by Sharon Green
"You needn't speak the words aloud," Edmin said at once, deliberately glancing around. "Too often the walls have ears, and we would not want this particular subject to get out. Don't worry, Father, your enemies are my enemies, and I've already begun to look into a way to solve your biggest problem."
"My son," Embisson managed to get out, holding out his hand so that Edmin might grasp it in both of his. Pride choked him so badly that he was quite unable to speak, but as his son had said, words were unnecessary. They still thought so very much alike, that Edmin had already begun what Embisson had hesitated to ask of him.
Embisson smiled, pleased and satisfied. Edmin was incredibly good at making plans and seeing them to fruition, at times being even more inventive than his father. Once he felt better Embisson would add his own expertise to the matter, and then, hopefully, the new Seated Five would no longer be in a position to give trouble to anyone!
Eltrina Razas moaned softly, the pain in her wrists so great that it nearly overcame the rest of the pain of her body. Her wrists were fastened with rough rope which was anchored to the wall above the pallet she lay on, a position she'd been in for at least three hours. This was Grail's latest effort in his campaign to punish and humiliate her, and the fact that the pallet had been put in the main sitting room of the house—with her being absolutely naked on it—made the effort a successful one.
"Ah, there she is," Grail's voice came suddenly as he entered the room. "For once right where she's supposed to be. I hadn't realized that regular whippings did so well with a woman, or I would have begun the practice a good deal sooner."
"You should have asked me," another male voice replied lightly, one Eltrina didn't recognize. "I've always disciplined my wife on a regular basis, and for that reason have never had a moment's trouble with her."
The two men came to stare down at Eltrina where she lay, and she couldn't keep from flinching when she saw that Grail carried the switch he'd been using on her so often lately. Her entire body ached from the beatings, but none of them had been so bad that she was in danger of dying from it. Unfortunately. The thought of death had frightened her at one time, but now she knew there really were things a good deal worse.
"You've never met her, I know," Grail continued to his male companion, "but I'm sure you understand that I'm no longer introducing her to people. She's here to keep me amused in various ways while I struggle to keep what she nearly caused me to lose, and I'm making appreciable headway. If the Five don't end up taking her life to pay for her stupidity, that's all she'll ever be allowed to do for the rest of that life. What do you think?"
"You were completely correct," the stranger, a tall, lean, handsome man, said as he stared down at her. "She does have a fairly good body and a certain appeal, so I'll be pleased to accept your offer. Would you like to remain?''
"If you don't mind," Grail answered with a smile, one which made Eltrina's heart beat harder with sudden fear. "This is the first time I'm requiring this of her, and I'd like to see her reaction to it."
"Then let's by all means elicit that reaction," the stranger said with his own smile, and then it started. He knelt and began to make free with her body, which caused her pain as well as blazing humiliation. She wasn't able to respond to him, not with the way she felt, but that was clearly of no concern to him. After a few moments of toying with her breasts and poking at her womanhood, he opened his trousers and took her use. She screamed when he forced himself into her, struggling to escape such debasing insult, but the effort was useless. He had his way with her to pleasurable completion, and all the while Grail stood there watching and chuckling.
"That was rather entertaining, and I thank you for the opportunity to indulge," the stranger said to Grail once he had finished and was again on his feet "What did you think of her reactions?"
"They came as no surprise," Grail said, disgust clear in his voice even as he avoided looking at her. "She had no desire to squirm for you, but you caused her to do so anyway. She's nothing but a slut, and fit for nothing but serving men on her back—which she'll begin to do more frequently now."
"You sound as though you have definite plans," the stranger commented with faint curiosity. "Plans beyond simply offering her to a chance business acquaintance."
"I do," Grail replied with that same smile as he put a hand to the stranger's arm, urging the man to walk with him. "There are a large number of men in my employ in just this house alone, and I mean to make her available to all of them. I've been taking my own entertainment elsewhere for quite some time, so there's no reason not to return to that practice. Having her knees spread so often should please her, considering what her habits were...."
Grail's voice trailed off as the two men left the room, but Eltrina was already weeping silently. He hadn't just been threatening, she knew; her own husband was actually going to let their servants do as they pleased with her! The peasants would be using her, not the other way about, and the shame of it would come close to killing her. But Grail would make sure she survived, to be certain that she continued to be punished.
Sobs racked Eltrina's aching body, but even as they did, her mind raged against what was being done to her. It wasn't fair, not any of it, especially not when she'd been so close to being rid of Grail forever! It was all the fault of those filthy peasants, but even if they were caught she would have no chance to wreak her vengeance on them. She was a prisoner, a slave to the man she detested the most....
So she'd have to find a way to do something about that. Her sobs eased off a bit as the decision was made, a decision she had no idea how she would implement. But she would find a way, by the Highest Aspect she would find a way, and then ... !
Thirty-five
When Jovvi withdrew from the Blending, she staggered and nearly fell. Only Lorand's arm coming around her shoulders as fast as thought kept her on her feet, and it was clear that Lorand was in the midst of having his own trouble standing. As was Rion, and Tamma, and even Valiant. It felt just like the time of that very first test....
