by Sharon Green
"Going anywhere is unnecessary, Jovvi," Rion answered with his own pleased expression. "I checked a short while ago, and discovered that I can reach the wall I put around them from here. I thought that simply maintaining the wall was all I was capable of at this distance, but that isn't so. I can move the wall, and therefore I can move what the wall contains as well."
"And they're all the way out behind the kitchens, aren't they?" Lorand asked as he leaned forward, clearly as interested as Vallant himself was. "I wonder if the range of my own perceptions has increased."
"I was just thinkin' that very thing, but about me," Vallant agreed thoughtfully. "And if all of us have grown in the same way, will our Blendin' be comparatively stronger as well?"
"I don't see how it can't be," Jovvi said, her brows high with a pleased expression on her face, but then the expression disappeared. "But I also can't quite see where all of this is leading. Will we still be the same people we were when it's all over?"
"We stopped being our old selves a long time ago, when all this first started," Tamrissa pointed out with none of the qualms Jovvi clearly felt. "I, for one, happen to like the difference, but if that changes I promise to say so at once. As long as we continue to tell each other the truth - and don't start to walk all over our associates - we should be fine. And here come our … guests."
Vallant looked up to see that Rion had brought the nobles to them with the hardened wall of air that had kept them penned in place. The four men stumbled hurriedly along, the oldest and biggest of them looking furiously murderous, but the four also looked a mess. Their previously bright and pretty uniforms were now filthy and even torn in places, and the two youngest men were apparently close to exhaustion.
"No, don't even think about sittin' in a chair," Vallant told them when the two younger ones began to glance around and the oldest seemed to be headed in that direction as well. "If you can't stay on your feet, then you can sit on the carpetin'. We can have it cleaned once you're back in your proper place."
"We'll stand in the presence of rabble, just as nobles and gentlemen should!" the oldest barked, freezing the two younger ones as they began to sit down. "How long do you expect to be able to keep us prisoner like this? I warn you that every indignity offered us now will be repaid with interest when you and your rabble masters are brought down!"
"We're not offering you indignity, we're treating you like the useless dregs you actually are," Rion told the man haughtily before Vallant could speak. "And if you've gotten the notion into your head that we're not in charge both here and in the city, I suggest you rethink your position. You now stand in the presence of your lawful rulers, those who were Seated as leaders of this empire."
"But that means they're the Seated Blending!" one of the younger men, the one with red hair, blurted. "They told us the Seated Blending would never come out after us, so they lied!"
"Keep silent!" the oldest man snapped over his shoulder, then returned his glare to his captors. "If you expect us to betray our supporters, you have a long wait ahead of you. Those with proper breeding are well able to hold out against anything rabble can bring to bear against them. We may be forced to dirty our hands, but you'll never find it possible to make us betray our own."
"That little speech simply shows how foolish you are," Jovvi told the man with a shake of her head. "You and your helpers needed drugs and bullies to make people do as you wished, but we need neither thing. Tell us about your 'supporters,' the ones who led you to believe that we would stay in Gan Garee rather than come out after you."
"I was able to positively recognize only one of them, but from that found it possible to infer the identity of one of the others," the former noble said at once. "The third man seemed familiar, but I can only guess at who he might be."
"Father!" the younger man with a bandaged hand exclaimed, shock riding his features. "You ordered us to tell them nothing, and now here you are…"
"I'm not telling them anything, you fool boy, I'm being forced to speak the truth," the older man growled at the other, not even bothering to glance at him. "They're doing something to me, and I'm helpless to stop it."
"Just as helpless as your slaves were," Tamrissa confirmed with a smile that had no amusement in it. "Tell us who you think those supporters are, but first when you met them."
"I met them in a house not far from here, less than a day's travel back east," the man replied without further oration. "They had sent a messenger to me before we reached their neighborhood, inviting me and my officers to lunch. We went and spoke to them and ate, and then we returned to my command."
"Which one of them did the house belong to?" Tamrissa interrupted to ask. "Were you able to tell?"
"As far as I could tell, the house belonged to none of them," the man answered, a flash of annoyance showing in his eyes for no more than an instant. "The place had obviously been cleaned for the occasion, but it was hardly spotless and there weren't enough servants about. The house wasn't very large, but even so would have required a larger staff to see to it on a regular basis."
"The way you said you were able to recognize one of them sounded strange," Jovvi put in thoughtfully. "Was there something that was supposed to have kept you from recognizing them? And what's your own name, by the way?"
"I'm Lord Henich Rengan, and my hosts wore masks," the noble replied, again looking annoyed that he'd been interrupted. "Even so, I was able to recognize High Lord Embisson Ruhl, a man of considerable power in the empire. One of the other two must have been his son Edmin, as father and son often act in concert. The third man could have been Lord Sembrin Noll, brother to Lord Ephaim Noll who is another considerable power. I met the younger Noll a time or three in Gan Garee, usually in his brother's company."
"And what was their purpose in invitin' you to lunch?" Vallant asked, curious about the point. "Were they simply welcomin' you back to the empire after your tour of Gracely?"
