by Sharon Green
"Of course, Father," Travin agreed at once before turning and walking away. That obedience in itself gave Sembrin pleasure, but not as much as Bensia would.
"Come along, my dear," Sembrin said before turning away. In past times Bensia would have demanded to know what he had in mind, but right now all she did was follow him like a sweet lamb. And following behind him suited her so well…
Bensia stood beside her eldest son as they watched Sembrin walk off without a backward glance. She couldn't keep from smiling, especially when Travin chuckled.
"At first I thought it a pity that I'm not old enough to take over for him," Travin said softly, obviously still watching his father's back. "Now, though, I've changed my mind. Seeing him prance around thinking he's in complete charge is an amusement I don't seem to tire of. If we weren't blocking him from picking up our real emotions, I wonder what he'd think about the amusement."
"The only thing he'd think about it would be what he was told to think about it," Bensia answered, turning to smile at her son. "Exposure to our talents was quite clearly strengthening his own talent, and it was only a matter of time before he broke lose from control. Taking control of him and then letting him believe that he gave us Puredan was our only option, aside from disposing of him. I wouldn't have minded having him out of our way, but we still need him as a figurehead. Once we're in control of the city, however, I mean to tell him the truth before we toss him out into the street. He can suffer over living with his shame while begging on some corner."
"He deserves at least that for daring to even imagine what he thinks he's done to you," Travin said, no longer even faintly amused. "The man is an animal, and I find it difficult to believe that he could be my father. But I was just starting to tell you what Feriun told Father when he interrupted us."
"Yes, you were," Bensia agreed with a gentle, encouraging smile. "Please go on."
Travin let himself be distracted from his previous thoughts as he repeated what he'd heard of Feriun's report. Bensia listened carefully, but part of her attention was on the question of whether or not to tell Travin the truth. The boy said he was ashamed that Sembrin was his father, but men were so strange. How would he feel if he learned that his father was someone else entirely…?
"… and so they're going to try the plan again tomorrow, supposedly with men who are brighter than the previous ones," Travin finished up. "I nearly walked in and reminded them that it was peasants they were discussing, so how bright did they expect those men to be?"
"They must be hoping for unusual luck, but they'll certainly be disappointed," Bensia said, letting Travin see her complete agreement. "Sembrin keeps forgetting that it's peasants we have to deal with, not members of the nobility. And you said that Feriun thought our men could be made to talk to the commoners in charge? What utter nonsense."
"Of course it's nonsense, but Father almost agreed with the fool before he remembered what he'd been told," Travin said with a snort of disdain. "We have nothing to fear from the commoners 'in charge,' and he should have known that without having to be told. Do you want my brother and sisters and me to accompany those men going out? They may not be able to make the crowds believe them, but we surely can."
"No, it doesn't pay to have you and the others risk yourselves," Bensia decided after a moment's thought. "If there was only one group of men going out, you and the others would be able to go with them. But with six or more groups going… No, I'd rather save your efforts for another time. If this current plan doesn't work, we'll have to find something that will."
"Father has a plan he means to follow this current plan with," Travin reminded her. "Do you know what it is, or do we need to ask him about it?"
"I believe I know what he has in mind, but we might as well ask just to be on the safe side," Bensia said, and then an amusing thought came to her. "In fact, I think I'll go and ask him right now, while he's … relaxing. Watching him doing things with thin air is more than simply amusing. It pays the man back for all those times he betrayed me with peasant whores."
"Betrayal deserves to be punished," Travin said solemnly, and then he leaned down to kiss her cheek. "You go ahead, Mother, and I'll tell the others what's happening."
"Thank you, Travin," Bensia said, returning his kiss warmly before walking away. It was marvelous to have sons who were devoted, and it was just too bad that those sons couldn't be had without needing to put up with the foolishness of a husband. Of course the children could be had without the efforts of a husband, just as Bensia had arranged matters, but appearance was so important…
Honrita Grohl made sure she wasn't being followed when she returned to Holdis Ayl's hideaway. His rooms were in a deserted area of the city, and the door leading into the building was opened by pulling on a torch sconce on the outside wall. Honrita stepped through the doorway and closed the door again behind herself, then continued up the hall to the door to Ayl's quarters. Ayl opened that door before she reached the end of the hall, his expression speaking to her before his words.
"Tell me you were able to reach him," Ayl said very flatly, and then he saw her expression. "No, you needn't bother answering, I can see that you've failed again."
"The failure still isn't mine," Honrita replied, making no effort to keep her annoyance out of her voice at the way Ayl had turned away from her. "The Fire magic user we want for the Blending is sick in bed, and since I've never met him I have no way of visiting him even for a moment. I can make someone believe he and I are old friends and get in to see him that way, but to what purpose? Until he's well enough to be up and about, having him join the rest of us will do nothing more than let us catch what he's got. Isn't there anyone you can replace him with?"
"No, he's the one I want and the one I mean to have," Ayl answered as he turned again to glare at her. "You will take our Earth magic user to him, and the Earth magic user will cure him."
