The Blending 07 - Deceptions, page 28
Thrybin Korge left his tent after a nice nap, feeling considerably better than he had earlier in the day. Those fool associates of his had gotten him very disturbed with their maunderings, but the passage of time in logical thought had cleared up the confusion he’d felt.
The new strength his Blending now had would be enough to let him take charge of this effort against the invaders, and would also let him make use of the feeble strength of the others. Their five entities would work together to dispose of the trash the invaders sent against them, but it would be his Blending that got all the credit for their success. When they returned to Liandia victorious, his Blending would claim leadership of the assembly and the empire with no one able to deny them—
“Psst, Thrybin!” he heard, and then Restia Hasmit was beside him. “You’re out here just in time for the show, so come on!”
Thrybin’s Blendingmate had been whispering, but she’d also been laughing softly. For that reason he let her tugging on his arm lead him in the direction she wanted him to go, curiosity touching him lightly. Restia was obviously up to something amusing, and it should be fun to see what she considered a “show.”
Thrybin was led only a short distance away, to a ring of bushes near someone else’s tent. When Satlan Reesh stepped out of the tent and Zirdon Tal suddenly appeared in front of Reesh, Thrybin had a strong hint about what was going on.
“Good day, Reesh,” Tal said in a friendly but formal way with a small bow. “I trust you had a decent night’s sleep last night?”
“What do you want, Tal?” Reesh answered at once with impatience clear in his voice. “If you don’t have any work to do, I’ll be glad to help find you some.”
“Does that mean you see nothing wrong in what was done to me?” Tal countered at once, his tone filled with supposed hurt. “Have you stopped to think how you would feel if it had been done to you instead? Those disgusting outlanders spoke sharply to you more than once, and if they did decide to ruin your life, which of your colleagues would have had the nerve to protest? None of them really likes you, you know.”
“Yes, I couldn’t help but notice that,” Reesh answered with what seemed to Thrybin to be dry resignation. “I’ve been thinking about my … lack of popularity quite a bit, and I’ve come to certain unhappy conclusions.”
“And one of those conclusions must be that what you need is a real friend,” Tal said with sympathetic understanding, stepping closer to put a hand to Reesh’s arm. “Yes, I already know that, so—”
“No, that is not one of the conclusions I’ve come to,” Reesh interrupted sharply, shaking off Tal’s hand. “What I’ve had to face is the fact that my lack of popularity is my own fault, just as yours was with you. Or didn’t you know that not a single member of the assembly really liked you?”
“Come now, let’s admit that you’re exaggerating just to make your own position appear better,” Tal said in such a condescending way that Reesh looked ready to hit the man. “We both know that my popularity would be rather overwhelming to someone like you—”
“You know, I never understood why so many people considered you a fool, but now I’m beginning to,” Reesh interrupted, studying Tal as though he were an interesting but outlandish insect. “You weren’t popular, you were feared, mostly because your opponents sometimes had terrible accidents that couldn’t be traced back to you. And because of the wealth and standing of your family, which would undoubtedly have supported you if anyone felt foolish enough to accuse you anyway. Now, though, you’re without position and soon to be without family backing, so would you like to put gold on how many ‘friends’ you find coming to your aid?”
“Reesh, you’re letting your distress make you talk foolishly,” Tal said, a bit more sharply than he’d been speaking. “My position in the assembly may have changed for the moment, but my family will see to it that my place is restored whether or not I still have talent. I was treated shabbily and high-handedly without a proper accusation or any sort of proof, and because of that am due much in the way of reparation. If you expect anything else to be done, I’m afraid you’re due for great disappointment.”
“Oh, there will be lots of disappointment, but none of it will be mine,” Reesh returned, now apparently enjoying the discussion. “You seem to forget, Tal, that you were stupid enough to attack a woman with your Blending in front of the rest of us. If the woman hadn’t burned the talent out of all of you, you would have been accused on the spot—and treated to the same removal of talent. After the word about that gets around, do you really expect your family to still stand behind you? Aren’t they the ones to whom face means so much? You’ve lost more face than an entire generation of them could have done on their own, and they’ll disown you the instant they hear about it. In point of fact, I’m looking forward to seeing that.”
“No, that isn’t true!” Tal denied in a shout, all thought of cozening Reesh clearly gone from his head. “My family will know that all of you are lying, and they’ll stand behind me! I know they’ll stand behind me!”
“Lie to yourself all you like, Tal, but don’t expect me to let the lie go unchallenged,” Reesh countered, his expression now one of grim satisfaction. “Even if we did happen to be lying about what you’d done, since most people hearing about it will take it as truth, your family will have no choice but to disown you. Now get back to work and out of my sight, and don’t come back to bother me again.”
Tal, having no choice about obeying, stumbled away looking grey and old, and Reesh himself headed toward where lunch would be served. Thrybin exchanged a glance of amusement with Restia, and then he nodded.
“You were right to alert me to that, and I enjoyed it thoroughly,” Thrybin told her softly. “I’d been thinking about pulling Reesh back as my lapdog again, and now I know I can. I’ll take care of it after lunch.”
