by Sharon Green
He looked around slowly enough to give everyone a chance to disagree with him, but unfortunately no one did. That meant just one thing, so he got right to it.
"Then the only thing we can do is play it by ear," he said, trying to keep all feelings of impending defeat out of his tone. "We'll have a general plan, but one with enough flexibility to let us adapt it to whatever happens. The first thing I want you to do is to get into groups along with the others of your aspect. When the time comes you'll all link up, but until then save your strength."
No one was particularly happy with that, but not even the sentries, who had ridden up by now and dismounted in a cloud of dust, could suggest anything better. Trying to put those people into Blendings would have been a waste of time they didn't have, since the pressure of the coming attack could well work against the Blendings forming. He hadn't wanted to say so out loud, but mostly it would be up to their own Blending to make sure everyone survived.
"Lorand, how close have they gotten?" Valiant asked softly, so as not to rattle their companions needlessly. "And does anyone have any idea what their attack may consist of? Our defense will be a lot more effective if we know in advance what to expect."
"They're still about fifteen minutes away from surrounding us,'' Lorand reported, staring off briefly into unseen distances. "Possibly more, if they continue to be as cautious as they're being. And as far as what they'll do goes, quite a large number of them are Earth magic users. I can tell because they're touching the power, of course, and the rest must be doing the same even though they're of different aspects."
"That obviously means they can do almost anything in attack," Rion pointed out needlessly, his arm tightly around Naran's shoulders. "They can cut the ground out from under us, pelt us with rocks and stones, possibly even drop a tree on us. What they cannot do, however, is put us to sleep or even stop the hearts of one or more of us. We should all be a good deal stronger than they are, at least individually."
"Does anyone remember hearin' anythin' about how many people of the same aspect can link up?" Valiant asked, looking through the barn to its far side. That would be the way the major part of the attack would come, once the rest of the force had them surrounded. They would attack from one side, hoping to stampede them into running— and then would stand there and let their quarry stampede into the waiting arms of the rest of their force.
"I've never heard of more than three or four trying it," Jovvi said, her voice calm but her expression fighting worry.
"Those who do try it usually only boast about it when they're drunk, assuming they mention it at all. It is very much against the law, after all."
"I'll bet it's not against the law for those guardsmen," Tamrissa said, her voice tight and angry. "They probably practice linking all the time, and know just what they can do with it. Only a few days ago I said I couldn't see myself simply killing so many innocent people, but at the time I wasn't quite picturing a hundred of them. Now, when it's a question of them or us, I certainly want it to be them. The only question I have is: can we handle that many? They won't be coming at us as a single entity."
"Not even if they link," Lorand said in agreement, sounding disturbed. "Their ability will be merged and enhanced, but they'll still be individuals. And that, I'm afraid, is how we'll probably have to handle them: as individuals."
"And since they're individuals, they're very much a danger to you," Naran said suddenly, her voice trembling. "Oh, I know that sounds silly, but I'm not explaining what I mean. I meant to say that with individuals, some of them can sneak up really close and hurt your bodies while you're Blended and fighting the rest. That's the way you lost that final competition, isn't it? Because they did something to your bodies that your Blending entity didn't notice?"
"That's exactly the way we lost the competition," Valiant said slowly, turning to look at her with new respect. "And thank you for pointin' that out, because it passed me by completely. We're so strong and capable when we're Blended, I forgot that that doesn't include our physical forms. Now I know what our companions will be doin' most durin' the fight."
"Protecting our bodies," Rion said with a loving smile for his woman as he briefly tightened the arm he had around her. "And protecting Naran at the same time. How many times does that make now, the times you've been invaluable to us, my love? I think I'm beginning to lose count."
"Of course she's invaluable to us," Jovvi said with a warm smile for the other girl. "She is one of us, after all. And that's the point at the back of my mind that I couldn't quite bring into the open, the one that's been bothering me. We do have to protect our bodies, and now that we know it, I suggest we get started. It makes very little sense just to stand here and wait for them to start the fireworks."
"I'll get the others and explain what they have to do," Lorand volunteered. "But I don't think I'll explain precisely why they're doing it. Somehow I'll feel better if they think they'll be forming up for mutual protection or something, rather than just protecting us. Am I catching whatever it was Meerk had?''
"Personally I think you're just being sensibly cautious," Naran said before Jovvi could answer, then she smiled shyly at Jovvi. "But excuse me for butting in."
"Butt in any time you like," Jovvi replied with a small, amused laugh. "You said just what I was about to, but in a much nicer way."
Lorand smiled and headed for the people in their groups, and the two women actually began to chat a bit. Valiant wondered how they could be so cool as to do that, since he himself was wound up as tight as a spring. Things would start to happen any time now, and he could never just let his mind wander....
Even though it did want to wander, and to the same subject that had been giving him such a hard time for so long. Tamrissa, the woman he would probably be best off avoiding for the rest of his life, but also the woman he couldn't get out of his head and heart. He'd come close to needing to ask someone to chain him up, just to keep him from going to her and apologizing for what he'd said. Only stubbornness had kept him away from her, and now ...
