Betrayals (18 page)

“Oh, now I see,” Kambil exclaimed, delighted to have reached the heart of the reason why the Advisors were there. “You and your cronies are afraid of us, because there haven’t been true High Seated on the Fivefold Throne in a hundred years. You’ve decided to use the accusations against Delin as an excuse to get us completely under your control.”

“Reasons don’t count, only results do,” Noll said bluntly, his mind grimly pleased that Kambil had made no effort to beat around the bush. “Either all five of you agree to taking the Puredan to relieve our minds, or the public Seating ceremony will never be held. Your group will be declared disqualified, and a new round of competitions will be held next year. The peasants will like that, since they’ll see it as another chance for five of their own to win. For that reason I’ll need your response immediately. New competitions will take time to arrange.”

“And you see us simply stepping aside and allowing your plans to continue unopposed?” Kambil inquired, really curious about the point. “What do you imagine you might do if we refuse?”

“Imagination has very little to do with it,” Noll responded dryly, a certain nervousness under tight control. “We have the doses of Puredan with us, which you’ll take before any of us leaves this room. If you refuse, or if we don’t live to leave this room, your own lives won’t stretch much beyond ours. You’ll be killed one at a time, from a distance, without magic being anywhere involved. That’s all I’m prepared to say until we’ve reached agreement.”

“Oh, I think you’ll say more than that,” Kambil disagreed pleasantly before reaching out to his Blendingmates with his mind. The Blending formed instantly, of course, and a heartbeat later the entity had control of the minds of all five of the Advisors. One of them actually managed to begin struggling, but his strong Middle talent was no match for true strength. The adjustments previously decided on were made by the entity, and then it was Kambil back alone in his mind again.

“Now tell me what arrangements you’ve made,” Kambil said to Noll, who hadn’t been able to resist the entity at all. “And don’t be shy about going into details.”

“Of course,” Noll replied without hesitation. “There are expert bowmen stationed in hidden places all around this area. Unless they receive orders to the contrary from the five of us, they’ll pincushion your group at the first opportunity.”

“Bowmen,” Kambil mused, once again finding himself surprised. “That’s the weapon developed by those savages our people discovered about fifty years ago, isn’t it? The ones on that very large island who had degenerated into a society of untrained Lows and talentless cripples?”

“The weapon itself is called a bow, the people using it, bowmen,” Noll corrected calmly. “Aside from that, your observations were right. We don’t need to call on the bowmen often, but when we do they’re extremely efficient.”

“So I would imagine,” Kambil agreed musingly. “Striking enemies down without giving them the least prior warning. I’ll certainly have to keep the matter in mind, but at the moment we have other things to discuss. Right now you and your friends are completely under our control, but I sense that that won’t hold true for very long. In two or three days you’ll be able to throw off the effects, especially if something prevents you from returning here to have the control strengthened again. Tell me what you would do if you suddenly returned to yourself.”

“I would immediately arrange for your assassination,” Noll replied promptly—and predictably. “Your Five will either be under our complete control, or it will be dead. None of us is willing to take the chance of having it any other way.”

“And we can’t pretend to have taken the Puredan,” Kambil said with a nod of understanding. “Most of your fellow cowards will insist on testing the matter, most likely in the most outrageous manner possible. Taking over five minds at a time isn’t difficult, but handling all of you at the same time … No the risk simply isn’t worth it. If we should happen to lose control at the wrong time, the results could be disastrous. We’ll simply have to go with my alternative plan.”

“You intend to give us the Puredan,” Noll said, the words in no manner a question. “We considered that possibility a likely one.”

“And so took precautions against it?” Kambil said, his brows high again. “What precautions are possible against Puredan?”

“None,” Noll said, his mind still open and totally amenable. “The precautions are against the possibility of our being drugged, which will be investigated as soon as we leave this room. Puredan remains in a man’s blood for some time, and strong Middle practitioners of Earth magic are waiting to see if they find those traces in us. If they do, your assassination will be arranged no matter what we say against it.”

