Betrayals (19 page)

“All right,” I agreed after almost no hesitation. Valiant had begun to sit up at hearing about what had happened to our groupmates, but then he’d stretched out again and closed his eyes. Without a single word of greeting for me, even a neutral one. I’d expected him to at least offer some of the tea in the pitcher standing on a tray left on one of the beds near the door….

Rion seemed to be in something of a hurry to get back to the eating area, and I can’t say I really minded. Naran was very quiet, which probably meant she’d noticed the way Valiant had been behaving. I wasn’t certain that Rion had, although something seemed to be disturbing him badly….

When we reached the eating area, Rion insisted that I take more than just tea. I really had very little appetite, but with the possibility of my talent being needed later, I agreed without argument. Rion and Naran sat quietly while I finished what was on my plate, so I took a swallow of tea and then began to tell them what I knew they were waiting to hear.

“Alsin’s men hadn’t followed the man who brought Valiant to Eltrina Razas’s house, at least not at first,” I said after describing what Alsin and I had discussed after we’d gotten to that warehouse. “Early this morning the man and his wagon came back, though, and the watchers were there and waiting. They said that Eltrina didn’t come to the door, and her servant refused even to let the man into her house. The man shouted and screamed something about not being about to take the blame for not producing the ‘segment’ for transportation that morning, then he stormed off.”

“What did he mean by ‘segment’?” Naran asked with a frown. “I’ve never heard the word applied to people.”

“Neither has any of the rest of us,” I assured her. “The watchers followed the irate man, probably hoping they’d be able to find out, and learned something else instead: where Valiant was supposed to be taken. There was a large gathering of wagons and riders just outside the western approach to the city, and the irate man—now more frightened than irate—left his wagon and approached someone who seemed to be of the nobility as well as in charge. The resulting scene apparently wasn’t very pretty.”

“With the man needing to report Valiant’s disappearance?” Rion said with a faint smile. “I would imagine not. I hope he put the blame where it belonged.”

“The watchers said he tried to, but the other noble apparently lacked our bias against Eltrina,” I replied with my own faint smile. “He said the man and Eltrina were equally responsible, he for having given her the ‘segment,’ she for refusing to give the ‘segment’ back.”

“Give him back?” Naran interrupted to echo. “Didn’t the man admit that Valiant was gone?”

“The watchers decided that he actually might not have known,” I said, having asked the same question. “They couldn’t hear everything Eltrina’s servant said, but it’s perfectly possible the man wasn’t told about Valiant’s being gone. At any rate, the noble decided not to waste everyone’s time by pursuing the matter immediately, and ordered the man to have his other three segments transferred to the wagon they were assigned to so the convoy might leave on time.”

“Other three segments?” Rion and Naran said nearly together, causing them to smile with brief amusement at each other. “Does that mean three other men?” Rion asked by himself.

“It meant two men and a woman,” I answered after taking another sip of tea. “The watchers were at least as disturbed about that as we are, so when the unmoving bodies were taken out of the wagon and the man left, one of the watchers followed him. The other stayed to watch the wagon convoy, which left a short while later heading west. He also reported that the riders seemed to be mostly guardsmen.”

“There to guard… how many unconscious bodies?” Rion asked, obviously a rhetorical question. “How many wagons were in the convoy?”

“The watcher reported seeing ten, all of them larger than the one driven by the man they’d followed,” I said. “He followed the convoy until he was certain about which road they were taking, then he returned here.”

“I hope the other found out more than that,” Naran said, disturbance clear in her eyes. “So far it sounds like no more than guesswork about Jovvi and Lorand being with that convoy.”

“Happily, the other watcher did do better,” I agreed with a nod. “He followed the man in the wagon to a small constabulary post, the sort of place manned by only one or two workers. They’re used for the temporary housing of prisoners arrested by guardsmen, in areas where the main lockup is too far away for the prisoners to be taken there easily. Alsin said he began to curse horribly when he heard that, because constabulary posts were just about the only places he and his friends hadn’t thought to look.”

