The Far Side Of Forever Part 10

"My power is years stronger man yours."

"If that's true, then I'll lose," I told him, Seeing that he wasn't disguised. "You seem to know me, but I can't remember when we met. Who are you?"

"That's something you have no need to know," he answered, finding a little more courage somewhere. "It's enough that I know who you are. Surrender to me now and you'll live, resist me and you'll die; those are the only two things we have to talk about- Which will it be?"

"Neither," I said with all the disgust I was feeling, and then I raised my arm to signal the start of the combat and fling out the raging, ravening sphere of h.e.l.lfire toward him. He gasped and paled just the way I'd thought he would, gesturing frantically in an attempt to send the thing back to me, but h.e.l.lfire takes confidence as well as skill to handle, which is why so few of the Sighted become adept at it. You become adept by entering the Lists at Conclaves and formally challenging those stronger man you, accept- ing the minor burns of a controlled exhibition in order to add to your confidence and skill. Whoever my current opponent was, he wasn't adept, otherwise I would have known him; I was adept, supposedly at a younger age than anyone had managed in centuries, and it didn't take long to prove it.

The man in the combat cylinder with me sweated and ducked as he gestured, trying to avoid the h.e.l.lfire even as he fought to force it away from him, frantically trying to spread his fingers into the best and most widely used repelling mode that had been developed. My right hand

So

was already set that way. urging the terrifying ball of annihilation closer and closer to him, playing it to give him the least amount of room for the return. The blazing colors of the h.e.l.lfire were blindingly beautiful, the searing jump of its numberless fingers a raging hunger reaching out to consume, and the man's fear grew greater with every inch closer it came to him. He fought to control it, struggled to keep it from him, and when he crossed the line from trying to send it back to trying to keep it away, the fight was lost. The crackling of the ball of flame rose to a roar that nearly drowned out the man's scream of ten-or, and the blast was so bright that it really did blind me for a minute. The scream seemed to go on and on, making me press my hands to my ears as well as squeeze my eyes closed, and then mere was absolute silence and darkness, both thick enough to be felt rather than sensed.

"Laciel! Laciel, where are you?" a voice shoiiied, a voice that I finally recognized as Zail's. I forced my eyes open to see the dark all around, shivered even though I understood, then whispered a word. A small sun blazed up over our heads under the trees, lighting up me scene so that it was almost day bright.

The three men of our group and Su all still stood with swords in their hands, but they no longer had targets for their weapons. Their former opponents littered the ground, and only some of them showed visible wounds. Soffann Dra still trembled behind Kadrim with one hand to his bare back as though seeking comfort from contact with another human being, and nothing at all remained of the man I'd stood in combat with, not even the cylinder. When I realized that I shivered again, and then Zail was beside me, holding me close to his chest with his arms wrapped tight.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice faintly bewil- dered and the least bit unsteady. "Are you all right? What happened to the inn, and those men, and the one you were standing and facing? That fire, that blinding explosion- What was it?"

"It was-combat with h.e.l.lfire," I answered, wonder- ing why I couldn't do anything but hold to Zail and shiver.

"We do it all the time at Conclaves, those of us who can.

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It's the way me Sighted fence with their power, bringing me h.e.l.lfire through a simple entry and then seeing who can control it best. At the Conclaves there are wizards who keep me h.e.l.lfire from really touching the loser, from doing more than singeing him or her a little- I've never before fought a real battle with it- It-it-ate him- Zail-"

I was trembling so hard that I wanted to be sick, finding a real win nothing like a Conclave win. There hadn't been a wizard handy to control the h.e.l.lfire and send it back when the combat was over, so it had been free to-eat-the man before me entry drew it back! I held to Zail with all my strength and buried my face in his shirt, trying to control my shuddering but finding it impossible. I hadn't simply killed mat man, I'd fed him to something, and I'd never once, during all those combats, thought to consider just exactly what mat meant.

"They're all dead," Rikkan Addis' voice came from behind me, calm and quiet and almost even. "Do you know why they're dead, girl? Or what happened to the inn?"

"They're dead because-he's dead," I answered, trying to find something else to think about besides- "He had them under a spell of compulsion, and they would have fought until you were all dead or they themselves b.u.med out. The abrupt release-their systems couldn't take it-"

"It's all right, you're doing just fine," he said in a soothing murmur, as though afraid that speaking any louder would really set me off. "And me inn? What happened to it?"

"The same thing, in effect, because it wasn't the real inn," 1 said, finally calming down enough to simply put my cheek to Zail's shirt. His arms were still tight around me, which helped more than he probably knew, and I was able to look at the black trees and darkness beyond the glow from my small sun. "As a matter of fact I Saw the gaps and lapses as soon as we rode in, but I was too tired to really understand what I was Seeing. He was the one maintaining the image, and when he died the spell went with him. He-wasn't as good as he thought he was, otherwise the inn would have been an exact replica of the

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real one instead of a sloppy copy. And anyone truly com- petent also wouldn't have protected their henchmen with nothing but simple warding.'*

"You mean those three who went after you were warded like the ones this afternoon?" Zail asked, this time sound- ing surprised. "But if they were protected from your magic, how did you get away from them?"

