The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (3 page)

Before Kevin could answer, Karl spoke up. “Okay. I’ll agree that’s doable, but that means at least ten meetings. How many days do you plan to tie Kevin up with this? And how often do you plan to do it?”

“I don’t know, maybe only this once, maybe once a year, maybe more. I’ll have to see how successful it is before I can answer that question.”

“What do you want to meet about anyway? We go over everything at the minister’s conference.”

“Sometimes talking to men isn’t enough to get the job done. Sometimes, if you want results, you have to go to the wives.”

“Such as?”

Before Joan could answer, there was a quick knock and the door opened.

“I hate to interrupt,” Chris, Kevin’s assistant, began.

Kevin waved Chris in. “Interrupt. Please. Tell me I’m needed somewhere else. Anywhere will do.”

Chris laughed and shook his head. “No, but Laryn and Steve want to speak with you for a moment if you have time.”

“I have plenty of time, but they should enter at their own risk.” Kevin looked at Joan and Karl. “Actually, it might be a good idea for them to be here for this discussion.”

Laryn, Kevin’s aunt, had served as his father’s assistant from the time he’d started training to be a sorcerer until Myron was born, and then served as his Second until he’d died six months ago. While Badec spent the last year of his life in a coma, Laryn ran the office in his name in order to give Kevin time to study magic with Glendymere. Then, for the past six months, she’d served as Kevin’s mentor in his roles as Seated Sorcerer of Camden and Master Sorcerer of Terah. Kevin felt a deep affection for the woman who’d been a complete stranger until six months ago.

Steve had been brought from Earth along with Chris, Joan, Karl, Theresa, and Darrell to help Kevin and protect him as he traveled to Willow Canyon to study with Glendymere and then on to Camden to assume his responsibilities. Back on Earth, Steve had felt like his life was basically over. He was a retired widower with no close friends or family. But life on Terah had turned out to be quite interesting, and much to his surprise, he was in love again, which was the reason he wanted to speak with Kevin.

After Laryn and Steve sat down, Kevin said, “Laryn, Joan wants to invite the ministers’ wives to her home in small groups for meetings.”

Laryn looked at Joan. “Any particular reason?”

“I think there are some things women can and will handle better than men, and since none of the ministers are women, we need to meet with the wives.”

“Such as?” Laryn asked.

Karl sat back and folded his arms across his chest. “My question exactly.”

“For one thing, I’d like to see a little progress on placing chapel aides in small communities. Unless Karl’s holding out on me, the ministers haven’t found out how many we need or where we need them. I bet the wives would have gotten that information together long before now.”

Laryn nodded.

Karl grunted. “I’ll grant you we haven’t heard anything on that, but if you think the women would do something about it, why not write them and ask them to check into it? Why have them come all the way to Milhaven?”

Joan shook her head. “I don’t think that’ll work. I’m pretty sure any mail we send from the governor’s office will land on the minister’s desk, no matter who it’s addressed to.”

“She’s right,” Laryn agreed. “If you want the wives involved, you’ll have to talk to them. It might not be a bad idea to let them get to know each other anyway.”

“See? I told you it would be a good move,” Joan said with a gleam of triumph in her eye.

“After all, you never know when you might need to have the wives on your side, and nothing will put them on your side any faster than asking their opinions,” Laryn added.

Steve laughed. “She has a point, Karl. You’ve got to admit a husband’s going to care about anything that upsets his wife, out of self-defense if for no other reason.”

Karl sighed. “I’ll have to give you that one.”

“So, what’s the problem?” Laryn asked him.

“I’m not sure how the ministers will react. I don’t want to create any problems,” Karl admitted. Then he turned towards Joan. “Back at home, I’d have no problem with it, but here … I just don’t know.”

“What do you mean?” Joan asked. “What kind of problems?”

Karl shrugged and looked at Laryn. “Will the ministers resent it? Will they see it as going behind their backs? Interfering in the way they run their districts? Interfering with their families?”

Laryn thought for a moment and then shook her head. “I don’t think so. There are some men out there who think their wives shouldn’t do anything but tend to the house and children, but they’re in the minority and don’t tend to get appointed ministers. I don’t think any of your ministers would mind turning the responsibility for things like that over to their wives.”

“Okay.” Karl sighed. “I hope you’re right.”

