Competitions Page 7

  “Good afternoon, gentlemen,” he said negligently as he joined them, looking around with amusement. “I was delayed getting started today, but it looks like I’m still the first one here.”

  “Yes indeed, Lord Delin, but after what I said to Lord Homin last week, about not having been on time yet, you shouldn’t be the first,” Rigos answered sourly. “I was just mentioning to Lord Kambil that something will have to be done about the situation, before it comes to the attention of my superiors.”

  “What do you expect to be able to do about Homin short of ejecting him from the group?” Delin asked with continuing amusement. “And if you do that, everyone else including myself will vie to take over his tardiness in order to be the next one ejected. Do you have any idea who I could have been with right now if I hadn’t had to come here?”

  “Some infinitely enchanting lady, I’m sure,” Rigos returned dryly, obviously—“feeling”—nothing of what Kambil did. Delin was pretending just as hard as Kambil had, and apparently with an equal amount of success. “No, Lord Delin, I won’t be ejecting Lord Homin from the group, but I will have to do something.”

  Kambil and Delin exchanged a quick glance as Rigos turned away from them, both of them very much aware that Rigos was deliberately not going into details. It was almost certain that he had something definite in mind, but he didn’t seem ready to share the something yet.

  Delin helped himself to a cup of tea while Rigos and Kambil chose chairs, and then the newcomer joined them. They sat chatting about nothing of consequence for a number of minutes, and then Selendi Vas was announced.

  “Lady Selendi, how gracious of you to grant us your presence,” Rigos drawled as she bustled in. “And no more than twenty minutes late.”

  “I almost didn’t come at all,” Selendi replied as she looked around, then made directly for the tea service. “The scarf I wanted to wear with this dress was nowhere to be found, so I had to force myself to leave the house without it. If anyone of consequence sees me looking like this, I’ll simply die right on the spot.”

  All three men exchanged wry glances at that, but none of them bothered to tell Selendi that she’d just said they were all completely inconsequential. She would know they were wrong and would argue the point, and even seeing her pretty face flushed with anger while she tossed her light brown hair in indignation wasn’t worth getting her started. In point of fact Kambil thought she looked lovely in that gray silk dress embroidered with blue, but he didn’t say that either. Selendi took a compliment as an invitation, and Kambil was in no mood to be swallowed alive.

  Once the girl had a cup of tea she chose her own chair among them, and the chatting went on. This time, however, only a few minutes went by before Bron Kallan was announced.

  “Sorry to be late, people, but there is such a thing as common courtesy,” he drawled as he strolled into the room, one hand smoothing his dark red hair. “I tried to leave the sweet little thing earlier, but she simply wouldn’t hear of it. What can one do when one is … so much better than average?”

  “One can learn a bit of responsibility,” Rigos answered him dryly, not in the least amused. “I’ve decided to fine tardiness, Lord Bron, but not simply in gold. Your parents will be called before an Advisory board in two days time, and not only will they be required to pay over twenty gold dins, they’ll also be made to apologize to the Advisors for not having raised you with a greater sense of responsibility. And it will be made perfectly clear that their embarrassment is entirely your doing.”

  “Why am I being singled out?” Bron demanded, his broad, handsome face flushing with anger where he’d stopped on his way to the tea. “I’m not the only one who’s been late, not even today. I can see Homin isn’t here yet, so what about him?”

  “He’ll be subject to the same fine and punishment, only in a larger amount,” Rigos answered, unimpressed with Bron’s aggressive stance. “Originally I intended the procedure only for him, but your cavalier attitude has convinced me to apply it to everyone who shows up late. That means the same goes for you, Lady Selendi, except that your parents will need to produce only ten gold dins.”

  “But you can’t do that,” Selendi denied with a headshake, her frown showing a touch of confusion. “Father will be furious, and Mother will try to give me one of those idiotic lectures. No, I’d hate that, so you simply can’t do it.”

