The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (57 page)

“You expect me to wear that?” Laryn gasped.

Allisandra put her hand on her belly and started to tear up. “I spent hours making this crown for you to wear today. It’s the perfect accessory for that dress.”

Laryn’s whole body tensed up, ready to run, but just as she started to shake her head no, a tear slipped out of Allisandra’s eye and made its way down her cheek. When Laryn saw that tear, all the fight went out of her. Her shoulders fell and a look of resignation settled on her face. “Well, since you made it …”

With a look of pure triumph, Allisandra set the crown of flowers on her sister’s head. She stepped back, nodded, and went back to her seat. She propped her feet up in Danyelle’s chair and settled back to watch Laryn deal with all of this. Her older sister was so very competent in so many things it did Allisandra’s heart good to watch her squirm.

While the women were serving their plates, movement at the top of the stairs caught Joan’s attention. Serra and Caitlyn were standing at the railing watching the scene below. Joan nodded and Serra took Caitlyn’s hand and started down the steps. As they descended, one of the women leaned towards Joan and asked, “Yours?”

“No, but I’m looking after her.”

“She’s precious,” the other woman said. “Did you see her in the sandbox today? She was adorable!”

Joan shook her head. “I was in the office this morning. What happened?”

“She showed us her toys and made a sandcastle for us. She even put in a little river so it would be just like ‘her castle’. It was the cutest thing. Does she live at the castle with her mother?”

By this time, several more women had noticed Caitlyn and walked over to join the group around Joan.

Joan shook her head. “Her mother’s not here. She was captured by slavers.” Then she told them about the raid in Syrando, how the slavers struck in the middle of the night and jerked people out of their beds. When she told them Caitlyn’s father had been killed trying to save his pregnant sister-in-law, several of the women looked a bit sick. “Caitlyn and her brother, Corey, were the only ones left in the village. They’re staying with us until we can locate their mother.”

“What are the chances you’ll be able to do that?” one of the women asked.

Joan shrugged and glanced towards Caitlyn. “I don’t know. Gen. Crandal and Myron had soldiers waiting near the mouth of the Kivee in case they headed out to sea, and Karl went to the auction in Glenarbour to see if any of the captives showed up there, but so far, we haven’t had any luck.”

“Such a shame,” another woman said, shaking her head.

Then one of the women said what many of them were thinking, “I hate it happened, but let’s be honest, their parents shouldn’t have lived on the Kivee. Everyone knows the risks of being captured along that river.”

Joan turned to the woman who had spoken. “They didn’t live on the Kivee. They lived several miles inland, right outside Ashmont. I’d have thought they’d be safe from slavers there, wouldn’t you?”

Before the conversation could go any further, Caitlyn caught Joan’s eye and motioned her over.

“Excuse me,” Joan said with a smile, “but Caitlyn’s calling.”

As the women walked towards the sitting room, Joan overheard one of them say she planned to have a talk with her husband. Someone had to do something about these raids. Before long, no one would be safe.

Joan grinned as she walked across the room towards Caitlyn. She couldn’t have asked for that to have gone any better.

~ ~ ~ ~

The banquet was to begin at 7:00, but by 6:00 the castle was crawling with guests. Kevin wanted to open the doors to the dining room just to have someplace for all these people to go, but Miranda was determined to keep the doors closed until 7:00.

He’d expected the women to be in the same clothes they’d worn to the brunch. He was wrong. The dresses they were wearing to the banquet were several steps up from the ones they’d worn that morning. He didn’t see how they’d packed all those flowing skirts, wraps, and hats, without ruining them, but it did explain all the luggage they’d had with them.

The men had managed to get the house framed by sunset, but barely. They’d changed into clean clothes, but there hadn’t been much time for washing up. At least everyone looked nice as they milled around the castle, waiting for the doors to open.

Laryn’s family was supposed to meet in the reception area of Kevin’s office. His aunts were in the dining room, helping Miranda put the finishing touches on the decorations while his uncles were upstairs, supposedly getting cleaned up and dressed.

