Competitions (2 page)

“Number three mastery, just as promised,” Hestir said with a sigh, a comment Lorand took as his cue to release the rats. “You’re really quite accomplished, sir, and I look forward to watching you climb to the heights. Please believe that I feel honored to be your guide during these first days.”

Lorand was certain that the Adept was being sarcastic, but when he turned to look at the man he was even more disturbed than he’d been earlier. Hestir no longer looked him in the eye, and his stance was all but subservient. Lorand had been fairly certain from the first that he was stronger than the Adept, and somehow he’d apparently proven it. He was no longer “dear boy,” but “sir.”

“I think I’m ready for another cup of tea now,” Lorand said lightly, trying to ease the tension he could feel far too clearly. “Would you do me the favor of joining me, Adept Hestir?”

“The honor would be mine, sir,” Hestir returned, clearly refusing to return to his former attitude. “And allow me to ring for a servant for you…”

Hestir hurried ahead to call a servant and get the tea ordered, and Lorand followed rather quickly in order to add a request for a sandwich or something. He’d expended enough strength to be hungry again, and he wanted to get the food swallowed before Hestir’s attitude ruined his appetite. It was obvious the round little man expected Lorand to become rather important, and wanted to start ingratiating himself as soon as possible.

Lorand sighed at that, having the distinct impression that he would hate being important. He hadn’t expected to feel that way and it was disappointing, almost as disappointing as the fact that his little bird supporter had apparently flown away. The chickadee was nowhere to be seen, which left Lorand all alone among strangers … and possible enemies…

CHAPTER TWO

Jovvi Hafford, Spirit magic

The canopy above the tables in the eating area created a pleasant shade under the noon sun that Jovvi could really appreciate. Sitting out in the fresh air after spending the morning in a practice building felt good, and the lunch she’d just eaten had been more than simply adequate. The people in this area
did
believe in pampering themselves, just as her Adept guide Genovir had said. Jovvi sipped at her second cup of tea, thinking about the morning and the Adept Genovir, and even the people around her at the other tables. Genovir had been the first one she’d met there, and it hadn’t taken long to notice that the other woman’s talent wasn’t particularly strong. An Adept was supposed to be one level below the strength of High practitioners, so the anomaly made Jovvi even more suspicious about what was going on than she had been. And that suspicion increased when she considered the others sitting in the area having their lunch. There were more than thirty men and women, most of them eating alone as she had, and all of them were supposed to be there to qualify for the competitions to become a Seated High. But after spending all morning practicing with her ability, Jovvi was able to tell that most of these people weren’t unusually strong. Oh, they were all
potential
Highs, just like the people in the practice sessions she’d attended before qualifying for
this
place, but they seemed just as stuck at this level as the other sessions people were at the lower level. Which brought Jovvi to the question she’d been asking herself all along: when it came to surviving that time of tests and competitions, how strong was strong enough? It would be foolish to stand out as being
too
good, she felt, but it also would be less than wise to be too ordinary. She hadn’t been able to answer the question this morning, but now she was getting a slightly better idea…

“Did you enjoy your lunch, dear?” a voice came, and Genovir appeared beside Jovvi and then sat herself at the table. The Adept had taken her own lunch at a larger table with half a dozen others, people whose attitudes seemed to be just like hers. Genovir was perhaps ten years older than Jovvi and taller, handsome rather than pretty, brown-haired and eyed, and projecting an attitude of wise patience and full balance.

“Lunch was wonderful, thank you,” Jovvi replied with a smile, feeling Genovir’s probes in her direction. The so-called Adept was apparently trying to be surreptitious about checking Jovvi’s state of mind and balance, but Genovir wasn’t strong enough to get past Jovvi’s awareness undiscovered.

“I knew you’d enjoy it,” Genovir said with a smile and a nod. “We do work harder here, so we deserve to be treated better than those who haven’t accomplished what we have. And after half a day of doing that work yourself, I believe you understand now why it would be foolish of you to expect to reach the competitions very quickly.”

