To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) (65 page)

A strong sense of resolve mixed with a trace of irritation came ahead of the words, “Do whatever you must. I have just been promised the matter between us and Aakadon will be settled tonight. It looks like one way or another it will be.”

“Be assured what must be done will be done,” Jere replied and ended the connection.

-----

Roder Keenan looked up at the overcast sky from his central position on the wall of the Benhannon Northland Holding. Accomplished Luanne Gerwin stood beside him, along with twenty guardsmen. “The meeting must have begun several marks ago,” she commented.

Roder knew she was referring to Sir Daniel’s conference in Ducanton. “What happens there is beyond the pay grade of a Lieutenant. My concern is to guard this holding while the Chosen Vessel deals with the Grand Maestro of Aakadon.”

Even through the dim light of evening he could see a smile form on her round face. “It has been two full days since these walls were assaulted, so my mind has wandered to the greater threat.”

The woman was maybe a year beyond her teens, recently graduated from being a Talented, and so he was not surprised by the attitude. “The difference is everyone involved with that threat, including Sir Daniel, is focused on the matter at hand, and thus lessoning the threat. By not being fully focused here, we increase the risk of being caught unprepared,” Roder stated in the same manner in which he had spoken to young men, even officers, back in the days he served as a Royal Guardsmen.

Luanne waved her hand dismissively. “I’m not totally unfocused. My spell is forward and out in a ten span quarter radius and even beneath the ground, so you need not be concerned about a surprise attack.”

Somehow her confidence gave Roder less assurance, especially since his instincts were itching as if the enemy was already on top of them. Seer’s blood ran in his family and he inherited just enough to get a vague sense when violence was about to break out, and he was sure feeling it tonight.

A whistle sounded from above and grew louder, ending with a deep boom coming from the direction of the main buildings. “What was that?” Luanne asked

“That was the sound of a spheroid detonating where it should not be able to reach, right in the middle of this holding” Roder answered, while many more whistles came from above. “Get some light up into those clouds,” he ordered.

Balls of light shot up into the air from the Accomplished, causing the clouds to glow. Several more went up and stopped short of reaching the clouds, and illuminated the entire northern section of wall, but gave no sign of the platform from which the spheroids were being dropped, which meant they were coming from higher up. Multiple explosions sounded even as more objects were whistling their descent. An attack on the wall did not seem to be forth coming and Luanne just reported no activity on the surface or below ground; it was time to make a decision.

“Accomplished Gerwin, Sergeant Dunaris, hold the position,” Roder commanded and then climbed off the wall and ran to his horse.

Smoky, his Ducaunan Racer, sprinted all out on the nearly half a span of path leading back to the four main buildings. Spheroids were dropping into the woods around him, spraying up dirt and iron shards and ripping holes in Roder’s uniform. The shield amulet under the saddle protected the stallion as the one against Roder’s chest protected him. He just had to hope none of the shards would happen to fly into his eyes, nose or mouth; such hits would be potentially lethal. A hit to his unshielded fingertips would not kill him but would be exceedingly inconvenient.

As he approached Center Court, a spheroid hit the ground between buildings one and two and exploded. Scores of Guardsmen flew off their feet, landing many strides away and hundreds were sprayed with iron shards. Sadly, considering the use of shield amulets, the victims unable to arise probably never would, and the time to mourn them would have to come later. Squads of guardsmen, Kay Worthin among them, were out and aiming daggerlances at the sky, even though they could not see their targets above the clouds, and could only hope to get a lucky hit. Roder dismounted and ran up beside Paul Preidor, a three-bolt Accomplished, and second in command of the Aakacarns assigned to the holding.

Three spheroids crashed into the stables and the resulting blasts covered the entire surface structure. When the smoke cleared, the stables were gone, and chunks of stone and bloody globs of flesh were scattered a hundred paces in every direction and into the corral. Roder could only guess at the condition of the lower levels. Hopefully there were at least a few men and horses still alive.

