Gorinthians (51 page)

Captain Jorbran hesitated,
unsure of what to do. The man did not seem to pose a threat and
there was an air of command surrounding him that made Captain
Jorbran instinctively want to obey. Before he could make up his
mind whether to submit his arm, the robed man reached out and
grabbed his wrist. His arm went completely limp; he could not feel
it at all. Trying to back away, he almost tripped over a small
mound.

“
Now hold still,” the robed
man commanded sharply. “You don’t really want to feel what I am
going to do to your arm.”

Captain Jorbran still had
not felt the other man's
yar
, but he could feel the effects of
what he was doing with his own
yar
. The clean snap in his arm closed
together and the crack disappeared. A moment later, the feeling
returned to his arm.

“
Now then, let’s see about
your ribs,” he muttered under his breath. “Two of them it looks
like.”

Captain Jorbran felt his
chest go numb. He watched in amazement as the process repeated and
his ribs mended themselves as if of their own accord. Once again,
feeling returned to his chest. “How did you do that?” Captain
Jorbran demanded.

“
You're welcome,” the robed
man said with a tight smile. “Tell your friend to settle
down.”

Captain Jorbran blinked.
Dedran was slowly creeping up behind the robed man. Shaking his
head at Dedran, Captain Jorbran turned back to the strange man.
“Why are you here? How did you get here?”

“
I see that you are a very
curious person,” he replied pointedly. “You have addressed me four
times, and each time with a question. Most people start
conversations by introducing themselves, offering refreshments and
sometimes flattering the guest.”

Captain Jorbran shared a
look with Dedran. Did the old fool think he was a guest?

“
Listen, we really don’t
have time to discuss my manners,” Captain Jorbran said curtly. “I
have a city to defend. I need you to come with us to the Council of
Elders.”

“
Councill of Elders?” He
seemed to taste the words. “Yes, I do believe they will need some
help if they wish to survive the pending war.”

Tiring of the robed man's
game, Captain Jorbran walked over to Ornico and shook him awake.
“It’s time to go. Can you walk?”

Ornico’s eyes popped open.
He blinked several times before nodding. “Who is that?” he asked
pointing at the brown-robed man.

“
A good question that I
don’t have the answer for,” Captain Jorbran replied sourly. “I will
let the Council deal with him.”

Dedran was still frowning at
the brown-robed man suspiciously. His whole stance radiated
disapproval. “I am not sure we should take him to the council. At
least, not until we are sure he is safe.”

Before they could discuss it
further, the old man began walking toward the opening in the hedge
wall. He was not hurrying, but he was not moving slowly either.
Shrugging his shoulders in resignation, Captain Jorbran began to
follow. If the old man had wanted to harm them, he would not have
healed him earlier. Dedran followed behind them, scowling
darkly.

The old man began walking in
a parallel path to the trail Dedran had led them to the Stump. He
walked with his shoulders straight, preceded by his portly stomach.
He carried a calm authority with him that rivaled the Elders.
Captain Jorbran looked forward to the impending confrontation with
a certain satisfaction. The Council of Elders had a strong belief
in humility, though they did not seem as apt to apply the belief to
themselves. They were very good at teaching it to others, though.
The old man wore arrogance like a second skin.

They continued following
the old man as he moved toward the edge of the garden. As far as
Captain Jorbran could tell, they were staying parallel to the same
path had used before. Somehow, the old man must have been able to
sense the path they used earlier, though Captain Jorbran still had
not sensed the other man reach out with his
yar
.

The old man stopped in
front of them, staring down at something on the ground. Captain
Jorbran moved forward to join their self-appointed guest. Several
paces in front of him, there was a small pool of what looked like
stagnant, black water. Reaching out with his
yar
, Captain Jorbran tried to
discover what had caught the old man's interest. As his
yar
settled into the
pool, Captain Jorbran let out a gasp. It was not water. The thing
had a resonance. It had a patient, intelligence that surprised him.
The old man moved forward slowly, with his hand outstretched to the
black pool of water.

