The Blending 07 - Deceptions, page 31
“It isn’t true!” Tal screeched, his hands having turned to claws that rent the air in Thrybin’s direction. “None of it was my fault, none of it! Those Gandistrans made me lie, to justify what they did to me without provocation! My family will believe that, the truth, not lies formulated out of spite and envy!”
“You really are pitiful to believe that everyone thinks as poorly as you do,” Thrybin said with the nastiest smile he felt able to generate. “That Gandistran woman burned the talent out of your entire Blending as well as out of you, so you’d have to explain why you were ail Blended in camp. And as far as forcing you to lie goes, you told us things none of us knew about. They were things the Gandistrans couldn’t possibly have known, which is why everyone believed what you said. Unless your family is as thick in the head as you, they’ll see through you at once.”
This time Tal couldn’t seem to find any words to throw back in rebuttal, and the desperation in his eyes was a delight to see. Tal had enjoyed the thought of coming over to torment Thrybin, but Thrybin had turned the tables on him in a totally expected way. The fool had never been able to think clearly, and that realization suddenly gave Thrybin a marvelous idea.
“What a shame that you haven’t the courage to take your revenge against the people who most deserve it,” Thrybin commented, as though simply continuing what he’d been saying. “It’s possible that I may soon be replaced in the assembly, but that remains to be seen. You, on the other hand, will be replaced even if the rest of us retain what we have. You’ve been maimed forever, your entire life stolen away, and you stand there talking about someone else suing your fellow victims.”
“What else am I supposed to do?” Tal demanded, a definite snarl in his tone. “I can’t do anything against the Gandistrans, not any longer, so all that’s left to me is to convince someone to act in my place. You used to be part of my coalition, Korge. If there’s any loyalty inside you at all—”
“Tal, I was part of your coalition for reasons of my own,” Thrybin interrupted to say slowly and directly. “It isn’t a matter now of loyalty anyway, not when the times demand that we each be loyal to ourselves. The rest of us do have something left to lose, but you don’t. If anyone is to use the perfect opportunity that will soon be available to take his revenge, you have to be the one. Afterward, no one will be able to blame you for retaliating against the arrogant beasts—for all of us.”
“What perfect opportunity are you talking about?” Tal asked with a frown, the eagerness in his eyes belying the casual way the question had been put. Tal the fool still thought it was possible for him to become a hero … “Not that I have any real intention of doing anything to those people. Any one of them could stop me without half trying.”
“Not once they’ve Blended, they can’t,” Thrybin pointed out in little more than a murmur, his smile now a very satisfying one. “The invaders will be here in the small hours of the morning, they said, so they and their new High talent pets will be Blended to receive the visit. Their Blending entity will naturally be in the thick of things to show the rest of us how pitiful we are in comparison, and that will be the perfect time to strike. Do I need to tell you how vulnerable their bodies will be then?”
“No, of course not,” Tal said in a matching murmur, most of his attention directed inward. “That would be a priceless opportunity, but I, of course, would never think of using it. It really is a pity that so lovely an opportunity will just slide by without anyone taking advantage of it. Well, I have things to do, Korge, so I’ll speak to you again at another time.”
Thrybin watched the fool walk away, finding it all he could do not to laugh out loud. Of course Tal would never consider taking advantage of the opportunity, not when the man thought he was still in a position to play politics. Tal obviously still lived in the past when one of his thickheaded ideas had a chance to work. He was “covering his trail” before going ahead with something that there wasn’t the slightest chance he wouldn’t be caught at.
Yes, things are definitely looking up, Thrybin thought with satisfaction. Once the Gandistrans were gone it would prove easy to take advantage of the lack of knowledge and practice of the new High Blendings. That would get them out of the way, and with no High Blendings around to challenge the existing assembly members, things would go back to the way they’d been. Yes, tomorrow was guaranteed to be a beautiful day, as soon as he explained to his Blendingmates that he hadn’t just been lying to them …
Jovvi had to use her link groups to soothe the disturbance of the new Gracelian Blendings. Those poor people had had a terrible shock, and those few who were more personally involved than the others were devastated. The new Blendings would have to fight later, but more importantly they were people who needed help now to get over tragedy. Refusing to supply what help she could was beyond Jovvi, and hopefully always would be.
“I think we’ll do best leaving them alone for now,” Jovvi told Vallant once she’d done all she could. “Most of them are beginning to get angry, which is a sign that they’re pulling out of the shock.”
“Then leavin’ them alone for a while is what we’ll do,” Vallant agreed at once before turning and beginning to lead her back toward the others of their Blending. “And now that they can’t hear us any longer, I’d like to ask a question. Were they in shock because none of them will be a full Blendin’ until someone with Sight magic grows old enough to join them, or because of what was done to helpless, innocent people?”
