by Sharon Green
Vallant only just stopped himself from throwing a fist into the hard and uneven trunk of the tree. Even after the scene he’d just been a part of, his mind still attempted to avoid thinking about the whole thing. He loved Tamrissa more than life itself, and therefore knew that if she refused and rejected him one more time it would destroy him. Too many people were counting on him for him to let that happen, so he’d gone out of his way to avoid touching on the question of their relationship. Except for that one lapse, when Tamrissa had gone out against that Fire link alone…
But after that he’d deliberately let the matter lapse. He’d simply told himself that she was better off without him, and the truth of that couldn’t be denied. So for the past few days things had gone along uneventfully, but now—
Vallant’s head suddenly came up, a reaction to what he’d felt rather than heard. The inns’ stables couldn’t be seen even from where he stood beside the tree, screened as they were by the heavy row of trees to the right. But someone over there had just used Water magic, and not simply to dry himself after coming in out of the rain. There had been far too much strength behind the effort, as though someone had used the aspect in some sort of attack. All their own people were inside the inn, most of them getting ready to go to dinner. It couldn’t have been Mohr’s people, not when they weren’t able to use magic, so who…?
Rather than waste time speculating, Vallant left the shelter of the tree and made his way toward the stables. He’d also dropped his shield, letting his very plain but brand new breeches and shirt get wet, preferring that to announcing his approach. He was no longer able to release the power, not after the last few days, but hopefully not using the power would help to keep from betraying him. It was possible nothing at all was wrong, but he preferred to go and see that for himself.
After a few moments, Vallant stood among the trees which no longer shielded view of the stables. They were really very large, meant for the use of all three of the inns, and a long row of buildings directly opposite were probably for the servants and guardsmen of those very important people who usually frequented the inns. Not a single flicker of lamplight showed in any of the windows of the building, but lanterns hung along the outer stables wall and shone dimly from within. Everything looked peaceful and quiet beyond the backdrop of the rain, but inside the stables…
Inside the stables Vallant could detect the masses of water which represented their own horses and those of the men who had come to meet them, but that wasn’t all. There were smaller groupings of water which represented human beings, and there were more than a dozen of them. As large as the stables were, having that many stablemen made no sense at all. Their own horses had been taken care of hours ago, so nothing else should have been required that would bring so many people to the stables.
Which meant that something was definitely wrong. Squinting against the mist of rain, Vallant shifted his attention to the row of buildings opposite the stables. It would have been understandable to detect a small number of people in them, but most of the servants working at the inns would be there now, getting ready to serve dinner. And most of the servants—and stablemen—were undoubtedly locals, with their own homes to go to when they weren’t working. There shouldn’t have been at least forty indications of human beings, clustered together in one section of the buildings, as though they were part of a force getting ready to attack.
“Chaos take ’em,” Vallant muttered angrily when it became clear that that was exactly what they had to be: an attacking force which wanted no one free left behind them when they actually got down to the attack. The smaller part of their group must be taking care of the stablemen on duty, either killing them or tying them up. Considering that burst of Water magic used earlier, it was more likely they were killing rather than tying.
“And they chose the perfect time to come at us,” Vallant muttered to himself, knowing he should have expected something like this. The second Blending had come off watch when his own had awakened from their naps, and the comfort and apparent safety of the inn—not to mention that contention that they were the Chosen—had worked to keep his group from taking a precautionary look around. In a little while everyone would be expected to sit down to dinner, which meant they would definitely not be Blended. The attack would come without warning, and the intruders’ relatively small numbers suggested they had more of a plan in mind than simply trying to overwhelm them.
So it was time for Vallant to get back to the inn, to join the others in an attempt to defend against these people. He knew he could be there quickly, but sight of the men coming out of the stables made him pause. There were eleven men coming out, and the rest remained unmoving inside the stables. A moment after they appeared there was movement at the section of building where the larger force was, and then those men were emerging to join the ones from the stables. They might not see Vallant as he ran back to the inn through the dark and rain, but they would be much too close behind him.
So Vallant knew he couldn’t go back, at least not physically. All that left was an attempt to reach Jovvi with his mind, and Vallant was fairly certain that that would work. But it would also undoubtedly warn the intruders, letting them know that someone lurked in the trees and watched them. As fast as the Blending entity came into being, it still took some time for the being to form once the Blending was initiated. That brief moment might be all the intruders needed to locate and kill him, since the very act of Blending would turn him helpless. Death held no particular fear for Vallant, especially not now, but his death would mean the end of the Blending. Without him it would be incomplete, and therefore unable to defend itself and the others. So what was he supposed to do…?
That frustrating question had only just formed in his thoughts when the strangest thing happened. He felt Jovvi’s familiar touch in his mind, causing the automatic reaction of his reaching out to his other Blendingmates, and then the entity was formed and there. But rather than being submerged in the group consciousness which was the entity, his own personality and awareness were left to direct matters. That had never happened before, at least not to him, but thinking about it would have to be left for another time.
