by Sharon Green
-We'll have to move a bit briskly now, my friends,- I sent. -We don't want the enemy Blending members disappearing into the landscape before we have the chance to nail them down. Once we have them under control, we can free their slaves and decide what to do with them all.-
Everyone's entity agreed with me, so I quickly dissolved the Blending. My Blendingmates sat staring at me wide-eyed and open-mouthed for a moment, and then Vallant broke the stunned silence.
"Tamrissa, what did you do?" he asked weakly, still staring at me. "Everythin' was goin' the same as usual, and then suddenly it was just me instead of the entity. What did you do?"
"I have no idea," I answered with a small laugh as I got to my feet. "Whatever it was, it seemed like the right thing to do so I did it. Are you all just going to sit here with your jaws down to the ground and hand the enemy a chance to get over the battering we gave it?"
That comment made them snap their mouths shut at least, and a moment later they began to stand. It took another moment before we were all heading to the door of the house, but at least we didn't have to stop to saddle our horses. The horses had been prepared before we went to the confrontation, just in case it turned out badly.
Everyone else was either mounted or getting that way, so we headed toward where we'd left the invaders. The slaves were frozen in place, of course, leaving nothing to keep us from making our way to the five litters. The people standing to either side of each litter looked a bit worse for wear from what we'd done to them, but since they were also frozen in place it didn't matter.
One by one we pulled the Blending members out of their litters, and all but one were unconscious. That one snarled when we opened her litter and tried to use Water magic on us, but Vallant had no trouble smacking her down. She calmed after that and got out of the litter on her own, but her arrogance was definitely tinged with confused fear. She was about my size and faintly pretty with very light eyes and hair, her light skin even more pale than that of the slaves.
"Sit down next to your Blendin'mates," Vallant told her when she simply stood next to the unconscious bodies. "We have a number of questions, and you'll be answerin' them."
"I don't answer questions for slaves," the woman returned as she looked off into the distance, obviously trying to ignore us. "I don't know why I even bothered to explain."
"You explained because you weren't given any choice in the matter," Jovvi said, her normally gentle voice showing a hard edge. "Your Blending had an advantage because it used techniques we weren't yet familiar with, but you as an individual have no more than average High strength. You won't be allowed to refuse to answer - or to disobey."
"How dare you speak to me like that?" the woman demanded even as she sat herself on the ground. Her accent was even more lilting than the one Borvri Tonsun had used. She and the other, unconscious, woman of the Blending wore trousers of a sort like the men, flowing trousers of what looked to be silk in bright colors without decoration.
"You sound like the members of our former nobility, which isn't surprising," Lorand remarked as the woman fumed over the fact that she was sitting. "You've probably been in power long enough to think that you always would be, but now you're about to learn better. Our Spirit magic member has control of you, so you'll answer any and all questions put to you. What's your name?"
"I'm Blessed Hantiro Jogamme," the woman answered, anger flaring even higher in her very light eyes. "That means you have no right to even think about doing this to me, not to speak of actually doing it. When my mate-equals return to consciousness, we'll show you - "
"Ah, I see you just remembered," I said with a pleasant smile. "Your Blendingmates were awake and with you when we put you all in your proper places, so trying it again could be very bad for your overall health. How long have you and your friends been stealing other people's lives?"
"We are the only 'people' involved," Hantiro answered haughtily. "All the rest are nothing but unimportant savages born for no purpose other than to serve us. You and those others are the same sort of savages, and as soon as we discover what trickery you used to temporarily overcome us we'll take control again."
"Why is it always so hard for you people to accept reality?" I asked with a shake of my head. "We didn't use trickery we used ability, and if you could have matched that you already would have. You won't ever be back in control, and it's time you understood that."
"I already understand whatever I need to," the woman spat, looking at me with boundless hatred. "You're the freak who caused our downfall, spreading your freakishness among those others you consider your mate-equals. As soon as they truly realize what you've done to them they'll reject you, and then our superiority will once again come to the fore."
"Why don't you try holding your breath until that happens," Rion drawled to her as I discovered I couldn't quite find what to say. "A blue tinge to that fish-belly-white skin would be a definite improvement."
"Please don't lie to her, Rion," Naran said as I stared in puzzlement at my brother. "Nothing will improve her, not when she has no mind. When I think how little intelligence it takes to understand that Tamrissa is and always will be one of us, I wonder how this woman has intellect enough to come in out of the rain."
"But she doesn't have intellect enough to come in out of the rain," Vallant pointed out with amusement. "We're standin' under Rion's shield, but she's just sittin' there in the mud with the rain comin' down."
Jovvi and Lorand laughed and nodded agreement with Vallant's comment, as did Rion and Naran. For a moment I'd been afraid that my Blendingmates might have been really disturbed over what had happened in the Blending, but just that easily the question was answered for good and all…
Chapter Nineteen
For a brief moment Vallant worried that Tamrissa might take the captured woman's words as the truth, but then he saw Tamrissa smile. That smile said she understood the message Rion and Naran had begun and he had continued with, which was a great relief. Very odd things had been happening, but they would get around to those things once there was time.
