by Jean Lorrah
“I can make the muscles relax,” she said, “but after he becomes accustomed to being without pain it will take exercise to bring his limbs back to full function. The tendons have shortened; only time and use will lengthen them.”
Maldek Read Melissa’s work, Torio Reading with him. So far he had seen no sign that their host was a better Reader than he was, nor did the examination of the patient’s hand give any such indication.
“You have done your work well, Melissa,” said Maldek, “but you have wasted too much of your own energy. Tell me-do you know what Adept powers are?”
Melissa studied him, looking puzzled. “I don’t think you mean that they are powers to affect material objects with the mind.”
“No-I mean what they are, not what they do.”
“Then I don’t know,” Melissa replied.
“They are forces from a different realm,” replied Maldek. “We can use them to catalyze our own efforts, which is what most Adepts do-or we can simply guide them, let them pour through us, and thus use very little of our own energy. That is what Master Sorcerers do.”
“A different realm?” questioned Torio. “What do you mean? Another plane of existence? Such planes are not physical, and can only be reached out of body. How can they provide power?”
Maldek smiled disarmingly at him. “An excellent question. You have ventured onto other planes of existence, Torio? You are very young for such a quest-it is said that one is hardly rooted in this world until he has lived in it for a generation-thirty years.”
“And I suppose you waited that long?” asked Torio.
“Almost,” replied Maldek, frowning. “Do they teach you this in your Academy training while you are so young? That is dangerous-you could lose yourself.”
“It is not something I would do for amusement,” Torio replied. “One of my teachers was lost on the planes of existence, and it took a circle of Readers and Adepts to draw him back. I know of others who have been lost forever, their bodies left behind to die.
“But you are avoiding my question, Maldek. One does not enter the planes of existence in his body, for they are immaterial. So how can they have anything to do with physical power?”
“How? That is something I do not know. That there are planes of power, though, I am witness to. And those planes must be tapped while one is in the body. Out of it, one cannot control them-or at least no one ever has except in legend.”
“The ghost-king,” Torio identified.
“It is legend here in Madura, too,” replied Maldek. “Even if that tale is not pure fable, in living memory no one has tapped the planes of power out of body. Our version of the legend says that when the king did so, the power flowed through his conscious link with his helpless body, and destroyed it. That is how he became a ghost.”
“That part’s not in our story,” said Torio. “But… how can you reach other planes of existence without going out of body? And how can you Read and use Adept powers at the same time?”
“I’m not Reading when I do it,” Maldek replied. “That is why I can teach Melissa only as I was taught-and until you develop the Adept half of your powers, I cannot teach it to you, Torio. But this is what Melissa came here to learn. Let her learn it.”
“Go ahead,” Torio replied. “I’ll try to Read what you’re doing.”
But it was the same as the night before-he could Read what happened to the man’s arthritic joints, but not the source of the change.
Perhaps he found it difficult to concentrate on the healing because he was too aware of Maldek touching Melissa. In fact, he was Reading the Master Sorcerer so closely that when he stood behind her, wrapping his huge body around hers to put his hands over hers on the patient, Torio could smell Melissa’s fresh scent in Maldek’s nostrils.
And Maldek’s reaction-the reaction of a normal, healthy man to having his arms around a beautiful woman.
Torio gritted his teeth and concentrated on the healing. As before, it seemed to take place spontaneously, without the healing fire. Not only did the inflammation disappear, but the muscles relaxed and the shortened tendons… grewl
Torio could not believe what he was Reading.
Healers had used traction in the Aventine Empire, when normal exercise would not restore full function.
Adepts might work on deformed limbs daily, making small progress each time until they were restored-but he had never Read anything like this. Of course Melissa had to learn it!
But, “I just don’t know what you’re doingl” she protested when Maldek took his hands off hers for the dozenth time, and for the dozenth time the healing stopped abruptly.
“It’s all right,” he said. “I couldn’t do it when I first tried, either. It will come with practice, Melissa. But now, Read your patient.”
Both Torio and Melissa did so. The man was sleeping quietly, all inflammation gone from his joints, muscles relaxed, connective tissue restored to normal. He would require food and exercise to restore his strength-but then he would be able to resume a normal life!
“Now Read me,” Maldek instructed.
“I’m tired just from concentrating,” exclaimed Melissa, “and you’re as fresh as if you’d just had a good night’s sleep!”
“I did not use my own energy,” Maldek explained. “In fact, I sometimes think that the more one draws from the planes of power, the more one is energized by what one touches. Come-we have another patient waiting.”
This time the patient walked in willingly, looking around, taking stock. He was a red-haired man in his early thirties, dressed in fine fabrics, but of too many different bright colors. Arrogantly, he looked Maldek up and down, then asked, “Well, Master Sorcerer, what did you really have your guardsmen bring me here for? I’ll never believe it was this!”
And he thrust out his right arm-which ended not in a hand, but a hook!
Torio gasped in recognition. “By the gods!”
“Oh, no, Torio,” said Maldek, “the gods had nothing to do with it. I knew where this one was. It was Cassandra who was hard to find.”
