[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

and sat and talked as they ate their midday meal. Zanos had been living off
the land. He looked gaunt, but Wulfston was not certain how much of that was
grief, and how much deprivation. His fair skin was red with sun- and windburn.
Under the robe he wore his Aventine tunic, now torn and threadbare. His
sandals were also his own, stained with seawater and repaired with rawhide.
"Where did you find a robe long enough for you?" Wulfston asked.
"Haven't you noticed? The people in this land are very tall, like Sukuru."
"The Warimu," Tadisha supplied.
"Yes, of course. Zanos, have you seen or Read any sign of Sukuru or Chulaika?
I haven't."
"Read?" asked Zanos. He had been braced to use Adept powers ever since they
had encountered him.
Now Wulfston felt him drop his defenses to Read him.
//Yes, Read,// he admitted. //Probably at about your level, although I haven't
had the opportunity for training or testing yet.//
//Congratulations,// Zanos told him, but there was no joy in the perfunctory
courtesy.
//Zanos& ?//
The man's haunted blue eyes fixed on Wulfston's. //It was a joy to Read with
Astra while she lived. But it became a curse when I suffered her death. She
died calling out to me reaching out to me and I could not reach her!//
The gladiator's thoughts cut off abruptly. "I will avenge her death, " he
repeated. "But first I will help you free the
Night Queen crew. I've been into town. The eight white men reported for sale
are definitely
Captain Laren's men, but I didn't know how I was going to break them out of
there alone."
"Zanos," said Wulfston, "we are going to buy them."
"You will contribute to the slave trade!"
"We need our strength for another battle," said Kamas.
"But slaving is wrong!" Zanos protested. "Bah! You people probably profit by
it but Lord Wulfston, surely you want to destroy the slave pens!"
"Zanos, I do not approve of slavery," Wulfston replied, keeping his temper by
recalling that this man had been a slave and would never forget the
experience. "But you have to understand that if we call that kind of attention
to ourselves in Ketu, we will give ourselves away."
"You've thrown in with them!" Zanos gasped. 'That's why they wanted you in
Africa to help them fight this Z'Nelia."
Page 73
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"There is a war brewing. We could find ourselves friendless, in the midst of a
battle in which we would appear enemies to every side."
Zanos looked down at his hands, then over at Wulfston. "We? You look as if you
belong here."
"Only to you," the Lord Adept replied grimly. "I am as much a stranger in
Africa as you are, Zanos. It is only by chance that I have made some friends.
With their help, I'll have the
Night Queen crew free by nightfall. If you will not help, at least do not
interfere."
Their eyes locked. At last Zanos said, "You know where Lenardo is, and I
don't. You are probably right not to call attention to yourself as a Lord
Adept. Very well. I will not interfere in your& purchase."
Because of the impending war, the market for exotic slaves had dropped. Kamas
bought the group of
eight white men for what Tadisha said was a fifth of what they would have
brought a month before.
When Kamas brought them to Wulfston, their feelings were surprise and relief.
"My lord, we should have known you'd find us!" exclaimed Telek, the strong,
muscular sailor who had challenged Zanos on board ship. "And have you found
Lord Lenardo?"
"He is at Norgu's castle," Wulfston explained.
"Norgu!" exclaimed Telek. "That bastard. He's the one who sold us to the
slavers!"
One of the other sailors added, "My lord, we were there, and did not see Lord
Lenardo."
"Norgu didn't want you to. But Lenardo is there, all right. I've been in
contact with him. Do you know of anyone else who survived? We don't want to
leave anyone stranded in Africa."
"No, my lord, " said Telek. "It seemed all the others with Adept or Reading
powers were killed in the storm."
"As if we were their special targets," Zanos confirmed bitterly.
Nevertheless, it felt so good to speak his native language, to be among people
from home, that Wulfston wished they could take the time to share the stories
of their adventures. But Lenardo was waiting.
Within the hour they were on the road, the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]