The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (94 page)

“There was another place Gwendolyn was keeping some of our people. We went there last night. If you like, I‘ll take you there and let you decide what you want to do. If you want to continue working for Gwendolyn, you might be able to join the guards there, but she might not be too thrilled with them after she hears those captives are gone, too. Or you can leave from there and start a new life somewhere else. Your choice.” He paused long enough to let them start thinking about what he’d said. “Or you can stay here. But there’s no way I’m going to let you sound the alarm. If I leave you here, I’ll leave you in one of these cells. They can let you out when the next shift comes down.”

“I’m ready to go,” the third guard said. “And I don’t care where. Just out of here, out of Hendon Port. I’m not ready to die yet.”

“Same here,” the second one said.

“Me, too,” the first chimed in.

“Then just sit there for a few more minutes and let us get finished.”

Meanwhile, Gen. Crandal was keeping an eye on the progress in the cells while Rigel stood slightly behind Kevin but off to the side where he could watch the hall, the guards, and Kevin’s back. Things were quiet for another five minutes and then Gen. Crandal walked up behind Kevin right as Chris and Alek stepped out of the energy field in front of the guards’ table. Chris stayed put, but Alek stepped back, next to Gen. Crandal.

Chris took a bite of the brownie in his hand and glanced at Kevin as he swallowed. “Sorry, but I’m starving.” He looked over at the guards. “I don’t know what you’ve decided to do about them, but I didn’t see any of them mistreat anyone or hear any slaps, yells, or anything else that might suggest they were bothering the women. Just thought you might need to know that.”

Kevin nodded and looked at the guards. “We’re done now. Time to go, gentlemen.”

Chris looked at Kevin with his eyebrows raised.

“For now, they’re going back with us. We’ll take them to the jail.”

When the first guard muttered, “I knew it,” Kevin shook his head. “You won’t be there but an hour. I’ve got something I need to do before I take you to the caves, but you’ll be at the cave by noon at the latest.”

The guards didn’t look like they believed him, but Kevin decided it didn’t really matter.

Chris nodded and started towards the guards. “I’ll take two. You get the other one,” he said as he crammed the last bit of brownie in his mouth.

“Wait, Chris.” Alek looked at Kevin. “I want to be there before you get there. Rigel, you go with me. Gen. Crandal, you can go with Myron.”

Kevin nodded. A light touch on the back of his leg told him Dani was ready. He looked back at the guards. “Have you ever traveled through the energy field before?” All three guards shook their heads. “Then you’re probably going to feel dizzy and sick when we get there. It’ll pass, but don’t try to make any sudden moves. That’ll just make it worse.”

“If it doesn’t get you killed,” Gen. Crandal said, fingering the sword he wore at his side. “All of us are experienced travelers. We’ll be fine, so don’t try anything.”

Kevin nodded. “And another thing. Unless you want to spend the rest of your life in a cell, you don’t want to be more trouble than you’re worth.”

Five minutes later, they were back in Milhaven standing outside Gen. Crandal’s jail. Alek gave Kevin his key back and then he and Rigel ushered the guards inside and locked them in separate rooms. As soon as the guards were taken care of, Chris said, “Well, if no one needs me for anything, I’m going upstairs. I want to get washed up, find some clean clothes, and go get something to eat.”

“Before you go, where’s Elin?” Kevin asked.

“In the dining room, with Theresa.”

Kevin nodded as Dani said,
“Chris, I’m going with you. Kevin, we’ll be gone by the time you get up there. Enjoyed it. See you soon.”

“Thank you for your help, Dani, and be sure you tell King Merdin thanks, too,”
Kevin said.

After Chris and Dani were gone, Kevin looked at Gen. Crandal and said, “Send someone up to the kitchen and get the guards some food, and not scraps. Give them a decent meal. We just caused them to lose their jobs, possibly their lives. The least we can do is feed them.”

Gen. Crandal nodded to one of the soldiers who had gathered around. “Take care of it.”

“I’ll be back in about an hour to get them out of here,” Kevin said. “Thanks for everything, General.”

Gen. Crandal laughed. “No, I need to thank you. I’ve waited a long time for the chance to do something like that. I enjoyed it.”

