The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (30 page)

“Why?” Kevin asked.

“He’d like to work in your office. Apparently he talked to Isak and Ariel and he liked what he heard.”

“I don’t know …”

“I don’t either,” Cryslyn said. “We usually know the pages for a long time before we let them work in that office. He’s fifteen, so the age is right, but he’s a complete stranger. It’s your decision, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it. We don’t know anything about him.”

“Have you asked Ariel or Isak what they thought of him?” Kevin asked.

Cryslyn shook her head. “I didn’t feel it was my place.”

Kevin nodded.

“So, what do you want me to tell him?”

“Why don’t I take him?” Karl asked. “It’s not the same as being a page, but Joan and I could use some help. He can do some of the running, especially right now with all of the reception details.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Cryslyn said. “It would give us a chance to get to know him and let him have some experience working in an office.”

“Great,” Karl said. “He can start this afternoon. Now, how do I pay the slavers in Glenarbour?”

“Already handled,” Cryslyn said. “They sent the bill Saturday afternoon and I paid it this morning.”

“How?”

“Alek and I borrowed Myron’s key and went right after breakfast. Why?”

“I didn’t know how it was done.” Karl frowned. “And there was enough money in the budget to cover it?”

Cryslyn nodded. “We have a special account for unexpected expenses. It’s taken care of.”

Karl sighed. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. That’s my job. Now, let’s go find Petri, your new aide.”

~ ~ ~ ~

After all the children were in bed, Joan carried two mugs of scog into Karl’s office and handed him one. “About ready to call it a day?” she asked as she sat down across from him.

“Almost.” Karl leaned back and sipped his scog. “What did you think of Petri?”

“He seems nice, and he has nice manners. Wonder where he learned those?”

“No idea. Did you find out anything about his history?”

Joan shook her head no. “We were busy all afternoon. Actually he came in quite handy. And we owe Ariel a big thank you for showing him around and explaining some of the basic stuff.”

“Well, until we know him a lot better, don’t tell him anything about anyone’s schedules or plans.”

“You don’t really think he’s a spy, do you?”

Karl shrugged. “My gut reaction’s no, but just because he isn’t one now doesn’t mean he can’t be recruited.”

“You’re almost as paranoid as Chris.”

“Maybe, but I keep remembering how they got to Badec. We don’t want anything happening to Kevin.”

“You’re right.” Joan sipped her scog for a few minutes. “No one pushed you into buying any of those kids, did they?”

Karl shook his head. “And no one pushed me into letting him work in our office. I was the one who offered the position with us as a compromise. Plus I figured we could use the help, especially over the next few weeks. Then, if he doesn’t work out, we’ll see if we can find something else for him to do. He knows it may be temporary. No one made him any promises.”

“Good.”

Karl turned up his mug and finished his scog. “So, ready for bed? We’ve got another busy day tomorrow.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Tuesday morning started before daybreak for Kevin. He had to pick Ramen and Caezar up at 6:00. On his way back from his morning exercises, he stopped by the kitchen for coffee. He pulled two cups out of the cabinet as Chris walked through the door. Kevin poured coffee in both cups and handed one to Chris.

Miranda stepped out of the pantry as both of them took their first sips. “I’ve got a morning cake in the oven ready to come out if you’d like some.”

Chris turned to Kevin and said, “Why don’t you go on up and change into one of your off-duty tunics. I’ll bring the cake up as soon as it’s ready.”

Kevin nodded and headed back to his room. He’d changed his clothes and almost finished his coffee when Chris came in, followed by Alek.

“I’m sorry, but I forgot to confirm the time you’d like to leave this morning,” Alek said from the doorway.

Kevin nodded. “Let’s leave about five minutes before six.

“I’ll be in your office when you’re ready.”

After Alek pulled the door to and left, Chris said, “I love the way they remind you you’re supposed to take one of them with you.”

“Yeah,” Kevin said. “Always so polite.”

“And yet we all know they’re really telling you off for trying to slip out of here without them.”

“I know,” Kevin said with a laugh. “Guess I’d better get down there or he’ll think I left without him anyway.”

