Betrayals (34 page)

Rather than a babble of conversation growing up, it became so quiet that it was possible to hear the rain pattering against the trees, and the tarpaulin, and Rion’s rain shield. I have no idea what the people who had stayed thought they would be doing, but clearly a number of them hadn’t envisioned doing anything as foolish as attacking a depot full of guardsmen. That number hesitated for a long moment, but once the first of them started for the designated wagon, the rest followed. They made up about a third of our remaining total, and after they’d taken their provisions—and another wagon—and had left, there were about twenty people and three wagons remaining.

“I don’t want anyone thinkin’ they’re trapped now that the last wagon has left,” Valiant said at that point. “There’s still the coach some of us got here in, so anyone changin’ his or her mind before we get to Quellin, the depot town, still has a way out. Right now I think we need to get movin’ ourselves, to find a place where we can safely spend the night. How many of you can ride a horse instead of ridin’ in a wagon?”

Most of the men and two of the women assured him that they would be much happier on horseback than in a jouncing wagon, even in the rain. Some of them must have had Air or Water magic to protect themselves from the rain, and the rest most likely had Earth magic. The idea of riding a horse at any time wasn’t one that appealed to me much to begin with, but then I began to think about it. Being dependent on others to get you from place to place put you at their mercy, but if you were able to go and do all by yourself …

But that was something to think about at another time. Right now it was time for us to leave, with only two of the three remaining wagons filled with what was left of the provisions along with those who couldn’t or didn’t care to ride horses. Jovvi, Lorand, Naran, and I would be using the coach, as Rion had been one of those who had opted for a horse. We intended to take extra mounts with us, and turn loose all those horses we didn’t want or need. Once our current captives were found and roused, if they wanted to come after us they would have to do so on foot.

Rion walked us to the coach while the very last of the preparations were being made, his magic still keeping the rain off us. He walked with Lorand while Naran and I helped Jovvi, and once we were in the coach he gave Naran a parting kiss and left. I suppose I looked away from that again, and Jovvi wasn’t so tired or distracted that she didn’t notice.

“All right, now that it’s no one but us, tell me what’s wrong between you and Valiant this time,” she said, clearly trying not to sound weary. “I noticed the distance between you two almost as soon as I opened my eyes, and the passing time has only added to the impression. Is it a simple disagreement, or something more involved?”

“I’d say … a lot more involved,” I admitted with reluctance, trying not to see Naran’s look of concerned support. “I… got Valiant away from Eltrina Razas and he was really beastly toward me, so I… decided our relationship had come to an end. I refused to listen when he tried to say that it hadn’t, but then he … stopped apologizing. He … made certain statements I couldn’t completely argue with, and then he said that now he was the one who was unwilling to listen. I’ve … been trying to decide if he was right about the things he accused me of.”

“If you’ve been thinking about it and don’t know for certain yet, chances are you’re just trying to avoid admitting that he was right,” she said, leaning forward to touch my hand. “It’s possible I’m mistaken about that, but it’s something to keep in mind while you do your thinking. Along with deciding what you’ll do if it turns out that he was right beyond all doubt.”

I distractedly returned the touch she’d given me, having already come to the same conclusion myself. Chances were excellent that Valiant had told the absolute truth, so what was I going to do about it? Our relationship had ended because of me, so how was I going to correct the error?

As our coach wheels reluctantly pulled free of the mud trying to hold them, I realized I hadn’t the faintest idea. I’d have to start with trying to apologize, of course, but something told me that that wasn’t going to work. And if it didn’t, then what… ?

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Delin came awake slowly, noticing first that the others were all there in the room with him. Then he realized that the room was in his own wing of the palace, and all the rest of his memories came flooding back. They’d won the final competition and they were now the new Seated Five, a fact which brought a thrill of delight. But then other, different memories came, and the delight disappeared as though it had never been.

“That’s right, you now know everything that’s happened to and around you,” Kambil’s voice came, bringing Delin’s gaze up and to him where he sat. All the others, Bron and Selendi and Homin, sat around Kambil, all of them looking at him with chilling amusement.

