Soarer's Choice

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  According to the justicer’s decision, rendered five months earlier, one Tehark of Elcien had beaten his wife Erlyna repeatedly. The justicer had granted her both a divorcement and the dwelling, as well as custody of their three children, and required Tehark to pay one gold a month. According to the petition, Tehark had left Elcien, but he had refused to pay the golds, and he had returned in the night two months ago, and broken down the door and raped her and beaten her. The patrollers had been unable to find him—except it was thought that he had been the one to kill a patroller. He had been sentenced to death in absentia. Two nights ago, he had returned and assaulted her once more and vanished into the night.

  “Did Tehark assault you two nights ago?” Dainyl hated to ask the question, but he needed to sense her answer and truthfulness.

  “Yes, Highest. He hurt me. There are bruises…” She started to unfasten her jacket.

  “That will be enough. I can sense the truth.” Dainyl dropped his eyes to the papers, trying to think. What good was a judgment that seemingly could not be enforced? With an alector, it would not have been a problem, because there were so few that they could not have escaped, but there were more than two million landers and indigens just in the western half of Corus, and unless they were willing to turn in malcontents like Tehark…

  He looked up and studied Erlyna. Her jaw trembled, and Dainyl could sense she was close to tears. “Has anyone seen Tehark besides you?”

  “No, Highest. He’s too clever.” She sobbed once. “He’s strong. He’s almost as big as you are, Highest.”

  An indigen that big should stand out, and yet no one could find him. “What do you do?”

  “I’m a weaver.”

  Dainyl took a slow deep breath. “Be it decreed that the life of one Tehark, formerly of Elcien, is hereby forfeit, and that any who bring him or his body to the Hall of Justice shall receive ten golds, and no questions shall be asked, except to verify the identity of Tehark.”

  Erlyna’s mouth opened.

  “I cannot find a man who does not wish to be found and who hides among his own disreputable kind, but those who are disreputable may wish to enrich themselves at his expense.”

  Dainyl turned to Patrylon. “Have copies of the decree sent to all patroller stations and have them posted in the market squares.”

  “So be it,” announced Patrylon.

  The remaining petitions were somewhat less vexing and included reducing the levy of an excessive fine for failure to maintain the proper sand and water barrels for fire suppression. The others, Dainyl saw no reason to change.

  Promptly at midday, Dainyl vacated the dais. He already understood that remaining a moment longer merely encouraged more people to come late in hopes of waiting less time for their petitions to be heard.

  Once Dainyl was in the lower corridor, Dalyrt cleared his throat.

  “Yes, Dalyrt?”

  “That woman who was beaten, sir? We haven’t used a decree like that in decades,” ventured Dalyrt.

  Dainyl turned to him. “Perhaps we haven’t. Do you have a better idea for those like this Tehark? He’s assaulted and beaten her, probably killed at least one patroller, and we’ve been able to do nothing in more than half a year. We’re supposed to provide order. I could have made another judgment against him, but what good is a judgment that cannot be enforced?”

  “Does that not appeal to the indigens’ greatest weakness, sir, their love of golds?”

  “Have the other appeals—to their sense of fairness, for example—been effective?”

  Dalyrt did not meet Dainyl’s eyes. What exactly had Zelyert been doing as High Alector? Wasn’t the High Alector supposed to foster justice?

  Dainyl did not go directly to his study, but to see Adya first. “Do we have any messages from the east or from the Marshal of Myrmidons?”

  “No, sir,” replied Adya. “The only message is one from the Duarch’s chamberlain.”

  “Bharyt?”

  “Yes, sir. He wanted to remind you of the meeting with the Duarch.”

  Dainyl scarcely could have forgotten, considering he needed to confront Alseryl about the supplies to Lysia.

  “Oh…I gave Patrylon a note about patroller inflexibility. There have been two cases brought to my attention involving the Eastern Market Square where patrollers were so concerned about cleanliness that they ignored more significant theft.”

  Adya nodded, but Dainyl could sense something more. “What is it, Adya?”

