Mage-Guard of Hamor

XI

Threeday afternoon found Rahl once more in a coach-this time headed to the Imperial Palace with Taryl. He was still warm. Cigoerne in the late fall was often warmer than Recluce in spring or early summer. He'd had to practice falchiona exercises with Khedren much of the morning, and he was happy to sit back and relax-until he realized that Taryl carried his satchel. Rahl looked at the black leather once, then again.

"We do have some time. Sit on the other side as far from me as you can."

As Rahl reluctantly shifted his position to comply, Taryl opened the satchel.

"This is a different kind of training," offered the older mage-guard. "I have some darts in here. They look alike, but some are tipped with quill points, some with needles, and some with needles charged with chaos. In a moment, I will start throwing them at you. Your shields are certainly strong enough to stop all of them, but I want you to try to use only enough order to stop those with the needles and the chaos."

For a moment, Rahl wanted to protest. What difference did it make whether he stopped all the darts instead of just some of them?

"In battle, you won't have enough strength left to last a day if you can't pace your use of order," Taryl added.

Rahl nodded. He supposed that was true.

Taryl flipped a feathered dart, and Rahl blocked it with his shields, before discovering that it was just one of those with a quill tip.

"You have to be faster." Taryl raised his eyebrows."Much faster."

By the time the coach pulled up in the functionaries' rotunda of the Imperial Palace, Rahl was both tired and frustrated. He hadn't done well at all with Taryl's exercise, either blocking darts that he shouldn't have blocked or not blocking those he should have and getting mild chaos-jolts. Near the end, he had improved, but not nearly to Taryl's satisfaction. Not only that, but Taryl had been so insistent on the exercise that Rahl hadn't had a chance to ask about finding a place to post his letter to Deybri.

Taryl left the satchel in the coach and stepped out onto the wide white-stone mounting block, then moved aside and waited for Rahl.

The younger mage-guard stepped down, trying to mask his frustration and irritation behind personal shields.

Taryl gestured around the exterior courtyard. "What do you think?"

The white-stone walls surrounding the Palace grounds and gardens extended a full kay on each side, and rose fifteen cubits from the ground to the base of the crenelated parapets. While Rahl did not see any guards, he could sense their presence. The exterior of the Palace itself was also of glistening white stone, three levels above its foundations, with three arched domes rising above the highest level of the triangular building, a dome in the center of the front section of each of the wings that surrounded a central courtyard garden. The tall-but-narrow exterior windows were set in clusters of three, and the glass bore a greenish tint. The roofs were of red tile and gently sloped.

"Beautiful and impressive, ser."

"It's meant to be." Taryl started up the low steps to the columns that flanked an entry rotunda. "While I meet with Triad Jubyl, you'll be entertained and educated in some fashion or another by his principal assistants. Just be pleasant and friendly, but listen and watch carefully. Assume that all you do not know, and perhaps some you do, are as trustworthy as your former undercaptain."

Rahl had already come to that conclusion. Was it that way among all who held power?

When the two mage-guards stepped through the arch into the entry hall, two young women, scarcely more than girls, stepped forward. They wore identical garments, flowing trousers of pale green, long-sleeved blouses of the same shade, and vests of a deep maroon. They also wore shimmersilk scarves of pale green, clearly able to be used as head coverings. Their garments suggested that they were not indentured slaves.

"Honored Mage-Guard Taryl," offered the brunette, "I am to escort you to Triad Jubyl."

"Honored Mage-Guard Rahl," added the redhead, "I am to escort you to Mage-Guards Serita and Klassyn."

Taryl inclined his head to Rahl. "I'll send someone to get you when we're done."

"Yes, ser."

Rahl's guide did not say more, but turned and led the way toward a vaulted arch that opened onto another corridor. The columns that supported the arch were of a rose marble, as were the polished floor tiles. She walked less than fifty cubits down the corridor before turning right and starting up an open staircase, whose steps and balustrade were also of the rose marble. At the top of the steps was another foyer.

From down the corridor came the sound of music, not just a single harp or a guitar, or even a lute or a few violins, but a sweeping melody carried by many instruments. Rahl paused to listen, then looked to his guide. "The music?"

"Those are the Emperor's players, his personal orchestra."

Rahl had never heard of such, but he just nodded.

The guide turned and escorted Rahl to the third door on the left, which was open, where she announced, "Mage-Guard Rahl." Then she gestured for Rahl to enter.

He did.

A short hallway of three cubits opened into a larger square chamber with three sets of three floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked a garden courtyard. The room was furnished as if a parlor in a great house, with settees and armchairs, but with two desks set against the opposing inside walls. Standing in the middle of the thick-piled square mauve carpet that was bordered in gold were two mage-guards.

Serita was small and wiry, and her black hair shimmered in the light from the windows. Klassyn was taller, but shorter than Rahl, and slightly stockier. He offered a broad and practiced smile.

"Welcome," said Serita, with a trace of shyness in her voice that Rahl found more appealing than Klassyn's big smile.

"Thank you." Rahl inclined his head to them. "I appreciate your hospitality."

Klassyn returned the gesture with the slightest head bow and a phrase.

