Mage-Guard of Hamor (3 page)

After an early breakfast in the mess on the
Ascadya,
Taryl and Rahl stood on the pier side of the bridge. Taryl handed Rahl a small square of iron. “Study it as you can with your order-senses.”

Rahl did so, but so far as he could tell, there was nothing unusual about the iron.

Then the older mage handed him a second piece. “This one. What is the difference?”

With one in each hand, Rahl could immediately sense a difference, if not exactly what it might be. The second one was the slightest bit heavier, but that wasn't all. He tried to probe it. “It's a bit heavier and more resistant to probing.”

Taryl offered a third and far more irregular square, one clearly blacker than the other two.

“This has to be black iron,” Rahl replied. “It's resistant to order-sensing, and it's much harder.”

“It's also more resilient to force and impact.” Taryl paused, then asked, “What about the first two?”

“They're iron of some sort, but I'm not a smith or engineer.”

“The first is a good steel; the second is iron ordered by pattern welding or forging.”

“The second is stronger,” observed Rahl.

“It is. It came from a broken blade. The last square came from Candar, although it was created in Recluce generations ago.”

“Is Recluce the only place that forges black iron?”

“It is, but not because it could not be done elsewhere.” Taryl smiled faintly, as if offering an unspoken question.

Rahl pondered for several moments. “Is that because Hamor needs too much iron and has too few mages to devote to it?”

“Partly. It's also because most uses of iron don't require the strength of black iron, and you can't cut or rework black iron without a mage. Hamor has engineers also, and they've been able to create an iron alloy that's stronger than most, without requiring magery.”

“What about Fairhaven? Do they avoid black iron?”

“In Fairhaven, but their warships are iron-hulled as well.” Taryl looked up and then out at the pier. “I believe someone is coming in response to our request.”

Rahl turned. A silver-haired magister was striding toward the gangway. Rahl recognized him. “It's Tamryn. He was one of the magisters at the training center, and one of those who sentenced me to exile.”

“Good.”

Rahl wasn't so sure about that.

Taryl headed down the ladder to the quarterdeck, and Rahl followed.

Tamryn came to a halt short of the quarterdeck. “Permission to come aboard?”

“You're most welcome, Magister Tamryn,” replied Taryl.

Rahl could sense Tamryn's surprise, but the silver-haired mage merely said, “Thank you.”

Taryl gestured, and the three moved onto the main deck forward of the quarterdeck and outboard of the turret.

As Rahl studied both Tamryn and Taryl, he could see that within Taryl was far more power than within Tamryn, of a
depth
that Rahl could not have described exactly.

“I presume that you are here in response to our request to address the magisters of Nylan,” Taryl prompted.

“That I am.” Tamryn's eyes drifted to Rahl momentarily before he continued. “The magisters will receive you at the training center at the second glass past noon.” Tamryn's eyes strayed to Rahl once more. “They will hear whatever you wish to convey from the Emperor. They asked me to inform you, however, that they can only represent the black city, and that anything involving more than that upon Recluce must be brought before the magisters in Land's End.”

“That is understood,” replied Taryl. “What information we bring is concerned with Nylan.” The ordermage emphasized the word
we
ever so slightly.

The silver-haired Tamryn inclined his head to Taryl. “As an envoy of the Emperor and as an ordermage, you are welcome in Nylan for the duration of your visit, and the city is open to you.” His eyes traveled to Rahl. “Rahl, however…”

Rahl could feel himself stiffening, and he tried to relax. Even before Taryl or he could explain, Tamryn was jumping to conclusions, just like the magisters always had. No wonder he'd gotten so angry at them so often.

Taryl cleared his throat gently. “Rahl is not here for pleasure. Nor is he seeking a revocation of his exile at this time. He would not be here were his presence not absolutely necessary, as affirmed by the Emperor. You can see that he harbors no chaos, and he is my aide. It would be to your benefit, and admittedly to Rahl's, that he be allowed the same access as you have granted me. As a mage-guard, he will remain in uniform, and thus there should be no misapprehensions that the intent of the orders of the magisters is being disregarded.” The older ordermage smiled politely.

