Prophecy (52 page)

We all nodded agreement, so Jovvi took Lorand and Vallant and went off toward the sitting room at the back of the house. I knew Rion and Naran would enjoy being alone, so I went upstairs to my bedchamber to see if anyone had managed to accomplish the request I’d made. Most of our clothing was still at my house, and now there was no reason not to have it brought to us. I’d also asked to have Gimmis’s clothing brought, to give Rion and Lorand—and any other of our people who could use the things—something to wear besides what little they had.

It was getting on toward evening and the room was becoming dim, so I lit a lamp and walked to the large wardrobe where I’d put my only other change of clothing. Opening the righthand door showed the immediate difference, as the wardrobe was stuffed full of dresses and gowns and skirts and blouses. I opened the lefthand door as well and began to search around to see if any of Jovvi’s clothing had accidentally been mixed in with mine, and the strangest thing happened. A puff of dust billowed at me, as though the clothing had been left untouched for years instead of days. It was startling as well as surprising, and then—

And then I was suddenly cut off from the power! The world became darker and narrower and much more shallow, as though one entire dimension of it had died and disappeared. And then I began to feel faintly dizzy, just enough so that the thought of going anywhere but to the nearest chair was beyond me. I quickly put a hand to the side of the wardrobe to keep from falling due to the weakness in my knees, and abruptly, frighteningly, a big hand and arm came to circle my waist.

“Let me help you, child,” a deep, gloating voice said from my left, making my blood run cold. “I added the dizziness after the hilsom powder did its work in order to keep you from running out of here, but I think I’ll leave it in place for a while even though escape is no longer possible for you. You need to be taught right from the beginning who your master is, and the lesson will be sharper if you’reunable to bring stubbornness to the time.”

Even through the vast confusion in my mind, I knew immediately that it was Odrin Hallasser who held me and now urged me toward the bed. From what he’d said it was clear that his talent was Earth magic, and my being unable to reach the power turned me helpless in his grasp. Deep inside my mind a wail of terror began, but one that would never reach any of my groupmates. It was the power which bound us together, and without that…

“Your father is a fool, and I’m sorry I ever thought it possible to depend on him,” the man said as he moved slowly along with me. “These last few days I haven’t even been able to find him, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. When I heard that you and your friends had returned to the city, I had your house watched. I expected
you
to return to it, but having people to follow in order to find you was quite good enough. You were off somewhere when I arrived so I waited, and now my patience has paid dividends. We’ll leave here together in the same unnoticed way I arrived, and then we’ll begin our life together.”

“I know you’reinsane, but are you stupid as well?” I tried to demand, ignoring the way my voice trembled. “Not only will my groupmates come looking for me, I have to be here to help against the Astindan army. We got word not long ago that they’reabout a day away from here, and they intend to destroy the city when they arrive. That means you can’t—”

“Don’t even think about telling me what I can and cannot do,” he interrupted in an even harsher voice, his grip on me tightening in a way that suggested the action was unconscious. “I’ll do exactly as I please, just as I’ve always done, and no one will change that! Your friends can search for you until they turn old and gray, but you can be certain that they won’t find you. And as far as this city being destroyed goes, how credulous do you think I am? No invading force will ever reach our gates, the authorities would never permit it. Now keep silent while I have a taste of you, and then we’ll be on our way.”

We’d reached the bed by then and he tried to push me down on it, but another strange thing seemed to have happened. Being captured and helpless was terrifying, but the fright wasn’t as crippling as it had once been. When he tried to push me onto the bed I struck at him with both fists and all my strength, aiming for his face. He cried out in startlement and pain and backed away a step, so I immediately struck at him again and again. Hurting him wasn’t likely to free me, not when he was so much larger than I, but I’d decided to make him pay in advance for whatever he eventually managed to take. I knew I couldn’t win, but that was no reason not to fight.

The enraged man bellowed out his anger as he stopped simply defending himself, and the next moment I was thrown onto the bed. He’d shoved me down and away from him, and then he stepped forward to glare down at me.

