strongest Adept now practicing, and with him were three others: Trang, Yolo, and Hron. On Aradia's side were Lilith, a fine Adept but not a match for Drakonius; Wulfston, not yet come into his full powers; and Aradia herself- maybe a match for Drakonius, but untried. And the rumor that Drakonius had a Reader spying on their movements…
Despite their full understanding of the apparent situation, Lenardo Read no thought of surrender or even regret.
'We move out before dawn,' Aradia was saying, 'against our common enemy. I know that you will fight to the last drop of blood… and I know what is in your hearts, my friends. Not fear-I need not be a Reader to know there are no cowards among you.'
There was surprise at her choice of words, and several pairs of eyes besides Helmuth's fixed suddenly on Lenardo, distrust shoved aside for a sudden surge of hope-Even the odds! A Reader of our own! Render back blow for blow- as the evidence clicked into place.
Aradia smiled as if she could Read them. 'Yes-you know I would not assemble you for a hopeless task. We have an advantage Drakonius does not know about. He does not understand your strength, your loyalty to me and to one another. But, even more, he does not know that the wolf stirs again in his lair. Behold!'
Surprised, everyone followed Aradia's gaze to the back of the great hall, where Nerius was slowly descending the stairs, Wulfston at his side but not supporting him. A gasp-then the total silence of held breath. Reality penetrated. As one man, the assembled officers sank to their knees, tears of joy misting the eyes of hardened soldiers.
Crowned with a circle of twisted gold, Nerius moved majestically through the room, Wulfston falling a pace behind him. When he reached the front, he turned and said, 'Rise, my officers, and behold your lord, alive and well.'
As Nerius began to speak to the assembly about his illness, something stirred at the back of Lenardo's mind. Sensing danger, he Read outward… not in the castle… not out among the troops on the grassy slope. He reached the limits of the circle in which he could Read outward from himself in every direction at once, and began to Read in a spiral pattern, seeking some clue to what had alerted him. Nothing. Was it imagination? Nerves? He was many years beyond that kind of error.
Then he felt it again: feather-light touch of a mind on his. Galen! Galen close enough to Castle Nerius to Read- and that meant Drakonius was nearby.
Knowing Galen could use him as a focus, Lenardo deliberately stopped Reading, eliminating Galen's easiest target-but giving them only a short time if he was on the move, for he would easily fasten on the army massed behind the castle.
'Lord Nerius!' he said boldly, interrupting the Adept's speech. Every eye in the room fastened on him in outrage, except for the four Adepts'.
'Why do you interrupt me, Master Lenardo?' One or two people understood the significance of the title; the rest were confused, surprised, but confident in Nerius.
'Drakonius is within your borders.' Or close to it- Galen's range might have improved, but he was still only twenty.
A murmur of consternation, which Nerius silenced by raising one hand just as a man rushed in breathless from the courtyard, crying, 'My lady!' Then, seeing Nerius, he gasped, 'My lord!' and paled so that Lenardo was sure he would faint.
The Adepts, he surmised, lent the man physical support, for his color returned as he stumbled forward. Nerius said gently, 'Yes, lad, it is I. Tell me your news.'
'The watchers report an army crossing the border lands.'
'Good work,' said Nerius and spoke again to the assembled officers. 'We move out tonight then. The battle ‹ will soon be upon us-^but have no fear! Not only is your. Lord Adept restored to health, but you have seen even now the great advantage we have over Drakonius: Master Lenardo.
'I know-you have heard that Drakonius has a Reader to guide him, and that strikes fear into your hearts. But Drakonius has a young boy whom he has bullied into serving him. I have a Master Reader who serves me of his own free choice!'
A murmur went through the crowd of officers-suspicion, superstitious fear. Lenardo had already stopped Reading, to give Galen no chance to find him, but at that moment he would have stopped anyway, by the Readers' Code, for in such a situation all a person's most guilty thoughts and secret fantasies rose to the top of his mind as if to fulfill the dread fear that a Reader would know the worst about him. He could see the fear in these men's eyes.
'Yes,' said Nerius, 'we have all feared the Readers of the Aventine Empire. We have killed anyone in our lands who has shown signs of knowing our thoughts. But I say we have been wrong! Drakonius has shown us how an Adept can use a Reader to destroy-but Lenardo has shown us how Adepts and Readers can work together to preserve life. My life. You marvel at my standing before you, alive, whole. Were it not for this man, this Reader, I would even now be dead or dying.
'Only because Lenardo could Read the disease within me could my daughter and my son destroy it. Now the disease of Drakonius' cruel ambition threatens us. With Lenardo's help, we shall destroy this infection! Trust Lenardo as I do, for with his help we shall win!'
Nerius held up the wolf s-head pendant Lenardo had worn. 'I was wrong to take this from you, Master Reader. You have earned the right to wear my sign-and all who see it will respect it.' The pendant floated from Nerius' hands, the chain spreading to form a circle and slipping over Lenardo's head to settle as if it had never left him.
Once more Nerius turned to his officers. 'Go, now- move your troops out, and never fear. By nature, strength is with those who are in the right.'
A cheer went up, and the men moved out quickly. The Adepts started for the stairs, but Nerius stopped Lenardo with a hand on his arm. 'Master Reader, you can interpret dreams.'
'Lord Nerius, it is difficult even for a Reader to sort prophetic dreams from those caused by anxiety. I simply do not know how to assure you that I mean no harm to Aradia.'
'Nay.' The old Adept smiled. 'I believe you are right- the other dreams were brought on by my illness and fear of leaving my daughter unprotected. But today, a well man, sleeping merely to gain strength for the coming battle, I dreamed a new dream.'
'What was it?'
'I saw the future, many years from now. There was peace throughout the land-not just the small land I now hold but a land reaching far beyond our borders, many lands joined into an empire as great as the Aventine Empire once was. And in my dream, I saw Aradia reigning over all those lands with you at her side, Adept and Reader together bringing peace to all the known world.'
'I think,' said Lenardo, 'that your dream may truly be prophetic, for it is clear that Adepts and Readers can work together for a common good. I think that is what it means, Lord Nerius-not literally Aradia and me, but all Adepts and all Readers. And I assure you, I shall do all I can to make your dream come true.'
Hastily, the Adepts doffed their cumbersome finery, then climbed up to the castle battlements. When Nerius appeared, a wild cheer went up from the army, already assembling into units to move out against the enemy. Lenardo felt hopelessly torn-Readers should be going with the army, some to lead, others to maintain an overall view and direct troop leaders. But this army would have to fend for itself, as it always had.
'You say Drakonius has gone out ahead of his army?' Nerius asked Lenardo.
'Yes.'
'Then we will do the same. Where is he?'
'I have Read along the road from here to the border and found nothing. He must be in the hills.'
'There is a steep back trail,' said Nerius, 'that a small party could take. You know where the trail from the borderland enters the main road?'
As they climbed down from the battlements, Lenardo quickly found the trail, from Nerius' description. Someone had been over it recently, galloping along the treacherous rocky way with reckless abandon. In moments he found them: Galen, Drakonius, and three other Adepts. Galen cried, 'My lord! They've found us!'
'Lord Nerius, I have found them, but Galen detected me,' reported Lenardo. 'Now they're stopping, letting the horses go, climbing the rocks-'
