Sorcerers of the Frozen Isles se-5

by Jean Lorrah

  “After what you put us through?” asked Torio. “I would trust any of my friends with my life-and have done so.”

  “But… could they trust you?” asked Maldek with a malicious smile.

  “Of course,” said Zanos. “We have all trusted Torio with our lives.”

  “Not knowing what you risked!” Maldek told them. “Do you know why he is so afraid of wielding power? Do you know what Torio did to his own brother?”

  Melissa turned. “Torio? You never told me you had a brother.”

  “He died,” Torio replied. “I hardly remember him-we were just little boys-I couldn’t have been more than four years old. Before any of my Reading powers began to develop.”

  “But you had power, Torio,” said Maldek. “You were blind-and so your mother set you over your brother, even though he was older. He had to obey your every whim, remember?”

  “No,” Torio said truthfully, “I don’t remember. I can hardly recall anything before Master Lenardo discovered that I was a Reader and took me to the Academy at Adigia.”

  “Then remember nowl” said Maldek-and suddenly Torio and all the other Readers there were enveloped helplessly in nightmare.

  It was his dream!

  The moment it began he recognized it, although every time he woke from it he found it gone beyond recall.

  He was a child, small and helpless in a world where everyone else strode freely, but he had to feel his way unless someone led him by the hand.

  Having never seen, he did not understand the power sighted people had-only that he bumped into things other people miraculously knew were there, and that he could not find his way outside the small apartment where he lived with his father, mother, and brother Detrus.

  Only in their home was his world safe and warm; there he was held and fed and loved. But Detrus had to take care of him when both their parents were working-and Detrus would rather play with the other boys than nursemaid his blind brother. ‘

  One day Detrus took him outside and left him sitting against a wall while he played with the other boys.

  Out of nothingness came the sound of footsteps-but not human steps. Something with claws clicking on the cobbles!

  He smelled a strange odor-it came closer and he shrank back against the wall. Icy wetness nudged his neck-a slavering beast began licking his face—

  He screamed!

  The thing barked, hot breath with the odor of garbage in his face—

  And his brother and his friends came running-not to rescue him, but to howl with laughter!

  That evening, clutching his mother as if he would never let go, Torio begged, “Don’ lee me with Detrus no more, Mama! It was a monster! It wanted to eat me up!”

  “It was just a dogl” Detrus explained. “It wouldn’t of hurt Torio-just washed his face for him.” He laughed.

  But it wasn’t funny to their mother.

  “Torio can’t help being blind,” she reminded Detrus. “You know your father and I both have to work.

  You have to take care of your brother-an’ no more leaving him alone, in the house or outside!”

  “But Mama-” Detrus protested.

  “No!” she told him. “You stay inside and play Torio’s games! You feed him when he’s hungry. If he wants to go outside, you hold him by the hand, and take him where he wants to go. And Torio-if Detrus ever scares you again, you let me know!”

  For the first time in his life, a feeling of power surged through Torio.

  Then it was another afternoon, after lunch. He made Detrus play the word-guessing game he hated because Torio, although two years younger, was better at it than he was. But “I’ll tell Mama” was all Torio had to threaten to get what he wanted.

  “That’s a dumb game!” said Detrus after Torio won another round. “Words are for girls and blind kids.

  You can’t do nothin’ fun, Torio.”

  “What do you wanna do?” Torio asked, feeling magnanimous. “We could sing songs.”

  “That’s for little kids!”

  “You could tell me a story.”

  “I don’t know any stories.”

  “Yes you do. Tell me about the wild boy raised by the wolves.” In Torio’s mind, a wolf must be much like the dog that had come out of nowhere and terrified him.

  But he knew it was a favorite story with Detrus, who had actually seen the wild boy in a cage when the carnival came through their town last summer. In fact, Detrus had been talking about the wild boy recently because they had heard that the carnival was in one of the nearby towns, and might be coming back to their town soon.

  Detrus told the story, getting into the spirit as he described the boy’s shaggy hair and long, sharp teeth, growling in imitation of the way he had growled at the crowd.

