Prophecy

by Sharon Green

  “I’m suddenly feeling something of a chill,” Tamma muttered, wrapping her arms about herself. “But I also still agree with Rion; this can’t possibly be true, so why are we continuing to discuss it?”

  “We’restill discussing it because we need the truth, not our own pet theories,” Jovvi told her, but made certain that her tone was completely gentle. “I know exactly how you feel because I feel the same way, but there are too many unexplained facts that we can’t simply dismiss. Is it true that the rest of you were attacked by a fireball in the same way I was?”

  “I certainly was,” Lorand replied with a sigh, the expression in his dark eyes troubled. “The thing almost burned me to cinders, and Hat was no help at all. I had to stop the thing myself, before it killed me and then set the whole town on fire.”

  “With me, it nearly ruined my favorite hat,” Rion said, and Jovvi could tell that he grasped at tiny details to keep the shock from returning. “I was outraged, of course, but when the Guild member with my coach ticket showed up, I denied all knowledge of what had happened. He himself seemed to have missed the incident.”

  Now Rion looked rather closely at Lavrit Mohr, as though he’d found a flaw in the man’s story. It so happened that Jovvi had also denied all knowledge of the fireball attack, so she joined Rion in listening for Mohr’s answer.

  “Allow me to assure you that Lord Astrath missed not a single minute of it,” the High Master replied to Rion, still looking completely unruffled. “None of your Guild members missed the incidents, but they were trying to find out what your reactions to the attacks were. If one of you had had a friend who was prone to playing practical jokes, for instance, the incident would have become much less certain. But no one lurked around snickering afterward, and there were only the five reported incidents. That helped to convince us that we weren’t wishful thinking…”

  Jovvi contributed to the flood of disturbance coming from the others until she shielded herself again, and then it was only her own disturbance which she had to worry about. The whole thing seemed to be impossible to believe, and they really needed to discuss the matter alone.

  “I … think we ought to accept the hospitality we’ve been offered here,” Jovvi said after a moment, looking at her groupmates. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m too tired—and dirty—to think clearly. Let’s get a meal and some rest first, and then we can talk about this again.”

  “Yes, please, we insist you accept,” Mohr said when the others hesitated. “This inn has been prepared for you and your companions, while my own people and our allies have been quartered at the other two. I meant to introduce you to them all, but later, at dinner, would be a much better idea. Right now it’s not much past lunchtime, and if you’ll honor us by taking the meal here in the dining room, we’ll have the rest of it ready for you as soon as you’rethrough.”

  “The rest of what?” Jovvi couldn’t help asking, despite the picture her mind insisted on putting forward of her sitting down at a table again, as though she were a civilized woman instead of a hunted fugitive. “What else have you … prepared for us?”

  “Well, we arranged to have some clothing made for you,” Mohr said, and now he sounded a bit hesitant. “We knew your approximate sizes, after all, and knew you probably hadn’t been able to take any clothing at all when you escaped. But we only had four outfits made for each of you, which is certainly not enough to clothe your entire group. If the tailors and seamstresses in the town are permitted to take measurements, though, and the extra outfits made for you are distributed, we may well be able to clothe everyone by tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest.”

  Everyone began to murmur over that, and this time the surprise was a pleasant one. Every one of them needed new clothing rather badly, and the idea of being able to get into fresh new things after bathing had an attraction that couldn’t be ignored. So that meant they weren’t going to refuse what had been done for them, but Jovvi also had no intention of just relaxing and enjoying it all. Their Blending entity would have to have a good look around as well as a talk with some of those so-called supporters of theirs before that happened, and maybe not even then.

  “I think we ought to apologize for being … less than grateful for all these marvelous things,” Jovvi said to Mohr with a smile meant to dazzle. “I’m sure you know we haven’t had an easy time of it, and after being attacked almost every time we stopped somewhere, it was hard to imagine being in a place where there would be help instead. We really do appreciate everything you’ve done for us, and especially for offering the members of your Guild as our supporters.”

  “I … think I ought to mention that not all of our members mean to support you,” Mohr said, the admission obviously embarrassing and needing to be forced out. “One faction of our people seems to be rather firmly on the side of the nobles, and they claim that if we really give the nobility our support instead of just pretending to it, we’ll be rewarded the way we should be. They want what the nobility has within its power to give, you see, and refuse to admit that no one whom that monied group considers a freak will ever be granted any of the largesse. But we made certain that that faction knows nothing about this meeting, so their opinions and views won’t touch you in any way at all.”

  “That’s a relief,” Lorand said, clearly trying to support Jovvi’s proffered attitude of grateful weariness. “It will feel good to get back into the habit of not wondering about every stranger I see. Ah … which way did you say we can find that meal you mentioned?”

  Mohr and his people hurriedly volunteered to escort everyone to the dining room, and promptly began to do so. Once everyone began to move in the proper direction, Jovvi turned to look at Ramis Foll, one of the Highs in her link group. Ramis was also looking in her direction the way he was supposed to, so Jovvi nodded slightly with a matching smile. Ramis echoed the nod, then turned to speak to the others in his link group. Certain plans and signals had been arranged before their group reached the vicinity of Colling Green, and Jovvi had just set one of those plans in motion.

