The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (84 page)

“If I back down, I’m weak. If I don’t, I’ll alienate the council by demanding they return gifts she so generously bestowed on them. It’s a no-win situation.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“I have no idea.”

Chapter 70

Visitors in Bridgeport

Late Saturday morning, as Mikos and Devron approached Bridgeport, Mikos said, “I can’t wait to get off this boat. It’s hard to believe some people enjoy this.”

Devron had been sitting near the back of the boat for the past couple of hours, watching the shoreline drift by. At least heading downriver was a lot easier than heading up. “How long have we been out now?”

“Almost two weeks. If we get the information we need today, we can head back to camp tomorrow. Mother should be there Tuesday.”

“And whether or not we meet her depends on what we find out today.”

“Right.” Mikos moved towards the front of the small boat. “The docks are right around that bend. Easy now.”

For the next few minutes, they guided their boat towards the dock and maneuvered it between boats already tied up. After securing their boat, they headed towards the few shops that made up the village of Bridgeport.

As they walked past the blacksmith shop, Thom stepped out to greet them. “Guess you made your delivery all right.”

Mikos nodded. “With a whole day to spare.”

“Will you be at the tavern tonight?” Devron asked.

“Unless Marissa has something else in mind,” Thom said with a grin.

Mikos chuckled. “Don’t know whether to say hope to see you there or not.”

Thom laughed. “Are you staying overnight?”

Mikos nodded. “Thought we’d sleep at the tavern if they have room. We have to head down the river tomorrow.”

“Well, if you hang around until tomorrow afternoon, we’re having a town picnic for lunch. All the local families will be here.”

“Any particular reason?” Devron asked.

Thom shook his head. “The wives decided it would be fun since there’s no snow on the ground and the weather’s fairly warm.” He shrugged and looked at the sky. “Of course, if the weather turns nasty it’ll be postponed, but for now, it’s on. Anyway, you’re invited if you’d like to come. There’ll be plenty of food.”

“Thank you,” Mikos said. “We have to make a pickup downriver Tuesday. Let me think about it a little.”

Thom nodded. “Hope to see you there. Guess I’d better get back to work.”

As Thom walked back into his shop, Devron whispered, “If we don’t get the information we need tonight, maybe we can tomorrow.”

Mikos nodded. “But I’d rather get it and be on our way. I don’t want to take the chance of running into that sorcerer while we’re here, and a local picnic might bring him around.”

Devron nodded.

When they reached the tavern, they went inside to see if they could rent two rooms for the night. Kent, the tavern owner, wasn’t at the front desk, so they went past the lobby area to the tavern. The chairs were turned over on top of the tables and the floor looked damp, but there was some clanging coming from behind a pair of swinging doors.

Mikos knocked on the door frame as he pushed one of the swinging doors open. “Hello?”

A woman who looked like she was in her early thirties had a big pot in her hands. Raw vegetables were laid out along a counter near a big knife. “May I help you?” she asked as she set the pot down next to the vegetables.

“We were looking for Kent,” Mikos answered.

“Father’s at home right now,” she said. “I’m Lisal. Can I help you?”

“My name’s Mikos and this is Devron. We were in town last weekend and stayed here last Saturday night. We’d like to rent two rooms for tonight if you aren’t full.”

Lisal laughed. “Full? You’ve got to be kidding.” She shook her head. “Visitors are rare, and most of the ones who do stop by sleep on their boats.”

Devron smiled. “We sleep on that boat enough as it is. A night in a real bed’s a treat. Can we rent a couple of rooms?”

“Sure.” Lisal wiped her hands on her apron. “I’ll show you upstairs and you can settle up with my father later.” She walked past the men to the swinging doors, opened them, and said, “If you’ll come with me …”

~ ~ ~ ~

Mikos and Devron settled at a table near the back of the tavern early that evening. They’d had a thick stew and hot bread fresh from the oven for dinner, and as far as they were concerned, that meal made the whole trip worthwhile.

