L. E. Modesitt - Scepters

Scepters

The Corean Chronicles Book 3

L. E. Modesitt Jr.

In memoriam:

For my father,both hero and preceptor

The brave, the craven, thosewho do not care,

will all look back, in awe, andfail to see,

whether rich, or poor, or young,or old and frail,

what was, what is, and what isyet to be.

There is a time, and it willcome, years hence,

when one will find the sceptersof the day,

those scepters more and less thanwhat they seem,

with the might to bring lifeitself to bay.

In those ages, then, will rise aleader,

who would reclaim the glory ofthe past,

and more, as he would see it, inthe sun,

to make sure the dual scepterswill always last.

Then too, the lamaial will rise,but once,

Where none yet will suspect, northink to dare,

and his hidden strokes may killaborning,

Duality of promise bright andfair.

For which will live, and whichwill prosper?

Who will rule the lands, in faithor treason?

One called lamaial or the onecalled hero,

for one would seek a triumph, theother reason.

Excerptsfrom:

THE LEGACY OF THE DUARCHY

Hyalt, Lanachrona

Lightfell upon the priest. That single ray of illumination, shaped by the ancientmaster-carved lens in the ceiling of the long and narrow chapel hewn out of thered rock cliffs, bathed the celebrant. His green tunic and trousers, trimmed inpurple, shimmered. So did the alabaster makeup that covered his face. Theblue-silver threads in the black short-haired wig picked up the light, creatinga halo around his face. The black boots, with inset lifts, reflected light asif they too were burnished mirrors.

Along chord echoed through the temple, but the priest did not speak until allwas silent.

Whenour forebears turned their backs on the True Duarchy, then the One Who Isturned away and let the Cataclysm fall upon Corus The celebrants voiceseemed to come from everywhere, yet nowhere.

Morethan a hundred worshippers stood with bowed heads, heads covered with blackscarves of mourning. Only a handful dared to look from lowered heads toward thefront of the temple.

TheCataclysm did not have to happen. The misery and suffering did not have to cometo pass. And why did it come to be? How could so many be so blind?

Theonly response to his questions was silence.

TheDuarchy of Corus bestowed peace and prosperity upon all the world, forgeneration upon generation. Never was there so fair a realm, so just a world.Never were so blessed the peoples of a world. Never had so many benefited somuch. And then, in an instant, it all vanished

Inthe next-to-last line of worshippers stood a dark-haired figure in gray. He wasa head taller than those around him, and his face paler. The weave of the woolof his traveling cloak was somewhat finer. His head was bent slightly less thanthe heads of others, and his eyes never left the celebrant. The faintest hintof an amused smile appeared from time to time at the corners of his thin lips.

as the Mantra of Mourning declares Ice flowed from the skies. The air that hadbeen so fair, and perfumed, became as thin and as acrid as vinegar. Streamsdried in their beds, rivers in their courses, never to flow again All that hadbeen beautiful and great perished and was lost. And for what reason?

Aftera momentary silence, the priest answered, Because people were selfish andthought only of themselves. They turned their backs on the True Duarchy, andwhen they did so, they turned their backs on the One Who Is for the Duarchywas indeed His creation

in this world of transitory glory, when warlord succeeds warlord, and battlefollows battle, and evil follows evil, we must persevere. We must have faith inthe One Who Is. We must follow the path of righteousness to restore the oldtruths. For only by the instrument of the True Duarchy shall we be redeemed.Only by restoring the true creation of the One Who Is shall we once more seepeace and prosperity, faith and faithfulness

Thetraveler in gray nodded, appreciatively, and continued to listen.

even today, the troubles continue. The hills to the north and west have becomeso dry in your lifetimes that they support nothing but twisted trees and spikythorn, and yet the unbelievers do not see. Even here in Hyalt, where it isobvious, they do not see

when the only deity is gold, when the only rule is power, when the only law isthat laid down by the longest blade, by the deadliest rifle, no man can besafe, and none can find security. There are no arts, no fine buildings, nowondrous words, nothing but gold and blood

Thetraveler continued to listen, until at last came a hymn and the concludingrefrain:

for the beauty of the skies and sea,

thefull return of perfect harmony,

theblessings of the True Duarchy

andfor the One Who Will Always Be!

Afterthe hymn, the priest turned to the worshippers. Praise to the One Who Is! Andfor His creation of the Duarchy!

Andfor His creation of the Duarchy! repeated the congregation. Praise to the OneWho Is! For He will come again in glory! For He will come again in glory! Praiseto Him and His True Duarchy! For all that was and will be!

Forall that was and will be!

Thesingle ray of light vanished, plunging the cavern temple into total darknessfor a long moment. Then, slowly, more indirect light filtered into the temple asthe skylight portals, with their gauze-covered panes, were uncovered.

Thesanctuary at the front of the temple was empty.

Thegray-clad traveler made his way forward, toward the side entrance leading tothe chambers of the celebrant. His fingers touched briefly the outer garmentsover the heavy leather wallet hidden beneath his cloak and filled with golds.

Thewind moaned over the top of Westridge, hissing through the quarasote that hadgrown up following the Cataclysm and that had come to dominate the arid landsof the Iron Valleys in the tens of centuries that followed. Alucius half stoodin the stirrups, stretching his legs. He settled back into the saddle of thegray gelding, drank in the cool and dry morning air, and smiled to himself. Helooked to the northeast out across the ridge before him, and the expanse ofland empty except for quarasote and sand and red soiland the predators andprey that were unseen, except to those who knew how to understand the IronValleys or to those with Talent, who could sense the lifethreads that wove theworld into a unified whole.

A good summer morning , he thought, bending forward andthumping the gelding on the shoulder. Weve got a ways to go.

Thelead ram was already five hundred yardsa quarter vingtahead of the last ewe,and they were barely four vingts out from the stead buildings.

Thefaint flash of green gossamer radiance washed over Alucius, and he half turnedin the saddle. A single soarer hovered in the silver-green sky of morning, herwings shimmering against the sky and the sheer stone ramparts of the AerialPlateau to the east. The herders eyes took in the feminine form of the soarer,then darted back to check his flock almost immediately.

Hehad not seen a soarer in almost two yearssince he had left the hidden city.Nor had he and his Talent sensed the green radiance of one in all that time.And all the times he had seen one of the soaring winged figures had meantchangeand usually trouble.

Hecast forth an inquiry. What now ?

Thesoarer vanished without a response. One instant, she was there. The next shewas not. While she had not felt familiar, Alucius had not been close enoughlong enough to tell for sure if the soarer had been the one who had instructedhim during his brief captivity in the hidden city.

Hishand touched the hilt of the sabre at his belt. He glanced down at the rifle inits leather saddle case. Even with the massive cartridges used in a herderriflewith casings bigger than the thumb of a large manrifles were usually notall that effective against the kind of trouble she foreshadowed. Rifles weremost useful against sandwolves and, sometimes, against sandersand necessary,since both would prey on lone nightsheep and especially on ewes and lambs.Rifles were useless against ifrits, but Alucius had never seen one near asteadnot surprising, since hed only seen two in person in his life, three ifhe counted the Matrial, and he had not really even seen her.