L. Modesitt - Mage-Guard of Hamor

"Did you ever kill a Codex breaker?" asked Klassyn.

"Mostly, I disabled them. The captain wasn't displeased, I don't think, because that meant we had offenders we could send to Luba or the quarries."

"Oh… I hadn't thought of that, but then, I suppose, with your background," replied Klassyn, "you would have."

"It's more a practical thing," Rahl said, ignoring the dig at his time as a loader in the ironworks. "Killing people shows power, but dead people aren't much use. There are some people who aren't of much use alive, of course, but I've found those everywhere, and not just on the docks. Usually, they think they're far better and more important than they are." He smiled. "What do you two do as assistants to the Imperial Triad?"

"Emperor's Triad," corrected Klassyn.

"Whatever Triad Jubyl wants," replied Serita.

A bell tinkled, and Klassyn rose. "That must be Vernya. I'd better check."

Within moments, he had returned, with a serving girl following him. The girl had a tray on which were three crystal beakers. She served Rahl first, placing the beaker on the low table between him and Serita, then Serita, and finally Klassyn.

"That will be all, Vernya," said Serita.

Rahl lifted the crystal beaker, admiring the graceful lines of the Emperor's initials cut into the glass. There was something about the lager. He could almost sense-he could sense-the unnatural sweetness. Where had he…? He tried not to freeze but smile pleasantly, as he realized that the lager held nemysa. "Beautiful engraving," he said blandly, setting the beaker down on the side table. "Excuse me." He wrinkled his nose, as if it itched. Could he exchange beakers? No.. he could sense the same sweetness in the beaker that had been presented to Serita. Could it just be the type of lager? He had to trust his feelings that it was not, but what could he do? He'd asked for the drink, and not drinking it would certainly be unfriendly.

Abruptly, he sneezed, violently, and his arm swept out, knocking his beaker into Serita's, and both tumbled onto the stone tiles, shattering and spilling lager everywhere.

"Oh… I'm so sorry." Rahl managed another sneeze as he stood. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened." He rubbed his nose, then blinked. "I do apologize. I don't know what set that off."

"Oh… these things happen," Serita said, not quite dismissively, as she rose.

"Upon rare occasion," added Klassyn.

"What rarer is to see than what can never be-"

"My dear Klassyn," interrupted Serita, "we all have found ourselves in similar situations. Please don't suggest that we have not. I do believe Rahl has handled himself as well as possible. Let us just resume our conversation on the other side of the chamber. Vernya can clean it up later."

Rahl followed Serita, but found he had to sit on the other settee beside her.

"Would you mind telling us about Recluce?" she asked.

"What would you like to know?"

"Why do they insist on exiling chaos-mages? Is it just because some ancient ruler didn't like Fairhaven?" asked Serita. "That really isn't a very good reason, is it?"

"Creslin supposedly was stripped of his memories and put on a road crew by the white wizards, and they kept trying to kill him and Megaera. For him, I imagine those were very good reasons." Rahl smiled politely. "Then that became a tradition, and it's hard to change tradition. The black engineers in Nylan don't care for chaos because they work with black iron, and they believe that chaos anywhere near would create a great danger." He shrugged. "You don't argue with them."

"Do they really have ships of black iron?"

"Oh, yes. They also have an engineering works of some size."

"You're not a chaos-mage. Why did you get exiled?"

"That's a long story," Rahl temporized, wondering just how much he should say. "There's no point in giving all the details. What happened was that I don't have the kind of order-skills that the magisters in Recluce know what to do with. So they spent some time teaching me Hamorian and a few other things and sent me off."

"No one would ever think you were from Recluce the way you speak," Serita said.

"From Atla or parts of Merowey, but not Recluce," Klassyn added.

"Where are you two from?" asked Rahl.

The rest of the conversation proceeded along relatively innocuous lines until the girl who had guided Rahl to Serita and Klassyn reappeared.

Rahl stood and smiled. "It appears as though I've been summoned. I thank you both very much for your patience, courtesy, and hospitality."

"Your presence and your knowledge have been most instructive," replied Serita.

Klassyn merely nodded as Rahl took his leave.

Taryl was waiting by himself in the functionary's foyer.

"Thank you," Rahl told the guide, before turning to Taryl. "I came as soon as you sent word."

"I've only been here a few moments. Shall we go?" Taryl raised his eyebrows.

They walked out through the archway and down to the duty coach, which had been driven to the forward mounting blocks.

Once they had settled themselves, and the coach was on its way through the outer gardens toward the gates in the white-stone wall, Taryl turned to Rahl.

"What happened? I can sense you're concerned."

"I hope Klassyn and Serita couldn't… or not why. They offered me a drink, and both my lager and Serita's were dosed with nemysa. At least, it felt that way."

"You didn't tell them that, I presume?" Taryl's voice was mild, but Rahl could sense his worry.

"No. I had a terrible attack of sneezing and inadvertently knocked over both beakers. After that and many apologies, I decided that perhaps I'd better not tax their hospitality further and drink anything at all. We talked about personal history and Creslin."

"Excellent, but I will warn Jubyl about Klassyn."

"What about Serita?"

"Oh, she won't be in danger immediately. Klassyn would have claimed that you'd attempted to dose all three drinks and failed. They were all identical, were they not?"

"They were all pale lager."

"He needed someone else to blame. Or it could be that you were intended to discover that the drinks were dosed, and that they were tainted, but not with nemysa, or without enough to have an effect, and they hoped you would make a scene or act inappropriately."

Was anything simple? "You don't seem that worried about Serita."

"I'm not. She's loyal to Dhoryk, not to Jubyl or the Emperor."

"And Triad Jubyl hasn't replaced her?"

"He's aware of her loyalties, or lack thereof, but at the moment, he needs to play a deeper game. I'd rather not say more right now, except that I must admit I didn't expect such an obvious move against you and me quite so quickly. That suggests that Cyphryt is most worried, and that means we need to move on to the High Command post. If Jubyl and the Emperor act as they have indicated, we may be able to leave tomorrow, but hopefully no later than fourday. The quarters won't be as comfortable, but that will reduce the frequency of such attempts on us. Dhoryk would not wish anything to occur under his hospitality."

Taryl had used the word us, as if the attempted poisoning had been against Taryl as well. As he thought about it, Rahl wanted to shake his head. Of course, Rahl would have been accused of acting under Taryl's orders… or… He frowned.

"Yes?" asked Taryl. "You have a question?"

"Was it just to try to discredit you, or was it also to create problems with Recluce?"

"Both, I'd suspect."

"But why? Does Cyphryt want the rebellion to succeed?"

"Of course not. He just wants to show that Triad Fieryn's judgment, as indicated by his trust in me, as well as in other matters, such as the explosion of the Nylan Merchant Association buildings, proves he is not a worthy Triad."

"But… we stopped total destruction of the entire trade quarter in Swartheld," Rahl protested.