Wulfston grabbed for the scattered candlesticks, flinging them one after another at the woman before him. She deflected them, her attention diverted while he thought desperately, needing a solution before he ran out of projectiles or she flung another lightning bolt at him.
Why hadn’t she?
And then he saw. Even in light of the few remaining candles he could see Tadisha’s face turning an unhealthy yellow. Her body staggered more with each bat at an oncoming candlestick. Her movements became weaker, less coordinated-
Blessed gods! Tadisha is no Lady Adept, no great and powerful Mover. Z’Nelia is draining her strength, killing her! I’m killing her! But if I stop, she’ll kill me.
Nonetheless he stopped, realizing even as he did so that there was no longer enough strength in Tadisha’s body for Z’Nelia to seize upon to kill him.
He got up, and grasped her by the arms. “Let her go, Z’Nelia!” he demanded. “Get out of Tadisha’s body. If you harm her, I promise I will hunt you down and kill you with my own hands!”
The green eyes fixed on his, and the mouth grimaced into a parody of Tadisha’s sweet smile. Her hands came up and grasped his arms, nails digging in. “So you do believe in revenge, Beast Lord. You need not hunt for me. We will meet again. And next time, no frail girl will stand between us!”
Suddenly, the hands dropped. Life went out of the eyes and the body slumped backwards. Desperately, Wulfston Read for heartbeat, breathing-and found none.
Chapter Six
Open to Reading as he searched for signs of life in Tadisha’s body, Wulfston Read Kamas broadcast a call for help with the full extent of his Seeing powers. The younger man then tried to take Tadisha’s body, but Wulfston brushed him aside, laying her carefully on the stone floor and invoking his Adept powers to force her heart to beat, her lungs to expand and contract.
“See to your mother and Barak,” he instructed. “Don’t move Barak till I can help him, though!”
“Healers are on the way,” Kamas assured him. “We must summon Tadisha back to her body.”
Wulfston remembered Tadisha insisting that “blood will tell.” Never mind the reason; her brother’s mind was familiar, a signal she would feel safe in following. “Summon her,” he replied. “I will keep her body alive.”
Kamas knelt beside his sister, concentrating. Wulfston wanted to join Kamas in Reading for her wandering spirit, but dared not, for each time he stopped pumping her lungs and heart they stopped functioning.
Unwanted memory reminded Wulfston that when Master Clement had been lost on the planes of existence his body had continued to function. What was there in Africa that threatened Seers who left their bodies? Did Z’Nelia control it, or was she controlled by it? Had she trapped Tadisha, or had the souls of both women been captured by some other force?
Wulfston turned his attention to what Kamas was doing, and Read a strange, tenuous beacon reaching out from the younger man in a tie of blood-kinship. He Read Tadisha in that beacon-and yet not Tadisha, but those characteristics that she shared with Kamas, being of one womb born.
In the warm feeling of fraternal love, Wulfston felt like an intruder. He almost blanked out of the rapport when he felt-
Tadisha’s presence! Gratefully, she reached for her brother and followed him back, her spirit reentering her body.
Once in her body, though, Tadisha lost consciousness.
Where were those healers? Wulfston was just drawing breath to ask Kamas when Tadisha’s chest rose and fell. Her heart fought the steady rhythm Wulfston had imposed, and he let it beat wildly for a moment, until it settled into a fast but even tempo.
Tadisha coughed, then moaned. “Lie still!” Wulfston told her.
Her green eyes opened, dilated with fear. “I… I can’t See!” She tried to lift a hand to her face, and gasped in pain.
“That’s why you must lie still,” Wulfston explained. “Let me heal you, Tadisha.” He concentrated on encouraging the healing force of Tadisha’s own body, but she had little energy left for him to work with.
“What happened?” she asked weakly. “Why did you move my body?”
“It wasn’t us,” Kamas said grimly. “While you were on another plane, Z’Nelia took over your body and attacked us.”
Tadisha’s eyes widened in astonishment. “She can do that? And rob me of my Seeing powers?”
“It’s temporary,” Wulfston assured her. “Z’Nelia used the energy of your body. Let me put you into healing sleep, Tadisha. That will rid you of your pain, and a few days of rest and food will restore your powers.”
“No-I must tell-” She tried to sit up, but fell back with a moan of pain and frustration. “Where is Mother?”
“Unconscious. Kamas, where are those healers?!”
Kamas focused his Seeing beyond his sister, beyond the temple. Wulfston had had to restrain his Adept powers to battle Z’Nelia in Tadisha’s body; his Reading was still good enough to follow Kamas’ mind out into the palace.
Everyone was asleep!
Guards lay crumpled at their posts; Seer-priestesses in brown robes slumped in a circle in a small chapel nearby. The healers Kamas had summoned were in another anteroom, lying in attitudes that told Wulfston the Movers had been pacing in impatient concern, waiting and fearing to be called to the temple.
Wulfston surmised, “Z’Nelia must have put everyone into Adept sleep before she attacked us. Tadisha, you are more Seer than Mover. She didn’t realize how much of your energy she would expend on that task. She didn’t have enough left to kill me.”
“So my call was not answered,” said Kamas. “I must waken the healers.” He started to rise.
A moan of agony came from behind him. “Mother!” Tadisha put her hand on he brother’s arm, without a wince of pain this time, Wulfston noted. At least her body had power to heal that much.
The pain of Ashuru’s burns was pulling her toward consciousness. Wulfston quickly sent her into Adept sleep, and started the healing process. It would keep her pain at bay for the time being, but she needed his concentration on the worst of her injuries, and then healing sleep.
He opened as wide as he could to Reading. A wave of pain assaulted him from Barak. “Kamas,” he said,
“I need your help! Healing both your mother and Barak will diminish my Seeing powers. Come use yours to help me.”
“We need the healers,” the boy insisted.
“I will waken them,” Tadisha said, struggling to her knees.
“Tadisha!” Kamas protested.
“I have no powers now!” she spat like a determined kitten hissing defiance at a bewildered hound. “Help Wulfston heal Mother and Barak. The palace is vulnerable to attack. I can do no good here, so I will go wake the guards.”
“Come,” said Wulfston to Kamas, recognizing that Tadisha assessed her responsibility correctly. The girl rose unsteadily, but moved purposefully toward the door, every bit the queen she would be one day.
Kamas knelt reluctantly beside Wulfston, by Ashuru’s body. Wulfston found that healing when he could Read through another’s greater powers was even easier than being guided by a Reader’s words. Soon Ashuru was in healing sleep, and they turned to Barak, drawing his broken bones into alignment, and starting them knitting rapidly ‹ Because these people must be returned quickly to health, Wulfston had to use his own energy in the healing. When the healers finally joined them, Kamas pulled an exhausted Wulfston to his feet.
“Thank you,” the younger man said. “Without your help, all of us might have died.”
“Without me,” Wulfston replied, “there would have been no opportunity for Z’Nelia to attack… and perhaps no reason. Where is Tadisha now? I don’t know if she can achieve healing sleep alone.”
“You’re almost asleep yourself!” Kamas pointed out.
“I have reserves of energy,” Wulfston replied. “It’s part of Adept training. I could heal myself if there were need, but there isn’t.”