by Jean Lorrah
“Unconscious. Kamas, where are those healers?!”
Kamas focused his Seeing beyond his sister, beyond the temple. Wulfston had had to restrain his Adept powers to battle Z’Nelia in Tadisha’s body; his Reading was still good enough to follow Kamas’ mind out into the palace.
Everyone was asleep!
Guards lay crumpled at their posts; Seer-priestesses in brown robes slumped in a circle in a small chapel nearby. The healers Kamas had summoned were in another anteroom, lying in attitudes that told Wulfston the Movers had been pacing in impatient concern, waiting and fearing to be called to the temple.
Wulfston surmised, “Z’Nelia must have put everyone into Adept sleep before she attacked us. Tadisha, you are more Seer than Mover. She didn’t realize how much of your energy she would expend on that task. She didn’t have enough left to kill me.”
“So my call was not answered,” said Kamas. “I must waken the healers.” He started to rise.
A moan of agony came from behind him. “Mother!” Tadisha put her hand on he brother’s arm, without a wince of pain this time, Wulfston noted. At least her body had power to heal that much.
The pain of Ashuru’s burns was pulling her toward consciousness. Wulfston quickly sent her into Adept sleep, and started the healing process. It would keep her pain at bay for the time being, but she needed his concentration on the worst of her injuries, and then healing sleep.
He opened as wide as he could to Reading. A wave of pain assaulted him from Barak. “Kamas,” he said,
“I need your help! Healing both your mother and Barak will diminish my Seeing powers. Come use yours to help me.”
“We need the healers,” the boy insisted.
“I will waken them,” Tadisha said, struggling to her knees.
“Tadisha!” Kamas protested.
“I have no powers now!” she spat like a determined kitten hissing defiance at a bewildered hound. “Help Wulfston heal Mother and Barak. The palace is vulnerable to attack. I can do no good here, so I will go wake the guards.”
“Come,” said Wulfston to Kamas, recognizing that Tadisha assessed her responsibility correctly. The girl rose unsteadily, but moved purposefully toward the door, every bit the queen she would be one day.
Kamas knelt reluctantly beside Wulfston, by Ashuru’s body. Wulfston found that healing when he could Read through another’s greater powers was even easier than being guided by a Reader’s words. Soon Ashuru was in healing sleep, and they turned to Barak, drawing his broken bones into alignment, and starting them knitting rapidly ‹ Because these people must be returned quickly to health, Wulfston had to use his own energy in the healing. When the healers finally joined them, Kamas pulled an exhausted Wulfston to his feet.
“Thank you,” the younger man said. “Without your help, all of us might have died.”
“Without me,” Wulfston replied, “there would have been no opportunity for Z’Nelia to attack… and perhaps no reason. Where is Tadisha now? I don’t know if she can achieve healing sleep alone.”
“You’re almost asleep yourself!” Kamas pointed out.
“I have reserves of energy,” Wulfston replied. “It’s part of Adept training. I could heal myself if there were need, but there isn’t.”
By this time, though, Wulfston could hardly follow Kamas’ Seeing, and could Read almost nothing for himseE Tadisha, they found, had sensibly gone to her room, and was sound asleep in her own bed. “She burns with Shangonu’s fire,” said Kamas. “It is well.”
“Healing sleep,” Wulfston identified. So Tadisha had enough of the Mover’s power that her body could call up that state-as Wulfston’s body yearned to do after the long, tense night. Dawn was breaking. He forced himself to stay awake long enough to eat, then went to his own bed, and fell helplessly into dreamless slumber.
“Wulfston! Wulfston, wake up!”
“Mmpf?”
Then he realized that the voice was in his head. “Who-?”
“Wulfston, what happened? Why are you sleeping in the middle of the afternoon?”
“Lenardo!”
Wulfston sat up, wide awake. “Lenardo, has something happened to you?”
“No, but something has to you. Careful-let me control our Reading. I can keep the Seers from listening in. Why is everyone in healing sleep?”
Wulfston started to tell him, verbalizing, but felt Lenardo pick up the whole memory from his mind at once. “You must teach me how to do that!”