“That’s a hard question to answer,” Jovvi responded with a sigh. “Many people have trouble seeing a happening as unfair or a tragedy if it doesn’t affect them personally. The exception to that outlook covers those people who need a cause to champion because of their own personal reasons. The people in those Blendings seem to be decent, ordinary folk who probably felt uncomfortable with the practice of putting down those without talent. But without a solid reason to demand that the practice be stopped, they must have felt they’d be wasting their time protesting. And they would have been wasting their time, as you’ll probably agree if you stop to think about it.”
“Yes, most likely you’re right,” Vallant granted with his own sigh. “It’s possible I shouldn’t have told them what I did, but I was tryin’ to head off trouble before it started.”
“Telling those people the truth can’t possibly be considered a mistake,” Jovvi said, stopping Vallant with a hand to his arm as she looked directly at him. “I can see that something else is bothering you, but I can’t tell what it is. Would you like to talk about it?”
“It’s nothin’ but a bit of sour grapes,” Vallant replied after a very short hesitation, clearly trying to smile. “And personal sour grapes at that. I think you know how much I enjoyed my time with you and Naran, but I was really lookin’ forward to spendin’ an uninterrupted night with Tamrissa. Now that we’ve got somethin’ else to do instead, I’m … bent out of shape just a little.”
“Well, that’s understandable,” Jovvi said, mildly surprised. “Lorand is out of sorts for the same reason, so you do have company. But you seem to be … repressing some feelings at the same time, feelings you don’t seem to want to repress. Do you understand what I mean?”
“Yes, but I do want to repress those feelin’s,” Vallant answered, his tone now a good deal more firm. “Those feelin’s are irrational and have no real basis in fact, so I refuse to listen to them. And I think we’re all goin’ to need some help in gettin’ the few hours of sleep that we’re sure to need.”
“Everyone will have that help as soon as they’re ready to settle down,” Jovvi assured him, joining in deliberately changing the subject. “Pagin Holter’s Blending entity spoke to Lorand and asked if they could help, so he suggested that they help us all get some sleep. Once we lie down, we’ll sleep until the invaders are almost here.”
“Good,” Vallant said, beginning to walk again after drawing Jovvi along with him by a touch to her arm. “I was wonderin’ how I would get any rest at all, but now the problem is solved. And as soon as I make sure that everythin’ is taken care of, I’ll be takin’ advantage of that help.”
By then Vallant had returned her to where their Blendingmates were, so he touched her face gently and then strode off. Jovvi watched him heading for their associate Blending and all the link groups, sighing only on the inside. Lorand seemed to be feeling almost exactly what Vallant was, and minimizing Lorand’s reactions hadn’t helped to ease Vallant’s. Both men were definitely fighting off feelings of jealousy, and Jovvi had no idea what she could do about the situation.
Glancing around showed that Rion, Naran, Lorand, and Tamrissa were already asleep, so Jovvi dismissed the idea of another cup of tea and went toward her sleeping pad. They would all definitely need as much sleep as they could get, and wasting sleep time with worrying that could be done later was foolish. Jovvi lay down and covered herself with a blanket, and then—
And then she was waking up with everyone else around her doing the same. It was clearly still in the middle of the night, but no one anywhere around remained asleep.
“All right, people, now’s the time,” Vallant called from his own sleeping pad. “The Blendin’ on watch says the invaders are almost here, so it’s time for us to do what we have to.”
And for some reason Jovvi’s heart began to beat a lot faster as she prepared to initiate the Blending …
Twenty-three
Sembrin Noll returned from the second meeting with his new tools in a filthier mood than he’d been in the night before. His entire being had turned into a growl, and he made directly for the nearest decanter of wine. When he turned away from it again with a filled cup, he found Bensia staring at him with puzzlement.
“What’s wrong, Sembrin?” she asked at once, concern clear in every part of her. “I felt your return like an avalanche of stone coming down on the house. And where are the children?”
“The children have gone off about their own business,” Sembrin answered after taking a good swallow of the wine, the same growl having now invaded his voice. “I took them with me to the meeting tonight as you … suggested, but our intentions were a waste of time. That peasant Ayl never made an appearance, just what the other two insisted would happen. Apparently Ayl came to the first meeting only to satisfy his curiosity, and had no real intention of joining our effort.”
“But isn’t he the one you said had more followers than the other two put together?” Bensia asked, now looking vexed. “We need that man, Sembrin, so letting him refuse to join us just isn’t acceptable. Why didn’t you have the men take you and the children to wherever the peasant lives? You could have had him seen to then, and—”
“Don’t you think I tried that?” Sembrin interrupted, fighting to keep his annoyance from turning to outrage. “That was when the men informed me that they had no idea where the peasant lives, or even where he spends his idle time. They’d contacted him the first time by leaving a message for him, but this time he didn’t respond.”
“Well, we’ll just have to have some of the men search for him,” Bensia decided, just as though that thought hadn’t occurred to Sembrin as well. “When they find him we can make him sorry he’s putting us to so much trouble, but only after he brings in his followers. But we do have the other two and their followers, so we don’t have to put off getting our plans started.”
