Without a Front: The Warrior's Challenge (Chronicles of Alsea Book 3)

by Fletcher DeLancey

  “The warriors who haven’t killed far outnumber those who have.”

  “Yes, but the caste responsibility requires a readiness to commit that act. I can’t see Raiz Opah accepting that responsibility, no matter how remote the chances of an actual obligation.”

  “No,” Tal admitted. “It’s not in her character. You’re right. Had she changed castes, she would have been a scholar.”

  “Then why isn’t she?”

  “Because she beat the testers and never told a soul until just last moon.”

  “You’re joking!” Vellmar burst out. Seeing Tal’s smile at her reaction, she lowered her voice and added, “Children don’t have that kind of power. If she beat the testers, then she must be—”

  “In a class of her own,” Tal finished. “I don’t know exactly how powerful she is. She’s never been assessed. But I wouldn’t be surprised if her strength is off the scale, and I suspect she may have some abilities we haven’t yet tapped.”

  Vellmar shook her head. “Fahla hides her seeds in the most unlikely of places. How did she acquire her skill if she never told anyone?”

  “I’ve been working with her for the last moon. She won’t leave her holding to attend any of the institutes, so we worked out a compromise.”

  “She has an impressive front for someone with only one moon of training. You must be a good instructor.”

  From anyone else, Tal might have interpreted that as flattery, but she really didn’t think Vellmar was the type. “It has more to do with the student than the instructor. Salomen learned quickly because she worked hard at it. I would love to see what she can really do, but for now she’s content with fronting, blocking, and a little focused sensing.”

  “But you don’t think she’ll stay content with it.”

  Tal shrugged. “It’s not for me to say. When and if she’s ready to move to a different level, she’ll tell me.”

  “Beating the testers—I’ve never even heard of that. I can think of several instructors who would be tripping over their own feet to work with her.”

  “So can I. But she doesn’t want them.” Tal glanced at Salomen, standing immobile over Micah, and wondered how she was doing with him. After several days of a full tyree bond, it was…uncomfortable to be cut off from her while she was traversing the planes of the unconscious.

  “May I ask a different question?” Vellmar said.

  “Will I regret saying yes?”

  Vellmar hesitated, then forged ahead. “What you said to Oren and Dalset—what you told them we would do—how much of that was a bluff?”

  Tal gave her credit for having the horns to ask. “You didn’t swear your oath to a lawbreaker.” She watched Vellmar exhale and added, “Advanced behavioral management wasn’t in your file.”

  “No. I only took enough to qualify for officer training. And even that much didn’t come naturally to me.”

  “That’s not a bad thing, Vellmar. Don’t undervalue the trust you can gain simply by being yourself.”

  “But you made Dalset trust you. Even though she was terrified of you. How did you do that?”

  “By breaking the stronger of the two. She’s a follower. When I broke Oren, she lost her leader. I stepped into that void, and nearly everything I said to her after that was the truth.”

  Vellmar looked down for a moment, the clicking gears almost visible in her head, and then snapped her fingers. “When you touched her hand. You pulled back before she could ask anything else. So she could only feel truth.”

  “Good eyes.” And good memory, Tal thought.

  “Hm. Maybe I should have taken those courses.”

  “Not if it didn’t come naturally. Manipulation only works when it’s seamless. You should either be wholly yourself, or wholly the role you need to play. Anything in between and you’ll show cracks that even a low empath can see through.”

  Vellmar nodded, out of questions for now. In the comfortable silence that fell, Tal mentally catalogued the things she needed to get done as soon as they left the healing center. Find out what Aldirk and Razine had learned, start making lists of who supported her and who was backing Shantu, deal with the public acknowledgment of Salomen’s new status…

  “Shek,” she muttered. Vellmar looked over in surprise, and Tal waved her hand in a not-you gesture. “I just remembered the media conference is happening right now. I hope we can get out of here before it starts raining journalists.”

