“When they told him you were gone, they had to drug him to bring him down out of the rage,” the man beside me murmured, knowing well enough who I was looking at. “He’s not used to having rings turn their back on him unless they’re on hands and knees, and he’s sure as hell not used to having them turn around and challenge him after he’s dipped them good. He wants more than a small piece of you, girl, .he wants what he’s been promised when he wins: enough hours with you to take the bad taste out of his mouth.”
With me still completely aware while it was happening, the dirty laugh in his mind told me, something he couldn’t say out loud in case I didn’t yet know what my final fate was to be. I closed my hands to fists at my sides to help keep them steady, all the while continuing to stare at Kel-Ten. As far as he knew I’d run out on him after he’d taken the risk of awakening me, not caring that I was leaving him behind as long as I got out. He didn’t know he would soon be free and maybe wouldn’t have cared even if he’d known; what I was searching for was some vestige of tender feeling inside me for him. He was the one who had made my escape possible, the one who had saved me from Jer-Mar and the women in yellow, the one I had spent so much time with. I should have been feeling something for him besides the deep-burning anger and almost-hatred I did feel. I’d forgiven Tammad for what he’d done to me; why couldn’t I forgive Kel-Ten?
“Are you starting to feel nervous, girl?” the trainer asked with the dirty laugh now showing up on the outside, clearly misinterpreting my reactions. I was starting to worry, all right, but not in the way he thought. Considering the fact that I owed Kel-Ten quite a lot it wouldn’t have been fair to hurt him, but that was exactly what I wanted more and more to do. I kept remembering being ordered to my belly, and being dressed in a tight gold shirt that was then torn almost to my waist. I remembered being treated as though I were nothing, used to satisfy his needs, ignored when it came to my own. He’d awakened me, all right, to make sure that he was able to escape, but I had to keep telling myself I owed him . . . .
“I think they’re just about ready for you,” the man beside me said, his gloating anticipation very strong. “As luck would have it, all three of them have had a really easy day; they’re as fresh and rested as if they just got up from a good night’s sleep. And since you like games so much, we’ve decided we’ve got one for you. ”
“What are you talking about?” I asked without looking at him, still trying to soothe the growl out of my mind. If I had to fight Kel-Ten in my current mood I’d end up really hurting him, and the worst part of the problem I faced was that most of me liked the idea. I wanted to hurt him, wanted it very much because I hated him, and couldn’t find the faintest trace of guilt in me to make the hate go away. The only thing I had going for me just then was that Ank-Soh and his partner would need to be faced before it was Kel-Ten’s turn, and being number three on the list just might save him.
“I’m talking about the new game we just made up,” the trainer said, really enjoying himself. “Until now you’ve done it just the way it’s usually done, one challenger and one defender, winner going on to face the next higher defender. Maybe if you weren’t a-‘Prime of the Centran Amalgamation’ we would have continued doing it that way, but seeing you’re so important we decided you deserved something special. Instead of facing them one at a time, they’ll be coming against you together-unless you’d like to answer the question of where you learned to do what you’re doing. That will get you two on one, and to bring it down all the way you tell us exactly what your range and capabilities are. You can have thirty seconds to think it over.”
I finally turned my head to look at him, but he was too busy checking the time to return the look, and I might not have noticed even if he had. My thoughts were thundering around inside my head, and I couldn’t decide whether I felt suffocated or chilled. I couldn’t answer the questions they’d asked, not even if I wanted to tell the truth, but I also couldn’t face all three of those men together. I knew I couldn’t best all three unless I killed them the way I’d killed that Hand of Power, and for all the hate I felt I didn’t even want to see Kel-Ten dead. Hurt for the way he’d hurt me, yes, but not dead!
“You can’t expect me to take this seriously,” I said to the man counting time, finding it was definitely chill that was all around me. “If those three together manage to stomp me flat, you won’t have your answers and you won’t have me. Besides, I thought Kel-Ten was promised something. ”
“He was,” the trainer said without raising his head, the smile visible only in his mind. “That’s why the three of them won’t be stomping you flat, only making you wish they had. Have you ever had three male Primes playing your mind the way they would play your body if you were theirs to keep? Until now they’ve only practiced on female targets, keeping it relatively short and simple. With you it won’t be either, and if you expect the screaming to bother them you’re kidding yourself. Your thirty seconds are up.”
His eyes came up to me then, clearly hoping I would still refuse to cooperate, and there was nothing I could do but oblige him. His mind had confirmed the truth of everything he’d said, but there was still nothing I could tell him that would do anyone any good. I’d have to face the three—but then it came to me that maybe there was something I could show them.
“So you’re curious about what my range is,” I said, as flatly as he’d spoken earlier. “I think I will let you know that-in my own special way.”
I turned from his newborn frown to walk two steps forward, knowing I wasn’t about to give anything away. If I had to face three strong, trained minds I couldn’t do it with my curtain in place and possibly getting in the way, so I had to banish it. Doing it with a flair might not get me anything that would help, but there was a chance it could and none that it would hurt.
“Brothers, there’s something you have to know,” I called to the three men at the far end of the room, using the opportunity to try reminding them that we were, after all, the same kind. “The people running this place want you to face me, but they’re using you just like they always have, this time to see if you can succeed where others have failed. I know your minds but you don’t know mine, so why don’t I show it to you before you decide whether or not to let them use you again.”
There was just enough time for a startled mutter to break out in the crowd of watchers to either side of the room, and then it turned into a concerted gasp to greet the banishing of my curtain. The strongest mind those men had ever seen was Kel-Ten’s, and I could feel the shock in every one of them when they were able to reach mine. From where they all stood they shouldn’t have been able to reach me; the fact that they could told them I was the one doing the reaching, and that in itself turned them very shaken.
“I see Ank-Soh and his level-brother are uncertain,” I said, pressing my small advantage while at the same time sending a strong “patience!” to Kel-Ten. I wanted him to know the game we’d played wasn’t over yet, that there was still a chance for him to have what we’d plotted for, but I couldn’t quite get how he took it in the midst of all the new mental noise flying around. “Yes, I can read you from this distance, but more to the point I can also touch you. Are you going to let them send you against me, forcing me to destroy you, just so they can find out what I’m capable of? In range and together you three may well be stronger than I am, but let me show you another thing I can do.”
I called up the light shield to cover my mind and immediately reached through it, but almost didn’t have to bother. The crowd of watching Primes was going wild, knowing I was right then untouchable to each and every one of them, something they’d never seen anyone do on their own before. Things seemed to be going well enough to let me feel encouraged, but at times like that there must be a law that causes someone to come along and spoil it.