The Blending 07 - Deceptions, page 25
“Of course,” Antrie answered with another of those sweet smiles. “We’ve discussed the matter both last night and this morning, and we’ve come to the only decision we could. We’ve made no effort to force you into doing things the way we do, so we’d like to be extended the same courtesy. A difference of opinion doesn’t mean we can’t continue to work together, after all, so—”
“But it means exactly that,” Vallant interrupted as he got to his feet, Jovvi and the others quickly following his example. “Courtesy has nothin’ to do with what’s goin’ on here, and it isn’t us but common sense doin’ the forcin’ you mentioned. If you don’t change your ways you won’t survive, and we have no intention of goin’ down right along with you.”
“I told you we were wasting our time trying to treat these sluts as though they were decent human beings,” Korge stated with a smirk clear in his gaze. “They want to drag all of us down to their level, and if we listen to them we’ll deserve to have people turn away from us in disgust.”
“Listenin’ to that one is the mark of a true fool,” Vallant commented as he eyed Korge with the mentioned disgust. “He and his Blendin’mates went through the ‘unnecessary’ bondin’ procedure last night, leavin’ the rest of you in the dust. He still wants to be the one runnin’ things in this country, and you’re all playin’ into his hands with your ‘reasonable’ refusal. But since that’s obviously the way you want it …”
Exclamations of shock and demands for confirmation or denial finally interrupted Vallant, some of the comments aimed at Vallant, most of them aimed at Korge. That one had turned dark with rage, but he still stood there denying the charge until Olskin Dinno held up a hand.
“I can tell that you’re lying, Korge, so don’t waste any more of our time trying to deny what the man said,” Dinno stated flatly with a growl. “All that talk about doing disgusting things was just to keep the rest of us from doing them. What do you expect to gain from such underhanded methods?”
“How can you stand there shouting at me when it’s perfectly obvious that those interfering monsters have been spying on us?” Korge took his turn at putting a demand, obviously trying again to deflect outrage from himself. “If none of the rest of you have the stomach to denounce them for it, then I’ll have to do it myself! They’re supposed to be guests, but it’s a sickening guest who sneaks around watching what his host is doing—”
“Give it up, Korge,” Tamma said flatly, cutting off the flow of words from the man. “Your associates should know that with the invaders so close we set out sentries, something all of you should have done but didn’t bother to think of. If you people don’t get with it, you’ll be dead before you learn how much of a waste of time and effort this playing politics is. Now: We’d like a final answer. Since one of your number has already started to do the right thing with his Blending, what about the rest of you?”
Tamma had glanced at the others with her question, but her gaze ended up resting on Antrie Lorimon. The small woman had been doing the talking for the rest of them until then, but now she seemed hesitant about continuing in the same vein.
“I … think we’ll need some time to discuss this new turn of events,” Antrie said after a short but definite hesitation, and then her smile came out again. “You’ve been so patient with us so far that I’m sure you won’t mind waiting just one day more for—”
“No, we won’t be waitin’,” Vallant interrupted, his tone softer than it had been but no less firm. “We’re goin’ to get our people and possessions together, which will take a few minutes. If you don’t have an answer for us by the time we’re ready to leave, then we’ll leave without the answer. We’ve wasted enough time with you people.”
And with that he turned and walked away, leaving behind a group of people who looked shaken to the core. Or at least most of them were shaken, Jovvi told herself as she joined the others in following Vallant. Thrybin Korge was hiding his elation, but the other Gracelians were badly frightened.
“So, what do you think they’ll do?” Tamma murmured as she came up to walk beside Jovvi. “Will they just let us leave, or will they agree to change their ways?”
“I’m afraid they can’t change their ways,” Jovvi answered with a sigh. “They’re all more afraid of changing their practices than they are of the invaders, and nothing we say or do will alter matters. Even if they tell us they agree to make the changes, they won’t be speaking the truth.”
