The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (50 page)

“I don’t know. I didn’t open it. Hence the word ‘personal.’”

Kevin held out his hand for the message. He skimmed through it and grinned. “He wants me to meet Nikki.”

“Nikki?” Chris asked, frowning. “Seriously? Is your Uncle Kyle getting into the matchmaking business, too?”

Kevin grinned and shook his head. “He thinks Nikki would be a good companion for me.”

Chris’s frown deepened. “What kind of companion?”

Kevin laughed. “The four-legged kind.”

Chris closed his eyes and shook his head. “You couldn’t have just said he had a dog he wanted you to meet?”

Kevin pulled out a sheet of note paper. “He suggested late tomorrow afternoon, shortly before dinner. We don’t have anything going on then, do we?”

Chris shook his head.

“Want to come?” Kevin asked.

“Sounds like fun,” Chris said with a nod.

“Good. I’ll let him know to expect us.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Saturday afternoon, Glendymere watched as Landis tried to fill two separate balls with energy at the same time, one from her connection with the ground and the other through her connection with water. She wasn’t having much luck, but it was her first attempt at managing two balls at the same time.

The strength of human sorcerers was determined by two things, their ability to store energy, and their ability to juggle. All the power in the world wouldn’t mean anything if a sorcerer could only use one skill at a time, and being able to juggle a dozen feats wouldn’t do any good if the sorcerer didn’t have enough energy to perform them. A good sorcerer had to be able to do both, and an exceptional sorcerer had to be able to do both at the same time.

Glendymere was convinced something had happened to upset her while she was gone to Milhaven. He’d waited for her to tell him, but so far neither she nor Rhianna had mentioned anything about their trip. Landis was working harder than ever, but it was out of desperation, and whatever was causing that distress was getting in the way.

He could find out what the problem was easy enough, all he’d have to do was look, but he tried to respect the privacy of others by not peeking into their minds uninvited. But if she didn’t talk about it soon, he was going to have to look. At the rate she was going, she’d wear herself out.

As he watched sweat streak down her face and drip off the tip of her nose he decided enough was enough.
“Landis, I’d like to work on something else for a while.”
Glendymere stood up and stretched. He swung his head around to Rhianna.
“We won’t need you for this if you’d like to take the rest of the afternoon off.”

With Chris’s words echoing through her mind, Rhianna nodded. “I think I’ll take you up on that.” She packed up the remains from their lunch and headed out of the cave.

As soon as she was gone, Landis turned to Glendymere and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

“Tell me what happened while you were gone. Or, if you’d rather, I can see for myself.”

Landis sighed. “That would probably be easier, and more accurate.”

Glendymere nodded. A couple of seconds later, he said,
“I’m glad you got to see your brother, but I’m sorry things ended the way they did in Milhaven. I take it the sorcerer’s all right?”

“As far as I know.” Landis sat down on the edge of the stone basin. “He seemed to be all right while we were in the kitchen.”

“Always a bit of a shock to realize someone wants you dead, and an even bigger shock when they make the attempt.”

Landis nodded. “But that’s not the worst of it.”

Glendymere tilted his head.

“It’s knowing that just by being near me, people I care about could get killed. Saryn could have shot Rhianna as easily as he shot Marcus, and she might have been killed, all because she’s my friend,” Landis said with a catch in her voice. “I don’t think I could live with myself if something happened to her because of me.” Then Landis broke down and cried. When she managed to get the tears under control, she said, “I want her to leave, her and Taelor both. I want them to go home, back to Crinsor Run. Will you tell them to leave? Please?”

Glendymere shook his head.
“It’s not my decision to make, Landis. And it’s not yours either.”

“But they could get killed!”

“What you say is true, but that doesn’t make it your decision. Rhianna was there. She knows the risks. Has she said anything about leaving?”

“No, but …”

“No buts about it. She has as much right to choose the path of her life as you have to choose the path of yours. You don’t get to make that decision for her. Your choice is whether or not to become a sorcerer. Hers is whether or not to hang around and take her chances. You can’t take away her right to choose. Or Taelor’s either.”

“What if next time there’s no one there to protect her? Every time I look at her, I get so scared something will happen to her I freeze up.”