Steve’s “family” gathered in the Governor’s Office with Joan and Karl. Joan had on a dress Gracie had made for her and Theresa had borrowed a formal dress from one of the women in town, but finding something to wear on formal occasions was no problem for Karl and Darrell. They had official uniforms to wear, same as Kevin and Chris.

Laryn and Steve were hiding in Kevin’s office. Laryn had had all the socializing she could take for one day. As far as she was concerned, the only good thing about the banquet was she would be seated with family. She’d made all the small talk she could handle for a while.

Kevin had sent Ariel to the dining room before the guests had started arriving with instructions to stay put until Miranda was ready for the family to be seated. He’d also told Ariel to shut the office down after the family went in, that he and Chris would handle anything that came up later, but he’d gotten the impression Ariel wasn’t too sure about that.

Right before seven, Miranda took one last look around her dining room and told Kevin’s aunts it was time for them to join their husbands. She gave them a few minutes to get ready, and then nodded to Ariel to bring the family in.

After everyone from both families had gathered in Kevin’s reception area, Shadron stepped in front of the door and whistled to get everyone’s attention. “All right. Everyone’s hungry so let’s get this over with. Line up, husband and wife. And Brandt, escort your sister.”

“Ahem,” Kyle said loudly. “And those of us without a wife? Where do you want us?”

Theresa spoke up. “Would you mind escorting me?”

“It would be my pleasure,” Kyle answered with a bit of a bow and a big grin.

Then Darrell spoke up. “I think Myron should lead and Chris and I should bring up the end.”

“Any objections?” Shadron asked.

“I think Laryn and Steve should be in front. After all, the banquet’s for them,” Kevin said.

Laryn shook her head. “No, this is your castle. You’re the host now. I played hostess long enough. You lead. Now, does anyone have any other problems?”

When no one said anything, Shadron said, “Then what are you waiting for? Get in line. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I worked hard today. I’m hungry.”

Half an hour later, all the guests were seated in the dining room. After Kevin welcomed everyone to the banquet and Shadron gave a quick speech welcoming Steve to the House of Nordin, dinner was served.

While the plates and glasses were being filled, conversation was light and jovial, but soon a few of the conversations around the room turned serious, especially as far as the women were concerned, and as one group of women turned serious, so did the rest. It rippled across the room like the water of a pond after a stone was dropped in.

Chris looked at Kevin. “Did we miss something?”

Kevin gave a faint shrug. “I don’t know.”

Darrell glanced around. “Something must have happened somewhere today. Ask Joan.”

Chris, who was seated closer to Joan than the other two, leaned towards her. “Did something happen at the reception we need to know about?”

Joan frowned. “Nothing other than what we planned. I said Caitlyn and Corey were staying with us until we could find their mother, and I told the ladies around me about the raid, but that’s all as far as I know. Do you think that’s what this is about?”

“If it is, I’d say the raid struck home,” Karl said. “Some of those wives look angry.”

A couple of minutes later, Joan asked Theresa what had happened with Yani.

“I’m not sure. I tried to get her to talk after we got back to the chapel, but all she wanted to do was lie down. Sister Agnes told me she didn’t get back up until time to dress for the banquet. She’s over there.” Theresa tilted her head in Yani’s direction. “The one in the dark blue dress with the puffy sleeves. I assume that’s her husband beside her. I’ve been watching them. She hasn’t eaten much, just picked at her food, and the two of them have been involved in some intense conversation. I haven’t seen either of them so much as acknowledge the others at their table.”

“Wonder what that’s all about?”

“All I know is she was asking about Serra, and mumbling something about how it can’t be, but I was more concerned with how pale her face was and how unfocused her eyes were. I wasn’t really listening to what she was saying. Do you think it matters?”

Joan shrugged. “If it does, we’ll hear about it.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Dinner went on for another hour before Laryn whispered to Kevin that no one was eating anymore, and if he would get up, the others could, too. Fifteen minutes later, the kitchen staff had removed all the dishes.

