Betrayals (6 page)

“But he’ll find out if he tries to go to court,” Lanir responded happily as he reached for a roll. “He’ll discover that no one is allowed to institute suit against me, not as long as I remain Seated High. Do you think he’ll decide to wait until the next challenge, to see if I’m unSeated?”

General laughter greeted that question, showing they all knew that the outcome of challenges was carefully arranged in advance. Servants reappeared with steaming dishes holding the next course, so once again I was helped to keep from commenting. Assuming Lanir turned out to be reasonable later and I was able to leave without interference, I intended to see if it was possible to return at the time of the next challenge. The man deserved to lose his place publicly, and being defeated by a woman would add insult to injury.

I spent the rest of the meal dreaming about proper revenge, and once we retired to the sitting area I went back to that very pleasant pastime. Lanir had one of the servants put on the discarded motley, and then he and his friends made the man dance around the way court fools were supposed to have done when there were kings and their courts running the world. Men who were very proficient in their respective aspect were called knights, which is where the phrase, “knight in shining aspect” comes from. I’m not sure how “shining” they were, but today’s Highs are supposed to be their equivalent.

After the lordly nobles finished with their amusement, Lanir gave his friends a final glass of wine and then sent them home. None of them seemed surprised at being all but thrown out, nor were they insulted. They left laughing and joking with one another, and then Lanir turned to me.

“Your behavior tonight was absolute perfection,” he said, holding out his arm to me. “The time has now come for the part I’ve really been waiting for, so let’s hurry back to your apartment.”

I rose from the chair I’d been sitting in and went to take his arm, ignoring the part of me that wanted to tremble with dread. I’d have no trouble handling whatever came next, I knew I would have no trouble … I hoped …

CHAPTER FIVE

Kambil Arstin walked into the sitting room of the residence where the others had already gathered, looking around with a great deal of satisfaction. Bron, Homin, and Selendi sat together chatting, and Delin simply sat by himself and stared. Delin would have been devastated to know how ,,. vacant he looked, but Kambil knew better than the others that Delin was no longer being allowed to know anything. His unthinking body wasn’t even aware of where it was, let alone that it was only permitted to follow orders, not to consider them.

“Ah, Kambil, you’re back,” Bron said after looking up. “How did it go? Did you learn anything?”

“I certainly did, which means we’ll be busy tonight,” Kambil replied, heading for the everpresent tea service. If for some reason he had to stop drinking tea, he had no idea what he would do with himself in place of holding a cup and sipping from it.

“Does that mean we still aren’t to be allowed into the palace?” Selendi asked. “They have a lot of nerve keeping us out after we won the competitions.”

“Don’t forget that we were helped to win, my sweet,” Homin told her with a chuckle. “That means they think we owe them something. But I take it Zolind is still being difficult?”

“Advisor Zolind Maylock was undoubtedly born difficult,” Kambil said over his shoulder as he added sugar to his tea. “He’s called for a full meeting of all his brother Advisors, insisting that it be held tomorrow. Once the meeting is in session he’ll certainly insist that we be disqualified and that a new round of competitions be held next year, with the present Blending remaining Seated for the time. We can’t afford to let that happen, so tonight we’ll see to it that the man who was born difficult dies the same way.”

“Won’t he be expecting us to try something like that?” Bron asked, watching as Kambil carried his teacup to a chair and sat. “I mean, we are a functioning Blending, after all. Only a fool would ignore that fact and discount us.”

“Sometimes ignorance accounts for a good deal of foolishness,” Kambil told him, pausing to sip his tea before continuing. “For instance, there’s a guard contingent stationed around this house now. It was posted there supposedly to ‘protect’ us, but they also have orders to make sure we don’t leave. The guardsman I passed on the way out was kind enough to tell me that, although he doesn’t remember speaking to me and is prepared to swear that no one got by him. Zolind doesn’t even really understand what we’re capable of individually, so how can he possibly guard against us as a Blending?”

