Secrets at the Keep (Kingdom of Denall Book 2) (21 page)

Sheepishly Trae walked into the room and Dune flung the door shut using magic. “I thought about what you said – snatching her from a crowd. I just thought it was the best chance we would get.”

“Wait, so you knocked her out at the banquet?” Dune asked in surprise, throwing his hands into the air.

“No, it was in the hall after the banquet was over.” Trae set her down on the sofa.

Dune grabbed some rope. He tied her hands together behind her back. “Did anyone see you?”

Trae was pacing anxiously beside the sofa. “A few people passed us in the corridor on the way here, but I just acted like I was trying to be helpful, that she had fainted from exhaustion.” Then, blushing slightly at his slow thinking he admitted, “I blurted out to one of them that she was my wife before I could think of a better story.”

“Your wife?” Dune looked up from his work at Trae. “Take a look at her,” Dune waited as Trae looked over the unconscious woman. Trae shrugged his shoulders, not sure what Dune was getting at. When his patience could stand it no longer Dune blurted out. “Why would someone like you marry this ugly thing?” He pointed down at the large woman.

Trae began to laugh. “So you think I’m attractive?”

“I said you were better looking than her; that’s not saying much.” Dune returned to tying up Melna and Trae resumed his pacing.

“You know,” Trae said as he passed by the couch again. “We might have been a good match back when you changed my face to look like a troll.”

Having finished tying her up, Dune stood up and grabbed Trae by the shoulders. “Would you like me to make that change permanent? You talk about it so much I think you might miss that face.” Dune moved his hands around in a circle, and Trae dropped to the ground and begged him to stop. “Fine, I’ll leave your face. But I don’t want to hear about it again.” Trae nodded as he rose to his feet.

“So what are we going to do?” Trae pointed down at Melna.

“We’ll need to pack our things and expedite our departure,” Dune replied. Trae began racing around the room, throwing clothing into their travel packs, while Dune sat down. “It’s actually a good thing you brought her here, that makes things a little easier.” Trae opened his mouth to protest this sudden change of attitude, but was silenced as Dune continued. “Can you summon our servant and have the horses prepared? Tell them we need to see the hole at night to ensure no special night magic curse is around the site.”

“Is there such a thing as a night curse?” Trae asked looking up from his packing.

“Of course not, what a ridiculous notion.” Dune then turned and smiled at his friend. “But don’t let them in on that secret.”

Trae slung the travel pack over his shoulder and made for the door, but before leaving the room he called back, “You really are a terrible human being, you know that?”

“I’m not the one who knocked an elderly woman out by punching her in the face.” The door shut with a loud slam. When the door was closed, Dune turned to the woman. “No need to pretend that you are asleep anymore.” Her eyes opened and she glared at him. “How long have you been awake?”

“Long enough to know that you and your friend are fools,” she emphasized her words with a click of her tongue. “You will not make it to the outer gate. You have no plan, you have no leverage, and you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into,” she said angrily.

“You may be right, but I also know that you have no Han’Or,” he cut her bottle from her sash, “and your master comes quickly. I could raze this castle, find the stone Mordyar is seeking and hide it forever.” He shook the bottle in his hand and he could faintly hear the small amount of elixir against the glass.

Melna fought to keep her eyes on Dune and off the bottle. “So do it then,” she challenged, “Kill all these people; destroy this pitiful place. But if you do, you will be Mordyar’s only target when he comes.” She smiled wickedly.

Dune turned his icy gaze on her. “I don’t need to kill anyone but you.” Dune moved his hands in a circular motion and pressed them out from his body at her. When his arms were outstretched, a small explosion occurred in front of his hands, throwing him to the ground. Melna began laughing as Dune reeled in pain on the ground. She stood and the ropes fell from her as if they had never been tied.

“Was that really your best?” She scoffed as she kicked him in the gut. “The master magician’s not so strong now, is he?” She reached down and slapped him. Dune grunted in pain and rolled over. Melna placed her heavy foot on the middle of his chest and glowered down at him. “This is why my master will triumph when he comes. You fools can’t even see an attack when it is plainly in front of your face. Your pitiful king will be running in circles, still trying to find his tail when he is crushed so quickly he will not even have time to react. Then my master will reign.”

“What about you?” Dune asked from the ground under her heavy foot. “Why would he need you when you’ve already failed to bring Genea here?”

