[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
for chaos in the food and finding none. Then he stepped toward the table with
Faltar and Lyasa.
They say you re having a hard time of it, Faltar said quietly as Cerryl
slipped onto the stool.
Trying to& Cerryl paused, wondering if he should even mention the means.
Yes, it s hard, harder than I would have thought. He took a bite out of the
hot crusty bread.
No one has an easy time in the sewers, said Lyasa. I didn t.
& finding that out& mumbled Cerryl, finding himself gobbling down his
food.
It takes a lot of energy, and you re going to be eating a great deal
more.
Faltar glanced from Cerryl to Lyasa.
It just does, said Lyasa. You ll see.
Cerryl would have smiled, if he hadn t had a mouthful of stewed fowl, at
the way Lyasa also avoided mentioning the use of chaos-fire.
It s hard work, and I imagine Cerryl got the filthiest secondary in the
system. Lyasa popped a last morsel of bread into her mouth.
Faltar brushed blond hair off his forehead. You two are keeping secrets.
I can tell.
When you go to work on the sewers, you can judge that. Lyasa turned to
Cerryl. Did you know that the Council has worked out a trade agreement with
both Certis and Sligo?
Cerryl decided that Lyasa wasn t just changing the subject, but thought he
should know about the trade agreement, not that he knew anything about trade.
And? The way you say that means there s something unusual about it.
They ve put a tax on goods from Recluce-wool mostly, I d guess.
That didn t help Cerryl much.
We don t need their wool, said Faltar. Montgren has plenty of sheep.
Spidlar doesn t. Gallos doesn t. Kyphros does, but not northern Gallos.
Cerryl broke off a chunk of the still-warm bread, then took a sip of the
ale. That should mean something.
Geography& suggested Lyasa.
Cerryl mentally called up the map Jeslek had required. Gallos doesn t have
any ports-except Ruzor, and that s a long way from Fenard.
The south is Kyphros. It may be part of Gallos, but the Kyphans don t
think so. Anyway, Ruzor s no good except for the south, and they don t need
wool there anyway, not a lot. Besides, the Analerians have their own sheep.
Lyasa shrugged, as if the implications were obvious. Sterol and Jeslek both
spoke in the meeting& that s what I overheard.
They re worried about Recluce.
Cerryl, the Guild has been worried about Recluce since the time of Creslin
and Jenred the Traitor. Faltar laughed, then turned to Lyasa. What about
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Recluce?
Lyasa lifted her shoulders again, then dropped them. I don t know. Not for
sure, but the prefect of Gallos doesn t listen much to Sverlik, and the
Spidlarian Traders Council has never allowed a white mage into Spidlaria. Not
in years, anyway.
Trouble in the west, then? asked Cerryl. With the traders preferring to
use the sea and Recluce?
And not to pay road taxes to Fairhaven, suggested Faltar.
I don t know for sure.
Cerryl had a feeling Lyasa did, but he didn t press the issue as he looked
at his empty platter. He stood. I still have to study for Esaak.
You have to study while you re on sewers? asked Lyasa, pushing jet-black
hair back over her ears.
The most honored Jeslek informed me that I was woefully deficient in
mathematicks. Cerryl laughed softly. I still am, Esaak informs me.
He so informs all, said Faltar dryly.
Even so& Cerryl gestured toward the corridor to his cell.
As he left the meal hall, he could hear Bealtur murmur, Yes& go study, for
all the good it will do&
Once in his cell, Cerryl picked up Naturale Mathematicks and dutifully
opened the book, taking out the slate and chalk stick. Three pages and a dozen
problems were all he managed before his head was swimming.
He closed the book and stood. He began walking in a narrow circle in his
room. He was tired but not that sleepy, and if he tried to sleep, he d just
wake up in the middle of the night. Besides, he still hadn t followed up on
Myral s-and everyone s-suggestions about light and chaos-fire. He paused. That
wasn t right. Various mages had suggested he study light. None had linked it
with chaos-fire. Was that another of the unmentioned links or bits of
knowledge that he d assumed were tied together?