“Where is Commander Herling and why do you have only three Accomplisheds in the yard?” Roder yelled in order to be heard over the whistles and explosions.

“I am sensing ten vessels, thousands of paces up into the air, and each with thirty men aboard. These must be the skyships we have been warned about,” Paul gave a report rather than an answer to the question put to him. He raised his hands, sending red-gold light streaming from his fingers, and up into the glowing clouds.

Loud bangs, followed almost instantly by bright flashes, caught Roder’s attention, and iron shards fell like rain as huge vessels came plummeting from the mists. Six of the skyships crashed into the field and trees around the compound, one slammed into building one while pieces enough to make up two ships fell around Roder, and the last of the ten dropped onto building number four. All of them exploded on impact. The concussions sent Roder sailing into the air and after a few moments of seeming weightlessness, he landed flat on his back. Looking to his right, Paul was just sitting up from the spot he had landed a few paces away.

“I placed a shield on the buildings,” he offered an unasked for explanation for why those structures were still undamaged. “This is the first time the Pentrosans have used these vessels against us and it never occurred to me the skyships could fly so high. From now on we will be scanning ten thousand paces up as well as ten spans out,” he paused as if concentrating on something else and then added, “There are no more ships in the region so the raid is over.”

The good report was at odds with that itch in Roder’s blood, the danger was far from over. He stood up and offered a hand to the Aakacarn, pulling him to his feet. Accomplisheds, all three of them, and guardsmen were running to the stables to rescue the injured grooms and horses trapped in the lower levels. Roder headed in the same direction. “Where are Chas and the Sentinels, where are your fellow Accomplisheds and why were the stables unshielded?”

Paul took a deep breath in an obvious effort to maintain his composure. “Shortly after the first spheroids hit the ground, Grand Maestro Efferin Tames, Maestro Reese, Maestro Barnes, and Instructor Renn began casting spells at our Maestro and First Lady. Accomplished Blixten and most of my fellow Aakacarns, along with Commander Herling and every available Sentinel, have conveyed to Ducanton. While my thoughts were on their mission, the spheroids hit the stables.”

A lecture concerning the need to stay focused will come up in the battle assessment and could wait. Roder was fifty paces from the damaged stables when Paul grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop. “Lieutenant, four circles of twenty have just appeared to the north, south, east, and west. This raid is not over.”

The Seer blood flowing in his veins proved true again and so Roder was not surprised the Serpents would choose this moment to attack. “It is going to be a long and bloody night,” he replied, and then focused on his responsibility to defend the holding. The horses and grooms would have to wait a little longer for assistance. Hopefully, Sir Daniel was better prepared for the threat to him than the Northland Holding was for the air assault.

-----

Daniel knew Leah was busy fighting off a major raid of the Serpents against New Oben and he was worried about the lives being lost in the process. This weighed heavily on his mind as well as the distant manner in which Terroll and Jason, who gained a second lightning bolt, had delivered their remarks as they all sat at the conference table. It was if the Maestro and Instructor had been reciting well-written and memorized texts. Even now as Talmon was coming to the close of his speech, both of them were grim-faced and neither man would look their one time student in the eyes. This did not make it easier for Daniel to trust the man wearing the pyramid ring, who sat staring like an osprey eyeing a fish in shallow water.

“And therefore I know you understand the unique responsibility of being the Chosen Vessel,” the Maestro of the Eagle Guild concluded and then gave a respectful nod in the direction of the Grand Maestro.

Efferin took a deep breath and let it out slowly while his eyes seemed to be scanning the face of each delegate. He then focused unwaveringly on Daniel. “Victory in this war is unachievable the way in which we are fighting it. At best we are only slowing the speed at which the Serpent Guild and its allies are advancing. Your refusal to cooperate with us is the chief reason Tarin Conn is so successful,” his laying all the blame on Daniel caused the spirit of goodwill to vanish from the room and no one was even pretending to smile. “Therefore, we must be united in our efforts to defeat him. One way or another, this night, we will settle our differences. You have explained the departmental structure of your guild and I can see where some of your members can easily make the transition to working under the authority of the seven legitimate guilds of Aakadon, after teaching them proper discipline. Surely you see the need for a unified command?”

