Betrayals (24 page)

“Grath has Spirit magic,” Alsin explained to us just as softly, then his attention returned to the man. “Were you able to find out what they use to keep their… cargo quiet? If it’s hilsom powder, there may not be much left of them by the time they get to wherever they’re going.”

“I’m certain it isn’t hilsom powder,” Grath denied with a headshake. “They began to unload kegs with some sort of liquid, and no one waters down hilsom powder. It would lose its effectiveness, and would also have to be poured down the victim’s throat. If you want to use the powder, you just hold it under the person’s nose.”

“That’s true, so they only start out using the powder,” Alsin said with a distracted nod. “After that they use something else, and it would help enormously to know exactly what. See if you can find out tomorrow, Grath, once you pick them up again. But don’t take any chances trying to get a sample of the liquid. If it becomes necessary, I’ll take your place following them. Once I get close enough, I ought to be able to identify the substance.”

“You have Earth magic, then,” Rion observed, having paid very close attention to what had been said. Then he looked at Grath and added, “Was it possible to learn which wagon or wagons our friends are in? If we have to choose between freeing just them or losing all the victims, we’ll have to concentrate on them. Once they’re returned to themselves, they can help us to see about the others.”

“It wasn’t possible to tell who was in which wagon,” Grath said with another headshake. “They don’t unload their cargo, I think, they just feed it, clean it up, and massage it a bit. Their mind-sets were like those of people who have to care for a large number of infants.”

“I think that eventually we’ll all have to get nearer to their campsite,” I said when Rion sat back looking frustrated. “We’re closer to Jovvi and Lorand than anyone else could possibly be, so maybe we’ll be able to locate them. In the meantime, it won’t hurt to think about a way to free all the prisoners, just in case we find that we can’t reach unconscious people.”

Everyone seemed to agree with that, including a still-silent Valiant Ro, so Grath pushed his chair back and stood.

“Tell Lidris to leave the coach where it can be seen from the road tomorrow night,” he said to Alsin. “That way I won’t have any trouble finding you, since there isn’t a coach quite like it anywhere. I’m going to get a room, some food, and a quick bath, then I’m going to bed. Tomorrow is bound to start even earlier than I expect it to.”

He nodded to us all then strode away, and Alsin took a deep breath which he let out slowly.

“I have no idea where Grath gets all that energy from, but talking to him when I’m tired makes me even more tired,” he commented. “I, for one, am going to skip dessert, and go straight for a bath and then bed. May I call the serving girl for any of the rest of you?”

It turned out that no one was in the least interested in eating any more, so we went to our small but pleasant rooms to fetch clean clothing. It came as a surprise to find a cheap wrap and a pair of scuffs in the room, obviously supplied by the inn for the use of its guests. Not having much experience with inns, I had no idea whether or not that was usual. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t take advantage of the courtesy, which I did as quickly as I was able to get out of my clothes.

When I stepped out of the room again, I found Alsin waiting for me in the hall He wore the same sort of wrap and scuffs, and when he saw me he grinned.

“It’s fairly obvious they expected those things to be worn by someone my size rather than yours,” he said, referring to how big the wrap and scuffs were on me. “But I have to admit that that’s better than the reverse. I’d look incredibly foolish wearing a wrap made to fit someone your size.”

“If I trip and kill myself in this thing, you may be forced to change your mind,” I countered, nevertheless smiling at his amusement. “Which way is the bath house?”

“It’s bath houses, plural, and they’re attached to the back of the inn,” he replied, beginning to lead the way to the stairs. “One for men and one for women, and a single hall leads to them both. If I ever build a house of my own, that’s the arrangement I mean to have. Most people are scandalized at the thought of having a bath house connected to their residence, but once the weather turns cold I become less and less concerned with propriety.”

“As a fellow lover of warm weather, I have to agree with that,” I said as I made my careful way down the stairs. “I’ve always hated having to leave the warmth of the bath house for the cold of outdoors, but I’ve always been told that that’s the only proper way to do it. My one consolation is that at least I don’t have to face the cold while I’m damp.”

“A definite benefit in having Fire magic,” he said, looking ready to catch me if I happened to trip. “Not having the same myself, I’ll just have to settle for the improper.”

