Intrigues (50 page)

The three of us continued to ride together until our group found a place to camp, and then we took care of our horses and chose places to sleep. By then a fire had been built for our group meal, and while it was being prepared we casually gathered up the men and took them aside.

"I have the feelin' that we're not goin' to be talkin' about the weather," Vallant commented once we all strolled to a quiet place away from the others and sat down. "It may be my imagination, but you ladies look like you mean business of some kind."

"We do," Jovvi agreed with a smile that looked perfectly natural. "We have something to tell you men, and it would be better if you didn't react outwardly to what you hear. There's a good chance we're being watched."

"Who would be watching us?" Lorand asked, and I could almost see him struggling not to look around. "There doesn't seem to be anyone in the vicinity but our own people."

"I think if we counted heads we would discover differently," Jovvi denied with the same easy smile. "Tamma and Naran and I got to talking, and we discovered that we were approached by men who claimed to be members of the various link groups. These men said they 'admired' us, but after the first visit it was clear that they had something other than admiration in mind. We were wondering if you men were also approached."

Naran had seemed to be holding her breath, but when she heard the way Jovvi put things she slumped a bit with relief. Jovvi had been something less than completely accurate in her statement, but the men never noticed.

"I knew there was somethin' odd about that woman," Vallant said immediately, then forced himself to speak more quietly. "What I mean is, a woman also approached
me
. At first I couldn't help thinkin' how attractive she was, but then it came to me that she was bein'
deliberately
attractive, if you can understand that idea. Tamrissa and the rest of you ladies are attractive just standin' there, but that woman was really
tryin'
."

"I understand exactly what you mean," Lorand said to him, then glanced at the rest of us. "I think you know that means I was also approached, and at first I was very flattered by the attention of someone who thought so highly of me. After a short while, though, I began to wonder. All our people know the six of us have more than a Blending relationship in our group, so the woman's approaching me the way she did was at the very least improper. If she thought all that well of me, why did she believe I would turn away from the woman I'd paired with for a passing stranger?"

"We probably weren't supposed to be noticin' things like that," Vallant put in sourly with a small headshake. "That makes five of us, so let's see if the thing is unanimous. What about you, Rion?"

"What?" Rion said with a start, just as though he'd been abruptly awakened from a sound sleep. Then he seemed to regain control of himself. "Yes, I was approached as well and in the same way. By someone who meant none of what she said."

"That's it then," Vallant summed up, now looking toward Jovvi. "Someone's been goin' after every one of us. Do we have any idea who the someone is?"

"Tamma suggested that it could well be people from Gracely who want to neutralize what they see as a threat," Jovvi answered. "We
are
heading for their country, after all, right after having deposed the leaders of our own country. They may have decided that we've got conquest in mind for Gracely as well."

"And Jovvi thinks they aren't really members of our various link groups, and could easily disappear if they think they've been found out," I said, leaning casually forward. "If we want to question any of them to learn the truth, we ought to go looking for them right now."

"You mean as a Blending, I take it," Lorand said, his nod thoughtful. "Yes, that's probably the best way. If we try to find them as individuals, we might end up having to destroy them in order to save our own lives."

"Exactly, so let's get started," Jovvi said, looking around at us. "Is everyone ready?"

No one said they weren't, so an instant later I was once again the entity. I knew exactly what my flesh forms intended, of course, and quickly went about the search. A number of minutes passed as I examined everyone in our camp and then did the search again, but the conclusion was inescapable. Those flesh forms I sought were no longer in range of my senses.

"How could they have known?" Jovvi demanded as soon as she dissolved the Blending. "We didn't figure out what was going on until about an hour ago, but they're already out of our reach. That means they parted company with our group a lot earlier than that hour. If they hadn't, they would still be in reach of our entity's sensing."

