Mage-Guard of Hamor

CRUMMPTT!

Rahl found himself being flung backwards and sliding along the railing, then bouncing against a bulkhead. Stars flashed in front of his eyes as he staggered to his feet.

The pilothouse and the front part of the crew deck was a shattered mass of wood, but the steamer stayed on course toward the shore, except he didn't hear the thumping of the paddle wheel. He glanced aft. It was almost still. Then, within less than a hundred cubits of where Rahl thought they would ground, it began to turn-in reverse, slowly at first, and then building speed.

Rahl grabbed the railing.

There was a lurching grinding and a long shudder as the steamer grounded.

After hurrying farther forward, Rahl was able to see that a bow ramp had been lowered and almost a company of infantry was charging uphill. The archers loosed wave after wave of arrows.

Another spout of water erupted, but it was a good fifty cubits out into the river.

Rahl tried to concentrate on finding where the rebels were, now that he was closer.

"Rahl!" yelled Taryl.

"Most of them are in a small clearing at the south end… a hundred cubits back on a rise!" Rahl bellowed back.

Taryl turned and relayed the directions to the archer captain, then to a messenger who sprinted down the ramp and through the knee-deep muddy water.

Another cannonball slammed into the water just off the bow of the Fyrador, close enough that spray rained down on the port side of the bow.

The shore force had vanished into the trees, and Rahl keep trying to sense what he could not see, occasionally glancing down at the forward main deck where Taryl stood, with two messengers. Beside him, another company was forming up.

Then an explosion and a font of flame rose from where the attackers had been, followed by the reddish white chaos and emptiness of death. Rahl guessed that the attackers had set off the remaining powder when the shore force had neared.

There were no more cannon splashes in the water, or impacts elsewhere, and another company of troopers followed the shore force into the trees. Rahl could sense the continuing chaos emanating from the trees as the number of dead and wounded mounted.

Then, as midday approached, that diminished, and the troopers from the second force returned to the Fyrador. Most looked unwounded.

Rahl could sense no more deaths, and he walked aft until he could see the channel downstream. The other four steamers had clearly backed down, awaiting the outcome of the skirmish on the shore.

Once the wounded started returning, Rahl made his way down to the main deck, where they were being treated by the healers-not order-healers, but those trained in dealing with wounds without using order or chaos. Remembering what he had learned from both Deybri and Majer Xerya, Rahl used his limited healing skills only where necessary, and applied as little order as was required. Even so, he had to retire from the area of the bow used as an infirmary after doing what he could for only about a score of troopers.

He managed to get some bread and cold mutton from the mess. Eating that eliminated the light-headedness, but he could still feel that he couldn't do much more order-work until he had rested more.

In midafternoon, Taryl found him sitting on a bench on the upper deck. "Majer Chevaryn said that you helped the healers for a while."

"I tried to be careful, but…" Rahl shrugged. "After about a score of them, I couldn't do any more."

"That score are fortunate, and I told the majer that. Most mage-guards don't have your abilities there, and true healers are in short supply. Majer Xerya and two of her assistant healers will be taking the next convoy to Kysha, but three healers for a force of more than ten thousand…" Taryl shook his head.

"Why are there so few healers compared to ordermages?"

"There always have been. I can only guess that it's because dealing with living bodies takes a different talent that's rarer. Also, it often comes with other abilities, and some of those are even more scarce."

Rahl nodded.

"You know something about that?"

"I was thinking of Dorrin. He was the smith who built the first black ships and founded Nylan. He was a healer, according to what I read while I was in Nylan." Rahl frowned. "And Creslin had some healing abilities, supposedly."

"Those are anecdotal examples, but they support the point." Taryl smiled wryly. "Before I forget, Majer Chevaryn asked me to convey his thanks for your information. He said it reduced their casualties."

Rahl shook his head. "I sensed something just before they fired, and I was on my way to tell you. I just didn't think about a cannon attack from the shore."

"How would you have known?" asked Taryl. "You've never experienced one." He laughed ruefully. "Neither have I. I've been under attack at sea, but never on a river in Hamor itself. The majer didn't think about cannon, but he did want to be able to make a shore attack if he spotted rebels. It's a good thing he did."

"Why didn't he think about cannon?"

"There weren't any High Command cannon anywhere along the river, and that meant they were either smuggled here by Golyat or carried by wagon from the coast. They must have just gotten them in place because they didn't fire at the earlier convoys."

"That's over seven hundred kays."

"That's why no one was thinking about cannon."

Rahl paused. "I heard Marshal Byrna say that Imperial forces controlled Dawhut. How did they get the cannon past them?"

"That's a good question, but I would be cautious at accepting at full value anything that the good marshal asserts. In any case, the shore force did manage to catch a number of the rebels, and I'll be interrogating them shortly, and you'll be observing. Then, we'll have a better idea."

"Do you think there will be other attacks on the way to Kysha?"

