by Jean Lorrah
Now he and Astra chose to fend for themselves-and all agreed that the fewer they were, the faster they would travel.
Dirdra, having little money, had made most of her journey from Madura by land. The first part, from the islands to the mainland, had had to be by ship-and that was when she had disguised herself as a boy, so as to pay her way with the few coins she possessed, rather than with her body.
It had taken her the whole winter to work her way southward, doing odd jobs for her keep, to the place where she had found that a peaceful land could not bring her peace of mind. But she would say little about what had happened to her in Maldek’s castle, and nothing explicit about what the sorcerer had done to her brother.
Torio and Melissa were learning the Maduran language, and Astra was polishing what she had learned from Zanos. Dirdra avoided Astra, not trusting her to leave her mind in privacy. Like many nonReaders, Dirdra seemed to have exaggerated notions of Readers’ abilities-but it was obvious she had learned to avoid attracting attention. It had been Astra who had admitted to broadcasting her memories to the group of Readers when they had first met, and although she had apologized, it would obviously take some time for her to gain Dirdra’s trust.
It occurred to Torio early in the journey to tell Dirdra he was blind, and therefore Read almost every moment he was awake. He didn’t want her to find out later and mistrust him… but he didn’t expect her reaction.
“You are the one… they claim you were raised from the dead?”
Was that angry lie to haunt him all his life? Lenardo was right-he had reacted, and reacted badly, to Portia’s unexpected credulity. And that moment’s weakness had brought nothing but trouble.
“Yes, that is said about me,” he told Dirdra. “It is not true, though.”
She nodded. “It couldn’t be. If your Adepts could restore life as you have it, they would not be seeking the knowledge of the Master Sorcerers. This thing that made people think you dead-it caused your blindness?”
“No, I was born blind,” Torio explained. “Once I learned to Read, it was no great inconvenience. But two years ago I escaped from the Aventine Empire with Master Lenardo. At the border gate, I knocked the Reader on guard unconscious-so when one of the soldiers shot me, he thought his arrow had gone through my heart.
“It hadn’t. I had a very bad wound, but nothing an Adept healer could not easily cure. I don’t even have a scar.
“But the border guards reported they had killed me. Portia was Master of Masters among Readers then.
When she discovered me alive, she was so surprised that she asked me if I had been raised from the dead. I was angry, and her question seemed so foolish to me that I said yes. I never dreamed she would believe it!”
Dirdra nodded, and stared off toward the distant coastline they paralleled. “Any Master Sorcerer should easily have detected such a lie. Even though you are a sorcerer, too, you are too young to have reached your full powers.”
“I’m no sorcerer,” said Torio. “I have no Adept powers at all.”
Dirdra turned to face him, leaning against the rail. “This division of powers-I do not understand. Once through the land of the Dark Forest, I found only what you call Adepts-no one with the inner sight, although I heard about the Readers in the Aventine Empire, where no one had Adept powers. In Madura someone may have only one or two slight abilities, but anyone as powerful at the inner sight as you are will surely have Adept powers as well.”
“We are learning,” Torio replied. “Our powers are of the mind… and the mind is influenced by what one believes. Perhaps even more so by what an entire society believes. No one in the empire or the savage lands knew until two years ago that it was possible for one person to have both powers.”
“But now that you know,” Dirdra persisted, “why have you not developed the other side of your powers?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps I don’t yet truly believe it’s possible, even though I see my friends doing it. Or maybe it’s that I do not want such ability. I do not want to rule people… and it is so easy to misuse such powers.”
“In Madura,” Dirdra said bitterly, “no Master Sorcerer would worry about such a thing.”
“Ah, but they will lose their powers that way,” Torio pointed out. “That is no trick of the mind, Dirdra.
You said you were surprised I could lie to Portia. So was I-but in misusing her powers she had weakened them. And Drakonius-he became ever more careless of the responsibilities that came with his powers, and we were able to defeat him.”
