Read Mage-Guard of Hamor for Free Online

eightdays after you've left," said Deybri in a low voice.
    "It might help Kysant." Rahl didn't really want to think about leaving.
    Before he could say more, Kysant arrived with the main course—the cumin fowl and the biastras.
    The fowl breasts had been cut into thin strips, then braised and laid on a bed of sticky rice. Deybri served them each several strips and rice.
    Rahl found the meat tender, moist, and piquant—as well as slightly smoky and pearapple sweet. The rice carried the same flavors, with a hint of crunchiness. "I like this."
    "I'm glad."
    While Rahl was careful to wrap the spicy biastra in the thin flat bread, after a mouthful he realized that it was nowhere near as hot and spicy as he had recalled. Then he glanced across at Deybri, who had taken a cloth and was blotting her forehead.
    "These are spicier," she said, "and you're not even noticing." She laughed softly. "That's another way you've changed. I still remember the expression on your face when you took the first bite of a biastra."
    "I've had to eat hot food for more than a year. Some of it wouldn't have been edible if I'd been able to taste it."
    "Luba? That must have been awful."
    "I wouldn't recommend it to anyone," Rahl said slowly, "but it wasn't as bad as people say. The guards and overseers were more patient than you'd think. I once watched a mage-guard tell an overseer that if he didn't take better care of his men, he'd be one of them."
    "I wouldn't be surprised if it was every bit as bad as they say," Deybri replied. "You just learned how to handle it."
    "I suppose I did, but I only saw one or two cases where the overseers were cruel, and I wasn't the only loader who got promoted to checker."
    "Checker?"
    "A low-level clerk who keeps track of the iron shipments. That was how Taryl found me." Rahl went on to explain, concluding, ". . . and I was reading about Recluce and the magisters when the rest of my memories came back, and I sent word to Taryl, and I became a clerk at the mage-guard station. As soon as I had enough coins, I wrote you."
    Deybri just nodded.
    After several long moments of silence, Rahl said, "Thank you again for letting my parents know." He managed a smile.
    "You could have sent a letter to them . . . rather than me."
    "I could have, but I could only afford one letter," Rahl said slowly, looking across the table into her gold-flecked brown eyes. "You told me that the past had no hold on me. That might have been true once. It's not any longer. It hasn't been for a long time, now."
    Deybri met his eyes without looking away. "I know."
    "And?"
    "Rahl . . . you have come back to Nylan, and you may again . . . but already, you are not truly of Recluce . . . or even of Nylan."
    "You might be right, but why do you say that?"
    "You're different. Stronger within. I don't mean in order, although that is also true, and it may come that you will become even more powerful in time." She paused as Kysant arrived to take the empty plates and platters.
    Rahl realized that the light had dimmed in the room because it was twilight outside. He hadn't really paid any attention.
    "Any sweets?" asked the proprietor.
    "The orange cake, if you have it. Two slices," replied Deybri.
    "An excellent choice, lady." Kysant bowed, but his eyes avoided Rahl.
    Once Kysant had left, Deybri added, "I like it because it's sweet, but not cloying."
    "And there's no aftertaste of the rest of the meal?"
    She nodded.
    "I'm different now," Rahl prompted her. "That's what you were saying."
    "You think you love me. That's obvious, and I can't tell you how flattering it is to have someone as talented and handsome as you are in love with me. But . . . it won't work out."
    Rahl could sense the turmoil within her. What could he say? "I'm not asking that. I'm only telling you what I feel."
    "Rahl . . . I told you I had to spend time as a healer in Hamor. I was in Atla. I can't tell you how unhappy I was. I kept counting the eightdays, and I almost ran to the ship that took