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order, but I was only defending myself against two men who are both older than
I am, and I didn t use order. I just used my truncheon. I wouldn t even know
how to use order.
Yet you broke the wrist of a man who was on the ground, observed Puvort.
He wasn t going to stay there, ser, replied Rahl, and they both threatened
me.
That is supposition, not fact said Puvort mildly.
Be that as it may, added the gray-haired magister, you misused order in
your seduction of young Jienela, and you attempted to avoid consorting with
her. You tried to avoid
Ser! She s older than I am, and Magister Puvort even * said that she was as
much at fault as
Silence!
Rahl decided against saying more. It was clear that Puvort had already
persuaded the magisters that everything was Rahl s doing and fault.
& and you only decided to seek order training after it was clear that you
would risk punishment or exile if you did not.
The woman in the center looked to Puvort, then to the gray-haired magister.
Then she looked back at Rahl. The - Council has decided that you are not
suited to remain on that part of Reduce under the control of the Council. You
may not be suited to remain in Nylan, either, but that decision will be made
by the engineers. You are hereby sentenced to removal to Nylan, and you will
remain in the custody of the Council until you arrive in Nylan. She nodded
brusquely. That is all. Remove the prisoner.
But& Rahl closed his mouth. Nothing he could say would change matters.
Very wise, young Rahl, said Puvort quietly. Very wise
XIII
Rahl sat on the edge of the pallet bed. His cell was on the lower level of the
keep in Land s End. All that the cell held were the pallet, the pallet frame,
a chamber bucket, and a water bucket. He d been in the cell for close to two
days, and all he d seen were the guards when they brought him his single daily
meal a bowl of gruel. The bucket of water had to last the entire day.
The. more he thought about what had happened, the angrier he felt. The
Council, or the sub-Council, hadn t even heard a word he d said. They d all
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decided to send him to Nylan before he d ever walked into the hearing chamber.
Puvort had probably planned it all for eightdays, if not longer, just the way
he d planned to kill Khelyrt and send Fahla and Faseyn off into slavery. He d
told Rahl s parents that Jienela was equally to blame, and then told the
Council that it was all Rahl s fault. They hadn t even given him a chance to
explain anything, or the fact that Rahl would have consorted Jienela if his
parents had insisted.
What did Puvort have against him? He d always been polite to the magister, and
he d never been discourteous, uneasy as the magister had sometimes made him
feel. And why had the other magisters gone along?
After a. time in the dimness, he looked up. He thought he d heard footsteps
and sensed someone, but so far as he could tell, he was the only one in any of
the six cells.
A guard walked by, glanced around, then stopped. He was a different guard from
the other three he d seen in the past day or so.
You re Rahl?
Yes. Rahl s response was careful.
You got a brother named Kacet? . He s my older brother. He s at Reflin.
Thought so. The guard shook his head. You ll be headed to Nylan tonight,
right after dark.
After dark?
They don t want folks to see when exiles leave for Nylan.
Are there many exiles?
The guard laughed. Not many go to Nylan. Maybe one every other eightday. Most
get shipped straight to Austra or Candar.
Why is that? Do you know?
Simple. Folks who are chaos-touched get sent from Reduce right off. Folks who
use order wrong get sent to Nylan to see if they fit there. Most don t, they
say. Some go to Lydiar, or Nordla, but-most of them get sent to Hamor. The
guard shook his head. No one in his right mind wants to go there.
Why not? Rahl had never heard anything about that, just that exile was bad.
If you got chaos or order-abilities there doesn t matter which you re sort of
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