“I suppose, under those conditions…but we would ask that Rahl refrain from any active order-magery.”

Rahl inclined his head. “Except in self-defense or as requested by Taryl or the magisters.”

The hint of a sour expression crossed Tamryn's face. “That would be acceptable.”

“What about the crew?” asked Taryl.

“With the exception of any chaos-mages—”

“There are none aboard,” replied Taryl. “We understand those limitations.”

“…we would suggest that they remain close to the harbor area, but they can travel where they will within the black wall.”

Taryl nodded.

Tamryn did not quite look at Rahl before he continued. “Either I or another black mage will be here for you both with a wagon at one glass past midday.” He inclined his head to Taryl. “Good day, Senior Mage-Guard, and welcome to Nylan.” He did not ever look directly at Rahl.

“Thank you.”

Rahl merely nodded. Tamryn's presence had rekindled his anger at the close-mindedness and arrogance of the magisters, particularly the rage against Puvort, whose deception and smugness had triggered all the events that had led to Rahl's exile.

Once Tamryn was on the pier and headed toward the trap he had driven down, Taryl looked to Rahl with an amused smile. “He wasn't exactly pleased with you.”

“No. I was a problem for them, especially after I exploded a section of the black wall by accident.” He paused. “I'm not exactly pleased with them, either.”

“That was obvious.” The older mage looked hard at Rahl. “How did you do that to the wall?”

“I was just poking around, trying to see how they'd used order to link all the stones together. They kept telling me to investigate things.”

Taryl shook his head. “Telling that to a beginning natural ordermage is about as smart as having a beginning gunner play with cammabark or powder. Do you know why?”

“I felt that, but I couldn't explain why.”

“When a true ordermage creates black iron or something like the black wall, what he's doing is essentially confining chaos within order. The more order and chaos involved, the stronger the structure or material, but…” Taryl looked to Rahl.

“The more it can explode if the order's unlinked?”

“Exactly.” Taryl shook his head again. “Idiots…”

“You don't have much respect for them, do you, ser?”

“As individuals, yes, but not as a land. They work as much against each other as against other lands, although they would claim otherwise.”

Rahl wasn't so certain about that. He thought it might be true of the magisters he'd known, but some of the engineers and even Anitra the machinist had seemed to work together, but then, he hadn't actually worked with the engineers.

“I need to go over what I will say about matters, Rahl, and how best to address the magisters,” Taryl said. “I'll meet you in the mess later.”

“Yes, ser.”

While Rahl had thought about leaving the frigate, he decided against it, at least until after their mission was completed. Instead, he spent the time reviewing in his mind exactly what had occurred in Swartheld with Shyret and Daelyt.

Then, after a quick meal, he donned the dress mage-guard uniform he had never worn. The trousers were still khaki, but of a far finer grade of wool, rather than cotton, and the shirt was crimson, rather than khaki, with khaki shoulder straps holding embroidered mage-guard insignia. The visor cap was the same as his working cap, except that the bill was high-gloss polished black leather, and all the insignia were gold-plated, rather than bronze.

He met Taryl on the quarterdeck, and they walked down the gangway to meet Tamryn.

The silver-haired magister's eyes again slid away from Rahl, and he said little to either mage-guard on the drive up to the training center. When he brought the wagon to a halt, Rahl studied the long, black-stone building, with the black-slate roof tiles. It was much as he remembered it, save that it looked smaller than he recalled.

“This way, envoys, if you please.”

As Tamryn stepped into the building, Taryl murmured, “Remember, don't use any shields when you speak. They have to feel as well as hear the truth of your words.”

“Yes, ser.”

The chamber to which Tamryn escorted them was the same hearing chamber in which Rahl had been exiled. The same long, black-lorken table stood at one end, with the four chairs behind it. This time all were occupied.

Tamryn stepped to one side and bowed before speaking. “Magisters Lecoyat, Severyna, and Myanelyt, and Magistra Leyla, might I present Envoy and Senior Mage-Guard Taryl and his assistant Mage-Guard Rahl.”