“You’ll learn it. Your Reading has improved overnight. You gave control over to me the way a Magister Reader might. Subtlety and control are much harder to learn than distance.”
" I always knew I ought to be a Reader. But you have information for me.”
He “heard” Lenardo’s pleased laughter. “Very good- but the news isn’t. A message just arrived from Norgu: the survivors of the wreck of the Night Queen are to be sold to the slavers in Ketu.”
“Norgu has them?”
“Just the sailors. I still haven’t located Zanos or Astra.”
“Huber?”
“No, not Huber either, although I have tried. Contrary to your exaggerated opinion of my powers, I cannot Read the entire continent of Africa.”
Nor could he Read across the sea to home, although he confessed to Wulfston that he had tried. Ill worry about Aradia. If I dared go out of body, I would try to Read to Zendi. At least I hope she has gone there. I want her under Master Clement’s care.”
Wulfston told him of trying to send Aradia a letter from Freedom Island. Ill don’t know whether my request will be honored, or whether the coins were pocketed and the letter thrown away.”
“If Aradia receives it, at least she will know we reached Africa alive.”
“I will send a letter from here before we set out,” Wulfston assured him. “Tadisha will know a trustworthy messenger.” Then he asked, “Out of body… could you really Read all the way home?”
There was a long mental silence. Then Lenardo replied, III don’t think so, Wulfston. But if I get the chance, I’m certainly going to try!”
But at the moment their concerns were there in Africa. “Can you help the Night Queen crew escape?”
Wulfston suggested. “All of you get out together?”
“They don’t know I’m here. None of them are Readers, and Norgu has me locked up and guarded.”
“Why is Norgu suddenly selling them?”
“Because you want them,” Lenardo replied. Ill can’t predict that boy’s moves. He has too much strength, and he acts on impulse-like giving my ring to you and telling you I was dead.”
Wulfston started. In the turmoil after Z’Nelia’s attack, he had forgotten Lenardo’s ring. But he quickly discovered it now lay gleaming on the table beside his bed. He picked it up and slid it back onto his finger. “Yes-he had to know I’d find out he was lying.”
“But not so soon. He wants you to come to him, Wulfston.”
“Oh, I plan to! Ill get you out of there. Where’s Ketu?”
“Between here and the Karili castle. You can liberate the Night Queen crew on the way-if someone else doesn’t buy them first. White men are considered exotic in Africa.”
“Norgu may be cleverer than we give him credit for,”
Wulfston realized. “He can’t hold you long, so he’s trying to force my hand. Lenardo, I’ll get there as soon as I can. Don’t try to escape on your own. Although you re conspicuous in Africa, I don’t want to have to hunt for you. I’m not that good a Reader yet.”
“You don’t think I could track you down?” Lenardo asked with mild amusement.
“Of course you could, but why complicate matters? Let me come to you. Once the two of us are in the same place, no one in Africa can stand against us!”
Lenardo agreed. “But Wulfston, if you were a trained Reader, I would not have been able to waken you today.”
“Why? Oh-I remember. Readers are not supposed to Read while they’re asleep so they won’t intrude on anyone or
broadcast anything.” A prickle of fear went through him. “What am I going to do? I have to sleep!”
“Aradia automatically braces her Adept powers when she sleeps,” said Lenardo. “Apparently you don’t have the same instinct, but cant you do it consciously?”
“Yes,” Wulfston replied in relief. But what of all the time he had slept, drugged and undrugged, since his Reading had begun, all the strange dreams, the fragments of thoughts and memories? Who could tell what Seers might have been listening in?
When Lenardo withdrew, Wulfston got up and dressed, testing both his Adept and his Reading powers.
He felt normal. In fact, he felt positively good. There were no guards on his room, but the castle was battle-ready. It was exhilarating not to have to leave his room to discover that; he could Read into every part of the castle, out into the courtyard, and to the city beyond. He didn’t “see” what he Read, but sensed it in a way he could not have explained in words.
