Jean Lorrah - Savage Empire 07 - Empress Unborn

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Empress Unborn by Jean Lorrah
Foreword
The entire Savage Empire series is dedicated to the person who got me into professional sf writing and
then encouraged me to start my own series: Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Special thanks go to Winston A. Howlett, who read right behind me as I worked on this book, and
helped me keep my facts straight. Winston might be called the official historian of the Savage Empire.
Besides coau-thoring two books with me, he is editor of Wolf-Stone, a fanzine dedicated to the series.
Send a SASE to the address below if you are interested.
Thanks to Camille Bacon-Smith, Patricia Frazer Lamb, Candace Pulleine, and Mary S. Van Deusen,
who provided just the inspiration I needed, when I needed it, to pull out of a writing slump.
I would also like to thank the many readers who have sent comments about previous books in this series;
I hope you enjoy this one as well.
If this is your first experience of the Savage Empire series, welcome! Each book is designed to be read
independently, so don't worry that there are currently six others. If you like this one, you can read the rest
later. Please don't try to collect all seven before you start reading. Any series that goes on for this long
always has some volumes out of print. As the ones out of print now are reprinted, different ones will go
out—so there will always be readers starting a series somewhere in the middle.
We authors of series work very hard to make each and every book accessible to the new reader. Trust
me!
If there are readers who would like to comment on this book, my publishers will forward letters to me. If
you prefer, you may write to me at Box 625, Murray, KY 42071. If your letter requires an answer,
please enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
All comments are welcome. I came to professional writing through fan writing and publishing, where there
is close and constant communication between writers and readers. Thus I shall always be grateful for the
existence of sf fandom, which has provided me with many exciting experiences, and through which I have
met so many wonderful people.
Jean Lorrah Murray, Kentucky
Chapter One
Aradia, Lady Adept of the Savage Empire, paced the halls of Castle Blackwolf as she waited impatiently
for her husband, Lenardo, to bring home her brother, Wulfston.
I'm already thoroughly tired of being pregnant, she thought, and I still have six months to go!
She wondered if Lenardo was humoring her, or if he, too, was concerned about Wulfston. Her brother
had invited them to come for a celebration, but once they arrived he did not seem happy with their
company.
In fact, today he had walked out in the middle of a family gathering.
And Lenardo had followed him, taking Julia—but not Aradia.
I shouldn't ride horseback at this stage of my pregnancy, she reminded herself. Nonetheless, it felt as
if her husband had chosen his adopted daughter over his wife.
I will not have such irrational thoughts! Aradia told herself. Lenardo loves me. He will help me
through this pregnancy, and afterward I will regain all my powers.
But it galled her to rely on others, when all her life she had depended on her own strong Adept powers.
Only six more months, she reminded herself, laying a hand on her abdomen. Alone, she could hardly tell
there was a second life growing within her. With Lenardo, she had Read the tiny living creature that
would become a little girl… but it did not seem real to her.
Sometimes Aradia worried that she had no feelings of maternity. Physically, she noticed nothing so far
except a slight thickening of her body; she could still move freely, and of course her powers kept her
from the sickness many women suffered in their early months.
But those powers were weakening. She was so strong an Adept that only she would notice, but there
was a change from day to day in the effort it took to perform any but the most ordinary Adept functions.
And for what? To give Lenardo a child… when he was so obviously contented with the one he had
adopted? Perhaps if the child were a son, rather than another daughter. But not even an Adept could
govern that.
Where was Lenardo? Why hadn't he brought Wulfston back? Aradia strode to the tower stairs, and
climbed up to where a Watcher stood waiting for signals. There were none. The day was calm, the land
serene.
"Lord Wulfston is riding toward the sea, my lady," the Watcher told her.
Just then flashes of light flickered from a hilltop beyond which lay the ocean. "There is a ship putting
people ashore," the Watcher translated, although Aradia knew the code. "My lord is riding to
investigate."
But how could Wulfston have known? No message had been brought to him. Why had the ship not
sailed into the harbor at Dragon's Mouth? Was it a prearranged meeting?
The Watchers' signals began again—fast and furious!
Aradia read them as they came in, her heart sinking. Her brother was under Adept attack!
Julia rode happily at her father's side. Lenardo was shielding his thoughts by bracing for the use of Adept
power, but Julia could still Read his excitement.
