The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (51 page)

“When can she come for a visit?” Kevin asked.

“I don’t want her anywhere near that place until after the wedding. I want her first couple of visits to be when things are relatively calm. If things are like they used to be, weekends are better than weekdays. Shall we say the Sunday after Laryn and Steve sign the register? I think it’s the eighth, right?”

“But that’s a month from now,” Kevin said, frowning.

“Well, you do have a key. Feel free to pop in any time and say hi, but I don’t want her first visit to be in the middle of the chaos that surrounds major events at the castle.”

“You’re right,” Kevin said, “but I’m giving you fair warning. I’m going to pop in to see her at least once a week. I may not be able to stay but a few minutes, but I don’t want her to forget who I am.” He stood up and stretched. “Think I’ll head back outside for a few minutes to tell her goodbye. Chris, come get me when you’re ready to go.”

Chapter 45

A Decision Is Made

Sunday morning Kevin and Chris went to the canyon lands for Kevin’s practice session with Glendymere. While Kevin blocked energy bolts and dealt with all the other hazards Glendymere bombarded him with, Chris walked around the butte, enjoying a little peace.

All too soon, Kevin joined him to tell him he was going to pick up Rhianna.

Chris walked back towards the edge of the butte where Glendymere was waiting. “Are you going to help Rhianna with the storms?”

“Not today,”
Glendymere answered.
“I was waiting for you. Is something bothering you? You seem a bit preoccupied.”

Chris shook his head. “Just enjoying the view and a few minutes to myself.”

About that time, Kevin returned from Willow Canyon with Rhianna.

Glendymere greeted the elf, and then spread his wings.
“I’ve several places I need to visit before I head back home, so if there’s nothing else,”
he said, looking at Kevin. When Kevin shook his head, Glendymere said,
“I’ll be off.”
With a whoosh, he flapped his wings and lifted off the butte into the sky.

Kevin was wondering how to explain building a thunderstorm to Rhianna when she turned to Chris and asked, “How’s Marcus doing? I know Hayley closed his wound, but did it heal up all right?”

“He’s fine, and working out with Myron and some of the guards every day.”

“On using shields to stop arrows instead of his body?” she asked with a grin.

Chris grinned, too. “That, and his outstretched hand.”

“His outstretched hand?”

Chris nodded. “He catches the arrows and stacks them on the ground beside him. Or at least that’s what he’s supposed to do. He can knock them down pretty well, but grabbing arrows in flight and stacking them takes a bit of time, and when you have six archers firing at you, time is one thing you don’t have much of.”

“No, I wouldn’t think you would. But he is able to keep from getting hit, right?”

Chris laughed. “Pretty much. At first Myron had to intervene quite a bit, but now he doesn’t do much more than watch. Which is a good thing.”

“How about Saryn? Did you get much information out of him?”

Chris shook his head. “We didn’t get any more than what you heard.”

“Why not? I thought he was going to tell you everything except who his friends were.”

“He probably would have if he hadn’t been murdered in his sleep.”

“While he was in jail? At the castle?”

Chris nodded.

“Wow. Bet Gen. Crandal wasn’t too pleased about that.”

“I’d say that’s an understatement.”

Kevin watched the flow of conversation between Chris and Rhianna. He’d hate to admit it, but he was jealous. Chris could talk to her so easily about all kinds of things, but whenever the conversation between himself and Rhianna veered away from magic, he found himself at a loss for words. He could manage a couple of sentences, but after that he either found something he had to do or switched the topic back to magic. Why did he find it so easy to talk to Theresa or Hayley or any of the other women in his life when it was so hard to talk to the one woman he really wanted to talk to?

While the conversation was paused, Kevin cleared his throat and said, “We need to get started.” He looked at Chris. “Keep an eye on things around here for me.”

When Chris nodded, Kevin turned to Rhianna. “I want you to join with the wind and feel the storm’s life cycle from the inside. Don’t try to do anything, just go with it.” He turned towards the canyon, and closed his eyes.

As Rhianna closed her eyes to find a connection with the wind, Kevin began playing with different air currents, stirring things up until he had the beginnings of a nice little storm. He intensified things a little and soon the clouds darkened and lightning began jumping between the clouds and down to the canyon floor. Once the storm reached its peak, Kevin stepped back and enjoyed it for a bit. Then he helped it calm down.

