Ordermaster

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  What made it worse for Kharl was that he didn’t care for any of them. It was just that the idea of Hamorian control of Nordla was even less appealing.

  He took a deep slow breath.

  “Piss poor situation, ser,” offered Demyst.

  “It is.” It was even worse than that. If he could find Egen at the moment, killing him might well help Kharl and those with him. It would not help Ghrant and Hagen, because they would be seen as wanting to meddle in other land’s affairs. That would not help Kharl over the long term. And that was if Kharl could even find Egen and kill him against the opposition of the Hamorian white wizards. Then, he might not have to find Egen. Egen might well soon be after him-and everyone close to Kharl.

  Kharl looked out the coach window. Once more, everything that he tried to do to help those he cared for seemed to turn back against him. Yet, if he had not stood up for Werwal.. . who would have?

  Kharl just hoped Werwal listened to his consort and hurried to the residence.

  LXXVIII

  In the late-evening air, misty and damp, Kharl stood in the darkness on the front portico of the envoy’s residence. He could barely see Sestalt, stationed by Demyst on the corner of the portico overlooking the brick drive and the now-closed gate, but the newly retained guard’s presence was more than clear to Kharl’s order-sense.

  In the end, after talking matters over with Demyst, Erdyl, and Jeka, Kharl had decided to remain at the residence for a time. While staying was far from good, in the rain and without the support of armsmen or lancers, until he had a better idea of what was going to happen, trying to leave could well place them in a worse position, at least. He was definitely missing such necessities for the road as scouts and supplies. For the moment, at least, he was also in city that he knew.

  The rain had subsided into a foggy mist a glass or so past sunset, but the clouds above remained, and the next few days would likely bring more rain.

  There were two concentrations of chaos. One was centered near the harbor, probably at the newer barracks at the old slateyard or at the Hamo-rian warship. The other was somewhere to the south, near the new south patroller barracks. There was another fainter hint of chaos even farther south, but that might have been seemed fainter because it was at the quarries and more distant, although Kharl was guessing about that. The nearer chaos to the south was moving slowly toward Kharl.

  The rain would not help the white wizards, but Egen also faced a tradeoff. He needed the rain to slow any reinforcements to his sire and brothers, although, from what Kharl had heard, it was likely that Vielam was also backing Egen. For the moment, Kharl could not tell exactly how far away the chaos might be, except that it had to be several kays away. “What you doing?”

  Kharl jumped slightly. He’d been so intent on tracking the chaos that he’d not paid any attention to his immediate surroundings, and Jeka had seemed to appear from nowhere. “There’s a white wizard heading in our direction, maybe more than one. I was trying to find out how far away he was.”

  “Why’d you come back? Really?”

  “I had to.”

  “Don’t tell me it was for me.”

  “I can’t lie about that.” Kharl paused. “I was worried about you and Warrl. For different reasons.” His laugh was soft and bitter. “I really thought Warrl would be mostly safe. I wasn’t sure about you.”

  “I was safe.”

  “I didn’t know that. I was wrong about both of you. You were safe, and he wasn’t.” Kharl looked out into the darkness, all too aware of Jeka’s warmth and presence.

  “Don’t know what to make of it, do you?”

  Kharl understood. He also understood that he didn’t have a good answer.

  After a silence, Jeka said, “Can’t sleep. Mind if I stay here?”

  “I’d like that’ Kharl admitted.

  Neither spoke for a time.

  Kharl continued to track the white wizards. The one from the harbor area was clearly headed up in the direction of the Quadrancy Keep, while the one from the south was nearing the residence, and was less than a kay away. With him were at least two squads of lancers.

  “Jeka, would you go find the undercaptain, and tell him that there are lancers headed our way?” “I’ll find him.” She turned, then stopped. “You can tell that?”

  “Yes.”

  Kharl kept tracking the wizards, but, in the few moments that passed before Demyst hurried across the front portico to where Kharl stood, the lancers and the accompanying wizard had not moved that much closer. “Ser? How long before they get here?”