"It's time we did somethin' more permanent with these people," Vallant said then to Jovvi. "We still have a lot of questions to ask them, and we wouldn't want them thinkin' about walkin' away before we get our answers."
"And I believe I'll enjoy questioning them more under better conditions than these," Jovvi responded with a smile. "I'll make sure they don't get the urge to leave our company, and then we can have their people bring them to the village. Once we have them safely tucked away, we can see to releasing all these poor people."
"I suggest that we release all these poor people only a few at a time," Tamrissa interrupted to say. "Remember what we agreed might be their reaction to being set free. If any of them are going to have hysterics, or try to take advantage of us, or even try to free their marvelous leaders, we don't want them all doing it at once."
"Good point," Lorand said in agreement, putting an arm around Jovvi. "We do want these people to be free, love, but not at the possible expense of innocent lives."
"If you'll recall, I'm the one who understood that point even before you did," Jovvi said to Lorand with an impish smile that softened the words. "But let's get back to the village before we do anything else. Rion may be keeping the rain off us, but I still feel damp all over."
"So do I," Tamrissa agreed with a small grimace. "I'm tempted to remove the moisture from our clothes with a judicious amount of heat, but after everything we've gone through I have the feeling I may overdo it. Unless any of you would actually prefer to be left standing naked, I suggest we wait until we get back to the house and then let Vallant get rid of the moisture."
Vallant chuckled while the others hastily assured Tamrissa that they were more than willing to wait. The patient attitude was one he shared, but there was no need to be too patient.
"Jovvi, since we're goin' to be givin' orders to these people, why don't you initiate the Blendin'?" Vallant said. "I can tell that one of our associate Bl
endin's is here to back us up, but I think this needs to be done by us."
"I definitely agree," Tamrissa said, stepping closer to take Vallant's hand as she smiled at Jovvi. "I'm the one who does the beating-over-the-head. You're the one who uses more gentle methods."
"My methods may be more gentle, but in the long run they're much more destructive and not as honest," Jovvi said, her wry expression showing awareness with very little in the way of regret. "I may dislike controlling people, but at least I can tell when it's really necessary. All right, here we go."
Vallant suddenly became the Vallant entity, an entity that was well aware of what had to be done. It was the work of only a minute or two to place all the flesh forms of the enemy under firm control, and then the slave flesh forms were given precise instructions. Once that chore was completed, it was Vallant back again.
"I don't understand," Rion blurted before Vallant could say something of the same himself. "The last time we Blended, I became myself with no trace of the entity left. Now, though, the entity was back as if it had never been gone. What is going on?"
"I have no idea," Jovvi answered, looking as perplexed as Vallant felt. "I was also expecting the entity to be gone, but obviously we were both wrong. And once we get back to the village, I think we'd better talk to our people even before we continue questioning the invaders. My entity self had no trouble noticing how … confused our people are."
"I don't blame them in the least," Lorand muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I just hope that telling them what happened instead of why it happened will help their confusion. Unfortunately, it isn't doing a thing to help mine."
Vallant muttered a definite agreement, and then they all got out of the way to let the slaves put their masters back in the litters. The woman Hantiro cooperated fully without speaking a word, but that was hardly surprising. They had put her and her Blendingmates under very tight control, and the five would not even be aware of their surroundings until they were told they could be.
Since Lorand had checked over the unconscious invaders when they were first taken out of their litters, there was nothing to keep Vallant and the others from heading directly back to the village. They passed the word that they would go directly to the meeting hall, and a few minutes after they got there they were joined by the same people who had attended the earlier meeting. Vallant used part of the waiting time to pull the moisture out of all their clothing, so it was a drier and happier six people who finally faced their associates.
"Most of you are controlling your distress, but some of you aren't," Jovvi said once their audience was more or less settled down on the hall's benches. "I'm filtering out the noise, but the Spirit magic users of our Gracelian allies are a bit new to the situation. I'm sure they would appreciate it if you helped to keep them from getting headaches."
"I think the best way for us to do that would be for you to tell us what happened during the confrontation," Arinna, Pagin Holter's Fire magic Blendingmate, put in at once. "Except for the … overall flavor of your Blending, everything seemed to be going just the way it usually did. Then something happened, and just before you dissolved the Blending we no longer recognized you. Our Blending entity took the whole thing in stride as nothing to get excited about, but we can't quite manage to do the same."
"You should have tried it from where I sat," Tamrissa said, taking over from Jovvi. "The enemy struck at us three times without our being able to respond, and then it suddenly came to me that I hadn't pulled my Blendingmates into a true merging. I was … standing in front of them, so to speak, instead of actually Blending, so I took care of the matter. That's when our entity … kind of … disappeared."
Exclamations came from all over the room, most of them composed of people echoing the word "disappeared." Vallant could feel how agitated they all were, so he rose from the bench Jovvi had returned to and stood beside Tamrissa.
