The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah) (23 page)

During their last week at Kalen’s they had altered John Denver’s lyrics a bit to make the song fit Terah. It was one of their favorite songs, but they weren’t sure how the people from Terah would respond to it since Drusilla hadn’t been around to give them her opinion. Joan doubted that they would ever have a more receptive crowd to try it out on, so she decided to give it a shot. When they finished the song, the crowd was absolutely silent for a couple of heartbeats, and then they broke into a rousing cheer.

The Tellurians walked to the edge of the porch, joined hands and bowed deeply while the crowd roared. After the applause died down a bit, they began to gather their instruments and take them back inside, and the people in the audience started packing up their picnic baskets, blankets, and chairs. By the time all of the instruments had been stored back in the wagon, the front yard was completely empty.

Drusilla had prepared dinner for them during the show and had set the table while they were packing up. After everyone was seated around the table, she said, “You were really good. This town will be talking about that show for months. If you put on performances like that while you’re traveling, no one will ever doubt that you really are minstrels.”

 “I can’t believe how well it went,” Joan said with a smile. She hadn’t been able to stop grinning since the last ovation.

“After the first couple of songs I forgot about being scared and started enjoying it,” Darrell said. “No wonder people wanted to get into the concert scene at home. It’s fun.”

They talked about the show and about small changes that they wanted to make while they were eating. As they finished dinner and the talk started dying down, fatigue settled over them like a mantle.

With a deep sigh, Karl said, “I’m really tired. I guess we were all on an adrenaline high for a while there, but I feel like the tide just washed out. I have nothing left. Let’s get ready for bed.”

Joan and Theresa helped Drusilla clear up from dinner while the men went outside to check on the horses and be sure that everything was secure for the night. By the time they returned, the dishes were done and everyone headed for bed.

The chapel was not set up for healthy guests. There was one small bedroom for Drusilla, another small one that Theresa was using, and a large room with a long row of cots for those who were too sick to go home. Fortunately, all of the cots were empty.

Shortly after dawn the next morning, everyone was up. After breakfast, the men went outside to hitch the teams to the wagons and saddle the other horses. Joan stayed inside long enough to help clear up from breakfast, but then she went outside to help with the horses and to give Theresa a chance to say good-bye to Drusilla in private. By the time Theresa and Drusilla walked out on the back porch, Theresa’s wagon was parked beside the steps. Kevin had turned his wagon around and had pulled it behind Theresa’s. Everyone else was mounted and ready to go.

Theresa hugged Drusilla, wiped the tears from her eyes, smiled, and climbed up on the wagon seat. Drusilla had taught her how to drive a team over the past week, so she felt at ease as she gathered the reins in her hands, released the side brake, and looked at Karl.

“Well, Drusilla, I guess we need to head out. Thanks for everything,” Karl said as he moved to the front of Theresa’s wagon. As he waved and started down the drive to the road, Joan moved up to ride beside Theresa, Chris moved back to ride beside Kevin, and Steve and Darrell brought up the rear.

Drusilla stood on her porch until they were out of sight. She never expected to see any of them again. Even if, by some miracle, they did manage to survive the next year and make it to Camden, her work was in Drisden. It would be many years before she returned to Camden to live, and she seriously doubted that any of them would still be around there by then. She sighed, wiped a tear out of her eye, and went back inside.

~ ~ ~ ~

For the first couple of hours the road passed through farmland. Then it passed through a lightly wooded area until mid-afternoon when the woods gave way to more farms. They pulled in to the next town a little before dinnertime.

It was about the same size as Drisden, but there was no sign of a Chapel of Light. When they reached the town square, Karl rode over to the hitching post in front of the inn, dismounted, tied his horse, and went inside to see what arrangements he could make for their room and board.

The door opened into a lobby area that ran the full length of the building but was only about six feet deep. A narrow stairway on the left-hand side of the desk led upstairs and a hall on the right-hand side led to the tavern located behind the lobby.

Karl could hear laughter and bits of conversation coming from the tavern area and the smell of fresh cooked food made his stomach growl. He approached the desk and asked the man behind the counter if he was the innkeeper. When the man nodded, Karl asked if he would like to have the Traveling Tellurians perform for his customers that evening.

“And how much would it cost me?” the innkeeper asked brusquely.

“Room and board for us and our horses.”

“How many are we talking about?”

“We have seven people, eleven horses, and two wagons.”

“What?! No!” the man said, shaking his head. “The price’s too high. I’ll let you have one room and dinner. You pay for the other rooms, breakfast, and stable fees for the horses.”

“Two rooms, dinner, breakfast, and all stable fees for the horses.”