Dirdra sighed. “You are so young.”
“And you are so much older and wiser?”
“I have more experience of the world,” she replied. “If by misuse of powers, you mean to use other people as you please, with no regard for their suffering, then Maldek misuses his powers daily… and yet they grow and grow.”
“Perhaps they are concentrated on one thing,” Torio offered. “We have heard that your sorcerers have lost control of the climate-that once verdant isles are now frozen wastes.”
“That is true,” she replied, “but the Master Sorcerer has good reason to fear the heat of the sun. You will see-” She broke off, catching her lower lip between her teeth.
Before Torio could reassure her that no blind person became upset at the mention of sight, Dirdra suddenly said, “Lord Torio, are you seeking the Master Sorcerers to have them restore your sight?”
“No,” he replied. “Melissa seeks such knowledge of healing, but not for my sake. But is she chasing rainbows, Dirdra? Could your Master Sorcerers actually do such a thing?”
“Oh, yes. Maldek could do it all by himself… if he wished. But do not ask it, my lord. Even if you were no Reader, nothing could be worth the price Maldek would make you pay!”
The long sea journey in close quarters was a time for the adventurers to get to know one another better.
Torio and Melissa spent each evening together, talking, watching the stars, arms about each other for warmth against the night wind. Such constant closeness made them desire to be closer still-but what of the consequences?
One evening they dared to discuss it with Zanos and Astra. Driven belowdecks by stinging rain, the four of them huddled into the tiny cabin the married couple shared.
“Yes,” said Astra, “both our powers were weakened for a time after we consummated our marriage. In fact, my Reading was nicely controlled during those few weeks-I had to concentrate in order to Read at all, and the bit of Adept power I had acquired disappeared. But it came back.”
“So did all my powers,” Zanos assured them. “In fact, I think my Adept powers have grown stronger, although I cannot be certain, since I’ve spent the past year learning from experienced Adepts how to use them more efficiently.”
When the younger couple left together, Torio knew that the same thing was on Melissa’s mind as was on his. It would take a few weeks to reach Madura, time for weakened powers to return. If they experimented now…
Melissa shared a cabin with Dirdra, who made no secret of her femininity despite her boy’s clothes-she wore them now, she said, because they were more comfortable for travel than women’s skirts. Neither Melissa nor Astra was interested in testing her claims.
Torio had been given the cabin assigned to a Reader if one were aboard to navigate, although the crew of this vessel were accustomed to finding their way without one. There was hardly room to turn around-but that made it all the cozier when he and Melissa were there together. There was no place to sit but on the bunk, which they did, Melissa leaning against Torio, first letting him kiss her, then participating eagerly.
They were stretched out in the cramped quarters, clumsily pulling at one another’s clothing, when suddenly the ship lurched, almost throwing them off the bunk.
Both automatically Read for what had happened, and found that they had run into a squall. Nothing particularly dangerous in that, except-
“Islands!” they both exclaimed, and tangled with one another, nearly
going down in a heap as they struggled to get out of the cabin and warn the captain.
By the time Torio and Melissa lurched up the ladders to the deck, Astra was already with the captain at the wheel, shouting directions into his ear against the wind.
The two younger Readers retreated, but in the swinging lantern light they wordlessly agreed. Yes, there might be three Readers in their party-for Zanos’ powers were not up to the job his wife was doing-but if they put themselves out of commission, that would throw the entire responsibility of Reading onto Astra. It was not only unfair to do so; it was dangerous.
So with one more embrace, they parted-and the next day Torio decided to take his mind off his frustrations and keep himself in condition at the same time by offering to practice swordsmanship with Zanos.
The gladiator first put Astra through a complex lesson, for he insisted his wife be able to handle herself under attack. Torio watched, surprised at how well a woman could perform and wondering what skills she might have achieved if she had begun in childhood, as he had.