"There could be, but I have my doubts. Before long, we'll be in the area of the river where the High Command forces are patrolling regularly. I'd guess this group set up in one of the few places where they had trees for cover outside the patrolled area. But we'll see what the prisoners have to say before we proceed upstream." Taryl turned and began to walk toward the ladder down to the lower decks.

Rahl followed him down until they met Captain Erehtel, who led them forward along the fore and aft passageway on the main deck until he was roughly amidships.

"The prisoners are confined in a single space here. We've moved one into the adjoining space, as you requested, Overcommander." The captain nodded to the hatch to his right.

"How many prisoners are there?" Taryl asked the captain.

"Five. There were six, but one died of his wounds before they could get him back. We found fourteen bodies, and several of the shore force saw two or three men running through the fields on the far side. They were probably spotters higher on the hill who made off when they saw how many men we landed."

"Because we'll need to question each one separately, this will take a little time, but it's actually faster."

And both safer and easier, thought Rahl.

"Yes, ser," replied the captain.

Rahl followed Taryl into the small windowless room. The first prisoner sat on a stool, his hands bound behind his back. He wore a khaki shirt and trousers, with a four-pointed gray star on each shoulder of his shirt. His face was smudged with dirt, and there were bruises on one cheek. His eyes widened as he saw the two mage-guards, but he said nothing.

"Is that the uniform you all wear?" asked Taryl casually, remaining standing.

There was no response, but Rahl could sense a vague sense of a smothered affirmative answer.

"Or is that just for now, until Prince Golyat can issue gray uniforms?"

There was still no response, but Rahl sensed nothing behind the silence.

"You don't know," Taryl said. "That's often the case, especially when your superiors don't want you to know." He paused. "So far, we've found fifteen bodies, and there are five of you who are prisoners."

Rahl could sense something… perhaps satisfaction that some had escaped.

"The handful who ran off won't be much use. We did capture the teams that hauled that cannon here. How long did it take you, a season?"

Rahl got a definite feeling that it was half that.

"And you had help in getting around Dawhut, isn't that so?" Taryl's voice was calm but forceful.

Rahl could also sense that the overcommander was pressing the prisoner with a mild compulsion to tell the truth, enough that the man's feelings and unspoken words were revealing what he was not saying.

"Was it one of the local garrison officers? Or a mage-guard officer?"

The questioning went on… and on.

Abruptly, Taryl stopped. "He's told us what he can."

Rahl watched as Taryl went through the same procedure with the second prisoner, but that took less time. Then the overcommander turned to Rahl. "You do the next one. I'll add any questions if you miss something."

"Yes, ser."

Rahl emulated Taryl's technique on the next two prisoners, adequately enough that Taryl only asked two or three questions. The over-commander did interrogate the last, an older and more hard-faced rebel.

In the end, from what Rahl determined himself, there had only been one group and one cannon that the prisoners knew about. The cannon had actually been an older practice weapon in Dawhut and moved to a stead outside of the city, probably before the revolt. None of the prisoners knew who had done it. They'd just ridden back roads and taken two wagons holding a small disassembled cannon and powder and cannonballs from Dawhut to the attack point. They'd had a map and instructions to return when they used up their ammunition, leaving the cannon behind.

Taryl went to fill in Majer Chevaryn, and Rahl climbed back to the upper deck, where he sat on a short wooden bench set against the superstructure.

Before long, Taryl rejoined him.

"What do you think?" The overcommander sat down heavily beside Rahl.

"They were sent out to disrupt things. No one really cared if they returned. There probably won't be many others, but how would we know?"

Taryl nodded. "They send out a little more than a score with an ancient cannon. It will cost us a full day, and fifteen dead, counting everyone in the pilothouse, twenty wounded, half of it from that powder explosion. Most likely, those they sent are the kind who wouldn't do well in ranks, anyway."

"You think there will be more things like this?"

"I'm certain of it. Pits in the roads, ambushes, poisoned food."

Rahl grimaced.

"Golyat's already shown his colors. He promised loyalty to Hamor and his brother, and he was loyal exactly as long as it took him to build his own treasury and army. He'll do whatever it will take to make this a long and unpleasant war, and if he can't win, he'll try to destroy Hamorian unity. That's what we have to stop, and that means winning as effectively and quickly as possible and with as few casualties among the people as possible-even among those quietly supporting Golyat." Taryl offered a wintry smile. "There is one exception to that. The life of any mage-guard who rebelled is forfeit."

"Ah… I think I understand."

"It's very simple, Rahl. There are few mage-guards around who could not escape once he or she knew what was happening. Even if they chose to remain and keep the peace, they don't have to support Golyat. There's also another reason-if the mage-guards aren't held to a higher standard of loyalty, then how can we claim the right to enforce order in Hamor?"

Rahl understood that. He also understood why the Emperor had insisted on Taryl as overcommander, and he wouldn't have wished to be a disloyal mage-guard who fell into Taryl's hands.