The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah) (40 page)

“It’s like when we were in school, the days drag by, but the weeks fly.”

Chris nodded and said, “That’s it exactly. But then, I guess that’s as it should be.”

Kevin grinned. “Yeah, I’m enrolled in Willow Canyon University taking Magic 101.”

“And your professor is not only the head of the department, he’s the university founder and president.”

“Well, I wish someone would give us a course outline. Right now, I’m only up to Elementary Parlor Tricks, and I have a feeling that I have a long way to go before we get to the chapter on Dueling Strategies and Defenses.”

“Yeah, but we’ll get there. You know how professors are. They’re always rearranging and adjusting the curriculum to make sure they cover the important stuff before the term runs out,” Chris said with a shrug. “Glendymere knows that we have to leave here in less than seven months.”

“If not sooner.”

“What do you mean?”

“What if Badec dies? Granted we don’t know the customs here, but surely a son is expected to show up at his father’s funeral. And then what? Do I just turn around and leave Laryn holding the bag while I head back to school? Or do I try to take over as the Master Sorcerer?” Kevin asked quietly.

“Don’t borrow trouble, Kevin. Besides, I’d be willing to bet that there’s a contingency plan already in place for just that possibility.”

Kevin gave Chris a startled look and then chuckled, “I bet you’re right. I hadn’t thought of that. Kalen probably had that worked out before we left the Gate House.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he had it worked out before we ever arrived on Terah. Kalen probably took care of that while Paul was busy rounding all of us up.”

After a few minutes, Kevin said, “I guess it’s about time we went back inside. I’d like something warm to drink before we turn in. How about you?”

“As a matter of fact, I was on my way to fix some hot chocolate when I discovered that you weren’t in your room,” Chris answered. “You know, with the number of people who are searching for you, it might be a good idea if you let me know when you go outside to look at the stars. That way, I’d know you’re missing on purpose.”

“Oh, sorry. I hadn’t thought about that. This valley is so peaceful that it’s easy to forget we have people after us. Too bad we can’t just stay here forever,” Kevin said as he started walking back towards the cave entrance.

Chapter
33

Saturday, June 30

The messenger from the bounty hunters rode into Trendon around sundown that evening. Rolan had said that he wanted word by the end of the month and the messenger had ridden hard to get there before the deadline. When he finally made it to the castle, he was taken to a bench outside Rolan’s office and told to wait there for Rolan to finish his dinner. No one bothered to offer him anything to eat or drink. He could only hope that his horse was faring better than he was.

An hour later he heard harsh orders and directives accompanied by heavy footsteps and a few seconds later Rolan burst out of the dining room and turned towards his office. Captain Yardner followed at a respectful distance.

As soon as the messenger saw Rolan, he jumped up and stood at attention.

“Who are you, and what is your business here?” Rolan demanded as he drew abreast of the messenger.

The messenger stood even straighter and looked straight ahead, not at Rolan, as he answered, “Sir, I’m here to report on the progress of the bounty hunters. I would not have bothered you so late in the day, but it was my understanding that you wanted the report before the end of the month.”

“Well, if I’m to receive the report before the end of the month, you had better get in here and tell me the news. The month will end in a couple of hours,” Rolan growled as his page opened the office door. Captain Yardner followed Rolan in, and the messenger followed Captain Yardner. The page shut the door behind them.

The messenger waited for Rolan to speak, but Rolan only glared at him. Finally, he cleared his throat and said, “Sir, we have questioned the locals and searched all of the villages near the badlands area, and we have reached the conclusion that Taelor was with the minstrels when they arrived in Billows. A man answering his description assisted the sister with a healing clinic, and from what you’ve told us about Taelor, he would have been able to do that. We think it was probably him.”

“So, where is he? When will the others arrive with him?” Rolan asked.

“We don’t exactly have him, sir. We know that the minstrels and the sister continued traveling south and west. We tracked them all the way to Sheridan, but we haven’t been able to find anyone who remembers seeing Taelor with them after Billows. It’s like he just vanished,” the messenger said quietly.

