by Sharon Green
"You should tell everyone what a front is," Alsin said, looking around at us. "And then I'd like to hear what we're supposed to do when we get there."
Valiant made the explanations while I, at least, considered my decision, and by the time he was through I'd come to the only conclusion I could.
"So that means we have to go and try to free their 'segments,' " I said while Alsin sat there looking thoughtful. "We can hope that it won't be the same as it was here, since there isn't likely to be all that pent-up rage inside the captives. Unless I've gotten the wrong impression, they'll be spending their rage on those poor, helpless people in Astinda."
"If they're so poor and helpless, why do the commanders of our own forces need so many more segments?" Rion asked, looking disturbed. "That man told us that the war was suddenly going badly, which means our own people are being defeated. Is walking into the middle of that the wisest course of action?"
"It's either that or try to reach the same organization going up against the people of Gracely," Lorand answered for the rest of us. "They've only been at it for a year in Gracely, but these people have been at it for three and now they're losing. Which group do you think will be more likely to notice our arrival, the ones still winning, or the ones losing?"
"Point taken," Rion conceded, holding up one hand. "Going against an alert, well-organized force would be asinine, not to mention too time consuming. We could end up surrounded by pursuers in all directions before we came within twenty miles of the place."
"I agree," Jovvi said, also straightening in her chair. "We have only one place to go and one thing to do, so now we can ask who means to go with us. If the answer is everyone, we really should replenish our supplies from what they have stored in the stockade. They certainly don't need them any longer."
Our companions were quick to assure us that they meant to continue in our company, but I think that was only because they experienced nothing of what had happened in the stockade. They still felt safe with us, but I wasn't absolutely sure that I did. We should have had complete control over our Blending entity, but now ... Instead of acting the saviors, were we turning something horrible loose on the world?
I nearly refused to Blend again in order to transfer the supplies, but everything went smoothly. The entity found the stockade's stores and used Air magic to lift and transfer what we wanted, drawing heavily on the power of our companions when our own began to be drained. After we separated we were tired but not exhausted, though Jovvi still looked troubled.
"I couldn't help noticing that there were two people still left alive in the stockade," she said when Lorand put an arm around her shoulders and asked what was bothering her. "One was that commandant man, and his Low talent wasn't enough to shield him from all that raw power everyone used. He's now a drooling idiot, but the second survivor isn't the same. That man Sord is badly hurt, but his mind is still intact."
"He's hurt because they tortured him," I said, knowing it for a fact. "I also noticed him, but there's nothing we can do for him. He isn't to be trusted even if we keep him under control, which is why the entity released control of both men. But didn't we heal him just a little?"
"Yes, enough so that he won't have any trouble surviving until those guardsmen get here," Lorand confirmed. "Since it's undeniably our fault that he was tortured to begin with, there was nothing else we could do. But you're right about our not being able to take him with us, even if he is a really strong Middle talent."
"Assumin' we get to where we're goin' soon enough, we ought to have all the Middle and High talents we need," Valiant said, standing up to stretch. "I'm hopin' Lidris has a meal ready for us, and after I eat I'm gettin' some sleep. We need to be out of here before sunup tomorrow, but until then there are real beds waitin' to be used."
There wasn't anyone in the house foolish enough to argue with those suggestions, and we actually all ended up with our own rooms. Some of us doubled up deliberately, of course, but by using fast footwork I was able to keep Alsin from proposing that he share my quarters. I'd been careful to treat him with nothing more than pleasant friendliness, but the deliberate distance I'd evoked was being ignored by him. The man really was persistent....
I sighed as I looked around the room I'd chosen, seeing the small sitting area to one side of the sleeping chamber. I was tired but not yet ready to get into bed, so I went to the sitting area and took a chair near a small, beautifully carved desk. Since as a child I'd been forbidden to go near my father's desk, that particular piece of furniture had always held a special appeal for me. Hidden treasures, forbidden delights, illicit marvels ... I had to open the drawers, just to see what was inside.
The desk held nothing but a large, ledger-sized book bound in leather, filled completely with blank pages. There were also pens and many inkstones, as though someone had intended to do a lot of writing at some time. I began to put the ledger back into the desk, conceiving of no immediate use for it, then I changed my mind and took the inkstones and pens out as well. Having something to write in—or on, if we tore out a page or two—might well come in handy, and we also needed to search that house for clothes. My own outfit was threatening to become threadbare at any moment, and the others' couldn't be in much better condition.
Tomorrow, before we left, we could do the necessary searching, and once we brought the supply wagon up to the house, I'd make sure to include the ledger and ink and pens in what was loaded. Why, one of our people might even want to write an account of what had happened to us....
Forty-one
Lorand rode slowly back to where the others were camped, trying to rid himself of the picture of devastation and ruin that he'd just encountered. It had taken them a bit more than four days to reach that part of Astinda, and they'd all been appalled at what they'd found. Destruction and ruin in all directions, including the pretty little town he remembered his father taking them to when he was still a boy. It had been a meeting of border farmers from both countries, and those attending had been encouraged to bring their families. The people of that town had fed and housed them and made them feel like welcome neighbors, and they'd all been sorry to leave.
