The Death of Chaos

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  “I thank you.”

  “Don’t be a-thanking me, fellow.” He bowed, with an exaggerated sense of care, then winked before straightening.

  With a nod to the trooper, I turned Gairloch toward the sign of the Golden Cup, trying not to frown. Was Ruzor as doomed as the trooper thought?

  I tried to extend my senses in and around the city, but found no chaos, no disruption-more a sense of calm, or peace, bolstered by the order of the reinforced walls and the discipline of the Finest.

  I couldn’t help frowning as I rode Gairloch eastward toward the seawall, noting little of the laughter and chatter common to the towns and cities of Kyphros.

  “… way for the cart…”

  “… sea salt, fine sea salt…”

  “… way for the cart…”

  I doubt I could have missed either the iron gate or the heavy gray stone walls of the barracks, or the banner of the autarch flying from the building farther up the hillside from those barracks.

  At the gate was a single broad-faced and dark-haired guard. I dismounted and walked up to him, leading Gairloch. He didn’t acknowledge that I was standing there, and I’d never seen him. He looked right through me, as if I didn’t exist. While I might have been dusty, I was certainly there.

  “My name is Lerris, and I’m here to see the commander.”

  “No one sees the commander without a pass.”

  I nodded. “Who gives out the passes?”

  “The commander or the district commander.”

  “I suppose the district commander is Yelena.”

  “Leader Yelena to you.”

  I decided I hadn’t learned enough patience, because I wanted to pick up my staff and thrash the idiot. I didn’t. Instead, I asked politely-at least I thought it was politely-“Where might I find Leader Yelena?”

  “You need the permission of Subofficer Thrilek.”

  I wiped my forehead. Why did these sorts of things happen to me? “And where do I find Subofficer Thrilek?”

  “Serjeant Hissek might know.”

  “All right. Where is he?”

  “He’s in the main hall.”

  I started forward.

  “You can’t go in there without a pass.”

  “Look. The commander happens to my consort, and I’ve fought in more battles than you’ve clearly seen. I’d really appreciate seeing someone like Yelena.”

  “I don’t know you, and you’re not going in.”

  “Could you call someone?”

  “I can’t do that. I’d have to leave my post.”

  “To call someone?”

  “I’m not yelling just because you say so. You’re just some tradesman, anyway.”

  “All right.” I stepped back and pulled the staff out of the lanceholder. “Do you know what this is?”

  “It’s a long piece of wood.”

  I shook my head. “It’s a staff. It’s the third one I’ve had since I came to Kyphros. I broke the first one against a white wizard. The second one got burned to a cinder against another white wizard.” I tried smiling. “I’m not a tradesman. My name is Lerris, and I’m the commander’s consort.”

  “I don’t care what it is or who you say you are. You’re not going into the barracks without a pass.”

  I stepped forward, and he reached for his blade.

  I saw red-or white-or something, but the staff cracked him across the wrist hard enough that he dropped the blade. He was dumb enough to reach for a knife, and I knocked that away.

  “Help! Murder!”

  The man could bellow, and suddenly there were three other young troopers with blades, and they didn’t even ask what I wanted, and I was too busy defending myself to explain, and it seemed like whenever I knocked one down, there were two others trying to hack at me. So I ended up with my back to the wall, knocking around troopers I didn’t even know.

  “HALT!”

  I recognized the voice, and so did most of the troopers except the one who decided that when I stopped defending myself, he’d gain some glory by slashing me up. Except I’d gotten a little more cautious, but I still wasn’t quite expecting it. So I had to hit him harder, and I could hear the bone crack.

  “Halt!” snapped Yelena again. Two other officers stood with her, but I didn’t recognize either.

  “Ser!” screeched the guard who had started the whole thing. “That man attacked me.”

  “Shut up, trooper!” She turned to me. “How did you get in this mess, Master Lerris?”