“What’s going on here?” the red-haired man asked. “Them guards told me you wanted me at the castle to get a new hand. I told ‘em you don’t do favors for gamblers-so what’s it really about?”
“Exactly what the guards told you,” Maldek replied. “I sent them for you in particular, and also told them to bring in the most crippled beggar they saw in the streets.” He waved toward the sleeping man. “As you can see, he is no longer crippled. I have a student here learning to heal. I plan to demonstrate on you.”
“Yeah?” the man questioned. “I’m not so sure I like that. You gonna grow my hand back? Welchers are scared pretty bad by this hook.”
“And also people you ‘protect’ for a fee, no doubt,” said Maldek. “But I will have another surprise for you soon, Bryen. And I want you in perfect condition for it.”
“No thanks!” said Bryen, and headed for the door. “I’ve always stayed out of your way, Maldek. You got no call to pick me for your experiments.”
“Ah, but I have,” replied the sorcerer-and Bryen stopped in his tracks, paralyzed. “Come now-I’ve no reason to hurt you. I’m doing you a favor.”
But not Zanos, Torio thought to himself. If there was any form of human parasite Zanos hated, it was gamblers. Could Maldek know that?
Released, Bryen turned, anger and fear clashing within him. “What you gonna want in return for the favor I never asked for?” he demanded. “I got no woman I care about-don’t pay in this land! You need more money? I can get it for you, depending-”
“Bryen, I am not asking you to pay. You are doing a favor for two of my guests. Now lie down, and let me restore your hand.”
Bryen stared at Melissa and Torio as he moved reluctantly to the empty bed. “Your guests, huh? You folks from some other country?”
“As a matter of fact, we are,” said Melissa.
“Well-take care who you think’s your friend,” Bryen warned.
“Just go to sleep now and let us work,” said Maldek, and the red head dropped onto the pillow.
Maldek removed the tight wrappings which secured the hook to the stump of Bryen’s right arm. The arm itself was as strong as his left-he obviously used the hook, probably just as he had suggested.
The pale stump was cleanly healed over, long calloused and without pain.
“Observe,” said Maldek, “what you will be able to do once you have mastered the planes of power.”
Torio and Melissa Read together. Maldek became blank to Reading as he asserted his Adept powers, then Readable again as he studied the effects, removing the calluses and scar tissue, leaving only normal flesh at the end of Bryen’s arm-soft and pink and vulnerable.
But then Maldek began to Read with fine discernment, down to the very level of the cells of Bryen’s body. Torio had Read thus with Astra, knew Lenardo could have Read it… but he had never tried to Read to such a level on his own.
At least in this skill, Maklek was a better Reader… now. But Torio’s powers would grow for ten years yet. Meanwhile, Reading with Maldek would give him experience against the day when his own powers would reveal such depths.
But then… Maldek began to Read inside the cells!
Down, down, into the tangled strands of life itself, Maldek reached and manipulated. Lost, Torio observed without understanding. Maldek spread cold white fire among the dancing threads until they writhed and intermeshed in new patterns-blinking in and out as Maldek stopped Reading to control, then resumed to study his results.
Then he withdrew, and stood Reading the stump of Bryen’s arm, just within the flesh. Here Torio could Read for himself… and observed a miracle.
The sealed-off bone ends dissolved, and cell by cell the bones began to extend. At the same time, tiny bits of new living matter formed out of the old, and assembled themselves at the ends of the two bones of the forearm.
Melissa gasped as she recognized the pattern. “It’s like the hand of a baby growing in the womt›-so tiny, yet all the elements in place!”
Indeed, the formation was so small that it was not visible even as a swelling… but it was there]
Maldek guided the substance until it had taken on a life of its own. Then he let go his concentration and stood back, breathing heavily.
“You’re tired,” said Melissa.
“Only weary with concentration,” the Master Sorcerer replied. “Let Bryen sleep. We’ll waken him to feed him later-for his body will deplete itself with all the work it must do.”
“The substance, then,” Torio asked, “comes from Bryen’s body?”
“Of course. It is possible to make matter disintegrate, Torio, but I’ve never yet heard of the Master Sorcerer who could create it. And the pattern of Bryen’s whole body, including his missing hand, is in every cell. All I had to do was copy it.”
They went to dinner, then-just the three of them, for Dirdra had not returned, and Zanos and Astra, still closeted with Cassandra, requested that the meal be sent up to their room.
“When are you going to tell Zanos that his brother is here?” asked Torio.
“As soon as Bryen has enough strength for the reunion-just a few days. Zanos is not a strong Reader-surely you two can keep from spoiling my surprise?”
“Of course,” Melissa replied, assuming Torio’s consent. “Besides, it’s Astra’s day today, finding her mother after all these years. Let them enjoy their reunion, and when Bryen has recovered Astra will be able to share Zanos’ happiness the way he is sharing hers today.”
Torio wondered if they were indeed happy, considering how bitter Cassandra had seemed-but when she came down to supper with Zanos and Astra that evening she was a changed woman. Her eyes and Astra’s both showed that they had cried-but they were happy now.