“Then we’ll definitely be leaving,” Tamma said with a nod. “I can’t say I’m surprised, and I’m not even terribly disappointed. Having a tent to sleep in doesn’t balance out what we’ve had to go through with that group of fools, so leaving them behind will be a definite relief.”
Jovvi felt the least bit guilty about considering the matter in the same way, but there was no doubt that she did. Leaving the Gracelians behind would be a relief, but if the plan all three of the men had thought of worked they would certainly run into the assembly members again …
Cleemor Gardan wasn’t a happy man as he joined the others in walking to a place where they might sit down to talk. Nothing was going the way it should have, but he couldn’t think of a thing to turn the situation around again …
“Well, you certainly did a wonderful job keeping the Gandistrans here where they’re needed,” Cleemor heard Satlan Reesh say harshly. “I knew we were fools for giving a woman a chance to ruin things.”
“Close your mouth, Reesh,” Olskin Dinno said at once before Cleemor had the chance to say the same. “Antrie was the only one of us who had any chance at all of making the Gandistrans stay, and it wasn’t her fault that she failed. If you think it was her fault, tell us what you would have done in her place.”
Reesh glowered at Dinno but didn’t immediately speak up, which was a surprise to no one. Dinno only waited a moment, and then he nodded.
“That’s what I thought,” he rumbled at a red-faced Reesh. “You needed someone to blame, and Antrie was the safest target for your mindless complaints. If you had any real innards, you would have opened your mouth to the one of us who really deserves it … You’re all but dancing and singing at the idea of the Gandistrans leaving, Korge. What do you expect their absence will let you accomplish?”
“I’m pleased at the thought of their leaving because I dislike them so intensely, Dinno,” Korge answered slowly as though explaining something complex to someone who wasn’t terribly bright. “Isn’t that enough of a reason?”
“No, it isn’t, not with those invaders breathing down our necks,” Dinno denied immediately in an even harder tone. “If you hadn’t taken up … slut ways as soon as our backs were turned, the Gandistrans might not have been so impatient with us. So allow me to repeat the question you ignored a moment ago: What do you expect to accomplish?”
“He wants the same thing that fool Tal wanted, and that’s to go home a hero,” Cleemor said when Korge hesitated, the matter perfectly clear. “He must have convinced his Blendingmates that being stronger than the rest of us would get them somewhere, which would make them just as stupidly blind as he is. He—”
“You just wish you could be as stupidly blind, don’t you, Gardan?” Korge interrupted with a sneer, anger in his gaze for the way everyone now spoke to him. “Even if the rest of you fools follow our example and increase your own strength, we’ll still be there ahead of you and will still be stronger just as we were before. But the rest of you won’t follow our example, will you? You just don’t have the guts to do what’s necessary without whining about it, so don’t blame me for your shortcomings.”
“It’s your own shortcomings we’re talking about, Thrybin,” Antrie said flatly before Korge could get to his feet and leave. “When Cleemor said you were being stupidly blind, he stated nothing but the absolute truth. We all know how incredibly strong the Gandistrans are, but even they needed the help of another Blending almost as strong in order to make the invaders vulnerable to us. If you’d been there with us you would have known that, but your temper tantrum kept you in camp. Even if you’re now twice as strong as you were yesterday, which I seriously doubt, how do you expect to do anything at all against the invaders all by yourself? Or does our soon-to-be hero have that all worked out?”
“Look at the fool!” Reesh suddenly exclaimed, pointing to a Korge who frowned in an effort to hide how suddenly appalled he was. “That thought never occurred to him, so he was happy to drive the Gandistrans away! I say we get him to go over and apologize, and maybe the Gandistrans will stay after all.”
“Me, apologize to those arrogant snoops?” Korge demanded, his skin darkening further with his raging emotions. “Your cowardice is making you babble even more nonsense than usual, Reesh, so why don’t you do as Dinno suggested and shut your mouth. We don’t need those people to help us, or maybe I should say I don’t need them. What the rest of you do is your own business.”