“I don’t blame him for being upset,” Naran said with her brows high. “How could anyone expect them to use those posts to hide drugged captives? You expect a prison to have bars, so how are you supposed to know that the bars are official—so to speak.”

“I guess you can’t know,” I said, not quite sure I understood what she’d said but having no time to question her about it. “When Alsin’s second watcher reported back to him, Alsin took some men and went to pay a call on the wagon driver. He was alone when they entered the post, and the fact that they’d put on masks frightened him badly. He tried to use Water magic on them, but one of Alsin’s men was stronger and so was able to stop him. Then he tried to frighten them in turn by telling them he was a member of the nobility.”

“Even if he were telling the truth, it’s highly unlikely that he has much standing, either politically or socially,” Rion commented. “One of my mother’s peers, for instance, would sooner die a bloody and painful death than be caught driving a wagon. And as for having a job somewhere rather than a career or business interests, even if it isn’t really a job …” He shook his head. “No, he can’t be of much importance at all.”

“Alsin thought he was very important, since the man had certain information that we wanted,” I replied with a type of smile I knew wasn’t particularly nice. “He made the fool understand that he would die in quite a lot of pain if he didn’t answer the questions put to him, then he listened to those answers with his Middle strength in Earth magic. Only someone with a stronger talent could have lied to Alsin and gotten away with it, and the man didn’t qualify.”

“But what he did do was assure Alsin that Jovvi and Lorand have to be in that convoy. All drugged Highs are sent out of the city in the same way, and the previous convoy left three days earlier. He knew in particular that our people are with this convoy, because the noble in charge had complained about having three members of the strongest challenging Blending so close to each other for so long. If something went wrong and they came back to themselves, they could end up being more trouble than all the rest combined.”

“I don’t like that phrase, ‘for so long,’ ” Rion said with a frown. “It suggests that they’ll be separated once they reach wherever they’re going, which won’t be of help to us. And while we’re discussing it, what is their destination?”

“The man didn’t know, which supports your theory that he isn’t a very important noble,” I said. “He usually has someone with him who feeds and cares for the captives, but picking them up in the first place and then transporting them to the convoy is much too important a task to trust to an underling—according to him, at any rate. Personally, I’d say they wanted to limit the knowledge of commoners, so they limited the participation of those who aren’t their own.”

“And now we’re going after the convoy,” Naran said, actually looking eager at the idea of leaving our safe hiding place. “How soon will we get started? And while we’re waiting, is there any chance we can have the use of a bath house?”

“I asked those very same questions,” I replied, more than aware of how … well used my clothes and body felt. “Alsin said he’d be back with the coach as quickly as possible, probably within the hour, and this warehouse has no actual bath-house facilities. We’d have to go elsewhere, and that would be dangerous as well as time-consuming. We’ll just have to wait until we reach an inn along the way.”

“I’m in need of a bath as well, but our clear priority is following those who hold Lorand and Jovvi captive,” Rion said, looking more determined and … dangerous than I’d ever before seen him. “If we all consider the problem, we should find it possible to free them before the convoy reaches its destination and our people are separated. Right now, however, there’s something you must know about another of us.”

“Another of us?” I echoed, wondering what he could be talking about. “I don’t understand. Who—”

“Yes, I mean Valiant,” he confirmed when he saw my sudden grasp of what he’d said. “I told you he still seemed to be tired, but that wasn’t the truth. He told Naran and me that—that he was no longer able to touch the power. I believe he’s still in shock over the discovery, and may well decide against accompanying us. We mustn’t allow that.”

If he thought Valiant was in shock, he should have felt my mind. I sat staring at my teacup, not quite able to remember its purpose, mentally groping for something solid to anchor myself to. Those people had been right after all, and Valiant’s ability to Blend with us was gone forever?

“If you’d heard him, your heart would have shattered the way mine did,” Naran added in a rough whisper, holding to Rion’s arm and obviously trying not to cry. “He said that if certain people considered him pitiful and useless before, now they certainly would. Who do you think he was talking about?”