“He can’t, so he’s ours as soon as we reach him,” Selendi said happily, tightening her grip on Homin’s hand. “And since no one will remember that we left and then returned, he’ll even have provided us with witnesses to support our innocence.”

“A point which I find extremely amusing,” Homin said with a faint smile, briefly raising Selendi’s hand to his lips. “What I’d like to know, though, is how we’ll cover ourselves where the Seated Blending is concerned. You said we would be ending them as well, and who else but us will be considered able to do that?”

“No one, which is why they won’t be ‘ended,’ at least as far as the world is concerned.” Kambil made no effort to hide his amusement, as the idea which had come to him still had the ability to tickle. “The Five will be seen to leave the palace without their guard, on the way out saying something to the effect that they’d done their duty and had no interest in hanging about any longer. People will have the impression that they mean to implement private plans, which ought to explain their complete disappearance. And they will disappear, in a way that no one will ever find them again.”

“Is that why you had me check on the abandoned quarry ten miles beyond the far side of the city?” Bron asked, sudden understanding coloring his expression. “I remember thinking that properly weighted bodies thrown into the water would never come to the surface again—at least until the water had turned them completely unrecognizable. Is that where you intend to put them?”

“As soon as all clothing and jewelry are stripped from them,” Kambil confirmed with a nod. “That way no one will know who they are even if the bodies are found. I doubt there are as many as a dozen ordinary people in and around this city who know the Five by sight, and that’s who would find them: ordinary people. Those who would be able to identify the bodies won’t even hear about the incident-assuming the bodies are found at all.”

“And even if they are, we’ll have been Seated by then,” Selendi said with the satisfaction they all obviously felt. “We’ll also have made good progress in ridding ourselves of anyone who might be willing to use the discovery against us, so we’ll be doubly protected. When are we going to begin, and what do you have planned for Zolind?”

“I have something rather… complex in mind for our friend Zolind, and we’ll begin about an hour before dinnertime,” Kambil replied, letting his own satisfaction show through. “He always has dinner guests, which means our little production will have an adequate audience. I’ll tell you the plan, and then you can all criticize it for flaws.”

“Not all of us, happily,” Homin disagreed rather dryly. “Poor Delin over there won’t be criticizing or complaining ever again, for which I’m extremely grateful. If you hadn’t put him under your control, I’m convinced he would have soon begun to whine.”

“What do you mean, ‘would have’?” Bron countered with a snort. “If he wasn’t whining about being left out of things, I’ve never heard the sound. This way we have his strength and talent in the Blending, but otherwise don’t have to put up with his feebleminded insanity. So what are we going to be doing to Zolind?”

Kambil leaned forward and told them, all the while marveling at the artificial personalities he and his grandmother had imposed on the three. The idea of doing that had been Grammi’s, and it had come as a mild surprise that she’d perfected the technique on Kambil’s father, who was her son. She’d begun her practice on her own husband, and when she’d accidentally ruined his mind had had to arrange his death. A different accident had made the death of her daughter-in-law also necessary, but by the time she worked on her son, she knew all the trouble spots which had to be avoided.

And Kambil had found the technique ridiculously easy to work with when they’d done his three Blendingmates. Their dysfunctional personalities had been pushed aside and overshadowed by calm, rational pseudo-egos, none of which could really be considered fully normal, but ones which were easily led and manipulated. The three subjects loved what they called their new selves, of course; what they had no idea about was the fact that they weren’t permitted to do anything but love them.

Their ability to function in the group had been increased, though, so Kambil was serious about consulting their opinions. The four of them discussed Zolind’s coming demise for quite some time, until Kambil announced that he’d arranged for a late-afternoon bite to eat. The interim meal would hold them until they returned to the house, and then they would dine long and well.

