Jean Lorrah - Sorcerers of the Frozen Isles

The door to the gladiator’s room slammed against the wall as Zanos burst out. He rushed by Torio and Melissa without even seeing them, Bryen following at a discreet distance.

Torio had seen Zanos do this before. Trained to violence, he had taught himself to walk away from a brewing fight before he hurt someone. Bryen didn’t know the risk he took by pursuing him.

But Astra did-and her mother Read her fear and exclaimed, “What kind of man have you married, Astra? How could a Reader live daily with such violence? And he has taught you to carry a sword-”

“Mother, I love Zanos. He won’t hurt Bryen- that’s why he walked away.”

“But he’s such a… brute. Oh, my daughter, if only I could have been there to guide you-”

“You broke your oath as much as I did mine!” said Astra. “Don’t you talk about guiding me-at least I knew about the corruption in the Academy system before I deserted it. Portia attacked me because I knew too much-because of this wild Reading talent I inherited from you and my father. Did it ever occur to you that the Academy rules which prevent Master Readers from having children are there to save children from growing up as I did, unable to control? It’s a wonder I didn’t go mad, and end my life at Gaeta with the healers tying knots in my mind!”

“So you chose to have your children with that- that animal?”

“Zanos is a good man-how can you call yourself a Reader and not recognize that?” And Astra also burst from the room, sailing past Torio and Melissa, who stared at each other and realized-

“He’s got us divided!” exclaimed Torio. “Maldek could not defeat us as a group-but he now has us separated, so he can-” Dread suspicion directed his Reading to the end of the hall. “Where’s Dirdra?”

Only Kwinn was in Dirdra’s room, curled up on the end of the bed, sound asleep. An Adept-induced sleep, obviously, or he would never have allowed Dirdra to leave him alone.

And in Maldek’s throne room, Dirdra stood before the Master Sorcerer, who was telling her, “I am truly sorry that I cannot restore Kwinn exactly as he was before-but I know you will teach him to be a good man, and love him as much as you always did.”

She regarded him with suspicion as she agreed, “That is true.”

“Dirdra, I am asking your forgiveness.”

Torio and Melissa took each other’s hands, not daring to make a mental comment or even let their feelings surface lest Maldek Read them spying. Could Melissa be right? This was one time Torio would be glad to be proved wrong.

“When I see my brother restored to the man he was-and when in his eyes I see a man’s intelligence-then, Master, I will forgive you with all my heart,” Dirdra said with her customary dignity.

Maldek smiled his most charming smile, stood, and descended the steps from his throne. He came to Dirdra-too close, daring her to retreat. She stood her ground, and he let his overpowering maleness overshadow her as he said, “I will be happy to accept it then. In the meantime, you may have friends, Dirdra, but in one way you are as lonely as I am-as Kwinn was for you while you were gone.”

He looked down into her eyes. “I kept him with me as a reminder of you-your image was the one thing always clear in his mind.” He put his hands on her shoulders, ignoring the slight increase in the stiffness of her posture. “I missed you, Dirdra.”

He bent his head, kissing her unyielding lips. Dirdra was not thinking at all, fearing anything that escaped her control would trigger Maldek’s anger and end her hopes for Kwinn. Maldek must have known what she was doing, but he continued gently kissing her cheeks, her eyelids. “You have no need to fear me. I wouldn’t hurt you. Let me share with you, Dirdra. Think of what pleasure a Master Sorcerer can provide-”

“Please, Master, do not touch me further,” Dirdra said quietly, firmly.

He lifted his head, but did not take his hands from her shoulders. “Dirdra, you are mine. You are my subject, and I can do with you what I will-but instead I offer you freely-”

“Master, you do not offer freely the chance to refuse you.”

Maldek’s eyes glinted coldly. “It is irrational for you to refuse me. Rokannia, a Master Sorceress, is on the sea, bound for Madura. When she arrives, she will once again ask of me as a favor what you will not take freely given!”

“Rokannia wants your child, not you,” said Dirdra. “She would raise that child to your strength without your cruelty. Together they would free the Western Isle of your tyranny-perhaps Madura, too, for it would be your child’s inheritance.”

Her green eyes stared up at him defiantly. “Do you think that people without the inner sight have no minds? You want me only because I refuse you. Would that I had given in at the very beginning-you would have discarded me without harming my brother.”

“And I shall have you now, and discard you as I please-”

“Zanos! Astra! Cassandra!” Torio broadcast at the strongest intensity. “Maldek is threatening Dirdra!”

He and Melissa ran toward the throne room, Gray surging ahead of them. The guards barred their way, but Melissa had the power to make them sleep. As they collapsed, sliding down the wall, Torio flung the door open.

“Where are your fine promises and good intentions now, Maldek?” he demanded.

“Spying on me, Torio?” asked the sorcerer conversationally.

“Merely making certain of Dirdra’s safety. We share a bond of friendship.”

Zanos arrived, trailed by Bryen, while Cassandra met her daughter at the juncture of the passageways, and the two women marched defiantly into the throne room together.

“Torio was right!” said Melissa. “You haven’t changed, Maldek-you just wanted us to think you had.”

“When you found my brother,” said Zanos, “you knew he was the kind of man who would bring dissension into our group.”

“The gods forgive me,” added Cassandra, “but you must have brought me here knowing that I would not approve of my daughter’s choice of husband, and might drive them apart. Astra, I am sorry. I have seen how much Zanos loves you, and what else matters?”

“Nothing,” replied Astra, linking arms with her mother. “Dirdra-come and join us. We are family- as long as we remain together, Maldek cannot harm us.”

Dirdra took Astra’s other arm. Torio and Melissa took their places, and Zanos and Bryen forged the link on the other side of Cassandra.

The Master Sorcerer laughed. “I could kill you all, right there where you stand!”

“You can kill us,” said Melissa, “but you cannot bend us to your will. I was wrong about you, Maldek.

You haven’t yet learned that kindness makes friends as close as brothers, but threats create only frightened enemies.”

“Indeed? You want to be brothers? Do you want Bryen as your brother-gambler, extortionist, exploiter of other men’s pain? You didn’t like what you found very much, did you, Zanos?”

“He is my brother,” Zanos insisted. “We were separated as boys, so we don’t know one another very well yet-but we will come to understand each other.”

“You five who came so far together-Zanos, Astra, Torio, Melissa, Dirdra-do you feel like brothers and sisters? Do you really know one another any better than you do Bryen and Cassandra?”

“After what you put us through?” asked Torio. “I would trust any of my friends with my life- and have done so.”

“But… could they trust you?” asked Maldek with a malicious smile.

“Of course,” said Zanos. “We have all trusted Torio with our lives.”

“Not knowing what you risked!” Maldek told them. “Do you know why he is so afraid of wielding power? Do you know what Torio did to his own brother?”