Dragonlord of the Savage Empire

Chapter Six

In a strange suspension of emotion, Lenardo Read the giant piece of tree trunk falling, falling, turning end over end as it hurtled toward him and Julia. It would crush both of them if it struck. Helplessly, he recalled Aradia's lesson in how an Adept would use the laws of chance. The earth was still heaving, moving Lenardo and Julia in and out of the path of the falling trunk and at the same tune making it impossible for them to run or even roll out of the way. They and the huge log they sheltered against were being tossed like snowflakes in a whirlwind.

Hopelessly he wished, he willed-and then he blanked out his oncoming death, clutching the child and Waiting. The wood was a thundering symphony of crashes, cracks, thuds, and moans, but suddenly there was a bone-penetrating whomp in chorus with a crack like a lightning bolt. Then something fell across Lenardo's back, knocking the breath out of him and crushing Julia beneath him.

In the searing pain of struggling to breathe, it took Lenardo some time to realize that he was still alive. The earth's quaking had settled to small tremors, slowly dying away. He heaved himself to his knees, throwing off a splintered section of the tree trunk that could have spelled his death. Then he Read Julia, badly bruised and dazed but alive and fighting for breath.

He Read her carefully, finding no broken bones or internal injuries. Her ribs were bruised, but their youthful resiliency had kept them from breaking. Lenardo could not say the same for himself. A stabbing pain in his left side told him that ribs were broken before he Read them, but fortunately they were in place. A tight bandage would hold them so that they could heal. His left ankle, though, had hit or been hit by something. No bones were broken, but it was already swelling, and it was clear that he would not be able to walk on it.

But we're both alive, he told himself as Julia began to cough and choke and then wail with a child's pain and fear as she regained consciousness.

He took her in his arms, saying, "It's all right. It's over. You're not badly hurt, just had the breath knocked out of you. I'm here, Julia. You're all right."

Her hysteria subsided, and she began to Read him, feeling his broken ribs stab with every breath. //You're hurt!//

//It's not serious. You'll have to help me with bandages before we can go on.//

//I wish we had Sandor here.//

//So do I, but we can get along without Adept talents.//

He let her go and tried to straighten his back. As his ribs stabbed again, he also felt a burning ache diagonally across his back. He remembered something hitting him.

//What happened?// Julia asked. //A tree was falling on us. You thought it would kill us. Why didn't it?//

The night was too dark to see anything in the forest; the air was filled with dust raised by the quake. To Readers, though, that made no difference. Lenardo studied the destruction in their immediate area and saw that his instinct to shelter against the fallen log had been their salvation.

The huge piece of tree trunk had been falling toward them end over end. The dent in the fallen log and the splintered shafts of the trunk told Lenardo that it had hit the log end on and split into many pieces. One of those pieces had struck him, but much of the energy of its long fall had been dissipated in striking the log and splitting. This was a small piece; it might have cracked his spine but hadn't. He would ache for days, but he was alive.

Julia Read with him and then Read him very carefully. //You lie down,// she told him. //I'll find our packs.//

He helped her in the search by Reading, but Julia dug through the debris to their supplies. She brought the water pouch, and they each had a long drink. Then, with the aid

of Lenardo's knife, they tore up one of his tunics, washed the many cuts and abrasions both of them were covered with, and spread them with healing salve.

Aventine salve. Lenardo had carried it with him into the savage lands but had used none in the months when Adept healing power was readily available to him. He had automatically tossed it into his pack today without thinking, but now it reminded him that he was returning to a land where healing was done with salves and potions, splints and bandages, and occasionally the surgeon's knife. If only he could have made that treatyNo. Even the most benevolent of Adepts could not resist the lure of power. They could never be trusted-never!

Bandaging Lenardo's ribs proved extremely difficult, for Julia's childish hands had neither the skill nor the strength for the task. Finally he thought to knot a stick into the bandage and twist it tight and then tie it into place. Then he dared bend to bandage his ankle. It was swelling badly. How was he to climb over the wall now?

Panting from pain and exertion, Lenardo leaned back against the log and Read the wall nearby. Aventine construction was a fine art: it still stood. Furthermore, the leaning trees that he had intended to use as their bridge to freedom had fallen in the quake. They were trapped.

But no one knows where we are, he reminded himself, and everyone will be busy repairing quake damage.

He Read outward, wondering how much his injuries had impaired his powers. It was easy to Read to Adigia. The gate tower had fallen, but the wall and gates had held, as had most of the buildings in town. The farther north he Read, the less the damage. In Zendi, people were all awake, discussing the quake and looking for damage, but there was little; the center had been somewhere near where Lenardo and Julia were.

"Did Aradia and Wulfston make the earthquake to kill us?" Julia voiced the question Lenardo dared not bring to mind.

Although he had avoided Reading the Adepts, he replied, "No," grateful now that she had made him think about it. "No, they could not. To make an earthquake, Adepts have to know where there is a fault under the earth. Then they must be much closer than from Zendi to here. No, that was a natural earthquake."

"But you knew it was going to happen. You pushed me under the log before it started."

"Yes. I have flashes of precognition, or prophecy, Julia. Sometimes I get a glimpse of something that is going to happen. That time it saved our lives."

"Then you have a special talent, too. Like the way I can Read the stories things tell."

"Yes, but I cannot control it. For example, I cannot Read tomorrow to discover how we got out of the fine mess we're in right now."

