by Sharon Green
"The house called Bastions should be the one over there," Vallant answered her, pointing toward a mansion sitting on a gentle knoll in the near distance. "I had Jovvi question Rengan again, and he knew more about the location of the place than he admitted at first. He had to answer any question put to him, but holdin' back on what we needed to know but didn't ask about wasn't disallowed."
"It is now," Jovvi put in, annoyance flashing in her eyes. "I should have known better than to allow him that loophole, but you all know how I hate to control people. From now on I'll pay closer attention."
"I've been paying closer attention myself, but to the weather," Lorand put in as he glanced at the sky again. "It's going to be raining in a couple of hours, so let's not waste any time getting to that house and looking around. As it is, some of the rest of our people might not make it before those clouds open up."
"They're ridin' in groups of ten, but not all strung out," Vallant supplied in a supportive way. "Just because we didn't want to make noticin' us easy doesn't mean some of them are an hour behind us. They're mostly only a few minutes away, so they ought to get to shelter in plenty of time."
Lorand nodded to acknowledge the information, even though he'd known it well enough even before Vallant had spoken. The ride had been a pleasant one in spite of the threatening rain, but there was something disturbing Lorand that he just couldn't put his finger on. The closer they got to that house, the more the disturbance seemed to grow…
Vallant had begun to lead them forward again, and Lorand simply rode with the others as he tried to figure out what could be bothering him. The area was lovely, the temperature was comfortable, the humidity wasn't excessive even with the coming rain, the birds -
"Stop!" Lorand called, not realizing that he hadn't been the only one to speak until after the word was out. Both Jovvi and Naran had said the same thing at the same time, and that made the others pull their mounts to a halt.
"What's wrong?" Tamrissa asked, looking from one to the other of them with concern. "Have you discovered that we're going the wrong way?"
"Something's going to happen," Naran said, her expression disturbed as her inner sight examined images invisible to the rest of them. "There's a lot of … roiling and I can't quite make out the details, but something is definitely about to happen."
"Possibly that something will happen because we aren't alone out here," Jovvi added, her own gaze on the woods to the left. "We seem to have quite a lot of company."
"I noticed that too, right after I noticed that the birds were too quiet," Lorand put in his own bit as he stared in the same direction Jovvi did. "There's a large number of people in the trees over there, and I really don't think they're looking for berries and nuts."
Vallant seemed about to say something, but that was when the people in the woods chose to show themselves. The first of them stepped out from behind trees with the rest following, and Lorand felt immediate shock. Those who had lurked in the woods came out in pairs and groups of pairs, with a man behind holding someone in front of him by his arm around the front person's neck. The one behind also held a knife, and a large number of those being held were women.
"Now you've got a problem, don't you?" one of the men holding a hostage called, heavy amusement in his voice. "If you don't give yourselves up to us we'll kill these people and then disappear, and their deaths will be all your fault. Are you going to let innocent people die in your place?"
"I'll bet you believed those nobles when they told you how easy it would be to capture us," Tamrissa called back, saying just what Lorand had been thinking. "They dangled silver or gold in front of you, and the sight of it turned their every word true. Well, just remember that when you don't have hostages any longer, because as soon as you release them they're going to run away as fast as they can."
"The only way they'll be released is when they're dead," the same man countered, still highly amused. "You're not very good at bluffing, girl, so why don't you just keep silent and let men discuss what has to be - Yow!"
The man's shout of pain was echoed and accompanied by the same from every man holding a hostage. At the same time all the hostages were released, which told Lorand that Tamrissa had used Fire magic to free them. The former hostages did indeed start to run at once, and were quickly out of the easy reach of their captors.
"Maybe I'm not very good at bluffing because I wasn't bluffing," Tamrissa told the man who was no longer amused. "And now that I've … said my piece, you can have the next conversation with a man."
"Me, for instance," Rion took over, smiling as those who tried to chase after their captives ran into an invisible wall. "I don't speak quite as forcefully as Tamrissa does, but my efforts are usually adequate."
"And so are mine," Lorand put in, reaching to all the men but the one who had spoken. There was a total of twenty-five in the group, and twenty-four of the men suddenly became very sleepy. Lorand hadn't been sure he had the strength to affect twenty-four people at once, but the attempt became effortless as additional strength suddenly flowed into him. He knew at once where the strength came from, of course, and finally understood why Tamrissa had been upset by the experience.
"But my efforts are a good deal more gentle," Jovvi said as the men Lorand had touched folded silently to the ground. "I'd like you to tell us who you are and what you hoped to accomplish. Surely you didn't really think we could be taken that easily?"
"I'm Isbirn Gelin, leader of this group," the only man left standing replied at once, still rubbing his arm as he glanced around. "The life of an outlaw is usually a good one in this empire, as long as you know enough to stay away from the nobility. What we were trying to do was earn some extra silver the easy way, by seeing to a chore for one of the nobles. And why shouldn't you have been that easy to take? If your bosses sent you way out here, you can't be very important."
"You still haven't told me what that chore you agreed to do is all about," Jovvi said, and some of the gentleness was gone from her voice. "That means you were supposed to kill us, doesn't it."
