Savage Empire se-1

by Jean Lorrah

  “In those days, Nerius wore the wolf-stone-the same one I wear now. I was fascinated by it, and even though I was only three I can remember very clearly that one terrible day. It was Nerius’ first visit since I had learned I could call the animals. When he arrived, I wanted to show him my new game. My parents’ wares were on display on a stand in front of our house. When Nerius rode up, I ran to him, all excited-but there were other customers, a man-I don’t remember who-and a woman who was frantic because she’d just broken her cooking pot but didn’t want to pay our prices for a new one. I remember her saying that she didn’t care about fancy decorations, didn’t we have a nice, plain, sturdy pot?

  “I didn’t care about any of that. I wanted to show Nerius my game, so I tugged at his cloak until he finally picked me up and set me on the wall beside the stand. He told me he’d see my game later, and he turned to wait for my father or mother to be free to talk to him.

  “I sat there, kicking my heels, ignored. Then I noticed Nerius’ wolf-stone. I had wanted it since the first time I’d seen it, and it occurred to me that if I could call the other animals, maybe I could call the wolf too.

  “So I started to call it. Not knowing anything about Adept powers, I called out loud, the way I called the birds and animals. And it came to me.”

  “Everybody saw it?”

  “I couldn’t have been more conspicuous if I’d planned it. I started calling, and my father turned and told me to hush-and just as that drew everyone’s attention, the stone lifted from Nerius’ chest, pulled free of the loop sunk into it, and sailed into my hands. Here-” he showed the stone to Lenardo, “you can see the hole at the back where the metal loop was set in. It wasn’t meant to take the force of an Adept! Now we put a hole right through the stone-you’d have to break the pendant to get it off.”

  “But a three-year-old boy was able to pull the pendant free from a metal loop,” Lenardo marveled, “with his mind!”

  “Yes. If Nerius had wondered about me, now he knew-but so did my parents, and the man and woman buying pottery. I was thoroughly pleased with myself for a moment, until both women screamed. My father was staring at me as if he’d never seen me before. Then the two villagers started shouting, ‘Adept! Adept! Kill him!’ and my parents started toward me from behind the stand. They would have pulled me over the wall and taken me into the house, I think, but Nerius knew that if they tried to protect me the people would turn on the entire family. He snatched me up from his side of the wall and ran for his horse.

  “Of course I was scared and squirming, and the man and woman were shouting while my parents were frying to keep Nerius from kidnapping their son and at the same time to keep the others from killing us. And other people were running out of their houses along the lane, picking up stones to throw. A few hit us, and the horse, and with a rearing horse and a screaming child, it’s a wonder Nerius ever got us out of there.

  “He was able to stop the stones from hitting us-a good thing, because by now some people were throwing knives and axes. We galloped off and rode hard for quite a distance before Nerius was sure we had eluded pursuit. Then he took a terrible chance-we hid out until dark and then rode back. Nerius said we were going to get my family to go with us. But we were too late.”

  Lenardo knew the dread terror inspired by. the very idea of an Adept within the empire. Even now, surrounded by Adepts whom he had come to regard as friends, he felt the old fear stir at the helplessness of anyone, even a Reader, before their power. And so he didn’t have to ask what had happened to Wulfston’s family.

  The young Adept told him, calmly and quietly, speaking of an old wound, long healed. “The villagers had killed my family and burned down our house. I suppose they thought we were all secretly Adepts-although they must have known that Adepts would not stand still to be murdered!”

  “Mob frenzy doesn’t stop for rational thought,” said Lenardo.

  “No,” Wulfston agreed sadly. Then he straightened. “I have learned to be grateful that Nerius was there that day to steal me away, or else I would surely have shown my powers in some unmistakable fashion soon and been killed along with my family.”

  Lenardo wondered if it had ever occurred to Wulfston that Nerius might have planted the suggestion to try his powers in the little boy’s mind. No-he surely would not have intended a public display that gave away his own identity.