"Let's Read along the wall," she suggested. "You didn't Read east. Maybe part of it fell down."

Humoring the child, Lenardo Read as she suggested and found that she was right. Several miles away, there was a spot where a tree had grown up against the wall, its roots heaving the structure. Tree had weakened wall and wall tree; in the quake, both had fallen together, leaving a gap of crumbled stone large enough//We could ride our horses through there,// Julia said excitedly, Reading with him. //You won't have to walk, Father.//

But, they Read, one of their horses was dead, struck down in its panicked flight, and the other was a good distance away, exhausted, trembling, in no condition to be ridden.

//I'll get the horse,// Julia said. //Read with me, Father, so I won't get lost.//

He did so, incredibly proud of the brave child venturing into the woods in the dark, soothing the animal, and bringing it back to him. The horse was used to being taken care of by people. It calmed down, accepted a drink, and remained nearby.

//Now we must rest,// Lenardo told Julia, who was shivering in the predawn chill. //Come here, child.// He wrapped her in his cloak, and in his arms. //I'm very proud of you, Julia,// he told her. //You were very brave and good tonight. Sleep now.//

Obediently, she slept. Lenardo, just as exhausted, lingered on the edge of sleep for one last Reading of their safety. He wished again for the power of Adept healing as he sought to find a position in which his injuries would not hurt. He could almost feel the soothing heat through his ankle, his ribs, across his backLenardo woke with a start when Julia pushed her way out of his arms. The sun was high in the sky, but here in the depths of the forest it was filtered to a soft green twilight. Julia gave a little moan as she stretched her bruised muscles. She was covered with dust, leaves, and twigs, and so was he.

Lenardo moved experimentally. He wasn't as sore as he had expected. Even when he put some weight on his ankle, the pain was tolerable, and the bandages hung loose. The swelling had gone down. He rebandaged it and eased on his riding boot. With that support, he found that he could walk, although he didn't want to walk far.

He was ravenously hungry. Julia only picked at her bread and cheese, but Lenardo ate heartily. Then, anxious to be safely on the other side of the wall, they set out, Julia riding before Lenardo on the horse.

It was slow going, with the debris of the earthquake compounding the tangle of underbrush normal to the dense forest. The tired horse plodded, and Lenardo curbed his impatience, for the animal still had a long way to carry them.

By afternoon, they reached the breach in the wall. Here they had to walk and lead the horse, who did not want to venture over the loose rubble of rocks. By the time they slipped and slid their way across, Lenardo's ankle was sore again. He took his boot off lest the swelling force him to cut the leather off later.

Nonetheless, he breathed a sigh of relief. "We're home."

Julia was not impressed, for they had before them noth-I ing but the same dense forest they had been fighting their way through all day. "I'm tired," she said, slipping back to being a child again.

"Of course you are," Lenardo said reassuringly. "So am I. We won't go much farther today. Read with me."

//See that stream ahead, with the lovely pool? We'll stop there for the night. We can swim and get clean and put on clean clothes.//

Just as on the other side of the border, this area was too close to the wall for people to feel secure. An abandoned orchard still produced apples on gnarled old trees, while blackberries weighted the tangled vines under them. While Julia picked fruit, Lenardo found that a bent pin on a thong, baited with a crumb of bread, quickly caught two unwary fish from the stream. He was careful not to Read while he fished. There wasn't much mind to a fish, but Readers still rarely caught them themselves.

Now that they were on the Aventine side of the border, Lenardo felt free to relax, to build a fire, to broil the fish and make herb tea, to swim with Julia and wash their clothes.

As the sun lowered, the chilly air drove them to shore, where the fire and hot tea were welcome. It was pleasant to sit by the fire with Julia, making her practice the Aventine language. He had begun teaching her weeks ago, but since she had had no practice except with him, she had not developed fluency.

"Tomorrow," he told her, "we will be among people again. We don't want to be noticed, so you must let me do any talking that is necessary. And whenever I tell you, you must be careful not to Read."

"Why?"

"Because there will be other Readers about, and many of them know me. A male Reader would not be escorting a female discovery to an Academy, and besides, you Read far too well to be a newly wakened Reader. Once I get you to Tiberium and explain your situation to the Masters, you will continue to grow and use your powers. But until we get there, we must avoid rousing curiosity."

"Father, why can't a male Reader escort a female?"

He knew that she suspected the truth, and he would have a fight on his hands if he admitted it. He equivocated. "I taught you in Zendi because I was the only other Reader there. Here though, girls are always trained by women and boys by men. You will like your teachers, Julia, and make many new friends at the Academy, girls like yourself."

"But what about you?"

He looked into her round brown eyes, ready to cloud with tears. "I will always be your father," he said truthfully, and hid the pain that realization cost him.

She had indeed become his child, as much as if she were his own flesh and blood. Readers tried to keep themselves emotionally distant from the children they knew they would lose at six, seven, or eight. Some even avoided naming their children in a personal fashion. The Academies were full of young Readers named Primus or Secun-dus, Tertia or Puella.

The only Readers forbidden mental contact with one another were parents and children, at least until the children were grown. Children were always assigned to Academies far from where their families lived; the Academy must become their home, the Masters their parents, all Readers their brothers and sisters.

Julia could not fight sleep after another hard day. Lenardo covered her and kissed her forehead. For a moment, the whimsical notion played at the edges of his mind that they did not have to go on to Tiberium. They could stay here, build a house, live off the land. No one came here for months, maybe years at a time, and Readers could easily avoid company.

