Corean Chronicles 3 - Scepters

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  "Like everything else?"

  "What'll you have?" asked Grenna as she stopped at the table. Despite her obvious physical charms, the server was a woman barely out of girlhood.

  "What do you have?"

  "Drinks are same as always—wine, ale, lager. Today, the stew is boar, better 'n usual. Vedra chicken with the thick noodles. Lamb cutlets… and lymbyl."

  Alucius could do without the lymbyl. "The ale… and… ah… fowl and noodles."

  "Make that two," added Feran. "Ale also."

  "Be three coppers for the chicken, and one for the ale."

  Alucius showed a silver, leaving it on the table.

  "Be back with the ale, sirs." With a nod, Grenna moved away from the window table.

  The day had been long, and Alucius was tired. The chill with the wristguard bothered him, especially because he didn't know what it meant or what had happened. The silence surrounding Halanat's death wasn't all that good, either, he thought. And spring was coming, with all the possible problems with a Matrite attack. He looked down at the surface of the table.

  "Rather deep in thought, aren't you?" suggested Feran.

  "I've been thinking—about a lot of things." Alucius paused. "What do you think about moving the Guard headquarters to Iron Stem?"

  "You want it closer to home?" Feran grinned.

  "That makes it harder to do, in a way. It's more because of the way things have changed. We really don't have to worry about the Vedra as a boundary, but it takes a day longer to get dispatches from the west here, and more than a day longer to send supplies west."

  "And you wouldn't have to worry so much about the factors and their plots."

  "I won't be colonel forever," Alucius said. "It would make things easier for whoever follows me."

  "You thinking about riding off?"

  "No." Alucius shook his head. "I'm just trying to get things to work better."

  "Your ales, sirs."

  Alucius looked up. He'd hadn't noticed Grenna's return—and that wasn't good. "Thank you." He offered the silver.

  "I'll take them when I bring the chicken."

  Alucius took a swallow of the ale. He hadn't realized how thirsty he'd been until he was looking at a half-empty mug.

  "Little thirsty there," said Feran.

  Alucius looked at Feran's equally depleted mug.

  Both men laughed.

  Alucius saw Grenna approaching and watched as she set a crockery platter with a full half chicken and a pile of noodles smothered in a cream sauce before him, then before Feran, along with a basket holding two small loaves of still-warm bread.

  "Be four coppers each, sirs."

  Alucius tendered a silver and a smile. "Thank you—and two more ales."

  She handed back two coppers. Alucius left them on the table.

  From the first bite, he liked the chicken. He almost could put aside his concerns about the ifrits and how to deal with Tarolt. His worries about Wendra were something else, and he could only hold to the fact that his herder's wristguard had shown no sign of injury to her. But he still worried.

  Two more mugs of ale arrived before he'd even gotten a third of the way through the chicken. Alucius sent Grenna off with five coppers.

  "Being colonel, it's not like what you thought, is it?"

  "I think I knew, but being colonel is harder than just knowing."

  "True of everything," Feran mumbled. "Don't get shot at as much here."

  "Maybe you don't."

  "You're the kind that gets shot at everywhere," Feran pointed out.

  In time, Alucius and Feran finished their meal and their ale.

  As he rose from the table in the tavern that was becoming more crowded with faces he didn't recognize, Alucius glanced out through the narrow window onto the darkening and chill street outside the Red Ram. He left another copper on the table, then began to walk toward the doorway, followed by Feran.

  Alucius nodded and moved aside as two well-garbed men he did not recognize stepped inside the tavern.

  Elyset appeared from the other side of the foyer and smiled at Alucius. "Have a good evening, Colonel." She offered a broader smile to Feran. "Majer."

  "Thank you, Elyset." Both officers inclined their heads.

  As Alucius stepped outside he could hear part of the exchange.

  "Colonel… didn't expect to see him here… just him and the majer…"

  "… say he's brave…"

  "There's brave, and there's foolish…"

  The words didn't exactly help his feelings or his mood as he began to walk back to his too-empty quarters and a night when he would sleep restlessly at best, worried about all too many matters, and especially about Wendra.

