Disclaimer: All Valdemar related items in the below story are the possessions of Mercedes Lackey, not me.
A/N This chapter might turn out a little darker than the previous ones (not too much because I am not that great at dark) but my dog got hit by a car today, he was only eleven months old and he snuck out, so I'm writing to get my mind off of watching him fly off the road dead. It's part of living on a farm, and having a pet, but it still stinks… anyway, thanks for the reviews on chapter seven, they made me feel marginally better.
I wanted to know what the clan leader had meant when he said Elsa had done well. Precisely what had she done? I didn't have much time to contemplate it though, my captors started in the opposite direction from Elsa and I was left with no choice but to follow. I wondered dejectedly if she even noticed my sudden disappearance, both mental and physical.
I reprimanded myself for that thought, of course she had noticed, but had she cared? I knew she did.
:You doubt her?: Slippery voice commented slyly.
No, I don't doubt my chosen I can't, I thought as hard as I could, knowing that Slippery was the only one who could hear me yet hoping he wasn't.
: Well, that's your second mistake then, would you like a glimpse of what your precious chosen is doing right now?:
A part of me said no, somehow, whatever I saw he would twist it, yet, I couldn't resist a peak … not if was offered to me.
:When you reach me I will have one of the boys let you see, you are close to me now:
I followed the horses ahead of me numbly. For the first time in my life I felt utterly cut of from everyone, I didn't like that feeling. I tormented myself with thoughts of what my traveling companions were doing without me. Perhaps celebrating or they might not even have noticed I was gone. I could imagine them indifferent, mildly concerned, or angry that I had wandered off. The only way I couldn't picture them was worried. And that frightened me. By the time I arrived at the same sprawl of wagons, livestock and tents where I had found Elsa I had worked myself into such a tizzy I could almost have tried another escape, but breaking my physical bonds wouldn't help if they still controlled my mind.
We stopped at the entrance flap of a tent larger than I would have believed existed. Not that it was anywhere near as spacious as even the smallest way station, or even a good sized wagon, but for a tent it was huge. I pawed impatiently at the ground, anxious to finally see my captor in person.
A wiry young man was the first out of the tent, followed by the two middle aged men from Elsa's first vision, then came an unfamiliar lady, somewhere between the ages of the first boy and the two men, she wore the simply cut uniform of a servant, yet it was as fancy as that of a military officer. To my surprise she was the one who spoke to me, to my surprise her physical voice grated even more than her mental one. I shivered.
"So, you're the pretty little pony our Elsa managed to snag?"
I fixed my eyes on her, trying to communicate my anger to her even lacking mind-magic, I knew she would pick up on it though. A woman led the clan then, but that didn't make sense, Elsa had said that … but then this lady had implied more than once that Elsa was on her side.
I gave myself a mental shake; that was impossible. If Elsa had betrayed me that would mean I made a mistake choosing, and companions never made that kind of error. I repeated that to myself, but it was entirely unconvincing. While I had been preoccupied a small crowd had gathered around the tent's entrance. I recognized among them Harold, the fire starter, and most of the other clan members I had seen in Elsa's visions.
I sidled nervously as one of the teens approached me.
"Calm down there girl," the teen spoke soothingly and I realized that it was a girl, her hair cut to emulate the boys', "Miss Elmira, our leader, told me to show you Elsa," she lifted a hand toward me, not quite tentatively. I stood dumbly allowing her to place the hand in my neck, I was too shocked to shy away again, Elsa had lied to me; she had said girls weren't allowed to use their mind-magic, yet this girl had been ordered to.
I didn't have long to dwell on this latest betrayal before another shock greeted me, the tight shields on my mind were lowered, just a hint, but enough … I was about to shriek for help … at that instant I found my mind whisked off in the direction my captors had just taken me from.
It was a decidedly disconcerting experience; it jolted me and made me feel unbalanced. I vastly preferred Elsa's foresight, depressing as the visions it reveled might be. As my dazed feeling cleared I saw something even more disturbing.
Ralph was no where in sight, but I saw Elsa; in Bart's arms. It seemed she hadn't even noticed I was gone yet. A sick feeling spread through me. For the first time it truly sank in that I was a prisoner, and that my only possible rescuers were more concerned with snuggling than finding me. Elsa started to turn away from Bart, but before I could see her face clearly I was back outside the tent with my shields once more clamped tight. To my immense shame I was grateful that the girl hadn't made me see Elsa's happy smile when she turned toward us.
:You see? Elsa doesn't care about you, she's glad to be rid of you: Miss Elmira told me with a smirk, "Well done Georgette," she added with an approving nod to the girl who was retreating to the gaggle of other young mind-mages, her face slightly pale from her efforts. Georgette grinned at the praise before fading back into the small crowd.
"Now, I know Elsa has given you some misinformation … the first thing you need to know about her is that she is a born traitor," Miss Elmira said with a hint of a smile, "but before we talk I would like to get comfortable, this could take a while. Georgette, Harold, Rena, and Ishmael take Asia, the rest of you are dismissed, except Jared."
