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  “We can try, but I doubt it will do much good,” Jovvi said with something of a shrug. “Vallant is being torn in a number of different directions for reasons he hasn’t discussed with any of us, and Alsin is feeling more and more like an outsider among us living on our charity. They’reboth strong men who hate the feeling of helplessness, but there isn’t anything they can do about their respective positions. That’s why they’ve turned their aggressions outward, in an effort to let them find release. Something might happen to redirect those aggressions, but we really can’t count on it.”

  “A pity,” Rion said with a sigh. “Vallant is our brother and Alsin is a decent man, and it disturbs me to see them at odds. Have you spoken to Tamrissa about the matter? Naran tells me that she’s at the center of one of their disagreements.”

  “Frankly, I don’t dare mention the thing to her,” Jovvi said, beyond sighing. “She’s more than just a little upset, and occasionally swings to the very edge of red, unreasoning rage. She’s grown so strong that it’s almost frightening, but it’s also instructive. I believe that her added strength comes from being in constant touch with the power, so I’ve started to do the same thing. If I begin to strengthen in the same way, you men might consider following our example.”

  “I believe I’ll begin to follow it right now,” Rion said with a frown of thought. “After your mention of the matter, I seem to recall that during our last Blending I noticed Tamrissa’s increased strength. Once we were no longer melded I forgot the observation, but there’s no doubt about my having made it. I feel we should all do the same, so I’ll pass on the suggestion to Lorand and Vallant.”

  “Just don’t let any of the townspeople hear you make it,” Jovvi cautioned. “When word spreads about what we are they’ll be frightened enough, and it would be foolish to add to that. I hope we’reready to leave before anything unpleasant happens.”

  Rion added disturbed agreement with that sentiment, and then he moved toward Lorand. They were almost back to the large stables where some of the horses and the rest of their people were, so Rion would only have a moment or two in which to speak to Lorand. And then Jovvi saw that he might have even less time than that. Pagin Holter and his Blendingmates had stepped outside, apparently having watched for their approach. They’d made up their minds about something, and Jovvi hoped it wasn’t something that would bring even more trouble…

  “How did it go?” Arinna asked, standing slightly to the front of her groupmates. She was their Fire magic member, and Pagin tended to push her forward to do their talking. “Are they ready to believe us?”

  “They’reready to talk about believin’ us,” Vallant replied with barely covered disgust. “Jovvi threw it all into their laps and got us out of there, otherwise we would probably still be standin’ there tellin’ them to wake up.”

  “That’s just about what we thought would happen,” Arinna said with a nod of sadness. “Too many people are worried about how they ‘look’ to others, and the idea of ‘looking foolish’ is something to avoid at all costs. If you believe a lie you end up looking foolish, so they’renot quick to believe anything a stranger has to say. But while you were gone we did some deciding, and we thought we’d tell you about it before we started to do it. We’ve decided to use our Blending to try contacting the Astindan army.”

  “For what reason?” Lorand asked, as bewildered as the rest of their group. “You might stop or destroy a lot of them before you run out of strength, but that will just make them even angrier. Or did you have something else in mind?”

  “Definitely something else,” Arinna said with a wry smile. “It isn’t the Astindan forces we want to destroy, even if that were possible. We were curious about why our army has been unable to stand up to them, so we sent our Blending entity to take a quick look. It’s a good thing we were on the very edge of our reach, because we discovered that their army consists of more Blending entities than the two our own group has.”

  Jovvi joined everyone else in exclaiming in surprise, but that certainly answered a question that had been bothering her.

  “Now I understand why it took so long for the Astindans to put together an effective resistance,” she said. “If our army was careful, it must have been quite a while before anyone at all knew that their country was being invaded. And then there was the problem of all those small, independent areas actually forcing themselves to work with people they used to consider neighbors and therefore enemies. Then they had to decide on something to do, find people strong enough to be effective in a Blending, and then form and train those Blendings. But now that they finally have it going, they’renot likely to want to stop.”

  “We understand that, but we feel we have to try to talk to them,” Arinna agreed. “There are a lot of innocent people between here and Gan Garee, and if something isn’t done about that army all those innocent people will die. Since we can’t live with that idea, we’ve decided to stay behind and see what we can do to keep it from happening. Five of the link groups have agreed to stay with us, but only if you really think you can get along without them. We don’t want to do anything to mess up your efforts when you reach Gan Garee.”

  “That’s only twenty-five people plus your five,” Vallant pointed out. “If it comes down to it, an extra thirty people won’t make that much of a difference in the fightin’. For my part, all I can do is wish the bunch of you as much luck as I hope we have.”

  Jovvi joined the others in adding their agreement with what Vallant had said, which took a good deal of the tension from Pagin’s group. They must have been afraid of what would be said to them, because they’d made up their minds to go on with their plans no matter what. And it really was a good idea, at least to try. If that army could be stopped…

  Jovvi sighed to herself as they all began to enter the stables together. Stopping that army was only part of the overall problem, other parts of which weren’t quite as far ahead as Gan Garee. Alsin Meerk’s simmering anger was far too clear, and the intensity of it said that Alsin was not about to wait very long before he decided to do something about it…

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Kambil Arstin found it hard to contain his excitement as he walked into a sitting room in his wing of the palace, the place he’d sent word for the others to meet him. He couldn’t wait to tell them what he’d discovered, but seeing only Homin and Selendi brought him to something of a halt.

