The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (67 page)

Kyle walked out of his house in time to hear Kevin’s comment. He laughed. “She’ll calm down some as she grows up, but she’s always going to be excited when she sees you.”

As Kevin walked over towards Kyle, Nikki fell in step beside him and matched his pace. After a moment, Kevin asked, “Have you trained her to walk beside me like this?”

Kyle shook his head. “No, but I can. I’ve worked on how to behave inside more than anything else, like using an inside voice, letting someone know she needs to go out, eating only out of her bowl, things like that. And she knows sit, down, off, and come. Do you want her to walk beside you?”

Kevin thought about it. “There may be times when it would be best, but I don’t want to make her do it all the time. Can she be taught to do it on command?”

Kyle nodded. “We’ll work on it. What command do you want to use?”

“How about ‘heel’?”

Kyle nodded as he reached down and scratched Nikki’s head. “Where are you planning to bring us in?”

“I thought we’d go to my office.”

Kyle frowned. “She might be a little upset by the energy field, and if she is, she may have an accident. How about someplace outside, but not right in the middle of a bunch of people?”

Kevin nodded. “Down near the river?”

“That should be all right. I’ve got a collar on her, and we can put a lead on her if you want to, but when you go through the energy flow, you need to be touching her to take her with you.”

“How do you suggest I do this? I don’t want to hurt her, or scare her.”

“When I take little dogs through the field, I carry them in my arms, but even though you could pick her up now, she’s going to be too big for that soon. You could put your hand on her head, but if you do, be sure you don’t lose contact with her. You could put your arm around her body, but I’m not sure how she’ll react to that. Some dogs don’t have a problem with it, but others don’t like it.”

Kevin frowned. “Could I put an energy sphere around her? Would that scare her?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried that,” Kyle said. “I’ve never tried to make a sphere, never thought about it. Can you do that?”

Kevin nodded.

“Put one around her and let’s see how she reacts.”

Kevin slowly brought an energy shield up under Nikki and then closed the top. Since the energy shield was on the ground, Nikki didn’t have much reaction. She looked around, but didn’t move.

“Now try to raise her off the ground, just a little, to see how she does,” Kyle suggested.

Kevin raised the ball a couple of inches up, but Nikki didn’t like it, so he set the sphere down on the ground and released it. “Maybe if she wasn’t standing it would be better. Did you say she understands down?”

Kyle stepped in front of her to get her attention. “Nikki, down.”

Nikki sank to the ground and settled down to wait for her release.

Kevin formed another energy sphere around Nikki and raised it until she was about six inches off the ground. She looked around like something felt a little strange, but she didn’t move. Kevin nodded and said, “That might work.”

“Let’s go,” Kyle said as he put his hand on Kevin’s arm.

Kevin turned the key.

As soon as they’d cleared the energy field, he lowered Nikki to the ground and released the sphere. Nikki didn’t appear to have any bad side effects, but she also didn’t seem to be all that pleased. She looked confused.

“Is she all right?” Kevin asked, frowning. “She doesn’t look happy.”

“Look at it from her perspective,” Kyle said as he knelt down beside her and stroked her head. “A minute ago, she was in her own yard, with her friends all around her. Now she’s in an unfamiliar place and her friends are gone. She’s not hurt, but she doesn’t understand what happened either.” Then Kyle stood up. “After she goes through the field a few times, she’ll be fine with it. Go ahead and release her.”

Kevin stepped in front of Nikki. “Nikki, okay.”

Nikki jumped up and started walking around, sniffing the ground as she went and glancing back at Kyle every few steps.

“Now tell her to sit,” Kyle said. “Be sure you have her attention. Call her first.”

“Nikki,” Kevin said. He waited a moment for her to look at him. “Sit.”

Nikki plopped her hind quarters down on the ground and grinned at him.

“She’s waiting for a treat.” Kyle pulled a small bit of jerky out of his pocket and handed it to Kevin. “Always have treats ready. Every time she obeys a command, give her one. Helps make sure she’ll do it right the next time. If she doesn’t do what you say, don’t give it to her. Make her earn them.”