When Zanos turned to Torio, he of course saw a tall, lean young man with nothing like the gladiator’s size or strength. A fighter of Zanos’ experience, though, did not judge by appearances. Furthermore, he knew that Torio had survived far more battles than the average man his age, so he certainly had some ability.
But it was clear from Zanos’ first moves that he expected a swordsman of Astra’s skill, with the same advantage of Reading-for he kept himself unReadable, braced to use Adept power although never actually using it.
Torio countered Zanos’ opening moves with the standard countermoves; why give the game away in the first moments? He quickly recognized that the older man was putting him through a routine he himself might use in deciding whether to take a young swordsman on as a pupil.
So he was on the alert for the break with routine-and when Zanos suddenly, without rhyme or reason, lifted his arm as if to strike at Torio’s neck, the Reader was in under his guard instantly, his blunt practice weapon making a resounding thwack against the padding Zanos wore.
“Very good!” said the gladiator with a grin-and attacked at that same moment.
Torio caught Zanos’ sword with his, and used the fighter’s own momentum to twist his wrist.
The move would have disarmed any other opponent. Zanos, though, had the sheer brute strength to hang on to his grip and force Torio to disengage before the gladiator reversed the torque on him. Fortunately, the young Reader could sense the tension of the gladiator’s muscles preparing for the next move, and keep one step ahead of him.
For although Zanos was amazingly fast for his size, Torio was faster-he turned the disengage into a strike at Zanos’ thigh before the other man could bring his sword fully around to parry. This time it was a stinging slap to bare skin, but Zanos only laughed in delight.
“By the gods, Torio-I’d hire you for my stable of fighters any day! Who would expect such fire under that scholarly exterior?”
And Zanos stopped holding back. Soon he got a blow in, and continued trying to maneuver the Reader into positions where the gladiator’s strength was an advantage, while Torio sought to use his greater speed.
With their differing styles but equal cunning, they were evenly matched. Their bouts on the long days of the sea journey often ended in a draw, both men happily played out.
But there were things Torio could learn from Zanos. Hand-to-hand fighting, for example, without weapons. Zanos was only too happy to teach him that, as well as how to use a knife as a weapon.
And Torio, although the youngest of the three Magister Readers on this journey, was the most skilled.
Astra’s wild powers were stronger, but she still often lacked control, and gladly handed her husband over to Torio to learn how best to use his small Reading talent.
So the lengthening days passed as they sailed out of the Southern Sea and northward along the shores of strange countries. The ship’s captain knew ports where it was safe to go ashore, take on water and food, and trade for supplies and trinkets.
At each such stop the sailors had leave to visit the taverns, while the passengers chafed at the delay.
Finally, though, they accepted that the captain would govern his crew as he thought best, and began to enjoy the occasional day ashore.
Dirdra was not the only refugee who had fled Madura in recent years; the farther north they traveled, the less the language was like the dialects of the savage tongue they were accustomed to, but the easier it was to find someone who spoke Maduran. Eventually they reached a land called Brettonia, where to Torio, Melissa, and Astra the language seemed to be Maduran itself, although Zanos and Dirdra claimed it was simply a related dialect.
It had been nine days since their last stop, for when they passed the land of the Dark Forest, the ship’s captain had warned that the people there were hostile to strangers, letting them pass only on the high sea or on the main road Dirdra had traveled. So they had stayed far out to sea, the Readers fascinated at the way the captain navigated by sun and stars when they were out of sight of land.
It was early summer in Brettonia, and everyone was delighted to go ashore. The little port city perched on a cliff above the harbor, and the five adventurers climbed the winding path in search of a bathhouse, fresh fruit and vegetables, and an inn where they could get a good meal rather than the stuff served in the quayside taverns to which the sailors quickly repaired.
Yellow daisies with dark brown centers grew beside the cliff path. Torio picked some and wove them into a garland for Melissa, who thanked him with a kiss.
