Delgart nodded slightly and saluted in the same way. “Please, sit down,” he said, “and you do not need to stand every time I enter the office.”
They both sighed and sat down. “I thought I might be doing it incorrectly,” Forsonta said, “we are both new at this, having just left the training school.”
“We have the same mother,” Nofero said, answering Delgart’s questions, “but different fathers.”
“Why were you chosen as our messengers?” Delgart asked.
“We were part of the Fereghen’s messenger squad,” Forsonta replied, “and were both near him and his potikoro when your squad attacked the krugle and megatrem, so when we heard what the Feragwen was doing, we asked to be assigned as your messengers.”
“Current status of our legion?” Marilee asked.
“Your command squad is already gathered in the briefing room,” Nofero replied, “your seven company captains should arrive in one hour, which should give you time to go over those reports the Feragwen gave you and plan out your strategy before briefing the captains.”
“Malfa does have one item of business,” Forsonta added, “that requires a private moment with both of you before you enter the briefing room and meet your command squad.”
Malfa nodded and led them into what was now Delgart’s office, and after closing the door, she gave Delgart a folded and sealed square of parchment. “I do not know the exact contents of this letter,” Malfa noted, “I only know that it concerns the present status of your younger brother, Rokwolf. Whether or not you share the information with your second is up to your discretion, but I am required to see that you open and read it, then destroy it.”
Delgart checked the seal and noticed that it was the Fereghen’s signet rather than Feltha’s. “This is the Fereghen’s seal,” he noted; Malfa nodded but said nothing, so he broke the seal and quickly read the short letter. He looked toward Marilee. “You must never mention what this contains,” he noted, passing it to her.
As she read the letter, her eyes widened for a moment then returned to normal; she re-folded the letter and handed it back to Malfa who tapped it once with her rod and the folded parchment burst into flames.
“I must report to the Feragwen,” Malfa said, leaving the room.
When the door closed, Marilee looked at Delgart. “Can we . . . ,” she started to ask but stopped when he shook his head.
“We should look over these reports,” he noted, “then come up with some strategy before meeting our command squad.”
She nodded, grabbing the first report and pulling one of the chairs closer to Delgart’s desk so that she could sit and read in comfort. Delgart grabbed the next report and sat in the seat behind his new desk, beginning to scan the documents the Feragwen had given them.
Twenty minutes passed with only the rustling of parchment; Delgart sighed and pushed the reports aside, picking up and rolling open on his desk a detailed map of the Mariskal, from the Forsaken Outpost on the west to Rykelle on the east, bordered on the north by a spur of the mountains and on the south by the Inner Sea. He used an ink bottle to hold one side down, and a small, leather bound book of directives to hold down the other.
Marilee looked up from the report she held and set it aside with the others. “What are you thinking?” she asked, getting up to move around to his side of the desk, so that she could see the map.
“Two things are clear to me from these reports,” he said, leaning back to look up at her. “The first is that we do not have enough solid information to commit our legion to a full-scale assault.”
“That is certainly true,” Marilee said. “The only surety is that we must meet the attack on the outpost,” she added.
He nodded once. “Yes, and give more protection to the merchant caravans traveling the road,” he said, “but we still need to know more clearly what is going on in and around Morokolu, since that seems to be the source of the infection.”
“So you are suggesting that our first step is to defend the outpost and reinforce the patrols along the road,” she said.
“Yes,” he replied, “and since individual patrols have been insufficient to deal with the swamp wedaterem, I think we should replace them with companies.”
Marilee nodded. “I agree, given all the problems the patrols have had, and the number of seklesem lost.”
“Do we have the standard number of companies?” Delgart asked.
She shook her head. “The Seventh has historically been organized from the very best of us, so we have seven companies of the most elite seklesem.”
Delgart thought for a moment. “Since there is already a company at the outpost, we send three of ours there and send the other four to patrol the road.” He paused again. “Can we get mounts for at least those four companies?”
