Betrayals (17 page)

Valiant worked his way through most of the food on the tray, using the contents of the pitcher of tea to wash it all down. When he finished he felt a good deal better, more ready to face the world and what it brought. The stiffness in his body was almost gone, and most of the fuzziness in his mind. Now if he could just figure out a way to find Tamrissa and the others …

Thought of Tamrissa made Valiant pause, reminding him as it did of the night before. He’d been deeply and completely humiliated in front of her, and afterward he hadn’t been able to face her. That pity he’d been certain she felt … could he have been mistaken and simply imagining things? He loved her so much that he never wanted to be anything but perfect in her eyes….

Standing up and walking to the window gave Valiant a chance to think, and by the time he had a closer view of the building which stood so near this one he also had an answer. The questions of where Tamrissa had spent the night, who had told these people about his problem, and where the woman he loved might be right now—they said it all. If her own love hadn’t turned to pity, she would have been there when he first opened his eyes.

He took a very deep breath, realizing he couldn’t blame her. He was supposed to be the strength she relied on to bolster her sometimes less-than-adequate self-confidence, and he’d failed her. Not only hadn’t he been able to rescue her from capture, she’d had the trouble of needing to rescue him! And look at him right now, wanting to go searching for his friends but too afraid to leave the room. He was patently useless, in everything but his talent—

Another memory froze Valiant where he stood, this time a memory of something said last night during the coach ride. It was Rion who’d mentioned it, telling the others that his mother had claimed he was permanently damaged. Tamrissa had said she’d been told something of the same, and he himself had a very vague memory of something the Razas woman might have said.

But that didn’t necessarily mean anything, Valiant told himself with a forced laugh. Tamrissa hadn’t been hurt at all, and Rion had insisted he would recover to spite his mother, if for no other reason. That should mean that he was all right as well, even though he’d as yet made no effort to touch the power. All he had to do was reach out…

In no time at all the sweat began to stand out on Valiant’s brow, but that was the only evidence of his efforts. He’d fought to open himself to the power, fought to touch it, but finally had to admit to himself that he didn’t even know where the power was. He’d been aware of the vastness of it for his entire life, and now all trace of it had disappeared. Gone, leaving him damaged forever …

Valiant groped his way to the nearest cot and slowly lay down on it, so deep in shock that the world seemed miles away. And hidden behind transparent cotton, which was for his own protection. He needed to be protected now, just as all thoroughly useless people needed to be. He had nothing left, and even from a distance of miles he was able to feel the edges of the excruciating pain brought by that knowledge.

He floated in nothingness for quite some time, then a sound came that was easy to ignore. A repetition of the sound still brought nothing in the way of reaction from him, but a time later there was a familiar voice, and the words spoken worked their way through to him.

“Valiant, are you all right?” the voice asked. “It’s Rion, and Naran is with me. Is there something we can do? Can we bring you food?”

“I’ve already eaten, thank you,” Valiant replied, feeling very far away. “A fellow came by earlier, right after I awoke. He said the eatin’ hall is much deeper inside the maze, and so he brought me a plate with everythin’ available. Because he knew I would never be able to stand goin’ to the eatin’ hall myself…”

There was silence for a time, and then the familiar voice came again.

“Valiant, tell me what’s troubling you,” it urged. “I want to help, but it’s impossible for me to do so until I learn what I must help with. Are you still held in the grip of that hilsom powder?”

“No, that sedative wore off some time ago,” Valiant replied, still untouched by anything said. “I can get up and walk all by myself now, but I found that there’s two things I can’t do: go to the eatin’ hall and have a meal there, and touch the power. I find it amusin’ that I no longer even know where the power is, not to speak of touchin’ it. If—people— thought I was useless and pitiful before, wait until they see me now …”

After Valiant spoke the truth there was an even heavier silence than before, one which he appreciated. It gave him the chance to let his own words echo inside his head, forcing him to get used to them. Even though he didn’t want to get used to them. They hurt so very much, but all the wishing in the world couldn’t wish them into being a lie. Not that it really mattered anymore….

