by Sharon Green
I stared at him openmouthed for a moment, suddenly so furious that it was a good thing I’d have trouble reaching fire now. I’d had to go through hell because of people like him, people who didn’t want to test for High and therefore had to be forced into doing their best! I grew so furious that I barely noticed he now stood bare-chested, his body as well-tanned as his face. I did notice, however, when he reached to his trousers and began to open them without hesitation. I lost most of what I’d meant to say, and could only turn quickly to face the wall.
“I’m going to speak to someone about having you put elsewhere,” I finally choked out, hating the heavy heat of embarrassment I felt in my cheeks. “You haven’t the first idea about civilized behavior, and I refuse to have you in my house a moment longer than absolutely necessary. And if they can’t find another place for you, I hope you’ll need to sleep in the street!”
Rather than hearing words in reply, I heard the definite splash of water in the bath that said a large body had plunged into it. My cheeks flamed hot again, and not just because I’d never seen a naked male body despite having been married. Gimmis had always forced me to close my eyes, even in the dark of his bedchamber. It was the rudeness of this lout that disturbed me so, a rudeness made up of his intrusion and his stare and the way I hadn’t been able to say what I wanted to him. I stepped barefoot into my shoes, gathered my clean clothes awkwardly with one hand while the other kept the towel closed about me, and simply got out of there.
But once outside, I paused to remove the “occupied” sign from the door. If this Vallant Ro didn’t mind intruding on me, he shouldn’t mind having someone else doing the same to him. And his presence guaranteed the other applicants couldn’t be far behind, hopefully with one among them who was as rude and intrusive as Ro himself!
CHAPTER TWELVE
Vallant Ro looked around at the fire circling him, at the same time fighting to clear his thoughts. All his basic self wanted to do was escape the confines of that room, going straight through a wall if necessary. The fact that it obviously wasn’t possible to go through the walls didn’t seem to matter to that basic part of him, but it mattered to the rest. There did have to be a way out of there, and only rational thought would find it.
Vallant looked around for a third time, distantly finding it strange that the fire concerned him less than the confined space of the room. That had to be because holding off the fire was fractionally easier, even if it wasn’t possible to put it out completely. He’d hung a curtain of light moisture all around himself not far from the inner ring of flames, and so far the flames hadn’t gone past it.
But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t, so he had to get moving. A way out … a way out… As he continued to look around, he felt heavy frustration mounting. There didn’t seem to be a way out, but he’d already decided that that was impossible. Something had to be there, but without a usable door and with no windows except for that small, windowlike door high in the wall—
Vallant briefly cursed his stupidity under his breath, at last understanding one of the reasons his recent guide had appeared at the window-door. That was Vallant’s way out, but how was he supposed to reach it? He’d never managed to learn to fly like a bird, although people claimed he swam like a fish…
And of course that was it. Water, the element of his talent, what he was there to be tested in. In order to save himself he’d have to use his talent, an act he’d intended to refrain from. This time it was the government he cursed under his breath, hating the way they’d manipulated him into doing his best. It wasn’t fair, and he meant to tell them so as soon as he was out of there.
But first he had to get out, which wouldn’t be easy. That large amount of water he could sense somewhere nearby wasn’t large enough to flood the room and float him up to the door, at the same time quenching those flames. It would have to be used differently, but how? How could that large but limited amount of water get him out of here?
Vallant noticed that he was sweating harder, and not just from his terror at being locked in such a small room. That ring of flames had somehow moved past his curtain of water and now burned that much closer to him. It was circling tighter and tighter, intent on surrounding and smothering him as well as burning…
Once again Vallant had to fight blind panic, and this time pulling out of it was harder. The thought of being enclosed by the fire really was harder to deal with than being burned by it, but putting out one section of it and escaping the circle wasn’t likely to help. It was logical to expect the fire to follow wherever he went, and would undoubtedly trap him against the wall if necessary. He had to get out of that room to escape the double trap, and he had to use his Water magic to do it. But how…?
He began to wipe the sweat from his face again, wishing the room could be cooler, and just that easily he had his answer. Ice, he would have to form ice from the water and that way he’d be able to reach the window door. But with most of the room’s heat coming from that fire, how was he supposed to form and maintain ice? Curse those codding bureaucrats! That was why they threatened him with fire! To make forming ice that much harder!
Vallant briefly considered clamping down on his temper, then dismissed the idea with a snarl. He needed every advantage he could get, and anger—directed anger—often increased his strength. And took his attention from other things, like a crippling fear. He just had to stay angry long enough to get the job done, which would be hard enough even that way. Ice, in all that heat…
But it could be done in a small way, so it ought to be possible on a large scale with enough strength behind the effort. First he would have to establish some protection from those flames, and then he could start building his ice bridge. But what shape should it be in? And did he really want a bridge…?
