Destiny (34 page)

"I had no idea that that would be so simple and - and -
easy
," Lorand blurted. "I wanted to say something to the rest of you, but then I decided to wait until Naran and Jovvi were with us. This is much too good to keep to ourselves."

"Yes, it certainly is," Tamrissa agreed with a gentle laugh while Rion joined Vallant in smiling. "And now it's Naran's turn, so let's get on with it."

"I was prepared to worry, but then I Saw that I would succeed," Naran said with the same calm smile she'd been showing all along. "With that in mind…"

Rion saw Naran close her eyes, and then there was a repetition of the experience with Lorand. The Rion entity formed, there was a jarring lurch, and then Rion
saw
the others with Naran included this time. They all smiled at one another, and then the Blending was gone.

"I'd still like to know why we start out as the entity and then the entity disappears," Rion said to Jovvi. "Do you have any idea why that is?"

"Maybe I'll understand once it happens to
me
," Jovvi replied ruefully. "I've done what I'm about to do a hundred times, but the entity has always been there."

"I think that's because you never brought the rest of us forward," Tamrissa mused, obviously considering the matter. "When I first initiated the Blending I did what
you
always did, but that put me out in front instead of meshed in with the rest of you. Once you do the bringing forward, it ought to work out the way it's supposed to."

"Then let's try it," Jovvi said with raised brows, clearly as encouraged as Lorand had been. For the third time the Rion entity formed, but there was a longer delay than previous. Then the Rion entity perceived a sound of pleased discovery, there was the familiar jarring lurch, and then -

"What happened?" Jovvi asked as she looked around at all of them. "We were Blended, I brought you all forward, and then we
weren't
Blended. What went wrong?"

"You expect
us
to know?" Tamrissa said with a sound of ridicule. "When it comes to knowing what's going on, we're lucky we know what time of day it is. Why don't you initiate the Blending again, and maybe we'll get a clue."

"I might as well," Jovvi muttered, and Rion sat prepared to be swept up into the Blending. But a long moment passed with nothing happening, which couldn't possibly be a good sign.

"What's wrong, love?" Lorand asked a Jovvi who seemed to have gone pale. "Why aren't you initiating the Blending?"

"I'm trying, love, I'm really trying," Jovvi answered, tears clear behind the words. "For some reason I can't seem to do it, so I'd like one of you others to Blend us. I may be able to do it again after that."

They all agreed, of course, and Tamrissa was the first to try. When she failed then Vallant took his turn, but he wasn't any more successful. Rion made the effort when it became
his
turn, but there was nothing to be gained.

"It seems as though there's a - a - blank wall there instead of the Blending state," Rion said after the wasted effort, his insides twisting and churning. "Why is this happening?"

No one seemed able to answer his question, and no one seemed able to initiate the Blending. Each of them tried more than once, but finally they were forced to admit the truth.

Gandistra's Seated Blending was no longer
able
to Blend!

Chapter Twenty

Driffin Codsent stood in the room where Wilant Gorl, Oplis Henden, and the rest of their Blending, sat unmoving. Just staring at them wasn't doing the least bit of good, but Driff had felt the need to do it anyway.

"I almost asked if you were sure there weren't any clues here," Edmin's voice came from the doorway behind Driff. "But I do know what a foolish question that would be, so I won't make things worse for you by asking it."

"I don't see how
anything
could make things worse," Driff answered, turning away from the unliving Highs with a sigh. "It's as if something froze them in place all at the same time, and is now preserving them perfectly. Even after all this time, I can't sense anything actually
wrong
with them."

"Much like the same nothing our entity found," Edmin said, staring past Driff with a frown. "Nothing seems to be wrong with them, but if we can't find what's affecting them we can't bring them back to life. What about those books they're all staring at? Maybe if we looked at those books-"

"No!" Driff said sharply, and then he shook his head in apology. "I didn't mean to bite your head off, Edmin, but the servants tell me that everything was fine with the Highs until they started to read through those books. I can't imagine what could be in them that would do this not only to the ones reading but every other High in the city as well, but checking ourselves isn't a good idea. If this did happen because of something in those books, we could end up in the same state the Highs are in."

"I don't think I'd enjoy that," Edmin said ruefully, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "Hopefully I'd have no idea it was happening, but on some level I
know
I would not enjoy it. So what are we going to do next?"

"We'll just have to get on with things, and hope that the Seated Blending gets back sooner rather than later," Driff said as he began to move toward the door. "I'm hoping that whatever is affecting these people is too subtle for my own talent strength, but not for theirs."

"But … what if the same thing happens to
them
?" Edmin asked, a question that stopped Driff just as he stepped out into the hall. "Since we don't know what's causing the condition, isn't it possible - "

"I don't believe I never thought of that," Driff said in horror, accidentally interrupting Edmin again. "But you're absolutely right, so we'll have to do something to keep the unaffected Highs out of the city until they can look around from a distance. It's a good thing you're here to do my thinking for me, Edmin. Obviously I need
someone
to do it."

"You're just being overwhelmed by the responsibility of being in charge, Driff," Edmin answered with a smile as he stopped to Driff's left. "And you're frustrated over not being able to help those people. The point would have come through to you as soon as someone reported the approach of the Seated Blending."

"I'm not sure you're right, but I still appreciate having you say it," Driff answered with a shake of his head and a clap to Edmin's shoulder. "But we do have to get on with things, and our next chore is to interview all those prisoners we took. Are you ready to get started?"

