Intrigues (42 page)

"Which makes
me,
at least, feel a good deal better," Jovvi said with a smile showing relief. "If given my choice, I'd rather have a confused enemy than a clear-headed one. Shall we gather up this bunch and send them back to Gan Garee along with any nobles we find?"

"Let's do that and something else as well," Lorand suggested, the idea fairly obvious. "I've been waiting for someone to realize that these men know the area and who can be found where, so we ought to use them first as guides. Or isn't that a good idea for a reason I'm not seeing?"

"Why, Lorand, that's a marvelous idea," Jovvi said at once, but her expression seemed odd. "But I wouldn't have expected something like that to come from
you
. I do know how you feel about the way we're going after the nobles, so I'm curious as to why you made the suggestion."

"I think that part about using hostages - and then killing them - has made me change my mind," Lorand said after a short hesitation, aware that the others were also listening closely. "I still don't like the idea of hunting people down, but hearing what that outlaw said reminded me of other things the nobility has done that those useless people never thought twice about or regretted. If we give them a chance to regain their standing in the empire, thousands of people will suffer through no fault of their own."

"It's about time you understood that, my friend," Tamrissa said, her words on the dry side. "Men always have trouble seeing the obvious for some reason, which makes it a good thing we women are around. And you all like to pretend that you're so hard and stern, but when it comes to doing the necessary it's usually women who have to do it."

"Which is why we men consider ourselves lucky to have you women around," Lorand said at once while everyone else chuckled. "I may be foolish in
some
things, but if you think I'll ever get into an argument with
you
then you're the foolish one. Let's get these people properly taken care of, and then we can have a look at that house."

This time there was laughter, but that didn't stop them from Blending briefly to put all twenty-five men under their control. The Lorand entity first woke up the ones that had been put to sleep, and then the entire group was neutralized as a danger before being made into reluctant allies. The Lorand entity allowed them their reluctance, but nothing in the way of refusal.

When the entity was dissolved, the former outlaws were sent to get their horses. While Lorand and the others waited, Jovvi turned to Tamrissa.

"This is the first time we've Blended since you had that odd experience," Jovvi said, mentioning something Lorand had also been thinking about. "Did it by any chance happen again?"

"It certainly did," Tamrissa confirmed, something of a frown on her face. "But this time it felt even more natural, as though it should have been happening all along. What about the rest of you?"

"Once again the entity seemed to have
my
point of view, and I felt nothing unusual," Jovvi said, looking around to see if the others had experienced the same. When she'd gotten nods from everyone including Lorand, she heaved a moderate sigh. "So nothing has changed for anyone but Tamma. All right, we'll obviously have to wait until something does change. If and when it does, please let the rest of us know immediately."

Lorand again joined the others in agreeing to the request, and then the outlaws were back with them. Vallant had the outlaws fall in behind their Blending members, and then the enlarged procession moved off toward the mansion on the knoll. It took only a short while to get there, and the outlaws were left mounted while their six walked up to the door and knocked.

"We're here to see the man named Ruhl," Vallant told the servant who opened the door. "Please take us to him immediately."

"
High Lord
Embisson Ruhl is not at home," the servant corrected with a frown of disapproval and a very superior attitude. "Please return at another time after making an appointment."

"We already have an appointment," Tamrissa told the man dryly while Vallant kept the door from being closed in their faces. "It was made the day we were Seated as the empire's newest ruling Blending. And for your information, the man Ruhl is no longer any kind of lord, high or low. We're coming in now, so you'd better get used to the idea."

The servant seemed to be pushed back from the door more or less gently, which meant that Rion was also helping. They all walked into the very large entrance area, and Lorand couldn't help feeling impressed. The palace was much larger than that house, of course, but a palace was supposed to be large. The house's entrance area alone was almost the size of the entire house Lorand had grown up in, which made him want to see the rest of the place.