“Vanished? Vanished? No one just vanishes! Have you questioned the minstrels?”

“Sir, we haven’t been able to catch up with them yet. We followed their trail into the mountains, and we know that they camped at the pass above Sheridan, but we don’t know where they went from there. We’re still looking, but it’s going to take a while to track them over the mountains.”

“Don’t waste your time trying to track them through the mountains. Think about it! Obviously they’re not headed for North Amden. They’re headed for the human settlements farther to the south, along the coast. There’s nowhere else for them to go. Send a couple of men to the coast to wait for them. News of minstrels travels quickly. They should be easy enough to find. And when you find them, bring them to me. I want to question them.” Rolan walked over to the chair behind his desk and sat down as if the interview were over.

“Sir, what about the sister? You don’t really expect us to bring her, too, do you?”

“Do you have a problem with that?” Rolan glared at the messenger as he answered.

“Uh, no, sir, I don’t guess I do,” the messenger stammered. “Do you want me to tell them to concentrate on the minstrels and the sister then?”

“No, I want them to find Taelor.” Rolan spoke slowly, as if he were addressing a child. “But since their only lead seems to be the minstrels, find them! Question them! And then have someone bring them here to me! But not all of the men are needed to go after a bunch of minstrels, are they?” Rolan paused long enough for the messenger to shake his head. “No, I didn’t think so. The rest of the bounty hunters should stay on Taelor’s trail. He went somewhere. Check the villages to the east and west of the minstrels’ route. He didn’t just disappear. He’s out there. Find him! Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. I understand perfectly. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be on my way tonight with your instructions.” The messenger waited a moment to see if Rolan had anything else to say, but when it was clear that he didn’t, the messenger turned, opened the door, and fled the office.

As the office door shut behind the messenger, Captain Yardner asked, “Do you think it’s wise to turn the bounty hunters loose on a sister? If you alienate the Sisterhood, they could pull all of the sisters out of Brendolanth.”

“They wouldn’t dare.”

“Actually, they would, sir. It happened once before in Jardin, back before the House of Tassori. The sorcerer ordered the arrest of a sister who had treated the wounds of one of the sorcerer’s enemies. In the end, all of the sisters left the province and refused to return until the sister was released and the sorcerer was gone. Since then, no sorcerer has tried to interfere with any of the sisters.”

“That doesn’t mean that they can break the law,” Rolan countered, “and aiding an escaped slave in any way is against the law.”

“True, but if he was wounded, the Sisterhood will maintain that her vows to treat the wounds of any and all who need her help come first, above any other laws. Even if the bounty hunters can somehow convince her to come with them, the Sisterhood is going to be upset about it and you’re going to have quite a battle on your hands, and it’s one that you won’t win,” Captain Yardner said in a calm voice.

“Fine. We’ll release her as soon as she gets here. I’ll just say that I ordered the capture of the minstrels and that the bounty hunters took it upon themselves to grab the sister, too. No one can blame me for their actions,” Rolan said with a shrug. “Now, draft a letter to Damien telling him that I have some bounty hunters on the trail of a thief, and that the minstrels helped him escape. Tell Damien that the bounty hunters have orders to bring the minstrels here to answer some questions about his whereabouts. Don’t mention that there’s a sister with the group. No need worrying him with the details.”

“Thief, sir?”

“Yes, thief. Badec’s got Damien questioning the practice of slavery and I don’t want to make him choose sides. I need to keep him happy right now. Even Badec himself couldn’t object to my sending bounty hunters after a thief.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have the letter ready for me to sign in the morning. Now, if there’s nothing else, I’m going to get out of here,” Rolan said with a wicked grin. “I have someone waiting for me in my chambers.”

“Have a good evening, sir” Captain Yardner said with a bow. Then he left Rolan’s office and walked down the hall to his office to draft the letter to Damien.

Cha
pter 34

Long Days of Summer

Glendymere was waiting outside when Kevin and Chris reached Willow Canyon the next morning. He was standing beside a big sand pit similar to the type used in track and field competitions on Earth.