“I… remember hearing you swear that you would never turn me loose again,” Delin managed to get out despite those stares. “Why have you changed your mind?”

“What makes you think I’ve turned you loose?” Kambil countered, his amusement the strongest of all. “My aim was to give you as much grief as you and your madness have given us, and now I’ve thought of the way to do that. You’ll be awake and aware of everything happening around you, but you’ve been given certain orders under Puredan that you won’t be able to disobey.”

“What sort of orders?” Delin asked, although he would have much preferred not to say a word. The four were enjoying themselves at his expense, the four people who were supposed to be part of him and entirely his.

“The first one was my idea,” Selendi said with a light laugh. “You have this entire wing of the palace that’s supposed to be yours, but you’ll only be allowed to live in one room of it—this one. You’ll eat in here, sleep in here on a cot you’ll have brought in, and generally spend all the time you’re not required to be elsewhere right here in this one room. The rest of the wing is off-limits to you, so you won’t use any part of it.”

“And don’t expect to enjoy the meals you have in here,” Homin said, taking up after Selendi while Delin’s mind reeled in shock. “Your food will be very plain, the absolute least you can have and still remain healthy, with no seasoning or sweetening to increase its flavor. You’ll insist on that, no matter what your servants do to try to change your mind.”

“And when we’re all together you’ll walk or stand behind the rest of us, generally behaving like a servant,” Bron said, obviously enjoying enormously Delin’s being so stunned that he was openmouthed. “You went ahead and did as you pleased about matters which concerned all of us, making decisions alone instead of talking to the rest of us about them. We won’t be free of the chaos that caused for quite some time, so it’s only .right that you forfeit your former place among us.”

“Bron’s right when he says you have no grounds for complaint,” Kambil said, interrupting Delin’s wildly babbling protests. “We all know you’re insane, Delin, but that doesn’t also have to mean that you’re stupid. The stupidity seems to be an added bonus that’s thrown in, and one you refuse to acknowledge and take into consideration. Are you able to see yet how much damage you’ve done?”

“All I did was make an effort to protect us all!” Delin choked out, having no real idea what they were talking about. “How can you say that protecting us is doing damage?”

“Think, Delin!” Kambil snapped, almost making Delin jump. “I told you that you now know everything that’s happened, so try to remember what I said about our interviews with the assistants and secretaries to the Advisors you had killed. Only some of them know everything their superiors were involved in, and the rest are just as much in the dark as we are! It’s hardly likely that the men who are gone did more than give orders on the important matters, but now we have to search around to find out who they gave their orders to!”

“And it’s not proving easy,” Bron growled, staring at Delin with all amusement gone. “Not only that, but for some reason there are now lapses in shipments that should be coming from all over the empire. The remaining Advisors are getting complaints by the dozen, but they have no idea about what to do. These things were all taken care of by those Advisors who are now gone, specifically the ones you had destroyed. The only Advisors left are either very new to their places or entirely useless for any purpose beyond strutting around showing off their rings.”

“Do you understand now?” Kambil said, the words more of a demand than a question. “Say something to make me believe that you understand.”

“I understand that you’re having problems that you choose to blame on me, ” Delin returned, his head spinning so wildly that he barely knew what it was that he said.“You saw to the removal of five of the Advisors yourselves. Do you expect me to believe that that has no bearing at all on the trouble you’re having now?”

“I told you he’d say that,” Selendi put in after making a rude sound. “He’s never been able to accept responsibility for his actions, no matter how often he pretended that he did. It isn’t the ten people he had put out of the way that’s causing turmoil, just the five who never would have dirtied their hands on any of the piddling details of running the empire. Our five were only concerned with major efforts, but that means nothing.”

“Say something, Delin,” Kambil prodded, anger clear in his eyes. “Tell me how much of the mess we now have on our hands is all your fault. Prove to me that something of what we’ve said has gotten through to you.”

