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order to get some information.
Yes, sir? Fabrytal looked puzzled.
There is a factor here in Tempre who has recently ar-rived from Southgate.
His chatelaine has some informa-tion we may need very badly, based on what the
submarshal informed me just before he left. Mykel smiled faintly. I need to
know where the villa of the fac-tor Amaryk is in Tempre, and later, or
tomorrow, I ll need an escort of a full squad to ride there.
Chyndylt repressed a smile.
Mykel looked at the senior squad leader. She turned out to be right about a
number of things, concerning the submarshal. I d prefer to see if she knows
more. It might save us some troopers in the next week. He looked back at
Fabrytal. We re in charge until the alectors return the proper alectors, that
is, and I have to decide who is the proper alector.
Fabrytal swallowed. Chyndylt s incipient smile van-ished.
You can see why any information might be useful.
Yes, sir.
While you re finding that out, I ll be down at the re-gional alector s
headquarters. I think a little investigation into who was running the region
besides the regional alec-tor might prove useful. At the very least, they
might prove useful in justifying whatever actions may be necessary.
Yes, sir.
With a smile and a nod, Mykel left the two and made his way to the stable,
where he saddled the roan, and then rode out, heading west along the boulevard
toward the alector s complex.
As he neared the gray granite building, a slight breeze picked up, out of the
south, bringing the scent of the flow
ers in the gardens on the south side of the boulevard. From what he d seen,
Tempre was a pleasant city. So why .had the regional alector thrown in with
the rebel alectors? Mykel had to shrug. It had to do with power. Everything
did, but how, he had no real idea. He just wanted to do his duty and get out
of the situation with the least damage possible.
If he left without a successor regional alector, that would be dereliction of
duty and he didn t want even to think about what happened to commanding
officers who were found guilty of that. At the very least, he had to turn
matters over to an alector with some semblance of au-thority, and to do that
he needed to know more. He also knew that his time was getting short, because
once others knew that the Myrmidons had left, it was likely that someone would
appear to claim power.
Seventeenth Company had the duty dealing with the empty building, and Mykel
rode around the east side un-til he located Loryalt, still mounted and
discussing some-thing with his fourth squad leader.
The undercaptain immediately turned his mount and waited for Mykel.
Yes, sir? Any word? We saw the Myrmidons leave.
We re in charge until the proper authorities return. I m going inside and
conduct an inspection of sorts up in the RA s study. That s so I have some
idea who the proper authority might be. I don t know how long that s likely to
take.
Yes, sir.
If anyone who looks like an alector appears, send someone for me immediately.
I don t think that will hap-pen soon, but you never know. When you re
relieved, pass that on to Undercaptain Matorak as well. Mykel paused. How
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are things going?
Quiet, sir. It s like everyone is avoiding the place.
Let s hope it stays that way for a bit.
Yes, sir.
After leaving Loryalt, Mykel rode farther around the
building, finding a brass-ringed hitching post in the shade near the small
rear entry. There he dismounted and tied the roan, before making his way up
the stone steps into the building, conscious that the fourth squad was
watch-ing him. He carried a blank order book and a marker for the notes he
hoped to take.
Once inside, he had to walk to the front of the building, taking the
marble-floored corridor back around to the wide staircase also of green
marble that led to the second level.
The study of the regional alector was set on the south-west corner, as part of
a suite that extended from double doors, each with an etched glass panel set
in the golden oak. The scene was that of the twin towers flanking the river
piers. Immediately behind those doors was a foyer, set with chairs, and a
single table desk positioned at an angle such that whoever sat behind it could
view both the double doors and the single door to the regional alector s
private study.
There was only a single file box in the outer foyer, placed against the
paneled wall behind the desk. Mykel opened it, to find it largely emptied.
What remained were individual sheets of paper, with seemingly cryptic notes.
He scanned them, but after leafing through them, decided that they all
referred to various appointments and engage-ments in some fashion but there
were no names at all. At the back of those notes, he did find one folded paper
with a list of names.
Fahylt Regional Alector Adaral Deputy RA Shesala Appointment
Clerk
There were close to twenty names with titles on the list. Mykel folded the
paper and slipped it into his tunic. From the way it had been folded, he
suspected that some of the names were possibly outdated, but it was a start.
He paused outside the closed inner door. There had
been no one inside when he had first searched the build-ing. Still...
He could hear nothing, sense nothing. He opened the door, but no one was in
the inner study, an oblong cham-ber a good ten yards in depth and fifteen in
length. The longer side was on the south, with wide floor to ceiling windows,
each two yards in width, separated from the next by granite edged in oak.
Because the building had been built slightly up the hillside, die windows
afforded a sweeping view of Tempre. The west windows offered an equally
sweeping vista of the towers and the pier, al-though the base of the northern
tower was blocked by part of the hill.
The inner norm wall was composed of bookshelves rising from waist height, with
built-in file cases below, the kind where the front dropped down and the case
could be slid partway out. Only a relative handful of books rested on the
shelves, spaced between small sculptures of various sizes. The alector s desk
was angled across the corner of the room facing outward. Behind it was a
comfortable-looking wooden armchair. On the floor was a thick dark green
carpet, and in the center was woven in gold the twin scepters of the Duarchy.
Toward the east end of the chamber was a circular dark wooden conference
table, around which were set five wooden armchairs. All the furniture was
large, sized for alectors, Mykel noted.
Mykel set the order book on a vacant space on a shelf and opened the top file
case on the west end and began to leaf through the sheaves of papers. The
first sheaf dealt with something about logging on the south side of the River
Vedra somewhere to the west of Tempre. The sec-ond sheaf had also to do with
logging. Everything in the first case was related to logging and timber. So
was the second case. The third case dealt wim maintaining swamps and bogs, and
cited instances where individuals had been fined or in one case, executed for
attempting
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