Zanos stared at the intruder. “Who are you?” he asked, a warning tone in his voice.
Bryen ignored it. “They’ll all bet on the big one, of course. You, son,” he said to Torio, “you one of Maldek’s servants? You got talent there-quick moves. Think you can take this big fellow with a lighter weapon?”
“I’m not a gladiator,” Torio replied. “I’m a Reader,” he added, thinking that that unfair advantage would surely make him ineligible for whatever the gambler had in mind.
“All the better! Inner sight against brute strength — the crowd will love it! Maldek, can I take these men with me, to supervise their training? There’s only a few days left-I have to decide how to use them to best advantage before I put out the word-”
“Stop!” ordered Zanos. “I spent most of my life fighting in the arena-and I’m not going back to it to line the pockets of another gambler!”
“Oh, you’ll be paid!” said Bryen. “Both of you- you just do what I tell you, and we’ll line all our pockets!”
He started to turn back to Maldek, assuming that everything was settled with Zanos and Torio, but Zanos had fought too long for the right to control his own life. He grasped the man’s arm and pulled him back around, saying, “Maldek is not our master. No man is. I told you I will never again kill as an exhibit for other people’s pleasure! Torio?”
“I certainly won’t,” the Reader said.
“So we are agreed,” said Zanos, squeezing Bryen’s arm for emphasis-and lifting it enough that his eyes fell on the half-grown hand.
Torio felt astonishment stab through Zanos as he looked from the hand to Bryen’s face-to the fiery red hair with a sprinkling of white at the temples, the blue eyes. Torio could see the resemblance in the square jaw and the shape of the nose, but Bryen’s face had a hardness Zanos’ lacked, even though both men had known a lifetime of harsh survival.
For a long moment, Zanos only stared. Then, “Bryen?” he whispered. The gambler only stared at him.
“Bryen-don’t you know me? I’ve come all the way from Tiberium looking for you… my brother.”
NonReader, nonAdept, Bryen had no disciplines at all to hide his feelings. His utter amazement washed over Torio in a chill wave. “Zanos? Little brother?”
The term was absurd-for although Zanos was hardly a handspan taller than Bryen, he was so broad and strong from years of training that he appeared three times his brother’s size.
Bryen laughed. “You are! Zanos, I thought I’d never see you again!” His startlement warmed into family feeling as the two men hugged, pounding one another on the back, Zanos almost crushing Bryen in his enthusiasm.
“I didn’t know if you’d even survived!” said Zanos. “I’ve wanted to come back-but it took me so many years to earn my freedom… And what about you? You look well. Are you married? My wife’s here with me-you have to meet her-and my friends, Torio here and-”
As he turned to introduce them, Zanos’ eyes fell on Maldek, who was standing back, watching the reunion in open amusement.
Zanos stopped, then said, “You found him for me, didn’t you, Maldek?”
“I found him,” the sorcerer assented.
“And restored his hand?” The gladiator shook his head slowly. “I still don’t know what to think about you-but this time you have my thanks.”
This reunion, however, was less sweet than Astra’s with her mother. But it was happy enough for the next few hours, as Zanos introduced his brother to the rest of their group, told his story and Astra’s, and listened to Bryen’s tale of survival.
When the slaver ship departed, Bryen had been left among the dead and dying. The village healer had been slaughtered, so there was no help but what they could do for one another. A man with a gut wound tied a rope around the end of the boy’s arm so he would not bleed to death, and together they somehow got another man and a woman into a fishing boat and set out for the next village.
But by dawn all three of Bryen’s companions were dead of their wounds. The boy passed out, and the boat drifted aimlessly until other fishermen found it.
They took Bryen to their healer, who saved his life, but only a Master Sorcerer could restore his hand.
“Why wasn’t that done?” demanded Zanos. “The Lord of the Land in our day was good and kind-”
“And old,” said Bryen. “Oh, he lived for over ten years after you were captured, but his powers were waning. Maldek, his son, was sent to apprentice in Meliard, far to the north, for he was hardly older than I was, and not come into his full powers. We paid so little attention to anything but fishing in our home village-I found in the City that Madura was at war! The fleet was defending the river here; that’s why the slavers found it so easy to prey on the southern coast.
“The Lord of the Land granted me audience when he heard my story-but only to tell me no, he couldn’t use his strength to heal half-grown boys when he had to keep grown men strong for his army. He promised to heal me as soon as I was full-grown.” Bryen snorted derisively. “So much for the promises of the Lord of the Land!”
“The war went on for many years,” said Cassandra. “Surely you can understand the difficult decisions he had to make about how best to defend his people. All those years, Bryen, our climate remained mild, our crops and flocks healthy.”
“Maybe, but in the City I learned to take care of myself. A man named Graorn took me in, and set me to collecting rents from his tenants. He had a hook made for my missing hand-and I was starting to get big enough that the welchers handed over what they owed when I shoved it in their faces.
“By the time I was old enough to go into the army, I’d seen too many soldiers go out there and almost die, and be healed, and almost die again, and be healed-the second or third time lots of ‘em deserted, and hid out in the City. So I just didn’t go to get my hand put back.”
“Then how can you blame the Lord of the Land for not keeping his promise?” Zanos asked.
“Once the war was over, I went to the castle!” Bryen flared. “That was after Maldek came home. With his powers, it was over fast-and I went to the castle and couldn’t even get in! For the next few years, everyone said Maldek was really running things-but mostly life was all right until the old lord died.
Then-”
“Yes-we’ve seen,” said Zanos.
“But Maldek seems to be learning from his mistakes,” put in Melissa.
“Don’t bet on it!” said Bryen. “They say nobody’s ever had as much power as Maldek has-so who’s gonna stop him from doing whatever he wants?”
“Himself,” Melissa answered. “Bryen, he healed you, and reunited you with your brother. He found Astra’s mother for her. Can’t you see what’s happening? He’s been so isolated by his power, and by the fear he has generated in his people… he’s so lonely.”
“Lonely!” Dirdra snorted. “He can take anyone he wants!”
“He can by force,” agreed Melissa, “but you of all people know that he has found no satisfaction in that.”
“So he simply forces people in other ways!” the Maduran woman retorted. “Are you all such fools, to be taken in by his supposed reform?”
“Dirdra, shouldn’t we give him the benefit of the doubt?” asked Astra. “Maldek did not have to find my mother. I’d never have known she was in Madura.”
“Did you never wonder how he knew your mother had left the Aventine Empire?” Dirdra asked. “Astra, he spies on our minds-and you Readers can’t even tell he’s doing it!”
“That’s true,” said Torio. “At least while we were on the way here, I felt Maldek’s mind searching several times-didn’t you, Astra, Melissa?”
Astra nodded. But Melissa said, “Yes-but he was testing us then. He found that we were all friends, and nothing he sent against us could defeat us when we worked together.”