Sharon Green - Blending 04, page 32
“Personally I think you’re just being sensibly cautious,” Naran said before Jovvi could answer, then she smiled shyly at Jovvi. “But excuse me for butting in.”
“Butt in any time you like,” Jovvi replied with a small, amused laugh. “You said just what I was about to, but in a much nicer way.”
Lorand smiled and headed for the people in their groups, and the two women actually began to chat a bit. Vallant wondered how they could be so cool as to do that, since he himself was wound up as tight as a spring. Things would start to happen any time now, and he could never just let his mind wander ….
Even though it did want to wander, and to the same subject that had been giving him such a hard time for so long. Tamrissa, the woman he would probably be best off avoiding for the rest of his life, but also the woman he couldn’t get out of his head and heart. He’d come close to needing to ask someone to chain him up, just to keep him from going to her and apologizing for what he’d said. Only stubbornness had kept him away from her, and now …
And now she’d come to him. He hadn’t really believed she would ever do it, and then he hadn’t believed the words coming out of his own mouth after she apologized. He’d told her the truth about how a large part of him still felt, the part that didn’t want to say to chaos with it all and then take her in his arms. All of him wanted to hold her, and show her how much he loved her, but he simply couldn’t do it. That would only set the scene for the same thing happening again between them, at some time in the future. They would both be better off if he refused to allow that to happen ….
“Okay, we’re all set,” Lorand said, pulling Vallant out of his brown study. “Our new friends will form up around us, like aspect standing near like. That way if it comes to a final defense, we won’t have to have everyone running and pushing and shoving.”
Lorand hadn’t kept his voice down, obviously so that the people he’d brought over with him would hear and believe the explanation he’d come up with. For that reason Vallant nodded absently, as though he were hearing something he already knew, and then he looked at Jovvi.
“The five of us will probably be best off standing in a circle for this, with Naran on the inside,” she said, doing no more than simply glancing at the rest of their groupmates. “That way we can all be near each other, without anyone being in the way. Are we ready to take a preliminary look around?”
Vallant added his nod to everyone else’s, so the group was ready. The High talents they’d rescued were arranging themselves in a thin protective circle facing outward from their center five, the nervousness and tension of the five’s “protectors” so strong that a dead man would have been able to feel it. He looked at Jovvi again and she nodded once, showing that she knew what he was thinking. Once they’d Blended, their first chore would be to calm the people they’d made responsible for the safety of their bodies. If any of those people gave way to panic, it would be all over for everyone.
Vallant felt it when Jovvi’s mind reached out to him. but that was the last individual sensation he had. The Blending came into existence so quickly that he nearly gasped, then it was no longer him alone. The entity was born again, complete and ready for the first time since it had been ended so suddenly during the final competition.
And the entity was vastly annoyed that it had been treated in so high-handed a fashion. True emotion was almost alien to it, just as it should be, but somehow it felt that what it experienced was proper. Those it sprang from were responsible for what the entity was, and arguing with what is is nothing more than foolish.
Therefore the entity got immediately to work. The first task to its immaterial hand was assuring the safety of the bodies of those it was born from, which meant calming and centering those individuals who stood about the five bodies.
The minds of the nearly two dozen people were strong, but the entity was far stronger. It did what was necessary to ensure its future safety, then it floated away to see what the approaching enemy was up to.
Floating could be fast or slow, just as it wished, and this time the entity wished speed. Those approaching life-forms, easily noticeable by the use of Earth magic, fairly shouted to the Spirit magic part of it that they meant to cause great harm. These were life-forms who cared very little about others, their major concern being only with themselves. For that reason they would do just as they were told to by their superiors, and in that way earn more than just silver. They were a specially gathered group, and had proven their value to their employers more than once.
Or so said the individual whom the entity took and questioned. The individual was one toward the back of the horde, in his mind and the minds of others the leader of the group. The man’s thoughts were oddly twisted, for he very much enjoyed sending his hardened murderers against others.
“They deserve whatever is done to them,” the man whispered in answer to the entity’s inquiry, whispering so as not to alarm any of his men. “Those people in there, I mean. I learned the hard way not to argue with those stronger than me, and then I was put through pain and humiliation for even trying. The same lesson must be taught to those criminals, and then the next ones to come along won’t even try.”
—And that will keep your defeat from humiliating you even further,—the entity commented, knowing it for the truth.—But tell me now what your intentions are. Are those people to be captured, or simply put out of the way?—
“They’re to be killed, of course,” the individual replied, faint surprise behind the words. “My men are aspect-linked into groups of five, which makes them stronger than anything they’re likely to come across. The males will be killed at once, the females after they give pleasure to those of my force who wish it from them. When we bring back all the heads, we’ll collect a bonus in gold.”