Having “seen” the visions produced by Norgu and Barak, he now understood the difference between ordinary Reading an what the Readers called “visualization,” a higher-order skill. He wondered if he would ever develop that, or would always be dependent on a better Reader for visualization.
Interesting that in Africa the word for Reader meant “Seer.” He must ask Tadisha whether that meant that the ability to visualize was what distinguished someone with minor powers from someone who might command respect- and power.
At the thought of Tadisha, he Read her room, but it was empty. His conscience prodded him: Readers observed strict rules of privacy. The problem was, not having been a Reader before, he had never learned them! However, he chided himself, Reading into people’s private rooms was certainly forbidden except in an emergency.
Restricting himself to the public rooms of the castle, he found Tadisha in a small dining room off the kitchen, Traylo and Arlus on either side of her, begging for tidbits. “Tadisha?”
“Lord Wulfston,” she acknowledged. “Won’t you join me? I woke up as hungry as a Mover!”
So had he, so he hurried down the stairs. “Your Seeing powers are back.”
“Not yet back to normal, but returning,” she told him.
When Wulfston entered the dining room, Traylo and Arlus came running to meet him, fawning on him as if they had been waiting desperately for his appearance rather than perfectly content with Tadisha.
The Karili princess looked tired, her eyes puffy as if she still needed sleep. She was wearing a silk caftan in shades of green and tan, and her hair was tied back with a scarf of the same material.
She was eating bread and fruit, but only picking at a savory stew whose aroma had Wulfston’s mouth watering. “You need the meat,” he told her. “The weakness of your body will blunt your Seeing more than meat will. After your strength returns you can go back to eating like a rabbit if you want to.” He followed his own advice, helping himself to a liberal portion of the stew. “How are your mother and Barak?”
“Still healing,” she replied. “Our scouts confirm what Norgu showed us of the Savishnon-they are ready to move. The members of the Assembly are returning to their own lands to ready their armies.”
“And that is why you are up,” Wulfston observed. “It’s all your responsibility until your mother is well.”
He was painfully reminded of Aradia taking over rule of their lands, when their father slid inexorably into coma.
“Yes,” Tadisha replied simply.
“Let Kamas do it,” said Wulfston. “Where is he?”
“Still sleeping. He did not go to bed until he had verified that no one was coming to attack us in our vulnerable state.”
“If it’s safe for Kamas to sleep, then it’s safe for you. You should have had your meal brought to you, Tadisha, and gone right back to sleep.”
“I know that now, she replied wearily. “I wouldn’t be much good to anyone”- a yawn interrupted her words — “as tired as I still am.”
But before Tadisha could find the energy to leave the table, Kamas joined them. He wa? tense, but otherwise restored, for he had neither been injured nor used Adept powers. “Our healers commend your skill, Lord Wulfston. How is it that a warrior is trained in healing?”
“Isn’t that the custom here?” Wulfston asked. “At home, the most powerful Adepts are also the best healers.”
“It makes a Mover popular with the people, but it also weakens his powers. You Saw what happened to Norgu’s father.”
Wulfston smiled sadly. “Unfortunately, most Lords Adept in the Savage Lands felt as you do before our Alliance. We can only hope that the future proves our ways right.”
Before he allowed himself to fall asleep that night, Wulfston braced his Adept powers as Lenardo had suggested. If he dreamed, he did not remember it, and in the morning he woke with the sun, refreshed and eager to act.
He would not invade anyone’s privacy this morning, so he assumed that Tadisha and Kamas were still sleeping until a servant came to him. “Queen Ashuru is awake, and is consulting with Princess Tadisha and Prince Kamas. She requests that you join them.”
Ashuru might be awake, but she was far from well. The superficial burns had healed to skin of a reddish-pink. If left to heal naturally now, with no further Adept stimulus, it would regain its normal color in a few weeks without scarring.
The worst of Ashuru’s injuries, though, did not show; she had not left her bed because she could not.
Nerves along her spine had been seared. She had little feeling in her legs, and could move her arms only with effort. One of the healers was trying to persuade her to be put back into healing sleep again. “Please, Queen Ashuru-the sooner this kind of injury is healed, the better your chances for complete recovery.”