“There will never be anything like
that
again!” he growled, fury now blazing from those dead black eyes. “My possessions are
mine
, and no one—even the possessions themselves—can deny me! You will be punished for making the attempt, but not in a way that will damage your beauty. You will, however, learn quickly to avoid doing
anything
that will incur that punishment again.”

“Wrong,” a voice said an instant before I said the same thing in different words. “She isn’t going with you, and you aren’t going to hurt her. If you don’t agree with that, turn around and face me.”

Hallasser whirled rather than turned, to see what I already knew he would: Alsin Meerk standing near the wardrobe. The door to the chamber was still closed, which meant that Alsin must also have hidden himself inside before I arrived.

“You don’t know me, Hallasser, but I know you,” Alsin went on, folding his arms as he stared unblinkingly at the hulking man. “You have a deadly reputation in this city, just like the nobles used to have, but the time has come to get rid of your sort right along with theirs. I saw your people following those who went to Tamrissa’s house, so I simply waited until
you
showed up and then came in behind you. The lady isn’t going anywhere with you, not now and not ever, so you might as well just leave again.”

“Not alone, not this time,” Hallasser growled in answer, his hands having turned to fists at his sides. “The woman is
mine
, and I haven’t gotten as far as I have by letting people take what’s mine. If you think you can stop me, go ahead and try.”

And with that they began to fight, but not in a way I could easily see. They both grunted at the same time, suggesting that their talents had clashed, and then they stood braced and glaring at one another. I continued to sit on the bed, fighting with all my strength to reach through to the power, but it was simply no use. If Hallasser was to be beaten with the use of talent, I wasn’t the one who would be doing it.

But suddenly it seemed that Alsin would also not be the one. He cried out in pain, his eyes widening in shock, and then he began to fall to his knees! When he hit he also put his palms to the floor, as though trying to hold himself up against enormous weight or pressure, but a final choking sound ended his efforts. He collapsed the rest of the way to the floor, and then lay still.

“And so much for
you
, scum,” Hallasser muttered as he panted, obviously having fought hard. “You were stronger than any of the others, but not as strong as I am. You won’t ever interfere in the lives of your betters again, and now to go back to what you interrupted.”

The man began to turn back to me, but I felt too horrified to really notice. Alsin was
dead
? Another life gone trying to save mine? I put my hands to my head, ready to scream at the top of my lungs, feeling even more dizzy than when Hallasser had been causing it. Wasn’t this horror ever going to stop? Did
I
have to die before it would end?

“As I was saying,” Hallasser began, then he had to whirl around a second time when the door to the hall flew open. Vallant and Lorand rushed in, realized what was happening in just about a single glance, and then both looked at Hallasser. The bulky man growled and clenched his fists again, clearly intending to fight my groupmates, but this time he didn’t stand a chance. First his disbelieving scream rang out, and then most of his bulk was gone. It disappeared just before his clothing fell to the carpeting over the pile of dried ash he’d become, and that part of it, at least, was over.

“Tamrissa, are you all right?” Vallant demanded as he hurried over to me, sitting down beside me to circle me with his arm. I shuddered as I leaned closely into his embrace, needing his warmth to melt the ice inside me. It didn’t work all the way, and I felt so terribly confused that I didn’t know what I would do.

“Meerk is beyond my help,” Lorand said from where he stood looking down at the unmoving body, his voice sad. “He must have thought he’d have no trouble at all against Hallasser, but the man was a potential High. I don’t know how Hallasser escaped the net and wasn’t put through testing, but he definitely had the strength of a High. But in the end Meerk did what he intended to. If he hadn’t fought the intruder with his talent, we wouldn’t have known what was going on. He held the man long enough for us to get here, which means he won after all.”