"They wanted me warned about what had been happening," Rengan replied with a grimace. "They claimed they would be in Gan Garee before my force, and would do what was possible to help me defeat any opposition. They also claimed that the new Seated Blending would be in the city rather than come out here, and suggested I might even be able to take back the surviving segments from the Astindan armies that you commoners somehow took control of. The rest of the Astindan armies, I was told, are dead."
"So they lied to you about more than whether or not we would be here," Tamrissa said with a good deal of satisfaction. "Too many people in the Astindan armies did die, but not nearly all of them and we didn't 'somehow' get control of them. We freed every contingent we came across, and now most of those people are working and riding with us. We did it just the way we freed your slaves, with ability you don't even come close to having. How do you feel about having been lied to by those you consider your own?"
"I think that Ruhl was a damned fool for not telling me the complete truth," Rengan answered in a blunt, flat way. "If I'd known what to be on guard against I would have made a much better showing when you attacked, but what can you expect from a politician who isn't a military man? If the fool was as good as he thinks he is, he would be back in the city in his usual place, not hiding out in his country house."
"Do you happen to know where that country house is located?" Vallant asked at once. "Assumin', that is, that they're still there and not really on their way to Gan Garee."
"I have no idea whether or not they're still there, but Ruhl's country place, called Bastions, is in the same neighborhood that I recently mentioned." This time Rengan showed a grim satisfaction in passing on the information, probably his idea of getting even with a fool. "It's even larger than this place, about the same size as my own country house."
"Your former country house," Vallant corrected with his own satisfaction, finding the man extremely obnoxious even as a helpless prisoner. "Members of the former nobility don't own things any longer, not even the clothes on their backs. But you'll be findin' out all about t
hat as soon as you get back to the city. Right now I want to know what you and these others did in Gracely."
"We devastated the entire countryside," Rengan answered even more quickly, the words suddenly becoming an emotionless statement rather than a boast or confession. "They had no chance against us, and we wiped out everyone in our path."
"Now, that's strange," Jovvi said suddenly, staring at the man. "His mind went … odd for a moment, just when you asked that question. I wonder… Tell us again what you did in Gracely, please, and add a few details."
"We devastated the entire countryside," Rengan said in the exact tone he'd used the first time, showing the same lack of expression. "They had no chance against us, and we wiped out everyone in our path."
"That's supposed to be with details added?" Vallant observed as most of the others gave low exclamations of surprise. "It's word for word what he said the first time, so he's disobeyin' you, Jovvi."
"No, actually, he's not," Jovvi murmured, staring at the man with her own odd expression, then she turned her attention to one of the others. "You with the bandaged hand. What's your name?"
"I'm Lord Vodan Rengan, my father's first officer," the second man answered, hatred and outrage clear in his tone. "You peasants have no right to do this to us, no right at all! Your supposed Seating means nothing, not when it wasn't the proper authorities who Seated you."
"By the proper authorities you mean the nobility, who took their duty so seriously that they cheated to let their own Blending win the last challenge," Tamrissa immediately put in, taking up the gauntlet. "They paid for that stupidity by losing everything they had when their puppets went down, when they could have kept everything by handling the matter honestly. Those are the people you think should still be in charge?"
"As they're members of the nobility, yes," Vodan Rengan stated between clenched teeth. "They're entitled to do anything they please, and peasants have the right to do nothing but obey them. If you and your lot hadn't interfered, they would have worked things out in their own way."
"And then died with everyone else when the Astindans reached Gan Garee," Vallant added dryly. "If you were able to think instead of just repeatin' what you've been told, we could continue this conversation. Since you never learned how to think, though, tell me what your lot did in Gracely."
"We devastated the entire countryside," the younger Rengan answered just as quickly as his father had, his expression immediately blanking in the same way. "They had no chance against us, and we wiped out everyone in our path."
Vallant exchanged a glance with Jovvi, who nodded to show that the same thing had happened to the younger Rengan's mind as well.
"They've both used the same words and are wearing the same expression," Lorand observed aloud, looking disturbed. "That can't possibly be natural, but who could have manipulated them? We're the only ones of our people to come close to them."
"Let's see if the opinion is unanimous," Jovvi said, shifting her attention to the remaining members of the group. "You with the red hair. Tell me your name, and then tell me what was done by you in Gracely."
"I'm Lord Lesshan Rengan," the man replied, his expression starting out filled with bored disinterest, but then it quickly shifted to a familiar neutrality. "In Gracely we devastated the entire countryside. They had no chance against us, and we wiped out everyone in our path."
"And you?" Jovvi said to the last of the four, the one who looked most miserable and frightened. "Tell me your name, and then tell me what was done in Gracely."
"I-I'm Lord Dalbo Rengan," the man began with a tremor in his voice, sounding and looking terrified. But then he, too, changed. "In Gracely we devastated the entire countryside. They had no chance against us, and we wiped out everyone in our path."
"Well, that makes all four of them," Naran commented with a sigh. "But now that we have them beyond complaining, how do we bring them back?"
"Like this," Jovvi answered with a faint smile. "Are all of you absolutely positive about what you just said?"