—What of those like you who are ahead, in the town called Quellin?—the entity put next.—Are some of them to come and assist you if assistance is necessary?—
“We don’t need their help,” the individual replied with a snort of ridicule. “They’re ordinary, and we’re not. Besides, they want this dross for their own purposes, so we’ve been ordered not to let them know who we’re hunting. They’re in touch with Gan Garee by carrier pigeon, just as we are, but they’re just supposed to hold our messages and pass them on when we get there.”
—Tell me what will happen if you recall your force,—the entity directed, its thoughts rather full.—They will obey you, will they not? If you then return with them to Gan Garee—
“You have to be joking,” the individual said with another snort of ridicule, actually interrupting the entity. “If I tried to call them off now, I’d be mobbed if I couldn’t produce a damned good reason for doing it. Like having the Five standing next to me, rescinding the orders they gave which sent us here. Nothing less will stop them, so even the freaks among the dross will be helpless. My men can’t be stopped, and they certainly can’t be resisted.”
So they had been told something about its five, the entity mused. Not enough to really prepare these people, but enough to bring them a small amount of caution. And yet it wasn’t caution which moved them ahead so slowly, the individual explained. They fully expected their prey to know they were here by now, and their advance was leisurely rather than careful. They meant to produce terror in the victims they stalked, which they would enjoy to the full before they ended the lives of those victims.
And that, the entity decided, meant the hunters must all be destroyed. But they moved through the woods linked by fives in their various aspects, and testing the strength of one of those links showed the entity that although it had greater strength, overcoming the link would be far too time-consuming. The entity would be able to reach and stop no more than half their number before the rest attacked with full viciousness and twisted delight. Those who awaited them were stronger, but the larger number of the attackers and their positive attitude would overcome that greater strength ….
The entity reflected for quite some time, nearly a full minute, before deciding to take the only possible course of action. The ploy it had decided on was amusing in a distant sort of way, but it would not be fully and totally effective. The entity itself would have to stand before the intended victims, sheltering and protecting them against those links which managed to approach too closely. Well, so be it. The fact that in battle the attacking links would have no chance against it meant nothing. Those who attacked could hardly complain when their attack was resisted.
Wasting any further time would be completely nonproductive, so the entity began to put its ploy into effect at once. Moving itself to the nearest groups of links, the entity began to convince those links that the enemy was not ahead, but advancing through the woods and fields on the far side of their position. The links had to be touched one at a time, but soon the entire group of them had turned their attention to the real enemy. And the enemy was extremely dangerous, so it had to be attacked at once.
Sounds of aspect battle erupted behind the entity as it floated swiftly back to where its own people were. Those with Earth magic tore up sections of the landscape, those with Fire magic set fire to it, those with Water magic drowned or desiccated it, and those with Air magic made breathing difficult. Only a single link had been capable of Spirit magic, and they worked to convince their enemies that resisting was unnecessary and undesirable.
The entity managed to station itself before its flesh forms just in time. The links which had circled around behind the houses on the left had no idea why battle raged on the far side of the barn, nor did they care. Their objective lay before them, and they clearly believed that those who actually attained it would surely be rewarded while the others might be penalized instead. So they came ahead, and suddenly four of the five aspects were attacking at once.
Those who protected the entity’s flesh forms were ordered to link, which produced a protective wall of sorts consisting of all of the aspects. This … separation of the aspects disturbed the entity in some strange and unexplained way, but there was scarcely time to dwell on the matter. Defense does nothing to halt an attack, and halting it was the only thing which would save them all. Therefore the entity moved forward, and began to oppose what was being sent. Countering each aspect separately was obviously a poor tactic, so the entity used a more effective ploy. The wall of flame produced by the Fire link was redirected toward the Earth link, which quickly eliminated the Earth link. The envelope of airlessness from the Air link was forced around those with Fire magic, and they clawed at their throats and died while those with Water magic produced the globes of water which began to drown those with Air magic. That left those with Water magic to be seen to, and the entity didn’t hesitate.
Removing all the moisture from the bodies of those men allowed them to scream only briefly before they were no longer able to scream. Then the powdered remains of their former bodies sifted down to the ground, and that part of the attack was over.
But only that part. More than half the attacking force fought against itself and another segment had just been wiped out, but that still left the final portion of the hunters. Another four link groups came from behind the houses on the right, and they, too, cared nothing about the battle going on in the distance. The idea of gaining an advantage over their fellows brought them eagerly forward, ready to destroy anything in their path to success.
And as they advanced the entity paused for a moment, assessing its own strength—which suddenly seemed much less than it had been. Quite a lot of effort had been expended, and its automatic reaching for more of the power was halted in mid stride, so to speak. To take in more of the power was certainly possible, but for some reason was less than desirable. Could it be … was it possible … Yes, that was it. The strain on its flesh forms had been too great, and if the entity took in more of the power it would simply damage its own components, possibly beyond repair.
