The White Order (9 page)

Cerryl reread the passage in Colors of White, trying to keep the sounds and images in his head, as he'd overheard Siglinda tell Erhana during one of the tutoring sessions when he'd been stacking hearth wood outside the millmaster's house.

   “... all that is under the sun can only be because of the chaos of the sun. Even the wisest of mages cannot perceive any portion of all that exists on and under the earth itself except through the operation of chaos.”

   He wanted to shake his head. He understood the words, but there was something about the meaning that eluded him.

   Brental had said that the man who had fled the lancers of Lydiar- and the white wizard-had flung chaos fire against the wizard. Cerryl had seen that, and how the wizard had turned it back with little more than a glance. Or so it had seemed. Still, the fugitive had held his own for a time against outlandish odds.

   Cerryl wasn't sure if he wished the blond man had won or not, but he wouldn't soon forget the cold and impartial attitude of the white wizard, acting as if the fugitive were little more than vermin to be destroyed.

   He cleared his throat, realizing he had been murmuring the words, and clamped his lips shut as he studied the page again, then flipped to another page, farther along.

   Still nothing about chaos fire.

   He tried another page, and then another.

   He glanced down at Colors of White again. Why didn't he have the second part, instead of a worthless history? The second part would have explained everything, like how to create chaos fire.

   He frowned, touching his chin, a chin that remained beardless and smooth. Could he create chaos fire?

   In the dimness, he held up his left hand, concentrated on somehow making fire appear at his fingertips, the way the fugitive had.

   Was there a glow there? He squinted through the gloom at the faintest spark at the tip of his index finger. Then the point of light vanished. He could feel the sweat beading on his forehead. A deeper and ugly red glow lingered in the air for several moments.

   Cerryl took a deep breath, then another.

In the light drizzle that drifted from the low-hanging gray clouds, Cerryl used the dark brown laundry soap and washed his hands and face at the well, the one uphill of the south end of the porch. He shook his hands as dry as he could in the damp air, then began to walk toward the porch of the mill master's house, noticing that Rinfur was already stepping into the kitchen. Viental had gone-again-to visit his “sister.”

   Dylert was waiting on the porch just back of the top step, his face somber.

   “Yes, ser?” Cerryl could feel his stomach tightening, but kept his expression pleasant.

   “You've learned the letters, haven't you, boy?” Dylert asked, stepping back and gesturing for Cerryl to take a seat on the porch bench.

   “Ser?” Meeting the millmaster's eyes squarely, Cerryl managed a blank expression. He did not sit down.

   Dylert laughed. “Young fellow, from your look I'd not know, but my daughter I can see through like she was fine timber.”

   “Yes, ser. I asked her to teach me. But only when I was not working, ser.” Cerryl's gray eyes continued to hold those of the millmaster. “Most times, after dinner.”

   “I've no complaints with your work or anything else you have done, young Cerryl.” Dylert fingered his beard, then cleared his throat. “That'd not be the problem.”

   Cerryl waited.

   “That fellow-the one the white mage got the other day? Something like that... well, it happened to your da. You know that, do you not?” Dylert's eyes flicked downhill, toward the spot on the edge of the road where the rocks and clay remained blackened.

   “I know that something happened. Uncle Syodor and Aunt Nail- they didn't say much about it.”

   “Syodor... he was... he be not the type to speak of it.” Dylert fingered his beard again.

   A pattering of heavier rain swept across the porch roof, followed by a light gust of wind that ruffled Cerryl's hair. Water began to drip from the eaves.

   “Speaking or not, though, fact is, be a dangerous time to stay here for a young fellow with a da like yours.”

   “Did the white mages kill Uncle Syodor, too?” Cerryl asked softly. “You would only tell me that he and Nail were dead.”

   “Too sharp for your own eyes, you be, young fellow.” Dylert frowned. “Like as they died in a fire, that be what Wreasohn said. How that fire got started, I'd not be guessing. Nor you, either.”

   Cerryl nodded. But why? What had they done to anger the white mages? If the mages knew Cerryl existed, wouldn't they have come after him?