  “Where’s Bron?” Kambil asked as the two stopped their tiresome kissing and touching to give him their attention. “He should have arrived when you did.”

  “I haven’t seen him since yesterday,” Selendi replied with a shrug of dismissal which was both physical and mental. “He was complaining about something or other again, so I paid no attention. He’s getting as bad as Delin used to be.”

  “Unfortunately, I have to agree,” Homin said with a shake of his head. “Nothing seems to suit him any longer, and he even suggested that his servants are probably making him miserable on purpose. It might be a good idea for you to talk to him, Kambil, but since Selendi mentioned Delin, I might as well do the same. Isn’t he also invited to the meeting?”

  “No, Delin’s presence isn’t called for,” Kambil replied in distraction. He hadn’t taken conscious note of Bron’s behavioral lapses, but that wasn’t to say he hadn’t noticed them. He’d simply been too busy with his research to bring Bron back into line, but now that the research was mostly finished… “But you’reright about the need for me to talk to Bron. Once he understands that acting like Delin will cause him to be confined to a single room in his wing like Delin, he ought to straighten out. We’ll wait another minute or two for him, and if he doesn’t show up he’ll miss out on hearing the great news.”

  Homin and Selendi made sounds of interest and curiosity, but neither went so far as to ask questions or demand details. Kambil had said that they would wait, and his orders still had first priority in their minds. So he was able to go to the tea service and fill a cup in peace, and just
as he turned away from the service Bron stalked into the room.

  “I’m late and it’s all their fault,” he growled, heading for the tea service himself. “I wasn’t given your message until a couple of minutes ago, which made it necessary for me to come close to running to get here even this soon. As soon as I get back, I’m going to have those useless peasants whipped to within an inch of their lives.”

  “So it was all their fault,” Kambil murmured from where he stood, studying Bron through half closed eyes. On the couch behind him, Selendi and Homin said nothing. That was because he’d taken over their minds and sent them into a … waking sleep of sorts. What was about to happen with Bron was nothing he wanted them to see.

  “That’s right, their fault,” Bron agreed aggressively, turning with his teacup to face Kambil. “You’renot about to call me a liar, are you?”

  Kambil was annoyed with himself for letting Bron get so far out of hand that the man was ready to challenge him for leadership of the group. That should never have happened, and wouldn’t have happened if not for those miserable peasants… Well, their turn would come, but right now it was Bron’s.

  “I’m doing more than calling you a liar,” Kambil said mildly while Bron froze where he stood, held tightly in Kambil’s mental grip. “I’m saying that you probably gave your servants strict orders not to disturb you while you enjoyed yourself with whichever female you’recurrently bedding, and they obeyed you. When you finally made yourself available you learned about my summons, and were at least cautious enough not to admit that you deliberately ignored it—by not making word from me the sole exception to being disturbed. Am I right?”

  “Of course you are,” Bron agreed without hesitation. “I’ve been more and more annoyed about having to run every time you whistle, so I decided to put an end to it. After all, we are supposed to be equals in this group.”

  “The key phrase there is ‘supposed to be,’” Kambil pointed out after sipping at his tea. “To the rest of the world we’recompletely equal, but in private, with just the four of us, the truth has to be faced. I have the final say among us, no, more, the only say. The rest of you are here to obey my orders and do your parts in the Blending; beyond that you will not under any circumstances make any other effort. Do you understand me?”

  “Yesss,” Bron said, dragging the word out as his mind was taken deeper and deeper by Kambil’s. Down there in the depths was where full control was to be found, and Bron had wandered up and away from it while Kambil was otherwise occupied. Now that he was back to awareness of the people who were supposed to be—no, who were—under his control, he would take the time to make sure that this didn’t happen again.

  Layers of mental bindings held Bron’s will tight once more by the time Kambil was through with him. At one point there had been a slight bit of difficulty, but that was only because Grammi wasn’t there to help. Kambil had had her help in the beginning, when he’d first put his three groupmates under his control, but right now there was no time to send for her. His grandmother was much more practiced at these things, but she’d assured him that one day he would be just as good. That made Kambil proud, not to mention delightedly relieved. She’d hardly be around to help him forever, after all…

  “All right, now we can have our meeting,” Kambil announced jovially once he’d roused everyone. “But before we begin, I think Bron owes us all an apology. What do you think, Bron?”

  “Yes, you’reright of course,” Bron replied ruefully as he took his cup of tea to a chair. “I’ve been behaving abominably, and I really do apologize. You’ve all been more than patient with me, and I’ll find some way to show my thanks.”

  “We’ll look forward to that,” Kambil said as he took his own chair, no longer able to hold back the good news. “But right now I have something to tell all of you. Just by chance I went browsing in my wing’s library, and you’ll never guess what I found. It’s a journal, kept by one of my predecessors in Spirit magic from almost two hundred years ago.”