"I can see we'll have to start chargin' all of you for this information," he said as he looked around. "If you don't think that these changes aren't harder on us than on people only watchin', then you deserve to be forced to pay through the nose."
"Yes, okay, he's right," Arinna said in a loud voice, standing and holding up both arms. "They are going through this first, so when it happens to us we won't have to wonder if we're losing our minds. But our Blending gets to go through it next, so you'd better get the staring and nervousness out of your systems now. If you look at us the way you're looking at them, I just might bash you all over the head to show how much I dislike your attitude."
A few people chuckled over the blatant threat, and a handful of heartbeats later people were beginning to settle down. That startled Vallant, who hadn't realized that a threat sometimes calmed people more quickly than gentle explanations.
"Yes, that's what you have to look forward to," Tamrissa said pleasantly to Arinna. "And once you reach that point, maybe you'll be able to tell us why our entity returned the last time we Blended. I seemed to have the impression that it was gone for good, but when we Blended to give orders to the invaders we found it back again."
"I don't even want to think about that," someone said from the audience. "My Blendingmates and I are thinking of going off somewhere quiet and peaceful until all you pioneer types have answers to the questions you keep coming up with. Then we can decide if we want to go through the same thing, only with advanced knowledge of what's in store."
"That sounds fine to me," Vallant drawled as even more people chuckled. "While you're gone, we'll have a chance to decide on what price to charge you for the information."
That comment caused outright laughter, and a glance at Jovvi confirmed Vallant's impression that just about everyone had gotten over their distress. That meant their most important chore was done, and it was time to get on to the second most important.
"Those litters ought to be here in a little while," Vallant said as soon as the laughter died down. "We're goin' back to our house for a few minutes to make a large pot of tea, and then we'll be bringin' the tea back with us. If any of you want to do the same, do it now so you don't miss any of the questionin'."
Everyone sounded as if they liked that idea, and a moment later people were standing and heading out of the hall. That meant Vallant and his Blendingmates had to wait their turn to reach the door, but waiting didn't bother them. Their associates and link group members were no longer looking at them as if they were strangers, and that was the important part.
Rion took the time to fry - sauté, he called it - a quick meal for them, which they ate with a great deal of pleasure before carrying their tea back to the meeting hall. The bearers were only just bringing up the litters, so their stopping for a meal hadn't delayed anything. It was time to question their prisoners, and once the questioning was over it would be time to start releasing the others from slavery.
We'll be best off letting the others help with freeing the slaves, Vallant thought as he watched his associates and the link group members filing into the meeting hall. And the Gracelian people look bothered about something. We'll have to find out what the something is, and then we'll have to make plans about when we get to go home. Going home… Now there's a pleasant thought…
Rion felt very pleased with himself, but tried not to let it show when the prisoners were brought in. The invaders were hardly likely to appreciate - or understand - why cooking a fairly good meal was of any importance to him. He now knew he had value even beyond being a part of the ruling Blending of his country, and his value would increase as his cooking talent did. For someone who had been told that he would have no value at all in life, Rion appreciated being able to prove differently.
But questioning the invaders would go more easily if they had scowling people in front of them rather than happily smiling ones. The five invaders being marched in would be at least as arrogant as Hantiro Jogamme had already proven to be, and needed to be taken down a peg or two right from the beginning.
"Jovvi, I suggest that we make our pris
oners kneel at the foot of the dais," Rion murmured to his sister. "We don't want them to get the idea that they're in charge."
"They already have that idea, but I agree with you," Jovvi murmured back as the prisoners were brought forward. "They need to have their defeat waved in their faces, otherwise they'll hold back on everything they can."
Rion nodded his understanding. The invaders were strong High talents, and unless they were completely enslaved they would resist being controlled to a certain degree. Complete enslavement would make them answer all questions fully, but only the questions put to them with no additional comments. And it was the unguarded comments that would give him and his Blendingmates the most information…
"That's fine," Jovvi said as the prisoners were lined up in front of them. "Now you five may kneel."
The five former leaders did as they were told, and then Jovvi released a certain amount of control. The five all made sounds of outrage at the same time, and then seemed to be struggling.
"You won't be allowed to stand, so you might as well stop trying," Jovvi told them calmly while the audience of their associates quieted. "And we also won't bother asking your names. Only people who matter have names."
"We more than matter, because we're of the Blessed Ones," the man in the middle grated, the words slipping in and out of a growl. "Whatever trick you used to defeat us won't work the next time we face you."
"Your defeat wasn't a trick, so stop lying to yourselves," Tamrissa put in, her voice even harder than the man's. "You lost because we're better than you, and there won't be a next time that we face you. How did you fools get started with ruining people's lives?"
"We were born to rule in our own lands, and then were chosen to extend those lands," the man answered, pride and anger fighting in his tone. "The lives of lesser beings are unimportant when compared to our desires, as it is we who will civilize the rest of this barbarian-ruled world."
