The Magic of Recluce - L. E. Modesitt [197]
“I’d like to see a map,” I began, “but, in general, along the old road to Sarronnyn, the one that no one uses now.”
“The chaos-road?” suggested Yelena, her voice flat.
I shrugged. “I don’t know what it’s called. But that’s where he is, beyond the point where the hidden wizards’ roads connect.”
Both Krystal and Yelena turned to me. “Explain,” demanded the sub-commander, her voice as hard and authoritative as I had ever heard it.
“There are hidden wizards’ roads throughout Candar. Sometimes the current roads are built right over the old roads built by the white wizards, but many of the old roads are hidden. There’s one that runs, I think, the length of the Little Easthorns. It crosses the road from Gallos to Tellura somewhere after the top of the pass.”
“Why didn’t you mention this before?”
I was more than a little puzzled at her coldness. “First, you never asked. Second…oh, shit…I see what you mean…”
Now it was Yelena’s turn to look puzzled. I thought Krystal had softened slightly.
“Logistics?” I asked. “Troop travel?”
Krystal nodded.
“I don’t think it will help, but, if you get me a map, I’ll show you where it goes.” Another thought struck me. “But unless you have another order-master, it won’t help. Where it crosses, the road is cloaked with illusions. Antonin hasn’t shared the roads with anyone, but I think he uses them to let everyone think he is everywhere.”
“He’s been successful in that,” snapped the sub-officer. “I’ll get a set of maps.”
Once she was out of earshot, before anyone else neared, I looked at Krystal. “I’m not a military strategist, and I don’t appreciate being accused, even silently, of incompetence. I admit it. I don’t know your business. Don’t expect me to.” I tried to soften my tone. “I know you’re against the wall. I can see it. I’d never withhold information or help, not knowingly. But I’m still having trouble learning my own business, let alone trying to understand yours.”
Krystal pursed her lips, then met my glance. “I’m sorry.” Her tone was still flat.
“Krystal…the first time I could have told you about the road was last night. Could you have done anything about it any earlier? Besides, I didn’t even know there were any wizards’ roads in Kyphros until I found that one, and I came straight to Kyphrien.”
The stiffness finally receded. “I am sorry. It’s just…”
“It’s that bad?” I asked.
“Yes. It’s that bad. Maybe worse. Look around.”
I did. For a long time. Then I swallowed. Fully a third of the guard were bandaged or otherwise disabled or incapacitated. Most of the sub-officers and officers were women, and most of the men were scarcely older than I was.
I should have seen it. No matter how good she was with a blade, no matter how smart and mature, a woman would not have ended up as the number-two officer in a kingdom’s military force in little more than a year unless the losses were horrendous or the talent pool small. I suspected both.
“I’m sorry. I’ll do what I can.” I meant that not just for Krystal or for me, but because of what the people around us represented—the struggle against an old chaotic rule and an attempt at…I didn’t exactly know how or why, but what I saw accorded with my idea of what order should be, not necessarily what Talryn or Recluce thought of as order.
“Thank you.”
“Commander, why were the road-patrol rotations changed yesterday?” asked a young man with a scraggly yellow mustache.
“That’s because…”
“Commander, will there be additional mounts…”
“Commander, how do we get the duty rotation…”
“Commander…”
I edged away, letting Krystal deal with the guards who approached, marveling at her patience and understanding.
Yelena walked in carrying a long leather tube. I gestured to her, and commandeered a near-empty table.
“Do you have one that shows the border beyond the Southbrook?”
After sifting through the parchments, she laid an older map on the table, smoothing it out. Some of the mountains were named, and the road line matched what I remembered, but the pattern of the peaks was not complete.
I measured roughly,