“Actually, I realize more than that,” Jovvi said with the same smile, still turning aside the woman’s ever-strengthening probes. “I noticed a few of these others coming in to practice in the building this morning, but the rest seem content to rest on whatever they’ve already accomplished. Just like those others at the sessions, the ones who have been trying for weeks or months to qualify, but just haven’t managed to do it.”

“What are you saying?” Genovir asked, clearly trying to fight away a frown. “That our people here are no better than those poor, useless souls of the lower level? But that’s ridiculous, my dear, utterly ridiculous. Many of our people don’t
have
to practice any longer, and some work better expending less effort. During the next weeks I’m sure you’ll find your own best pace, and then—”

“Next
weeks
?” Jovvi interrupted to echo, raising one brow. “But we were told that no one will be allowed to try to qualify for the competitions beyond this week’s end. Surely that means there’s only a matter of days before the major competitions will be held?”

“Actually … more than just a few days,” Genovir grudged, not terribly happy about parting with the information. “But that means nothing to someone at your level, my dear, and you shouldn’t let it disturb you. Disturbance will hamper your ability, you know, so when it comes time for you to try for mastery you’ll be at a severe disadvantage.”

“I think that achieving mastery will take care of any disturbance there might be,” Jovvi said pleasantly after finishing her tea. “Just how do I arrange to go about that?”

“I—I ask one of the other Adepts to witness your performance,” Genovir responded, her inner balance definitely gone now. “But you really should take more practice time first, to be certain … you…”

The woman’s words trailed off as Jovvi calmly and simply shook her head, refusing to hear Genovir’s “words of wisdom.” There was no longer any doubt that moving ahead as quickly as possible was still the right thing to do, and she’d have to tell the others as soon as they all got back to the residence tonight. Tamma, and Vallant Ro, and Rion Mardimil, and Pagin Holter—and Lorand Coll. Lorand especially…

Genovir left the table abruptly, but Jovvi wasn’t given much time to worry about how Lorand was doing. It took only a couple of moments before Genovir was back, along with a man who looked more supercilious than self-assured.

“Dama Jovvi Hafford, I present you to Adept Algus,” Genovir said, all but curtseying. “Adept Algus will witness your attempt at mastery, and certify it if you succeed.”

“
When
I succeed,” Jovvi corrected, then rose to her feet to smile at Algus. “How nice that I’ll have a gentleman accompanying me. I always do much better in the company of gentlemen.”

“I don’t doubt that for a moment, lovely child,” Algus replied, his smile having grown interested. “Allow me to offer my arm for the short walk to the practice building.”

Jovvi took the man’s arm with her most charming smile of agreement, ignoring the roiling fuss coming from Genovir. The female Adept was furious over how quickly Jovvi had melted Algus’s aloofness, but that was too bad about her. The tall, saturnine man would do much better on Jovvi’s side, most likely missing entirely how he was being manipulated. Many men with power enjoyed letting beautiful women manipulate them, a fact Jovvi had learned during her time as a courtesan.

Algus decided to chat as he escorted Jovvi to the practice building, so she obligingly chatted. He was an older man who was still in his prime, although obviously no stronger than Genovir. His attempts to unbalance Jovvi’s emotions to his own benefit were easily deflected, so they walked into the practice room still chatting about nothing. Six new subjects stood in the room, eyes dull from the drugs they’d been given, and Algus waved a languid hand at them.

“There they are, lovely child,” he said, his smile more demeaning than amused. “As soon as I cue them, you may go right to it.”

Jovvi nodded with a much better smile and walked to the center of the room, hiding her extreme distaste with the ease of long practice done elsewhere. The subjects they gave her to practice on here were all drugged, otherwise they’d never be able to maintain an almost constant state of unbalance for her to work with. Anger was the easiest thing to induce, with fear coming in a close second. She’d worked with both during the initial test and the sessions, but in this place they’d so far used only anger.

“Hear one who is authorized to command you,” Algus said, obviously giving them the keying phrase. “This woman is your enemy, and your anger at her is boundless.”

