Captives

'You're right,' said Torio. 'We have enough Readers to find you very quickly-but even if we had none, the watchers would find you. Ask Lord Lenardo to tell you about the time he tried to escape from Lady Aradia's castle.'

'Lord Lenardo. We have heard strange tales about this renegade who now styles himself a savage lord.'

'He is a savage lord, and so am I,' Torio told him. 'Here titles are earned according to one's powers, not one's politics.'

'Oh, yes,' said Master Corus, 'I have heard that you believe you were mistreated by the Council of Masters.'

'Not the Council. You had nothing to do with the decision, did you? I was never tested. Portia simply decided I was a failure-because I am Lenardo's friend.'

'Portia does not base her decisions on such arbitrary matters. She refused you testing because you were not qualified.'

'Oh? Would you care to test me, Master Corus? You are afraid even to open to Reading this morning. Why? You Read me yesterday.'

The Master Reader was not much older than Lenardo, mid-thirties, Torio judged, «looking» at him for the first time. His sandy hair was receding, his fair skin sun- and wind-burned from the ocean voyage. His face was unprepossessing, eyes watery blue, nose and chin not particularly strong. Not the face of a man of action. His feet and the hem of his black-banded tunic were dirty, but the rest of his outfit had only occasional splashes of mud. He had not been one of the near-victims of the quicksand, obviously-nor had he waded in to try to rescue others.

'What are you afraid of?' Torio probed.

'We do not know… how you savages make traitors out of Readers. I feel no loyalty to you, no hatred for my homeland. I do not think anything was done to me while I slept. But now both you and your Lord Adept are awake- and I do not know what you may be planning.'

'Nothing!' Torio said angrily. 'We wouldn't, even if we could-and we can't.'

Master Corus stared at him. 'No… you can't. You haven't had the training. But Lenardo has.'

'What training?'

//Torio.// It was Melissa, who had been Reading their conversation for some time, keeping a tight grip on her emotions. //Jason told me something before he died. I didn't understand it then-he was rambling so-but he said Readers treat patients whose sickness is in the mind… by making them believe what the healers want them to.//

//What?//

//I don't have the training, either. I had finished my first year at Gaeta-I would have had to be examined for Magister rank before going on to learn how to cure illness of the mind. And that is why. Only Readers in the top ranks are allowed to know that it is possible-//

//Melissa-you must know: Adepts can implant a suggestion in a person's mind. Wulfston says it's not successful if the person strongly disagrees with the suggestion. They can't change someone's loyalties. But you ought to know that they can do other things- like keeping someone in a room by making him think the door won't open. But even that won't work for long if he has a strong enough motivation for getting out.//

Master Corus, still closed against Reading, had been thinking over what to tell Torio. 'There is a technique to cure mind sickness. It is used only when all else has failed, to control people violent toward themselves or others. Several Readers, together, can remove ideas from the person's mind-ugly memories, desire to hurt or be hurt-and replace them with positive thoughts. Magister Readers learn the method during final medical training. Lenardo could use the technique… for corrupt purposes.'

As he listened, Torio was Reading Corus. //Melissa… // he observed in astonishment, //this man is lying!//

It was supposedly not possible for a Reader of Torio's age and rank to tell if a Master Reader were not speaking the truth… and yet Torio felt that what Master Corus said did not ring true. //I think he's not telling the whole truth,// he amended, //not that what he just told me isn't true. He knows some other use this technique is being put to-a use he feels guilty about.//

Aloud he said, 'You will soon meet Lenardo. You felt the strength of his mind yesterday. Consider this, Master Corus: Misusing a Reader's powers weakens them. Lenardo's powers have increased a hundredfold. How could that happen if he were using them for corrupt purposes?'

That silenced Corus, and Melissa kept her thoughts to herself for the rest of the journey, too.

Lenardo, Aradia, and Julia were waiting for them in the courtyard of Wulfston's castle. There were hugs of greeting all around-then the new arrivals scattered to change out of the clothes they had slept in, and the minor Adepts who lived nearby went home.

Within the hour, Wulfston, Torio, Rolf, Melissa, Lenardo, Aradia, and Masters Amicus and Corus were gathered for a sumptuous meal in the great hall. Torio enjoyed Reading the Master Readers' astonishment at the amount of food consumed by Wulfston, Rolf, and the delicate-appearing Aradia. From her powers, Torio had at first imagined an amazon until he had actually «looked» at her, discovering a pale, slender woman, hair like a cloud of sea-foam, only the firm gaze of her violet eyes and the set of her chin suggesting her vast strength.

Aradia was dressed today in her favorite purple-Torio had noticed that she wore that color whenever she met new people, except upon the most formal occasions, when she favored white.

Lenardo was dressed in dark green, his tabard as richly embroidered in gold as Wulfston's. No one wore crowns to breakfast, although Julia had confined her dark curls with the gold fillet that identified her as daughter and heir to a Lord of the Land.

The Master Readers wore clean tunics from their own packs, but they had not traveled in the scarlet robes that would show their rank-and make them immediate targets for enemy arrows. Their freshly cleaned wool traveling cloaks appeared very plain by contrast with the richly dressed assembly, for even Torio and Rolf had put on their best garments-Torio was learning from Wulfston the psychological value of appearances, and Rolf always seemed to know and do what Wulfston expected of him.

Torio had considered wearing his Magister Reader's robes; he no longer doubted his right to them. However, that outfit would acknowledge his inferior rank to the Master Readers. Dressed as a savage lord, he claimed equality. Therefore he had put on shirt and hose in a reddish brown that matched his hair, with a richly-embroidered tabard of dark greenish blue. It was close to the color of his eyes, which were now clear and healthy to all outward appearance, since one of Lenardo's healers had dissolved his cataracts in the mistaken belief that that would cure his blindness.

Melissa had not put on her Reader's tunic, either, although, knowing Wulfston's staff, Torio was sure it had been cleaned, mended, and placed in her room by now. She was dressed in a light blue silk dress, with a darker blue surcoat embroidered in silver. Her dark hair was smoothed back into a coiled braid at the nape of her neck, but wisps of curl fought their way out of the confinement, making a halo about her heart-shaped face. The same exposure to sun that had given Master Corus a red nose had turned Melissa's skin golden, and sprinkled a few freckles across her nose.

She's pretty, Torio thought-the first time in his life he had ever thought that of a woman.

The two Master Readers risked Reading now, although everyone spoke aloud for the benefit of the non- Readers. Torio had not had a chance to confront Rolf about what had happened on the battlefield-but the opportunity came when Master Amicus asked, 'Lord Lenardo-' Torio caught his hesitation about what title to use, and the refusal to grant him that of Master Reader, 'why did you bring a child with you to what you expected to be a battle?'

Julia gave Amicus a withering look, but Lenardo replied, 'Julia is an exceptionally talented Reader. We would not ordinarily expose so young a child to potential danger, but we are grievously short of Readers of any age or ability.'

'However,' Torio interrupted, 'there is now another Reader available-one completely loyal to Lord Wulfston.'

'Who?' Wulfston asked, with a puzzled glance at Melissa.