I had the feeling that Alsin Meerk would have chosen the improper no matter what the circumstance or situation, but I didn’t say so. The man was going out of his way to help us; to offer what he might consider an insult wasn’t my idea of a way to thank him.

Alsin led the way to a hall which ran to the back of the inn, where the wall held a sign showing a picture of someone washing and an arrow below pointing to the right. We turned right as directed, then turned left in obedience to a second sign, where we found the others waiting a short way down.

Naran looked just as silly in the wrap and scuffs as I did, but no one said anything as Alsin and I joined them. The first door had a sign projecting from the wall showing a picture of a featureless face with a high-piled hairdo, and a second sign, some feet down the hall, showed another featureless face sporting wide, sweeping mustaches. That was clear enough, so we separated to go into our own sections of the bath house.

“There haven’t been many times in my life when I’ve so looked forward to taking a bath,” Naran said once we were inside, flashing me a brief smile as she began to remove her wrap. “Although it feels odd not having to walk outside to reach it.”

“Alsin was just saying how much he enjoys that oddness,” I commented back as I also hurried to get out of the wrap and scuffs. “It’s made me wonder why bath houses aren’t attached to residences, rather than standing at a distance from them.”

“Someone powerful and opinionated must have set the style, and now everyone follows along,” Naran suggested as we approached the steps and began to descend into the water. “That’s usually the reason something that doesn’t make sense continues … Are you feeling any better now?”

“Some,” I lied with a shrug as I spread my arms wide to embrace the marvelous water all around my body. “I should have apologized to you and Rion for that outburst, but I’m afraid I’m still not much in the mood for apologies. Maybe that will change once I’ve had a decent night’s sleep.”

“Not in clothes,” she agreed fervently, then submerged to wet her hair. I did the same, and when we’d both come up and wiped our eyes, she looked at me with clear hesitation. “Tamrissa … will you mind if I say something to you?”

“That all depends on what you say,” I pointed out, pushing back sopping wet hair. “But in case you were wondering, this is probably the best place to say something that might get a Fire magic user angry. It would probably take quite a bit of time and effort for me to burn away all this water—and I couldn’t possibly do that until after I washed.”

I smiled to show her I was only joking, but the smile wasn’t a very successful one. Her own smile was full of sympathetic understanding, that and real concern.

“Then I guess I’d better take my chances while I can,” she said, trying to share the joke. “It’s … something I don’t know if you’ve noticed, and that’s why I’m mentioning it. That man, Alsin Meerk—he’s more than just slightly interested in you.”

“Really, Naran, you have to be imagining things,” I said with a startled laugh, having expected her to talk about something else entirely. “Alsin is helping us in the hope that we’ll eventually be able to help him in turn, and I know him from when he first contacted us through Lorand. All he’s doing is being friendly.”

“Tamrissa, he truly isn’t just being friendly,” she said, soberly trying to convince me. “A man doesn’t always have to devour you with his eyes or try to overwhelm you if he’s strongly attracted. Some of them approach slowly and gently, in a cautious rather than a brash way. They’re trying to find out if their advances will be welcome, and if Alsin Meerk decides that his will be—there’s no doubt that it will cause quite a lot of trouble.”

“Why should it cause trouble?” I asked, still trying to make myself believe her. Alsin wasn’t behaving like any man I’d ever met before—aside from Lorand and Rion— but Naran knew men a good deal better than I did. Once again I wished Jovvi were there, if for no other reason than to give her opinion….

“Yes, I know, it isn’t likely to cause trouble for you,” she responded wearily. “Not only is your talent incredibly strong, you’ve more than proven that you’re willing to use it. What I meant was Valiant, and the fact that he isn’t about to give you up without a struggle. I know he saw the way Alsin looked at you, and can’t imagine what great good fortune kept him from saying something. The next time the same thing happens, that good fortune may not be present.”

“Valiant Ro doesn’t have to worry about giving up something he doesn’t have,” I said, finding it impossible to keep the stiffness out of my voice. “Whatever was once between us is now over, and he’d better learn to accept that truth. A relationship isn’t supposed to be there only when he wants it to be…. I’m sorry, Naran, but I’m really tired. I’m going to wash and go to bed, and we can talk again some other time.”

