The Talented (38 page)

She wondered about the
other Talented in the city. With Adrienne and Malokai gone for the
time being, it was likely that Louella and Pieter had spoken with
the others. Did they find all of this wrong, too, or were they
relieved? Grateful, even, that no more soldiers would be coming to
their city for training? Adrienne had never gotten to know them,
had hardly met any of them except for Maureen, and could not guess
at their thoughts or feelings regarding the commission’s
decision.

“
Who decides when it is
necessary?” Malokai demanded. “The commission? How many need to
die, in what numbers, before they decide it is ‘necessary’ to train
more Talented like us?”

“
I don’t know.” It was
something Adrienne tried not to think about. She reached up and
worried the cord of her necklace between her fingers. “Maybe the
king—”

Malokai’s harsh laughter
cut her off. “You’re counting on King Burin to make this right?” he
asked. “You have no more respect for the king than I.”

“
He formed the commission,”
Adrienne said. “He must want—”

“
He wants to keep his
throne, and his head,” Malokai said. “Even in the mountains we know
this. He’ll have to weigh whether or not people will be more upset
by Talented with abilities far beyond their own or what is
happening on the Almetian border. It could take the king longer to
make a decision than it takes the commission. And if he decides
that we Talented put his position in danger, he will never allow
more of us to be trained, no matter what happens with
Almet.”

“
Then what do we do?”
Adrienne asked. “Talk to the commission?”

“
No. We have to leave
Kessering,” Malokai repeated.

Adrienne rolled to her
feet and began pacing, feeling suddenly nervous. The grass, brittle
as they approached the end of the dry season, crunched under her
feet as she turned to face Malokai. “We can’t.”

“
Yes, we can,” Malokai
said, standing as well. He did not pace, but watched her movements
like a cat watching a mouse.

“
Even if we could,”
Adrienne argued, “what would that accomplish? We would be taking
away the only offensive abilities they have.” She doubted the
commission would even bother to replace them if they left. She and
Malokai leaving would probably result in making the commission even
more hesitant to train soldiers in the future.

The two of them would no
doubt be seen as a threat if they left, dangerous renegades who had
slipped the chain of the commission’s control. The commission might
well consider it too risky to train more soldiers if they worried
that those soldiers, upon developing a Talent, might leave
Kessering and the control of the commission.

“
We could train more
Talented ourselves,” Malokai told her, grabbing one of her arms to
stop her pacing and spin her around to face him.

“
We can’t,” Adrienne said,
meeting those hard blue eyes with her own. Despite the fact that
she felt herself teetering on the edge of breaking the chain of
command by disobeying the commission, she would not allow that to
happen. She would not allow this situation to change who she was.
“The commission would never allow it.”

“
Forget the commission,”
Malokai growled, taking her by the arms and shaking her roughly.
“The only thing the commission is going to do is get a lot of
people killed.”

“
But we can’t just go
against them,” Adrienne said. “We can’t leave Kessering to go out
and train others. The commission is in charge.”

“
In Kessering,” Malokai
agreed, “but not outside the city walls.”

“
The commission is in
charge of us, Malokai. They’re in charge of people with abilities.
They’re in charge of the Talented.”

“
Why?” Malokai asked. “What
makes them our leaders?”

“
King Burin,” Adrienne
said. “He chose the commissioners, he placed them in charge of
finding a way to end the conflict with Almet. And the
commission
made
us, Malokai. We are Talented because of
them
.”

“
We are Talented because
of
us
,” Malokai
told her. “All they did was show us how. They have no experience
with war, no Talents that help them fulfill this mission. The
commission is working against the cause, not for it. The only
useful thing they’ve done is train us, and that’s over now. They
taught us to hunt and gave us spears, but now they forbid us to use
them. They are not following the mission, they are following their
own desires.”

“
I can’t go against my
leaders,” Adrienne said. She struggled to cling to the person she
was, the person who had been shaped by the chain of command she had
followed all of her life. She was a part of that chain and couldn’t
separate herself from it, no matter how logical Malokai’s
arguments. Breaking that chain would break her as well.

Before Kessering, being a
soldier had made her what she was, and she had owed everything to
the army. Now she was Talented, and though the chains rankled, she
owed the commission for that.

“
To what lengths would you
go to follow your leaders’ orders?” Malokai asked. “If you knew the
mission would fail and you would die, would you still follow their
orders?”

“
Yes,” Adrienne said
without hesitation. It was impossible to truly be a soldier without
accepting the chance of injury and death. Adrienne had made peace
with it long ago.

“
What if your commander
told you to murder a family?” Malokai asked. “Not people opposing
you, not anyone armed or posing a threat, just an innocent family.
A mother, a child.” The intensity of his eyes was frightening, but
she focused on the question he’d asked, not the emotion behind
it.

“
Why?” Adrienne
asked.

“
Does it matter? Your
commander told you to do it.”

Adrienne struggled with
the question. “No army commander would ask that,” Adrienne finally
said.

“
You know that’s not true.
You’re not that naïve.”

Adrienne tried to meet his
eyes but couldn’t. “No good commander would ask that,” she amended,
knowing even that answer was weak. “And that’s not what the
commission is asking of us.”

”
Through their inaction,
the commission is facilitating the slaughter of families.” The
rigidity with which he held himself told her that his words were
more personal than she could guess.

Adrienne started to say
something, but Malokai wouldn’t allow it.

“
This struggle with Almet
doesn’t affect only soldiers,” he said. “We could help stop it.
Talented fighters could help stop it.”