Marilee shrugged and went to the door. “I’ll find out.” She opened the door. “Forsonta, is our Chief Quartermaster available?”
“He is with the company quartermasters, why?” she asked.
“We wondered if we could mount at least four of our companies?” Marilee asked.
Delgart heard laughter.
“We are the gwenakso,” Nofero replied, “we can probably get horses for the entire legion! I’ll go find Chief Sopikro and have him begin making arrangements.” His chair scraped back and the door opened and closed.
“You have about five more minutes,” Forsonta said.
Marilee nodded. “We are nearly ready,” she said and closed the door. “And your other point?” she asked as she came back to the desk.
“Since we believe that the morgle who has Melbarth’s rod is at the center of this infection, we will want the rest of the chosen involved; I think I’d like to have Sir Blakstar go with us into the swamp, since he holds one of the keys, or my brother Klaybear, who holds the other.”
“Blakstar,” Marilee said, “since his mark is less visible than Klaybear’s, and we have plenty of kailum.”
Delgart nodded. “We at least need to bring Klaybear here to teach our kailum and maghem what they learned about orthek singing, and how it increases the power of the ortheks.”
“And they can pass back what we learned about combining orthek work,” Marilee added.
“Is it going to be a problem if we bring them into the conference room,” Delgart said, “into our secret base of operations?”
Marilee thought for a moment. “Maybe,” she said, “depends on who is there; it might be better if he comes here to your office, and we bring the four of them in to meet him.”
Delgart nodded and touched the proper symbol on his verghrenum; they waited for a few moments before a gray shimmering appeared on the desk, followed by Klaybear’s head.
“Delgart,” he said, “you contacted us.” Klare’s head appeared next to his; Marilee came around the desk again and put her hand on Delgart’s shoulder. “And Marilee,” Klaybear added, “what can we do for you?”
“We have become quite popular today,” Klare added, smiling weakly, although her voice sounded a little hoarse.
“Yes,” Klaybear went on, “we first rescued Tevvy from a trap somewhere south of Kilnar, then we sent him, along with Rokwolf and Sutugno–Klare’s best friend–to Rykelle and the scout school, then we had to go to Karble to break up a fight between Thal and Blakstar . . . ,” he noted.
Klare interrupted. “So what can ‘mommy and daddy’ do to help you?” she asked sarcastically.
Delgart laughed at this; Marilee was silent, her mouth open. “You’ve been busy,” Delgart said, “and it’s still early.”
“Yes,” Klaybear said, winking, “and ‘mommy’ gets grumpy when she doesn’t get enough sleep.”
Klare’s face turned and glared at Klaybear.
“We need you to show our kailum and maghem orthek singing,” Delgart said, and he quickly explained that they had been assigned to go to the Mariskal and deal with the problem there, and how they both felt that it was directly related, leaving out that they had become commanders of the
legendary Seventh Legion.
“We’ll come through,” Klaybear said, “breaking contact,” he added, and their two heads disappeared. A gray shimmering archway appeared in front of his desk, and the two kailum stepped through. Klare embraced Delgart, then Marilee.
“You don’t really feel like our mother, do you?” Marilee asked her.
“Only to those two little boys who cannot get along!” Klare exclaimed, and told them briefly of what had happened in the hut outside of Karble.
“Where are we?” Klaybear asked.
“The office of the legion commander,” Marilee noted, pointing to Delgart, “of the legendary Seventh Legion, the gwenakso.”
Both Klaybear and Klare’s mouths fell open, then they smiled and congratulated both Delgart and Marilee for their achievement; there was a knock at the door, and Delgart put a finger to his lips. Marilee answered the door.
“It is time, commanders,” Forsonta noted.
“We’re coming,” Marilee said. “I just need to get the reports, and we’ll be right out.” She closed the door.
