Read Online Ordermaster by L. E. Modesitt - Free Book Online Page A

was a meadow, one not terribly tidy, with winter-browned grass. Farther to the west, at the end of the meadow, was a grove of trees-or an ill-tended orchard whose leaves had yet to turn from winter-gray to green. Apples, he thought. Beyond the trees were several buildings, barely visible. Kharl looked more to the north. After a moment, he realized that what he'd first thought had been fog was smoke from the buildings that had already been burned.
    "They've burned that place."
        "Lord Lahoryn's country house," said Charsal. "We've got other problems. Two whole squads riding toward us, and they look to be fresh."
        Kharl asked quickly, "What would happen if they rode into a wall that they couldn't see?"
    "They'd still outnumber us."
        "But that would stop them for a bit, get them confused, even if the wall vanished, wouldn't it?"
    Charsal nodded.
        "Then, let's try this. I'll get off by that hedgerow there. You take my mount and ride just a little farther, then turn around and ride back. Not too fast at first, as if your horses are more tired than they are."
    "What if they see you, ser?"
        "They won't." Kharl paused, trying to work out his strategy. "If they turn back, you can come and get me. If they don't... just head back toward
       
    the Great House. You remember that corner where the meeting house of the one-god believers is?"
    "You want us to meet you there?"
        "Not until close to sundown, anyway, and it might be later. That's if they try to follow you."
    "You don't need to do the wall-like thing, ser. We can just ride."
        "It's better if I do. It should make them cautious in following you. That will be easier on your mounts. Also, I'm hoping that I can create the impression that I'm still with you, and that they'll not think I'm where I am."
        "If you say so, ser." Charsal turned in his saddle. "We're riding forward about twenty rods. Then we'll turn and head back .. . slow trot. The mage is going to work a diversion. Forward!"
    Not a word or a murmur came from the lancers.
        Kharl half turned in the saddle, almost falling off as he struggled to extract some of the cheese, biscuits, and dried apples from the saddlebag. Then he thrust those and the water bottle inside the yellow-trimmed black riding jacket. He had to steady himself by grabbing the gray's mane. A rider he was not.
        When Kharl and Charsal had almost reached the hedgerow, the mage eased his mount toward the undercaptain. "Slow down for a moment."
    "Ah ... yes, sir."
        Kharl leaned right in the saddle and handed the gray's reins to Charsal. "Don't be surprised." With that, he slipped the sight shield around himself, and, once more, was in the dark and sightless, relying on his order-senses to get him off his mount, off the road, and behind the hedgerow.
    ". •. gone ..."
    ". .. course ... he's a mage ... do our part..."
        Once he was in place behind the hedgerow, mostly hidden, Kharl released the sight shield. If he couldn't see the road, whoever was on the road was unlikely to see him, and it was unlikely the holders or tenants in the buildings beyond the trees would see him against the back of the hedgerow.
        Kharl knelt behind the twisted mass of branches and vines that had barely begun to show green, using his order-senses to watch what happened on the road. Within moments, Charsal and his squad trotted back southward past the spot where Kharl waited behind the hedgerow. From
       
    the north came the growing sound of hoofs, and a stronger sense of the chaos whiteness.
        As he stood next to the foliage that separated him from the road, Kharl concentrated on creating not so much an image, but a projection of order, set close to the now-riderless mount that Charsal led, hoping that the white wizard who rode with the rebels would focus on that order.
        The pursuing lancers did not slow as they neared Kharl's hiding place- a good sign. He waited until the lancers