Daniel had chosen to keep the potential on the spell, Find All, to a minimum, and restricted the radius to within the outer gates of the royal residence. He recognized each person through the spell after being sure to shake the hand of every individual whom he did not already know, even the young Cenkataaran Prince currently peeking through the vent just below the back ceiling. Placing his trust in the man who wears the pyramid ring did not mean Daniel would refrain from casting those hair-fine strands of potential he had so much experience at focusing.

Sero appeared in the middle of the courtyard, an unexpectedly daring move on the part of the normally unobtrusive man, and Daniel did his best to mask the surprise in the middle of Efferin’s accusatory statement.

Sherree’s eyes were widening and Daniel knew she would not allow the uncompromising words to go unchallenged. “I thought we were here to discuss how we can work with you, not for you?” the First Lady of the Atlantan Guild replied, speaking what Daniel would have said had he not been momentarily distracted by Sero’s movements.

A growing sense of anticipation mixed with a hurry to get on with the chore came ahead of the words, “Daniel, more than fifty thousand Soarers and Solars are swooping down on us and things are about to get messy,” Samuel’s voice came through the array. “They arrived under some sort of cloaking spell I believe must be from the Grand Maestro’s private repertoire.”

This news accounted for the whereabouts of some of the Eagles and Solars Jeremiah had noted were missing from the Accomplisheds of Aakadon that had set sail down the Mighty Hirus. They must have been shielded and hidden among the few Flocks of Eagles that had been camped in the area.

Daniel took in the information and was surprised that the violation of the truce did not spark anger in him, only a strong feeling of quiet determination, and he wondered why. Perhaps it was because he never truly believed Efferin would ever stop seeing him as a rival. More importantly Daniel recognized this as being a pivot point, an event that must take place where the choices he makes now will be critical, and likely have a major impact on the forward course of events. “Acknowledged, that explains Efferin’s attitude,” Daniel sent and then felt the communication end.

Efferin fixed his gaze on Sherree. “You and your husband have broken so many laws of Aakadon that I am not surprised you would subscribe to such a ridiculous notion. An orchestra can have only one conductor,” the Grand Maestro told her with contempt clear in his tone.

Sero was running into the palace and after receiving Samuel’s message, Daniel understood why. The assistant was on his way to be of service, seeing as he was the one entrusted with the safekeeping of the diamond-bladed crescendos. It would take a while for the Four-bolt to make his way through the maze of corridors to reach this room and one could only pity the fool who tried to impede his progress. From this day forward Sero will have the ability to convey directly to the conference room and Daniel wished he had thought to bring him here earlier as a precaution. Even so, the situation must be dealt with as was and wishing it could have been done differently changed nothing.

“It is only right that you submit to the leaders of Aakadon, and make for us those Aakacarn weapons you created, that way we can battle the Serpents on a more even footing,” the ambitious and self-serving Prince Kelvin gave his opinion.

“The kind of weapons that can shoot down those confounded skyships,” said King Gabriel KaTaar, who ignored Daniel’s previous warning about watching the enemy to his north and is now paying the price.

“After submitting to the leadership of Aakadon, your expertise will be essential in winning back Ecoppia from my brother and his unholy allies,” King Jaim stated as if still trusting in the same man who had his attention focused on Ducaun when he should have been watching his brother.

Efferin stared directly at Daniel as if no one else in the room existed. “It has been decreed that the Chosen Vessel must work with us and in a manner befitting an Accomplished of Aakadon. Surely you did not expect we would tolerate your unconscionable behavior. I am giving you this one opportunity to dissolve your illegitimate guild and submit yourself to our laws. Of course this also means resigning your commission as a Royal Knight of the Realm of Ducaun, and the annulment of the indecent relationship you now have with Sherree Jenna. Your status as the Chosen Vessel is the only reason you will not be imprisoned for your crimes.”