Intrigues (10 page)

“If we don’t, you’ll … what?” a new voice put in, and then Tamrissa had come forward to stand beside Jovvi. The Fire magic user’s gaze was colder than Lorand had ever seen it except for the times Tamrissa talked about her former husband or parents. “Who do you think you are to tell
us
what we will and won’t do? If not for us you’d still be a slave, but you’ve had no trouble forgetting about that, have you?”

“There’s a limit to how much a man can be expected to owe,” Henris countered through his teeth, his face darkening a noticeable amount. “My people and I are grateful for what was done for us, but not so grateful that we’ll just hand over our privacy for the rest of our lives. We don’t
want
a Blending with that Sight magic lording it over us, so you can just get rid of her – permanently.”

“Does anyone disagree with that?” Tamrissa demanded, now looking around at the people in the audience. “Are you all so afraid of your own shadows – and think you’re so important that we’d
bother
to see what you’re going to do – that you insist on standing with
this
fool?”

One or two people, like Rilna Zokill, looked as if they
considered
disagreeing with Henris, but no one said so aloud. Lorand joined Tamrissa in glancing around, but she gave up the effort first.

“So none of you has the stomach to disagree with the fool,” Tamrissa concluded aloud, an odd smile now showing on her face. “And it’s get rid of Naran or else, an ultimatum you all join in. All right, if that’s the way you want it, it’s fine with me. We’ll take the ‘or else.’”

“What are you talking about
now
?” Henris actually had the nerve to demand, sounding to Lorand like a noble addressing a drudge in his kitchen. “All you have to do is get rid of that woman, and then – “

“But we refuse to get rid of her,” Tamrissa interrupted, deliberately stepping on the man’s words. “If you people won’t have a sixfold Blending running the empire and we refuse to revert to being a fivefold Blending, there’s only one thing left to be done. We’ll be leaving
your
palace first thing in the morning, to go on about our business as private citizens. You can run the empire yourselves.”

Lorand would have sworn that the crowd reaction couldn’t possibly be louder than it had been before, but the new outbreak was a pure bedlam. People screamed and yelled at whoever happened to be standing near them, and the only exception to all the noise came from those who stood on the platform. Lorand could see pained expressions on the faces of his Blendingmates, but not one of them stepped forward to disagree with Tamrissa.

“Now I know why this had to be left to Tamma,” Jovvi murmured to Lorand while the noise continued. “I never would have had the nerve to say that and really mean it, but Tamma isn’t bluffing. If they don’t change their minds about Naran, Tamma expects us all to walk out.”

“Oddly enough, I agree with Tamrissa,” Lorand murmured back, faint surprise in him over his reaction. “My sense of duty keeps trying to insist that we
can’t
walk out, but I’ll do that sooner than refuse to support my sisters.”

“The rest of us agree with you, of course, and that’s what seems to be bothering our new people of standing.” Jovvi’s words were very soft as she nodded toward Henris and the others near him. “We’re supposed to be frightened of losing what we worked so hard to gain, not all but throwing it back in the faces of those who – “

“You think we won’t take you up on that?” Henris suddenly announced to Tamrissa over the din, his face quickly lighting with what he obviously considered a revelation. “Yes, that’s it, you’re trying to bluff us into doing what
you
want, but it isn’t going to work. Your group isn’t the only Blending around any longer, so if
you
walk out we can put one of
them
in your place. How’s
that
for an or else?”

“Your plan is as stupid as I expected it to be,” Tamrissa retorted with a snort, ignoring the smug victory on the man’s face in a way that Lorand was having trouble duplicating. “Our associated Blendings are free to do as they please, but I seriously doubt if any of them is thick enough in the head to oblige you. They’d have to restrict themselves to staying a fivefold Blending when everyone else was free to expand, and instead of ruling the empire they would be working for
you
, which is what agreeing to your demands comes to. Now I think it’s time that we left.”