"With magic," I answered with a sigh, finally making the effort to push back from him and stand alone. "It came to me this afternoon that warding was defensive magic, designed to protect people from attack from others.

Those kidnappers used the warding to let them do the attacking which, if you think about it, is using something defensive for offense. Magic has a kind of balance, and you can't use something meant for one purpose in an entirely opposite manner without paying a price. I used a beefed-up warding spell to protect myself, adding a lot of insulation on the inside, working on the theory that their attack would-blow the circuits-on their own spell when they tried using it against its nature. As soon as their warding touched mine, they were nearly knocked across the room."

"What did you mean, those three this afternoon were warded like the ones tonight?" Rikkan Addis asked, his tone fractionally sharper. "1 didn't know there was any- thing magical about this afternoon's attack."

I'd put my hands over my face to let my fingers rub at my eyes, but something in the man's voice made me take them away again. When the pretty -colored spots had all faded I saw those bronze eyes looking down at me, and they were glowing faintly.

"There wasn't anything magical about this afternoon's attack," I said, wondering if I were being gently accused of hiding things. "Those kidnappers were warded like the three attackers tonight, but that can't be anything but coincidence."

"Like the coincidence that the three tonight were head- ing you toward the door?" he came back immediately, annoyance growing in both eyes and voice. "You and Su agreed that it was you they wanted this afternoon, and

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tonight they almost had you again. Who would want you so badly, and why?"

"But-no one!" 1 protested, certain he couldn't possi- bly be right, but still beginning to get confused. "And it can't be just me they were after. They had fighters under a compulsion ready, and sent them after the rest of you."

"But not until drey already had their hands on you," he countered, those eyes glowing brighter now, one big hand running distractedly through thick black hair. "Once they had you they felt free to attack the rest of us, but first they took you. Why would that be?"

"Perhaps they feared what magic she would use," Kadrim suggested from where he stood with Su and Soffann Dra, only a couple of feet away. "Did the wizard not say her power was great?''

"But they found out this afternoon that her magic couldn't get through their warding," Zail disagreed from behind me, sounding as confused as Kadrim had and I felt. "If they really are all the same group, the one who got away would have told them what happened. And if they aren't all the same group, what's bringing so many of them out from under their rocks all at the same time?"

"That part's not hard," Soffann Dra said, moving just a little closer to Kadrim after a glance at the darkness all around. "We're after something that was stolen, aren't we? Anyone who keeps us from getting it back, can probably ask for and get all the gold he wants from the thief."

"Couldn't ask if he didn't know about it," Su put in, surprising just about everyone, "The wizard said no one knows but us and him, so how could they know."

"There is someone else who knows," Rikkan Addis said suddenly, staring at Su where she stood under the low-gauge glare of the miniature sun. "The one who took the balance stone knows, and is also obviously in a posi- tion to set up ambushes along the trail we have to follow.

Knowing that much, I also now know why they've been trying for you first, girl."

Those eyes were back to looking at me, but for once they couldn't distract me. He claimed to know something, but for the life of me 1 couldn't see it.

"You totd me the reason yourself," he pressed when he saw that I wasn't following him, seemingly oblivious to all the rest of the eyes on him. "You said that if you had to, you could make Su's talent your talent, and I'm now willing to bet you could do me same with me rest of us. If one of us didn't make it all the way, you could subst.i.tute for that one."

"As a matter of fact, I could," I admitted, still not seeing where the line of logic was leading. "As long as I know what the necessary talent is, I can reproduce it. If I tried to match all of you I'd probably be good for nothing more than counting my fingers afterward, but if I had to I could do it. What has that got to do with kidnap attempts?

With all of you still around, 1 don't have to reproduce your talents."

"That's why they're trying for you first," he said with the sort of slow patience that forces home a point, folding his arms across his rust-colored leather shirt- "There's no sense in their trying to stop us if you're still around, not when they can kill every one of us and still lose the game to you. If they manage to get you out of me way, then they can try for one or two of us. Without your particular talent, mat would be enough to stop me rest of us."

Put that way, the idea was very hard to argue against. 1 just stood and stared at him without being able to say anything, then discovered that I was also being stared at.

Five pairs of eyes were reflecting me digestion of the fact that as long as I stayed alive and a part of the group, they were as safe as a quest like that was likely to let mem be. I didn't care for that thought, and wasn't even sure I agreed with all of it, but for me third time that day the words just weren't there-

"I think we'd better get on to me real inn now," Rikkan Addis said, unfolding his arms to look around. "It's prob- ably the safest thing we can do, considering that they tried to trap us here. Using the real inn would have been easier, if they could have managed it. Maybe there's a reason they couldn't. Kadrim, Su, see if you can find the horses. The rest of us will stay with the girl."

Kadrim and Su nodded before going off, and Soffann Dra lost no time in replacing the red-haired boy with

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Rikkan Addis as someone to stand close to. A minute later there was an arm around my shoulders, and Zail was standing to my left, tall and concerned and protective. It was all I could do to keep from pushing that arm away, an arm 1 would have been delighted to have around me just a few minutes earlier. They were now all going to be look- ing out for "the girl," and "the girl" didn't like it one little bit.