“So here you all are,” another familiar voice suddenly came. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Alsin has come back with an answer, so we have to leave here as soon as possible. Don’t stare at me like that, Rion, I’m not being hysterical. Furious is what I am, that and worried sick. He told me that Jovvi and Lorand are no longer in the city. Those animals have sent them somewhere, and we have to follow and get them back.”

And that was news so serious that it even came close to reaching Valiant.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Kambil walked into the conference room closest to the throne room, relieved that the Seating ceremony was over. The others felt just as relieved, although they weren’t doing much in the way of talking. They’d agreed that morning to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible, to lessen the chance that someone would notice Delin’s lack of animation. It had been necessary to put Delin back under full control even before the ceremony …

A servant came forward to offer iced fruit drinks to the new Seated Five, and Kambil accepted the offer with a smile while concentrating on the sensation of the jeweled band about his brow to keep his anger from showing. He’d been a fool to turn Delin loose and then fail to watch the madman closely, but there had been so much else to do … Well, that was an excuse, and from now on there would be no further need for excuses.

“Dismiss the servants, please,” a deep pleasant voice came, breaking into Kambil’s thoughts. “There are important matters which we all need to talk about.”

Kambil turned slowly to-inspect Lord Ephaim Noll, the most influential Advisor on the Board now that Zolind was gone. The black-haired man was only just past his middle years, and fully as large as Kambil himself. The lack of fat showed that Noll took good care of himself, housing his extremely powerful personality in a matching body. There were those who had been fooled by the man’s soft brown eyes into thinking him weak, but no one had ever made that same mistake twice.

“Certainly, Lord Ephaim,” Kambil agreed just as pleasantly, gesturing the servants into leaving. “We were honored to have you and your brother Advisors attend the ceremony, and we were hoping you would take the time to speak to us. We’ll certainly need guidance during the coming years, and yours will be the most valued.”

“Nicely said,” Noll commented with a faint smile once the last of the servants had closed the door behind herself. His four supporters, men with almost as much standing as he had, also looked amused. “At least you have the good sense to pretend to be normal when others are around.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Kambil said after an appropriate hesitation, working to look perplexed. “Why would I have to pretend to be normal? As far as I know, that’s what we all are.”

“You can’t possibly think I’m ignorant of what happened last night, boy,” Noll said as he chose a chair and settled himself into it. “I happen to know that you and three members of your group made an unannounced visit to Moord’s wing of the palace at a rather late hour, and there was a good deal of frenzied activity before the four of you left again. Would you like to begin speaking about exactly what happened, or would you prefer me to?”

Kambil found his own chair to sit in, pausing while the others took places near him. Noll’s people were already seated, so Kambil was able to reply almost immediately.

“I really don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” he said mildly as he met Noll’s gaze. It hadn’t been difficult to tell that the man was bluffing about knowing details, which showed that Noll wasn’t quite as formidable as his reputation suggested. Only a fool would try to bluff a High in Spirit magic…. “If you have details to supply, by all means go ahead and supply them.”

“So you’re going to brazen it out,” Noll said while his mind sorted lightning fast through dozens of options and plans. “I usually admire a man with the stones to stand his ground no matter what happens, but there’s a time for that sort of thing and a time to admit the truth. The man who learns to tell the difference is the man who succeeds in life. Do you deny that Lord Ossim Moord and his lady wife were brought to the palace last night, but no one saw them leave—or has seen them since?”

“I, personally, never even saw them arrive,” Kambil replied, having a better idea now of what Noll knew. “If you were here and saw the arrival yourself, I certainly won’t argue with you. What I still don’t understand is what point you’re trying to make.”

“Accusation,” Noll corrected, all traces of amusement gone from his thoughts. “It’s an accusation that I’m making, to wit, that Moord killed his parents just as he killed Elfini Weil and Ollon Kapmar. You can’t deny it, so let’s just get beyond it.”