And now she'd come to him. He hadn't really believed she would ever do it, and then he hadn't believed the words coming out of his own mouth after she apologized. He'd told her the truth about how a large part of him still felt, the part that didn't want to .say to chaos with it all and then take her in his arms. All of him wanted to hold her, and show her how much he loved her, but he simply couldn't do it. That would only set the scene for the same thing happening again between them, at some time in the future. They would both be better off if he refused to allow that to happen....
"Okay, we're all set," Lorand said, pulling Valiant out of his brown study. "Our new friends will form up around us, like aspect standing near like. That way if it comes to a final defense, we won't have to have everyone running and pushing and shoving."
Lorand hadn't kept his voice down, obviously so that the people he'd brought over with him would hear and believe the explanation he'd come up with. For that reason Valiant nodded absently, as though he were hearing something he already knew, and then he looked at Jovvi.
"The five of us will probably be best off standing in a circle for this, with Naran on the inside," she said, doing no more than simply glancing at the rest of their group-mates. "That way we can all be near each other, without anyone being in the way. Are we ready to take a preliminary look around?"
Valiant added his nod to everyone else's, so the group was ready. The High talents they'd rescued were arranging themselves in a thin protective circle facing outward from their center five, the nervousness and tension of the five's "protectors" so strong that a dead man would have been able to feel it. He looked at Jovvi again and she nodded once, showing that she knew what he was thinking. Once they'd Blended, their first chore would be to calm the people they'd made responsible for the safety of their bodies. If any of those people gave way to panic, it would be all over for everyone.
Valiant felt it when Jovvi's mind reached out to him. but
that was the last individual sensation he had. The Blending came into existence so quickly that he nearly gasped, then it was no longer him alone. The entity was born again, complete and ready for the first time since it had been ended so suddenly during the final competition.
And the entity was vastly annoyed that it had been treated in so high-handed a fashion. True emotion was almost alien to it, just as it should be, but somehow it felt that what it experienced was proper. Those it sprang from were responsible for what the entity was, and arguing with what is is nothing more than foolish.
Therefore the entity got immediately to work. The first task to its immaterial hand was assuring the safety of the bodies of those it was born from, which meant calming and centering those individuals who stood about the five bodies.
The minds of the nearly two dozen people were strong, but the entity was far stronger. It did what was necessary to ensure its future safety, then it floated away to see what the approaching enemy was up to.
Floating could be fast or slow, just as it wished, and this time the entity wished speed. Those approaching life-forms, easily noticeable by the use of Earth magic, fairly shouted to the Spirit magic part of it that they meant to cause great harm. These were life-forms who cared very little about others, their major concern being only with themselves. For that reason they would do just as they were told to by their superiors, and in that way earn more than just silver. They were a specially gathered group, and had proven their value to their employers more than once.
Or so said the individual whom the entity took and questioned. The individual was one toward the back of the horde, in his mind and the minds of others the leader of the group. The man's thoughts were oddly twisted, for he very much enjoyed sending his hardened murderers against others.
"They deserve whatever is done to them," the man whispered in answer to the entity's inquiry, whispering so as not to alarm any of his men. "Those people in there, I mean. I learned the hard way not to argue with those stronger than me, and then I was put through pain and humiliation for even trying. The same lesson must be taught to those criminals, and then the next ones to come along won't even try."
—And that will keep your defeat from humiliating you even further,—the entity commented, knowing it for the truth.—But tell me now what your intentions are. Are those people to be captured, or simply put out of the way?—
"They're to be killed, «T course," the individual replied, faint surprise behind the words. "My men are aspect-linked into groups of five, which makes them stronger than anything they're likely to come across. The males will be killed at once, the females after they give pleasure to those of my force who wish it from them. When we bring back all the heads, we'll collect a bonus in gold."
—What of those like you who are ahead, in the town called Quellin?—the entity put next.—Are some of them to come and assist you if assistance is necessary?—
"We don't need their help," the individual replied with a snort of ridicule. "They're ordinary, and we're not. Besides, they want this dross for their own purposes, so we've been ordered not to let them know who we're hunting. They're in touch with Gan Garee by carrier pigeon, just as we are, but they're just supposed to hold our messages and pass them on when we get there."
—Tell me what will happen if you recall your force,— the entity directed, its thoughts rather full.—They will obey you, will they not? If you then return with them to Gan Garee—
"You have to be joking," the individual said with another snort of ridicule, actually interrupting the entity. "If I tried to call them off now, I'd be mobbed if I couldn't produce a damned good reason for doing it. Like having the Five standing next to me, rescinding the orders they gave which sent us here. Nothing less will stop them, so even the freaks among the dross will be helpless. My men can't be stopped, and they certainly can't be resisted."