Light, trade, Recluce, sewers, mathematicks, Recluce& Cerryl found himself
rubbing his forehead. His eyes went to Colors of White, then toward the
Mathematicks book. Finally, he lifted Colors and slowly opened it.
Light? What did it say about light? He flipped through the sections, trying
to recall what he had read, the pages that had dealt with light. He found one
section and read it, then frowned.
Cerryl studied the words again& There was something there.
& light, being the spirit and manifestation of chaos, has neither order nor
more than minimal cohesion& but embodies all the power of primal chaos in a
manifestation that must be weaker than its source in order for those objects
on which it falls to survive&
That made sense& in a vague sort of way. He closed his eyes and tried to
think, then opened them as he found himself jerking as if he were about to
fall asleep.
Darkness knew, he was tired enough. He read the next few lines.
& the challenge facing any mage is to strengthen the power of chaos embodied
in light without reducing light to mere streams of color without true power&
Mere streams of color without power& did that mean some streams of colored
light had true power? How could that be? His eyes closed, and he forced them
open.
The implication was that light from the sun was less powerful than it could
be& and somehow that was tied into separating-or strengthening light by
separating it into different beams of color.
Maybe tomorrow&
He barely managed to pull off his boots and hang up his whites before
collapsing onto his bed.
He didn t remember waking up or even eating before he went to the secondary
collector to begin his cleaning duties once again, but was that because he had
been so tired?
Still& he found himself back underground, standing in a long and slimy
sewer& a secondary collector, and the oozing scum from the drainage way seemed
Page 143
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
to grab at his boots, with armlike branches that clutched.
Cerryl tried to wield chaos-fire, but his firebolts were but small globes
of flame that sputtered across the greened bricks without searing them clean.
Each step found him trying to yank his boots free. Even when he did not move,
he had to lift his boots and kick them free of the clutching ooze and slime.
He glanced over his shoulder, but the white lancers had vanished and so had
their lamp. And the grate at the top of the steps was again closed, locked
with a bronze lock that bore double order and chaos twisted around it.
Cerryl felt heat at his back, and he turned to the space he had been [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl karpacz24.htw.pl
for chaos in the food and finding none. Then he stepped toward the table with
Faltar and Lyasa.
They say you re having a hard time of it, Faltar said quietly as Cerryl
slipped onto the stool.
Trying to& Cerryl paused, wondering if he should even mention the means.
Yes, it s hard, harder than I would have thought. He took a bite out of the
hot crusty bread.
No one has an easy time in the sewers, said Lyasa. I didn t.
& finding that out& mumbled Cerryl, finding himself gobbling down his
food.
It takes a lot of energy, and you re going to be eating a great deal
more.
Faltar glanced from Cerryl to Lyasa.
It just does, said Lyasa. You ll see.
Cerryl would have smiled, if he hadn t had a mouthful of stewed fowl, at
the way Lyasa also avoided mentioning the use of chaos-fire.
It s hard work, and I imagine Cerryl got the filthiest secondary in the
system. Lyasa popped a last morsel of bread into her mouth.
Faltar brushed blond hair off his forehead. You two are keeping secrets.
I can tell.
When you go to work on the sewers, you can judge that. Lyasa turned to
Cerryl. Did you know that the Council has worked out a trade agreement with
both Certis and Sligo?
Cerryl decided that Lyasa wasn t just changing the subject, but thought he
should know about the trade agreement, not that he knew anything about trade.
And? The way you say that means there s something unusual about it.
They ve put a tax on goods from Recluce-wool mostly, I d guess.
That didn t help Cerryl much.
We don t need their wool, said Faltar. Montgren has plenty of sheep.
Spidlar doesn t. Gallos doesn t. Kyphros does, but not northern Gallos.
Cerryl broke off a chunk of the still-warm bread, then took a sip of the
ale. That should mean something.
Geography& suggested Lyasa.
Cerryl mentally called up the map Jeslek had required. Gallos doesn t have
any ports-except Ruzor, and that s a long way from Fenard.
The south is Kyphros. It may be part of Gallos, but the Kyphans don t
think so. Anyway, Ruzor s no good except for the south, and they don t need
wool there anyway, not a lot. Besides, the Analerians have their own sheep.