  “It has always been a problem keeping the market squares clean, sir, particularly the eastern one. At one time, the stench was…overpowering.”

  “We wouldn’t want that,” Dainyl agreed. “But about the theft…?”

  “No matter what any High Alector has done, the theft remains. If there are more patrollers, it becomes more hidden, and the cost to the Hall of Justice and the Duarchy rises.”

  “So we maintain enough patrollers to keep theft from being rampant and have them concentrate on those matters where their efforts seem to yield results?”

  “That has been the past policy,” Adya said carefully.

  “Thank you. I will consider whatever I decide in light of the experience of others.” So far as Dainyl was concerned, that didn’t necessarily mean following such precedents, but he would need to be careful in whatever changes he undertook and how he structured those changes.

  He offered a smile before heading back to his study—and perhaps another half glass of work in the time until he had to leave for his early afternoon meeting with the Duarch.

  Before that long, he had taken the coach to the Palace and was stepping through the archway into the entry foyer—just slightly before the glass appointed for the meeting of the High Alectors and the Duarch.

  Bharyt, as always, stood waiting.

  “Good afternoon, Bharyt.”

  “Good afternoon, sir. Moryn will escort you to the conference room.” Bharyt inclined his head slightly. An unsmiling alector in dark gray trimmed in green stepped forward.

  “Are any of the others here?”

  “The High Alector of Transport, sir.”

  “Thank you.”

  Bharyt nodded slightly in reply.

  Dainyl followed Moryn through the columned section of the entry foyer and down the high-ceilinged corridor, past the closed library door where Dainyl had always met with the Duarch, and to the conference room. The only other time that Dainyl had been in the conference room was when he had briefed some of the other High Alectors on the events in Hyalt.

  Alseryl stood beside the circular table in his shimmersilk greens. He glanced at Dainyl and smiled faintly. “You affect an older style, in your greens, as well as in other matters.”

  “The older styles seem to suit me best, Alseryl. They do most Myrmidons, I would judge.”

  “Ah, yes, always the Myrmidon.”

  “I find that preferable to other possibilities,” replied Dainyl with a laugh.

  “I can see that—the comfortable confines of regulation and certainty.”

  “And the understanding that while power is necessary to maintain what is right, it does not make right.”

  Before Alseryl could respond, the door opened once more, and Chembryt stepped inside.

  “Good to see you both, you especially, Dainyl. I heard that you decided to employ financial incentives to bolster adherence to justice.”

  “You obviously have better information than some in the Hall of Justice, although that is changing,” replied Dainyl.

  The faintest hint of a frown crossed Alseryl’s forehead.

  Immediately behind Alseryl came Khelaryt, and Chembryt stepped aside in deference to the Duarch.

  Khelaryt gestured to the comfortable chairs around the circular table. Chembryt seated himself easily, as did Dainyl. Alseryl hesitated slightly, then sat. The three High Alectors in shimmersilk greens were loosely clustered around the half of the table facing the Duarch, who smiled warmly as he settled into his chair.

  Whil
e Dainyl was aware of the Talent forces swirling behind the shields of those in the room, he was aware that now neither Chembryt nor Alseryl could have prevailed against him, even together. He also realized that for all the Talent-strength manifested by Khelaryt, there was what he would have called an uncertainty behind that power, and that made no sense to him.

  “This meeting will have to be short,” began Khelaryt. “If you would begin, Chembryt…”

  “Yes, sir. As I mentioned at the last meeting, we face a significant financial shortfall. The annual budget is roughly one million five hundred thousand golds. The deficit for the past half year was close to one hundred thousand golds and was covered by transfers from the Duarchy’s reserve account, but we cannot continue to do that for more than three years before it will be exhausted, and either trade tariffs will have to be increased or some other form of tariffing will need to be instituted. Or expenditures by entities under the various High Alectors will need to be reduced.” Chembryt cleared his throat, then continued. “The largest single deficit was incurred by Engineering, totaling close to sixty thousand golds, while Justice incurred a thirty thousand gold deficit, and Transport one of ten thousand.”

