Destiny (20 page)

And with that the Lorand entity flashed to the point he had previously decided on, to find that the invaders' advance had been temporarily halted.

They have apparently stopped for midday nourishment and rest,
the Vallant part of the Lorand entity thought.
It would be best to wait for them to resume their march before we proceed.

Yes, that would clearly be best,
the Lorand entity agreed as his other parts spoke matching words of concurrence. With agreement complete the Lorand entity prepared himself to wait, but the time was very short. The invaders got to their feet only moments after the Lorand entity's arrival, and their column began to march in the direction of where the Lorand entity and his associates waited.

-The time to begin is at hand,-
the Lorand entity informed his associates, and then they all floated forward. One of the associate entities spread insubstantial "hands" under the road the invaders walked, and a moment later that road and the dirt beneath it abruptly disappeared. More than fifty of the invader flesh forms fell out of sight into the pit that had been formed, a deep pit that was just as suddenly filled with water.

There had been no indication of the presence of the intruder entity, but an instant later the intruder was there. The water in the pit disappeared as quickly as it had formed, and then the intruder had turned to the Lorand entity's associates.

-No,-
the Lorand entity sent, floating quickly to place himself between his associates and the intruder. -
We are here to face you, not them.-

-You may face this entity, but you shall not prevail,-
the intruder sent with familiar arrogance. -
You will fall before me as you should have done when last we met.-

And then that odd roiling began in the midst of the intruder again, but this time the Lorand entity knew what the roiling was. The intruder reached to manipulate the power itself, which flashed through the intruder's individual talents to strengthen them far beyond what they would be normally.

When the attack reached the Lorand entity he was able to withstand it a good deal more easily than he had the first time, but once again he was unable to respond. It took all of his attention and ability to simply hold off the attack, which he did until his associates indicated that they had done everything they could. At that point the associates held in reserve attacked the intruder at the same time, and when the intruder withdrew just a bit the Lorand entity and his associates were able to flash back to where their flesh forms waited.

"That was a lot better, but it still wasn't what we need to win," Tamrissa said as soon as Jovvi dissolved the Blending. "But one thing of value
was
accomplished: welcome to adulthood, Lorand."

"How would
you
know what adulthood is like?" Lorand countered with a wide grin, hearing the others chuckle. "I'm delighted to say that I've now caught up to the rest of you, but I'd still like to know what you threatened to do to me if I failed. I've been wracking my brain, but I can't think of a single thing."

"That's because there
isn't
anything I would have done," Tamrissa answered with a laugh. "I knew you were worrying about whether or not you would make it, so I decided to distract you with nonsense to keep your own worries from interfering with the merge. Obviously, my idea worked."

"It certainly did, but I'm going to have to get even for that threat," Lorand said after he and the others had added their own laughter. "Knowing what you're capable of, I was already blushing hot enough to start a fire by the time we Blended… But we did make a much better showing this time, even though none of us was entirely successful. I feel like a traitor saying this, but I'm glad the intruder was able to keep all those men from drowning. They may be our enemies now, but if we win against the intruder then we can free those slaves of theirs."

"It isn't being a traitor to want to save innocent lives," Jovvi told him with a gentle smile and a touch of her hand, then the smile disappeared. "I'm just not sure if those men
were
saved, since Vallant expected the intruder to interfere with our attack. Let's find out how things went for our associates before we decide it's time to feel relieved."

Lorand glanced over to see that Vallant now spoke to someone who crouched near where the Water magic user sat, and the two of them conversed in low tones. Neither man seemed pleased with what they discussed, at least not happy-pleased. The pleasure was more on the grim side, which meant they were in for partially bad news. Lorand tried to brace himself, but he wasn't quite ready when the other man left and Vallant returned his attention to his Blendingmates.

"The invaders now have only half the men they did before we attacked," Vallant said without preamble. "Once the intruder turned to face us, our associate Blendin's replaced the water in that pit and then kindled a fire for some of the others to walk into. It isn't possible to
touch
those army members with fire, but lettin' them walk into it is another matter entirely. Our associates also put another pit all around the road, so the intruder will have to circle all the way around to keep comin' at us. We've bought some time, but that's all we've done."

"I won't ask why we couldn't destroy
all
of the intruder's people," Tamrissa put in with a sigh. "I could feel the protection around the ones closest to those litters the intruder members travel in, and it would have taken too long and too much effort to break through the protection. Do you think there's a chance the intruders will turn around now and go back the way they came?"

"They can't afford to do that," Vallant said with a shake of his head. "They're workin' with the theory that they can't be stopped or resisted, so retreatin' is completely out of the question. Once they back off from anythin', their claim to inevitable victory turns too shaky for anyone to take seriously. As long as they keep comin', people will continue to fear them."

"So
we
have to continue to fight them, and also find a way to win completely," Tamrissa said with a nod and a sigh. "Just chasing them off will let people think they might be back, and that will give the intruder the victory if we aren't here to face them. Since I'd rather not move to this country permanently, we have to make sure that the intruder
can't
come back."

But we still don't know how to do that
, Lorand thought as the others remained silent. And that was when the rain began, adding to the overall depression. The small victory they'd gained from their attack was no victory at all, it had simply cost the enemy some lives. But those weren't the lives they'd needed to take, and Lorand couldn't help wondering if they'd find the way to take the right lives in time for it to do any good…

Thrybin Korge was as furious as his weakened condition allowed him to be. He'd been put on a litter suspended between two horses front and back, with two blankets under his face and one covering him. He lay on his face to spare the wound in his back, and only by looking over his left shoulder was he able to see where the horses were headed.

