Prophecy (51 page)

That was the best idea anyone had come up with in a while, and their groupmates eagerly agreed. They might or might not end up living in that palace themselves, but if they did they ought to start getting used to being in it. They made their way back out to the common area, expecting to have to look around a bit to find that place to sit down for awhile, and were surprised to find the crowds that they did. Most of the people were their followers, having come into the palace to offer their congratulations, and the rest were the remnants of the palace serving staff. They’d put cakes and tea—and stronger drink—in a nearby meeting room, and happily urged the victors to partake of it.

Surrounded by friends and supporters and a number of delighted servants, Lorand and the others let themselves be swept into the meeting room. For his part, Lorand would have much preferred if he and his groupmates had been left alone to unwind and talk, but everyone had been under a lot of pressure and now they wanted to celebrate with the people who had freed them from the heavy hand of the nobility. He and the others would have to put up with the partying for a while, and save their conversation for later, when they got some privacy.

More than just a few items of food and drink had been prepared, and one section of the room—right near a dais with five chairs on it—seemed specifically reserved for the heroes. There were five plates near the selection of food, five cups near the separate tea service, and five glasses in case they wanted something other than tea to drink. Once again Lorand would have preferred to join everyone else rather than be set apart, but his groupmates were going along with the thing so he sighed and did the same.

“If we do decide to let ourselves be Seated, we’ll have to get used to this sort of thing,” Jovvi murmured to him as they walked over to “their” part of the room. “If you’regoing to rule an empire you
have
to allow a certain amount of pampering, or you find yourself being challenged every other day by people who have been made to think of you as ordinary.”

“I suppose you’reright,” Lorand grudged, then he smiled for how well she’d read him. “And since we might all decide not to go along with this after all, I might as well enjoy it while I can. That food looks delicious and the tea seems to be fresh, so maybe I’ll save more serious drinking for later.”

“That’s what I’ve already decided about myself,” Jovvi said with a smile of agreement. “And I can’t say I’m not a bit hungry, so let’s go choose among the goodies.”

Lorand had joined her in hanging back a bit to let the others at the food and drink first, but he’d made sure to check all the edibles for drugs and poison. The food and drink was entirely uncontaminated, but suddenly Naran pulled away from Rion.

“Wait, don’t anyone eat or drink anything!” she said warningly, especially to Tamrissa and Vallant, who had already filled up plates and cups. “There’s something very wrong here, but I’m not completely certain what it is. I’ve had this terrible flash of danger…”

“I don’t understand what might be causing that,” Lorand said as he stepped forward to frown at the food again. “I’ve checked everything on this table, and it’s all perfectly safe. It isn’t as if—”

Lorand’s words broke off as he suddenly noticed something he’d missed earlier, specifically the tableware. The plates and glasses and cups and silverware were top quality and were obviously very expensive and precious, but they were also the least bit … dingy. Even without a full staff to do the work, no one should have chosen those things for the new Five to use, not when there should have been other utensils to choose from. And for some reason that dinginess looked familiar…

Automatically reaching for more of the power, Lorand took a really
close
look at the nearest plate and fork. The substance on those things was so diffuse that it was very difficult to perceive it, but a minute examination revealed the substance to be the same poison which had killed one of the previous Five. Each tiny smear of it was harmless all by itself, but even a meal small enough to be called a snack would put enough of the substance into someone that it would quickly turn deadly.

“Naran, it looks like you’ve done it again,” Lorand said once he’d established what was going on. “The food and drink are as safe as I said, but the plates and cups and glasses and silverware aren’t at all as harmless. This must be the way the Earth magic user of the Five was poisoned. He undoubtedly examined the food carefully, but forgot about checking what he put the food on and ate it with.”

“Naran, remind me to buy you something really nice,” Tamrissa said as she and Vallant hastily rid themselves of the plates they held. “And I think it will be a good idea if we go looking for the person or persons who did this. Failing here will probably only encourage them to try again and again until they succeed.”