“Your preparations were thorough,” Kambil remarked, gazing at the man. “And I myself walked in here thinking I might find you of use in some way. It saddens me to say now that that seems impossible; you’re much too … inventive for my liking. Give me a moment to think.”

Everyone in the room sat agreeably silent, giving Kambil the opportunity to consider his options. Using Noll and his cronies as puppets must be forgotten about, therefore they couldn’t be allowed to continue living. Their demise would be arranged easily enough, but there was still the matter of getting them safely out of the palace … safely where Kambil and his group were concerned, that is …

“I think I may have it,” Kambil announced after a few moments. “Tell me what chance of success the plan has, and make any suggestions to improve it which might come to you. In a short while the five of you will leave here, signaling your assassins with bows to stand down. The reason for that, you’ll inform your associates, is that we’ve all taken the Puredan as demanded. But you won’t be completely satisfied.”

“Why not?” Noll asked, his mind poised to consider the question once all of it had been presented. “If you’ve taken the Puredan, we should be delighted.”

“Not if we’ve only let you order us to never even consider turning on the Advisors,” Kambil responded with a smile. “The order will assure the safety of all of you, but it doesn’t give you the control you want. You’ll tell them that you agreed to the compromise, but only for now. In a little while you’ll come back with second doses to give us— even if you have to force them on us—and we won’t be able to refuse because we’re bound not to harm any of you. Does that seem reasonable?”

“Very much so,” Noll replied with a slow nod. “It’s my usual habit to get a light, preliminary hold on someone, which makes taking them over completely later no more than child’s play. Allowing you to limit my demands now gives me more control later, so I would certainly go along with the compromise.”

“Excellent,” Kambil said with full satisfaction, relaxing back in his chair. “It’s amazing how closely that parallels my own working methods. You and the others will hand over the doses of Puredan before you leave, as I’ve decided to see if I can make use of them. But before we get to that, I have additional orders for you and your friends here.”

“Certainly,” Noll agreed at once—as though he’d be permitted to do anything else. “What orders do you have?”

“You five men have sadly reached the end of your lives, but most of you needn’t worry about having to face violence. Only one of you will be attacked and killed, possibly by an irate and irrational commoner tenant. You’d know best which of you that would be most likely to happen to, so I leave it to your discretion to choose the proper member.”

They nodded thoughtfully, making Kambil wish he might laugh uproariously. He could have been discussing which of them would be throwing the next party, and who it would be best, politically speaking, to invite.

“Another of you, also to be designated by your group, will die in his sleep of natural causes,” Kambil continued. “That one will cause his own heart to stop at the stroke of midnight, a feat most of us are capable of. We only have to believe it’s possible in order to do it.”

“Using Earth magic is easier and more effective,” Noll disagreed in a faintly reproving tone. “Allow us to see to the details, if you please.”

“As you wish,” Kambil agreed, suddenly very sorry that these men would not be available to help run the Empire. Their expertise and efficiency would be sorely missed…. “The other three of you will suddenly decide to take brief vacations, and will therefore leave Gan Garee at once. Two of you will go this afternoon, and the third will leave tonight. Before you go, make certain you assure everyone that you’ll return for the public ceremony.”

“But we won’t be back for it,” Noll said after nodding. “What will happen to us instead?”

“One of you will find a commoner girl to rape, first making sure that her father or husband is nearby and is the sort to kill any man caught doing something like that,” Kambil responded. “Again you must choose the one whom others will be most likely to believe it of. The fourth will go boating somewhere bright and early tomorrow morning, and will make sure that the vessel is lost with all hands aboard.”

“And the last?” Noll asked, looking as though he were taking mental notes. “What’s to befall the last of us?”

“The last is to go off with his favorite mistress for two days of dalliance, and is never to be seen again.” Kambil’s smile was filled with satisfaction, as the plans he’d come up with were really much too good to waste by not implementing them. “His mistress is to disappear with him, of course, giving people the impression that they ran off somewhere together and will eventually return. Instead they’re to be dead, in a place and in a way that won’t be quickly, if ever, discovered.”

