Jean Lorrah - Sorcerers of the Frozen Isles

Gray set happily to his meal while Devon laid out clothing for Torio. The daytime garments were no less rich than last night’s robes, although the hose were woolen, as was the undershirt. He was given a satin shirt of an iridescent blue-green, covered by a knee-length tunic of the same reddish-brown wool as the hose, sleeveless and open-necked to show the shirt. The tunic was belted in soft leather.

Over that went a short fur vest, and then a fur-trimmed ankle-length robe of the reddish-brown wool, lined with blue-green satin.

Soft leather boots came up high on Torio’s calves-and fit as perfectly as if the cobbler had measured his feet! Finally, Devon adjusted a soft brimless hat on his head, something Torio was quite unaccustomed to. Winter cloaks had hoods where he came from, but no one required a head covering indoors. Here, though, the castle’s stone walls gave off a chill not completely cut by the heavy hangings.

“Now, sir,” said Devon, “you will be comfortable. Please feel free to explore. Perhaps the Master’s library-?”

Why does Maldek want me in his library ? Torio wondered. Perhaps it was a trap. For a Reader?

Unlikely, as the lord of the castle must certainly know that his guests mistrusted him, and would be on guard.

So he dismissed Devon, deciding to remain right where he was-and Read the library.

It was a large room, with more books and scrolls than he had ever seen in one place. There was a desk with a huge candelabra, pens, a box of parchment, wax seals-Maldek or some secretary must work here regularly. The pens were trimmed and ready for use. The inkpot was freshly filled. The broad surface of the desk was clean of dust, and the wax droppings of the partly burned candles had been scraped away.

But the books and scrolls were what interested Torio. In Zendi, Master Clement was working with Aradia-who had lost her own library when her castle was destroyed-to build up a collection of useful works. How they would envy this library!

Unable to see, Torio had not learned to read-as opposed to Reading-until he could visualize. Once he had mastered the technique, though, he had read voraciously.

The other boys would never have put the effort into visualizing what they could see perfectly well, but Torio had to make the same effort to Read a page whether he opened the book or not-and so usually he didn’t. The only way Lenardo had kept him from spending all his free time lying on his bed, lost in some book on the shelves of the Academy library, was to entice him with something more interesting.

Lenardo, whom he idolized, was the instructor of novice swordsmen. Since Torio, at age eight, imitated Lenardo in every way possible, his teacher had been able to entice the boy to exercise by introducing him to swordplay. As his body strengthened from the daily activity, he was able to play with the other boys, to learn to swim, and soon to be as sturdy and healthy as the other young Readers.

There had never seemed to be enough hours in the day for lessons and games and the books he wanted to explore. Torio was reminded, as he stretched out on his bed in Maldek’s castle, of the nights Lenardo had discovered him reading instead of sleeping, and made him do the Readers’ mental exercises for sleep.

With much the same sense of stealing time, Torio Read Maldek’s library. The Master Sorcerer’s own notebooks were stacked on the desk and on the shelves beside it, but Torio resisted the temptation to examine those first.

He found a section of works on medicine-herbal lore, surgery, diagrams of the bodies and brains of both humans and animals. Nearby were works on agriculture and horticulture, weather prediction… and a text on Adept climate manipulation. History, architecture, geography, Reading techniques, philosophy, government-Maldek seemed to have books on every topic.

Having discovered the library’s organization, Torio turned to Maldek’s notebooks, wondering why the Master Sorcerer had left them in plain sight. That had to be where the trap lay, if there was one.

Maldek could not know which of his guests would wake first this morning-nor would he probably have guessed that Torio would not enter the library, although no skilled Reader would have had to. Even Master Readers read with their eyes most of the time.

Torio carefully assessed the books on the desk. He found no physical traps. Moving them would not trigger a trapdoor or a falling weight. There was no poison on the covers or sprinkled within the pages…

Or was there?

The last entry in the top notebook was dated yesterday:

My visitors approach. They will be worthy opponents, for they have all survived. Even the hound has been turned to their advantage- although I saw in the blind one’s mind that he knows nothing of animals.

Had he shown fear or hate, the beast would have torn him apart.

What powers have these five, that all have eluded my traps? They are weak, their powers nothing to mine. I must know their secret. I must have this power they share.

Now that was interesting, that Maldek should think they shared some secret power!

In an earlier entry, Torio found that someone had Read Dirdra aboard the ship with them and relayed the message to Maldek, who offered a reward for such information. “I knew she would return,” he wrote. “I may be forced to restore her brother-but if I do, he will not be the same person. Still, Dirdra need not know that limit to my powers.”

So if Dirdra had not arrived in the company of Readers who could warn of his treachery, Maldek would have led her on until he obtained what he wanted. Torio found the idea repellent. What kind of person would want the physical favors of someone who did not desire him?

It was not merely that Maldek was a Reader, and would know that Dirdra came to him unwillingly. None of Torio’s nonReader friends would coerce someone to act against her will. He shied away from the mind of someone who could think like that.

Yet… if he did not come to uaderstand the man, how could he help his companions escape Maldek’s clutches?

So he continued to read.

And did not know he had fallen into the trap in the library until Gray became bored with sleeping on the fur rug beside the bed and jumped up to nudge Torio.

Pulling his mind out of Maldek’s notes, he found that it was already midmorning. His companions were all gone from their rooms.

Torio swung his legs off the bed, Reading for the others. They were in the room where they had first met Maldek last night. The Master Sorcerer was once more on his throne.

A woman was being brought in through the courtyard, guarded-a Reader! In fact, a strong Reader who would have been a Magister, perhaps even a Master, in the Academy system.

“Who-?” the woman’s mind questioned as Tor-io’s thoughts touched hers. “You are Aventine!”

“Magister Torio, late of the Adigia Academy,” he told her in terms she would understand-for the flood of images her mind produced told him that she had come here from his homeland.

“Cassandra,” she identified herself, “once of Portia’s Academy in Tiberium.”

Although Torio did not verbalize it, the woman Read his surprise that such a strong Reader was not ranked.

Ill was once a Master Reader,” she told him, bitter shame shrouding her thoughts. Ill broke my vows-and my life has been misery ever since.”

As Cassandra and Torio exchanged thoughts, she was being led by the guards toward Maldek’s throne room, while Torio hurried down the stairs, Gray at his heels. He could Read Cassandra’s reaction to being brought before Maldek: resignation, and the expectation of some new trouble piled upon a lifetime of the same. But she had no idea why she was here.

“Don’t antagonize Maldek,” Torio warned as he Read that she cared little what happened to her now.