Savage Empire

Aradia gave him a puzzled frown. "How did you know how to wake me? Cook had orders to bring our food up. Actually, I thought you'd be asleep too-or rather, I didn't think. I keep forgetting that Reading doesn't weaken you. I should have shown you how to waken an Adept"

"I didn't wake you," he replied. "You woke up on your own just as I started to Read you."

She put the pillow behind her back and leaned against it. "I wonder… Try Reading Wulfston and see what happens."

He did, finding the black man closer to recovery of his strength than Aradia but still profoundly asleep. "He'll be all right after some food and more rest."

"But it didn't wake him." She shrugged. "Coincidence. I can never tell when you're Reading me."

"Do you want to?"

"I can't stop you, and you can't Read my thoughts anyway." Turning the subject, she said, "Usually we just let someone sleep out the time he needs to heal, but without nourishment, that will leave him weak as you were for a few days. Wulfston and I cannot afford such weakness, so we must eat. Just touch him on the forehead, between the eyes, very lightly. Try to wake an Adept any other way, and there's no telling what he might do to you if he's startled."

"I'll remember that!" said Lenardo as he went to touch Wulfston.

The young Adept opened his eyes reluctantly. "Oh, Lenardo," he said in annoyance. "What is it?" Then he focused on the room and forced himself awake. "Nerius?"

"He's much better," said Aradia. "He went into healing sleep by himself, Wulfston-unless you did it?"

"No." Wulfston shook his head slowly, as if trying to clear it. "I was sound asleep. The last thing I remember is Lenardo hitting Nerius. Did I dream that?"

"No," said Lenardo. "I was trying to restart his heart. You finally did it, Wulfston."

"I did? I don't remember. I was just trying to stay conscious long enough to be sure Aradia and Nerius were both alive. It's like trying to remember a dream."

"Did you really hit my father?" asked Aradia. "I'll show you sometime how a non-Adept can pump a heart from outside the body. It sometimes works. I suppose it's possible I restarted Nerius' heart, but it's more likely it was Wulfston."

"Then I have both of you to thank," said Aradia. "Now, let's eat before I fall asleep again."

As soon as they had finished, before the two Adepts could get sleepy again, Lenardo said, "Aradia, I have broken a promise to you."

"What?"

"I entered your private rooms, to write this paper in your study. I think you will agree this is important enough to warrant doing so when I could not ask your permission."

He had spent over an hour copying Drakonius' message from memory.

Aradia read it and handed it to Wulfston. "Where did you get this?"

"Drakonius sent that message out last night to four people: Trang, Yolo, Hron, and Lilith. What does it say?"

"You know what it says!" Wulfston exploded angrily, "It's a trick!"

"No," Aradia said quickly. "Lenardo speaks our language, but he can't read it. Besides, we'll have confirmation soon enough-Hron and Lilith will come to me for a denial of Drakonius' accusations. Unfortunately, they are partly true."

"Drakonius has found out where I am?" asked Lenardo. "Or he's guessing," Aradia replied.

"He says I am harboring a Reader, planning an attack on him. He further charges that the empire is infiltrating our lands with Readers, who are to ingratiate themselves with the Adepts and then betray them, as Drakonius was betrayed at Adigia."

"Aradia," Lenardo asked, "are you betraying Drakonius?" He recalled the blasted shields in the forum at Zendi. "Did you make an alliance with him and then break it?"

"No," she replied. "The alliances I have made with Lilith and Hron are something new among our people-Adepts swearing loyalty to one another as equals, rather than one person becoming the sworn man of a stronger. Nor am I sworn to Drakonius in the old way, as my father was until Drakonius granted him these lands. I break custom, Lenardo, but I do not break my word."

"Do you believe I have come here to betray you, as Drakonius accuses?"

"No," she replied, looking straight into his eyes. "I believe it was Galen who betrayed your empire. Now you have found him, Lenardo. What are you going to do?"

"If I can, I shall get Galen away before Drakonius kills him."

"Then you admit-?" gasped Wulfston.

"Yes. But I shall go home-if I go home-with far more than I came for. Aradia, the empire thinks all the savages are like Drakonius. But you are not. You took me in when I was helpless, healed me, and showed me the way you live. I got myself exiled by publicly espousing peace with the savages-but I was lying. I didn't think anyone in the savage lands would make peace with us. But you agreed to help me, and you have much to offer the empire. Just the healing power of an Adept and a Reader working together -think of it! That alone is worth a treaty."

Aradia smiled sadly. "You are an idealist, Lenardo. Your government is made up of non-Readers. How will you make them understand?"