Dragonlord of the Savage Empire

Lenardo Read widely and found that inside Zendi, word had reached Aradia of the assault on Southgate. She could fire the gas with hardly an effort. //Aradia, Aradia!// he projected, but it was no use. Concentrating her Adept powers, she was completely blind to Reading, and she was leading a small band toward Southgate. Within minutes she would be in range to be killed in the explosion of the gas. If Lenardo did not set it off, though, she would be one Adept against four-certain death even with her increased powers.

Lenardo remained in the front ranks of the retreating army, calling on every side for a fire talent, Reading Aradia approaching her doom. No time! No time to find anyone else.

Torio reached him, Reading with him, saying, "I can't find a fire talent, either. It won't work, Master Lenardo."

And Galen easily focused on the two Readers together and began describing their location to Hjon.

//Galen,// Torio gasped. //Galen, it's Torio. We were friends.//

//If you're Lenardo's friend, you're not mine. You chose the wrong side, Torio. My friends have the power, not yours.//

"I have it," Lenardo said suddenly, desperately.

"Have what?" Torio asked in bewilderment.

"The power to fire the gas. If Aradia can Read, why can't I do Adept tricks? Fire is easy, she says. Easiest of all-"

He stopped, knelt, and concentrated, Reading the pocket of gas, trying to visualize it flaming. His head began to hurt, but nothing happened. Aradia was only a few streets away. He couldn't warn her.

He couldn't warn her because she couldn't Read and do Adept tricks at the same time. He had to work blind- Read the spot-stop Reading-concentrate-heat-fire- flame-willThe earth beneath him heaved and buckled, and then Lenardo was slammed to the ground on a wave of compression. He tried to Read what was happening but couldn't. Blind as he had never been since earliest childhood, he knew only the physical pain of the air knocked from his lungs, the roar of the explosion, the screams, the choking dust, grit in his eyes keeping him from seeing as Torio rolled him off his cloak and covered both of them with it to shelter them from the debris raining out of the sky.

The noise and the feel of matter falling on them went on and on as Lenardo's horror built. He could not Read. He was trapped within his physical senses… forever? On a wave of physical and emotional exhaustion, he passed out.

Lenardo woke to the ground shivering beneath him. He had no sense of passing time and for an instant thought it the explosion of another pocket of marsh gas. But it was a tremor, not a jolt, and he felt at once that he was no longer tangled with Torio on the rocky ground but alone in a comfortable bed.

A soft weight dropped beside him on the bed, and Aradia's hand touched his forehead. "Lenardo! Lenardo, can you Read? Who's doing it this time?"

The tremor was already dying away as he tried to Read. He could. No vast range, but he could find the center of this slight quake and be thoroughly certain that no Adept was causing it.

"Just an aftershock," he said to reassure Aradia, opening his eyes to meet anxiety in hers.

She smiled in relief. "I can't Read well enough. I thought…" Her normal calm returned. "No, we have killed all of our enemies this time. You did it, Lenardo. You saved us..And we found all the bodies. No one escaped." "Galen?" "I'm sorry."

He sighed, too tired to feel genuine grief. His body felt like lead. Before he could allow himself to sleep again, he asked, "Julia? Torio?"

"They're both fine. They were of great help, though Torio was guarding you like some fierce animal when I finally reached you. He told me what you did." Her violet eyes glowed in triumph. "I was right, Lenardo. Now nothing can stop us."

He didn't have the strength to argue. It would have to wait until he was fully recovered. But he managed a sardonic smile. "It certainly stopped me."

She laughed. "You did what every new Adept does: expended far too much energy on a simple task. You'll learn. Sleep now." "If I'm needed-"

"You're not. It's all over. All the wounded are recovered or in healing sleep. The dead will wait for the funeral tomorrow. Now that I know you will recover, I can sleep as well."

"Recover? I wasn't hurt."

"You couldn't Read. Torio was terrified for you. I'll tell him that his fears were groundless. Stop fighting sleep, Lenardo. Your people are safe."

There was something else nagging at the back of his mind, but it would not come clear before he sank once more into unconsciousness.

The next time he woke, it was dawn, and Aradia lay beside him, her head on his chest, her pale hair shimmering in the morning light.

Aside from being ravenously hungry, Lenardo felt normal. He tried Reading, easily locating Julia asleep in her room, Torio in one nearby, Wulfston hi the suite on the other side of the courtyard, and Cook already preparing breakfast in the kitchen.