Only her sigh came as a response as I headed for the side of the bath, where small metal racks held jars of soap at ten-foot intervals all around the entire rim. I really did need to get some sleep, and then maybe I’d notice what Naran said everyone else could see. If it really was there to see … and anyone really did care … not that I cared if someone did…

At that point I forced myself to stop thinking. When you reach a time where the ludicrous comes forward without effort, you have to save thinking for another day.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Rion shifted just a little on the coach seat, needing desperately to move about a bit but reluctant to wake Naran. She’d fallen asleep against his shoulder not long after they’d eaten lunch, something he would have enjoyed managing himself. After nearly two and a half days of traveling in that coach and stopping only at odd-mile inns, the pursuit had become not only boring, but trying.

“I hope the place we’ll be stayin’ at tonight is better than the one we stopped at last night,” Valiant said softly. Tamrissa had also fallen asleep, but Valiant seemed just as wideawake as he. “Not only was the food barely edible, the room I slept in was only a bit larger than a wardrobe. If it hadn’t had a window, I probably would have had to spend the night in the stable.”

“I doubt if even the horses enjoyed being stabled there,” Rion commented sourly with matching softness. “And tonight will most likely be worse rather than better, as odd-mile inns do tend to get worse the farther they are from Gan Garee. Leaving that first inn at lunchtime would have brought us to a prime-mile inn at sundown, and then a full day’s travel could be begun the following day. Those who travel soon learn that that’s best.”

“I’m used to travelin’, but not by coach,” Valiant replied, doing a bit of cautious shifting of his own. “That’s why I know all about ports, but nothin’ about—odd-mile inns, did you call them? It’s too bad that if we speed up we’ll run smack into that convoy, and if we slow down we’ll be too far behind.”

“Hopefully we’ll find it possible to do something soon about our inactivity,” Rion said. “Alsin should rejoin us tonight, bringing with him some of the information that we need. After that… well, we can’t simply continue to follow. If they reach their destination before we manage to free Jovvi and Lorand, there will be a lot more of them than one convoy of guardsmen.”

“Yes, that’s also the way I see it,” Valiant agreed, looking no happier than Rion felt. “Tamrissa’s friend Meerk claimed that that wasn’t necessarily so, but he seems to be into wishful thinkin’. If we don’t break them loose now, we may never have another chance.”

“Tamrissa feels the same, so we had better all speak to Alsin tonight,” Rion decided aloud. “I just wish we had a better plan than what we’ve come up with. I’ll certainly have no trouble knocking out the sentries by temporarily depriving them of air to breathe, but then having to search wagon by wagon… Locating Jovvi and Lorand first would certainly make things easier, but the rest of the plan still seems to lack something.”

“Control is what it lacks,” Valiant supplied with a nod of agreement. “We won’t really have control of the situation, and anythin’ can happen to disrupt the rescue. That’s been botherin’ me as well.”

“It’s a prime example of being trapped in all directions,” Rion said with an exasperated sigh. “If we had either Jovvi or Lorand to help, we’d have considerably more control. But those two are the ones we need the control for in order to rescue them. Annoying is much too mild a word.”

“Speakin’ of annoyin’, it looks like we’ve reached the next inn,” Valiant said, glancing out his window. “It also looks more like a run-down roadhouse, but there are torches burnin’ in the courtyard and lamplight showin’ in the windows. Without that it would be easy to think the place was abandoned.”

“Torches rather than lanterns?” Rion said, shifting around to get his own look at the place. Naran stirred at the movement, but now it was all right. They would be stopping in just a few minutes … at the worst inn they’d so far come to. Rion hadn’t protested over what they’d needed to put up with, and not only because of the travel schedule forced on them. Prime-mile inns would have travelers of considerably higher caliber, and his group was, after all, composed mainly of fugitives.

But this place really was the worst of the lot. As the coach slowed even more, it was possible to see in the torchlight that the inn probably hadn’t been repainted in years. Although there were quite a number of horses tied to the right of the front door, showing that the place was well patronized by the locals. Transients would leave their vehicles and mounts to the left, near or in the stable.