  “That sounds interesting,” Homin said while the others made polite noises, he being the only one of the three who actually felt a bit of honest enthusiasm. “If the handwriting is still legible, it must make fascinating reading.”

  “There’s a bit more to it than that,” Kambil responded, unsurprised that he had to explain things to them. “It details the workings of the man’s Blending, and even provides specifics about the exercises they used. There are pages and pages of things no one has known about for more than a century, including an explanation of how those five peasants overcame two hundred guardsmen. The best news is that we can do the same, not to mention add small extras to the various traps we have set up all around and in the city. If they’refoolish enough to come here, they probably won’t survive long enough to even consider challenging us.”

  “That’s marvelous news,” Selendi said with a relieved laugh while the men sat forward with immediate, sharp attention. “Especially the part about our not being challenged by those awful people. And everything we decided to do is being taken care of?”

  “Yes, and that’s another reason for this meeting,” Kambil agreed. “We all need to know what’s happening, so that we can all keep a sharp eye on those who are supposed to be in charge of our safety. If they fail, it won’t be their necks the knife comes down on.”

  “Oh, yes it will,” Bron disagreed, but dryly and with due respect. “Maybe not a knife, but it will definitely be their necks just before ours if they fail. So what sort of things will we be watching?”

  “Part of it is that new system of admission we’ve put in,” Kambil said, listing things in his own mind as he sipped at his tea. “No one gets into the palace without an appointment in advance or a pass signed by one of us, and even so their names are written down in the visitors’ register. If someone makes even the smallest effort to bluff their way in, they’reto be arrested at once and brought straight to us.”

  “That ought to do nicely in keeping one or more of those five from sneaking in here,” Homin said with relieved satisfaction. “It should also impress our ‘Advisors’ and other noble visitors, showing them who’s in charge. What’s been happening with that business of the hostages Lord Rimen Howser has supposedly been putting together? He has the Earth magic peasant to use against the Earth magic user among that five, but what about any others?”

  “Apparently, and to my surprise, I might add, he’s doing rather well,” Kambil said with amusement. “I’d overlooked the point that Lady Hallina is Mardimil’s mother even while I was fully aware of it, but Lord Rimen seems to overlook nothing. Lady Hallina is the second name on his list, so he was delighted to hear that she’s been forbidden to leave the city. The third name is that of a merchant, Storn Torgar, and his wife, who are the parents of our little Fire magic user, Tamrissa Domon. The fourth is a pretty little thing named Mirra Agran, who has been announcing far and wide that she and the Water magic user, Vallant Ro, are due to be married. The only one Rimen doesn’t yet have a hostage against is the Spirit magic user, and he considers that only a matter of time. He has guardsmen watching all of them, and if any of them try to leave the city they’ll be arrested and brought here.”

  “That’s really good work,” Bron said with a thoughtful nod. “I never really liked Rimen, but I can’t deny that he’s been doing a good job for us. We may never need those hostages, but it’s good to know that they’rethere if we do. What about the latest reports from the west? Is there any good news in among the bad?”

  “No, and our so-called military personnel are walking around looking gray and old,” Kambil said with a headshake, now more than slightly disturbed. “Someone finally sent them a message with the true situation spelled out in it, and I had to give them my solemn word that all of them would die painfully if anyone else found out. It seems that there’s very little left of our army in the west, as the Astindans have put together a force that ours can’t even match, not to mention stop. The invincible Astindans are now m
arching toward the border, and are expected to begin certain devastations to match the ones committed in their country by our army.”

  “And, of course, it’s out of the question to send any warnings to the peasants in the area,” Selendi said, looking thoughtful. “We’ve been telling everyone that the trouble in the west is just something instigated by those escaped criminals in an effort to lure us to a place where we can be waylaid and murdered. So what will we do when word of the true situation starts to come in, carried by refugees fleeing the depredations? We won’t be able to laugh and say they’reimagining it all.”

  “We’ll be shocked, of course, and greatly troubled,” Homin replied with a faint smile for Kambil. “I also think we ought to have a number of people executed, for giving us misleading information. After that we’ll have to send people to study the situation and bring back accurate intelligence, without which we can’t possibly make any plans. By that time, hopefully, we’ll be able to pull the other army from Gracely to meet the Astindans, or maybe by then the Astindans will have gotten all the revenge they want. In either event, any victories will be strictly ours, and any defeats will be the result of incompetent underlings or betrayal by conscienceless enemies.”

  “Exactly,” Kambil agreed, delighted that Homin seemed to have a talent for subterfuge and circuitous excuses. “We’ll be busy directing things from here in Gan Garee, so we won’t be able to leave the city to take a personal hand in the problem. And we shouldn’t even have stray Highs or strong Middles straggling in to worry about. The Astindans aren’t accepting surrender from anyone, most especially not former members of our army. All in all, the only ones who should lose out in this matter are the peasants who are destroyed, and those of our peers who own the land the Astindans will devastate. Does anyone of any consequence own land out there in the west?”