Free Scepters by L. E. Modesitt Page A

necessary, and the
Lord-Protector would have wished it otherwise, but to send a messenger, then
wait for a reply… there was not time, not when we expect a winter offensive by
the Regent. That was another reason for the powers delegated to me. The
Lord-Protector did not wish to have me beholden to messengers if I needed
additional authority. That is why the commissions vest me fully with his authority
in all matters. All matters,” Frynkel repeated the last words.
    “Might
I ask…?” began the colonel.
    “You
can ask,” replied the marshal with a smile. “As I have said, I am here on an
inspection tour. I will be inspecting a number of posts, including this one,
the staging post in Wesrigg, and perhaps those in Soulend and on the midroad. I
may or may not inspect the ones farther north and west. I may or may not make
decisions on postings or use of forces, and I could make some suggestions. All
that depends on what I find.”
    “I
can see that, sir.”
    “I
am sure you can.”
    “You
have more than an entire company with you.”
    “That
is true. We would not wish to burden the Northern Guard.”
    “You
are most considerate.”
    “We
have tried not to inconvenience you. At least not any more than necessary.”
Frynkel smiled once more. “That being the case, I will dispense with the
formalities. To begin with, I would like to see the postings of all companies
in the Northern Guard, as well as their officers.”
    “Now?”
    “Now.”
Frynkel leaned back in the chair. “There are a number of matters we can discuss
while you have those records gathered.”

Chapter 17
    Alucius
turned ana stood at the railing of the porch, looking eastward, out over
Westridge and up at the Aerial Plateau, looking so close for all that it was a
good thirty vingts away. Although the shadow of twilight covered the Iron
Valleys, green-tinged light flashed from the crystal escarpments of the western
edge of the Plateau.
    “It’s
beautiful,” Wendra said from beside her husband, her hand covering his where it
rested on the railing.
    “Beautiful…
and sad, in a way,” reflected Alucius. “To think that there’s a city up there,
somewhere, almost deserted, and dying. There might even be more than one, but I’d
wager that all the others are completely deserted and dead.”
    “You
don’t think it was just that city?”
    “No.
There was too much sadness deep within the soarer, and no reason to deceive me
about that. Also, we see so few soarers, yet they’re a part of history and
everything else. Why else is there a soarer queen for leschec?”
    “Leschec’s
a game. There’s also a sander king, and no one ever thought sanders were smart
enough for that.”
    “Everything
else in the game has proved to be real. You’ve even seen them all.”
    Wendra
tilted her head. “I haven’t seen an alector.” A faint smile played across her
lips.
    Alucius
shook his head. “I’m safer when I don’t make big general statements.”
    “We
all are. But you’re right. There are references to alectors in the old
histories.”
    “You’ve
read those?”
    “I
used to. Grandpa Kustyl has a whole shelf of them. No one else was interested.
I didn’t tell anyone but him.”
    Alucius
smiled. He’d been married to Wendra for close to five years and known her for
more than three before that, and she’d never mentioned the histories. Was
marriage like that, always discovering something new? “Did those histories say
anything else about the soarers?”
    “No.
They didn’t say anything about soarers or sanders. The writers mentioned the
Myrmidons, the alectors, the sandoxes, the pteridons… even Cadmians. I always
thought that was strange, especially when I was younger. I’d seen soarers and
sanders, and they weren’t in the books, and the creatures that were in the
books were ones I’d never seen.”
    Alucius
squeezed her hand, gently. “Some of the books I read in the quarters’ libraries
in Madrien said that the soarers were