"Of course I'm positive," Henich Rengan snarled, suddenly alive again - just as his sons were. "How dare you question my word?"
"So who could have gotten to them?" Tamrissa asked Jovvi, the very question Vallant had meant to put. "They obviously have no idea they were reached, but this could never have happened naturally. But whoever did it has to have strength, so why don't we know about them?"
"Maybe it's because they're not from our empire," Jovvi suggested with a small headshake. "Naran, do you see anything at all to confirm or deny my guess?"
"About it being someone in Gracely who influenced them?" Naran said rather than asked as her gaze went distant. "That's the past rather than the future, so I can't use my ability to tell. What I can See, though, is the strengthening possibility that we'll have to visit Gracely to find out for ourselves. Before we're faced with another horde looking for vengeance."
"We're to go all the way to Gracely, a place that may well be gathering its forces against us?" Rion asked with surprise. "Would it be wise to do such a thing?"
"I doubt if it's wise, but it will probably turn out to be necessary," Vallant answered Rion with a sigh. "If those people have a grudge against us, we need to know it before the fire starts fallin' on our heads. And we'll have to get our people out of harm's way, just as we did near the border to Astinda."
"And if there isn't any devastation in Gracely, we need to know that as well," Jovvi pointed out. "Someone made our people believe that they were destroying the countryside the way they'd been ordered to do. I can't fault them for not wanting to be destroyed or getting into a war to stop the destruction, but the course they chose bothers me. They could have put the nobles under control and kept them somewhere out of the way after freeing the bound members of the army, but the manipulators didn't do that. They left innocent people as slaves, and simply convinced the nobles that they were victors. I'd like to know why that was done."
"And if we don't like their answers, we can talk it over with them," Tamrissa said with a smile that was a bit on the grim side. "But there's something else we have to do before we continue on to Gracely. We have to check out that Bastions place Rengan mentioned, to see if his loyal supporters are still there. Whether or not they are, we ought to check out the rest of the neighborhood for those missing nobles. Remember, the more of them we leave running around loose, the more of a headache we'll be making for ourselves."
"Yes, that truth hasn't changed," Jovvi agreed with a sigh. "The authority they represent is no longer real, but troublemakers can rally around their symbol and force us to counter them. But if we can find enough of them, they can be the ones to help the former captives get back to the city under the guidance of the Astindans. Our own people can continue on with us."
"And our gatherin' up those loose ends will give the people here some extra time to recover before they have to get back on the road," Vallant pointed out, mostly to a disturbed Lorand. "We'll also collect all the horses, coaches, and carriages we can along with wagons and supplies, so most if not all of them will actually get to the city alive. After that the Astindans can send the nobles on their way."
"So you have allied yourselves with our enemies," Henich Rengan said suddenly in disgust, reminding them that he was still there. "Obviously the foolish Ruhl didn't lie about everything, but I wish he had. Even peasant rabble should know something about loyalty."
"Loyalty to what?" Vallant demanded, this time beating Tamrissa to the commenting. "To the useless fools who started the war with Astinda, causin' more death and horror than I ever want to see again? It's those useless fools who are now makin' up for what they did, and the Astindans are our allies, just as they should have been all along. You still think you can do anythin' you damn well please because of an accident of birth, but you'll surely learn better. Rion, get them out of here, please."
"With pleasure," Rion answered, and then the four former nobles were stumbling out in the same way they'd arrived. Rengan's eyes had n
arrowed with disturbance and his son Vodan appeared shaken, but the other two simply continued to look miserable. Those last two were the ones who bothered Vallant the most, but at least the Astindans would treat them fairly. Which was probably more than their own father would have done for them…
"It looks like we'll be traveling again tomorrow," Lorand said as he stood and stretched, obviously trying to appear casual instead of disturbed. "I think I'll see about getting something to eat, pay a visit afterward to the bath house, and then go to bed early. Anyone interested in joining me?"
Jovvi was the first to accept his offer, but the rest of them weren't far behind her. And Jovvi was the best one to sooth Lorand's mind about the necessity for gathering up whatever nobles were still running around loose. Vallant knew the odds were good that the innocent would be caught along with the guilty, but as he followed the others out of the room he also knew that that consideration couldn't keep them from doing the rounding up. The pendulum was now swinging back, and those who had been privileged would now find out what the other side of life was like.
But a small part of Vallant wished that he and his Blendingmates weren't the only ones who could make that happen. Switching off with someone else would have made it all so much easier…
Chapter 23
Lorand noticed that it was not yet noon when he and the others reached the area where the hidden nobles were supposed to be. There were quite a few houses in the area, so their "haul" ought to be respectable. He still felt uncomfortable with the idea of hunting people down and had spoken to Jovvi about it for quite a while the night before. But it was talking to Vallant that had eased his mind to some extent, since Vallant felt much the same way he did about gathering up escaped nobles. Jovvi looked at the matter more the way Tamrissa did, but since they were both women that was perfectly understandable…
"That noble's idea of a day's march is almost half a day's ride," Rion observed to everyone in general. "No wonder those people were ready to fall over."