She was certain he'd had one of his precognitive flashes, but he had learned to shield so that he did not
catch up every Reader in the vicinity in his visions. Julia hoped this one meant action. She had eagerly
looked forward to their visit to Castle Blackwolf, but it ad turned out as boring as her days in Zendi.
e adventure than most people have in a lifetime. When Lenardo took her from the people who would
have killed her for her Reading powers, she had become part of the small group of Readers and Adepts
who defeated Drakonius, brought down the Aventine Empire, and created their own Savage Empire.
But then her father had married Aradia, and while they cleaned out the hill bandits and forestalled
insurrections to establish a firm rule, Julia had spent most of her time studying, usually with old Master
Clement, the Master of Masters among Readers.
Master Clement had been Lenardo's teacher, and she was fortunate indeed to have the tutelage of the
Master of Masters. Nevertheless, Julia often ached for the action of her younger days. Todays ride after
a petulant Lord Wulfston was the closest thing to an adventure she had had in months!
As Julia and Lenardo topped the crest of the hill over which Wulfston had disappeared, they saw a ship
anchored not far off shore. It had put down boats, in which people were rowing toward land.
Wulfston was already down on the beach, riding to greet these strangers. He became blank to Julia's
Reading as he braced Adept powers—
Thunderbolts exploded around the lone rider!
Wulfston leaped from his saddle and hit the ground rolling, bouncing to his feet in an Adept's fighting
stance.
The Lord Adept used his power to deflect the thunderbolts. People began clambering out of the boats.
He sent three of them sprawling on the sand in Adept sleep.
From their vantage point, urging their horses down the hill, Lenardo and Julia saw Wulfston's attackers
fan out, dividing his attention. He needed a Reader at his side!
Julia kicked her horse.
//No!// her father warned her. //We can't help Wulfston if we fall down the cliff.// And he continued to
guide his horse along the precarious path.
Julia did the same, but her attention was seized by the impact of a bolt of lightning on the beach.
She looked and Read: Wulfston was momentarily blinded, and his horse, Storm, screamed and fell,
taking long seconds to die in an agony of burnt flesh.
Julia fought nausea, deliberately turning her attention to guiding her own mount down the steep trail.
When she dared to Read the beach again, she saw that Wulfston had identified the most powerful Adept
among his attackers: a tall man standing in one of the boats. Under the full fury of a Lord Adept nearing
the peak of his powers, the man gasped once, and fell unconscious into the surf.
With a glance, Wulfston dropped another man rushing at him from the right.
But not even a Lord Adept could keep up such steady use of his powers! If someone still on the ship
were an Adept—
Apparently no one was. Wulfston walked into the waves to grasp the last boat and beach it. There were
only two people now in it: a woman and a little boy, huddled together in fear.
At the bottom of the hill, Julia and Lenardo spurred their horses.
Wulfston whirled at their approach, braced again.
Julia expected the Lord Adept to make some joke about their belated rescue attempt. Instead he stared
as if he hardly knew them, until Lenardo demanded, "Are you all right?"
Then the old Wulfston was back, releasing his Adept mental stance on a wave of inner amusement. "Yes,
I'm all right," he said. "But—" He sobered as he glanced toward the smoldering corpse of his favorite
horse.
Julia Read weariness overtaking him now that the danger was past. After such rapid and extensive use of
his powers, a Lord Adept needed to rest. Wulfston, though, started toward the man he had knocked out
of the boat, who floated facedown in the water.
Lenardo swung down off his horse and helped Wulfston drag the man ashore. "Why did you come out to
face these people alone?"
"I didn't," Wulfston replied shortly.
"Well, you must have had some reason to leave a celebration at your own castle and go riding this far
south! I should have been Reading."
Julia could Read her lather's guilt. He could easily have Read the ship from Castle Blackwolf if he had not
been relaxed, his attention on family and friends.
But Wulfston could not Read, and was pursuing his own train of thought. "I was… restless. Something
drew me to this place, to these people."
As she studied the people who had come ashore, Julia was not surprised that Wulfston had gone out to
meet them. "But why did they attack you?" she asked.
"I don't know, Julia," Wulfston replied. "I don't even know who they are."
"You don't?" she asked, Reading only bafflement from him. "But Wulfston, they're all black—just like
you!"
The Watchers reported Wulfston's defeat of his attackers, so Aradia had calmed herself by the time her
family returned to the castle. It had cost all her patience to obey Lenardo's instructions to stay, after he
finally bethought himself to contact her.
