//They can't hold off an army of thousands!// Melissa protested.
//They'll have plenty of help before the army gets this far. Read.//
He guided her along the road to where a troop of over a hundred people marched toward the village—ordinary people, a little better armed than the first, following a white banner carrying a black wolf's head symbol.
//But where is Lord Wulfston's army"!// Melissa asked.
//Those people are the army. Every man—and every woman who has particular skill with the bow—is a member of the Lord of the Land's army. Wulfston's father began the practice, when he achieved peace in his lands. There is no need to keep the able male population in a standing army, as Drakonius did. They are home with their families most of the time—that in itself has gained Wulfston their devotion. They will fight now to save their own homes and families from an aggressor. They may be outnumbered at first, until Lenardo and Aradia's troops get here—but which side do you think will fight harder?//
//With both Adepts and Readers on your side, does it matter?//
//My side? Melissa, will you not join us?//
// I am tempted,// she told him honestly. //I have been betrayed—but not by the Readers with the army. How could I guide someone to kill Magister Phoebe or Master Florian?//
//I understand. Come back to your body—I think I know a way to turn the army back without killing anyone.//
//Will Lord Wulfston—?//
//Gladly. We want a peace treaty with the empire, Melissa—not a conquest.//
As they retreated toward Wulfston's castle, Melissa Read more and more troops marching southward, well-armed now, and carrying wagonloads of shields and weapons. There were more wolf's head banners, and men in leather armor decorated with the same symbol.
//Why were the best-armed men not to the south,// Melissa asked, //where you might expect an attack from the empire?//
//We had the army clustered near where the fleet meant to land, although we didn't expect to need them at all.//
//And you didn't. We never knew they were there!//
//That was the idea—to demonstrate that one Adept, with the aid of a Reader and one minor Adept, could destroy the whole fleet if he so chose. The empire's generals are stubborn—they refused to learn in one lesson, so we will have to give them another.//
They were back to Wulfston's castle now—Melissa Read the Lord Adept sitting in the armchair in Torio's room, only his impatience clearly Readable. She slipped back into her own body, sat up, stretched—and felt for the first time hampered by gross physical form after the freedom of being out of her body. She realized that she had felt no fear tonight, and no great relief upon returning. If her powers were not improving, her confidence in them was.
She Read Torio also sit up and stretch. He told Wulfston, "Lenardo and Aradia are on the way. The Aventine army has made camp as you hoped they would—Wulfston, did you intend them to camp on that sandy plain?"
"Not necessarily—but where else could they bed down so many people, without splitting up… They could have split up, of course. They have Readers."
Torio smiled. "You're learning to think like a Reader—and I'm learning to think like an Adept. How much more water can you and Rolf pour down on that plain in the next few hours?"
"We can probably keep it raining all night, but if we attack them there, our own people would have to fight in the mud." *
"I don't think rain will do it," said Torio, getting up and going over to the table piled with books and scrolls. There was a map, similar to the one on the watchtower.
Melissa left her own room and went to Torio's. //Come in, Melissa,// he told her. Wulfston looked up as she entered, but said nothing.
"What are you going to do, Torio?" she asked.
"You Read that sandy mud the army was getting bogged down in."
"I know the area," said Wulfston. "It's just sand, no good for growing anything."
"Deep sand," said Torio. "If we can saturate it with water—" He could Read that Melissa had no idea of what he was getting at, and Wulfston offered no indication that he understood. "Quicksand!" he explained, picking up the map. He didn't look at it, but Read it, and said in annoyance, "But there is no source of water. I didn't Read far enough in any direction while we were there—but it doesn't matter. No lakes to spill into the plain with a simple avalanche."
A «simple» avalanche? Melissa thought, but remained silent.
"The sea is the closest source of water," Torio was saying, "but there is no way to move that much water to the plain over the intervening hills. Working against nature that way, you'd be worn out before you'd moved a tenth of what is needed."
"Quicksand?" asked the Lord Adept. "You know how to turn ordinary sand into quicksand?"
"Of course," said Torio. "It has to be deep sand, and it has to be saturated with water, that's all. When I Read the way that sand seemed to suck at the army trying to march across it… But it's a bad idea anyway. If we could sink the army, how would we ever get them out? We would unleash another force of nature that we couldn't control."
"Wait," said Wulfston. "We don't want to sink the whole army. Think of it this way: pools of quicksand here and there. Under their best equipment—what did they bring along? A catapult? We concentrate the water under it—and it sinks. A battering ram? Down it goes! What do you think of that?"
"Lord Wulfston," Melissa whispered incredulously, "Can you do that?" It was obvious now—they were not out to kill anyone.
"I can do it," said Wulfston, "with a little help. Torio is the only Reader I have—there's not enough time for Lenardo to get here. The Aventine army will leave that plain in the morning. With fast horses we can be there before dawn. Melissa—are you going to report our plan to the Aventine Readers, so they start moving the army now?"
"It would do me no good to try," she replied. "Torio can tell you."
"They won't trust Melissa any more than they would me," Torio said. "She tried to warn them, and they wouldn't listen. That's why I went there before coming back to report to you, Wulfston—I thought Melissa might be a good enough Reader to contact them from here. I was right, but they rejected her."
"Then come along and watch," said the Adept.
//Torio,// asked Melissa as they went downstairs, //how did you ever come to think of quicksand? I never would have.//
Fastening on his sword, he replied, //For the same reason I can use a sword and you can't: Male Readers are trained to aid the army. When we're scouting terrain, quicksand is just one of the hazards we're to Read for.//
//Lord Wulfston doesn't wear a sword,// Melissa noticed.
//If he couldn't use his powers, he would be far too weak to use a sword.//
Rolf was waiting in the great hall, with several other men and women dressed in rough, sturdy garments. "Excellent!" said Wulfston as he looked them over. "We have a plan—Torio, is anyone from the Aventine army Reading us here?"
"Not that I can tell—but you are the hardest of all of us to Read. You explain the plan."
So Wulfston gathered the others around him while Torio and Melissa hung back.
"Do not Read," Torio cautioned. "Readers are too easy to locate. Wulfston is right that one of the Readers, out of body, could have found us since you and I returned. I'm taking the risk that it will take longer, as they don't know the territory, and I checked carefully to see that no one followed you and me."
"You did? I didn't notice. Apparently you do deserve the title you claim, Torio."
"The only title I'm claiming from now on is Lord Reader," he said grimly. Melissa looked at his face—and saw that his eyes were drifting, unfocused.