  “Somewhere between a quarter glass and half a glass.” Kharl looked through the darkness at Jeka. “Would you wake the retainers, Fundal and all the others, and have them go down to the cellar in the main residence?”

  “Not staying there.”

  “You don’t have to. I’ll need you for messages.”

  Jeka was off.

  “Mind of her own, that one,” Demyst said quietly. “Beauty, too, if you look close. She hides it.”

  Kharl was all too aware of both. “How do you want to handle this, ser?”

  “They’ve got two squads or so. I don’t think they know who I am. You know what I mean?”

  In the darkness, Demyst nodded, then replied belatedly. “They think you’re Lyras, maybe?” “Something like that. We’ve got a couple of crossbows, don’t we?”

  “Three.”

  “Why don’t we just wait, and let them get close. I’ll just keep behind the stone pillars there at the corner. If our men can use the third-floor front windows, that might give them an angle.” “You don’t want to be inside?”

  “I can’t do what I need to do if I am.” That was always the problem for Kharl. While he had means of releasing great force or redirecting the chaos of a white wizard, he had to be fairly close to do so.

  “I worry .. . someday, ser ...”

  “So do I,” replied Kharl.

  “I’d best be getting them positioned.” Demyst slipped away into the darkness.

  The force approaching the residence through the darkness was less than half a kay downhill, when Jeka reappeared. “Got everyone down in the cellar. Wanted to know why. Told ‘em that Egen sent a white wizard. Better stay down there less they want to get burned. That right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Undercaptain’s got Cevor, Alynar, and Erdyl up top with crossbows. Erdyl said he was a good shot.”

  “Probably is.” Kharl felt a slight twinge of something. Jealousy? He was too old to be jealous, and in too much trouble to worry about it. “He doesn’t boast.”

  “You don’t, either.”

  “I try not to.”

  The street and the other dwellings seemed suddenly silent, hushed as if the very structures knew that danger neared.

  Kharl thought he heard hoofs on brick, but that might have been his imagination.

  He kept waiting until he was certain that the muffled clop-clop-clop was indeed nearing and not something he just thought he heard.

  “They’re almost here. Keep down!” he hissed at Jeka.

  “I’m down.” She was crouched beneath the low stone half wall that formed the outside edge of the portico around the residence.

  As the lancers drew up in the street below the residence, Kharl wondered why they were waiting-and for what. He could sense but a single white wizard, and an effort to collect free chaos.

  Four lancers rode toward the gate. Between them they carried some sort of ram-sling that swung into the gate. Thud!

  The four backed off, then rode forward again.

  With a second thud, the gate, more decorative iron than barrier, broke open, and the four lancers turned their mounts.

  As the remainder of the lancers shifted formation in some fashion, Kharl forced himself to remain behind the shelter of the stone. Then something flew past him, and the window behind him and to his left shattered, spraying glass into the residence. Flame flared up. The crossbow bolt had carried chaos.<
br />
  What could Kharl do? For a moment, he just stared. Then he reached out with his order-senses, and hardened the very air around the chaos- flame, clamping a small order shield around it. The flame died. After a moment, he released both barriers, but the flame did not rekindle.

  He could sense another flare of chaos headed toward the residence, and he threw up an order shield. Chaos flared against the shield, lighting the night like a lightning flash that vanished. In that moment, Kharl peered out.

  Crack!

  He jerked his head back. The lancers had rifles, and they were using them.

  Crack! Crack!. . .

  Another chaos-filled bolt smashed through a window to Kharl’s left. This time, he managed to smother it immediately with order and hardened air.

  The reports of the rifles came more quickly, and Kharl could feel the bullets flying toward the residence and past him.

  What could he do about so many rifles? He hadn’t faced those before, not in such numbers. He tried to think. Rifles meant powder, even if kept within soft iron.