The intruders had brought their two groups together in the open area between the stables and the buildings, and the Vallant entity counted quickly. Fifty-one men dressed all in black, with just one of them speaking to the others. That one would most likely be the leader of the group, and the leader was the one the Vallant entity wanted to contact. So the entity floated a bit closer, and reached out to take control of the man. As soon as his mind was tightly held, the Vallant entity inserted words in the man’s thoughts.
*Tell your men to stand where they are,* the Vallant entity whispered to the man in its grip. *And when you respond to my questions, do so in this manner. Speaking aloud is unnecessary.*
“I’m … not supposed to respond to this sort of thing,” the man replied silently, and oddly enough his mind fought a bit to free itself. “I’m … supposed to be protected, but it doesn’t seem to be working. And if it doesn’t work they’ll kill me, then go on to do the job we were sent here to do.”
*I take it the Five told you you would be protected,* the Vallant entity said as it examined the man’s mind. *Yes, I can see indications of where they had you under control, but their strength still can’t match mine. What plan were your men supposed to follow?*
“There are two link groups for each aspect,” the man replied with less hesitation, no longer struggling very hard. “Both sets of groups are under orders to attack the fugitives at the same time, aspect to aspect without giving them a chance to Blend. We were told by freak informers that they would be here, and that this would be the best time to attack. We’rethe first group of—”
The man’s words ended abruptly as he screamed, a reaction to the knife which had been thrust into his body. One of his own followers had murdered him, and now the ten link groups stood together and braced, their minds flaring out in an attempt to reach and destro
y the entity. The Vallant entity actually staggered under the load, which certainly shouldn’t have happened. The entity should have been stronger than all those minds combined.
But that, the Vallant entity suddenly realized, was incorrect. A memory now resurfaced, one which belonged to none of its flesh forms. It was part of the data which the entity had somehow lost, and was now only partially regaining. It had something to do with two link groups acting in tandem, which more than doubled its strength. Yes, that was it, but how did the required response go…?
The Vallant entity staggered again, feeling itself losing ground against the onslaught. At the moment it was able to shield its flesh forms from the attack, but soon its strength would be drained and the attack would reach them. That could certainly not be allowed, but the proper response continued to elude it. The answer was on the tip of its mental tongue, perfectly obvious if one only looked at matters in the correct way. The enemy had obviously regained more of the lost knowledge than the Vallant entity, which was extremely annoying. What was that response…?
*“Ahhh,”* the Vallant entity breathed as it staggered for the third time. The response was completely obvious, and now it was also remembered. But it would require the use of its own link groups, which hadn’t been assembled before the moment of crisis. To contact them would be more than awkward, as part of the shielding effort would need to go into the contact. What to do…?
And then surprise touched the Vallant entity, as it realized that its own link groups were assembled after all. How that had come about was something to be left for another time; right now there were enemies who needed to be vanquished. And vanquished they would be…
The Vallant entity now looked carefully at each link group, searching for the weakest member in each link. And there always was a weakest member, no matter how close their strength was one to the other. Drawing on the strength of its link groups let the Vallant entity divert part of its efforts into the search, and then the ten weakest were located and marked. The next step was to draw even more power, which, for some reason, made the Vallant entity briefly uneasy, but it was necessary so it was done. And once done…
And once done, that additional power was poured into the weakest members of the ten links. Those members died without making a sound, falling to the sodden ground in lifeless heaps, and then the ten link groups were link groups no longer. Five was the required number for the utmost in efficient output, and they no longer had that. Which made it possible for the Vallant entity to touch each group of four with its own aspect, burning to ash the Fire magic users, completely desiccating the Water magic users, stilling the hearts of the Earth magic users, and taking the breath of life from the Air magic users. Those with Spirit magic had all sense of balance withdrawn, which left them nearly mindless in their forced insanity. Some of them screamed, some cried, some sat down and raised their faces to the rain, and some wandered away. All, however, were beyond ever using their talent again, and the proposed attack was over.
“And now it’s completely me again,” Vallant muttered after the Blending had dissolved, once more looking at the scene through his eyes alone. The rain mixed the ash of burning with the dust of desiccation, all of it joining the mud of the ground. Motionless bodies alternated with those which were mindlessly humming or sitting silently, and around the fringes there were dark forms wandering aimlessly about. “And this is the worst it’s ever been.”
With which words Vallant turned and hurried back toward the inn, needing to get away from the sight of what he’d just helped to do. But queasiness couldn’t be allowed to rule him, not when the entity thought that the Five had regained some of those “memories” that it still lacked. And that leader of the group had been about to tell them how many other groups like this had been sent after them just as he was killed. Now they’d probably only be able to get the number after the other groups attacked them.