And now nothing was left of that town, not buildings and certainly not people. Fire had touched everything there, and not particularly recently. What hadn't been burned was ruined by being exposed to the elements, and the soil had an odd ... taste/smell to it. Something like that heavy black semiliquid they'd made him use his talent to scatter around during the qualification tests. It had soaked into the soil and ruined the ground for crops, and only a lot of mind-breaking work with Earth magic at some future time would ever make that land viable again.
"And this was done by those who are supposed to be my people," Lorand muttered, wavering between crying like a child and screaming out his rage as his talent sought enemies to destroy. "They wanted this land so they killed those who already occupied it, and why not? Haven't they done the same to enough people in their own country?"
Lorand's mount moved skittishly, unsettled by the lack of grazing and pasturage and general unfriendliness of the area they'd passed through. Going farther into Astinda would be hard on all the horses, especially since they no longer had the supply wagon. They'd left it behind in Quellin, after helping themselves to a number of the horses from the stockade. Once Meerk had settled down, he'd mentioned how much they would be slowed up by using the wagon. With pursuit less than a full day behind them—which it would be even if the guardsmen stopped for a while in Quellin—packhorses would be a much better idea.
So they'd used packhorses, and everyone had gotten used to being in a saddle all day. Well, maybe "gotten used to" was too positive a phrase, Lorand admitted privately. All those who were new to riding had been suffering to one degree or another, but none of them really complained aloud. And at least they all had a bit more to wear than previously. Outfits by the dozens had been left in that house they'd spent the night in, and if the clothing didn't fit everyone, at lea
st it was usable by most of the group.
But the time hadn't been easy for anyone, and if tempers were occasionally short it was completely understandable. They'd been able to keep the pursuing guardsmen the same distance behind them, but only by spending all of one night riding. The guardsmen had kept going after sundown so they'd had to do the same, working to ruin the guardsmen's plan to catch them asleep somewhere. At least that's what they thought the plan was, and the guardsmen hadn't tried it again. Happily.
"Lorand, you're back," one of their sentries, Wrixin, said as he stepped out from his place behind a bush in a small stand of trees. "Did you find what you went looking for? You weren't gone very long."
"That's because there was nothing left of what I went looking for," Lorand replied, finding it impossible to put life into his voice. "You'd better pass the word to the other sentries that we'll be moving on again as soon as everyone has rested for a while—and the horses have been allowed to graze. There's nothing for them to graze on up ahead for as far as I went, so we'll just have to keep going until we find someplace decent."
Wrixin nodded in that same sober way they were all starting to use, so Lorand continued on into the copse where everyone else was. As soon as he dismounted he unsaddled his horse, hobbled it, and turned it loose to graze with the others. They could probably spend another hour in that copse, but then they would have to move on.
"Are things any better up ahead?" Jovvi asked as soon as she saw him. Then she held up a hand as she shook her head. "No, don't bother answering that. The tone of your thoughts is answer enough."
"But you do still need an answer in words," Lorand said as he stopped to kiss her grimy but very soft cheek. "It's worse up ahead, and I don't know how far the devastation goes. We'll have to try to get through this area as quickly as possible, otherwise we'll lose the horses. Pushing them hard and starving them on top of it will kill them faster than anything but deliberate slaughter."
"I suppose it's a good thing, then, that we have fewer supplies for the packhorges to carry," Rion said from where he and Naran sat, not far from where Jovvi stood. "Lighter burdens may balance the lack of grazing, at least for a short while."
"What we all need, people and horses alike, is a place to stop and rest for a while," Naran said, sounding almost as weary as Lorand felt. "Not to mention someplace decent to take a bath. If we have to do without for much longer, we won't need your Blending to handle any enemies we come across. All we'll have to do is get upwind of them, and then we can stand there and watch them fall over."
"Now there's a potent weapon in our arsenal we haven't been counting on," Jovvi said with a grin while Lorand and Rion laughed. "Let's mention it to Alsin, and see what tactics he can come up with to use it most effectively."
"Where is Meerk?" Lorand asked, taking the cup of tea Jovvi had poured for him before joining her in sitting near Rion and Naran. "I'm used to seeing him somewhere around Tamrissa, but she's over there scribbling in that ledger she found. I'm glad we all talked her into doing the writing. I may be mistaken, but since she started that project she's been feeling more ... balanced."
"She is more balanced," Jovvi confirmed with a smile for the way he'd used a word more suited to her province. "Writing down what's happened to us seems to be bringing her a focus she lacked before, not to mention greater emotional control. She's already better off than she was, and her inner strength seems to be growing daily."
"And our friend Alsin is taking a nap," Rion put in, answering the rest of Lorand's question. "Since Valiant is now drilling the Water magic people and you won't be starting with the Earth magic people until he's done, Meerk took the opportunity to get some sleep. Once you start to use Earth magic, he'll be wide-awake."