“The others are all too out of sorts to oppose you the way they have in the past, so now is the best time for you to take charge,” Restia told him just as softly. “Be decisive in a casual way, and they should follow along without more than a murmur or two of protest.”
“I’ll do that,” he said, putting a hand to her face before moving away to join his current peers for lunch. She would join the rest of the Middle talents for the meal, all of them staying back out of the way while the major talents made all the decisions. Just the way it should be, of course …
Reesh was just getting his meal when Thrybin arrived, and the others already sat eating. Thrybin waited politely until Reesh was finished, and then he took his own meal before joining the loose circle his peers had made. No one spoke or greeted anyone else, and the air of gloom was so thick that Thrybin could have used it to stuff his bed mat. Instead of spreading his own good mood around Thrybin gave his attention to the meal, and only when he had cleaned his plate did he take a sip of tea and then look around.
“Since no one else has said it, let me be the first,” he announced, gaining the attention of the others. “We have to do something about the invaders whether or not the outlanders are with us, so let’s get down to planning. I say we go back to that village and wait until more invaders are sent to replace the ones we destroyed. When they arrive, we take care of them in the same way the first group was done.”
“We can’t destroy them in the same way,” Antrie Lorimon replied, her whole bearing more than weary. “You weren’t there, Thrybin, but I assure you that it took two very strong Blendings to get anywhere at all. Without those two strong Blendings, there isn’t anything we can do.”
“Of course there is, Antrie,” Thrybin scolded mildly. “We happen to have five Blendings among us, so there’s quite a lot we can do. If we stand together against those invaders we’ll win, and that’s what we came out here to do, isn’t it? You tell her, Reesh—tell her that we’re bound to be successful.”
“I’m not sure we will be,” Reesh answered at once in an open, honest way that surprised Thrybin. Usually the man was more than eager to support anyone who spoke to him as though he really was a desirable human being … “As Antrie said, you weren’t there but the rest of us were. And if anyone has learned this point, I’m the one: We need to take captives to question, so if destroying the invaders was what you had in mind, you’re wrong on that score as well.”
“Oh, please!” Thrybin said, showing a corner of his annoyance. “Those outlanders are the ones who said we need prisoners, but if you stop to think about it you’ll see how ridiculous the contention is. If we’re able to destroy all the invaders, will it matter where they came from and what they intended? We already know that what they intend is to take over our country and kill our people, so what more do we need to know? Our most important task is to stop them, and I need the rest of you to join me in that work. Are you all saying you refuse?”
“No, we aren’t saying that,” Dinno rumbled after taking a deep breath. “We’ll all go out there together the way we’re supposed to, but I seriously doubt if it will do any good. And let me point out that Reesh is right. If nothing else, we need to know how many men the invaders have to throw at us, and how long they’ll continue that throwing if we start to destroy them. If the numbers are too great, we’ll need to get more of our peers out here to help.”
Lorimon, Gardan, and Reesh were nodding at that, so Thrybin had to swallow down his annoyance and pretend to smile his own agreement.
“All right, then we’ll take a prisoner or two just to make you happy,” Thrybin conceded. “But first we have to find the invaders before we can take any of them prisoner, so I suggest we get moving. We’re much better off meeting the enemy on our terms and ground rather than on theirs.”
That was something none of them could argue, so they all put their plates and cups aside and prepared to stand. Thrybin rose as well, and touched Reesh’s arm as the man was about to walk away.
“Reesh, a word with you in private, please,” Thrybin said with the smile that always reached the man. “I’d like to tell you more of what I have in mind as a plan.”
“I already know what you have in mind, and if you do it you’ll have to manage without my help,” Reesh responded at once, neutrally but also, unbelievably, on the cold side. “You want to take over the empire as well as this group, but you’re a fool to think you can. And don’t try again to manipulate me by pretending to be my friend. You don’t like me any more than the others do, but at least they have reason to feel like that. You don’t, not after all the times I supported you, but it’s clear that that doesn’t count with you. Just stay away from me, and we’ll both be better off.”
And with that the man turned and walked away, leaving Thrybin to stare after him. Worse yet, the others had heard what Reesh had said, and they all seemed to approve of his outburst. Thrybin himself turned away and went to find his horse, distantly wondering if the world was about to end. Satlan Reesh, refusing to be manipulated through his need for acceptance? Thrybin never would have believed the fool capable of behaving like that, and still didn’t believe it after having seen it.
Well, not to worry. Reesh would come around after Thrybin and his Blending showed the whole bunch of them how strong his new arrangement was, but that would be too late. Thrybin no longer wanted Reesh to support him, and when the man begged to serve him he would laugh and walk away. That would leave Reesh all alone, something that would bring the man the devastation he deserved.
It wasn’t long before the other major talents and their Blendings were mounted, so Thrybin and his Blending led the way to the road and toward that village. There were all sorts of people clogging the road again, and getting past and around the fleeing fools was rather difficult. The extra effort necessary made the ride even longer, so Thrybin wasn’t in the best of moods when they reached a stand of woods and Gardan called to him.
