Jean Lorrah - Dragonlord of the Savage Empire

There were no buildings outside the walls, nothing to hide in. The moon threw long shadows of the moving riders. As three guards bore down on him and Julia, Lenardo had to let Torio take care of himself. They could not hope to outrun the guardsmen's fresh horses.

As they approached, the guards flung their spears, but neither Reader had the least trouble ducking them. Then, swords drawn, they closed. Lenardo held one off with the rusty blade from the inn, while Julia, counting on a grown man's reluctance to harm a child, pulled her horse between his and the guard attempting to attack from the other side. Reading gave Lenardo the advantage of knowing his adversary's moves before they were made. He got a quick thrust in under the first guard's lifted arm, withdrew the blade, and turned to the second while Julia continued to cover his back. The guard on her side gave a vicious slap to her horse's flank, but the child clung to the reins and retained command of the tired animal, keeping it between the soldier and Lenardo.

//Good girl,// he told her, but just then the wounded guardsman came up beside Lenardo's horse and jabbed it with his sword. The animal screamed and reared, unseating Lenardo^ His rusty sword hit the hard ground and broke.

He scrambled to his feet, facing three mounted men. Grasping the wounded man's arm when he tried to thrust again, Lenardo attempted to unseat him. Pain shot down the man's arm, and he dropped his sword. Lenardo retrieved it, Reading that this guard was close to fainting and no danger now. But the other two were oh him, one slashing from his horse, the other dismounting to face him on foot, the two in perfect concert, attacking him on both levels.

The man on foot was a fine swordsman. Lenardo parried his thrusts but was relentlessly driven toward a position where the mounted guard could get in a crippling blow. He tried to draw the swordsman away, but the other fought his horse into position again.

//Julia, if they take me, flee. Take Torio home to Zendi.//

No answer, but the child was Reading him and the guards. The wounded man had passed out. It was only two on one. I've met such odds before.

But he had rarely met such an expert swordsman as the one driving him back, and his foreknowledge of the moves was little help against the skill with which they were executed. He thrust and slashed, trying to keep from being driven like a sheep by a dog. But the aggression was too tiring, and he couldn't keep it up. The horseman was in position behind him, sword ready. Lenardo could not maneuver away.

The horseman screamed as Julia, with every bit of strength in her small body, sank her butcher knife between his ribs.

The man on the ground looked up in astonishment, and in that moment of distraction, Lenardo lunged and skewered him. He sank back, doubly surprised, and fell.

Lenardo turned to Julia, who slid off her horse into his arms, trembling but refusing to cry. "Oh, Julia," he whispered into her hair, "you shouldn't have to do such things. You saved my life again, Daughter."

There was no time, though, for thought or recovery. They Read for Torio and found him just dispatching the second of his pursuers.

//Take the best horse,// Lenardo instructed him as he and Julia took the two best of the three fresh animals the guards had inadvertently provided them and once more galloped off into the night.

Lenardo had not expected to leave a trail of dead and wounded, certainly not provincial guardsmen doing their duty without even knowing what the fight was about.

//They're our enemies,// Julia said as if in answer to his thought. He realized that she was working it out in her own mind. Savage she might be, but she had never before deliberately killed someone. //They're just like those men who tried to sneak in and kill you that time, Father. You were a Reader, so they wanted to kill you. Here we're savages, so they all want to kill us. What can we do but kill them instead?//

//Nothing here, Julia. All we can do is hope to change things in our own land so that people won't go on killing one another.//

Torio kept his thoughts to himself but rode steadily beside them. The teacher from the Academy at Villa Blanca relayed the message ahead of them again, and the next step after that was Adigia.

//Master Lenardo,// Torio suddenly broke his mental silence, //can you Read from here to Adigia?//

//Yes.//

//Who's on relay duty?//

Lenardo took his attention from their immediate surroundings, knowing that Torio was quite adequate to prevent their riding into ambush, and Read far ahead to the town where he had grown up.

A sturdy wooden tower had already replaced the stone one that had fallen in the earthquake, and there above the gate, two guards stretched and yawned, facing the hardest part of their watch, just before dawn. With them was the man Lenardo had Read a few days ago. He didn't even know his name.

Even as he Read, the message that there were fugitives headed their direction was relayed to the Reader. Instantly alert, he told the guards. The alarm was sounded, and the garrison was roused.

Lenardo removed his attention, letting Torio and Julia Read what he had seen. "Now what do we do? We can't fight the whole garrison."

"We'll have to go back to that place where we came through the wall," said Julia.

Lenardo turned his attention there, only to find a troop of soldiers headed in that direction to block them. Why did I have to show that to Portia?

"Then it must be Adigia," said Torio. "All three Readers there know me, and the relays are not reporting my name." Lenardo realized that that was true and wondered whether Master Clement had anything to do with the omission. Torio continued, "When we get close enough, I'll make contact and try to bluff our way through." "How?" asked Julia.

"I don't know," Torio replied in frustration. "Be quiet and let me think."

They were fortunate to be able to steal horses from a pasture just after dawn, although it delayed them while they changed the saddles to the new horses. Then they drank at a stream and rode on while they ate bread and cheese, knowing that they were riding straight into ambush but not knowing what to do about it.

Lenardo Read over the obstacle ahead, to Zendi, and his heart sank. Aradia had managed to get back there, but the city was under siege. Aradia and Wulfston were atop the Northgate tower, with a young boy whom Lenardo did not recognize but who was unReadable and thus apparently Adept. All three were peering into the melee of fighting outside the walls, obviously trying to figure out where to direct their powers. Aradia made no attempt to Read, and so Lenardo could not contact her, could not tell her that the group of Adepts she sought was circling to the east and that Galen was directing them to join forces to throw all their blows at the top of the tower.

Quickly, Lenardo superimposed over the true picture Galen was Reading his own version, in which Wulfston shouted, "They're going to spot us soon. Let's get down from here!"

"Keep moving," his phantom Aradia agreed, and started for the tower stair. As Lenardo carefully Read the strange boy, who seemed vaguely familiar, he noticed the symbol of the blue lion woven into his tunic. Was this Lilith's son? And where was Lilith?

He had no time to ponder, for he was too busy making Galen think his quarry on the move, making the Adepts cast their thunderbolts futilely into the street near the Northgate tower. As the strikes made a pattern in the street below them, the real Aradia and Wulfston turned to look in surprise and then stared at each other.

"Lenardo?" Aradia said in disbelief, and opened to Reading-very weakly. She had been using her Adept powers, weakening her body and thus impairing her Reading ability. It took all of Lenardo's strength to contact her. //Get off the tower and keep moving. Galen is close enough to pinpoint you. I'm on my way, but it will be hours yet. Stay alive, Aradia. I'm coming!//