  I lowered the staff and shrugged. “Well… I was tired and trying to find Krystal-or you-but apparently I needed a pass to see either of you, and this fellow wouldn’t let me see anyone who could give me a pass. He also wouldn’t call anyone who might help. I’ve been on the road almost six days, and I was a little hasty and tried to walk in. He pulled his blade and tried to hack me apart. I tried not to kill anyone, but it was getting pretty tense.”

  Yelena smiled. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant smile, but I smiled back. She looked at the dozen or so guards. “You are all idiots. You’re also lucky you aren’t dead. Might I have the pleasure of introducing you to Master Lerris. In addition to being probably the best woodcrafter in Kyphros, he is also the gray wizard who defeated the Hydlenese white wizard and who killed somewhere in the neighborhood of ten squads of Hydlenese troopers by himself.” She nodded. “All by himself.”

  “But he didn’t have a pass,” protested the first trooper. The others looked at him as if he were crazy.

  “Did he tell you who he was?”

  “He said he was the commander’s consort, Lerris.”

  Yelena shook her head and turned to the subofficer beside her. “Thrilek, is this man yours?”

  “Yes, ser.” Thrilek was sweating.

  “Good. I’d like to see you both in my office after I escort Master Lerris to the commander. Did I mention that she is his consort?” She paused. “By the way, I seemed to notice that Lerris was holding off about a dozen of you. Didn’t any of you think? If a man with a staff is good enough to keep that many of you occupied, don’t you suppose he’s good enough to kill a bunch of you?”

  Surprised eyes met surprised eyes.

  Whheeeee…

  I looked at Gairloch.

  Yelena grinned-for an instant. “You!” Her hand jabbed at a dark-haired trooper. “You can stable Master Lerris’s mount, in the stall next to the commander’s, and I don’t care whose mounts you have to move.” She turned back to Thrilek. “Wait with your trooper outside my office, and I also don’t much care how long you have to wait.”

  By then they were both sweating.

  I unstrapped the bags and pack and threw them over my shoulder, but I did keep hold of my staff.

  Yelena turned to me and lowered her voice. “You know, Master Lerris… you have this knack.”

  “Of getting in trouble?” . “Things do get interesting whenever you’re involved.”

  I glanced back at the dispersing troopers. “Did I make a mess of this all by myself, or are they as dumb as they seem?”

  “I won’t comment on your actions. I’d get in trouble either way. Your judgment of the quality of our forces is close to true-unhappily.” Yelena wiped her forehead. “The commander will be happy to see you, I think.”

  After my entrance I wasn’t all that sure.

  Of course, Krystal was off somewhere in the upper building with the autarch, and Yelena ended up escorting me to {Crystal’s quarters, guarded-still-by good old Herreld, who filled up most of the narrow space between the dark stone walls. The only light came from a thin embrasure opposite the door, although there was an unlit lamp in a brass bracket on the left side of the doorway.

  “Greetings, Herreld.”

  “Greetings, Master Lerris. She’ll not be here.”

  “I’ll just wait.”

  “She’d not mind if you waited within, Master Lerris.” Herreld actually opened the door.

  “Thank you.” I tried not to gape, but I did catch a hint
of a grin from Yelena.

  “The word is that you taught the locals a lesson, ser.”

  “I don’t know about that. I broke one fellow’s wrist-he didn’t give me much choice.”

  “That be Unsel-he’d have ye believe no blade matches his.” Standing in the doorway, Herreld gave me a smile.

  “Master Lerris?” asked Yelena.

  “Yes?”

  “Once you are rested, in a day or so perhaps, would you consider a little sparring, the way the red… the other mage did?”

  “I’d be happy to, Yelena.” Tamra was never going to escape being the red bitch, I suspected, and if I could somehow manage to help Yelena… even if I weren’t as good with a staff as Tamra, well, I suspected I owed it to her.

  She bowed and was gone.

  “There’ll be more than enough wash water, Master Lerris, and I’ll have more sent up for the commander.” Herreld nodded and left me in the corner tower room.

  Krystal only had a single circular room in Ruzor, perhaps twenty cubits across, with a bed, a washstand, a desk, a conference table with six armless wooden chairs, a wardrobe, and a small table beside the bed that held an oil lamp with a burnished reflector to help with reading.

