Intrigues (21 page)

“Are you sure that Relton Henris had nothing to do with it?” Tamrissa asked Meerk, her annoyance having returned. “Only some thin man who isn’t here any longer?”

“No, I can honestly say that Relton Henris had nothing to do with the matter,” Meerk assured her, adding a warm smile. “It’s fairly obvious that the man is unhappy about something, but he never mentioned what that something might be. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll supervise the placing of that sixth chair.”

It was just possible to see, across the sand and behind the chairs already on the platform, that the doors on the other side of the amphitheater were being opened. Meerk performed a small bow before striding off toward the platform, and the buzz of noise from the thousands of people in the stands broke off for a moment. Everyone seemed to be watching as Meerk made for the platform, and when he reached it the crowd noticed that there were three men struggling with the chair they’d just carried outside. That observation renewed the babble of conversation, only a bit more intensified.

“Meerk was lying,” Jovvi said softly to Lorand, her voice reaching only the six of them. “Did you notice that as well?”

“Yes, it so happens I did,” Lorand admitted, his gaze on the man they discussed where he stood on the platform. “He does know who told him that story, but he won’t give the name to
us
. But I’m certain that that someone wasn’t Henris.”

“So we have yet another player in this game,” Vallant said with something of a sigh. “Callin’ Meerk on the lie probably won’t do any good, and if we insist or force him to tell us, we’ll most likely just make another enemy. There was a time when I really hated the idea of controllin’ everyone around us, but now…”

“Now it’s starting to look like the best way to save our sanity,” Tamrissa agreed with her own sigh. “It’s a good thing for these people that we have more self-control than that.”

“For the moment,” Lorand said, his headshake obviously filled with annoyance and frustration. “How much self-control we’ll have left after the ceremony is over remains to be seen.”

And that, unfortunately, was a sentiment Rion had no trouble understanding fully.

Chapter 12

It wasn’t very long at all before the sixth chair was placed on the platform, the noise from the stands getting louder by the minute. Tolten Meerk ignored the waves of questions and comments, giving all his attention to having the newest chair properly placed, and then he sent his assistants away and just stood waiting.

“I have a feeling I’m not going to like this man as well as I did his brother,” I muttered, the annoyance I’d been feeling all along increasing again. “He’s all but demanding that we come out
now
because
he
thinks it’s more than time we did.”

“It’s amazing how close you’ve come to interpreting his feelings without having Spirit magic,” Jovvi commented from where she stood beside me, also staring at the man. “He seems to have decided not to ‘waste’ any more time, so he’s not going to be coming back in here. And he’s also trying to avoid being questioned again.”

“I flatly refuse to dance to that man’s tune,” Rion stated, and I had the impression that he was almost as annoyed as I’d gotten. “No matter how much work we have waiting for us, I’d rather waste an hour standing right here doing nothing than walk out at
his
command.”

“I’m surprised at my lack of patience, but I feel just the same,” Lorand put in, his expression filled with exasperation rather than surprise. “I’m getting very tired of everyone around us trying to make us do things
their
way.”

“Either by tellin’ us or tryin’ to lead us,” Vallant put in just before he stepped out into the path of the group of city leaders accompanied by Lavrit Mohr. “Excuse me, folks, but where do you think you’re goin’?”

“Why, we’re going out to join Dom Meerk on the platform, Excellence,” Mohr answered for all of them, his expression showing confusion. “Isn’t the ceremony about to start?”

“Not quite yet, so why don’t you and the others hold on for a bit,” Vallant answered, and then he turned back to
our
group to speak in a murmur. “Refusin’ to go along with that man out there may look childish, but that’s the only thing I’m in the mood for. So how are we goin’ to do it?”

“Let’s go over and tell the link groups and other Blendings what’s happening,” I suggested at once. “That should waste a few minutes, and then we can all stroll out together.”

“And we can’t let Dom Meerk speak for us,” Naran said suddenly as the others were agreeing with my suggestion. “If we do, things won’t go well at all.”

