by Jean Lorrah
Finally, since there was nothing they could do for Kwinn and Dirdra tonight, they retired to the rooms assigned them, and slept the sleep of utter exhaustion.
Torio woke in a cold sweat, out of a nightmare he could not remember. The castle was coming to life for the day. The guards were securing the drawbridge, which had just been let down, and servants scurried about, preparing for the awakening of their master and his guests.
When Torio sat up, Gray raised his head from where he had been sleeping at Torio’s feet in the huge bed. “You were on the floor when I fell asleep,” Torio informed him. “How did you get up here without waking me? Do you have Adept power, too?”
The dog stretched, then pushed his face under Torio’s chin until the Reader rubbed the big shaggy head.
That ritual completed, he jumped off the bed, went to the door, and whined. Torio opened the door for him, Reading the dog run down the stairs and across the courtyard, then over the drawbridge into the forest.
Apparently Gray’s not worried about me this morning, thought Torio, and Read the other nearby rooms.
Dirdra was in the dull sleep of emotional exhaustion, her face still showing signs that after the others had left last night she had cried herself to sleep. Kwinn was curled up atop the coverings at her feet-just as Gray had been on Torio’s bed.
Melissa still slept in her room across the hall, and next door Zanos and Astra were in one another’s arms, her head on his shoulder, one arm about his waist as if her small body could shield his great one. On either side of the bed, their swords were hung within easy reach. And what good are they against power like Maldek’s? Torio wondered.
He was Reading surfaces only, invading no one’s privacy-but he was wide awake and too tense to go back to sleep. What was the “game” Maldek intended to play with them? And where was the Master Sorcerer now?
In another wing of the castle, he Read Maldek… also asleep. So, the man was human after all.
Torio had slept in the nightshirt he had found laid out on his bed. The clothes he had worn last night were gone, but an embroidered robe hung over the chair by the bed, fur-lined slippers beneath it.
More demonstrations of power: someone had been in and out of the room, not only without waking Torio, but without disturbing Gray.
Furthermore, just as Torio put on the robe and slippers, a servant started up the stairs from the kitchen with breakfast on a tray. The woman was Reading him-inexpertly enough that she instantly attracted his attention, but Reading nonetheless-yet when she reached his door she became blank to Reading for a moment, and the door opened by itself.
Someone with both Reading and Adept powers employed as a serving maid? Another symbol of Maldek’s power.
“You be up early, young sir,” the woman said as she laid the tray on the table. “Have a good breakfast, and then Devon will be up to help you dress. The Master says you be welcome to explore the castle till he rises. You may find summat of interest in his library.”
“Thank you,” Torio replied. The smell of fresh-baked bread was too good to resist. There was fruit mixed with soft farmer’s cheese, as well, and a pot of fresh hot tea whose scent he did not recognize. As before, everything Read perfectly wholesome, so he ate and drank-and by that time Gray was back.
When the door opened by itself to admit the dog, Torio Read outward, amazed that anyone, except perhaps Maldek, could have been Reading the room without his knowing it.
But the man sweeping the dust out of the corners of the hall had been Reading the dog, not Torio.
Gray eagerly accepted the leftovers of Torio’s breakfast. “But that’s not enough for you,” he realized.
“We’ll go down to the kitchen and-” He stopped, smiling grimly. “No-we don’t even have to ask!”
This time the door opened to admit a manservant in Maldek’s black-and-silver livery, followed by a small boy with a platter of meat scraps and bones, and a bowl of water. Hesitantly, he set them before the huge dog, then scurried out of the room.
Gray set happily to his meal while Devon laid out clothing for Torio. The daytime garments were no less rich than last night’s robes, although the hose were woolen, as was the undershirt. He was given a satin shirt of an iridescent blue-green, covered by a knee-length tunic of the same reddish-brown wool as the hose, sleeveless and open-necked to show the shirt. The tunic was belted in soft leather.
Over that went a short fur vest, and then a fur-trimmed ankle-length robe of the reddish-brown wool, lined with blue-green satin.