Chapter 80

Showdown

After Kevin dropped Elin off at Allisandra’s and took the guards to the cave in Landoryn, he and Chris left for Chamber Island. They were there half an hour early, but Kevin wanted to be inside and seated before Gwendolyn arrived. They didn’t have long to wait.

Gwendolyn didn’t go inside immediately. She’d expected to find Kevin waiting for her outside, with both the sorcerer and the key. She wandered around the clearing, talking first to Rolan and then to Malcolm. Finally, after all the other sorcerers had entered the chamber, she and Malcolm went in. And that’s when she saw Chris, seated next to Kevin.

“What’s he doing here?” she yelled as she pointed at Chris. “He’s mine! He’s my slave!”

Kevin shook his head. “No, he’s my assistant. I’m sure you’ve met him before. His name is Chris.”

“You!” she hissed at Kevin as she stopped in the middle of the circle of sorcerers while Malcolm slipped onto his seat. “You stole him! How dare you!”

A hush fell over the room. Kevin didn’t speak immediately. Then he narrowed his eyes and said, “No, I rescued him. You barged into my office while I was away and kidnapped him.” Then, before Gwendolyn could dispute what he’d said, he changed directions. “How did you do that anyway? You’ve never been to that office before. I checked. You’ve only been in Milhaven once, for my father’s funeral, and you didn’t return to the castle afterwards. How were you able to go directly to my office?”

Gwendolyn tilted her head up and looked down her nose at Kevin. “You think I don’t know the lair of my enemy? I can go anywhere I choose, even to your bed chamber.”

Several of the sorcerers gasped, some leaned back in their chairs, some sat up straight, and some leaned forward, but every one of them reacted in some way to her words.

“But that’s beside the point,” Gwendolyn snarled. “He’s my slave. Return him to me. Right now.”

“That’s not going to happen. I told you what I’d do if you captured any citizens of Camden and turned them into slaves. I told you I’d go wherever I needed to go and do whatever I needed to do to get them back, and that’s what I did.” Kevin looked at Gwendolyn for a long moment. “And he’s not the only citizen of Camden I rescued.”

“The girl. You took the girl? She’s mine! I told them, the others in your office. She’s the price you pay for meddling in my business!”

“Actually, while I was in your dungeons, I asked, and everyone in there said they were from Camden, so I brought them all back home.”

Kevin heard a few snickers, but he didn’t take his eyes off Gwendolyn.

“You did what?” Gwendolyn had turned all shades of red. Her eyes were black as coal and reduced to tiny dots. “You stole all my slaves? Out of my dungeon?! How? How did you get in there?”

Kevin leaned back. “I know a man who has some not so fond memories of working at your castle. He drew me a map.”

Kevin wouldn’t have believed it possible, but Gwendolyn’s face turned an even darker shade of red and the veins on the side of her neck throbbed. Assistants leaned back, trying to disappear, but sorcerers leaned forward, alert, watchful of her every move.

She drew herself up and rasped, “My guards. How did you get past my guards? What did you do to them?”

Kevin’s smile was cold as ice. “I’d tell you to ask them yourself, but they decided they wanted to leave, too.”

“I want my key back, and the sorcerer who stole it!” Gwendolyn roared.

“That’s not going to happen either. My sorcerer did exactly what I’d have told him to do if we’d ever discussed such a situation. He used his magic to get the key away from the slaver and then he brought it to me. It was my decision not to return it to the slaver, not his.” Kevin paused. “However, I did bring the key to the January council meeting for the sole purpose of returning it to the seated sorcerer it belonged to, but guess what? Each seated sorcerer came to the meeting by key. All of our keys were accounted for. So I took it to Glendymere.”

“You did what?” Gwendolyn shouted. “What has that dragon got to do with my key?”

“I was afraid some slaver had stolen that key from a Federation member. That would have meant big trouble for everyone, but fortunately, that’s not what happened. That key belonged to Acryn, of the House of Ferth, from Nordia, the fourteenth province.”

Kevin paused as half the eyes in the chamber drifted over to the dusty chair sitting against the back wall, the chair that was waiting for the day when Nordia would once again be represented on the council. “How did you get it, Gwendolyn?”

“That key belongs to the House of Cornet. You had no right to give it to that dragon! It’s mine! I want it back! Today!”

“You think the House of Cornet should have two keys when the rest of the seated sorcerers have only one?”

