Rhiobyn just looked at Rahl, who could sense the other’s bewilderment.
Rahl looked at the two reports that remained at his place at the copying table. “I suppose I’d better finish these.” As he sat down, he glanced at Talanyr. “When will they tell us?” He paused. “What will they say?”
Talanyr shrugged, then settled into his chair. “They’ll say whether we’re ready to become mage-guards or not. If we are, Taryl will tell us whether we stay here as full mage-guards or where we’ll be sent.”
“If…if we’re not ready…then what?”
“Taryl will say whether Jyrolt thinks we just need more preparation or whether we’ll be mage-clerks for life.”
Rahl winced at the thought of that.
Talanyr laughed, ruefully. “Sometimes that’s not all bad. If they think your character is good, you can be sent to headquarters in Cigoerne or to one of the large city stations. They have a lot of reports to write and file in those places. Sometimes, clerks develop late into mage-guards.”
Could that be what Taryl had been talking about with Jyrolt?
Rahl could only wait and wonder as he began to copy the next report.
He was finishing the second report when Taryl appeared. “Mage-Guard Rhiobyn…if you’d accompany me.”
Rahl could sense the relief-and the nervousness-held within Rhiobyn, although he was smiling when he left with Taryl.
“Poor bastard.” Talanyr shook his head.
“Why?”
“They’ll send him to someplace like Ceostyr or Mludyn.”
Rahl had no idea where either was.
“They’re towns smaller than Jabuti or Guasyra, where you’ve got maybe two or three mage-guards, and none of the women he has his eye on in Cigoerne will ever consort him with that kind of assignment.”
“You don’t think he’ll stay here?”
“He’s too impatient. Haven’t you noticed how patient and deliberate the mage-guards are here? They don’t put up with trouble, but they don’t lash out either.”
Rahl had noticed that.
At that moment, Jyrolt himself appeared. “Mage-Guard Talanyr, if you’d accompany me.”
Talanyr’s grin and relief were more than palpable. Rahl grinned back at him. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
Rahl got up and walked over to the reports that Talanyr hadn’t finished and picked up the one on the top, carrying it back to his seat. He finished it and was wondering if he should start another when he sensed someone approaching-Taryl.
He looked up.
Taryl smiled. “Congratulations, Mage-Guard Rahl.”
Rahl bolted to his feet. “Ser.”
“Since we’re alone here, I don’t need to escort you off. Sit down.”
Rahl sat, nervously, as Taryl pulled Talanyr’s chair closer and seated himself.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you, but you’ve posed a considerable problem for us.”
“I had that feeling, ser, with my loss of order-skills…”
“That’s not the problem I’m talking about. You have an aptitude with staff and truncheon that comes along maybe once in a generation. As an ordermage, you shouldn’t even be able to hold a falchiona for more than a few moments, let alone use it. I know the pain of doing so is agonizing for you-any ordermage around can feel it-and I don’t suggest you make a habit of picking up blades, but it’s indicative of your ability. The problem is that you’re a natural ordermage, and you have to learn things slowly, and by doing them. You can’t rush things. We’re not set up for handling mages like you, but you’re already too far along to stay here.”
Rahl still had no real idea of where Taryl was headed.
“Jyrolt and I have talked things over, and we’re going to send you to Swartheld. This has several advantages and several disadvantages. You know some of the city, and you know commerce. But you’re not a chaos-mage, and most mage-guards in the larger cities have to be. You’ll be assigned to work with an experienced mage-guard there, but you’re going to have to find a way to develop more order-skills on your own. We’ve worked on the ones you need to survive as a mage-guard, but if you want to do more than that, it’s up to you.”
Rahl considered Taryl’s words without immediately replying. The thin-faced mage-guard had been more than fair, much more than fair. He’d effectively saved Rahl’s life, and for that Rahl had no way of really thanking him, let alone repaying him. “I can’t thank you enough, and I think you know that, ser.”
Taryl smiled. “I do. The only way you can repay me is by continuing to learn and in time, perhaps, by saving someone else of such potential. Or keeping them from making near-fatal mistakes, but given the minds of the young, that is often impossible.” The smile vanished. “One other thing. Hamor is generally a just land, but it is not a kind land. You will see injustice, and you will see good people broken and be unable to do anything. The hardest thing for you will be not to take the laws of the land into your own hands and use your powers to set things as you see they should be. Do not do it. That is the way to destroy yourself and all the good that the mage-guards stand for. The Codex is not perfect, but any alternative is worse. If you do not see that, please take my word for it until you do.”
Although Taryl had not raised his voice, the concern and the conviction in his tone burned through Rahl.
“Yes, ser.”
“You’ll take one of the downriver barges to Swartheld, and you’ll go with Jyrolt, tomorrow, because that’s where he’s headed next. That will give him a chance to brief you.” Taryl stood and set the canvas bag he had carried on the table. “Here are your insignia for your cap and collars, as well as two more sets of uniforms and a cold-weather jacket. Oh, there’s also a pouch with three silvers. Your pay as a beginning mage-guard is three silvers an eightday, and passing the evaluation entitles you to an eightday’s pay.” He smiled. “Now…put on the insignia and go find your friends. You’re all free for the rest of the day, not that any of you would be worth much as copyists or mage-guards at the moment.”
“Thank you, ser.” Rahl still couldn’t believe the pay. Three silvers an eightday plus lodging and two meals a day.
Taryl offered a last smile, then stepped back. “You earned it, and you’ll keep earning it.” Then he was gone.
Rahl had sensed a certain sadness in Taryl, as well as something else, but he couldn’t very well chase Taryl and ask about it.
After taking his new and additional gear to his chamber and affixing the mage-guard sunburst insignia to his collars and visor cap, Rahl went looking for Talanyr and Rhiobyn. He found them in the small courtyard outside the mess.
Talanyr smiled as Rahl appeared. “I thought you’d make it.”
“Well…I thought both of you would,” Rahl replied. “You’ve both had much more training and experience.”
“Where are you going? Or are you staying here?” asked Rhiobyn quickly, not quite looking at Rahl directly.
Rahl didn’t want to answer that. “Taryl said I couldn’t stay here.” That was true, even if it had been said to Jyrolt. “What about you?”
“It could have been worse.” Rhiobyn shook his head. “I’m being stationed in Heldya.”
The town name was familiar, but Rahl couldn’t place it mentally, and he glanced at Talanyr.
“It’s on the east side of the Heldyn Mountains, about fifty kays north of the Great Highway. It’s a lumber and herding center, and they say it’s about three times the size of Guasyra.”
Rahl looked at Rhiobyn. “It’s not Cigoerne, but it sounds like a good-sized place compared to some of the stations you two have told me about.”
Rhiobyn squared his shoulders and offered a smile. “They do have mage-clerks there. Taryl told me that.”
Talanyr laughed. “You’re fortunate. Clyanaka doesn’t.”
Rhiobyn glanced at Rahl, but Rahl had never heard of the name.
“I’m being assigned as a range guard on the northwestern high grasslands in Merowey. They wanted someone who could ride and knew plants and animals.” Talanyr shook his head. “Taryl said that they’ve been asking for more help there for years, and I was a good fit.”