And that realization left the entity in something of a quandary. The coming attack needed to be countered if its group was to survive, and yet a counterattack could well cause the destruction of its flesh forms. One choice was equally as bad as the other, and yet one of them must be accepted. There were no other choices … it seemed as though there were no other choices … Wait, a faint and distant memory … Not its memory, and yet available and unmistakably relevant. Yes, that was what had to be done!
With the speed of thought, the entity gathered in the linked talents ranged about its flesh forms. Those talents tapped the raw power directly, and the entity tapped them. It was the third choice it had been seeking, a way to gain strength without endangering itself. And what strength! Linked High talents, all pouring their ability and mettle into the entity, who knew exactly what to do with the gifts.
The four attacking links, poor, pitiful creatures that they were, died together almost in mid stride. Their hearts were stopped, their lungs denied air, their flesh denied moisture, and their remains vaporized in a funeral pyre so intense that to look upon it was to lose bodily vision for a time. In the next heartbeat the entity turned that incredible ferocity on the rest of the attacking force, touching those who still lived and snuffing out those lives. The last to die was the leader of the horde, ending his howl of agony at the realization that his irresistible force had been defeated.
A quick sweep which ranged across miles showed that no other of the enemy remained, and that was definitely that.
Thirty-Four
“What do you mean, Captain Althers has disappeared?” Kambil demanded of the brawny, stolid guardsman who had come with the news. “He was supposed to be getting information for us, important information!”
“Don’t know nothin’ about it, Excellency,” the guardsman repeated, just as he’d been repeating those same words ever since he got there. “All they told me was t’tell ya—oh, an’ give ya this here batch a papers. Almos’ forgot.”
The brawny man reached into the scrip at his waist and awkwardly drew out a sheaf of papers which had obviously been stuffed into the scrip. He offered them as though they were so much straw to be thrown into a stall, and all Kambil could do was grab the papers with a curse. The man who had been sent to give them the news about Althers knew nothing about the entire affair, so striking him dead would have done nothing more than set a bad precedent. Aside from how good it would have made Kambil feel.
“You go back to your superiors now and give them a message from the five of us,” Kambil said as he worked to straighten the papers into some semblance of neatness. “Tell them that the next time someone like you is sent in place of one of them, being at a distance from us won’t save them. I want Althers’s replacement here tomorrow without fail, along with his two immediate commanding officers. Do you understand all that well enough to repeat it to the people who have to hear it?”
“Sure, Excellency, I’m real good at rememberin’ stuff like that,” the brawny man acknowledged with a nod. “I’ll tell ’em just what you said.”
Rather than bowing, the brawny man came to attention, threw his arm across his chest in a salute, then turned and marched out. Kambil felt the urge to close his eyes and scream, but that would have done as much good as trying to tell the fool of a guardsman what he’d done wrong.
“I can’t understand why they sent that thing rather than coming to us themselves,” Homin said once the door of the meeting room had closed behind the guardsman. “It really isn’t their fault that Althers decided on an informal, permanent leave, after all, so why would they—”
“Chaos take them!” Kambil snarled, interrupting Homin with no more than a passing awareness of having done it. He’d glanced through the pages given him, bothered by what he didn’t see, and then he’d come to the final message. “I don’t believe this! No wonder Althers decided to disappear. He must have thought he would never survive the delivering of this message, and he was probably right!”
“Why?” Bron asked, clearly speaking for all of the others. “What does it say?”
“It says that the command sent after those five peasants has completely disappeared,” Kambil replied, looking bleakly from one face to the next. “The group leader sent one of his men ahead to Quellin with orders to collect any messages sent to them, and to pass on the word that a definite trail left by the fugitives had been found. When the man returned to where the command should have been, he found them and all traces of them gone.”
“Then they must still be following that trail,” Selendi said with a frown. “What else could have happened to that many men?”
“Our erstwhile opponents happened to them,” Kambil stated, having not the least doubt that he spoke the truth. “If the command was simply following a trail, they would have left signs for the man sent to Quellin. The absence of those signs leaves only the other possibility.”
“But how could they have defeated a hundred men?” Bron demanded, and Kambil was able to feel how rattled the man was. “Even using our Blending entity, I’d hate to have to do the same thing! Tell me how they could have done it!”
“How am I supposed to know that?” Kambil countered, feeling more than a bit unbalanced himself. “I’m just certain that they did, and now I have a more disturbing question than ‘how.’ Tell me what they intend to do next.”
Bron parted his lips, but nothing in the way of words came out. His complexion had gone almost as pale as Selendi’s and Homin’s, and those two had nothing in the way of an answer either.
“So you see our most pressing dilemma,” Kambil said, glancing at the ever-silent Delin. The man was just as disturbed as the rest of the Five, but he’d been forbidden to speak unless spoken to. “Does anyone think it’s possible that they’ll be returning here? Or should I have said likely? Everything is possible, but how likely is their immediate return?”