“It devastates me to disagree with you, my sweet, but your newest ideas won’t work either,” Sembrin returned with sarcasm fueled by rage. “From what the other two peasants told me, I have to assume that finding Ayl won’t be done simply by deciding to do it. Apparently the people in the new government have been after the man as long as they’ve been in power, and even they, who don’t have to hide what they’re doing, can’t locate him. And finding him may even be a waste of time. The other two insist that Ayl is mad, and all his followers have been arrested by now. His claim of having more than two hundred people is most likely part of his overall delusion.”
“Then it doesn’t matter whether we can find him or not,” Bensia pointed out, back to being coolly in control of herself. “And I really would appreciate having you watch your tone when you speak to me, Sembrin. I’m growing tired of needing to remind you that I’m not one of your peasants.”
“Actually, it would help if you were one of my peasants,” Sembrin returned, now hearing the bitterness in his voice. “If we were to consider the children as your followers, you would then have more followers than the two fools who lust after becoming members of our new nobility. Since I had the children with me, I decided to make use of them to another purpose. They took control of the two peasants who did come to the meeting, and then I asked them how many followers they’d lined up to work with us.”
“Are you telling me that after having an entire day to talk to people, they weren’t able to recruit anyone to our cause?” Bensia demanded, the abrupt disappearance of her cool control bringing Sembrin a large measure of grim satisfaction. “I thought you told me that they were leaders in this city. What kind of leaders find it impossible to produce any followers?”
“The self-deluding kind,” Sembrin answered after taking another swallow of his wine. “It seems that the peasant named Meerk actually did make the effort to speak to his ‘followers,’ but when they heard him say he wanted to put a noble back in power they all got up and walked away. They may be a bunch of malcontents, but apparently they aren’t stupid enough to want to return to being owned. Meerk called them back and even suggested that they could become nobles themselves, but only one man out of the entire group actually believed him. The rest left again and didn’t return.”
“And the other peasant?” Bensia asked, fury lurking in her lovely eyes. “Was he able to promise as many as two others besides himself?”
“Not even that many,” Sembrin told her, making no effort to soften the blow. “The one named Henris had actually spoken to only a single man, and that one had threatened violence before throwing Henris out of his shop. After that Henris was afraid to speak to any of the others, since he’d started with the man most likely to go along with him.”
“I find this impossible to believe,” Bensia said as she rubbed at her brow with one hand. “All that effort with nothing to show for it but two men. I certainly hope you didn’t give those two the gold to spend after all. What we need are the real leaders of the disaffected in this city, and when we find them—”
“Now, that’s something else I asked those two about,” Sembrin said, again taking pleasure in interrupting. “Since they were obviously not the ones we needed, I ordered them to tell me who I needed to speak to instead. It seems that they are the most outspoken among the disaffected, and no one else is interested in ousting the new government. Or at least no one else makes their opposition a matter for public consumption.”
“Those stupid peasants,” Bensia growled as she began to pace back and forth. “Give them a few crumbs that make them feel as though they’re worth something, and they lose all interest in upsetting the status quo. Well, my ambition is made of sterner stuff, so we’ll just have to go ahead without them. And I meant to ask you as soon as you came in. Have you seen cousin Rimen at any time today? This afternoon I sent the children to his apartment to wake him, but his apartment was empty.”
“How utterly fitting that you ask about your cousin Rimen now,” Sembrin answered, keeping the words from being a snarling drawl only through sheer effort of will. “The answer happens to be one with all the rest of what we’ve been discussing. I had two of our men follow your cousin last night when he left here, and it’s a good thing I did. Your darling Rimen tried to murder someone with a knife right in the middle of a street, and if the men hadn’t been there to stop him Rimen would have been stopped and arrested by the city guard.”
“That’s … that’s probably an exaggerated distortion of what really happened,” Bensia tried, clearly swallowing down shock. “Those men are certainly trying to earn more of our gold, so their claims can’t be trusted. But putting Rimen in a place he can’t simply walk out of was undoubtedly a good idea until I can have the children get the truth from him. And after we have the truth, the children will also see to it that he never—”
“Bensia, Rimen is dead,” Sembrin told her, enjoying the need to be brutally direct. “When the men stepped in to keep Rimen from killing the peasant he’d chosen as his victim, your fool of a cousin tried to fight and kill them. He struggled so hard that he managed to break his neck in the process, which was truly a lucky thing. People from the city guard showed up the next instant, and only the word of the former victim cleared the men of a charge of murder.”
“No, Rimen can’t be dead,” Bensia insisted, her face having turned very pale. “He’s my cousin, my own blood, and I would never allow that to happen. This is all your fault, Sembrin, for not having protected him properly. You—”
“How dare you!” Sembrin interrupted her shaky rambling, his rage no longer small enough to hold back. “When I tried to warn you that Rimen was insane and needed to be watched closely, you ignored my advice and blithely went your own way! You knew better and so made no effort to listen, and now you dare to try blaming me for what happened? If I hadn’t taken the proper precautions we’d have the peasants on our doorstep right now, ready to arrest us and send us to Astinda with the balance of our peers!”
