To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) (27 page)

A thunder crack of displaced air startled Tekel. “
Danger,"
her frantic mind shouted as she shot into the air and away from the encampment. Her terror became Daniel’s and he was forced to lesson his concentration on her emotions in order to control his own response. This was the price of sharing the senses and thoughts of another creature. Thick oaks with long bare branches reaching out toward evergreens seemed to be begging for some greenery on the landscape below as Tekel raced through the gray winter sky. Mene was flying off in the other direction.
“Go back. The sound will not harm you,”
Daniel sent reassurance to Tekel and her mate.

Tail and wings adjusted and she banked back around even though her tiny heart was still fluttering with fear. From the lofty heights above the trees her sharp eyes showed Daniel the clearing as they continued to speed in the direction of the twin camps. He was anxious to see what was happening with his wife and the Generals. Twenty-six people in blue silks, Sherree and the rapid response team, were in a ring facing the commanders and fifty legion guards, which were surrounded and cut off from the rest of the legionnaires by Chas and fifteen hundred Sentinels with nightsticks in hand.

Trumpets blasted, swords were drawn, shields at the ready, and suddenly every Cenkataaran seemed determined to cut a path to their leaders. Spearmen and archers readied themselves and were clearly just as prepared as the swordsmen to do battle. Daniel flinched.

“Maestro, is everything alright?” Sero asked at the same time physical contact with Accomplished Roy Cantur, the final donor, abruptly ended. The combined interruption caused Daniel to shift his concentration away from Tekel and back to the room where he actually sat.

Roy had a long clean-shaven face and his blue eyes were opened as wide as they could go. “Maestro, I felt a tremor in your vat as if a tremendous amount of power was about to be summoned.”

Daniel stood up. “The situation at the Cenkataaran encampment is about to escalate. Carlos, convey me to my quarters, I don’t want to waste time walking. When I am ready, you, Sero, David, Silvia, and I will be going to the negotiations.”

Carlos’s eyebrows arched up questioningly; even so he sprang to his feet and thankfully cast the spell without saying a word. Darkness enveloped Daniel for the space of three heart beats and they appeared in his bed chamber.

“Maestro, I have never been to the place you want to go. I cannot convey you,” Carlos admitted in a stress-filled voice.

Daniel cast the spell, What Is This, and focused inward. His vat was full to the brim with liquid representing every color imaginable. Sadly, none of them was his own topaz, but that would not stop him from wielding the donated potential. “Carlos, Tekel and Mene are on the scene. I have the necessary visual, my crescendo can supply up to seven bolts of amplification to any spell I cast, and as you know, Conveyance only requires one bolt. I can get us there at practically no cost to me,” he gave an explanation that should not have been necessary while removing his cloak.

Carlos nodded acceptance but his frown indicated he was not happy about it. Daniel quickly removed the rest of his silks, went to the wardrobe, and quickly donned his field uniform consisting of, polished chain mail, a forest green coat, and light green wool pants. A falcon in a sky of blue carrying a lightning bolt was embroidered on his shoulders, and over his heart lay the emblem of the royal hawk in flight that matched those on the sides of his green lacquered helmet, in the center of which were seven golden lightning bolts. He put on the black sword belt, which had a double row of diamonds studded around the waist, and the magnificent sword of a Ducaunan Royal Knight of the Realm hung from his left hip. At his right, in a gold sheath, he placed the diamond-bladed knife, and in the second sheath he inserted his old hunting knife that was also a crescendo. Last of all he summoned potential for Personal Shield and added a Da Capo. With his flesh protected, he was ready to go.

By the time he and Carlos exited the bedchamber, Silvia, David, Sero, and Hosea Shiloh were in the outer greeting room. “I volunteer to accompany you,” the Accomplished from the Defense Department stated.

Daniel had no objection. “You may come with us.”

“Thank you Maestro,” Hosea replied, and moved to stand next to Carlos.

