The Chaos Balance

XCVI

“No one steals the copper of Cyador. No one mocks the Mirror Lancers. Triendar…I want to teach those barbarians a lesson,” snapped Lephi. “Turn the white fires on them, make them white dust-you know, unwrap the ancient chaos on them.”

“I fear that I do know, Your Mightiness,” replied the slight and balding figure, brushing short white hair off his left ear.

“You fear that I know what I want?” Lephi laughed, harshly.

“What you want will destroy you and Cyador. Not to mention me,” replied Triendar dryly.

“Explain this,” demanded the Lord of Cyador, Protector of the Steps to Paradise. Silence fell across the hall, and the polished white stone tiles appeared as cold as the ice of the Northern Ocean in midwinter.

“The ancient mirror towers were based on the powers of chaos. So are our powers. Chaos by its nature must be balanced by order. That is how the firewagons operate. The order of the boilers and chambers and the tubing contains the chaos of water heated into steam. The chaotic force of the moving wheels is balanced by the order of the stone paving blocks.” Triendar paused.

“You have belabored those points before, Triendar. Why do they mean you cannot turn chaos upon the barbarians?”

“I did not say that, Your Mightiness. I said that turning chaos upon them would likely destroy Cyador and us. Such chaos would allow the Accursed Forest to surge beyond its boundaries-”

“One moment, ancient Triendar. You have always claimed that the forest held equal parts of order and chaos. How can your use of chaos allow it to expand?”

The white mage sighed. “It is not simple to explain, but I will try. If I marshal chaos against the barbarians, that concentrated chaos allows order to be concentrated elsewhere in Candar. The forest will use that order to expand, but once expanded, will balance order and chaos within its boundaries. For us to contain it will require more chaos, which will free order to strengthen it further.”

“How is Themphi containing it?”

“Poorly-and with the less concentrated chaos of men with torches. Even so half your foot and lancers labor around Geliendra.”

“That is why we must use your weapons against the barbarians,” pointed out the Lord of Cyador.

“Then too, as I have explained before, there is the problem of the fireship, and all the chaos it must carry,” Triendar continued, as if he had not heard Lephi.

“How does that affect the Accursed Forest? Even the shipworks are stoneworks built up from the water, and water contains order, much order, you have said.” Lephi’s voice sharpened. “You do not listen to me.”

“I do listen, but chaos is never simple. A fireship, with the fire cannons you wish and the bombards and the chaos engines, it creates much chaos. Add that to all that has been stirred up this past year…” Triendar looked at the man in silver and white.

“You tell me that I cannot bring chaos against the barbarians and contain the Accursed Forest? That I must not complete the fireship.”

“No. The fireship will not be ready. While it embodies much chaos, some is contained by the waters of the harbor and by the ordered iron that binds the engines and fireboxes. Most of the chaos it will create will be when the engine operates, and you cannot bring it to Lornth, can you?”

“I had thought, if the conflict drags on, to bring the ship around the point of Dellash and to fire that northern port-Rulyarth, I think.”

Triendar shivered.

“Forget the fireship for now. As you say, it is not ready. But I will dare the fates. We must take the risk. To allow one small barbarian clan to seize our copper and destroy white lancers unpunished…what will stop the Jeranyi from surging west across the Grass Hills? Or those Kyphran traders…”

“Your Mightiness…Cyador, as you have pointed out, is scarcely powerless.”

“Triendar…we have few firewagons, and they only operate on the stone roads. We have none of the ancient fireships, and but one under construction to replace them-”

“The ancient ships were destroyed because they were failing.” Triendar nodded. “As this one will fail in a few years under the pressure of chaos.”

“We will build others.”

“And you will build chaos, and the Accursed Forest will use that to grow.”

“We will face that when we must. For now, the barbarians must go, before they become a greater threat.” The Protector of the Steps to Paradise stopped and surveyed the closed doors to the hall, the wisps of steam that drifted around the fittings. “We have instilled order and obedience into our people, and we cannot turn them into warriors overnight, and if we tried…” Lephi shook his head.

“They would strike first at the Mirror classes, you fear?”

“No. But the taxes and tariffs would rise, and then, so would disobedience, and that would make the Mirror Lancers and Foot more arrogant…”

Triendar laughed softly. “None would suspect a lord of Cyad to be so considerate and thoughtful of his people.”

Lephi snorted. “We have no choice but to use chaos.”

“As you wish, Sire. I have told you the risks.”

“And I have told you those of not employing it. I have not mentioned the risks to you.” Lephi gestured toward the wide window and the open waters of the Western Ocean. “Do you not understand? You worry about what may happen in the years ahead. If we do not stop the barbarians now, neither of us will need to worry about the future. Already, we have peasants who challenge the white throne. We have eastern traders who would charge our merchants double because they no longer fear Cyad. And now we have barbarians who would seize our copper mines. We have no fireships, no spare firewagons, no fire cannon of generations past. We have lancers and troops…and we have the power of chaos that you can muster. And you will muster it against the barbarians. The forest can wait; it must wait.”

Triendar bowed. “As you wish.”