And worst of all, being part of the Blending again had given him a much more intense understanding of Tamrissa’s pain. The memory of that wasn’t likely to leave him very soon, and he didn’t know what to do. Coward that he was, he simply had no idea what he could possibly do…
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Delin slept late before coming out to breakfast, a sumptuous meal he had served in his private dining room. As this was only his second day of returning to normal eating, his mouth watered as all his favorite breakfast dishes were uncovered by the servants. He would not be able to finish any of the dishes, that he’d discovered the previous morning, but as the time passed and his normal eating habits were allowed to return, he would make better and better progress.
But the first step necessary before eating was examining the food with his talent. He’d been lucky enough to miss being poisoned with the others, and wasn’t about to overlook the possibility that someone would try again. In the last day and some he’d grown really proficient at separating out and identifying the various components of his favorite dishes, all the way down to any water which might have been added as well as the butter in which the rest had been fried. He also knew how much salt, pepper, tarragon, thyme, paprika—any seasoning—had been added, which was something of a pity. At one time it had been one of his small pleasures to try to guess the various ingredients.
And yet now he had other things to give him pleasure, both small and large. Real food was one of them, of course, but once the meal was over he rose to go to a far greater one. He’d called a meeting of the Blending for this morning, ordering the others to be there. They’d spent most of yesterday recovering from their ordeal, but they weren’t unaware of the fact that Delin was the one who had ended their agony. Now it was time for them to find out about the rest.
When Delin walked into the large, formal sitting room, Bron and Selendi and Homin were already there. The sitting room was one of the largest in his wing, and they were already there because he’d had them come a good twenty minutes before he intended to show up. They still looked somewhat pale and drawn, but more than that they looked impatient.
“It’s about time you got here!” Bron snapped at once, glaring at Delin from the chair he’d chosen. “You had no call to keep us waiting like a bunch of begging peasants, and—”
“That’s enough,” Delin interrupted, not raising his voice but letting the coldness inside him come through clearly. “What I expected to hear was how all of you were feeling. Any unexpected side effects from the … balm I provided?”
His three groupmates exchanged furtive glances, hating to be reminded that they had him to thank for no longer being in pain. It had come as a shock to them, of course, an unexpected and unpleasant surprise that apparently they still hadn’t adjusted to.
“If this is supposed to be a meeting of our Five, you can’t start it yet,” Selendi put in sullenly, her stare extremely unfriendly. “Kambil isn’t here yet, which is rather wise of him. He didn’t have to sit and wait the way we did…”
Her words trailed off in an attempt at admonishment, but by tone rather than by browbeating as Bron had tried. Delin found that rather amusing, showing as it did that if she didn’t yet respect him, at least she did fear him.
“Kambil won’t be joining us this morning,” Delin told her and the other two, his tone still easy. “For some reason he isn’t responding to the counteractive the way the rest of you have, and is therefore in no condition to be away from his bed.”
The three of them looked seriously worried, not knowing the half of it. Delin had been that close to letting Kambil die, when he realized that the man could be allowed to die anytime. There was no need to make a hasty decision in the matter, when feeding Kambil half the dosage of the counteragent kept the poison from killing him. It did very little to relieve the agony, of course, but that was only Kambil’s misfortune, not Delin’s. Once Delin decided on how to control the man completely—and if he really wanted to—then that would be the time to settle the thing.
“In the meanwhile, we have important matters to discuss,” De
lin went on, regaining the attention of his small audience. “The first and foremost thing on everyone’s mind is this poisoning business, which you need to know the details about. Those who fed you and Kambil the poison intend to control our group, but you’ll be pleased to hear that there’s no longer a danger of that.”
“Why not?” Bron demanded, but with less bluster than usual. “We still need to take their damned counteragent, don’t we? And while we’rediscussing it, how did you manage to end up in control of this whole thing? My servants tell me that you weren’t affected at all, and that made me the least bit suspicious.”
“Suspicious that I’m the one who caused all this?” Delin said lightly, making no effort to avoid the accusation. “To be perfectly honest I wouldn’t have minded being the one, but it so happens that I’m not. Here’s the note which came with the first delivery of the counteragent.”
He produced the note and handed it over, and Homin held it while the other two read over his shoulder and along with him. When they’d all finished and looked up again, Delin gestured to the note.
“You’ll notice that they expected all five vials of counteragent to be used up, but that turned out not to be necessary,” he told them. “The poison must have been administered in the food of our ‘celebration,’ the food I wasn’t permitted to share. Pure luck made me too depressed to eat my own meal, so I was saved what the rest of you went through. But more importantly I had no need to use my vial, so its contents were available for analysis. I now know what the counteragent consists of, and I’ve personally made up a batch of it. You all had some of it this morning, and if it hadn’t been properly done you would be back in pain right now.”