~ ~ ~ ~

The castle was still asleep when Kevin and Alek returned with Caezar and Ramen, so Kevin sent the retired soldiers to the dining room and said he’d meet them in Gen. Crandal’s office at 8:00.

After Alek left, Kevin went back upstairs and changed into his dark green tunic. Once he was dressed, he knocked on Chris’s bedroom door, but Chris wasn’t in there, so he went back to his office and started going through messages.

A few minutes later, he realized there was someone in his reception area, actually two someones, one male and one female. He set the messages aside and listened.

The male voice was Darrell’s, but he wasn’t sure about the female voice, so he used his seeing eye. Darrell was talking to Serra.

“We can talk in here,” Darrell said. “The pages won’t be in until after breakfast. Now, what did you want to see me about?”

“I don’t know what to do about Tonnie,” Serra said. “She’s barely eight years old, only a year older than Corey, but she seems a lot older. I couldn’t get her to play with the other children yesterday. It’s like she doesn’t remember how to play. She’s had to grow up too fast, She’s past that part of her life.”

“What does she want to do?” Darrell asked.

“She wants to be in charge. She wants to look after the others, which wouldn’t be so bad if she were a bit older, but there’s no way Corey’s going to let her tell him what to do. Caitlyn’s a different story. She’s used to everyone telling her what to do so it doesn’t bother her, but Corey’s protective of his sister. He doesn’t want anyone telling her what to do, especially some other child.” Serra paused. “The other children sense the tension between Corey and Tonnie. They don’t understand what’s going on, but they feel it, and since they’ve known Corey longer, they take his side, which isolates Tonnie even more. And it doesn’t help matters that they live in the same house. They never get a break from each other.”

“Have you talked to Joan?”

Serra shook her head. “I hate to bother her. She’s got enough to worry about right now with all the preparations for the reception.”

“All right,” Darrell said slowly. “How can I help? What do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know. You’re good with children. I was hoping you might have some suggestions.”

Darrell didn’t say anything for a minute. “I can’t come up with anything right now, but let me think about it. In the meantime, I can have one of the guards take the boys fishing this morning. If nothing else, it’ll get Corey out of the way for a while.”

Serra nodded. “That would help this morning, thanks. But I’ve got to come up with something that’ll work on an everyday basis. Let me know if you think of anything.”

Darrell nodded. “I will, and don’t worry. We’ll figure out something.”

Then Kevin heard the door shut as they left. He drummed his fingers on his desk. They hadn’t come to him. They’d just used his office to talk. And unless he was willing to admit eavesdropping on a private conversation, albeit one that was held in his office, he couldn’t let them know he’d heard anything. So, if he did happen to think of something that might help, he’d also have to come up with some way to pass it on. Kevin shook his head. Nothing was simple anymore.

~ ~ ~ ~

A little before eight, Kevin left his office and headed for Gen. Crandal’s. He got there as Gen. Crandal was opening the door. Caezar and Ramen were inside waiting for them.

“Good morning,” Gen. Crandal said to his two men. “What can you tell us about Glenarbour?”

“Not much, sir,” Caezar answered. “We played in every tavern in town but we didn’t hear anything about anyone doing any raids anywhere in the area.”

“We didn’t hear anything about anyone recruiting either. If someone had been recruiting, then at least the raid would have made sense,” Ramen said. When Kevin frowned, Ramen explained. “If the recruits were new to the slaving trade, they’d need training, and pulling a raid in a quiet family settlement’s a good way to train them.”

Kevin nodded.

“We even dropped hints we might be interested in signing on, but no one contacted us to follow up on it,” Ramen added.

“To be honest, I don’t think the raid in Syrando had any connection to anyone in Glenarbour,” Caezar said. “I don’t think anyone there had anything to do with it, knew anything about it, or was involved in selling the slaves.”

Gen. Crandal nodded. “I agree, but I just got another update from Lt. Martyn. They still haven’t seen any sign of the captives, and no boat large enough to hold that many people has passed them.”

“Could they have used two boats, or even more?” Caezar asked.

“We thought of that, especially since the one we know they were using on Garby Creek wasn’t large enough to hold all of the captives, but Marcus questioned people all over that area. If they had a second boat it wasn’t anywhere nearby. But even if they did use several boats, the ones that have passed Pylar’s Landing headed for the Agrenon Bay have been riding too high in the water to have much cargo, human or otherwise.”