After all the excitement was over.
Aradia's Reading abilities were minimal, but Lenardo was the most powerful Reader yet known. He and
Wulfston were rowing out to the ship before his mind touched hers, letting her look through his eyes,
Read through his powers that her brother was unharmed.
Assigning Julia to escort their captives to the castle, the two lords boarded the ship and instructed the
Nubian captain and crew to move the ship into Dragon's Mouth.
Their interrogation of the ship's crew provided little information. The ship had been hired by one Sukuru,
the Adept who had attacked Wulfston. He and the others who had gone ashore were the only
passengers, and the captain had asked no questions about their strange destination. They paid him, and
he took them where they wanted to go. All the way from Africa.
The mystery plagued Aradia long after Lenardo broke contact, and she went down to see the captives
being brought to the castle. Sukuru was carriea in unconscious. The other men were obviously awed, and
the woman with the little boy would say nothing. She was veiled, so that only her eyes showed, but
mahogany skin was revealed around her eyes and on her hands. Every one of these people was as black
as Wulfston.
More irrational thoughts flickered through Aradia's mind: in retaliation for her jealousy of Lenardo's
adopted daughter, some god she didn't believe in had sent these people to take away her beloved
adopted brother.
But Wulfston had not come from Africa.
His parents did, she reminded herself.
What if he were the long-lost heir to an African throne?
Then why did they attack him?
Besides, he had his own throne right here, his own lands, his own people.
And he is feeling restless, unhappy. …
The moon was riding high by the time Lenardo and Wulfston returned. Lenardo wanted Aradia to go
right to bed, but she insisted on talking to Wulfston first.
She knew where to find him: an Adept had to replenish his strength, and his cook had prepared him a
meal worthy of three ordinary men. He should have eaten hours ago, and long since been asleep, so it
was little wonder Aradia found him uncooperative.
"But why did you go out there in the first place?" she wanted to know. She was really asking why he
seemed so alien, and his response only heightened the impression.
"Aradia, why do you ask me when you know I don't have the answer? Don't give me that innocent look.
I know that you were in contact with Lenardo the whole time."
You're wrong there, little brother, she thought, but Wulfston continued, "For the last time, I don't know
why I left a celebration I'm supposed to be hosting and went riding along the cliffs. Now, will you please
leave me alone?"
His harsh words wounded. Reader or no, Wulfston must have realized it, for he reached across the table
to put his hand over hers. "I'm sorry. I—I guess I'm more upset than I want to admit… especially about
losing Storm like that."
She nodded in sympathy. Wulfston had planned to use the beautiful stallion to improve his stock, but it
was more than that. He had always had a strong affinity for animals.
"Do you think it's possible," she asked tentatively, "that you might have… Read that the ship was there?"
To learn Read was his fondest dream—and Aradia, too, yearned to meet her brother mind to mind.
There were times, such as now, when words were inadequate.
But Wulfston shook his head. "If I could sense a strange ship several miles away—which neither Lenardo
nor Julia did until they started following me—then I should be able to pick up someone's thoughts nearby.
But nothing has changed for me. I don't know what drew me into that confrontation, but it wasn't
Reading. I'm still your mind-blind little brother," he said with a rueful chuckle.
Yet something had drawn him away from his family— something that frightened Aradia.
When she went upstairs to the room she shared with Lenardo, her husband was already in bed, although
still awake. His mind met hers, Reading her conversation with Wulfston and the vague, unsettling fears
this day had brought.
Without speaking, Lenardo got up and pulled on a soft woolen robe against the castle's chill. Aradia's
maid was in the antechamber, waiting to help her mistress undress, but Lenardo went to the door and
told her, "Go on to bed, Devasin. I will help the Lady Aradia tonight."
Devasin handed Lenardo Aradia's chamber garments, and Lenardo closed the door. Then he turned to
his wife. "You are upset."
"My brother was attacked today."
"His attackers were fools. Aradia, their combined powers are nothing to Wulfston's. He didn't need my
help, or Julia's. By the time we got there, the battle was over."
"I know. Yet… Lenardo, I have such a strange feeling about these people. Why have they come here, all
the way from Africa?"
"We'll find out tomorrow," he reassured her, and reached to take off her outer robe of silver-bordered
velvet. Then he unhooked the satin overgarment, and helped her out of the layers of silk undergarments
and into her chamber robe.
