Challenges

by Sharon Green

  Delin had rarely used as much concentration as he did now. The power hummed all through his body as he reached toward Kambil, guided by the firm touch already established in his direction. The distance of his reach turned out to be longer than he’d expected, but after what could only have been seconds he actually came in contact with the Spirit magic user! The experience was incredible, more vital and electrifying than anything he’d ever done before, making him want to laugh like a madman. His dream was becoming a reality, one that went beyond even what he had envisioned.

  The first thrill of contact didn’t so much fade as settle down comfortably. The awareness of it remained, but Delin was able to … look around, so to speak. His senses now rode along the double contact between him and Kambil, a contact which allowed him to be aware of certain things. Like Homin’s presence, somewhere to the right of both him and Kambil. The Water magic user also stood to the right, but the sense of him was somehow different…

  “All right, Spirit, by now you should be in contact with the others, and they with you.” Lord Idian’s voice came to Delin clearly, but somehow from a long distance off. “You should be fully aware of them in the sphere the five of you have created, and each of them should be fully aware of you but only distantly aware of each other. You’ve reached that point, have you not?”

  “Actually, no,” Kambil said, a frown clear in his voice. “I’ve touched all four of them, but only Delin and Homin have managed to return the touch. Selendi and Bron are still half out of reach.”

  “It’s not my fault,” Selendi said at once, defensiveness strong in the words. “I just can’t seem to find him, not when I’m still half asleep. It’s simply too hard right now.”

  “It isn’t my fault either,” Bron added his own oar, the words as sullen as his expression undoubtedly was. “I know exactly where he is, but something is keeping me from reaching him. It isn’t my fault if something does that.”

  “Indeed,” Lord Idian commented dryly, clearly displeased. “It may well be that you’re incompatible with the others. If so, there will be no Blending of your group, and you will be spectators at the competitions, not participants. You may all relax now.”

  Delin broke contact with Kambil immediately, before the surge of terror and rage he felt was able to travel up the connection between them. He’d known those fools would cause trouble, and the only surprise involved was that Homin wasn’t guilty as well. If they ruined this for him, he’d—

  “Why don’t you three go along to breakfast, and we’ll continue this tomorrow,” Lord Idian said to Selendi, Homin, and Bron. The man’s voice was still commanding, but some of the sternness had faded. Selendi seemed almost in tears, and Homin cooed comfort at her as he guided her toward the door with an arm around her shoulders. Bron’s sullenness had changed in some manner, as though fear now tinged his perpetual resentment, and he hesitated only a moment before following the two out. He hadn’t made eye contact with anyone, and seemed determined to keep to that as long as possible.

  “I believe I’ll have to have a talk with those two,” Kambil said once the three were gone. “I don’t think Selendi was putting enough strength into her effort, but Bron—I still don’t know what his problem is.”

  “It’s likely the most common problem in groups such as yours,” Lord Idian replied, now back to being warm and friendly. “Lord Bron apparently resents direction of any sort, and is used to turning stubborn in the presence of it. Once he thoroughly understands that no one will coax and wheedle him to try again if he fails, he may find it possible to push aside his habitual behavior. If not…”

  “If not, we’ll all look like fools,” Delin finished sourly, keeping the rest of his emotions well out of Idian’s sight. “All my friends know what I’m in the middle of, and if we don’t even make it to the competitions they’ll never stop laughing. If Bron doesn’t get over whatever it is keeping him from doing his part, I’ll certainly throttle him.”

  “With Fire magic being as important as it is to a Blending, you might consider appealing to his vanity instead,” Lord Idian said with a chuckle as he rose from his chair. “And as far as the girl goes, have either of you lain with her yet?”

  Delin exchanged a glance with Kambil as they both shook their heads. Had they mistaken the proper time when that ought to be done?

