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to full strength. I was wounded in the final battle at Dereka, but we
prevailed, and the nomads retreated to Illegea. It did take several weeks for
me to recover enough to be able to ride, and then two more weeks on the high
road before we reached Dekhron yesterday.
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I am still in Dekhron, but I will not be heading home soon. I am preparing for
a journey to Tempre to meet the Lord-Protector, since he has requested my
presence to congratulate me on behalf of all those in the Northern Guard. It
is still hard at times to think that we are the Northern Guard of Lanachrona,
rather than the militia of the Iron Valleys. How long the journey and return
will last, I do not know, but it will take several days even before we can
depart. I also have no idea how long I will be in Tempre. I will be
accompanied by a full squad, but not by the entire company, or what remains of
Twenty-first Company.
We left the Iron Valleys with four companies at close to full strength, and
returned with fewer than two.
Twenty-first Company was more fortunate than the others, but we came back with
little more than half those who left.
I was most surprised at how empty and how barren the eastern part of northern
Lanachrona is, and how few live there. It is almost as dry as our quarasote
lands, but dusty rather than sandy. I fear I would never be a southerner. I
miss the cool and the open spaces of the stead, and you most of all, and I
look forward to the time when I can lay aside the uniform and return.
With all my love
After signing the missive, Alucius folded and sealed it, then wrote Wendra s
name and the address of her father s cooperage in Iron Stem on the outside
before slipping it inside his tunic until he found a guard messenger headed
north.
He slowly stood and stretched, then headed out of his quarters. He still had
to arrange for the reshoeing of a number of mounts. He also had to write up a
report on the losses of mounts and equipment in the battles in Deforya. The
colonel had insisted on the report, explaining that while such reports were a
formality, they were still required by the Arms-Commander of Lanachrona.
Alucius wondered how many other letters and reports would be necessary over
the next few days.
84
Tempre, Lanachrona
In the gray light of a cloudy morning,not long after dawn, the Recorder of
Deeds stood in his undergarments before the mirror in his private quarters, an
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apartment consisting of a capacious but not luxurious sitting chamber, a
bedchamber, and a combined washroom and dressing room. The quarters had always
been those of the Recorder of Deeds and were located on the second level of
the
Lord-Protector s palace, a structure rebuilt and greatly enlarged several
generations earlier upon the foundations of another structure. The Recorder s
chambers were located above the ancient foundations and the underground
chambers that had survived the Cataclysm and more.
After taking from the unmarked blue bottle the unguent he had formulated
earlier, the Recorder slowly worked it into his dark black hair, then brushed
his hair thoroughly. As he brushed, his hair lightened into silver. He studied
his reflected visage for a long moment, then set the hairbrush aside. Next, he
poured the contents of a second brownish bottle into his hands, and worked the
lotionlike liquid into his skin, so that when he had finished, his face
appeared lightly tanned, rather than shimmering white. Finally, he lifted a
tiny brush and dipped it in a dark liquid. Carefully, most carefully, he
applied the liquid along the faintest remnants of the lines that had once
creased his face. When he finished, he nodded approvingly before replacing the
containers in the plain wooden box. He returned the box to the hidden
compartment in the false back of the commode.
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Only then did he don his silver vestments as Recorder of Deeds and turn toward
the door to begin his day.
85
Alucius struggled through yet another dayfilled with more administrative
details, including having to get authorization from the overcaptain who
handled the accounts for horses in order to pay the farrier for reshoeing some
fifty mounts, then having to use his Talent to persuade the quartermaster to
issue more uniforms without charging the troopers. The quartermaster captain
had wanted to insist that the damaged and missing uniforms were the result of
carelessness and not normal wear. The captain s new quartermaster s
manual sent from Tempre did not mention battle damage. By using his orders
from the Lord-Protector and his Talent Alucius managed to get the uniforms for
all the returned troopers under the rubric of  at the request of the
Lord-Protector.
He walked around the courtyard for a quarter of a glass after that, taking
long and slow deep breaths, before returning to the headquarters building to
meet, again, with Colonel Weslyn.
Weslyn had a study on the second level of the building, with a balcony
overlooking the courtyard. The double doors were open when Alucius stepped
into the room, but the colonel was seated behind an old walnut desk and did
not rise.
Weslyn set down the papers he held and looked over the low stacks of papers
neatly arranged across the front of the desk.  Good afternoon, Overcaptain.
How are matters coming?
Alucius glanced at the stacks of papers.  I d thought I d seen enough paper,
but I d not want to go through all those.
 The Northern Guard has more reports than the militia did, I fear. It has its
advantages and disadvantages. The Council did not wish to see reports, and
what they did not wish to see spelled the end of their power, and now I must
report directly to the Arms-Commander of Lanachrona. The reports mean that we
can explain our situations and our needs, but they take far too much time.
The colonel shrugged.  You had asked to see me?
 Yes, sir. The Council is no longer 
 The Lord-Protector dissolved it. He threatened to execute any of the members
who protested, then gave them amnesty. Now& what did you have in mind?
Alucius decided against asking more about the Council.  I had hoped we could
talk about the companies that returned from Deforya, if you would not mind.
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Alucius looked at the well-dressed colonel.
 Part of that will not be my decision at all, Weslyn replied smoothly.  I
will be making my recommendations to Marshal Wyerl. He is the arms-commander
over both the Northern and the
Southern Guards, you know, and he will either accept or change my
recommendations. It may be some time before we hear. I had thought, based on
your recommendation, that we would give the men a month s furlough. With luck, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]