Mage-Guard of Hamor (60 page)

“Majer, ser!” The former pier guard's face lit up. “It's not bad, now that folks know that we're reporting to a mage-guard and that there will be more mage-guards coming. Some ask about them.” Salamyn grinned. “Some don't.”

“That's where I'm headed now, to see if they're aboard a ship that's supposed to be porting before long. Just keep at it.” Rahl smiled, then nodded, before urging the gelding into a walk. While it wasn't what either he or Taryl would have liked, the city was going to have to deal with both patrollers and mage-guards for some time to come. There just weren't enough spare mage-guards in Hamor to make up for all those who had either been killed or defected to Golyat. That was just one more of the costs of the revolt that would never appear on the accounting ledgers.

Rahl recognized the faces of the two pier guards at the gates to the harbor area, but not their names. He slowed the gelding and asked, “How are things? Any problems?”

“No, ser. Not today,” answered the taller one. “Hesyr, here, he caught a cutpurse yesterday.”

“I was lucky,” replied Hesyr.

“It counts all the same,” Rahl said with a smile. “Keep an eye out. We've got a merchanter coming in.”

“Yes, ser.”

Rahl nodded and eased the gelding toward pier three. When he reached the foot of the pier, he was pleased to see that the three wagons from the quartermaster were waiting.

A thin line of smoke rising from the ship passing the outer breakwater told Rahl he had arrived in more than enough time, but not with enough time to attend to anything else. He dismounted and handed the gelding's reins to Sovarth. “It'll be a while. Go on over to the harbor mage-guard station. You three can water the horses there and take a break. Check back after the ship's made fast.”

“Yes, ser.”

Before long, the merchanter hove into view, and Rahl watched as the
Kienelth
backed down, and the captain of the merchanter walked her into the pier. The lines went out, and before long, the ship was secured between the bollards, and the crew extended the gangway.

A tall and angular senior mage-guard walked down the ramp empty-handed while a junior mage-guard following him struggled under the burden of several canvas duffels. Seeing—and sensing—the arrogance of the senior mage-guard, Rahl checked his order shields while he waited for the other to reach him.

“I'm Senior Mage-Guard Chewyrt. I take it I'll be in charge of one of the stations.” Watery blue eyes practically glared at Rahl.

Rahl smiled politely as he replied. “It's good to see you, Chewyrt. I'm sure that you'll be able to make a valuable contribution here. Oh, I'm Rahl, and Overcommander Taryl assigned me to reestablish and organize both mage-guard stations here. You'll be reporting to me until the overcommander can set up a more traditional structure. That may be a little while.”

“I was the most senior at Kyalasa.”

“I'm most certain you were,” Rahl replied, “and I'm sure that the overcommander was well aware of that. Now…if you'll take your gear and put it in the first wagon there, the driver will take you to the harbor mage-guard station. That's where you'll all be quartered for the next day…until I have a chance to talk with each of you.”

“I cannot believe—”

Rahl offered a cold and hard smile, projecting absolute power and control, even while he kept his voice mild and pleasant. “We've spent close to a season riding a thousand kays and fighting battles, and we still have rebels in two cities in Merowey that we have to deal with. You'll have to pardon the overcommander if he and I have a few matters to take care of in addition to reestablishing the mage-guard stations. I'd like to have you take over those duties just as much as you would. I should be back at the station later this afternoon, but if I'm not, it will be early tomorrow. Now, if you'd organize the others and get them and their gear in the wagon, I'd appreciate it.”

Chewyrt paled. “Yes, ser.”

“Thank you. I need to talk to the ship's master, and I'll get back to all of you as soon as I can.”

Rahl turned and started toward the gangway, where he saw a woman in mage-guard greens—a healer—coming down. Her curly hair was light brown, and even from a score of cubits he could see those eyes—brown with gold flecks.

Deybri…

Rahl just stood there for a long moment. Then, forcing himself not to run, he walked quickly toward her. He stopped and just looked and let himself take in all of her, with eyes and order-senses.

