The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah) (37 page)

“Well, sort of,” Chris answered. “You see, after Glendymere demonstrated the various magical powers, he gave Kevin four tasks to work on. They’re supposed to be the four fundamental skills. From what Glendymere said, after he masters these, he can begin to learn how to be a sorcerer, but he has to be able to do these first. One task is that Kevin’s supposed to join his spirit with the wind somehow and influence it to blow harder and then calm it back down. The second is to light a candle basically by willing it to burst into flame. For the third task, he’s supposed to mentally push a pebble across a table. And the fourth is to look through an eye that he creates mentally and positions over my head to see what I’m holding while I’ve got my back to him.”

Chris stopped for a moment and took a long drink of coffee. Then he continued. “Kevin concentrated on the last three of those tasks for over four hours this afternoon without a break. At one point, I tried to get him to go outside for a breath of fresh air, but he wouldn’t do it, so while he was trying to move the pebble, I went outside for a while. I was hoping he’d come out and join me, but he didn’t. When I decided it was time to call it quits for the day, I went back inside, but he was concentrating so hard that I had to touch him to get his attention. When he looked up, his face was pale and he looked like someone had given him two black eyes. There were deep circles under them, black shadows over them, and both of his eyes were blood red.” Chris shook his head and sighed. “He looked like he had aged twenty years. His face had pretty much gone back to normal by the time we got back over here, but I’ll never forget what he looked like today. It was scary to see what this is taking out of him.”

“Do you really think he can do that stuff?” Darrell asked.

“Yesterday, I’d probably have said no. But I saw Glendymere do it, and since everyone says that Kevin has the genes, I guess he can, too, but even if he can, I think it may take him a while to get the hang of it.” Chris paused for a moment and then added, “Unfortunately, I’m not at all sure that Kevin believes that he can do this, and according to Glendymere, a sorcerer’s belief in his own ability is crucial.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Theresa asked.

“I don’t know.” Chris thought for a moment and then said, “Don’t ask him too many questions right now. Give him a little time and space. Oh, and could I get you to put chocolate on that list, Joan? Lots of it?”

“It’s on there already. Everybody’s craving it,” Joan answered. “Is there anything in particular that you want it for?”

“It’s like Kevin has no concept of time or anything else while he’s concentrating. For a while, I think my main function’s going to be making him take breaks, and for some reason, chocolate breaks came to mind. I used to live on Hershey bars and coffee during exam time in college, and that’s exactly what today felt like, crunch time before exams.”

“The chocolate won’t be here until Macin returns from Abernon next week, but I’ll bake some oatmeal cookies with nuts tonight so you can take them with you tomorrow. We have several coffee pots. Do you have a stove over there?” Joan asked.

“No, but I wish we did,” Chris said. “I didn’t see anyplace that looked like any type of kitchen. From what I’ve gathered, people sometimes visit Glendymere, but it’s like having an audience with a king or the Pope. They come, state their business, and leave.”

“Why don’t I ask Blalick about it? If there’s a stove around, he’ll know where it is. If not, maybe we can get one for you,” Karl suggested.

“I hate to put anyone to any extra trouble,” Chris said, “but we both could have used a cup of coffee half way through the afternoon today.”

“It’s no problem,” Karl said. “I’ll check with him tomorrow.”

Steve nodded and added, “We have no idea how to help you two, so we’re counting on you to let us know when there’s something we can do to help.”

 “Thanks,” Chris said. “Well, to tell the truth, I was so nervous I didn’t sleep at all last night and I’m pretty bushed myself. So, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll head for bed.”

As Chris stood up, he picked up his plate to carry it out to the kitchen. Joan laid her hand on his arm and said, “Just leave it for now. I’ll get it with the others. Go ahead, and sleep well.”

Chris thanked her, told everyone good night, and left for his room.

After Chris was gone, Steve said, “He’s got his work cut out for him.”

“Which one?” Karl asked.

“Actually I was thinking of Kevin when I said it, but you’re right. Chris does, too,” Steve answered.