“I thought we’d begin your flying lessons today.”

“My what?” Kevin asked, certain that he had misunderstood.

“Flying lessons. You know, up in the air, moving around. You get the general idea, right?”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Kevin asked. “I don’t much like heights.”

“Nonsense. You’ll be fine. Step over here and stand in the middle of that sand pit.”
Once Kevin was in position, Glendymere said,
“Now use your outstretched hand to push against the ground. The farther you push it away, the higher you’ll rise.”

Kevin frowned, trying to figure out how to do it.

“Sort of like push-ups”, Chris suggested. When Kevin still frowned, he added, “You know, like in gym class.”

Kevin cut his eyes over at Chris and said, “Never went to gym class, remember? But I get the idea.” Then he closed his eyes and focused on the image of a large hand pushing against the ground.

For the first couple of hours all he managed to do was throw himself off balance, but then, right as he as about ready to call it quits for a while, he felt himself start to rise. As soon as his feet left the ground, he began to wobble around and as he tried to steady himself, his arms fluttered through the air, just like a circus clown standing on a large ball. When Kevin was about a foot off the ground, he completely lost his balance, tipped over, and fell.

“Let’s try that one again,”
Glendymere said while Kevin was dusting the sand off.
“Try to keep the hand that’s lifting you directly under you. I think you slipped off to the side a little that time.”

Kevin regrouped, concentrated on pushing against the ground, began to rise, and once more began to falter and pitch from one side to the other as he tried to maintain his balance. After about a minute of floundering around, his feet flew out from under him and he crashed back to the ground.

“At least you were quicker that time. We need to work on those landings though. It would be better if you could land in an upright position.”

“Right. Upright. Believe me, I would if I could. Okay, let’s give it another shot,” Kevin said once he was back on his feet.

“Wait a minute. I’ve got an idea,” Chris said. “Forget the push-ups. Think about a hydraulic lift instead. Let your hand be the base of the lift. Then picture a metal platform on top and yourself standing on that platform. Then use the hydraulic lift to push against the ground.”

Kevin nodded slowly. “Okay. Let me try it.” He closed his eyes to get the picture firmly in his mind, opened his eyes and began to concentrate on lifting the imaginary platform. After a couple of minutes, he began to rise in the air.

When he had reached a height of about eight feet without wobbling, Glendymere said,
“That’s it. I think you’ve got the idea. Now stop and see if you can just hold that height for a minute.”

Kevin pictured the lift coming to a stop and holding steady. His eyes were open, but he was concentrating so hard that he wasn’t focusing on anything. He knew he was up in the air, but he had no idea how high.

“Good. Now I want you to picture yourself being lowered to the ground. Take it slow and easy,”
Glendymere coached.

 Kevin began to lower himself slowly towards the ground. When he was about half way down, he stopped, focused his eyes, realized that he wasn’t on the ground yet, lost his balance, and fell the remaining four feet. But this time when he dusted himself off, he was grinning. “I think the hydraulic lift idea’s going to work. I think I can do it if I just make sure I’m on the ground before I lose the image. Let’s try it one more time.”

“Only one more time today though. I don’t want you to get so banged up that you can’t get out of bed tomorrow. This time keep your eyes focused so you know how high you’re going. I don’t want you to get too high until you learn how to get back down.”

“Okay, but I don’t know if I can hold the image if I look around.” Kevin closed his eyes for just a couple of seconds to bring the image of the lift back into his mind, opened his eyes, and began to rise almost immediately. When his feet were about ten feet off the ground he stopped, held the height for a couple of seconds, and then began to lower himself slowly back towards the ground. He didn’t fall, but he didn’t land gently either. He stayed on his feet, but it was a bone-jarring landing, like he’d suddenly stepped off of a curb without realizing it was there.

