these people, would he lose the trust of the Readers at home?

  The problem weighed heavily. It might be months before he could go home, and by then Masters Portia and Clement, who had sent him on his mission into the savage lands, might not be willing or able to help him. He had been sent to take Galen from the enemy. With Galen dead, he ought to go directly back to the Aventine Empire. Portia, the Master of Masters among Readers, would then reveal to the Emperor the plan known only to herself, Master Clement, and Torio, the brilliant young Reader who had been Lenardo’s student and to whom he had chosen to confide the plan of Readers, by Readers, to stop Galen.

  As the Aventine government did not know of their plan, though, it had gone ahead with its own, removing the Academy from the dangerous border town of Adigia to the safety of the capital at Tiberium. Master Clement had had to go but had left Torio in Adigia to wait for Lenardo to contact him. The news of Galen’s death had been sad to report, but at the time he had told Torio to expect him back soon. Two days later, Lenardo had had to make a new report: Aradia had made him a lord.

  With the shock of the event still ringing in his mind, he had closed the door of his room at Castle Nerius, hoping that Torio had not yet left Adigia. His Reading abilities were limited by distance; only by leaving his body could he contact the boy from so far away.

  He smoothed the bedclothes lay down, and relaxed his body. Easily, his consciousness drifted upward as he concentrated on Adigia. Instantly he was “there,” in the room at the inn where he had found Torio two nights before.

  But the room was empty. “Looking” around, he was relieved to see Tone’s clothes still hung on pegs, his books scattered across the chest by the bed. The boy should have been at his studies until suppertime, but as the only Reader in Adigia, he could have been called to help someone.

  The town was familiar; Lenardo had grown up there, had no fear of losing his conscious self among the streets and byways. But he hadn’t far to search. Torio’s disciplined mind stood out like a beacon from those of nonReaders. Blind from birth, Torio rarely stopped Reading, for if he did, the world disappeared.

  Right now, however, he was engaged in a most un-Readerlike activity: playing at dice with the stableboy and the smith’s apprentice and proving beyond doubt that he had neither precognitive powers nor the ability to influence objects in motion.

  //Torio!// Lenardo could not control his indignation.

  The boy jumped and blushed hotly, but there was anger beneath his embarrassment until he realized who was contacting him. //Master Lenardo! I didn’t think you would contact me again. Are you coming home?// Aloud, he said, “You’ve won enough for one day. Perhaps tomorrow my luck will be better.”

  Despite the protests of the other boys, Torio left them and headed across the innyard and up to his room.

  //What are you doing gambling with servants instead of studying? Master Clement thought you could be left to work by yourself.//

  //That’s what I thought, too,// Torio told Lenardo in frustration. //Then this morning, he told me my testing has been postponed because of the time I’ve lost here. And I can’t be a tutor, after all. He didn’t test me, Master Lenardo, he just decided I hadn’t kept up with my work-//

  //And so you decided you might as well prove him right?//

  //It was just today. I’d already decided to get back to work tomorrow morning. I’ll show Master Clement! I’ll be ready for examination as soon as I get to Tiberium.//

  //You won’t be eighteen until autumn, no matter what you do. But I’m not worried about you, Torio-you’ll pass.//

  By this time Torio had reached his room, where he sprawled on the bed in the time-honored manner of schoolboys. //Of course I’ll pass. But Master Lenardo, what’s wrong? Why have you contacted me?//

  Ill won’t be home as soon as I thought.//

  //You said it might be weeks. Portia was angry, Master Clement said. She wants you back at once, to report to the Emperor that the leader of the savages is dead. Then while they’re disorganized, we’ll attack. You’ll be a great hero.//

  //Torio, I want to prevent war, not start it. Haven’t we lost enough?”

  //What can you do?//

  Lenardo suddenly realized that if Portia intended to urge the Emperor to regain former empire territory, the news that Lenardo now claimed that territory as a savage Lord of the Land would make him a target rather than a hero. Ill… cannot tell you, Torio. I must ask you to trust me.//

  He felt the boy’s throat tighten. Ill do trust you. //I thought you trusted me, Master.//

  //Were you a Master Reader, I would tell you all, but until you reach your full powers, there will always be those who can Read what you know, whether you wish it or not.//

  //But Masters Clement and Portia-//

  //-Are not the only Readers in Tiberium,// Lenardo told him, although he wondered whether even Master Clement would approve of his plan. Ill cannot reach Tiberium from where I am now, and I shall be no nearer for months. But Torio, under Oath of Truth, tell Clement and Portia that when I return, I hope to bring an end to the conflict and stop the savage encroachment upon our borders.//

  //But I’m to leave here next week, Master Lenardo. You can’t contact my replacement-he won’t know. Oh, please, please come home now.//

  //Torio, you are almost fully grown. You must complete your studies and take your examinations, for I shall have work for Readers.//