It would have been nice if Vallant could have spent a while considering those questions, but he simply didn’t have the time. Everything including his own mind pushed at him to hurry, but he had to hurry cautiously. A serious mistake would mean needing to start all over again, and by then the flames would be right on top of him…
Reaching out to every bit of moisture in the air, Vallant caused a fairly heavy cascade to form over the arc of fire that was in the way of where he needed to put his ice platform. And platform was what it would have to be, since there might not be enough water—or time—for anything more involved. And if things worked properly, he’d even bypass the need to climb up to that platform.
But first he had to move around behind that cascade, closer to the wall where the window-door was. Everyone knew that fire melted ice without needing to think about it, but it took some people a moment to realize that pouring water did the same. He would have to protect his ice platform from both things, as well as maintain the cascade while he built the ice.
Just thinking about it was a waste of time and strength, not to mention taking the edge off his anger by increasing his fear. He’d never had to do so much with his talent before, but worrying about whether or not he could would just lessen his chances. For that reason he quickly reached to the large supply of water, established a bridge to the room he stood in, and began bringing the water through. As soon as it reached him he added frozen chips from way up in the sky, which froze the rest of what it touched.
And the ice began to form under his feet, or more precisely, under his shoes. He would have been happier about his balance—if more uncomfortable—if he were barefoot, but his body heat would make the problem a lot harder to handle. He’d keep one hand on the wall he built his platform in front of, and try to maintain his balance that way.
The plan seemed to work, although Vallant had to ignore how hard it was to do everything at once. Maintaining the cascade to keep the fire put out, channeling in the water from wherever it was being kept, and bringing down the frigid chunks of ice from high up to freeze what was forming under him. It was like a crazy game, where everything demanded your attention at once if you weren’t going to lose and lose badly. Vallant played the ga
me, but he came close to drowning in sweat.
It took a number of very difficult minutes, but his ice platform finally brought him high enough to reach the windowdoor. He reached out to it gingerly with his free hand, briefly afraid that it would refuse to open, but the wood pushed back out of his way with very little effort. The only problem that left was sight of the space behind it, an area only a little larger than his body. There was a much wider opening beyond the very cramped area, but in order to reach it he would have to go through that tiny, airless, confining space…
Vallant almost lost it then, so strongly did his terror surge up. He’d considered the room confining, but that tiny crawl space was a thousand times worse. He had to use it in order to get out, but could he? He’d spread his talent out in three different directions, almost emptying himself of ability, but crawling through that tiny area could well be beyond him. He swallowed from a bone-dry mouth, fighting to keep his eyes from closing—and suddenly felt his ice platform trembling under his feet. Fear was interfering with his talent, and a single mental touch told him the platform was about to come apart!
That time Vallant used fear to his benefit, letting it propel him toward the only path to safety there was. He plunged through the window-door before he could lose his footing, at the same time closing his eyes. There’s lots of room in here, he told himself frantically, struggling to picture an area as large as the inside of that first building. Lots of room, but you still don’t have to be in here long. The other side of it is completely open, and all you have to do is reach it.
Vallant kept repeating that to himself, even though crawling slowly didn’t get him to the other side very quickly. But he had to crawl slowly, or he would have brushed up against the sides or top of that tiny area. His fear didn’t really believe the lies he’d told it, but as long as he didn’t actually touch anything around himself he could pretend to believe. If he lost even that pitiful amount of pretense, he’d probably lose control as well.
So he crawled carefully toward the opening ahead with his eyes shut tight, and because of that he almost crawled over the edge. His hand came down on nothing, throwing off his precarious sense of balance, but there was also a slight breath of moving air. That encouraged him to open his eyes, which heartened him even more. He would have to climb down a narrow ladder to reach the floor of the hall below, but off to the right only a few steps away, a door to the outside stood partially open.
Twisting around in the mouth of that narrow opening to get his feet to the ladder rungs was hard, but not nearly as hard as the rest of what he’d done. Once on the ladder he felt his mind begin to open out, filled with an agonized yearning for the outdoors that he hadn’t experienced since childhood. He went down the ladder fast, stumbled to the door and out as quickly as he could move, then sank to his hands and knees in blessed relief. He was outside, finally and completely outside at last.
Vallant lowered himself to the meager grass on his left side, concentrating on nothing but breathing and trying to gather some small amount of strength. If for nothing else he’d need it eventually to stand up, and right now he felt completely emptied. He’d also closed his eyes again, but the sound of footsteps made him open them quickly. The man who had been in the outer room of this building now walked toward him, holding a cup of something.
“Don’t be upset, it’s all over for now,” the man said quickly as Vallant began to struggle into a seated position in preparation for getting to his feet. “And I believe you need what’s in this cup.”
Vallant hated to take anything from these people, but unfortunately the man was right. Between sweating like a waterfall and using every bit of moisture he could touch with his talent, Vallant was as close to being a dried out husk as anyone with Water magic could be. So he hesitated only an instant before taking the cup and draining it, finding its contents to be more than simple water and a good deal more refreshing. After a moment he could actually feel some strength beginning to come back, so he returned the cup with a grudging nod.
