Princeps

68

Quaeryt spent the first part of the day on Solayi thinking and writing, first about the homily he had to deliver that evening, and then about more exercises that would help develop the skills of his imagers.

Then he went to find Captain Zhelan, who was just finishing meeting with his squad leaders in a tack room in the second stable. Quaeryt stayed out of sight until the squad leaders dispersed, then stepped forward as Zhelan was about to close the door.

“A moment, if you will, Captain.”

“Yes, sir.” Zhelan stiffened, far more respectfully than the first time that Quaeryt had met him.

“I’ve been so busy trying to get the imager undercaptains into shape that I fear I’ve neglected meeting with you.”

Zhelan smiled. “I thought that might be so.”

“You were right.”

“What will you be needing from us, Subcommander?”

“When the time comes, escort duty to keep the imagers from getting killed while they do what they’re supposed to do. At times, it probably won’t be anything except keeping watch. Other times, it’s likely to be quite a bit more.”

“Begging your pardon, sir … but what can they do? I know imagers can kill people when they’re close. Some of them, anyway, but it seems to me that a blade or a quarrel or an arrow will do the same…”

“You’re right, Captain. But there are other things that they can do. What would happen if the Bovarians launched boats and barges to bring troops across the river … and a number of them sank in the channel? Should it ever come to a siege, and it probably won’t, what would happen if the Bovarian siege engines all failed? Those skills some of the undercaptains already have. I’m working to develop others.”

Zhelan nodded slowly, then spoke again. “Sir … if I offended you in any way when we first met…”

“You were surprised that I was a scholar. That’s understandable. I may be the first scholar ever to become a subcommander.”

“Commander Skarpa explained…”

Quaeryt smiled politely, but not coolly. “The commander and I have been through quite a bit together.”

“Yes, sir. He said he’d been trying to get you to take command of a unit for years.”

That was a bit of an overstatement, Quaeryt knew, but he merely said, “It’s probably better that I had the experience in Tilbor and Extela before it happened.”

“He said you were wounded several times.”

“That’s right. The first time because I didn’t duck quickly enough, and the second because I tried to hold the line against heavy armored cavalry just a shade longer than necessary.” That also wasn’t quite true, except in spirit, because he’d been holding his position to get to where he could keep Rescalyn from leading a revolt against Bhayar.

“He also said that those were just the times when you almost died.”

“In battle, Captain, as you must know, almost anyone who is seriously wounded is very close to dying. I was fortunate enough to survive and to learn from it.” Of course, what you learned was the necessity of building shields strong enough so that you don’t get put in such positions again. “I hope I’m never in a position to learn that way again.” Quaeryt punctuated his words with an ironic laugh.

“No, sir. None of us do.”

“I don’t know that I’ve totally answered your question, Captain, but it’s the best I can do right now.”

“Yes, sir. I appreciate it.”

After leaving Zhelan, Quaeryt again made his way down to the river south of the post, an area slightly less uneven, and without any trees or bushes. Before long he stood on what resembled a ridge some five yards back of the point where the ground dropped to the river, a low bluff whose lip was perhaps five yards above the shallows below, where the water swirled in a slight backwater. Where he stood on the south side of the post was more than another hundred yards farther from the piers than from the grassy knoll where he had tried imaging across the river earlier. The sky had cleared, and the air was so clean that the piers of Cleblois appeared far closer than they really were.

This time, Quaeryt concentrated on trying to remove the top of a bollard, the part above the uppermost iron band. He looked at the bollard, half wondering if he dared to try to remove the iron bands as well, then focused on the bollard … only to find himself thrown back by a wave of blackness and freezing chill, casting him into a deeper darkness.

A deep throbbing in his skull was the first thing he noticed. The next were rocks and sharp objects gouging his back. His eyes opened, and through intermittent flashes of light he could see the sky overhead. He realized that he was sprawled on his back, looking upward. Slowly, he rolled onto his side and then rose, slightly unsteadily, to his feet.