“Good, much better. I want you to work on that over the next few days, but don’t go any higher than you did today. Let me know when you can land on the sand and walk away without leaving any footprints.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Over the next couple of weeks, Kevin spent every waking minute either practicing tasks that Glendymere had assigned or thinking about how to use what he was learning. He had progressed from lighting a candle to lighting a small campfire, and then to throwing a burst of energy roughly in the direction he intended. He was lifting larger and heavier objects, and moving them with more precision. He was getting much better at influencing the speed and direction of air currents, vertically as well as horizontally. His skill with his seeing eye had improved to the point that he could use it to map out the location of the trees, boulders, stream and pools in small canyons or valleys. Using the eye to find Chris in the canyon or in the caves had become so easy that Kevin had spiced it up a bit by floating small pebbles out over Chris’s head and dropping them on him as he hid.

Around the middle of July, Chris decided that it was time to come up with a new challenge for the seeing eye. He was in the kitchen waiting for the coffee to perk one morning when an idea hit him. As soon as Joan came in, he asked her if she thought the rest of the Tellurians would mind helping out with one of Kevin’s exercises that evening.

“No, of course not. What do you want us to do?” she asked.

“Play a game of hide and seek with him.”

Joan frowned.

“I’m serious. A couple of times a day I hide, either somewhere in Glendymere’s caves or out in the canyon. Kevin gives me a few minutes to get set, and then he uses his seeing eye to find me. He’s gotten really good at it, but we need to see if it’s just me, or if he can find other people, too.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Do you think you could get everyone to hide somewhere out in the valley late this afternoon? If everyone’s already hidden by the time we get here, he’ll have to scan the valley to locate them. I think that would be a good test.” Chris poured three cups of coffee, handing one to Joan.

“I’m sure that won’t be any problem at all, but how do you know when he finds you?” Joan asked.

“Well, he lets me know by hitting me on the head with pebbles.”

Joan thought for a moment. “I have a suggestion. Instead of pebbles, why don’t I make some chocolate drops this morning? I could tie up three or four in a small bag and he could drop those down to each person when he finds them. Or do you think the bags might be too heavy for him to work with?”

“They won’t be too heavy. The shape might give him a little trouble, but the whole idea is for him to learn to handle new situations. And candy would be a lot more fun than pebbles. We’ll plan to return a little earlier than usual this evening, say around 4:30?”

“That’s fine. I’ll fix a pot of stew this morning and we can heat it up after we’re done,” Joan said as she sipped her coffee.

“You’ll ask the others to hide?”

Joan nodded. “I’d ask the giants to hide too, but they’re so big that they might have trouble finding a good hiding place.”

“I doubt it,” Chris said as he picked up the other two cups of coffee to take back to Kevin’s room. “Remember when we first met Blalick? Up at the pass? I was staring right at him when he stepped into the woods and seemed to vanish. I bet they can hide better than any of us can. Ask them if they’d like to join in the fun. They might enjoy it.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Joan was so busy that morning, that it didn’t even cross her mind to tell the others what Chris had said. By the time she thought about it, they were all scattered for the afternoon.

She found Karl and Blalick outside the cave entrance. Karl was helping Blalick make the loom that she was going to use to weave cloth, as soon as Ashni taught her how to do it. Joan smiled to herself. She knew her husband. He might be in the position of helper right now, but by the time they were done, he’d be able to build all the looms she’d ever want all by himself. They kept working while she explained what Chris wanted, and when they agree to do it, she had the distinct impression that neither of them had the faintest idea what she’d said. As she turned to go find Theresa, she shrugged to herself. She’d just have to come back when it was time to hide, take their tools out of their hands, and tell them again.

Theresa had fully expected the young giant’s enthusiasm for gardening to wane after the newness wore off and the work became tedious, but Sari was like a sponge, soaking up all she could learn and always ready for more. When Joan found them in the herb garden, Theresa was showing Sari how to grow a new plant by layering. Joan waited until she finished with the plant she was working on before she explained what Chris wanted them to do. Sari started to object, saying that they had a lot of work to do, but Theresa overrode her and said they’d be happy to help.

On her way out to the practice range, Joan saw Steve sitting on a large rock, concentrating on something in his lap. As she drew closer, she could see that he had a pen in his hand and a board with several sheets of paper on top of it on his lap.