The six people immediately grew furious, their raging emotions aimed directly at Jovvi. It had disturbed her for quite some time that morning to see the expressions and gestures that went with the emotion, but she’d finally gotten almost used to it. At least she’d learned to be less concerned over working with actual people, something everyone was raised
not
to do. The far from easy life she’d led as a child now helped her in that respect, and Jovvi was willing to take any help she could get.

So she immediately spread out her ability, touching the hostile emotions of the people before her. They really were furious and weren’t far from deciding to hurt her, so she quickly began to balance their hostility. Their emotions eased immediately, the drug’s presence in their systems doing nothing to stop her, and their shouting and fist-shaking ended just as quickly. They were completely mollified and under control, but Algus waited a moment or two before acknowledging that.

“Very nicely done, lovely child,” he conceded at last, sounding more patronizing than approving. “One mastery accomplished, three to go. You people—division one.”

At the command the six subjects divided into two groups of three, and then they were radiating heavy anger again. It was slightly more difficult for Jovvi to divide her abilities as well, but only because there were individual sources of unbalance in each of the two groups. Beyond that she’d already divided her strength into more than two parts, so a pair of moments later the two groups were calm again. This time Algus waited longer than he had the first time, but eventually had to give in.

“Two masteries, then,” he granted, his words on the cool side. “Quickly now, you people, division two.”

One person came from each of the former groups, and now there were three groups containing two people each. Jovvi had to brace herself against the renewed anger, wondering if the testing authority realized that
this
was the hardest part of the problem. Multiple members of multiple groups was a very tricky exercise in balance, and small beads of perspiration formed on Jovvi’s brow before she had all three groups calmed again. The beads of sweat grew larger while Algus made her hold the groups, but once again he was eventually forced to acknowledge her accomplishment.

“All right, that’s three,” he just about snapped, apparently finding it difficult to maintain his own balance. “But there’s still one to go, so don’t congratulate yourself quite yet. You people, division three.”

The six people spread out to stand individually, which came as a relief for Jovvi. If Algus thought handling six individuals was harder than three pairs Jovvi wasn’t about to correct him, but she did make something of a production of it. She let the ranting and raging go on for a moment before bringing it under control, then clenched her fists as she held the six with her power. She wanted her “struggle” to be clear to Algus, who would certainly wait as long as possible before ending the test. He did wait longer again while Jovvi held the six with only a small amount of effort, but finally his voice came to end it.

“Much to my astonishment, that’s four masteries,” he said, now sounding honestly surprised. “You have my congratulations, Dama, for showing yourself superior to most of those of the gentle sex. Would you care to rest now?”

“Yes, with a cup of tea, if you please,” Jovvi replied faintly after releasing the six subjects. Actually she felt fine, but if Algus wanted to believe her exhausted, that was something else she wasn’t about to argue.

“Here, take my arm,” Algus said after hurrying over to her, his interest now a good deal more intense. “We’ll have the tea together, and perhaps a sweet cake as well. Or anything else you might wish. Your company honors me, Dama, and it would please me to see to your needs.”

Jovvi gave him a wan smile as she leaned on his arm, perfectly well aware of which needs of hers Algus would most prefer seeing to. It would be silly to tell him at once that he hadn’t a prayer of making it into her bed, not when there were things she hoped to learn from the man.

But one thing she’d already learned, and the point was rather significant. Algus now called her “dama” rather than the condescending “lovely child” he’d
been
using, which meant quite a lot. Gaining those masteries had earned her another step upward, and one that was important enough to change Algus’s attitude. If it had been a negative step he would have been a lot less ingratiating, which meant her theories about moving ahead being the best way were proving themselves.

Jovvi took a deep breath of fresh air as Algus led her outside, but still had to fight down a brief flash of frustration. So her theories had proven themselves
so far
; that didn’t tell her how much farther they would take her. She still didn’t know how good good-enough would turn out to be, but she’d better find out before everything fell apart…