"I'm not sure I understand what happened," Lorand said, sounding as tired as Jovvi felt. "And for that matter, I'm not sure I want to understand."
"What happened to them all?" Tamma asked in a whisper, clinging automatically to a Valiant who had stepped closer to hold her erect. "One minute they were there and alive, and the next—And why did the same thing have to be done to their horses?"
"We obviously wanted to remove all traces of them," Valiant said, his own mind a bit numb with shock. "What's gettin' me is the fact that nothin' else is damaged or burned. It's as though we pointed at them and they simply disappeared."
"Why should anything else be damaged or burned?" Tamma asked, and Jovvi could tell that the girl was still in shock. "I never burn anything by accident, only the things I want to—"
"No, Tamma, it wasn't your doing alone," Jovvi said quickly when Tamma's words abruptly ended with a sob. "It was just your ability which was used. It hurts to admit it, but the decision to do it came from all of us."
"Yes, it must have," Rion agreed quickly, Lorand and Valiant joining his agreement. "No one of us directs the entity, after all, so the blame—or credit—belongs to us all. And there is surely credit as well as blame, since we and these other people are no longer in danger of being murdered. Which would have happened if we hadn't stopped those guardsmen."
"It was a very real possibility," Naran agreed gently from the circle of Rion's arms, gazing at Tamma with compassion. "There were so many of them that there was always the possibility that your Blending would find it impossible to defend us. And if you'd gone down, the rest of us would have quickly followed you."
"Speaking of the rest of us, what's wrong with those people?" Lorand asked, looking around at the former captives, who still stood in a protective ring around them. "The attack is completely over, but they haven't moved or relaxed in any way."
"Oh, dear," Jovvi said, knowing immediately what was wrong. "The e
ntity set them to defend our bodies, but we dissolved the Blending without canceling that order. And it has to be canceled, or they'll defend us from now on for the rest of their lives."
"Well, I don't know about you, but I don't have the strength left to Blend again," Lorand said with a sigh. "What I need to do is collapse and sleep, and then maybe I'll be able to function again. You can't bring them back to normal alone?"
"Not even if I weren't half-dead," Jovvi admitted ruefully. "And you're not the only one who can't Blend again right now. So what will we do? Leave these poor people to stand here guarding an empty circle?''
"What other choice do we have?" Valiant asked, adding a sigh of his own. "I'll be joinin' Lorand in that collapsin' business, and the sooner the better. We'll have to apologize to them later, but right now we need to sleep."
"I don't, so I'll be glad to keep an eye on them," Naran offered with a smile. "That is, if all of you don't mind."
"You really are a lifesaver, Naran," Jovvi said with as good a smile as she was able to manage, patting the girl's arm as she began to make her way toward the barn. "I'm going to lie down now, and if anything happens you can wake me up. Later I'll thank you in more detail."
Everyone agreed with that as they also began to make their way through the ranked ex-captives, but then an odd thing happened. The people who had been ranged around them outside the barn didn't hesitate to follow, and when Jovvi and the others reached their stall, it became surrounded.
"It looks like we're going to be safe while we sleep," Tamma said, still extremely disturbed but beginning to pull out of it. "And if anyone cares, I'm glad we are."
"Take my word that all the rest of us feel exactly the same," Jovvi assured her as she moved toward her blanket-bed. "It will hopefully save us some bad dreams."
None of them took their time lying down, not when they were so very drained, but Valiant took a moment to pull his blankets closer to Tamma's. That was because Tamma had released him only reluctantly, Jovvi knew, and he obviously knew it as well. Well, that was a step in the right direction, she thought before falling asleep still holding Lorand's hand.
When Jovvi awoke again, she and Tamma were the only ones left in the stall, and Tamma was already awake. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, feeling decently rested, and then heard Tamma stir a bit.
"Naran was here a couple of minutes ago," Tamma informed her, happily sounding more like her usual self. "She said we've been asleep about six hours, which leads me to believe that we're a lot stronger than we used to be. The men woke up a short while before us, probably because their talents weren't used as much as ours by the entity, and three-fifths of our guard force went with them when they left. Our three groupmates are right now in the midst of making something for all of us to eat, and I have a problem."
"What sort of problem?" Jovvi asked at once, turning to
look at her. "Your mind feels perfectly normal and strong, and—Oh."
"Yes, oh," Tamma agreed glumly, still looking at Valiant's blankets, which had been moved back to where they'd been originally. "He wouldn't have bothered with those blankets if he hadn't been trying to send me a message, but it's not one I want to hear. When we came out of the Blending I was absolutely shredded, and he didn't hesitate to be there for me. Now he's gone back to keeping his distance until, I suppose, the 'inner me' wants the same thing as the outer. How do I convince him that that's already happened?"
"What's wrong with simply telling him?" Jovvi ventured, privately deciding that being attacked again by guardsmen would probably be safer than getting in the middle between Tamma and Valiant. "He does speak the language, after all, and that's probably all he's waiting for."
"Take another look at those blankets, and then say that," Tamma disagreed with a headshake, raising her skirt-covered knees a bit so that she might circle them with her arms. "He's obviously announced that he wants to be convinced, and the way I tried earlier—sort of—yelling—didn't do the job. But he got me so angry when he insisted he didn't believe I meant what I said."