She didn't really need the help, of course, but her husband's hands made every move a caress, soothing
away her unexplained anxiety.
When she sat down and began to unbraid her hair, Lenardo's strong hands took over that function, too,
untangling the pale blond strands, then brushing them smooth.
Such ministrations were not routine. Lenardo did not even have a valet, having grown up in an Academy
of Readers. Once he had professed surprise that a Lady Adept should require a maid to dress her, but
he accepted Devasin as custom, and usually left Aradia to her care.
Tonight, though, when Aradia needed the comfort of her husband's touch, he gave it, putting her to bed
as tenderly as he might a child. Then he lay down beside her, taking her in his arms.
Lenardo was a tall man, with a body well formed by years of work and exercise. Aradia rested against
him, feeling the lean hardness of his muscles irrationally reassuring. Even diminished by pregnancy, her
powers far outweighed the physical strength of any man, even one as huge as Zanos the Gladiator.
Nonetheless, she felt secure in her husband's arms.
Perhaps it was that Lenardo, with only Reading and no Adept powers, had proved his strength to her
when they first met, defending her with his sword when she had exhausted her powers in their first battle
with Drakonius. Later, Lenardo had learned to develop the Adept portion of his powers, but since
exercising the abilities to affect the physical world with the mind impeded Reading, he had never become
a Lord Adept. Master Reader satisfied him, and he satisfied her, in every possible way.
"Lenardo?" she murmured.
"Hush," he said. "Go to sleep. We'll talk in the morning."
"No—tell me. What did you see today?"
"What do you mean?"
"I thought you were just humoring me when you went after Wulfston—but now I wonder. You had one
of your visions, didn't you?"
For a moment he didn't answer. Then, "Yes," he said reluctantly.
"What was it? Did you see him being attacked?"
Again the pause, and even though Lenardo was far too skilled to let someone of Aradia's meager ability
Read what he didn't want her to, she knew with a wife's certain knowledge that he was considering lying
to her. But he didn't. "I saw Wulfston on board ship, that Nubian woman and her child beside him, sailing
away to the south."
Her skin prickling with cold sweat, Aradia whispered, "I was right! They are here to take him away!"
His arms tightened about her. "We don't know that. Aradia, you know how my flashes of precognition
are. Yes, they always come true—but never in the way I expect. Wulfston may just sail a few miles south
on that ship. Or he may decide to go and do some trading in our visitors' lands."
"After they attacked him the moment they saw him?"
"He was not a prisoner in my vision," Lenardo offered. "He was standing freely on deck, urging the
captain to hurry southward. Aradia, he wasn't hurt, and he was clearly in charge. Wulfston is a grown
man—you can't think of him as your little brother forever." - "Little, no. But Lenardo, he is my brother
forever.
Remember what Torio said? 'Wulfston must seek his destiny far away, only to find where he began.' '
"Torio!" Lenardo snorted. "Don't start me thinking about Torio, Aradia. I should never have let him go off
to Madura, just when he had developed a new talent. And of all the irresponsible acts after he learned
Adept powers there, to go wandering off who knows where instead of coming home here, where you
and Master Clement and I could train him!"
Aradia let him fume, knowing that having a second student he had trained go off to use his powers in
unknown and possibly dangerous ways frightened Lenardo. He felt responsible for those he taught.
It was his search for Galen, the student who had gone over to his enemies, that had originally brought
Lenardo into Aradia's path some five years ago.
There was nothing she could say, except that she knew Torio to be strong-willed and unlikely to be used
as Drakonius had used Galen. But the boy was young, inexperienced. He had learned strange things in
Madura, according to the reports he had sent with Zanos and Astra. Lenardo's fears that he might be
tricked into using his developing powers for evil were certainly justified, and Aradia agreed
wholeheartedly that Torio should have returned to his friends. But he hadn't. And there was nothing
Lenardo could do about it except worry.
At last he came back to the original subject. "Anyway, prophecies are just like my visions: incomplete
and misleading."
"Not always," said Aradia, running her hand over Lenardo's right forearm. She could feel the brand
embedded into his flesh, a dragon's head that showed red against his skin, even years after the wound
had healed. "In the days of the white wolf and the red dragon," she murmured.
