The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (97 page)

Oddly enough Kevin understood exactly how she felt. That had been his first reaction when he’d killed Gaynor. He’d wanted to walk away from magic, and he would have, if it had been left up to him. He didn’t have the luxury of standing by his beliefs, but he could let her. “I understand.”

Nicolas looked at him with eyes full of sorrow. “I’m sorry. I feel like I’m letting you down.”

Kevin shook his head. “No, I really do understand. I wish I had the option of saying no too, but I don’t. Anyway, thanks for hearing me out, and thanks for being honest about it.”

~ ~ ~ ~

When Kevin left Colby Falls, he headed to Shadron’s. He was out of ideas, so he was going to ask Marcus. He might be young as far as sorcerers go, and many might consider him inexperienced, but he could handle himself in rough situations, and he had the added advantage of already knowing the whole story. Kevin wouldn’t have to explain a thing.

Marcus was out riding when Kevin got there, so he waited in the kitchen with Kayla. They talked about everything except Gwendolyn, slavery, or the duel. By the time Marcus and the others came back, Kevin was more relaxed than he’d been in a long time.

Kevin asked Marcus to walk with him, and as soon as they were out of earshot, he asked Marcus if Shadron had told him about the duel.

Marcus nodded. “He told me, but we decided not to tell the pages. Shadron told them you were leaving them here until you were sure things were settled with Gwendolyn.”

“Were they all right with that?”

Marcus shrugged. “It’s not like they had a lot of choice. Ariel feels like he should be at the castle, that he could work someplace other than your office if you’re concerned she might show up, but he hates feeling like he’s hiding out. Petri’s afraid Joan’s going to get used to getting along without him and not want him back, and he loves working in her office. Isak’s having a good time. He’s ready to go back whenever the rest of us do, but this is the first time he’s spent any time around horses and he loves it.”

Kevin nodded. “Has Shadron explained the duel procedure?”

Marcus shook his head. “I assume it’s basically just throwing energy bolts back and forth until someone drops a shield at the wrong time.”

“Pretty much.” Then Kevin explained about needing a sorcerer to stand with Chris.

Marcus hesitated, swallowed hard, and said, “If you want me to do it, I will.”

“What’s the problem?”

Marcus took a deep breath. “No problem.”

Kevin looked at him for a moment. There was definitely a problem. “Okay, Marcus. Something’s bothering you. Is it Gwendolyn? Glendymere? Watching a duel? What’s the problem?”

Marcus swallowed hard. “All three?”

Kevin chuckled and shook his head. “I know how you feel. I’m sort of sick about the whole thing, too.” Then he said, “As to Gwendolyn. She has no idea what you look like and you won’t be introduced. You’ll stand beside Chris with the rest of the spectators. You won’t have to interact with her at all.”

Marcus nodded.

“Now, as to Glendymere. Have you ever met a dragon?”

Marcus shook his head.

“Well that’s something we can take care of before the duel. I’ll take you with me tomorrow morning and you can meet Glendymere and Jonquin. After you’ve been around dragons once, you’ll be fine.”

Marcus didn’t say anything, but Kevin could tell he didn’t believe it.

“As to the duel, it is what it is. All I can say is I’m going to do my best to make sure I survive it. As to anything else?” Kevin shrugged and shook his head.

Marcus nodded. “When is it?”

“Saturday, at noon. I’ll pick you up on the way, so be ready by 11:00. I’m not sure when I need to be there, but that should be early enough. And don’t mention this to anyone other than Shadron. He’s done this before, for my father, so you can ask him what it’s like. He’ll know more about it than I do. Any questions?”

Marcus shook his head. “But if you’re going to make me be there, you better win. I am not going through this to watch you get yourself killed.”

~ ~ ~ ~

The next couple of days were relatively uneventful. Kevin sparred with Jonquin every morning, walked through the woods with Nikki every afternoon, and spent his evenings visiting each of his aunts and uncles to let them know what was happening. He saved Kyle for last, and by the time he left there, he felt like if anyone else said he had to end this thing with Gwendolyn he would scream. Easy advice to give, but he’s the one who’d have her death on his hands.

One bright spot had been introducing Marcus to the dragons. Marcus had been shell-shocked at first, but it hadn’t taken him long to loosen up. By the end of the morning, he’d even sparred with Jonquin for a few minutes, and had actually done pretty well.