Elmira waited until the four teens she had mentioned had me under control, not a difficult task since I had no real reason to fight them anymore. Jared fled into the tent and returned a moment later with two camp stools, by then the rest of the crowd had dispersed. I took note that the two who had been with Harold in Elsa's vision were just out of earshot; they must have been the clan leader's guards. I stood hipshot waiting to hear what Miss Elmira had to tell me.
Miss Elmira took her time arranging herself just so before launching into her tale, "Elsa's father was my uncle. He was the head of training for the gifted boys, but he didn't care for the woman assigned to train the girls, me, my father was clan leader at that time. When Elsa was born, we knew she would have mind-magic, but when her parents found out she had strong foresight they didn't want her trained, at least not by me … I believe they hoped her abilities would remain dormant."
Any parent who knew the pain of that particular ability would have wished the same, so far I could find no fault in the woman's story, and perhaps it was even true.
"Her father and I fought, and the next day I woke to find he had taken his family and left; naturally we were upset. Elsa's father was a good teacher, and her brothers were skilled as well, the younger boy might even have possessed some latent ability with fire, if not on the magnitude of a fire starter. We missed their loss sorely and set about searching for them. However, they covered their tracks well. We only found them years later by contacting Elsa, she led us to them."
Elsa had already told me that much. What was Miss Elmira getting at? There was no point wondering yet though, it would only cause me to miss her explanation.
"When we found them there were some miscommunications in the orders, a fire was started," Elmira shot a pointed glare at Harold, who reddened slightly, "one of the younglings made a mistake, which resulted in the deaths of Elsa's mother and brothers. She and her father were brought back safe though. We immediately started her training; she was older than most kids by the time we got to her. As a result we pushed her harder than would otherwise have been necessary.
"When she had her first vision she refused to speak to anyone, even her father. Eventually she calmed down enough to return to her classes, but she never told anyone what she saw. Elsa was mad that we hadn't told her she had foresight, she was mad we hadn't warned her about it.
"I was furious that she refused to cooperate with us. We had a little bit of a power struggle … and that's when we put her out of training. Since she hadn't finished her training she was forbidden the use of her gifts, as far as she was able to control it."
As much as I hated to admit it, Miss Elmira's story checked out near to perfectly with what I knew. Unless Elsa was working with the clan the stories I had heard were too similar for coincidence. So Elsa had probably lied to me about some things, but I was sure that Miss Elmira had as well. I wasn't sure who to believe anymore.
"Well that brings us up to date about Elsa, now as to the rest.
"Some of the students saw you when you first came after Elsa. Jared used a simple trick on you. We simply kept moving, and let you yourself ragged, thanks to Jared, we were able to keep you at a distance and run you down enough to accept any reaction Elsa might have. She was deathly afraid of the consequences of using her gifts."
I wondered briefly how they had known who I was after, but it didn't matter. They had, and they had hurt my chosen. I stared blankly.
"I picked up some of your thoughts, your let them get a touch ahead of yourself. I knew who you were looking for by what you were transmitting when you first approached us," Jared supplied as if he could read my mind, but then again, for the moment he could.
"Jared has an incredible affinity for mind speech, it is his only ability but as you can see he is truly gifted with it," Miss Elmira pointed out simply, "this conversation is getting rather one sided," she added sharply, "Jared suppose you could allow her to speak just to us?"
"I can try Miss, but I don't think it's possible."
"Try; if she attempts to speak to anyone other than us just stop her, even if you have to knock her out."
"Yes Miss," Jared bobbed his head agreeably and I felt the shields lower, they didn't disappear but I found that if I concentrated I could speak, barely.
:You made me sick?:
:Somewhat, it wasn't a hard task, we employed Georgette's skills for that. She is excellent with visions, and that coupled with Jared's suggestions…:
:You made me into a puppet and then led me on a pointless chase, why?: I figured Miss Elmira had switched to a mental voice since that was what I used, but I had to concentrate on my speech so I didn't contemplate it long.
:We needed time to bring Elsa around and the less effective you were the better off we were:
:Bring her around to what?: I would have snarled had the effort of simply saying the words not been nearly too much.
:To capturing you of course, we barely convinced her to let you near, by the time you finally caught up, and you were already too ill for us to keep you away and still have you useful:
:Useful? What do you want with me?:
:That, my dear, you will learn in good time:
"Georgette and Jared, see to Asia … we will talk to her later. Do not leave her for anything, call if you need help, and Jared keep those shields strong. I have some plans to finish," Miss Elmira snapped briskly, I felt the shields snap back closed.
I didn't mind when the two youngsters appointed to the task led me away, I had so much to process. I was surprised to note that had I been human I might have cried, over Elsa, I missed her. I shoved that out of my mind forcefully, she obviously didn't miss me, or she would have come after me instead of sitting with Bart.
A/N okay, I hope that made sense, if it didn't just mention it in a review, as that's the only way I'll know what to change. Anyhow … I think I might do a POV switch just for the next chap to get Elsa's side of the story … unless there are any strong objections. So anyway hope you liked this chap.