He held her close. "Yes—we finally did bring peace to all our lands," he agreed, looking up at the room's
ceiling. Wulfston had decorated this suite of rooms especially for Lenardo and Aradia. Even in the dim
light their emblems, Aradia's white wolfs head and Lenardo's red dragon, could be made out, entwined in
the painted relief.
"And if Wulfston has to find where he began," Aradia added, snuggling sleepily into a more comfortable
position against Lenardo, "he was born in a village between Tiberium and Zendi. So even if he does go
far away, he'll have to… come home again."
The next day, their uninvited African guests were brought before Wulfston, who sat on his throne, flanked
by a formidable array of Readers and Adepts: Lenardo, Aradia, Julia, and Wulfston's Reader, Rolf.
Sukuru, revived and healthy, was shaking in his sandals as he apologized profusely, stumbling over his
words in the language called Trader's Common.
The tall, gaunt black man seemed to have only minor Adept powers. He insisted they would never have
attacked Wulfston had they known him to be the Lord Adept they sought, but when they saw another
black man, wrapped in a plain woolen cloak, they had thought him one of their enemies, trying to thwart
their expedition.
They had expected to find "the most excellent Lord of the Black Wolf," Sukuru explained in annoyingly
obsequious terms, to be "as you are now, most gracious lord, crowned in gold and seated upon a
throne."
Aradia listened, Reading fear, but a certain level of sincerity in the man. She didn't like him: he was here
to ask a stranger to do what he feared to do himself.
Sukuru and his small band claimed to represent "many tribes and peoples who share a dream of
freedom." He told of a powerful witch-queen, Z'Nelia, who held in thrall a large number of African lands.
"Besides her own formidable powers, she has many followers with powers of their own, as well as a
huge and powerful army."
Z'Nelia sounded like Drakonius—and Drakonius had been defeated.
"But why come so far to seek my help?" Wulfston asked.
Sure enough, the story of the defeat of Drakonius had traveled as far as Africa. But, it seemed, the
version popular there was a distorted one in which Wulfston had defeated Drakonius in single combat.
Julia snickered, and Aradia could feel Wulfston smother laughter. "That's a song," he explained, "created
by a bard seeking favor in my court. East of here, in the city of Zendi, you would hear a much different
version, celebrating the exploits of my sister and her husband."
The puzzlement of the envoys was clear to Read when Wulfston identified Aradia as his sister. But they
did not ask; they were too eager to press their case. Despite Wulfston's insistence that only an alliance of
Adepts and Readers could defeat such a strong opponent, they wanted one single champion—someone
the equal of their fabled Z'Nelia.
When Sukuru's words won no promises from Wulfston, he called forward the veiled woman, Chulaika.
She spoke of oppression, slavery, and murder, begging, "Please, Lord Wulfston—come to our aid. Only
a great Lord like yourself can help us now."
"You are a Son of Africa," Sukuru said suddenly. "Surely you will not refuse to help your own people?"
Aradia smothered a gasp of indignation, but Wulfston replied exactly as she would have hoped: "My own
people are right here. I was not born in your land, but in the Aventine Empire, where my parents were
proud to have earned citizenship. I will consult with my allies to determine what help we can offer
you—but you must understand that I cannot leave my lands unattended to go adventuring in yours."
That afternoon, Aradia was examined by Astra, who was acting as healer for her on this expedition.
Astra and her husband, Zanos, were direct allies of Lady Lilith, and represented her at this meeting; they
were another couple brought together by the turmoil surrounding the fall of Tiberium. Astra would soon
be taking her tests for the rank of Master Reader—even though she was a married woman—while Zanos
was a former gladiator in the Aventine arena.
If Lenardo and Aradia were an unlikely team, the quiet, slender Reader and the huge, flame-haired
gladiator seemed an incomprehensible match. Yet they were obviously quite happy together. Zanos had
minor abilities as both Reader and Adept, while Astra, like Lenardo, had developed some Adept
powers, but would rarely sacrifice her Reading skills to practice them.
"The baby is doing very well," Astra told Aradia, "but you are tired. You should take a nap this
afternoon."
"I'm not tired."
"My lady, do not deny your condition to a Reader. Your husband will say the same."
"But it's such a lovely day," Aradia protested.
"There is no need to stay indoors," said Astra. "Come with me into the herb garden. The walls will
protect you from the breeze."
So Aradia was installed on a chaise in the herb garden near the castle's kitchen. Astra remained with her
for a while, gathering herbs which did not grow in Lilith's lands, and then left her alone, not protesting that
Aradia was reading rather than sleeping.