“Miranda said she’d make some for her. She wanted to know what flavors Nikki liked, but I didn’t know what to tell her.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“I thought you said Miranda and Cryslyn didn’t like having dogs at the castle. They seemed fine with it when I told them she was coming for a visit,” Kevin said as they walked towards the castle.

“I said they
act
like they don’t like having dogs at the castle, but I think it’s all for show. They’ll treat yours like royalty.” When Kevin frowned, Kyle laughed. “Just be glad she’ll be treated well and don’t worry about it. Now, let’s go inside and let her start meeting people.”

For the next couple of hours, Kevin introduced Nikki to everyone he could find, with Kyle following close behind. Nikki didn’t have any problems at all. Everyone she met was a friend, and everyone who met her treated her like she was the most wonderful dog they’d ever seen and made a fuss over her. But the biggest fuss was in his office. The pages fell in love with the golden puppy with the big feet and floppy ears.

After he and Kyle let the pages play with her for a while, Kevin told Nikki to come with them and they went outside towards the stable area. He looked around for Marshall but couldn’t find him. Finally he stepped inside Neiven’s shop and asked if he had any idea where Marshall was.

“He took a couple of the horses down to the lower pasture for the night. Should be back any minute.”

“Thanks,” Kevin said.

Kevin went back outside and told Kyle what Neiven had said. “Want to head down that way?” Kyle nodded, so they started down the road. Fifteen minutes later, Kevin spotted Marshall. “There,” he said pointing towards a group of trees. “He’s coming this way.”

When Marshall got closer, he knelt down on one knee to let Nikki come to him. Nikki took it as an invitation and took off running. The two greeted each other like long lost friends and by the time Kevin and Kyle caught up, they were friends for life.

“Good afternoon, Myron,” Marshall said as he stood up. “Is this Nikki?”

Kevin laughed and nodded.

Marshall bent back over to pet her some more.

Kyle eyed the young man carefully. “I take it Chris has talked to you?”

Marshall nodded, still paying more attention to Nikki than anyone else. “Yes, sir, he said Myron would need someone to exercise and take care of Nikki when he was away from the castle and asked if I’d be interested in doing it.”

“And you said?”

“That I’d be happy to.” Marshall straightened up and looked at Kyle. “I like dogs, sir. I’m more comfortable with dogs and horses than I am with people.”

“Would you be willing to come spend some time with me in Lochland before Nikki comes here to live?” Kyle asked. “I’d like to go over her feeding, care, and training with you in detail if you’re going to help look after her.”

Marshall looked at Kevin. “If it’s all right with Neiven and Myron.”

Kyle nodded. “I’m coming back in a couple of weeks for another visit. You could go back with us then and stay for a week. Would that work?”

Marshall looked at Kevin with his eyebrows raised. At Kevin’s nod, he said, “It’s fine with me.”

“Be sure you bring some warm clothes,” Kyle said.

When Nikki walked over and sat down beside him, Kyle rested his hand on her head and looked at Kevin. “I think Nikki’s been here long enough for her first visit. She’s getting tired. Let’s take her home.”

~ ~ ~ ~

When they got back to Kyle’s, Kevin petted Nikki while he explained Darrell’s plan to Kyle and asked him to be a spotter. It was almost dinnertime when Kevin got back to the castle. Thanzer and Yani were waiting in the reception area.

“Did you have a nice visit?” he asked as he ushered them into his office.

Yani nodded. “Debra’s a sweet lady. You don’t have to be around her family very long to see how much they adore her. And you were right. Serra’s very much a part of that family.”

“Did you meet Debra’s other children? Serra’s brother and sister?”

“Yes, and the youngest one, too,” Thanzer said. “Serra said something about the child being a slave? That Gov. Karl bought her in Glenarbour?”

Kevin nodded. “Her name is Tonnie.”

“Why didn’t he buy the rest of her family?”

“She was by herself. There was no family.”

“Oh, poor thing.” Yani put her hand up to her throat. “Just think, if it hadn’t been for Debra, the same thing might have happened to our Serra. But what will happen to the child now? Will she be sold again when she gets older?”

Kevin shook his head. “We don’t sell slaves, but she’s not a slave anyway. She’s a child, pure and simple. Right now we think she’s an orphan, but we don’t really know. Debra’s going to see what she can find out.”

“So, will she continue living with Debra and Korman?”

