Challenges (33 page)

*
That … line seems to be the extension of your consciousness,
* their Jovvi part sent, along with a sense of struggle related to understanding. *
I recognize my own

easily enough, but wasn’t able to see the part about disconnecting until you mentioned it. Can you feel what I get about that?
*

Even as the thought came, Lorand felt a strong sense of alarm. Just as Tamrissa had shared the knowledge about disconnecting, Jovvi now shared the feeling that disconnection would be certain death. Her hold on her own “line” was extremely secure, which Lorand’s became as soon as he was aware of the need.

*
Disconnecting would be to sever ourselves from our bodies,
* their Vallant part sent, putting into mind words what Lorand now knew to be the truth.
*After that we would float away completely, losing all touch with the way back. After a while our bodies would die, and then so would our minds. How do I know all that?
*

*
You know it because I do,
* the Jovvi part responded.
*Once the question came up, the answer became perfectly clear. It’s too bad that all our questions can’t be answered like this, but I suspect that this one relates to my talent. Now that we’ve all strengthened our ties to our bodies, what shall we do next?
*

Lorand considered her question as he looked around, finding the sight of his unmoving body vaguely amusing. People spoke about being in two places at once, but no one he knew had ever actually accomplished it. Then he noticed something odd which immediately became three odd things, so he decided to ask about them.

*
Why am I seeing those strange patterns in the air?
* he put.
*They also seem to be inside our bodies, but only in tiny bits and pieces. But now I see one of those patterns spread widely through us, along with something like a reddish smudge. What is all that?
*

The others seemed to exclaim and chuckle both at the same time, a conglomeration of reactions mixed up like differently colored swirls of paint. It took Lorand’s mind a long moment to separate the swirls, but once it did he had his answer: he now saw things the way his Blendingmates did when they touched the power. Rion’s sense of air patterns and Vallant’s sense of water, both of them in the air and both in their bodies. The reddish smudge was body heat, the contribution of Tamrissa’s talent. There were currently no emotions to be sensed in the bodies they’d left behind, but Lorand suddenly understood that their mental rapport was through Jovvi’s talent.

*
It feels so odd to know the exact composition of the furniture and decorations in this room
,* Rion sent with a delighted chuckle. *
I’d had no idea that different materials had very different … vibrations
.*

*
Or that the composition of each material supplies the details of how it might best be taken apart,
* Tamrissa added with her own enjoyment. *
We’re actually seeing the world with all five of the talents.
*

*
I have the feeling we can do better,
* Jovvi mused into the general sense of delight. *
It seems as if our Blending should be a single entity without individual parts, rather than the partial sharing we’re now accomplishing. Let’s all lean into it a bit more, and then see what happens.
*

Lorand knew exactly what she meant, and shared the need to find out more about their situation. The others felt the same, he could tell, so all of them … moved closer at precisely the same time. There was a moment of disorientation, and then—

And then the WE become ONE. One Blended mind made up of five talents, a true single entity without awareness of division. The entity checked the individual lines to its separate bodies, found them secure, and so turned its attention to what lay beyond the windows it floated near. Curiosity became motion, and floating through the wall proved not difficult in the least.

Outside the world was filled with life, but much of it slept in the wraparound darkness. The entity noted all that life in passing as it floated around toward the front of the house. It knew it could have moved a good deal faster than it was doing, but caution continued to prevail. It was wiser to walk before trying to run, to float slowly before flying with the wind. And the wind was there as an awareness rather than as a sensation, as was the heat and cold of temperature. The entity knew all there was to know about those things, but felt neither heat nor cold nor buffeting. The entity realized that was most likely due to the lack of a body, on those points, at least, a fortunate lack.

And then the entity’s attention was taken by the sense of awareness coming from four separate sources. It had floated to the front of the house and down the drive, and now hovered close to the street. To the left of the drive and on the opposite side of the street was a coach, containing two of the awarenesses. Both were male and both were bored, despite the game of cards they played. Every few minutes one or the other looked out the window, to eye with suspicion something that stood to the right of the drive.

The something was a carriage which contained the other two awarenesses, one male and one female. The male awareness sat patiently and almost without thought on the carriage’s driver’s seat, and the female huddled inside with her thoughts in turmoil. Worry threaded through every aspect of the turmoil, increasing both when she looked down the street to the coach, and when she glanced toward the house the entity had come from.

Naran
, the entity thought, and spears of love combined with many varied visions flashed for a brief instant through its awareness.
And she’s early
.

The entity realized that the Naran awareness
was
early, and also that she raised up now and again to search the street behind her carriage. She was definitely aware of being observed, and seemed to be dreading the arrival of some nameless horror. The entity felt her inward shiver, and abruptly decided on a course of action.

The first part of that was to return to the awarenesses in the coach and put them to sleep. Part of the entity felt surprise at how easily that was accomplished, with a touch inside their heads rather than with the suggestion of drowsiness. But the surprise was short-lived and vanished quickly, especially when the same was done to the carriage driver.

And then it was the woman Naran that the entity touched, sending her into a state of floating much like its own. The contact was difficult to maintain, however, so relevant questions had to be put rather quickly.

*
Are you working in any way for the testing authority or the Advisors?
* the entity inquired.

“No, I would never work for those people,” the woman answered dreamily in a whisper. “They’re stupid as well as corrupt, and have no idea that they’re destroying themselves along with us.”

*
What are your true feelings about Rion?
* the entity put next, ignoring the faint reluctance it felt to hear that answer.

