Jean Lorrah - Sorcerers of the Frozen Isles

Remembering the map, Torio followed the main road northward to where Maldek’s castle sat on the edge of a navigable river-the one Dirdra had said would have been the short route to reach the Master Sorcerer. Not knowing how sensitive a Reader he might be, Torio did not attempt to locate Maldek within the castle, but noted that it was protected by moats on three sides and the river on the other. A thriving city stood near the castle, with ships on the river loading and unloading trade goods. So not all of Madura was as desolate as this area where they had landed.

There was only one bridge across the river, leading to the main north-south road Torio was following. It entered the city several miles from the castle, which stood on the north bank to the east of the city, with a small strip of forest between.

There was a denser forest, though, on the north-south road between the southern coast and the city.

That, Torio guessed, was where lay the dangers that Maldek had promised. Even without lingering to examine closely, he Read both bears and wolves in the wood-hungry animals looking to feed their young.

What was missing from the picture was agriculture. Only a few of the cleared fields between the forest and the shore were cultivated. Most lay fallow, deserted, young trees beginning to encroach on their edges. There were a few swine and cows, and more sheep, but they were not thriving. There was not enough production here to feed the people of that city.

Maldek had to be either trading for food or letting his people go hungry. With even his limited knowledge of ruling a land, Torio knew that the former was merely a slower way of destroying the country than the latter. Yet power-mad rulers often took farmers away from the job of feeding their people to fight wars or be otherwise used at the lord’s pleasure. Eventually, it would lead to Maldek’s downfall, as just such neglect of his people had led to Drakonius’.

However, the five adventurers didn’t have time to wait for Maldek’s government to collapse. They had to reach Maldek’s castle, rescue Dirdra’s brother… and in the process try to find out about the sorcerers who might rule other Maduran lands. It was obvious already that Maldek was not the healer Melissa sought. Even if he could restore injured people to wholeness or return life to the slain, clearly he would not teach anyone else except at an unacceptable price.

But perhaps the Madura Zanos remembered flourished somewhere else in these islands. Torio certainly hoped so.

He returned to his body and told the others what he had found-but as he turned to show them on the map exactly where they were, he put his finger right on the place worn thin by Zanos’ own finger as he had made his plans to return… home.

The gladiator stiffened when he realized that this desolate deserted village was indeed the place where he had lived as a child, until the day slavers had raided it and carried him off to Tiberium.

Astra, Reading her husband’s feelings, reached out to empathize-only to waken his memories of that terrible day when the slavers had come.

The ship anchored offshore, and a boatload of men rowed to land-nothing unusual about that. Ships often arrived along this coast, looking to trade or to recruit strong young men for their crews.

Young Zanos sat on the pier, sunburned, hands blistered from the net he was trying to repair with as yet unskilled hands. He’d rather have been out with the fishing fleet, but his father insisted that he wait until he was ten-“Then maybe ye’ll get some strength to ye, lad!”

The first of today’s small fishing vessels were back already, and the air was redolent with the smell as women cleaned the fish that would become tonight’s supper all through the village, throwing the refuse off the pier for the gulls.

The strangers, it seemed, were looking for a tavern. The village had only old Walvo’s, where jugs of mead or ale were sold to be carried home. The newcomers insisted that would be fine-“We’ve got a great thirst on us,” said their leader, whose sunburst tattoo attracted Zanos’ immediate attention.

Maybe one day he would leave this small village and see the world. Maybe he would wear a tattoo like that one-which he saw on other arms and realized marked every member of the ship’s crew. Many wore gold hoop earrings, too-and one man’s grin displayed a golden tooth!

As the scouts waved the others ashore, Zanos left his work and tagged along in wide-eyed delight, only to lose the strangers’ attention to the village girls until their mothers called them in to help with supper.

Then the sailors, who could not possibly have all crowded into Walvo’s, sat on the sandy beach and played games with dice, or with throwing knives.

In the hubbub, Zanos found it easy to pretend he couldn’t hear his mother calling him as he mingled with the strangers, finding the ones who spoke some Maduran, begging for stories of far-off lands.

As the tide came in, so did the rest of the fishing fleet. The village men were none too happy to find their wives cooking extra food for strangers who had brought pins, scissors, and small, sharp paring knives-or their sons and daughters hanging on the sailors’ every word.

But the sailors bought a round of ale for everyone, and handed out glass and cork floats for the fishnets-and soon what had started as an ordinary day turned into one big party.

Zanos’ older brother, Bryen, had been out with the fishing fleet-he had just turned eleven, and had gone out with their father for a year now. Zanos’ had envied him-until today, when Bryen had missed half the fun.

But now Bryen came to spoil Zanos’ fun. “Mother needs you to do your chores, Zanos!” the older boy announced. “She needs kindling cut and water drawn-hurry up, now!”

All the household chores had fallen to Zanos once his brother started going out with the fleet, and he resented being the younger, smaller one, getting stuck ashore. I’ll show Bryen , he thought.

I’ll sneak aboard that ship and sail away - and-when I come back I’ll be as rich as those sailors, with gifts for everybody !

Muttering to himself, he set about his chores with bad grace-but as he trudged from the well with two heavy water buckets suspended from the yoke across his shoulders, he heard a sudden commotion from the beach. Looking down toward it, he saw that the ship had come in on the tide, and was now anchored at the end of the pier-and in the light of the flickering fires they had built on the beach at sunset, people were milling about-

To his horror, Zanos saw two sailors grab one of the village men and stab him through the heart!

Others were reaching for the women, shoving them toward the pier as they drew their weapons and slew unarmed fishermen right and left.

Letting the water buckets fall, Zanos sped toward his home, shouting, “Mother! Hwelda! Run- runV

His mother and his sister came to the door of their cottage to see what the commotion was.

“Run! Hurry!” Zanos cried as he ran up to them and tried to grab their hands and pull them toward the garden, where the smell of roses filled the air.

“Hwelda-go with Zanos!” their mother directed, and started toward the beach.

“Mother-no!” cried Hwelda. She was fifteen, stocky, and too strong for Zanos to hold. All he could do was tag after the two women, begging them to come back.

Then they saw Zanos’ father and brother running toward them. “Go back!” shouted their father. “Up the hill and onto the moor! Hurry!”

But five sailors ran after them-Zanos’ mother screamed as she saw her husband struck down from behind, brains and blood splashing across her feet.

With a shrieking wail, she fell to her knees beside her husband-and the same sailor stabbed her in the back. She slumped across her husband’s body.