  “I can and I will,” Rigos said comfortably, obviously enjoying himself immensely. “I’ve already gotten the approval of my superiors, and my associate is now waiting outside in his own carriage, noting down four arrival times. The information will be given to the Advisors even before our meeting is over, and then things will continue as I’ve described. I wonder if you’ll be getting the same spanking and lecture Lady Selendi will, Lord Bron. I mean, a man who’s so obviously more than average…”

  Rigos let the words trail off in a drawl, either not feeling or ignoring the waves of hatred coming from the husky Bron. Kambil could feel the uncertainty also coming from Bron, as though the red-haired man was uncertain of what his parents’ reaction would be. Considering the way they’d indulged him all his life there shouldn’t have been a problem, but public humiliation has a way of reaching even the most foolishly indulgent of parents.

  And Rigos was obviously not as unimpressed by their talents as he pretended to be. The small man had made it clear that someone else was around who would report to the Advisors, so doing away with him would be pointless. It was a clever move, but overlooked one possibility: when irresponsible people get angry, they sometimes act before considering consequences. If Bron lost control and burned Rigos to ash where he sat, it would help Rigos not at all that Bron would certainly be prosecuted for murder.

  But Bron, after a glance at Delin, simply continued on to the tea service without another word. Kambil had caught the very slight headshake Delin had given Bron, but Rigos wasn’t seated in a position to have seen it. Selendi still glared daggers at the agent while the silence dragged on, but after another moment Delin broke it.

  “Forgive me, Rigos, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to revamp your policy,” he said in his usual smooth and friendly way, full self assurance radiating from him. “I was nearly late myself today, and through no fault of my own. If my parents were disturbed and distressed simply because of a random occurrence, I’d be very upset. For that reason you can either rescind your … punishment, or I’ll be forced to withdraw from this group.”

  “Forgive me, Lord Delin, but I’m afraid you can’t withdraw,” Rigos countered, vicious delight fairly oozing out of him. “You were told right from the beginning that your participation was required rather than requested, and that hasn’t changed.”

  “On the contrary, you yourself have changed the circumstance,” Delin disagreed, still completely unruffled. “The Advisors may require our services, but they cannot require us to put up with humiliation. I’m prepared to argue the point in front of a full assembly of the major Houses, who can override an Advisory decision by unanimous vote. When it’s pointed out to them that allowing the Advisors to humiliate us today will surely see the same thing happening to them tomorrow, I expect we’ll see the first unanimous House vote in quite some years.”

  “Do you really expect to assemble the major Houses on your say-so?” Rigos came back, Kambil noticing that the agent sounded a good deal more assured than he felt. “In their opinion you’re just a boy, and not even heir to your father’s estate and position. You’d be wasting your time, and I know it even if you don’t.”

  “Of course I would be wasting my time, but my father would not be in the same position,” Delin countered, faint amusement now coloring his words. “Once I explain the situation, Father is certain to insist on doing just as I said, to save himself from the possibility of the loss of an incredible amount of face. Don’t you think your father would do exactly the same?”

  Rigos sat without answering, and Kambil knew that was because Delin was right. Rigos’s father woul
d do exactly the same thing, the political situation allowed for nothing else. At the level of power their fathers operated on, even a mild rebuff from the wrong person could mean a loss of standing. Something like this could well ruin a man of great power, and no one who’d accumulated that much power was willing to let it go quite that easily.

  “So I’m afraid you’re going to have to find another way to turn this group punctual, or you won’t have a group to worry about.” Delin’s words were very gentle, with none of the victory Kambil knew he felt coming through at all. “I suggest you see to the matter now, before it grows beyond the control of our efforts.”

  And ends up in the hands of our fathers, Kambil knew he meant. Rigos also knew it, and after a rather long hesitation he rose to his feet and went to a bell pull. When a servant appeared in response to the summons, Rigos was writing something at the desk which stood to one side of the room. The something was rather short, and after sealing it into an envelope he gave it to the servant along with low-voiced instructions, then returned to his chair.