Delgart gripped his brother’s shoulder. “Wait here,” he said, “and we’ll send the two kailum and two maghem from our command squad in to meet with you here.” He turned and followed Marilee out of the office. Forsonta opened the door to the conference room, and for a moment, they could hear voices speaking softly that stopped immediately, then chairs scraped back and Forsonta stepped into the room, turned and saluted.
Marilee stopped to let Delgart go first; she smiled and touched his cheek fondly. “After you, commander,” she whispered.
Delgart took a deep breath and stepped through the door; he went straight to the head of the table without looking up and placed the sheaf of parchments he carried before he looked up and saluted the seklesem standing around the table. He heard Marilee’s sharp inhale behind him; it was then he looked closely at those around the table and saw that the faces were all familiar to him, and that his second had begun to embrace each of them in turn as they came forward to greet and congratulate them both: Grelsor and Lidelle as their chief kailum; Hrelga and Luthina as chief maghem; as chief scouts, Reena and Kreega; as chief swords, Hrothlo and Mitha; as chief shields, Rolva and Hranda; and as chief archers, the only two that he did not recognize and the oldest pair among them, Velnar and Janelle, which Marilee introduced to him as the husband and wife team who first trained her.
“I am surprised, and gratified,” Delgart said after greeting each of them, “to see all of you here; we had no idea that you would be chosen as our command squad.”
“When we heard,” Velnar said, “we volunteered, having witnessed your actions on the battlefield, and having trained Marilee, we thought you might have need of our experience.”
Janelle eyed her husband shrewdly. “You old liar,” she noted, elbowing him in the ribs, “you wouldn’t miss a chance to be a part of the gwenakso, so any excuse would do.”
Velnar grinned widely, showing missing front teeth. “You know me too well, my dear.”
Delgart smiled at them. “Let’s sit down,” he said, “and Marilee will brief you on what our assignment is, and what we have planned.”
They nodded and were seated quickly; Marilee explained what their assignment entailed, what they knew, and what she and Delgart had decided should be their best approach; Forsonta sat to one side, taking notes of all that was said. Marilee finished and sat down.
“You’ve left us out of the plan,” Reena, Chief Scout noted.
Delgart nodded. “We, I think, because of the experience that all of you have,” he began, “and because of who we are, which we will explain shortly, are going to infiltrate Mariskal and gain more intelligence on Morokolu. We suspect that Morokolu is the source of the infection, particularly, the alteration in the behavior of both the swamp wedaterem and the sponsum; we also believe that the morgle who attacked Shigmar has its home in Morokolu, and is the one responsible for what has happened.”
“So you are who Xythrax claimed on the battlefield,” Mitha said softly, “you are chosen of the One.”
“After what happened to Shigmar,” Lidelle added, “that is something that we should keep to ourselves.”
“As the example of my late-father tells us,” Grelsor put in, “it gives us an advantage, but it also puts us at greater risk.”
Lidelle turned to Forsonta. “With our commander’s direction,” he nodded to Delgart, “this last part should not be included in the notes or report.”
Delgart nodded to his messenger; she cut that part out of her notes with her dagger and handed the piece of parchment over to Marilee, who passed it on to Hrelga. The white maghi whispered and touched the parchment with her rod; the parchment flamed and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Delgart nodded to Marilee; he turned back to the others. “There are some other details we need to work out before the company captains arrive,” he noted. “Hopefully, Nofero will return by that time with word of whether or not we can get four companies mounted to patrol the road.”
Marilee stood and touched Grelsor, Lidelle, Hrelga, and Luthina, indicating that they should follow her. “There is something you four need to know while our commander speaks to the others,” she whispered, “something of great benefit and interest to all of you.” She led them to Delgart’s office, where she found Klaybear and Klare sitting next to the desk.
“This is . . . ,” Marilee started to say, but Grelsor interrupted her.
“I know them both,” Grelsor said. “They were several years behind us.”
“You are Ghelvon’s son, Grelsor?” Klaybear asked.
Grelsor nodded.
Klaybear looked uncomfortable. “I’m sorry about what happened . . . ,” he started to say, but Grelsor cut him off.
