Free Competitions by Sharon Green Page A

decided that they wanted to be the new Seated Blending, and had made plans to defeat the Blending chosen by the Advisors. It couldn’t possibly turn out to be as easy as his four associates expected, but they were all too emotionally involved with the idea to see anything but the end result they aimed at.
    So for his own safety, Kambil had made it clear to all of them that he was with them. He wasn’t usually a timid man, rather to the contrary, but heroics were definitely not in order with this group. None of them had the least amount of self control, and there was no doubt that they would react violently toward any one or any thing trying to stand in their way. Even Homin Weil, who seemed to be afraid of everything including his own shadow. All
that
one needed was a trigger of a particular kind…
    Kambil sighed, when he really would have been happier cursing out loud. Because his associates were so far out of balance,
he
had to be constantly in control of himself in case of an emergency. He was just as human as they were and therefore just as likely to lose his temper over something, but now he couldn’t afford to. Physically he happened to be larger than all of them, but now he was stuck in the role of gentle giant.
    This time Kambil had to take a deep breath before running a hand through his very light brown hair. Unbalance seemed to be catching, because he’d never had this much trouble controlling his temper before. Now all it took was the thought of being in the same room with the others…
    “Excuse me, Lord Kambil,” a voice said, and he turned to see one of the servants. “Lord Rigos’s carriage has just pulled up, and you asked to be informed when it did.”
    “Yes, thank you,” Kambil said, using a final deep breath to pull himself together. “Show Lord Rigos in, and have one of the maids bring the tea immediately.”
    The servant bowed his agreement and withdrew, leaving Kambil alone again for the moment. But that wasn’t likely to last, as Rigos usually arrived only a few minutes before the others were due. Not that most of the others were expected to be on time. Unless the meeting was being held in their own house, Kambil was the only one who appeared when he was supposed to. Rigos knew that as well as he did, but the Advisory agent enjoyed seeing the others squirm when he pretended he’d been waiting for hours.
    “Lord Rigos,” the servant announced, and Kambil looked up to see the small man stroll into the room. It was unfortunate that he was both ordinarily talented and small in stature, as well as fiercely aware of his dignity. He’d certainly been teased unmercifully as a child, and now used his position to get even with the world. His hair and eyes were very dark, setting off his olive skin and framing his usual expression of cruelty hiding just behind extreme boredom.
    “Good afternoon, Lord Kambil,” he said in a voice that would never be deep enough to satisfy him. “Obviously it was too much to hope that one or more of your associates would arrive before me.”
    “If you like, I’ll make the effort to do that next week, when we meet at Homin’s house for the first time,” Kambil said with a friendly, ingenuous grin. “I’ve never been there, but I have faith that my driver will be able to find the way.”
    “I’m sure he will,” Rigos answered with a very small flash of true amusement. “Unlike the drivers of so many of the others, who all seem to lose their way on a regular basis.”
    They were discussing last week’s meeting at Delin Moord’s house, when Kambil had been the only one to arrive on time. Each of the others, when they finally rushed in, insisted in turn that
they
hadn’t been late, it was their driver’s having gotten lost that caused the delay. When Bron Kallan, the last to arrive, used the same excuse the other two had used before him, the situation had turned pathetically ridiculous.
    “Yes, you’re truly a jewel among the dross,” Rigos murmured