He dismissed the foolish notion, banked the fire, and settled back to Read all around them. No one for miles in any direction. No dangerous wild animals. He really should try to contact Master Clement, but before he could do so, he fell asleep.

Two days later, Lenardo and Julia rode into Tiberium. rThe weather had turned hot again, but Lenardo wore a long-sleeved tunic to cover the brand on his arm. In the crowds, they went completely unnoticed, just another pair of travelers. Lenardo's beard suggested that he might be a workman from one of the outlying provinces, traveling with his daughter.

Lenardo Read about him with the same odd sense of his own transparency that had kept Portia and Clement from noticing his eavesdropping. // I can keep Portia from knowing I'm Reading her, I can certainly fool any other Reader in Tiberian.

It was many years since he had been in the capital, not since his own testing for the rank of magister. The city was clean and beautiful, as he had wanted Zendi to be. It felt good to come home, even without knowing what fate awaited him. Julia would be safe here in Portia's Academy. What would become of Lenardo was another question. He had broken his vow of celibacy; he could not be readmitted to the Academy. Nonetheless, his Reading abilities had mysteriously increased. He didn't know why, but if his powers had reached this unheard-of state, what might a Master Reader achieve who had never defiled his body? Once he had demonstrated his increased abilities, the entire Council of Masters would want him alive and well for their study.

I will bargain for my life from a position of power, he thought wryly. That was one useful lesson Aradia had taught him; without that understanding, it was dangerous to have something other people wanted.

The sun was high in the sky. Lenardo found an inn, where he and Julia took a room and then had luncheon in the cool, dark tavern. In the heat, everyone was eating fruit and salad, and so their vegetarian Readers' diet provoked no curiosity. Soon the busy streets would empty, and the boys at the temporary Academy would be released from their studies in the heat of the day. Lenardo intended to go there and reveal himself to Clement and Torio.

Leaving Julia, who was actually willing to nap after the long journey, he set out on foot through the emptying streets. His ankle was almost completely healed; the short walk would not harm it. The students from the Academy at Adigia were still housed in an abandoned villa-adequate lodgings but not a proper building for their needs, and no room to expand.

The street door stood open. Lenardo entered, Reading some of the boys gathered in the shade by the courtyard fountain and others in their rooms. The marble building was cooler inside than out; most of the teachers and students were in their rooms, many of them napping. Something was missing in the atmosphere-a certain sense of hope and excitement that had characterized these same men and boys at Adigia.

He turned from the entry hall where visitors were greeted into a long corridor, expecting at every moment to be challenged, thinking of the surprise when he identified himself, for everyone here knew him. Several strong Readers were awake and Reading. By the time he reached the end of the hall, he should have been recognized or challenged half a dozen times-yet no one noticed him. Slowly, it dawned on him that he had achieved the legendary ability to Read without being Read. As if his mind had become completely absorbing, nonreflecting, he was un-Readable among Readers.

To test the hypothesis, he deliberately Read the next person he found awake: Decius. The boy was sitting on his bed, massaging the stump of the leg he had lost in the battle at Adigia. Leaning against the bed was the peg leg he was learning to use; it made the stump sore, and the boy was now Reading carefully to determine whether today's was the bruising pain he had to endure until he gained strength and callouses or whether he had best to go back to his crutch for the rest of the day. It was a pragmatic examination, Lenardo was glad to find; there was no self-pity in the boy's attitude.

Neither was there recognition, even when Lenardo Read with him, sick at heart to see traces of unhealed damage after all this time. Sandor would have healed those lingering injuries in a week, Aradia in a day.

But they heal people only to keep them in their power, Lenardo told himself, and continued quietly past Decius':closed door toward where Torio's stood open.

At this point the wall to Lenardo's left ended, a series of pillars supporting the roof but giving access to the courtyard, where several of the younger boys were splashing in:the fountain with shouts and giggles, paying attention to nothing but their games. Lenardo moved quietly down the shaded hall and entered Torio's room.

The boy was sitting at his desk, his back to Lenardo, concentrating on a box in front of him. It was an exercise in fine discernment, a sealed box containing a number ol items similar in composition, some very tiny, such as several grains of sand in different colors, and with them a single salt crystal. Torio, having identified all the larger items, was concentrating on those. He added to the list on his tablet: "sand-black, blue, red, yellow, white." Lenardo held his breath. Some instinct told Torio to Read again. He did, "looking" at the grains in another way, examining their internal structure. Then he turned his stylus over and rubbed out the word "white," substituting "salt." With a sigh, he started to get up from his stool.

//Very good, Torio.//

//Master Lenardo.// The boy froze. //Where are you?//

Astonished to find that Torio seemed to think him still far away, Lenardo replied aloud, "Right here."

Torio started and whirled around, his hands groping for an instant unil he began Reading visually and "saw" Lenardo before him. Then he threw his arms about him, hugging him tight, and Lenardo realized that the boy was now as tall as he was.

"Oh, Master Lenardo, I'm so glad you're home. But you certainly humble my pride. I didn't think anyone could sneak up on me anymore. Why didn't you tell me you were coming? Why didn't Master Clement tell me-?"

The boy's string of questions halted as Master Clement himself came into the room, closing the door behind him and staring at Lenardo in disbelief.

"No Reading, Torio," he instructed quickly. "Lenardo, how did you get here? Why didn't you contact us? How did you come within the pale?"

