To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) (2 page)

Without answering Cleona reached beyond the curtain for the gold amulet on the night table beside her bed. Set in the precious metal was a topaz stone containing a sapphire falcon clutching a diamond lightning bolt in its talons, similar to the emblem designed by her for house Benhannon, and more importantly it was a communication device given to her by Daniel. She picked it up and placed the gemstone to her forehead. “Sir Daniel, I require a report. What is happening in the southwest and where specifically are you?” She sent her thoughts. For the first time ever, no response came back. It was as if the thing she held to her head was just another piece of jewelry.

“Col, I fear Sir Daniel might not have won that fight,” she forced herself to form the words. Speaking what she believed out loud somehow made the dreadful possibility seem even more likely.

“He has consistently overcome one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after another since casting his first spell on Tannakonna. That young man is a survivor and even when he has lost a skirmish in the short run, he has always struck back and gained the victory in the end,” Collin reminded her, although he did not know she couldn’t sense Daniel’s presence in the world.

Cleona lowered the amulet from her forehead and stared at it resting in the palm of her hand. “What could prevent Daniel’s thoughts from reaching me through this?”

Collin shook his head. He knew even less about matters of the Aakacarn than did she and her knowledge of the spell-casters, if she chose to write it all down, would not fill a single sheet of paper. A little less than a tenth of a mark later, maybe half that, she felt Daniel’s presence once more, still in the southwest, and yet something seemed off. She tried again to communicate through the amulet and received no reply. Her knight may have won the battle, but he did not get away unscathed and might even now be at death’s door. Harmonic waves blasted through the world again, coming from the north, and did not stop for half a mark, which is also when she stopped trying to use the amulet.

“I cannot get a response from Sir Daniel. Let us hope the Creator’s Chosen Vessel has succeeded and the last ripples we felt mean the Dark Maestro remains safely locked away.” Cleona told her husband while wiping at the tears that would not stop flowing. She threw off the covers and proceeded to get dressed; knowing Chamberlain Bercassie and some Royal Guardsmen would soon arrive with Sergeant Meado, hopefully with some answers.

-----

Three-bolt Accomplished, Vance Cummin, Maestro of the Serpent Guild, glanced at the mirror to his left and forced a smile onto his deeply tanned face, a smile that did not touch his cold dark eyes. He was tall, as are most of the males from the Island kingdom of Serinia, and wore the black silks, shirt, pants and hooded cloak with gold braiding only a Three-bolt and above was permitted to wear. Outside of the guild he would be wearing the scarlet on black silks of Aakadon and the medallion of the Eagle Guild. The foolish Maestros and the Grand Maestro, who ruled the Aakacarn city, had no idea that a trusted Senior Soarer of the Eagle Guild was completely loyal to their most hated rival, Tarin Conn, the one they wrongly call the Dark Maestro. Vance intended to keep it that way and refrained from allowing his amusement over their blindness to be manifested further, especially at such a critical time.
To think, they call Daniel Benhannon the Creator’s Chosen Vessel when it is obvious to all with a realistic mind that Tarin Conn is the true favored one
, he thought.
“In nature the sick and weak fall to the strong and only the fittest survived, with Melody Wielders being the fittest of all, and to think or believe otherwise goes against the way of the world. Tarin Conn’s edicts are based on the real world, not a dreamed up version where the feeble are coddled, and the strong must uphold the weak.
”

Illumination came from multiple spheres of light floating in the air over head. Vance stood in the Operations room, deep in the heart of Mount Suteck, in the northern kingdom of Pentrosa. Gathered around him were twenty-four of his Two-bolt Accomplisheds, dressed in their silver on black silks, each one in contact with and commanding four thousand associates. On the head of each operation commander, like a crowned prince, lie a communication array containing ten amulets facing inward with the gemstones in physical contact with their flesh. The operations commanders were in turn connected mentally to team leaders, who commanded sub team leaders, all waiting to be dispatched to Mount Shantear.

