Competitions (25 page)

“Of course he will,” Hestir agreed heartily while Lorand felt a definite sinking feeling in his middle. “Dom Coll understands that it’s simply a matter of using sufficient strength to get the job done. Let’s go over there now, shall we?”

The restoration of Hestir’s jovial good mood worked to weaken Lorand’s determination even more, since both of the Adepts had chosen to say exactly the wrong thing in an effort to bolster his confidence. If that many people failed to pass the tests, then they had to require a
lot
of strength, just as Hestir had stressed. That meant—

Lorand’s fretting came to a sudden halt as suspicion flared like a torch of pitch. Both Adepts
had
said exactly the wrong thing, and right after Hestir had seemed so disturbed by Lorand’s decision to test. It didn’t make sense for them to want to discourage him, but they couldn’t be doing anything else. While pretending to be on
his
side.

Anger grew in Lorand as he followed after the men, burning high and hot for two reasons. The first was that the Adepts seemed to know all about his problem, and the second was that they were trying to use that knowledge against him. As a third it grated on his sense of pride that they obviously considered him too backward to notice what they were doing, too much of a “mudfoot” to discover their little trick.

And then Lorand wondered if that was the only trick they had in store for him. Thinking back to his first conversation with Hestir, Lorand now remembered the Adept saying he needed “a” witness to his attempts at mastery, not two witnesses. Hestir could have meant a witness in addition to himself, but Lorand didn’t believe that. The two were definitely up to something, and now Lorand had to discover what that was.

“All right, my friend, we’re here,” Hestir said, and Lorand looked up to discover that they’d reached the proper cubicle. Inside was a vat of thick black liquid, a liquid that came from beneath the ground and was therefore in the province of Earth magic.

“All you have to do, Dom Coll, is explode this liquid in the same way you exploded the pile of soil yesterday,” Hestir continued, stepping aside out of the way. “It does happen to be more difficult, but I have confidence in your level of strength.”

Lorand kept his face straight as he stepped into the cubicle, but inside himself he fought to hold his temper. These two were trying to make him fail, so that Jovvi would move completely beyond his reach and Drowd would be able to laugh in ridicule. But Lorand wasn’t going to let either of those things happen, not if he could possibly help it. Death would be better and easier to take…

Even as he looked at the vat holding the thick black liquid, Lorand’s ability was already spreading toward it as well. Merging with the power had always been an incredibly vital experience for him, and if not for his fears about burnout it would have been the best thing in his life. When he touched the black liquid with his ability, he was able to feel the individual drops that the whole was made of, their viscosity and texture, their weight and natural movement.

And all of that told him what he would have to do to scatter it the way he’d scattered the soil, to send it fountaining up in a proper explosion. It
would
take more strength than it had taken to explode the soil, but Lorand was already using that much strength and more. All he had to do was work out the proper addition to the necessary weaving…

“Have you changed your mind, Dom Coll?” Hestir’s voice came from behind him, so bland that Lorand’s anger tried to rise again. “If you have, we quite understand. But if you haven’t, please begin right now.”

“As you wish,” Lorand answered with his own blandness, making no effort to turn. “Right now it is.”

And then he exploded the liquid, sending it splashing up and around with no more warning than that. But he’d first woven a very fine net of soil in front of himself, to keep the liquid from splashing
him
along with everything else. From the immediate shouts of surprise and disgust erupting behind him, Lorand was forced to guess that the two Adepts hadn’t thought to do the same. They must have moved to stand in the cubicle’s doorway, possibly believing there was no danger in doing that…

“Hestir, weren’t you and Morin standing behind the resin walls?” Lorand asked once he’d turned, now fighting to put concern in his voice rather than breaking down and laughing out loud. Hestir was spattered all over his left side and Morin had the same all over the right, showing they hadn’t moved out of the doorway quite fast enough. It couldn’t have happened to two nicer people, but it would be unwise to make that opinion visible to the two.