“Well now I have you,” she said with a smile. “Besides, I’m the one he communicates with,” she concluded.

Dune pushed her leg to the side and Melna fell to the ground. While she struggled to get up, Dune smoothly rose to his feet, done pretending her magical protection had injured him. “That’s just about all I need to know.” His voice was solid again, and his face no longer grimaced.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, from her place on the floor. “How did you?”

Before she could answer, Dune reached down and removed a small silver amulet from her neck. Then he created a woven air cage around her. “Let’s just say this much, you’re not the only one who can put on an act.” He pulled the golden bracelet off his wrist and winked at her. “Now what do you have with you?” He cleaned out her pockets and pulled out some magical trinkets, a white pebble that he recognized and finally he pulled a small scroll with Omer’s seal. “What do we have here?”

“You put that back,” she demanded. Ignoring her, he placed it in a pocket of his sleeve. “Now there is only one question left,” Dune said looking down at Melna. “What am I going to do with you? You really think that you and Omer are close allies don’t you? You think that because you both work for Mordyar that you are partners? You are such a fool. You came here to try to kidnap me for your seekers, but did you ever stop to think why he summoned a master magician to the keep? He has his own plans that have nothing to do with you, he is edging you out and working his way in with Mordyar. It doesn’t really matter that you are protected by magic,” Dune said with an offhanded look, “It doesn’t matter that I can’t kill you. Omer’s going to find someone to stab you in the back, like he always does.”

He reached down and retrieved the elixir bottle and without any questions smashed it on the floor. “No!” she screamed as the last few drops disappeared into the carpet. Despite his desire to kill her, having a body in their room would raise more questions than just having her wandering around losing her mind.

He quickly tied up her hands and feet. “Goodbye Melna.”

“Are you done over there yet?” Kire called.

Kaz looked up from a pile of dusty books and sneezed loudly as he placed another volume on the shelf. “Not yet,” he replied and then he went back to the pile. He had spent every spare minute cleaning and dusting in the basement. There must have been a decade’s worth of dust on the covers of these books, but what he couldn’t understand was that Kire had insisted that every page be dusted very carefully before each book was placed back on the shelves. He gingerly brushed each page clean and then replaced the books on the shelves.

When he wasn't dusting books, Kire had mind exercises for Kaz. One of the most frustrating tasks Kaz had to perform was fixing things that Kire broke. At first he thought Kire was just excessively clumsy, but then he quickly figured out it was another one of Kire’s training exercises. The older man would break a piece of wood, or a simple wooden toy, then have Kaz put it back together. More recently he had made Kaz repair the toy with his eyes covered. It was a pretty simple exercise until Kire smashed a bowl on the table that broke into dozens of pieces. He left the broken bowl out and insisted that with his training, one day Kaz would be able to assemble the shards of pottery into their original form. Kaz doubted that very much.

“Set that book down and come on upstairs,” Kire called down to Kaz, who anxiously obeyed, happy to be away from the dusty library.

When Kaz reached the top of the stairs, he knocked on the door to the main room. This was another test that Kire conducted daily. Before Kaz was allowed to enter a room, Kire would move a piece of furniture, or add a picture on the wall, or make some other small change to the room. When Kaz knocked, Kire would call out a number, letting Kaz know how many seconds he could keep his eyes open when he entered the room. After counting to the designated number, Kaz would close his eyes and identify what had changed in the room.

“Three,” Kire called in response to the knock.

Kaz opened the door and quickly scanned the room for anything that was different. His eyes immediately fell on a small, curious box that was sitting on the dining room table. “Box on the table,” Kaz said before his time was up.

“Very nicely done.” Kire's sincere compliment was well earned. The first several days had been very challenging for Kaz and he had had to reopen his eyes many times to try to observe the changes. On one occasion, he had scanned the room six times before noticing that Kire had removed the table from the room completely. “Come over here and take a look at this box.” Kire motioned, and Kaz entered the room at a steady pace, trying to look casual, while still observing everything.

In addition to becoming more observant when Kire was testing him, Kaz had learned to be observant at all times. Kire seemed to find pleasure in setting small traps around the house just to see if Kaz noticed. Once Kaz had finally healed up from his wounds, he had quickly learned to be leery about walking without caution anywhere around the cabin. He had been doused with water, had tripped over a bit of yarn strung low across the room, and had stepped through missing floor boards many times in the past month. He had tried to trick Kire on many occasions using some of those same tactics and was never able to catch him off guard. He seemed to have a constant awareness of everything around him at all times.

