Jean Lorrah - Flight to Savage Empire

“So do I, but we cannot count on that much good fortune, as far as we have to travel.”

“Where do we go from here?” she asked, changing the subject.

“North,” he said, finishing a spring apple and still feeling ravenous. “First we get at least a day’s ride away from Vortius, to gain time to plan. Right now, my powers are too weak to risk a confrontation with him and his men.”

“You won’t have to confront him. You’re free of him now.”

“Yes, thanks to you,” he acknowledged. “But what he did cannot go unanswered. He enslaved me and my gladiators with white lotus, and further degraded us by giving us two overseers-Ard and Lanna. ‘

“So he got them to betray you,” Astra concluded, “by giving them power over their former master.”

Zanos nodded. “Call it regaining honor or call it seeking revenge, I will see them again before we reach our goal. And this time there will be no Aventine law to protect them!”

“But how did Vortius force you to take the white lotus? With all your Adept powers-”

“-I’m no Reader,” he replied ruefully. “Nor am I as powerful an Adept as you think. I can’t do most of the things the savage sorcerers do. I can’t even change the weather, as Serafon can. And no amount of Adept power can protect a nonReader from a cowardly blow to the back of the head. By the time I regained consciousness, wine laced with white lotus had already been poured down my throat… and my mind was no longer my own.”

He cringed at the humiliating memory, but forced himself to continue. “They tied me up and took me to a dark room somewhere. Vortius fed more of the stuff to me, until I believed anything he told me,” He spat out a piece of apple core in disgust. “If not for Serafon, I’d have killed him long ago. I should have!”

“I understand,” Astra said quietly. “That’s why Serafon never told you that Vortius is her son. “

In stunned silence, Zanos listened as Astra told him things Serafon had never told him in all the years he had known her. When she finished, he managed to ask, “Vortius doesn’t know?”

“No. I don’t think she could bring herself to-” Astra stopped suddenly, her eyes focused on something beyond the cave wall.

“What’s wrong?” Zanos asked. “Vortius?”

“His men are riding this way again. My false trail didn’t fool them. They’re perhaps a quarter-hour away-”

“Then let’s go!” Zanos snatched up the blankets and musical instruments, and they quickly repacked everything. Astra led the way out through the caverns. They fastened their supplies to the packhorses and climbed aboard the other two mounts.

“I know how to avoid them,” Astra said.

“Then you lead the way,” Zanos said, grabbing up the packhorses’ reins.

The trail Astra chose took them well east of Vortius’ camp, but Zanos felt as if he had missed a confrontation with his enemy by a hand’s span. And even though the men searching for him were far behind, he could not shake off the feeling that they were being closely pursued.

“We’re safe now,” Astra announced as she slowed her horse to a walk. “They’ve turned back to their camp.”

“Vortius is afraid of the hill bandits,” Zanos told her. “That’s why he needed so many men-large bands of robbers in these hills. Another reason you must learn to defend yourself.”

“I’ve already agreed,” Astra replied. “I just don’t know if I can learn it.”

The next few miles passed in silence. Astra seemed to be concentrating more than she had been back there when Vortius’ men were following them. He wondered if it was an act, to avoid discussing the lessons she didn’t want to learn. But if she doesn’t learn to defend herself what will happen to her if we’re separated - or if I’m killed ? After all, male Readers were trained in swordplay, so it couldn’t be true that a Reader couldn’t stand to harm another person.

But she was a woman-and his wife. This business of being a husband carried responsibilities he hadn’t fully considered when they were back in Tiberium. / think I’m starting to understand what Serafon meant .

When they stopped to rest, Zanos used his Adept powers to kill a rabbit, then started a cooking fire to roast it. While he was skinning and gutting it, Astra went foraging again-and only when she returned and he saw her eyes skitter away from the sight of the roasting rabbit did he remember that Readers kept to a vegetarian diet to preserve their powers.

But she shared what she had found, berries and mushrooms and greens. Nonetheless, Zanos noticed that she kept her face turned away from him as he devoured the meat his body craved.

Eventually Zanos broke the tense silence. “Are you going to be uncomfortable every time I eat meat?”

She managed a hesitant smile. “No. I know you need it. I’ll learn to prepare it for you-Zanos, I understand that you have to eat such food for both your physical strength and your Adept powers.”

“And I can see why you hadn’t even the strength to lift your own body out of that cave back there. Astra, that’s not a balanced diet.”

“No, it’s not, ‘ she agreed. “But it will be if I can get some cheese and nuts and good bread. There must be places where we can buy-”

Suddenly her eyes widened, and she gasped. “A Reader! Zanos-there’s a Reader only a few miles from here-and he’s broadcasting a warning to other Readers!’

With Zanos standing guard, Astra left her body to Read what was happening on the seacoast. The Aventine fleet was attempting to enter the natural harbor on the west coast of the savage lands. On a hill overlooking the harbor she found the source of the mental voice: a young male Reader was just returning to his body, which lay on a spread cloak. Nearby two men stood facing the sea, both unReadable.

“They refuse to turn back, Wulfston,” the Reader said as he sat up. “They think their army is too big to be defeated.”

The older of the other two-a young black man with the bearing of a leader-frowned angrily. “I expected as much. Let them know that we are about to give them a demonstration.”

The Reader lay down again on his cloak, and did not even bother to close his eyes before leaving his body. He’s blind ! Astra realized. This had to be the renegade Torio, whom the savages had raised from the dead!

Astra Read him move among the shiploads of soldiers, sailors, and Readers, “heard” him broadcast another warning, telling them that their ships would never reach shore. Back on the hilltop, the black man put a hand on the arm of his other companion, a frail-looking youth who was also blind. “Ready, Rolf?”

“Yes, my lord,” the boy replied, and both of them became unReadable once again as a strong wind suddenly rose, shaking the Aventine vessels to and fro. Astra watched their sorcerers’ powers in action with horrified fascination. Only two people trying to stop that vast flotilla-and she felt they actually might succeed!

The “demonstration” ended with no damage to the ships or their occupants.

Torio pleaded with the Aventine Readers to make

the fleet reverse course, but the invaders refused to turn and run from two Adepts and a renegade Reader.

It was after sundown when the first ship neared the shore, ready to unload troops and Readers. But the two Adepts conjured up another windstorm out of the cloudless sky, much fiercer than the first. Ships whirled like toys-one capsized, breaking apart and spilling people into the churning waters.

Astra watched helplessly as at least a dozen people drowned-six of them Readers. Their mental screams clawed at her like the screams of those who had died at Gaeta.

Zanos put more wood on the fire to keep off the evening chill, then carefully placed a blanket over Astra’s still body. Every few minutes he checked to be sure she still breathed.