"I have the feeling he'll be waking up to face something more than just the use of magic in his own aspect," Naran said, now looking faintly troubled. "Valiant has been watching Alsin show his interest in Tamrissa, but while she continued to spend a good deal of time smiling at and talking to him, he hasn't said anything to Alsin. Now that she's spending so much time with her writing, I think Valiant is about to have words with Alsin. I wish he would talk to her instead, but the chances of that are almost nil."
"That's because he's still faintly frightened of her," Jovvi said with a wry smile. "He knows she's ruining his resolve to have nothing more to do with her for a while, so he's afraid to get too close. He won't even admit to himself that his resolve isn't working, not as stubborn as he is. He'd rather growl at Alsin than whisper sweetly to Tamrissa— and that was a very astute observation you made, Naran. For someone without Spirit magic, you're very sensitive."
"You're a love for saying that, Jovvi, but the situation is so clear that even Rion had no trouble noticing," Naran replied with a faint blush and a pleased chuckle. "And do stop looking at me in that wounded way, my love. You know you don't notice a lot of these things until they come up and tap you on the nose."
"That is unfortunately all too true," Rion admitted, apparently giving up on trying to make Naran feel guilty for what she'd said. "I wish it were otherwise, so I've been making the effort to change—myself as well as the subject. Lorand, when do you think we'll reach the place that man called the front?"
"We should get to the area sometime tomorrow night," Lorand said after thinking for a moment. "It isn't really all that far away, but the traveling won't be very easy. When 1 reached the outskirts of that town I couldn't bear to go any nearer, so I stretched out my perceptions to check beyond it. I may be mistaken, but I think there are some deep, wide holes in the road beyond the place where the town was."
"Then I'm very glad we no longer have the wagon or the carriage with us," Jovvi said. "Getting vehicles past large holes might have delayed us long enough for those guardsmen to catch up. Oh, look, here comes Valiant. It seems to be your turn now with practicing, so you got back just in time."
"I'm taking my tea with me," Lorand stated as he began to get to his feet. "I think that's one of the things I miss most: being able to sit down with a cup of tea at regular intervals."
And he also had to gather his people, he said to himself. They'd been teaching their companions the patterns they'd learned and had used to such good—and varied—purpose, and most were doing excellently well with them. Soon, possibly even tomorrow night and before they made contact with the army, they ought to try putting together more Blendings. He'd have to talk to the others about it, once they got back on the road....
Valiant nodded to Lorand as they passed each other, smiled to the others where they sat, then went to pour himself a cup of tea. When he'd first made up his mind about talking to Meerk he'd felt as though he could use something stronger than tea, but that feeling had passed. Right now he was downright eager to get things straightened out about Tamrissa, which he ought to be able to do in just a few minutes. As soon as Lorand got his group started on practicing, Meerk would be up and about again.
And the time came just as quickly as Valiant had been expecting. He still had half the tea in his cup when Meerk appeared, stretching and rubbing sleep from his eyes. The man paused to look around, saw Tamrissa sitting and writing away in her ledger book, and obviously made up his mind to interrupt her. A foolish smile spread across his face as he started in her direction, but since Valiant stood a small distance to Meerk's right and Tamrissa sat the same small distance to Valiant's right, Valiant was able to step out and intercept Meerk.
"You and I need to talk," he said softly to a startled Meerk. "I've been wantin' to get a few things straight between us, and now's as good a time as any."
"As you like," Meerk agreed in a suddenly neutral way. "I've been wondering if you would start a conversation like this, because I have a few things of my own to say. But since this is your idea, you have the right to start things off."
"That's not the only right I have," Valiant retorted, speaking calmly and quietly. "I also have the right to tell you to stop pesterin' Tamrissa. She isn't in
terested in you, Meerk, so why don't you find a woman who is?"
"I'd say that comes under the heading of my business," the man responded, obviously working to match Valiant's calm. "But don't you think it's up to Tamrissa to say whether or not she's interested? She's well enough aware of the fact that I'm courting her, and since I still haven't been turned to ash it's fairly safe to say that she doesn't mind."
"You're missin' the point, Meerk," Valiant said, now finding it harder to hold his temper. "I'm the one who minds, which means I'm not tryin' to make Tamrissa's decisions for her. She and I are a part of each other in a way you can't understand, so I'm entitled to mind. Find a different woman and leave her alone, or there will be more than just words between us."
"Are you saying you mean to pursue her yourself?" Meerk had the nerve to ask. "I've noticed that you never go near her on your own, unless it has something to do with the Blending. All the rest of the time you avoid her, making her come after you. It must tickle your vanity to have a woman chasing after you, a woman you push away if she gets too close. But Tamrissa is too wonderful a person to be put through something like that, so I won't allow it. I intend to continue courting her, and if I'm very lucky she'll agree to marry me. If you decide you don't like that idea, go ahead and do whatever you feel you have to."
And with that Meerk turned and went back the way he'd come, leaving Valiant to stare after him. A minute earlier Valiant would have been furious to have the man simply walk away from him, but now it was something of a relief. The accusation Meerk had made was ridiculous, but Valiant didn't quite know how to answer it. Of course he wasn't forcing Tamrissa to chase after him, and vanity had nothing to do with his actions. He was just trying to avoid another shallow, temporary association with a woman he happened to love quite a lot. ...