“This box has a message for you. You can open it now and get some information, or open it later and get more information. The longer you wait, the more you will learn.”

Kaz reached over and opened the box immediately. He pulled out a small piece of paper and read it out loud, “
You didn’t even wait a minute.
” Kaz turned to Kire. “How did you know I’d open it right away?”

Kire shrugged, “Because I’ve seen how you act. Now you have learned nothing from this box. You have many great qualities, but patience is something you are sorely lacking. Time for a break. You can start working on dinner.” Kaz exited the small cabin and collected a large assortment of greens from the forest. He had learned which ones were safe to eat, and each day Kire taught him about new plants. All Kaz needed to do was bring in a leaf from any tree, bush, or fern and Kire would tell him about all the uses of the plant. Trying to fool Kire, one night Kaz had slipped two small keenroot leaves into a large bowl of assorted greens, and while eating, Kire had moved them to the side of his plate without even seeming to notice that they were there. It was impossible to fathom how much that man knew.

Although Kaz hated to admit it, he had begun to see the value in intelligence. He actually found himself reading some of the books while he dusted them. He didn’t last long until he was lost or confused, but he found himself changing while he trained at Kire’s cottage. He was gaining a desire to expand what he knew, and expand the use of his gift of sight. He closed his eyes for a moment as he was reaching down to pick up another leaf, and in his mind he tried to picture the leaf he was reaching for, how it moved in the breeze, and how far down the plant he needed to reach to pick off just the leaf, and not the stem. He reached out and snapped it off. When he opened his eyes he had the plant perfectly harvested.
Hmmm, not bad.

Returning to the cabin, Kaz knocked. “Two,” came the reply.

Kaz entered, surveyed the room for two seconds, closed his eyes and focused to remember all that he had seen. The chairs, table, walls, and windows. In the past he had tried to remember what he had seen, but it had never come to his memory as clearly as on this occasion. It was as though he could actually see the room while his eyes were closed. He re-scanned the room in his mind, noticing details that he knew he had overlooked in those few seconds.

“Did you need another peek?” Kire asked. This reminded Kaz why his eyes were closed.

“No, I can see everything just as it was. You actually changed three things. The knife on the table is turned to the left, you are wearing your left boot, and there is a shiny object casting some reflection from under the breadbox.” Kaz opened his eyes, expecting to receive praise from Kire, but instead Kire was just standing, smiling from ear to ear.

“Now you're getting the hang of it,” Kire said, as he walked with Kaz to the kitchen.

“It wasn't the same this time,” Kaz said to Kire as he moved around the pantry gathering the food for their meal. “I could actually see everything; I was able to look over the room while my eyes were closed and see all the details that I had not noticed before.”

“That will happen more and more as you practice. By the time you are ready to leave, you might be surprised at all you can do.”

Kaz, seeing this opportunity to talk more openly to Kire, took his chance. “I've been meaning to talk with you about leaving. I am feeling much better now. I think I've learned quite a bit from you, and I'm very grateful for all that you've taught me, but I really feel that I need to get moving to go and save my friends.”

Kire nodded. “Well, then I guess you'd better be off first thing in the morning,” he said, with a level tone, as he sat and sliced a piece of cheese and bread, then placed it on Kaz’s plate.

Kaz sat down and began eating his dinner, pondering what hidden meaning Kire could have embedded in his response. Not knowing where to begin, he simply asked Kire. “What are you not telling me?”

“That is a good question, and I’ll answer it in just a moment, but first I want to share a story with you.”

Kaz wondered why he would abruptly start story time, but he reluctantly nodded his head for Kire to begin.

“When I was younger, I began studying about the Stones of Power. I found some legends, read some papers, and searched for even the most obscure references to the stones.”

“I’ve noticed,” Kaz said, gesturing to the basement filled with books. The Stones of Power and the Changing were some of the popular topics.

“There was a time when I wanted to find the stone connected to the rarest gift of all.”

“The Magic Stone?” Kaz asked, now somewhat interested in where this story was going.