Later that afternoon, Lenardo's mind touched Aradia's. //Come join me?// she suggested.
//Gladly. Wulfston is with me.//
Wulfston and Lenardo, it seemed, had been discussing their uninvited guests. "It doesn't make sense,"
explained Wulfston. "Why would they come to strangers for help? There's something Sukuru's not
telling."
"And that I can't Read," added Lenardo. "We're going to try to draw them out at dinner tonight."
Aradia smiled wryly. "And then you and Astra will provoke the rest of us by Reading something
important, but being bound by your Reader's Oaths not to reveal it!"
"You are bound by the same Oath, Aradia," her husband reminded her.
"Yes, but how likely am I to Read any secrets? I still can't even Read our baby. I tried again today, but
Astra had to Read with me."
"At least you can Read," Wulfston reminded her. "I won't get to meet my niece until after she's born!"
When Wulfston had gone, Lenardo said, "Our daughter is developing well. Read with me."
Through her husband's powers, Aradia Read the shape in her womb, the tiny being already equipped
with arms and legs, eyes and mouth. But there was no consciousness yet. "Soon," Lenardo promised.
"Soon she will become aware, and then I'm sure you'll be able to Read her, Aradia."
She wanted to. She wanted to love the baby, Lenardo's child, product of their love. But how could she
love someone she didn't know? Automatically, she braced as if to use her powers so Lenardo would not
Read her thought: I don't feel like a mother—I just feel as if I have some nagging minor illness
draining my powers.
At dinner that night, Julia watched and Read with interest as Lenardo, Aradia, and Wulfston told their
African guests how they had first met and joined their powers to defeat Drakonius. Part of her
preparation to govern lands of her own one day was to learn Trader's Common, and she found that she
had little trouble following the conversation.
Lenardo ended the story by emphasizing the strength of their relationships: "So Julia is my adopted
daughter, though I don't think either of us often remembers that she's adopted. Aradia is my wife, and
that makes her brother Wulfston my brother, too."
Sukuru asked, "How comes it, Lord Wulfston, that these pale folk claim you kin?"
"Ties of love may be as strong as ties of blood," Wulfston replied. Julia glanced at Lenardo, trying to take
comfort in the thought. She often wondered if the baby Aradia carried would take her place in his
affections.
Her eyes focused on the ring her father wore, matching the one on Aradia's hand. Wolf and dragon
intertwined in gleaming gold. Their wedding rings, a gift from Wulfston. Julia knew he had meant them as
a symbol of unity. To Julia, though, they seemed to mean that Lenardo was joined to Aradia, shutting his
adopted daughter out. She knew that was an unfair thought, and tried to put it out of her mind.
Wulfston was telling how Aradia's father, Nerius, had spirited him out of the Aventine Empire when his
Adept powers manifested at the age of three, and the folk of his village would have killed him. In those
days, only Readers were accepted in the Empire, and any child who showed Adept talent was killed.
Aradia finished up, declaring that the child she carried "will not be only our daughter; she will be Julia's
sister, and Wulfston's niece. That is the kind of family alliance you must have to fight a tyrant." Julia Read
only sincerity from her stepmother. Why did she distrust her?
Sukuru expressed amazement, but seemed disappointed at Wulfston's advice to raise an alliance of
people with powers in his own lands to fight the tyrant. Although he said, "We will heed your advice,
most excellent lord," Julia Read that he did not really mean the words.
With her mind, she reached out to Lenardo, but he replied with an unverbalized warning to keep mentally
silent. Were there Readers among the Africans that she had not recognized?
Her father was on his guard—if these people were hiding something, Lenardo would find it out.
Sukuru, meanwhile, was presenting Wulfston with a bottle of wine from his native land, insisting that they
all drink a toast "to our success in gaining from you the means to save our land."
Now what did he mean by that? Julia wished she could get her hands on something of Sukuru's. She had
one of the unusual Reading talents, the ability to Read the history of an object by touching it, including the
stories of the people who had handled it. Perhaps before they left, she could touch something of this
man's and find out his secrets.
Meanwhile, the wine was poured from a vessel like none Julia had ever seen before. It was pointed on
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分类：外语学习 价格：5.9玖币 属性：125 页 大小：301.68KB 格式：PDF 时间：2024-12-18

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