“I’d lose money on that deal! Two rooms, dinner, and half the stable fees. And that’s my final offer.”

About that time, Theresa opened the door and walked over to stand beside Karl. “Do you have a Chapel of Light here? I didn’t see one when we rode in,” she said to the innkeeper. Then she turned towards Karl and said, “I thought I might stop in for a few minutes to see the local sister.”

The innkeeper’s mouth dropped open as he saw the medallion around Theresa’s neck. “Sister, are you traveling with the minstrels?”

As Theresa turned to face him, she smiled one of her sweetest smiles and nodded. The innkeeper turned to Karl and growled, “You should have told me that a sister was traveling with you.” Then he turned back to Theresa and said in a very gentlemanly tone, “Of course we’ll offer you room and board, and we’ll stable your horses for you, too.”

Theresa smiled again and said, “Why thank you, sir. That’s very generous.”

“Sister, could I prevail upon you for something for my stomach?” the innkeeper said in a hushed voice. “It seems that I’m troubled more and more by my wife’s cooking. When I was younger I could eat anything, but now …”

“I’ll be happy to fix something for you as soon as we take care of our horses,” Theresa said in a demure tone. “Now, if you’ll just tell us where to fine the stables, and what we should tell the stable master concerning his fees, we’ll be on our way.”

“Tell him that Janon said to put up your horses for the night and to let you pull your wagons inside, too. Here, give him this.” The innkeeper picked up a quill pen and scribbled a note on a piece of rough paper. Then he handed the paper to Theresa.

“Thank you, sir. And I’ll return shortly with something for your stomach,” Theresa said as she turned to leave.

Karl nodded to the innkeeper and followed Theresa out of the lobby. When he caught up with her, he grinned and said, “Your timing was perfect. We couldn’t have done that any better if we’d planned it. What made you decide to come in anyway?”

“I thought it might help. Drusilla said that people would become a lot more helpful if they knew that a sister was involved. Just thought I’d give it a try.”

“Well, it definitely worked. You had him eating out of your hand.” Karl gave her a hand up to the seat of the wagon and walked back over to his horse. After he untied it, he mounted and led the group over to the stable.

 As they approached the stable yard, Karl moved to one side to let Theresa pull her wagon up beside him. When the stable master came out of the barn, Theresa handed him the note from the innkeeper. The man took it, read it, nodded, and opened the barn doors. Theresa and Kevin pulled the wagons to one side, climbed down and began unhitching their horses while the others dismounted and started unsaddling theirs.

As soon as the stable master saw Theresa start to unhitch her team, he walked over and took the reins out of her hands. “No, Sister, let me. You should rest. I’m sure you’ve had a tiring day.”

Theresa smiled at him and said, “Why thank you. I’d really appreciate that. We’re going to be performing at the tavern in a little while and there are a few things I need to do in the back of my wagon before I go over there. Thanks again.” Then she walked around her wagon, lifted the canvas flap, and climbed inside to prepare a packet of tea for the innkeeper’s stomach.

Before they left the stable, Karl made arrangements for two of the Tellurians to sleep in the loft to keep an eye on the wagons. When they returned to the inn, the innkeeper hurried them into the tavern, where all but one of the tables had been removed. As soon as they sat down, the waitress brought out plates of steaming food. While the Tellurians ate dinner, the innkeeper and a couple of other men set up chairs and crates for the audience.

Almost the very instant that the Tellurians finished eating, their plates were whisked away and the table was carried out of the tavern to make room for their stage. When they left to go get their instruments, the innkeeper opened the door to the tavern and the audience poured in. By the time the Tellurians returned, they had to go through the kitchen to get to the stage area. Although there was standing room only, the crowd fell silent as soon as Steve stepped to the front to introduce the group.

Theresa may not have practiced with them for over a week, but her performance was flawless. The ninety-minute program ran without a hitch. When the cheering began to die down at the end of the show, the innkeeper came out of the kitchen carrying a large tray loaded with seven mugs of scog. He wandered around the stage area offering each of the Tellurians a mug as he congratulated them on a terrific performance. When he came to Theresa and Joan, he also handed them the key to their room and suggested that maybe they would like to go on upstairs while the men took care of storing the instruments.

As Joan opened the door to their room and stepped inside, she let out a small sigh. The room was so small that three pieces of furniture made it feel crowded. The door was in one corner of the room and a bed that looked to be a bit smaller than a regular double bed was set flush against the next corner. Between the bed and the door was a small table, just large enough for a pitcher of water, washbasin, and a small glowstone box. On the other side of the narrow room, at the foot of the bed, was a small straight-back chair. Above the chair, there was a tiny window covered by a piece of canvas.