He broke his connection with the storm and turned his attention to Rhianna, but she was still caught up in the remnants of the storm. Her eyes were no longer shut, but they looked vacant, like no one was home, which was pretty close to the truth.

Finally the last of the rain sputtered and the clouds drifted apart. Rhianna blinked several times and gazed around her. She stared at the ground with a puzzled look on her face.

“The first time I joined with a storm, I expected to be soaked and standing in a puddle a water when I came out of it,” Kevin said.

“That’s exactly what I was expecting,” Rhianna said as she looked up from the ground. “It seemed so real, like I was right there, in the middle of all of that rain, but there’s not a drop of water on my clothes.” She ran her hands over her face and hair. “My hair’s not even wet.”

Kevin laughed. “The only answer I could come up with is I wasn’t really there, at least not physically. I saw it and felt it with my mind, not with my body. I don’t know if that’s the real explanation, but it worked for me.”

Rhianna nodded. “I’ll go with that one, too.”

“So, how’d you like being in the middle of a storm?”

Rhianna grinned. “It was fantastic. I want to do it again.”

Kevin felt warm inside seeing the grin on her face and knowing he’d caused it. “Now?”

“Now would be good.” Rhianna turned to look out over the canyon once more. “I could do this all day.”

They didn’t spend the whole day playing in thunderstorms, but Kevin did build a few more before calling an end to that morning’s session.

“We’ll come back next Sunday and do this again,” he said as he stepped back from the edge of the butte. “Practice joining with the wind this week, and next week, after I build a couple, you can try to build one. But we’ve got to head back home now.”

Rhianna’s eyes sparkled as she put her hand on his arm. As soon as Chris touched his other arm, Kevin turned the key and they left the canyon lands.

~ ~ ~ ~

When Rhianna got up Monday morning, she found a note slipped under her door. Landis had already packed their lunch, and headed down. All Rhianna had to do was grab a bite to eat and join her.

Landis had come to a decision during her walk Saturday afternoon, but she wanted to sleep on it to be sure it was the right one. When she woke up Sunday, she knew it was, but she wanted to give it one more day before she told anyone.

As she walked down the path to the canyon Monday morning, she felt lighter than she had in weeks, like a heavy load had been lifted off her shoulders. When she reached the cave, she picked up one of the hammers to hit a gong to let Glendymere know she was on her way in, but before she could raise the hammer, she heard Glendymere’s voice in her head.

“Come on in,”
he said.
“I’m awake. I’ve been waiting for you. I’ve got some errands to run this morning.”

When Landis reached his sleeping chamber, she sat down on the stone basin and looked at him.

Glendymere resisted the temptation to peek and waited somewhat impatiently to hear what was on her mind.

“I’ve reached a decision,” Landis said, “a decision that will affect the rest of my life, and probably the lives of those I love.”

Glendymere waited for her to continue, but she just sat there. Finally he said,
“And …”

“And I’d like for you to teach me what I need to know in order to become a sorcerer,” Landis said. The ends of Glendymere’s eyebrows dipped down to a point over his snout, but before he could say anything, Landis continued. “I know you’ve already agreed to teach me, but I wasn’t the one asking. Since my life is in danger and consequently the lives of those around me, I want to learn how to protect myself and them.”

Her eyes took on a faraway look. “While we were in Milhaven, before we got there, there was this big storm. Trees were down all over the place, causing all kinds of problems. I watched a sorcerer move huge trees off barns and houses. He even picked one up so we could rescue a tiny kitten. We could hear the kitten crying, but we couldn’t find it, not until he moved that tree. And a rock slide blocked one of the roads out in the country. He blasted the boulders down to tiny rocks, almost like pebbles, and scattered them along the road. And I floated through the air.” The last sentence was so soft, it was almost a whisper. Landis blinked her eyes and looked at Glendymere. “I floated through the air! From one side of the ravine to the other. I acted like I didn’t like it, but I did. I want to be able to do that. All of it. Will you help me get ready to be Myron’s apprentice?”