  Chapter 123

  « ^ »

  Novdi, as an end day, was a half day at headquarters, but Alucius was still in his study in early afternoon. Earlier, he'd inspected Fifth Company, the barracks, the armory, then spent some time with Feran discussing the possibilities for changing the basing positions of Northern Guard companies, especially those around Harmony and those that might be able to provide reinforcements, if necessary.

  He kept checking the wristguard. From what he could tell, Wendra was fine, but the uncertainty nagged at him.

  At Dhaget's knock on the doorframe to his study, where he had left the door open, Alucius stiffened.

  "There's a young fellow here to see you, sir. Says his name's Korcler."

  Alucius could feel a chill run through him, down to his bones. "Have him come right in." He stood.

  The brown-haired youth, a young man almost old enough for conscription, hurried into the study and began to speak even before he lurched to a stop on the other side of the desk. "I said I'd come, Alucius. I've been riding since well before dawn. Brought two mounts. Your grandsire insisted. That's because…"

  "What happened to Wendra? You wouldn't be here otherwise, would you?"

  "No, sir. No one knows, sir. She's just gone. Royalt and Grandpa Kustyl… they've been searching everywhere. They said you'd know if she was all right."

  "She's alive and healthy, but something happened yesterday morning," Alucius said. "Before midmorning. No one knows where she is?"

  "No, sir. Your grandsire, he took the flock yesterday," Korcler said. "Wendra'd been out the two days before. Said she didn't see anything, not even a sandwolf. Your ma, she came to town. When she got back in the afternoon, Wendra was gone. So was little Alendra. No mounts missing. No tracks. Only thing they found was a bottle, filled with ground quartz, for that lamb born in midwinter. It was lying on the porch of the equipment building. No goat's milk with it, just the quartz." Korcler stopped, catching his breath. "Your grandsire said no one else had been there. Leastwise, there were no signs. Her herding jacket was still in the house. She… she just… vanished."

  Alucius stepped forward and put a hand on Korcler's shoulder. "Thank you. I'd worried. I didn't know. I appreciate the long ride, and your coming to tell me." He didn't know what else to say. Wendra gone? Vanished? Without a trace? But how? The questions swirled through his scattered thoughts.

  "I didn't want to be the one, but… there wasn't anyone else." Korcler looked up at Alucius, then fumbled inside his jacket, coming up with a folded paper. "Your grandsire wanted you to have this."

  Alucius took the paper. For a moment, he looked at it blankly, before he finally unfolded it, and began to read.

  Alucius—

  By now, Korcler has told you of Wendra's disappearance. I wanted you to know that it is most unlikely that she was kidnapped or taken by riders. There are no hoofprints in either the snow or the dirt, or even the dust on the porch where she vanished—just some smudges. There are no signs of boots, and nothing is missing. I cannot tell you where to seek her, or how, save that it appears most unlikely that she remains nearby, and likely that Talent will be required.

  Nor do I know if you dare to leave your duties, or if doing so will prove useful. I do fear that all is connected, but I could not say why
.

  All our hopes and thoughts are with you, and with her and Alendra.

  The signature was that of Royalt.

  Alucius lowered the message.

  "What did he say?" asked Korcler.

  "What you told me," replied Alucius, his voice heavy. "More or less."

  "What are you going to do?"

  "What I have to," Alucius said. "We'll get you settled in my quarters, and you can ride back in the morning, once your mounts are rested."

  "You're not going to tell me?"

  "No. How could I? I'm not even sure." Alucius turned and took his heavy winter riding jacket, the one doubly reinforced with nightsilk, off the peg on the wall and pulled it on. "We'll get your mounts into the stable, and ready mine. You can rest in the guest chamber."

  "I can go with you."

  "No. Not this time. Your horses are tired, and it wouldn't be a good idea. Not at all."

  "You won't tell me."

  Alucius shook his head and motioned for Korcler to leave the study. "Go on out. I'm right behind you."

