'Yes, my lord.'
The peasants continued to grovel, waiting anxiously, and Lenardo Read that they expected to be punished for breaking a law he hadn't made yet. It was what Drakonius would have done.
Looking at the battered corpse, he asked, 'Does this boy have a family?'
'Yes, my lord. A mother and a sister in the village. His father and granther died in the battle at Adigia.'
'And you have destroyed the last man in that family,' said Lenardo. 'There can be no recompense for such a loss, but I charge all of you: Whatever needs those women have-plowing land, cutting wood, anything their men would have done for them-you are to do it. Do not think you can neglect this charge without my knowing. Arkus, ride back to the village with these men and extend my sympathy to the boy's family. Give them a measure of silver. It will not compensate, but perhaps it will ease their lives a bit.'
The utter astonishment of the peasants followed Lenardo as he and Helmuth rode back toward their train. The old man said, 'That was a very good move, my lord. It is exactly what the Lady Aradia would have done.'
'Aradia could have stopped them before the boy was murdered,' Lenardo replied bitterly.
'But she wouldn't have known it was happening at all,' Helmuth pointed out.
That was true. Readers and Adepts had individual powers, but when they worked together…
How life has changed in just a few short weeks!
Lenardo had been a teacher in the Academy at Adigia, expecting to spend the rest of his life there, until Adigia was attacked by savage Adepts under the direction of a Reader: Galen, a boy Lenardo had trained but who had turned traitor to the empire. The only person who could hope to take Galen from the enemy was another Reader. Lenardo, who had taught Galen the techniques he had turned upon his own people, volunteered to go, speaking the same traitorous words Galen had in order to be condemned to exile: 'We cannot fight the savages off. They are defeating us with their Adept powers. We must offer to share our Readers' abilities with them in order to gain peace.'
The words were a lie at the time he spoke them. But now I believe them, he thought as he rode beside Helmuth, angling back toward the road.
Arkus joined them, reporting, 'You really surprised those men, my lord. Drakonius would have destroyed their whole village if they'd gone against his will.'
'Even if they didn't know his will?'
'That way, people got to know it very quickly.' The young officer grinned, and Lenardo felt a moment's disgust at his callousness.
'Arkus, the destruction of people's lives is never amusing.'
Arkus sobered. 'My lord, I have not forgotten that you spared my life. Whatever your will, I shall serve you.'
But Arkus did not really understand. Years of teaching had given Lenardo patience. Only time and exposure to a different way of thinking would change Arkus's attitude. Just as leaving the empire changed mine.
Leaving the empire in total ignorance, only by good fortune did Lenardo escape being taken by Drakonius. Fortune or fate-he was not certain what to term the sequence of events that had led him to wander, delirious with fever from an infection in his branded arm, into Aradia's lands. There his wolf's-head pendant-a gift from an old friend on his day of exile-was identified as the sign of the Lady Aradia, leader of an alliance of Adepts seeking to halt the spread of Drakonius' power and cruelty.
Aradia's father, Nerius, the one Adept with powers to equal Drakonius', was dying of a tumorous growth in his brain. With Lenardo's Reading to guide them, Aradia and her foster brother, Wulfston, had been able to dissolve the growth-and the old Adept had recovered in time to lead mem in battle when Drakonius attacked.
In that battle, Nerius had been struck through by one of the thunderbolts that were the Adepts' most powerful weapon. But Drakonius had also died, and all his Adept henchmen with him. And Galen. My student, Lenardo reminded himself. My fault his life was blighted. How can I take responsibility for other lives after Galen?
The battle in which Galen died had taken place only a week ago. By savage custom, Aradia had divided the land they had won, awarding part of it to her brother Wulfston, part to the Lady Lilith, the only ally who had remained faithful in the face of Drakonius' attack. Then, to Lenardo's shock, she had announced, 'The portion of land southward from the border of Lilith's land, east from Wulfston's, and west from mine I give to Lenardo.'
Lenardo had asked her to cede those lands to the Aventine Empire as part of a peace treaty he hoped to negotiate as her emissary. Instead, she had given them to him, telling him that if he chose, he could return the lands to the Aventine Emperor. 'He will take them, I guarantee it. And after that he will listen to nothing you have to say; I guarantee that, too.'
Lenardo was forced to agree. The empire allowed Readers no power; they were the only citizens without the right to be elected to office. Only when he looked at his homeland from a new perspective did Lenardo question the customs that had taught him not to want money or property-tokens given to failed Readers who must leave the Academies to live among nonReaders.
But if his own empire had kept control over him, had not Aradia done so as well? The land she had given him was surrounded on three sides by Aradia, her brother, and their closest ally. True, Lenardo had asked her for Zendi… but she need not have divided the conquered lands in precisely that fashion.
On the other hand, she had left him with no border unprotected, except the southern border, which met the walls of the empire. No rival Lord Adept could attack Lenardo without first taking one of the three powerful Adepts whose alliance had defeated Drakonius.
Lenardo could not be certain of Aradia's motivations, for Adepts were the only people he could not Read. She was a possessive ruler, and yet she wanted him to learn to rule: 'It is the only way you will make what you want of the world.'
Lenardo fingered the wolf s-head pendant, symbol of his allegiance to Aradia. It was alabaster, carved so that a vein of violet beneath the translucent surface formed the eyes-Aradia's violet eyes, her pale skin, pale hair, perfect embodiment of the symbol. He recalled her smile, at once animal-innocent and wolf-cunning. He and Aradia shared a dream: an Academy at Zendi where Adepts and Readers would learn to work together. As long as they shared that dream, she would not be his enemy.
Most of Lenardo's train had kept on along the road toward Zendi, Lenardo's new home. It was also an old home to him; he had been born there, when it was still part of the Aventine Empire. Now he planned to restore its beauty as he remembered it from childhood.
But not all of his followers had kept on along the road. Eight men from the old Zendi garrison under Arkus' command had followed when Lenardo left the road-had followed part way and were now waiting… Lenardo Read them and realized that it was an ambush. A Reader. Should have known better. Crazy, running off that way.
One move that seemed erratic to them, and they were ready not just to abandon him but to kill him.
'Arkus-Helmuth-ambush ahead! Our own men.'
'What?' from Arkus. 'My lord, they wouldn't-'
'Spread out. They're just beyond the rocks. They intend to kill Helmuth and me-and you, Arkus, if you don't join them.'
'My lord, I wouldn't!' The young commander paled in fear. His loyalty was firm, but would Lenardo believe it?
'I can Read you, Arkus, as easily as I Read them. They think to take us by surprise. We'll take them instead.'
Arkus was first through the passageway, with Lenardo and Helmuth close behind. The soldiers didn't have to Read to know that they were caught. Realizing that Lenardo had Read them, they attacked.
The passageway between the rocks was narrow enough here so that all eight could not attack at once. Lenardo and his men turned their horses and took the attack of the first three easily: Helmuth was experienced, Arkus was young and strong and eager, and Lenardo's Reading told him his opponent's every move before it was made. In moments, three traitors were dead, and their horses were churning to escape while the other five attackers strove to reach their quarry.
'Get the Reader!' shouted one of the soldiers, and all five tried to converge on Lenardo.
One crossed swords with him while another maneuvered behind him. He Read the man but could not turn until he had dispatched the one before him. Jerking on his horse's reins, he made the animal rear, the sword of the man before him cut the horse's chest, while that of the attacker behind went harmlessly under Lenardo's arm, tangling in his cloak. He clasped his arm to his side, pinning the weapon as his horse plunged, screaming in pain, attacking