  “So Nerius brought me home,” Wulfston was saying, “and raised me as his own son. I was very young. It didn’t take me long to recover. And there was Aradia, who thought I was the best present her father had ever brought her.”

  “She does tend to take possession of people,” Lenardo agreed.

  “I’d been a nuisance to my real sister, who had to take care of me while our parents worked. Aradia, though, was starved for the companionship of another Adept child.

  That’s why the difference in our ages meant so little, although it’s certainly the reason she got me into so much trouble.”

  “What about your name?” asked Lenardo. “I understand why naming you after the wolf-stone that revealed your powers is appropriate, but you already had a name.”

  “An Aventine name,” said Wulfston. “Nerius decided that it would be best for me to leave my old life behind completely, so when he adopted me he gave me a new name. Actually, it’s a very old name-there are two legendary Wulfston’s celebrated in song: Wulfston the Red, a non-Adept warrior king who ruled his people well despite his lack of powers, and Wulfston of Caperna, who subdued the ghost-king.”

  “The ghost-king?”

  The young Adept grinned. “A fairy tale, to be sure. He’s also the Wulfston of the famous wedding-right. I think I told you there were legends of Adepts who survived death and continued to rule their people. You will have many things to learn this side of the pale, Lenardo.”

  “Legends are interesting but not my highest priority. Two things I must learn soon, Wulfston: how to read your alphabet, and the code the watchers use to transmit messages.”

  “Better take them one at a time, or you’ll mix them up,” said Wulfston.

  “No-if you will show them to me, I can commit both to memory overnight.”

  “Really?” Wulfston was clearly impressed. “Now there’s a Reader’s trick I’d like to learn!”

  “I wonder���” said Lenardo. “It’s not exactly Reading. There’s no harm in trying to teach you-but first you teach me!”

  As Lenardo absorbed the new knowledge, he pondered Wulfston’s statement, “You won’t go back.” How could he not go back? He couldn’t live here, cut off from other Readers.

  Strange��� now that he thought about it, he was not experiencing the deprivation he had expected from being separated from other Readers. He had expected to feel isolated, but ever since he had begun working with Aradia and Wulfston to heal Nerius, he had become so involved in their problems that he hadn’t thought about his own, other than the immediate problem of Galen and Drakonius, which he shared with the Adepts.

  Of course-that was why he felt so comfortable here now: they shared a common enemy. When Drakonius was defeated and Galen rescued, Lenardo would have to take Galen home. Deliberately, he shut out the fear that Galen could not be taken from Drakonius alive, and considered the problem of getting the boy back within the empire’s walls. How much influence did Portia have with the senate? She was the one who insisted that the Readers take rare of their own. But once Galen was stopped from working with the enemy, what would become of him?

  He should be given over to the physicians at Gaeta. Can Portia and Clement arrange that? Or will Galen be imprisoned? Or executed?

  Suddenly the idea of returning to the empire with Nerius’ strength to back him took on new appeal. Nerius wanted Lenardo’s help in negotiating a treaty, and in return Lenardo could ask him to protect Galen. An elegant solution -provided Lenardo could get back alive.

  In the morning Aradia sought Lenardo out. “I do not think my father will be pleased that Wulfston taught yo
u the watcher’s code.”

  “You forget, Aradia-I can pick up my message directly from the minds of the watchers. I wanted to know the code in case I need to send a message.”

  She laughed. “Of course. Watchers never use the heliograph in sight of the Aventine walls for that very reason. And once we have made peace, we will have relays of Readers, and the heliograph will become obsolete.”

  “You expect that kind of cooperation?”

  “It has to come. If it does not, one day the whole world will be in the hands of men like Drakonius. What can you tell me of him this morning? As you did not come seeking me, I fear there is no news.”