   “I've a wagon of white oak a-heading to Fairhaven the day after next. To Fasse, the cabinet-maker there.” The millmaster cleared his throat. “I've a scroll here-Siglinda, she helped me with it-and it says that you're a hardworking young fellow better suited to finer things. It also says you're a tattered britches relative of mine, of a distant cousin.” Dylert frowned. “Don't be making me a liar, now.”

   “I won't, ser.” Cerryl could feel the ache in his guts growing, but kept his eyes on Dylert.

   “It's like this, Cerryl. Your da and your uncle, they did things that, well... they did not... I mean ... the white mages can be jealous... of anything much ... much close ... to what... what they do.” The millmaster wiped his forehead. “You be their son and nephew, and Hrisbarg... well, small it is. All the folk know all the folk.” He shrugged. “In Fairhaven ... none care ... not that ways, anyway.”

   What had Uncle Syodor done? His uncle had stayed away from anything like the white mages had done, and Aunt Nail-she'd had a fit when she'd even seen a fragment of a mirror or glass around Cerryl.

   “I thought of Tellis. Been owing me a long time, ever since I sent him the best gold oak timbers for his shop ... and a few other things.” Dylert's face clouded.

   Cerryl wondered what favor was so bad that the genial Dylert had a bad memory about it.

   “Now, Tellis, he's a cousin of Dyella, and he's a scrivener. You know what a scrivener is?”

   Cerryl didn't have to feign puzzlement. Why was Dylert talking about scriveners?

   “Scriveners write things for others,” Dylert said slowly, “and in Fairhaven they make books, like the ones Erhana let you read.”

   “Yes, ser.”

   “Well, you be liking books, and Tellis owing me, and sure as he could use a young fellow works hard as you . . . and Fairhaven being a better place for you ... and ... well... being a place where someone with... the kind of talent mayhap you have . . . seeing as if you didn't use it... it wouldn't be so unexpected ... and Tellis, he knows how that land lies, if you see the line I'm laying ...” Dylert cleared his throat.

   Cerryl did see the line Dylert laid. The millmaster was worried that any passing white wizard might stumble on Cerryl and hold Dylert responsible. He was also suggesting that Cerryl would be safer in Fairhaven, especially if he did not use his talents openly-or perhaps at all. “Yes, ser.”

   “You understand, young fellow ... it's not just you ...”

   “I understand, ser. You've been fair and good to me.”

   “Dinner be ready,” Dylert said. “We'll talk more after we eat. You be needing some clothes, and a pair of good boots.”

   “Thank you.”

   “After we eat,” Dylert repeated, opening the door to the kitchen.

Under the spells and songs of Creslin, who descended from the black Nylan and the dark songmage Ayrlyn, Megaera persuaded her cousin, the Duke of Montgren, to give both herself and Creslin refuge, for the white brethren had pursued the two and sought to bind them before they brought yet more darkness unto all of Candar.

   In his weakness, the duke brought his cousin and her dark liege Creslin under his protection, and Creslin used the refuge at Vergren to build his powers, until darkness infested every stone of that ancient keep, until the very sun was kept at bay.

   In the depths of that keep, Creslin took Megaera for consort, and bound her to him with the dark tie that meant, should he die, so, too, would she. Such blasphemy of light and goodness was too great even for the duke, and he fell into a stupor.

   Fearing that, without the duke's protection, the keep would be opened to the forces of light, Creslin and Megaera fled over the northern hills.

   As he knew what the evil pair might bring upon Candar, the Viscount of Certis sent forth a host, but Creslin seized the winds of the north and pummeled that force with spears of ice and hammers of frost, and he slew from the depths of a magic fog the fair young wizard that advised the lancers of Certis, and only a handful of those lancers ever returned to Jellico.

   When Creslin and Megaera reached the port of Tyrhavven, there they seized a ship of the duke's, binding the crew with darkness and forcing them to carry the two dark mages across the gulf to the desert isle of Recluce ...

         Colors of White

         (Manual of the Guild at Fairhaven)

         Preface

After washing at the well and coming back to his room to finish dressing, Cerryl took out the silver-rimmed mirror and studied himself. The pale gray shirt and trousers were not new but almost could have passed for such, and the thick-soled boots Brental had given him seemed barely worn. In his pack, besides his books, were his old work clothes and an older sheepskin jacket, the fleece to the inside and barely matted.

