Part 18 (1/2)
”That's it, push it back and keep it there,” I heard a voice say, and there were hands on my arms from behind. The hands were closed tight, and the sword I still held rested with its point to the stone. ”It's all over and you're the undisputed winner, so let's end this the right way.”
I took a deep breath to force the usual shudder down with the rest, then moved away from his hands to resheathe my sword. Fearin had used his Power to keep the beast from winning over me, and I remembered my previous thoughts about his creativity and strength. It wasn't supposed to be possible for anything to best the Learning, and the Inadni probably would have been shocked gray.
A sudden babble of voices erupted as the others joined us, relief and delight and expansive satisfaction coloring the words. Our army was making haste to leave the amphitheater, not quite knocking each other down now that the beast was gone, but still hurrying as they glanced over their shoulders. It was a normal reaction from back-to-normal men, and the insanity was done with. For now.
”You see?” Ranander's voice broke through the rest. ”I knew her winning would solve the problem. And I also knew she would win, even though I didn't know it. Kiri's the best there ever was.”
”This calls for a celebration,” Talasin announced with a laugh. ”Formal style if Fearin can manage it, informal if he can't. We have a victory to raise our cups to, a victory and a victor.”
”Victory,” I echoed, turning to look at his delighted expression. The others were just as delighted, all but Fearin. ”Those men never had a chance against me, but someone still forced them to try. Think about how you'll feel if you're the next to be forced to face me and then tell me what it is you feel we have to celebrate.”
I watched their delight die away into a heavy silence, one that was filled with the sort of understanding they should have had to begin with. Obviously things still hadn't completely returned to normal, at least not among our inner group, but we weren't given the chance to dwell on it. One of Garam's special squad came over to speak softly to him, and his reaction was anything but soft.
”d.a.m.n it, we have trouble,” Garam announced, speaking mostly to our distinguished leader.”The men don't understand what happened, and now that they're out from under whatever spell was on them they're just on the edge of going wild. We'll have to work fast to calm them down.”
”Then let's get started now,” Fearin rapped out, looking around at the others. ”Master Lokkel, you see first to the ones Kiri faced who are still alive. Once you've healed them bring them with you, using Ranander's help to find the rest of us. We'll be out moving among the men, talking to them and calming them down, and you can...”
His voice faded out as I climbed higher out of the amphitheater, filled with some of the delight the others had lost. They were so involved with their new problem they hadn't seen me go, which meant I might be able to have some peace and quiet for a while. Especially if Fearin had taken the time to create our tents before the big battle...
But he hadn't. Once I reached ground level I was able to look around, searching for something I hadn't thought to look for earlier. I'd been too caught up in what was ahead of me, all that planning and antic.i.p.ation that had been for nothing. I looked around again, for once wis.h.i.+ng I could create a tent, and then noticed something I'd missed. A short distance away and to one side of the balance of our not-quite-camp stood Ijarin's tent, his men relaxing around two cooking fires as they watched the goings-on in our area with open curiosity.
”As if they have no idea about what's been happening,” I muttered to myself, suddenly realizing it was more than possible that they didn't know. I hadn't seen any of them in the amphitheater, and not even near it. Now, wasn't that strange...
Or maybe not so strange. Without stopping to do any more thinking I headed for the tent, leaving my horse where I'd tied him before the confrontation. Either someone would take care of all the horses, or we'd end up not needing them anymore. At that point I would have been happier with the second possibility, but couldn't quite see it happening. That would have been the easy way, which meant it couldn't be something I was involved in.
Ijarin's men watched me walk past them into his tent, but none of them spoke or tried to stop me. He'd said something about them knowing the sword had been made for me... As though that told them things no one else knew... Possibly about me, possibly about that supposed prophecy. As if I didn't have enough questions thundering around in my mind demanding answers. There were cus.h.i.+ons scattered on the carpet-covered gra.s.s to the left, so I sat down among them in the soft dimness of almost-night and let my mind wander where it willed.
When Ijarin came in he brought a candle with him, a long, thin taper in white whose flame he s.h.i.+elded with one hand. It was completely dark outside, and quite some time had pa.s.sed. He glanced at me in a way that said he'd been told I was here, spent a few ticks lighting three other candles in a small, metal-bound stand, then blew out the long candle and turned to look at me.
”Everything is back to normal and the men have quieted down,” he said. ”Fearin told them the enemy was trying to stop their army with spells of destruction, but his own Power turned the spell into nothing more than a brief episode of temporary imbalance. It might happen again with the same meager results, or the enemy could get smart and give up that line of attack. Since we're as safe as any army can be, we can afford to sit back with a smile and wait to see what happens.”
”And they believed every word,” I said, already knowing it to be true. ”How many of those men did I kill?”
”Actually, none of them,” the barbarian answered, then smiled faintly at my stare of disbelief.
”Even the one you sworded was still alive when Master Lokkel got to him, although the man wouldn't have been alive for much longer. That second man, the one you kicked, had a broken neck and would have been crippled, but he's also healed. The one with the broken arm wasn't as easy as the Healing Master expected him to be, but he was taken care of as well.”
”I think I'm getting really mad,” I muttered, trying to hold down a temper that wanted to flare out in all directions. ”For what conceivable reason is he doing all this?”
”Who?” Ijarin asked, the faint smile replaced by a narrow-eyed look. ”And I thought you'd be happy that you didn't do any permanent damage. Why don't you sound happy?””I'm too mad to be happy,” I answered in the same mutter, then stared directly at him. ”Have you realized yet that that nonsense was nothing more than some sort of elaborate joke? Don't worry, folks, it's all in fun and n.o.body gets hurt. You know, like they say during the performances put on by those traveling posture shows? Well, it was all in fun because n.o.body did get hurt.”