"That sounds like a woman's objection," Jovvi commented, faintly amused. "It's usually the woman who doesn't believe that the man's intentions are honorable, especially if they've already been intimate. You ought to know yourself how hard that is to get around, since that's the treatment you gave Valiant in the beginning. In order to counter it, he had to—Hey, maybe that's it!"
"What's it?" Tamma asked, looking as wide-eyed and happily expectant as a trusting child. "You've thought of something I can do?"
"Ah ... maybe," Jovvi hedged, suddenly seeing all the possible ramifications. "In order to get around your doubt, Valiant had to actively court you. Do you think . . . that would work the other way around?"
"You're telling me to court him?" Tamma asked, now looking at her blankly. "How am I supposed to do that? What do I know about courting someone?''
"Well, you know what you would like, so why can't you reverse that?" Jovvi said, beginning to warm to the subject. "Even if it turns out to be something other than what he wants, at least it's something to do. Aside from 'yelling' and giving up entirely."
"Well, I won't give up," she muttered, "at least not until I've made some effort, so I might as well start with this one. If it doesn't work, we can always try to think of something else."
That "we" made Jovvi wince a bit, but outwardly all she did was smile encouragingly and nod. If you thought of something for people to do and it didn't work, all too often you were the one who was blamed for the failure. But Tamma was closer even than a blood relation, and hopefully would not be that narrowminded. In any event, Jovvi did want to do all she could for Tamma and Valiant... as long as they continued to consider it help rather than interference. ...
Jovvi got to her feet at that point with Tamma doing the same, and the two of them left the stall and then the barn. Their protectors followed along behind, like so many flesh puppets on attached strings, and that really disturbed Jovvi. No one should be made to behave like that, but at the time their Blending entity knew it was necessary. Now, happily, it no longer was.
"Excuse me, but what's going on?" a voice asked as Jovvi and Tamma approached the barn exit. They turned to see Alsin Meerk coming out of the stall where Jovvi had worked with him, and the man looked terribly confused and a bit uncertain.
"It's all right, Alsin," Jovvi said at once, reaching out with her ability to soothe his confusion. "While you were healing, the guardsmen following us attacked. With the help of the others we were able to defend ourselves, but it took all the strength we had. We needed to sleep for a while, and now that we have we can finish up what we couldn't do earlier."
"We were attacked?" Alsin echoed, self-annoyance clear in his voice as he walked along with them. "And I wasn't there to help even a little? Isn't it a lucky thing I came along with you."
"It is a lucky thing, which you'll find out as soon as we begin to pester you for planning," Tamma told him, her tone sure and firm. "Everything isn't over, it's only just starting."
"Don't forget that we'll be going on to Quellin after this," Jovvi added to clarify the matter. "They weren't told what our attackers were up to, so hopefully they won't be expecting us. Does that make things easier for you?"
"It should, but it isn't wise to count on that sort of edge," Alsin replied, now sounding thoughtful. "People learn about things they aren't supposed to know all the time, and there's no reason to believe that those in Quellin are any different. We'll plan a surprise attack just in case it does turn out to be a surprise, but we'll make sure it's something that will work even if it's expected."
"That sounds good," Tamma said warmly, then turned her attention to something Jovvi had already noticed—and was salivating over. "I'm starving, and that chicken smells delicious. Let's take care of that little chore we couldn't do earlier, and then dig in."
Jovvi agreed completely, and since they'd left the barn and the men had seen them, she was able to initiate the Blending
. The entity came into being briefly, removed the protection command from the ex-captives—after telling them that their behavior had been perfectly normal—and then Jovvi was back to being an individual again. Almost everyone around them was stretching and chuckling and delighting in the idea of being safe again, including the man Lidris. He, however, hadn't simply been standing around, and Lorand came over to explain what he had been doing.
"Obviously, the idea of blanket protection covers a lot of territory," Lorand said after giving her a brief but very sweet kiss. "Lidris was in the group which came with us, and when he saw that we meant to cook for ourselves, he immediately pushed forward and took over. To keep us from poisoning ourselves, is my guess."
"I'd have to agree, and I'm duly grateful," Jovvi said with a small laugh. "I haven't had much experience with cooking, and I get the impression that Tamma is in the same position. That makes five of us in the group who can't cook, and maybe even six if Naran shares our lack. Do you think there's some honorable way we can keep Lidris from ever leaving us?"
"I'm fully prepared to try begging," Lorand suggested with a grin, leading her closer to the cooking fire with an arm around her shoulders. "Maybe if Rion and Valiant and I beg while you and Tamrissa cry ... No, making someone feel guilty isn't really what can be considered honorable. We'll have to put some thought into it."
Jovvi nodded her agreement, but most of her attention was on the serving of fried chicken Lidris now handed to her. He had a similar plate filled for Tamma, along with fried potatoes mixed with green beans. Jovvi had no idea how Lidris had managed to collect all that food, but that didn't keep her from immediately falling on it and devouring it to the last crumb.