  “And then, when fat Orfio got real close and tried to touch him,” Detrus ended in a fit of giggles, “he lifted his leg just like a dog and peed right out of the cage on him!”

  Torio giggled, too, in boyish comradeship at sharing a story their mother would never have approved of.

  Just then running footsteps pounded down the street outside. “Carnival’s coming! Carnival’s coming!”

  shouted boys’ voices.

  Someone hammered on the door. “Detrus! Hey-Detrus! Come on! Let’s see if they’ve still got the wild boy!”

  Torio recognized Orfio’s voice. “Come on, Detrus! We’re gonna miss it! I’m gonna get that wild boy-I got a good sharp stick to jab ‘im with!”

  “Torio-you stay here,” ordered Detrus. “I’m only gonna go an’ see the wild boy, and then I’ll be right back-all right?”

  “No!” said Torio. “No, Detrus! Mama said you gotta stay here with me!”

  “Not on carnival day! Torio-you don’t tell her, and I’ll bring you a sugar sop.”

  “Where you gonna get a sugar sop?” demanded Torio. “You’re lying, Detrus! I’ll tell Mama!” 2 “I’ll pinch you!” Detrus said angrily, suiting action to words.

  ¦ “I’ll tell Mama!” Torio screamed the louder. “I’ll put you outside where the dogs’ll eat you up!” Detrus threatened.

  “An’ Mama’U punish you!” Torio retorted, “feeling his power in the fact that Detrus remained there arguing instead of just running off.

  That fact gave him courage.

  “Take me along.”

  “I can’t do that! You’d get lost.”

  “Not if you hold my hand like Mama said. I wanna go to the carnival, Detrus. You take me!” said Torio, stomping his foot for emphasis.

  By the time they were at the end of their street, Torio regretted his hasty decision.

  They got into a jostling crowd, and Torio was lost already. If Detrus let go of his hand, he’d never find his way home!

  He stopped, digging in his heels. “Detrus, I wanna go home!”

  “No! You wanted to come along, now you come!” said Detrus. “Hurry up, Torio! We’ll miss the parade!”

  Detrus gave a jerk to Torio’s hand, and the blind boy stumbled after him, terror building. Up ahead there were rumbling noises, and roars and growls along with the stink of wild beasts-real wild beasts, not neighborhood dogs and cats!

  “I wanna go home!” Torio screamed the louder, but Detrus dragged him along, in among packed bodies, bumping into people, worming their way through to where Detrus could see the passing wagons.

  “There’s the wild boy!” Detrus shouted. “Come on, Torio-Orfio’s tryin’ a catch up-I wanna see if he sticks him!”

  “I wanna go home!” Torio cried again as Detrus hauled him along. Suddenly he dug in his heels, grabbed Detrus’ hand in both of his, and swung his brother away from the direction he was headed. “You gotta do what / want, Detrus! I wanna go homel”

  Torio knew nothing of where they were except that they had broken through the crowd that he could still hear, and all around them were loud rumbles of heavy animal wagons with their growling beasts and sharp ammonia stinks.

  He swung Detrus in the direction he thought they had c
ome from.

  Detrus stumbled-and his hand slipped out of Torio’s!

  “Detrus!” Torio screamed. Other voices in the crowd began to scream. “Look out!”

  “Watch out for the boys!” Horses neighed in terror. Fear stench rose all around. The rumble grew louder, shaking the ground as Torio groped wildly for Detrus-Heard his brother’s scream-Heard horses scream again-Heard people screaming all around-Smelled-blood!

  In Maldek’s throne room, Torio stood sweating and shaking as he did when he awoke from that same nightmare. Now he knew why he could never remember it.

  Tears streaking his face, he sank to his knees, whispering, “Now you know-now we all know. I’m responsible. I killed my brother.”

  Chapter Seven

  From all around the throne room, waves of anger washed through Torio’s battered mind.

  Overpowering surges of guilt ripped through him as he knelt, exposed, before the people who had been his friends. Shielding from their fury, he withdrew into himself, as blind and helpless as he had been as a small boy.

