L. Modesitt - Ordermaster

Whhhstt! A firebolt arced toward him, splashed across his shield.

So much sweat was streaming down his face that his eyes stung, and hecould barely see. He had to get to this white wizard before the man tried to flee. Kharl didn’t want the other white wizards to know any more than they might gather from a distance about him, and he certainly didn’t want to deal with three or four at once. That could happen if this one escaped. Kharl had barely managed two at a time before, and that had been chancy, even with lancers supporting him.

Two firebolts flashed at Kharl, one right after the other. Both sheeted around him. Kharl felt as though he were standing in the middle of one of his coopering fire pots, but he kept walking toward the attacking wizard.

The white wizard was still mounted. Even from fifty cubits away, Kharl could see that he was young. He didn’t look that much older than Erdyl. A look of surprise had appeared on his face as he saw Kharl walking through the gate that the lancers had battered open.

Whhstt! Another firebolt flared toward Kharl, spraying around him as he walked forward, readying his own attack.

With the next firebolt, Kharl created the shield that deflected the chaos back at the young wizard, then struck by hardening the air around the man.

The wizard froze in the saddle, then slowly toppled sideways. A flicker of chaos whispered toward Kharl, then died as the younger man struck the bricks of the street. Kharl still had to hold the hardened air shield for a time before the other man died.

He took a deep breath. He still knew of no way to capture chaos-wizards-not that would keep them from escaping. From what he knew, he wasn’t sure that there was a way. Or maybe he just didn’t know enough.

When he released the shield, the figure of the wizard, young as he had looked, shimmered, and disintegrated into dust.

Kharl turned and trudged back to the residence.

Demyst and Jeka were waiting on the portico-both shielded by stone pillars.

“Ser?” asked Demyst.

“They’re dead. All of them.” Kharl sank onto the half wall, half-sitting, half-leaning. White points of light flickered in and out of his vision. “Need to eat, drink. In case someone else comes.” He straightened slowly, then walked into the residence.

He hadn’t done that much heavy magery recently, and it showed. He also hadn’t eaten that much the night before, and that hadn’t helped, either. So many things to think about.

Demyst headed up to the third level. Kharl knew someone up therehad died, and he hoped that it hadn’t been Erdyl. Then, he hadn’t wanted anyone to die.

He settled into a chair in the breakfast nook.

Jeka reappeared with a wedge of cheese and some bread. “You want lager?”

“Please.”

“The others can come up from below?”

Kharl nodded, then, realizing she might not see the movement in the darkened room, added, “Yes. Won’t be anything happening for a while.”

Kharl sat in the darkness, slowly chewing some bread. His mouth was so dry he was having trouble swallowing, and he was grateful when Jeka reappeared with a pitcher of lager. She found a beaker and filled it. He took a careful swallow, then sliced a piece of cheese off the wedge with his belt knife. He had trouble holding the knife, but managed.

As Kharl slipped the cheese into his mouth, Demyst entered the breakfast room, followed by Erdyl.

“They shot Cevor,” the undercaptain said.

“I’m sorry. I felt it. I didn’t know who, though.”

“One man … against forty-odd of theirs and a white wizard-there was only one, wasn’t there?”

“Just one.” Kharl took another sip of lager. The worst of his weakness and light-headedness was beginning to subside. “Hate to lose even one of our own. The thing with the chaos-bolts and the windows. Hadn′t seen that before.”

“What?”

“The windows they broke …” Kharl went on to explain how the bolts had been infused with chaos to set the residence on fire. “ … probably wanted the place ablaze so that they could pick off people trying to escape.”

“Sounds like the Hamorians,” said Demyst.

“More like Egen.” Jeka’s voice was hard.

“He wasn′t with them, I don’t think,” Kharl said.

“‘A course not. Let someone else do the dirt,” Jeka replied.

That would only work for a while-at least Kharl hoped so. Eventually, he needed to face Egen, if only for his own sake.

After a time, Jeka, seated across from him, asked, “You … you coulda done this before?”

“No. I didn’t know I could. The staff started it, but I never knew.” Kharlsmiled sadly. “A lot of lancers and armsmen died because it took me a while to learn what I know.”

“More of’em lived than would have otherwise,” suggested the undercaptain.

In fact, he and Demyst were both correct, but it didn’t make Kharl feel that much better about it.

LXXIX

By just after dawn, and only a few glasses of sleep, not only could Kharl still smell smoke, and the ashes of burned men and mounts-and foliage, but despite the clouds, he could also see a pall of thick gray smoke still rising from somewhere near the top of the hill. The only place it could have come from was from the Quadrancy Keep. Whether Osten or Ostcrag had survived was another question, but that speculation could wait. Regardless of that, Kharl needed to deal with Egen and the Hamorians, especially the Hamorians.

Alynar was standing watch out front, and one of Demyst’s guards in the rear, as Erdyl, Demyst, Kharl, and Jeka ate hurriedly in the breakfast room.

“How many men do we have?” Kharl asked Demyst.

“We lost Cevor, and Sestalt’s pretty bruised. Why?”

“We’re going after Egen.”

“Better’n sitting here any longer.”

“We couldn’t start a war. Egen started it,” Kharl said. “We can try to make it very short.”

“Why didn′t-″ Erdyl broke off his words.

Kharl understood the unspoken remainder of the question, and he didn’t have the best answers. He hadn’t wanted to overreact to Egen’s evil viciousness. He hadn′t really understood what being an envoy was all about. He’d worried about setting up a situation where all the rulers of the Quadrancy and Candar would back Hamor in invading Austra-because Austra, in the person of Kharl, had tried to upset the established order in Nordla. Worst of all, while he had understood how evil Egen truly was,Kharl hadn’t realized the true depth of Egen’s ambition until the last few days.

“Because,” was all he said.

“Lord Kharl’s been here less than three eightdays,” Demyst pointed out. “Not very long to learn what’s happening and do something about it. Especially when we got no lancers or armsmen, and Egen’s got wizards and his own private army.″

“Envoys aren’t supposed to bring private armies,” Kharl said dryly. “We’re just supposed to watch and report.” Had it been less than three eightdays? He felt as though he’d been back in Nordla forever. He forced himself to eat another helping of egg toast, followed by a healthy swallow of the too-tart early cider.

“Where are we headed, ser, if I might ask?”

“To the south barracks, the ones out by the new road, just south of the city.” Kharl had already used his order-senses to determine that there were no chaos-wizards remaining at the new harbor barracks, or anywhere around the harbor, and the chaos that surrounded them appeared to have come from the south. He was guessing, but he didn’t think the white wizards who had been at the quarry fort had joined Egen’s patrollers. He didn’t know about the wizard who’d been in the Quadrancy Keep before, either, except that he wasn’t there any longer.