Competitions

by Sharon Green

  “You’re already prepared to continue?” Genovir said, still maintaining that forced smile despite the—lurching distress—Jovvi was momentarily able to feel in her. “We expected you to practice a bit first… I’ll fetch Algus at once. Please feel free to sit and have tea while I do so.”

  Genovir turned and hurried away, leaving Jovvi with the impression that the larger woman’s balance was on the verge of coming apart. Under other circumstances that would seem curious, but with the testing authority involved the reaction felt more suspicious. Those people were up to something, and the something wasn’t likely to be to her benefit.

  Jovvi considered taking the suggestion about tea, but old habits made her decide to sit down and simply wait. As a child she’d learned better than to eat or drink near people who couldn’t be trusted, especially not when those people had access to what she would be eating or drinking. She remembered that very pretty young boy who had roamed the same part of the city that Jovvi and her brothers had. The three of them had watched the boy accept food and drink from a smiling stranger, and afterward they’d never seen the boy again…

  After a few minutes Genovir reappeared with Algus, both of them coming from the second small practice building. Their pace was less hurried than Genovir’s departure had been, but there was a definite … determination to the tall, thin man’s stride. Jovvi wondered about that, but as soon as the two reached the place she sat, it was no longer necessary to wonder.

  “Well, good morning, Dama Hafford,” Algus said in an attempt to sound jolly. “Genovir tells me you’re ready to try for the next masteries, which is fine. But I must insist that you pause for a cup of tea first, which will help to relax you. It would distress me to see you faint from your efforts.”

  “That’s very kind of you, sir, but unnecessary,” Jovvi said as she rose, interrupting Algus in the process of reaching for a bell rope. “Since I haven’t fainted yet and have no intention of doing so in the future, I must insist that we get on with the testing. Once I’ve achieved the masteries, I’ll take a cup of tea as my reward.”

  Algus turned back to her and seemed about to speak, but his touching her lightly with his ability first stopped that. He had to have realized that Jovvi wasn’t about to change her mind, and so gave up on the argument.

  “Very well, Dama,” he conceded, immediately covering his flash of frustrated annoyance. “Please come with us.”

  He and Genovir began to lead the way back to the second practice building, and Jovvi followed with less satisfaction than her victory would have given someone else. She’d gotten around whatever they’d had in mind with the tea, but the set of their shoulders told her there was more plotting ahead. Jovvi would have been delighted to find she was imagining things, but unfortunately it wasn’t very likely that she was.

  The second practice building was just like the first, being divided into smaller rooms for the purpose of privacy. The only difference was the lack of windows in the room Genovir led her into, wall lamps doing the job of keeping the gloom at bay.

  “Algus will be right here with the subjects you’ll be working with,” Genovir said, just as though Jovvi had no idea where the man had gone. The taller woman gave the appearance of being calm, but on the inside her nervousness was barely under control. Jovvi smiled and nodded to acknowledge what she’d been told, but her insides were almost as unsteady. The two Adepts were definitely up to something, but she had no idea what to be on guard against.

  It really wasn’t long at all before Algus appeared with the six subjects, this time the mix consisting of four men and two women. The men were generally larger than the previous male subjects had been, but with all of them drugged in the same way, that didn’t matter. The—deadness of the six people was more disturbing than usual, though, so when a spider slid down its thread to hang beside Jovvi to the right, she appreciated the company. Spiders were beautifully tranquil on the inside, and it was nice to have one to keep her from being all alone.

  “I’m sure you already know what’s necessary, Dama, but I’ll review the matter anyway,” Algus said as the six subjects drifted to the far side of the room. “These subjects will start out calm, and your task will be to enrage them. They’ll begin by standing together, then will shift through the various stages until each stands alone. For these final masteries you must be standing in the middle of the room, just as you were for the previous ones.”

  Jovvi agreed with a sigh and walked to the middle of the room as Algus closed the door, hating to desert her brand new companion but having no choice. The spider would be left behind while she went to the—

  Suddenly Jovvi was very alert. There had been no need to tell her where to stand—unless the point was more important than it seemed. A glance at Algus showed her nothing, and it was too bad there was no time to think about it…

  “All right, now we’ll begin,” Algus said from where he stood near the door, behind her, then continued to the subjects, “Hear one who is authorized to command you. This woman is your friend, and she means you no harm.”

  The six subjects, properly cued, all began to smile, not the slightest bit of anger in any of them. Jovvi had already reached out to them, wondering if the trap lay in some difference between them and ordinary subjects, but that didn’t seem to be the case. So she reached to their calm peacefulness, and a moment later they were shaking fists and moving angrily in place.

  “Enough,” Algus said after a very long minute, and the subjects calmed immediately. “Nicely done, Dama, very nicely done indeed. All right, you people, division one.”

  The subjects obeyed the second command as well and drifted into two groups of three, their calm back to being serenity. Their movement took them a good distance apart, but not quite on opposite sides of the room. As soon as they stopped it was Jovvi’s turn again, so she swallowed her distaste and reached out to them with her ability. Calming and easing people was completely natural and right, but enraging them…!

