Scepters by L. E. Modesitt Read Free Book Online Page B

radiance of a soarer… or anything else out of the ordinary.

Chapter 12
    Tempre, Lanachrona
    The
Lord-Protector looked down on the infant in the high-sided crib, sleeping
peacefully. A smile crossed his face, and the lines in his forehead eased as he
watched his son. Silently, he eased out of the nursery and back to the main
sitting room, where his consort waited, seated at her writing desk. “He’s
sleeping,” he said.
    “I
told you he was sleeping.” Alerya’s voice was firm, but musical. “You’re
worrying a great deal. About your brother, still? Or the Regent of the Matrial?
Or about this little revolt in Hyalt? Or is it something else?”
    “About
everything. Wouldn’t you? Waleryn was plotting with Enyll, and he pleaded
illness to avoid speaking with me for almost two months after the overcaptain
killed Enyll and destroyed the Table. Waleryn still avoids me whenever he can.
With the Table destroyed, no longer can I see what is happening as it does or
nearly immediately. I’ve been reduced to receiving written reports weeks and
months after events have taken place. Most of the time, it’s too late to do
anything. Half of what I write, it seems, finds its way to the Regent. Then,
there’s this revolt in Hyalt. It may be small so far, but there was no warning,
and unless I do something, it will just get worse. There seem to be more of
these True Duarchists everywhere, I’ve heard that there’s another group in the
hills east of Syan, but no one knows exactly where. And where am I going to
find the forces to put down the trouble in Hyalt? Or Syan, if it spreads? If I
take any companies from around Southgate, the Regent could retake Southgate.
Yet I know nothing until it’s too late.”
    “You
miss the knowledge of the Table, don’t you? And you have begun to doubt what
the overcaptain told you.”
    “I
don’t doubt what he said. Or what he did. But why is it that the most useful
tools are always the most dangerous? I know that Enyll would have killed us.”
    “Do
you, Talryn? Or are you saying that to convince yourself?”
    The
Lord-Protector sighed. “Both, I guess. Without the Table, and with this revolt,
and against the crystal spear-throwers of Madrien—how they managed to build
two, I don’t know—we’re going to have to come to terms that aren’t ideal—and
quickly. Unless…” He shook his head.
    “Unless
what?”
    “Wyerl
suggested that I request that Overcaptain Alucius
return to the Northern Guard. Make him a majer, at least. With one of his
former companies and several partly trained companies of Southern Guards, he
could handle the revolt.”
    “Why
would he do that?” asked Alerya. “He wanted to go back to being a herder.”
    “Well…
if I have to shift lancers to Hyalt, the Northern Guard is already having
trouble holding its ground in the north…”
    “Talryn!
That’s blackmail.”
    “It’s
true, though. I can’t raise any more lancers in the Iron Valleys. Nor that many
more in the rest of Lanachrona. We’ve conscripted everyone that we can. I’d be
hard-pressed to pay for mercenaries, even if I could find any I could trust.
What am I supposed to do?”
    “Do
you honestly think that the Regent of the Matrial—”
    “Yes.
We are stretched too thin, and it’s not just Madrien. It’s everything. The
Dramurans attacked one of our vessels porting at Southgate. I just got that
dispatch this morning. This afternoon I found out that the landowners of
Deforya have overthrown the Landarch and replaced him with a Council of Five.
They’ve decided to increase the road tariffs to Lustrea by half again. The
Landarch was too accommodating to the needs of others, this new Council claims.
What they meant was that they don’t want to pay for anything themselves and keep
tariffing others and oppressing all their people as they have for generations.
The battles between the nomads of Ongelya and Illegea make the southern high
road unsafe. That leaves the high road through