L. Modesitt - Natural Ordermage

Myala was watching as another Hydlenese ship was maneuvering into the south inshore berth on pier three when Rahl caught up with her.

“What was that all about?”

“The captain was giving me a talk about not seeing smugglers tying up at every bollard. He also said to listen to you and not to say much until I know more.” That was mostly true, and Rahl had the feeling that, for all of her other strengths, Myala was not that good at reading feelings.

“Good advice.” She laughed, a harsh bark, and gestured toward the sleek modified schooner. “See that rig? They can put on enough sail to run down anything-or outrun most anything. It’s probably one of those pirate-smugglers that the captain told you not to look too hard for. We can’t do anything unless they break the Codex, but the crews are usually more trouble.”

She started toward the end of the pier, skirting past a vendor, when Rahl sensed pain and fear. He turned, sensing a man wrenching something from a girl behind the tent.

He sprinted toward the base of the pier, at an angle, pulling his truncheon out. The two teamsters beside a wagon jumped out of his way, as did several others.

“Thief! Thief!”

“That way!”

The man dashed toward the side of the pier, then saw Rahl. For an instant, his face froze, until he saw the truncheon, and out came two long knives. He rushed Rahl in a headlong attack.

Rahl barely had to move, stepping to his left, and striking hard enough to snap the bone above the wrist on the arm nearest him. The pain froze the man for an instant, and that was enough for Rahl to use the truncheon a second time. The second knife clanked on the stone.

Even so, the man staggered and tried to lurch away.

Rahl clipped him on the skull, pulling the blow slightly, but with enough force that the combination of order and impact was enough to leave the thief sprawled on the stone.

Rahl rolled him over and pried the purse from his limp fingers, then stood.

At that point, Myala arrived.

She looked at the two teamsters. “You two! Carry him to the gaol. Rahl, here, will show you the way. Rahl, you can write up the report there. Then go to the pier gate and wait with Hegyr, and I’ll pick you up there. It won’t hurt to have two mages there. If there’s anyone else, you might be able to sense it.”

Rahl nodded, then handed her the purse. “He took this from a girl in the tent by the vendor we were passing.”

“I’ll get it back to her.”

Rahl turned to the teamsters and gestured. They lifted the limp figure and followed him. As he led them across the base of the pier, he realized that no one on the pier had said anything, and that all the locals had scattered out of his way. That suggested that the mage-guards weren’t that averse to using chaos-flame with bystanders nearby.

Once they reached the gaol, Rahl held the door for the teamsters, who lowered the thief onto the tiles and departed the building as quickly as they could.

The duty gaoler looked at the limp figure laid on the floor of the entry to the gaol, and the crooked arm, then at Rahl, who still held his truncheon. “Another idiot. Lucky he ran into you, rather than one of the chaos types.” After a pause, he added, “You need to fill out the report.”

“You’ll have to help me. I can write it, but I don’t know the form. This is my first eightday.”

The gaoler shook his head and took a sheet from the small file case on the table. “You have to learn, but the older ones always do this. Most of the spaces tell you what to fill in…”

After Rahl finished writing out the gaol report, including the details on the theft and his own actions, he signed the form, and two more guards carted the still-unconscious thief through an archway and to a cell. Then Rahl left the gaol and made his way back toward the pier station, where Hegyr was monitoring wagons and pedestrians.

As he neared the pier mage-guard, Rahl observed the undercaptain talking to Hegyr. Before Rahl could do more than smile, Craelyt turned and left Hegyr, drawing Rahl well away from the street. “Young Rahl, it’s good to see you out here on the piers. Where have you been? I don’t see Myala.”

“I just took a thief to the gaol, ser.”

“Still alive?”

“I saw him first and took him down with a truncheon.” Rahl smiled wryly. “I did break one arm and knocked him out.”

“That’s what you’re supposed to do. You filled out the report?”

“Yes, ser.”

“I understand you were over at the tariff enumerators’ on sevenday.”

“Yes, ser.”

“I had another question for you. Isn’t it rather ambitious to think you can detect smuggling after just a week at the duty desk?”

“I wasn’t trying to detect smuggling, ser, but I wanted to see what sorts of cargoes the Jeranyi were declaring. Everyone has been saying how dangerous they are, and…I just thought…” Rahl offered a hopeless shrug. “Anyway, ser, the captain already set me straight, ser.”

Craelyt laughed, a soft sound that was somehow warm, yet without humor. “Just remember, Rahl, we do see more than what might appear, even with outland trading houses.”

“Yes, ser.”

Craelyt clapped Rahl on the back. “Good work with the thief. Just keep to the piers, and you’ll do fine.” The undercaptain smiled again, then walked briskly away, in the direction of the mage-guard station.

As he stood there for a moment, Rahl felt the slightest chill, warm as the fall sunlight was. There was something about the undercaptain…more than the shields that hid everything personal about him. But what could Rahl do?

He shook his head and walked to join Hegyr.

“What did the undercaptain want, if I might ask?” murmured the other mage-guard from where he sat on the raised chair, his eyes on the wagon approaching the piers.

“He wanted to know what I was doing away from Myala. I took a thief to the gaol. So he decided to encourage me to keep paying attention to what I learned on the piers.”

“Sounds like the undercaptain. Always wants us to stick to the job at hand. ‘You’ve got enough to do handling your own duties. Don’t try to do anyone else’s.’”

Rahl had to work to keep from laughing at Hegyr’s imitation of the undercaptain’s false-hearty tone.

Rahl woke before dawn on twoday. For a time, he just lay on the narrow bed, enjoying the comfort of the thickest and most comfortable mattress he’d ever had, but his thoughts began to drift to the uneasy feelings he had about the Jeranyi and Shyret. Even though he’d promised he wouldn’t attempt to snoop around the Nylan Merchant Association, he couldn’t help but feel how much easier something like that might be if no one could see him. He knew that was possible for both ordermages and chaos-mages, and he recalled vaguely something about light being made to flow around things. Had it been something someone had said, or had it been in the Basis of Order ? For a moment, he wished he still had his copy. Then he recalled what Taryl had said about his need to “feel” rather than think when he learned a new skill.

But how could he feel light passing around him?

He sat up and put his bare feet on the floor. The smooth stone tiles felt cool, especially in the warm confines of his chamber. While he had left the small window open, there had been no breeze the night before.

Could he think of…no, feel light as if it were a breeze? The only source was the window, just like the breeze-when there was one.

Rahl closed his eyes, trying to feel the light rather than see it.

Something happened, and he opened his eyes. He was in total darkness. How…what? Had he gone blind?

Just as suddenly the light reappeared.