"This is an illegal invasion of private property," the servant blustered from their right, his expression showing his indignation. "How dare you force your way in here, pretending to be what you're not - "

"You sound awfully certain that we're lying," Jovvi interrupted to observe, her tone gentle. "Can you tell me why that's so?"

"High Lord Embisson told the entire staff the truth before he left," the man replied stiffly with a look of faint surprise in his eyes. "We were warned not to believe anything you told us if you came here, which might happen even though the house is being guarded. You shouldn't really be here at all…"

"Yes, that's right, we've already seen to those … guards," Tamrissa put in as the servant hesitated. "But they weren't guards they were outlaws, ready to kill the people they'd taken as hostages. That doesn't bother you even a little?"

"That can't be true!" the man blurted, but this time he seemed more upset than doubting. "The High Lord explained that the people used as supposed hostages would be perfectly all right, and would be released as soon as the intruders were captured. That's why I agreed to let my daughter be one of them…"

"She would have died with the others if we hadn't stopped those marvelous 'guards' of yours," Tamrissa told the man with a bluntness that Lorand never would have used under the circumstances. "The outlaws are just outside right now, and if you don't believe
us
you can feel free to ask
them
. But right now we need to see every person in this household."

The servant had become too disturbed to be of much help, so they used their Blending instead. And this time Lorand noticed something odd. The entity was much more him than a simple combination with his point of view. Lorand knew he could guide the entity rather than just going along while
it
controlled all actions, and that felt rather good. There were things that had to be done, and he was more than prepared to do them.

One by one he put all the servants under control, and once it was done he noticed that the cooks immediately began to throw away the food they'd been preparing. It wasn't difficult for him to tell that the food had been tampered with, obviously a prearranged backup plan in case the trap with the outlaws didn't work…

"And that's that," Jovvi said once she'd dissolved the Blending again. "I'm glad that the cooks are starting to make something for lunch that will be safe to eat. I'm beginning to get hungry, and it won't be long before all the others and their own appetites get here. Is there anything else we have to do?"

"I think what you need to do is hear the latest," Lorand said, interrupting everyone else's headshake or denial. "Tamrissa's newest condition seems to be spreading, because now
I
have it. And she was right about it feeling completely natural. It seems so unremarkable, in fact, that I came close to forgetting about mentioning it. Only the way Jovvi made a deliberate point about discussing the matter has made me remember."

"Two of you now," Jovvi exclaimed, more excited than disturbed. "But what about you, Tamma? Did you go back to feeling that you were just a point of view of the entity?"

"No, not at all," Tamrissa replied, her brows high. "It continued to feel as though I were the only one there in complete charge. But what about the other thing, Lorand, about reaching your link groups without warning them first? Or wasn't there a time when you had to?"

"Oops," Lorand said, knowing exactly how shamefaced he must look. "I meant to tell everyone about that, but we were still dealing with the outlaws and then I forgot. Why are these new things so easy to forget?"

"Possibly because of what both of you have said," Rion offered when no one else seemed to have a ready answer. "If something is natural and normal, you don't remark on it in ordinary conversation. It would be like mentioning that we walked in here, are now standing here, or that we're all breathing in and out."

"That could very well be," Jovvi agreed with a thoughtful nod while the rest of them raised brows in consideration. "All right, then we'll have to work harder at remembering, and possibly even make a habit of mentioning that we're breathing in and out. But Vallant, what about the noble who lived here? He's obviously gone, and probably on his way to Gan Garee."

"There's nothin' we can do about that right now," Vallant answered with a headshake. "I'd love to take our people and go after him and whatever friends have gone with him, but we can't afford the time. We still have to round up the nobles in this area, and then we have to head for Gracely. We can send word to Gan Garee by pigeon, but we ourselves have to continue seein' to our own business."

"Which is unfortunate," Tamrissa said, annoyance clear in her tone. "After what we've learned about this leech Ruhl, it would have given me a good deal of pleasure to catch up to him. He might have been stupid enough to try resisting us."