And with that Korge did get to his feet and leave, stalking off toward where his Blendingmates waited. Dinno joined the rest of them in watching the man go, and then he shook his head.
“At least he knew he was lying when he said he didn’t need the Gandistrans’ help,” Dinno rumbled before looking around at those who were left. “The rest of us know the same, but just knowing the truth won’t help us. If we don’t agree to do things their way, the Gandistrans will leave anyway.”
“I say we tell them we agree, but that we’ll need some time to get used to the idea,” Cleemor said, mostly to fill the silence that came after Dinno’s words. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I haven’t changed my mind about how I feel. My marriage is too important to me to throw it away for …”
“Yes?” Dinno prompted when Cleemor’s words simply trailed off into silence. “Your marriage is too important to you for you to throw it away just to save our country? Is that what you were going to say, Gardan?”
“Bickering among ourselves won’t solve the problem,” Antrie pointed out when Cleemor still couldn’t find what to say. “I understand how Cleemor feels, and I agree with him. Our best course of action will be to accede to the Gandistrans’ demands, but ask them to be patient while we adjust to the new circumstances. That should keep them with us until we can think of something else to do.”
“But that won’t keep them with us,” Dinno immediately denied, his gaze going back and forth between Antrie and Cleemor. “It’s obviously escaped your notice, but those people can tell truth from lie even better than I can. If we aren’t absolutely and completely sincere in what we tell them, we might as well not bother.”
“Are you trying to say that you now support the idea of changing our entire lives?” Cleemor demanded, looking straight at Dinno. “What happened to your not being able to bear the thought?”
“I did a lot of thinking last night, and once you put the emotionalism aside you realize that the Gandistrans are right,” Dinno answered, deep sadness behind the calm of his words. “Our choice is between clinging to the traditional way of doing things and going under against those invaders, or changing our lives in order to survive. We all have our fears, Gardan, and Reesh’s here is at least as terrifying as yours, but the both of you will have to come to terms with your fears or else perish. What you have to remember is that changing at least allows some chance of finding happiness again. Perishing doesn’t.”
Cleemor glanced at Reesh where he sat, understanding Dinno’s reference to Reesh’s fear. No one associated with Reesh unless they absolutely had to, a truth the man undoubtedly understood completely. Reesh could very well be rejected as a member of a Blending if they were all High talents, and that would leave him with no one to associate with at all …
“Even if we decide to change our ways, what good will it do?” Cleemor said as soon as the point came to him. “We not only have to lie with our Blendingmates, we first have to find other High talents to be our Blendingmates. That means lying with absolute strangers, which won’t be as easy for Antrie as it is for you and me—even as hard as it would be for me in particular. Have you considered that at all?”
“I’ve considered every aspect of the situation, but the problem is we don’t have enough information,” Dinno responded with a frown. “That fool Korge rushed to lie with his present Blending, and we might well be able to do the same as a stopgap measure. Going out looking for other High talents now will take time we don’t have, but we have to check the point with the Gandistrans. If we can manage to stay with our present Blendings, at least we’ll have that familiarity to comfort us.”
“Why isn’t it possible to do something without lying with our Blendingmates?” Reesh asked, his voice now more wheedling than demanding. “If we pair up the way the Gandistrans did to remove that aura from the invaders, we might be able to do the same thing they did. How can we decide to throw tradition out the window before we make the least attempt to handle the matter in our own way?”
“No, Dinno, Reesh has a point,” Cleemor said at once before Dinno could reject Reesh’s suggestion out of hand. “We all went against the invaders individually, so we don’t know what will happen if we team up against them. I agree that the least we can do is try, and that way we may be able to save our country and our way of life as well.”