"He's already had an Earth magic user in to work on him," Honrita said as she moved to the stove to make herself a cup of tea. "There's an infection of some kind in the man's blood, and the healer was only able to make the sickness a bit less severe. The Fire magic user's own body has to overcome the infection, and until it does the man will stay sick. The man's mother doesn't remember that she told me those details, and the healer doesn't remember that I confirmed the facts with him. If there's no other Fire magic user that you're willing to accept, all we can do is wait until the man is healthy again."
"I detest the need for such a delay," Ayl said as he sat himself in a straight-backed chair, the only sort of chair his rooms had. "So far nothing has been able to stand in my way, and now … this."
"There may be a good reason for this delay," Honrita quickly pointed out, her talent telling her that Ayl was on the thin edge of losing his sanity entirely. The man was extremely unstable, and only his "purpose" had so far kept him from complete raving madness. If he began to doubt that purpose…
"What reason, good or otherwise, could a delay like this possibly have?" Ayl countered, but with less stiff-necked arrogance than usual. "As I'm meant to rule, I should be able to do so quickly."
"It's just possible that this is the wrong time for us to attempt to put your puppets on the throne," Honrita said, using the excuse she'd thought up on the way back here. "The others and I have to learn to Blend and also have to learn how to use our Blending. Then we'll use our Middle Blending to take over a High Blending, one member at a time. If all of that goes as quickly and easily as we know it will, we won't have a reason to delay our plans. It could be your own destiny that's causing this delay, to make sure that we strike only at the very best time."
"My own destiny, protecting me from failure," Ayl murmured, his gaze inward as he considered the idea. "Yes, now I see your point and I believe you may be correct. As I am destined to rule behind my puppets, I must be kept from moving at the wrong time."
Ayl nodded just a bit to silently add to his agreement, obviously having no idea that Honrita had added to his belief
with her talent. Ayl thought - no, knew - that no one could touch him with talent without his being aware of the effort, but that knowledge was part of the arrogance of his madness. Ayl could be touched even more easily than normal people, as Ayl was one of those who were able to judge ability in others but had no ability of their own. Ayl now believed in Honrita's loyalty completely, just as she wanted him to.
And he'll keep believing in my loyalty until the moment I push him aside and take over," Honrita thought as she turned back to the stove to see if the tea water had begun to boil yet. My father died before I could get even with him for rejecting me the way he did, but Ayl is just the way my father was. I can get even with my father by ruining Ayl's plans, and when he sees me ruling in the place he thought was his he'll be looking at me with my father's eyes.
That concept was a warming one for Honrita, so much so that she prepared two cups against the time that the tea was ready. Ayl was going to make her ruler of the empire of Gandistra; the least she could do in return was share the tea she'd meant to make for herself alone…
Holdis Ayl sat straight in his chair in the proper way, seeing the Grohl woman only out of the corner of his eyes. The faint smile he wore was the same smile he always wore, which meant that the woman was unlikely to know the direction of his thoughts. The woman was even more of a fool than other women, but she was considerably more useful than those others.
Yes, my dear, I believe what you said but not because of your talent, Ayl thought, his smile no more than a faint reflection of his feelings. Your talent slides past me in a way that most of my former 'peers' were unable to match, with only the trail of your attempt left to show for the effort. You mean to betray me in the moment of my ultimate success, having no idea that I am aware of your intentions and am therefore on guard against the betrayal.
But one thing the woman had said was the truth. It was indeed his destiny which now protected him, just as it was his destiny which had brought the woman to him in the first place. He'd grown impatient over waiting for the right Spirit magic user to appear, and so had tried to use the one most easily manipulated. The man had been a total disaster and failure as a tool, but the fool had been the means by which the proper Spirit magic user had come within his reach.
And now that he had almost every one of the proper tools, his plans would go forward as soon as his destiny thought that the time was right. He would have his own Blending to use, and even though they were all Middle talents they would have no trouble taking over High talents one by one. And as soon as the High Spirit magic user was his, the fool of a woman who thought to steal his destiny would be put in her proper place.
And her proper place will be unlike that of the rest of the populace, Ayl thought, his inner smile wide and wild. For daring to presume, the Grohl woman will serve me on her knees with unquestioning love in her heart. The others will be permitted to stand and simply bow, but she…
Ayl felt his outward smile grow the least bit, and for that reason put all thoughts of future justice out of his mind. The time would come, and when it did his smile would be very visible indeed…
Chapter Four
Feeling uncertain wasn't a familiar state for any of us, but I definitely felt the emotion and I was convinced that my Blendingmates did as well. Borvri Tonsun, the invader of Gracely that we'd questioned, had told us things that suggested his "leaders" were a lot stronger than my Blendingmates and I. We'd already suspected that the possibility was a fact, and having the guess confirmed didn't do any of us any good. After questioning the invader from West Tallvin, the six of us moved a short distance away to talk privately.