Even before Tamryn had made his introductions, Rahl recognized one of the magisters and the magistra—the gray-haired Myanelyt and Leyla, although neither looked directly at him.

Taryl stepped forward, bowing slightly, if gracefully. “Greetings. We are here on behalf of the Emperor and in the shared interests of assuring that our lands remain on amicable terms, and on behalf of His Majesty, we offer his felicitations and best wishes.” Taryl smiled, and paused before continuing. “If you have not already received word from your own traders, you will shortly, I am most certain. The Nylan Merchant Association compound in Swartheld was totally destroyed by an explosion and fire as a result of actions by the Association director there and Jeranyi merchant vessel crews smuggled into the compound. Many of the Jeranyi died in the explosion, and the subsequent explosion of one of their vessels, but before they did, these same Jeranyi had earlier killed all those in the Nylan Merchant Association to cover their trail. When I am done, Rahl here, with whom some of you are familiar, will explain how this happened in detail, since he is the only one left alive who was a witness.” Taryl paused just long enough to clear his throat. “That destruction was only the first part of a Jeranyi plan to burn the entire merchanting district of Swartheld and possibly even to set Hamor and Recluce against each other.”

“But…what would they gain?” murmured Lecoyat.

“What you may not know is that the Emperor is dealing with an insurrection in the province of Merowey, and that insurrection is tacitly being supported by the white mages of Fairhaven, we believe, as well as the Jeranyi. Had the destruction of Swartheld's harbor structures and warehouses been accomplished, the prices of Jeranyi goods would have increased markedly in value. More important, had you sent the black ships to Hamor, there would have been far fewer patrols to deal with Jeranyi pirates. As it is, the Emperor has been forced to cut back many of our patrols in order to shut down efforts to supply the rebels in Merowey.”

“So you want us to take up the entire burden of dealing with the Jeranyi cutthroats?” asked Severyna.

“The Emperor would not wish to imply or impose any duty on Recluce. All we can say is that at present Hamor cannot deal as aggressively with such pirates as we have done in the past.” Before any of the others could speak, Taryl stepped toward the long table and extended an envelope to Myanelyt. “This contains a more elaborate written version of what we have conveyed to you. It is a copy of the official and complete report on what occurred. The Emperor felt that you should have a copy as well.” He turned toward Rahl. “Now, Mage-Guard Rahl will provide some of the details. These should be of particular interest to you.” Taryl inclined his head to Rahl.

Rahl gave a polite half bow before speaking. “Magisters and magistra, as some of you know, I am an exile from Nylan, and I was sent as a clerk to the Nylan Merchant Association in Swartheld. At that time, Director Shyret was in charge there. I had not been there more than two eightdays when I became aware that the director was declaring excessive spoilage, then selling these ‘spoiled' goods in local markets and pocketing the golds. The amounts were not small. At least, they did not seem so to me. On a single cargo, the director might declare two kegs of madder or indigo as spoiled, along with a bale or two of prime black wool. This was never less than thirty golds a cargo, and could be in excess of a hundred.”

“Between thirty and a hundred golds a cargo?” asked Leyla.

“Yes, magistra.” Rahl paused. “In addition, I discovered something else rather unusual. Director Shyret was receiving barrels labeled as Feyn River pickles and storing them at the warehouses, but these barrels were never shipped on Recluce vessels, but always on Jeranyi vessels…” Rahl went on to explain how he had been attacked one night, then drugged with nemysa only days later and lost all his memories and ended up in the ironworks, before Taryl had helped him recover his memories, then trained him and sent him back to Swartheld. He also told how he had realized that the barrels of “pickles” had actually contained cammabark packed in vinegar to keep it from exploding…and finally what had occurred after he had discovered the Jeranyi raiders and set off the cammabark in the Merchant Association courtyard. “…I managed to set off the powder in that one ship, but I had to jump into the harbor, and it took a while for me to recover.”

The four exchanged glances. Finally, Leyla spoke. “You're admitting that you killed a superior officer and effectively destroyed our merchant compound?”