Colors of Chaos

CXLIV

SITTING AT THE other side of the round table, the gaunt Kinowin sipped some early cider from a mug.

Just like Myral. Does age do that? Cerryl’s eyes lingered on the mug.

“The apple juice helps.” Kinowin smiled. “I used to wonder that myself. Now, I know. What more about the smith?”

“He is building a town. I wasn’t sure to begin with,” Cerryl admitted, “but in two eight-days he has the beginning of another port town. The Blacks are letting him do it; some are even sending timber and supplies.”

“Maybe it’s just a way to get a second good port,” suggested the overmage, fingering the collar starburst with the fingers of his free hand. “The waters are smoother in the winter there.”

“They’ve even got a timber wharf, and the glass shows walls and footings for a stone quay or something. He’s working on the bay, making it bigger, but with some kind of order force.”

“You can’t use order that way,” Kinowin pointed out.

“He used some kind of order force to kill Jeslek,” Cerryl countered.

“Are you sure he just didn’t use order to contain that force?”

Cerryl shrugged. “That might be, but he’s as Black as they come, with no trace of chaos. How did he come up with that kind of force? Chaos is the only force I know of that’s so strong.”

Kinowin fingered his clean-shaven chin, his eyes going to the purple and blue hanging on the wall above him. “Cammabark or explosive powder, I’d guess, and he put it inside black iron so none of you could spark it off with chaos fire.”

“What if he builds something bigger than what he carried?”

The overmage offered a wan smile. “If he doesn’t, someone else will. That’s usually what happens.”

“He could use it against our lancers or-”

“That won’t work,” Kinowin replied. “He can only forge so much black iron. He couldn’t possibly forge enough to take on even a few companies of lancers. It has to be a limited weapon.” He laughed. “Good against mages and little else. This Dorrin didn’t remain in Diev. You’ll also note that Sterol avoided talking to you three about his weapon.”

“I wondered, but that’s not something you ask the High Wizard.” Cerryl laughed once, softly.

“Just watch to see if the smith is building something else. In the meantime, I will tell Sterol about the town and the new harbor,” Kinowin said. “Now that we’re sure. I only told him that the ship had been moved away from the part of Recluce where there were towns. He laughed at that.”

“He won’t laugh now.”

“No. He’ll try to blame you. That’s why I won’t tell him until I’ve written a short scroll about it and given a copy to Redark and a few others.” Kinowin offered a wry grin. “It will be later this afternoon. We can’t afford to allow him to claim we delayed unduly.”

“Then what?”

“You give me a short written report each day-dated, you know, fiftieth day after the turn of spring…first day after the turn of summer.”

“What will that do? He’ll still want to blame me.”

“I’m sure he will. But he can’t, not with the reports. So he’ll send you somewhere, and it won’t be bad for you to be someplace else for a while.”

Cerryl wasn’t certain he wanted to be somewhere else. He hadn’t had that long with Leyladin, and here the overmage was suggesting they be separated again.

“Remember,” Kinowin said gently, “you wanted to be a White mage.”

The overmage’s words hung in Cerryl’s mind long after he had left the Tower and was riding out to the south gate for another inspection.

You wanted to be a White mage…but did you have any real choices?

Yes…you just didn’t like any of the others.