"Okay, what do we do now?" I asked when no one else spoke up. "That man said his country had High Blendings when those 'leader' people showed up, but their Blendings didn't keep them from being taken over. If we face the rest of these invaders toe to toe we'll probably lose to them, and I don't like the idea of losing."
"None of us likes the idea of losing, Tamma," Jovvi said with a sigh that Naran joined. "Personally, I almost wish we could just turn around and go home, but I have the definite feeling that running now will mean the end of everything. After the invaders have taken Gracely, they'll come after our country next."
"Yes, the probability of that is very high," Naran confirmed, looking as though she wished she didn't have to agree. "From what little I can See, our turning away from this problem leads to nothing but dead ends and total defeat for everyone. The only chance our side has is if we fight those people, which may mean we'll think of something to help us win. At least I hope that that's what it means."
"Well, I can't see us runnin' anyway unless innocent lives were at stake," Vallant said after taking a deep breath. "Turnin' to run only gives your enemy a chance at your back, and we don't have to wonder if this enemy will take advantage of that kind of chance. That means we have plans to make that don't include travelin', and the first thing we have to decide is what to do with all those invaders we captured."
"We can't kill them," Lorand said at once, his tone as serious as the look in his pretty brown eyes. "Those people are slaves rather than villains, and they don't even really know what they're doing. Killing them for being victims would make us just as bad as those leaders of theirs."
"Would it be wise to free them from control, as we did with that Borvri Tonsun fellow?" Rion asked, his brow creased from a small frown. "I dislike the thought of leaving anyone in the complete control of those who care nothing about their true welfare."
"I don't think that turning them all loose would be a good idea right now," Jovvi said, a definite sadness in her expression. "I agree with Lorand that we can't kill them, but we really should ask ourselves whose side those men would be on - if anyone's."
"What do you mean, whose side would they be on?" Vallant asked, just about taking the words out of my mouth. "Wouldn't you be against anyone who had put you under their control and made you kill?"
"I think all of us would be frothing at the mouth to get even, yes," Jovvi agreed, the sadness still with her. "That doesn't mean these men will react in the same way, though. Borvri Tonsun was even afraid to talk to us, remember, for fear that the 'leaders' would kill him for giving away their secrets. Some people don't have the courage to stand up to their oppressors, and there are about a hundred men in this group. Even if only half of them are as afraid as Borvri Tonsun, what will we do with them? Send them away with the refugees and the people of this village? What if they're too afraid to run? What if they either go right back to be conditioned again, or try to hurt some innocents to keep their 'leaders' from hurting them?"
"I hadn't even thought of that," Lorand said in a mutter while the rest of us stood silent, watching him run his hands through his hair as he avoided everyone's eye. "I was all ready to ask our associate Blendings to free them the way Tonsun was freed, but we can't do that now, can we?"
"No, I fear we must think of something else to do with them," Rion agreed in a tired voice, as though he were consigning those innocents to death - or worse than death. "To allow others to come to harm because of our own needs and prejudices would be inexcusable."
"Not to mention the fact that we don't want them warnin' our enemies," Vallant pointed out with a headshake. "At the moment I'd say there's only one thing we can do with those men, and that's scatter them through the woods along the road to this village. We may end up needin' their help when those leaders of theirs get here."
"To fight fire with fire," I said, a sudden idea coming to me. "You know, this won't help against Blendings that are stronger than we are, but it's come to me that we didn't do everything we could against these invaders while they were protected from our talent. We tried to touch them, but we never tried to affect the world they moved through. How many people would they have been able to kill if the ground had collapsed under them, throwing them into a deep pit?"
"Not many, especially if the pit was suddenly filled with water," Vallant said, now looking a good deal happier. "I wonde
r how we missed thinkin' of that sooner?"
"We probably missed it because the first thing a Blending entity does is try to control individuals," Lorand said, also looking less depressed. "When we discovered we couldn't reach those invaders, all our attention went toward breaching their protection."
"Which we now know will gain us little or nothing," Rion said, clearly agreeing as much as the others. "And that may well be the answer we need for besting those leader people. If they find themselves unable to breathe, how strong will their Blending entity be?"
"That will work only if they haven't already formed their Blending," Jovvi pointed out, but she wasn't really arguing. "What we need is a closer look at our enemies, one that will give us some desperately needed answers about them. Borvri Tonsun told us that the force coming behind his is about a day and a half from reaching here. The first thing we have to do is get all these innocent people out of this village, and then we can discuss how to get our closer look at the enemy without letting them know we're there."
"And I'm afraid we'll have to put Tonsun back under control," Vallant said, speaking the words that I, personally, hadn't wanted to speak. "We can't afford to have him runnin' around loose, not when we don't know what he'll do once his owners get here. If he was the kind of man who was willin' to fight them, he wouldn't have needed our help to tell us what was goin' on."
"Vallant, you'll have to have our associate Blending put him back under control," Jovvi said, her expression more vexed than apologetic. "Just as I couldn't free him by myself, I can't now put him under strong enough control that his leaders won't be able to take him right back. For all our sakes, he needs to be held as tightly as possible."