  “How much of those deficits represent onetime expenditures?” asked Khelaryt.

  “Very little, I would judge, but you should ask the other High Alectors, sir.”

  Khelaryt looked to Dainyl. “Justice?”

  “I cannot answer that for all items, sir, but part of the deficit resulted from the need for additional Table guards. Once the Master Scepter is actually transferred, the majority of those expenditures should not be necessary on a continuing basis. Likewise, there was more construction of new facilities for Cadmians and Myrmidons than normal. Also, operational costs were higher than budgeted because of unrest related to the transfer of the Master Scepter…”

  “I beg your pardon, Dainyl,” said Alseryl, “but could you explain that?”

  “The costs were an extension of events on which I briefed the High Alectors when I was Marshal of Myrmidons,” Dainyl replied. “First, RA Rhelyn destroyed the local Cadmian garrison in Hyalt apparently because one of the local Cadmians noted the buildup of his rebel forces. At the time, that destruction was blamed on local insurgencies, and a Cadmian battalion was dispatched with two local trainee companies to subdue the supposed insurgents and to build a more secure local compound. Then, in support of Rhelyn, RA Fahylt created his own mounted rifles in Tempre, and the Cadmians were required to take action to subdue and destroy them. In the course of those efforts, disloyal alectors under Fahylt attacked the Cadmians and inflicted casualties on men and mounts. Both had to be replaced.” Dainyl smiled. “None of these events would have occurred had it not been for actions among alectors related to the pending transfer of the Master Scepter. The same is true for the additional Myrmidon costs related to defeating the attacks on the Tables at Blackstear and Soupat. I trust that satisfies your inquiry.”

  “More than sufficiently,” interjected the Duarch. “Please continue with your analysis of which costs were onetime, and which may be ongoing.”

  Chembryt smiled at Dainyl.

  “The costs of the transfer of Seventh Company to Tempre were mitigated by the construction of facilities by the former RA, although some additional construction will be required to modify the facilities for pteridons. Activities by the ancients, almost completely in areas adjoining the Aerlal Plateau, have increased casualties and operating costs for the Cadmian Mounted Rifles, and I cannot say whether those types of costs will continue….” When he finished Dainyl inclined his head.

  “Thank you,” replied the Duarch. “Alseryl.”

  “Yes, sir. Virtually all of the deficit incurred by Transport related to two basic causes. First was the scheduled overhaul and refit of the Duarches’ Honesty. We had budgeted for that, but overall operating costs were increased when the road through the South Pass was blocked. We have had to arrange for transport of goods by other routes, and by sending more by sea, and then trans-shipping them. We also have been tasked with recruiting, training, and replacing more sandox drivers as a result of higher Myrmidon casualties, and we have had to make two special ocean transports in support of Cadmian deployments.”

  “Special?” queried Chembryt. “Are not such deployment transport costs part of your budget?”

  “Historically, we have budgeted for one or two. There have been four in the past year.” Alseryl coughed slightly.

  “Have there been any additional transport costs incurred as a result of increased engineering and artisan output?” asked Dainyl.

  Alseryl paused, and Dainyl could tell that the inquiry had caught him unprepared.

  “Have there?” prompted Khelaryt.

  “Yes, sir. Perhaps twenty percent or more of the deficit occurred from that source.”

  “Could you provide some details?” asked the Duarch. “What sort of output and to where?”

  “I could not, sir. I do not keep track of all the items in a ship’s hold or in the cargo section of a sandox carriage. I can say that there was a greater weight and volume of iron pigs coming down the Vedra to Faitel, and more finished products shipped from Faitel.”

  “What about the floods on the Vedra?” asked Dainyl. “Will those have an impact on future expenditures?”

  That question puzzled Alseryl as well, but because—Dainyl suspected—it sympathetically implied that Alseryl would face costs beyond his control.

  “Replacing the piers at Dekhron and Borlan, and repairing those at Tempre, will add between two and five thousand golds to our construction outlays.”