Thursday evening, shortly after dark, Kevin and Chris left for Mapleton. When they got there, Glenice’s office was empty, but there was a tray on her desk with two mugs of scog and half a dozen cookies. They each took a mug of scog and sat down to wait.

Ten minutes later the door opened and Robyn walked in. “What’s happened?” he asked as soon as he shut the door. “Is Landis all right?”

“She’s fine,” Kevin said. “This isn’t about her, at least not directly.”

Robyn let out a deep sigh. “Your note scared me. It sounded urgent.”

Kevin nodded. “It was. Something’s come up you need to know about.” Then he told Robyn about the last council meeting. He didn’t go through the whole story, just the challenge. “If anything happens to me, Landis will be all right. She’ll be taken care of. I’ve got her someplace safe with someone who will protect her. He knows about you and he’s known her foster parents for years. She’ll be fine.”

Robyn frowned. “I hope nothing happens to you, but who’ll teach her if you’re not there?”

Kevin nodded. “The one she’s with now is more than capable of teaching her everything she needs to know. I’m sure someone will get in touch with you if things don’t go well for me Saturday. I just wanted you to know about the duel beforehand.”

“It’s not a good idea for me to know where she is, but I hate not knowing.”

“I understand, but believe me, she’s in good hands.”

Robyn nodded. “Well, I guess all I can say is good luck, be careful, and for all our sakes, win!”

Chapter 82

Last Minute Details

Friday afternoon, Kevin pulled out a map of Nandelia and found Prindley. He figured he’d be gone half an hour, forty-five minutes at the most. After that, he wanted to take Nikki for a nice, long walk through the woods. The thought that it might be their last one seeped into his mind as he turned the key.

Kevin emerged from the energy field on the bank of a river somewhere in the area he knew as the southwestern US, probably in either New Mexico or Arizona. The town of Prindley was to the east, at the foot of snow-capped mountains. As he walked towards town, he used his seeing eye to look around. The buildings were all similar: stucco with clay tiles on the roof, arched doorways, retaining walls, and small front courtyards. He spotted one that was larger than the others. He wasn’t sure it was Damien’s castle, but he started walking towards it anyway, figuring he’d find someone to ask along the way.

As soon as he asked someone where the castle was, he understood why Jason had insisted on coming to Milhaven. Word that Myron had arrived spread quickly throughout the town, and people lined the walkways to get a glimpse of him. By the time he reached Damien’s home, he’d already spent over half an hour in Prindley.

The reception at the castle was drawn out and formal. As he entered the courtyard, the Captain of the Guard presented his guards for inspection. After speaking with them and shaking a lot of hands, Kevin made his way inside, only to find another receiving line made up of household staff. At the end of that line, there was a door that opened to a garden. When Kevin stepped outside, the grounds men were waiting to greet him. He spoke to each man and shook his hand, slowly making his way towards Damien, who was standing off to the side with a devilish grin on his face.

“Didn’t know what you were getting into when you said you’d be here this afternoon, did you?” Damien asked, laughing.

Kevin shook his head. “But now I know why Jason begged me not to come to Wellbourne when I wanted to talk to him.”

“Next time, let me know you need to see me and I’ll come to you. Much easier that way, for both of us.”

Kevin glanced back, smiled, and nodded at the men still lingering in the area. “Is there someplace we can talk?”

“Let’s walk.” Damien led Kevin away from the castle into open land. “No one will bother us out here.”

After they’d gone far enough that Kevin wasn’t concerned about being overheard, he said, “I want to talk to you about what you said after the meeting last Saturday.”

Damien nodded. “I figured as much. I meant every word I said and still do.”

Kevin shook his head. “You can’t do anything tomorrow. It’s not worth it.”

Damien turned to face Kevin. “It is if it prevents a war with the dragons.”

“Look, if something happens to me, you’re the best candidate for that seat, but you can’t be Master Sorcerer if you’re a pile of ashes. And you will be if you interfere tomorrow.”

“As long as she is too, that’s acceptable.”

“Not to me.”

“Then be sure you win.”