“Where could they have gone?” Ramen wondered out loud.

For a couple of minutes, no one said anything. Finally Gen. Crandal spoke up. “They aren’t the only ones who’ve disappeared.” He picked up two messages and walked over to a large map of Camden on his wall. “Both of these came in yesterday.” He held one up. “Last Monday, a week ago yesterday, a small village, Feldon’s Port on West River, was hit by slavers.” He pointed to a spot on a river Kevin recognized as the Hudson on Earth.

“I thought slavers only attacked coastal settlements,” Kevin said as he looked at the little dot that represented Feldon’s Port. It wasn’t far from the coast, but it was probably at least a couple of days travel.

“They usually do, which makes that raid strange, but it’s not the strangest one.” Gen. Crandal stepped to the other side of the map and pointed to a spot on the east coast of the lake Kevin knew as Lake Michigan. “Slavers hit a small family settlement ten miles from Fredaport.”

Caezar looked at the map and frowned. “Why would slavers be in that area? Especially this time of year? The only way out is Lander’s River, and it’s going to have ice chunks in it before they can make it out of there.”

Gen. Crandal shrugged. “I don’t remember slavers ever hitting anywhere on these lakes before. I can’t imagine where they’re headed unless they’re planning to take the captives north to Brendolanth. But if they do go to Brendolanth, where to then? I doubt there’s much of a market for slaves anywhere in that area.”

Ramen studied the map for a minute. “Glenarbour’s the only logical place, but I’m not sure they could make it there without having to go overland, and that would be too risky.” He continued looking at the map for a few minutes, frowning.

Caezar shook his head. “Doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?”

“Why were they in that area to start with?” Ramen asked. “They couldn’t have been there just to raid for slaves.”

Gen. Crandal walked back over to his desk. “I’ve been wondering the same thing.”

“How many captives were taken?” Kevin asked.

The general looked at the messages again. “Three men, two women, and three children.”

Ramen shook his head. “Those captives are going to be more trouble than they’re worth. Something else must be going on here.”

“Was anyone killed?” Kevin asked.

“Not in either of these raids.”

“At least there’s that,” Kevin said quietly. “What about the raid on the West River? How many were captured there?”

Gen. Crandal looked at the message again. “Twelve in all, seven adults, five children.”

Caezar nodded. “That one makes more sense, both in location and potential profit, but it’s still a bit risky. There are a lot of places along that river where someone might notice captives. It’s not like they can get out of Camden quickly.” Kevin frowned, so Caezar explained. “The longer they’re in Camden, the higher the risk of getting caught. On the Kivee, they can always get to the west shore, pull up, and be in Brendolanth or Nandelia. They can’t be arrested for raiding in Camden unless they’re actually in Camden.”

Kevin nodded.

“That’s why slavers stick to coastal settlements. Hit the settlement and run out to sea. Not much chance of getting captured like that,” Gen. Crandal added.

“Then why these raids?” Kevin asked.

“That is a very good question,” Gen. Crandal said.

“What are the chances of catching up with them before they get out of Camden?”

“They should have been pretty good on the West River. That raid was discovered the next morning, and by mid-afternoon soldiers were waiting for them at the mouth of the river, but so far, nothing. Or at least nothing as of yesterday morning, when they sent the message,” Gen. Crandal answered.

“Sounds a lot like Syrando,” Kevin said.

Gen. Crandal nodded. “As to Longleaf Lake, they’ve stationed soldiers at both exits from the lake, but they can’t do much about the border with Brendolanth.”

Kevin nodded. “Anything I can do?”

“Not that I know of or I’d have already asked.”

“What do you want to do about Lt. Martyn and his men?”

“Let’s leave them where they are for another week,” Gen. Crandal answered. “Those slavers have to be out there somewhere.”

Chapter 28

A Little Follow Up

Kevin stopped by Karl’s office after lunch Thursday. Joan’s desk was almost covered with stacks of papers, and she was concentrating so hard on the stack in front of her she didn’t notice when he opened the door. After a couple of moments, she realized she wasn’t alone and looked up. “Hi,” she said with a smile. “What can I do for you?”