'Yes. And the only way I can correct it is to take this journey. When I am gone, you do whatever Lady Aradia or Lord Wulfston says. Tell Arkus.'
'But when will you return?'
Lenardo looked into the anxious eyes and Read the sincere concern for him. If he told the truth, Helmuth and many others would quickly guess that Aradia and Wulfston had driven him away. He did not want any kind of revolt, Adept punishments of his people'I cannot say, Helmuth. Take care of my people for me and obey Aradia and Wulfston.'
'Yes, my lord.'
Lenardo and Julia were seen leaving the city, of course, by the Southgate, where Lenardo had entered on his search for Galen-was it only four months ago?
People waved, and Lenardo waved back. He must make it appear that nothing unusual was happening. Once they were on the main road south, few people came near enough to recognize them. A man and a child in traveling clothes might be anyone, their fine horses indicating no more than that they had found favor with the Lord of the Land.
Julia was astonishingly silent as Lenardo set a pace to cover ground as rapidly as possible without overtiring their horses. Finally she asked, 'Father, where are we going?'
'Home,' he replied.
'But we just left home.'
'We are going to my home, Julia, back to the Aventine Empire where I came from. There you will meet other Readers and get a proper education.'
'You're not going to leave me there?'
He Read her panic, the normal child's fear of losing a parent, compounded by the terrible uncertainties she had known in her short life. 'No, Julia,' he told her. 'I'm going to stay in the empire, too.'
He didn't tell her mat once he placed her safely in Portia's hands, they would never see each other again. Once she touched the minds of her teachers and classmates in the Academy, she would forget him as quickly as he had forgotten his own parents. I will be the one who will sorely miss Julia, he realized sadly.
Lenardo intended to Read ahead, contact Master Clement, and have his message relayed to Adigia so that the gates would be opened for them on their arrival. He would not rest securely until they were within the walls of the empire.
Before the mysterious expansion of his powers, Lenardo would have had to ride to the wall, find a secure place to hide, and leave his body in order to Read all the way to Tiberium. Now, though still several hours from the border, he could contact Master Clement without even stopping.
But just as he decided to do so, he Read pursuit. Arkus and a troop of ten men were galloping along the road several miles behind them. Lord Lenardo, Arkus projected. Lord Wulfston wants you to return to Zendi.
I'll just bet he does. 'Julia, we are being pursued. We must hide.'
She didn't question him but followed him off the road into a patch of woods. In a few minutes the soldiers galloped past, Arkus still broadcasting his order.
Julia looked wide-eyed at Lenardo. //Why don't you trust Lord Wulfston anymore?//
//We dare not trust any Adept, Julia. I fear it is you he wants, to bend to his will… or to Aradia's.//
//They couldn't. I'm a Reader. I'd know-//
//You have forgotten already how Drakonius treated people to make them obey him.//
//Lord Wulfston's not like that. And anyway, a Reader can always get away, like we're doing.// They were continuing through the woods, pausing each time they had to cross an open area to Read whether anyone might see them.
//Galen could not get away,// Lenardo told her. //I've mentioned Galen, my student, who went over to the enemy, Reading for Drakonius and his henchmen.//
//Yes. That's why you came here-to stop him.//
//That's right. But Julia, Galen was not an evil person, merely young and very foolish. He blamed other people for his problems instead of trying to solve them himself. And I suppose that is why he allied himself with Drakonius, thinking such a powerful Adept would give him wealth and power in exchange for his services. But do you know t what Drakonius made him do, to test his loyalty?//
//No. What?//
//Help him attack Adigia, the town Galen had come from, where all his old friends were.//
Julia did not respond, trying to shield her thoughts as she pondered that. Then she observed, //If anyone did that to me, I would think it was wicked. But if I was trying to test someone's loyalty, what better way?//
//Child, you are far too old for your years,// Lenardo told her wearily.
//But what happened? Did Galen pass the test?//
//He Read a fault in the rock beneath the Academy at Adigia. By jarring it just a little, the Adepts could cause an earthquake.//
//Oh, I remember. The ground trembled in Zendi. But it didn't work right. Almost our whole army got killed. The mountain fell on them.//
//Yes, and Drakonius blamed Galen.//
//Did Galen do it?//
//We will never know, child. By the time I found him, Galen's mind was so twisted from Drakonius' tortures that he himself did not know when he spoke truth.//
//What did Drakonius do to him?// Julia asked with childish curiosity.
//The soldiers are far ahead of us now,// said Lenardo. //We can return to the road, where we can move faster.//
//The watchers will tell everybody.//
Lenardo could Read that Wulfston's command to him to return was being relayed throughout the land, but the message would have to be sent by foot or on horseback into every settlement, for only the watchers knew the code of flashing lights. By the time it had disseminated widely, Lenardo and Julia would be in the no-man's-land near the border, where no one lived.
It was incredibly easy for two Readers in a mind-blind society to elude pursuit. Aradia could do nothing. Her powers were far less than Julia's.
Ill was caught by watchers once, Julia. I won't be again, nor will you.//
The little girl might not have been able to do it alone. Lenardo estimated that her range was about what his had been limited to by illness and exhaustion the time Aradia's watchers had located him. But with Julia Reading near and Lenardo far, they were able to use the good road to travel quickly when there was no one about and leave it to skirt settlements and avoid other people on the road.
They passed harvesters in the fields, making no attempt to hide when they Read that these people had no idea that they were fugitives. There was a sharp contrast between the well-clothed, well-fed, well-housed people they passed and the hungry, hopeless people Lenardo had Read along this same road on his journey northward last spring. So I have done some good, he thought. Aradia and Wulfston will keep it up. They would never let their people suffer the way Drakonius did.
//What did Drakonius do to Galen?// Julia's tenacious curiosity demanded to be satisfied.
Ill don't know all of it, child. When I found him, he was caged like an animal. One tune I Read Drakonius break the bones in Galen's hand-as a warning, he said. He healed him afterward, but that did not lessen Galen's pain at the time.//
//Do you think Aradia or Lord Wulfston would do something like that?//
//Their methods are more subtle, Julia. Aradia once kept me locked in her castle by planting in my mind the idea that I could not open the door of my room. I don't know if you can understand that that is much more wicked than outright torture.//
She thought it over. //If they can make people think whatever they want, why don't they make us think we want to go back?//
Ill don't think they could implant an idea in the mind of a healthy Reader. They did it to me when I was very ill, while they had me in healing sleep. I was not yet completely well when I found out what they had done, drove the command from my mind, and escaped. So they know they cannot hold a Reader that way. And Aradia tells me no one can be forced by that method to do something he believes to be wrong. It may be that Drakonius tried to chain