"When words spoken come from the soul, all praise to the man who is whole."

Rahl wasn't quite certain how to respond, but finally replied, "The most honest ones do."

"Please…" Serita gestured in the direction of one of the settees. "We don't see too many other mage-guards often."

Rahl took the wooden armchair closest to the settee, because there was a small side table between the settee and his chair. Serita took the place on the settee closest to Rahl.

Klassyn remained standing. "We'd like to offer you something to drink. A coach ride even from headquarters can be thirsty. What would you like? We have almost anything. That's one of the perquisites of being an assistant to the Emperor's Triad."

"That sounds wonderful," Rahl replied with a smile. "Just a pale lager, if you would."

Klassyn inclined his head to Serita.

"That actually sounds good. I think I'll have one, too. Have Vernya make sure it's the light amber, though. That's the better lager."

"I can manage that." Klassyn's smile was slightly strained. "I might even have one, too. It will make things easier."

"You… actually stooping to lager instead of chewy ales?"

"Sometimes, something lighter is good for a change, as you should know." Klassyn turned and walked toward the center corridor.

"You're an ordermage," Rahl said politely to Serita.

Her thin lips formed a crooked smile. "Of sorts. I have some healing talents, and I've had some ability in discovering which plants are useful in speeding healing, especially of injuries and wounds."

"What about Klassyn?"

Klassyn is a chaos air mage," Serita added.

"Chaos air mage?" Rahl had never heard of such.

"He can use chaos and order to create storms-small ones anyway." She glanced up as the other mage-guard returned.

"It won't be long," said Klassyn, seating himself in a chair at the other end of the settee and moving it forward and sideways so that he could look more directly at both Rahl and Serita.

"Is it true that you came from Recluce?" asked Serita.

"I don't think that's any secret," replied Rahl as genially as possible. "Recluce exiles a number of good people. The question isn't whether they're good but whether they fit."

Klassyn nodded, tilting his head slightly before quoting:

"What holds the storm, suits well the sun, or even night, when day is run."

"Please, Klassyn," said Serita. "We know you studied the classic poets."

"So few do." Klassyn smiled politely.

"So few need to," she countered.

"And you were a harbor mage-guard in Swartheld-as an order-mage?" asked Klassyn. "You must be good with weapons."

"I do all right with a truncheon."

"Why did they post you there?" asked Serita. "Do you know?"

"I was a clerk for a factorage house when I was younger. I think someone liked the idea that I understood trade."

"Did you ever kill a Codex breaker?" asked Klassyn.

"Mostly, I disabled them. The captain wasn't displeased, I don't think, because that meant we had offenders we could send to Luba or the quarries."

"Oh… I hadn't thought of that, but then, I suppose, with your background," replied Klassyn, "you would have."

"It's more a practical thing," Rahl said, ignoring the dig at his time as a loader in the ironworks. "Killing people shows power, but dead people aren't much use. There are some people who aren't of much use alive, of course, but I've found those everywhere, and not just on the docks. Usually, they think they're far better and more important than they are." He smiled. "What do you two do as assistants to the Imperial Triad?"

"Emperor's Triad," corrected Klassyn.

"Whatever Triad Jubyl wants," replied Serita.

A bell tinkled, and Klassyn rose. "That must be Vernya. I'd better check."

Within moments, he had returned, with a serving girl following him. The girl had a tray on which were three crystal beakers. She served Rahl first, placing the beaker on the low table between him and Serita, then Serita, and finally Klassyn.

"That will be all, Vernya," said Serita.

Rahl lifted the crystal beaker, admiring the graceful lines of the Emperor's initials cut into the glass. There was something about the lager. He could almost sense-he could sense-the unnatural sweetness. Where had he…? He tried not to freeze but smile pleasantly, as he realized that the lager held nemysa. "Beautiful engraving," he said blandly, setting the beaker down on the side table. "Excuse me." He wrinkled his nose, as if it itched. Could he exchange beakers? No.. he could sense the same sweetness in the beaker that had been presented to Serita. Could it just be the type of lager? He had to trust his feelings that it was not, but what could he do? He'd asked for the drink, and not drinking it would certainly be unfriendly.

Abruptly, he sneezed, violently, and his arm swept out, knocking his beaker into Serita's, and both tumbled onto the stone tiles, shattering and spilling lager everywhere.

"Oh… I'm so sorry." Rahl managed another sneeze as he stood. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened." He rubbed his nose, then blinked. "I do apologize. I don't know what set that off."

"Oh… these things happen," Serita said, not quite dismissively, as she rose.

"Upon rare occasion," added Klassyn.

"What rarer is to see than what can never be-"

"My dear Klassyn," interrupted Serita, "we all have found ourselves in similar situations. Please don't suggest that we have not. I do believe Rahl has handled himself as well as possible. Let us just resume our conversation on the other side of the chamber. Vernya can clean it up later."

Rahl followed Serita, but found he had to sit on the other settee beside her.

"Would you mind telling us about Recluce?" she asked.

"What would you like to know?"

"Why do they insist on exiling chaos-mages? Is it just because some ancient ruler didn't like Fairhaven?" asked Serita. "That really isn't a very good reason, is it?"

