Ordermaster

XXX

On sixday and sevenday, Kharl did little but rest, eat, sleep-and reflect. Trying to read hurt his eyes too much. After two days, the torrential rain had subsided into gray mist and fog that matched Kharl’s melancholy. He told himself that he shouldn’t feel that way. He’d helped put down a rebellion that would have left Austra in far worse shape. He’d stopped-for the time, anyway-the Emperor of Hamor from taking the first steps to subdue Austra, and he’d preserved his own lands and future, lands he would never have dreamed of having a year before. He’d bested some of the most powerful white wizards seen outside of Hamor in years. Weren’t those worthy accomplishments?

Yet, with each accomplishment, he felt more distant from those around him. The guards stepped back and stiffened. Some people who once smiled bowed thoughtfully. Others stepped into side corridors, as if they had errands elsewhere.

He eased himself out of the chair in his sitting room and turned to facethe window, looking out into the gray afternoon. He could still see the face of the white sorceress, and hear her single word of protest, as if what he had done was not supposed to have happened.

Was Lyras right? Certainly, the older mage had believed he was telling the truth. That Kharl had sensed. But … how could that be? How could a former cooper, who had not even studied magery, have gained that much power?

Kharl laughed softly. He had not gained that much power. He had mastered one or two abilities well enough to turn chaos-power against its users. At the risk of blinding himself, he could release some chaos by loosening order bonds, and he could shield himself and a small group. That was power, but it was limited power.

Lyras disliked using power. According to legend, the mage who had brought down Fairven had survived and vanished. Creslin had seldom used his powers in later years. Kharl himself worried about what might happen if he faced more white wizards. At some point, did a black mage become strong enough that the greatest bar to his use of power was his understanding of what that power could do?

At the same time, Kharl had seen enough to know that most people respected only power. Was that why power so easily came to be abused, reflected the mage, and why the great mages of the past had vanished, or become recluses? He paused. Did the very name of Recluce signify something like that? Was that why it had a council, rather than a ruler, because it had been created by Creslin, supposedly the greatest air mage of all time? Because shared power was less easily abused?

Kharl turned away from the window, closing his eyes to relieve them, his thoughts still swirling within his skull.