Convergence (21 page)

That time Valiant used fear to his benefit, letting it propel him toward the only path to safety there was. He plunged through the window-door before he could lose his footing, at the same time closing his eyes.
There's lots of room in here,
he told himself frantically, struggling to picture an area as large as the inside of that first building.
Lots of room, but you still don't have to be in here long. The other side of it is completely open, and all you have to do is reach it.

Valiant kept repeating that to himself, even though crawling slowly didn't get him to the other side very quickly. But he
had
to crawl slowly, or he would have brushed up against the sides or top of that tiny area. His fear didn't really believe the lies he'd told it, but as long as he didn't actually touch anything around himself he could pretend to believe. If he lost even that pitiful amount of pretense, he'd probably lose control as well.

So he crawled carefully toward the opening ahead with his eyes shut tight, and because of that he almost crawled over the edge. His hand came down on nothing, throwing off his precarious sense of balance, but there was also a slight breath of moving air. That encouraged him to open his eyes, which heartened him even more. He would have to climb down a narrow ladder to reach the floor of the hall below, but off to the right only a few steps away, a door to the outside stood partially open.

Twisting around in the mouth of that narrow opening to get his feet to the ladder rungs was hard, but not nearly as hard as the rest of what he'd done. Once on the ladder he felt his mind begin to open out, filled with an agonized yearning for the outdoors that he hadn't experienced since childhood. He went down the ladder fast, stumbled to the door and out as quickly as he could move, then sank to his hands and knees in blessed relief. He was outside, finally and completely outside at last.

Valiant lowered himself to the meager grass on his left side, concentrating on nothing but breathing and trying to gather some small amount of strength. If for nothing else he'd need it eventually to stand up, and right now he felt completely emptied. He'd also closed his eyes again, but the sound of footsteps made him open them quickly. The man who had been in the outer room of this building now walked toward him, holding a cup of something.

"Don't be upset, it's all over for now," the man said quickly as Valiant began to struggle into a seated position in preparation for getting to his feet. "And I believe you need what's in this cup."

Valiant hated to take anything from these people, but unfortunately the man was right. Between sweating like a waterfall and using every bit of moisture he could touch with his talent, Valiant was as close to being a dried out husk as anyone with Water magic could be. So he
hesitated
only an instant before taking the cup and draining it, finding its contents to be more than simple water and a good deal more refreshing. After a moment he could actually feel some strength beginning to come back, so he returned the cup with a grudging nod.

"Thank you for that, at least," he allowed, less of an edge to his tone than he'd wanted it to have. "Now that your game is over, you can just point me to the nearest coach stop. I'm goin' home whether you like it or not."

"My likes don't enter into the matter," the man replied with something of a shrug from where he crouched beside Valiant. "If it were my choice you could go or stay as you please, but my employers tend to have a different view of the matter.
And by the way, congratulations on passing the test.
Not everyone does, you know, and in fact more don't than do."

"That must keep you people really busy movin' bodies out of here," Valiant commented, unimpressed by what he'd been told. "And I don't care what your—employers—want either. Give me my seabag and show me the way out."

"I'm afraid it isn't that simple, Captain Ro," the man said, looking only faintly apologetic. "Now that you've passed the first of your tests, you can't be allowed to simply return home. You must participate in and complete the sessions scheduled for you, or you'll be taken into custody by the guard—with the help of two High practitioners. You'll be given a trial, of course, but the mandatory penalty for attempting to flee before the tests are over is five years at hard labor in one of the empire's deep mines.
Those
with Earth magic can't bear to work in them, I'm told, so manual labor is necessary. We can't force you to participate in the tests, sir, but we can and will punish your refusal."

Valiant stared at the man, trying to read the truth under the words the way he did with the merchants he dealt with, but the effort was useless. Either the man was a most accomplished liar, or everything he'd said was the truth. Not that it really mattered. Even if their "punishment" had been something he could bear, he still couldn't have allowed himself to run that far afoul of the law. He had his family to think of and the possibility of ruining the excellent reputation they'd always enjoyed, which meant he was well and truly trapped.

"The bunch of you should be really proud of yourselves," he commented, letting the other man see his disgust. "You'd all better hope I
don't
pass all the tests you have
...
So where do I go now?
The nearest jail cell?"

"Certainly not," the man replied, straightening from his crouch as Valiant forced himself to his feet. "You've been assigned lodging with someone of the city who volunteered their house as a residence. Others who pass their tests will be staying there with you, so please remember that discussing anything at all about your own test is strictly forbidden. We'll be paying the cost of your lodging, but you must bear the expense of your food and clothing and other wants and needs. But after the sessions you ought to be eligible for the competitions, the winning of which will earn you a bonus in gold. For that reason I would not let the current state of your funds distress you. We'll be in touch again in a few days, but at the moment I believe your coach has arrived."

Valiant could also hear the creak of wheels and springs accompanied by the clip-clop of hooves, which meant the coach was undoubtedly on the outer side of the building, but Valiant had had more than enough of that place.

"Meet me around front with my seabag," he directed as he made his own way toward the path that separated this building from the next in the circle. "I'd hate to tempt you people into tryin' me again, so I'll get to the front by the long way."

Valiant felt the man staring at him as he walked away, but he didn't particularly care. His fear of that building didn't show, he knew, and a bit of suspicion was hardly out of place. He would get to that coach the long way, and enjoy every painful step of the trip.

