by Jean Lorrah
The cascade pool was too cold for them to play in long, but Torio tried two more dives before he finally found the right angle and entered the water cleanly-nothing to Dirdra’s grace, but satisfactory to himself.
As they toweled off, Zanos asked Dirdra, “Where did you learn to dive like that? I don’t recall the women of our village even learning to swim.”
“Where I grew up,” she replied, “there were cliffs about a natural harbor-much like the cliffs here, except that they extended farther out into the water. When my brother and I were children, we would climb partway up the cliffs near where the ships anchored. The sailors would throw coins into the water to watch us dive for them.”
“That sounds like a dangerous sport for children,” observed Astra.
“We were poor,” Dirdra replied. “Our parents needed every coin Kwinn and I brought home. We were the oldest children-and now we’re the last of our family.”
So Kwinn was the brother Dirdra had left in Maldek’s power.
Silence fell, as everyone strove not to Read Dirdra’s feelings. They pulled on undergarments, and Melissa and Astra sat down in the shaft of sunshine and began to comb their hair.
Torio, doing the Reading exercise called “visualizing” to compensate for his lack of sight, helped Zanos carry the rest of their clothes-along with their weapons-over to where the women sat. He also Read beyond the cavern, as he had done periodically since they had arrived, to see that no other party of bathers was on the way to interrupt them. All he Read were seven burly men climbing the road that passed the bathhouse-some sort of workers, it appeared from the picks, shovels, and poles they carried.
Intending to check in a few minutes to see if baths were what the seven men were coming this way for, Torio returned his attention to the group at the cascade pool-just as Zanos, half dressed, picked up his huge sword and unsheathed it.
“Zanos-what-?”
As Torio opened wide to Reading, certain Zanos could not possibly have noticed something he hadn’t, Astra screamed.
Zanos swung the sword-striking at his wife!
But he was clumsy as Torio had never seen him. Astra ducked, and made a leap toward her own weapon.
But Torio was right there, his sword immediately at the ready as Zanos turned and grabbed Dirdra.
The astonished Maduran woman was helpless in the gladiator’s grip, and he held her in front of him as a shield. “Dirdra has returned to me,” he said in a voice cold with disdain. “Do not try to claim her again, for she is mine. You will return to your ship and bring her to Madura.” Then he turned Dirdra roughly to face him. “You have returned freely-so I will be kind. Kwinn is waiting for you, Dirdra. He lives… and longs for his sister.”
Astra was Reading full out now. Torio and Melissa joined minds with her, recognizing what terrified her so.
The man before them, holding them at bay with his sword and squeezing Dirdra’s arm so hard that at any moment it might break, had the appearance of the man who had journeyed with them all the way from Zendi.
But Astra knew-and the other Readers knew with her: it was not Zanos!
Chapter Four
All knew at once that it was Maldek who spoke through Zanos. The gladiator’s open, friendly features took on the cold disdain they had seen in Dirdra’s memory-but even as with one mind the Readers searched for a way to get Dirdra away from Zanos and subdue him without hurting him, they Read Zanos himself fighting for control.
Roaring like a wounded bear, he threw Dirdra from him and raised his sword-but there was nothing to strike at. “No man controls me against my will!” the gladiator exclaimed. Astra’s mind at once joined her husband’s to reject the Master Sorcerer’s influence.
Maldek was, of course, out of body, but he could project to the Readers. Melissa knelt beside Dirdra, Reading that her arm was badly bruised, but not broken. Then she became unReadable for a moment, as she focused healing power.
Torio, meanwhile, was wondering how far Maldek was from his body. It was somewhere on the island of Madura, obviously, across the strait separating that land from Brettonia. But the strait was narrow, if treacherous-less than a day’s journey by ship. If Maldek was near the shore, he was traveling no farther out of body than Torio had often done.
“I have no need to impress you, boy,” Maldek answered his thought. “If you are skilled at the inner sight, you may be useful to me… or at least amusing. Just what good do you think that sword will do you against powers such as mine?”