Her smile was far warmer than the late-winter sun. “Just by looking, you can make a woman feel like an empress.”

“Only you…only you.”

“From anyone but you, Rahl, those would be empty words.”

“You don't know how much I have thought and dreamed and thought of you.” He paused. “I had no idea…You only wrote that you would soon come to a decision. I feared…much as I hoped…” Slowly, seemingly so slowly, he reached out and took her hands.

Then…both had their arms around each other.

When they stepped apart, Rahl's face was wet, but so was Deybri's.

There was so much he wanted to say, and to ask, but the first question was the safest and the simplest. “How?”

“Your overcommander arranged it. I would not have dared without his assurances.” Her eyes dropped. “I am not so brave as you.”

He shook his head. “You chose to come. That is brave. I had no choice. That was merely enduring.” After a moment, he added, “We have to find you someplace safe to stay…”

“Ah…” Deybri flushed. “I'm supposed to report to the Mage-Guard Regional Overcommander. I'm a mage, in Hamorian terms…remember?”

Rahl should have thought of that, but he grinned. “I think I can take care of that. I can even provide an escort. Would you mind waiting just a bit while I talk to the ship's master? I need to make arrangements…”

“You're on duty.” She smiled, warmly and not quite mischievously, an expression Rahl somehow had not expected. “I understand.”

“I'll try not to be long.” Rahl turned and strode up the gangway, but he did remember to ask the duty mate, “Permission to come aboard?”

“You're more than welcome, Mage-Guard.”

Once aboard, Rahl inclined his head to the captain, standing just beyond the quarterdeck. “Ser, the overcommander asked me to confirm the cargo personally…”

The captain had the manifest in hand, as if he had expected no less. Even so, checking for the items Taryl had emphasized was tedious, not because it took all that long, but because Rahl was all too conscious that Deybri stood on the pier, although she was now in the company of Rahl's troopers.

After that, more time passed while Rahl made sure the priority items were off-loaded into the wagons. Only then could he afford to return his attention to Deybri, much as he would have wished otherwise.

Sovarth had taken the initiative of riding over to the mage-guard station and requisitioning one of the two officers' mounts there for Deybri.

Rahl looked to the trooper. “Thank you, Sovarth. Both the healer and I appreciate it.”

“Be my pleasure, ser.” The trooper flushed.

After loading her rather large duffel behind her saddle, Rahl held the reins while she mounted, then mounted himself and led the way out from the harbor.

He did address the pier guards as they passed, although he had to remind himself because his eyes kept drifting to Deybri. “There will be cargo wagons coming from the
Kienelth
.”

“Yes, ser.”

Once on Harbor Road, Rahl and Deybri rode side by side, and he could not help but notice that the three troopers lagged behind them at a greater distance than they usually followed him.

He finally said, “I still cannot believe you're here, that you're really here.”

“I am.” She smiled again, both warmly and tentatively, then added, “You've grown.”

“I think I had to.”

“Except for those few moments when you saw me and held me, I haven't been able to sense anything…nothing.”

“Taryl insisted on it. He said I'd never survive if I didn't.”

“And when you addressed that other mage-guard, I could feel the power. He just wilted, and you never raised your voice….”

Rahl shrugged, somehow embarrassed. “I was just trying to get him to understand.” He flushed. “Not just that, but he walked off the ship as if he were doing everyone a favor, and he had that junior mage-guard carrying everything. Thousands of men died taking Nubyat from the rebels, and…somehow his attitude didn't seem right.”

“It wasn't.” She grinned at him. “But it did remind me of someone else several years back.”

Rahl flushed more. “I wasn't that bad…was I?”

She shook her head. “But you did have some unthinking arrogance.”

Rahl kept his face calm, but winced inside. “I'm fortunate you saw beyond that.”

“I didn't. I was attracted to you despite it. Aleasya was the one who insisted you'd get over it. She said I'd be a fool to avoid you because of that.”

Aleasya? The muscular arms instructor?
That
did surprise him. “Then…what changed your mind?”