“Well, judging by what I saw, she did a pretty good job of protecting herself, but I understand what you mean. Basically, you have the same two choices you’ve had all along. You can either become good enough to protect the people you care about, or you can stop, pack up, and go somewhere safe, someplace where Rolan can’t touch you.”

Landis didn’t answer for a bit. “But what if I give it all I’ve got and I’m still not good enough?”

“If you give it all you’ve got, you will be good enough to protect yourself and anyone with you. But will you be good enough to defeat Rolan and end this threat for good? I don’t know the answer to that. Time will tell.”

Landis nodded. “I think I need to walk around for a while and think. Would you mind?”

“Not at all,”
Glendymere said as he settled back down.
“Just hit the gong before you come back in. You never know, I might take a nap.”

~ ~ ~ ~

It was late afternoon by the time Kevin and Chris walked out of the tunnel and into Kyle’s front yard. Even though Kevin had been there a month ago, the number and size of the dogs gave him a moment’s pause. Chris, on the other hand, was bowled over by the sight of so many obviously happy dogs.

While Kevin and Chris stood on the sidelines watching, Kyle threw sticks and balls for his dogs to chase, petted the ones who had no interest in the game, and kept an eye on the puppies. After a few more minutes of play with his dogs, Kyle joined them on the sidelines.

After greetings and introductions, Kyle asked, “See that young one over there?” He pointed to a yellow ball of fur with big feet playing on the other side of the yard. “Her name is Nikki. Go spend a little time with her. I’d like to see how the two of you react to each other.”

Kevin walked towards the young dog slowly, not quite sure how to introduce himself to a puppy. He hadn’t made it halfway across the yard before she took matters into her own hands and raced towards him, jumping up at the last moment and steadying herself with her front paws on his legs. As he knelt down to pet her, he felt an instantaneous bond with the young dog. He wanted her, pure and simple.

He wasn’t sure if the connection he felt with Nikki was due to his elven genes or not, but it was definitely there. And the more he stroked her soft fur and looked into her big brown eyes, the stronger it became. He was ready to do anything the man wanted, make any promises he asked for, if only Kyle would let him have Nikki. He sat down on the ground with his legs crossed in front of him, and Nikki stepped inside, circled once, and settled down with her head resting on his knee.

Kyle didn’t say much while he watched Kevin and Nikki meet each other, but when she put her head on Kevin’s knee, he nodded. “She’s the one.”

Chris nodded. “What now? Is she going home with us today?”

Kyle shook his head. “She won’t be ready for that for another couple of months. Today we need to set up the house rules and figure out how to take care of her at the castle. Shall we go inside and get started?”

“Won’t we need him?” Chris asked, tilting his head in Kevin’s direction.

Kyle nodded. “But let’s give him a few more minutes with her.” He motioned towards his house. “It’ll be feeding time before long. You can help me get their food ready.”

An hour later, all the dogs had been fed and the three humans were seated around the kitchen table drinking scog. Kyle had put some paper and a couple of pens on the table earlier. When they were done with their drinks, Kyle took one of the pens and a sheet of paper and motioned to Chris to take the other pen. “Let’s talk about what you do and don’t want Nikki to do.”

Kevin frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Well, let’s take the way she said hello,” Kyle said. “At her size now, running up and jumping on you was no big deal. When she’s a year old, she’s going to be at least twice as tall as she is now, and she’ll weigh somewhere around sixty pounds. That’s a lot of force if she comes at you at a dead run, which she probably will if you’ve been gone a while. And she’ll greet other people the same way she greets you. Is that the way you’re going to want the adult dog to say hello?”

Kevin frowned and shook his head. “It would be fine with me, but I’m not sure it would be a good idea with everyone. Maybe a less energetic hello would be better.”

Kyle nodded. “If you don’t want the adult dog to jump on you, don’t let the puppy. I’ll show you later what to do when she does that, and she will, for a while. Next, do you want her to sleep on your bed?”

Kevin shrugged. “It’s fine with me.”

Kyle nodded again. “And what about later? Nikki will probably live twelve to fifteen years. What if you get married? How will your wife feel about sharing her bed with Nikki?”