The smugness disappeared from Henris’s expression as Lorand and the others began to follow Tamrissa off the platform. Unhappy discussions were still going on all over the room, but not in the back where the members of the other Blendings stood. Lorand had the impression that their associates were amused by the goings-on, but had no interest in joining in. They’d all seen too much fighting and danger to now be interested in playing politics.

“B-b-but Excellences, you’re The Chosen!” Dom Mohr suddenly began to protest, as though he hadn’t been able to believe what was going on until now. “The Chosen can’t just pick up and walk away like – like – dissatisfied parlor maids!”

“It’s
your
claim that we’re Chosen, not ours,” Tamrissa pointed out without the slightest hesitation, her tone pleasant but completely inflexible. “But who we are or are not happens to be completely beside the point. We risked ourselves to depose the nobility to save our own necks as well as yours, and now the chore is done. Ruling an empire is actually a much harder job, and now that the danger is over
you
people want to make it even worse by trying to run our lives to suit your own prejudices. Well, that’s too bad about you because it isn’t going to happen.”

By turning away from Mohr, Tamrissa made it clear that she was through talking and ready to move on. Rather than stepping back to give her – and the rest of the Blending – a way through the crowd, Henris and his supporters moved closer instead.
They
weren’t yet ready to end the argument, not when they hadn’t yet gotten their way, and Lorand could see the stubborn set to their expressions. He was about to tell the fools just how big a mistake they were making when Tamrissa really lost patience and made the point the most direct way.

“Yow!” Henris shouted along with his friends as they all jumped back. Candle-sized flames had appeared under all their noses to cause the abrupt movement and exclamations. No one had been hurt beyond being jostled, but Henris had turned red-faced with embarrassment.

“You had no right to do that, girl,” Henris growled as he glared at the length of flame not far from him. “I think it’s time someone taught you better manners.”

Lorand had no idea what the man was talking about – until a fairly thick stream of water suddenly engulfed the length of flame closest to Henris. A matching smug expression on Henris’s face made it clear who had supplied the water, but another point became even more clear: Henris had no idea who he was dealing with.

“Why is it always the biggest fool who decides to teach people things?” Tamrissa asked with a snort and a small headshake. “And a fool who’s blind as well as stupid.”

Henris frowned in confusion only for an instant before understanding what Tamrissa meant. Inside the stream of water the man had produced was a continuing glow, showing that Tamrissa’s fire still burned in spite of the presence of the water meant to quench it. Henris ground his teeth and glared at the glow, but instead of dimming again the fire brightened even more.

“Don’t be even more of a fool,” Vallant told the man abruptly, stepping forward to touch Henris’s arm. “You’re no more than a Middle talent tryin’ to play out of your league, and takin’ in more of the power won’t help you. Can’t you feel the difference between us? How can you not know that we’re Highs?”

“You
can’t
be that much stronger, so it has to be some kind of trick,” Henris ground out as he now glared at Vallant, his hands having turned to fists. “You five were in the right place at the right time, and ended up learning how to Blend. If any of the rest of us had been there instead it would have been
us
in your place now, so don’t try to hand us any more lies. You’re
not
special, so – “

Voices rose in immediate argument from all sides, some agreeing with Henris, some completely denying his stance. Lorand exchanged confused glances with his Blendingmates, having had no idea that anyone could believe what Henris had just said. How was it possible to deny the difference between Middle talent and High when a Middle talent could
feel
the greater strength in a High?

“Be quiet!” a voice suddenly shouted above the newest uproar. “All of you, be quiet and listen to this! We’re not as through with bad news as you’d all like to believe!”

Lorand joined everyone else in turning to look at Dom Mohr, who had gotten back up onto the platform. Behind him stood a man who seemed to be out of breath, and Mohr’s expression was pale and grim.

“No, Henris, keep your mouth closed!” Mohr snapped, pointing a finger at the man he addressed. “For once you’d better listen instead of flapping your mouth, because trouble is on its way again. My people in the east have sent word, and it isn’t good. The army that was assigned to Gracely was obviously recalled, because it’s now on it’s way back
here
. When it gets here, it will be working for the return of the nobility to power and the rest of us to the way things were.”