“Which means another tradition bein’ thrown out,” Vallant said with a shrug. “It’s a terrible shame, but I think I can live with it. Let’s go talk to the link groups and other Blendin’s.”

Our people were murmuring among themselves, and when we walked over to where they were standing each link group or Blending sent someone to meet us. We explained about Meerk’s behavior to this smaller group, and a lot of them looked scandalized on our behalf.

“So we’d like all of you to range yourselves around the city leaders, and we’ll all go out together,” Jovvi finished up. “I’m fairly certain that we’re supposed to walk out alone, but we haven’t quite earned that great honor yet. If and when we ever accomplish something entirely alone, then we can think about it.”

“As far as everyone
I
know is concerned, you’ve earned anything you care to claim,” a woman from one of the link groups said with a smile. “I wasn’t with our army long, but even half the time would have been much
too
long. You’re the ones who got me out of that, made me feel like a human being again, and gave me something to do that more than needed doing. I now have my dignity back, and I’m all for anything that gives
you
the same gift.”

“Everyone in
my
Blending thinks you’re all crazy for putting up with even a small part of that nonsense they’ve been pestering you with,” Wilant Gorl stated without showing a smile. “Those people are doing it because they have no real idea what you’re capable of, but that’s beside the point. If you’re finally tired of going along with that garbage, we’re behind you.”

Everyone else in the group made noises of agreement with both stated opinions, which was an incredible relief. It made me remember that there actually
were
people in the world who saw things the way we did.

“Thank you all,” Jovvi said with her own smile as she looked around. “We value your good opinion and hope we’ll never do anything to lose it, but we really should get things moving now. If you’ll bring everyone else up to date on what’s happening, we may get home before nightfall.”

People chuckled at that comment, but the group did break up to go back and do as Jovvi had asked. The rest of us walked over to where the city leaders waited near the opened doors, and Jovvi smiled at
them
as well.

“Thank you for your patience, my friends,” she said, looking around at them. “Everyone will be ready to go in just a few more minutes, and then we’ll all walk out together. Our being here was a joint effort, after all, so that’s the way we’ll present it.”

“And there’s been another small change in plans,” I put in myself. “We’ve decided that having Dom Meerk speak for us would be much too pompous, so I’ll do the speaking for our group. We intended to explain that when Dom Meerk came back in, but since he hasn’t come back he’ll have to find it out when it happens.”

“As you wish, Excellences,” Mohr said with a bow as some of those around him looked disturbed. “This is, after all,
your
Seating ceremony, so it ought to be conducted the way you want it to go. The nobles certainly did it in
their
own way, and they did nothing to earn having their say.”

“When people have opinions about something, they tend to think that what they approve of is the only right way to do that thing.” Lorand now took over, his tone gentle and friendly rather than pompous and lecturing as he looked at the city people. “Everyone should have the right to have his or her opinion heard, but they must also understand that what’s fitting for them isn’t necessarily just as fitting for others.”

“In other words, we’ll be doin’ what
we
consider fittin’ for a while,” Vallant added in the same friendly way. “If, for one reason or another, our ideas don’t work out, we’re willin’ to change them for somethin’ that does work. We’re tryin’ to be reasonable, but that doesn’t mean we’re easy to push around.”

“There are those who don’t understand the difference between reasonable and biddable,” Rion put in, taking his turn, but not sounding quite as friendly. “We appreciate the fact that many people want to see us succeed by doing the proper things, but their definition of proper and ours don’t quite agree. As my brothers have said, for the time being we’ll be doing the defining.”

The city people were looking like a group of children who had been taken to task by their elders. Some of them shuffled in place, others wore disconcerted expressions, and still others sighed a bit. Not one of them, though, made the extremely unwise decision to argue, not even the man Relton Henris. Henris looked as if he
wanted
to argue, but there must have been an adequate store of common sense in him somewhere.

“And now the rest of our people seem to be ready, so we can get on with the ceremony,” Jovvi said after glancing back. “Please follow us.”