By the time Valiant circled the building, the man he'd spoken to waited beside the coach with his seabag. Valiant took it silently with a curt nod and entered the coach, which at this point looked more spacious than confining. Sitting down also felt incredibly good, especially when the coach began to move. He was finally on his way out of that place, even though it wasn't to go home.

And that part of it bothered him quite a bit. He couldn't very well humiliate his daddy and the rest of the family by getting himself arrested, and the thought of five years spent underground—as well as away from the sea—couldn't even be considered. That meant he had to stay there and take their blasted tests, but there
had
to be
a way to fail one yet still survive
.
If he could just find it. . .

Valiant took a deep breath and let it out
slowly,
turning his attention to the unfamiliar city he rode through. Finding a way home couldn't be done right now, which in a way was a lucky thing. What he needed most at the moment was a long bath and a change of clothes, to rid himself of the clammy feel of his underthings. He'd sweated hard enough to float a skiff, and until he bathed he'd find it impossible to rest.

It wasn't a very long trip to the house that would be his residence, but Valiant was able to see the neighborhoods change before they got there. Official-looking buildings were replaced by surprisingly large houses with drives, and when the coach turned into one of those drives Valiant leaned a bit through the window. The house they approached was at least as large as his daddy's, a three-story affair with what was probably servants' quarters under the gables. Gardeners tended the front lawn carefully and lovingly, shaded by the presence of large trees. It looked like it might not be
too
much of a hardship to stay there for a while . . .

When the coach pulled up at the front of the house, a young woman stepped out timidly to meet it. There was only a single step between the drive and the approach to the house, and the fact that Valiant noticed the one step said quite a lot about the woman. She was a plain little thing in a plain dress of gray, medium brown hair and eyes doing nothing to add to her attractiveness. Actually it was her very obvious timidity that put Valiant off most, but he still gave her his best smile once he'd gotten out of the coach.

"I'm told I'll be stayin' here for a short while, ma'am," he said gently so as not to frighten the poor little thing. "I'm Captain Valiant Ro, and I'll be with you as soon as I see to the coach driver."

But Valiant turned to see that the driver was already on his way down the drive, which had to mean his charges had been taken care of in advance. That was perfectly all right with Valiant, since it let him turn back to the woman with a small but gallant bow.

"Apparently I'm to be all yours without delay," he said with another smile. "Are you the owner of this lovely house?"

"Oh, my, no," the girl said with a timid and embarrassed laugh, now looking even younger than she had. "This is the house of Dama Tamrissa Domon, and I'm Warla, her companion. We've been told to expect you, Captain Ro, and your room is ready.
If you'll follow me?"

The girl said that as if she expected he wouldn't, so he smiled and bowed again and gestured her ahead of him. She kept glancing back as she moved, apparently afraid she might lose him, and once inside she did manage to lose his attention. The large entrance hall was decorated with paintings and obviously expensive tables with vases and statuettes standing next to ornate chairs, all of which managed to overcrowd the area. It was as if someone were trying to prove how much gold they had, and they'd decided to show the world rather than say the words.

"Your room is this way, Captain." Warla's gentle reminder that he'd slowed almost to a stop pulled Valiant away from the unkind assessment he'd been in the midst of. The girl waited at the foot of the very wide staircase, but she began to climb it as soon as it was obvious that he was ready to follow again.

"Dom Domon must be a very wealthy man to have furnished his house the way he did," Valiant commented as he moved up the stairs. "I assume I'll be meetin' him later at dinner?"

"Oh, but the
dom
is gone," Warla told him over her shoulder with more upset than the statement called for. "He's dead, I mean, and Tamrissa lives here alone now. Or at least she used to be alone."

It sounded to Valiant as if the girl had swallowed a giggle at the end of her comment, which made him sigh. So his hostess was a widow, probably an older lady who had no children, and that was why she'd offered her house as a residence. And Warla seemed to expect that her employer would take an interest in
him,
which wasn't the best of news. Back home a number of the older ladies had seemed to declare open season on him and his brothers, and when one of his brothers had decided to accommodate them, the young fool had barely escaped with all his parts intact.

"With me around, the dama will probably still think she's alone," Valiant commented carefully. "I'm under a vow for as long as I stay away from home, and I'm sure you know how things like
that
go. I've had cause to regret the vow, but there's no getting out of it now."

Warla gave him an uncertain glance and a tremulous smile, undoubtedly having no idea what he meant but was too shy to say so. As a matter of fact Valiant had no idea what he meant either, but the tale sounded good enough for something made up on the spur of the moment. People usually hesitated before trying to interfere with "vows," and hopefully Valiant would have found his way out of the trap by the time the dama talked
herself
into trying.

At the top of the staircase Warla led him to the left, and then left again into the first room. Valiant was relieved to see an entire wall of windows opposite the door, and that let him stroll inside after Warla.

"This will be yours while you're with us," she said, already edging back toward the door. "If there's anything you need, just ask me or one of the servants."

Valiant was about to ask where the bath house was, but the girl left so quickly that she all but disappeared. He realized then that they'd been alone together in a bedchamber, and he chuckled in understanding while beginning to open his seabag. It had been years since any female had disliked the idea of being alone with him in a bedchamber, but that could be because he hadn't involved himself with girls. Women were more to his taste, but right now he needed a bath more than he'd ever needed a woman.