“
I can’t break the chain of
command,” Adrienne said in little more than a whisper, her eyes
begging him to understand. “I am a soldier.”

“
Soldiers are meant to
protect,” Malokai said. “You told me as much. If that isn’t what
your commander has you doing, if he is instead forcing you to stand
back and let innocents die to no purpose, then it seems that the
chain is already broken.”

Adrienne thought of
Captain Garrett, who had told her to go to Kessering. He had
believed that her mission was righteous, and that it would help the
effort that they were all working toward.

She thought of the
commission, who had trained her but wouldn’t use her when she could
be making a difference and saving lives.

She thought of King Burin,
who only cared about himself and those that could help further his
own needs.

Adrienne thought of
families dying by Almetian blades while she sat uselessly in
Kessering. The vice that had been constricting her chest fell away,
and her mind was clear for the first time in what felt like
ages.

She could think
again.

“
We have to leave,”
Adrienne agreed.

••••••

Adrienne and Malokai
returned to Kessering the next day. They stopped at Louella’s shop
before bringing their things back to the inn, and found Pieter
there as well, as though he had known they would be returning
today.

“
You’re back,” Louella
said. She looked at them more closely, taking in their travel gear,
and her face changed subtly. “But you’re not staying.”

Adrienne nearly smiled.
Trust Louella to figure out their plans without them saying a word.
“We can’t.”

Louella nodded and told
them to sit down as she went about fixing an early lunch. “Ben has
been asking after you. I told him that you and Malokai went
camping, and that I didn’t know when you would be coming back.” She
deposited plates piled high with bread, thinly sliced ham, and
boiled yams in front of Malokai and Adrienne. “Will you tell him
before you leave?”

Adrienne shook her head.
“It’s best if he doesn’t know. I don’t think the commission will be
pleased that we’re going, and he might try to stop us.”

Louella nodded. “Then you
had best let Pieter and I make most of the preparations,” she said.
“We’ll buy whatever supplies you need, since no one will suspect us
of leaving. You’ll just need to get your things from the inn when
it is time to go.”

Adrienne surprised Louella
by standing up and hugging the slender woman. “Thank you,” she
said.

Louella returned the hug,
patting Adrienne on the back. “Sit back down and eat. You’ll need
to make me a list of everything you need. I’ve never
traveled.”

Adrienne and Malokai
worked on a list of supplies while they ate, and soon Louella and
Pieter went out to purchase what they could find. Adrienne was
surprised by the sadness she felt at the prospect of leaving her
friends, but knew that there was nothing else to be done. She and
Malokai had thought of asking Louella and Pieter to leave with
them, but at the last moment had decided against it. It was
unlikely the pair would want to leave their homes, and Adrienne and
Malokai were still unsure of where to go.

Adrienne wanted to return
to Kyrog. She had told Malokai that they would not need to stay at
the soldiering camp long, but Kyrog was close, only three weeks
from Kessering, and if they really meant to train more Talented,
then the elite camp was an ideal place to find soldiers for the
task. She didn’t tell him that she badly wanted to see her friends,
and was afraid that if they spent months traveling to the Modabi
Mountains too much time might pass in a camp like Kyrog. Soldiers
did not stay in one camp forever.

Malokai had been just as
adamant about returning to the mountains. There were other warriors
there, as well as people skilled in other professions who might
have the potential to become Talented in other areas, such as
healing or smithing.

“
The Modabi Mountains are
months away,” Adrienne pointed out once they were alone in
Louella’s house, starting up the argument they had been having
since the night before. “Especially since you don’t have a horse.”
And Malokai was adamant about not getting one. According to him,
the M’bai did not ride. “We could go to Kyrog first. It’s not in
the direction of the mountains, I know, but then the months spent
getting to your home could also be spent training new
Talented.”

Malokai shook his head,
his dark faced creased with a frown. “More than two people moving
across the countryside will call attention. Do you want the
commission to know where we are going?”

She hesitated. “We don’t
know what they will do. What can they do, without
soldiers?”

“
This commission was formed
by the king,” Malokai said. “The king has his own army.”

“
It could take months for
them to reach us,” Adrienne said. “If they decide to pursue us at
all.”

“
Are we to fight them if
they do? Are we to fight anyone that the commission sends after us,
soldiers or not?”

Adrienne didn’t like the
idea of fighting anyone sent by the commission. Leaving might anger
the commission, but raising arms against them…It would be better
not to let the commission find them. “They’re going to guess that
we went either to Kyrog or the Modabi Mountains,” Adrienne pointed
out. “Why would we go anywhere else?”

“
They’ll probably check
Kyrog first,” Malokai said. “It’s closer. Even if they head to the
mountains first, we will get there ahead of them.”

“
On foot?” Adrienne asked
skeptically. Even the nags Tam and Ilso had ridden were faster than
two people on foot.

“
No one the commission
sends is going to be willing to travel from sunup to sundown,”
Malokai said. “But you and I are.”

Adrienne nodded. She would
push if she had to, run if necessary, to stay ahead of anyone
pursuing them. But she still wanted to go to Kyrog first. “I still
think—”

She fell silent as Louella
and Pieter returned. They each were loaded up with supplies, mostly
food in fresh or dry forms. Pieter had recovered some tools from
his shop, and Louella held what appeared to be a cloak.

“
What’s this?” Adrienne
asked when Louella handed her the greenish cloth that was indeed a
long green cloak. The material felt smooth as silk and shimmered
slightly with every movement.