“You have two!”

“Only one is a key to Terah. The other has to do with my Federation responsibilities.”

Gwendolyn glared at Kevin for a full minute. Not one sound broke the silence of that minute. “That’s it. I’m done with you. You’re not even human. It’s time we got rid of the House of Nordin for good. You have no right to sit in that chair, and I challenge you for it. Make it so.” Then she turned her key and left the chamber.

~ ~ ~ ~

Gwendolyn’s assistant jumped up, yelled, “Wait!” and then slowly sank back down as he realized she was gone. “What about me?” he asked in a tiny voice as he looked around the massive chamber filled with stunned sorcerers.

“I guess that takes care of old business. Anyone have anything new they’d like to bring before the council?” Kevin asked as if nothing had happened.

Nervous laughter mixed with tense comments as the sorcerers and their assistants dealt with what had just happened. From the bits Kevin overheard, he wasn’t sure which had rattled the sorcerers more, that Gwendolyn had violated another sorcerer’s home and taken his staff, or that she’d challenged him. Both ideas were equally unimaginable.

Finally, Damien spoke up. “Myron, I’d like to be there, at the duel, I mean. Will you let me know when and where it will take place?

“It’ll probably be on the same island it always is,” Edwin said. “The little one, the one that doesn’t have much on it.”

“Broker’s Island,” Geoffrey added.

“Me, too,” Bianca said, concern written on her face.

“Same here,” Trivera chimed in.

“I’ll be there,” Starvos said. “I’ve got to see this with my own eyes.”

Kevin nodded and turned to Chris. “Did you get all that?”

Chris continued writing as he nodded. “I’ll send out messages as soon as we know anything.” He looked up and asked, “Anyone else?”

The rest of the sorcerers raised their hands, so Chris said, “Fine. I’ll send everyone a notification as soon as I know something.”

“Now, anything else?” Kevin asked, looking around.

No one said anything, so he stood up and said, “Thanks for coming, and I hope to see you all back here on March 1 for our next meeting.”

The man Gwendolyn had brought with her was looking around nervously, close to panic. How was he going to get home? Would she come back for him? Would she even remember he was there?

Kevin walked towards him as the room began to clear. “I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to show up at Gwendolyn’s castle right now, but I’ll take you back to the edge of Hendon Port. You can find your way home from there, can’t you?”

Relief flooded the man’s face. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

Bianca joined them. “Myron, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go anywhere near Landoryn today. I’ll take him.” She looked at the man. “But same deal. I’ll drop you off near the markets. Would that work?”

The man nodded and picked up the few supplies he’d brought with him.

While Bianca rounded up her assistant so they could leave, Kevin made his way back over to Chris where Damien was waiting for him. Rolan was lingering around close by, waiting to hear whatever Damien had to say.

When Kevin joined him, Damien turned to Rolan and glared at him until Rolan finally gave up, put his hand on his page’s arm, and turned his key. Then Damien turned back to Kevin. “You have to win. No calling a draw, no settling for not losing. You have to kill her.”

“I’d rather not,” Kevin said with a frown. “I’m hoping when she realizes what she’s done, she’ll back out of this mess.”

Damien shook his head. “The hatred runs too deep. She’ll fight, and she’ll use every trick she can think of to win. You cannot let her win.” Kevin didn’t answer for a moment, so Damien continued. “It’s not just because I think you’re good for the council and for Terah, it’s because I think she’s that bad, bad for all of us. She’ll end up putting us at war with the dragons. We’ll never survive. You cannot let her win.”

“I don’t want to die, Damien. I’ll do my best not to lose.”

“Not losing’s not good enough. Until one of you is dead, the duel’s still on. Do not let her fool you. You have to kill her. If you don’t, I will.”

“You can’t do that, Damien.” Kevin shook his head. “Glendymere would kill you. He wouldn’t have a choice. There are rules, and he’ll enforce them. You cannot interfere.”

“I know the rules, and I’m not expecting any different. But I’ll kill her before I let her take that seat. I mean it, Myron. It’s either you or me, but she has to be taken down that day.” And without another word, Damien reached behind him for his Second, turned his key, and was gone.

~ ~ ~ ~

Kevin’s next stop was Willow Canyon. “He’s right, you know,” Chris said as soon as they got there. “You have to kill her.”