  //I don’t understand. Why do you want to stay there with the savages? You haven’t really turned traitor?//

  //Do you think I could?//

  //No, but Portia fears it.//

  //Did Master Clement tell you that?//

  //He didn’t mean to. I felt it beneath what he told me. He trusts you, but Portia-//

  //And he fears you may not pass your examinations? Torio, I’ve never known a Reader of your age who could Read what a Master Reader didn’t want him to. No, I am no traitor, but I must have time to make preparations. A year, at the most-//

  //A year!// Torio was horrified. //They’ll never trust you after that long. Master Lenardo, you must come home now.//

  //And start another war? I cannot do that, Torio. But don’t you worry. When I do come to T
iberium, the Emperor will have to listen to me.//

  Thinking back over that conversation with Torio, Lenardo realized again that Aradia was right. He was now trapped into seeking peace the way she wanted, from a position of power. And it was not Aradia who had trapped him-it was his own people. No, he could not hand over his lands to the Emperor. That would result in an immediate attack, using those lands as a base, on Aradia, Lilith, and Wulfston. His lands would be a wedge separating the three allies, which meant that Aradia trusted him not to make them such.

  Thus hope and apprehension battled in Lenardo’s mind as he rode toward Zendi at the head of an army-some soldiers but mostly civilians who had chosen to go with him into his new land. My land. It would never sound right. Nonetheless, he must live up to his duties to land and people until the day he could safely make the treaty he sought.

  Lenardo noticed the well-developed crops beginning to wither in the fields. “No rain since the battle,” he commented to Helmuth. “If we can find some clouds, we’ll put Josa right to work. We can’t afford to lose what food there is, or we’ll be in for a hard winter.” Josa was Helmuth’s niece, one of the many people with minor Adept talents the old man had gathered for Lenardo’s entourage.

  “I’ll help,” said Arkus, who was riding on Lenardo’s other side. “I can move anything light.”

  The young captain, promoted to commander of all that was left of Zendi’s troops, was eager to dispel any doubts Lenardo had left about him. Arkus’s future rested on Lenardo’s. Human nature, as Aradia said. As long as it was in his own self-interest, Arkus would work faithfully for Lenardo.

  Northgate stood open when they approached Zendi. At least no one opposed their entry. In the warmth of the day, the stench was unbelievable. Within the walls, all Lenardo could do was rein in and stare, too stunned even to Read.

  The main market way through the city was strewn with corpses, human and animal. Debris littered the streets. What buildings were not burnt-out shells were looted, doors and shutters hanging, broken furniture tossed on the doorsteps.

  People hid in the shadows, staring out in fear and hate-crowds of people in rags supplemented with bits of stolen finery. There was no coherent thought to be Read; they were like trapped animals: hungry, terrified, and desperate. ‘

  The gods help me, he thought. Is this my capital city? Are these the people I’m supposed to teach to trust me?

  Paralyzed even beyond nausea, he sat hopelessly staring at… my land.

  Chapter Two

  Before Lenardo could even think of a command, Arkus turned his horse and began firing orders to his troops to clear people out of the looted buildings.

  Helmuth shouted, “Greg, Vona! Up here and make us a clean path.”

  As two people rode forward, the corpses began to go up one by one in the roaring blaze of funeral pyres. The other debris burned with the bodies, and the paving stones were purified in the wake of the flames.

  The obvious done, people began turning to Lenardo for orders. Dragging himself out of lethargy, he said, “We need a place to stay and a clean place to set up a kitchen and a hospital.”

  “Where, my lord?”

  He Read the shambles all around them, despairing of clearing an area large enough to let his people-my people-sleep without the stench of death in their nostrils and rats crawling over their feet.

  But there was one building… He laughed as he realized it “The one place Drakonius never used-the baths!”

  The huge Aventine bathhouse, built to serve an entire city, was almost untouched. It stood on^ the edge of the forum, empty, unharmed by the looting because there was nothing in it to loot. The baths were dry, but the spring that served them had been diverted to form the city’s water supply. Clean, fresh water nimbled from a pipe at the side of the bathhouse into the beginning of the ditch that had replaced the overloaded sewer system.

  Lenardo led his train through the streets to the forum and then pointed. “Sweep it out, scrub it down. Where’s Sandor? Set up an infirmary and start processing the sick and injured. Call me if you can’t see what’s wrong.” “But my lord-”

  “Give a mental shout-I’ll be Reading.” He turned to the cook and her staff, who were looking considerably sickened by the mess. “Those people the soldiers are rounding up are hungry. There’s no food in the city, and we have our own to feed as well. No fireplaces in the baths-can you clear a place on the front steps and cook over an open fire?”

  “Aye, my lord,” said the woman who had volunteered to head his cooking staff, and set her people to hauling buckets of water to scrub down a section of the forum.

