L. Modesitt - Imager’s Battalion

It is said that Rholan smiled and declared, “How can any man, even a chorister, study the mightiness of the Nameless when none can describe the Nameless? I only claim to study the precepts of the Nameless, for those are what must guide men.” Those were not quite his words. What he said was, “Tharyn, you cannot even describe the Nameless. Nor can you explain His way. Yet you would bar one who can for fear that you will be found out as the fraud you are.” Shortly after Rholan’s disappearance and presumed death, Tharyn also vanished and was never seen again. Many of the faithful swore that they would never name a son Tharyn and that the Nameless would turn any with that appellation to the Namer. While there are reports of such, I cannot speak to them, for any malefactor named Tharyn would call up that story in the minds of followers, and none would note those who bore the name who were not evil.

In the end, Quaeryt put down the volume because his eyes were twitching and because nothing he had read gave ready inspiration for a homily, especially when he did not even know whether he would be conducting services. After blowing out the lamp, he walked to the window and opened the shutters wide, hoping for a cool evening breeze, then returned to the bed. For a time he just lay there, but his thoughts turned images of the Bovarians, frozen behind and around the gates he had taken down with his imaging.

Troopers and armsmen die in war. After a moment came the second thought. But you’ve killed more than your share … except … is there such a thing as a fair share? Does it matter whether you’ve killed one man or a thousand? Or is that just a rationalization? But then, in a battle, if you don’t fight to win …

Lying there in the darkness on the bed, he couldn’t help but think about Vaelora’s point that, so often, thousands would die, and his actions only determined which thousands.

He wasn’t sure how much that thought helped as he tried to ignore the soreness in his chest, arms, and thighs, and then … he didn’t even notice his eyes closing.

Somewhere in the night, the warm breeze turned cool, and Quaeryt fumbled for a blanket, but he couldn’t find it in the darkness. Then the sky rumbled, and the air got colder still. He sat up in the bed and swung his feet onto the stone floor, but the floor was so cold that his feet froze to the stone. Across the room from him was a shadowy figure. Then he realized that the figure was not shadowed, but coated in ice, and a bitter chill extended from that icy shape.

Warmth! He needed warmth, but his teeth were chattering so much that he could not even reach for a striker to light a lamp or a candle. In desperation, he tried to image a hearth and a fire, and flames roared up before him, so fierce and so quickly that he could soon free his feet.

But with those flames came smoke, acrid bitter smoke, and he began to cough, retchingly, time and time again.

Then … Quaeryt found himself back lying in his bed, with black and gray smoke all around him.

Idiot! You imaged in your sleep …

Through the smoke he could see that the desk and chair were in flames. Still coughing, his eyes burning from the smoke, he struggled to image a film of water over them both. The flames began to vanish, but there was even more smoke. He imaged a bit more water, then staggered, barely able to see, to the window.

From there, he stood and imaged in fresh air from somewhere until he could stop coughing.

Then there was a pounding on the door.

“Subcommander! Sir! Are you all right!”

Quaeryt recognized Zhelan’s voice and slowly walked to the door, removing the bar. “I’m fine now.” Should you open the door? If you don’t, he and everyone else will think the worst . With a sigh that turned into a cough, he slowly opened the door. “You might as well come in, Major.”

Zhelan stepped inside, his eyes widening. “I smelled smoke. It came drifting down the steps. What … happened?”

Quaeryt closed the door. “One of the dangers of imaging. Every so often, just like everyone else, imagers have nightmares. I had one where I was freezing. In my nightmare, I tried to start a fire … I got more than I wanted.” Quaeryt started to laugh, then began to cough from the little bit of smoke still in his chest.

“Sir … can I do anything?” Zhelan glanced at the soot on the walls and the charred table. Then his eyes went to the bruises on Quaeryt’s thighs and arms, widening slightly.

“No. I can probably remove most of the damage. Just tell anyone who asks that smoke drifted in through my open window.”

“Yes, sir.” Zhelan looked dubious.

“I can. If not tonight, tomorrow. I’d appreciate your not mentioning this to any of the company commanders or the imagers. The majors are uneasy enough, and this sort of thing won’t hurt anyone but me. As for the undercaptains, they’re not experienced enough to worry about it.” Yet.

“I can do that, sir.”

“Thank you.”

After Zhelan left, and Quaeryt closed the door, he thought about his last words. How soon before that sort of thing happened to some of them? And how could he prevent it or deal with it? Clearly, when imaging nightmares happened, it wasn’t exactly safe for anyone sleeping nearby …

At that moment he recalled the small stone-walled sleeping chamber in the dwelling in Gahenyara, the one occupied by Vaelora’s great-great-grandmere. She wasn’t only Pharsi; she was an imager! That’s why she slept alone … because of imaging nightmares.

That raised other questions … such as how much Bhayar knew about his family’s past. Was that why he wasn’t unsettled about Quaeryt and Vaelora marrying? Or did he have plans for Quaeryt, just as Quaeryt had plans for him?

How could he not? But were they instinctive, as Vaelora believed, or were they more focused? Quaeryt suspected the instinctive and opportunistic, but he’d have to be very careful in laying the groundwork for his own plans.

He still had a slight headache, but he needed to do something about the sooty mess his nightmares had created … and working on that might well tire him enough so that he didn’t have any more unsettling dreams … or feelings of guilt and concern about what he had done. And what you might yet have to do?

He looked at the charred desk and chair … and then at the soot streaks and smudges on the white plaster walls and ceiling … and the puddles of water on the floor.

Solayi was the first of Erntyn, the second and supposedly cooler month of harvest. It didn’t feel any cooler when Quaeryt woke. He had only a trace of a headache, but he felt tired and drained. When he looked around the room, he didn’t see any obvious sign of damage. Unfortunately, there were problems. The chair that he’d repaired with imaging had a smooth, if aged, golden oak finish. The same was true of the writing desk. He hadn’t been about to try to duplicate the battered and scratched finishes. Likewise, the plaster walls and ceiling were a clean off-white, rather than showing the uneven patina of age and dirt, but the innkeeper might not notice that.

Quaeryt washed up and shaved, a necessity for him in hot weather, because his skin developed rashes if he let a beard grow out, then began to dress when there was a rap on the door. He pulled on the least soiled of the uniform shirts and walked to the door. “Yes?”

“Sir … it’s Shajan … the innkeeper, I would hate to disturb you, but there is the odor of smoke … I wished to know if you were all right…”

And if you’ve damaged my family’s inn. Quaeryt wiped a wry smile off his face and opened the door, standing in such a way that the innkeeper could see everything, but not pass Quaeryt. “I smelled smoke last night as well … but I’m fine.”