“So you would encourage him to build those machines? To attack and destroy our ships? That would certainly increase chaos. How much good it would do us is another question.” Anya rises like a pillar of white flame.
“He won’t do that.” Cerryl gestures at the now-blank mirror. “He could have destroyed the entire fleet with his little black ship. He didn’t. He’s certainly no weak-willed Black idiot either. Weak-willed idiots don’t fight head-on. He destroyed Jeslek and Fydel one on one—Fydel with a staff, not even that ironclad chaos of his.” He steps over to the larger dining table and slips off the amulet he wears, setting it on the table, his back to Anya. He opens the box and removes the painted amulet, concealing a wince as the metal burns his hands. “Besides, you saw his ship. Even if we could board it, what could anyone do? Our White Guards couldn’t even touch half of it with all that black iron.”
Anya steps toward Cerryl’s back. “It’s too bad you’ll follow Sterol, Cerryl dear.”
“I don’t think so.” Cerryl lifts the amulet and turns. “But, here, you wear it. You always wanted to.” With a quick gesture, he drops the gold-painted iron links around her neck.
Anya lifts her hands, then screams as a circle of flame burns away the gold paint and the white cloth beneath it. Her hands reach for the hot iron, but Cerryl grasps her wrists and nods toward the door.
“I’m not quite as dense as I look, dear Anya. And while I’m not as powerful as you, or Sterol, I do occasionally think.”
The three guards who hurry across the white stone floor bear chains of heavy and cold iron in their gloved hands.
“You need me!” the redhead screams as the additional heavy iron chains slip around her.
“Indeed we do. You will make a perfect example for future would-be schemers. You will look ravishing once your image is captured for display. Most fetching.” Cerryl smiles and inclines his head to the guards. “Good day, Anya.” He plunges his hands into the basin of cold water, taking a deep breath as the water cools his burns.
CLXXXIV
Liedral unwinds the black string, letting it drop on the light-green grass of early spring. Dorrin follows with the heavy stakes and the black steel hammer. With short strokes, he pounds in each stake and fastens the string.
In time, they reach the dusty stone road in the middle of the peninsula. Dorrin hammers in another stake on the eastern side of the road, then takes his belt knife and cuts the string, tying it tightly to the stake. After crossing the road he pounds in another stake and ties the string to it. They proceed westward until they stand on the rocky headland overlooking the western shore. Dorrin hammers in a last stake and turns to watch the dark green of the Gulf waters, to drink in the whitecaps that break on the gray stones below.
Liedral stands beside him. After a time, his arm goes around her broad shoulders, and he squeezes.
“Will the string be enough?” She removes the broad-brimmed hat and brushes back the light brown hair.
“It’s only a symbol. That’s where the wall goes that we promised the Council. All our people will live on our side, except for trade or visits to family—and all machines, ships, and the artifacts Oran has worried about for so long will stay behind the walls. Nylan, the Black City of the order-smiths.”
“I prefer the magic engineers.” She shakes her head. “I know, I know. We don’t want to say much about the deplorable machines. You’ve said enough about that.”
“It’s not because the Council deplores them. I agree with them, because too much order in machines can only lead to greater chaos.”
“You think it will?”
“With people like us in the world?” Dorrin grins. “Of course. But not for a long time. Then it will be someone else’s problem.” He kisses her cheek. “In the meantime, we’ll look for other problems.”
“Problems?” asks Liedral, putting her arms around his neck.
“Problems,” he answers before her lips cover his, as the gentle rounding swell of her body against his defines the next problem.
Tor Books by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
The Corean Chronicles
Legacies
Scepters
Cadmian’s Choice
Darknesses
Alector’s Choice
Soarer’s Choice
The Lord-Protector’s Daughter
The Spellsong Cycle
The Soprano Sorceress
The Spellsong War
The Shadow Sorceress
Darksong Rising
Shadowsinger
The Saga of Recluce
The Magic of Recluce
The Magic Engineer
The Death of Chaos
The Chaos Balance
Colors of Chaos
Scion of Cyador
The Towers of the Sunset
The Order War
The White Order
Magi’i of Cyador
Wellspring of Chaos
Ordermaster
Natural Ordermage
Mage-Guard of Hamor
The Ecolitan Matter
Empire & Ecolitan (comprising The Ecolitan Operation and The Ecologic Secession)
Ecolitan Prime (comprising The Ecologic Envoy and The Ecolitan Enigma)
The Forever Hero (comprising Dawn for a Distant Earth, The Silent Warrior, and In Endless Twilight)
Timegods’ World (comprising The Timegod and Timediver’s Dawn)
The Ghost Books
Of Tangible Ghosts
The Ghost of the Revelator
Ghost of the White Nights
The Parafaith War
Adiamante
The Octagonal Raven
The Green Progression
The Hammer of Darkness
The Elysium Commission
Gravity Dreams
Archform: Beauty
The Ethos Effect
Flash
The Eternity Artifact
Viewpoints Critical
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.
THE MAGIC ENGINEER
Copyright © 1994 by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
All rights reserved.
Edited by David G. Hartwell
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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ISBN: 978-0-8125-3405-4