“We can’t do anything to help with the magic part, but we can handle everything else,” Joan said as she began clearing the table. “Now, while I’m doing the dishes, all of you go on into the sitting room and start thinking about what we’re going to need for the next month, for the next eight months, and then for our trip to Camden. We have a winter to prepare for.”

Chapter 31

Things Start Looking Up

Sunday morning Chris got up around six, dressed, and opened his door. He saw a light under Kevin’s door, so he knocked on it softly to see if Kevin was awake and ready to join him for coffee. When Kevin didn’t answer, Chris gently pushed on the door. It was unlatched, so it slowly swung open. Kevin was seated at his desk, staring at a pebble lying in the center of the desktop. Chris quietly shut the door.

When he got to the kitchen, he found a sack of food on the counter. Joan had wrapped bread, cheese, and a dozen oatmeal cookies in cheesecloths, and she had set a small basket of fresh strawberries on top. The coffee pot was on the table ready to go on the stove, and there was a note leaning against it that said, “Hope today goes well.”

After the coffee perked, Chris poured two large mugs and carried them down to Kevin’s room. This time he banged on the door with the toe of his boot, making enough noise to rouse Kevin out of his intense concentration. When Kevin opened the door, Chris handed him a mug of coffee and said, “Come on. Let’s drink our coffee in the sitting room. Then we’ll fix some breakfast and get ready to go.”

They left for Willow Canyon an hour later, carrying their torches and Joan’s bag of food. The closer they got to Glendymere’s cave, the more tense Kevin became. When he reached up to knock on the wooden door with the iron knocker, they both heard Glendymere say,
“It’s all right. You can come in. I’m out in the valley.”

Kevin asked, “Do you want us to join you or should I start working on those four tasks?”

“Work on the tasks. We can’t go any farther until you master at least one of them,”
Glendymere answered.

Kevin spent all day Sunday concentrating on those four skills, but to no avail. Chris was determined not to let Kevin work himself into a state of exhaustion, so he insisted that Kevin get up, stretch, walk around, drink water, and eat a little something at least once every hour. Since working with the wind could only be done outside, Chris used that as an excuse to get Kevin to go outside for some fresh air every few hours.

Around 5:30, Chris decided that it was time to call it a day, so he started getting their things together. When Kevin looked up and frowned at him, Chris said, “We’ve got to get moving. If we don’t leave here within the next few minutes, we’ll be late for dinner.”

“So we’ll eat later,” Kevin said with a shrug.

“If it were just the two of us, that would be fine,” Chris agreed. “But the others will wait for us, and then everybody’ll end up having a cold dinner. Joan can’t keep it warm forever.” Actually, Chris had no idea whether the others would wait for them or not, but it sounded like a good argument.

“Okay, okay,” Kevin grumbled as he got up from the table and headed into the adjoining storage room.

“Where are you going now?” Chris asked.

“I’m going to find another candle and candlestick to take back to my room.”

“Why?”

“So I can keep working over there.”

Chris rolled his eyes, but he kept his mouth shut.

~ ~ ~ ~

As soon as Kevin finished eating dinner Sunday night, he excused himself, saying that he wanted to return to his room to rest. Chris waited a little while and then slipped away to check on him. He gently opened Kevin’s door and saw him once again sitting at his desk, focusing his attention on the pebble. As he quietly shut the door, Chris couldn’t help but wonder how long Kevin could keep up that level of strain.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were carbon copies of Sunday. Wednesday afternoon as they were getting their things together to leave, Glendymere said,
“Kevin, I feel doubt growing in your heart with each passing day. You must believe in yourself before your talent can rise to the surface. It will come, but only if you conquer your doubts.”

Then he told Chris privately,
“If this is going to work, not only does he have to believe that he can become a sorcerer, he must also want to become one. The desire as well as the confidence must come from within him. Neither one is something that either of us can give him.”

Chris nodded to indicate that he understood as he followed Kevin down the hall.

~ ~ ~ ~

That evening after dinner, Kevin returned to his room as usual, but instead of trying to move the stone or light the candle, he put all of his glowstones in their cases, stretched out on his bed in the dark, closed his eyes, and began to think about what Glendymere had said. He knew that Glendymere was right; something was wrong. He just didn’t know what.

