“No.” he insisted, “I’m all right now. But Z’Nelia has Lenardo.”
“Z’Nelia!”
“She took over Norgu’s body, used his powers to destroy his own castle, and put Lenardo into Adept sleep. Apparently she used Norgu’s servants to carry Lenardo away-I don’t know where, because Chulaika doesn’t. But Norgu had the power to do Z’Nelia’s will, as your body didn’t, Tadisha.”
“But what was he doing out of body? Norgu has never shown much interest in expanding his Seer’s powers.”
“He was not out of body,” Wulfston replied. “Z’Nelia has learned to take over a Mover who is awake.
That’s why
Norgu was in shock when we got here. He couldn’t fight her off. It was a harsh lesson, Tadisha, to have his own powers wrested from his control.”
“Mother finally brought him out of shock,” said Tadisha, “and he is sleeping.”
By this time they were up the stairs. Wulfston drew deep breaths of clean air, then asked, “Where is my help needed?”
“We’ve put the worst injured in the main hall.”
There were the usual casualties of Adept attack: burns, broken bones, shock. Within hours, all were in healing sleep, and those uninjured had already buried the dead, as was the custom here. Wulfston, Tadisha, Kamas, Barak, and Ashuru met around the dining table.
When Ashuru heard what Wulfston had learned from Chulaika’s memories, she said, “We are in grave danger indeed. Z’Nelia’s powers grow daily. Perhaps she is now stronger than all of us together. Yet if we do nothing to stop her, she may learn more and yet more, becoming ever more powerful.”
“She seeks a confrontation with me,” said Wulfston, “or she would not have taken Lenardo. She must think I’m here to take her throne. If only she understood that I don’t want it! If we had found Lenardo here today, he and I would have helped you against the Savishnon, and then gone home. Now I must fight Z’Nelia for Lenardo. I ask your aid.”
“You have it,” said Ashuru. “Z’Nelia made herself my enemy when she attacked my daughter.”
But Chulaika and Norgu were another matter. Z’Nelia’s sister and her son were awake the next morning, and Wulfston confronted them with all he had learned from the unexpected mental contact. “You were the real force in the plan to bring me to Africa,” he told her, “not Sukuru. You merely used him to keep my attention from you, so I would not find out that you are Z’Nelia’s sister.”
“Since I have no powers of my own,” Chulaika replied, “why would I try to oppose Z’Nelia?”
“Ah, but you have a power,” Wulfston told her, “a unique power in my experience, and, I suspect, that of the Movers and Seers here as well. That is why you have been able to hide… your ability to direct the powers of others!”
Pure fury burned in Chulaika’s eyes. Wulfston saw her glance at Barak. Now her secret was a part of history.
He, too, looked to the Grioka, asking a silent question. “Go on,” the old man said. “I think, Lord Wulfston, that you have something of the Grioka’s talent yourself.”
“If so,” said Wulfston, “I haven’t known how to use it. I should have known you were lying, Chulaika, that day on Freedom Island. You made us all think the man with the knife was attacking Chaiku. But no matter how drunk he was, why would he publicly attack a little boy? He was just drunk enough to See and yet not think. Yes, a minor Seer, who suddenly Saw through your veil the face of his enemy, Z’Nelia!”
Chulaika stared defiantly, refusing to acknowledge Wulfstons analysis.
” Death to the mad witch Z’Nelia,’ ” he quoted, taking grim pleasure in watching her eyes widen in frustration. “You lied to me about what he said. And you let me think that I misjudged my powers and killed him-but you killed him, with Chaiku’s power.”
“That’s nonsense,” said Chulaika. “My son is only three years old. “
“The age I was when my powers first manifested,” Wulfston replied. “A three-year-old could not direct his small strength to kill, but a well-practiced grown woman could. I should have recognized what was wrong with that picture. By maternal instinct you should have shielded Chaiku with your own body, as you did yesterday against Z’Nelia’s attack. But you held him in front of you, using his powers against that man who was too drunk to realize that it couldn’t possibly be Z’Nelia he perceived beneath your veils!”
Wulfston studied Chulaika’s face. “Did you really think you could take over my powers, direct them as you pleased? That was your plan, wasn’t it? The latest of your plans to steal the throne from Z’Nelia.
First you seduced Matu, knowing that the people loved him better than Z’Nelia. You thought you might get him to kill her, and marry you.
“But before you dared propose that plan, you became pregnant with Matu’s child. That gave you something to hold over him-a rival to Z’Nelia’s son, and a potential Mover to protect you if your plans for his father failed.
“Then came the Savishnon. What really happened on Mount Manjuro, Chulaika? Z’Nelia knew about your treachery and Matu’s, and pushed you into the volcano. She didn’t count on Norgu’s love for his father, did she? I wonder if either you or your sister knows anything about love.
“Norgu saved your life. Matu alone could not have saved both you and himself. You found yourself not only with the man you wanted and his unborn child-but with Matu’s son by Z’Nelia! That must have been a happy family group.
“You pretended it was, didn’t you? But Matu and Norgu became closer as Matu trained his older son.
You decided to get rid of them both. Wasn’t that your plan, the day the three assassins attacked? You let everyone assume Z’Nelia sent them. Did you perhaps pose as your sister, so that the assassins themselves thought Z’Nelia directed them?
“No matter. Matu was killed, but Norgu revealed the strength of his powers. He never suspected you; he always assumed Z’Nelia killed Matu. You knew he would eventually seek to depose his mother, but you felt that Chaiku, as Matu’s son and with Mover’s powers, had the right to the throne.
“But Norgu was far older and stronger; to use Norgu and Z’Nelia against one another, you had to move when
Norgu did, long before Chaiku was old enough to be effective in battle. Then you heard the story about me, hired Sukuru. And we know the rest.
“Except,” he added slowly, distastefully, “that you have used your child’s own powers to keep him from learning to talk, to keep that poor little boy from accidentally telling someone of the games you play with him, the things you make him do. “
Chulaika’s skin grew ashen with shock as her secrets were revealed. She clutched Chaiku, but she did not try to attack. What use would it be?
Ashuru spoke. “Chulaika, as a mother I cannot but abhor you. Yet we have in common the desire to depose Z’Nelia, for her powers are combined with madness. We cannot trust you-so what are we to do about you?”
“We could,” said Wulfston, “simply turn her over to Norgu, with the evidence that she, and not Z’Nelia, killed his father.”
Chulaika’s eyes widened. “No! He would kill me, and my baby, too. Or else he would use Chaiku horribly-”
“Worse than you have used him?” Ashuru demanded.
“I’ll help you!” Chulaika pleaded. “I know Z’Nelia-we are twins. Loving her, Matu had no choice but to love me. And our powers-she has the power, and I have the control. If I can only get close enough, I can control Z’Nelia! I can make her turn her powers against herself. Just don’t betray me to Norgu!”
For the moment Wulfston agreed with Ashuru: it was best not to tell Norgu of Chulaika’s treachery. He and the Karili queen shared the same misgivings, but, “Despite how Chulaika has used him,” Ashuru said,
“Chaiku is better off with his mother than with Norgu. If that boy were to gain further power now, before he has learned to use wisely what he has…” She shook her head sadly.