The Blending 07 - Deceptions, page 20
“So how eager will Edmin be to offer his help once he finds out that his father isn’t dead?” Idresia murmured, really disturbed as she made her way to the tea service. She’d been so deeply involved in questions without answers that she hadn’t even offered tea to her guests, but those guests didn’t seem to have noticed. She and Ran were good enough friends that Ran would have asked for the tea if she hadn’t had other things on her mind. It was clear to Idresia that she wasn’t the only one involved who felt disturbed.
“So why isn’t Driff back yet?” Idresia murmured again as she filled her cup. “And what about my people who are supposed to be following that noble and the others? Chaos, but I hate waiting!”
Which thought didn’t do a thing to bring her wait—for anything—to an end …
Edmin let the coach driver help the “old man” climb in and seat himself, and then it was Issini’s turn. Only a pair of moments after they were both seated and settled the coach began to move, and that was when Issini turned to him.
“What did you really think of my friend?” she asked, clearly trying to keep from sounding intrusive. “Did you really mean that about trusting her?”
“Yes, I really, really meant it,” Edmin answered with a smile, surprising himself by actually teasing Issini. “I couldn’t help but notice that your friend doesn’t care for nobles at all, but in spite of that she treated me as though I were simply a stranger who had yet to prove himself. That she clearly means to allow me the chance to prove myself is rather impressive.”
“Why do you consider that impressive?” Issini asked, her brows raised in surprise. “I had the feeling you expected her to … act differently.”
“Do you mean I expected her to be overwhelmed with who and what I was and to begin bowing and scraping?” Edmin put with even more inner amusement. “Yes, it so happens I did expect something like that, along with wheedling for gold and hidden resentments that weren’t all that well hidden. Your friend didn’t even begin to feel those things, and she spoke the truth when she said she would not betray me. She was disturbed, but I would have been surprised if she hadn’t been. Other than that, she handled the situation admirably.”
Which came as a great surprise to me, Edmin refrained from adding aloud as Issini said something about how glad she was that everything had worked out right. Edmin had been expecting dull, unintelligent, furtive little people who were hiding in that warehouse. Instead he’d found an efficient organization merely using the warehouse as a handy headquarters, an organization run by an impressive woman.
Edmin had expected to be able to take over the group easily, but the woman called Idresia had put a stop to that idea with very little effort. She hadn’t tried to defend her supposed right to run things, she’d simply stated how matters would proceed and let it go at that. She exuded an air of competence that only a very few of the more powerful members of Edmin’s former class had been able to match, and Edmin found himself fascinated. He’d never dreamed that the lower classes would produce such a leader who was also a woman, and couldn’t help but wonder what other surprises his new associations would bring him.
And, most of all, he wondered if there might be some way for him to meet Idresia again tomorrow without looking like a frail old man …
Fifteen
Driffin Codsent had the carriage drop him off a few blocks from the warehouse and then he walked the rest of the way. In a matter of days he and Idresia would be moving to that house he’d found, but Idresia still meant to use the warehouse as a base of operations. That meant it would do no harm to continue being circumspect about the place, to protect Idresia if for no other reason.
Rimdal was the door guard on duty, and Driff nodded to the large boy before continuing on to his and Idresia’s private quarters. If she hadn’t been in, Rimdal would have said so. That meant Driff expected to be greeted by Idresia, but not in the way it actually happened.
“Driff, where have you been?” Idresia said as soon as she saw him, sounding more upset than angry. “I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting …”
“Idresia, what’s wrong?” Driff asked at once as he put his arms around her. “You’re more agitated than I’ve ever seen you to be, so tell me what’s happened.”
“It isn’t anything really bad, at least not yet,” Idresia quickly assured him with a brief smile and a pat on the arm. “I’m still waiting for my people to report back, and that on top of this—”
Her words cut off as she shook her head hard, and then she took a deep breath.
“You also don’t know why I’m waiting for my people to report back, so let’s see if I can relearn how to speak and act coherently,” she said with obvious self-annoyance. “You sit down and I’ll get you a cup of tea, and then I’ll start from the beginning.”
The sudden display of brisk efficiency was more like the Idresia he knew, so Driff took a seat as she’d requested, and then he listened to a recital of the matter she’d been involved with. His brows went up rather quickly, and when she reached the part about sending her people after those who had attended the meeting he had to comment.
“No wonder the waiting has been making you jump around like a crazy person,” Driff exclaimed, seriously impressed. “You actually found the renegade noble, a number of his men, two pawns he means to use, and Holdis Ayl! If your people are able to follow the noble and Ayl, you can hand them both over to the temporary ruling Blending tied up in ribbons. If they don’t name you woman of the century, I don’t know them nearly as well as I think I do.”
“That’s only part of the story,” Idresia returned, surprisingly looking disturbed rather than delighted. “When I got back here I had a visitor waiting, and that visitor was another noble who had come into the city with the ones we’re hunting. He told me he wants to help hunt down those others, because they had his father killed.”
Driff opened his mouth to say he didn’t understand, but then various pieces of information returned to his memory.