“I will obtain the visual and we will convey to the confrontation. Activate your personal shields and have batons and nightsticks in hand and at the ready, things might get difficult,” Daniel announced and then focused his mind on Mene, whose nerves were calmer than Tekel’s. He did not want to frighten her any further.

The male hawk was perched in the lower branches of the oak while his mate was up near the top. Below, Sherree was talking to the generals. “I am asking you to leave Ducaunan soil before this encounter escalates into violence,” she spoke in a diplomatic tone of voice.

Chas Herling, Darrell Logan and half of his Accomplisheds were facing the officers, as did Sherree, while the rest of his team faced the fifty guards. Similarly, two thirds of the Sentinels who stood surrounding those guards were facing the legions and one third had their nightsticks pointed at the guards. It was not surprising she chose non-deadly force to meet the threat, her being a healer at heart, and Daniel appreciated the sentiment.

“Who do you think you are, coming here like this?” General Colter demanded to know, while perspiration dripped from his brow. “The only reason I have not ordered my legion to strike your men-at-arms down is you brought them here with only clubs drawn and without shields, sword-bucklers, armor, or chain mail for protection. So I am giving you a few moments to surrender before issuing the command.” Clearly he was betting she would be concerned about the apparent vulnerability of the non-Aakacarns under her command.

“I am Sherree Jenna, a two-bolt Accomplished of the Atlantan Guild. I and the Accomplisheds with me are here representing Sir Daniel Benhannon, a Royal Knight of the Realm of Ducaun, and these men with us are the Chosen’s Sentinels. We are here to supervise the orderly withdrawal of your legions from this kingdom,” she calmly replied. Their marriage had not yet been made known to outsiders so Daniel was not surprised at hearing her words of introduction under the current circumstances.

General Langley coughed a laugh. “I grant you made a grand entrance, but you did not bring nearly enough forces to supervise let alone demand a withdrawal. The conditions of peace we sent to General Tallen must be met before I can remove my legion from Ducaun. I am loyal to my king, even as you are to Sir Daniel, and will fight to the death to carry out the command given me.” He too was sweating and yet stood his ground.

Major Kite drew his sword. “You are all now prisoners and I demand that you order your men to drop those clubs and surrender their swords, daggers, and those tiny little crossbows.” None of the Cenkataarans seemed to acknowledge the presence of twenty-six Accomplisheds, yet they were perspiring a great deal for such a chilly late afternoon. These men expected to die, but not without a fight.

While looking through the eyes of Mene, Daniel could not see the glow of potential emanating from the Aakacarns, but could see the results. Kite flopped to the ground like a sack of cornmeal. Each of the senior officers fell asleep before they could take so much as a step. The fifty guards lunged inward as one, swords swinging in their attempt to reach the fallen leaders. The tall one who had led the lieutenant forward swung his sword at Sentinel Core DeKemp, who caught the blade in his hand after moving to intercept the man. The shield amulet beneath his clothes and lying against his skin protected him from being cut. The guard’s eyes widened just before Core touched the gem on the nightstick and said, “Good night.” The surprised fellow’s eyelids closed and he dropped to the ground. Darrel Logan and his team had the remaining guards slumping to sleep shortly thereafter.

Archers sent arrows flying straight into the Sentinels. Blue wool uniforms were punctured, ripped, and torn as the pointed heads struck, but did no damage to flesh. Most of the Sentinels had lowered their heads, protecting their vulnerable points, fingertips, eyes, nose, and mouth, allowing the arrows to bounce off their conical helmets. A few of them brought up an arm to their protect eyes and kept their mouths shut. All of them held on to the nightsticks. Daniel could not see the beams of potential striking each Cenkataaran through the eyes of Mene, but he could see one man after another falling to the ground as the Sentinels methodically rendered their equal in number unconscious.

The other officers and soldiers of the legions had no way of knowing the men falling before them were only sleeping and did not take the time to find out. They perceived a threat and acted as they were trained to do; meet it head on. The superior weapons and defenses of the Sentinels were proving to be formidable yet would be inadequate against such a huge group rushing in from all sides. Daniel’s muster could not push the gems in the nightsticks fast enough to keep from being swarmed and overcome by the legionnaires, he had to take action before that happened.

