by Sharon Green
"Yes, very," Meerk agreed dryly. "And what about your intentions?"
"Obviously I meant to follow you back to this camp," Sord continued with the smirk increased. "At that point I meant to decide whether to return to Quellin to get help to take all of you, or to do the thing myself. I'm really very strong in Spirit magic, and I've learned how to make most people do everything I want them to. But quietly, of course, so no one gets suspicious."
"And that's how you got to be so important," Jovvi said with a sound of disdain. "By manipulating people, instead of earning what you were given. Yes, I can believe you come from nobility stock. That's exactly the way they do it."
"Well, why shouldn't I?" Sord countered calmly. "And for that matter, why shouldn't they? We have exactly what we want, while you people have nothing—and you won't have even that much once we get through with you. It's fairly obvious that our way is better than yours."
"You should have used the word 'simple' somewhere in there, because that's what your outlook is," Jovvi returned at once. "When you get what you want using unfair means, you do two things at once: first, you admit to the world that you're too incompetent to get those things fairly, and second, you encourage those who are better than you to use the same means to defend themselves. The result of that second point is that you lose what you should never have had in the first place, so you find yourself regretting the loss for the rest of your life. And you will lose it, you have my word on that."
All traces of the smirk had vanished from Sord's face by then, replaced by a look of uncertainty that Lorand was able to understand. It hadn't been possible to doubt Jovvi, who seemed furious because the man had Spirit magic. Lorand understood that as well, not to mention a third thing: with both Tamrissa and Jovvi as angry as they were, he would not have wanted to be on the receiving end of their next Blending efforts himself!
Thirty-eight
By the time they had all the information the man Sord could give, Valiant felt almost as tired as physical labor would have made him. Somehow Sord was actually resisting the commands he'd been given by their Blending entity, not completely but enough so that they'd had to be very careful with the questions they put and the answers they'd been given. If no one pressed the point, Sord ignored certain questions and gave less than full answers to others. They'd had to constantly repeat the demand that he tell all he knew about something, otherwise the man would have held back on half of what they needed to know.
"Now that was a workout," Jovvi said as she pushed back her hair with both hands. "I had no idea it would work like that, but obviously it does."
"You had no idea what would work like what?" Tamrissa asked, looking just as draggled. "And I still think we would have avoided a lot of that if you'd have let me ... persuade him a bit."
"You could have fried him for breakfast for all of me, but it wouldn't have done any good, Tamma," Jovvi said with a sigh. "The man is a conscienceless liar, meaning that he says anything he pleases or has to in order to get what he wants. It doesn't bother him the least bit when he lies, because it's so much a part of his nature. His true self and feelings are always in reserve, so to speak, and that's why he's partially able to resist the order we gave. It isn't in him to be completely truthful."
"Unless he's forced to it, the way we did it," Valiant said with a weary nod. "Do you think he's still holdin' somethin' back?"
She turned to look at Sord, where he now sat leaning against a tree, and slowly shook her head.
"No, he's too unhappy and downright distressed to have held anything back," she decided. "If he'd been able to slide over or ignore even one item we need, he would be feeling fulfilled and satisfied. It seems to be part of his very essence to keep the truth to himself and from the world."
"That sounds like someone who's had nothing but pain and betrayal all his life," Lorand commented, also studying Sord. "Or someone who's always been desperately lonely. But that has nothing to do with what we're here for. Do we really have a chance against them, Alsin?"
"More than a chance, I'd say," Meerk replied, sounding and looking thoughtful. "They have about three hundred and fifty men to defend the stockade, men who have trained in link-groups. They also have their captive Highs, who will have long since been given the Puredan. If we can somehow eliminate the threat of the Highs, we might be able to take out the rest of them piecemeal."
"But not without their noticing," Rion pointed out. "What good will it do to drop groups of them in their tracks, if the rest are left awake and alert and able to harm the very people we've come to rescue?"