"No, we were only supposed to kill you as a last resort," the husky Gelin replied, gesturing with one hand. "The noble told us that you'd probably be stupid enough to trade yourselves for our hostages, especially if they were mostly women. Once we made you our prisoners we were supposed to kill the hostages anyway, and then take you to Gan Garee. By the time we got there, the noble expected to be in a position to do some bargaining."
"I'm still havin' trouble followin' this," Vallant put in with a frown. "I could tell that you were no more than a Low talent when you tried to use your Water magic, so chances are good that your men aren't much better in their own aspects. With that bein' so, can you explain how you expected to capture six High talents with another sixty of the same not far behind them?"
"But … You can't be High talents," Gelin protested, his skin going pale enough to notice. "The noble said you would be nothings, out here doing the dirty work your higher-ups didn't want to bother with. Who would send High talents all the way out here to check on which houses have been recently used?"
"So that's what he told you we were out here for," Tamrissa said with a very unladylike snort. "And you believed that right along with the rest. Didn't it once occur to you to wonder why a noble would want us if we were that unimportant? If he was going to use us in his bargaining, we had to have some value."
"Maybe to the people who sent you, but not necessarily to anyone else," Gelin replied with a shrug. "The noble said that the new Seated Blending peasants were soft-headed instead of being practical, so he probably could have done a good trade. But that doesn't explain how he expected us to be able to capture High talents, does it?"
"That little mystery might explain something else, though," Naran put in thoughtfully. "The noble might have been high in the old government the way that army man Rengan said, but that doesn't have to mean he knows more about High talents and Blendings than anyone else. Rengan actually worked with Highs, but still knew
almost nothing about them."
"That's an excellent point," Rion agreed at once. "We also must remember that our predecessors used Lows and ordinary Middles to do things for them, so that noble may have assumed we would do likewise. He considers Highs too dangerous to be involved with, and so might naturally assume that we would also avoid them whenever possible."
"Actually, that makes excellent sense," Vallant agreed with his own thoughtful expression. "It's stupid to keep throwin' away tools like the army and this bunch here, but it becomes less stupid if you realize that the man doesn't know what he's doin' for lack of complete information."
"Which makes me, at least, feel a good deal better," Jovvi said with a smile showing relief. "If given my choice, I'd rather have a confused enemy than a clear-headed one. Shall we gather up this bunch and send them back to Gan Garee along with any nobles we find?"
"Let's do that and something else as well," Lorand suggested, the idea fairly obvious. "I've been waiting for someone to realize that these men know the area and who can be found where, so we ought to use them first as guides. Or isn't that a good idea for a reason I'm not seeing?"
"Why, Lorand, that's a marvelous idea," Jovvi said at once, but her expression seemed odd. "But I wouldn't have expected something like that to come from you. I do know how you feel about the way we're going after the nobles, so I'm curious as to why you made the suggestion."
"I think that part about using hostages - and then killing them - has made me change my mind," Lorand said after a short hesitation, aware that the others were also listening closely. "I still don't like the idea of hunting people down, but hearing what that outlaw said reminded me of other things the nobility has done that those useless people never thought twice about or regretted. If we give them a chance to regain their standing in the empire, thousands of people will suffer through no fault of their own."
"It's about time you understood that, my friend," Tamrissa said, her words on the dry side. "Men always have trouble seeing the obvious for some reason, which makes it a good thing we women are around. And you all like to pretend that you're so hard and stern, but when it comes to doing the necessary it's usually women who have to do it."
"Which is why we men consider ourselves lucky to have you women around," Lorand said at once while everyone else chuckled. "I may be foolish in some things, but if you think I'll ever get into an argument with you then you're the foolish one. Let's get these people properly taken care of, and then we can have a look at that house."
This time there was laughter, but that didn't stop them from Blending briefly to put all twenty-five men under their control. The Lorand entity first woke up the ones that had been put to sleep, and then the entire group was neutralized as a danger before being made into reluctant allies. The Lorand entity allowed them their reluctance, but nothing in the way of refusal.
When the entity was dissolved, the former outlaws were sent to get their horses. While Lorand and the others waited, Jovvi turned to Tamrissa.
"This is the first time we've Blended since you had that odd experience," Jovvi said, mentioning something Lorand had also been thinking about. "Did it by any chance happen again?"
"It certainly did," Tamrissa confirmed, something of a frown on her face. "But this time it felt even more natural, as though it should have been happening all along. What about the rest of you?"
"Once again the entity seemed to have my point of view, and I felt nothing unusual," Jovvi said, looking around to see if the others had experienced the same. When she'd gotten nods from everyone including Lorand, she heaved a moderate sigh. "So nothing has changed for anyone but Tamma. All right, we'll obviously have to wait until something does change. If and when it does, please let the rest of us know immediately."
Lorand again joined the others in agreeing to the request, and then the outlaws were back with them. Vallant had the outlaws fall in behind their Blending members, and then the enlarged procession moved off toward the mansion on the knoll. It took only a short while to get there, and the outlaws were left mounted while their six walked up to the door and knocked.