” I won’t know until we meet,” Torio replied, and Melissa looked up at him, smiling encouragement.
And that brought Maldek’s attention to Melissa. “Ahh… a dark beauty, as lovely in her way as Dirdra.
And with powers. My little Maduran minnow has lured quite a catch to my shores! Tell Dirdra I am pleased with the outcome of her adventure… as I trust all of you will be when you come to me. For come you must, will you nill you, though the way be hard and dangerous. By the end of your journey each of you will find what you seek… even if you do not now know what that is.”
With that, Maldek’s presence was gone-but they were not alone. The seven men Torio had noticed earlier were running into the baths, past the bubbling warm pool and into the cavern with the waterfall.
Brandishing their tools as weapons, they demanded, “Leave our land!”
“You Madurans-nothing but trouble!”
“You’ll bring the wrath of the Master Sorcerers down on us again!”
“Back to your ship-we’ll not shield you here!”
Zanos, Astra, and Torio could easily have subdued the seven poorly armed workmen, but they could Read their memories of Maldek’s search for Dirdra months ago-setting fire burning through people’s nerves, killing their livestock, blinding and laming their children as he demanded news of a beautiful red-haired woman no one had seen… for with all Maldek’s powers, he had not known that Dirdra had passed this way in the guise of a boy, and disappeared into the land of the Dark Forest before he knew she was out of Madura.
Rather than fight these poor people who had already suffered so much at Maldek’s hands, the five hastily threw on their outer garments and let themselves be pushed out of the caverns. The last thing Melissa reached for was the garland of flowers Torio had made for her… but it was brown and withered as if it had been seared with frost.
Outside, the workers prodded them along the cliff path. “Go back to Madura!” said one of the men, shoving Melissa with his pikestaff. “Stay where you belong-don’t bring your troubles on other folk!”
Torio pushed the man’s staff aside. “She’s not Maduran. She’s a healer!”
Another man laughed bitterly. “We know Madurans now, if we didn’t before! We send ‘em all back-even the dark uns!”
And Torio Read that the man saw him as obviously Maduran, even though his hair was brown, not red.
His eyes were a clear blue-green, revealed when one of the savage healers had removed his cataracts in the mistaken belief that that would cure his blindness.
I suppose I could pass for Maduran, he realized.
Dirdra remained silent, pale and tight-lipped, as they were herded to the ship. The crew were also being driven aboard, protesting all the way.
The captain was waiting for them. “If the sorcerers want you,” he told them, “let them come and get you!
I’ll not risk Madura now!”
“But you’ve been paid-” Zanos began.
“We’ll take you just as far,” the captain replied, “up north to Hrothsland. That’s a great seafaring nation-someone from there will be foolhardy enough to take you to Madura.”
“But we made an agreement,” Zanos protested.
Astra put her hand on his arm. “Let it go for now. No one’s been hurt. The captain will change his mind once we’re out to sea.”
But it was the sea that changed.
From calm swells, it developed into choppy waves that carried them inexorably westward-toward Madura.
The capt
ain adjusted the sails and tried to steer northward, but the wind grew stronger… and colder.
Torio knew what was happening. He had been the Reader guiding Wulfston and Rolf when they had raised the storm to halt the attacking Aventine fleet. Melissa was a survivor of one of the resulting shipwrecks.
They wrapped up in woolen cloaks and stood at the rail, Reading as far as they could toward Madura-but it was beyond the range of any Reader aboard, unless one of them risked going out of body in the dangerously heaving ship.
No one had to do that to know that Maldek was causing the storm. The captain was forced to sub-mit, or lose his ship. Grimly, he ordered the helmsman to take a westward course. At once the sails billowed with a fresh breeze as, against the prevailing winds, the ship was carried toward Madura.