But Ashuru waved the healer aside. “Soon, soon;” she promised. “First we must make plans. Lord Wulfston, do you understand what happened in the temple?”
“Z’Nelia entered Tadisha’s body while she was out of it,” Wulfston replied.
The older woman nodded. “Thank Shangonu, not even a sabenu can command a Seer’s body once the Seer returns to it. And despite all, my daughter succeeded in her quest.”
Tadisha’s Vision! Wulfston had completely forgotten it.
Tadisha looked much better today, rested and healthy. “Lord Wulfston,” she said formally, “we can no longer blame you for bringing trouble upon us, for it is Shangonu’s will that you be here, now, when Savishna rises and Z Nelia seeks power. I had a True Vision:
“The Savishnon will move inexorably toward the east. Since there is no longer a way directly from their lands to
Z’Nelia’s, they will pass through our lands and Norgu’s first, destroying as they go. If we mass our armies and deploy our powers against them, we can hold them to the north-for now.”
“Why is there no way from the Savishnon lands into Z’Nelia’s?” asked Wulfston.
“The road is gone,” Kamas replied.
“Gone? Where?” Wulfston asked. “You can’t take away a road. You can temporarily block a pass with an avalanche; you can tear down bridges; you can flood a valley the road passes through. But with Adept powers it’s easy enough to clear away rubble, rebuild bridges and dams. Z’Nelia’s people have had four years to do so.”
“The Dead Lands,” Ashuru said grimly, “lie in the path the Savishnon would have to take to reach Johara from the north.”
“I see,” he replied.
Ashuru continued, “Lord Wulfston, do you understand why it is not always possible to obtain a Vision of what one seeks-or why such Visions are often incomplete?”
“Yes,” he replied, having been privy to much discussion on the matter after Torio developed the rare gift of prophecy. “The future is affected by both the past and the present. It appears that some events are fated-the will of the gods, the Aventines would say. No matter how we try to stop them, those events happen. The fall of Tiberium was such an event.
“True prophecies concern only such event
s, which are often foretold many years before they occur. But they are not detailed.” He was staring at his hands as he spoke, and suddenly Lenardos ring came into focus. “The design on this ring,” he continued, “represents a prophecy. ‘In the day of the white wolf and the red dragon, there will be peace through all the world.’ All our world, at any rate, for the white wolf is Aradia, my sister, and Lenardo is the red dragon. Their union represents the unity we have achieved, Readers and Adepts together. And there is peace.”
He could not voice the thought that forced itself, unbidden, into his mind. The prophecy does not say how long that day will last. If I don’t bring Lenardo back to Aradia-
“Yes,” said Ashuru, “prophecies and Visions give only part of the information we would like to know, for all the rest depends on events and decisions that change from day to day. Tadisha’s Vision told that you will play a key role in the upcoming battle, Lord Wulfston. What it did not tell was who will win.”
Tadisha spoke. “The battle will be between the greatest forces ever raised on our continent, and you will be a central figure. That battle will change the fate of Africa.”
Wulfston asked, “What do you mean by ‘central figure’? Or ‘changing the fate of Africa’? Where does Z’Nelia fit in? Because I’m here, will the Savishnon be defeated? Or-?”
Ashuru interrupted with a snort of laughter. “If we could answer that kind of question, we would be gods ourselves.”
Then what good did it do to put Tadisha in such danger? He did not voice the question, although he suspected that Ashuru Saw it despite her weakened condition. If she did, she pretended not to. “So,” she said, “you are a part of our battle plan, whether we want you or not. Shangonu protect us all.”
“I will help you all I can,” he replied. “But first I must ask your aid. The crew of my ship are to be sold at the slave market at Ketu. So that I may rescue them, I ask an escort who knows the land, the language, the customs.”
“And has money to buy your men,” added Ashuru.
Buy them? Before he could protest he realized she was right-the simplest solution was best. “Thank you,” he replied. “I will repay you, of course.”