And when he didn’t, she knew that something was terribly wrong. Wulfston had not been able to catch Sukuru’s ship. She refused to face the worst possibility- that Lenardo and Wulfston were dead, whether in Adept battle or natural disaster.
No-they were her husband and her brother. If either were dead, surely she would know it!
So she faced the fact that it might be weeks or months before the two men she loved best could get themselves out of whatever predicament they were in and return to her. She nearly cursed the child in her womb that had turned her into a passive female who could do nothing but wait while her men were in danger.
But it was Lenardo’s child. Possibly the baby was all she would ever have of him. She lay down and folded her hands over her abdomen, trying once again to Read the child in her womb.
Frustrated, she realized that it was essential to keep herself healthy, and that meant sleeping. Deliberately, she used the mental exercises her father had taught her when she was a child, to put herself into a deep, restful sleep.
Aradia dreamed she was Reading her baby at last. Her mind took her inside her own body, and she saw the shape of her child, sleeping sweetly in its private ocean. It moved gently, drifting with its mother’s breathing.
She moved. The child was a girl-not an infant, but an infant-sized perfectly formed young woman, long golden hair drifting about her slender body. Her back was to Aradia, who approached slowly, wondering at the revelation. This was what her child-Lenardo’s child-would be.
As she came nearer, the girl’s body turned over, very slowly, to face her. The face was utterly beautiful, although the eyes were closed.
Still sleeping, still unconscious-when would there be an awareness for her to touch as Lenardo had promised?
Nonetheless, it was wonderful to see her child, so perfect, so beautiful, rosy-cheeked with health. She could count her fingers and toes, see that her limbs were straight and strong. Lenardo would be so proud of such a daughter!
As she watched, Aradia saw the girl’s soft pink lips begin to move-it was as if she were trying to speak.
“Yes!” Aradia urged. “Speak to me. I’m your mother. Tell me that you’re there, child!”
The lips moved again, but still Aradia could Read no thought, no mental presence. She went closer, looking into the beautiful face with its still-closed eyes fringed with dark lashes. If she watched the lips move, perhaps she could make out what her daughter was saying.
No… not quite. Not…
The child spoke. Very clearly, in a voice not of youth and innocence but of incredibly weary experience.
“Aradia. Mother. You and Lenardo have given me life. You owe me that-and after I am born, I will give you what I owe you. “
Bewildered, Aradia stared at the serene face, speaking such strange words. Then the girl’s eyes began to open-She woke up.
It was morning again, and she knew there had been no news of Wulfston and Lenardo, for she had left strict instructions that she was to be awakened if there were.
So she lay there for a moment, remembering her strange dream. I probably dreamed of our daughter grown up because if she were, she’d be able to help us now, she thought.
Again she tried to Read the child for herself-
— and touched something!
There was an awareness!
It was incoherent, no more than a vague sensing of life-but what did she expect of a babe in the womb, not to be born for six months yet?
Oh, Lenardo, she thought, your child is conscious! Come home safely, my husband, as soon as you can. Meanwhile, I will care for our daughter, until you can see her for yourself!
Chapter Two
Julia and Aradia remained at Castle Blackwolf, waiting and hoping for Wulfston and Lenardo to return.
As weeks passed with no word, their fears grew; the Africans’ plot was far more devious than it had seemed at first.
Sukuru and Chulaika wanted Wulfston, but he would not cooperate. They had had both Wulfston and Lenardo helplessly drugged-they could as easily have kidnapped the two men together. Instead, they took only Lenardo, knowing that with Aradia pregnant, it was Wulfston who would follow. They must be holding Lenardo hostage to force Wulfston to fight for them.
If they had taken the two men together…
“We were fools to tell them how well we work together,” Aradia told Julia. “They know better than to take Lenardo and Wulfston on the same ship-they’d have taken over the crew the moment they woke up, and been back here the next day.”
“The moment Wulfston finds Father,” Julia said, “they’ll escape.”
“But Wulfston can’t Read,” Aradia reminded her. “Lenardo can’t contact him except through Astra. If they can knock her out, or separate her from Wulfston… that could be why it’s taking so long.”
As the days dragged on, the two women often repeated the same conversation, encouraging each other not to think of all the possible reasons there was no word of the two men.
Although there was no invasion fleet from Africa,
Wulfston’s lands could not be left unprotected. His network of minor Adepts gathered at the castle, along with several Magister Readers and a dozen from the Path of the Dark Moon, while reinforcements were sent from Tiberium to aid the Watchers along his coasts and borders.
Then one day, when Julia was helping a healer to direct his powers toward eradicating a tumor in a boy’s knee, she felt the touch of Master Clement’s mind. “Go to your room, Julia. We must discuss what you and Aradia should do now.”
“But we’re healing-” she protested.
“Panatus can take over,” he told her.
Reluctantly, Julia turned her duties over to the young Magister Reader and went up to her room. She could, of course, have held the conversation with Master Clement anywhere, but it could be unnerving to nonReaders to have a Reader sitting apparently in a trance while she communicated with another Reader far away.
Aradia was also in the rapport, created by Master Clement all the way from Zendi. The Master of Masters was out of body for this communication, his mental voice firm and clear, similar to his normal speaking voice except that mentally he sounded younger than he really was.
“All precautions have now been taken to care for Lord Wulfston’s lands in his absence,” Master Clement told them. “It is time for you to return to Zendi.”
“But Lenardo-” Aradia began.
“When Lenardo returns, he will contact you from wherever he lands,” Master Clement pointed out.
“Aradia, the journey to Zendi is safe for you now. Later in your pregnancy it could be dangerous to your child. Also, I want you here, under observation of the best Readers we have.”
“Yes, Master Clement,” Aradia replied with uncharacteristic meekness. But she had an underlying reason. “With so many members of our alliance missing, our strongest Adepts should be centrally located in Zendi, prepared to moved in any direction from which an attack might come.”
“Until your child is born,” Master Clement agreed, “you should be sheltered here, protected by lands we hold on all sides.”
Julia wondered if Aradia could Read that Master Clement did not verbalize all his concerns. She had a lesson scheduled with him, so after Aradia had left the rapport to set their retainers to work preparing to leave Castle Blackwolf, she asked, “Do you fear an attack, Master?”
“An attack? Child, what would give you that idea?”
“Our situation might give anybody that idea,” she replied. “Since the Aventine Empire fell, we have more land than has ever been under one government before. But we have lost key members of our Alliance. Torio and Melissa are gone, and now Father and Wulfston. Lilith meant to leave her lands in the care of Zanos and Astra while she came to aid Aradia in her confinement. Her lands are bordered by enemies. If Zanos and Astra are not back by then, will she dare leave her lands with only her son to care for them? Ivorn’s not much older than I am.”