“Now,” Kevin said as he looked at Laryn. “You came to see me. What’s up?”

Laryn nodded towards Steve.

Steve cleared his throat. “Well, I wanted to come see you by myself, but Laryn wouldn’t hear of it. She insisted she needed to be here.”

“Sounds serious,” Chris said with a twinkle in his eye. “Should the rest of us leave?”

Steve shook his head. “It’s fine.” He wiped his hands on his leggings and looked at Kevin. “I’m in love with your aunt and I’ve asked her to marry me.”

Kevin’s grin said it all. He looked at Laryn. “And you said …?”

Laryn smiled and took Steve’s hand. “I said yes.”

Kevin stood up and reached across his desk for Steve’s hand. “Congratulations! I couldn’t be happier for you.”

While Chris and Karl clapped Steve on the back and shook his hand, Joan hugged Laryn and wished her all the best. Before the celebration could progress any further, a quiet knock on the open door drew Kevin’s attention. Gen. Crandal was standing in the doorway.

“Gen. Crandal.” Kevin gestured for him to enter. “Come on in.”

“I seem to be interrupting something.”

Joan looked at Laryn and raised her eyebrows. At Laryn’s nod, Joan said, “Steve asked Laryn to marry him, and she said yes.”

“Looks like congratulations are in order,” Gen. Crandal said, shaking hands first with Steve and then with Laryn as he wished them well. Then he looked at Kevin. “When you have a moment, I need to speak to you and Karl.”

“Of course.” Kevin nodded towards an empty chair.

The others started to leave, but Gen. Crandal shook his head. “It’s all right. This won’t take long.”

As they sat back down, Gen. Crandal said, “Last night slavers hit Syrando, a small settlement on Garby Creek near the Kivee River. Lt. Martyn of Ashmont sent me a message this morning. He wants permission to go after them but I want to talk to him and get some details before I tell him yes or no.”

Kevin nodded. “When do you want to go?”

“At your convenience.”

“Now?”

Gen. Crandal nodded. “Fine with me.”

“I’d like to go, too,” Karl said.

“Go where?” Darrell asked from the doorway. “Sorry, but I couldn’t help but notice everyone coming in and no one leaving. Figured something must be up.”

Chris brought Darrell up to date. After Darrell congratulated Steve and Laryn, he turned to Kevin. “I’ll get Alek. He can go with you.”

Kevin shook his head. “I don’t need a bodyguard, Darrell. No one expects me to show up in Ashmont, so no one is waiting there to ambush me.”

“How do you know that?” Darrell asked. “Maybe the raid was an attempt to draw you out. Granted it’s not likely, but even if the odds are a million to one, that’s more risk than I’m willing to take.”

“He’s right,” Chris said.

With a slight nod, Kevin gave up.

“Wonder why I haven’t heard from Duncan,” Karl said.

“He may not have a report on it yet,” Gen. Crandal said. “I’m sure the director of Ashmont wanted to find out as much as he could before sending his report to Duncan. He’s probably in Syrando now, along with Lt. Martyn.”

“Should we go to Ashmont or Syrando?” Kevin asked.

“Ashmont,” Gen. Crandal answered. “I have a map with Ashmont marked on it, but not Syrando. I’m sure the map in the town director’s office has all the outlying settlements marked. We can use it when we get there.”

“Who’s the town director?” Kevin asked. “And do they have a local sorcerer?”

Gen. Crandal shook his head. “I have no idea.”

Kevin looked at Karl, who shrugged.

“I’ll check the file.” Chris started towards the door. Then he stopped and turned towards Gen. Crandal. “Which district?”

“Sandifer.”

With a quick nod, Chris left, calling for Cameryn.

Ten minutes later, Darrell and Alek followed Chris back into Kevin’s office. “The town director’s name is Asar,” Chris said, “and if there’s a sorcerer in the area, he’s not registered.”

Gen. Crandal unfolded his map of Sandifer and laid it on the back table as Kevin, Karl, and Alek gathered around.

“This is where we need to go.” Gen. Crandal pointed to Ashmont.

Kevin nodded. Then, as soon as each of them had a hand on him, Kevin took out the key to Terah, turned it, and they slipped into the energy flow.

Chapter 2

Syrando

All of the businesses in Ashmont were lined up on the south side of the road since the northern side was lined with docks. For a Saturday afternoon, the town was unusually quiet. When they got there, the only person in sight was an older man loading wood into a wagon between the dry goods store and the chapel.