“Of course, Kambil,” Delin acquiesced, forcing his voice to be even and relatively calm. “Everything that’s happened is my fault, and I’ll be the first to admit it. It was my actions alone that brought about every bit of the difficulty.”

“I think I’ve suddenly developed Spirit magic,” Homin said, his tone very dry. “He’s said exactly what he thinks we want to hear, but doesn’t believe a word of it himself. Am I wrong, Kambil?”

“Hardly,” Kambil replied, just as dryly. “He hasn’t learned a thing from what we said, but I never really expected him to. So when you start to look around for reasons why this is happening to you, Delin, start with this reason: your stubborn stupidity refuses to learn. If that ever changes I’ll know about it, but until then you can see if suffering truly gains us understanding. And now we have several interviews to conduct. Come along.”

Delin was appalled by how quickly and obediently he rose to his feet, the others standing in their own good time. It wasn’t a joke or a threat, he really had been enslaved, and his numbed mind refused even to search for a means of escape. But that would pass, and once it did …

“Oh, by the way,” Kambil said as he led the way out of the room. “If you aren’t having any luck thinking of a way out of your dilemma, don’t be surprised. You’ve been ordered not to do anything to change your current situation and status, and as the order most strongly reinforced, it should be the one most strongly obeyed. If I’m wrong about that, please let me know.”

The sense of shock was more brief this time, a surge of anger rudely displacing it. Delin had nodded his agreement to obey this newest command, and he knew he certainly would. He’d been given no choice but to obey completely, just as though he really were a slave! Fury came at that thought, but at the moment there was nothing Delin could do to change it.

They all walked through the apartment and wing that was supposed to be his, then out into the common hall which led to various interview and meeting rooms in the public wing. The public wing had mostly been used by the Advisors, a properly impressive place to conduct their official business, but Delin now remembered that Kambil had changed all that. The remaining Advisors had each been assigned small meeting rooms, but those rooms couldn’t be used without the prior approval of the Five. The power which had previously rested in Advisory hands was now returned to the Five, and Kambil meant to do everything in his power to be certain it never left again.

“Tomorrow we’ll begin to conduct interviews to fill some of the empty Advisory seats,” Bron commented over his shoulder to Delin, who trailed along behind the others. “Right now we have a more important matter to see to, a mess you happen to be innocent of creating. For a wonder.”

Selendi and Homin made low-class sounds of agreement, the humiliation of which nearly distracted Delin. To think that those two would dare to mock him…But then he realized he knew what Bron had been talking about, and the matter really was serious. Those five peasants they’d faced in the final competition, the ones who had nearly overcome them … They were not only still alive, but had apparently escaped from the city. Things had been happening with the pursuit, and they had to be updated as to the latest. And they had to institute even greater effort to find and destroy them.

Delin blamed Kambil for that particular mess, and stared at the man’s back as he followed the others into a fairly ornate interview room. If he had been in charge the way he should have been, those responsible for keeping the five peasants alive would have paid for the incredible stupidity with their own lives. It was only fitting, but Kambil was too soft to do what was proper. He would be their downfall, Delin knew it with utter certainty, but as long as the man had control of the rest of their Five—which he obviously still did—Delin’s hands were chained rather than simply tied.

“As soon as we’re seated, you may bring in Captain Al-thers,” Kambil said to the servant who awaited them in the room. “You’re to stay just outside while we interview him, and when we’re done you’ll show in the next person we wish to speak to. Is that clear?”

“Completely, Your Excellency,” the servant acknowledged with a bow as Delin and the others took their places on the two-stepped dais holding their chairs. Delin’s place became the end one on the extreme left, and his humiliation over that was very painful. The last time an interview was conducted like that, his place had been the one Kambil now occupied in the very center….

“Your Excellencies, Captain Althers,” the servant announced after he’d gone to the far door of the room and gestured to someone in the room beyond. The man who entered was stocky and older than Delin and the others, but not as much older as the Advisors were. The newcomer bowed while the servant silently left the room and closed the door behind him, and Kambil gestured the man closer.