  “I could wish for those relays of Readers now,” Lenardo replied. “Last night, all except the guards in Drakonius’ stronghold were sleeping. This morning Drakonius was fishing again. But who knows what might have happened while I was sleeping? Or might be happening right now, while we talk? Your watchers report troop movements; I don’t know where to look for them. To do a proper job of watching Drakonius’ preparations, we should have at least ten Readers, strategically placed. Someone ought to be Reading Drakonius every moment, so we don’t miss a message, a command, any clue to his intentions.”

  “We,” Aradia said thoughtfully.

  “Hmmm?”

  “You keep saying ‘we,’ not ‘you’ anymore. Lenardo, why has the empire not kept such watch on Drakonius all along? How could his attack on Adigia have surprised a whole academy of Readers?”

  “An academy is a school, not a spy system. To do what you suggest, Readers would have to be sent out into the savage lands���” Suddenly the words of Portia, the Master Reader, came back to him. We must not make our own people mistrust us. But they already mistrusted Readers-so much so that they feared using them as their best line of defense!

  “Lenardo?” Aradia was looking up at him in concern.

  He shook his head. “The strategy seems so obvious to me now. Yet���” He shuddered. “Look what Drakonius has done to Galen, and now he’s looking for me, thinking he can use any Reader thus. Readers are human-you Adepts could break some and use them, and kill those you could not conquer. No, the empire dares not risk having their own weapon turned against them.”

  Aradia sighed. “Your loyalty does you credit, but your stupidity does not. Father is right: the Aventine people fear the Readers’ powers, but the government fears most of all, knowing that they hold the positions you should have by right of nature. Never mind-you will come to it. We don’t have ten Readers, only you, so tell me how we can best use your abilities.”

  “If I continue to keep watch on Drakonius himself, I can tell you when he leaves to join the assembled armies. I take it he will have to come close to you to attack?”

  “Yes. Our powers decrease with distance, so even if Galen could Read my castle as you can read Drakonius’, he could not attack from there.”,

  “Is that why you have not suggested that I direct you in an attack on Drakonius from here?”

  “That is one reason. However, I have obligations to my allies. We know perfectly well that we are Drakonius’ target-yet there has been no declaration of war and no attack. Unless Lilith and I agree, neither of us would attack Drakonius, as that would bring him down on the other.”

  “Unless you succeeded in killing him.”

  “My powers have never been tested against Drakonius. He may be the more powerful. What he does not know as he goes fishing is that all the time he waits he is giving my father time to recover. Drakonius made one mistake in his climb to power: instead of testing himself against Nerius, he gave him these lands and made him his. ally.”

  “That seems a wise move to me,” said Lenardo.

  “For Nerius to make, or Lilith, or me. But Drakonius rules through power and fear-and it is often said that he feared my father, that Nerius was the stronger Adept. Now Drakonius thinks Nerius no longer a threat-but I am. I am just approaching the height of my powers. He dare not wait much longer lest my strength be equal to his��� or beyond it. I have been expecting his attack ever since Nerius went blind-hence my alliances.”

  “Drakonius also has allies.”

  “True, but not in the sense of sworn loyalty among equals. Not one of those Adepts is his equal. They’re all at the height of their powers, and none is as good as Wulfston is already. Or Lilith. Four strong Adepts, maybe an apprentice or two, and a Reader. They are counting on having the advantage over Lilith and me. I suspect they under-. ‘ estimate Wulfston, and you are an unknown quantity.”

  “I don’t think Galen would assume I was working for you freely. But then, I cannot predict Galen’s thinking these days.”

  “What they do not know is that Nerius lives and is regaining his strength. If they give us but three more days, my father and I together will be invincible!” She smiled. “My father and I��� and you, Lenardo. We have the better Reader, and he is working with us, unconstrained.”

  The next morning, Drakonius was gone. Lenardo Read his stronghold, all the soldiers still there, everything seeming exactly the same as yesterday��� except that there was no sign of Drakonius, Galen, or the young woman he had decided was Drakonius’ apprentice.