“It’s a shame your clothing had to get stained, but you were absolutely right,” Lorand burbled on as he left the cubicle, pretending he couldn’t see how angry the Adepts were. “That wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, so I’m ready to tackle the next exercise. But I would advise you men to get those stains out of your clothes right now, before they damage the underlying dyes beyond repair.”

“We appreciate the advice, Dom Coll, but unfortunately Morin and I haven’t the time to play with stains right now,” Hestir replied through his teeth, having removed the black liquid from nowhere but his face and hand. “We’ll see to the matter later, after we’ve witnessed however many masteries you gain.”

Lorand shrugged and nodded before leading the way toward the next cubicle, but his thoughts were grimly amused. The two men claimed that they didn’t have time to remove the stains, but Lorand would have bet his chance in the competitions on the virtual certainty that they
couldn’t
remove them. The black liquid really was difficult to work with, and it wasn’t hard to believe that men who had been
appointed
Adepts just weren’t up to it.

All good humor lasted only the few steps necessary to reach the next cubicle. A large wooden device had been built in there, a thing which resembled a strange farm wagon, and inside the device was a bar of metal. Lorand was supposed to use his ability to take apart the bar of metal, but the metal was steel rather than iron. Lorand had never tried to take apart steel before, but he already knew it wouldn’t be easy.

“This should be a simple task for you, Dom Coll,” Hestir’s voice came from behind Lorand, once again vastly amused. “You did so well taking apart the iron that I’m surprised to see you hesitate. Taking apart steel requires nothing more than the use of additional power.”

Being prodded like that brought back Lorand’s anger, which in turn let him pose a silent question: just how much strength
did
it take to cause steel to crumble? The bottom-line truth was that Lorand didn’t know, so it made sense to find out before deciding he couldn’t do it. And it would take quite a lot to make him admit
that
, with Hestir and Morin poised and ready to laugh.

So Lorand reached out to the wooden device and found the bar of steel inside it. The bar seemed to be the main brace for other metal mechanisms inside the wagon, but that part was unimportant. It was the slim steel bar itself that he examined, and despite its general appearance of solidity he discovered pits and weakness lines that couldn’t be found with eyesight alone. Iron was grainy, but steel had all those pits…

Without stopping to think about it, Lorand poured every ounce of the power he wielded into deepening the pits he’d found. An effort like that couldn’t be sustained long, but it didn’t have to be. Suddenly various parts of the wooden device collapsed or sprang out of line, and Lorand was able to turn a sweat-covered face to the two frowning Adepts.

“I think that makes two additional masteries,” he said, doing nothing to hide how hard he’d worked. “Is this the end of it, or is there more?”

“There’s one more exercise which you haven’t seen as yet, sir,” Hestir replied, now looking more disturbed than angry. “If you’ll follow us, I’ll explain the problem once we reach the proper cubicle.”

Lorand didn’t like the sound of that, but he had no choice about complying. He followed the two men toward an odd looking cubicle some distance away from the others, wondering why Hestir now looked disturbed. So far the Adepts hadn’t done anything but try to shake his confidence in himself, but maybe that was about to change. With only one more exercise to go through, it would be their last chance.

When they reached the separate cubicle, Lorand was able to see why it had looked so strange. It was at least four times bigger than any of the other cubicles, had a small white resin building attached at the back, and it was completely empty. The white resin building had a door leading directly into the cubicle, and oddly enough there was a barred gate across the front of the clear-walled cubicle. Lorand had also caught a glimpse of a portion of the area behind the white resin building before they’d reached the cubicle, and that was the strangest part. It looked like there was a grassy area back there, surrounded by some sort of high metal fence…

“Please step inside, sir,” Hestir said when they stood in front of the cubicle, Morin on the other side of the doorway. Lorand had no choice but to comply, and this time the others made no effort to follow him. The sound of a click came, and when Lorand turned he saw that the barred door had been closed with both Adepts outside.

“Don’t be alarmed, this is simply part of the procedure,” Hestir said quickly, no least trace of amusement in the man. “There could well be danger for us if you fail, so we’re allowed to remain out here.”