  “I think we have a picture of what we face. I don’t see any point in attempting to make changes in your operations until after the Master Scepter has been transferred. After that, some economies may well be necessary, and I ask each of you to consider what might be practical for your area of responsibility.” Khelaryt paused only long enough to signify that the budget matters were closed, then asked, “Do any of you have any other matters?”

  Chembryt shook his head.

  Alseryl remained silent.

  After a moment, Dainyl spoke. “I have one slight difficulty. I’ve been informed by the commanding Myrmidon majer in Lysia that certain critical military goods have not reached Eighth Company there. It appears as if that aspect of ground transport faces some difficulty. I’d like to request that a consignment of such equipment and supplies be included on the next vessel to take the southern route. To ensure its safety, we would be willing to send a small Myrmidon detachment with it.”

  Khelaryt remained impassive.

  “You must know, Dainyl,” replied Alseryl, “that such cargoes are determined months in advance. With the small number of powered ocean transports, our flexibility is very limited.”

  “That I understand, but we are not talking a significant fraction of even one ship’s cargo capacity.”

  “You may be High Alector of Justice, Dainyl, and I understand your concerns about proper supply of your Myrmidons, but supply should be carried out through the proper distribution system by the Alector of the East. If you have a problem, shouldn’t you be taking it up with him first?” asked Alseryl, his voice mild.

  Dainyl could sense a certain buried glee.

  “The Alector of the East has been requested to supply such, but he has replied that he lacks those particular items and supplies. Since he lacks them, and apparently will for the foreseeable future, I’m making the request of you.”

  “That seems reasonable, Alseryl,” suggested Khelaryt.

  The High Alector of Transport nodded. “Given the critical nature of the supplies and equipment, I suggest that you do supply Myrmidons as guards.”

  “I will have Marshal Alcyna work with your assistants to make the arrangements.”

  “If there is nothing more…” Khelaryt’s words were not a suggestion.

  The Duarch departed immediately, followed by Alseryl, who clearly displayed a mixture of pique and buried e
lation.

  Chembryt and Dainyl walked down the corridor toward the Palace entrance with greater deliberation.

  “You know that shipment of goods will be dispatched and require guards at the time when you most need Myrmidons?” Chembryt laughed.

  “That thought had occurred to me, but the Duarch would prefer to hold Lysia, and that would be difficult for the Myrmidons without supplies and equipment.”

  “How is Lystrana finding Dereka?”

  “Somewhat stressful at times, but she’s pleased not to have to worry about disappointing you by not being able to use the Tables.” Dainyl smiled.

  Chembryt wasn’t about to say more, at least not in the Palace where every word could be, and usually was, overheard, and Dainyl didn’t want to say more, because he still knew too little about the interplay between High Alectors.

  80

  Mykel rode forward, just enough that he had a vantage point from behind the trunk of the leafless oak tree. He glanced to the east where Selena had just risen, to join Asterta low in the sky, then back to the north, watching the valley. In the darkness of Tridi before dawn, he doubted that any of the other Cadmians saw what he did, what with the night sight that accompanied his still-increasing Talent.

  If you have so much Talent, how did you manage to get wounded so badly? Because he’d relied on it exclusively just before he’d been shot, because the dead Reillie had had Talent as well, and because Mykel himself had been struck with bullets, Talent, and the crossbow quarrel.

  Explanations were all well and good, but he still felt almost helpless in a battle situation. If he had been able to use his rifle effectively, he knew he could have reduced the casualties suffered by his men—as well as cut down the number of enemies. But with every battle where you lead the fight there’s a greater chance of getting killed.

  Mykel concentrated on what was about to happen to the north, where Hamylt was making his first attack in an attempt to get the Reillies to attack and chase elements of Third and Fourth Battalions into range of the main Cadmian body.

  The sound of rifles echoed through the gray before dawn, continuing for a quarter glass before ceasing almost instantly. Hamylt had either run out of ammunition or the Reillies were mounting a counterattack.