"They won't do anything to their captives except as a last resort," Meerk assured him soberly. "They'll want to use the ability of the Highs, remember, which they can't do if they kill them. And since we have the advantage of surprise on our side, it would be foolish not to use it. No one will notice if their friend or coworker is put down if they themselves are asleep for the night."
"And that way we can take care of them a few at a time!" Lorand exclaimed, obviously pleased with the idea. "Once that's done Sord opens the gate and lets us in, and the stockade is ours without the least amount of fuss."
"Don't you believe it," Meerk disagreed, but with a sigh. "Only rarely do things work out the way they're supposed to in war, all the books agree on that. And if you think this isn't war, you're in for a nasty surprise."
"I'm hopin' that they're the ones who will get the surprise," Valiant said when Lorand simply nodded wry capitulation. "If Pagin Holter and his Blendin' are still in the stockade, they won't be under the influence of the Puredan. That means they'll be free to help us, which ought to make things go more smoothly."
"Only if they are still there," Meerk felt it necessary to point out, then he stretched widely. "I'm going to see if Lidris will fix me something to eat, and then I'll sit down and begin to sketch out the moves we'll be making. And you'll all have to decide if we're going tonight, or if there's a reason you want to wait. If you're thinking about waiting, please bear in mind that we're rapidly running out of time."
None of them really had to be reminded of that, least of all Valiant. He knew there were scores or hundreds of guardsmen who were on their way from Gan Garee to search for them, and only the constant checking the Blending did let him fall asleep at night. But he didn't sleep well or soundly, not the way he used to. It would take that horror being completely over to return him to his old habits, and that would be ... how long?
"Don't worry, everything will work just the way it's supposed to," a voice said, drawing him out of distraction. All the others had gone with Meerk to the cooking fire, all except—
"Tamrissa, you—startled me," Valiant said, to cover the way he'd jumped when he'd realized it was she. The woman was slowly turning him into a nervous wreck, or maybe not so slowly. She never actually did or said anything out of the way, but her new habit of smiling and complimenting him made him feel like a calf being fattened for slaughter. And the way she looked at him ... She seemed to be trying to decide which garnish would go best with his coloring.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized at once, another new thing she'd taken to doing. "I didn't realize I was sneaking up on you, not since I approached you directly. Have you decided yet which side of the question you're on? The one about attacking immediately or waiting, I mean."
"I'm for movin' as soon as possible," he replied, feeling the definite urge to take a big step backward. She'd come up so close to him, and although he really meant to keep his word about not becoming involved with her again, being this close to her made it damned hard. Somehow her hair still smelled faintly of wildflowers, and he kept picturing himself burying his face in it...
"Yes, I agree," she said, now sounding as though she'd soberly considered the matter. "The longer we wait, the more of a chance there is that we'll be interrupted by the new group of guardsmen. Or that something will go wrong, and the people in the stockade will be warned. I'm fairly certain that everyone else also feels the same,
so does that mean we'll be doing it tonight?"
"I would say so, yes," he allowed, now fighting the urge to loosen his collar. The fact that he wore an open shirt meant nothing; he definitely needed to loosen his collar. "And since we probably will be doin' it tonight, you might want to get a nap now while you can. Once we start, we'll need all our strength to finish it on our terms."
"That's an excellent suggestion, so I think I'll accept it," she said lightly, giving him nothing of the argument he'd expected. "I'm really glad that you've taken charge of things. You do it so ... well. We'll speak again later."
Those beautiful eyes of hers held to his almost longer than Valiant could stand, but then she swung away and strolled off—and he actually took one step after her before finding it possible to bring himself up short. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn the woman had found a new kind of magic, a kind he seemed to be helpless against. She'd really begun to frighten him, but strangely enough the fright itself was somehow a draw rather than an aversion. What in the name of chaos was she doing to him ... ?
