And all that happened was that the Savishnon regrouped and came back four years later.
“You were all in the most recent battle. How were the Savishnon defeated this time? Not by Movers’
powers, but by you, the combined armies of the Zionae, the Warimu, the Karili, and the members of the Assembly.
” There is your secret of peace and safety,” Wulfston explained. “It lies in unity, in alliances between peaceful nations, standing together against those who spend their energies in mindless conquest.
“The Karili Assembly drove the Savishnon from their lands by uniting in a common cause. Queen Ashuru brought them together, and has led them successfully through this test of their union. I trust her as my regent, and you will soon grow to trust her when you prosper under her rule.”
He did not mention the problem of Chulaika/Z’Nelia. Chulaika’s body still lay in coma, both sisters’
mental presences within it, slowly integrating as if they might eventually become one person.
Lenardo kept his agreement to help Ashuru. Each day they spent hours in rapport with the twin minds, attempting to help them integrate.
Wulfston spent the time at first in a futile attempt to arrange a peace conference with the Savishnon leaders. They would not even discuss it. Savishna, he learned, mandated war and conquest until the whole world was under the rule of the war god, at which time the world would end and all who had fought gloriously in the cause would be united with Savishna for an eternity of celebration.
Followers of the weak, peaceful Shangonu, he was told, would be destroyed.
There was no foundation on which to make a truce, let alone a lasting peace. The Savishnon would lick their wounds, regroup, and attack again. And they would probably continue to do so until the last one of them died.
It was incomprehensible to him how anyone could think as the Savishnon did, so in the end he could only console himself with the idea that strengthening the Karili Assembly meant that the Savishnon would have enough to occupy them in Africa for the next few generations, and would not set out across the sea to attack his friends or his descendants.
Thinking of descendants, though, always brought his thoughts to Tadisha. Some days she worked with her mother and Lenardo, attempting to integrate Z’Nelia and Chulaika, but on others she stood as her mother’s representative, reminding Wulfston that she would be Queen of the Karili one day, and that meant she would live out her life in Africa.
He didn’t want Tadisha to stay in Africa; he wanted to take her home as his wife, And she wanted him to stay here and rule.
Both were impossible.
Still, they could not resist having what time they could together. One evening they stood on the parapets, watching the sun set in red and gold splendor. Tadisha had worked with Lenardo and Ashuru that day, and was mentally but not physically tired.
“Lord Lenardo is teaching me so much,” she said. “But it is frustrating.”
“How so?”
“Z’Nelia resists the final integration with Chulaika. Yet once that is achieved, Lenardo’s obligation will be fulfilled, and you and he will leave.”
Wulfston had no answer to that. It was true.
Tadisha was silent for a moment, then said, “I once hoped to persuade you to stay with me.”
“I know.”
“Do you know when I knew it was impossible?” she asked.
“No.”
“When we rescued Lenardo. He was so weak after Z’Nelia’s torture-we might as well put the right name to what she did to him. I have seen it in his mind, things he would not tell you… but I think you knew anyway.”
“I know Lenardo,” he replied.
“Yes,” she said softly, “just as I knew when Kamas was trying to hide the pain of his broken arm. That was when I Saw it, Wulfston. Lenardo is as much your brother as Kamas is mine. You had told me that your ties were to your family in the Savage Empire, but the first time I saw you and Lenardo together was the first time I understood in my heart that your bonds of love are as strong as bonds of blood.”
“Tadisha,” he said gently, “you must know how that can be. Every true marriage is such a bond of love.
Every adoption of a child,” he added, thinking of the way Chaiku had taken to Ashuru. “You may have a new little brother if you cannot bring Chulaika out of her coma, or if she recovers, but cannot care for Chaiku.”
‘I know,” said Tadisha. “But I already have a brother who is almost a grown man. Kamas proved himself in battle and now he stands in for Mother on the days I am in the rapport.”
She was closed against Reading. Wulfston looked into her face in the fading light, trying to tell if she was offering him hope. He was afraid to take it, afraid to expose his heart to the disappointment of mistaking her meaning.
“Your mother once said you could learn a great deal from our Master Readers,” he suggested.
She turned toward him with a smile. “Yes. And what would be better for the Karili than an alliance with the famous Lord of the Black Wolf?”
“Tadisha!” At last he dared to take her in his arms, to kiss her, to hold her close. He needed the reality of her slender form against him to believe it was possible-
“Wulfston?” she whispered against his cheek.
“Yes?”
“Will you marry me?”
He laughed. “I will if you will marry me!” he told her. “You will be welcome in my lands, Tadisha. And, although the journey is long, you will see your home again, and surely your family will visit us.”
She hugged him tightly. “I think Mother knows, but I will go now and tell her officially.” Then she slipped from his arms and was gone, leaving him breathless in the cool night air, fearing that Ashuru might forbid it, knowing that she had no reason except to lose her only daughter to the lord of a far-distant land.
Ashuru did not leave him in trepidation for long. By the time he descended the tower stairs, a servant was there to request that he attend the Karili queen in her chambers.
He felt once more that he faced the lion in her den.
Ashuru was seated, flanked by Tadisha and Kamas, all three closed to Reading. “Lord of the Black Wolf, you ask for my daughter in marriage?”
“I do,” he replied, “and offer the Karili nation both the assurance of support in time of need, and trade in time of prosperity. Like you, Queen Ashuru, I speak for several nations joined in an alliance. I can offer your Seers the knowledge of our Master Readers. You may send your Seers to train in our Academies, and we will send our Readers to share their knowledge, and learn from you.”
She waved that aside. “But what do you offer my daughter?”
“My hand, my throne… my heart,” he replied simply.
“Tadisha, will you then renounce your claims as my heir to your brother Kamas?”
“Yes, Mother, gladly,” Tadisha replied.
“Very well,” Ashuru replied, still the majestic lioness. “Lord Wulfston, you arrived in our lands with nothing, and have proved yourself a valuable ally. Lord Lenardo has shown me how much our Seers could learn from your Readers. A union with your Savage Empire will provide us with much of value.
And I believe that despite your lineage, you can be trusted to treat my daughter with love and respect.”
“I promise that, Queen Ashuru.”
“However,” she continued, “I must make one condition: you must fulfill an obligation of blood.”
“An… obligation of blood?”
“Your cousin Norgu.”
“Norgu? What about him?”
“Lord Lenardo believes that the Master Readers in your Savage Empire could help Norgu to regain his mental capacities. But along with his mental growth, his great powers as a Mover will return. If he does not have the right guidance, he will grow again into the dangerous, spiteful, selfish man we saw here. A Seer cannot discipline a Mover of such strength. Norgu must be raised by a powerful Mover-a man like his father who might have turned him into a true leader. But Matu’s death left no one with both the power and the wisdom to teach Norgu. You saw the result.”