“You'd already changed a great deal when you returned to Recluce, and I could see more of that in your later letters. And that you wrote. Uncle Thorl told me that each one cost you at least three silvers to send. You spent more on letters than some earn in half a year. I'm not sure I'm worth that.”

“You're worth far more than that,” he said quietly.

“I'm glad you think so.”

They rode for a time without speaking. While Rahl had so much to say, little of it was what he wanted to blurt out on horseback and in public. But he did keep looking at Deybri. In the mage-guard greens, she was more beautiful than he had recalled.

“Your hair is shorter.”

“It's easier to take care of that way. I also thought it might be better for a mage-guard.”

Rahl paused as he studied the southern square ahead. Then he caught sight of one of the new patrollers, striding along the south side, and he nodded. They needed to be seen, especially now, although having some real mage-guards in place would help in the days to come. The patroller turned at the sound of hoofs, then raised his truncheon in acknowledgment. Rahl lifted his arm to acknowledge the greeting, and the patroller stood and watched as Rahl and the others rode past the ancient Imperial statue and through the square.

When they reached the base of the road up to the Residence and compound area, Rahl could see that the crew of rebel prisoners was still working on scrubbing the blackness and soot off the paving stones around where the lower barricade had been.

As he neared the guard squad, the squad leader nodded. “Afternoon, Majer.”

“They've almost got it taken care of, I see.”

“Another day or two, ser. Be more, weren't for you.”

“You're kind, squad leader, but it took all of us.” Rahl projected appreciation.

Once they were well past, Deybri turned and glanced at him inquiringly.

“They're rebel prisoners. They'd built some barricades to keep us from taking the Residence and compound up there. They're cleaning up the mess.” Rahl gestured.

“You were here, weren't you?”

“Yes. We lost hundreds just on this stretch of road.”

“How did you take it?”

“Commander Shuchyl's engineers got oil bladders, and catapulted them onto the wall. They caught fire, and that cleared the wall enough so that they could storm it.”

Deybri turned in the saddle. “There's more, isn't there?”

“Yes, but I'd rather not talk about it now.” Somehow, Rahl felt that telling her what he'd done would have been bragging, and he didn't want to do that, not when he recalled how many had died. “If you don't mind.”

She nodded.

Again, there was a silence between them.

Rahl waited until they reached the top of the road and had turned back southeast. “The large villa ahead—that's the Administrator's Residence, and where we're headed. It's more than that, really, because the lower level is mostly for his staff. There aren't many now, of course. The next villa is the overcommander's, but Taryl is using the Residence right now because he's both administrator and overcommander. Then, the buildings with the low walls behind them—that's the permanent compound for the troopers normally stationed here. All the tents and shelters are what we're using for quarters for those who can't fit in the compound. Some are quartered in the city as well, of course.”

“The grounds—they're beautiful, almost like a park. I hadn't expected something like this.”

Rahl laughed. “Neither did I when I first saw it. There is some beauty here in Hamor.”

“I don't believe I ever denied that.”

“You were just too miserable to see it when you were here before?”

“Too frightened.”

Rahl could sense that some of that fear remained, if held in check. “We'll just ride to the north portico over there. That's the administrative entrance, not the formal one.”

“You could fit all of the magisters and trainers in Nylan in half of one level of that building,” Deybri observed. “You'd still have room for more.”

Rahl smiled as he reined up at the first mounting block. There he dismounted, handed the gelding's reins to Faslyn, then offered a hand to Deybri. She took it, although she did not need it in dismounting. Then, belatedly, Rahl recalled the proposition from the water-master and extracted it carefully from his saddlebags.

Neither of the two troopers on guard duty moved as Rahl and Deybri approached.

“Good afternoon,” Rahl said. “Majer Rahl and Mage-Guard Healer Deybri to see the administrator.”

“Yes, ser.”

Once inside the small circular foyer, Rahl led Deybri up the side staircase to the upper level, then to the rear of the Residence.