Once they had accepted the course Maldek wanted them to take, Torio expected the Adept influence to stop. But the breeze continued. “How long can he keep that up?” he wondered aloud.
“Maldek is not using his energy now,” Dirdra said in a hollow voice. “He controls hundreds of people with smaller powers. Some of his weather talents will drive themselves into collapse this night. Maldek won’t.”
She turned to her four companions, her face lit harshly by the late-afternoon sun. “I am so sorry. I did not think Maldek would even remember me-just another of the many he has used as his toys.”
“I understand the type,” said Zanos. “You escaped him-and that is something he cannot stand.”
“Yes. I knew he would take his revenge if I succeeded in freeing Kwinn-but I thought that by returning with a group of strangers I might reach Maldek’s castle unnoticed. Instead, I have brought Maldek’s attention to you-and you will suffer for my stupidity.”
“Dirdra, we came of our own free will,” Melissa pointed out. “Surely four people with both Reading and Adept powers would not long have escaped the notice of the Master Sorcerers. As it is, one of them is aiding us in reaching Madura.”
“The most powerful… and the most evil,” said Dirdra.
Remembering that Dirdra did not know what Maldek had told the Readers after Zanos had shaken off his possession, Torio said, “Maldek said the way would be hard and dangerous.”
“He is playing games with you already!” Dirdra replied. “Now he knows I am within the range of his powers, he will toy with us as a cat does with a field mouse before the kill. If he wanted us directly, he would have the ship sail up the river to his casde. We could be there by noon tomorrow.”
But the wind drove the ship south as well as west, all through the short night of early summer, and in the gray dawn light they anchored along an empty shore, bleak and uninhabited.
The five adventurers went ashore in a small boat-and by the time they had beached it, the ship was already well out to sea.
The morning was rainy and chill. They wore clothes suitable for an Aventine winter, and shivered as the cold penetrated.
“Which way?” asked Zanos as they slogged through mud up to a trail which followed a ridge overlooking the sea.
Torio Read east and west along the trail. “There’s an abandoned settlement about a mile to the east,” he reported. “We can shelter there long enough to dry out our clothes.”
“Torio’s right,” said Melissa. “None of us have enough Adept strength to use it for hours on end just to keep warm, dry, and healthy.”
“Not and be awake when we’re really needed!” Astra put in with a forced smile.
They were all starting out tired, as no one had thought of sleeping last night. They had eaten just before dawn-ship’s rations, though, for the aborted stop in Brettonia had not resulted in the intended acquisition of supplies. Thus only Zanos, whose combination of athlete’s and Adept’s metabolism made him perpetually hungry, had eaten much.
Tumbled walls and roofless buildings greeted them in what once must have been a fishing village.
Remnants of the stone supports for a pier still marched across the beach and disappeared into the water.
Gulls as gray as the sea and sky called harshly and hungrily as they skimmed over the deserted sand.
“This is not how I remember home!” protested Zanos. “At this time of year it should be warm-there should be flowers blooming in the gardens, roses climbing the walls. My village was laid out just like this-it has to be along this coast somewhere. But it was bright and cheerful… and alive!”
Only wisps of dry weeds blew in the sea wind. Torio knew Zanos was right-if the climate were as he described, wildflowers would bloom here as they did in Brettonia. Not even dead remains of rose vines clung to the walls; it had been cold and bleak here for a long time.
One building had a wooden roof, warped and gray with weathering, but offering the most shelter in the area. They built a fire with what few scraps of wood they could find, only Zanos’ Adept power able to get it started, and huddled around it to warm their hands and faces.
With the blankets from their bedrolls hung across the empty windows and doorway, they were able to get the one-room cottage warm enough to strip the boots and stockings off their freezing feet. Leaving their clothes to steam-dry, they toasted their toes and drank the herb tea Melissa made, feeling somewhat better.
Knowing that it was likely they would have to make part of their journey afoot, they had all packed money, as Decius had advised Torio. Now, though, having to use their bedding to keep the chill wind out of the cottage, they were left with nothing to wrap up in except dry undergarments, and each other.