  “I’m sorry,” Vellmar said immediately. “If you hadn’t had to wait for me, you wouldn’t be running so close to the conference time.”

  Tal gave her a level stare. “Are you apologizing again, after I already told you there was no need?”

  “Ah…” She was clearly trying to decide which way to jump. “No?”

  For all her stress and worry, Tal couldn’t help laughing. “Right answer. I hate repeating myself.” Sobering, she added, “I’m truly glad you Shared with him. As Salomen said, every voice counts. I’m not reaching him, but maybe a new voice will.”

  “Do you sense any response at all?”

  “No. In a way, he’s less there now than he was on the transport. He doesn’t drain me like he did then, but…he’s more distant.”

  After a pause, Vellmar asked, “Has Healer Elwyn mentioned anything to you regarding his opinion?”

  “You mean since the surgery? No. Why, has he spoken to you?”

  “Not to me. To his assistant. I overheard him saying that there was no physical reason why Colonel Micah is still unconscious.”

  Tal wasn’t surprised at the news or the fact that Elwyn had not told her. The healer would probably wait another two or three days before admitting his own lack of hope. “I could wish for better. But my instincts tell me Elwyn is right.”

  “I don’t understand it. He’s at the top of our caste, he’s your Chief Guardian, he holds your trust and friendship…” Vellmar held out her hands, palms up. “He lives a life the rest of us can only hope to achieve. Why would he not be fighting to come back to it?”

  “That’s a question only Micah can answer.” Tal reasoned that it wasn’t quite a lie. Though she was fairly certain she knew why, it was still a guess. Her next words died in her throat as her wristcom vibrated, showing an incoming message from Colonel Razine.

  Interrogation completed.

  She certainly wins the prize for brevity, Tal thought as she cleared the message. “As soon as Salomen is done, I want you to accompany us back to the transport. We may need you to help clear the way.”

  “You mean if it’s raining journalists?”

  “Exactly.” Tal got up and poked her head out the door, unsurprised to find a few healing center personnel lingering at the end of the corridor. They were in a tight huddle, speaking softly, but as soon as one of them glimpsed her, the whole group went quiet and looked at her with wide eyes. Elwyn’s assistant was among them. Tal crooked her finger at him, hiding a smile as his coworkers subtly moved away. The assistant came down the hall and carefully skirted around the four Guards outside the door.

  “Lancer Tal, what may I do for you?” he asked.

  “You can bring Healer Elwyn. I need to speak with him.”

  He bobbed his head and whisked down the hall, leaving a waft of relief behind.

  Tal rejoined Vellmar. “Sometimes I wonder what sort of reputation I have. The support staff here act as if I’m about to eat one of them.”

  “It’s not every day the Lancer brings her top Guard to a healing center. Especially one so far from Blacksun. Besides, do they know for sure that you won’t eat any of them?”

  “No. Do you?”

  Vellmar gave her a quick smile. “I’m new to the unit. I haven’t learned your dining habits yet.”

  “It doesn’t include healer staff. Though I’ve
been known to chew up a warrior now and then.”

  “So have I.”

  They sat quietly for several ticks until a rustle outside the door heralded the arrival of Healer Elwyn. “Lancer Tal,” he said in greeting. “My assistant said you asked for me?”

  “I did.” Tal rose from her chair and stood beside Salomen. “In your opinion, do you think it would be safe to move Colonel Micah tomorrow morning?”

  “That depends. Move him to where?”

  “Blacksun.”

  His eyebrows rose. “That’s quite a distance.”

  “Yes, it is. But I cannot run the government from here, and I would rather not return without him. Is he stable enough to be moved?”

  Elwyn walked to the other side of the bed and checked Micah’s readouts. “I believe he is. I’m not enthusiastic about the idea of moving him, but we’ve done all that can be done. The staff at Blacksun can handle his current needs.” Seemingly unaware that he had just denigrated an entire city’s worth of talented healers, he added, “I’ll send one of my healers with him to monitor the transport and brief the Blacksun staff on his condition. What time do you wish to leave?”