  In the main area, he looked at Dhaget. "I'll be leaving for my quarters, Dhaget, after we get young Korcler's mounts stabled for the night. He's my wife's brother, and he'll be spending the night in the quarters before he leaves in the morning. You can go now."

  "You're sure, sir?"

  "You spend more than enough time looking out for me." Alucius forced a laugh. "Go."

  He and Korcler led the two mounts to the officers' end of the stable and stalled them side by side. After that, Alucius took Korcler up to the quarters, where he sat the young man at the table in the kitchen with bread and cheese and some slices of ham shoulder.

  Alucius went to his chamber and changed into his riding uniform, with the new nightsilk undergarments and the new vest under his tunic, and the heavy winter riding jacket. He also took out both rifles and his ammunition belt.

  "You won't let me go?" Korcler stood in the doorway.

  "No. It might not be dangerous, but it could be. You're not trained for this."

  Korcler looked down.

  "I should be back later, I'd guess around sunset, but it might be longer. Just rest until I get back. If… if anything happens, and I don't get back, you're to ride back to Iron Stem tomorrow. No matter what. Do you understand?" Alucius projected total command. "Don't talk to anyone about this except Majer Feran and my grandsire. No one except those two."

  Korcler backed away a step. "Yes, sir. I will, sir."

  "Good. Now go back to eating. You haven't had enough."

  While Korcler finished eating, Alucius wrote a brief note to Feran, saying that he was going to investigate something he had heard about Tarolt and hoped he would not be that long. On his way back to the stable, he left it on Feran's desk.

  Then he made his way to the stable, where he saddled the chestnut. In less than a quarter glass he was riding out the gates.

  "You're going out alone, sir?" asked the sentry, a lancer from Fifth Company whose name and face he couldn't put together.

  "Just for the afternoon."

  "Yes, sir."

  As he turned westward, Alucius considered whether he should have left a note for Royalt with Korcler. He decided that his decision not to was the right one. If… if Tarolt was an ifrit, there was little Royalt could or should do. If not, Alucius should be back before long.

  He wasn't certain, but he couldn't afford to wait to be certain. He worried that he'd already delayed too long. The more he'd thought, the more he felt that the ifrits had to have something to do with both the problems with the prophet and the Matrites and the torques—and with Wendra's disappearance. The most disturbing thought was that somehow he had created the problem. The morning after he'd killed Halanat, Wendra had vanished. That coincidence seemed unlikely. Far too unlikely, and that meant he had to act quickly, especially since he hadn't, but then, he reminded himself, he hadn't known that Wendra had vanished. He'd fretted that something had been wrong, but hadn't even guessed that.

  From Elyset's directions, he could doubtless find Tarolt's place—but then what could he do? He wasn't certain, but the puzzlement that Halanat had expressed was a good indication that the ifrit-possessed trader had been surprised at Alucius's appearance. That, in turn, suggested that he had not known about Wendra's disappearance—or had not connected it to Alucius. But Halanat had clearly recognized Alucius. Then again, Alucius had no idea whether Tarolt was also ifrit-possessed, although it seemed likely, but from what Alucius had gathered, Tarolt was the real power behind the traders, and he might well not have told anyone if he had acted against Wendra, nor talked about anything else he might have done.

  There were so many unanswered questions. What if more than the one ifrit had been behind the attempted assassination after Alucius had first left the Northern Guard? What if Tarolt had also been involved? But what if he hadn't? Then who else could have been, and how could Alucius discover who the others were? What if they were not responsible for Wendra's disappearance?

  He shook his head. There had to be a link… somewhere… somehow.

  Perhaps he could learn more by following Tarolt, at least for a time, or by spying on his actions or his household.

  He continued to ride westward. After a quarter vingt or so, he turned the chestnut left onto another street, continuing southward. He rode less than half a vingt, past a mixture of older dwellings and shops, until the street ended at the river road.

  He followed it westward, along the southern edge of the low bluffs overlooking the River Vedra, and before long, on his right, the houses gave way to cots, and then the cots vanished. Beyond were overgrazed and snow-dotted meadows with sparse and scattered trees, lands that sloped downhill in rolling rills to the north. To his left were the rugged and rocky slopes that dropped to the river.

