My body was lulled by the smooth stride of Tammad’s seetar, but my mind was fully alert. I reached out to Garth’s mind again and watched him, waiting until the gamut of emotions crossed uncertainty. I grabbed the uncertainty and held onto it, increased it enough to make it stand out from the other emotions, then held it in the front of his mind where he’d be sure to notice it. No more than seconds went by before he was supporting the emotion himself, his mind darting around looking for a reason for the feeling. I didn’t want dear sweet Garth to suffer when no reason appeared, so I supplied a reason: the seetar he rode. Reaching the seetar was easier than reaching Garth, and all it took was the suggestion that the male beast might be getting too old for riding to make it toss its head and snort and suddenly pick up speed. I hadn’t transmitted a picture—merely a string of emotional responses with doubt heading the list—but the seetar hadn’t had any trouble understanding my meaning. I transmitted; the seetar reacted—and Garth shifted from uncertainty to panic.
“Hey, slow down there!” his voice came, a tightness in it saying he was trying not to show fear. “Take it easy, boy, take it easy!”
“Are you in difficulty?” Tammad called ahead to him, his mind suddenly ready to move forward quickly. “Do you require assistance?”
“No, I think it’s all right now,” his answer floated back, obvious determination in it. “I’ll just have to keep a closer watch on this fellow.”
“Very well,” Tammad agreed, his mind wavering in uncertainty. He was probably trying to decide whether, or not to have someone ride next to Garth, but he quickly decided against it. Under normal circumstances Garth would have resented the gesture of protection, but at that point Garth wasn’t resenting anything. He was too busy centering all his attention on the animal he rode, too distracted to think or worry about anything else. It would be a considerable time before be rid himself of the uncertainty, but at least nothing else was bothering him.
It occurred to me then to check on Len, to see if he’d noticed anything, but a quick scan showed nothing but faint curiosity over what was going on with Garth. Len was apparently too far back to detect my experimentation, but there was no sense in taking further chances. Circumstances dictated that Len himself would be my next subject, to make sure he continued to miss what was happening.
Len had returned to satisfied conversation with the l’lenda on his right, the second l’lenda, on his left, paying only occasional attention to what was being said. Len’s mind wasn’t shifting around through emotions, but it didn’t have to be. Len was an empath, considerably more sensitive than the people around him, and considerably more open to suggestion. I watched passively a considerable time, but every time the l’lenda on the left turned his attention to the conversation, I deftly made Len more aware of it. Shortly after I started with Len, I also began on the l’lenda, brushing his mind with amusement and laughter, heightening the emotions when he turned his attention to the conversation. After another short while I began with the l’lenda on the right, who was in a happy, lighthearted mood, probably because he was finally starting home. Subtly, cloudlike, I increased the happiness and lightheartedness to joviality and amusement, carefully working around Len’s awareness, never imposing or changing, only heightening. Len was aware of every change and shift, of course, but my efforts weren’t gross enough to bring themselves to his attention. He wasn’t expecting anything to be going on, so he simply didn’t notice it.
By the time Len began wondering why his companions were amused, I had already finished with those a bit farther away from him. They, too, shared an amusement, and I could feel Len’s frown as he shifted from mind to mind, trying to figure out what was so funny. Len being Len, the conclusion I wanted him to draw didn’t surface for quite some time. Len was tall and strong, not quite as large as the l’lendaa, but as close to them as an Amalgamation man was likely to be. He looked bigger and stronger yet in the haddin and swordbelt he’d been given, broad-shouldered and deep-chested and very handsome—but he wasn’t used to dressing in that fashion. A man who is used to being covered all over with cloth can’t help but feel some doubt when be strips to a body cloth, even if he’s pleased to do it. When the thought finally came that possibly he was the source of amusementshown by an increase in doubt and a decrease in self-assurance and confidence—I immediately puffed on the feeling, making it stronger without letting him see the boost. His mind followed the trail I’d begun, reinforcing the emotions unconsciously and automatically, letting me withdraw as his suspicion became a certainty. As an empath, Len should have known better than to believe that something was true because he was sure it was true, but Len was also a human being with human frailty. When he reached the point of being afraid it was true, he was already convinced.
I watched the silence Len lapsed into for a while then withdrew completely, satisfied with the way he was engrossing himself more and more with private thoughts. His sensing ability was drawn in close around his mind like a shield, unwilling to touch the minds around him for fear of what be would find, and that was just the way I wanted him. If he wasn’t watching he couldn’t pick up what I was doing, and be and Garth both were considerably more attractive as they were than as they had been the day before. The last thing they were currently concerned with was helpless females.
I rested for the next few minutes, letting my mind gather strength again, then went on to the next subject on my list. Loddar rode not ten feet away from us, on the left and somewhat behind, Kennan riding next to him. He’d started out feeling proud that Tammad had asked him to take care of Gay King, but pride goeth before a fall-of resistance if nothing else. Gay had been indignant over the “crude method of transportation” and had tried to balk at being included as a rider, but l’lendaa are infamous for their lack of indulgence of female whimsy. Gay had been lifted off the ground and seated on Loddar’s saddle fur, and once his seetar began moving she’d quickly circled his waist with her arms, frightened at the thought of falling off.
Now, many an Amalgamation man would have had no problem ignoring a beautiful woman clinging to him for hours, pressing her breasts into his bare back, breathing on his skin, but Loddar wasn’t an Amalgamation man, he was a Rimilian. He had enjoyed the sight of Gay from the first moment he saw her, and a Rimilian male’s enjoyment isn’t a cerebral thing. After hours of riding her behind him he had taken to trying to distract his mind and senses, cursing the fact that he would not allow himself to ask for her use. If his own woman had been traveling with them. he would have bad a considerably easier time.
As it was, working on his desires was child’s play. His emotions were hooked so directly into his physical reactions that stimulating one meant an immediate stimulation of the second. Fifteen minutes of work had him suffering intensely, his body stiff and rigidly under control, sweat on his brow, a trembling in his hands. He wasn’t about to shame himself by showing how he felt, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t feeling it. A vivid picture of Gay King stripped naked clung to his mind, sending flashes of intense desire through his body, causing even more sweat to break out on him. I made sure the picture would stay with him for some time, then moved on to Kennan.