So they had been told something about its five, the entity mused. Not enough to really prepare these people, but enough to bring them a small amount of caution. And yet it wasn't caution which moved them ahead so slowly, the individual explained. They fully expected their prey to know they were here by now, and their advance was leisurely rather than careful. They meant to produce terror in the victims they stalked, which they would enjoy to the full before they ended the lives of those victims.
And that, the entity decided, meant the hunters must all be destroyed. But they moved through the woods linked by fives in their various aspects, and testing the strength of one of those links showed the entity that although it had greater strength, overcoming the link would be far too time-consuming. The entity would be able to reach and stop no more than half their number before the rest attacked with full viciousness and twisted delight. Those who awaited them were stronger, but the larger number of the attackers and their positive attitude would overcome that greater strength....
The entity reflected for quite some time, nearly a full minute, before deciding to take the only possible course of action. The ploy it had decided on was amusing in a distant sort of way, but it would not be fully and totally effective. The entity itself would have to stand before the intended victims, sheltering and protecting them against those links which managed to approach too closely. Well, so be it. The fact that in battle the attacking links would have no chance against it meant nothing. Those who attacked could hardly complain when their attack was resisted.
Wasting any further time would be completely nonproductive, so the entity began to put its ploy into effect at once. Moving itself to the nearest groups of links, the entity began to convince those links that the enemy was not ahead, but advancing through the woods and fields on the far side of their position. The links had to be touched one at a time, but soon the entire group of them had turned their attention to the real enemy. And the enemy was extremely dangerous, so it had to be attacked at once.
Sounds of aspect battle erupted behind the entity as it floated swiftly back to where its own people were. Those with Earth magic tore up sections of the landscape, those with Fire magic set fire to it, those with Water magic drowned or desiccated it, and those with Air magic made breathing difficult. Only a single link had been capable of Spirit magic, and they worked to convince their enemies that resisting was unnecessary and undesirable.
The entity managed to station itself before its flesh forms just in time. The links which had circled around behind the houses on the left had no idea why battle raged on the far side of the barn, nor did they care. Their objective lay before them, and they clearly believed that those who actually attained it would surely be rewarded while the others might be penalized instead. So they came ahead, and suddenly four of the five aspects were attacking at once.
Those who protected the entity's flesh forms were ordered to link, which produced a protective wall of sorts consisting of all of the aspects. This ... separation of the aspects disturbed the entity in some strange and unexplained way, but there was scarcely time to dwell on the matter. Defense does nothing to halt an attack, and halting it was the only thing which would save them all. Therefore the entity moved forward, and began to oppose what was being sent. Countering each aspect separately was obviously a poor tactic, so the entity used a more effective ploy. The wall of flame produced by the Fire link was redirected toward the Earth link, which quickly eliminated the Earth link. The envelope of airlessness from the Air link was forced around those with Fire magic, and they clawed at their throats and died while those with Water magic produced the globes of water which began to drown those with Air magic. That left those with Water magic to be seen to, and the entity didn't hesitate.
Removing all the moisture from the bodies of those men allowed them to scream only briefly before they were no longer able to scream. Then the powdered remains of their former bodies sifted down to the ground, and that part of the attack was over.
But only that part. More than half the attacking force fought against itself and another segment had just been wiped ou
t, but that still left the final portion of the hunters. Another four link groups came from behind the houses on the right, and they, too, cared nothing about the battle going on in the distance. The idea of gaining an advantage over their fellows brought them eagerly forward, ready to destroy anything in their path to success.
And as they advanced the entity paused for a moment, assessing its own strength—which suddenly seemed much less than it had been. Quite a lot of effort had been expended, and its automatic reaching for more of the power was halted in mid stride, so to speak. To take in more of the power was certainly possible, but for some reason was less than desirable. Could it be ... was it possible ... Yes, that was it. The strain on its flesh forms had been too great, and if the entity took in more of the power it would simply damage its own components, possibly beyond repair.
And that realization left the entity in something of a quandary. The coming attack needed to be countered if its group was to survive, and yet a counterattack could well cause the destruction of its flesh forms. One choice was equally as bad as the other, and yet one of them must be accepted. There were no other choices ... it seemed as though there were no other choices . . . Wait, a faint and distant memory ... Not its memory, and yet available and unmistakably relevant. Yes, that was what had to be done!
With the speed of thought, the entity gathered in the linked talents ranged about its flesh forms. Those talents tapped the raw power directly, and the entity tapped them. It was the third choice it had been seeking, a way to gain strength without endangering itself. And what strength! Linked High talents, all pouring their ability and mettle into the entity, who knew exactly what to do with the gifts.
The four attacking links, poor, pitiful creatures that they were, died together almost in mid stride. Their hearts were stopped, their lungs denied air, their flesh denied moisture, and their remains vaporized in a funeral pyre so intense that to look upon it was to lose bodily vision for a time. In the next heartbeat the entity turned that incredible ferocity on the rest of the attacking force, touching those who still lived and snuffing out those lives. The last to die was the leader of the horde, ending his howl of agony at the realization that his irresistible force had been defeated.