Jean Lorrah - Wulfston's odyssey

Wulfston looked up sharply at Tadisha. Her eyes took on a faraway look. “The battle is over,” she said.

“Z’Nelia’s army was divided. The Savishnon overran the western troops, but were weakened enough that our combined armies defeated them, and have taken the city. Our Healers are already working among the wounded. It appears that we may safely take the time to heal ourselves.”

“Norgu?” Wulfston asked.

“Unharmed except for the weakness after battle.”

“Thank Shangonu for that!’ added Ashuru. “If that boy had the strength left, he would grasp this chance to seize the throne.”

“He will certainly try soon,” agreed Tadisha.

“Z’Nelia will fight him,” said Lenardo, “unless we can drive her from her sister’s body.”

“Will you help us do that, Master Reader?” asked Ashuru.

Lenardo gave a grim smile. “In my present condition I don’t know how much help I can be, but you will certainly have all I can give, Queen Ashuru.”

Wulfston thought belatedly of introductions, and then realizd that none were necessary between Readers and Seers.

They lifted Chulaika’s body onto the narrow bed in this room where Z’Nelia had kept Lenardo, and dragged Telek’s body out onto the landing. Uninjured soldiers were in the castle now, carrying out the dead.

The charnelhouse of the corridor where they had fought Z’Nelia’s guards lay in their path. They had no choice except to go through it, and out into the blood-smeared courtyard, where the bodies had already been removed.

The servants’ wing of the castle, though, had not been touched. Karili had taken over the kitchen, and were sorting through the supplies to put a meal together for those who had exerted Adept powers.

Wulfston’s stomach was giving him conflicting signals: he was “hungry as a Mover,” and yet sick at what he had just been through. Someone handed him a flagon of fresh milk, and he drank it gratefully as their little group proceeded into a room furnished with worn but luxurious carpets and cushions, where Ashuru and Tadisha’s serving-women were waiting to remove their blood-spattered outer garments, providing clean caftans for all.

Finally Wulfston asked Lenardo, “What happened to you? I’ve been worried ever since Z’Nelia took you from Norgu, and you didn’t contact me.”

“I couldn’t, ” Lenardo replied, taking a piece of fruit from a tray servants had already brought in. Wulfston noticed for the first time how thin and gaunt Lenardo looked. “Every minute I’ve been awake, I’ve had to fight Z’Nelia. Whenever her attention was called elsewhere, she put me into Adept sleep.”

“And didn’t bother to feed you,” Wulfston noted.

“Not often,” Lenardo agreed. “She wanted me weak; she kept probing my mind, sifting through my memories. I don’t know what she wanted, Wulfston, but I gave her as little as possible. I assume she wasn’t satisfied, because she never gave up-even today, when she knew you were approaching from one direction, the Savishnon from another.” He shook his head with a smile. “Thank the gods you finally got here! I’ve never been so glad to see you in my life!”

Lenardo reached out to squeeze Wulfston’s hand, an unusual gesture from a Reader. Wulfston gripped the thin hand in return, reassured that Lenardo really was well and needed only rest and food to be his old self.

“You’ll want this,” he said, removing Lenardos ring from his finger and handing it to his sister’s husband.

Lenardo smiled. “Thank you for keeping it safe for me. Aradia would never forgive me if I lost it.” He slipped it onto his finger, and turned it, studying the entwined emblems of wolf and dragon. “Did you send another message to Aradia?” he asked.

“Yes, with one of Ashuru’s people. Now you can write her a letter.”

“We should be home before any letter,” said Lenardo.

“Doesn’t that depend on how long it takes to drive Z’Nelia out of Chulaika’s body?”

The Master Reader nodded. “However, if we cannot do it soon, I fear it will be Chulaika who is driven out by Z’Nelia.”

Wulfston shuddered. “I hope not. But if that should happen… I made a promise to Ashuru in return for the help of the Karili in rescuing you: that you would help her to restore Z’Nelia to sanity.”

“All I want to do is go home,” said Lenardo, “but I will honor the promise you made in my name… if it should prove necessary.”

From across the room, Tadisha was watching Wulfston and Lenardo. Servants brought cooked food, placing it on clean woven mats on the floor. She turned to aid Kamas, whose broken arm still pained him.

Lenardo ate meat without protest, although he always claimed it blurred his Reading powers. Right now he needed to restore his physical strength.

Norgu joined them, warily accepting their congratulations on the victory against the Savishnon. The boy was closed tightly against Reading. Wulfston feared that he thought they had tricked him into remaining behind the main army, hoping he would be killed. By silent consent they told him only that Z’Nelia was dead. Perhaps tomorrow they would be able to drive her from Chulaika’s body, and have only Norgu to worry about.

There was little conversation, as everyone was bone-weary. Reports came in all through the meal of areas secured. More troops from other members of the Karili Assembly were approaching; by morning they would drive another wedge between Djahat and the Savishnon, forcing them even farther back and leaving the Seers and Lenardo free to work with Chulaika.

It was almost noon before Wulfston woke the next day, much restored. The smell of food guided him downstairs, to find Lenardo, Tadisha, and Ashuru being served in the same room where they had gathered yesterday.

“Norgu has gone to join his army to the others,” Ashuru reported. “This is a good time to attempt to drive Z’Nelia out.”

Wulfston nodded. “Shall I stand guard?”

“No,” relied Lenardo. “I want your strength in the rapport, Wulfston.”

“In the-? Lenardo, I’m no Master Reader!”

“And I’m no Lord Adept. You understand the way a Mover’s mind works as neither Ashuru nor I can.

And you can provide an anchor for us. Ashuru and I will be out of body. You will Read with us, and guide us back should Z’Nelia attempt to lose us on the planes of existence.”

“Is that what happened to the Seers who tried to See into the Dead Lands?” he asked.

“Apparently,” said Ashuru. “This is something our Seers could learn from your Master Readers. We have little experience wiht these ‘planes of existence,’ for many who have attempted to explore them have either been lost, or returned as mad as Z’Nelia.”

Lenardo nodded. “So did many Readers who first attempted to reach them, but eventually we developed safeguards, and now we can often cure minds which have been influenced by communication with those planes which we do not understand.” He shook his head. “I do not know what we will encounter in driving Z’Nelia out of Chulaika, but I have relied on Wulfston’s strength many times before. I trust him.”

Tadisha asked, “What do you want me to do, Lord Lenardo?”

The Master Reader looked toward Ashuru. “I do not know what experience your daughter has had, Queen Ashuru. By our standards at home, she would probably qualify as a Magister Reader. If I were her teacher at Gaeta, if she had already had experience in healing sick minds I would want her to have this opportunity despite the danger. But this should be no one’s first experience of mental healing.”

Ashuru nodded. “As a mother, I would protect her. As a teacher, though, I believe she is ready to participate.”

“Very well, then. We can begin.”