Face on, Cassandra and Astra did not look nearly as much alike as they did in profile, although it was easy to guess they were related. But when they smiled—
Although Torio felt that no woman could compare in beauty to Melissa, with her delicate heart-shaped face and softly curling hair, he knew that other women were beautiful as well. Lilith had a serene, classic beauty. Aradia was exotically lovely. But Astra was not a beautiful woman, merely pretty in the way of youth, and Cassandra had not even that.
But when they smiled, both mother’s and daughter’s faces took on such a glow that for that moment they seemed the most beautiful women in the world.
Over supper, Cassandra told an abbreviated version of the life’s story she had revealed to her daughter and son-in-law that day.
She had, indeed, broken her vows as a Master Reader, as had Master Anthony. When Cassandra’s pregnancy revealed their indiscretion, the Council of Masters decreed that oath-breakers were not to be rewarded with one another, but that they would be separated and sent to the far ends of the empire.
So Cassandra and Anthony decided to run away together.
But Portia watched Cassandra too closely. The day she packed her belongings, she found the door blocked by the Master of Masters-and thereafter locked. With her advancing pregnancy, it became less and less possible for her to flee.
Anthony, pursued as he moved from village to village trying to find a way to rescue Cassandra, was eventually forced to cross the border into the savage lands.
Finally Cassandra’s baby was born-and died. At least so Portia had made her believe. And in her despair, Cassandra fled-perhaps escaping too easily, she thought now that she knew Portia had not wanted her, but her child.
In the savage lands Cassandra had to hide her Reading ability, for the savages, terrified of their powers, killed Readers. For almost a year she had wandered, terrified, until at last she touched minds with another at a harvest fair-and found her love.
They spoke their marriage vows to one another, and decided to travel northward, to where they had heard of verdant isles where people of both Reading and Adept powers lived in peace.
“And indeed,” Cassandra finished, “Madura was such a land in those days. We sailed here eagerly, and found welcome. It seemed that we had paid for our misdeeds, and that at last we could settle down to good lives.
“But… our children were born dead, and we knew the punishment of the gods was still upon us. We lived far in the northern hills of this island, seeking obscurity among the shepherds-and then the old Lord of the Land died.”
She looked at Maldek, and continued, choosing her words carefully. “At first, things seemed the same as always, except that the shepherds complained that the new Master Sorcerer demanded twice as many sheep and three times as much wool as his portion of their goods. But they had fine flocks, and it was little hardship for them.
“Then… the tithe was increased, and demands came for young men of the village for the army, and young women…” She let that trail off. “Then a few years ago the climate changed. Winters became longer. The newborn lambs died in the snow, and the sheep that survived grew weaker as there was less and less for them to eat.
“Anthony went out with the shepherds in a blizzard, to find and rescue as many of their sheep as possible.
None of us were strong anymore-we were suffering shortages as much as the sheep were. Anthony stayed out all night with the shepherds-and caught pneumonia. So did several other men. The village healer exhausted himself, while I did all that I could with herbs-but it had been years since I could get many herbs I needed. Five good men died that winter… among them Anthony.”
Cassandra fell silent. Maldek rose and came up behind her chair, placing his hand on her shoulder.
“Cassandra-I am only beginning to recognize what harm I have done in my attempts to strengthen Madura against its enemies. If I could bring your husband back, I would-but you know I cannot.”
I “No,” Dirdra suddenly spoke up, “you can only make orbu, you fiend!”
“And I have stopped doing that,” Maldek replied, irritation edging his voice for a moment. Then he calmed himself. “You have no reason to believe me, Dird
ra-how could you, when it is your own example that has shown me my mistakes only in these past few days?”
Torio tried to Read the man’s sincerity, but he was shielding his emotions by bracing for Adept power-Melissa did that sometimes when she didn’t want Torio to know how she felt, but in Maldek he suspected it was something more.
Maldek, meanwhile, said to Cassandra, “Although I cannot restore your husband, at least I have reunited you with your daughter. It is not recompense; there can be no recompense. But I shall restore the land, and reunite those whom I can-and perhaps, one day, my people will forgive me.”
“You are your people,” Torio suddenly found himself saying. “And you are your land, Maldek. The land may demand your life to restore it.”
The Master Sorcerer stared at him. “That is so,” he replied. “But how do you know this, Torio?”
“He has the gift of prophecy,” Melissa replied. “But Torio, you said the land may demand Maldek’s life.”
“There is yet time,” the words tumbled forth, “but it is growing short. Make your words true, Maldek, or only one who dies your death for you can save you and your land.”
Chapter Six
“But what does it mean?” Melissa demanded of Torio after the group at supper had broken up. “First you said that Maldek might have to die for his land-and then you said someone else might have to die his death. I don’t understand.”
“And you think I do?” Torio asked. “How could someone die somebody else’s death? All I know is that Maldek gives me cold chills-because he hasn’t really reformed.”
“Is that a prophecy, too?”
They had walked out into the forest with Gray. Torio picked up a stick and tossed it. The dog loped after it and brought it back while Torio sorted his thoughts.
“No, it’s not a prophecy; it’s a feeling. You try to Read him when he’s making an apology-he’s hiding his true feelings.