L. Modesitt - Mage-Guard of Hamor

"… like to see 'em apply the laws to them with golds… doesn't happen much…"

"… killed him with a truncheon… and going to throw him away like rubbish… insult to everyone here…"

"… like the trash he was under those fine clothes…"

Rahl said nothing until the two troopers picked up the body and tossed it onto the cart, and until they had remounted. "Third Company, to quarters!"

"To quarters!"

The troopers rode silently from the square. Even the murmurs from the townspeople remained low.

Rahl turned in the saddle and addressed Drakeyt. "I have to meet with the overcommander now."

"Best of fortune."

Rahl nodded acknowledgment and guided the gelding toward the headquarters squad. By the time he was a half block away from the square he was riding beside Taryl.

The overcommander glanced at Rahl. "We'll talk once we're not in public."

"Yes, ser." Rahl tried to pick up more reactions on the ride back to Esryk's mansion, but the locals either just looked or drew back.

Once they reached the temporary headquarters and dismounted, Rahl tied the gelding to a post outside the stable and followed Taryl inside, to a study off the south side porch.

The study in the mansion was small and surprisingly plain, with white-plaster walls, blue-velvet hangings framing the windows, and but a single bookcase, and that to one side of the large pillared desk with its rows of drawers.

Taryl sank into one of the armchairs flanking the hearth, cold, but filled with ashes. "Pardon me, but I'm still weary." He gestured to the other chair.

Rahl sat, his body and head forward slightly, waiting.

"Rather impressive, the way you dispatched him," Taryl said.

"I thought it had to be quick and decisive." Rahl wasn't about to mention that the effort had intensified his headache.

"What did you learn?" asked Taryl. "You did try to observe the crowd, did you not?"

"Yes, ser." Rahl cleared his throat, then continued. "No one was satisfied. Not for the right reasons. Those with golds were angry because they see Esryk as a man just trying to protect what he had. Those with less were glad he was killed just because he had more."

"Do you think it created more respect for the Emperor or the mage-guards?"

"No, ser. Fear, but not respect," Rahl admitted.

"Aren't they the same?"

Rahl pursed his lips. "I don't think so. I can't explain why, though." He paused. "Except that fear can create respect, but I think that respect disappears when the fear does."

Taryl nodded slowly. "Those are some of the reasons why public executions usually create more problems than they solve, and why we empower mage-guards to execute sentences upon the spot. Almost the only public executions are those of mage-guards who abuse their power."

Rahl could see the reason for that.

"How do you feel about your duties with Third Company?"

"It doesn't feel like I'm helping much, not for a mage-guard."

"That sounds more like a request for a pat on the back," replied Taryl. "Very well. I can do that. Just how many of these ambushes and traps do you think most of the mage-guards assigned to the army would find? And what would it have been like without you-or without any mage-guard accompanying Third Company?"

Rahl considered. "They might find some, if they knew there were traps."

"Would it not take much longer? Would we not have higher casualties? Far higher casualties without any mage-guard?"

"Yes, ser. I suppose so."

"Now… does that make you feel more useful?"

Rahl smiled crookedly. "Not really, ser."

"Why not?"

"I still feel I should be better at what I do."

"Good. When you lose that feeling, you're on the road to the worst side of chaos." Taryl coughed. "I have a few more questions for you."

"Yes, ser." Rahl was getting wary of Taryl's questions. They always seemed to reveal what he didn't know as opposed to what he did.

"Are you still thinking about that healer in Nylan?"

Rahl just looked at Taryl for a moment. That was the last question he would have expected. "Yes, ser. I'm still writing her, but I haven't had any way to send what I've written."

"I'll be sending dispatches tomorrow, and we can include a letter with that. Now… what else have you discovered, beyond what you've reported?"

"The rebels have created a fair amount of trouble for Third Company, but they've lost very few real troopers."

"What does that tell you?"

"They've thought out what they're doing and what territory they'll defend?"

Taryl nodded, then went on. "Esryk was sending the tariffs to someone in Nubyat, yet there are few true rebels here in Helstyra. What does that suggest?"

"Someone had been planning this revolt for a long time, and they cultivated the town administrators-or some of them?"

"Good. What else?"

"We should check every administrator from here to Nubyat. Their records-or those that are missing-will tell more than questioning them?"

"That's true. I'm glad to see that your mind is recovering. What does it tell you about the rebels?"

"The revolt was carefully planned, all the way down to how to obtain golds?"

Taryl nodded. "Let me ask you another question. Assume that we find most of the town administrators from here on have done the same-or disappeared-what does that point toward?"

"Someone knew who they were. But wouldn't Golyat know that as regional administrator?"

"No. Golyat is the kind who gives orders and expects them to be carried out."

"So he's being supported by other lower administrators. That would mean that they weren't happy with the way things were going-or they weren't being recognized, or they were greedy."

"Or some combination of all of the above." Taryl smiled wryly. "Now… we need to go over what Third Company will be doing in the next phase of the operation-and what I expect from you."

Rahl had the feeling that the afternoon was going to be long-very long.

Before morning muster on sixday, Rahl and Drakeyt stood among a group of close to a hundred officers, all gathered around the south porch at the temporary headquarters provided by Esryk's mansion for a meeting of all officers. Most of the officers standing waiting were captains, and almost all of the remainder were majers.

"Do you know what this is all about?" Drakeyt asked Rahl in a low voice. "You met with him yesterday."

"All he talked about was what he wanted from me and from Third Company. I told you all that last night. He avoided saying anything about the submarshal except that Dettyr was not here and that the overcommander found himself in command."

"Found himself in command? Strange way of putting it."

How else could Taryl have put it, Rahl wondered.

A lanky commander stepped forward. His voice boomed out into the gray morning. "I'm Commander Muyr, acting chief of staff for Second Army. As some of you know, when Submarshal Dettyr was relieved of command, he killed Overcommander Haskyl and attempted to attack the Mage-Guard Overcommander. As a result, he is… no longer with us, and by a conditional order signed and sealed by the Emperor, Mage-Guard Overcommander Taryl is now in command of Second Army until relieved by the Emperor." He turned.

Taryl stepped forward.

"Some of you may be wondering what a conditional order signed by the Emperor is. Before we left Cigoerne, the Emperor signed an order modifying the normal chain of command. This order placed me as fourth in command, behind the submarshal and the overcommander. I do regret the unfortunate circumstances that have led to this situation, but Marshal Byrna, of course, remains in overall command, and I am only in command of Second Army until relieved by the Emperor. All other procedures remain in effect." Taryl cleared his throat before continuing. "Our task is to take Nubyat, if possible, and, if not, to make it possible for both First and Second Army to do so once Marshal Byrna arrives. I will, of course, be relying heavily on you and upon Commander Muyr…"