had been teacher to both Lenardo and Torio, and Master of their Academy.
Warmth flowed from Master Clement at the contact, but he told them, //I
cannot stay long. Join me on the plane of privacy.//
//There is something wrong,//Lenardo said when they had made the peculiar
change of "position" that took them completely out of contact with the
physical world. Not even the best Reader who ever lived could spy on them here
without making the move with them and thus revealing his presence.
//Aye,// Master Clement replied without prologue. //The Aventine Senate is
preparing an army to attack you but not along the border. They are
commandeering every sailing vessel they can, to travel up the coast, land the
armies, and drive you south into a trap laid at the border. Portia has told
the Senate the savages set off the earthquake that destroyed the Gaeta
hospital. Lenardo, you should have known that such a target //
//The hospital was not the target there was no target. You know what we
intended, Master Clement.//
//I know whatyou intended, Lenardo, but perhaps one of your Adept allies ?//
//No!//Torio interjected. //It was Lord Wulfston working with me that night,
Master Clement. He would not do such a thing! And even if he wanted to& you
know my abilities are not great enough to guide him to a target so many miles
away, nor are any Adept's powers strong enough to move a pebble, let alone a
rock face, at that distance.//
//You would not lie to me, Torio? I know you did to Portia, and I dare not
contradict you without revealing that I know much more of what is happening on
the other side of the border than I am supposed to.//
//I'm sorry,//Torio said penitently. //I didn't think.//
//The impetuosity of youth. You must learn to curb it, son. What you said is
not the reason the empire is preparing to attack you but it is a cause of
their great haste. Portia has convinced them that you are growing together in
the powers of darkness. She also fears the ancient prophecy: When the moon
devours the sun, then the earth will devour Tiberium. There will be an eclipse
just before Summer Festival. Portia fears that if we do not stop you by then,
you will destroy the empire.//
Despite their bodiless state, Torio could feel tension from Lenardo. //We
Page 30
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
cannot allow the Aventine army to attack us. Master Clement, without Adepts
they will be powerless against us. I will not have good men slaughtered for
that is what it would be. Can you not persuade Portia ?//
//Do you think you could, Lenardo? Or the Senate? Even if it is a foredoomed
effort, they must do something and I have told you of their sneak attack to
give you the opportunity to plan. I am trusting you and you, too, Torio to
find a way to prevent a battle in which all too many lives would be lost. I
must return now I cannot allow myself very much time in which no one can
contact me. The Council of Masters meets frequently these days and our work is
not at all pleasant.//
The old man's presence was gone. Torio and Lenardo remained on the plane of
privacy for a few moments more. //The attack will come against Wulfston's
lands,// said Lenardo. //You will have to Read for him, Torio.//
//I know but what will he do? Sink the ships? Drown all those people? Readers
will be navigating the ships. It wouldn't be a mistaken thought flung in a
moment's anger it would be deliberately using my powers against other Readers!
Master Lenardo, how can I?//
//Stop clinging to the past here I am a lord, as are you. Master your powers
instead of restraining them. You never question defending your life with your
sword why do you question defending it with your powers?//
Powers. Unrestrained powers, used to gain control over other people. He
couldn't go home again, Torio knew but how could he adapt to living the way
people did here?
Chapter Three
For three days after the earthquake Melissa was patient rather than healer.
It hurt to breathe. Her throat was so raw she could not talk, and she could
hardly Read beyond the confines of her room. The healers placed poultices on
her throat and neck, and kept a pot boiling over a brazier, producing steam.
Although she knew what they were, it was the third day before she could smell
the vinegar in the poultices, the sage in the steam.
She was wakened by Magister Phoebe with comfrey tea laced with honey and for
the first time it was not sheer agony and force of will to drink the fluid her
body desperately needed. "Very good, Melissa," said Phoebe. "You're going to
be just fine."
"I know," Melissa managed, her voice between a whisper and a croak. //How
badly was Gaeta hit?// she asked.
Phoebe replied with the mental intensity used in training children, //The
town had very little damage. The hospital received the worst of it.//
//Were other Readers hurt?//
//Yes, dear, but there are healers enough for everyone. You rest. I'll bring
you some soup later.//
Melissa was not in her own room, but in a much smaller one that probably
belonged to one of the non-Reader workers at the hospital. She remembered the
fire in the wing where her room had been, the smoke, trying to crawl out&
She was not burned. Smoke had choked her her throat and lungs were damaged
but healing. She had no memory of how she had gotten out. Her leg had been
Page 31
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
hurt& yes, there was a wound, now stitched up and bandaged.
She tested her Reading power, and found that this morning she could Read the
corridor outside, and along that to the kitchen, apparently undamaged. She
could reach no farther but that was better than yesterday, which meant she was
healing. When she was strong enough, a period of fast and meditation would
bring her powers back to normal.
That afternoon Alethia visited with her baby, and Melissa was happy to hear
that they had suffered little damage from the quake. "But you should hear the
rumors!" Alethia confided. "They say that the savages set off the quake, all
the way from the border."
"They couldn't have," Melissa said through the pain in her throat.
Alethia insisted, "They finally did what they wanted to. That's what all
those tremors were: They were trying to make a big earthquake by starting
little ones."
Melissa considered that, remembering how the minor tremor had been followed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]