  Once started, Lenardo found it easy enough to give orders. There was so much to be done. It was well after sunset when Cook descended on him with soup, bread, and cheese. He realized that he hadn’t eaten all day.

  As he sniffed the soup appreciatively, Cook said, “It’s vegetable.”

  “I know,” he replied, and she blushed. “Sorry, me lord. I forget. But I didn’t forget you don’t eat meat.”

  “You didn’t make special soup just for me?” “Of course.”

  “With everything else you had to do today? Now, you mustn’t do that again until we’re settled and you’re cooking just for me and my… household.” “Yes, me lord.” But she was distressed. “Thank you this time, Cook. The soup is delicious. If there’s any left, I’ll have it tomorrow, but no fussing over me. From now on, just bring me anything you have except meat.”

  Arkus found him still sitting on the steps outside the bathhouse, finishing the bread and cheese. “What shall we do with the prisoners, my lord?” “What prisoners?”

  “Why, all these people. We’ve rounded up over a thousand. Where are we going to put them for the night?”

  “Let them sleep wherever they’ve been sleeping until we can create some kind of order.”

  “But they’ll hide again.”

  “They’ll come out for breakfast.”

  “Not,” replied Arkus, “when they know the flogging starts tomorrow.”

  “Flogging?” Lenardo exclaimed. “What are you talking about?”

  “They’re thieves, my lord. They’ve stolen and destroyed your property. You must punish them, and since you’re not an Adept, you can’t do what Drakonius did.”

  “No, I’m not Drakonius,” Lenardo murmured, recalling with a shudder the time he had observed, powerless, the Adept torturing Galen.

  “Well, even Drakonius couldn’t handle all the punishments himself. We always flog most of them.”

  “Not any more, you don’t. Arkus, have you looked into the infirmary? There are over a hundred sick and injured people in there. Sandor’s exhausted, and now you would deliberately injure a thousand more?”

  “Sandor wouldn’t have to heal them, and they must be punished,” Arkus insisted stubbornly. “Do you want your people to think they can steal from you any time they feel like it?”

  “No, but look around. There is an incredible amount of work to be done. Make them do it.”

  “I don’t understaqd.”

  “Greg and Vona must burn the rest of the bodies to keep disease from spreading. Let the prisoners scrub down the streets. Then they can rebuild the houses they destroyed.”

  He could Read Arkus’ grim disappointment as the young officer said, “What’s the matter with you? You can’t rule if you act like a country grandmother over a little bloodshed.”

  “I’ve shed my share of blood, Arkus. You’ve seen me fight when I had to. But consider this: how eager would you be to flog someone if you felt every stroke on your own back?”

  Arkus’s disappointment turned to dismay. “It must be a whole different world for a Reader. Are you not tired, my lord?”

  Tired of explaining that Reading did not use up physical energy the way Adept powers did, he simply said, “No, are you?”

  “No, I’ve hardly used my talent today.”

  “Just to save my life,” Lenardo reminded him. “Have you the strength to
move some clouds before you sleep?”

  “Of course. Let me set the guard first. You know, people still aren’t going to come out tomorrow, because they’ll be afraid of flogging.”

  “Arkus, will you stop worrying? I can find them.”

  “Yes, my lord!”

  “And Arkus-”

  “Yes, my lord?”

  “There are far more than a thousand people in the city. I think the others will show themselves when they find out they’ll be fed and not flogged.”

  That night Lenardo slept deeply and dreamlessly on a pallet on the marble floor. He had left Josa and Arkus to draw the cloud bank he had found toward Zendi. By morning it was raining, but not on the city. Moist breezes refreshed the workers, but the city streets remained dry.

  Encountering Arkus and Josa hand in hand, Lenardo told them, “You’re showing off.”

  “No one works well in the rain, my lord,” Arkus replied. “Look how well your plan is working.”

  It did seem to be. Lenardo didn’t like the fearful looks when he passed, but he hoped mat would change when they got used to him. None of Aradia’s people looked at her that way.

  More people crept out of hiding as the news spread that there was food for all and no one had yet been flogged. On the fourth day, the test came.

  They were attempting to provide only two meals a day, morning and evening. Lenardo, hot and thirsty, returned to the spring by the bathhouse to run cool water over his head and then take a long drink. The washing-up after the morning meal was completed, and already Cook had some of her staff preparing for evening. When she saw Lenardo, she hurried to his side.

  “Are you hungry, me lord? Thirsty? One of the farmers brought in fresh berries.”

  “Thank him and tell him I’ll have them for dinner,” said Lenardo. “Do you have enough help, Cook? You’re doing a fine job under difficult conditions.”

  She blushed under his praise. “Right now, people are grateful just for food. That won’t last, me lord. Has Helmuth asked you-”