  “Enough,” Algus finally commanded after an even longer minute, calming the rage of the six subjects. Some of them had seemed ready to move in Jovvi’s direction, which had disturbed her quite a lot. “Now you have two additional masteries, Dama. Let’s move on to the third. You people, division two.”

  The six subjects drifted into three groups of two, and now they were in a triangle around Jovvi. For some reason their complete calm disturbed her, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint why. And then there was another spider—or the same one—sliding down a thread right next to her again, which was somewhat surprising. It hadn’t seemed there were that many spiders in the building, but obviously she’d been mistaken. She would have enjoyed being able to think about that along with what the Adept might be up to, but Algus could well decide to call any hesitation a failure. With that in mind she reached to the subjects again, and once more set them raging.

  “Enough,” Algus said in a shorter time than before, an odd satisfaction in his tone. “That makes three additional masteries, Dama, with only one more to go. If you like, I’ll permit a pause now for a cup of tea.”

  “Thank you, no,” Jovvi declined without turning to look at him, having no intention of deserting her spider companion again. And the spider was her companion, its steadiness holding her steady as well. “I would prefer to have the testing over and done with first.”

  “As you wish,” Algus agreed, his now-roiling emotions too mixed to be easily interpreted. “We’ll conclude this, then. You people, division three.”

  The subjects in the three groups separated to where each of them stood alone, and now they surrounded her even more completely. Jovvi really wanted the whole thing over and behind her, so she reached to the six individuals and set them raging. Once again this part of the exercise was easier than the previous part, except for the waiting. The six people raged furiously all around her, needing the command from Algus before turning calm again.

  It took the first advance of the four male subjects to make Jovvi understand that t
he command from Algus was more than overdue. The four male subjects, with the two females not far behind, were in the process of beginning to attack her, and if Algus were going to turn them off he would have done so already. That must be the plan, then, to let the subjects attack her and later claim it was caused by her lack of control. That brought Jovvi her own anger, along with the determination not to let Algus and Genovir get away with it.

  So she reached to the subjects again, intending to calm them herself—and found something blocking her. For an instant Jovvi had no idea would could be causing the block, but then it became obvious. A glance over her shoulder showed that Algus and Genovir were in the midst of some great effort with their own abilities, so that was the answer. They were the ones keeping her from reaching the subjects, a doing they’d obviously planned right from the beginning.

  And now that Jovvi knew their plan, she certainly wished she didn’t. The six subjects were so furious they were ready to cause serious harm, and they were all around her. They’d already advanced to a point where the diameter of their circle was half of what it had originally been, and another minute would see them even closer. If anything was going to be done about it, it had to be done now.

  Swallowing against the fear trying to rise up inside her, Jovvi opened herself to more of the power. The inrush was exhilarating and strengthening, flowing over and erasing her faint uneasiness over the necessity. The power she already wielded was more than she’d ever handled before, but if she were going to break out of the trap, she needed even more.

  And now she had it, so she reached first to the two so-called Adepts. Their struggle to maintain the double block was now completely clear, showing how little of the power they were actually able to use. But breaking through the block was out of the question, so Jovvi did the only other thing she could: she sent the fear of enclosed spaces to the pair, forcing it through their individually inadequate personal defenses.

  Genovir moaned as Algus gasped, and the block disappeared only just in time. The four large male subjects were only two steps away from Jovvi when she finally managed to calm them, doing the same for the women at the same time. The combined effort against eight people had covered Jovvi with sweat and turned her faintly trembling, but she’d still accomplished what had needed to be done. And her spider companion was still perfectly calm, as though knowing she could be relied on to take care of the problem. But the problem had more than one side…

  Including continuing to hold the fear in Algus and Genovir. Once the six subjects were back to being calm, Jovvi was able to turn and look at the two who had plotted against her. They were in the midst of a mewling, panting struggle to get the door open, each one trying to push away the other so that he or she could be first to get outside. That meant neither of them was able to accomplish it, so the induced fear grew stronger by the minute.

  Jovvi stood and watched them for a moment, feeling a great lack of understanding. She’d expected the two to fight her once they dropped the block, but their only attempt to resist had been so weak she’d almost missed it. And now they were completely under her control despite her weariness, which shouldn’t be so. Was she mistaken, or were they really no stronger than Middle practitioners? Well, there were other answers she wanted more, so that particular question would have to wait.

  “All right, calm down,” she said after releasing her hold. “Genovir, let Algus open the door and then both of you can get out.”

  Genovir, still very confused, hesitated at Jovvi’s order. That let Algus finally get the door open, and the two stumbled out quickly and hurried along the central hall to the front entrance. After turning and sending the emotion of gratitude to the tiny spider which still hung at the end of its thread, Jovvi followed behind the two “Adepts.” She, of course, stopped when they did, a good half dozen paces along the walk.

  “That, I think, makes four full masteries,” Jovvi said, drawing a frightened stare from Algus. “First I want to hear you declare it, and then I want an explanation for your behavior.”