“Oh well, I wasn’t really expecting Holiday Inn,” Joan said.

“No, but this room is hardly big enough for the two of us. How are the guys going to manage three in a room this size?” Theresa asked.

“I have no idea, but better them than us. Now I know why Karl was so quick to volunteer to sleep in the stable loft.”

Joan left the door open a bit so that they could see the guys when they passed by to go to their room.

A few minutes later, Chris knocked on the door and eased it open. “Just thought we’d check on you on the way to our room. Do you need anything?” Chris asked from the hall.

“No, but thanks,” Joan said. “I do have a question though. How are the three of you going to manage to sleep in a room this size?”

“I don’t know. It is kind of small, isn’t it,” Chris answered as he looked around the room. Then he turned his head towards the hall and said, “Either one of us is going to have to go back to the stable and sleep in the loft with Darrell and Karl, or someone’s going to have to sleep on the floor. There’s no way all three of us are going to fit on one of those beds.”

“I don’t mind either way,” Kevin said. “I like a hard mattress, so the floor won’t bother me. As long as I have a blanket, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Well, I guess that takes care of that. Good night, see you in the morning,” Chris said as he started to shut the door to Joan and Theresa’s room. Just before the door shut, he added, “We’ll just wait out here to make sure your lock works.”

Chris finished shutting the door, but didn’t walk away until he heard the tumblers in the lock click.

“I’d be willing to bet you money that Karl asked him to do that,” Joan said with a little laugh after she locked the door. “Well, shall we flip a coin to see who gets stuck against the wall?”

Chapter 18

A Night Off

By the middle of Saturday afternoon, Joan felt really tired. She had not had a good night’s sleep since Palladin had given them their weapons, and she just didn’t think she could face another strange town and another performance that night. She rode up beside Karl and asked him to wait for the others.

Since the road in that area was fairly wide, Kevin pulled his wagon up beside Theresa’s. Once they were all together, Joan said, “Look, I don’t know how the rest of you feel, but I need a break. We haven’t been by ourselves since we landed on Terah and I want a night off. How would you feel about finding a secluded spot in the woods and camping out tonight?”

“I’m all for it,” Chris answered quickly.

“We’ll have to stand guard through the night if we set up camp,” Darrell said.

“That’s not a problem,” Steve replied as the others nodded.

“Shall we try to find a spot now or do you want to go on for a while?” Karl asked, looking at Joan.

“I’m ready to find a spot now,” Joan said. “I’m afraid that if we go much farther we’ll come out into farmland and be stuck staying in town again. The forest isn’t very dense along here. I think the wagons will go through okay, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but why don’t I ride in a little ways and see if I can find a good campsite? That way we won’t get the wagons in there just to have to turn them around and get them back out. I won’t be gone long,” Karl said as he turned to ride into the woods.

About thirty minutes later, Karl returned and told them that he had found a nice quiet clearing large enough for both wagons with plenty of room left over for their sleeping tarps and a campfire, and that there was a second clearing not too far away with a small stream running through it that would be perfect for the horses.

By late afternoon, the horses had been cared for and were securely tethered in the second clearing. The tarps had been set up like tents and a fire was burning in a shallow pit. A stew was cooking over the fire, and coffee was perking. Everyone was seated around the fire, relaxing for the first time in days.

“This was a good idea, Joan,” Chris said. “I think I was more tired than I knew. I love the idea that we don’t have to do anything else tonight.”

“Well, we do have to come up with a watch schedule,” Darrell said. “I was thinking about it while we were setting up camp. Since there are seven of us, I thought we could use three shifts. I feel like Karl and Joan should have the same watch.”

“I guess I could put up with her for a little while,” Karl said as he slid his arm around Joan’s waist.

“As far as the rest of us are concerned, it really doesn’t make that much difference,” Darrell said. “I was thinking that maybe Kevin and Chris could share a watch, and then Steve, Theresa, and I would make up the third. What do the rest of you think?”

“Fine with me,” Chris answered. The others nodded their agreement.

“How are we going to split up the night?” Joan asked.

“I was thinking of three-hour shifts,” Darrell answered. “How about nine to midnight, midnight to three, and three to six?”

“Okay,” Joan said. “But who gets which shift tonight?”

“Well, the worst one is the midnight to three shift,” Darrell said. “We won’t be camping every night, so it’s not like we’ll be doing this all the time. We could draw straws for the shifts for tonight, and then whoever gets the early shift tonight takes the middle shift next time we camp, and so on.”

“That’ll work,” Steve said with a nod.