"The same way I just walked through an Academy of Readers undetected. I have much, much to tell you, Master, and to show you."

"We must seek a plane of privacy," said Master Clement. "Lenardo, you are in grave danger here. If you are discovered before we find a way to explain your presence, you will be arrested and executed. Torio, stay here until I contact you. Yes, you may join us, son, but I do not want you trying to reach another plane alone."

"Yes, Master," Torio replied, and lay down on his bed as Clement and Lenardo left.

Unlike the old Academy at Adigia, there was no special protected room where Readers could take shelter while they left their bodies. Master Clement's room, though, had a couch as well as bed. Lenardo stretched out, making certain his position would not cramp his unattended body, and floated easily up into pure consciousness. Master Clement was quickly "mere" too, and they "moved" together to Tone's room.

The moment Master Clement's presence touched Torio, the boy's consciousness left his body, joining them readily with the delicious sense of pure freedom so refreshing in those to whom it was still a new experience.

//Excellent, Torio,// Lenardo told him. //You have learned much while I was away.//

//Don't encourage him to pride,// Master Clement warned, although his warm pleasure in the boy's achievement belied the thought. //I've never had a student so determined to be first and best at everything. No, not even you, Lenardo.//

In their present disembodied state, no Reader could "overhear" their conversation unless they willed it or unless the other Reader joined them. Yet to Lenardo's. surprise, Clement said, //We will now move to another plane. Torio, you've done this only once before. Don't try to Read and follow. Flow with me. With me. That's right.//

The two presences were gone, but Lenardo had Read then- "direction." He followed into the disorientation of the plane of privacy, sensing Torio's discomfort. They were three presences in a world of nothing-no light and hence no dark, no up, no down. From here, they could no longer Read their own world, would not even know if something happened to their bodies.

The plane of privacy was dangerous; only Readers of the highest ranks could achieve it, and even they rarely used it. Only once before had Lenardo actually come here to achieve privacy: when he, Clement, and Portia had plotted his exile so that he could attempt to take Galen from the enemy.

He was surprised that Clement was already teaching Torio, who had not yet passed his preliminary examinations.

//Now, Lenardo,// said Clement, //What are we to do with you?//

//All I want is to return home, Master. I have accomplished my task: Galen is dead, and the alliance of powerful Adepts who were attacking the empire has been destroyed.//

//You will have to be tested under Oath of Truth before the Council of Masters.//

//Of course,// said Lenardo.

//Portia is respected by the Senate. She can have your exile revoked. Then you can help me rebuild our Academy.//

//No, Master,// Lenardo interrupted. Ill cannot return to the Academy, for I have broken my Reader's Oath.//

//No!// It was a flash of pain from Torio. //No, Master Lenardo, you couldn't-//

//I did,// he insisted calmly. //It seemed necessary at the time. All I ask is the same treatment accorded any failed Reader: a job, a place to live… and a place in Portia's Academy for my daughter.//

// Your… daughter?// asked Clement.

//A Reader, Master, born among the savages. I took her into my protection lest they kill her, and then I adopted her.//

Relief flooded from the other Readers. //Under such circumstances,// said Clement, //what choice did you have? You could not let a child die just because she is female. The portion of your oath requiring you to protect a fellow Reader took precedence. The Council will have to pronounce judgment, but I am sure you will be readmitted to the Academy. How old is the child?//

//Just turned nine.//

//And where is she now?//

Ill took a room at an inn before coming here.//

//We cannot leave a child at an inn. We'll put her up with a family for tonight, until she can be tested. But you must not continue-//

//Master Clement,// Lenardo said stopping him. Ill have broken more than one part of the Code. I am no longer celibate.//

Shocked silence. Then Torio's protest: //It's not so. You couldn't have.//

//It's not possible,// Clement added. //Lenardo, your powers are not diminished. They have grown-grown far more in the few months you were away than I have ever seen a Reader of your age achieve. Son, believe me, the savages have placed a false memory within your mind, hoping to weaken your abilities. If it were true, you would not be able to leave your body, let alone achieve the plane of privacy, or walk unnoticed among Readers. If we must send you to Gaeta to remove this false memory, we will do so, but you may rest assured that it cannot possibly be true.//

//Master, I regret to tell you that you are wrong. It was no illusion. I sacrificed my powers deliberately, to diminish the powers of an Adept who survived the battle in which Galen was killed. She was my ally until peace was achieved and she realized that she is now the most powerful. In savage terms, that gives her the right to rule. She would have used me, and she would have used Julia-my daughter-had we remained within her sphere of influence.// Lenardo started to add that he knew how to break a command implanted in his mind by an Adept-when he suddenly recalled: //Master Clement, I did not know when I was exiled that the Adepts had the power to place thoughts in people's minds. How did you know it?//

Ill did not know it when you left us, Lenardo, or I would have warned you. Portia should have.// No physical reactions were possible in this nonphysical plane, but Lenardo perceived from Clement something distinctly like a long, sad sigh. //Since returning to Tiberium, I have sat regularly on the Council of Masters and learned much that was never reported to us out on the border. You must be cautious, Lenardo. There is great distrust of Readers among powerful nonReaders. If any member of the Council should decide you are too dangerous, a word to any senator would be your death warrant.//

//I know that, Master, but I am not dangerous. Furthermore, my powers have increased greatly, although I do not know why. The Council will want to study me, to discover the reason so that all Readers may increase their powers.//