“I don’t know,” Kevin said. “If she has parents out there somewhere and we can find them, we’d like to get her back with them, but if not, we’ll see to it she has a good home.”

“Good,” Yani said.

“Now, if you’ll put your hands on my arms,” Kevin said, holding an arm out to each of them, “we’ll get you home.”

~ ~ ~ ~

When Kevin finally got back from lining up his spotters that night, Chris was waiting in his room with two mugs of scog.

“Long day,” Kevin said as he sat down and picked up the mug closest to him.

“So? How’d it go?”

“We’ve got six spotters.”

“No problems? Not even with Allisandra?”

Kevin shook his head. “She was all for it. Craven wasn’t so sure it was a good idea though.”

“How did you convince him?”

“I didn’t. He just gave up, but when I mentioned I wanted her at the chapel he was a little happier about it. I told her the first attack took place behind the chapel and I felt sure if an assassin showed up there, he’d scout out the area pretty well, so I wanted her to stay inside the chapel and use her seeing eye from there.”

“And she fell for that explanation?”

Kevin shrugged. “She pretended to.”

“Have you mentioned any of this to Theresa yet?”

Kevin shook his head again. “It’s on my list for tomorrow.”

“What did Warren say?”

Kevin laughed. “He was thrilled, and Torrey said there’d be no living with him now he’d been included in a House of Nordin adventure.”

“Is she okay about going to Shadron’s to wait with Kayla?”

“Well, it won’t be just Kayla. Craven said if Allisandra was going there after it was over, he wanted to be there too, and so did Dara. Sedwin said he’d stay home with the kids and wait for Danyelle to get home and fill him in. But Torrey was all for it, and she was making a list of food to take with her before I left.”

“I want to go, too,” Chris said. “Sounds like a lot of fun, and if Torrey’s baking … You might want to check with Laryn and see if she and Steve want to go.”

“I will, tomorrow,” Kevin said with a yawn. “But I’m done for today. All I want now is sleep.”

Chapter 59

Count Down

Late Wednesday afternoon, Kevin sent sealed messages to Darrell, Cpt. Lawrence, and Marcus to meet him that evening at 9:00. He wanted the pages and most of the castle staff to be gone for the day. The less people who knew they were meeting, the less speculation there would be about the topic.

Chris dismissed the pages when he got back from dinner, and shortly before nine, he closed the office for the night. Then he opened the door to Kevin’s office and asked, “Do you want me to get anything from the kitchen?”

“I’d love some scog, but if we get enough for everyone, someone’ll notice.”

“Need anything else before we get started?”

Kevin shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “Do you think this will work?”

“I have no idea, but since I don’t have anything better to offer …”

“That’s the way I feel.”

A knock on Kevin’s door interrupted them. When Chris opened it, Marcus walked in. “You wanted to see me?”

Kevin nodded. “Have a seat. We’ll start as soon as Darrell and Cpt. Lawrence get here.”

Marcus sat down and frowned. “Mind if I ask what this is about?”

“It’s Darrell’s plan, so I’d rather he explain it to you.”

Marcus leaned back and sighed. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

Chris laughed. “No, it’s nothing like that. He hasn’t come up with some new training exercise to torture you with.”

Kevin grinned. “That didn’t even cross my mind. This is about finding out who our spy is.”

“You mean the one who set me and Landis up?”

Kevin nodded.

Marcus sat up straight. “Then whatever it is, count me in.”

They didn’t have to wait long before the other two knocked on Kevin’s door.

Darrell nodded towards Marcus and Chris, and looked at Kevin. “We’re still on for this Saturday, aren’t we?”

Kevin nodded. “I think we need to make some preparations and I didn’t want to do it without the two of you.”

“What kind of preparations?” Cpt. Lawrence asked.

“We need to tell Marcus what’s going on for one thing. Why don’t you tell him what you have in mind?”

Darrell and Cpt. Lawrence went through their plan. The only thing they left out was the list of suspects.

While they talked, Kevin listened and jotted down a couple of notes. When they were done, he said, “I’ve talked to Landis. She’s willing to do her part, and she had suggestions for the other two errands.” He looked over at Marcus. “You lifted a tree so she and Rhianna could rescue a kitten. Do you remember that?”