They took Delin along to eat as well, of course, and Kambil found himself regretting all over again that it hadn’t been possible to adjust the man the way the others had been adjusted. He had to be kept in a sort of nonthinking limbo most of the time, and then had to be controlled carefully when his talent was needed. It was a lot of extra effort that should have been unnecessary—except for the deeply twisted thing Delhi’s mind had been turned into. Kambil was beginning to nurse almost as much resentment against Delin’s father as Delin felt….

But simple revenge would have to wait until more pressing matters were attended to. Kambil sat back at the end of the meal to study his people, for the most part satisfied with what he’d accomplished. That excuse his father had been given about why he ’d been put into a Blending … Despite the care Kambil usually took to keep from frightening those he came in contact with, someone had seen through the facade and had become frightened anyway. Whoever it was had to have a respectable amount of power, and so was a dangerous enemy. As soon as Zolind and the current Blending—and certain of the rest of the Advisors—were seen to, Kambil would make it his business to identify the person, and then he would give the man his thanks for almost having ruined his life.

Once the meal was over everyone separated to prepare for the outing, Delin being taken care of by two of the servants. Their group tended toward brightly colored clothing, which simply would not do for their current undertaking. Not being noticed was more easily accomplished when people had drabness to overlook, and Kambil’s groupmates never questioned the need to make things easier for him. That was one definite benefit which made up for the bother of having to be in charge.

When all five of them had reassembled in the hall, Kambil switched Delin over to simply being under control, then he initiated the Blending. Their entity formed at once, of course, and proved to be almost completely stable despite Delin’s … buried desire to rage, might it be called? Somewhere beneath all the control and passivity was the angrily terrified Delin personality, hating what had been and was being done to him.

But Delin had never been able to resist being taken advantage of, and now was no exception. After a moment his part of the entity settled down, and then their combined talents were able to search out and affect every member of the guard force around the residence. The guardsmen would continue to remain alert, but would see nothing of the five as they left and returned.

Then it became simply a matter of their walking out to the coach Kambil had arranged for earlier. The driver would be seen to later by the Blending, after Zolind and the Five were taken care of. Kambil had no idea how long their practiced group could remain Blended before its strength was completely drained, and now was not the time to experiment. After they were securely Seated there would be time enough; for now, he kept their Blending separated when there was no real need of it.

The drive to Zolind’s estate was a long, boring one, as Zolind detested living close to the city. During the day it would have been difficult to hide the presence of their coach, but with darkness all around they simply had to avoid the lanterns which had been strung along the approach to the house. The arriving guests saw nothing that way, which was just as it was supposed to be.

Delin stirred uncomfortably where he sat on the floor of the coach, which told Kambil that the man’s position needed to be shifted. The movement meant the man’s body was in pain, and pain would detract from what he added to the Blending. For that reason Kambil had Selendi trade places with Delin, as she was the smallest of them despite her skirts. The exchange of places was made without argument, of course, and then they were able to Blend again.

The entity floated to the large house and inside, locating Zolind after a few minutes in the salon beside the large dining room. It was clear not all of the Advisor’s guests had arrived yet, and that despite the fact that almost twenty people stood about sipping wine. Zolind himself drank only tea, but never insisted that his guests do the same. The conversation was much too desultory, however, so the entity touched one of the men immediately around Zolind with a suggestion.

“Someone asked me today why the Seating ceremony for the new Blending hasn’t been announced yet,” the portly man who had been touched announced casually. “Since I don’t really know the answer myself, I couldn’t tell them.”

“The answer is quite simple,” Zolind replied obediently, now completely under the control of the entity. “The time of the ceremony hasn’t been announced because there will be no ceremony. I wanted Adriari and her people to be Seated, and these others are not an acceptable substitute. Tomorrow I will announce that at the Advisory meeting, and none of the others will dare to disagree with me.”

“My dear fellow, you can’t be serious,” the portly man protested, again at the urging of the entity. “Adriari and her group are gone, and these others have won the competitions. You can’t simply discount that just because they aren’t the group you favored.”