  “I’ll inform you when I know it myself. There are—” She stopped as her empathic senses flooded with Salomen’s renewed presence.

  “Damn him,” Salomen muttered, raising her head and massaging her forehead. “If anything, he’s farther away than he was last night. Is that what you sensed, or is it just me he’s running from?”

  “That’s what I sensed,” Tal said. “I didn’t want to tell you in case you had a different reaction.”

  Salomen radiated dismay and sorrow as she reached for her hand.

  With her throat suddenly tight, Tal turned toward Elwyn. “Are we fighting a losing battle?”

  He pursed his lips, looking from Micah to her. “Where there’s a beating heart, there’s hope. I’ve seen much worse cases than this pull out of the darkness, so I would not assume that the battle is lost.”

  Typically vague healer-speak, but at least it was not a yes. “Is there anything we should know about his transport?”

  Five ticks later, Elwyn had exhausted his supply of advice and bade them farewell, leaving a quiet room behind him. The silence stretched out as Tal stared at Micah, until Salomen finally squeezed her hand and said, “Shall we go?”

  Tal looked up to see identical expressions on their faces. “Don’t look like that. You heard the healer. Micah’s heart still beats.”

  “Yes, it does,” Salomen said. “And until it stops, we’ll be in his mind, annoying the shek out of him until he wakes up just to make us leave him alone.”

  “If annoying him will do the trick, perhaps we should bring Aldirk in here for a turn.”

  “Perhaps we should.” Salomen smiled at her, and Tal felt just a little bit better.

  The four Guards fell into step as they left the room, two ahead and two behind. Vellmar walked just behind the front Guards, far enough from Tal and Salomen to be unobtrusive, but close enough for instant action.

  “Be prepared for a possible media storm,” Tal said as they walked down the corridor. “The announcement was made while you were with Micah. It’s still early enough that most of the journalists in the city probably haven’t arrived, but…”

  “I know,” Salomen said. “I’m ready.”

  “Just don’t hurt any of them. You need to establish a good image first. Then you can start abusing them.”

  “Right. First the false advertising, then reality.”

  They went out the arch to find that the number of journalists had doubled. “Damn,” Salomen groaned. “How did they get here so quickly?”

  “They knew we were in town,” Tal said. “They were probably in their transports before Miltorin got past his first three sentences.”

  As the journalists caught sight of them, a swarm of vidcams rose into the air.

  “Lancer Tal! Will your bonding ceremony be public or private?”

  “Raiz Opah! How does it feel to be the future Bondlancer of Alsea?”

  “When did you first know how you felt about the Lancer?”

  “Have you heard from your brother?”

  “Lancer Tal, are you concerned about the warrior caste’s reaction to your choice?”

  Tal hid her displeasure at that last one, continuing toward the transport as her Guards kept the journalists at a distance. Only when they were two paces up the entry ramp did she turn to face them, all five Guards lined up below like a breathing wall.

  “We can give you five ticks,” she said, and pointed toward a man she recognized from the night before.

  “Thank you, Lancer Tal. Raiz Opah, as the first producer Bondlancer in sixteen generations, do you see your position as striking a blow for caste equality?”

  “I wasn’t aware that my caste was unequal to the others,” Salomen said. “Do you know something I don’t?”

  “Ah…” He fumbled for a moment, and Tal put an arm around Salomen’s waist in appreciation. “Of course the castes are equal in name and theory, but the reality doesn’t always match, does it?”

  “Perhaps your reality does not. Mine does. I’m an Alsean first and a producer second, and I’m proud of my caste. If someone gave me the opportunity to change castes, I would say thank you, but no.”

  If the journalists ever dug up the truth in that statement, Tal thought, Alsea would be talking of nothing else for a nineday. She watched as Salomen took the initiative and pointed at a woman toward the back.

  “Raiz Opah, your brother is the object of an investigation regarding the assassination attempt—”

  “I will not comment on a continuing investigation,” Salomen interrupted. “Is there something else you wish to ask?”