"Maybe he won't do anything to bring attention to himself in Gan Garee before we get back there," Lorand offered, suddenly aware of the fact that he knew
exactly
how Tamrissa felt - and shared that feeling. "After all, we just have to take a quick look at Gracely to make sure that nothing horrible has been done there. After that we'll be free to return home."

Rion and Tamrissa murmured agreement with the hope, but Lorand noticed that Jovvi, Vallant, and Naran were eyeing him in a strange way. Lorand didn't know why that was, but it didn't really matter. What he wanted most right now was a good meal and a hot bath, and after that a place to sleep. They'd eventually catch up to that so-called noble, and when they did…

High Lord Embisson Ruhl stood in the middle of the inn's private dining room and stretched wide. Traveling by coach all day was extremely tiring, and they still had quite a few days' travel left ahead of them. The others were also standing and walking about rather than sitting, and Embisson considered them without looking directly at any of them.

Edmin was there, of course, and he and Sembrin Noll were chatting about inconsequentials. Noll's wife Bensia stood sipping from the cup of tea she'd insisted on having brought immediately, something of a smile on her face as her thoughts clearly ranged elsewhere. She was an attractive and graceful lady of obvious station, and never intruded when men talked business.

But there seemed to be something about her that Edmin wasn't comfortable with. Embisson knew his son a good deal more than passing well, and although Edmin was never anything but gallant and gentlemanly toward the woman, Embisson was certain Edmin didn't like or trust her. In an effort to keep peace Embisson had tried to subtly reassure Edmin that Lady Bensia was nothing but a woman, but the words hadn't seemed to register with Edmin. It was probably just that Edmin had no woman of his own, but that matter could be seen to once they reached the city.

The last of their inner group had also been standing for a time, but now he sat in a chair with a brooding air about him. Lord Rimen Howser, who had had his hopes dashed of ever becoming a High Lord as long as the peasants stayed in power, was more than simply an unhappy man. Howser's dislike of peasants had grown well beyond obsession, and Embisson had the feeling that nothing but Howser's current lack of physical well-being kept him from going out and slaughtering those he hated so deeply.

But Howser was on the mend, and by the time they reached the city he would be closer to physical fitness than he'd been since the beating. The terrible beating given him by those he referred to as animals. The man must have a large number of deep insecurities for him to always refer to peasants in that way, not to mention having the mother he did. The woman was considered a snob even by her former peers, and she must have demanded that Howser live up to his heritage or some such nonsense…

All of which meant that Howser had to be carefully watched once they reached the city. They would be able to make good use of him in their plans, but only if they managed to keep the madman from going off on his own. He could well expose all of them if he allowed his madness free rein at the wrong time, and that disaster Embisson would not allow to occur…

A knock came at the door, and Embisson turned with the others to see one of his servants look in. It would have been nice if their food was being brought sooner than expected, but that wasn't the case.

"My lord, that man you directed me to watch for has just ridden in," the servant announced. "Would you like me to guide him here once his horse is taken care of?"

"Yes, do, Rachers," Embisson replied, and the man nodded, quickly stepped back, and closed the door. Rachers was only one of the servants Embisson had brought back with him, and the entire group would have to be confined to the house when they reached the city. The madness that affected the other servants in the city couldn't be caught by those he brought back with him if all contact was disallowed.

"I certainly hope that my man is bringing good news," Noll remarked from where he still stood beside Edmin. "We should be well past the last of those peasants sent against the army, but I'd still like to hear that the army has taken care of them. Not to mention finding out about our other arrangements if by some chance the army
wasn't
successful."

"There's very little chance that Lord Rengan
won't
be successful," Embisson remarked, too weary to work up much enthusiasm over so simple a matter. "He has High talents at his disposal, after all, and the peasants won't be more than Middles or Lows. Sending a stronger force against Rengan's host would be too dangerous for the Seated peasants. A stronger force could well decide to use the army themselves, taking it back to the city to wrest the throne away from those now Seated on it. No, Rengan won't have any - "