'Keep moving!' said Nerius as they hurried down the stairs to the great hall. 'At that distance, they can't-'
A wall of flame leaped before them, blocking their way. They stumbled back.
'How did they locate us?' Wulfston asked.
'Galen is Reading me,' Lenardo replied. The flames disappeared as quickly as they had come.
'Can't you prevent him?' asked Lilith as they moved cautiously between the scorch marks left on stone stair and stone ceiling.
'No. I can't Read without being Read. But neither can he.'
'Where are they now?' demanded Aradia.
'Below a big anvil-shaped rock'Can we bring it down on them?' Wulfston asked at once.
Lenardo Read it and replied, 'Yes. Remove the earth at the forward part of the rock-it's baked clay-can you crumble it?' Even as he asked, the earth crumbled and the rock toppled-but Galen was warning Drakonius at that moment, and the Adepts guided the path of the falling rock harmlessly to one side.
As Lenardo relayed the news, the ornate wooden table at the end of the great hall burst into flame. The castle itself was solid stone, the basic structure fireproof.
'Spread out!' directed Nerius. 'Lenardo, keep moving- you will be their primary target-without you we are blind. We must get their Reader!'
Kill Galen? As if she Read him, Aradia said, 'Lenardo, he must be stopped!'
'With Drakonius,' he began numbly. 'To his right-'
What seemed to be a thunderbolt scorched the air just in front of Lenardo. As he leaped back by reflex, he realized that if he hadn't slowed his pace to answer Aradia, he would have been struck, andEven as he stood paralyzed for a moment-barest seconds-pain seared through his chest and down his left arm. Strong arms caught him and pulled him back, and he Read his heart returning to its normal rhythm as the pain faded and Wulfston said, 'I'll support you-keep moving!'
'Drakonius is conserving his strength,' said Aradia.
'Come on!' said Lilith, leading the way to the courtyard, where horses were being saddled for them. Men were already putting out the fire, but Lenardo had no trouble fighting off the sense that the castle was the safest place to be. JDrakonius obviously knew Castle Nerius only too well.
'Drakonius is moving down the trail,' Lenardo reported. 'Galen with him-past a twisted tree, on further-no landmarks- Look out!'
Cement from the battlements rained down on them, and everyone surged away from that side of the courtyard, horses rearing as great chunks of stone toppled-but fell harmlessly near the wall.
Lenardo was used to Reading at a distance while doing some ordinary thing like walking, but he had never been in the middle of a battle of Adepts, trying to report the others' actions aloud. Galen was reporting Lilith mounting her horse near the smithy. 'Lilith!' he shouted-no time for more, but she swung into the saddle and spurred her horse. It reared and lunged as another of those thunderbolts scorched the air where they had been the instant before.
Grabbing the moment, the others mounted and galloped out the gate, Lenardo trailing as he wondered how he could communicate while they were strung out along the road. Then they were off the road, Aradia in the lead, leaping fences and ditches as Lenardo clung to his horse for dear life, wondering how Nerius could ride so steadily.
The army was on the move, cavalry galloping along the road as foot soldiers fell into formation behind them at a brisk march. The Adepts kept pace with the front ranks, zig-zagging through the fields, avoiding landmarks. Drakonius and his Adepts remained gathered in their canyon as Galen reported the situation. Atop the highest bare rock on the canyon wall, a fire suddenly sprang up, winked, blinkedLenardo Read that the code was a signal to Drakonius' army to engage the enemy, for they began to pour through the border lands, more slowly in the rocky terrain than the army advancing toward them. As Nerius feared, the battle would take place on his land.
'Invasion!' Lenardo shouted over the galloping hoof-beats. 'Drakonius' army has entered your land!'
'Then there will be no question about who attacked whom,' Nerius remarked grimly. He spoke in a normal tone of voice, which Lenardo could not have heard, but he was Reading wide open and so 'heard' him easily.
He was also wide open to the nerve-shattering pain of the thunderbolt that took down the first rank of cavalry, men and horses alike. He screamed with their death agony, but in an Instant it was over. Four men and their horses lay dead, the others breaking ranks to detour around them, while Lenardo clung to his own mount, sweating and shaking as the animal plunged and reared in frightened response to its rider's emotion.
Wulfston grasped the bridle, and the horse calmed at once. 'What happened?'
Lenardo was already regaining his composure. 'When I'm Reading, I'm open to everything-including other people's deaths.'
The black man winced. 'How can you do battle then?'
'I don't know. Something happens in the actual fighting -men don't feel the pain. All a Reader picks up is the exhilaration of battle.' He urged his horse forward, and they galloped to catch up with the other Adepts.
More troops went down-flames seared them or thunderbolts pierced them, leaving bodies scorched through the center, like lightning-blasted trees. Troop commanders directed their men to scatter, but death was coming thick and fast before they could reach sight of the opposing army.
'We can't let our people die this way!' said Aradia, as Lenardo and Wulfston reached the other Adepts.
'Drakonius wants a direct confrontation,' said Nerius, 'or he wouldn't be wasting power like that. Aradia-'
'This way!' She led them again, through a patch of woods and out into the last large area of cleared land before the rocky hills. They pulled up in the middle of a field-the middle of nowhere, Lenardo realized as he looked around. Fields stretched in every direction. How could Galen describe their exact location now?
With a surge of glee such as he hadn't felt since the last time he had fought sword to sword with the savages, Lenardo slid off his horse. 'Good choice, Aradia-I wouldn't know how to pinpoint this place verbally.'
'Where is Drakonius now?' demanded Nerius.
'He and Galen are off to the north of the trail, almost at the bottom of the slope.'
The four Adepts joined hands, circling Lenardo, and as Galen cried, 'Get down!' a mass of rock seemed to… explode!… showering Drakonius' party with debris.
'No one hurt,' Lenardo reported. 'Try south about fifteen paces.' A burst of flame scorched Drakonius' and Galen's retreating heels. 'They're moving southwest-'
'Where are the others?' demanded Nerius.
'One man about ten paces east-'
Another instant of pain and death while he was Reading fully sent Lenardo to his knees in shock. 'You got him,' he choked out, feeling unwanted strength pouring back into his limbs as the Adepts supported him. Climbing to his feet, he said, 'The rest are all moving again. Galen says you've formed a circle. Drakonius demanding where. Galen trying-'
Off in the distance, a corner of a field burst into flame. Aradia turned her head to look at it, and the fire went out.
'They'll try to circle in on us,' said Nerius. 'Quick- destroy them before we must move again. Lenardo-'
'The other men are above Drakonius and Galen on the slope, coming toward them-'
Another fire, roaring through a group of soldiers just off the road, killing them more slowly than before, in wrenching agony that Lenardo shared until the last one died.
'Fire the entire canyon,' Nerius said grimly.
'Father, it's against nature!' said Aradia. 'There's nothing there to burn!'
'Drakonius and his minions will burn! Lend me strength.'
'You're not well enough!'
But as another thunderbolt struck close by, Nerius was already at the task-not just a momentary burst of flame but a roaring continuous blaze scorching through the canyon with the white heat of a funeral pyre, the Adepts and Galen caught, trapped, screaming in agonyLenardo could not stand it, retreating to Read the power draining from the circle around him, through Nerius, taking his last reserves'Nol' shouted the old Adept, 'you'll not escape me!'
In their death throes, Drakonius and his Adepts were throwing flame, thunderbolts, explosions, all around the circle. Lilith's dress caught fire-a break hi concentration as she put it out. Nerius sagged. Aradia cried, 'Father!' as suddenly Nerius lunged sideways, knocking his daughter aside as one last thunderbolt tore through that very spot-