”That wasn't my idea of fun,” he denied with a headshake. ”If Master Lokkel hadn't been there... And what about you? You could have been hurt or killed at any time, and if you'd died even Fearin couldn't have helped. While those men were under that spell there was no joke about it.”
”But that's the whole point,” I said, getting to my feet. ”While those men were under that spell I was threatened, up to the point of needing to seriously defend myself. I was the dancing bear in the show, demonstrating how well I'd learned to whirl around to the music. But then the people in the audience saw that it was a real bear they were playing with and started to get out their hunting weapons, so the music stopped. No more dancing, no more worry, that's it, folks, the show is over.”
”Kiri, I don't understand what you're trying to say,” he protested gently, looking down at me with worry in his eyes. ”Or possibly I'm trying not to understand. I'd hate to think you were about to do something foolish - like take offense over the doings of a G.o.d. Or do you think if you get angry enough, you'll be able to change things?”
”I know better than to think I can change things,” I said in a growl. ”The best I can hope to accomplish is to see the next time coming and simply not cooperate. But I want to know why.
Why is Diin-tha doing this to me?”
”The G.o.ds often have reasons for doing things that mean little or nothing to mortals,” he answered with a shrug. ”Or maybe it's no more than a whim that's got you caught up. Are you absolutely certain it is Diin-tha?”
”Who else could it be?” I returned, already having considered the point. ”If it wasn't some G.o.d, your men would have been just as affected as the men in the army. Since you and they are dedicated to a G.o.ddess who makes you invisible to other G.o.ds, your men stayed untouched.
And are you trying to suggest that Diin-tha would allow another G.o.d to interfere with this very important task we're in the middle of performing? Somehow I don't think so.”
”I'm forced to go along with that,” he agreed heavily, his gaze turned inward. ”Diin-tha is strong enough to keep other G.o.ds out of his affairs, which means he caused that insanity. All I can think to suggest is that it has to be part of his plans.”
”But how can that nonsense possibly be part of his plans?” I demanded, filled to capacity with frustration. ”What if I hadn't been good enough to keep myself safe and alive? What if the men had rioted out of control afterward and the army was turned into a useless rabble?”
”But it wasn't,” another voice pointed out, and we both turned to see Fearin standing in the entrance. ”The men didn't riot, you weren't hurt or killed, and there was no permanent damage done. Possibly our Guardian grew temporarily bored and decided to divert himself with a little entertainment.”
”As I said earlier, that's not my idea of entertainment,” Ijarin stated, the words flat. ”Is there something else you need me for?”
”Actually, I came to tell the two of you that our meal is ready and waiting in my tent,” Fearin replied, an odd ... neutrality to his voice. ”After we eat we'll discuss whether or not we can keep this from happening again.”
Ijarin nodded and began to move toward Fearin, but I didn't. I just stood there waiting for them to leave, but they didn't.
”Kiri, we've all had a long, hard, involved day,” Fearin told me, apparently knowing my exact intentions. ”Whatever patience I've had until now is entirely gone, so don't force me to do something I might later regret. Come to the meal and the discussion, and afterward we'll straighten out the misunderstanding between us.””There is no misunderstanding between us,” I denied, my tone as flat as Ijarin's had been.
”Just in case I haven't made myself clear, I want nothing to do with your meal, your discussion, and most especially you. Take my advice and leave me alone. If you don't our Guardian will be very unhappy with me.”
”Is that threat supposed to frighten me away?” he growled, drawing himself up as his blue eyes turned harder than steel. ”Haven't you been left alone enough in your life? I am not guilty of whatever it is you think I've done, so I won't be frightened away and I won't leave you alone.
Tell me what you've been told and I'll prove I'm not guilty.”
”You can't,” I said, refusing to look away from his anger. ”You've already proven it is true, and every time you say something else you simply make it worse. Why is it so hard for you to admit that the game is over? Because this time it didn't end on your terms? Well, that's too bad about you because this time it won't go any other way.”
”This time,” he echoed behind a frown. ”You said 'this time,' and talked about a game. Is that what you were told? That I'm playing a game with you that I've played before with others?”
”Why don't you deny it,” I invited, folding my arms. ”Tell me I'm the first woman you've ever paid attention to and it was my outstanding beauty that first drew you to me. Go ahead, say it just like that.”
”You're not the first woman I'd had in my bed, but you are the first one I've paid attention to,”
he stated with a growl, those blue eyes still very hard. ”Beauty isn't difficult to find, especially not for someone of my standing; most of the time it comes looking for me. But beauty without anything behind it gets boring after a while, and then bored turns into repelled. If there's one thing you aren't it's boring, and that's what attracted me to you. Not to mention the fact that you need someone to look after you.”
By then he was the one refusing to look away, and that despite the glare I was sending.
”I need someone to look after me?” I repeated in disbelieving outrage. ”Me? Are you trying to convince me you did what you did because you're crazy? That must be why you dislike Ijarin so much. His own craziness is too much compet.i.tion.”
”I'm not crazy or even mistaken,” he maintained, a slight darkening of his skin and a very brief glance for Ijarin the only reaction to the rest of what I'd said. ”Despite your skill and ability - or maybe because of it - you really do need someone to look after you. I intend to be that someone, so there's no sense in arguing. Come join me for the meal and then I'll prove how wrong you are to disbelieve me.”
He put his hand out, intending to take my arm, but I couldn't stand the thought of being touched by him again. I stepped back quickly, my arms loose at my sides, and simply shook my head.
”I'm not wrong to disbelieve you,” I said, trying to keep everything I felt from coming through in my voice. ”The wrongness is in having believed you to begin with, in having forgotten how stupid it is to believe or believe in anyone. Don't come near me again, High Master, and even beyond that don't ever try to touch me. If you do you have my word you'll regret it.”