“
Stop!” Dedran warned
sharply. “Back up, now!”

Captain Jorbran tensed at
the deadly warning in Dedran’s voice, moving backward slowly.
Either the old man did not hear him, or he chose not to listen. He
continued moving forward slowly with his hand
outstretched.

“
Maybe we won’t be
introducing him to the council after all,” Dedran muttered quietly
to Captain Jorbran. “This might get very ugly in a
moment.”

As the old man moved closer
to the jet-black pool, Captain Jorbran felt its resonance quiver
slightly in expectation. A moment later, the dark liquid came to
life, flying toward the old man so fast that Captain Jorbran
stumbled back in shock. Just before the thing wrapped itself around
the portly old man, it came to a sudden stop a mere fingers breadth
from his face. The old man walked around the large body of liquid
darkness, studying every side of it, as if there were not a danger
in the world.

Captain Jorbran shared a
look with Dedran and Ornico. How had the old man halted the liquid
mass in mid air? There was still no indication that the old man in
his tattered, brown robe had used his
yar
.

“
What is that thing?”
Ornico asked Dedran with a kind of morbid curiosity.

“
It is a mireman,” Dedran
answered quietly, his attention on the old man. “They are extremely
acidic. If they wrap around you, your skin will melt off. They feed
off their victim’s blood, once they have dissolved the
skin.”

Ornico blanched slightly at
the description. It sounded like a gruesome way to die. It seemed
fashionable to die a macabre death in the Rajan Gardens.

The old man was muttering to
himself as he studied the mireman. His forehead was creased into a
scowl. Captain Jorbran wondered if he might be slightly senile. As
the old man passed close to him on his examination, Captain Jorbran
thought that he heard him mutter, “Damn elementals.”

“
What’s an elemental?”
Ornico asked the old man. He must have heard him too.

The old man’s head swiveled
around to stare at Ornico, his eyebrows slightly raised. He looked
even quirkier with his long, bushy eyebrows trying to touch his
shaggy grey hair. “What do you mean?” he demanded sharply. “Are you
saying you do not know what an elemental is?”

“
No sir,” Ornico replied
slowly. “Should I?”

“
What kind of a place did
Terrance set up here?” the old man asked no one in particular. “A
circus? All that boasting about this warrior civilization. Humph!
You don’t even know what you will be fighting!”

Captain Jorbran frowned when
he heard the old man mention Terrance. Could he be a friend of
Terrance’s? Why had Terrance not informed them of his coming?
Captain Jorbran had a hard time seeing this fellow as an
acquaintance of Terrance’s.

“
You know Terrance?” Dedran
demanded, stepping toward the old man. He looked ready to grab the
old man by the front of his robes and shake some answers out
him.

“
Of course I know
Terrance,” the old man said disdainfully, “who doesn’t know
Terrance?” He shook his head in disgust. “It’s obvious that his
earth-shaking reputation has far out-spun the true bungler that he
is. Come. We need to get to the city.”

Captain Jorbran refrained
from telling him that he was the one who had stopped. The old man
looked at the mireman for a moment longer before turning on his
heel and moving toward the edge of the garden once more. The
mireman was still in the air as if it were striking. Captain
Jorbran wondered if he was just going to leave it there
forever.

They continued on to the
edge of the Rajan Garden without further incident. The old man
continued leading the way, as if he knew exactly where he was
going. The sun was just setting when they reached a small knot of
Guardians that were waiting for them. Leo sighed in relief when she
saw the four of them emerge. Most of the Guardians were fingering
their weapons as they watched the old man leading the way toward
the small group. Had he been anything but an old man, Captain
Jorbran was certain the Guardians would have unsheathed their
weapons by now.

Elder Torrence had joined
the group of Guardians. He was on the Guardian Council and had a
tongue like a file and a temper to match. He was old when Captain
Jorbran left the Tar Ri’ San; he was ancient now. When he saw the
old man leading them out from the Gardens, his lips puckered up as
if he had bitten a lemon. Age had stooped his once-broad shoulders,
but he straightened noticeably as he moved toward them.