//Master Lenardo,// said Torio, //did you not contact me one morning, about a week ago? I thought I felt-//

//You did, Torio.//

//But you seemed startled. I thought you were trying to come home and feared you had been interrupted, captured. I left my body-//

//Torio,// Master Clement chided, //you have just learned that skill, and are not to attempt it unsupervised.//

//But Master Lenardo seemed so agitated. I Read to Adigia. I couldn't get lost there. But I couldn't find you, Master Lenardo.//

//No, Torio. You couldn't find me because I was in Zendi.//

//Zendi!// Master Clement was horrified. //You left your body in Zendi and came all the way to Tiberium? Lenardo, you could have lost contact with your body forever. If the situation required such a risk, why did you contact Torio rather than me?//

//There was no risk. Torio, I contacted you by accident, and I was so startled to find myself Reading Tiberium that I withdrew. You see, that was the morning I discovered my new powers. I had not left my body. I was Reading directly.//

//From Zendi to Tiberium?// Master Clement's skepticism was tinged with the fear that Lenardo had gone mad. //No one has ever Read over such a distance. To Read a single day's journey without leaving one's body is the stuff of legends.//

//So is a Reader walking among other Readers undetected,// Lenardo reminded him. //Master, when we return to our bodies, I will demonstrate.//

Demonstrate Lenardo did, for Clement, Torio, and Portia, whom they contacted at once. Her first response to Lenardo's return was anger.

//We tread a difficult enough path as it is,// she flashed. //How dare I inform the Senate that an exile has not only come within the pale but is wandering free in Tiberium? The plan was that you be let in at a gate.//

//Savage soldiers were lying in wait for me at the gates. I planned to climb the wall, but the earthquake conveniently opened a path for me.//

//That little tremor?//

//Along the border it was very severe, fortunately at its worst where no one lives.// As an example of his powers, he Read the earthquake area for them, showing the acres of fallen timber and fissures in the earth where the quake had been centered, just a few miles from where he and Julia had nearly met their death.

All three other Readers could have Read that on their own, but only by leaving their bodies behind. Even Portia was impressed, Lenardo noted, that he did it sitting on Master Clement's couch, never losing contact with his physical being.

He then took them beyond the forest, across fields and through villages to Zendi. The city was bustling, as was Lenardo's house, where Wulfston counseled with Helmuth while Aradia directed the people who had accompanied her from Castle Nerius in packing. To Lenardo's relief, she was completely closed to Reading. He didn't want to contact her, and he had brought enough shocks to the Masters today without revealing that there was an Adept who could Read.

The preparations were for Aradia's departure. The watchers had reported major quake damage in her lands, and so she was returning to aid her people. Wulfston's lands had hardly been touched; he was staying in Zendi. Lenardo Read that although he was still puzzled, Helmuth accepted the fact that Wulfston was acting as regent for Lenardo.

//"Regent?" "Lord Lenardo?"// Portia questioned indignantly.

//It is a shame,// he replied. //The old man was my friend; the people trusted me. The Lords Adept will keep up the charade only as long as it suits their plans. Even if there were Readers there, Lords Adept cannot be Read.//

//But why do they call you lord?// Torio wanted to know.

//Wulfston and Aradia were my allies. I thought them my friends.// He let his painful disillusionment show, knowing that Portia might otherwise suspect that he had returned as a spy. //In the savage lands there is no ranking of powers, no testing except in combat. Anyone who has extraordinary powers is a lord out there.//

To his surprise and relief, Portia did not question further. They withdrew to Tiberium: Lenardo, Clement, and Torio in Clement's room, and Portia on the other side of the city, in the female Academy.

Ill will call a session of the Council,// she told them. //Meanwhile, Lenardo, do not advertise your presence.//

Ill don't intend to. What about my daughter?//

//Bring her to me now. I would examine this savage child personally, lest our communication provoke curiosity.//

Lenardo knew where the female Academy was, but he had never been inside it. No male Reader dared enter its doors unless or until he had failed to achieve one of the two top ranks. He took Julia to the entrance and awaited instructions. His situation was unique in his experience, and so he did not know protocol.

Lenardo had not supervised Julia's packing, but the child had done a good job of choosing practical traveling clothes. He had, though, told her to bring everything precious to her, and she had brought the yellow dress she had worn the day of the festival. She wore it now, with the golden fillet across her brow that proclaimed her his daughter… and knowing that he was going to leave her at the Academy, never to see her again, he hadn't the heart to make her take it off.

//Bring the child in to me,// Portia instructed.

Lenardo quelled the sickness that swept through him. Portia would allow him into her presence. That meant that despite all he had shown her, she not only did not recognize him as a Master Reader, she considered him failed and insignificant. I accepted it when I decided to seduce Aradia. But it still hurts.

He guided Julia through the entrance hall, where she looked around, wide-eyed. Here there were not only mosaics decorating the floors and walls but statues in the niches, richly carved and gilded furnishings, and magnificent tapestries lit by the skylights.

Lenardo had been in male Academies at various times, had spent a year in the huge hospital complex at Gaeta, but never had he seen such luxury lavished on Readers. Possessions were supposed to be foreign to them. In return for their services, Readers were provided with all necessities and comforts. But this?

He led Julia through more treasured halls, where girls of various ages passed them without question, though with curious stares at Julia. They knew well enough why a father would bring his daughter here and wondered whether she would be admitted to the Academy.