“That noble I healed, the one who had been knifed,” Driff said slowly as he stared at Idresia. “Can that be who the man’s father is?”
“I had no way of checking, but I’m sure of it,” Idresia returned, giving him a quick, warm smile for understanding so quickly. “The man wants revenge against the people who killed his father, but his father isn’t dead. He has the locations of three of the places their hired bullies are staying, men who will be used to hurt people and disrupt everything in the city. If we tell Edmin that his father is still alive, will he still be so eager to betray someone who’s really one of his own? But if we don’t tell him the truth, what will he do when he eventually finds out? I don’t know what to do, Driff, and it’s driving me crazy!”
“I can see your problem now,” Driff admitted ruefully as he patted her hand. “But what’s this about the location of hired bullies? It won’t do us any good to know where the men are, not when we can’t arrest them or throw them out of the city before they actually make trouble.”
“We can’t wait for those men to make trouble, not when innocent people will be hurt,” Idresia denied with a shake of her head. “That’s something else I needed to talk to you about, so let’s do it now. Do you think you can talk one of the newer Middle Blendings into helping us to get rid of those men? We don’t have to arrest them or charge them with anything, all we need to do is make sure they leave and don’t come back as long as they still want to hurt people. And if any of them want to change sides and work with us, we can let those men stay.”
“I’m glad you’re not a High talent interested in taking over the city,” Driff commented as he blinked at Idresia. “If you were, I think even the Seated Blending would be in trouble … Idresia, I don’t know what to tell you. I can let myself be talked into going along with your schemes, but luring in an innocent Blending … I’ll have to think about that for a while.”
“Don’t think about it too long,” Idresia cautioned with a sigh. “If those men start to make trouble before we chase them away, we’ll be directly responsible for every bit of harm done. If you can stop troublemakers and don’t—”
“I know, I know,” Driff interrupted wearily, holding up one hand. “If you can stop troublemakers and don’t, you’re responsible for whatever happens afterward. You may recall that I’m the one who first told you that saying.”
“Then you ought to know I’m not just making it up to hurry you,” Idresia returned mildly, then her expression changed. “But what are we going to do about that noble Edmin? I gave him my word that we would not betray him to the authorities, but I refused to commit myself beyond that until you were available to meet him. He’ll be coming back tomorrow at the same time he came tonight.”
“Then I’ll have to be here to meet him,” Driff said with a thoughtful nod. “If he’s serious about having given up his plans to reinstate the nobility and actively helps us catch his former friends, then we’ll owe him our discretion about his presence here in the city. If he’s lying to us, we won’t owe him anything.”
“Now, that’s something else,” Idresia said, as if just remembering the point. “He doesn’t want the people he calls the Nolls arrested right away. He wants to make them suffer by ruining their plans first, and only then will he be willing to see them arrested. Since he believes they had his father killed, I can understand why he wants to do it that way.”
“If we can find out where the Nolls are and can keep a watch on them, that man’s idea might be the best way to handle the matter,” Driff said, the idea coming to him as something of a surprise. “If we just walk in and arrest the Nolls, other renegade nobles might get the idea that our finding the Nolls was just bad luck and that they could well be successful. If we ‘play’ with the Nolls for a bit before reeling them in, the lesson will be much sharper for anyone who happens to be watching.”
“So now we just have the question of whether or not Edmin is sincere,” Idresia said after sipping at her tea. “That question can’t be answered until tomorrow night, so now I’m back to waiting for some word from my people. I know they won’t all be successful, but I’m afraid to wonder which of them will fail.”
“Looks like you won’t have to wonder long,” Driff commented when a knock came at the door. “That could be the first of them now.”
Idresia was out of her seat and on the way to the door so fast that Driff would have blinked in startlement if he hadn’t been expecting the speed. When she reached the door she yanked it open and stepped, outside, then spent a few moments talking to whoever was out there. When she came back in again, her expression wavered between elation and annoyance.
“Planning ahead really does pay,” she remarked as she returned to her chair and tea. “I had my people arranged in pairs, with the first of the pair doing the immediate following of the person or people they were assigned to. The second came a short distance behind the first, leading two horses. If the assigned quarry stayed on foot, so did the followers; if the quarry took to a coach or horseback, the followers mounted up.”
“Are you getting ready to say that all of your people were successful?” Driff asked to cut short the tangential explanation. “If so, please just get it said.”
“My people were almost completely successful,” Idresia allowed, vexation shadowing her pleasure. “Those five bullies stayed with the noble, and even followed his coach when it turned into the drive of a house. It looks like they’re ‘bullies on tap’ so to speak, and not lodged elsewhere. Meerk and that other man who met with the noble simply went to their respective homes, which aren’t hidden in any way. The only one my people lost sight of before he reached a destination was Ayl.”
“Wouldn’t you know it,” Driff grumbled, keeping himself from using stronger language only by sheer willpower. “Ayl is probably the most dangerous one of all, and not just because he’s insane. He’s also clever and creative, two things you never want your enemy to be. So how did your people lose him?”