Through the eyes of Mene, Daniel focused on a clear area on the left side of the camp, behind the advancing soldiers, took his diamond-bladed knife in hand, and focused Conveyance through the crescendo. He pictured himself, Silvia, David, Carlos, Hosea, and Sero in the clear area, and three heart beats later, they stood in the camp.

“Put these men to sleep,” Daniel ordered.

Silvia pointed her nightstick at a soldier, and a blue beam of light stretched out from her weapon to the target, causing the man to collapse to the ground. The spells within the amulets were fixed and pre-focused so non-Aakacarns could use them, which meant the husband and wife team could only pick off the legionnaires one at a time. The Chosen’s Sentinels had the same limitation and time was not on their side.

Daniel summoned, Sleep Time, aimed his diamond-bladed knife, and sent bright light in hundreds of hues fanning out horizontally and stretching wide across the field, striking a hundred men and putting them to sleep in moments. Similar fans of energy emanated from Sero, Hosea, and Carlos, except theirs’ were hyacinth, olive-green, and the other deep blue rather than multicolored like that of  their leader. A translucent amber dome of energy formed around the Sentinels. That had to be Sherree’s work. Daniel’s anxiety level dropped slightly, knowing she and the Sentinels would not be overwhelmed.

From the non-Aakacarns’ point of view, arrows and spears flew and then stopped just before reaching their targets, ricocheting up or to the right or left, and falling to the ground for no visible reason. Swordsmen blocked the falling arrows and spears with their shields while hacking uselessly at something they could not see yet was harder than iron. Sherree must have realized that she and the Accomplisheds with her could not put the legions to sleep in mass without focusing through the Sentinels. Her dome shield was a good idea.

Carlos stayed to the left and Sero went right, while Hosea moved off to the far right in the other camp to get a better angle on the men they were rendering unconscious. Daniel walked towards the center and steadily closer to his targets with Silvia and David keeping pace on either side of him. He continued sending multi-hued radiance into the legionnaires and they silently dropped to the ground in front of the translucent amber dome.

He walked by the rope corral and smithy and beyond the mess tent, leaving sleeping men in his wake, as did Hosea in the other camp. Every Cenkataaran seemed to have all of their attention directed at the pavilion, which made the walk over the slushy ground through the camps easier.

As was expected, some of the officers finally recognized the threat from behind and soon archers were sending flights of arrows to the rear. Shafts arced up, slowed, and then angled down at David, Silvia, and Daniel. Even though personal shields were in place, there was always the chance of being the recipient of an unlucky shot. He quickly ceased casting Sleep Time while watching the arrows coming closer and cast an umbrella-shaped shield above their heads moments before the pointed shafts struck, bouncing off right and left. He placed a Da Capo, and then summoned Sleep Time through his diamond-bladed crescendo, focusing at the first line of archers. Over a hundred men slumped to the ground from his counterstrike.

“A line of flaming pebbles from our crossbows would end this thing quicker,” David gave his opinion as they continued toward the amber dome and another rain of arrows bounced off the shield. He touched the gem on his nightstick and the beam of energy went forth and struck down one of the archers at the extreme left.

“They cannot see what is causing them to fall. The crossbows would give them something to see and dread and perhaps persuade the survivors to surrender,” Silvia added, evidently being in agreement with her husband.

While streaming pebbles of flame would likely provide a powerful visual effect, as would a few lightning bolts for that matter, Daniel agreed with Sherree on the type of weapon to be used. “If King KaTaar cannot be persuaded to change his mind and chooses war, then his legions will face the kind of deadly force you two are suggesting,” he explained while thinning the ranks. “Putting them to sleep and transporting the legions across the border will avert the crisis for now. The non-lethal way we handle this may at least give Gabriel KaTaar some pause, but I’m thinking a massacre at this point would convince him going to war is the just and right thing to do.”

“I knew you would say that,” Silvia replied while rendering a legionnaire unconscious with her nightstick.