And the place we're headed and have almost reached is Liandia
, Thrybin thought, seeing the city through the light rain coming down.
I was supposed to return here a hero, not an unimportant burden the others dragged along behind them. My failure is all Tal's fault! If not for him, I would have thought of
something
to set matters right!

Sullen fury burned inside Thrybin, a hatred possessing full knowledge of everything that had been stolen from him. Zirdon Tal wasn't the only one who had stolen Thrybin's destiny, but Tal had done the most damage. He had taken away Thrybin's last chance to overcome all the back-stabbing and intrigue leveled against him, using literal back-stabbing!

"I'm glad you're still alive, Korge," a soft voice came, and Thrybin's attention left the city they approached to see who rode beside him to his left. That one was Zirdon Tal himself, a true madman who was bound in leather to keep him from escaping his just due.

"You won't be glad I'm still alive when I give evidence against you at your trial," Korge whispered, knowing Tal would probably hear him. "I also intend to insist that I be allowed to attend your execution."

"I'm glad you're still alive, Korge, because now I get to kill you a second time," Tal murmured back with a smile that froze what blood Thrybin had left in his body. "They think they have me safely neutralized, but they're entirely wrong. You and they will find that out the hard way. If the empire is to survive, you and those others must die."

"You're insane, Tal, completely insane," Thrybin whispered, too terrified even to move. "Don't you know that it's those Gandistrans who are the real danger to this empire? They're the ones who have destroyed everything we had, including your own talent."

"The Gandistrans are risking their lives to save everyone in this empire, including your own useless self," Tal came back, proving that he really was a madman. "Even if your Blending members took you back, you would have no hope of even matching the invaders, let alone besting them. You refuse to admit that very obvious truth, and that makes
you
the true danger to this empire. If you were in charge you would fall and take the rest of us down with you, but you just can't see that. All you can see is your own desire to be important, no matter how many lives are lost putting you in that position."

"Denying what Tal just said would be a waste of time," another voice put in before Thrybin was able to sneer at that stupidity, and then the fool Satlan Reesh moved up to ride to Tal's right. "Tal told you the exact truth, and you can't even entertain the idea for a moment. You want what you want, and nothing anyone can say will make you understand that this time you can't
have
what you want."

"I'm not surprised to hear you agreeing with a madman, Reesh," Thrybin said, making the effort to speak a bit more loudly so that the fool would hear him. "A useless follower like you needs
someone
to agree with, just to feel that he actually belongs somewhere - which you don't."

"You really
are
stupid, aren't you, Korge," Reesh said with the sort of disdain Thrybin had never heard the man use before. "Someone with intelligence would have noticed by now that that line of nonsense doesn't affect me any longer. So let me repeat what Tal just said: you
cannot
have what you want this time, no matter how much you want it. You aren't smart enough or capable enough to run this empire, so you never will."

"Well, we'll just see about that, won't we," Thrybin returned, hating the fact that he was too weak to really tell the fool off. "I'm not without my resources, and once I'm back on my feet we'll see who's smart and capable and who isn't."

"Don't waste your time trying to bring him in touch with reality again, Reesh," the madman Tal actually had the nerve to say to the fool Reesh. "Korge won't ever be back on his feet again to ruin this empire, so there's no need to worry. But that doesn't leave the field clear for you and the others. The rest of you are just as bad for the empire as Korge is."

"Dinno and I have already come to that conclusion," Reesh said with a sigh, sounding as if he really spoke to the madman instead of just avoiding an argument as he should have. "The Gandistrans are right to say that the assembly needs to be composed of High Blendings, without Blending members being constantly replaced. Things are going to change radically in this country even if the invaders are stopped. Our companions don't want to hear that, but in a very short time they won't have any choice but to go along with the changes."

"You can't be certain of that," Tal replied, and oddly enough some of the blaze in the madman's eyes had died down a bit. "Lorimon and Gardan have more than a little influence in the assembly, and they can delay the changes long enough to ruin everything."

"But the changes won't come through assembly action, Tal," Reesh said gently, as though explaining the facts of life to a boy. "Dinno and I will probably be the only assembly members who step aside voluntarily, but that won't make a difference. When the High Blendings get here, they'll
tell
the assembly members to step aside. They won't have the patience to ask nicely and then wait for the request to be complied with."

"You may be right, but I'm not certain you are," Tal said, his brow creased with indecision. "Killing Gardan and Lorimon will probably be necessary just to be sure."

Reesh shook his head with another sigh, then urged his horse to a faster pace. Tal retreated into himself, which let Thrybin return to his own thoughts. Blocking all changes in the assembly would hardly be as difficult as the fool Reesh thought, especially if the members of those High Blendings were killed as soon as they approached the city. Gardan was terrified of losing his place in the assembly, so Thrybin knew the man could be made an ally with very little effort. And since Thrybin was the actual assembly member, he'd be able to replace his Blending members with the same minimal effort. After that…

After that, Thrybin would take over the assembly as he'd planned to do all along. The empire of Gracely would be
his
to run as he saw fit, and if those Gandistrans ever showed up again he would have them executed before they knew what was happening. Yes… That picture of the future was so pleasant that Thrybin was easily able to fall asleep as he viewed it with eager eyes.