“But it is an evil power,” she insisted. “Why did Madura turn so cold, long before we arrived? It had to be this power Maldek was using-”
“Or simply his neglect of the climate,” Torio speculated. “I’ve come to understand that power isn’t evil.
Only what we do with it is good or evil. You are good, Melissa. You will use this power to heal-we’ve seen it used for that.”
He got the impression of a nod from her. “You are right. So… let us try to go back before Zanos and Astra become too tired to keep my body alive any longer.”
Torio let the Master Sorcerer’s image enter his mind, Maldek’s body lying as he had left him with Cassandra, before the fire. Around him he envisioned the ruined throne room, and his own body and Melissa’s side by side, Gray curled up against his, Zanos and Astra sitting cross-legged, concentrating on keeping Melissa alive-
He was cold!
Cold and weak as he had never been in his life!
In shock, Torio let his “self drift upward again, and found that he had been drawn to Maldek’s body, not his own, as he had been visualizing the throne room from that perspective.
All he had felt was the physical discomfort- Maldek was still unconscious, in body but without thought.
His own body drew Torio home; he settled in to the unwelcome weight and clumsiness that he always felt upon returning, this time accompanied by cold and numbness. Before he dared move, he Read his body’s condition.
His fingers and toes were frozen, as were his ears and the tip of his nose. They would have to be warmed carefully, blood pumped through, healing fire sent-
Even as he thought it, not the heat of healing he had experienced so often, but the white fire of the plane of power tingled throughout his body, sliding into every cell, every nerve, restoring, then… warming? He didn’t understand how cold could warm, but it happened even as he Read.
In moments, all was well-he was even comfortably warm, although the room was still unbearably cold.
He sat up, opened his eyes-
And saw blurred light and hazy figures.
Torio blinked. When his eyes were closed, he Read the room perfectly, but when he opened them-
He was seeing!
Gray nudged him, and he absently patted the fuzzy gray blur.
“Torio-are you all right?” asked Zanos.
“Yes,” he replied, closing his eyes to blank out the disturbing vision-he would worry about that later. At the moment-“Melissa?”
He Read her, back in her body but, like Maldek, unconscious.
“She’ll be all right,” said Astra. “She started breathing on her own a few moments ago, and her heart’s beating. Read her, Torio-you succeeded. Melissa’s there.”
“Why didn’t she heal her own body first?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” asked Zanos, and then Read Torio in his clumsy fashion. “I see-you’ve been healed already.”
Torio was still Reading Melissa. “Why isn’t she healing herself? I don’t understand!”
“Torio, she’s unconscious,” said Astra. “There’s other damage to her body besides freezing. Maldek hasn’t gone naturally into healing sleep, either- they’re too badly injured to do so without the aid of another healer.”
“Then… who healed me?” he asked-opening his eyes when he turned to Astra, a polite gesture of ingrained habit, to appear to be seeing the person he spoke to.
But he did see Astra, blurrily in the flickering firelight. He frowned, and her image came clear. Then he understood: he had to learn to focus his eyes.
“It wasn’t me,” Astra answered his question. “It’s been all Zanos and I could do to keep ourselves from freezing while we maintained Melissa’s body.”
“But…”
A frightening suspicion formed in Torio’s mind.
He squatted down beside her and tentatively reached out to touch Melissa’s forehead, envisioning her warm, her ravaged nerves soothed and healed, her cells restored-
The cold fire tingled through his Fingertips and spread through Melissa’s body, performing its work as speedily as before. Melissa opened her eyes, looked into his, and smiled.
Torio was so astonished that he rocked back on his heels and sat down on the cold stone floor, hard.
Zanos and Astra were staring at him in amazement. “You’ve Finally learned-?” Zanos began.
“He’s learned Maldek’s technique!” said Astra. “Torio-”
“Yes-I know how dangerous it is,” he replied. “Melissa-can you do it now?”
“Melissa’s just been healed,” said Zanos. “You can’t expect her to have any strength until she’s had a meal and a good long sleep.”
“But I’m neither tired nor hungry,” said Melissa, sitting up. “I’m just frightened of that power.”
“You think I’m not?” asked Torio. “But if it means I can heal-”
“Yes,” she said, and got gracefully to her feet. “I really do feel perfectly well,” she reassured Zanos and Astra. “Torio-show me how to do that.” And she knelt beside Cassandra.
“All I did was to envision you well,” he replied.
But when Melissa tried it, she produced the usual heat of Adept healing, drawing on the energy of her own body as she had always done.
“You’re still afraid of that power,” said Torio. “It’s only dangerous when misused. Think of the plane of power.”
Tentatively, Melissa reached out-but could not tap the power. Yet she needed it-she was a healer who would do only good with it. Torio put his hands over hers, as Maldek had done before-and the cold white fire spread outward through their patient. In moments, Cassandra was sitting up, warm and healthy.
“Now,” said Zanos, “what are you going to do about Maldek?”
Melissa stared at him. “You’re not suggesting that we let him die, are you?”
“He ‘ tetyou die,” the gladiator countered. “Surely Torio wouldn’t think of-”
“Zanos,” Torio said quietly, “would you have us do nothing?”
” Yes! He was supposed to die, wasn’t he? You’re the one who said it-”
“Unless someone died his death. Which Melissa did. Now… it is Melissa’s decision,” Torio stated.
“Maldek owes her his life. She has the right to give it back to him or not-and also the power.”
“You say power is good or evil according to what we do with it,” Melissa reminded Torio. “It is also according to what we don’t do with it. Maldek did evil when he refused to use his powers for healing. I will not make his mistake. Help me, Torio.” And she knelt beside the Master Sorcerer.
When Maldek’s eyes blinked open a few minutes later, he stared at Melissa in disbelief. “You? Am I dead, too?” He sat up and looked around.
“No, you’re not dead yet,” said Zanos. “You just ought to be.”
Maldek frowned and climbed to his feet. “It’s cold in here.”
“It is cold everywhere in Madura,” Cassandra told him. “Read what you have done to your land, Maldek.”
“I will restore it,” he said, looking from one to another of the survivors. “Why did you revive me?” he asked suspiciously.
“Only because not to heal you would have been to let you die,” replied Melissa.
“Fools!” he sneered. “Now I suppose you expect gratitude?”
“No,” said Torio, “just a sign that you have learned something.”
“That I must restore my land and heal my people? I agree. It was foolish to neglect my property. Now, though-what shall I do with you?” He glanced toward the corpses of Dirdra, Kwinn, and Bryen. “I see you allowed Dirdra to die. That is a waste-she amused me. But then you also amuse me, Melissa. You will take her place.”
He held out his hand toward her, and became blank to Reading-but the power that he commanded merely tugged gently at Melissa. She resisted easily.
Maldek stared. “What have you done to me?” he demanded, bracing to use more force. Again it was not enough to make Melissa take a step in his direction.