They passed classrooms where afternoon lessons were in progress, walked through a courtyard blooming with a profusion of flowers, and finally came to Portia's study.

Portia was sitting behind an ornate desk, dressed in cloth-of-gold with a gold tissue stole. For any public appearance, a female Master Reader would have worn a white linen dress edged in black and the same scarlet robe Lenardo had once worn. What she wore in private was her own business… but cloth-of-gold?

She is our liaison with the government, Lenardo reminded himself. Senators, even the Emperor himself, may visit here at any time. Perhaps she deliberately meets them on their own terms.

Portia raised her head as they entered, and Julia took a step back as if to hide but instantly refused to allow herself to be frightened. It's just an old woman, he caught her thinking.

Lenardo knew that Portia was old, but from her vigorous mind he had never envisioned her as the emblem of age itself. He had never, in the many times they had touched minds, Read her appearance.

She was so old as to be shrunken. Even her skin was no longer wrinkled but pulled in on itself like parchment, desiccated. In startling contrast to her rich raiment, her face appeared a skull, her eyes the only points of life deep within dark sockets, her mouth a slash, her lips colorless, bloodless. Wisps of white hair showed beneath the golden stole. Her hands were folded before her on the desk, knobbed, bony, painfully thin and yet strong. Control of every Reader in the Aventine Empire lay in those hands.

"Lenardo," she said, looking him up and down, and for a moment he was uncomfortable, knowing that his beard, the longer hairstyle he had adopted to fit his role as a savage lord, appeared unkempt here.

He had not felt out of place in this city wearing a plain white tunic in the street. He had dressed this way in Zendi all summer. But now he was forcefully reminded that he was not dressed as a Reader, that he no longer had the right to wear even a magister's robes. From now on he would dress as an ordinary Aventine citizen, although a badge would identify him as a minor Reader-a failed Reader-to those who might seek his services.

Then Portia said, not hiding her disgust, "You look like a savage." Her voice rasped, as bloodless as the rest of her, a startling contrast to the strong, pleasantly feminine "voice" she projected to other Readers.

Julia bristled. "My father's a great lord. His powers make him great. He don't have to dress up to impress nobody."

"Julia, hush!" Lenardo turned to Portia apologetically. "Please forgive the child, Master Portia. Her upbringing-"

"What else is to be expected?" The old woman dismissed him and fixed her eyes on Julia. //Lenardo says you are a Reader.//

//You don't have to shout. I'm not a baby,// Julia responded indignantly and powerfully. They all felt the shock ricochet through several nearby Readers.

//Very well.// Portia assumed normal conversational intensity. //Tell me what is in the cabinet beside the door.//

Once more she looked at Lenardo as if warning him not to help the child, but Julia needed no help. She had far more experience at Reading inanimate objects than any child her age got in an Academy.

//Top shelf. A wooden box, gold decorations. Inside it a bronze coin, three gold bracelets, amber beads. Then there's a silver cup with pearls.//

She continued spinning off items as Lenardo stood smugly enjoying Portia's astonishment. It would have been quite satisfactory for a Reader of Julia's age to identify shapes: box, cup, globe.

Portia probed for Julia's limits, easily finding them, of course-but the child was far advanced for her age. Lenardo was quite certain that Portia would give her a place here rather than send her to one of the lesser Academies.

"Lenardo," said Portia, "leave us. I would interview this child privately. Wait outside," she added, and he wondered if that was meant to reassure Julia.

"Be honest with Master Portia," he told the girl, "and do whatever she tells you."

He forced himself to smile, and he left the room convinced that he would never see Julia again except perhaps to say good-bye.

As he walked aimlessly down the hallway, it occurred to Lenardo that he had not disclosed to either Portia or Clement his ability to eavesdrop on other Readers without being noticed. He could Read Portia and Julia now, but he would not. To control his consuming curiosity, he sought something else to concentrate on and wandered out into the courtyard. Sitting down on the edge of the fountain, he took off his left sandal and rubbed his injured ankle. It was aching slightly after the walking he had done today, but, he Read, there was no new damage. Strange how quickly it was healing. He hadn't expected to walk easily for a week.

His mind went back to Julia as he refastened his sandal. Determinedly, he turned his thoughts in another direction, anything to stop worrying and avoid the temptation to Read her. Firmly, he cut off Reading and moved to a bench in the shade of an arbor thickly overgrown with blossoming vines. Not Reading, he found his other senses reaching out, appreciating the golden sunlight on the mottled green of the plants, the scent of flowers, the cool shade, the refreshing sound of the fountain, and the delicate hum of women's voices.

One voice in particular almost sang with happiness. "I can't believe I'm really going to have a baby at last."

"Yes, yes, my dear." The calm tones of a healer. "Just follow the diet I've given you and come back in a month to let me Read you again."

The two women were walking down the hall behind where Lenardo sat, the healer escorting her nonReader patient through the maze of hallways. "We've been trying so hard to have a child, and when my flux began yesterday-"

"Ah, but it stopped again," replied the healer. "That happens sometimes. Everything is perfectly normal, Celia. Stop worrying and tell your husband the happy news."

They parted, with Celia going on her way and the healer walking back along the hallway, still not noticing Lenardo. He felt a wistful envy of Celia's happiness. As nonReaders, she and her husband could love their child, raise it to adulthood. The chance that it would be a Reader and be taken from them was so small that it would probably never cross their minds to cloud their joy.