  The stacks of papers on the battered plank desk and the small square table beneath the narrow window were familiar enough, as were the stained exercise leathers strewn across the unmade bed.

  After setting down my packs, I hung up her clothes, either on the wall pegs or folded them and set them on the shelves on the one side of the wardrobe. Then I made the bed, and straightened things up-except for her piles of papers. Those I didn’t touch. There wasn’t as much dust in Ruzor as in Kyphrien or on the road, and what dust there was happened to be grayish.

  I took my own decent browns and hung them up, hoping that the hanging would get rid of some of the wrinkles. Then I stripped down to my drawers and shook out my clothes before I washed up. The water turned dark, of course, by the time I was finished washing and shaving, but I felt a lot better, even though I would have preferred a shower.

  Later, when I was sitting on the bed, reading through The Basis of Order, still hoping to find another clue as to how I could deal with so much chaos, there was a rap on the door.

  “Yes?”

  “Fresh water, ser.”

  “Come on in.” I hadn’t bolted the door.

  An older woman marched in, opened the window, and threw the water in the washbowl out, letting it cascade down the wall. Then she refilled the bowl and pitcher from a large bucket, nodded brusquely, and left.

  I picked up The Basis of Order again, absently wondering when I might see Krystal.

  I had reread most of the introduction and was puzzling over another one of the more obscure passages.

  … order and chaos can be linked, and twisted, into smaller and smaller segments, as the sands of the beaches are the result of the constant pounding of chaos against order. Even the greatest might find despair in building pure order or chaos from such sands…

  Could someone take Justen’s technique and refine it until order and chaos were fragmented into the tiniest of bits? What would happen then? Would anything?

  The door opened, and Krystal stepped inside and closed it in a single motion. She shook her head. “Only reading?”

  After we held each other for a time, she kissed me for a longer time, then gently disengaged herself. “You do have a good sense of timing. Yelena also told me you made a theatrical appearance.”

  “As usual, I wasn’t as forebearing as I could have been.”

  “From what I heard, the guard wasn’t particularly helpful.”

  “No, but somehow I didn’t think, and then I just had to defend myself.” I hugged her again.

  “How was the trip?”

  “Dusty.” I paused. “People are worried everywhere. They don’t buy my crafting. Prices are going up, and I think a lot more people are going hungry. I’m worried. There’s a lot of chaos building in the north…”

  “That’s why your timing is good. Kasee would like us to dine with her this evening.” She smiled. “But I’m glad you came to Ruzor.”

  I hugged her again, and, after a moment, she stepped back, shaking her head. “You did manage to order everything here.”

  With a shrug, I managed an embarrassed smile. Probably I did order things too much.

  “I need to change, but I won’t get very far unless you let me.”

  “I don’t know that I want to let you.”

  So she didn’t get very far beyond undressing, and I was glad I had straightened the bed. Krystal was, too.

  “You are impossible!”

  I kissed her, and then we didn’t say much for a long time.

  Later, when the light through the window had dimmed, she rolled over and shook me awake. “Now… we do have to get dressed.”

  She dressed a lot faster than I did, but I managed to struggle into the browns and pull on my boots.

  Herreld didn’t blink an eye when we left, not even a wink.

  “Just Kasee?” I asked as I followed Krystal down the narrow steps and across a courtyard toward the taller building behind the barracks.

  “I think so. She looked relieved when she heard you were here.”

  I wasn’t sure I liked that.

  Krystal didn’t even have to knock. The guards opened the narrow, iron-banded door, and we walked right into a room no bigger than Krystal’s, although all the walls were lined with dark wooden bookcases filled almost to overflowing. I hadn’t seen so many volumes since the Brotherhood library in Nylan. Even with four oil lamps, the room seemed dim.

  “Impressive, aren’t they? Unfortunately, most of them are too old to be useful-those that are readable.” Kasee stood on the other side of the circular table and nodded to me as the doors closed behind us. “It’s good to see you.”