“It really isn’t an unreasonable idea, Olskin,” Antrie put in when Dinno’s frown only deepened. “I’m sure you don’t know this, but I’ve … begun to see someone. It would destroy the both of us if I had to tell him I’ve been lying with strangers or even with my Blending, but I’m willing to do that if there’s no other option. All I ask is that we make completely sure there are no other options.”
Dinno began his arguments all over again, but Cleemor had Reesh and Antrie solidly on his side. The three of them stood fast against every point Dinno raised, and at last the man threw up his hands in defeat.
“All right, I have nothing left to say that any of you is willing to hear,” Dinno growled, glaring around at all of them. “You all have your own private reasons for wanting to keep things as they are, so you’re pretending to be reasonable when what you’re really being is selfishly stubborn. It isn’t possible for me to force you into doing the right rather than the comfortable, but I’m telling you right now that it won’t work. And when it doesn’t, don’t come crying to me that you did your best.”
And with that he rose to his feet and stalked off the way
Korge had done, bringing Cleemor, at least, as much relief as Korge’s departure had.
“He’ll feel better about things when we prove that we’re right,” Antrie said with something of her usual smile, and then she gathered herself to stand. “Right now we’d better go and speak to the Gandistrans, to tell them about the idea we’ve decided to try. When we present them with a definite plan of action, they won’t be able to refuse to stand with us.”
“And then we won’t have to worry about acting alone,” Reesh said happily as Cleemor helped Antrie to her feet. “When we show the Gandistrans that we can handle things just fine the way we are, they’ll also have to stop telling us to change our lives to suit their whims.”
Cleemor felt a distant disturbance over that statement and Antrie’s as well, but he needed the solution they’d come up with too badly to try picking holes in it. Instead of trying to see what it was that disturbed him, Cleemor thrust away the emotion and simply accompanied Reesh and Antrie through the camp. The Gandistrans had established themselves a short distance from the Gracelian arrangements, but it should be possible to see the first of them any moment now …
“Oh, no,” Antrie suddenly gasped, horror in her voice. “Cleemor … the Gandistrans are gone!”
“They can’t be gone!” Reesh denied, terror in his own voice. “They said they wanted a decision from us, so they can’t have left before getting it!”
“They also said they would not wait beyond the time they were ready to leave,” Cleemor said in a voice that sounded dead in his own ears. “We spent so much time arguing that they kept their word and didn’t stay, and now we’re on our own.”
“It’s all that Dinno’s fault!” Reesh cried, his pallor a match to Antrie’s. “He delayed us so long with his nonsense that we weren’t given the chance to tell the Gandistrans that we had a plan. They would have listened to us when we said we had a plan!”
“But that wasn’t the plan they wanted us to have,” Cleemor murmured, still held by an odd feeling of floating.
“It’s almost as if they knew what we would say and didn’t care to wait around to hear it. But that’s ridiculous, of course. How could they have known in advance?”
Antrie wept quietly, and Reesh stood with one hand over his eyes, so Cleemor’s question wasn’t answered. Not that it had to be answered. The Gandistrans couldn’t have known what they meant to say, so instead of thinking about foolishness they now had to find a way to carry on without the presence of the incredible strength they’d been counting on to support them …
Nineteen
“I can’t believe those fools just argued themselves back to their original stance,” Naran heard Tamrissa say from where they both rode to either side of Vallant. “I’m glad we didn’t stay around to hear it, or I might not have been able to control my temper.”
“That time I probably would have joined you in temper losing,” Naran said with a headshake, looking at Tamrissa across Vallant. “There really wasn’t much of a chance that those people would see reason, but knowing that one of their number had already started to do things right should have meant something to them.”
“They couldn’t let it mean something to them,” Jovvi put in, turning in her saddle where she rode ahead of them. “Cleemor, Antrie, and that Satlan Reesh were all terrified for personal reasons at the idea of doing what was necessary, and terror doesn’t let you think clearly and rationally. Their way of life is coming apart all around them, but they still can’t let go of their old practices.”
