Mothers called their daughters into back rooms.
Beggars scurried into corners and huddled, shaking, hoping not to be noticed-for one of their number had been carried off to the castle yesterday, and no one knew what had become of him.
They left their horses at a stable and proceeded on foot to the local hospital, where the healers looked up in astonishment, not believing they had Read the Lord of the Land approaching. They tried to shield their thoughts by bracing for Adept power, but Torio caught the fact that Maldek had turned away their pleas for his aid years before. Without the help of such a powerful Adept, the healers were severely limited-hence the presence of beggars like the crippled man Maldek and Melissa had cured yesterday.
In a private consultation room, a mother held her little girl on her lap while a female healer told her, “Try to take her to Rokannia of the Western Isle, when she comes here to pay tribute. She has the power to heal the nerves and allow your child to see.”
It was the same degenerative condition that had caused Torio to be born blind-a fairly common ailment which any of the Lords Adept in the Savage Empire could cure with a few weeks of daily treatments, as long as it was corrected in infancy. As the child grew older, such treatments were less and less effective, and for adults they didn’t work at all.
The healer looked up in astonishment as Maldek walked into the private room without knocking.
“Master!” gasped the mother, falling to her knees and clutching her child to her breast as if she feared it would be torn from her grip. The baby, naturally, began to scream.
“Give me the child,” said Maldek.
“Master, please!” said the healer. “This is Mora-dee’s only child. You surely have no use for a blind infant. Please don’t take her away!”
“Take her away?” Maldek asked. “Is that what they say of me in my land-that I steal babes from their mothers? No, woman-give me the child that I may heal her.”
Trembling, the mother delivered the screaming baby into Maldek’s huge hands. He slung her easily onto one arm, her head in his hand, her body along his forearm, and stroked her brow. She fell asleep at once.
Torio Read Maldek Reading for the defective nerves-then that amazing cold white fire-and the fibers grew in moments, generating the necessary tissue and connections.
What would have taken Wulfston or Aradia weeks of daily treatments was completed by Maldek in less than a quarter of an hour. Then he placed the infant back in her mother’s arms and touched her on the forehead.
The child’s eyes opened, and she made a gurgling sound. Torio could Read that the little girl’s sight was restored, but there was no way for the mother to know.
The baby had never seen before. She couldn’t focus her eyes, or recognize her mother’s face.
But the healer picked up a lighted candle, held it in front of the child’s face, and then moved it to the side.
The child’s head turned, following the light. She let out a happy chortle and reached toward it, but the healer held the candle safely out of reach.
The mother broke into sobs. “Oh, Master-thank you! How can I ever repay you?”
“There is no need,” Maldek replied. “Healer- have you any other patients who require my skills?”
“Not at present, Master,” she replied hesitantly.
“When you have, send them to my castle.”
“Yes, Master,” the healer replied-but Torio knew Maldek Read as easily as he did that she feared some underlying scheme beneath the Master Sorcerer’s apparent kindness. And he felt Maldek’s annoyance at her distrust.
But Maldek held himself in check as he showed them the rest of the hospital facility, which was similar to the one in Zendi. Then he suggested, “You may wish to explore my city on your own- and as you all have the inner sight, I have no fear you will become lost and unable to find your way back to the stable where we left our horses.”
Dirdra had not come with them on this excursion, for Kwinn screamed and clung to her every time she tried to leave his sight, and the city was certainly no place for him-or for Gray, who had, amazingly, seemed to understand Torio’s instruction to stay behind, although he made clear that he was not happy about it.
Zanos and Astra took Cassandra off to explore, while Melissa wanted to go to the herb market.
Maldek seemed determined to stay with Melissa, so Torio followed along, trying to decide if he was Reading a growing rivalry with Maldek, or only imagining it.
When Melissa was deep in discussion with one of the herbalists over the uses of some medicines she was unfamiliar with, Torio asked Maldek, “Couldn’t you cure Kwinn with the same technique you used on that baby?”
“No-but I could cure you, if you like.”
“No, thank you,” Torio answered automatically.
Maldek cocked his head to one side, studying the young Reader. “Why not? It is convenient to see, Torio-and perhaps if you did not have to stumble in the dark at any time you are not Reading, you would be able to release your Adept powers, as Melissa has done.”
“I’m not sure I want such powers,” Torio told him, and knew that Maldek Read his thought that the Master Sorcerer was only one example of the wrong that could be done with them.
But Maldek chose another direction for their conversation. “You are the only one whose desires I cannot fathom. What do you want of me, Torio?”
“Nothing.”
“Then if you refuse to take from me, what do you seek in these isles?”
“Adventure, perhaps-although I’ve had enough of that for the moment, thank you.”
“A typical young man’s answer,” Maldek observed, “but not yours, I think. Can it be that you are not seeking something to be found here, but to escape something at home?”
“A shrewd guess, Maldek,” Torio replied. “I left my homeland to avoid becoming a Lord of the Land.
Like you.”
For the first time in two days, the cold, mocking smile played over Maldek’s lips. “We are kin at heart, then-for you recognize as well as I that power must be exercised in order to rule. It is sometimes necessary to be harsh.”
“Firm,” Torio corrected. “A difficult line to tread. My teacher, Master Lenardo, treads it as easily as Lord of the Land as he did as teacher in the Academy-but I do not want responsibility for other people’s lives. Even as a teacher, my mistakes hurt other people.”
“And so you remain blind when you could see, weak when you could be strong? You are a fool, Torio.
You place yourself at other people’s mercy.”
“We are all at the mercy of the gods,” Torio replied, falling back on an Aventine commonplace.
“When I meet your gods, I will believe in them,” Maldek retorted. “Meanwhile, I will rely on my own powers.”
“Call it the gods, call it fate-there is something beyond the powers of mere men,” Torio told him. “I have seen prophecies come true-and I see my own happening, even now. I told Zanos he would find his brother, and that his brother would have his hand again-and you have found Bryen and restored his hand. Perhaps, then, you believe that I am controlling you?”
Maldek laughed. “That is something no man will ever do! Don’t try it, Torio. And be grateful… I seldom give my opponents a warning.”
“Why have you made us opponents?” Torio asked. “We did nothing to you, made no challenge. And Dirdra and her brother-why do you aid Zanos’ brother and not Dirdra’s? Dirdra is your subject; Zanos is not.”
“The game is not finished,” Maldek answered.
“Does that mean you will cure Kwinn? Surely the method you are using to regrow Bryen’s hand would work.”
“Yes-it would restore his intelligence, but not his memories or his… self. He would be like a newborn baby, having to learn everything again. And since the circumstances would be quite different, he would probably become a considerably different person.”