L. Modesitt - The Chaos Balance

Then, in time, he took a deep breath and turned away from the window.

“Ser Nylan and ser Ayrlyn,” announced the page.

As Nylan walked into the small dining hall, Zeldyan stepped forward, wearing trousers and a doublet of sorts cut from a shimmering green cloth that resembled silk, yet did not.

“Might I escort you and your son to the nurse, and to meet Nesslek?”

“Thank you,” said Nylan, very much aware that even their best leather trousers and light linen shirts were plain indeed compared to Zeldyan’s finery. Even in the light shirt, he was hot, though he knew Ayrlyn was not.

Behind Zeldyan, by the cold hearth framed by a mantle of golden wood, stood two broad-shouldered men. Neither moved forward as Nylan followed the blond regent to a side door within the dining chamber. While the second room contained long trestle tables, they had been pushed aside, and two small beds placed within several yards of the door, a rocking chair between.

The white-haired nurse in the chair talked to the blond boy on her knee. “Ride a fine charger to Carpa and back…” She stopped. “My lady?”

“Secora, here are ser Nylan and his son Weryl.”

The nurse shifted Nesslek to her hip and rose. “Your pardon, ser.”

Nylan smiled. “I appreciate your taking care of Weryl while we eat.”

“It happens seldom that one can hold two handsome gentlemen, silver and gold, so to speak,” answered Secora. “Year from now, they’d hear nothing of it.”

“I appreciate your arranging this,” Nylan said to Zeldyan as they re-entered the smaller dining hall.

“I do not like to be that far from Nesslek,” answered Zeldyan, “and often make arrangements such as this when we must have dinners for outsiders, or when they would take askance at his presence.”

“We would not.”

“I had gathered that, ser, but we have much to discuss.”

Nylan was afraid of that.

“This is ser Gethen,” Zeldyan offered as Ayrlyn joined Nylan and the three walked toward the two men by the cold hearth that flanked the table. “Ser Nylan and ser Ayrlyn.”

Gethen had jet-black hair streaked with gray, a short-trimmed gray beard, and green eyes, though the green was not so deep as that of Zeldyan’s eyes. He stepped forward with an easy grace. “Gethen of the Groves, sometime regent of Lornth, and sire of these two-when they admit it.” His head inclined toward Zeldyan and then toward the other man. “My son Fornal,” he added.

Fornal had the jet-black hair of his sire, without the gray, and his black beard was longer and fuller. “I have heard much of the angels, and I welcome the chance to hear more closer to the source.”

“Let us be seated.” Zeldyan gestured toward the table.

The places were set with two on one side and three on the other. A purpled linen cloth covered the trestlelike table, with a large oval platter and a crystal goblet for each diner. Light came from a single candelabra set at the head of the table and a half-dozen brass lamps set in sconces on the dark-paneled walls.

Zeldyan seated herself in the middle of one side, and Fornal sat on her right. Nylan found himself across the table from them, while Ayrlyn sat across from Zeldyan and Gethen. The engineer waited.

“You might try the wine,” suggested Zeldyan.

Nylan poured some for the blond regent, then looked at Ayrlyn.

“Just a little.”

He poured half a goblet for each of them, wondering just how much their systems could take after two years of short rations and little alcohol.

“Surely, you will drink more,” insisted Fornal.

“A wine’s excellence is not determined by how much is drunk,” said Ayrlyn.

Fornal looked puzzled.

“A good weapon and good wine are used sparingly.” Nylan lifted the goblet. “To the regents of Lornth.”

Ayrlyn nodded and murmured, “To the regents.”

“To our visitors,” responded Gethen.

Nylan took the smallest sip of the wine. “It is excellent, almost better sipped than drunk.”

Zeldyan turned and offered a fleeting smile to Fornal.

“Very good,” added Ayrlyn.

Two serving women slipped into the room, each bearing platters. One bore meat smothered in a white sauce, and another meat smothered in a brown sauce. A third contained long white strips of something flanked by green leaves, while the last bore sections of the fruit called pearapples.

“The brown sauce is burkha, a hot mint,” Zeldyan said. “The other is a spice cream.”

Nylan took moderate portions. His eyes strayed toward the closed door behind which were the children. He didn’t like trusting the regents, but…what choice did they have? He could sense Zeldyan’s honesty, but Fornal and the older man were harder to read.

Fornal filled his platter with burkha, and little else, while Zeldyan and Gethen took moderate helpings of everything.

“You still do not like the quilla,” observed Gethen to his daughter.

“I have not gained an appreciation of oiled woodchips, but I requested that Visen serve it because of your fondness for it.” The blonde offered a smile to the two angels. “Please do not feel you must eat everything for fear of offending. I do not eat quilla, and Fornal has an aversion to anything that resembles fruit, unless it is fermented and comes from a cask.”

“That is the only way to serve fruit,” the younger man admitted.

After a single moderate mouthful of the sour-sweet minty-tasting meat and sauce, the engineer felt the heat on his forehead. Blynnal had obviously toned down what she had served on the Roof of the World-greatly.

“This is good burkha,” Nylan said.

“You have had it before?” asked Gethen.

“A cook who joined the angels makes it, but a far less tasty version.”

“Angels are not used to eating liquid fire,” Ayrlyn said. “Our worlds are colder.”

“So it has been said,” Fornal said. “Yet you are here.”

“We are two of the three who can live in this heat,” Ayrlyn said.

“Even now, it is as hot as summer where I was born,” Nylan added. “I do not look forward to real summer.” He blotted his forehead-warm and damp from both the burkha and the stillness of the room, then took another small sip of the wine, enjoying the tang, but not wishing to let it creep up on him.

“I had thought the hall chilly,” admitted Gethen, “but Zeldyan had suggested that a fire might prove uncomfortable for you.”

“We thank you, lady,” Nylan said. “At least, I do.”

“Zeldyan has said you would help us against the Cyadorans,” Gethen ventured after a moment of silence.

His mouth full, Nylan nodded, as did Ayrlyn.

“Can you bring the fires of the heavens against them?” asked Fornal.

“As I told the Regent Zeldyan,” the engineer said, “those fires cannot be used any longer. All our skills are at your disposal.”

“Any information you have on Cyador…that would be helpful,” Ayrlyn said quietly. “What weapons they have…their tactics…”

“Their tactics are simple enough,” said Fornal almost drolly. “They line up endless legions, and like soulless men their armsmen cut down their enemies. Many of their lancers do not bear iron, but blades and lances made of a white bronze. Their wizards, as with all white wizards, cannot bear the touch of cold iron.”

So that was why the white wizard who had accompanied Gerlich had almost disintegrated when Huldran’s blade had barely touched him.

“Is there anything else?” Ayrlyn asked gently.

“I fear much is buried in the scrolls of the Great Library,” said Gethen. “We have not had to cross blades with Cyador in generations.”

“Where is that?” asked Ayrlyn.