  The dining room was a rather large and formal place a short distance toward the back of the inn, and enough place settings had been arranged on the round, generous-sized tables to accommodate a good sixty people or more. Seating arrangements made very little difference to Jovvi and the others, as they’d all practiced enough with their link groups—and the link groups with their own members—that it didn’t matter where anyone happened to be. If trouble suddenly erupted they could all link up in seconds to take care of it, so they spread out and claimed whatever table and place happened to appeal to them.

  Except that Jovvi and her groupmates all moved rather briskly to their places, then lost no time in sitting down. Ramis and his people, along with members of the other link groups, were occupying their hosts by stopping them to ask various questions. That was to give the primary Blending time to form their entity, which would then search the entire inn and the food in particular. If there was nothing wrong with the meal and it was being given freely by those who were on their side, it would be a shame to court indigestion by not knowing that in advance.

  So Jovvi and the others arranged themselves as they’d agreed to do, pretending that they were more than a little tired. They were weary, but their positions were meant to suggest that they were taking a moment to rest—rather than letting the Guild people know that they were no longer in their bodies. Vallant sat with his legs stretched out straight and his head back, one hand to the back of his neck with his eyes closed. Rion had lowered his head to his folded arms on the table, and his eyes, too, were closed. Beside him Naran leaned on his shoulder, eyes blinking slowly but still open, hopefully distracting any observer from noticing that Lorand leaned back with an arm across his eyes, which effectively closed off his sight.

  Tamma had put her elbows on the table and her hands to her face, the ends of her fingers pressing against her closed eyelids. As soon as Jovvi had made sure that everyone was in the proper posi
tion, she lowered her face to her hands, her elbows braced on her own thighs, and then she initiated the Blending.

  And then the entity was there, moving as quickly from place to place as it possibly could. Everything in the inn’s various rooms looked perfectly normal, as did the workers in the kitchens. The entity first took over one of the people who were involved with the Guild, and asked about their intentions. As far as the man knew, Lavrit Mohr had spoken only the truth, and really and truly did want to help and support them.

  After wiping the man’s memory of the episode, the entity floated quickly to the kitchens and took over the mind of the kitchen mistress. It asked a few direct and pertinent questions, removed all memory of its presence once it had its answers, and then it was Jovvi back again. Their hosts had given orders for more than one day of meals for the newly arrived guests, and had also promised bonuses to the staff if the service turned out to be perfect. Their hosts were very anxious that their visit be a pleasant one, and were apparently willing to spend gold in order to make sure that it was.

  “I still don’t quite believe it, but for the moment I’m through arguin’ about trust,” Vallant said softly as he straightened in his chair again. “If they want to pamper us, I’m willin’ to be pampered.”

  “They think we’rethe Chosen spoken of in the Prophecies,” Lorand pointed out, and Jovvi could tell that he, like Vallant and Rion as well, was also not completely convinced of the sincerity of their hosts. “With that in mind, what else would they do? I’d just like to know what will happen if they find out they’remistaken, and discover we’renot at all who they think we are.”

  “They would probably explode, in disappointment if nothing else,” Jovvi replied, also sitting straight again. “But we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of that claim yet, so let’s leave a discussion of it for a time when we’renot so hungry and tired.”

  “I’m finding it very hard to open my eyes again,” Tamma said into the grudging silence put forth by Vallant and Lorand, who seemed to want to discuss the matter right here and now. She still hadn’t removed her fingers from her eyes, and her speech had slowed down quite a bit. “If I fall asleep before the food comes, I don’t know whether to ask to be awakened or to be allowed to stay asleep.”

  “If you fall asleep and miss the meal, you’ll also miss taking a bath afterward,” Jovvi pointed out with a small bit of amusement and a great deal of shared understanding. “Remembering that was what let me open my eyes again.”

  “An excellent point,” Tamma said, slowly but definitely pulling her head back from her hands and forcing her eyes open. “There, see? It worked for me, too. Now if I can just keep this going until the food is brought out…”

  That might have been a problem for Jovvi as well, but just then servants began to appear with trays of dishes. Ramis Foll and the other Highs had already ended their distraction of the Guild people and had found a table of their own, so Lavrit Mohr and his associates approached the table where Jovvi and the others sat.

  “Your meal is about to be served, so we’ll leave you to enjoy it,” the man said, looking around at all of them. “Unless, of course, you would prefer to have one or more of us taste the dishes before you do. We’reperfectly willing to do that if it will ease your minds.”

  “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary,” Lorand said, answering for all of them. “I made very sure to check all the ingredients of every dish, and there was nothing to show that the composition of any of them has been changed or added to. Every drop of it was fully identified, so if you’d like the recipe for any of the dishes, just ask me.”