He watched as the hand of the chrono disk on the ceiling in the far corner came to rest on the twenty-fourth mark. Tension filled the vast chamber, floating up in the center of which was a three dimensional image of Mount Shantear. Tiny black human-shaped images represented the current level of surface resources committed to the operation in their various positions. Eagerness for the battle to begin was not allowed to show on his face and he held the emotion in check as the moments passed.

“Maestro, the forces of the Atlantan Guild, which seems to be numbering in the thousands; along with the seven guild teams from Aakadon, have just teleported onto Mount Shantear,” the voice of Nest Leader Brockhouse, commander of Serpent West, came to Vance through the array. “Benhannon’s teams have transported onto the mountain in wider rings than our spy reported they would be and are casting spells at our Accomplisheds, about a third of which have just fallen dead. There goes our ambush. I am dispatching three thousand visible Aakacarns to reinforce the remaining thirty-five hundred survivors and the five thousand invisibly-shielded associates already on the field.”

“Acknowledged,” Vance replied mentally through the array as topaz blue human-shaped images appeared on the miniature mountain to represent the forces of the Atlantan Guild and red images for the teams from Aakadon. “I will send two thousand associates to bolster your defense.” He said nothing about the initial failure, choosing instead to correct the problem, but that spy was definitely going to be called to account for the inaccuracy.

“Your assistance is appreciated. I believe we will soon crush those who thought to attack us,” Brockhouse responded along with a vast amount of confidence flowing through the mental connection.

“Othello Sherman, send half your teams to Mount Shantear, and destroy all opposition,” Vance sent to the bald, thin-faced Accomplished directly in front of him.

One could hear a pin drop in the silent chamber, since all communications in the room were held mentally through the communication amulets in Vance’s array. “Maestro, your will be done,” Sherman replied, appropriately, seeing as he would not dare say or do otherwise.

Accomplished Sera Cray, with an array of watchers reporting to her from the battle zone, added the thousands of additional black images to her projection of Shantear. The petite, dark-complexioned, Coordinator had a mind well suited to receiving, sifting, and organizing information.

“Maestro, how goes the defense of Serpent West?” The communication sounded within Vance Cummin’s skull, sent by his Vice Maestro who was located more than a thousand spans away. The Badger’s current assignment had him in the kingdom of Zune, at Serpent East, on the northeastern coast of the continent.

The amulets, each powered by a communication Melody, within the array, lying on his head like a crown, kept Vance in contact with the senior members of the Serpent Guild, the majority of those being directly involved in the defense of the western headquarters located within Mount Shantear, in the Kingdom of Lobenia, more than eight hundred spans away, on the southwestern side of the continent.

Even though confident of victory, Vance was not at all pleased by the poor performance at the beginning of hostilities. A large death count early on would have guaranteed success. “The information we received from Judas Scarott turned out to be somewhat flawed. He was correct about the attack coming at midnight but had the arrival points wrong. We positioned our Accomplisheds in kill zones at the specific locations reported, expecting to have the forces of the Atlantan Guild and those of Aakadon appear at the centers of each,” he informed, focusing the reply exclusively on the gem in the crown given to him by Rex Badger, while keeping his emotions under tight control.

“Assuming our teams were able to adjust to the variance, our initial strike must have been devastating,” Rex interrupted the thought with an inaccurate and overly optimistic conclusion.

Vance chose to correct the assumption. “Our teams were surrounded at the outset and adjusted quickly but not before losing a third of their numbers. Brockhouse and I have sent reinforcements onto the mountainside. Daniel Benhannon has brought thousands of Accomplisheds and must be throwing the entire might of his guild into this fight. We now have twice the number of Aakacarns in play with more arriving by the moment. Victory should be ours shortly,” he paused after a thought he wanted to share entered his mind. “The child Aakasear is behaving much like our great master, composing his own spells, establishing his own guild, and thumbing his nose at the Grand Maestro of Aakadon, yet he does not possess our master’s experience or cunning. Benhannon should have stayed out of this fight, let Reese and his forces fail in their mission to strengthen the Melodious spells holding the Supreme Maestro in place, and perhaps allowed the Atlantan Guild to survive for a little while longer.”