“Then this bunch still has work to do,” Henris said at once, gesturing toward Tamrissa and the rest of the Blending. “Once they get rid of those noble-loving troublemakers, we can all go back to discussing what was just interrupted.”

“I have a better idea,” Tamrissa said while Lorand stood mute with outrage and the rest of the Blending reacted in other ways. “
You
take care of that army and save your own backside. As I’ve already said, we’re out of here.”

And with that they all pushed their way through the crowds and marched out of the room.

Chapter 6

Edmin Ruhl paused in the entrance to the private garden to look around at the lovely day. The world he’d known and enjoyed all his life might be crumpling to nothing all about him, but at least the weather was decent…

“Edmin, do come and join us,” Edmin’s father, the former High Lord Embisson Ruhl, called from the chairs where he entertained a guest. “If, that is, you can spare the time from business.”

“Unfortunately, Father, I have more time than business these days,” Edmin responded with a faint, humorless smile as he joined the two men. “How nice to see you again, Lord Sembrin. I trust you and your family are well?”

“As well as can be expected, Lord Edmin,” Sembrin Noll responded as he stood to bow politely before sitting again. “I do wish I knew for certain what became of my brother Ephaim, but other than that my wife and I are as well as can be expected these days.”

“Surely we all
know
what became of your brother,” Edmin’s father said to Noll as Edmin went to pour himself a cup of tea from the service. “Those interlopers did away with him, just as they did away with too many others of our peers. You were wise to leave Gan Garee when you did, before things really got bad.”

“My wife insisted when she became convinced that I would be next,” Noll said with faint amusement and something of a headshake. Sembrin Noll was just as imposing a man as his brother Ephaim had been, at least to look at. But where Ephaim Noll had shown his strength of character in the gaze he bent on others, Sembrin’s gaze was no more than unintrusively mild. “I was about to return to Gan Garee when you and Edmin arrived here at Bastions, so it seemed wise to speak with you before returning to the city. I’m certainly glad I did.”

“What I just learned from some of my people should make you more than simply glad,” Edmin said with a sigh as he took one of the chairs. “Things are now even worse than they were when
we
left, which I hadn’t really thought could happen. The first bit of news is, of course, that all five of the interlopers are dead.”

“All five, you say,” Edmin’s father echoed thoughtfully as Lord Sembrin made noises of surprise. “Are there any details available about
how
they died?”

“My people made an effort to find out,” Edmin agreed, exchanging a glance with his father. The two of them knew that the false Five had been poisoned at
their
orders, or at least four of the five had been poisoned. The fifth had escaped through sheer luck, but it wouldn’t do to mention those facts with someone else present. The interlopers might be dead, but their own positions were hardly so secure that they could afford to speak as they liked…

“Apparently the interlopers faced the peasant Five as individuals rather than as a Blending,” Edmin went on after sipping at his tea. “It’s been suggested that they knew they would lose if they fought again as a Blending, and so attempted to fight as individuals. The effort earned them nothing at all, and they were defeated individually. But oddly enough, they didn’t die until
after
they lost at the confrontations. The peasants apparently had something other than death in mind for the ones who stole the Fivefold Throne from them.”

“I wonder if the interlopers resorted to suicide,” Lord Sembrin mused with a headshake. “Possibly they knew what fate awaited them at the hands of their enemies, and chose to avoid the need to face it. Or possibly they simply died from the poison you had them given.”

Edmin joined his father in staring silently at Lord Sembrin, finding the man’s pleasant smile and openly innocent expression disturbing. Great pains had been taken to keep the poisoning episode a private matter, and yet Sembrin now discussed it as though it were common knowledge…

“Oh, I do apologize for disturbing you,” Sembrin said after a moment, his expression now one of faint distress as he looked back and forth between his hosts. “I was certain you understood that Ephaim learned most of what he knew about others from
me
. My strength has always been unearthing interesting happenings, and Ephaim’s was using the knowledge of those happenings to best advantage. We made a very effective team, just as effective as you and Lord Edmin, Lord Embisson, and I miss my brother quite a lot.”