Kire shook his head, “No, a different one,” he answered. Kire reached up and rubbed the red spot off his nose. “Kaz there is no gift of enhanced smelling. The sixth gift is a mystery. Nobody knows what it is, and it is never mentioned in any text I have ever read. I searched through everything I could find, and eventually pieced together what I thought was a solid conclusion. I thought the sixth gift or at least the stone for that gift would be found in the House of Tran. I actually thought I’d find both there.”

“The House of Tran?” Kaz asked. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

“A wealthy baron over in Kinstock,” Kire answered. “So I went to his home, and offered my services, I worked there, researched their family history, watched and waited. I found nothing in their family history that suggested any gifts other than strength. When the baron’s wife became pregnant I felt like my searching would have an end with the baron’s child. When the baby came, the baron’s wife died and the child was a level five strongarm. I was so frustrated. I felt like I had wasted years of my life and my search came to a dead end. Shortly after that time I left and returned to my books and studies.”

“Did you ever find what the sixth gift was?”

“No, and that is the point I’m trying to make, Kaz. Sometimes we feel so strongly about moving in one direction, only to have things change on us and we don’t know why. Perhaps you came to Omer’s Keep with one objective in mind, and whatever the outcome will be, if you feel that is what you need to do, you should do it. But you should also be open and flexible, because I think life has a couple of twists in mind for you.”

Kaz looked skeptically at Kire, “What do you think I need so I can be flexible when I get to Omer’s Keep?”

Kire picked up a thin stick from next to the table and began to bend the green wood back and forth, methodically breaking it into five pieces, the fresh fibers sometimes peeling away, creating uneven breaks in the wood. He placed each successive piece next to the previous one on the table, and then laid them side by side in his open palm when he was finished breaking the stick apart. He held the pieces out for Kaz to see for a moment, then tossed them in the air. They clattered back to the table and rolled in different directions to the four edges of the table before coming to a halt just before rolling off. “Close your eyes,” he said. Kaz groaned a little but complied. “Now put it back together.”

Kaz thought back to the leaf outside, and then the experience with the living room. He tried to picture the whole stick in his mind and replay what had happened to each piece. As if watching it again in his mind, Kaz was able to use the Sight Stone to bring to his memory the dismantling of the wood. He saw where each piece came from, where it had gone when tossed into the air, and where it was now located. He was able to reach out and quickly take each piece of the wood in the order it had been taken from the original stick, and place it back together. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Kire smiling satisfactorily.

“What you just did to see the room when your eyes were closed, and the way you could picture the wood after it was broken, is a special ability connected to your gift. Because you have the sight mark and the Sight Stone, you can magnify your gift to bring back to your sight things that you have seen.”

While this idea began to sink in, Kaz was somewhat skeptical. “What kinds of things?”

“With practice, I think you will be able to bring back just about everything that you have ever seen, but that is just a theory that I have.”

Kaz had a sudden flash of understanding. “So
that
is why you have me dusting your books page by page.” Kire nodded. “But I can't possibly remember what I've seen in those books…”

“Perhaps,” Kire responded in his cryptic way.

“Do you think I will be able to recall
everything
I have seen before?

Kire just smiled.

“Your gift is much stronger than you realize, and you are just starting to tap into the possibilities of what you can do. If you stay for two more weeks, I will help you solve the puzzle of freeing your friends from Omer, and I will go with you.”

Kaz knew that he could not storm the keep by himself. He also knew that Kire had an answer to every question -- he seemed to simply think about things and solutions presented themselves. With Kire on his side, Kaz felt confident that he could do just about anything. He just hoped that waiting would not put his friends into any unnecessary or added danger.

During the next two weeks, Kaz continued to dust each page of the hundreds of books in Kire's library and tried to remember how the broken bowl looked when Kire first smashed it. Then he realized he needed to play through the entire act of it having been broken. He replayed where each piece had gone as it fell away from the intact bowl, and realized he knew how to reassemble it.

Once he had mastered that task, he began to be able to recall things he had seen in the pages of the books. At first, just a word or two, but then entire passages. As he developed his gift of sight, he was able to see things without taking as much time. Within a moment of entering a room, before he could even count to one, he could close his eyes and answer any number of questions about the objects in the room.

Kire also helped Kaz work on recalling previous events -- he thought back to what he had seen at the keep, what he remembered seeing of Omer, and then, though he was not eager to replay even a moment of the night his friends had been killed, Kire urged him to look back at that as well. That was when he had the most amazing breakthrough of all.