The Talented (15 page)

“
I can’t wait to return to
the library,” Tam said. “I was not able to bring nearly enough
books on this trip.” Since he had managed to cram more books into a
saddlebag than Adrienne had thought possible,
she
was not sure that his statement
was entirely accurate, but she was too busy studying the city to
comment.

The city had no
surrounding wall to speak of. In lieu of stone defenses, dry wooden
boards ten feet high surrounded the city and gave the appearance of
safety, but they would provide no real protection if someone were
to try and enter without permission. Fire or even a battering ram
would work quickly if invaders were too lazy to climb the low
walls.

She turned her attention
to the hinges on the gates and realized that they were going to
rust despite the dry heat. Adrienne could not help but wonder when
the gates had last been closed, or if they even could be closed
after so many years of neglect.

The three of them rode
their horses through the gates and garnered no more than a passing
glance from the one guard set to keep watch.

“
If my presence is no
longer necessary, I am going to leave,” Ilso said to Tam, giving
Adrienne a dark look. He had not forgiven her for her actions the
day she had killed the brigands a week before, and Adrienne was
glad to see him gone. She’d had more than one uneasy moment
wondering if Ilso might try to harm her in her sleep.

“
Of course,” Tam said. “If
any of the commissioners needs to speak with you, they will be in
touch.” Tam was practically vibrating with excitement and
anticipation, and his gelding snorted and bobbed his head in
reaction, showing more spirit than he had since Adrienne had first
seen the animal.

“
What now?” Adrienne asked,
scanning the crowds. There were inns and taverns, storefronts and
the occasional vendor selling wares on the street. People went this
way and that, some shopping, others with less apparent
destinations.

Nowhere did Adrienne see
signs of people being trained to unlock special abilities, although
she was sure that was what the commission was doing in Kessering.
Tam had practically said as much when he was telling her stories of
what he had seen. Adrienne did not comment on the lack of
noticeable Talents in the city so far. Tam probably thought her too
dim to make the connection between what he had said and the reality
of what was being done here, and there was no point in
disillusioning him at this late time.

Tam’s opinions no longer
mattered to Adrienne. She was in Kessering now, and she had made
her own notes and speculations based on what Tam had said and what
she had read in Pele’s journal. From now on, she would focus on
that.

“
Now I must present you to
the commission,” Tam said. “If you pass their inspection, you will
begin your training in earnest.”

They dismounted their
horses, and as Adrienne walked through the streets she noticed
people looking at her out of the corners of their eyes. Some people
stared more blatantly, or would look away quickly before looking
back. People looked at Tam, too, as people leading horses through
the streets tended to draw attention in a city as isolated as
Kessering, but they did not look at Tam with the same wary look in
their eyes as when they watched Adrienne. Their eyes never failed
to take in the sword at her hip or the snug fitting leather
swa’il
that she wore. It
made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Adrienne and Tam passed
carts selling trinkets and baked goods, and she was tempted to stop
and buy a meat pie, a change from the stew they had been eating for
the past weeks. Now wasn’t the time, but she marked the placement
of the food cart for future reference. Children ran underfoot
shrieking and laughing, and there were more women on the streets
than men. It would take her awhile to adjust to the changes between
camp life and city life.

When they reached the
library where the commission met, Adrienne and Tam handed off their
horses and received promises that both horses and baggage would be
taken care of. Adrienne pressed instructions on the groom, who
seemed happy to take care of such a magnificent animal as Strider.
Adrienne was pleased to receive at least a few good words after
three weeks of criticism, even if those words were only about her
horse.

“
Time to move, Adrienne,”
Tam said when she started instructing the stable boy on Strider’s
shoes and inquiring after a farrier. “The commission is
waiting.”

••••••

Adrienne knew as soon as
they were shown to the commission that the majority of the people
on the commission were scholars, and no doubt delighted—as Tam
was—by the tomes surrounding them. On the way in she had noticed
that the back of the library looked more like living quarters than
a place for books, and she wondered how many scholars lived in the
library as well as spent their days there.

“
Tam, welcome home,” an
elderly man said after a clerk had announced them. “I see you found
someone who might be suitable?” Though she kept her face carefully
neutral and her stance relaxed, she noted the skeptical look in his
eyes and had to force herself not to speak.

“
Yes, Elder Rynn. May I
present to the commission Adrienne Rydaeg?”

“
Lieutenant Adrienne
Rydaeg,” Adrienne corrected, stepping forward and giving a short,
quick bow, holding her sword back with a practiced move. “Formerly
in charge of recruit training at Kyrog.”

“
You seem rather young to
be a lieutenant,” the woman sitting to Elder Rynn’s left said. She
was the only female commissioner, and Adrienne thought she was
probably a noble, not a scholar, and given a place on the
commission for political reasons.

“
Lady Chessing, I was
assured that Ad-er-Lieutenant Rydaeg had a great deal of experience
as a soldier,” Tam told the noblewoman. “The captain at Kyrog
recommended her above all others.” He smiled in a way that was no
doubt meant to be persuasive, but fell short in Adrienne’s opinion.
It was obvious he did not believe his own words when it came to her
abilities, despite what he had witnessed firsthand on their journey
here.

“
We will interview her
before judging if she is suitable or not,” Elder Rynn said.
Adrienne knew without being told that he was the leader of the
commission. She directed her full attention to him, blocking out
Lady Chessing and the rest of the commission for the time
being.