Soft leather boots came up high on Torio’s calves-and fit as perfectly as if the cobbler had measured his feet! Finally, Devon adjusted a soft brimless hat on his head, something Torio was quite unaccustomed to. Winter cloaks had hoods where he came from, but no one required a head covering indoors. Here, though, the castle’s stone walls gave off a chill not completely cut by the heavy hangings.
“Now, sir,” said Devon, “you will be comfortable. Please feel free to explore. Perhaps the Master’s library-?”
Why does Maldek want me in his library? Torio wondered. Perhaps it was a trap. For a Reader?
Unlikely, as the lord of the castle must certainly know that his guests mistrusted him, and would be on guard.
So he dismissed Devon, deciding to remain right where he was-and Read the library.
It was a large room, with more books and scrolls than he had ever seen in one place. There was a desk with a huge candelabra, pens, a box of parchment, wax seals-Maldek or some secretary must work here regularly. The pens were trimmed and ready for use. The inkpot was freshly filled. The broad surface of the desk was clean of dust, and the wax droppings of the partly burned candles had been scraped away.
But the books and scrolls were what interested Torio. In Zendi, Master Clement was working with Aradia-who had lost her own library when her castle was destroyed-to build up a collection of useful works. How they would envy this library!
Unable to see, Torio had not learned to read-as opposed to Reading-until he could visualize. Once he had mastered the technique, though, he had read voraciously.
The other boys would never have put the effort into visualizing what they could see perfectly well, but Torio had to make the same effort to Read a page whether he opened the book or not-and so usually he didn’t. The only way Lenardo had kept him from spending all his free time lying on his bed, lost in some book on the shelves of the Academy library, was to entice him with something more interesting.
Lenardo, whom he idolized, was the instructor of novice swordsmen. Since Torio, at age eight, imitated Lenardo in every way possible, his teacher had been able to entice the boy to exercise by introducing him to swordplay. As his body strengthened from the daily activity, he was able to play with the other boys, to learn to swim, and soon to be as sturdy and healthy as the other young Readers.
There had never seemed to be enough hours in the day for lessons and games and the books he wanted to explore. Torio was reminded, as he stretched out on his bed in Maldek’s castle, of the nights Lenardo had discovered him reading instead of sleeping, and made him do the Readers’ mental exercises for sleep.
With much the same sense of stealing time, Torio Read Maldek’s library. The Master Sorcerer’s own notebooks were stacked on the desk and on the shelves beside it, but Torio resisted the temptation to examine those first.
He found a section of works on medicine-herbal lore, surgery, diagrams of the bodies and brains of both humans and animals. Nearby were works on agriculture and horticulture, weather prediction… and a text on Adept climate manipulation. History, architecture, geography, Reading techniques, philosophy, government-Maldek seemed to have books on every topic.
Having discovered the library’s organization, Torio turned to Maldek’s notebooks, wondering why the Master Sorcerer had left them in plain sight. That had to be where the trap lay, if there was one.
Maldek could not know which of his guests would wake first this morning-nor would he probably have guesse
d that Torio would not enter the library, although no skilled Reader would have had to. Even Master Readers read with their eyes most of the time.
Torio carefully assessed the books on the desk. He found no physical traps. Moving them would not trigger a trapdoor or a falling weight. There was no poison on the covers or sprinkled within the pages…
Or was there?
The last entry in the top notebook was dated yesterday:
My visitors approach. They will be worthy opponents, for they have all survived. Even the hound has been turned to their advantage-although I saw in the blind one’s mind that he knows nothing of animals.
Had he shown fear or hate, the beast would have torn him apart.
What powers have these five, that all have eluded my traps? They are weak, their powers nothing to mine. I must know their secret. I must have this power they share.
Now that was interesting, that Maldek should think they shared some secret power!
In an earlier entry, Torio found that someone had Read Dirdra aboard the ship with them and relayed the message to Maldek, who offered a reward for such information. “I knew she would return,” he wrote. “I may be forced to restore her brother-but if I do, he will not be the same person. Still, Dirdra need not know that limit to my powers.”
