Captives

'This I must learn,' said Master Clement.

'Melissa is learning it very quickly. She studied surgery at Gaeta-and is only too happy to abandon it in favor of Adept techniques.'

'Melissa I met last night, and Rolf, who has learned to Read. Are there any others?'

'None but Lenardo and Aradia. What we need at this moment are more Readers-you and Decius increase our number by a third!'

Decius joined them in the courtyard. Wakened by the increasing noise level in the house, the boy had thrown on his clothes but not bothered to fasten on his artificial leg. He was using the crutch he preferred to the peg leg most of the time. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, then tried to apologize, but Master Clement said, 'You have nothing to apologize for, son-you've certainly earned your rest after that long journey.'

Back at the Academy, Torio had been greatly relieved to observe Decius' adjustment to his injury-once over his shock, the boy had taken it as a challenge, relearning everything he had ever done, including riding a horse. The only skill he had been unable to recover was swordsmanship. At Decius' insistence, Torio had worked with him as soon as he was fitted with the artificial leg-but the rapid weight shifts and lunges of swordplay irritated the stump of his leg more than any other activity, and he could not stand the long hours of practice.

As Master Clement went on ahead, Torio told Decius, 'Go eat breakfast, then put your leg on and I'll give you a lesson in swordplay. I'll bet you haven't practiced since I left the Academy.'

'There's no teacher, with you and Master Lenardo gone,' Decius replied. 'But I can't wear my leg today, Torio. I've had it on for five days, to balance me on a horse and so I could walk if necessary and not have one arm busy with a crutch. I'm too sore-'

'Are you? Did you Read yourself this morning, Decius?'

The boy Read the stump of his leg, then asked, 'How did you do that? as he discovered the bruises and blisters healed, and the scar tissue smoothed over permanently.

'I didn't do it, but I helped Lord Wulfston, after you were asleep. Did you notice how light Master Clement's steps are today? Lenardo and Aradia worked on him.'

'This is wonderful!' said Decius. Then, 'Torio-you don't have to convince me that I belong here. I trust Master Clement-when he said to come with him, I came.'

'That's how I got here, with Master Lenardo-you'll have to learn to call him Lord Lenardo now. Read around you, Decius. Things may be far from perfect here, but nobody will try to stop you from being everything you can.'

'Uh… you haven't learned-?'

'No-but Lenardo has. Melissa has. Aradia and Rolf have also learned to Read. Maybe you'll be a Lord Adept, Decius.'

The boy considered that. 'Could I grow a new leg?'

'No more than I could grow new eyes,' Torio replied, 'but you can learn to heal wounds, or to defend yourself so you don't need a sword.'

'I'll learn,' said Decius. 'Why haven't you learned, Torio? You're no older than Melissa.'

That was an interesting point. Rolf and Melissa were close to the same age-young, still in the growth of their powers. Lenardo was a Master Reader, but young enough that he could expect his powers to grow for a few more years; Aradia was Lenardo's age, Wulfston a few years younger. Torio filed the thought for later examination, and while Decius followed Master Clement to the kitchen to assuage the ravaging hunger brought on by healing, he waited for Melissa, for they had an appointment to go over the fault map before noon.

The group of Adepts and Readers was now too large to work as a unit; they were working individually and in small groups, studying the map, attempting to decide where to apply pressure to allow those precariously balanced rock edges under the earth to settle into a stable position without wreaking destruction in the land above.

Master Clement had made the map by the dangerous procedure of leaving his body to travel the length of the fault, to distances beyond the safe range of even a Master Reader. That was probably the final blow to Portia's trust; he had spent hours out of body, he told them, instead of just the few minutes at a time required to contact Lenardo. He guessed that Portia had been unable to contact him during that long mental journey, and decided it was too suspicious to allow to go unpunished.

This he had told them while directing Lenardo, Aradia, and Wulfston to create the physical map in the wax tablets. 'It is fortunate,' he added, 'that I have many friends among the Masters. It is even more fortunate Portia has no Adept powers-else my heart might simply have stopped, and who would have questioned heart failure in an old man? But if she wanted to kill me, Portia would have had to send someone who would then have been dangerous to her.'

'Do you think Portia morally capable of such an act?' Lenardo had asked.

'Six Master Readers have died in the past year,' Master Clement replied grimly. 'How much Portia had to do with that fact I cannot say, but she made a very serious error in keeping secret your mission to stop Galen. She has taken one action after another to cover her mistake-and since it was discovered, she is in panic. She sends people she fears into dangerous situations, hoping to be rid of them. Those in Portia's inner circle are closing ranks with her to protect themselves.'

How long, Torio wondered, could the Readers hope to keep the corruption at their center a secret? According to Master Clement, most Masters of Academies, living far from the center of government, were only now discovering the true situation in Tiberium. They still hoped to clean their own house-there was talk of unseating Portia-but if she Read their threats there was no telling what she might do.

'Once it becomes public,' Master Clement had said sadly, 'there is no hope that Readers will be allowed to continue self-government. Our first priorities must be to prevent the destruction of the empire, and stop the war-but next we must bring the best young Readers out of the empire, before either Portia's schemes destroy them or the government virtually enslaves them.'

Torio was alone in the courtyard, lost in thought, when Melissa came to find him. 'I thought you never stopped Reading when you were awake,' she said, sitting down next to him. 'I couldn't get your attention.'

'I'm sorry. I was wondering what will happen to all the Readers in the empire once the corruption in the Council becomes public knowledge.'

'Politics,' she said. 'I never took an interest in it-but I doubt much will happen. Senators are often corrupt-and all that happens is that when someone gets caught he's unseated. The whole Senate isn't broken up.'

'Senators are expected to seek power. Readers are not,' said Torio. 'Melissa, did you ever hear the legend of the first Reader?'

'Of course. Nobody's supposed to know it, and everybody does. But it's just a legend, Torio-a horror story children tell to frighten each other.'

'A horror story? Or a cautionary tale? If nonReaders had their way, Readers would be imprisoned, maimed, tortured to force them to work for those in power. We are simply more civilized about it. Our dungeons are the Academies-any child who shows Reading ability is taken from his family, by force if necessary, and locked up in an Academy until he is no longer dangerous.'

'And the greater his powers,' Melissa said in wonder, 'the longer he remains there. Talk about twisting minds! Look at what we believe.'

'Aye,' said Torio. 'A lifetime in the Academy, in isolation from nonReaders, is the ideal, granted only to those in the top ranks… keeping those with greatest power away from the temptation to use it. Readers are forbidden to hold office, and discouraged from taking an interest in politics. And those who cannot resist the lure of power-'

'Must seek it in devious ways,' said Melissa, 'as Portia has. Torio, we are maimed, as surely as if they crippled us physically.'

'More so,' he said thoughtfully. 'Look at Decius. There is little his physical disability keeps him from-it didn't prevent his escaping.'

'Nor you,' she said, touching his face with her soft hand. 'But Torio, you should see, and Decius should have two good legs. We are crippled by having half our powers denied us.'

'No longer,' he replied. 'We know the truth now-and the more people who know it, the more they will encourage the rest of their powers. As you have.'

As Melissa dropped her hand from his face, Torio caught it in his. When she pulled back, he said, 'I'm sorry-'

'No,' she replied, 'don't apologize. I'm sorry, Torio. I'm not used to the way people