As she approached, she saw a bird sitting on a limb a few feet from Steve, almost as if it were posing. The bird suddenly became aware of her and flew away.

“I’m sorry, Steve,” Joan said as she sat down on the rock beside him. “I didn’t mean to frighten him away.”

“No problem, I was done with him anyway. I was working on the background,” Steve said as he looked up from his work.

 “This is really good,” Joan said as she took a closer look at his sketch. “I had no idea you could draw.”

 “This is the first time I’ve done any sketching since Cathy got sick,” Steve said. “She and I used to spend our Saturday’s out in the woods. I’d sketch and she’d write poetry. Just us, the birds, and the breeze.” Steve smiled as the pleasant memories flooded his mind. Then he came back to the present and said, “I’m sure you didn’t just happen on me by accident. What can I do for you?”

“Nothing at the moment, but Kevin needs us to help him a little later this afternoon. We’re all supposed to hide somewhere in the valley and he’s going to try to find us using his seeing eye. When he locates you, he’s going to drop a small bag of chocolate drops on you to let you know you’ve been spotted. Are you game?”

“Sure. I’m guessing that the chocolate drops were your idea. I bet Kevin and Chris were thinking more along the lines of a rock or something, right?”

Joan laughed as she agreed.

Steve gathered up his supplies and stood up.

“Don’t you want to stay and finish your sketch?” Joan asked.

“I’ll finish it tonight. I was about ready to stop for now anyway. I’m supposed to meet Darrell in a few minutes and I need to walk around and stretch out first.”

“Well, I’m going to get out of here and leave you to it. Just remember to hide by 4:30, okay? See you later,” Joan said as she stood up to leave.

Darrell was working out when Joan reached the exercise field. He spotted her as she crossed the field, so he stopped, wiped the sweat off of his face, and smiled in greeting.  “Hi. What brings you out here? Did I forget that I was supposed to do something this afternoon?”

“No, but I do want to ask you to do something a little later today,” Joan said. Then she explained about Chris’s request. After Darrell agreed, she brought up another subject. “Darrell, how would you feel about letting Macin hang around, work out with you, and help you with the exercise field when he’s not going to and from Abernon? Ashni asked me to talk to you about it. He’s been hiding in the woods watching you work out.”

 “Yeah, I know. I spotted him in the woods a couple of days ago.”

“He’s really impressed with the way you move.”

“I have to admit, I did show off a little,” Darrell grinned. “Why didn’t he come join me?”

 “He wanted to, but remember, even though the two of you are about the same age in years, he’s only thirteen or fourteen emotionally. He wants so badly to learn from you, but he’s embarrassed to ask you to teach him.”

Darrell nodded. “I know how hard it was for me to approach Martin. I’ll ask him to help me with the field, and we’ll take it from there. Tell Ashni to have him join in the hunt and I’ll ask him when it’s over.”

“Thanks, Darrell,” Joan said as she squeezed Darrell’s hand. “Now, I’d better get back and bag up the chocolate drops. Remember to be hidden by 4:30.”

On the way back to the cave, Joan stopped by Theresa’s herb garden and asked Sari to run up to her house and invite Ashni and Macin to join in the hunt. “And tell your mother to insist that Macin join in.”

“Why?” Sari asked.

“Because Darrell wants to talk to him afterwards.”

“Should she tell him that Darrell wants to talk to him?”

“No, she just needs to be sure he’s here. Darrell will take it from there. Now get going. It’s going to be time to hide in about an hour, so you don’t have any time to waste. Sorry about stealing your help, Theresa,” Joan said as she started off towards the cave entrance.

“No problem. We were about ready to call it a day anyway,” Theresa said to Joan. Then she turned towards Sari and said, “Run on now. We’ll finish working with the rest of these herbs tomorrow.”

~ ~ ~ ~

By the time Kevin and Chris got back from Willow Canyon that afternoon, the caves were empty and eleven small bags of chocolate drops were sitting on the table in the dining room.

Chris counted the bags, grinned, and picked one up. “Joan made one for each of us, too.”