Torio hefted the sack of gold coins he had brought. “It’s all very fine to plan to buy what we need-but where? I haven’t Read another human being since we came ashore. Have you, Astra, Melissa?” he asked the other Magister Readers.
“No one,” the women agreed.
“We don’t even know which way to go,” said Zanos, taking his maps out of their waterproof case and unrolling them on the stone floor. “Where are we?”
“Somewhere along this southern stretch,” Torio replied, running his finger along what on the map was many miles of shore. “Let me go out of body, and I’ll give you an accurate Reading.”
The stone floor was cold to stretch out on-but Zanos concentrated on him, and Torio felt his body warmth stop dissipating into the ground. He smiled a thank-you to the gladiator, then composed himself and let his “self drift upward.
When one escaped discomfort, it was always a sore temptation to remain out of body. No rain or cold assaulted him now, and he felt light and free as he followed the trail eastward-for the map showed far more settlements in that direction, suggesting a greater chance that some of them had survived.
Sure enough, where a main road met the trail they were on, there was a decent-sized town with an inn and a stable. They would have to walk all day to get there, but the knowledge that they could sleep in dry, warm beds and buy warm clothes and horses for the rest of their journey would make the trek more bearable.
Remembering the map, Torio followed the main road northward to where Maldek’s castle sat on the edge of a navigable river-the one Dirdra had said would have been the short route to reach the Master Sorcerer. Not knowing how sensitive a Reader he might be, Torio did not attempt to locate Maldek within the castle, but noted that it was protected by moats on three sides and the river on the other. A thriving city stood near the castle, with ships on the river loading and unloading trade goods. So not all of Madura was as desolate as this area where they had landed.
There was only one bridge across the river, leading to the main north-south road Torio was following. It entered the city several miles from the castle, which stood on the north bank to the east of the city, with a small strip of forest between.
There was a denser forest, though, on the north-south road between the southern coast and the city.
That, Torio guessed, was where lay the dangers that Maldek had promised. Even without lingering to examine closely, he Read both bears and wolves in the wood-hungry animals looking to feed their young.
What was missing from the picture was agriculture. Only a few of the cleared fields between the forest and the shore were cultivated. Most lay fallow, deserted, young trees beginning to encroach on their edges. There were a few swine and cows, and more sheep, but they were not thriving. There was not enough production here to feed the people of that city.
Maldek had to be either trading for food or letting his people go hungry. With even his limited knowledge of ruling a land, Torio knew that the former was merely a slower way of destroying the country than the latter. Yet power-mad rulers often took farmers away from the job of feeding their people to fight wars or be otherwise used at the lord’s pleasure. Eventually, it would lead to Maldek’s downfall, as just such neglect of his people had led to Drakonius’.
However, the five adventurers didn’t have time to wait for Maldek’s government to collapse. They had to reach Maldek’s castle, rescue Dirdra’s brother… and in the process try to find out about the sorcerers who might rule other Maduran lands. It was obvious already that Maldek was not the healer Melissa sought. Even if he could restore injured people to wholeness or return life to the slain, clearly he would not teach anyone else except at an unacceptable price.
But perhaps the Madura Zanos remembered flourished somewhere else in these islands. Torio certainly hoped so.
He returned to his body and told the others what he had found-but as he turned to show them on the map exactly where they were, he put his finger right on the place worn thin by Zanos’ own finger as he had made his plans to return… home.
The gladiator stiffened when he realized that this desolate deserted village was indeed the place where he had lived as a child, until the day slavers had raided it and carried him off to Tiberium.
Astra, Reading her husband’s feelings, reached out to empathize-only to waken his memories of that terrible day when the slavers had come.
The ship anchored offshore, and a boatload of men rowed to land-nothing unusual about that. Ships often arrived along this coast, looking to trade or to recruit strong young men for their crews.