“Thank you for that, at least,” he allowed, less of an edge to his tone than he’d wanted it to have. “Now that your game is over, you can just point me to the nearest coach stop. I’m goin’ home whether you like it or not.”
“My likes don’t enter into the matter,” the man replied with something of a shrug from where he crouched beside Vallant. “If it were my choice you could go or stay as you please, but my employers tend to have a different view of the matter. And by the way, congratulations on passing the test. Not everyone does, you know, and in fact more don’t than do.”
“That must keep you people really busy movin’ bodies out of here,” Vallant commented, unimpressed by what he’d been told. “And I don’t care what your – employers—want either. Give me my seabag and show me the way out.”
“I’m afraid it isn’t that simple, Captain Ro,” the man said, looking only faintly apologetic. “Now that you’ve passed the first of your tests, you can’t be allowed to simply return home. You must participate in and complete the sessions scheduled for you, or you’ll be taken into custody by the guard—with the help of two High practitioners. You’ll be given a trial, of course, but the mandatory penalty for attempting to flee before the tests are over is five years at hard labor in one of the empire’s deep mines. Those with Earth magic can’t bear to work in them, I’m told, so manual labor is necessary. We can’t force you to participate in the tests, sir, but we can and will punish your refusal.”
Vallant stared at the man, trying to read the truth under the words the way he did with the merchants he dealt with, but the effort was useless. Either the man was a most accomplished liar, or everything he’d said was the truth. Not that it really mattered. Even if their “punishment” had been something he could bear, he still couldn’t have allowed himself to run that far afoul of the law. He had his family to think of and the possibility of ruining the excellent reputation they’d always enjoyed, which meant he was well and truly trapped.
“The bunch of you should be really proud of yourselves,” he commented, letting the other man see his disgust “You’d all better hope I don’t pass all the tests you have… So where do I go now? The nearest jail cell?”
“Certainly not,” the man replied, straightening from his crouch as Vallant forced himself to his feet. “You’ve been assigned lodging with someone of the city who volunteered their house as a residence. Others who pass their tests will be staying there with you, so please remember that discussing anything at all about your own test is strictly forbidden. We’ll be paying the cost of your lodging, but you must bear the expense of your food and clothing and other wants and needs. But after the sessions you ought to be eligible for the competitions, the winning of which will earn you a bonus in gold. For that reason I would not let the current state of your funds distress you. We’ll be in touch again in a few days, but at the moment I believe your coach has arrived.”
Vallant could also hear the creak of wheels and springs accompanied by the clip-clop of hooves, which meant the coach was undoubtedly on the outer side of the building, but Vallant had had more than enough of that place. “Meet me around front with my seabag,” he directed as he made his own way toward the path that separated this building from the next in the circle. “I’d hate to tempt you people into tryin’ me again, so I’ll get to the front by the long way.”
Vallant felt the man staring at him as he walked away, but he didn’t particularly care. His fear of that building didn’t show, he knew, and a bit of suspicion was hardly out of place. He would get to that coach the long way, and enjoy every painful step of the trip.
By the time Vallant circled the building, the man he’d spoken to waited beside the coach with his seabag. Vallant took it silently with a curt nod and entered the coach, which at this point looked more spacious than confining. Sitting down also felt incredibly good, especially when the coach began to move. He was finally on his way out of that place even though it wasn’t to go home.
Vallant took a deep breath and let it out slowly, turning his attention to the unfamiliar city he rode through. Finding a way home couldn’t be done right now, which in a way was a lucky thing. What he needed most at the moment was a long bath and a change of clothes, to rid himself of the clammy feel of his underthings. He’d sweated hard enough to float a skiff, and until he bathed he’d find it impossible to rest.
It wasn’t a very long trip to the house that would be his residence, but Vallant was able to see the neighborhoods change before they got there. Official-looking buildings were replaced by surprisingly large houses with drives, and when the coach turned into one of those drives Vallant leaned a bit through the window.
The house they approached was at least as large as his daddy’s, a three-story affair with what was probably servants’ quarters under the gables. Gardeners tended the front lawn carefully and lovingly, shaded by the presence of large trees. It looked like it might not be too much of a hardship to stay there for a while…
When the coach pulled up at the front of the house a young woman stepped out timidly to meet it. There was only a single step between the drive and the approach to the house, and the fact that Vallant noticed the one step said quite a lot about the woman. She was a plain little thing in a plain dress of gray, medium brown hair and eyes doing nothing to add to her attractiveness. Actually it was her very obvious timidity that put Vallant off most, but he still gave her his best smile once he’d gotten out of the coach.
“I’m told I’ll be stayin’ here for a short while, ma’am,” he said gently so as not to frighten the poor little thing. “I’m Captain Vallant Ro, and I’ll be with you as soon as I see to the coach driver.”