“Ayl is apparently the sort to take precautions automatically,” Idresia answered in her own grumble. “He didn’t seem to know he was being followed, my man said, but first he walked through busy neighborhoods, and then through a deserted one. My man had to hang back to keep from being seen, and during one of those times Ayl disappeared. My man tried to find him again, but it was just no use. The only thing that strikes me as significant is the fact that my man lost him not far from the palace.”
“And that makes a disturbing kind of sense,” Driff agreed with raised brows. “Those who are looking for Ayl are probably assuming he would stay as far away from the palace as possible. Since most of his attempts against the Seated Blending were made at the palace, an ordinary leader would put a lot of distance between himself and where his people struck. They should have remembered that Ayl isn’t ordinary.”
“You know, I think I was almost hoping that my people would lose the noble,” Idresia commented with a vague shake of her head. “Edmin wanted to know if I’d located Noll as yet, and I was able to tell him honestly that I hadn’t. Even if we decide to trust Edmin and work with him, I’m not sure I’ll be comfortable telling him where Noll is.”
“Well, we know the man won’t try to kill Noll, at least not at first,” Driff reminded her. “If he wants his revenge done right, he has to wait while the Nolls’ plans are ruined. And Edmin may decide against killing the Nolls at all when he finds out that his father is still alive.”
“There are too many twists and turns in this whole situation to make me even a small bit happy,” Idresia said, this time with a headshake that was definitely more firm. “If only Issini hadn’t brought that man here … But since she knows about everything that goes on in this city and she and I are friends, where else would she bring him? He has to mean a lot to her …”
Driff watched Idresia float off into deeper thought, and couldn’t keep from smiling to himself. She was obviously doing a marvelous job as head of his “secret” spy network, and would certainly continue to do the same. Driff’s only problem with her efforts was that she’d put him very much on the spot with one of her requests.
The smile faded as Driff sighed, only just keeping himself from shaking his head. Idresia wanted him to recruit one of the new Middle Blendings to their cause, but doing that would be unfair to the people in the Blending he chose. If something went wrong they would be in the most trouble, a good deal more than him or Idresia. Individuals who broke the law might find themselves forgiven, but there would be no forgiveness for any Blending that erred.
So dragging in a new Blending was out, but those men did have to be seen to before they hurt innocent people. It surprised Driff to realize that he already knew what he’d have to do, and that was talk to one or more members of the Blending now running the city. It was downright shocking that he would do such a thing, the man who had been an outlaw for so long. Going running to the authorities was for the law-abiding, not for someone like him …
But Driff was no longer like “him,” no longer like what he used to be. He’d found himself fitting in incredibly well with those he’d never dreamed he’d ever associate with even tangentially. “Authority” was a concept he had never been willing to accept, but now he worked hand in glove with the current authorities and, what’s more, he enjoyed it!
That has to be because they’ve changed the meaning of the word “authority,” Driff thought as he sipped his tea. It used to mean those people who were in charge of cheating the most they could out of ordinary citizens, but that isn’t what “authority” means now. Now the concept means taking responsibility for what you do, and making an effort to help rather than harm. And taking risks that it isn’t fair to ask others to take…
But that part of it Driff carefully kept to himself. Tomorrow he’d have to ask some very direct questions without supplying any more information than he could get away with. If anyone tried to force him to tell more, he’d know that the people he thought of as friends were no such thing. But he didn’t expect that to happen … Or he hoped it wouldn’t happen …
Wilant Gorl looked up from his desk when Oplis Henden, Wilant’s Air magic Blendingmate, stepped into the room after a brief knock on the door. Wilant felt annoyed that Oplis hadn’t waited for permission to enter, but one look at Oplis’s delighted expression banished Wilant’s annoyance.
“Don’t tell me that something has gone right for a change,” Wilant commented as he sat back to study Oplis. “I may not be strong enough to take news like that.”
“You may not be strong enough, but I certainly am,” Oplis returned at once with a grin, joining in the mutual teasing. “Now that we’ve reached the point where we can kid ourselves into believing we almost know what we’re doing, we have to learn how to accept good news. Like the fact that my unofficial spy network has accomplished more than the entire Guard force.”
“You’re joking,” Wilant said with brows high, finding the same delight that Oplis showed. “You can’t mean they’ve tracked down our intruder nobles.”
“I can mean it and I do,” Oplis said with a laugh. “But I promised Driff that he could discuss the matter with more than one of us, because he seems to have something in mind. He’s just outside …”
“Then bring him in,” Wilant said at once, no longer bothered about intrusion. News like this wasn’t intrusive, it was sent by the Highest Aspect … “Good morning, Driff. I understand you have some good news for us.”
“I think you’d better wait a short while before deciding that,” Driff answered, the small man having stopped next to Oplis. “My people have located the renegade noble, but there’s more involved here than you may realize. Do you know that they’ve brought in more than three hundred men that they expect to turn into a new Guard force like the one we used to have?”
“How many?” Wilant demanded, all delight suddenly gone. “I suppose I knew they would have some men with them, but more than three hundred! Where are they hiding so many?”