  Instantly switching gears, the woman said, “You met the Lancer when you became a delegate for the matter printer planning meetings. Did you form a bond then? Is that why the Lancer spent a moon working on your holding?”

  “Lancer Tal spent a moon on my holding because she’s almost as brick-headed as I am.”

  There were a few muffled chuckles.

  “If we formed a bond during the delegate meetings,” Salomen continued, “we were both unaware of it. We didn’t understand our attraction until the Lancer’s challenge moon was more than half over. The nice thing about her bond offer is that for once I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I am wanted for myself rather than my land.”

  “You’ve had bond offers before, then?”

  “Five,” she said, to the audible surprise of the crowd. “As you can see, I was waiting for the right person.” She pointed toward a man to the left.

  Having learned from his predecessor’s mistake, he said, “The title of Bondlancer is far removed from the experience of most of us, regardless of caste. How are you preparing for this new responsibility?”

  “Lancer Tal has already assigned Colonel Micah as my Chief Counselor, to help me learn what I need to know. He’s…” Salomen’s voice caught, and she covered it by clearing her throat. “He’s the reason we’re here in Redmoon.”

  Her panic slithered through Tal’s senses. She had just gotten herself onto a topic she didn’t know how to handle.

  “Colonel Micah was injured on a mission,” Tal said. “The full details of that mission will be available later, when we’ve had a chance to bring it to its final conclusion. Are there any other questions for Raiz Opah?”

  She squeezed Salomen’s waist, silently telling her to take over again. Salomen got the message and pointed toward the woman directly in front of them.

  “Is it true that one of your rejected bond offers came from Gordense Bilsner, the father of Cullom Bilsner?” asked the woman with a deceptively pleasant expression.

  “Yes, that’s true.”
/>   “Is it possible that family honor might have been a motivating factor in the assassination attempt?”

  “That’s a question for Cullom Bilsner, not me. I cannot even begin to put myself into the mind of an assassin.”

  Tal silently cheered as Salomen pointed to a man at the far edge, effectively ending the topic.

  “Raiz Opah, since no one else has said it, please allow me to be the first to congratulate you on your upcoming bonding.”

  Salomen smiled for the first time. “Thank you. I was wondering how long it might take before someone offered congratulations. But then, I’m new to media conferences. I thought perhaps journalists simply didn’t operate under the same codes of courtesy that the rest of us do.”

  Tal fought back the grin that threatened to break over her face as the journalists shifted on their feet, a palpable sense of discomfort arising from most of them.

  The man in the back smiled broadly. “Some of us tend to forget the courtesies in our enthusiasm for the story. I think we won’t soon forget again around you. Will your ceremony be public, I hope?”

  “The ceremony itself will involve only our friends and family. We’re somewhat limited by the capacity of Whitemoon Temple. However, it will be recorded and aired in real time, so that anyone who wishes can share in it.”

  “Whitemoon Temple is beautiful,” he said, “but rather far from Blacksun and Granelle. Why not Blacksun Temple?”

  “Because Whitemoon holds special meaning for both of us. For me, it will be fulfilling a dream of my mother’s. She always wanted to see it but was never able to before her Return.”

  “And for you, Lancer Tal?”

  Tal was not above using the moment to her advantage. “Whitemoon is where Fahla herself chose to communicate with me.”

  Several audible gasps could be heard. “Can you tell us about that?” the man asked.

  “I went there after my speech last moon, to show my gratitude for the gift she had given me.” Tal kissed Salomen on the cheek, making it clear exactly which gift she was referring to. “I prayed to her for the wisdom to make Salomen happy, so I could give her the kind of life she deserves. Fahla gave me a very clear sign that she was listening.” She raised her hand to stop the questions. “No, I’m not going to share the precise nature of that sign. It’s personal. But I can tell you that I’ve seen it several times since then, always in connection with Salomen, and there is not a doubt in my mind that she and I are both on the path that was chosen for us.”