Karl stepped in front of the group, pointed to himself, then to the man, and held up his hand towards the others, palm out. Kevin nodded, so Karl walked over to the man as the others stepped back out of sight.

“Hello,” Karl said as he approached the man. “Are you the storekeeper?”

The man looked up at Karl, shook his head, and went back to work.

“Could you tell me where I could find him?”

Again, the man shook his head.

“Then could you tell me where I can find Asar?”

The man looked at Karl for a moment. “You’re not from around here. What do you want him for?”

“I’m from Milhaven. My name’s Karl.”

“You the governor?”

Karl nodded.

The man turned back to his work. “He’s on his way to Syrando. There was a raid out there last night.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here. I came to see if I can help.”

“Not much to do now but bury the dead. That’s what this lumber’s for, the coffins.”

Karl’s stomach knotted up. “Some of the residents were killed?”

The man nodded. “I’m not sure how many. I was just told to get the lumber from the back of the store and haul it out there.”

“Is there a map anywhere around here with Syrando marked on it?”

The man frowned. “What do you need a map for? Just follow the road. It’ll take you straight there.”

“We’re using a key.”

“You mean Myron’s here, too?”

Karl nodded. “And Gen. Crandal.”

“The people from Syrando sure would be impressed, if they weren’t either dead or gone.” The man dusted the dirt off his hands and grunted as he headed towards the front door of the shop. “Gerald keeps a map on the wall behind the counter. You can use that one.”

The man walked past Kevin, Gen. Crandal, and Alek with only a glance in their direction. When he opened the front door, he said, “Well, if you want to look at the map, you’ll need to come inside. Haven’t got all day.”

Gen. Crandal, Alek, and Karl followed Kevin inside.

The man took the map off the wall and laid it down on the counter. “Here. This is Syrando. See? That road runs straight from here to there, right along the river. If you get lost, follow the river. You can’t miss it. Only settlement between here and the Kivee.”

Kevin studied the map for a moment. “Thank you. That’s what we needed.”

The man nodded and put the map back on the wall.

~ ~ ~ ~

A few moments later, Kevin, Gen. Crandal, Karl, and Alek stood at the edge of the small settlement known locally as Syrando. There were no stores, no tavern, just five houses around a common front yard. Three small rowboats and one fishing boat were tied up along a dock on the riverbank. A group of men stood near one end of the dock and another man stood several feet farther down, near the other end. Between them lay three bodies covered by sheets.

Gen. Crandal pointed to the man standing by himself. “That’s Lt. Martyn. I want to see if anyone has volunteered to go after the slavers with him.”

“I’ll walk with you,” Karl said. “One of the men in that group is probably Asar. If not, someone can point me in his direction.” He looked at Kevin. “Are you coming with us?”

“Not right now. I want to look around a bit first.”

As Gen. Crandal and Karl walked away, Alek asked, “Where would you like to start?”

Kevin nodded towards the common front yard. “Out there, I guess.”

As they walked, Kevin looked around. Front doors had been ripped off their hinges and blood splatters marred the porches and steps, but the thing that hit him the hardest was a broken doll lying on one of the steps in front of the first house. As Kevin started up the steps, a hand on his arm stopped him.

“I’m sorry, but I need to make sure it’s clear,” Alek said as he stepped past Kevin. “Wait here.” After Alek checked out the house, he opened the door for Kevin.

As Kevin wandered through the house some details registered. Several chairs had been knocked over and one bedside table was on its side with the drawer hanging open, half its contents on the floor. The beds were rumpled with sheets half on, half off. Clothes had been left untouched in the bedroom chests and closets, and the kitchen cabinets were all closed and undisturbed. The table was clear and the kitchen was clean. Even the fresh fruit and vegetables on the counter had been left intact. From all appearances, nothing had been stolen, except the people who lived there.

A quick glance through the other houses left Kevin with the same impression. The people were the only things the slavers had been interested in. The attack was focused. Get in, get the people, get out. Anything in the way was destroyed, but that was it. The blood splatters implied they’d met at least some resistance, but other than the three bodies lying under the sheets on the dock, it didn’t appear that they went out of their way to hurt people. But that was just good business. It would be harder to sell injured captives.