Cryslyn had arranged for music in the entrance hall for those who wanted to dance. For those who preferred the outdoors, the outside patio was set up with chairs, small tables, and candles. Glowstone torches had been set along the paths in the gardens for anyone who wanted an after-dinner walk, and for those who wanted to chat inside, sitting areas were soon set up in the dining room.

Kevin made the rounds, and then slipped away to his office, where he found Ariel still manning the front desk. Kevin shook his head as he walked through the reception area, went into his office, and shut his door. He sat down, leaned back, and stretched out his legs. A knock on his door brought him right back up.

Ariel opened it and stepped inside. “I hate to bother you, but Thanzer, the minister of Lochland, insists he must speak with you this evening.”

Kevin nodded. “Let him in.”

Thanzer was only in his mid-forties, but the gray that had invaded his brown hair made him look older, not distinguished. His shoulders drooped like he had been carrying too much weight for too long.

“I’m sorry to bother you tonight,” he said as he sat down, “but I was afraid if I didn’t speak to you tonight, I wouldn’t get a chance at all, and there’ll be no living with Yani unless I get some answers.”

Kevin nodded again.

“She’s certain one of your servant girls is her niece, and I haven’t been able to shake her conviction.”

“Who?”

“The girl who watches the children in the playground. I think her name’s Serra.”

“And your wife thinks Serra’s her niece?”

Thanzer nodded.

“Why?”

“Yani says Serra is the image of her sister Elayne at that age. That’s why seeing Serra hit her so hard. She felt like she was looking at Elayne’s ghost.”

“What happened to Elayne?”

“She and her husband, Allan, left Lochland intending to settle somewhere along the east coast of Camden. But, from what we heard, a big storm came up and blew them off course before they had gotten very far. It carried them all the way across the ocean. They worked their way down the wasteland to the northern coast of Dresland where they settled in a small village. The trip took them half a year, or at least that’s how long it was before we heard from them.”

Thanzer paused. “At first, Elayne wrote regularly, and according to her letters, they were happy there. Allan fished with the men while Elayne and the women worked the gardens. From what she said, life was good. The last letter we got was about four years after they settled there. Elayne had given birth to a baby girl, and she had named her Serra, in honor of their grandmother. Then the letters stopped coming. A year and a half later, we got a letter from the district minister telling us Elayne and Allan had been killed during a slaver raid. The minister didn’t mention Serra, so Yani wrote back and asked him what had happened to their daughter. It took him a while to respond, but when he did, he said he had checked with everyone he could find from the area and no one had any idea what had happened to the child. The best he could say was no one had found her body, so it was assumed she had been captured along with most of the villagers.”

Thanzer shook his head and wiped his face with his hands. “The whole thing made Kyra, Yani’s mother, physically sick. She took to her bed for over a year. Ester, Allan’s mother, wasn’t much better off, and to this day, she believes Allan’s death and the disappearance of that baby girl worried her husband right into his grave.”

Thanzer looked down at the floor and shook his head. Then he looked at Kevin. “Through it all, Yani was the strong one. She took care of her mother and did what she could for Ester, but wondering what happened to Serra has been eating at her for the past twenty years. Was she alive? Was she being taken care of? All of it preyed on her mind, day in, day out. Then to see this girl, who looks just like her sister, and to find out her name is Serra …” Thanzer shook his head. “It was too much for her. She believes Serra is Elayne’s child. I couldn’t talk her out of it, so I promised her I’d check into it. From what Yani was told, Serra’s mother lives here in Milhaven. I hate to ask, but would you talk to her and find out if she knows anything at all about Elayne?”

Kevin wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t feel like he knew Debra well enough to ask her something like that without upsetting her and possibly Serra, but he couldn’t help but feel bad for the anguish Yani was going through.

“I’m not sure I’m the best one to talk to Debra about this,” Kevin said, “but I’ll find someone who can check on it without creating more problems than we’d be solving. Would that be all right?”

Thanzer nodded and stood up to go. “Thank you for seeing me, and for agreeing to check into this for us.”

“I won’t be able to do anything about it until after I get the other ministers and their wives back home though. Could you and Yani stay another day or so and give me some time to work on this?”

“We’ll get a room at the tavern for however long it takes.”