But Arkus could not know that there was no Reader keeping watch from Adigia's wall, and so as the sun set, he deployed his men in a semicircle just out of range of arrows shot from the gatetower. On either side, at a distance from the gate, men lurked near the wall. The rest were close enough to one another in their arc that Lenardo and Julia could not ride between any two undetected.
He considered abandoning the horses and attempting to sneak through on foot. By the time he contacted Master Clement and the message was relayed to Secundus to admit him, it would be well after midnight. Arkus' men would be bored and sleepy.
Arkus' men? No, not the way the young commander kept them trained. And Julia was still a child. If she was weary now, what would she be in a few more hours?
Adigia's troops could be called out, but Lenardo did not want a battle, the slaughter of Arkus and his few men. He realized that the young man trusted him not to call out an army against seven, or not to be able to.
Julia, her supper half eaten, nodded off to sleep. Lenardo let her sleep while he thought. The nearest gate other than the one at Adigia was beyond the Western Hills, in Wulfston's land. It would take several days of difficult travel to reach it, and with the watchers alerting everyone, he was sure that it would be well guarded before they could get there.
The next gate to the east was even farther away, in Aradia's land. The problem was the same. The wall between them, however, passed through dense woods, areas where no one went for years at a time. He could Read places where the trees had so encroached upon the wall that it might be possible to climb over. They would have to abandon the horses, but with any luck they would be safely inside the Aventine Empire by morning.
But he must let Masters Clement and Portia know that he was coming. He Read carefully all around him to be sure no dangers could creep up on them while his attention was far away. No people between them and the gates of Adigia and none for miles in any other direction. No wild animals except some deer in the woods. The deer were skittish and nervous, but since Lenardo could Read nothing else to disturb them, he decided that he and Julia must be the cause. All around them birds were chirping, too, although it was fully dark.
With the incredible ease he had developed these past few days, Lenardo Read to Tiberium. Master Clement was in his study, deep in conversation with Portia, who was, of course, in her own room within the female Academy.
//But I found Drusina's performance well above average,// Clement was saying. I'll recommend that you send her for her medical training and then test her for admission to the rank of magister. I'm certain she is capable, Portia.//
//Clement, Clement, you were out there on the border too long,// Portia replied. //This girl might barely qualify in a time when there was a dearth of fine Readers-//
//There is always a dearth of fine Readers. Just last month you refused Quintus admission to magister rank, even though he passed every test. Master Tervo wept when you denied his candidate-he needed Quintus for his Academy. I need an assistant until Lenardo returns. We are old, Portia. Three Readers of the Council of Masters have died just since I returned to Tiberium. We cannot afford to set an arbitrary standard if no one can meet it. We must admit our best young Readers to the upper ranks or there will, be no one to train new Readers when we are gone.//
At Clement's mention of his name, Lenardo almost made his presence known, but as he was about to interrupt, he Read something from Portia-a denial she was hiding from Clement. She did not expect Lenardo to return- no surprise there. But what was surprising was her faint, pervasive guilt, beginning with his mention and continuing through Clement's plea. He felt her force it away as she said, //That is precisely why we must allow only the very best into our ranks-and Clement, you know that control is as important as strength to a Reader. These young people lack discipline. How can they discipline others?//
//Perhaps,// replied Clement, but Lenardo could sense his old master's deep concern about Portia's attitude.
It was that concern, along with the strange emotions he had Read from Portia, that kept Lenardo from making his presence known. Portia was Master of Masters; she headed the Council of Masters, with full veto power. The Reader who held that post was the best of all Readers, yet Lenardo was able to eavesdrop on her without detection. That could be a fluke, as her attention was elsewhere, but he should not have been able to Read feelings she hid successfully from Clement.
Both Masters were old; Lenardo wondered whether the infirmities of age could be weakening their powers, just as any other infirmity might. He had no idea.how old Portia was, but it seemed to be many years older than Clement. Was it senility? Or were her powers impaired because she had misused them? Why guilt?
Confused and ashamed at what he was thinking, Lenardo nonetheless withdrew without making contact. He would try later, when Clement was alone. His old master would know the proper way to approach Portia to use her influence for Lenardo's safe return.
When he brought his attention back to the nearby surroundings and to Julia, she was awake. //What's wrong, Father?//
How easily the child Read him. //Arkus is guarding the gate at Adigia. We will have to go home by a different way. It will be a difficult journey, but I've found a place where we can climb the wall.//
They cut cross-country at a diagonal, struggling through thick, overgrown forest as they approached the area Lenardo had Read. The trees overhead obscured the stars; the underbrush forced them to twist and turn to. find a way through. Anyone but a Reader would be certain to lose himself in such wilderness.
It was well after midnight when they finally reached the wall, leading their tired horses. Julia stumbled with weariness. Lenardo wondered whether she would be able to make the climb and had her sit down on a fallen log to rest while he stripped the horses and began to lighten their packs to what they could carry on foot. Julia slid off the log onto the mossy ground, fast asleep.
He couldn't help smiling at the exhausted child, when suddenly one of his precognitive flashes revealed the earth heaving, trees fallingHe dropped the pack and fell on Julia, shoving her against the log and covering her with his body.
"Father, what- What're you doing!" she protested in a child's tired whine.
"Lie still!" he said, and then the earthquake came.
Beneath them the ground trembled; leaves and twigs rained down on them. Then they were lifted as if on an ocean wave, the log sheltering them falling away and then back as they were dropped. The horses screamed and crashed off into the woods as trees began to wave like stalks of grain. Lenardo tried to protect Julia as they were tossed and buffeted. Trees fell, slamming into other trees, ancient oaks tottering and ripping from their roots.
Above them, a huge mossy trunk swayed and creaked. If ever I needed Adept power- Lenardo thought, but he was powerless to do anything more than clutch Julia, trying to keep his body between her and falling debris as the monstrous trunk cracked and whipped-and broke, with a huge piece falling toward them in a majestic, slow, inevitable trajectory.
Chapter Six
In a strange suspension of emotion, Lenardo Read the giant piece of tree trunk falling, falling, turning end over end as it hurtled toward him and Julia. It would crush both of them if it struck. Helplessly, he recalled Aradia's lesson in how an Adept would use the laws of chance. The earth was still heaving, moving Lenardo and Julia in and out of the path of the falling trunk and at the same tune making it impossible for them to run or even roll out of the way. They and the huge log they sheltered against were being tossed like snowflakes in a whirlwind.
Hopelessly he wished, he willed-and then he blanked out his oncoming death, clutching the child and Waiting. The wood was a thundering symphony of crashes, cracks, thuds, and moans, but suddenly there was a bone-penetrating whomp in chorus with a crack like a lightning bolt. Then something fell across Lenardo's back, knocking the breath out of him and crushing Julia beneath him.