“Danger for
you
?” Lorand echoed, frowning as he watched Morin walk to a large lever at the far side of the cubicle. “What danger are you talking about, and what about me? I’m here on the inside.”

“That’s the—ah—required place for an applicant,” Hestir replied, and this time Lorand knew the man was lying. “It won’t be for long, I assure you…”

Hestir’s words trailed off as Morin threw the lever, and a sound behind him made Lorand turn. The sound came from the slow opening of the door in the small resin building, and Lorand suddenly became aware of the fact that there was something alive in the building.

“This is a variation of the third exercise, the one with the rats,” Hestir’s voice came as Lorand tried to identify the living thing inside the building. “In this instance, however, you’re simply to bring the beast out and up to you, then return it to its lair.”

By then Lorand’s blood had begun to run cold. He’d identified what the building held, and it was a puma! There had been some pumas in the hills beyond the farms of his county and once he’d even sensed one in the distance, but to be
this
close…

“You can’t seriously expect me to use Persuasion on an animal like
that
,” Lorand protested, his insides twisting. “If it doesn’t respond, I’ll be killed!”

“That motivation is considered sufficient for those who qualify for this exercise,” Hestir said, his tone beginning to sound more confident. “I would suggest that you take control of the beast now, before it emerges on its own. Once it begins to move voluntarily, controlling it will prove to be much more difficult.”

As if controlling it now was easy! Lorand felt like laughing, but with hysteria rather than amusement. He had to get the puma under control, or it would certainly maul him. He could sense the way it had begun to stir, obviously getting ready to emerge. Now or never, Lorand, boy…

Lorand’s hands would have been trembling if he’d tried to use them, and even the fingers of his ability were the least bit unsteady. But he still reached out to the puma with his talent, intending to judge what level of strength would be required to handle it. At the same time he clung to the bravado he’d generated a moment before, telling himself that except for being larger, the puma was no different than the rat…

“They say that a big beast’s volition is very much like that of a man,” Hestir commented while Lorand carefully sent his ability toward the big cat. “It’s the beast’s feral nature that makes it so, therefore I advise caution.”

The words reached Lorand only distantly, as most of his attention was on the process of beginning to touch the puma. He was just a breath away from it, so he stretched his ability that extra breath of distance—and ran smack into some kind of barrier! Something was between him and the big cat, keeping him from even trying to exercise control!

“Better hurry,” Hestir said, and the choppy, breathless way the man spoke made Lorand glance back. The two Adepts stood directly behind the barred door, and the intense expressions on their faces said they were using their own ability. Obviously that meant the barrier had been erected by
them
, to keep him from gaining the final mastery—and possibly even to keep him from surviving.

Fear flared all through Lorand, but he didn’t have the time to pay attention to all the different levels and sides of it. Once again “maybe I’ll burn out” had changed to “I’ll certainly die,” and the stronger fear was able to overcome the older and slightly weaker one. Before doubt had a chance to creep in, Lorand opened himself to more of the power—a good deal more.

Warm, tingling lightning immediately began to race through him, bringing assurance and physical strength and alertness. He’d need all that and more to do everything he had to, but now he felt that nothing was beyond him. The influx of power had also brought confidence, so he took immediate advantage of it.

Reaching out to the two so-called Adepts was effortless, so much so that their straining to hold the barrier in place was completely obvious. It was clear now that they were no more than strong Middles, and all their attention was on maintaining the merging of their talents. Ordinarily Lorand would have been certain it would be impossible to touch them, but now he had no doubts the other way.

So he reached to their bowels and bladders and closed a strong grip around each of the organs, then began to squeeze. Certain bodily reactions have the ability to break through the strongest air of concentration, and those were two of the best. Lorand felt the two men falter in their merge as they automatically tried to keep from soiling themselves, and that was all the opening he needed. His ability kicked down the weakened barrier, and reached for the puma behind it.