While he was thinking about everything that had happened since he stepped onto that bus, he became aware of a faint light near his desk. It grew in intensity, until it proved enough of a distraction that his thoughts were interrupted. When he opened his eyes and sat up to investigate, he saw a woman standing in the center of a shimmering oval of light. As he watched, she nodded her head once, very slowly, and then sat down on the edge of the desk chair. Her hair was light brown, and although Kevin couldn’t see the color of her eyes, he somehow knew they were light brown also. She was wearing a pale blue robe that was gathered around her waist by a small silver belt, and her feet were encased in dainty black slippers.

After a couple of minutes the apparition spoke. “Myron, you’ve grown into a handsome man. I had hoped that you would have your father’s build, but never mind. You have his magic, and that’s much more important.”

Kevin scooted back in the bed until his back rested against the wall of the cave. He stared at the woman seated across the room, trying to capture a faint memory that he never knew he had. “Are you Yvonne?” he asked softly. He was amazed to realize that he was neither afraid of the apparition, nor surprised by its presence in his room.

“Yes, I’m your mother. I do hope sending you to Earth wasn’t a mistake. You don’t know how Badec and I agonized over that decision. It was definitely the safest place for you, but there were so many disadvantages to cutting you off from Terah and our way of life. I just hope we didn’t end up doing you a disservice while trying to preserve your life.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Glendymere’s right. I’ve been watching you for the past few days, and the only thing stopping you is your own doubt, and I’m afraid that you got that from Earth. We knew that was a possibility, but we really thought Pallor would be able to counteract the prejudice that the people of Earth have against magic.”

“He tried. He brought me books that had stories about magic and dragons and things like that, but my parents took them away from me. They said that there was no such thing as magic and that the stories were silly. Oh, sorry, I mean my foster parents,” Kevin said in Paul’s defense.

“No, that’s all right. They were the only parents you knew. You do realize that the only reason you didn’t grow up knowing who your real parents were and spending time with us was because I died, don’t you?”

“Yes, Kalen explained all about that, and so did Xantha. I was sort of relieved to find out that the O’Reilly’s weren’t my natural parents. We had almost nothing in common. I used to wonder what went wrong, if babies had been switched in the hospital or something. At least now it all makes sense.” Kevin shrugged as if to say that it was no big deal.

“Well, if knowing about Terah, Badec, and me answers some of the questions that have been troubling you, and helps things in your life make sense, why do you have so much trouble believing that you can do the things that Glendymere describes?”

“I’ve been thinking about that for the past hour. I don’t think the problem is that I don’t believe in magic, or in Terah, or in all the things that I’ve seen since I’ve been here. What I don’t believe in is me as a sorcerer. I don’t want to be a sorcerer, much less the Master Sorcerer. That’s an important position and the person who holds that post has a lot of responsibility. Decisions he makes affect the lives of a lot of people.”

“Yes, so?”

“So, I’m just an ordinary guy. Well, maybe a little smarter than average, but certainly no genius. I don’t know how to be an important person whose decisions affect other people’s lives and I don’t want to be one. I never even wanted to be a supervisor. Just being a desk jockey was fine with me. I can’t stand the idea of having to fire someone from their job, and here they’re talking about challenges where sorcerers fight to the death. I definitely don’t want to die, but I don’t want to cause someone else to die either. If I do become a sorcerer, then I’ve got to accept the baggage that goes with it, and I just don’t know if I can do that.”

“Myron, I understand, and believe it or not, so would your father. You’re right that there’s a lot of responsibility involved, and there are risks. Badec would never have challenged another sorcerer, and he really tried to talk anyone who challenged him out of fighting, but when he had to fight, he did, and so will you.”

“Why? Why fight? In the end, someone better, someone stronger, will come along and kill me. Why not just go ahead and get it over with? Why have to live with other sorcerers’ deaths on my conscience when it won’t do anything but put off the inevitable?” Kevin asked in an explosive voice.