A sense of satisfaction came through the communication link from Rex, “The young man has accomplished more than I ever thought possible, yet has in this engagement taken hold of far more than he can handle. I wonder how much of his newly minted guild will be destroyed before it occurs to him that the battle is lost, and he finally decides to teleport away along with the meager survivors, if there are any.”

A strong sense of alarm flowed through the mental link from Brockhouse ahead of the words, “I should have contacted you earlier, but I thought we could handle it. Daniel Benhannon and a squad of fighters have appeared here, right in this chamber. We are battling for control of the Crystal Chamber itself! I am receiving mass reports of his guild forces appearing in all of the tunnels and chambers within Shantear. We are under a two-pronged attack, taking place both on and in the mountain!”
Scant time had passed since the man projected confidence in his ability to crush his attackers and now this?

Vance, emotions under tight control, turned to Accomplished Blassoff, whose people were the most familiar with the mountain complex. “I want every Accomplished at your command teleporting into the Crystal Chamber to help Brockhouse defend the Great Crystal,” he sent to the pale-faced, stout commander, feeling quite sure four thousand associates would be more than adequate. He would deal with the traitors who must have given Benhannon teleportation arrival points within the mountain later, after victory was secured. There would be no mercy shown to those individuals.

“Your will be done,” Blassoff sent along with a growing thread of tension. “Maestro, I will need to send in one team at a time due to the close confines of the chamber.”

Obviously four thousand people could not fit in the area of contention
, Vance realized, quickly accepting the correction, having never been to Serpent West. “Acknowledged; send in what is necessary to secure the chamber, even if it takes every person under your command. Daniel Benhannon must not be allowed to gain control of the Great Crystal,” he sent with a sense of calm he did not actually feel.

Hopefully this will suffice,
he thought just before the next report. “Many of the Accomplisheds here with me are dead and we are losing control of the chamber!” Brockhouse’s frantic communication sounded loudly in Vance’s mind. “I and what remains of my team are about to cast the High Powered Shield,” he continued in what Vance considered to be a calmer and more appropriate state of mind, befitting of a senior leader of the Serpent Guild. A few moments went by and a sense of accomplishment and relief flowed ahead of, “The shield is established. Benhannon and his associates are casting spells, attempting to get at us, and their results are futile. We can hold this chamber until your forces arrive or the Supreme Maestro breaks free.”

“Acknowledged,” Vance sent in reply, feeling better now that reports were also coming in of a shift in the surface battle favoring his forces. This was due to the invisible teams revealing themselves and attacking right in the midst of the enemy. Red and blue human-shaped images on the projected mountain were falling to the black as Sera Cray adjusted the display accordingly.

Vance focused on his operations commanders. “Any of you who have teams led by Accomplisheds capable of teleporting within Mount Shantear are to send those teams immediately,” only Accomplisheds who had been to those locations could picture the arrival points, “Wherever they arrive, they must kill all Atlantan Guild associates while making their way to the Crystal Chamber. Daniel Benhannon is personally leading the strike team against Brockhouse. Terminate the rogue with extreme prejudice.”

“Your will be done,” the reply came to him at once from eight voices in his mind.

“Impossible!” Blassoff shouted out loud while his outrage echoed the same word into Vance’s mind through the array.

“What is impossible?” Vance demanded, irked by the lack of discipline.

“The first team I sent died after minutes of a well fought skirmish. I have since sent in two more teams, each died in agony,” Blassoff replied, silently through the communication link rather than through further shouting.

“My people are dying shortly upon arrival,” Silver-haired and smoothed-featured Commander Lorain Baler sent, and her report was soon followed by seven other commanders.