"I will be as soon as I take care of a chore of my own," Edmin answered, his own sigh rather deep. "As long as we weren't here in the palace, I could tell myself that seeing my father wasn't practical. Now that we
are
here, the excuse doesn't work any longer."

"Are you sure you have to do it alone?" Driff asked, somehow aware of the pain and disturbance filling his Blendingmate. "I know my presence won't do more than give you moral support, but if you'd like at least that much…"

"You have no idea how tempted I am to accept that offer," Edmin said with a grimace. "And I
would
accept it, except for the virtual certainty that my father would have a marvelous time making you feel absolutely worthless. If you were there, it would just give my father and me something else to argue about, Driff."

"Since you already have enough things to argue about, I withdraw the offer," Driff said with a faint smile and a headshake. "We'll be in that big meeting room once you've finished with your visit."

"As long as the visit doesn't finish
me
, I'll be there," Edmin said with the sort of faint smile he hadn't shown in quite some time. "Since those prisoners are still under control, you won't even have to wait for me to question them. I'll … see you later."

Driff nodded and then watched Edmin walk away, wishing all the while that there was
some
way he could help his Blendingmate. But facing his father was something Edmin had to do alone, and Driff didn't envy him. It would probably be easier to face his own father, an effort Driff had no intention of ever making.

But Edmin had no choice, and as Driff turned toward the large meeting room he wasn't sure he even wanted to know how things went…

Edmin Ruhl, once a lord and the son of a High lord, paused for a moment outside the room he'd been told his father was in. The old man had healed to the point where he was able to leave his bed for a short time every day, and had also begun to make himself unpopular with the serving staff. If the staff had had to obey the old man's demands, half of them probably would have quit by now…

But all those extraneous thoughts were just a way to put off what was necessary, so Edmin squared his shoulders, opened the door, and walked inside. Embisson Ruhl sat in a chair reading a book, and spoke without bothering to look up.

"I thought I made it clear that I wasn't to be disturbed," Edmin's father stated in the inflexible tone Edmin knew so well. "Get your carcass out of my sight, and do it this instant."

"But my carcass isn't
in
your sight," Edmin couldn't help answering. "You used to be a good deal more precise than that, Father."

Embisson's head came up fast to show a look of shock on his face, but the shock faded almost immediately.

"For the love of - ! Edmin, get that door closed at once! If they find you here, the cell they put you in will be a good deal worse than
this
miserable room. I don't know how you found me, but you couldn't have arrived at a better time."

"Oh?" Edmin said as he closed the door behind him. "And why is my arrival at
this
time such a good thing?"

"It's a good thing because I was about to try escaping on my own," Embisson replied in a soft voice, gesturing Edmin closer. "We'll keep our voices down to make sure no one overhears us, but there are things I must know. How do you mean to get me out of here, and what point are the Nolls at? Are they likely to make their coup good before you and I can put our own plans in motion?"

"The Nolls are no longer a threat to anyone but themselves," Edmin answered, stopping in front of his father's chair. "They were allowed to do their best, and then they were all arrested."

"So they failed!" Embisson said with great amusement and deep satisfaction. "It serves them right, and now they'll be sent to join those other failures who dared to call themselves noble. But what did you mean when you said they were 'allowed' to do their best? Who allowed that, and how did you find out about it?"

"The various Blendings running this city knew all about the 'renegades'," Edmin said, more than aware that he avoided the main issues but finding it impossible to do otherwise. "They could have arrested the Nolls at any time, but chose instead to let them make fools of themselves first as an object lesson to anyone else with the same idea. The days of a nobility running things in this empire are over."

"How can you speak such nonsense with a straight face, Edmin?" Embisson demanded, his tone trying to hide the dismay Edmin knew he felt on the inside. "The Nolls were nothing before the troubles, so their proving themselves failures means the same nothing. You and I are a different story, and I'll take a great deal of pleasure in proving that. Now tell me: how did you get in here, and how do you plan to get me out?"

"Obviously it's time we got down to it," Edmin muttered, feeling as well as seeing his father's intense stare. "I got in here without any trouble, because I'm now a member of a rather important Middle Blending."

"Edmin, that's absolute genius!" Embisson breathed, a wide grin quickly appearing on his face. "You've brought me a Blending to work with, and now our success is guaranteed. But how did you find enough of our people to make up a Blending? Were they all actually hiding here in the city?"

"Father, stop and think for a minute," Edmin said earnestly, hating the way things were going. "There aren't
any
of our people left in the city, and even if there were they would have no idea how to survive without servants to do things for them. Two members of my Blending do happen to have been born into our class, but they earned places for themselves in Astinda before they came back here. They're no more interested in seeing the nobility rise again than I am."

"You can't mean that," Embisson said, shocked horror echoing so strongly that Edmin probably could have felt it even without his talent. "Edmin, we're
nobles
, and it's the place of nobles to be in charge of the important things in life. If those important things are left for the peasants to see to, this country will fall to absolute ruin."

"This country was
about
to fall into absolute ruin when control was taken away from you and your friends, Father," Edmin stated, seeing no way out of the need to speak the truth. "Even if things had gone the way they usually did and your pet Blending was Seated, what do you imagine they would have been able to do against the ten Blendings from Astinda looking for vengeance? Ten
High
Blendings, not the useless Middles you and the others had control of. Do you really think you and the others would have been able to
buy
the Astindans off?"

"We would have handled the matter, just as we always handled things," Embisson muttered, now staring at the floor rather than at Edmin. "Gold speaks more loudly than talent, Edmin, and those Astindans would have taken our gold just as peasants always have."