So if Dirdra had not arrived in the company of Readers who could warn of his treachery, Maldek would have led her on until he obtained what he wanted. Torio found the idea repellent. What kind of person would want the physical favors of someone who did not desire him?
It was not merely that Maldek was a Reader, and would know that Dirdra came to him unwillingly. None of Torio’s nonReader friends would coerce someone to act against her will. He shied away from the mind of someone who could think like that.
Yet… if he did not come to uaderstand the man, how could he help his companions escape Maldek’s clutches?
So he continued to read.
And did not know he had fallen into the trap in the library until Gray became bored with sleeping on the fur rug beside the bed and jumped up to nudge Torio.
Pulling his mind out of Maldek’s notes, he found that it was already midmorning. His companions were all gone from their rooms.
Torio swung his legs off the bed, Reading for the others. They were in the room where they had first met Maldek last night. The Master Sorcerer was once more on his throne.
A woman was being brought in through the courtyard, guarded-a Reader! In fact, a strong Reader who would have been a Magister, perhaps even a Master, in the Academy system.
“Who-?” the woman’s mind questioned as Tor-io’s thoughts touched hers. “You are Aventine!”
“Magister Torio, late of the Adigia Academy,” he told her in terms she would understand-for the flood of images her mind produced told him that she had come here from his homeland.
“Cassandra,” she identified herself, “once of Portia’s Academy in Tiberium.”
Although Torio did not verbalize it, the woman Read his surprise that such a strong Reader was not ranked.
Ill was once a Master Reader,” she told him, bitter shame shrouding her thoughts. Ill broke my vows-and my life has been misery ever since.”
As Cassandra and Torio exchanged thoughts, she was being led by the guards toward Maldek’s throne room, while Torio hurried down the stairs, Gray at his heels. He could Read Cassandra’s reaction to being brought before Maldek: resignation, and the expectation of some new trouble piled upon a lifetime of the same. But she had no idea why she was here.
“Don’t antagonize Maldek,” Torio warned as he Read that she cared little what happened to her now.
“You think he doesn’t know anything he chooses?” the woman replied. “He Reads already who I am, and how much life has punished me, first for breaking my vows, then for fleeing to this land of evil.”
And Torio could, indeed, Read that the Master Sorcerer was following their mental conversation with avid interest.
Torio Read Astra stiffen, and turn to look as well as Read, but she was carefully guarding her thoughts so that only a strange turmoil of emotion could be Read from her.
Cassandra gave a despairing mental laugh as she was taken into the throne room. Ill made one mistake in my life-and it destroyed the man I loved. Why should I be surprised if Maldek decides to add to my punishment?”
The Master Sorcerer rose as Cassandra was escorted in and stretched out a hand to beckon her forward. “Welcome, Cassandra,” he said with the same guileless charm he had turned on Melissa the night before, “Have no fear-I have a wonderful surprise for you. Behold!”
As Torio took his place beside Melissa, Maldek dismissed the guards and motioned Astra forward. “As I promised-here you will find what you sought.”
Astra moved stiffly, her mind refusing to believe-until she stood face to face with Cassandra. Torio heard Zanos gasp as the two women stood in profile: the same lines, as alike as the two faces formed by the drawing of a wine goblet.
Cassandra stared blankly at Astra-but the younger woman whispered, “You… you are my mother!”
Cassandra blinked, then stepped back and glared at Maldek. “This is some trick for your evil satisfaction!”
“Indeed not,” replied the sorcerer. “It is for your satisfaction, Cassandra-but especially for your daughter’s.”
“I have no daughter,” the woman insisted. “My first child died soon after birth… and later I bore my husband two stillborn sons. The gods punished us for our transgressions.”
“Cassandra,” said Astra, “I am your daughter, Astra. Portia lied to you. When you were weak after childbirth, your Reading powers diminished, she used the techniques designed to heal sick minds… but to evil purpose. She made you think that you Read your own child dead.”