“Here, I’ll break these three twigs off at different lengths,” Karl said. “One person from each group draws one of the twigs. The shortest twig is the first shift, middle twig is the middle shift, and the longest twig will be the last shift.”

“I’ll draw for us,” Chris said and pulled out the shortest twig.

“Theresa, you draw for your group. Joan and I will take the one that’s left.” Karl turned towards Theresa to let her draw.

“I think we’ve got the longest one,” Theresa said. “Karl, let me see which one you have left.” Karl opened his hand and held up the twig that was left. He had the middle twig. “We have the early morning shift,” Theresa said to Darrell and Steve. Then she turned towards Joan and said, “I guess that means we make breakfast, right?”

“Sounds good to me,” Joan answered.

After guard duty was settled, conversation around the campfire lapsed into a comfortable silence as each of the Tellurians entertained private thoughts while gazing into the fire.

Theresa fingered her pendant, thinking about its power. She could feel the heat that came from the fire that danced deep inside the black opal in its center, and the faint coolness that came from the turquoise stones surrounding it. After a bit she said, “While we have a few minutes, I want to tell you about this pendant. All of the sisters wear them. The turquoise stones around the outside are healing stones. They help us focus our powers. They’re harmless, but the opal is a very dangerous stone.”

“Dangerous?” Chris asked. 

Theresa nodded. “Do you remember hearing any legends on Earth about the fire in the opal being connected with the soul of its rightful owner?”

Several of the Tellurians nodded.

“Well, the fire in this opal is not only connected with my soul, it’s also linked with my mind and my emotions.”

“What do you mean?” Joan asked.

“If I’m threatened, if anyone tries to hurt me, the flame in the opal will reach out and burn them. I’m not sure how, but from what I understand, it can burn from quite a distance.”

“Does it kill the person it hits?” Darrell asked.

Theresa shook her head no. “I saw a man who had a long narrow burn on his forehead while I was in Drisden. Drusilla said that it was the mark of an opal. She said that no sister will ever treat him or give him any herbs, and I noticed that the people in town wouldn’t have anything to do with him either. Anyway, I’m not sure that the opal would know the difference between friend and foe once the fire begins to strike, so just be careful about getting in the middle.” Theresa took a deep breath and looked around.

“No wonder Drusilla told Kalen that you didn’t need any self-defense lessons,” Steve said. Then he frowned, “He did know about the pendants, didn’t he?”

“According to Drusilla, everyone on Terah knows,” Theresa answered. “But she didn’t tell him that I’d been initiated into the Sisterhood until a few days before we left for Drisden, and after she told him, he relaxed about the self-defense, but I notice he sent me a dagger anyway.”

“Yeah, like you might actually need it with that thing around,” Darrell said.

“Well, you never know,” Kevin said. “Getting burned might not stop some people. They might try even harder to hurt you since the opal had marked them for life.”

“I don’t know,” Karl said. “If that thing is meant to protect her, it might keep on burning him until he either gave up or died.”

“You could be right,” Theresa said. “I don’t know very much about it, and I don’t know how to stop the stone from striking. I’m not even sure that I can.”

“Are there any other little surprises we need to know about?” Joan asked with a touch of wariness in her voice.

“Well, there is one more thing,” Theresa said quietly. “Don’t ever try to take my pendant off my neck, even if I’m dead. Only another sister can safely remove it. Drusilla said that the fire in the opal would explode and consume anyone else who tries to take it.”

“What if someone tries to take it while you’re alive?” Chris asked. “What happens to you? Do you get burned, too?”

Theresa took a deep breath. “I don’t know. Maybe it would just burn them. I hope so, but Drusilla didn’t really make that distinction and I was afraid to ask. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful.”

“I imagine the opal’s need to protect you would override everything else,” Joan said reassuringly.

“I hope so,” Theresa sighed. “But you know how things work on Terah. They tend to go to extremes.”

For a few minutes, no one said anything. Then Darrell said, “I want to change the subject.”

Theresa smiled and said, “Please,” as the others nodded.

“We need to schedule some time on a regular basis for sparring. It’s easy to backslide if you don’t practice.”

“That’s a good idea, but how?” Steve asked. “When we stay in town we spend the whole day on the road and then we’re busy with the performance until time for bed.”

“Setting up camp and having some time to ourselves is sort of nice,” Chris said. “What if we plan to camp out every third or fourth night? We could work out for an hour or two before dinner.”

“We’re not the only ones who need a break,” Karl said. “I’ve been thinking that we need to try to take a day off every week to rest the horses. We’d have the whole day, so we could really get a good workout then.”

“Not the whole day,” Joan said. “At some point, clothes are going to have to be washed, things mended, and so forth, and that’s going to have to be taken care of on our day off, too.”

