"The rebellion is still continuing? Against the Emperor?"
"It is likely to continue for a considerable time," Taryl replied. "It appears that the Emperor's elder brother is behind it."
" Elder brother?"
"All the Emperor's offspring are trained as leaders and administrators. Those who are unqualified are exiled. The one who succeeds is not necessarily the oldest, but the one in the bloodline who the Triad and the High Command feel is best qualified." The older mage laughed. "There have been mistakes, but not so many as when the Emperor's successor was always the eldest son."
"The older son was the administrator in Merowey?" asked Rahl.
"He still is, and he has trained and raised his own army."
The more Rahl learned about Hamor, the less he knew… or so it seemed.
He glanced out to the horizon. Even though there were no clouds in sight, he had the feeling that there would be storms ahead.
II
The voyage back to Nylan aboard the Ascadya was far swifter than had been Rahl's trip to Swartheld aboard the Diev more than a year earlier. Upon occasion the glasses passed more quickly, particularly when Taryl was working with Rahl on sharpening his order-senses and — abilities. Rahl also wrote a letter to his parents, explaining what had happened in general terms, and that while he would be in Nylan, it would only be for a few days before he had to return to Hamor, since he had certainly not gained the control of his order-abilities required by the magisters. He thought he had enough coins to have the letter sent from Nylan.
Writing the letter, careful as he was, did not take all that much time, and all too often, Rahl found himself somewhere at the railing, staring out at the seemingly endless Eastern Ocean and wondering if he would ever gain full mastery of order-abilities. Or would he always be limited to little more than what he could now accomplish?
Then there was Deybri. What could he really do except talk to her? He had no future in Recluce, at least not anytime soon, and she was years older. Yet… he shook his head. He could only see her… if she'd even agree to that.
Early on fiveday morning, a long, dark shape appeared on the horizon, and shortly thereafter Captain Jaracyn ordered the envoy ensign to the top of the mast-an oblong white flag bordered in green.
By midday, the southern end of Recluce was clearly visible dead ahead, but Rahl was more concerned about what he sensed approaching. Aft on the starboard side of the Ascadya and a good kay to the east, Rahl could sense a concentration of order, a blackness that he could not see with his eyes.
At that moment, Taryl climbed the ladder to the starboard wing of the bridge, joining Rahl and nodding to the junior mage-guard. "You can sense we have company?"
"Yes, ser. It must be one of the black ships."
Taryl nodded. "I'd judge so."
For a time, they both were silent, but Rahl could not help but keep trying to see the Recluce vessel, even as it quickly drew nearer, despite the speed of the Hamorian frigate.
"It's faster than I'd realized," admitted Taryl. "It's a good thing we're here, although they wouldn't have as much of an advantage as they'd think."
"Ser?"
The older mage gestured in the direction of the unseen vessel. "The closer they get, the easier it is to calculate where they are. Look aft. You can see the wake. They've probably got their screws set deeply to minimize it, but if they get close enough, a good gunner could calculate where they are. They're most dangerous at dusk and at night, when you can't see the wake clearly."
That might be, reflected Rahl, but as he watched the wake of the unseen vessel, roughly abeam the Ascadya, he could sense it abruptly increasing its speed and pulling away from the Hamorian frigate. Before its wake vanished, Rahl could see that it was headed toward the southernmost tip of Recluce and the black city and port of Nylan.
"It's fast, though, much faster than anything we have," Taryl added.
"Are we running at top speed?" Rahl refrained from mentioning Khalyt, the young engineer he had met briefly in Nylan, and his ideas for developing an even faster warship.
"No. That wastes too much coal, but even at flank speed, we couldn't match them. Still, they don't have anywhere near the numbers of vessels we do, I don't believe." With a laugh, Taryl added, "They don't need as many, either."
By the time the Ascadya neared the entrance to Nylan, a pilot boat was waiting, accompanied by one of the black ships-without a sight shield. It might have been the same one that had earlier scouted the Hamorian frigate, but Rahl had no way of telling. It also had turrets fore and aft, but they were lower, and the twin guns shorter, with an iron tube mounted in the center of the turret above the guns.
Captain Jaracyn slowed the frigate to mere headway as the pilot boat came alongside.
With Taryl beside him, Rahl listened as the pilot used a conical tube to amplify his voice. For a moment, Rahl didn't understand a word, before he realized that the pilot and the captain were speaking Low Temple and not Hamorian.
"… diplomatic mission to the magisters and engineers of Nylan
…" replied the captain.
"… welcome… you'll be berthed at the first set of piers on the north side of the harbor… the pier will have a berthing flag on the end-green square on white… deeper water there… would you like a pilot?"
"No… that's a negative."
"We'll lead you in…"
"Thank you… we'll need as much headway as we're now making."
"You'll have it, Captain."
Within moments, the pilot boat pulled away, and the frigate followed, picking up slightly more speed as they followed the boat toward the main channel into the harbor.
"The piers where they're berthing us are the ones where the black ships are docked." Rahl pointed to the northwest end of the harbor.
"That makes sense. They want to keep an eye on us, and have the ability to make sure we behave ourselves." Taryl offered a half smile. "They shouldn't know what happened in Swartheld yet, anyway. That was one reason why the captain pushed it. The Emperor wanted us to deliver the news before anyone else, but that also means that the magisters will be skeptical of our appearance under a parley banner."
Rahl glanced northward, at the black-stone buildings and dwellings rising from the harbor onto the long, sloping hill. He thought he could see the training center and the small park below it. In the distance, he could make out a faint dark line. "You can see the black wall. It runs across the entire isle."
"Is it as great as they claim?" asked Taryl.
"All the stones are the same size, at least in the parts of the wall I've seen, and it's order-protected for its entire length." Rahl did not wish to mention his own difficulties with the wall, those that had been the final element in assuring his exile. "It is impressive."
As the Ascadya neared the piers, Rahl noted that there was no sight shield in place and that the four long piers were totally empty. "They've moved out all the black ships."
"Or the one that scouted us was the only one here," replied Taryl. "That's more likely. They don't have that many of them."
Rahl had to wonder how Taryl knew that when he didn't, and when he hadn't even been able to see how many of the black ships had been berthed in Nylan in the whole time he'd been in the city.
"There are ways," Taryl answered the unspoken question. "The sea marshals analyze all reports of the sightings of the black ships. Even if they can't identify them, or know for certain, it's a pretty fair wager that a wake from an unseen high-speed vessel is from a Recluce black ship, and most of the time when they're at sea, they don't hold the sight shields except when they're close to Hamorian warships or pirate vessels. It's too hard on the mages, and they can't have that many."
"Doesn't Recluce have more black mages than many lands?"