   His hair was shorter-Dyella had trimmed it for him the day before-but the shorter length seemed to emphasize the narrow triangular shape of his face. He fingered his chin, feeling the first hints of what might be a beard. Somehow, he doubted that any beard he grew would match the thick splendor of those of his uncle or of Dylert, or even the red bush sported by Brental.

   The mirror went back in the pack, wrapped inside his spare smallclothes but on top of the heavier books. Then he slipped the scroll to Tellis on the very top and laced the pack shut.

   He looked around the room, bare as ever, the blankets folded on the foot of the pallet, the board where he'd hidden his few valuables securely back in place, the white-bronze sword left there as well, the only possession he had left behind, but it was too big to conceal in anything he owned.

   Thrap! Cerryl turned at the knock.

   “You coming, Cerryl?” asked Rinfur. “Be a long day even leaving now.”

   “I'm coming.” Cerryl lifted the pack off the stool and opened the door. Outside, standing at the back of the finish lumber barn, he paused and looked across the hillside. The oaks loomed across the field like ancient guardians of night, and the predawn gray was beginning to lighten. Cerryl closed the door and swallowed. A single terwhit echoed from the oaks to the west, and the night hum of insects had long since died away.

   He turned toward the mill and lifted his pack. After receiving all the clothes from Dylert, Cerryl had been more than hesitant to ask the millmaster for his pay, and had kept putting off asking. Now he wished he hadn't. What would he do in Fairhaven with only two coppers to his name-the same two coppers he'd brought to the mill? Should he have taken the short blade from the fugitive? His lips tightened. Not with the aura of chaos around it. He knew enough to know the blade alone would bring him trouble, much as he disliked leaving it behind.

   His eyes went uphill to the empty porch of the millmaster's house. Erhana was doubtless still sleeping, though the thin trail of smoke from the kitchen chimney indicated that Dyella was up and at work.

   Dylert was inspecting the wood that had been loaded the afternoon before, and Rinfur was rechecking the harnesses as Cerryl hurried toward the wagon.

   “Put your pack under the seat,” Rinfur called without looking up or toward Cerryl.

   The brown-haired youth eased the pack under the seat.

   By the time he had straightened, Dylert had vaulted off the wagon. “Here's what I owe you, young fellow, and a bit to spare.” Dylert pulled a cloth purse from his belt and extended it to Cerryl. “You be just like your uncle, not one to ask or press. Sometimes, mayhap, you must.” The millmaster grinned. “For all that, young fellow, we be missing you here. You got that scroll?”

   “Yes, ser.” Cerryl wanted to feel the purse but didn't, instead fastening it to his belt. “I thank you.”

   “No thanks be due. You worked hard, and you deserve the coin. And the recommendation to Tellis.” Dylert grinned. “He can be gruff. Don't let it fool you. Understand?”

   Cerryl nodded. He cleared his throat.

   “Yes, lad?”

   “Ser? In ... my room ... I mean ... it was my room... there's a board under the cubby ... behind it... there's a bronze blade ... Brental might want it.”

   Dylert nodded solemnly. “He might. Whether I let him ... that be between us. I thank you for saying such ... and you be a wise lad not to carry it.”

   “You ... best know.” The words were hard for Cerryl to get out.

   Dylert smiled and clapped Cerryl on the shoulder. “Keep that head in place, lad, and you be doing fine.”

   Rinfur walked toward them.

   “The provisions Dyella set up be under your seat, Rinfur. Extra this time.” Dylert nodded toward Cerryl. “Still growing, I'd wager.”

   “Don't know as growing,” answered the teamster, climbing up onto the seat, “but he eats like he be. Best be up here, lad. A long road ahead we got.”

   Cerryl followed Rinfur's example, except that, with his shorter legs, he had to pull himself up onto the seat. He looked at Dylert, knowing he should say something but not knowing what. Finally, as Rinfur flicked the long leads to the team, he said, “Thank you, ser. Thank you again.”

   “Be nothing, young fellow. Take care, and give Tellis my best.”

   “Yes, ser.”