“What do you think about trying to work out for an hour or so at lunch everyday?” Darrell said. “At least it would get us out of the saddle and let us move around a bit.”

“I’m not too sure about stopping for an hour,” Chris said. “We won’t know how far away the next town is, and we might not make it before dark if we stop for too long.”

“What if we try thirty minutes and see how it goes?” Steve asked.

“Okay. Just as long as we get in some regular practice,” Darrell said.

By then, dinner was ready so Joan dished up a plate of stew and warm bread for everyone while Theresa poured their coffee. After they finished eating and the dishes were all stored away, Joan made a fresh pot of coffee and everyone settled back down around the campfire. It wasn’t dark yet, but the sun was going down, and it would be dark within the hour.

“You know, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what you told us about slavery here, Kevin,” Darrell began.

“I know. I haven’t been able to shake it either,” Kevin answered.

“I feel like maybe that has something to do with why we’re here,” Karl added.

“How?” Joan asked. “I mean, what can we do about it anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Karl answered quietly. “I just feel like we were sent here to do something about it. You know we can’t just go along with it.”

“Don’t you even think about going off on some suicide mission to kill raiders and free the slaves! I won’t have it! You are not going to leave me alone in a strange new world Karl Stanton! And I mean it!” Joan was on the verge of tears, picturing her husband riding off like an avenging angel.

“Whoa, I’m not even thinking about doing anything like that,” Karl said as he put his arm around his wife. “Settle down, honey. You know better than think I’d ever leave you.”

“Well, I have to admit that the thought of trying to track down a few slavers and take them out did cross my mind,” Darrell said, “but I just can’t see how it would be worth the risk. As soon as we took out one group, another would pop up to take its place. It’s sort of like the drug dealers back home. Attacking them isn’t going to really help the situation in the long run.”

“Maybe we should try attacking the demand since we can’t do much about the supply,” Chris said. “You know, like the ‘say no to drugs’ campaign to stem the demand for drugs?”

“I’m afraid it probably wouldn’t work any better here than it has against drugs,” Kevin said. “I imagine most of the peasants would love to say no. After all, they’re the ones who get captured and taken away as slaves. It’s the ones who use slaves that we need to target and they aren’t likely to say no to something that makes their lives easier.”

“I haven’t really had a chance to think it through,” Steve said slowly, “but what if we could find out exactly why they think they need slaves, and then find a better way to meet that need? We might be able to get the people of Terah to put an end to slavery themselves.”

Darrell shrugged and said, “From what Kevin said, they mainly need slaves to protect them from the slavers.”

“No, there has to be more to it than that,” Steve said. “I know that they need slaves to fill out the army now, but I bet it all began because someone wanted servants and there weren’t any people willing to do it, so someone else went out, captured some relatively helpless people, and sold them to the highest bidder. Maybe that’s where we need to start.”

“I sort of understand what you’re saying,” Joan said. “If we could find some way to make being a servant an honorable way to earn a living, then there would be people who wanted to work as servants, shutting down the market for slaves.”

Steve nodded.

“How do we do that?” Karl asked.

“I don’t have the faintest idea,” Steve said. “Of course we can’t do anything yet. We’re just a band of traveling minstrels at the moment. But when Myron becomes the Master Sorcerer, he might be able to do something about the tradition of owning slaves.”

Kevin frowned. “If he becomes the Master Sorcerer, and that is still one really big if, he can definitely ban the use of slaves at the castle where he’ll be living.”

“Yeah, and since free people work better than slaves, we could show that our way is better,” Darrell added.

“Maybe better by our standards, but we have to be able to show that it’s cheaper in the long run, more efficient, and more satisfactory,” Steve said. “And we’d have to be subtle about it. If the upper class thinks that their privileged way of life is being threatened in any way, they’ll fight it tooth and nail and we won’t get anywhere.” He paused and thought for a moment. “If we’re going to have any impact at all, we’re going to have to show them a better way and make them want to copy it, or better yet, give them a reason to want to stop using slaves and let them come up with an alternative themselves. That would be best.” Steve paused again, thinking. “You know, we need a battle plan. We’ll be in Nandelia for nearly eight months. Maybe we can come up with some ideas then.”

“That’s a good idea,” Karl said. “We’ll have plenty of time to work on something while we’re there.”

“But keep in mind that even if we come up with a workable plan, we’ll be lucky to see any results within the next twenty years,” Steve said. “A custom that has lasted for centuries won’t just die overnight. I seriously doubt if any of us will live to see the end of slavery, but maybe we can trigger the beginning of the end. That’s about the best we can hope for.”