  “You, Lord Kambil, should do so at once, and you, Lord Delin, as soon afterward as practical,” Lord Idian said, his nod telling them he wasn’t surprised at their answer. “Physical intimacy strengthens the bond of talent much more than you would believe, which means the others must lie with her as well. A pity you have only the one female, as two has proven itself optimum. Most of your … connections beyond the one with Spirit will need to go through the woman—unless two or more of you men have been intimate? No? A pity, but we all must work with what we have. Until tomorrow, gentles.”

  Lord Idian bowed very slightly and then left them, and Kambil went to the windows and moved the drape somewhat aside. He looked out for a very long moment, then finally turned back to Delin.

  “He’s gone,” Kambil said as he returned to where Delin stood. “And he was quite right about what’s ailing Bron, but he missed the most important part: Bron believes that a ‘leader’ ought to remain aloof from his ‘followers,’ mixing with them only when absolutely necessary and then not completely. It looks like our brilliant idea has backfired on us and singed our fingers.”

  “I knew it was a mistake encouraging him in that, I just knew it!” Delin spat, barely able to keep himself from laying the blame exactly where it belonged: on Kambil. “Now I’ll have to do something about it, and pray it doesn’t turn out to be too little and too late.”

  “Let me handle it,” Kambil said, and his tone somehow calmed Delin’s agitation a bit. “I think I can talk him out of that attitude, and he’s already begun to talk himself out of the other. Not being pushed or argued with frightened him, since it made him realize that failure now will be no one’s fault but his own. If you say anything to him at all, any failure will immediately become your fault.”

  “Won’t the same thing happen with you?” Delin asked, cautiously relieved. “Logically speaking, it ought to.”

  “With me it isn’t a matter of logic,” Kambil replied with a smile. “I can keep Bron’s fear from fading, for instance, and can encourage the idea of mixing with the rest of us. Being able to use his own emotions against him will keep me out of the position he puts everyone else into.”

  “I sincerely hope so,” Delin commented, finding it only fitting that Kambil clean up his own mess. “And don’t forget about Selendi. The two of them have to be ready by tomorrow, sooner if possible. If we lose this opportunity because of those two, I’ll kill them with my bare hands.”

  Kambil nodded with distraction and headed out of the room, either not noticing or simply not commenting about the fact that Delin hadn’t been joking. He stood in the middle of the room, his eyes unblinking, his hands opening and closing at his sides. No, he wasn’t joking about killing those useless fools, not joking in the least…

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Kambil escorted Selendi into the dining room for dinner, seating her beside Homin before going to take his own place at the table. Homin snarled on the inside at Selendi’s satisfied little smile, but when she immediately lost interest in Kambil in favor of himself, the snarl disappeared amid delighted surprise. Kambil had assured Homin that he would return Selendi with no harm done to their relationship, but Homin hadn’t believed it. The small man also hadn’t been able to argue the necessity after it had been explained to him, but he’d been certain that Selendi would be lost to him afterward. Now that his fears had proven groundless, what he felt toward Kambil was almost love.

  Which was exactly what Kambil had been trying for. He smiled to himself as he sat, but the amount of work he’d done today left him only enough strength for a rather faint private smile. First he’d had to explain to Homin why others needed to lie with the
first woman who had ever taken any sort of interest in Homin. Without his ability the effort probably would have been wasted, and their group would have broken up right then and there.

  But his ability was more than simply adequate, so Homin had accepted the necessity. It would have been nice to reward himself with Selendi after that, but first he’d had to see to Bron. If he’d told Delin that letting Bron think of himself as their leader was a mistake, Delin would never have believed him. As it was the man now blamed him for using the flawed technique, since blaming himself was out of the question for Delin. Kambil had been able to see all that clearly, not to mention how close Delin was to losing his grip on all pretense of normality and sanity.