“Korge, we’ll be leaving our horses in there, in the woods,” Gardan said when Thrybin turned in his saddle. “We can see the village from the edge of those woods without having to expose ourselves to attack.”
For a moment Thrybin was about to remind the fool Gardan who was in charge, but then it became clear that the others were all solidly of the same mind. The key to the beginnings of leadership was to never give a command that your followers were determined to disobey. It set a bad precedent for the future, so Thrybin simply smiled and led the way back to the others.
“If being in the woods will make you all feel safer, by all means let’s stop in the woods,” Thrybin told them with easy generosity. “Once you learn that those invaders can’t stand against our combined might, though, I expect to see you all filled with a proper courage.”
Thrybin’s soon-to-be followers weren’t pleased to have their courage denied even in passing, but they still followed him into the woods without comment. When Gardan indicated that it was time to leave the horses, they all dismounted, and then Thrybin gestured Dinno into leading the way. The other man gave silent agreement along with a wry bow, and then they were moving through the woods on foot.
It wasn’t far to the edge of the woods, and then Thrybin got his first look at the village. It was clearly emptier than most villages he’d seen, but not completely deserted. There were at least a dozen people moving around, all of them ignoring the vast swarm of flies and carrion birds infesting the air to the far right of the last of the houses. Thrybin felt puzzled by the presence of the flies and birds, but the mystery was quickly cleared up for him.
“I see they’ve moved the bodies I stupidly produced out of the village,” Reesh said in a soft voice. “Along with their own dead, possibly, but they probably took better care with their own. But I wonder why those people are still here. Don’t they know that the invaders will be along to find out why the ones I killed haven’t reported back?”
“Some people find reality almost impossible to accept,” Lorimon said in a strange tone of voice. “Those people down there have probably talked themselves into believing that they’re now safe, most likely because they’re terrified of the idea of leaving. We all find reasons to keep from doing things that terrify us, don’t we?”
“Some of us more successfully than others,” Dinno commented, apparently understanding what Lorimon meant. “The most unlucky of our number come to appreciate just how foolish they’re being, but still find it impossible to change their actions.”
“And then there are those who decide they should change, but don’t really know where to begin,” Reesh put in as though he, too, understood what they were talking about. “I suppose it takes practice to know if you’re being smart or foolish in what you do, but how do you get started with practicing the right thing?”
“You ask your friends,” Dinno said, looking directly at Reesh with a smile. “When someone is serious about wanting to do better with his life, people know it and admire the someone for making the effort. See? Getting started isn’t that difficult at all.”
“How incredibly good it feels to have friends who are willing to help.” Reesh said to Gardan and Lorimon as well as Dinno, since the other two were also smiling at him. “I wish I’d known that sooner …”
“There’s something we all have to know,” Thrybin interrupted just as Dinno was about to speak again. “If the invaders show up we need to be ready, so a little less idle conversation, please.”
Thrybin had put a bit of sharpness in his tone to show his annoyance, but the four fools chuckled among themselves rather than turning shamefaced. What they found so amusing Thrybin couldn’t imagine, but at least they fell silent. That was enough to satisfy Thrybin, since it showed that they were beginning to obey him.
But the following hours proved a good deal less satisfying. At least two of them went by while nothing at all happened, except for the others discussing something in murmurs and then going off to speak to their Blendingmates. Thrybin wondered what they were doing, but asking them would have been too demeaning. He was supposed to be the one in charge, and assuming that they were acting without his knowledge and approval would weaken his position. He had to assume instead that they were just wasting idle time, but suddenly Dinno spoke up.
“All right, another group of invaders is just a few minutes away,” Dinno said, not just to Thrybin, as he should have, but to the others as well. “Everyone get comfortable, and then we’ll see what we can do.”
“I’m the one who will be giving the orders, Dinno!” Thrybin told the man sharply. He was annoyed for more reasons than the fact that they were all sitting down already, and it was time the fool understood who their leader was. “Why are you assuming that the invaders are almost here? We might still have as much of a wait as we’ve already endured, so—”
“You’re the one doing the assuming, Korge,” Dinno came back much too quickly and sharply. “You were obviously content to sit here and wait, but the rest of us decided to use our Blendings to keep an eye out. This last watch was mine, and I saw the invaders coming with my own—or at least with my entity’s—eyes.”
Thrybin was furious, but there wasn’t much he could do about their totally unacceptable behavior right now. So what if it hadn’t occurred to him to set out a watch? If one of them had mentioned the need, he would have assigned them to what they’d done on their own. How dare they act as though he weren’t in charge? Didn’t they know—
“Korge, they’re here!” Lorimon had the nerve to say in a tone that suggested he was a child who needed direction. “Don’t just sit there, Blend!”
And then Lorimon acquired the look that the others already had, the staring distraction that said they had Blended. Thrybin would have dearly loved to Blend and then destroy her, but that could be taken care of later, once the invaders had been seen to. Instead he nodded to Restia to begin the Blending, and then—
