trembling hands. “You’re opened to the power, but that’s not possible! And you’re so—”
“Strong?” I suggested, speaking the word he hadn’t. “I would ask why that frightens you—if I weren’t able to tell that you have no more than Middle talent. Doesn’t that mean your title has to be changed to Seated Middle? I can’t wait to tell that joke to everyone in the city….”
His scream interrupted before I could suggest the price of my silence, and then there were flames all around, trying to burn me to cinders. My defenses had automatically flared into being an instant before the attack, which in this case meant no more than simply keeping the ravening fire at a distance. Lanir just wasn’t strong enough to overwhelm me, So I smiled faintly through the flickering evidence of his fear-filled anger.
“You can see that that isn’t doing you a bit of good,” I pointed out gently. “If you’re wise you’ll be reasonable about letting me go, but first you’ll have to convince me that you intend to keep to any bargain we happen to make, have no reason to trust you and every reason not to, so—” “No!” the man screamed with fists clenched, insanity beginning to peer out of his eyes. “I can’t let you go after insisting that I be allowed to claim you! I’ll look like a fool, and I’ll become a laughingstock! Better to be thought clumsy for having turned you to ash—!”
And then his eyes widened with his effort, an effort I understood only after a very long moment. The fool was ignoring his limits and trying to take in enough power to match me, which meant he really was insane. Middles weren’t able to step past that natural block—
His third and last scream shook me so badly that I stumbled back, narrowly missing a collision with a table. Along with the scream had come the abrupt severing of Lanir’s touch on the power, followed by the man’s sitting down hard on the carpeted floor. By then he had stopped screaming, and I didn’t need to see his black, fixed stare to know what had happened. He’d forced himself past his natural stopping place, and had burned himself out for his trouble.
I turned away to find a chair to sit down in, needing a moment to pull myself together. The fact that Lanir had taken himself out of my way permanently didn’t bother me, but the screaming he’d done did. How soon would people come rushing in to see what had happened? And when they came, would I be able to protect myself from them? I wasn’t sure, not when I didn’t know how many there would be and what they would be capable of….
Trying to still the trembling of my hands occupied me for a few minutes, and then I began to wonder why no one had appeared yet. Surely someone had heard the screams, no matter how big that house was, so why hadn’t they—The question died as the answer came so abruptly that I was suddenly enraged. No one had come after hearing the screams because they thought I was the one doing the screaming. They must have been very used to their employer’s way of enjoying himself….
That realization calmed me completely, so familiar was it. My husband had run the same sort of household, and now Lanir would soon be in the same condition as my husband. That idea seemed so beautifully right that I turned in the chair to look at Lanir, seeing again the way he sat and stared and drooled. When they found him they would put him down, making no effort to preserve an empty husk. The man who had been was no longer housed in that body, so what was the sense in keeping it alive?
I went to the tea service then to discover that it had been refilled with fresh tea, so I helped myself and spent some time simply sitting and sipping. I had to wait until the household had settled down for the night before I could leave, so there was no rush to go and start and do. What I would eventually do was walk away into the night, even though I had no idea where I was or where I would go. Lanir had
“Strong?” I suggested, speaking the word he hadn’t. “I would ask why that frightens you—if I weren’t able to tell that you have no more than Middle talent. Doesn’t that mean your title has to be changed to Seated Middle? I can’t wait to tell that joke to everyone in the city….”
His scream interrupted before I could suggest the price of my silence, and then there were flames all around, trying to burn me to cinders. My defenses had automatically flared into being an instant before the attack, which in this case meant no more than simply keeping the ravening fire at a distance. Lanir just wasn’t strong enough to overwhelm me, So I smiled faintly through the flickering evidence of his fear-filled anger.
“You can see that that isn’t doing you a bit of good,” I pointed out gently. “If you’re wise you’ll be reasonable about letting me go, but first you’ll have to convince me that you intend to keep to any bargain we happen to make, have no reason to trust you and every reason not to, so—” “No!” the man screamed with fists clenched, insanity beginning to peer out of his eyes. “I can’t let you go after insisting that I be allowed to claim you! I’ll look like a fool, and I’ll become a laughingstock! Better to be thought clumsy for having turned you to ash—!”
And then his eyes widened with his effort, an effort I understood only after a very long moment. The fool was ignoring his limits and trying to take in enough power to match me, which meant he really was insane. Middles weren’t able to step past that natural block—
His third and last scream shook me so badly that I stumbled back, narrowly missing a collision with a table. Along with the scream had come the abrupt severing of Lanir’s touch on the power, followed by the man’s sitting down hard on the carpeted floor. By then he had stopped screaming, and I didn’t need to see his black, fixed stare to know what had happened. He’d forced himself past his natural stopping place, and had burned himself out for his trouble.
I turned away to find a chair to sit down in, needing a moment to pull myself together. The fact that Lanir had taken himself out of my way permanently didn’t bother me, but the screaming he’d done did. How soon would people come rushing in to see what had happened? And when they came, would I be able to protect myself from them? I wasn’t sure, not when I didn’t know how many there would be and what they would be capable of….
Trying to still the trembling of my hands occupied me for a few minutes, and then I began to wonder why no one had appeared yet. Surely someone had heard the screams, no matter how big that house was, so why hadn’t they—The question died as the answer came so abruptly that I was suddenly enraged. No one had come after hearing the screams because they thought I was the one doing the screaming. They must have been very used to their employer’s way of enjoying himself….
That realization calmed me completely, so familiar was it. My husband had run the same sort of household, and now Lanir would soon be in the same condition as my husband. That idea seemed so beautifully right that I turned in the chair to look at Lanir, seeing again the way he sat and stared and drooled. When they found him they would put him down, making no effort to preserve an empty husk. The man who had been was no longer housed in that body, so what was the sense in keeping it alive?
I went to the tea service then to discover that it had been refilled with fresh tea, so I helped myself and spent some time simply sitting and sipping. I had to wait until the household had settled down for the night before I could leave, so there was no rush to go and start and do. What I would eventually do was walk away into the night, even though I had no idea where I was or where I would go. Lanir had
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