Lyasa shrugged, as if the implications were obvious. Sterol and Jeslek both
spoke in the meeting& that s what I overheard.
They re worried about Recluce.
Cerryl, the Guild has been worried about Recluce since the time of Creslin
and Jenred the Traitor. Faltar laughed, then turned to Lyasa. What about
Page 142
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Recluce?
Lyasa lifted her shoulders again, then dropped them. I don t know. Not for
sure, but the prefect of Gallos doesn t listen much to Sverlik, and the
Spidlarian Traders Council has never allowed a white mage into Spidlaria. Not
in years, anyway.
Trouble in the west, then? asked Cerryl. With the traders preferring to
use the sea and Recluce?
And not to pay road taxes to Fairhaven, suggested Faltar.
I don t know for sure.
Cerryl had a feeling Lyasa did, but he didn t press the issue as he looked
at his empty platter. He stood. I still have to study for Esaak.
You have to study while you re on sewers? asked Lyasa, pushing jet-black
hair back over her ears.
The most honored Jeslek informed me that I was woefully deficient in
mathematicks. Cerryl laughed softly. I still am, Esaak informs me.
He so informs all, said Faltar dryly.
Even so& Cerryl gestured toward the corridor to his cell.
As he left the meal hall, he could hear Bealtur murmur, Yes& go study, for
all the good it will do&
Once in his cell, Cerryl picked up Naturale Mathematicks and dutifully
opened the book, taking out the slate and chalk stick. Three pages and a dozen
problems were all he managed before his head was swimming.
He closed the book and stood. He began walking in a narrow circle in his
room. He was tired but not that sleepy, and if he tried to sleep, he d just
wake up in the middle of the night. Besides, he still hadn t followed up on
Myral s-and everyone s-suggestions about light and chaos-fire. He paused. That
wasn t right. Various mages had suggested he study light. None had linked it
with chaos-fire. Was that another of the unmentioned links or bits of
knowledge that he d assumed were tied together?
Light, trade, Recluce, sewers, mathematicks, Recluce& Cerryl found himself
rubbing his forehead. His eyes went to Colors of White, then toward the
Mathematicks book. Finally, he lifted Colors and slowly opened it.
Light? What did it say about light? He flipped through the sections, trying
to recall what he had read, the pages that had dealt with light. He found one
section and read it, then frowned.
Cerryl studied the words again& There was something there.
& light, being the spirit and manifestation of chaos, has neither order nor
more than minimal cohesion& but embodies all the power of primal chaos in a
manifestation that must be weaker than its source in order for those objects
on which it falls to survive&
That made sense& in a vague sort of way. He closed his eyes and tried to
think, then opened them as he found himself jerking as if he were about to
fall asleep.
Darkness knew, he was tired enough. He read the next few lines.
& the challenge facing any mage is to strengthen the power of chaos embodied
in light without reducing light to mere streams of color without true power&
Mere streams of color without power& did that mean some streams of colored
light had true power? How could that be? His eyes closed, and he forced them
open.
The implication was that light from the sun was less powerful than it could
be& and somehow that was tied into separating-or strengthening light by
separating it into different beams of color.
Maybe tomorrow&
He barely managed to pull off his boots and hang up his whites before
collapsing onto his bed.
He didn t remember waking up or even eating before he went to the secondary
collector to begin his cleaning duties once again, but was that because he had
been so tired?
Still& he found himself back underground, standing in a long and slimy
sewer& a secondary collector, and the oozing scum from the drainage way seemed
Page 143
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
to grab at his boots, with armlike branches that clutched.
Cerryl tried to wield chaos-fire, but his firebolts were but small globes
of flame that sputtered across the greened bricks without searing them clean.
Each step found him trying to yank his boots free. Even when he did not move,
he had to lift his boots and kick them free of the clutching ooze and slime.
He glanced over his shoulder, but the white lancers had vanished and so had
their lamp. And the grate at the top of the steps was again closed, locked
with a bronze lock that bore double order and chaos twisted around it.
Cerryl felt heat at his back, and he turned to the space he had been [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]