L. Modesitt - Mage-Guard of Hamor

Taryl did not step forward, but his voice, quiet and calm, without the thunder, still filled the air. "You are not the rightful emperor, Golyat, and no amount of magery can make that so."

A line of white chaos-flame issued from the redoubt, burning toward Taryl. Just before it reached the troopers in the rank before him, Taryl diverted it-almost half a kay to the southeast, where it slashed across the front ranks of the massed rebels.

Following that flame, another unseen wave of deaths swept through Rahl.

Two lines of white flame flared toward Taryl, but this time blasts of chaos-flame that moved almost as fast as the white flame flashed from the Triads back at the redoubt. The head-high walls in the rear shook, and several large rough stone oblongs flew from the top of the roofless walls across the structure. One smashed into Golyat, crushing his skull.

No one seemed even to notice.

The chaos-mages on both sides hurled forces back and forth at each other, and Taryl blocked and diverted those forces, sending many of them against the rebel troops. Once more the smoke thickened, as did the acrid and sickly-sweet odors of all manner of burning substances.

Rahl could sense that more than a few of those troopers were slipping away and sliding down the steeper north and south sides of the ridge above the earthworks.

Should he enter the magely battle?

Not yet, something told him as he edged the gelding closer to the headquarters company and to Taryl.

Chaos welled up from the very ground, like a fountain of molten rock, or like the white-hot streams of molten metal from the ironworks at Luba, and a tall figure-Ulmaryt-focused that molten-metal-like chaos into a massive shaft and hurled it toward Taryl.

Taryl staggered as his shields diverted the massive chaos-shaft, and the ground shook as the shaft slammed into the rocky soil between Taryl and the redoubt. Another shaft flew toward Taryl, almost reaching the overcommander before he dropped it into the ground.

For a moment, there was another silence.

Then the twin firebolt shafts of the two Triads ripped into the redoubt-one striking the remaining white wizard behind and beside Ulmaryt, the other hitting a Hamorian chaos-mage. Both the white wizard and the rebel mage-guard collapsed into a pile of ashes.

The next-strongest rebel mage launched a greenish gold chaos sphere at Dhoryk. The Triad's shields barely held, and chaos splashed over the three troopers nearest him, instantly incinerating all three.

Just after the rebel mage had attempted to strike at Dhoryk, Fieryn had slammed another firebolt shaft into the rebel-killing him.

In all the exchanges of various forms of chaos, three of the weaker rebel mages had been killed as well, Rahl realized, leaving Ulmaryt and one other renegade mage-guard.

Rahl could sense the exhaustion of the former Mage-Guard Over-commander. So did the two Triads, who flung another set of firebolts at the flagging Ulmaryt. At that instant, Taryl struck with an order-bolt.

The combination shattered the shields of the last two rebel mages and turned the interior of the redoubt into a mass of heat and chaos that reminded Rahl of the interior of the iron blast furnaces of Luba.

Rahl caught a sense of… he didn't know what, but he urged the gelding toward Taryl.

Another chaos-bolt flew toward Taryl-except that chaos had come from Fieryn. Taryl diverted that bolt, as well as the next from Dhoryk.

The troopers of the headquarters company-those that could-spurred their mounts away from the three mages, leading them and their mounts away from all others nearby… except for Rahl.

Rahl managed to rein up and divert Fieryn's next firebolt back toward the Triad. Fieryn brushed away Rahl's effort as if it were nothing, slamming the chaos back at Rahl's shields, and nearly flinging Rahl from the saddle.

Fieryn was far stronger than he was, Rahl realized, and with both Triads against Taryl… What could he do?

He blocked another near-incidental chaos-blast that nearly shivered his own shields.

Think! He had to think. There was no way he could breach Fieryn's shields. The Triad was far too strong, and Rahl knew that one order-bolt wouldn't be enough, and he could only cast one against a mage like the Triad.

He couldn't get through the other's shields. He couldn't…

Rahl would have grinned had he not been so busy fending off stray chaos from both Dhoryk's and Fieryn's attacks on Taryl… who was clearly feeling the strain. He didn't have to get inside Fieryn's shields to strike.

He immediately began to probe for any sort of rock beneath the Triad's feet. Sweat was pouring down his face from the effort of fending off Fieryn's incidental attacks and from his own searching, but he had found what he needed.

He began to order-move parts of the rock, and then to loosen the order-links…

KRUUMMMPT!

Even though he'd been expecting the explosion, and had strengthened his shields against it, he found that he'd been thrown to the ground. But so had Fieryn, Dhoryk, and Taryl.

Rahl drew the truncheon and bounded toward Fieryn. The Triad struggled to move, and Rahl could feel the other's shields beginning to rebuild as he struck with the truncheon, strengthened with order, its force fueled with anger.

The dark oak shattered the Triad's skull.

Rahl whirled as a chaos-bolt slammed into his shields, staggered at the force, even though it was not so powerful as those thrown by Fieryn.

Taryl still lay stunned on the ground, barely a half shield around him.

Dhoryk smiled, slowly gathering chaos, knowing that Rahl could not break the Triad's shields.

Rahl threw everything into the last unlinking, just trying to delink anything he could beneath Dhoryk's feet, stripping order from order, from dirt, from clay, and then from a section of a broken blade.

The late afternoon flared white, and Rahl could hear nothing.

Then, he saw nothing.

Rahl looked up into the darkness. He was lying on his back, and he thought he saw stars, but then he realized that someone was looking down at him. The face was blurry, but the healer greens and the warmth that flowed into him told him that the healer looking over him was Deybri. He tried to smile… and couldn't. He could barely move.

"Oh… you're here…"

Where else would he have been?

Drops of rain fell on his cheeks, except that they weren't raindrops, but teardrops.

"What… happened?" he finally asked.

"It's all over. The rebels who were left fled or surrendered, and Taryl has already sent battalions to take over Sastak."

Taryl was well. Rahl breathed easier. That left one other question. "What happened to Dhoryk?"

"He died," whispered Deybri.

"I killed him, too?"

She shook her head.

"Taryl?"

Rahl could sense the sadness. How could she have done it? "You?"

"He was stunned, but he was going to wake up before you or Taryl did, and he would have killed you both. I couldn't… I couldn't lose you again, and…" She shook her head once more. "I couldn't touch all the chaos in him. It burned too much. So I just… moved the order out of him, enough anyway, that his own chaos killed him."

"Are… you all right?"

"It helps… to heal, and to see you."

He could still sense the sadness and unshed tears, and he finally rolled onto his side and sat up, ignoring the dirt and soot on his uniform. He did wipe his hands on his trousers before he reached out and took her hand. What could he say?

"It helps to know you care and understand. I'm glad your shields are down right now."

Rahl doubted he could have raised a shield if he'd had to.

"I know," Deybri replied, "but it still helps."

"Where's Taryl?"

"He recovered sooner than you did. He was just knocked out. You used almost every last bit of order and strength you had against the Triads."