“
I see that we are doing
guided tours for the rest of the world now,” he commented
sardonically in his raspy voice. “Who is the spare, Captain
Jorbran?”

“
I don’t know sir,” Captain
Jorbran replied, conscious of the other guardians watching them.
“He refused to tell us his name.”

“
When I was a guardian, we
had ways to make people speak,” Elder Torrence said baldly, “but I
suppose your generation has been getting softer. Perhaps some time
as one of my aides will teach you the techniques of getting answers
out of people, voluntary or not.”

Captain Jorbran could not
think of a worse punishment than being one of Elder Torrence’s
aids. The old Guardian found new ways to define the word
cantankerous. Wishing a different council-member had come out to
investigate, Captain Jorbran stifled a sigh before responding.
“When we found him, there was a—”

“
Is that you, Torrence?”
their unwelcome guest interrupted incredulously. “My goodness, I
thought that the years had been bad to me. You look absolutely
ancient!”

Captain Jorbran turned to
stare at Elder Torrence in astonishment. How in the two moons could
this portly, old man know Elder Torrence? For his part, Elder
Torrence just stared at the newcomer as if he did not believe his
eyes. Captain Jorbran had never seen Elder Torrence out of
countenance before. Until now, Captain Jorbran thought Elder
Torrence only had one expression: a perpetual scowl. The scowl was
completely gone from his face now, replacing his forehead with deep
wrinkles as his eyebrows tried to climb up to his grey hairline. He
stood goggling at the new arrival, unable to articulate anything
recognizable.

“
I see that you still have
that stuttering problem when you get excited,” the old man observed
clinically. “Why don’t you close your mouth, before a bird drops
something in it?”

“
Radroc!” Elder Torrence
gasped at last. “Impossible! I saw you die!”

The old man that Elder
Torrence had named as Radroc chuckled, his rotund belly shaking.
“Just an old trick I like to use to disappear without someone
snooping after me.”

Elder Torrence took a deep
breath, recovering his equilibrium. Looking around at the other
Guardians who were watching the exchange with interest, he gestured
sharply. “You can all leave now.”

Captain Jorbran was more
than happy to leave Elder Torrence with this Radroc fellow, though
the other Guardians seemed inclined to stay and see what happened
next. However, when Captain Jorbran turned to leave, Radroc called
out to him, “You three should stay.”

Captain Jorbran shared a
look with Dedran and Ornico. Ornico looked surprised. Dedran still
wore the same scowl he had worn on his face since they met Radroc.
Leo was the last of the other Guardians to leave. She gave him a
pointed look, making it obvious she expected him to share the
details of the meeting later. Her gold-flecked eyes caught the
light of the setting sun for a moment before she turned and
followed the other Guardians back to the city.

With a sigh, Captain Jorbran
turned back to face Elder Torrence and Radroc. Elder Torrence was
studying Radroc closely. The portly man seemed oblivious to the
other man’s scrutiny as he watched the Guardians leave. He had a
calculating look on his face as he watched Leo fade into the
distance. “Is Selindria still here?”

Captain Jorbran’s eyebrows
rose at the informal address. He had never heard anyone refer to
Tarya Selindria by her name alone. The familiarity with which
Radroc said her name made him wonder just how long she had lived
before coming to Chasel Ri’ Aven.

“
No,” Elder Torrence
replied with a frown. “Terrance was here about a week ago and left
with one of the students. Tarya Selindria insisted on accompanying
them. She did not trust him.”

Captain Jorbran remembered
the encounter well. He had been the one that Selindria had
questioned regarding Terrance before they left. When he had
confirmed the existence of the bond that Terrance had told her
about, she had seemed upset. It had taken several hours before
Captain Jorbran realized that she must not have felt the bond the
rest of them felt.