Valiant couldn't answer that, but then he saw something that drove the question out of his mind. As Tamrissa moved along past the cooking fire, Meerk left it to intercept her. He stopped her and said something, and then he handed her a tiny bunch of flowers. She said something in return and left the man, but she still took the flowers. And the way Meerk stared after her... If that had been nothing but casual conversation, Valiant was a cross-eyed sea monster.
Instant, towering anger filled Valiant's mind, pure emotion with nothing of calm, rational thought behind it. He'd known all along that Meerk was more than slightly interested in Tamrissa, but until now the man hadn't done anything overt to show it. Obviously that had changed, and Valiant discovered that he didn't care for it one little bit. Even though there was no longer anything between him and Tamrissa. ..
"At the moment," he growled under his breath, watching Meerk return to the fire to accept a plate of food from Lidris. "If she does come around to wantin' the same thing I do in the same way, that's goin' to change really fast. And since it can happen at any time, I'll have to be sayin' somethin' to Dom Meerk...."
But not now. Valiant blew out a breath of exasperation, but the decision had to stand. Making an issue of the man's actions toward Tamrissa just before they attacked the stockade would be stupid, an act that would affect everyone there. He'd have to wait until the trouble and danger were behind them, but then he'd take Meerk aside. And maybe even speak to Tamrissa on his own behalf. But no, he couldn't do-that. Saying anything at all to Tamrissa would probably turn her even more strange than she was right now, and Valiant simply didn't have the nerve to face that possibility. If anything real was to develop between them, they couldn't rush a relationship again....
Taking a very deep breath helped Valiant only a little, but that little allowed him to walk toward where Jovvi and Lorand and Rion and Naran stood while pretending nothing had happened. They had to make a decision about tonight, and if they were agreed they all needed to nap the way Tamrissa was already on the way to doing. It took only a minute or two to discover that the others did agree, and that included a worried but definite Naran. She held tightly to Rion's hand while stressing how much danger there would be for them, but was forced to admit that they had no other choice.
So, with no other choice, they gave Meerk their decision to pass on to everyone else, then they went to take their naps—after stopping near Tamrissa's area and Blending again. There continued to be nothing but usual signs of life as far as the Blending entity could reach, but right at the edge of its perception, toward Gan Garee, there was something like a roiling smudge....
"That's going to turn out to be the next stage of pursuit," Jovvi guessed once they had withdrawn from the Blending. "Coming from the city, it's hardly likely to be anything else."
"And at most they're two days' travel away," Lorand said in agreement. "Two days under normal circumstances, but they're not likely to be taking their time. They're probably pushing their mounts and allowing only minimal time for sleep and rest, which means they could be here in as little as another day and a half—or less."
"Which means our decision was a sound one," Rion added his own agreement. "We must strike now, while we can, but what will we do then? Leave this area as quickly as possible, or stay and face the pursuit?"
"I'm for staying," Tamrissa said, but thoughtfully rather than belligerently. "If we leave they'll just continue to follow us, and then we'll have to worry that they might catch up to us at the worst time possible. Taking care of them here and now is a much better idea."
"That all depends on what kind of shape we're in after takin' the stockade," Valiant pointed out as most of the group nodded to what Tamrissa had said. "That pursuit won't have just a few men in it, so we'll have to wait and see. But if we are forced to run, we'd better spend some time decidin' on where to go."
"There won't be a whole lot of choice in that," Lorand said, row looking troubled. "I've never been to this particular area before, but I know about it because it isn't far from where I used to live. This road heads west again in a couple of miles, and after that about three days' normal travel takes you to the border with Astinda. Is that someplace we really want to go?"
"When we're likely to run into the army trying to take Astinda?" Jovvi said, making a small sound of gentle ridicule. "I really don't think so, my dear. But since you're the only one who knows this area, why don't you mull over where we can go. We can all discuss your suggestions once we've taken the stockade."