  Nothing more was said on the subject of punishment, but Kambil knew the matter wasn’t yet over with. Rigos seethed inwardly as he sipped at his tea, and the smug expressions Bron and Selendi wore weren’t helping in the least. Rigos had been bested and now felt humiliated, and Kambil would have put gold on the possibility—no, the virtual certainty—that he would find a way to get even. What Delin had done had been necessary, but it certainly hadn’t been wise.

  Selendi kept eyeing Bron where he sat sprawled on a couch, but before she could decide to join him there Homin was announced. The man rushed in completely out of breath, obviously having moved too fast for someone with such an excess of weight.

  “I know I’m late, but I can explain!” he blurted as soon as he saw Rigos, the fear in his light eyes more than clear. “I somehow managed to misplace my identification bracelet, and had a terrible time finding it again. You told us we weren’t to go anywhere without it, so—”

  “So perhaps you shouldn’t have taken it off to begin with,” Rigos interrupted, his tone very cold. “At least this time your excuse is more imaginative, but it’s still just an excuse and will be treated as such. You need to be broken of your habit of tardiness, and I will certainly see to it. Find a seat now, so that we may begin.”

  Homin glanced longingly at the tea service, but he’d been ordered to sit so he found a chair and obeyed. He was also terrified over Rigos’s threat, and Kambil could feel him struggling to cope with the terror. Selendi was annoyed and bored, Bron was amused but bored, Homin was terrified, and Rigos was silently furious. The only one Kambil got nothing from was Delin, who no longer even felt that faint sense of victory from having bested Rigos.

  And he himself, what did he feel? Kambil tried to analyze his feelings, but his sense of frustration over being trapped with the others was too thick to work through. He was certain there would be trouble no matter what he did to try to stop it, and that realization simply added to the frustration.

  So there was nothing for him to do but go along with everyone, hoping a chance to change things would appear. Disaster waited ahead of them in one form or another, caused by any one of half a dozen things done by any of his four “associates.” The pit was there, waiting only for someone to propel all of them into it, which could happen at any time.

  Which meant he’d have to keep his eyes wide open, and head matters off before they went too far for anyone to pull them back. He just hadn’t as yet figured out how he would do that…

  CHAPTER TEN

  Delin Moord, Earth magic

  Delin sat completely relaxed while Homin babbled out his excuse for being late, letting nothing of agitation reach him. He’d spent some time in the beginning raging at blind chance for linking him with this pitiful group, but then he’d finally seen the truth. There were more advantages than disadvantages in being part of this Blending, and once he understood that he’d even been able to test them.

  To begin with, this group accepted his leadership without argument. Another man, brighter than Bron Kallan, would be harder to convince that he was leader rather than Delin, and would also be harder to manipulate. The others tended to avoid arguing with Bron because of the man’s uncertain temper, which let Delin run everything without being obvious about it.

  It was difficult for most people to believe, but the other members of this group were almost as powerful in their talents as he was. Erratic or objectionable personalities aside, there didn’t seem to be anyone else in their class who could match them. That meant there was no one anywhere who might be considered equals, since peasants certainly didn’t count.

  And Rigos Baril had no idea that that was so. It had been something of a blow to discover that Rigos—of all people—had been assigned to bully his group into behaving properly. The two of them had been enemies from boyhood, and if Rigos had gotten the least hint of what Delin was up to, the slimy little no-talent would have reported him immediately. At the moment Delin’s father’s political position was slightly better than Rigos’s, and exposing Delin’s plan would change that circumstance drastically.

  But Rigos saw only the weakness of the group, nothing of their strengths. He was a fool to be so blind, and doubly a fool for thinking Delin would let him get away with humiliating the others. They would have exploded out of control and ruined Delin’s plans, so Delin had had to pretend a personal objection to Rigos’s nonsense. By making it a political issue he’d forced Rigos to back down, which had also made it unnecessary to kill him.