"We're here to see the man named Ruhl," Vallant told the servant who opened the door. "Please take us to him immediately."
"High Lord Embisson Ruhl is not at home," the servant corrected with a frown of disapproval and a very superior attitude. "Please return at another time after making an appointment."
"We already have an appointment," Tamrissa told the man dryly while Vallant kept the door from being closed in their faces. "It was made the day we were Seated as the empire's newest ruling Blending. And for your information, the man Ruhl is no longer any kind of lord, high or low. We're coming in now, so you'd better get used to the idea."
The servant seemed to be pushed back from the door more or less gently, which meant that Rion was also helping. They all walked into the very large entrance area, and Lorand couldn't help feeling impressed. The palace was much larger than that house, of course, but a palace was supposed to be large. The house's entrance area alone was almost the size of the entire house Lorand had grown up in, which made him want to see the rest of the place.
"This is an illegal invasion of private property," the servant blustered from their right, his expression showing his indignation. "How dare you force your way in here, pretending to be what you're not - "
"You sound awfully certain that we're lying," Jovvi interrupted to observe, her tone gentle. "Can you tell me why that's so?"
"High Lord Embisson told the entire staff the truth before he left," the man replied stiffly with a look of faint surprise in his eyes. "We were warned not to believe anything you told us if you came here, which might happen even though the house is being guarded. You shouldn't really be here at all…"
"Yes, that's right, we've already seen to those … guards," Tamrissa put in as the servant hesitated. "But they weren't guards they were outlaws, ready to kill the people they'd taken as hostages. That doesn't bother you even a little?"
"That can't be true!" the man blurted, but this time he seemed more upset than doubting. "The High Lord explained that the people used as supposed hostages would be perfectly all right, and would be released as soon as the intruders were captured. That's why I agreed to let my daughter be one of them…"
"She would have died with the others if we hadn't stopped those marvelous 'guards' of yours," Tamrissa told the man with a bluntness that Lorand never would have used under the circumstances. "The outlaws are just outside right now, and if you don't believe us you can feel free to ask them. But right now we need to see every person in this household."
The servant had become too disturbed to be of much help, so they used their Blending instead. And this time Lorand noticed something odd. The entity was much more him than a simple combination with his point of view. Lorand knew he could guide the entity rather than just going along while it controlled all actions, and that felt rather good. There were things that had to be done, and he was more than prepared to do them.
One by one he put all the servants under control, and once it was done he noticed that the cooks immediately began to throw away the food they'd been preparing. It wasn't difficult for him to tell that the food had been tampered with, obviously a prearranged backup plan in case the trap with the outlaws didn't work…
"And that's that," Jovvi said once she'd dissolved the Blending again. "I'm glad that the cooks are starting to make something for lunch that will be safe to eat. I'm beginning to get hungry, and it won't be long before all the others and their own appetites get here. Is there anything else we have to do?"
"I think what you need to do is hear the latest," Lorand said, interrupting everyone else's headshake or denial. "Tamrissa's newest condition seems to be spreading, because now I have it. And she was right about it feeling completely natural. It seems so unremarkable, in fact, that I came close to forgetting about mentioning it. Only the way Jovvi made a deliberate point about discussing the matter has made me remember."
/> "Two of you now," Jovvi exclaimed, more excited than disturbed. "But what about you, Tamma? Did you go back to feeling that you were just a point of view of the entity?"
"No, not at all," Tamrissa replied, her brows high. "It continued to feel as though I were the only one there in complete charge. But what about the other thing, Lorand, about reaching your link groups without warning them first? Or wasn't there a time when you had to?"
"Oops," Lorand said, knowing exactly how shamefaced he must look. "I meant to tell everyone about that, but we were still dealing with the outlaws and then I forgot. Why are these new things so easy to forget?"
"Possibly because of what both of you have said," Rion offered when no one else seemed to have a ready answer. "If something is natural and normal, you don't remark on it in ordinary conversation. It would be like mentioning that we walked in here, are now standing here, or that we're all breathing in and out."
"That could very well be," Jovvi agreed with a thoughtful nod while the rest of them raised brows in consideration. "All right, then we'll have to work harder at remembering, and possibly even make a habit of mentioning that we're breathing in and out. But Vallant, what about the noble who lived here? He's obviously gone, and probably on his way to Gan Garee."
"There's nothin' we can do about that right now," Vallant answered with a headshake. "I'd love to take our people and go after him and whatever friends have gone with him, but we can't afford the time. We still have to round up the nobles in this area, and then we have to head for Gracely. We can send word to Gan Garee by pigeon, but we ourselves have to continue seein' to our own business."
"Which is unfortunate," Tamrissa said, annoyance clear in her tone. "After what we've learned about this leech Ruhl, it would have given me a good deal of pleasure to catch up to him. He might have been stupid enough to try resisting us."
"Maybe he won't do anything to bring attention to himself in Gan Garee before we get back there," Lorand offered, suddenly aware of the fact that he knew exactly how Tamrissa felt - and shared that feeling. "After all, we just have to take a quick look at Gracely to make sure that nothing horrible has been done there. After that we'll be free to return home."