“I agree,” Jovvi said, a frown creasing her lovely brow. “We have to find them without delay, since someone innocent could be hurt next time. They can’t—”

Whatever else she would have said was drowned out by a scream of rage and insanity. Some of their followers had noticed what Lorand and the others were doing and had passed along the word, and everyone had abruptly stopped reaching for food and drink. It was probably that abrupt change which told the would-be murderess that her plan had failed, so she immediately substituted another. As she screamed she also ran forward with a very long, sharp knife, her targets clearly being Vallant and Tamrissa.

Lorand had already begun to reach toward the sleep centers in the woman’s brain, when she came to such a short stop that it was almost as though she’d run into a wall. The crash knocked the breath out of her as well as stopping her in her tracks, and then she dropped to the floor in deep unconsciousness.

“And when she wakes up she won’t be able to do something like this again,” Jovvi said, joining the others in walking over to look down at the woman. “She may never be completely sane again, but at least she’s no longer a danger to anyone.”

“She’s dressed like a servant, but that has to be Eltrina Razas,” Tamrissa said, Vallant’s arm tightly around her. “It looks like she bears something of a grudge over the various associations we had with her, but this is really an extreme reaction. There must have been goings-on that we know nothing about.”

“And she must have had the same grudge against the Five, since she’s obviously the one who finished off the last of them,” Lorand said in agreement. “Considering that you took Vallant right out of her hands when she shouldn’t have had him in her house, Tamrissa, she was most likely blamed by the Five for Vallant’s escape. They may have been confused there at the end, but it’s hardly likely they were just as confused all along. And now we’ll have to decide what to do with her.”

“That can be worried about later, once we’ve gotten some rest,” Jovvi said with a sigh. “But Lorand—what did you mean about the Five being confused at the end? I didn’t notice any confusion, just a sense of unbalance that was a very long time in building.”

“
I
know what he means,” Vallant said before Lorand was able to reply. “I also found confusion, and over what particular problem was supposed to be botherin’ me. The fool I faced thought it was closed-in places that I couldn’t abide, and tried to take advantage of me by usin’ it. What a shame it didn’t work.”

“That’s right,” Lorand agreed with a nod. “The man thought that
I
was worried about burnout, but that doesn’t happen to be my trouble. He … actually insisted… Why are so many of you looking at me like that?”

Lorand had blurted the question, forced to it by the way Tamrissa and Rion and Naran were staring at him—and at Vallant. Just as though he and Vallant had lost their senses, and the others were simply reluctant to say so…

“Oh, for goodness’ sake, I forgot to tell the rest of you what we did,” Jovvi said, sounding exasperated with herself. “Lorand and Vallant knew in advance, but now they have no memory of the true situation as it
was
… All right, I’ll start from the beginning. We knew the Five would probably try to reach them through their vulnerabilities, so I took control of each of them and then …
changed
the memory that caused each of them to have a problem. Without those terrible memories to fuel their fears, they started to get over them rather quickly.”

“What memories?” Tamrissa asked, glancing at Vallant. “No one ever told
me
about specific memories…”

“That was because it was very painful for Vallant to talk about,” Jovvi said hurriedly, putting a hand to Tamrissa’s arm. “He almost drowned while being trapped in an underwater cave as a child, and that’s why he couldn’t bear enclosed places. Now he remembers only a fun time in that cave, just as Lorand remembers only the punishment given to that girl in his school. She didn’t burn out trying to control a thunderstorm, she was caught and stopped before that happened.”

“Of course she was,” Lorand agreed, wondering why Jovvi was discussing the obvious. “We all have to be cautious at times to avoid burnout, but the rest of the time it’s nothing to worry about.”

“And closed in places provide
privacy
, somethin’ I could use right about now,” Vallant said, clearly showing that he, too, felt puzzled. “Right after a decent meal, that is, but I’d rather not try to get one here. Why don’t we find a decent eatin’ parlor, and give ourselves a reward for a job well and easily done.”

“
Too
easily done,” Jovvi murmured as the others all agreed with Vallant’s idea. “And I can’t get past the feeling that we’renot quite as through with trouble as we believe… What’s all that fuss about?”