  Claws clicked on the stone floor, and Gray licked his face, nudging him under the chin, offering unquestioning comfort even though the dog had Read Torio’s experience along with all the other Readers.

  Then a gentle hand touched his shoulder. “Torio.” It was Dirdra’s voice. “Don’t let Maldek do this to you.”

  “You don’t understand,” he said wretchedly. “You couldn’t Read-” He threw his arms around Gray, not caring that the dog still loved him only because it couldn’t comprehend the enormity of his guilt.

  “I could Read it,” said Melissa, kneeling on Torio’s other side and putting her arms around him.

  “Torio-do you think we would blame you for an accident? You were too young even to understand what was happening! Torio?”

  He could not respond, keeping his face buried against Gray, his mind firmly closed. Melissa’s pity was even worse than her anger of the moment before.

  Then strong hands grasped his upper arms. “Stand up!” said Zanos, lifting him to his feet. “Torio-Read’t For Hesta’s sake-we’re angry at Maldek, not at you! What kind of evil mind tries to cast guilt on a man for what happened when he was a four-year-old child?”

  “But it was my fault-” Torio began.

  “Nonsense!” declared Zanos. “Have you Read Bryen blaming me for the loss of his hand? Or me blaming him for letting me be carried off into slavery? Or either of us laden with guilt for the deaths of the rest of our family? By the gods, Torio, you take responsibility for everything that happens, as if to make up for that one event that was not your fault.”

  Hesitantly, Torio allowed himself to Read-and found that Dirdra, Melissa, and Zanos spoke the truth. It was not even that his friends forgave him-they found nothing to forgive!

  Unlike his mother.

  For the two years he had remained at home after Detrus’ death, Torio had lived with a silent woman who blamed her crippled son for the death of her perfect one. She had neither punished nor neglected him-but she had not loved him. And Torio’s growing powers had only revealed more and more how much his mother blamed him for something his young mind had banished from memory.

  But he remembered clearly how happy his mother was to be rid of him when then-Magister Lenardo had discovered his potential as a Reader and taken him off to the Academy.

  The Readers had taken four boys from six to eight years old out of their town that day. Torio, the youngest, was the only one who did not cry himself to sleep in his strange bed that night… the only one who did not want to go home again.

  What he felt this evening in the throne room of Maldek’s castle was the same sense of relief he had known at the Academy, where his teachers had cared only about his Reading potential, and no one had blamed him for anything beyond boyish pranks.

  This feeling was even more welcome. His friends knew-and they didn’t hate him! He Read their love, their caring as they gathered around him, even Bryen and Cassandra joining the circle to put their arms around him, protecting him against the malice of the Master Sorcerer-Who stood partway up the steps to his throne, watching the scene in growing anger.

  Astra turned to him. “We won’t let you pull that trick again, Maldek. We have our differences-but you will never again divide us!”

  And as if her words were a signal-thunder roared outside, and people began to scream!

  They Read outward, to find the city under attack.

  Fire rained from the sky. Thunderbolts struck the castle. The forest roared into flame, animals fleeing, leaping into the river and the moat-

  “Rokannia!” shouted Maldek.

  But there was more than one Adept attacking!

  In savage glee, the Readers felt Maldek recognize that the very tricks he had been using on his visitors had been turned against him.

  While Maldek had been preoccupied with trying to divide and conquer his guests, Rokannia had taken the opportunity to gather two other Master Sorcerers against him-one of them Borru of Meliard, with whom he had been fostered as a boy.

  Torio felt Maldek’s shock of recognition-Borru was his mentor, Rokannia his sworn vassal, and Shivahn his neighbor to the northwest, with whom he had an uneasy truce.

  “How dare you attack me?” he demanded.

  Rokannia answered for them all. “You destroy my people with your demands, Maldek-and your ruin of your own lands is spreading to those of your neighbors on Madura! You are at war with us, whether you declare it or not.”

  “Borru,” Maldek appealed, “Master. You taught me to use my powers. How can you turn against me?”