Kevin grinned. “Well, I’m not planning to marry anyone anytime soon, but there’s a good chance any woman who has a problem with Nikki is someone I don’t want to marry in the first place.”

“Women can be funny about things like that though. She may adore Nikki and be fine with her sitting on the couch or chairs, but still insist she not sleep on the bed. You never know. But it’ll be a lot easier to allow her to do things later that you don’t allow now than it will be to tell her no after years of yes.”

“All right,” Kevin sighed, “but I’ve always rather liked the idea of a dog sleeping on my bed.”

“You can let her if you want to. I just need to know what you want. Same with chairs, couches, all kinds of furniture. She’s either allowed on them or she isn’t. I don’t mind either way, but you need to decide. We’ll leave it for now. You think about it and we’ll talk about it again later.”

Kyle made a couple of notes and then said, “You’re a busy man, and so is Chris. There are times when you’ll both be out of Milhaven most of the day, or stuck in your office all day. Someone has to see that Nikki gets exercise. She has to be given an opportunity to get rid of some of her energy. Have you given any thought as to who you might ask to do that? And keep in mind it needs to be the same person, or same couple of people, every day. She needs to know who’s taking care of her.”

“I haven’t thought about who, but I know I’ll need someone. I’d thought about asking one of the pages, but sometimes we’re too busy in the office for one of them to go play for an hour or so.”

Chris spoke up for the first time in this conversation. “What about Marshall?”

Kevin frowned. “Marshall?”

“One of the boys Karl bought when he went to Glenarbour, the one who’s been working in the stable. Neiven and I were talking the other day and he said Marshall has a real gift with horses. Maybe he’d be good with Nikki, too.”

“That’s a possibility, I guess,” Kevin said. “But I’d like to get to know him a bit better before I ask him to take care of her. I want to be sure she’s in good hands. I’d hate for anyone to do anything to hurt her. I’d have to hurt them, and I’d rather avoid that.”

Kyle swallowed his grin. His nephew was going to be as protective of Nikki as he was. “It’s not a decision that has to be made today, but it needs to be set up before she comes there to live.”

“When do you think that might be?” Kevin asked.

“Another couple of months anyway,” Kyle answered.

Kevin’s face fell. “Why so long?”

“She’s still a puppy. She needs to get a little older, and I’ve got some work to do with her before she’ll fit in around the castle. I want to be sure she won’t chew up any of Cryslyn’s rugs or table legs, or dig in Neiven’s gardens, or steal meat off the counters in Miranda’s kitchens.”

“Oh, yeah,” Kevin said, frowning, “but if she’s my dog, they wouldn’t do anything to her, would they?”

Kyle nearly laughed. “Not if they wanted to keep living there they wouldn’t. If you didn’t kick them out, I would, and they all know it. They may yell at me, but not one of them has ever raised a voice to one of my dogs, no matter what they’ve done. No, that’s one worry you don’t have. Now, about commands. I’ll teach her the basic ones, like sit, off, down, stay, and come. Are there any others you want her to know?”

Kevin shook his head. “Not that I know of. Chris? You’ve been around dogs more than I have. Do you think she needs to know anything else?”

“Roll over might be a good one, especially if she needs the hair on her belly brushed out.”

Kyle nodded and made a note. “Anything else?”

“I don’t think there’s a command for it, but it would be nice if she didn’t grab food off a plate if you set it down for a second. Had that happen once. A friend’s dog grabbed a steak right off my plate and took off with it while I was gone to get a drink.”

“That one’s on the two of you. A lot of people finish eating and set the plate down to let the dog eat the left-overs. If they’re used to eating off your plate and you set it down and walk away, they figure you’re done with it. Have a dish that’s hers, and always put her food in that dish. Never let her eat off the ones you use. Anything else?”

“Not that I can think of,” Chris said.

Kevin shrugged again. “I feel like there should be more, but I don’t know what. Keep in mind I’ve never lived with a dog before, so I don’t know what problems might come up.”

“Well, we’ll come for a couple of visits and spend at least one night before she comes there to live, so you’ll have a chance to see how she does and decide if there’s something that might turn into a problem. She’s a smart dog. Once she understands what you want her to do, she’ll cooperate.”