  “Some of us just may accept that offer,” Mohr said with a chuckle that only a few of his associates shared. The rest were startled and even faintly disturbed, as though they hadn’t stopped to realize that they were dealing with actual High talents. “But for the rest of the day until dinner, we won’t be disturbing you. A few of our younger associates will be on hand to run errands and give directions and help you all to get settled into rooms, but they won’t impose on your time or patience. Until dinner, then.”

  Jovvi joined the others in thanking the man as he and his friends bowed before moving away, leaving them to the promised privacy. And the servants were already beginning to put steaming dishes of deliciously smelling food on the table, which Jovvi couldn’t wait to dig into. They hadn’t realized they’d neglected to include any decent cooks with their thirty-five until they’d camped that first night after leaving the larger group…

  “Jovvi, Naran has had a marvelous idea that just might make things better between Tamrissa and Vallant,” Rion murmured from Jovvi’s left as a servant moved between Jovvi and Vallant on her right in order to put a dish on the table. “We’ll come to your and Lorand’s rooms later, and tell you about it.”

  “Yes, do,” Jovvi murmured back before the servant no longer blocked Vallant from easy seeing and hearing. Her curiosity was now aroused, but it wasn’t possible to ask for details with Vallant sitting right next to her. And they certainly needed something to get those two stubborn mules to listen to reason. For supposedly fearless fugitives, Tamma and Vallant were too afraid of what might happen if they gave themselves another chance together. There had to be a way to make them really bold, to lessen the chances of someone else coming between them if for no other reason.

  Jovvi sighed as she reached for the serving dish nearest her. The performance of the Blending didn’t seem to be affected by the small, private war, but the way things were continually changing with the entity, there was no certainty that the Blending wasn’t being affected. And while they’d traveled, Jovvi had taken the opportunity to work with both Vallant and Lorand and their individual problems. It remained to be seen whether or not her idea would be effective, but Naran had said that they would soon need everything they had to stay alive. Jovvi knew that herself, and that time was very quickly running out.

  So that idea about how to get Tamma and Vallant back together had better be a good one. If it wasn’t, it could well mean the difference between victory and defeat for them. Or life and death, which it would certainly come down to. There was less than two days of travel in order to reach Gan Garee, and the rest of their people were less than two days behind them. Four or five days could well see them in the thick of things, and as necessary as the confrontation was, Jovvi was not looking forward to it. She’d had the strangest premonitions of disaster … but hopefully it would just turn out to be her imagination…

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Does everyone have a cup of tea?” Jovvi asked as she looked around at us. “There’s only about an hour or so until dinner, so we really do need to talk.”

  Up until then we’d been sleeping, and I, at least, felt a good deal better for it. Lunch had been excellent and the bath marvelous, and then, with plain but new, clean clothing waiting for us, we’d all taken naps. Or almost all of us had napped. Our second Blending had stayed awake and on guard, and now that we were up again they were getting their turn at sleeping. We meant to give them as much time as possible before we woke them, so that they’d have no trouble standing guard for the rest of the night. We were supposedly among friends, but even if that were completely true, there was nothing to keep enemies from sneaking up on us while we relaxed. Nothing, that is, but our own vigilance.

  Our sleeping chambers were all grouped together, and right now we were in a private sitting room meant to serve the occupants of those chambers. A tea service and cups had been waiting when we’d come in, another indication that the staff was determined to earn their bonus for excellent service.

  “We’ve needed to talk ever since that Mohr fellow told us what he and his friends believe,” Lorand said, shifting in the chair he’d taken. “We agree that we all did have that fireball experience and none of the other Highs with us went through the same, but that doesn’t mean we’rethe ones spoken of in the Prophecies. There are just too many questions left unanswered, like where did those fireballs come from
in the first place?”

  “The Prophecies never say where these things are supposed to come from,” I contributed when no one else offered a suggestion. “The point was never brought up in school, where they taught about the Prophecies, and even skeptics like my father never noticed the lack. I suppose most people assume that they’resent by the Highest Aspect or something.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t quite accept that,” Jovvi said, her expression faintly disturbed. “The fireball I faced was much too solid and real to be any sort of manifestation from the Highest Aspect. It’s much more likely that someone real was responsible, but I have no idea who that could be.”

  “Well, we know it wasn’t these Guild members,” Vallant Ro put in, his expression tinged with a sourness that was apparently becoming permanent with him. “There’s no doubt about their not bein’ able to use magic of any aspect, but that’s not to say they didn’t hire someone. But why us, and what about the other signs that are supposed to manifest? When the Guild man gets around to askin’ about that, I’ll have to tell him that there honestly haven’t been any.”

  “Those other signs are supposed to manifest in privacy, ‘out of the sight of the enemies of the Five’ or some such,” Lorand put in with a nod. “I don’t remember anything like that either, and I’m sure I would have.”

  “All I remember is a practical joke or two,” Rion said, adding his own agreement. “And one of those jokes had to be from my own subconscious mind, since it involved Air magic. The other was accomplished with Water magic, which at the time meant either Vallant or Pagin Holter. Both of them were in the residence, and they were the only ones with strong enough Water magic.”