  Almost a vingt ahead he could see the point of land that Elyset had mentioned—a triangular bluff that jutted southward into the path of the river, so that the river curved around it before once more returning to its westward course. The road did not follow the edge of the bluff as before, but cut directly across the flat. A second road, more like a lane, veered to the left and toward the single walled dwelling set just north of the apex of the point. From the rear of the dwelling, Tarolt must have had a marvelous view of the river, which lay a good fifty yards below, and of the lower hills on the far side of the Vedra. Another half vingt beyond the walled complex were the blackened remains of another large dwelling.

  As Alucius rode closer to the point, he glanced around, searching for some position from where he could observe the bluff and the single dwelling, one where he could rest the chestnut and from which neither he nor his mount could be seen. More than a hundred yards ahead, Alucius could discern a line of scrub bushes and several low, winter-bare trees, possibly lining the sides of a wash or dry streambed. While it was farther from Tarolt's than he would have preferred, there did not look to be anything closer that offered any cover.

  The vegetation that rose out of the scattered snow and winter-browned grass did indeed mark a dry streambed nearly ten yards wide in spots and three to four in depth. Unfortunately, Alucius had to follow it almost fifty yards north of where it ran under a narrow timber bridge to find enough cover for both him and the chestnut. After tethering his mount to a thick root in a flatter section of the wash, Alucius took a swallow from a water bottle—one of a pair—before slipping one of the heavy rifles from its saddle holder and easing his way back southward along the wash. He found a spot some twenty yards north of the main road, where he could peer through the sparse branches of a scrub oak and see both the road and Tarolt's dwelling.

  As he studied the dwelling, the portion of it he could see above the stone wall, Alucius could sense a haziness to the air, a purplish fog unseen to the eye but all too clear to his Talent-senses. The intensity of the purpleness suggested to him that either Tarolt was ifrit-possessed or that there were others in the dwelling who were.

  After perhaps a quart
er glass he shifted his weight, wondering if his vigil would prove fruitless. How long should he wait? Finally, he decided that, if no one left the dwelling, once darkness fell, he would move closer to see what else he might be able to discover.

  Just as he reaffirmed that decision mentally, he saw the gate in the wall surrounding the dwelling open. Four men rode out, and a pair of guards on foot closed the gates behind them.

  Alucius waited as the four riders came northeast along the lane, and then turned eastward on the river road back toward Dekhron. As they neared the bridge over the small wash, through the branches of the scrub oak, Alucius could see that only one wore black and was white-haired—presumably Tarolt, although the black was that of a heavy coat.

  Even from close to thirty yards away, at a single Talent-glance, Alucius could see that Tarolt was not a man possessed by an ifrit. He was an ifrit. He did not have two lifethreads, with the purpled one dominating one anchored in Corus. Tarolt's single lifethread was an ugly dark purple, stretching somewhere to the southeast. Did it run to a Table?

  With Alucius's concentration on Tarolt, it was a moment before he realized something else. Not only was Tarolt an ifrit, but so was the dark-haired man in a maroon riding jacket who rode beside him. Like Tarolt, he had a single purple lifethread running to the southeast.

  Alucius's fingers tightened around the rifle, but he did not lift it, much as he was tempted. He needed to find Wendra far more than he needed to kill ifrits. And that was assuming that he could kill them.

  Once the four were well past him, Alucius eased his way back up the wash to where he had left the chestnut. He waited a time longer before he mounted and set out to follow the riders. He doubted he would have too much trouble, not when his Talent could pick up the purpleness from over a vingt away.

  The men whom Alucius followed remained on the river road all the way into Dekhron. As they entered the outskirts of the trading town, Alucius eased the chestnut closer, although he fretted that the four might realize that someone was following them. Tarolt and his party stayed on the river road, riding past the warehouses and wharves on the river, not turning until they reached the causeway that crossed the Vedra and led into Salaan.