“Tamma, Lorand is saying that Alsin gave his life willingly,” Jovvi added, having hurried into the room and over to me to put her hand to my hair. “He knew nothing could come of his love for you, but circumstance let him show just how great it was. He would have wanted you to remember him fondly, not with guilt over what
he
chose to do. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I may be able to understand later,” I whispered, still clinging tightly to Vallant as both his arms held me close. “Right now I don’t believe I can handle any more than this…”

“Of course you can’t,” Jovvi agreed at once, sympathy and caring clear in her voice. “And you also can’t stay in this bedchamber. Vallant will take you to his for now, and later, when you’refeeling better, you’ll see if you want to change that. I also think you can use a trip to the bath house, and if Vallant isn’t willing to keep you company, Naran and I will.”

“It will mean forcin’ myself, but I think I can manage to do it,” Vallant replied with something of a chuckle. “And afterward you can have your choice of a dress to put on.
That
ought to be a pleasant change.”

“It won’t be very pleasant until we can get rid of all that hilsom powder,” Lorand said as he eyed the clothing in the wardrobe. “Now that I see it, I understand how Hallasser was able to get the better of you, Tamrissa. He apparently put it on some of the dresses, and when you opened the wardrobe he must have caused it to blow into your face. But you couldn’t have inhaled
that
much, so its effects ought to wear off fairly soon.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t see this happening sooner, Tamrissa,” Naran put in from where she and Rion stood, her voice filled with misery. “By the time it came through to me that something was wrong, we found Vallant and Lorand already hurrying in this direction. If only I’d told Rion sooner…”

“Then Alsin would still be alive, but he would also still be absolutely miserable,” Jovvi said when Naran’s words trailed off. “I know how miserable
you’re
feeling, my dear, but I happen to believe that everything turned out for the best. I
know
Alsin Meerk was happy to give up his life for the woman he loved, since he knew that his love would never be returned. Now let’s all go and sit down somewhere together, and talk until the shock of what happened has worn off a bit.”

That was a suggestion everyone seemed to agree with, so I let Vallant help me around the pile of mess that had once been a man, and we all went to a sitting room and talked for a while. The talking did help to a certain extent, and after we had some tea Vallant and I were shooed off to the bath house. We were told that no one else was using it and that that would continue while we were still inside, so when the hilsom powder abruptly wore off enough to put me back in touch with the power, I turned to Vallant and coaxed him into making love to me. He didn’t really need much in the way of coaxing, and I actually forced myself to tell him how much I’d missed him—and how much I loved him.

“I never thought I’d hear you say that,” he whispered as he held me close and caressed me. “I’m tempted to just say the same, but you deserve to hear the full truth. I know Jovvi was right when she said Meerk was glad to give up his life for you, because I’ve been feelin’ the same way. If the man was still alive I’d owe him an apology—and my deepest thanks for what he did. Thinkin’ about losin’ you… I’d much rather lose my own life, since I’d
have
no life if anythin’ happened to you. You
are
my life, Tamrissa, and I’ll never love any other woman the way I love you.”

I think I cried then, but certainly not for long. Vallant and I shared our love for a very long time, and then we went back to the house and dressed in clean clothing. By then it was dinner time, so we ate with the others and then joined them for a meeting about what we might do against the coming Astindans. There wasn’t much we
could
do besides go out and face them, so now I’ve brought this journal up to date. If I don’t get the chance to come back and finish telling the story, maybe someone else will do it for me.

In any event, I intend to sleep in Vallant’s arms tonight and for as many nights as we’reallowed to be together. That number may come to no more than one or two, but if so, it will still be for the rest of our lives…

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

The others asked me to finish this narrative, and I suppose it
is
fitting, for a number of reasons, that I do so. So now it is I, Rion Mardimil, who tells of what befell us—but only, as was done from the beginning, as the events occurred.

Our Five had any number of meetings until the Astindan force arrived, and various ploys were thought of, discussed, and for the most part adopted. During this time the city saw the influx of large numbers of refugees, along with the shattered remnants of the second army which the Astindans had defeated. At Jovvi’s suggestion we set up many units of city people whose task it was to find food and shelter and medical attention for the new arrivals, and those who were physically able were put to work at other tasks.