Kevin took a deep breath and tried again. “I know how you feel. I’d feel the same if I were in your shoes. Gwendolyn as Master Sorcerer is a disaster in the making, but there’s another way to handle it.”

“How?”

“Wait until the March council meeting and challenge her for the seat. She has to honor the challenge and set up a duel. You know you can beat her. You’re stronger than she is.”

“What you say may be true, but we have no guarantee she’ll set up the duel. You had to go to Glendymere and have him set the date, right?”

Kevin nodded.

“And that’s where the problem is. I’ve known Gwendolyn a lot longer than you have. If she’s on that chair, she’ll consider herself the final authority. I seriously doubt she’ll go to Glendymere about anything. If I were to challenge her in open council, she’d probably ignore it and go on her merry way.”

“Would the others let her get away with that?”

“Who’s going to stop her? I could go to Glendymere and tell him to arrange the duel, but who’s going to make her show up?” Damien shook his head. “I can’t take that chance. If you don’t kill her tomorrow, I will. She cannot leave that island alive.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Friday evening, after a much shorter walk with Nikki than he wanted, Kevin took her and Marshall to Kyle’s to stay until after the duel, or for good if he didn’t make it back. Kyle wasn’t pleased that Kevin was even considering not surviving, but in the end, he agreed to take care of them.

When Kevin got back, Chris was waiting in his room with a couple of mugs of scog. “Everything taken care of now?”

Kevin nodded as he sat down. “Leaving Nikki with Kyle, knowing I might never see her again, made this feel all too real. If I’m not careful, I could die tomorrow.”

Chris nodded. “All week you’ve been preparing for your death, but whether or not you die tomorrow is up to you. There’s no way she can defeat you if you decide not to let her.” Chris took a swallow of scog. “Do you remember that night up at Kalen’s? When the others were inside deciding we would become minstrels? You and I were outside, talking.”

Kevin nodded. “You asked how I felt about being Merlin.”

Chris smiled. “And you were wondering if you’d need a big black cauldron.”

“Little did we know.”

“Yeah,” Chris said. “And we talked about the possibility you might have to fight, remember?”

Kevin nodded. “I said I might have a heart attack the first time someone asked if I wanted to fight.”

“Well, that’s happened and you didn’t.”

“No, I was pretty calm about it at the time.”

Chris nodded. “Do you remember what I said when you asked what you should do?”

“Whatever I had to to survive.”

“And that hasn’t changed. We might have had the wrong idea about a lot of stuff, but that’s not one of them. Tomorrow you have to do whatever it takes to survive.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Kevin stretched out on his bed after Chris left. He hadn’t expected to sleep much, but he was so worn out he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Sometime during the night he became aware of a soft glow over near the couch. Even before he opened his eyes, he felt sure his parents were there.

As he sat up and stretched, his mother said, “Sorry to wake you, but we wanted a word.”

Kevin nodded. “It’s fine.”

“Son, you know what you’ve got to do tomorrow, right?” Badec asked.

Kevin felt like rolling his eyes. “Survive.”

“Do you have a plan?”

Kevin frowned.

“A plan,” Badec repeated.

Kevin shrugged. “I can keep going longer than she can, so I was thinking about letting it go until she’s worn out and then offering to call it a draw.”

“Why?”

Kevin hesitated, so Yvonne answered. “He doesn’t want to kill her.”

“I don’t want to kill anyone,” Kevin said quietly.

“I didn’t either,” Badec said. “But have you considered the consequences?”

“That if she walks away, I’ll have to look over my shoulder until I end up having to kill her anyway?”

“Well, there is that, but that’s not what I was thinking of,” Badec said. “I mean have you considered the effect it might have on the other sorcerers? They are planning to be there, right?”

“As far as I know,” Kevin said. “I know Damien’s coming, and the rest of them asked us to let them know when and where.”

Badec nodded. “Do you like dueling? Do you want to be challenged again and again and again until one day someone gets lucky?”

“No! I don’t want this one.”

“Then you need to win this one and win it fast. If you play around with it and let her walk away in the end, what’s to prevent everyone on the council from giving it a try? Even the ones who don’t have any desire to sit on the Master’s Chair might be tempted to challenge you just to see how they’ll do, especially if they think you’ll arrange it so everyone walks away at the end. If you want to put an end to challenges, make this one fast and deadly.”