A little girl in a pink dress came into the courtyard from the other side and quickly spotted him. "Are you Lenardo?"

He jumped up. "Yes."

"Master Portia asks you to come to her study."

He Read them long before he got there: Portia behind her desk, a portrait of implacable anger; Julia standing by the door, chin jutted defiantly, arms folded across her chest, clutching something in one hand.

When he entered, Portia said, "I could not contact you."

"I stopped Reading so that I would not intrude on you."

"At least you have not forgotten courtesy yourself, even if you have failed to instill it in your daughter."

He turned to the child. "Julia, what have you done?"

"She insulted you, Father. She said you were corrupt, defiled-"

He knelt down. "Julia, you know I have broken with the Code-"

"Then the Code is wrong. It's wicked! And she is wicked. She wants me to break loyalty to my liege lord."

Lenardo fought to remain calm. "Master Portia, you must understand that Julia is trying to cope with a whole new set of values. What she has known all her life-"

"Lenardo," Portia interrupted. "I would know how the child came to consider your her liege lord."

He rose to face her. "I have told you. The title is the only one the savages recognize, given to me because of my Reading powers. I made the error of thinking we could trust some of the Lords Adept, those not intent on destroying us. I was wrong. Instead of killing us, they would use us, which is worse than death. That is why I have returned and taken Julia out of their power."

Portia studied him, and he could feel her attempt to Read how truthful he was. "We shall see. It will take longer than I thought to gather the Council of Masters. We have many obligations, Lenardo. I want to be certain that all the most powerful Readers are present to examine you. Meanwhile, I do not want this child contaminating the girls here. Take her with you. No more harm can be done than has been already. We will decide what to do with her after your fate has been decided."

Leaving Julia with Lenardo meant that he could always be found through the child. He noted the ploy sardonically. If he did want to escape, he had no place to go. And when the Council of Masters examined him under Oath of Truth, they would find that he was no danger to them.

Julia trudged beside Lenardo through the city streets, lost in her own thoughts. Finally she accused him. "You wanted to leave me in that place."

"Julia, I have told you ever since we met that I want you to be properly trained in an Academy. I had hoped it would be Portia's, but it appears she will send you elsewhere."

"Where will you be?"

"Wherever I am assigned. It is hard, Julia, I know, but it is necessary for Readers to be trained in Academies. All the girls you saw or Read today have had to leave their families."

"So they'll forget their loyalties," Julia said through angry tears. "They don't have to kill the parents the way Lords Adept do when they take a child as apprentice. Here the parents just walk away."

As your mother did, Lenardo remembered. Ignoring the crowds passing in the busy streets, he knelt and looked into the girl's eyes. "Julia, I do not want to walk away from you. I love you very much, and I should have told you more. If you can trust me until we get back to the inn, I will explain everything."

But the explanations rang hollow in Lenardo's own ears. "The Academy is the only place you can live safely, Julia. I want to keep you, but I cannot. In the savage lands, we are prey to the whims of the Adepts."

"Not if we learn Adept powers," she pointed out.

"That is not possible, Julia, and even if it were, what would it mean? More power struggles, more wars. Haven't you seen enough battles in your short life?"

"Power must be demonstrated," she replied. "You were a great lord, Father. You used your powers foj the good of your people. You made allies to protect them from powerful enemies. You took an apprentice so that someone trained in your ways would rule after you."

"Oh, Julia," he whispered, "can't you see how wrong I was to do all those things?"

"No, but I know why you think so. The Readers' Code is all about not using power. Don't Read to gain wealth. Don't Read to destroy your enemies. Never help yourself, only the government-but a Reader can't be in the government. Father, you say Adepts chain people's minds, but it's your mind that's chained-by the Readers' Code. They took you when you were a little boy and made you afraid to use your powers."

"Julia-"

"You want me to be afraid, too, but I won't be. You want to get rid of me-"

"No!"

"Because you're scared of my powers. Portia's scared of me and of you. You disobeyed her. She's going to kill you for that, Father."

"Julia, you don't understand. We are not savages here."

"Portia is. Only she's not honest like Aradia or Wulfston." Julia held out the object she had been clutching ever since they had left Portia's office. "She gave me this scroll. The Readers' Code. It's new, but it was on Portia's desk. She handled it. Do you want to know its story, Father?"

"No." But he was lying, and Julia knew it. "A senator came in a few days ago. He wanted to know about some merchant ships. He offered Portia money to Read another man for him. She wouldn't do it."

"You see," said Lenardo in relief. "She wouldn't be bribed."

"She didn't want money," Julia continued. "She wanted him to vote against building a new Academy for boys." "What?"

Julia concentrated, her voice and vocabulary taking on echoes of what she Read. "Portia is afraid of… Master Clement. An old man, respected, honest. She thinks him foolish… dangerous. And the boys he has trained. That's your Academy, isn't it, Father?" "Yes." He was too stunned to say more. "Portia wants the Senate to break up the Academy, retire Master Clement, and distribute the boys among other Academies. The teachers, too. One older boy she fears… Torio. She dares not try to win him over, and so she will make him fail his examinations. Father, what is the Sign of the Dark Moon?"

"The badge of failed Readers: a black circle on white." Julia frowned. "I don't understand. When Portia thinks of Torio, she thinks of that and of a saying, 'When the moon devours the sun, the earth will devour Tiberium.' " "I don't understand either, child. Perhaps she is becoming confused with age."