"Maybe one or two of the captives we free will have a suggestion as well," Naran ventured, sweetly eager to be part of the discussion. "But in any event, we'll have to consider how fast we can all travel in so large a group. Because most of those captives will want to stay with us, I know they will."
Everyone nodded absently, knowing that that aspect of the logistics would play an important part in their planning, and then they separated to get what rest they could. For Valiant it wouldn't have been much, not when there were so many things for him to think about, but once again Jovvi came to their rescue. This time she linked with Lorand to help them all get to sleep, the last realization Valiant had before consciousness faded.
Valiant awoke again at sundown, and after washing the sleep out of his eyes he discovered that just about everyone in camp had also slept. They all felt strong and rested, and as Valiant walked among their companions he learned from their conversations and comments that they were eager to get to the attack. They all expected their small group to win against the defenders of the stockade, but Valiant wasn't quite as uncritically certain. Too many things could go wrong, no matter how well they planned and prepared....
Lidris had made an excellent meal around the deer one of the Earth magic people had caught, and everyone ate well while being bathed in the general atmosphere of assured excitement. Meerk seemed more ... suppressed than usual, Valiant felt, the man apparently wrapped up in his thoughts to the point where he didn't even seem to notice Tamrissa. Most likely he was immersed in going over the plans he'd made, checking and rechecking them for flaws.
After the meal, Meerk got up and began to tell them what he'd worked out. They would send Sord back to the stockade as late as possible, under orders, of course, to say nothing about what had happened to him. After that they would wait for everyone to go to bed and fall deeply asleep, then they would put the gate sentries to sleep forcibly. Sord would then let them into the stockade, and they would find the commandant and have the man tell them the new keying phrase used on the captive Highs. After that the Highs could be freed and taken out of the stockade, with no one the wiser. Anyone waking up or stumbling across them would be put to sleep by the Blending or their linked Highs in Earth or Spirit magic, and their aim would be achieved without the least fuss or fury.
A small number of people in the group seemed disappointed that there would be no real attack against the
stockade, but the rest took to the idea at once. Valiant saw that Meerk had no real concept of what the Blending could do or at what distance from its objective, but there was no need to go into that kind of detail at the moment. He exchanged glances with his Blendingmates, knowing from their wry expressions that they knew and felt the same. They would have to explain matters to Meerk more clearly, but there was time for that later, once their "attack" was under way.
They waited until full dark before they released the man Sord, who assured them that he would return to the stockade in plenty of time to be admitted for the night. Fifteen minutes after Sord left, the rest of them followed him onto the road. They would find a place to wait right outside the fringes of Quellin, and would therefore be close enough to notice any alarms raised or any furor there shouldn't be. Only horses were used by their group, which meant a number of the ladies among them—and two of the men—received their first lessons in riding.
Experienced riders were paired with the novices, and Valiant discovered that Meerk had assigned himself to look after Tamrissa. Once again Valiant wanted to protest, but once again he had to bite his tongue. Meerk did know more about riding than Valiant did, and Valiant wanted Tamrissa to have he best instruction possible. The two conflicting desires, wanting Tamrissa to have the best and wanting to be the one to supply that best, set Valiant into a foul mood he had to fight to overcome.
It took the entire ride to the outskirts of Quellin for Valiant to push away rumbling anger and stomach-upsetting indecision. It occurred to him that he might be wrong in believing that Tamrissa wasn't ready for a real relationship yet, so he decided to speak to her after the rescue and find out for certain. If he had to continue on with his thoughts driving him crazy, he would certainly negate any benefit his ability brought to the group.
Lorand and the other Earth magic users found an abandoned shack beyond the town that was just large enough to shield the group's presence from the road. The darkness was deep and complete enough, but the moon was almost full and it was a clear night. One glimmer of light from the harness of just one of their horses could betray them, Meerk had pointed out, if the wrong people came up the road at the wrong time. There was no sense in taking that sort of chance, so they hid the horses behind the shack and then got down to it.