There were spectators, but Lenardo paid them little heed. until he put his sword back in the rack and turned to find Helmuth approaching. "I see you are indeed an experienced soldier," the old man said. "Has the Lady Aradia assigned you a place in her army?" "Not yet," he replied.
"I've got mostly raw lads from the village here, who've. never seen a real battle. I could use your skill, if Lady Aradia is willing."
"I would be honored to fight at your side, Helmuth," Lenardo replied, "but I think the Lady Aradia has other plans for me."
Helmuth glanced around and drew close to Lenardo, speaking in a low voice. "Is it true, then, that you're an Adept, exiled from the empire when they discovered your powers? Everyone is saying that's why my lady and Lord Wulfston spend so much time with you." "Is that what you think, Helmuth?" "I have my own suspicions," the old man said, "and if I'm right, you know what they are."
Indeed, Helmuth did suspect Lenardo was a Reader. "There are… things I cannot speak of at this time," Lenardo said. "The reason for my presence is for the Lady Aradia to reveal, not for me."
"Very well," said Helmuth. "I trust her, as does everyone here. But anyone who betrays her trust…"
"I have no intention of doing so," said Lenardo, wondering if anyone else had the same suspicion. The rumor that he was an Adept he encountered everywhere; the rumor that he was a Reader might-start a panic. But he Read that Helmuth had shared his suspicions with no one, and would not.
"Just take care, lad," said Helmuth, "that your actions live up to your intentions."
As Lenardo's intentions were to aid Aradia in the coming struggle against Drakonius, he went back to his room and Read the enemy stronghold again. Frustratingly, he came in on the very end of a meeting between Drakonius and Galen.
"You prove yourself to me this time," the Adept was saying as he got up to leave Galen's room, "and you'll have your freedom. Betray me again, and this time I'll kill you… and not pleasantly."
Galen was shielded against anyone Reading his thoughts, but Lenardo clearly Read the pain that suddenly lanced through the boy's right hand. Muscles convulsed, tendons and ligaments drawing Galen's fingers back grotesquely, while he screamed in agony. There was a snap, and then another, as bones broke-and then the hand went lump.
Galen fell to his knees, sobbing as he held his injured hand against his chest. Drakonius put a hand under his chin and raised his face up to look into his eyes. "You remember this lesson," he said. "If you betray me again, I won't do that to just one hand. I'll da it to your whole body, break every bone, and then I'll throw you into the forum in Zendi to die, where everyone can see what happens to the enemies of Drakonius."
"I did not betray you, my lord," Galen gasped through his tears. "I shall never betray you. You are my liege lord."
"As long as you remember that… Here." He took Galen's hand, and Lenardo felt the familiar healing heat flow through it as the bones began to knit. The pain disappeared. "Go to sleep now, boy-we'll have need of your skills soon enough."
For what? Lenardo longed^ to know, but he dared not try to contact Galen at that moment. So he followed Drakonius, who went down to the river's edge, walked out onto one of the fortifications, took hook and line from his pocket, captured a passing dragonfly, and proceeded to go fishing!
This was a general preparing for battle? It made no sense-at all, as Lenardo told Wulfston when the two men, unable, to converse in the hubbub of the great hall, took their evening meal up to Wulfston's room, where they could talk while they ate.
"He's waiting for something," said Wulfston, "or someone. Our watchers report Hron's movements, and Yolo's, but not Trang's. On the other hand, Drakonius is far from stupid. If his Reader has told him that you Read his stronghold once, he's expecting you to do it again. Perhaps he wants you to find him fishing."
"I don't think he would have wanted me to find him torturing Galen," said Lenardo, and he told Wulfston of the scene.
"That is typical of Drakonius," said Wulfston. "We've told you he rules by fear. When he takes a new territory, he'll publicly torture a few influential people, then heal them and keep their loyalty through threats of further pain."
Lenardo's appetite had disappeared. Wulfston noticed his reaction and said, "No one here-not Nerius, not Aradia, not I-would harm somebody simply as an example."
"But as a punishment?"
"One might as well not have power if one is unwilling to use it. There is no need for gratuitous torture, but people must know that punishment will be swift and unpleasant, or some will not obey. It is always best to demonstrate justice early with light punishments-exactly the way one teaches a child."
To lighten the tone of the conversation, Lenardo said, "I suppose Adept children can get into a great deal of mischief."
Wulfston laughed. "Oh, indeed! I remember when Aradia and I decided we'd rather drink wine than milk, so we soured all the milk in the dairy for two days-and on the third day Nerius made us drink it anyway. And of course children can't resist spooking horses-or making them refuse to move. It's a wonder anyone was willing to live around here, with two Adept children playing pranks." "But you never did anything really dangerous?" "Oh, yes. The one time I remember Nerius actually paddling us with his own hand-when anything at a distance was unsatisfactory-was the time we set fire to the woods just west of here. We almost burned up with them."
Remembering what Nerius had told him, Lenardo asked, "How did Nerius come to take you in, Wulfston?"
"I was very young when he saw signs in me, which is why he knew I would be a Lord Adept. People who have merely one ability develop the talent at eight or ten."
"What happened to your own family? They were not Adepts?"
"No-although it seems my mother had one talent." He went to the. mantel and picKd up a bowl from the collection of pottery that lined it. Handing it to Lenardo, he said, "My mother made that."
"But it's Aventine."
Wulfston smiled sardonically. "I was born a citizen of your empire-a free citizen, although my parents had been slaves. They earned their freedom and citizenship, and moved from Tiberium to a small village near the border, where they made pottery. It wasn't easy for a black family outside the capital, but their work was the highest quality, and they made their way. My sister was born first, and I was born a few years later. I can't remember much except being happy there. I was only three when-"
"You began showing Adept powers," Lenardo marveled.
"Yes. At first it was great fun. I didn't know what I was doing, but I could make the birds and squirrels and rabbits come to me. The other children loved that-and no one associated it with Adept powers, which they always thought of as destructive. In fact, I think people thought it was an early sign of Reading."
The young Adept pointed to the design of fine lines in the bowl Lenardo held. "No one recognized that as an Adept skill either."
"I wouldn't," said Lenardo. "It's beautiful, the work of an artist-but why Adept?"
"Because it's all done freehand. My mother would just take a stylus and inscribe the design-but it has a precision an ordinary human hand cannot match. Nerius recognized – it, but of course he didn't say anything."
"Nerius?"
"Our village was near the border, but not on one of the main roads. When Nerius wanted to come into the empire-"