  “You have misused your powers, Maldek, against your people, your land. You must be stopped before you destroy everything your father left to you.”

  “This is my land,” Maldek told them. Ill will do with it as I please!”

  “No,” said Shivahn, “the land is not yours, nor the people-you are theirs! And your loss of control of the climate has crept year by year into my lands, until my crops fail under early and late frosts, my herds die in the winter storms-and my people suffer hunger! No more, Maldek. You will be stopped, once and for all!”

  “Give it up, Maldek,” said Rokannia. “Your powers may be greater than ours individually-but our combined powers are greater than anything you have.”

  “You are wrong!” Maldek roared aloud even as he projected the thought. Ill know where you are-and I will destroy you!”

  And with that he sent a thunderbolt crackling to where Rokannia was hidden in the forest on the other side of the river-for, Torio realized, while Maldek was distracted with the games he was playing with his visitors, the three Master Sorcerers had left Rokannia’s ship and traveled inland on the same road Torio and his companions had taken.

  Of course-these three had the power to fool Maldek’s Readers. They had not even known two other sorcerers were aboard Rokannia’s vessel. The ship was still proceeding around the southeast tip of the island, as if to sail up to the City by the river, as expected. No one had reported that it had put people ashore.

  Rokannia and her cohorts easily deflected Maldek’s first blow and sent their own barrage against the castle, shaking its foundations. But it was built to withstand Adept attack, and nothing happened beyond a loud rattling.

  Kwinn, however, wakened in terror and galloped down the stairs squealing, looking for Dirdra. When he found her, he flung his arms around her and buried his face in her skirt to be stroked and comforted.

  Outside, local minor Adepts had already put out the forest fire-but Torio could Read that such an effort quickly used up their meager powers.

  He caught Rokannia Reading him-in fact, Reading the whole group gathered before Maldek. “Join with us!” she directed. “Maldek has proven himself your enemy-help us to kill him, and you will have three Master Sorcerers in your debt!”

  But it was not their war-at least not yet. Torio Read the consensus that they protect themselves, but not attack-a spontaneous response from all wh
o could Read Rokannia’s offer.

  “Don’t listen to her,” warned Maldek. “I will win. Be my friends, not my enemies! Help me, and I will reward you well.”

  He probably Read the skepticism with which they heard that offer, but again they remained spontaneously neutral, waiting to see the outcome-all heartily wishing they were not trapped between Maldek’s evil and the uncertainty of Rokannia and her friends.

  The attacking forces again struck with fire-Torio had seen this method of attack many times before. In the City, several neighborhoods blazed up, people running helplessly, minor Adepts rescuing those they could, healers rushing to save people who had inhaled smoke or been burned.

  But then there were no new fires as the three Master Sorcerers concentrated so hard that they could not be Read unless one knew where to visualize them-and overhead storm clouds gathered, black and threatening. As they were creating them in a cloudless sky, Torio knew they were working against nature, using a great deal of Adept power.

  “You think thunder and lightning will frighten me?” Maldek demanded sarcastically-but his audience was not listening.

  Something more was happening in those clouds-water droplets were being urged together, freezing wind condensing them into ice crystals, larger and larger chunks—

  Hail the size of melons began to fall on the City and the castle!

  People and animals were struck and killed.

  Roofs were pierced-and those which first held gave way under further bombardment and the sheer weight of ice.

  Even the castle roof was struck through, great ice balls smashing on the stone floors.

  But Maldek grabbed hold of the wind, and sent the hail sheering from the upper atmosphere across the river to strike the people who had created it.

  Shivahn moved her attention from forming the hail to melting what Maldek was throwing at them before it could strike.

  He focused on her-and the sorceress’ heart shuddered and heaved as searing pain clutched at her chest!

  Her attention focused on her own body as, shaking, she fought Maldek’s squeezing of her heart.

  Fortunately for Shivahn, Maldek dared not concentrate for long on just one person-for while his attention was thus engaged, Rokannia and Borru were directing the hailstones to crush his castle walls-stone walls pierced by ice, driven by Adept powers.