  So he’d volunteered to see to Bron, which had relieved Delin’s mind. Delin hadn’t been able to think of a way out of the trap, but Kambil had expected the problem and so was prepared. Working with Bron was like working with a stone wall already set in cement, but the man really had very little imagination. That made things much easier, and by the time Kambil had left him, Bron was eagerly looking forward to being “one of the very, very few.” At their next attempt he would embrace the idea of Blending, both to elevate his social status and to keep from becoming a laughingstock.

  Then it had become time to lie with Selendi, but not simply for the sake of the Blending or even purely for the pleasure. Selendi liked to be in control of when she bestowed her favors, and was more than capable of refusing to cooperate just to exercise that control. Kambil had had to see to that part of it first, and then he’d had to set the right frame of mind for her for their next session. To say that her effort at Blending had been half-hearted would be to overstate the effort, but the next time would be another story.

  Only then had he been able to enjoy lying with her, using her warped need for acceptance and control to satisfy his own physical requirements. It had been a long, intense time of delightful exertion, and afterward they’d both fallen asleep. But not before Kambil reinforced his work with her, bringing her to full compliance. He’d used the nap to regain a good part of the strength he’d expended, but the thought of going to bed—alone! remained an attractive one.

  And yet there was still Delin to consider. Kambil sipped from his wine glass as he watched the man saunter into the dining room, showing the world nothing but languid charm. On the inside, however, there was a roiling, agitated mass of fear and determination and ruthlessness, all held in a precarious control that could be swept away at any moment. His mind filled with hatred and loathing when he glanced at Homin and Selendi, and the emotion eased only a very little when he nodded to Kambil before taking his seat.

  “Bron’s late again?” he asked in mock horror, pretending to tease about a subject which actually came close to setting him frothing at the mouth. “I can understand being late to dull and unimportant meetings, but when you start arriving late to meals you definitely have a problem.”

  “Bron had a visitor this afternoon, and they spent quite a lot of time in the bath house,” Kambil supplied, pretending himself that the subject was nothing but idle conversation. “He began to dress as soon as she left, so he ought to be with us at any moment.”

  “That’s a different story,” Delin allowed, his mind grudgingly releasing some of the intensity of his hatred. “A man should never hurry a lady, especially not one who makes the effort to come to him. But we won’t hold dinner, not when I’m as hungry as I am.”

  “Holding dinner won’t be necessary,” Bron’s voice came, and then the man himself appeared to take his place at the table. “After my exertions of the past few hours, starving is a mild description of my condition. And I can’t afford to be starving, not when I’ll need all my strength for the next time we try to Blend. Next time it will work properly, I’ve promised myself that.”

  Delin returned Bron’s smile, but Kambil could see that his mind was just short of being stunned. He’d never expected to hear that from Bron, and he turned uncomprehending eyes to Kambil.

  “I suspect that Bron has come to realize just how few people are ever in our position,” Kambil supplied in an offhand way. “Our social status will soar once we’ve managed to Blend, and we’ll be saved from the ignominy of failure.”

  “And we’ll have such marvelous control,” Selendi put in, turning her face away from Homin to look at Delin, but continuing to hold Homin’s hand. “Gaining control over ourselves is just the first step in controlling everything around us, so I can’t wait until we try to Blend again. Bron and I will manage it the next time, just wait and see if we don’t.”

  Bron’s smile of appreciation for her vote of confidence brought an answering smile from Selendi, and then she returned her attention to Homin. The proper balance was there in all three of them, and even Delin’s stunned incredulity was turning to hopeful approval. Kambil’s work was beginning to pay off, but then a ripple of disturbance went through Homin.

  “It’s just now occurred to me,” the small, overweight man said, looking from Delin to Kambil and back again. “A social position that very few can equal… The control we’ll be able to exert once we’ve Blended… No one but the Five wields that kind of power, and the social position is one that no one can equal. I’ve never met or even heard about someone who was part of a challenging Blending twenty-five years ago. Can any of you say you have?”

  Now it was three minds which were producing shock, with Homin’s stunned realization not far behind. Obviously none of them had considered the point before, and in fact found it almost impossible to accept.