  And Delin didn’t want to kill Rigos, at least not yet. He first wanted the other man publicly humiliated with a serious loss of status, and then he wanted Rigos to see his father ruined. Then and only then would Delin kill him, but not quickly. Ending a life slowly was so exquisitely delicious an idea, that Delin was prepared to defend Rigos if it became necessary—until the time arrived to taste that special, long-anticipated banquet he’d promised himself…

  “Now then,” Rigos said, drawing Delin’s attention back from the realms of marvelous daydreams. “I have the weekly reports from your trainers, and we’ll go over them one by one. Some of you are performing adequately, but others…”

  Rigos let the words trail off as he glanced around, surely trying to terrorize as many of the others as possible. But they were his people, his special Blending, and if Rigos tried to go too far Delin would haul him up short.

  “Earth magic, Delin Moord,” Rigos announced, giving most of his attention to the report in his hands. “Works fairly diligently, but tends to be too casual about practice… Advancement through the exercises satisfactory… Attitude: less than fully eager to cooperate… General progress: average but adequate.”

  Delin listened to that and the rest with faint amusement. He’d carefully worked out what his image ought to be, and had made sure not to show his trainer anything in the way of unsuitable enthusiasm. It so happened he had practiced rather diligently, but not where his trainer could see it and not to extremes. He didn’t need all that much practice, after all, not when he was as good as he was.

  “… and so forth and so on,” Rigos was finishing up. “I believe it’s fairly clear that there aren’t many objections to the progress made by our Earth magic practitioner. If that was the worst report I’d be pleased, but unfortunately it’s not. The next report is on Selendi Vas, Air magic.”

  Rigos abruptly had Selendi’s full attention, and the girl seemed poised to be indignant. She wasn’t at all the sort to put herself out doing something that wasn’t her own idea, but for the moment Delin was satisfied to have her that way. He already knew how to get the strongest response out of her when he decided it was needed, and for that reason had spoken to Bron. The man had intended to make her his next conquest, but now would wait—even if invited—until Delin gave him the go-ahead.

  “Work habits are a bit sloppy and ill-disciplined,” Rigos went on, reading the evaluation with relish. “Practice is almost certainly being ig
nored, as progress has been somewhat slow. Exercises are sometimes regarded as indignities, but are executed when trainer insists… Attitude is extremely sensitive to all criticism, therefore subject must be treated gently… Overall progress … painfully slow.”

  “Maybe that was written because the trainer didn’t get what he kept asking for, and I don’t mean teaching results,” Selendi blustered, fully indignant but obviously hesitant to show it too strongly. “He’s a dull and tedious fool, and usually completely unreasonable. I’m a lot more accomplished than I was to begin with, so that proves he’s lying.”

  “No, Lady Selendi, it only proves how good a job he’s done,” Rigos corrected, his tone sour. “But you’re not the only one at fault, so let’s continue. Kambil Arstin, Spirit magic.”

  Delin glanced at Kambil, the one member of his group that he wasn’t yet entirely sure of. Kambil was certainly a full member of their class, but at times he made Delin uneasy. He wasn’t a pliable fool like the others, his only weakness seemed to be a lack of shallowness, and he wasn’t filled with burning, unrealized ambition. That last was what disturbed Delin the most, but he had no choice about waiting and seeing.

  “Work habits are efficient and based on a full sense of cooperation,” Rigos recited with relish, as though deliberately taunting Delin. “Practice is sometimes overlooked in favor of other undertakings, but progress is satisfactory in spite of that. Exercises are being progressed through at too slow a rate, but that seems to stem from excessive caution. Attitude is excellent in this subject, and overall progress is only just under the best to be expected.”

  “His trainer sounds like he’s in love with him,” Selendi commented archly, doing a poor job of hiding her jealousy. “Maybe if I tried that with my trainer…”

  “I would suggest, Lady Selendi, that you first try applying yourself to the work,” Rigos answered when Kambil just sighed and shook his head. “This is the sort of report I expect to get on all of you in the near future, so kindly keep it well in mind. The next is Bron Kallan, Fire magic.”