Adrienne did her best to
answer the commission’s questions while maintaining her poise. It
was not that the questions bothered her, but rather the fact that
many of the questions and their answers seemed inconsequential,
such as her favored pastimes and whether she preferred the wet or
dry season on the plains. She sensed the same disapproval from the
commissioners as she had from Tam and Ilso regarding her profession
as a soldier and wondered once again why any soldier had been
selected to come back to Kessering. The questions they asked
regarding her soldiering skills were vague at best, and they seemed
not to know what questions to ask or what answers to listen
for.

They may have gone looking
for a soldier, but they did not seem to want one.

Only the young man seated
at the end of the table seemed to be regarding her without a heavy
layer of doubt or dislike. The way he watched her projected
interest, not skepticism.

After the commission’s
questions had been answered to the best of Adrienne’s abilities,
they held a short, hushed discussion right there at the table.
Elder Rynn finally called everyone to attention after the
discussion wound down. “The majority have found Lieutenant Adrienne
Rydaeg suitable for the commission’s purposes. The minority has
conceded. She will commence with her training.”

His words had a ceremonial
ring to them, and she wondered who was there besides the
commissioners, Tam, and herself to notice or care. And she wondered
about the precedence of this event for it to warrant such ceremony.
How many before her had been found suitable to begin training? Tens
or hundreds, she could not begin to guess.

And now she was one of
them.

“
Now, Adrienne, I must ask
how much you know about the commission and Kessering,” Elder Rynn
said in a voice dry as old parchment.

Adrienne told them all
that Tam had told her, and all that she had learned from reading
the old journal. “My best guess is that this commission is using
Kessering as a place to train people to use special abilities, and
that these abilities will somehow be used in the war efforts
against Almet.”

Clearly taken by surprise,
the commissioners began to talk excitedly amongst themselves until
Elder Rynn slapped his hand loudly on the table and got their
attention. He glanced over at Tam, but directed his words at her.
“Did Tam tell you this?”

“
Not explicitly. I reached
this conclusion on my own, based on the purpose of this commission,
what stories Tam told, and the information found in the journal.”
Adrienne could see the doubt on their faces. For once she wished
that she was older, and wearing a fine dress instead of the worn
leather
swa’il
that was so practical for riding or fighting. If she had come
to them without a sword and many days’ worth of sweat and dust
clinging to her, they might not doubt her intelligence. Had she
looked different, a mature lady instead of a young soldier, her
reception may not have been as rude.

Such thoughts seemed
traitorous to everything Adrienne had ever worked for, and she
wished immediately to unthink them. “Your goal is to end the war,
once and for all,” Adrienne said, making an effort to sound sure of
herself. “It would be insanity to think you could do this by the
same means that have been used before, but if there is a way for
people to develop extraordinary Talents that the other side does
not possess…”

“
There is,” Elder Rynn
said. “Over the past five years, we have managed to produce over
twenty people with abilities.”

The information shook her.
For all that she had suspected this to be their goal, and despite
what Tam had told her, she had expected to come here and find that
they had achieved only limited success at best. She had never
really considered the possibility that they had already succeeded
with such a large number of people. Visions of people going to
Almet, controlling fire and throwing the enemy back with just their
thoughts, filled her mind. It would change the war more than any
weapon. “That is amazing! Can they really do all that the tales say
they can? Even the journal talks about—”

The clearing of a throat
cut her off. It was another commissioner, a man slightly younger
than Elder Rynn and wearing a mustard yellow jacket. “There is a
complication that we did not anticipate when we began training
people to unlock abilities,” he said in a voice surprisingly
effeminate for such a large man.

“
That is an understatement,
Franklin,” Lady Chessing said. “What we have is not a complication,
it’s a disaster!”

It was clear to Adrienne
that Lady Chessing did not take any blame for the disaster herself,
but placed it all on the other commissioners.

“
What complication?”
Adrienne asked, wishing Tam had spent more time explaining what was
happening in Kessering rather than focusing on the journal. She
hated being two steps behind.

“
There are limitations that
none of us expected,” Franklin of the yellow jacket said. “At
first, we tried training the commission members, and then scholars.
It seemed wise that such powers be limited to logical and
intelligent individuals.”

“
However, the training did
not yield the results we had hoped for,” Elder Rynn said, taking up
for Franklin.

“
Why not?”

“
For one, it seems you must
be young to develop an ability.” He shook his head slightly, as
though regretting that limitation.

Adrienne was not surprised
to hear that, although she could sympathize with the old man’s
disappointment. Not only had Ilso and Tam asked for a young soldier
in Kyrog, but the author of the journal had often used “older” and
“more experienced” synonymously, as he had used “young” and “new,”
as though there were no older Talented who were not experienced.
“That isn’t so unexpected,” Adrienne said. “Some skills are easier
to develop when young.”

Karse had been the one to
tell Adrienne that.

No one looked happy with
Adrienne’s observation. “Age is not the only limitation,” Elder
Rynn said in his dry voice. “Some people seem unable to develop an
ability, no matter how hard they try, and those who do develop
abilities are not able to use them outside of the individual’s
usual scope.”

Adrienne shook her head,
confused and wondering why he did not just say what he meant.
Captain Garrett would never have taken so long getting to the
point. “Scope of what?”

Elder Rynn gestured for
the young man sitting at the end of the table to explain. He did
not seem old enough to have a place on the commission, and Adrienne
wondered why the explanation was left to him rather than to the
elder or Franklin. Even Chessing.