Savage Empire

"He was able to stop the stones from hitting us-a good thing, because by now some people were throwing knives and axes. We galloped off and rode hard for quite a distance before Nerius was sure we had eluded pursuit. Then he took a terrible chance-we hid out until dark and then rode back. Nerius said we were going to get my family to go with us. But we were too late."

Lenardo knew the dread terror inspired by.the very idea of an Adept within the empire. Even now, surrounded by Adepts whom he had come to regard as friends, he felt the old fear stir at the helplessness of anyone, even a Reader, before their power. And so he didn't have to ask what had happened to Wulfston's family.

The young Adept told him, calmly and quietly, speaking of an old wound, long healed. "The villagers had killed my family and burned down our house. I suppose they thought we were all secretly Adepts-although they must have known that Adepts would not stand still to be murdered!"

"Mob frenzy doesn't stop for rational thought," said Lenardo.

"No," Wulfston agreed sadly. Then he straightened. "I have learned to be grateful that Nerius was there that day to steal me away, or else I would surely have shown my powers in some unmistakable fashion soon and been killed along with my family."

Lenardo wondered if it had ever occurred to Wulfston that Nerius might have planted the suggestion to try his powers in the little boy's mind. No-he surely would not have intended a public display that gave away his own identity.

"So Nerius brought me home," Wulfston was saying, "and raised me as his own son. I was very young. It didn't take me long to recover. And there was Aradia, who thought I was the best present her father had ever brought her."

"She does tend to take possession of people," Lenardo agreed.

"I'd been a nuisance to my real sister, who had to take care of me while our parents worked. Aradia, though, was starved for the companionship of another Adept child.

That's why the difference in our ages meant so little, although it's certainly the reason she got me into so much trouble."

"What about your name?" asked Lenardo. "I understand why naming you after the wolf-stone that revealed your powers is appropriate, but you already had a name."

"An Aventine name," said Wulfston. "Nerius decided that it would be best for me to leave my old life behind completely, so when he adopted me he gave me a new name. Actually, it's a very old name-there are two legendary Wulfstons celebrated in song: Wulfston the Red, a non-Adept warrior king who ruled his people well despite his lack of powers, and Wulfston of Caperna, who subdued the ghost-king."

"The ghost-king?"

The young Adept gri

"Legends are interesting but not my highest priority. Two things I must learn soon, Wulfston: how to read your alphabet, and the code the watchers use to transmit messages."

"Better take them one at a time, or you'll mix them up," said Wulfston.

"No-if you will show them to me, I can commit both to memory overnight."

"Really?" Wulfston was clearly impressed. "Now there's a Reader's trick I'd like to learn!"

"I wonder…" said Lenardo. "It's not exactly Reading. There's no harm in trying to teach you-but first you teach me!"

As Lenardo absorbed the new knowledge, he pondered Wulfston's statement, "You won't go back." How could he not go back? He couldn't live here, cut off from other Readers.

Strange… now that he thought about it, he was not experiencing the deprivation he had expected from being separated from other Readers. He had expected to feel isolated, but ever since he had begun working with Aradia and Wulfston to heal Nerius, he had become so involved in their problems that he hadn't thought about his own, other than the immediate problem of Galen and Drakonius, which he shared with the Adepts.

Of course-that was why he felt so comfortable here now: they shared a common enemy. When Drakonius was defeated and Galen rescued, Lenardo would have to take Galen home. Deliberately, he shut out the fear that Galen could not be taken from Drakonius alive, and considered the problem of getting the boy back within the empire's walls. How much influence did Portia have with the senate? She was the one who insisted that the Readers take rare of their own. But once Galen was stopped from working with the enemy, what would become of him?

He should be given over to the physicians at Gaeta. Can Portia and Clement arrange that? Or will Galen be imprisoned? Or executed?

Suddenly the idea of returning to the empire with Nerius' strength to back him took on new appeal. Nerius wanted Lenardo's help in negotiating a treaty,.and in return Lenardo could ask him to protect Galen. An elegant solution -provided Lenardo could get back alive.

In the morning Aradia sought Lenardo out. "I do not think my father will be pleased that Wulfston taught you the watcher's code."

"You forget, Aradia-I can pick up my message directly from the minds of the watchers. I wanted to know the code in case I need to send a message."

She laughed. "Of course. Watchers never use the heliograph in sight of the Aventine walls for that very reason. And once we have made peace, we will have relays of Readers, and the heliograph will become obsolete."

"You expect that kind of cooperation?"

"It has to come. If it does not, one day the whole world will be in the hands of men like Drakonius. What can you tell me of him this morning? As you did not come seeking me, I fear there is no news."

"I could wish for those relays of Readers now," Lenardo replied. "Last night, all except the guards in Drakonius' stronghold were sleeping. This morning Drakonius was fishing again. But who knows what might have happened while / was sleeping? Or might be happening right now, while we talk? Your watchers report troop movements; I don't know where to look for them. To do a proper job of watching Drakonius' preparations, we should have at least ten Readers, strategically placed. Someone ought to be Reading Drakonius every moment, so we don't miss a message, a command,.any clue to his intentions."

"We," Aradia said thoughtfully.

"Hmmm?"

"You keep saying 'we,' not 'you' anymore. Lenardo, why has the empire not kept such watch on Drakonius aU along? How could his attack on Adigia have surprised a whole academy of Readers?"

"An academy is a school, not a spy system. To do what you suggest, Readers would have to be sent out into the savage lands…" Suddenly the words of Portia, the Master Reader, came back to him. We must not make our own people mistrust us. But they already mistrusted Readers- so much so that they feared using them as their best line of defense!

"Lenardo?" Aradia was looking up at him in concern.

He shook his head. "The strategy seems so obvious to me now. Yet…" He shuddered. "Look what Drakonius has done to Galen, and now he's looking for me, thinking he can use any Reader thus. Readers are human-you Adepts could break some and use them, and kill those you could not conquer. No, the empire dares not risk having their own weapon turned against them."

Aradia sighed. "Your loyalty does you credit, but your stupidity does not. Father is right: the Aventine people fear the Readers' powers, but the government fears most of all, knowing that they hold the positions you should have by right of nature. Never mind-you will come to it. We don't have ten Readers, only you, so tell me how we can best use your abilities."

"If I continue to keep watch on Drakonius himself, I can tell you when he leaves to join the assembled armies. I take it he will have to come close to you to attack?"