I shook my head, having no idea whom he could have meant. It was ridiculous to think that there could be someone around so blind that they would believe those things about Valiant, but that had nothing to do with my position. Yesterday Valiant had clearly and definitely ended things between us; now that he was almost a different man, would he change his mind? And remembering how his pushing me away had hurt, did I really want him to change his mind?

But those questions were personal, and there was another much more important one: would Rion and I be able to free the others all by ourselves? We certainly had to, but… could we?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Tamrissa, can you suggest the proper way to deal with Valiant now?” Rion asked as gently as possible, seeing how horribly upset the girl looked. “If we commiserate, is that likely to make things better or worse? As Naran pointed out, our groupmate now feels pitiful and useless. If we offer sympathy, isn’t that apt to make him feel even worse?”

“I really don’t know,” Tamrissa responded, sounding bewildered and almost as devastated as Valiant had. “I, personally, would probably hate having everyone around me oozing sympathy, but—I just don’t know.”

“I’m inclined to agree with Tamrissa,” Naran said, obviously deliberately ignoring the other girl’s shocked confusion. “If I were in Valiant’s place I’d hate sympathy as well, especially since we don’t know if his talent really is gone for good. Lorand isn’t a trained physician, but I’ll wager that if he works on Valiant, whatever is wrong will probably stop being wrong.”

“Why, Naran, you’re absolutely right,” Tamrissa said, suddenly pulling away from the numbness which had held her. “Lorand is the best, so we’ve got to get him to Valiant as quickly as possible. As soon as Alsin returns with a coach, we’ll have to catch up to that convoy as fast as we can.”

“And do what to stop them?” Rion asked, hating to deflate her enthusiasm but realizing that it was necessary. “The answer to that question has to be carefully considered, as you and I will find it extremely difficult to handle the guardsmen you mentioned as well as the wagon drivers. Unless we kill them all, which we could probably accomplish. Was that what you intended for us to do?”

“I—no,” Tamrissa said with a violent headshake after a very brief hesitation. “Possibly if there was no other way, but not without trying other things first. Most of those guardsmen probably have no idea what they’re guarding, so killing them would be—wrong. And what about the rest of the poor victims in that convoy? Can we free Lorand and Jovvi, and simply leave the rest to their fate?”

“I hadn’t even considered the point,” Rion admitted ruefully. “Once put into words, however, there’s no denying that we simply can’t turn our backs on our own. But where did so many other High talents come from? We were told, were we not, that all testing and qualifying was done for the year?”

“Alsin asked the same question,” Tamrissa said after taking a deep breath and a sip of her tea. “Apparently all qualifying was done for the year, but testing is another matter entirely. There’s a constant stream of potential Highs coming to Gan Garee, and at this time of year they’re given a much less … stressful test than we were. If they fail, they’re turned out and sent home as the Middles they are. But if they pass, they’re drugged and put into a convoy and taken—somewhere.”

“To keep the city as free of High talents as possible,” Rion said with a nod. “If one attempts to think as our enemies might, it makes considerable sense. After all, what benefit would there be in having people walking about who have stronger talent than the current Seated Blending?”

“But not stronger than the new Seated Blending,” Tamrissa pointed out with a thoughtful look. “When we faced them, there was no doubt that they were High talents even though they weren’t as strong as our own Blending. Lanir and his friends weren’t happy about having to deal with them, so I wonder what made the nobility change tactics and let them win instead of the Middles they’d been using until now?”

“I’d say we were what made them change tactics,” Rion reminded her. “That first Blending we faced, the one which died because it was composed of no more than Middles— that was undoubtedly the Blending they meant to have Seated, and were forced to support the others simply because they were the only noble Blending remaining.”

“Which means we were right to believe that that group was using us for their own ends,” Tamrissa said in agreement. “We eliminated their most important rivals ourselves, and most of the rest of our common Blendings took care of the others. I wonder how long they’ll be allowed to run around uncontrolled?”