  Aradia was in Nerius’ room. Lenardo took the treacherous stairs two at a time and then at the top composed himself. Nerius was standing at the window, fully dressed, staring down into the courtyard.

  Lenardo said softly, “Aradia, I have important news.”

  “If it is about Drakonius,” she said, “you may tell my father. I have just told him all that is happening.”

  Nerius turned to greet Lenardo. He was almost as tall as the Reader, still too thin and too pale, but otherwise in apparent health. “Good morning, Master Reader. What news of Drakonius?” His voice was vibrant, robust, returned to what must be its natural timbre. Despite his white hair, he seemed ten years younger.

  “Bad news, Lord Nerius,” Lenardo replied. “I’ve lost him.”

  “What?” exclaimed Aradia.

  “He is gone from his stronghold, as are his apprentice and his Reader. I Read along the river and the road, but could not find them. Trying to cover a large and distant area with a single Reader-”

  “Do not apologize,^1 said Nerius. “You bring us news we would have in no other way. So��� he leaves his own troops behind, to travel in secret. Our watchers will not be looking for a party of three, but for an army. Aradia, advise our troop commanders that we move out tomorrow morning.”

  “But Father-”

  “I am well enough to ride.”

  “No! Certainly not a day’s ride or more! You will use up your strength and be of no use in battle!”

  Lenardo was startled at Aradia’s choice of argument, until he saw that she was saying what would weigh heaviest with Nerius.

  The old man frowned at his daughter, saying, “We cannot stay here, waiting while I eat and sleep as our enemy brings the battle onto our own lands. We must move out to meet Mm. If he is riding fast, he can join Hron’s troops today, and tomorrow morning they will reach our lands. We must march toward them at the same time.”

  “Your strategy is not in question, Father,” said Aradia. “Your health is.”

  “I am in better health than I have been in five years. Master Lenardo-tell my daughter I am fit to ride.”

  Lenardo Read him, marveling at the powers of Adept healing. “You are in perfect health, Lord Nerius-for someone who has lain in bed these past two years. There is nothing positively wrong with you-”

  “You see?” Nerius said to Aradia.

  “-however,” Lenardo continued, “you are completely out of condition. Your muscles are lax, you have no reserve strength at all, and-a minor point but true-if you spend an entire day out of doors you will suffer a painful sunburn.”

  Not used to having his will opposed, Nerius stared at Lenardo incredulously. Aradia said, “You see, Father? We have time-”

  “We do not!” Nerius said angrily. “Drakonius is no fo
ol. He expects Lenardo to tell us he has left his stronghold. He expects us to think he will join Hron’s troops at Zendi-but Hron’s army and troops from Zendi may move today. They could meet at our borders tomorrow.”

  “Our watchers-”

  “Will be hours in reaching a point where they can safely relay the news. If we do not want the battle here, destroying our castle and our best lands even if we win, if we do not want women and children caught in the midst of battle, we must move out no later than tomorrow morning!”

  Aradia sighed. “You are right. The troops must move out But you-”

  “I shall go with you. Now that Drakonius has finished his waiting game, he will strike quickly, thinking to surprise us. But what a surprise he will have when he finds I am alive and well!” He grinned in anticipation, the same dangerous look Lenardo had seen on Aradia’s features.

  “You won’t be well if you ride all day,” Aradia pleaded.

  “So it seems,” said her father. “While fatigue would not diminish my powers, it could impair my judgment, so, much as it may hurt my dignity, I will agree to be carried in a litter like some fat Aventine senator. No more protests, daughter-that is the greatest concession you’ll have from me. I’m going to fight in that battle if I have to walk!”

  “It��� may be all right if you sleep on the way,” Aradia said, defeated.

  “It’s settled,” said Nerius. “Now, it’s time I went downstairs to breakfast.”

  “You can’t!” his daughter said.

  “What? Am I a prisoner in my own castle?”

  “No, Father-but you will start a riot if you simply walk into the great hall. People will think the ghost-king has returned!”