“He is the love of my life, and I was born to be his other half,” came the response, accompanied by a smile. “I would happily do anything for him, even accede to his insistence and put him in danger. If that pig should ever try to harm him because of me, I would certainly find a way to kill the beast. He can’t know what I know, after all…”

Her words trailed off, and the frown she’d grown changed to a faint smile. She was under a compulsion to speak the truth, and even beyond that the entity knew for certain that she voiced no lie. There were no other questions that needed to be put at the moment, so the entity broke its connection to her with a great deal of relief, then put her to sleep as it had the others. Then the entity began the next phase of its plan. It moved back quickly to the house, caused the front door to unlock, then used hardened air to open the door. Once that was done it was possible to move the woman’s belongings out of the carriage, all of it borne along either on hardened air or solidly frozen water. It was necessary to take the belongings up to the second floor the long and difficult way, and once they were deposited in an empty bedchamber, another discovery was made.

The awareness in the house which had been watching the hall before it was coaxed into sleep had awakened, and now sat frightened and stunned at having seen what appeared to be luggage moving itself. The entity touched the mind of that awareness, whispered the command to forget what it had already seen or might see in the future, then left the awareness more solidly asleep than it had been.

After opening the door to the sitting room where its bodies stood, the entity returned to the carriage much more quickly than it had come. It was now time to move the woman herself, and the entity discovered that it was able to take strength from more than one source to form a bed of solidified air to carry her on. But not all the strength available was used for that purpose. One definite segment of the entity was on guard against attack and prepared to launch an attack of its own, and the augmented strength of that segment was not to be diverted.

What remained, however, was more than enough. The woman was borne carefully into the house and up to the second floor, where she was deposited gently on a couch. After that the entity had only to visit the awarenesses in the coach and order them to forget what they’d seen, then rouse the carriage driver and send him on his way. He, too, was commanded to forget, both the woman who had been in his carriage and the place he’d taken her. With that final chore completed the entity returned to the house, relocked the front door, closed the sitting room door, and—

“Oof!” Lorand breathed as he suddenly found himself back in his body. His muscles seemed to ache everywhere, his hands felt shaky, he was close to exhaustion, and had the impression that he’d returned just in time. He tottered to a chair and dropped into it, aware that the others were doing the same, and tried to think about what had happened.

Of all the incredible experiences! If Rion’s Naran hadn’t been there on the couch, fast asleep, Lorand might have begun to wonder if he hadn’t been imagining things … and come to that, there was one last thing he had to do…

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“I think we made it back just in time,” I heard Jovvi say in a strengthless voice as I tried to pull myself together in the chair I’d fallen into. “It didn’t seem like it at the time, but we must have pushed ourselves too far.”

“I feel just as I did after that very first test we were put through,” Rion panted from where he lay on the carpeting. “I haven’t even the strength to find a proper place to sit.”

“And I feel like I’ve been liftin’ bales of steel all by myself,” Vallant contributed from where he sprawled on a couch next to Jovvi. “Physically drained as well as almost strengthless in talent. Not exactly the same as it’s been until now.”

“Lorand hasn’t said anything,” I pointed out, “but I think that’s because he isn’t in any condition to. All of you agree, and I find that odd. I’m tired as well, not to mention how my legs and back hurt, but I’m not nearly that close to exhaustion.”

“I think that’s because your strength wasn’t drawn on fully,” Jovvi force herself to say. “I remember a thought about not tapping our defense and attack capability and thereby weakening it. Does anyone else remember the same?”

The men make sounds of agreement, and I added my own because now I did remember. I was the one who guarded us, so my strength wasn’t taken. I felt a twinge of nervousness over that, but before I could mention it someone else spoke up.

“What’s happened to me?” a female voice asked in confusion. “Where have I been taken? What—my lord!”

I’d looked over to see Naran sitting up on the couch she’d been put on, fright paling her skin. She’d been looking around wildly, but when she saw Rion lying on the floor, she struggled off the couch in a welter of skirts and hurried over to kneel beside him.

“Fear not, my love, we’ve merely brought you into the house,” Rion said with weak reassurance as she lifted his head to her lap. “I apologize for the method used, as we had no intention of behaving so. It merely … happened.”

“That’s completely unimportant,” Naran said firmly, stroking his face and hair. “What isn’t unimportant is how you fare. Why do you lie here on the floor, looking pale as bleached linen? How have you been hurt?”

“I’m not hurt, Naran, simply exhausted.” Rion even managed a smile, although a faint one. “We’re all exhausted, but please don’t ask for details. It’s not something we’re able to speak about at this time.”

She made a sound of concern and held him even more tightly, but that wasn’t doing any good for anything but his morale. What he and the others needed was some tangible assistance, so I got myself out of the chair and went over to the tea service. As usual, two cups had been provided, so I quickly finished the tea I’d poured earlier, then filled both cups. It took very little effort to warm the tea enough to dissolve sugar in it, and then I carried one of the cups to Naran.

“Help him drink every drop of this while I give the other to Jovvi, and then we’ll do the same for Lorand and Vallant,” I told her. “If we don’t help them to get some strength back, we’ll have to carry them all to bed.”

Rather than ask any silly questions about who I was and what I was talking about, she simply nodded in a businesslike way and took the cup. That left me free to go over to Jovvi, and by the time I’d helped her drink the tea, Naran had finished with Rion. It amused me that she’d taken the trouble to replace her lap with a pillow from the couch she’d awakened on, and Rion looked perfectly comfortable stretched out on the floor.

“I’m adding extra sugar to go along with the stimulant of the tea itself,” I explained as I joined Naran at the service. “The effects won’t last long, but hopefully long enough to get them moving. You’ll have to put that cup down, or the sudden heat might cause you to drop it.”

“A heat that could very well touch my fingers as well as the tea,” she agreed with a smile, putting the cup down. “I remember when my grandmother did that to me once, when I was a very little girl. It upset her for days that she’d accidentally hurt me, even though I got over the minor singeing in just a few minutes.”