But she blushed rosily when they found themselves in the baths-for the custom here was for families, or groups of friends such as these obviously were, to bathe together without regard to sex.
The “bathhouse” was merely a structure at the opening to some underground mineral springs. At this time of day there was no one else bathing, so the attendant rented them soap and towels, showed them around, and then left them to their own devices.
Zanos unself-consciously stripped and plunged into a pool of bubbling water. Astra waited only until he surfaced, shaking water from his hair and announcing, “It’s warm!” Then she joined her husband.
But Torio and Melissa had never quite been naked together. That they were restricting their Reading lest Astra and Zanos perceive their uneasiness at a public unveiling only made their shyness more pronounced.
Just as Torio decided the best thing to do was to be bold, and started taking off his clothes, Dirdra said,
“How can you be embarrassed? You are Readers-you see everything anyway.”
“Certainly not!” replied Melissa. “The rules of privacy are drilled into us as children.”
Dirdra had divested herself of the layers of loose garments which obscured her figure, and now stood in nothing but a shirt of soft cotton. “There are no such rules for Master Sorcerers,” she said, “and when we First met-”
Astra came to the edge of the pool. “How often must I apologize, Dirdra? There are times when the only way to control my wild Reading talent is to brace for Adept powers-but I do not want to blank out constantly the powers I have relied on since childhood. Please understand that it was entirely my fault that we invaded your privacy when we first met. Torio or Melissa would never do such a thing.”
“And I couldn’t,” added Zanos. “I can just barely Read at all-mostly Astra projects to me.”
“I promise,” said Astra, “that I will never deliberately invade your privacy… nor would I use anything I discover against you.”
Dirdra looked from Astra to Zanos, then back to Torio and Melissa. “I… I know. Just these few weeks-you, with all your powers-you’ve accepted me, although I have none. Never in all my travels did I find that. Those with power use it to control others-but not you. Lady Astra, you need ask no forgiveness, but”-as Astra drew breath to protest- “I give it as you desire it.”
With that, Dirdra slipped off her shirt and plunged into th
e pool, where Astra hugged her.
Torio and Melissa, of one mind, grasped the moment when attention was diverted from them to throw off the rest of their clothes and dive into the pool.
With three Magister Readers, the group could enjoy the baths without worrying about security. Someone would be sure to notice if anyone else entered the caverns. Nonetheless, their weapons lay ready beside the pool, a precaution Zanos and Astra lived by.
The water was exhilarating: warm and tingling as a brisk massage. It was about shoulder-deep on Torio, deep enough to swim, or just stand and let the currents swirl pleasantly around them.
Melissa and Astra loosed their long hair to wash it free of salt from their ocean voyage, and soon soap bubbles were added to the natural effervescence of the pool.
The men soaped their hair and beards, too. It was inconvenient to try to shave each day on a journey-and Torio had discovered with secret pleasure that at last he could grow a real man’s beard.
When all were clean, Zanos led the charge into a larger cavern, where a small waterfall tumbled over the rocks above them. The cave was open to the sky, bringing a shaft of sunshine to warm them when they emerged shivering from the deep pool at the foot of the cascade.
Zanos discovered that he could climb the rocks to about twice his height, and dive into the pool. When Astra followed, Melissa tugged at Torio’s hand. “Come on-let’s try it!”
Astra jumped in feet first, but Zanos had dived head first, arms extended. Not to be outdone, even though he had never dived from such a height in his life, Torio tried to copy Zanos’ form-and struck the water so hard with his chest and stomach that the breath was knocked out of him.
As he surfaced, gasping, Zanos laughed. “Good try, lad-now you know how not to do it!”
Torio managed a grin. Melissa didn’t try to dive, just jumped-but when the other four were at the side of the pool, looking up to see what had become of her, Dirdra astonished them all by leaping upward, bending gracefully into a dive as clean and lovely as that of a seabird, and cutting neatly into the water with hardly a splash.