Savage Empire

"But as a punishment?"

"One might as well not have power if one is unwilling to use it. There is no need for gratuitous torture, but people must know that punishment will be swift and unpleasant, or some will not obey. It is always best to demonstrate justice early with light punishments-exactly the way one teaches a child."

To lighten the tone of the conversation, Lenardo said, "I suppose Adept children can get into a great deal of mischief."

Wulfston laughed. "Oh, indeed! I remember when Aradia and I decided we'd rather drink wine than milk, so we soured all the milk in the dairy for two days-and on the third day Nerius made us drink it anyway. And of course children can't resist spooking horses-or making them refuse to move. It's a wonder anyone was willing to live around here, with two Adept children playing pranks." "But you never did anything really dangerous?" "Oh, yes. The one time I remember Nerius actually paddling us with his own hand-when anything at a distance was unsatisfactory-was the time we set fire to the woods just west of here. We almost burned up with them."

Remembering what Nerius had told him, Lenardo asked, "How did Nerius come to take you in, Wulfston?"

"I was very young when he saw signs in me, which is why he knew I would be a Lord Adept. People who have merely one ability develop the talent at eight or ten."

"What happened to your own family? They were not Adepts?"

"No-although it seems my mother had one talent." He went to the. mantel and picKd up a bowl from the collection of pottery that lined it. Handing it to Lenardo, he said, "My mother made that."

"But it's Aventine."

Wulfston smiled sardonically. "I was born a citizen of your empire-a free citizen, although my parents had been slaves. They earned their freedom and citizenship, and moved from Tiberium to a small village near the border, where they made pottery. It wasn't easy for a black family outside the capital, but their work was the highest quality, and they made their way. My sister was born first, and I was born a few years later. I can't remember much except being happy there. I was only three when-"

"You began showing Adept powers," Lenardo marveled.

"Yes. At first it was great fun. I didn't know what I was doing, but I could make the birds and squirrels and rabbits come to me. The other children loved that-and no one associated it with Adept powers, which they always thought of as destructive. In fact, I think people thought it was an early sign of Reading."

The young Adept pointed to the design of fine lines in the bowl Lenardo held. "No one recognized that as an Adept skill either."

"I wouldn't," said Lenardo. "It's beautiful, the work of an artist-but why Adept?"

"Because it's all done freehand. My mother would just take a stylus and inscribe the design-but it has a precision an ordinary human hand ca

"Nerius?"

"Our village was near the border, but not on one of the main roads. When Nerius wanted to come into the empire-"

"What! An Adept going in and out of the empire?" Lenardo was stu

Wulfston laughed at his dismay. "Lenardo, there is nothing to keep an Adept out of the Aventine Empire! If I want to go in, I can climb a wall in a deserted area, or enter through one of the gates, making the guards open it for'me and then forget I'd ever been there-"

"By the gods," whispered Lenardo. "You could have been among us-"

"Yes. The only danger is the chance of encountering a Reader."

And he might not notice you, Lenardo realized, recalling how hard it was to find the Adepts in Drakonius' strong-, hold. "And even if you were recognized," he murmured, "no prison could hold you."

"However, we don't want the Aventines to know we walk among them."

"Then you should not have told me, Wulfston."

The black man studied Lenardo. "You won't go back," he said. "Certainly not back to your old way of life. You don't know how much you've changed in the time you've been here; If you go back at all, it will be as Nerius' representative."

"Do you still think you can force me to think your way?"

"No, and I never thought so. But you are an intelligent man. You already know that an honorable peace is the only chance for the empire to survive. What you have yet to accept is that Nerius is right about how to obtain that peace."

"You still have not told me how you came to be Nerius' apprentice, Wulfston. What did he do-steal you away from your family?"

"Not exactly. He saw the Adept skill in my mother's work, and- so he watched her children. He knew the danger if either of us showed Adept powers-unless, of course, they were similar to our mother's. My parents, like all new citizens, were fiercely loyal to the empire. Nerius dared not reveal his identity prematurely. He could not come to our village often, either-perhaps once in three or four months, each time stopping with us on the pretext of buying pot-tery. He would play with my sister and me. I know now that his games tested our powers.

"In those days, Nerius wore the wolf-stone-the same one I wear now. I was fascinated by it, and even though I was only three I can remember very clearly that one terrible day. It was Nerius' first visit since I had learned I could call the animals. When he arrived, I wanted to show him my new game. My parents' wares were on display on a stand in front of our house. When Nerius rode up, I ran to him, all excited-but there were other customers, a man- I don't remember who-and a woman who was frantic because she'd just broken her cooking pot but didn't want to pay our prices for a new one. I remember her saying that she didn't care about fancy decorations, didn't we have a nice, plain, sturdy pot?

"I didn't care about any of that. I wanted to show Nerius my game, so I tugged at his cloak until he finally picked me up and set me on the wall beside the stand. He told me he'd see my game later, and he turned to wait for my father or mother to be free to talk to him.

"I sat there, kicking my heels, ignored. Then I noticed Nerius' wolf-stone. I had wanted it since the first time I'd seen it, and it occurred to me that if I could call the other animals, maybe I could call the wolf too.

"So I started to call it. Not knowing anything about Adept powers, I called out loud, the way I called the birds and animals. And it came to me." "Everybody saw it?"

"I couldn't have been more conspicuous if I'd pla

"But a three-year-old boy was able to pull the pendant free from a metal loop," Lenardo marveled, "with his mind!"

"Yes. If Nerius had wondered about me, now he knew- but so did my parents, and the man and woman buying pottery. I was thoroughly pleased with myself for a moment, until both women screamed. My father was staring at me as if he'd never seen me before. Then the two villagers started shouting, 'Adept! Adept! Kill him!' and my parents started toward me from behind the stand. They would have pulled me over the wall and taken me into the house, I think, but Nerius knew that if they tried to protect me the people would turn on the entire family. He snatched me up from his side of the wall and ran for his horse.

"Of course I was scared and squirming, and the man and woman were shouting while my parents were frying to keep Nerius from kidnapping their son and at the same time to keep the others from killing us. And other people were ru