The fuss Jovvi referred to was a stir by the door, and then the guardsmen standing there parted to let a small figure hurry in. Lorand was startled to see Pagin Holter, whose Blending had stayed behind to see if they might stop the advance of the Astindan army. Lorand was about to ask if they’d been successful, but one look at Holter’s face made the question unnecessary.

“What’s wrong?” Vallant asked as he stepped out toward Holter. “Didn’t things go the way your Blendin’ planned?”

“Not even a little, but that ain’t th’ problem now,” Holter said as he approached, looking around at them. “Th’ Astindan army don’t wanna hear nothin’ about stoppin’, an’ they tore apart th’ army sent after ’em by th’ nobles. But that ain’t the worst part. Worse’n thet is tellin’ ya m’Blendin’ don’t have a hope a matchin’ th’ leader a th’ Astindans—and they ain’t more’n a day ’r so b’hind us. If’n
you
folk don’t do somethin’, they’s gonna tear down Gan Garee’n scatter th’ ashes ’n bricks.”

Lorand exchanged glances with his groupmates, realizing that any appetite he’d had had just disappeared. A day or so behind Holter and his people … and if Lorand and the others couldn’t handle the invaders, they would die along with everyone else…

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

None of us would have had much of an appetite if we hadn’t expended strength, but we had so we did. We found an eating parlor and stopped for a meal, but don’t ask me what it was. Rather than paying attention to the food, I couldn’t help noticing that we and our people were the only ones in the parlor. Since it was definitely an upper class establishment there should have been
some
members of the nobility there, but word of what had happened must have already spread. The parlor’s serving people were certainly nervous enough, and that despite the fact that they
weren’t
nobles. They didn’t know precisely who we were, but our escort must have told them we were centrally involved in whatever was going on.

And what was going on could be seen in part on our way back to the house we were using. Ordinary people had come to flood the streets of the former noble neighborhoods, laughing and shouting over their newfound freedom. We’d set Captain Herstan—and any guardsmen in addition to his own that he could find—the task of keeping the celebrations from turning into looting and burning, but there was certain to be trouble anyway. At least until the word spread about the approaching Astindans. Then there would probably be panic and attempts at mass exodus, which might or might not be better than looting and burning.

But
we
couldn’t run, not even if most of us would have preferred to do it. Or even some of us. I looked out of the window of the coach which was now turning into the drive leading to the house, admitting to myself that I wouldn’t have minded leaving Gan Garee again. Having an actual bed to sleep in was marvelous, but it wasn’t worth what we would probably have to pay for the privilege. Pagin Holter and his people were almost as strong as
our
Blending, and they hadn’t had a chance against the leading Blending of the Astindans, Holter had said. How much more of a chance
we
would have remained to be seen…

Our entire group was silent as we climbed out of the coaches and walked toward the house, showing that the others were as deeply into their thoughts as I’d fallen into my own. A large number of people moved around the stables and the house, coming and going and generally doing what needed to be done. Most of them were lighthearted and happy, showing that they knew we’d won against the usurpers, but they obviously hadn’t yet gotten the rest of the word.

“I’m going to need a few minutes with Lorand and Vallant,” Jovvi said as we approached the house. “I suppressed their memories of how they used to react in order to protect them, but suppression never does anyone any good. After I restore the memories, we can all sit down and talk about what to do against the Astindans.”

“I’d like to suggest turning Eltrina Razas loose on them,” I couldn’t help saying. “She finished off the usurpers and almost did the same to us, so she probably has the best chance of winning against them.”

“I think I’ll second that,” Rion said with something of a laugh. “I’ve always known that the female was the deadlier half of our species, and the former Lady Eltrina simply proves the point.”

“The rest of us may end up agreeing with you,” Jovvi said wryly as we stopped in the middle of the house’s entrance area. “Right now I can’t think of anything to better the idea, but hopefully that will change. I’ll send someone to find the rest of you once we’redone.”