"Maybe they
didn't
know," Vallant suggested after a moment when no one else came up with anything but grumbling. "We aren't all that far from Gracely now, and they may have ridden on ahead to warn their people that they've done just about all they could to separate us. Continuin' with the game when we might start usin' our link groups at any time would make them stand out as strangers."

"And they could be hoping that their ploy might still work," Lorand added with a nod. "Not seeing them doesn't necessarily mean not thinking about them, and it would be the thinking that caused trouble among us."

"Right now the only thing
I'm
thinking about is cold-blooded murder," I muttered, feeling more than a little annoyed. "Not only do they have the nerve to sneak into our traveling group, but they actually come right up to
us
. I think we need to do something to make sure nothing like this ever happens again."

"What we should have done was arrangin' the same thing we did in the palace," Vallant put in, looking just as annoyed. "Makin' sure that everyone knew everyone else and that they ought to be alert for the appearance of strangers. If we keep this to ourselves, we're only askin' for this mess or one like it to happen again."

"Yes, I think we'd better start by telling the other Blending," Jovvi agreed with a sigh. "Then we can all tell our link groups, and have them get started with learning the faces of people they don't yet know. We'll be across the border into Gracely soon, and it's not far to Liandia from there."

"Then let's get to it," Lorand agreed, and we all began to get to our feet. It took until we were standing before we noticed that Rion hadn't gotten up with us. Naran stood beside him, just short of hovering, staring down at the way Rion sat with his arms wrapped around his raised up legs.

"What's wrong, Rion?" Jovvi asked, a sudden worry in her tone. "I should have paid closer attention… Why are you feeling so disturbed?"

"Since I'm the biggest fool among us, it's fitting that I be most disturbed," Rion answered in a distant, pain-filled voice. "Please don't concern yourself with me, I'll be along in a moment. To help tell people what a fool I've been."

"But you weren't the only one who was fooled, so why are you so upset?" Jovvi pursued, the worry in her eyes increasing. "Did you somehow miss the fact that all of us were approached?"

"Yes, we were all approached, but I was the only one dense enough to believe there was honest interest behind the contact." Rion looked at no one as he spoke, most especially not at a suffering Naran. "I was so taken by the thought that an attractive woman not of our Blending could find interest in me, that I forgot about the woman who gave me all the love in her heart from the first moment we met. I'm a complete moron and fool, and don't deserve to have the love of that most wonderful of women. Not knowing when I'll next start to look around will kill that love if it isn't dead already."

"We all make mistakes, Rion," Lorand said, empathetic pain in his own voice. "I also came close to making a fool of myself, so you mustn't think you're alone in this."

"But you only came close, Lorand," Rion countered, still without looking up. "I went the entire way, and wasn't bright enough to know I was being lied to. If my love was a true match to Naran's I would never have been tempted, but I was more than tempted. I don't deserve Naran and her love, even if I still have it. There's no knowing when I'll hurt her again, and I refuse to give her any more pain."

"I really don't understand you, Rion," I blurted, finding it impossible to hold the words back when Naran seemed to crumple into herself. "You know you have less experience with people than the rest of us, but you still insist on thinking you shouldn't have felt tempted. When even Vallant was tempted, you have no real cause to complain about what
you
did."

"What do you mean, if even I was tempted?" Vallant put in before Rion could say anything, faint annoyance in his tone. "I'm just as human as the next man, so why
wouldn't
I be tempted? Even though I wasn't, not really."

"Oh, right, you weren't tempted," I scoffed, turning to face him. "I happened to see that non-temptation, and for someone who's had more experience with women than any other man here,
you
were the one acting like a fool. Considering all the women you've known, you should have seen right away that a baited hook was being dangled in front of you."

"I did notice the hook, that's why I
wasn't
tempted," Vallant insisted, the annoyance increasing in his pretty blue eyes. "But what about when
you
were approached? Were you by any chance feelin' too flattered by the attention to understand what was goin' on? Are you accusin'
me
because
you're
the one feelin' guilty?"