He had to squint to make out the piers. He swallowed. The entire upper section of the bollard, including the iron band, had vanished.

Your concentration varied just a little … and look what happened. He winced at that thought, a reminder of what care he needed to take in imaging.

He did his best to brush the dirt and grass off his uniform before walking slowly back to the post and through the main gates. He’d no more than approached the officers’ quarters when Major Meinyt hurried over.

“Sir … did you see what happened on the river a bit ago?”

“On the river?” Quaeryt frowned, trying to ignore the pounding in his skull.

“There was a line of ice across the entire river, and then it broke up in chunks. Never seen anything like it.”

“I have to say that I didn’t see it. A line of ice, you say?”

“Yes, sir. Right strange.”

Quaeryt nodded. “That sounds very unusual.” After a moment, he added, “Thank you for telling me.”

“It couldn’t be something one of your imagers was doing, could it?”

“I’ve never heard of something like that, but I’ll certainly check on it.”

“Well … I just thought you should know.”

“Thank you.” Quaeryt smiled, then turned and made his way up the stairs to his quarters, thinking.

A line of ice that broke up into chunks? Abruptly, he recalled that when he’d tried to create a shield out of fog that ice pellets had fallen around him … and he’d always been uncertain about one of the skirmishes in the Boran Hills, right after he’d expanded his shields to deal with pikes. Drizzle had been falling everywhere else, except there had been ice around him. And when he’d imaged lager, the mug had gotten noticeably colder in his hands.

Is there something about greater use of imaging that creates cold, even ice? Why would that be?

He considered. If one put ice in a pot over a fire or on a stove, the heat melted the ice, and if the pot got hot enough, the water turned into steam. Did imaging do the opposite? Did it actually require heat, so that when great imaging was done, things turned much colder where the imaging was accomplished? He’d wondered about that in Extela, but never followed up on it.

How could you test that? With his head still aching, he decided any testing would have to wait … for at least a while.

After resting a bit, Quaeryt spent more time thinking about how he might train imagers to deal with arrows in flight, as well as other drills. Before long, or so it seemed, it was time for dinner.

Later, after the meal, Quaeryt once again acted as a chorister in the small post anomen, pushing back his qualms about it, although he doubted that any local chorister would know or care about what happened inside the gates of a totally military establishment involving an officer. The problem in Extela had been as much that he’d been governor as that he’d acted as a chorister … and that he’d been trying to deal with too many problems at once. Yet what were the alternatives? He almost smiled wryly. The problem was that you didn’t want to accept alternatives that hurt the troopers or the people … and that resulted in High Holders and factors opposing you.

He was almost relieved when he finally began the homily.

“Under the Nameless all evenings are good, even those with the Bovarians a few hundred yards away…”

Quaeryt waited for the smiles to subside, then went on. “In these times, there seems to be a preoccupation with golds, as if golds alone will resolve every problem, provide a solution to every difficulty. But golds themselves seldom solve any problem. Let us think of it in this way. If you are starving and in the middle of a desert or on a raft in the middle of the ocean, can you eat golds? Can you drink golds? If you are in a battle, can you stop a blow from a sabre with a handful of golds? Yes … I’d be the first to admit that, in most cases, golds will buy food or weapons, or many other things, but golds are only a tool. They are one way to obtain the necessities of life, and I’d also be among the first to admit that in most cases, having golds, or silvers, or coppers makes life far, far easier. But we should never forget that golds are a tool, a highly useful tool. How do we obtain golds? If we’re honest, we work for them. Those golds represent our effort. But other things also represent effort, and those other things are sometimes more important than golds. Golds cannot buy courage … or discipline. Those come from within. Golds are bought by skill, courage, or determination, if not all three. For that reason all the things that golds purchase are paid for by someone’s skill, courage, or determination. Gold is merely a way of making the exchange easier … but we tend to forget that, and concentrate on the golds … and not what lies behind them…”

When he finished, he saw Skarpa nod.

That was good … at least until he had to come up with another homily next Solayi.