"Creslin supposedly was stripped of his memories and put on a road crew by the white wizards, and they kept trying to kill him and Megaera. For him, I imagine those were very good reasons." Rahl smiled politely. "Then that became a tradition, and it's hard to change tradition. The black engineers in Nylan don't care for chaos because they work with black iron, and they believe that chaos anywhere near would create a great danger." He shrugged. "You don't argue with them."

"Do they really have ships of black iron?"

"Oh, yes. They also have an engineering works of some size."

"You're not a chaos-mage. Why did you get exiled?"

"That's a long story," Rahl temporized, wondering just how much he should say. "There's no point in giving all the details. What happened was that I don't have the kind of order-skills that the magisters in Recluce know what to do with. So they spent some time teaching me Hamorian and a few other things and sent me off."

"No one would ever think you were from Recluce the way you speak," Serita said.

"From Atla or parts of Merowey, but not Recluce," Klassyn added.

"Where are you two from?" asked Rahl.

The rest of the conversation proceeded along relatively innocuous lines until the girl who had guided Rahl to Serita and Klassyn reappeared.

Rahl stood and smiled. "It appears as though I've been summoned. I thank you both very much for your patience, courtesy, and hospitality."

"Your presence and your knowledge have been most instructive," replied Serita.

Klassyn merely nodded as Rahl took his leave.

Taryl was waiting by himself in the functionary's foyer.

"Thank you," Rahl told the guide, before turning to Taryl. "I came as soon as you sent word."

"I've only been here a few moments. Shall we go?" Taryl raised his eyebrows.

They walked out through the archway and down to the duty coach, which had been driven to the forward mounting blocks.

Once they had settled themselves, and the coach was on its way through the outer gardens toward the gates in the white-stone wall, Taryl turned to Rahl.

"What happened? I can sense you're concerned."

"I hope Klassyn and Serita couldn't… or not why. They offered me a drink, and both my lager and Serita's were dosed with nemysa. At least, it felt that way."

"You didn't tell them that, I presume?" Taryl's voice was mild, but Rahl could sense his worry.

"No. I had a terrible attack of sneezing and inadvertently knocked over both beakers. After that and many apologies, I decided that perhaps I'd better not tax their hospitality further and drink anything at all. We talked about personal history and Creslin."

"Excellent, but I will warn Jubyl about Klassyn."

"What about Serita?"

"Oh, she won't be in danger immediately. Klassyn would have claimed that you'd attempted to dose all three drinks and failed. They were all identical, were they not?"

"They were all pale lager."

"He needed someone else to blame. Or it could be that you were intended to discover that the drinks were dosed, and that they were tainted, but not with nemysa, or without enough to have an effect, and they hoped you would make a scene or act inappropriately."

Was anything simple? "You don't seem that worried about Serita."

"I'm not. She's loyal to Dhoryk, not to Jubyl or the Emperor."

"And Triad Jubyl hasn't replaced her?"

"He's aware of her loyalties, or lack thereof, but at the moment, he needs to play a deeper game. I'd rather not say more right now, except that I must admit I didn't expect such an obvious move against you and me quite so quickly. That suggests that Cyphryt is most worried, and that means we need to move on to the High Command post. If Jubyl and the Emperor act as they have indicated, we may be able to leave tomorrow, but hopefully no later than fourday. The quarters won't be as comfortable, but that will reduce the frequency of such attempts on us. Dhoryk would not wish anything to occur under his hospitality."

Taryl had used the word us, as if the attempted poisoning had been against Taryl as well. As he thought about it, Rahl wanted to shake his head. Of course, Rahl would have been accused of acting under Taryl's orders… or… He frowned.

"Yes?" asked Taryl. "You have a question?"

"Was it just to try to discredit you, or was it also to create problems with Recluce?"

"Both, I'd suspect."

"But why? Does Cyphryt want the rebellion to succeed?"

"Of course not. He just wants to show that Triad Fieryn's judgment, as indicated by his trust in me, as well as in other matters, such as the explosion of the Nylan Merchant Association buildings, proves he is not a worthy Triad."

"But… we stopped total destruction of the entire trade quarter in Swartheld," Rahl protested.

" You did, but that won't stop Cyphryt from intimating that what did happen was a result of Fieryn's decision to make Gheryk the mage-captain in Swartheld."

"But… Craelyt did it all, and he killed Gheryk."

"Who can prove that?" asked Taryl. "When you're in command, no one cares when something bad happens even if you managed to keep far worse from occurring. In everyone's mind, it's still your fault that anything at all happened."

Rahl fell silent.

"It is most unlikely that Golyat will succeed in making Merowey independent of Hamor, but almost everyone in high circles of power-except Jubyl, the Emperor, and possibly Sea Marshal Chastyr-has an interest in fanning or prolonging the conflict." Taryl lifted and opened the satchel. "The darts that held chaos charges are exhausted, and I don't have the requisite abilities to recharge them. So you'll only have to decide which ones have quills and which needles. Block the needles."

"Ser…"

"You need practice, Rahl. Much more practice."

"Yes, ser." Rahl took a deep breath.