And then Lenardo Read another figure moving swiftly through the night, as surefooted as most men walked at noon. Torio! He was Reading only his way, projecting nothing, but it was obvious he was headed straight for the inn.

Lenardo didn't want the boy pounding on the door and rousing the household. He slipped quietly out of his room and down the stairs. No one was stirring. Lenardo unbarred the door for Torio and then barred it again.

//What are you doing here?//

"Don't Read," Torio whispered. "I tried to come undetected. Take me up to your room."

He took Lenardo's arm, willing to be led blindly through the inn rather than risk notice by Reading further. What could he possibly fear that much?,

"You can't come into my room," Lenardo reminded him. "My daughter is there. A female Reader."

"It doesn't matter," Torio said, his voice choked with tears. "They've failed me, so it doesn't matter anymore."

"Failed?"

"Shh! Master Lenardo, it has to do with you. Please, let's go where we can't be overheard."

Lenardo led Torio up the stairs and into his room, installing him in the single chair.

"Now what is this about failing you?"

"It's true." Torio's milky eyes drifted, unfocused, when he was not Reading. Tears slid down his cheeks as he continued. "After I made sure all the younger boys were asleep, I went to Master Clement's room to find out what he had heard from you. While I was there, Portia contacted us. She said-" his voice broke again "she said my conduct in not reporting that you contacted me last week was a breach of the Code. She said I'm unfit to teach and that my skills are not up to the standards required to continue training."

"That's a lie," Lenardo said angrily. "Torio, your skills are far beyond what mine were at your age, and I was passed without question."

"Master Clement tried to reason with her, but she says it's settled. I've been failed. Tomorrow-"

"Yes, Torio? What about tomorrow?"

"Master, they won't let me have medical training or serve with the army or anything. Portia told me to report to her at noon tomorrow… to meet my wife." He struck away his tears angrily, but there was a wealth of despair behind the gesture. "Master Lenardo, what am I going to do?"

"You're not going to report to Portia, that's certain. And you're not getting married, unless some day you want to."

"I'll never-"

"Don't say never, Torio. I plan to get married as soon as I get home and reclaim my land."

"Home? Your land?"

"That's right. A land where no one but a Reader himself decides what he can or cannot do. Where Readers and Adepts share their powers for the good of all."

"That's not possible," the boy said.

"Would you like it to be?"

A pause. Then, "Oh, Master Lenardo, if only it could be."

"It can be, Torio, but only if we make it so. Come with me. We need Readers desperately. Poor Julia's been carrying a full work load at her age."

At the mention of her name, Julia woke up, squirming and rubbing her eyes. Then she stared at Torio. "I know you. I've seen you in Father's mind. You were there when he got the wolf-stone. Torio."

"That's right," the boy replied, resisting the urge to Read the child. "And you are Julia. Master Lenardo has told me about you."

"Torio is going home with us, Julia," said Lenardo.

"Get dressed now. We must be well out of the city before dawn."

"My horse is stabled near the Academy," said Torio, "and I must get my sword and some clothes."

"Bring two horses," said Lenardo. "Master Clement won't set the guard on you. Julia and I rode double from the border, but now we've got to ride hard. My friends are under attack."

"What?" Julia demanded, wide-eyed. "Why did you let me sleep? Why are you talking? Let's go."

"We mustn't arouse suspicion." Lenardo handed the girl a coin. "Go down to the pantry and pack food for three people, and leave this on the shelf for it. Meet me in the innyard. I'll get the horse. Torio, fast as you can, meet us at-"

Of the three, only Lenardo was Reading, and so only he reacted to Master Clement's, //Lenardo!//

"Torio, Julia! Read," he instructed aloud.

//Yes, Master?//

//Torio is with you. Good. I'd hoped that was where you had gone, son. You must flee at once. At dawn the soldiers of the guard will be there to arrest you, Lenardo.//

//What?//Torio gasped.

Lenardo, though, was not surprised.

//Portia has denounced you as a traitor.//

//Master, they'll know you've warned me, and you will be arrested,// said Lenardo. //Come with us.//

//No, Lenardo, I have work here.//

//Master, there is corruption in the Council of Masters. You're not safe-// Lenardo began.

//Son, I am not so foolish as Portia thinks, but as long as she considers me a harmless old man, I can work toward returning the Council of Masters to the body it was meant to be. Since I came here to Tiberium, I have seen many things that sadden me, but I am not alone. Not all the Masters are corrupt, only those in Portia's special circle.//

//But if they find out you've warned me-//

//Torio warned you, not I. They'll believe that easily enough, without Oath of Truth. Now go, all of you. And may the gods protect you.//

They felt the warmth of the old man's caring, and then he stopped Reading. There was a moment of bitter silence. Then Torio said, "I can't go back."

Lenardo realized that the boy knew already what he himself had taken until now to absorb, but he deliberately took the words as applying to their immediate situation. "No, so we'll have to steal horses from two other guests. Come on!"

"Father," said Julia, not at all disapprovingly, "you've told me it's wrong to steal."

"It is. We'll just borrow the horses, Julia, and return them if we ever get the opportunity." She laughed. "You're thinking like a savage, Father." "That's what I am, Daughter, and so are you. And we'll have to teach Torio to be one, too."

By this time they had packed their meager belongings. "Go ahead and Read, both of you," said Lenardo. "No one will be looking for us till dawn."

They crept easily through the sleeping inn, and Julia slipped into the pantry for food while Torio and Lenardo went to the stables. The horse he and Julia had ridden was still tired, and so he chose another that was fresh and eager and two more like it. The stableboy had gone home when the inn closed, and the porter at the innyard gate was deep in drunken slumber, not stirring even when the horses' hooves clattered on the cobbles.

A sword hung on the wall near where the porter slept. The blade was rusty; it had obviously not been used for years. But after pondering a moment, Torio tiptoed past the porter and took it down. //Better than nothing, though not much better.// //Take mine,// said Lenardo, //and give me that one. Go on. You're the better swordsman, just as I'm the better Reader.// //Yes, Master.//

Just then Lenardo felt something: Portia Reading them. //We're found out. Off we go.//

Lenardo ran to the open gates as Julia dashed out of the inn. Torio lifted the girl onto her horse and mounted his own as the porter woke with a snort, saw them, and shouted, "Ho! Stop, thief!"

The man tried to leap on Lenardo, but he was clumsy and still half drunk. Lenardo shoved him back, running to his own horse as Torio and Julia galloped out. The horse was fresh and nervous and didn't know Lenardo. It danced away as he tried to mount, and the porter was on him again. He turned and slugged the man, the kind of punch he hadn't thrown since boyhood fights. With a man's strength behind it, it sent the porter reeling long enough for Lenardo to swing into the saddle and escape.

Behind him, the porter shouted, "Thieves! Thieves! Horse thieves!" and began to pound on a bucket hanging on the wall. People woke and ran from their rooms, but Lenardo and his entourage were already out the gate.