As they sat there, quietly talking and wondering how to bring up the subject of the raid, Thom walked in, accompanied by a woman holding a baby in her arms. As the woman made her way to a table where two other women were seated, Thom joined Mikos and Devron. “Mind if I join you? Marissa’s going to be chatting for a while.”

“Sure.” Mikos signaled for Kent to bring another scog over. “Your wife?”

Thom nodded as he sat down. “And that’s my son she’s holding. Still can’t get used to the idea I’m a father.”

Mikos laughed. “How old is he?”

“Not quite a month.” Thom chuckled. “He picked the worst night to make his entrance.”

“Why?” Devron asked. “What happened?”

“It was the night of the raid.” Thom explained he’d been visiting his childhood friend, Marcus, when slavers woke them up. “Good thing Marcus was here.”

“Why?”

“He’s a sorcerer, and not just any sorcerer. He works with Myron, the Master Sorcerer.”

“You mean he’s Myron’s apprentice?” Mikos asked.

Thom shook his head. “He’s not anyone’s apprentice. Marcus works with Myron.”

Devron frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“He does a lot of different things for Myron. He helps with disaster cleanup, like storm damage. Sometimes he’s sent to other towns to help out, even other provinces. He’s investigated slaver raids for Myron and helped secure areas that have been attacked. And when Myron’s away from the castle, Marcus covers any sorcerer work that comes up while he’s gone. Anyway, Marcus was here when the slavers raided. Thanks to him, we’re all still here and the slavers are locked up.”

“So what happened during the raid?” Mikos asked. “What did he do?”

Thom told the story of that night, going into great detail about how Marcus disarmed the slavers, scared them all half to death when he vanished, and then returned a couple of hours later with Myron and Gen. Crandal. “I still can’t believe Parsyn chose that night to make his entrance. I don’t know what would have happened if Marcus hadn’t been here to protect us, or if Sister Hayley hadn’t been here to deliver him. It was a stroke of good luck she came with Marcus. There’s not another sorcerer or sister for miles. Sometimes it’s scary how things work out.”

Mikos nodded. “Where are they now? Marcus and Sister Hayley? Are they still here?”

Thom shook his head. “They’re back in Milhaven. Marcus owns a house here. We look after it for him, but I don’t think he’ll ever move back here to live. Wish he would though. The kids adore him.” At that moment, a baby’s cry rang out over the hubbub of conversations. Thom grinned. “That’s my boy. Bet he’s hungry. Guess we’d better head back home.” As he stood up, he asked, “Do you think you’ll be able to make it to the picnic tomorrow?”

Mikos shook his head. “I’d like to, but if we did, we’d lose a day of travel, and we don’t have much time to spare if we’re going to make our pickup on time.”

“Well, hope to see you next time you’re this way.” Thom shook hands with the two men. “Good luck.”

After Thom and Marissa left the tavern, Devron sighed. “Now we know.”

Mikos nodded. “Now all we have to do is figure out how to tell my mother her key is in Milhaven, probably in Myron’s hands.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Mikos spent the next two days trying to decide whether it would be better to keep on going and forget about meeting his mother, or meet with her and tell her Myron had her key. If it were any other sorcerer on Terah it would be no problem, but Myron! The one person she hated above all others.

Actually his mother despised all members of the House of Nordin, but the focal point of her animosity was Myron. Ever since he’d taken his place as Master Sorcerer, all she could talk about was taking him down.

Mikos wasn’t sure what would be involved in taking down the seated Master Sorcerer, and he wasn’t fool enough to ask, but that seemed to be the motivation behind her actions, especially the raids she wanted him to run in Camden. He’d been handling the slave business for over ten years, but it wasn’t until this past September she’d given him the key and told him to recruit several teams and concentrate on Camden.

She’d been pleased with the reports he’d sent her. His teams had managed to capture around two hundred slaves for her this past fall. But could he count on her to remember that once she found out who had her key? He figured her first reaction would be to kill the messenger, and if he was there for that one, he’d never know her next one.

So, the question was not only whether or not he should break the news to her, but if he decided to tell her, how should he do it? Should he risk telling her in person? Or should he send her a letter? Or should he vanish into Camden and hope he never ran into her again? It was the most important decision of his life, and he only had until Tuesday morning to come up with an answer.

