Jean Lorrah - Wulfston's odyssey

“I will follow as soon as I can ride,” the Grioka replied. “That is a tale I will have to know.”

“You may ride with me,” said Ashuru. “We will be only a day or two behind you, Lord of the Black Wolf.”

Ashuru followed their progress on the three-day journey to Ketu, either Kamas or Tadisha reporting to her each evening. Wulfston worried that enemy Seers might listen in, but the messages were only of their own journey, no mention of Ashuru’s plan to keep the Savishnon to the north.

There was no further contact from Lenardo. With Norgu back at his castle, the Master Reader was more closely observed, but the lack of contact was another worry.

Letting the army continue toward Norgu’s lands, Wulfston accompanied Tadisha and Kamas on the road to Ketu. He let his Karili friends do the Seeing, only occasionally Reading through them. For all he knew, he could be broadcasting “Come and get me!” to Z’Nelia every time he damped his Adept powers to Read something.

As nothing happened-no attacks, nothing either Kamas or Tadisha could See that seemed suspicious-he was feeling rather self-congratulatory as they topped a hill and came in sight of the trade city.

Traylo and Arlus suddenly stopped, their hackles rising, as they snarled at a patch of brush at the side of the road.

“Lord Wulfston, for Hesta’s sake, will you call off your dogs?”

He recognized the voice. “Zanos!”

A tall figure came out of the brush, a man dressed in a deep-hooded robe, with long sleeves that covered his hands. The fabric trailed the ground, covering every bit of Zanos’ white skin, the hood hiding his head.

But when he faced Wulfston he threw the hood back, revealing the familiar freckled face under the thatch of flaming hair.

But the blue eyes were haunted, and there were lines in Zanos’ face that told of a man driven.

“Where is Astra?” Wulfston had to ask, although he knew that if Zanos’ wife were alive she would be at his side.

“Drowned,” was the curt reply. “Old Huber, too. We both tried to reach her when the ship sank. He was closer. The whirlpool that dragged her under took him along.”

Wulfston instinctively reached out a han’d in attempted comfort. “I’m sorry-” he began.

Zanos shook him off. “I will avenge her,” he replied flatly. Then he eyed Tadisha, Kamas, and their retinue. “You’ve come to get the Night Queen crewmen out of the slavers’ pens?”

“Yes,” said Wulfston, “and then to rescue Lenardo. He’s just two days’ journey from here. Come and meet my friends, and we will tell you our plans.”

They went off the road to where a clear brook meandered through the meadow, and sat and talked as they ate their midday meal. Zanos had been living off the land. He looked gaunt, but Wulfston was not certain how much of that was grief, and how much deprivation. His fair skin was red with sun-and windburn. Under the robe he wore his Aventine tunic, now torn and threadbare. His sandals were also his own, stained with seawater and repaired with rawhide.

“Where did you find a robe long enough for you?” Wulfston asked.

“Haven’t you noticed? The people in this land are very tall, like Sukuru.”

“The Warimu,” Tadisha supplied.

“Yes, of course. Zanos, have you seen or Read any sign of Sukuru or Chulaika? I haven’t.”

“Read?” asked Zanos. He had been braced to use Adept powers ever since they had encountered him.

Now Wulfston felt him drop his defenses to Read him.

“Yes, Read,” he admitted. “Probably at about your level, although I haven’t had the opportunity for training or testing yet.”

“Congratulations,” Zanos told him, but there was no joy in the perfunctory courtesy.

“Zanos…?”

The man’s haunted blue eyes fixed on Wulfston’s. “It was a joy to Read with Astra while she lived. But it became a curse when I suffered her death. She died calling out to me-reaching out to me-and I could not reach her!”

The gladiator’s thoughts cut off abruptly. “I will avenge her death, ” he repeated. “But first I will help you free the Night Queen crew. I’ve been into town. The eight white men reported for sale are definitely Captain Laren’s men, but I didn’t know how I was going to break them out of there alone.”

“Zanos,” said Wulfston, “we are going to buy them.”

“You will contribute to the slave trade!”

“We need our strength for another battle,” said Kamas.

“But slaving is wrong!” Zanos protested. “Bah! You people probably profit by it-but Lord Wulfston, surely you want to destroy the slave pens!”

“Zanos, I do not approve of slavery,” Wulfston replied, keeping his temper by recalling that this man had been a slave and would never forget the experience. “But you have to understand that if we call that kind of attention to ourselves in Ketu, we will give ourselves away.”

“You’ve thrown in with them!” Zanos gasped. ‘That’s why they wanted you in Africa-to help them fight this Z’Nelia.”

“There is a war brewing. We could find ourselves friendless, in the midst of a battle in which we would appear enemies to every side.”

Zanos looked down at his hands, then over at Wulfston. “We? You look as if you belong here.”

“Only to you,” the Lord Adept replied grimly. “I am as much a stranger in Africa as you are, Zanos. It is only by chance that I have made some friends. With their help, I’ll have the Night Queen crew free by nightfall. If you will not help, at least do not interfere.”

Their eyes locked. At last Zanos said, “You know where Lenardo is, and I don’t. You are probably right not to call attention to yourself as a Lord Adept. Very well. I will not interfere in your… purchase.”

Because of the impending war, the market for exotic slaves had dropped. Kamas bought the group of eight white men for what Tadisha said was a fifth of what they would have brought a month before.

When Kamas brought them to Wulfston, their feelings were surprise and relief. “My lord, we should have known you’d find us!” exclaimed Telek, the strong, muscular sailor who had challenged Zanos on board ship. “And have you found Lord Lenardo?”

“He is at Norgu’s castle,” Wulfston explained.

“Norgu!” exclaimed Telek. “That bastard. He’s the one who sold us to the slavers!”

One of the other sailors added, “My lord, we were there, and did not see Lord Lenardo.”

“Norgu didn’t want you to. But Lenardo is there, all right. I’ve been in contact with him. Do you know of anyone else who survived? We don’t want to leave anyone stranded in Africa.”

“No, my lord, ” said Telek. “It seemed all the others with Adept or Reading powers were killed in the storm.”

“As if we were their special targets,” Zanos confirmed bitterly.

Nevertheless, it felt so good to speak his native language, to be among people from home, that Wulfston wished they could take the time to share the stories of their adventures. But Lenardo was waiting.

Within the hour they were on the road, the Night Queen crew eager to act against the man who had sold them into the slave pens.

They rode until an hour past sunset, then made camp. If they started early the next day, they could get close enough to Norgu’s castle that only a short ride the next day would take them there, fresh and ready to fight if necessary. It would probably be necessary; it was unlikely that Norgu did not know there was an army approaching his castle.

Tadisha and Kamas contacted Ashuru, who was on the road now, moving toward them. Her army should join theirs the next day.

They had not yet crossed the border into Norgu’s lands, but that border was visible from the hill where they had posted sentries. After the evening meal, Wulfston climbed the hill, trying to Read to Norgu’s castle. It was a foolish gesture; he could not Read even as far as he could see from the top of the hill in the moonlight. Was Lenardo Reading their progress? Why didn’t he make contact?