Glendymere smiled.
“It will be my pleasure.”

At that point, Rhianna walked into the chamber. Sensing that something major had happened, she stopped, tilted her head, looked at Landis, and asked, “What?”

“Oh, nothing. We were just talking.” Landis stood up. “Time to get to work.” Then she walked into their room, closed her eyes, and concentrated on filling two balls with magical energy.

Rhianna looked at Glendymere. He nodded and, speaking only to Rhianna, said,
“She’s decided she wants to be a sorcerer.”

A smile spread across Rhianna’s face.
“It’s about time.”

Chapter 46

Narrowing Down the Suspect List

Wednesday morning, Gen. Crandal was waiting when Kevin and Chris got back from breakfast.

When he asked Kevin if he could speak with him for a minute, Kevin opened the door to his office, motioned Gen. Crandal in, and shut the door behind him.

“I’ve had two new raid reports come in,” Gen. Crandal said.

“Do you think it’s our same gang?”

“I’m not sure how many gangs are involved, but I think a key was used in both of them,” Gen. Crandal answered. “Highland Cove, a small community near the West River, was hit a week and a half ago, on Saturday night. The best thing I can say about it is no one was killed. But they got six men, six women, and twelve children, ranging in ages from two to sixteen.”

“Why do you think a key was used there?”

“Highland Cove’s half a mile from the river. There’s no way the slavers could have marched that many people through the woods without someone noticing, and the dock is at an actual fishing village, with a dozen or more families. They didn’t see or hear anything.”

Kevin nodded. “With a key they wouldn’t.”

Gen. Crandal walked over to the map of Camden. “The other raid was here, on Shallowford Bay.” He pointed to an area Kevin recognized as the Albemarle Sound. “See this waterway?” He pointed to one of the many creeks. “It’s called Garnett’s Inlet. Anyway, there was a small fishing village along there, just a few families. The slavers attacked a couple of hours after daybreak, after the men had gone out on the boats. They killed two elderly men and took five women and seven children. Three of the children were girls in their early teens, and two of the women were young and unmarried.”

“Isn’t that unusual? To time it so the men are gone.”

Gen. Crandal nodded. “First I’ve ever heard of slavers doing that.”

“When did it happen?”

“Last Thursday.”

Kevin walked over to the map and looked at the waterways. “What makes you think they used a key on this one? It’s close to the ocean.”

“It was a slow fishing day, so the men came home mid-morning. When they saw what had happened, they sounded the alarm, and I mean that literally. There are big gongs all over that area and they ring them whenever there are slavers around. Every settlement, village, port, any place where people live, has a gong, and when one group hears a gong, they hit theirs, and before long everyone in the area knows what to be on the lookout for. Before lunch men were out on boats all over the bay stopping and searching any and all boats they didn’t recognize. People in that area are used to it. They don’t mind having their boat searched because they understand why it’s happening. They’ve got the best record for catching slavers of any place in Camden.”

Gen. Crandal pointed to a narrow waterway that was the only exit from the bay. “A group of soldiers live near here. As soon as they hear a gong, they set up a string of boats across that waterway. There’s no way anyone can get out of that bay without a fight as long as the soldiers find out in time, and last Thursday they did. They were out on the water a couple of hours before lunch according to the report I got. There’s no way the slavers could have gotten through there, and none of the fishermen searching the bay found any strangers, much less a boat loaded with women and children.”

“Could they have hidden up one of those streams?”

“They could have, but the fishermen search every last one of those nooks when they’re looking for slavers. Those fishermen live with the threat of their families being captured and sold. They don’t sleep until they’re sure the slavers are gone, one way or another.”

“As in dead?”

Gen. Crandal nodded. “Dead or captured, and slavers don’t want to be captured. When they fight, it’s always to the death.” Gen. Crandal paused. “Sometimes the slavers do make it out of the area. When that happens, unless the fishermen somehow know for sure they’re gone, they’ll go weeks on end sleeping in shifts, someone on guard every hour of every day. Sometimes I wonder why anyone in his right mind would ever choose to be a fisherman and live that close to the sea. But the men who do it say they can’t imagine any other life, that the sea’s in their blood.”