  He extended his order-senses, but all but two or three lancers were beyond his reach for what he needed to do, and sweat was already streaming down his face.

  Those he could reach would have to do.

  All he needed was just to unlink a small bit of the order in the iron ... just a small bit. His entire body felt hot, as if he were about to catch fire. Then, the unseen, but strong links began to unravel, and Kharl flattened himself against the stone. Whhhstt. . . CRUMPTM

  The entire residence shook. Flames shot up from the front rank of the lancers, and parts of the trees overhanging the street began to smolder.

  A wave of death surged over Kharl.

  The lancers were dead, and so were their mounts, so quickly that there were no screams-just ashes and several charred figures of men and horses, those farther away from the point where Kharl had unbound order and released pure deadly chaos.

  For all that, Kharl could sense the shields of the white wizard, just beyond his reach. Raising his own shields, he eased sideways across the portico.

  “No...” whispered Jeka.

  Kharl kept moving, taking the steps down to the drive.

  Whhhstt! A firebolt arced toward him, splashed across his shield.

  So much sweat was streaming down his face that his eyes stung, and he could barely see. He had to get to this white wizard before the man tried to flee. Kharl didn’t want the other white wizards to know any more than they might gather from a distance about him, and he certainly didn’t want to deal with three or four at once. That could happen if this one escaped. Kharl had barely managed two at a time before, and that had been chancy, even with lancers supporting him.

  Two firebolts flashed at Kharl, one right after the other. Both sheeted around him. Kharl felt as though he were standing in the middle of one of his coopering fire pots, but he kept walking toward the attacking wizard.

  The white wizard was still mounted. Even from fifty cubits away, Kharl could see that he was young. He didn’t look that much older than Erdyl. A look of surprise had appeared on his face as he saw Kharl walking through the gate that the lancers had battered open.

  Whhstt! Another firebolt flared toward Kharl, spraying around him as he walked forward, readying his own attack.

  With the next firebolt, Kharl created the shield that deflected the chaos back at the young wizard, then struck by hardening the air around the man.

  The wizard froze in the saddle, then slowly toppled sideways. A flicker of chaos whispered toward Kharl, then died as the younger man struck the bricks of the street. Kharl still had to hold the hardened air shield for a time before the other man died.

  He took a deep breath. He still knew of no way to capture chaos- wizards-not that would keep them from escaping. From what he knew, he wasn’t sure that there was a way. Or maybe he just didn’t know enough.

  When he released the shield, the figure of the wizard, young as he had looked, shimmered, and disintegrated into dust.

  Kharl turned and trudged back to the residence.

  Demyst and Jeka were waiting on the portico-both shielded by stone pillars.

  “Ser?” asked Demyst.

  “They’re dead. All of them.” Kharl sank onto the half wall, half- sitting, half-leaning. White points of light flickered in and out of his vision. “Need to eat, drink. In case someone else comes.” He straightened slowly, then walked into the residence.

  He hadn’t done that much heavy magery recently, and it showed. He also hadn’t eaten that much the night before, and that hadn’t helped, either. So many things to think about.

  Demyst headed up to the third level. Kharl knew someone up there had died, and he hoped that it hadn’t been Erdyl. Then, he hadn’t wanted anyone to die.

  He settled into a chair in the breakfast nook.

  Jeka reappeared with a wedge of cheese and some bread. “You want lager?”

  “Please.”

  “The others can come up from below?”

  Kharl nodded, then, realizing she might not see the movement in the darkened room, added, “Yes. Won’t be anything happening for a while.”

  Kharl sat in the darkness, slowly chewing some bread. His mouth was so dry he was having trouble swallowing, and he was grateful when Jeka reappeared with a pitcher of lager. She found a beaker and filled it. He took a careful swallow, then sliced a piece of cheese off the wedge with his belt knife. He had trouble holding the knife, but managed.

  As Kharl slipped the cheese into his mouth, Demyst entered the breakfast room, followed by Erdyl.