What he really wanted to do was disappear, but that would make her angry enough to send assassins after him. The next best option was to send her a letter, but where could he find a falcon that could make that trip? He was sure there were some in Milhaven, but where? He was in the middle of nowhere. But even if he could find one, it wouldn’t help. She’d still be furious he hadn’t met her. He could end up with assassins on his tail before the letter ever got to her.

They reached the campsite late Monday afternoon, and by evening, he’d figured out he needed a new plan, one that had the benefits of meeting her without exposing him to her fury. Maybe he should leave a letter for her at the campsite. That might work, but he’d have to have a good reason for not being there, and he couldn’t exactly tell her it was because he was afraid she’d kill him. Talk about angry! If she suspected him of cowardice she’d kill him on the spot.

While they were fixing dinner, Devron asked if he had any idea when Gwendolyn would show up the next day. “Do we need to be ready to go by sunrise? Or later?”

Mikos shook his head. “I have no idea, but with the time difference, I imagine she’ll be here early.” After a moment, he said, “Look, Devron, you aren’t part of this and I don’t know how she’ll react to the news Myron has her key. It might be best if you weren’t here.”

Devron frowned. “Where would I be?”

“Maybe a mile or two upstream. Just not close by.”

“Why? What are you expecting?”

“Honestly? I’m halfway expecting energy bolts, and I’d hate for one to hit you.”

“What about you?”

Mikos shrugged.

“So why don’t we both leave? Just disappear into Camden?”

“If I’m not here to tell her what we found out, she’ll go to that village and get the answers herself. That isn’t our problem. But when she finds out where the key is, she’ll know the only reason we weren’t here is we were afraid to tell her. That would make her angry enough to send out assassins.” Mikos sighed. “I’ve thought about it, and I’d rather take my chances tomorrow than have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life.”

Devron didn’t say anything for a few minutes. “Have you considered a letter?”

Mikos nodded. “It would take it too long to get there. She’d have already gotten the information for herself and sent assassins after us before it arrived.”

“Not if we left the letter here, at the campsite.”

Mikos laughed. “I thought about that too, but what reason could I give for not being here?”

“You’ve got other teams, right? Didn’t you tell me you had five separate teams of raiders working in Camden? Teams that are expecting you to meet them?”

Mikos nodded. “I had three along the east coast, one up north, and one on the Kivee. Why?”

“Well, one’s been captured, but that leaves four still out there. What’s the procedure?”

“Well, each team has a main camp. I meet them there once a month. They tell me where they plan to raid and how many slaves they should be able to pick up. Then we set a date. Why?”

“So you have four teams out there waiting for you to give them a date. What happens if they don’t hear from you? Do they go through with the raid? Call it off? Vanish? What will they do?”

“I’m not sure. I guess they’ll hang around their camp for a while waiting for me to get back to them, but I don’t know how long they’ll wait.”

“So why don’t you write a letter and tell your mother we went to find the teams to let them know you won’t be able to make any more pickups this winter, but if things work out, you’ll be back in business this spring.”

Mikos laughed. “That’s if she gets her key back and lets me use it again, which is highly unlikely.”

“But you don’t want to say that. Seriously, going to see them is just taking care of business. Wouldn’t she see that?”

Mikos shrugged. “She might, but she’d rather I just let them go ahead and get caught. After all, her purpose is to cause trouble for the House of Nordin.”

“She might think it was unnecessary, maybe even stupid, but would she send assassins after you for doing it?”

“Well,” Mikos said, weighing the idea in his head, “probably not.”

“And it would give us a valid reason for not being here.”

“There is that.”

“So, why don’t I get us packed while you write your mother a letter? Then we’ll see how many miles we can put between us and this camp before daybreak.”

Chapter 71

Gwendolyn Returns

Gwendolyn arrived in the campsite around sunrise only to find it empty. Really empty. Not only were her son and Devron not there, neither was any of their stuff. She’d planned to get there early, get them, and get out. Standing around in the middle of nowhere was not on her list for the day. She had things to do.