  “Yes, Dama, four full masteries,” Algus mumbled, making no effort to stand straighter. “I do hereby declare it, and will fetch your bracelet and silver immediately. It will only take a moment…”

  “Stop,” Jovvi said quietly as the man began to turn away, seeing that he obeyed immediately. “You’ll explain about that bracelet comment in a moment, but first I want another answer. You two deliberately tried to make me fail the test—not to mention trying to get me beaten up or killed—and I want to know why. What did I do to make you behave like that?”

  “It—wasn’t you, Dama, nor was it really us,” Genovir babbled out when Algus hesitated. “It’s standard practice to do that to late qualifiers, to weed out those who can only just squeak past. Letting them go on wastes the time of our superiors, and it’s much too late in the year for time-wasting. Please—don’t be angry. We really do apologize.”

  Both of them stared at Jovvi by then, underscoring the continuing fear that filled them. They seemed to be telling the truth—at least, the truth as they knew it—and the explanation had provided the answer to another question as well.

  “So that’s why you began to bow and scrape yesterday,” Jovvi said, looking back and forth between them. “You were trying to cover yourselves in case I somehow proved to be stronger than the both of you. Submission posturing, to keep me from eating you alive in anger—after I noticed how much pleasure you were getting from doing your … duty. And that tea you tried to force on me… It would have had something in it to make your job even easier, right?”

  The two didn’t answer, but the way they avoided her gaze was answer enough. They’d meant to drug her, and that would have been the end of her being an applicant.

  “We’ll just put that matter aside for another time,” Jovvi said after a moment, words calculated to do nothing to ease the fear the Adepts felt. “Now you can tell me what that bracelet thing means.”

  “It’s—it’s to be worn in place of your identification card,” Algus stuttered out, his relief on the faint side. “You’ve now reached the level of master, so you’re no longer an applicant. The master’s bracelet will show your new, higher status, that of full participant. Congratulations, Dama, on rising so high.”

  There was now hope in the man’s voice and mind, hope based on the possibility that his news would put Jovvi’s attention on something other than him. The whole thing was so clear that the man might as well have discussed it aloud, but since he seemed unaware of it, Jovvi decided against mentioning it.

  “I’m going to sit down and have some refreshment now,” Jovvi said after a pause that would have been longer if she hadn’t been so tired. “Bring my bracelet and dins to the table, and then we’ll see if there isn’t more to discuss.”

  Algus paled before nodding vigorously and then hurrying away, a deeply frightened Genovir right behind him. Jovvi wasted no time watching the two escape, not when she needed food and drink so badly. Instead she headed for the eating area and an empty table, where she’d be able to refresh herself—and worry—in peace. The others … what if one or more of them actually drank the tea they’d be offered? They would certainly end up being disqualified, and it might even turn out to be Lorand…

  And if it was, what in the whole wide world would she do?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Vallant’s ride to the practice areas wasn’t a pleasant one. He stared out of the window beside his right arm, seeing nothing of the passing scenery. Instead his thoughts kept going over and over the conclusion he’d come to last night, a conclusion he hadn’t expected to come to. But expected or not the idea had come, and the more he thought about it, the more certain it became.

  Last night had started out really amusing, with Tamrissa the Innocent falling right into his trap. Her expression had been priceless when she finally realized what she’d promised to do, but it had also been touchingly vulnerable. He’d waited for her to turn speechless with embarrassment, intending the
n to tell her he’d only been joking—or wishful thinking—but that hadn’t happened. Instead, fury had flashed from her beautiful eyes, and after promising never to speak to him again, she’d stormed back into the house.

  Vallant’s first reaction to that had been faint hurt, to see that she really believed he’d force her into his bed. At first he tried to tell himself she had no reason to believe otherwise, but that wasn’t true. He’d not only done nothing to hurt her, he’d gone out of his way to be more than ordinarily gentle.

  But she’d still immediately treated him like a lower lifeform, like someone she had no interest whatsoever in associating with. He’d spent his time apologizing for something that hadn’t been his fault to begin with, and she’d spent her time trying to avoid him. He’d decided he couldn’t bear the thought of being without her, and she’d decided she wanted nothing to do with him. By the time he’d gotten back to his bedchamber, it had come to him that he’d done everything but crawl for the woman.

  And since that was something he’d never do for anyone, it was obvious he’d reached the end of the line in his quest for Dama Domon’s attention. Quest… Vallant had laughed at himself bitterly over that one. It had been more of a pitiful display of begging than a quest, since that was what chasing after an uninterested woman always was. Which meant that it was more than time it came to an end.

  Vallant stared out of the coach window and remembered the terrible disappointment he’d felt at that thought, but there was no arguing with the conclusion. Tamrissa wanted nothing to do with him, so it was time to bow to her decision and walk away like a gentleman of dignity. It wasn’t what he really wanted to do, but it was the only option left open to him.

  Brooding over that inescapable decision took up all of the coach ride, and even caused him to miss Mardimil’s departure. The first he knew when Coll called his name was that Holter was in the process of getting out, which meant he had to do the same. The practice area looked no different from yesterday, but as soon as he and Holter walked through the wall opening, Wimand, his Adept guide, hurried toward them, followed closely by Holter’s Adept guide Podon.