Yvonne waited a moment before answering. “For one thing, some of the sorcerers out there are just plain evil; they are power hungry monsters. They’ll kill anyone who gets in their way. Your father was dedicated to seeing that none of them got a chance to sit in the Master’s Chair, and the only way he could do that was to keep it himself. And the only way to keep it is to be so good that the bad guys know that you have the power to destroy them if they try to take it away from you, the good guys know that you can hold onto it, and the ones on the fence don’t have to choose sides. Badec practiced constantly and used every opportunity he could find to publicly demonstrate just how powerful he was. In the thirty years that your father served as Master Sorcerer, he only had to accept two challenges, and his victory was celebrated all over Terah in each case.  Son, sometimes you just have to stand up for what’s right and fight. I wish it weren’t so, but it is.”

“I understand what you’re saying, and I could probably justify it to myself if an evil sorcerer challenged me and I happened to win, and I’ll grant you that preventing evil from gaining control is a valid reason to risk my conscience or even my life. But how can I be sure that I’d be any better in the Master’s Chair? I don’t know anything about Terah, about how this culture really operates. I could do some serious damage here by accident!”

“You know the difference between right and wrong, and as long as you put the welfare of others above your own, you can’t go wrong. Trust your instincts.”

Kevin leaned forward and said, “Okay, let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. Slavery is accepted on Terah. To me it’s wrong, pure and simple. The idea of raiding a village, taking families away from their homes just to sell them into slavery somewhere else is abhorrent. There is no way I can go along with that.”

“I agree, and so does your father. Every province on Terah has laws concerning the capture and sale of its citizens. The armies try to protect the citizens from capture, and anytime slavers raid a village, the soldiers really do try to catch the slavers before they can get out of that province. When they catch them, they either imprison the slavers or execute them, so you’d think that would slow things down, but it doesn’t.” Yvonne paused and then went on. “I guess it’s because there’s so much money tied up in the slave trade. Government officials, wealthy landowners, and sorcerers stand in line to buy people who were captured in other provinces at the same time that they’re issuing orders for soldiers to hunt down the very same slavers if they pull a raid in their province. It just doesn’t make sense and Badec has been trying unsuccessfully for years to get people to recognize the hypocrisy inherent in the slave trade. Actually, he was beginning to make a little headway. A couple of the other sorcerers on the council were starting to look at slavery the same way Badec does, and then he …” Yvonne didn’t finish her sentence. She looked off into space as if listening to her own thoughts.

“What happened to him anyway? All I’ve heard is that he’s in a coma. Was it a stroke? Or a heart attack?”

“I don’t think so. Badec was one of the healthiest men on Terah only a couple of days before he fell into that coma. I don’t know what happened,” Yvonne said slowly.

“You think someone tried to kill him, don’t you?” Kevin asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

“I don’t know, but let’s just say it wouldn’t come as a complete surprise. In fact, I think it’s probable.”

“Any idea who?”

“I’m not going to speculate as to who might have done it until we know what happened, but if you can find proof that the coma wasn’t due to natural causes, I might have a few ideas.”

“So, all of this is probably because someone either doesn’t want to give up their slaves or is making a lot of money off of the slave trade?”

“Not necessarily. If someone tried to kill Badec, it could just as easily be a sorcerer who knows he or she has no hope of defeating him and figures you’re an easier target. Or it could be someone who wants to see the stronger sorcerers kill each other off in the war that will take place if you don’t make it to Camden by April. Or it could be because of something that neither of us knows anything about at this point,” Yvonne said with a shrug. “But I won’t be surprised if it turns out that the coma’s not natural.”

Kevin settled back against the wall for a few minutes. Then he said, “I’m going to change the subject if you don’t mind.” Yvonne nodded. “What are you? A ghost?”

Yvonne laughed and said, “I guess that’s about as good a description as any. My body died, but not my spirit.”

“Are you real? I mean, can I touch you?” Kevin asked as he stood up from the bed.

“You can touch the space where I am. It’s not like touching another person, but you can tell there’s something here. Why?”

“Oh, no reason really. I just wondered what it would be like to kiss my mother’s cheek.”

Yvonne smiled. “Why don’t you find out?”

Kevin walked over to the apparition and kissed her cheek. His lips touched something cool and soft, not quite solid, but definitely there. “Will I see you again?”