  “I apologize for the delay…” Krystal flushed.

  So did I.

  Kasee laughed. “I wouldn’t have expected less, and in these uncertain times, it would have been foolish for you not to spend at least a little time alone together.”

  That didn’t help. We both blushed more.

  “Before we get started, let me call for dinner.” Kasee lifted the brass bell and rang.

  Two serving women brought in two trays, a basket, two pitchers, three mugs, and left us in the lamplight of the library.

  Dinner was simple, very simple-slices of mutton, brown spice sauce, bread, and fried sliced quilla. I never thought I’d see quilla on the autarch’s table, even on a conference table in an ancient stronghold.

  Krystal poured Kasee and herself some sort of ale, and I filled my mug from the pitcher of redberry I had to myself.

  “A drink to your safe arrival, Lerris.” Kasee lifted her mug, and we lifted ours and drank.

  The redberry was good, properly tart, and I sighed.

  “I hoped it would be good,” said the autarch, serving herself two slices of steaming mutton from the platter and edging it toward Krystal.

  “It is.”

  Kasee cut her meat and took several bites before speaking. “In one way, things don’t seem too bad. Hamor has made no moves toward Kyphros. In another way, things are bad and getting worse. Almost all sea trade has been cut off, and our olives, dried fruits, and wool can only be sold through Sarronnyn. That means that what we get is going down while Sarronnyn gets the extra.”

  The autarch took a quick sip of ale, and I munched on the heavy dark bread to take away the spice of the brown sauce on the mutton.

  “Hamor controls all the important parts of northern Hydlen, and the explosion of the brimstone spring and the Yellow River have ruined Arastia and Sunta. So Faklaar and Worrak are really the only places of any size left outside of Hamor’s control in Hydlen. Montgren has surrendered, as have the traders of Sligo.

  “The Viscount of Certis is fighting a losing battle, and Jellico will probably fall before long-if it hasn’t already.” Kasee shrugged.

&nbs
p; Krystal looked at me, and I swallowed the meat in my mouth, wincing as a too-large chunk scraped my throat.

  “That bad?”

  “Too big a bite.” I took a sip of redberry. “I can’t add too much, except that I think-I think-that Hamor is using a chaos wizard, maybe Sammel, to reopen all the old wizards’ roads through the Easthorns as a quick way to get to Gallos and Kyphros. That way, they could march-”

  “-right down the road through Tellura and into Kyphros,” finished Krystal.

  I nodded.

  “How do you know?” asked Kasee.

  “I don’t know it. I feel it.”

  “With anyone else, I’d question that. Can you tell me more?”

  Nodding, I quickly chewed and swallowed. “There’s chaos coming from the Easthorns. It’s somehow tied to Hamor, but I can’t explain how. It’s growing, and it’s moving westward.”

  “You think we should reinforce Kyphrien, rather than Ruzor?” asked Krystal.

  “No.” I swallowed. “I think I probably ought to find the wizards’ road and travel backward.”

  Krystal paled.

  Kasee shook her head.

  “Why?” Krystal finally asked.

  “Because I don’t see how you can defend Kyphrien against both Hamor and chaos. If I can figure out how to stop them from using the road, then they’ll either have to attack through Ruzor or through Gallos. At the least it will buy time. If you abandon Ruzor…” I shrugged. “I don’t know exactly if that makes sense, but it feels right.”

  Krystal pursed her lips.

  The autarch sipped from her mug, and the library was silent for a time.

  “Are you saying that you can stop the Hamorian armies?” Kasee finally asked.

  “No. I think I might be able to deny them the use of the wizards’ roads, at least those that are blocked.”

  “How many troops should we send with him?” asked Kasee.

  “A squad?” Krystal suggested.

  “No. The last time I took a squad or more, most of them didn’t come back. If I can’t handle this with a handful, I can’t do it at all. Four is all I need in Kyphros, and two squads couldn’t protect me if we run into a whole army. I might be able to hide three or four others.” I thought. “Just three. That’s all I know I could shield.”