  “They shot Cevor,” the undercaptain said.

  “I’m sorry. I felt it. I didn’t know who, though.”

  “One man ... against forty-odd of theirs and a white wizard-there was only one, wasn’t there?”

  “Just one.” Kharl took another sip of lager. The worst of his weakness and lightheadedness was beginning to subside. “Hate to lose even one of our own. The thing with the chaos-bolts and the windows. Hadn’t seen that before.” “What?”

  “The windows they broke ...” Kharl went on to explain how the bolts had been infused with chaos to set the residence on fire. “... probably wanted the place ablaze so that they could pick off people trying to escape.”

  “Sounds like the Hamorians,” said Demyst.

  “More like Egen.” Jeka’s voice was hard.

  “He wasn’t with them, I don’t think,” Kharl said.

  “A course not. Let someone else do the dirt,” Jeka replied.

  That would only work for a while-at least Kharl hoped so. Eventually, he needed to face Egen, if only for his own sake. After a time, Jeka, seated across from him, asked, “You . .. you coulda done this before?”

  “No. I didn’t know I could. The staff started it, but I never knew.” Kharl smiled sadly.

  “A lot of lancers and armsmen died because it took me a while to learn what I know.” “More of ‘em lived than would have otherwise,” suggested the under- captain. In fact, he and Demyst were both correct, but it didn’t make Kharl feel that much

  better about it.

  LXXIX

  By just after dawn, and only a few glasses of sleep, not only could Kharl still smell smoke, and the ashes of burned men and mounts-and foliage, but despite the clouds, he could also see a pall of thick gray smoke still rising from somewhere near the top of the hill. The only place it could have come from was from the Quadrancy Keep. Whether Osten or Ostcrag had survived was another question, but that speculation could wait. Regardless of that, Kharl needed to deal with Egen and the Hamorians, especially the Hamorians.

  Alynar was standing watch out front, and one of Demyst’s guards in the rear, as Erdyl, Demyst, Kharl, and Jeka ate hurriedly in the breakfast room.

  “How many men do we have?” Kharl asked Demyst.

  “We lost Cevor, and Sestalt’s pretty bruised. Why?”

  “We’re going after Egen.”

  “Better ‘n sitting here any
longer.”

  “We couldn’t start a war. Egen started it,” Kharl said. “We can try to make it very short.”

  “Why didn’t-“ Erdyl broke off his words.

  Kharl understood the unspoken remainder of the question, and he didn’t have the best answers. He hadn’t wanted to overreact to Egen’s evil viciousness. He hadn’t really understood what being an envoy was all about. He’d worried about setting up a situation where all the rulers of the Quadrancy and Candar would back Hamor in invading Austra- because Austra, in the person of Kharl, had tried to upset the established order in Nordla. Worst of all, while he had understood how evil Egen truly was, Kharl hadn’t realized the true depth of Egen’s ambition until the last few days.

  “Because,” was all he said.

  “Lord Kharl’s been here less than three eightdays,” Demyst pointed out. “Not very long to learn what’s happening and do something about it. Especially when we got no lancers or armsmen, and Egen’s got wizards and his own private army.”

  “Envoys aren’t supposed to bring private armies,” Kharl said dryly. “We’re just supposed to watch and report.” Had it been less than three eightdays? He felt as though he’d been back in Nordla forever. He forced himself to eat another helping of egg toast, followed by a healthy swallow of the too-tart early cider. “Where are we headed, ser, if I might ask?”

  “To the south barracks, the ones out by the new road, just south of the city.” Kharl had already used his order-senses to determine that there were no chaos-wizards remaining at the new harbor barracks, or anywhere around the harbor, and the chaos that surrounded them appeared to have come from the south. He was guessing, but he didn’t think the white wizards who had been at the quarry fort had joined Egen’s patrollers. He didn’t know about the wizard who’d been in the Quadrancy Keep before, either, except that he wasn’t there any longer.