Jean Lorrah - Sorcerers of the Frozen Isles

“Yes, but-”

“You are on the brink of the first great growth of your powers. There will be no Master Readers on our journey-Astra, Melissa, and I are only Magisters. None of us has the years of experience Master Clement has… and he won’t be here forever. There will be the whole world out there for you to go adventuring in after you have achieved the rank of Magister-and you will do so easily under Master Clement’s tutelage. But if you leave now, you will miss the opportunity to have the Master of Masters’

guidance at this crucial time. And… you do not understand right now how very much he will rely on you during the difficulties to come.”

Decius stared at him. “Is that… one of your prophecies?”

He hadn’t been able to say anything about Decius when Master Clement had asked him-but now he knew, without knowing how he knew, that Decius was involved in Master Clement’s destiny. “Yes-I think it is, Decius. I can’t tell you any more than that, though. You must stay in Zendi, for Master Clement’s sake.”

The boy sighed. “All right-but you have to promise, if it’s true that the Maduran sorcerers can make limbs regrow, that you’ll tell me, so I can go-”

“You don’t think we would keep that kind of information to ourselves, do you? Melissa is going because she wants to learn to do it if it’s true-so it may just be that she will come back able to heal you!”

“Is that a prophecy?”

“No. It’s just a speculation. Now come and help me figure out how to get all of the stuff I want to take along into this one bag. I think it will take Adept power!”

“I’m no Adept, but I know the trick that will do it,” Decius replied.

“Oh? Show me!”

Torio had hung on the pegs in his room woolen tunics and leggings such as were worn here in the dead of winter. It was said to be cold even in the summer in Madura-and they might well be there through the winter.

Decius picked one set of woolen undergarments and a heavy cloak off the pegs and tossed them on the bed. “There. You take those for when you first arrive-and for the rest… pack money!”

Torio laughed-and realized that the boy was right. But after Decius had gone, he thought about their conversation, and wondered-was it because he was leaving that Decius was now involved in Master Clement’s destiny? Was he taking over a role meant for Torio?

Two years ago, Torio had praised Decius’ swordsmanship-and the boy had thought himself ready to defend his Academy. Without the knowledge or permission of the Master Readers he had joined the battle-and lost his leg. And perhaps the main reason for Torio’s guilt was the fact that Decius had never once blamed him.

What am I exposing him to this time ? Torio wondered. A voice from the tomb? A generation of gloom? What did it mean? What good was it to be a prophet if he couldn’t understand his own prophecies?

Besides, there was no time set on those strange words. Master Clement was in perfect health now-he could live for ten or even twenty more years, and his “destiny” could occur tomorrow or at the end of his life. Taking Decius away would not avoid his destiny, and would expose him to known hardships and unknown dangers. And it was only common sense that he stay here, where Master Readers could teach him, while he learned to use his growing Reading skills.

Face it , Torio told himself. Decius will be much better off if you just stay out of his life for a while .

There was a grand farewell dinner at Lenardo’s villa, followed by entertainment. Lenardo’s bard retold the stories of the white wolf and the red dragon, the defeat of Drakonius and the fall of Tiberium.

Zanos and Astra were musicians, and now they played while everyone danced. It was a lovely evening…

and no one let the thought slip out that it might be the last time they would all be together.

In the morning, the train of horses waited outside Lenardo’s villa as they said their goodbyes. And just as they were mounting up, Dirdra came down the street, dressed once more in boy’s clothes and carrying a knapsack containing her meager possessions.

She approached Zanos and Astra. “My lord… my lady-may I beg permission to return with you to Madura?”

“Why now?” demanded Zanos. “You’d have nothing to do with our preparations. Why have you suddenly decided to go now?”

She raised her clear green eyes to his blue ones. “Because… I have found that I cannot live at peace with myself in this peaceful land, while I know that my brother suffers in Maldek’s power. Lord Zanos, you do not even know if you have kin alive in Madura-but you cannot rest until you find out and free them. So how can I leave a brother I know to be suffering? I must free him from Maldek, or die trying.”

“Then join us, lass,” said Zanos, “and welcome. Your knowledge will be most valuable.”

Thus they were five setting out on their journey- no retinue, no servants. Torio, Melissa, and Astra had all grown up as Readers taking care of themselves and never aspiring to have servants. Zanos had aspired-but his servants had betrayed him.

Now he and Astra chose to fend for themselves- and all agreed that the fewer they were, the faster they would travel.

Dirdra, having little money, had made most of her journey from Madura by land. The first part, from the islands to the mainland, had had to be by ship-and that was when she had disguised herself as a boy, so as to pay her way with the few coins she possessed, rather than with her body.

It had taken her the whole winter to work her way southward, doing odd jobs for her keep, to the place where she had found that a peaceful land could not bring her peace of mind. But she would say little about what had happened to her in Maldek’s castle, and nothing explicit about what the sorcerer had done to her brother.

Torio and Melissa were learning the Maduran language, and Astra was polishing what she had learned from Zanos. Dirdra avoided Astra, not trusting her to leave her mind in privacy. Like many nonReaders, Dirdra seemed to have exaggerated notions of Readers’ abilities-but it was obvious she had learned to avoid attracting attention. It had been Astra who had admitted to broadcasting her memories to the group of Readers when they had first met, and although she had apologized, it would obviously take some time for her to gain Dirdra’s trust.

It occurred to Torio early in the journey to tell Dirdra he was blind, and therefore Read almost every moment he was awake. He didn’t want her to find out later and mistrust him… but he didn’t expect her reaction.

“You are the one… they claim you were raised from the dead?”

Was that angry lie to haunt him all his life? Lenardo was right-he had reacted, and reacted badly, to Portia’s unexpected credulity. And that moment’s weakness had brought nothing but trouble.

“Yes, that is said about me,” he told Dirdra. “It is not true, though.”

She nodded. “It couldn’t be. If your Adepts could restore life as you have it, they would not be seeking the knowledge of the Master Sorcerers. This thing that made people think you dead-it caused your blindness?”

“No, I was born blind,” Torio explained. “Once I learned to Read, it was no great inconvenience. But two years ago I escaped from the Aventine Empire with Master Lenardo. At the border gate, I knocked the Reader on guard unconscious-so when one of the soldiers shot me, he thought his arrow had gone through my heart.

“It hadn’t. I had a very bad wound, but nothing an Adept healer could not easily cure. I don’t even have a scar.

“But the border guards reported they had killed me. Portia was Master of Masters among Readers then.