Jovvi walked to the doors and waited until the rest of us were in a line to both sides of her, and then we all walked out together. The group of city people followed right behind us, and ranged behind
them
were the link groups and other Blendings. Naran’s link groups usually tended to stay together and off to themselves for the most part. But today a number of them were walking with some of the other Blendings, and everyone involved looked pleased with the change.

Stepping out into the bright sunlight after being inside in the dimness was hard on the eyes, but once the adjustment was made I could look around at an arrangement I hadn’t expected but should have. The chairs on the platform faced our side of the amphitheater, and everyone seated in the tiers was crowded into places where they could see the front of those chairs. At first I wondered how they’d found enough room, and then the truth came to me. There was enough room because there weren’t any nobles who had to be accommodated.

As soon as we appeared the crowd began to cheer, the noise increasing as the rest of our people came out behind us. Tolten Meerk still stood on the platform all by himself, and the way he held himself suggested that the calm he showed was only on the surface. I would have put gold on the fact that he was raging inside, hating the way we hadn’t obeyed his unspoken command to come out sooner. I had no idea what his problem was, but my mood refused to let me worry about it.

By the time we reached the platform, the crowd noise was close to deafening. I felt tempted to look around for the guardsmen, wearing ordinary clothing, who’d been stationed in the stands, but that would have been a waste of time. I already knew they were in places near those hidden bows, handily available to catch the people who were assigned to use the weapons. With all the losses to his ranks that Ayl had lately sustained, he was hopefully close to running out of people to use. Hopefully…

The sand was annoying to walk through, but we’d done it before with a lot less confidence and company. During our approach Meerk had been … gathering himself, I suppose you could say, and when we finally reached him he gestured with his right arm.

“The members of the Blending are to stand to my right, with the city leaders behind them,” he directed without hesitation, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd noise. “I’m afraid there isn’t room on the platform for all those others.”

“Those
others
will be ranging themselves
around
the platform, so don’t worry about it,” I told the man as we all stepped up to his level. “It’s unfortunate that you chose not to come back inside after getting the sixth chair put in place, or you would have heard the latest. We’ve decided that the Seated Blending ought to speak to the people directly rather than through someone else, to keep people from thinking we consider ourselves too good to notice the unimportant peasants. That means we appreciate your efforts on our behalf, but we’ll take over now.”

“You most certainly won’t,” Meerk said with a small laugh, as if he thought I’d been joking. “There has to be
someone
to present you to the people, and I’m that someone. Presenting yourselves is completely out of the question.”

“And why would
that
be, Dom Meerk?” Naran asked suddenly in a soft voice, studying the man intently. “Possibly for the reason that the man presenting the new Seated Blending is tacitly accepted as the leader of all the Blending’s other supporters? The simple act of presenting us will give you an enormous amount of prestige and power, eliminating the need to struggle for position.”

“And even beyond that, the presentation will let you say whatever you care to, won’t it?” Jovvi added while Meerk paled and stared at Naran. “You intend to make yourself the one everyone else has to go through in order to reach
us
, for the supposed reason of keeping us from being bothered by time-wasting nonsense. You expect to surround us with your cronies, and cut us off from anyone who doesn’t go through
your
very proper channels.”

“In case you haven’t yet gotten the picture, that isn’t going to happen.” I put in my own oar, feeling more disgusted than I had in quite a while. “We aren’t going to let
anyone
make themselves the new nobility, not when we’ve only just gotten rid of the old ones. Your brother ran from guardsmen with us, fought beside us, and died for one of us, Dom Meerk. What have
you
done to earn even half the power you want?”

“What I did was spend most of my time bowing to those useless nobles when I was ten times better than the best of them!” Meerk retorted in a growl, his complexion now dark with anger. “I lived a lie waiting for them to be brought down, and now it’s
my
turn! I can make this empire run more smoothly than it ever has, with everyone in the proper place and doing what they’re supposed to. I
can
make it happen, and I
will
!”