   Cerryl swallowed as the wagon lurched off the causeway and onto the lane heading down to the road. He wanted to look back but didn't, instead fixing his eyes on the stream to the left of the lane, his eyes skipping over the patch of blackened soil and rock that remained even after a handful of eight-days of sun and rain.

   Until Rinfur had the team on the straightaway toward the road, the wagon moved at the slowest of walks. At the end of the lane, Rinfur turned the team right-left on the road away from Hrisbarg proper.

   “Hrisbarg is that way,” said Cerryl, pointing to the right and the uphill road.

   “Aye, but the wizards' road be this way, lad, and that road be smoother and far swifter than the way through Hrisbarg and Howlett.” Rinfur smiled, showing brown teeth. “Trust me. The roads I know, and master Dylert'd not give over this wagon to one he'd not trust.”

   That was something about which Cerryl had few doubts at all.

   “You ever been on a wizards' road?” asked Rinfur.

   “No. Never been on a wagon before, except around the mill,” Cerryl admitted, shifting his weight on the hard seat.

   “A lot you be seeing, then.”

   “What's Fairhaven like?”

   The teamster laughed. “A poor driver like me be not the one to tell. The buildings, most like be made of stone so white it glitters. All the ways and byways be paved with white stone like the wizards' road. Peaceable, too. A girl could walk stark naked, they say, and not a man dare touch her.” Rinfur grinned. “Never seen such, but some say the white mages send out female lancers like that to tempt the wild.”

   Cerryl moistened his lips. He wasn't sure whether they were already dry from the dust or from what he was hearing.

   “Those try to molest 'em, well, they end up working on the great highway on the far side of the Easthorns. Working till they die, some folks say.”

   The wagon slowed as it climbed the low hill to the east of the mill.

   “Do you know why master Dylert sends a wagon to Fairhaven?” Cerryl asked, wanting to say something.

   “Don't know as I understand,” said Rinfur, “Fairhaven being half again as far as Lydiar, and master Dylert not sending wagons to the port.” He shrugged. “Near on twice a year, I take a wagon to Fasse. Always white oak. The good oak. He's from Kyphros, says there's no white oak there.”

   Cerryl looked over his shoulder at the planks and small timbers neatly secured in the wagon bed. “It must be worth a lot.”

   Rinfur shrugged again. “Can't say as I know. The coins go by messenger.”

   By messenger? Dylert had charged Erastus something like six golds for a quarter of a wagon half the size of the mill wagon-or less. That had been black oak, but even if Dylert charged half that.... Cerryl shook his head. At least fifteen golds of wood lay stacked in the wagon.

   At the thought of coins, Cerryl felt those in the purse and frowned. From what he'd figured, Dylert owed him about twenty coppers, or two silvers. The purse held more than two silvers-that he could tell.

   Three silvers and ten coppers. Why? Dylert had been generous enough in giving him clothes and better boots. Because the millmaster wanted Cerryl away from the mill? Because he felt he owed something to Syodor?

   The wagon slowed as it reached the hillcrest, then picked up speed slowly.

   “Easy ... easy now,” murmured Rinfur.

   Cerryl put out a hand to the end of the wooden wagon seat to steady himself.

   As the wagon came down the low hill, Cerryl squinted. Ahead was a line of sparkling white-white despite the orange light of the rising sun, a line of white that arrowed to the right through the hills as though the hills had been cleaved to allow the road passage.

   On each side of the wizards' road was a low stone wall, and to the south that wall separated the road from a small river.

   “Something, be it not?” asked Rinfur. “Ah... here we go. Be a relief to get on the main road to Fairhaven.” Rinfur slowed the team with a slight pressure on the leads as he guided them past an empty stone booth, no more than four cubits by four. “Sometimes, they have a guard here, check if you paid the road taxes.”

   “And if you haven't?” asked Cerryl. “How can you tell?”

   “Don't let you on. There's a medal on the side of the wagon, driver's side. Bound with magic, some ways.”

   The wheels rumbled on the flat stones, and Cerryl recalled Syodor's statement about the road having been paved with souls. He tightened his lips, then forced himself to relax-as much as he could as the wagon picked up speed on the flat and white stones of the main road, now heading due west. West toward Fairhaven.