“But… why?” Cassandra asked. “Portia had no reason to lie to me.”
“She wanted to keep your child in her power. I am the daughter of two Master Readers. Portia led me to believe that you had deserted me, so that I would turn to her as a mother. But when I grew up, my Reading powers increased-and I discovered how she had lied to me. And to you… Mother.”
Cassandra stared. “I Read that you are telling the truth… at least as you know it.” Tears slid down her cheeks. “Oh, child, whether you are truly my daughter or no, I have brought the curse of the gods upon you if your search for me brought you to this place of evil!”
Astra blushed. “I… did not come seeking you,” she admitted. “I had no way to trace where you might have gone. I came here with my husband, who-”
“Husband!” exclaimed Cassandra, looking past Astra to Zanos, Reading his clumsy effort to follow their thoughts as well as their words. “Yes… he is a Dark Moon Reader, but surely you inherited enough powers-?” Her eyes widened as she Read Astra’s tumbled thoughts. “You… you ran away from Portia to marry this man? You broke your vows, too? Oh, child-why did you have to inherit my weakness?”
“You don’t understand!” said Astra. “Mother-please come with Zanos and me. Let us tell you our story.” She turned to the Master Sorcerer, who was watching the reunion with keen interest. “Maldek, I think I have had in the back of my mind this whole journey that somewhere I might find news of my parents… even find them alive. And so I thank you.”
The sorcerer smiled with apparent sincerity. “It is my pleasure, Astra. By all means, go have a private talk with your mother. Melissa, if you will come with me, I will continue to teach you what you seek.
Dirdra-”
“I will walk in the forest with my brother,” she replied.
“Then, Torio-?”
“I’ll come with you, if you don’t object,” he told Maldek. “I may have no Adept powers, but perhaps I can help Melissa Read just what happens when you heal people.”
They went into a long, hall-like room on the ground floor. It faced the courtyard, where it was safe to have large, many-paned windows to admit sunlight. In the morning, when all the fires but the cooking fire were ou
t, it was the warmest room in the castle.
This was the infirmary. Although it was clean, Torio could tell that it was seldom used. There were only two beds set up with fresh straw mattresses, although he could Read frames for a dozen or more stacked in a nearby storage room.
In Wulfston’s castle, and in Lilith’s, at least a dozen beds were always available, frequently occupied with people in healing sleep. There were healers in every village, but people whose illness or injury was beyond the powers of such minor
Adepts were always taken to the Lord Adept. Here, it appeared, the Lord of the Land rarely bothered with his people’s needs.
Or perhaps it was the payment he exacted that made people fear to come. The guards had to drag in a man all bent and crippled with rheumatism. Despite pain that made the Readers wince, he flung himself at Maldek’s feet, saying, “Master, I dinna ask to be brought here. Please, Master-I be content!”
“But wouldn’t you be happier without your pain?” asked Maldek. With a wave of his hand, the man’s pain disappeared.
“Now,” said Maldek as the man stared down at his body as if he’d never seen it before, “we must cool the inflammation and straighten those limbs.”
The guards lifted the patient onto one of the beds, where he clutched at the mattress with his poor bent hands and asked, “What do ye want of me, Master?”
“Why, nothing but to make you well,” Maldek told him. “You will be cured-and then you will be able to work. Instead of begging in the streets, you will pay your tithe to my support, which is the support of my people. Rest now,” he added, touching the man on the forehead, at which he promptly fell asleep.
Maldek’s rationale was precisely what Torio had heard Aradia say as to why it was in the best interest of a Lord Adept to expend his energies in healing. But the unused state of the infirmary and the reaction of his patient showed that this was not Maldek’s usual practice.
“Now, Melissa,” said the Master Sorcerer, “show me how you would heal this man.”
“I have done this kind of healing before,” she replied. “The poor man’s body is fighting itself.” She lifted one of the gnarled hands, Read it, and then became blank to Reading as she concentrated. Healing heat spread beneath her fingers. The inflammation yielded, dissolved away, and the swelling went down as improved circulation carried away the accumulated fluid.