"Father, she already controls more than half the Council of Masters." The child's voice took on a weird echo of Portia's. "By influencing powerful nonReaders, these Masters control the Aventine Empire. It's always been-the Master Readers must control the Senate or the people will destroy them out of fear."

Julia dropped the scroll on the bedside chest, coming out of her semitrance. The adult pose and language disappeared, and she was a little girl again, helpless and frightened. "You want to give me to that woman. She'll kill me. She'll kill you, Father."

"No, no, Julia." He took her in his arms, trying to reassure her. "I'll never let Portia have you."

It all fit together now: Years ago, when he was tested for the rank of magister, Lenardo had failed Portia's personal test. He had been completely sincere in his adherence to the Reader's Code, just as Master Clement had taught him. So he had been sent back to Adigia, perhaps to die in one of Drakonius' raids but certainly to be kept ignorant of the true power of the Council of Masters. And Portia would never let him on that council.

When he volunteered for exile to stop Galen, Portia had been agreeable, even eager, after Master Clement had elevated Lenardo to Master rank. She had not expected him to return. Julia was right. All Portia had to do was have someone "recognize" Lenardo, reveal his brand, and irate citizens would kill him. Master Clement need never know that it was other than tragic chance.

And when I am dead, what will happen to Julia? The child clung to him. She had no faith left in him, but she also had no one else. He had failed her, failed all his responsibilities, had never wanted any beyond those of a teacher in an Academy. He was not a questioner, and so he had failed Galen, who was.

I don't know what I am. Other people always define me.

Reader. Fate had made him that.

Teacher. Master Clement had encouraged his star pupil to remain in the Academy.

Traitor. Galen's treachery had prompted the plan; Galen's words spoken by Lenardo had sealed his doom.

Exile. Portia's plan to be rid of him, the dragon's-head brand on his arm defining him for all to see.

Lord of the Land. Aradia had made him that.

Father. Julia's idea, not his, but he had accepted it.

I accepted it all, and then I ran away from it all. Failed, even at being an exile, for here I am, home again.

Where Portia had expected him to fail, he hadn't-and one other thing he had not failed at. He was a Reader, the most powerful Reader ever known. Portia had attempted today to define him as a failed Reader by allowing him into her presence. But… I do not accept her definition!

His powers were the one thing no one else could give or take away, and through them he must get Julia to a place of safety. They had sneaked into the Aventine Empire, and they would sneak out again. Portia would not expect it; she didn't know what Julia had Read in the scroll, and she expected Lenardo to do exactly what he had always done before: whatever she told him. Besides, she thought that he had no place to go.

But I have a land to rule!

Wulfston was alone in Zendi now, still telling people that he was Lenardo's regent. /'// make him live up to it, Lenardo thought in sudden glee. Wulfston's definition, but I'll make it come true. I'll ride into town, thank him in a public ceremony, and politely throw him out.

Thank the gods, Aradia had gone back to her own land. Lenardo would not have to face her again until he had truly established himself as the lord his people expected. That meant using his powers, not fearing them. If he decided to define himself once and for all as Lord of the Land, he must be prepared openly and honestly to exercise power.

Let the corruption in the Aventine government work until it destroyed itself. Lenardo and his allies would be waiting just beyond the pale, ready to take advantage. There would be no need to attack; Lenardo's powers would tell them the right moment to move in. Aradia, Wulfston, and Lilith would welcome him back on those terms.

Aradia. She had been dishonest with him, but was her drugging him really that much worse than his plan to seduce her, not because he loved her but to blunt her powers? She had not intended to harm him. Her motive had been to conceive a child.

Suddenly what he had overheard at Portia's Academy today flashed into his mind. Celia, the healer's patient, had feared that she was not pregnant because her flux had begun. Aradia-Aradia had assumed the same thing.

Aradia may be carrying my child. Blessed gods, why was I so angry I did not think to Read her to be certain?

He knew what to do now. He could easily Read Castle Nerius from here, contact Aradia, and Read her condition. She had been so positive she was pregnant, terribly disappointed that she was not.

She is. I'm sure she is, and with a child to unite us, we will find a way to work together. She will help me now, once I get out of the empire.

"Julia," Lenardo told the weeping child, hugging her, "I know what to do now. We're going back to Zendi!"

She looked up at him. "Can we?"

"We came all this way, didn't we? We escaped Aradia and Wulfston. We survived an earthquake. What can a few Readers do to us? Now wash your face and go to sleep, because we're going to sneak away in the middle of the night. I'll wake you."

She clung to him, daring tentative hope. "Yes, Father."

Lenardo tucked her into bed, supervising the meditation exercise he had taught her to send her to sleep despite her excitement. Then he Read outward, beyond the city, beyond the pale, to Castle Nerius. There he had first met Aradia, helped to cure her father, and fought in the battle of Adepts. There Aradia had made him a lord.

Bright moonlight flooded the landscape as Lenardo "traveled" in his mind. Strange-from here he ought to "see" the castle towers. Hopeful expectation turned to concern and then to fear. He found the hills, the road, the forest. In a nearby field, the flat rock where they built the funeral pyres lay empty, cold in the pale moonlight.

As he approached the castle, his anxiety increased, and then he saw it, its walls and towers fallen, smoke rising from the remains of the houses that had clustered about its gate. There was no sign of life.

She's dead! By all the gods, I deserted her, and now she's dead, and our child with her!