"I don't have anything to feel guilty
about
," I returned, my own annoyance growing higher. "I'm not a male who has to paw the ground like a mindless stallion at sight of a pretty woman just to prove how much of a man he is. I didn't - "

"No, that's right, you
aren't
male," Vallant interrupted in a growl. "You're a female who walks around swingin' her hips in front of every man she passes, just to show him what he's missin'. If you think I haven't seen you doin' that, you're - "

"I do no such thing!" I shouted, outrage flaring so high that I felt the heat in my face. "You're lying just to cover the fact that you - "

"Tamma, Vallant, please!" Jovvi interrupted, stepping between us as Lorand took Vallant's arm and Naran took mine. "If we let ourselves fall to bickering like this, the plotting of those people will be a success. Is that what we really want, to let them win?"

"No," I grudged, feeling as though I'd come down with a case of the stupids again. "Since arguing was what they were after, I won't let them have the satisfaction. But I still know what I know."

Vallant's head came up when he heard what was nothing but the simple truth, but he didn't get the chance to comment. Naran suddenly made a sound as if she were in pain, and we all quickly turned to see what the problem was.

"He's gone," she whispered, staring at the place where Rion had been sitting. "He walked away without even trying to speak to me. I've lost him after all, not
to
that woman but because of her. What am I going to do?"

Just a minute ago I'd been filled with any number of words, but right now I couldn't think of a single one that would answer Naran's question. A glance at the others showed that they suffered from the same lack I did, and I don't know how long we stood there before Vallant and Lorand went off to find our missing sixth…

Chapter 28

Rion rose to his feet and hurried away from the others, the misery he thought complete actually increasing. Not only had he ruined things for himself, now Tamrissa and Vallant were also bickering. And because of him, only because of him.

It was a good thing Rion had learned at a very early age never to let anyone see him crying, he reflected. If not for that he would have added to the mess he'd caused by embarrassing himself completely. It was just about sundown, a time of day he was usually particularly fond of, but today the coming darkness was the only thing Rion sought. It was easier to hide in the darkness, and hiding forever was the only thing left to interest him.

It took only a moment to reach the sleeping bag he'd put down near Naran's, and another moment to collect the bag and the rest of his few belongings. Once he had it all he headed into the darkening woods, intent on losing himself as thoroughly as possible. It wasn't until he was completely out of sight of the camp that he stopped, feeling even worse than when he'd been a prisoner of that woman who had stolen him from his true parents. The situation then had not been of his own making; this one definitely was.

Rion simply dropped his possessions without caring about order, and then sat himself on his sleeping bag. How could he have been such a fool, to be so deeply flattered by the attentions of a strange woman? He'd ruined everything, destroyed the life that he'd fought so hard to make his own, shattered the woman who had given him
real
love -

"This isn't a very good spot you've chosen, Rion," Lorand's voice suddenly came out of the blue. "If you aren't going to pay attention to your surroundings, you need to stay in camp where others can do it for you."

Rion looked up to see that Lorand and Vallant had followed him away from camp, but then he lowered his head to his hands again.

"I appreciate the concern you're undoubtedly feeling, but I prefer to be alone right now," he muttered. "I ask the favor of being allowed the company of nothing but my own thoughts."

"If we leave, that's not the only company you'll be havin'," Vallant put in, the words sounding dry. "Lorand tells me there's a hunting cat not far from this area, and if you stay here in your current mood you'll end up bein' his supper."

"Which would make our loss almost as great as your own," Lorand added just as dryly. "There are times when a man
should
be left alone with his thoughts, but this isn't one of them. You need to hear from those with more experience in life than you've had yourself."

"Are you going to try to prove to me that I wasn't a fool?" Rion demanded, more distraught than angry as he raised his head to look at his brothers. "I wish that were possible, but I know it isn't. I
have
learned enough about life to judge foolishness, and after the judgment comes condemnation."