“You want to get beyond Lord Zolind’s irrational and unsubstantiated hatred of Delin?” Kambil shrugged, keeping all traces of a smile from his face. “Very well, I’m willing to go along with that. Let the man’s obsession be cremated with his body, and then we’ll finally have an end to it. But as far as Delin’s parents go, I’m afraid we’ll have to insist that the subject not be brought up. Lord Ossim did unspeakable things to Delin as a child, and if anyone makes any accusations … Well, let’s just say it’s possible to get the names of those who joined Lord Ossim in his … pastimes.”

“I’m told that those particular people—if there really were any to begin with—are almost all dead,” Noll countered blandly, his expression showing nothing of the agitation in his mind. “Trying to threaten me won’t get you anywhere, boy, not when you and your friends haven’t been publicly Seated yet. There are still two days before that happens, and unless we come to a firm agreement right now, it just may not happen at all. Does that state it clearly enough to gain your full attention?”

“You may take it as a fact that you’ve had my full attention all along,” Kambil said, pleased that they were finally getting down to the meat of the meeting. “And please believe that I never threaten, it’s too much of a waste of time. What sort of agreement did you have in mind?”

“The sort you and the others should already be bound by,” Noll told him bluntly, having settled into a more comfortable frame of mind. “Those who are permitted to call themselves the Seated Five have certain responsibilities toward those they spring from, notably the support of their people against rebels and troublemakers. Should some district of the empire decide to flex independence we don’t want it to have, bringing them back into line will fall to you.”

“Oh, I see now,” Kambil said with an amiable smile and nod. “Anytime one of you decides to tighten your grip around the peasants you control, you worry about whether or not it will be the final straw in their minds. We can appreciate that, most especially since revolution would be bad for the empire. I’m certain we can come to terms with those of you in such a position—once we discuss the details.”

“If you’re referring to being paid, you’ll have to make a certain accommodation,” Noll said, loosening up even more because of the satisfaction flowing through him. “Some of us have already paid in gold, in advance, to Adriari and her group. Since we can’t reasonably be expected to pay twice, you’ll simply have to uphold those agreements without further compensation.”

“Further compensation?” Kambil echoed with brows raised, not about to let the man get away with that. “My dear Lord Ephaim, you and the others have our sincere sympathy, but we have nothing to do with Adrian’s group. If gold was paid to them in advance, you should really make an effort to retrieve it from their estates. Was that all you wanted to talk about?”

“No,” the man growled, satisfaction having quickly changed to anger. “Nor is that subject closed as yet. When a man pays for something, he should be able to count on getting it no matter what happens. Then he’s less likely to look more closely into the reason why he was disaccom-modated. But as I said, we’ll go into that again tomorrow. The much more pressing subject must be seen to today.”

“And that is?” Kambil prompted, suddenly a good deal less pleased himself. Noll had hinted that he suspected Kambil’s group of having had something to do with Adrian’s defeat, and that was disturbing. Those five commoners Kambil and his group had faced in the final competition had been in the hands of the nobility at least for a short while before they’d been disposed of. If Noll had taken the trouble to question one or two of them and had found out they’d been sent the keying phrase which had freed them from the Puredan …

“The most pressing subject is your relationship with your Advisors,” Noll replied, his thoughts rigidly inflexible on the matter. “There are quite a number of our group who are … uncomfortable with the idea of dealing with you, primarily because of the presence of Moord. We both know that Zolind wasn’t imagining things about him, and none of my peers is willing to let the man run around unchecked. There will have to be guarantees on your part, guarantees we’re able to rely on without hesitation.”

“I’m willing to admit that Delin is a bit… unstable,” Kambil granted cautiously, wondering what Noll was leading up to. “For that reason I’ve had him put on sedatives of a sort, to keep him from becoming overexcited. You may have noticed how quiet he’s been; you have my word that he’ll continue to be just as quiet.”

“That’s not good enough,” Noll stated, and again that rigidity was clear in his mind. “Those who are concerned want firmer guarantees than someone’s word, so we’ve come up with a solution. Moord is to be put on Puredan, and so is the rest of your group. In that way we’ll be able to be certain that any agreements we come to will be upheld at all times, and Moord’s … proclivities will no longer be of concern.”