“Don’t be,” Grelsor interrupted.
“Grelsor is our Chief kailu,” Marilee went on hastily, “and Lidelle his second; this is Hrelga and Luthina, Chief and second maghem.” She indicated each in turn, then pointed to Klaybear and Klare. “This is Klaybear, Delgart’s younger brother, and Rokwolf’s twin, and Klaybear’s wife Klare, two more of the chosen.”
“Delgart asked us to share something we learned about teka,” Klaybear said, “from Shigmar, himself, while we were retrieving his staff,” he added, holding up breath-giver.
“Are we allowed to handle it?” Lidelle asked, voicing one of the questions the four of them had.
Klaybear shrugged. “I do not know, for sure,” he replied, “but I do know that a group of soldiers in the dungeon under Shigmar tried to take will-giver, Sir Karble’s sword, from our kortexi.”
“What happened to them?” Grelsor asked.
“It looked like all of them were burned by some great flame that left only their bones,” Klaybear said. “Since then, no one else has had the heart to try.”
“I can see why,” Lidelle noted, stepping back.
“In a message left for us,” Klaybear went on, “Shigmar told us to ‘sing our ortheks well,’ which was a surprise, since we speak our ortheks, we do not sing them.”
“The red kailum and black maghem chant their ortheks,” Luthina noted, “which we discovered can be effective when working together.”
Klaybear nodded. “Thal believes that may be a leftover from singing. Do you remember the song we all sang as children that starts out like this: daa-da-dum?” he asked. They all nodded, grinning. “Grelsor, create a light using those three notes and that rhythm, singing the word instead of speaking it.”
“You mean, inserting the three syllables of the orthek word for light in place of the first three words of the children’s song?” he clarified; Klaybear nodded. “Maa-glu-ku,” he sang, and a light blossomed in the room, yellow and bright, smelling of water and heat.
Klaybear looked at Klare and smiled. “You see, dear,” he noted to her, “it’s different for everyone.”
The others were looking at the light that now seemed to be reflecting off moving water.
“Why doesn
’t it look like a normal light?” Hrelga asked.
“We think that it is because of the memories associated by the individual with the music,” Klaybear replied. “Grelsor’s looks more like the summer sun reflecting on the water of a pool or river.”
Grelsor’s face lit up. “That is exactly what I associate with childhood and that song: hot summer and swimming in the river on my grandparents’ farm.”
“But how is this useful?” Lidelle asked.
“Cancel your light,” Klaybear said; Grelsor nodded and spoke the word, and the light vanished. “Depending on the music you choose, you can change the power of the orthek. If I use three notes that are expanding and swelling, like daa-daa-dum,” he sang in his bass voice, going up the scale, “the light would behave accordingly.”
“Prepare to cover your eyes,” Klare warned, pulling her hood down over her eyes.
Klaybear sang the word for light using the same notes. The light winked on and grew brighter until he canceled it.
The four of them were looking at each other; Hrelga spoke. “This would have made our orthek work with the purgle and nekerpum much easier,” she said, “since singing is easier to do than chanting.”
“We have not had much opportunity to explore many sound sequences,” Klaybear added, “but I think you can see how this could be adapted for different purposes.” He exchanged a sudden glance with Klare, both feeling their verghrenum warming.
Grelsor turned to Marilee. “Commander, do we have time to meet with all of our kailum and maghem before we leave?” he asked. “I think we should share this information with all of them before we start.”
Marilee nodded. “I believe we can arrange some time,” she replied, smiling as she led them out of the office.
Before the door had closed, Klaybear started to draw a circle on Delgart’s desk with breath-giver.
Chapter 12
On first entering the citadel, the newly initiated kortexi is greeted by the Wesento, his second, all masters, and all their wives, at which time the newly initiated kortexi reports on his journey to and return from the Mountain of Vision, with particular attention paid to his victories over evil. . . .
The Redemption, Volume 1 Page 87