  “What you’re suggesting just can’t be,” Delin protested, more than simply thrown off balance. “They’d never do to us what they do to the peasants, not when we matter. They may separate challenging Blendings who fail, which is, after all, simple caution, but to do more than that—No one would stand for it.”

  “How would they know?” Kambil asked quietly, pleased that the others had finally reached a position of true understanding. “If our friends heard that we’d been rewarded for our efforts with extremely important positions in various parts of the governmental structure, how many of them would wonder why we didn’t call on them to say goodbye before leaving? They’d decide we’d gotten to be much too important to bother with them again, and then they’d shrug and forget about us. Am I misdescribing the situation?”

  “No,” Delin grudged when the others remained silent. “It’s exactly what I would think if it happened to someone else. But what about our families? They’d expect to hear from us, and would certainly cause a stir if they didn’t.”

  “Now you’ve penetrated to the heart of the matter,” Kambil agreed, trying to break it to them gently. “My father was very upset when he learned that I’d been drafted to be part of a challenging Blending, but he refused to discuss why until just before we all left our homes to come here. That was when he explained that he’d do the best he could until the competitions, but so far he hadn’t been able to find a way to get me exempted from whatever they mean to do with us afterward. All he’d managed to get was an apology for the necessity of having to use me. I wouldn’t have been chosen if they’d had any choice, they said.”

  “Why not?” Bron asked, his tone absolutely flat. “We’ve all been told what an honor and privilege this is. Why would they have chosen someone else over you?”

  “Because of two reasons,” Kambil replied, leaking his disgust over the subject so the others would know how he saw it. “The first reason is that I get along with my father and grandmother, and we’re actually quite fond of each other. The second is that I’m known for not getting into … escapades, and several important people in the government have seriously considered taking me on as their chief assistant. I had a … ‘bright future’ ahead of me, but they weren’t able to find anyone else strong enough in Spirit magic.”

  The other four sat staring down at the table, and despite the thick silence Kambil knew exactly what they were thinking. None of them really got along with their families, and i
f there wasn’t out-and-out dislike between them, then indifference was as good as it got. And as far as promising futures went, there wasn’t a single one among them. Even Delin had been considered “too smooth to be trustworthy,” a condemnation Kambil had heard from more than one source. Most people seemed to believe that Delin would immediately try to replace anyone foolish enough to take him on as an assistant, which showed how astute even the dull and unimaginative could sometimes be.

  “Why couldn’t they simply separate us?” Selendi asked, her thoughts throbbing with pained disappointment. “I mean, if we lost they wouldn’t have to do anything else, just keep us from ever getting together again.”

  “Keep us under guard for the rest of our lives?” Delin asked, his tone less ridiculing than he would have wished. “Even if that were something we could live with, they would still have no guarantee that we’d never find a way around their precautions. It would be more than embarrassing for them if we got together, and their precious Seated Five turned out to be incapable of defeating us. No, they won’t simply separate us.”

  “So you see that we, also, have no choice in the matter,” Kambil summed up, now sending determination. “We have to Blend and we have to win, but not just for the unique position and its incredible amount of power. We have to do it to save our favorite necks, which no one else can do for us.”

  The others all stirred and began to absorb his determination, which they were able to do without interruption. No one had noticed yet that not a single servant had intruded on their privacy, something Kambil had made sure would be so before he began the conversation. Rigos’s spy on the staff hadn’t been easy to handle after all the rest of the work Kambil had done, but it had been necessary so he’d accomplished it anyway. All the servants were now waiting to be summoned, without the least thought about listening in.

  “Well, if one or two of us didn’t really want to win before, I think they’ve now changed their minds,” Delin said after a moment, looking around at everyone else with an expression of grim satisfaction. “Before, winning could be looked at as simply saving face, but now it’s the only thing that will save the rest of us as well. Do any of you believe otherwise?”