Jean Lorrah - Empress Unborn

Fortunately, she had not had to go through the regimen Decius described when she learned to Read.

Lenardo said that when she dreamed, she seemed to brace her Adept powers automatically, which of course kept her from being Read.

“Now,” she said to Decius, “let’s see if you can light the fire again-and don’t work so hard at it!”

This time she had him smother the fire before it burned itself out, then rekindle it and direct the flames to consume specific bits of wood. Accustomed to the disciplines of a lifetime in the Academy, Decius learned quickly. Still, by the time she was satisfied he was panting with exertion, although he had not left his chair.

He leaned back, pleased with the day’s work.

“Now don’t be worried,” Aradia warned him, “if you can’t Read as well as usual until you get a nights sleep. And eat plenty of supper tonight-meat if there is any, but at least some fish. No arguments.”

“I’m not arguing,” he replied. “Lady Aradia, next lesson, would you teach me healing techniques? “

He gestured toward his left thigh, where the stump of his leg was hidden beneath his white tunic. Aradia understood. Decius refused to live at a slower pace than any other eighteen-year-old boy. As a result, the healers often had to heal bruises or blisters to his stump, no matter how they adjusted and padded the wooden leg.

“Of course,’ she said, knowing what a relief it would be for him to heal it himself. “You will probably learn quickly. I’m proud of you, Decius-what a day you’ve had!”

“Master Clement was right,” he told her. “The whole secret is in believing you can do it.”

“Then why can’t he learn Adept powers?” Aradia wondered.

“He could,” Decius replied. “But I can understand why he wont. Right now my Reading is… hazy. It’s frightening to have my powers diminished, and I’m not even a Magister Reader yet.” He smiled at her. “I guess it’s funny to you when I say I’m too old to adapt really well to having both powers.”

“You may never get to be any better at Adept powers than I am at Reading,” Aradia agreed.

“Perhaps not. But I wonder what the little children will be like-the ones growing up with both powers.

Will they be like the sorcerers Torio met in Madura?”

“I hope not! Those stories Zanos and Astra told, about cold fire that almost destroyed their land…”

Aradia shuddered. “Decius… you’re not still thinking of going to Madura to see if they can restore your leg?”

“Maybe, one day,” he said. “Not now. Whatever Torio found there, he was afraid to bring it back.

Melissa stayed to keep it confined to Madura. But Lady Aradia, if power exists, there are those who will seek to use it. I’m going to try to become as good an Adept as I am a Reader, because someday I may have to confront power such as we have.never seen in all our Savage Empire.”

Julia stormed out of the villa and walked northward, zigzagging through side streets until she came to the main north-south road, north of the forum.

Hordes of people crowded the wide street, buying and selling at the shops and stands. They were prosperous, not a single person in the rags or bedraggled finery that had been common in her childhood.

Stout farmers bought furbelows for their apple-cheeked wives, and sturdy children chased one another between the wagons or munched on sweets while staring wide-eyed at the passing throng.

Julia was often recognized. People gave her bows and curtsies as she passed, and she quickly cheered up. This prosperity was partly her doing, and she felt rightfully proud. When she opened to Reading, she felt the love of the people-they were happy, beginning to trust in the security Lenardo and his family had brought them. They were no longer forced to work, as under Drakonius, but found that working now made them prosperous despite the taxes levied on their goods.

Theft was uncommon; Readers could be anywhere in the crowds, making it simply too dangerous a trade to ply in Zendi. It was still being eradicated in Tiberium, she had heard.

Under Master Clement, the corruption had been cleaned out of the Readers’ system-bribes and threats no longer compelled certain Readers to Read in another direction while a crime was being committed.

But Tiberium was larger than Zendi, and even more crowded. And the people felt they had been conquered, unlike these on the winning side in the most recent conflict.

Julia passed jugglers and musicians entertaining the crowds, and turned out of the North Road into a side street near Northgate. Here were the shops of wine merchants, where wagons were being loaded with barrels for the village inns, and for the homes of a few prosperous farmers.

A few streets along, though, the buildings became residential. These were new blocks of flats for working families. Their landlords were carefully supervised lest they permit them to turn back into the kinds of slums that had burned in the battle for Zendi.

Every few streets there was an open area planted with grass and young trees. Eventually these would become carefully gardened parks, but building homes for Zendi’s growing population was a higher priority just now, so the little parks were left with their natural grass and wildflowers. In one of them, a group of young people were wiling away the time.

Dilys and Piccolo lay in the shade of some bushes, kissing and pawing at one another, oblivious to the rest of the group. Giorgio was eating bread and cheese-he was always eating, resulting in a physique that caused the others to call him Fat Giorgio. Antonius and Mosca were wrestling, their muscles standing out with the exertion, while Blanche and Diana cheered them on.

Atop a small mound that would one day become terraced flower beds sat Galerio, leader of this loosely associated group of minor Adepts.

Young, talented folk like these, ranging in age from twelve to twenty, were one of the problems Lenardo and Aradia had yet to solve. They had no education, and no formal training in using their talents. Many of them, like this group, refused the offer of training, and so except for occasional odd jobs, their talents were wasted.

“Ho, Julia!” called Galerio. “Come sit by me and help judge this contest. You can Read if anybody cheats.”

She climbed the mound, with no care for grass stains on her white dress. Except for special occasions, the white of a Reader in training was her usual wear.

Galerio was sixteen, and to Julia’s thinking, the handsomest boy she had ever seen. He had wavy dark hair, and deep brown eyes fringed with thick black lashes. His skin still had the rosy fairness of youth, while his body was sculpted by exercise.

Of course Galerio never told his cohorts that he exercised other than swimming at the baths, but Julia had Read his private exertions, supplemented with Adept direction. He had some healing potential, but would not admit it. He kept the public use of his powers to moving small objects.

Julia Read the wrestlers. They were evenly matched in size and weight. Antonius was fourteen, Mosca fifteen, both still clumsy with adolescence. They fought like street urchins, kicking and kneeing, trying to bang one another’s heads against the ground. Julia understood the rules: “wrestling” for these boys meant simply no punching, eye-gouging, pinching, or biting, and no surreptitious use of Adept power.

Suddenly Mosca went blank to her Reading, and Julia Read a sharp cramp in Antonius’ side. “Cheat!”

she cried. “Mosca, you gave Antonius that cramp!”

Mosca rose with a threatening growl, but Galerio said, “You know the rules, Mosca. Antonius wins.”

The younger boy got up, dusting himself off. “Thanks,

Julia,” he said shyly. Antonius was dark, like Julia and Galerio. Mosca had hair of the shade between dark blond and light brown, and light blue eyes that looked at Julia coldly.