“We’ll see to it,” Noll said, brisk now that all instructions had been given. “If there’s nothing else, we’ll give you the vials of Puredan now.”

“Don’t forget about calling off those assassins,” Homin put in, the only words he—or the others—had spoken. “We have too many plans for our future to want them cut short— the plans or the future.”

“We’re not permitted to forget,” Noll informed him haughtily as he and his associates stood. “Possibly the point slipped your mind… We’ll be going now, boy, and I’ll expect you to be a bit more reasonable the next time we meet.”

“You may count on that, Lord Ephaim,” Kambil said, accepting the vials that the five men had no idea they were handing over. “And thank you again for coming to the ceremony.”

Noll grunted as he headed for the door, which one of the others opened for him. The five Advisors left looking only somewhat appeased, and once the door was closed again behind them, Kambil sighed.

“Well, that’s over with,” he said, looking at his three groupmates. “Let’s have one more leisurely cup of fruit juice to give them and the others time to leave, and then we can go back to our apartments.”

“I think we ought to make an effort to find out who Noll’s spy is,” Bron put in, rising to go to the pitcher of iced fruit juice. “He won’t be using the spy again, but someone else might.”

“I agree,” Selendi said, holding her cup out so that Bron might refill it. “Converting the spy to someone who reports to us can save us some trouble later, but first we have that other chore to see to. Do we really have to do it ourselves? Having a few of the servants do it would make my stomach a good deal happier.”

“Mine as well, but we can’t take the chance,” Kambil denied with another sigh. “If someone comes across us while we’re dealing with it, we can handle the matter so there’s no problem. Controlled servants won’t have the same option, so we simply can’t use them.”

Homin grimaced at that and Bron shook his head, but neither of them made any more effort to argue than Selendi did. They knew Kambil was right, and that he really wished the matter might be otherwise. That ridiculous, mindless fool of a madman Delin …

Kambil lost all satisfaction as he remembered again what he and the others had found last night when they’d burst into Delin’s private quarters. Kambil had known that something was going on, but the glee in Delin’s mind hadn’t really prepared him. He’d had his parents brought to him, both of them bound and gagged, and he’d been directing the efforts of two members of his private guard—

The picture evoked tried to turn Kambil’s stomach, coming as it did from a time when the slow mutilation and torture had been going on for a while. Neither of Delin’s parents had been dead, but healing them as far as possible and then turning them loose had been out of the question. They’d never be functioning human beings again, so they had to be disposed of. And Kambil had had to make Delin use his abilities to be certain they didn’t die yet, when he and the others couldn’t conveniently dispose of the bodies. The smell would have attracted unwanted attention no matter where they were hidden….

So late this afternoon they would all take a ride in a pair of carriages, with one of Delin’s victims hidden in each carriage. Kambil hadn’t been able to destroy their minds, not with their bodies in such terrible, fragile shape… he would have to ride with and near them, feeling their agony and terror and insanity—

Kambil abruptly got to his feet, needing to pace a bit to fight down his rising gorge. If he didn’t need Delin for the Blending … Well, the next time the madman needed to perform as though he were uncontrolled, it would be allowed only with his body and mind fully in the grip of Puredan.

There would never be another incident like the first….

And now it would be necessary to find out who besides Noll had been told about Delin’s parents coming to the palace. …

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“What do you mean, Jovvi and Lorand have been sent out of the city?” Rion demanded of me, his expression terrible. “Where have they been sent, and how can we possibly follow to find them?”

“Alsin’s people found out that they’ve been sent from the city in some sort of convoy,” I replied, trying not to show how really agitated I felt. “Arrangements are being made to get a coach for us… Can we all sit down somewhere to talk about this? Alsin woke me with the news, and after splashing some water in my face I came looking for the rest of you. Right now I could really use a cup of tea.”

“We’ll go back to the eating area,” Rion said, as though making up his mind about something. “The rest of us have already eaten, and Valiant said he needs a bit more rest. Once I have the entire story, I’ll come back here and pass it on.”