The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah) (70 page)

“The seven of you seem to have worked really well together. Pallor did a good job choosing Myron’s companions,” Laryn said, more to herself than to Steve.

“Now, tell me a bit about yourself,” Steve said. “I’ve been doing all the talking.”

“There’s not much to tell. I’ve worked with Badec since I was eighteen. My life has been defined by my role first as his assistant and then as his second. I don’t know who I am without him,” Laryn said as tears began to well up in her eyes again.

Steve nodded.

“His death just makes me so angry,” Laryn said as she swiped at the tears flowing down her cheeks “I’ve kept the anger inside for almost a year now, but it hasn’t gone away. It’s getting worse, especially now that he’s gone.”

“It’s all right to be angry with someone for dying and leaving you here to handle things alone. I was angry with Cathy for a while, too.”

“No, that’s not …,” Laryn began, but immediately stopped herself. What was she doing? She’d almost told this complete stranger her deepest and darkest thoughts. But the longer they sat there in a silence that was more comfortable than it had any right to be, the more she felt that talking to him was the right thing to do. Finally she said, “What I was starting to say is that I’m not angry with Badec. I’m angry with the one who killed him.” When Steve didn’t immediately say anything, Laryn continued. “Sister Agnes and I have known that he was poisoned since a few days after he became ill, but we didn’t dare tell anyone.”

“Why not?”

“Because we can’t prove it. And because we don’t know who was responsible. There are a lot of people who would have been so ready to find someone to blame, some outlet for their anger, that innocent people could have gotten hurt. We couldn’t say anything to anyone,” Laryn said quietly.

“Do you have any idea what it was?”

“We think the poison was made from a rare mushroom called Sleeping Angel. It causes the mind to more or less shut down. The victim usually dies within a matter of days, or weeks at the most, but Sister Agnes came up with a way to feed him and give him water, and that kept his body alive. We moved him around a lot to keep him from getting sores and she spent hours every day moving his arms and legs around so that the muscles wouldn’t draw up, but we’ve known the whole time that he’d never come out of the coma. No one has ever survived Sleeping Angel.”

“And you’re sure that it was deliberate? It couldn’t have been an accident?”

“No, there’s no way it could have been an accident,” Laryn said forcefully. “Sleeping Angel doesn’t grow anywhere near here. It doesn’t even grow anywhere in Camden.” Laryn sighed and stared out into the distance for a minute. “There was a mug of tea by his chair the next morning with only a couple of swallows gone. I think the poison was in the tea. It acts quickly, but it isn’t immediate. He wouldn’t have started feeling bad for a couple of hours.”

“Does everyone know about Sleeping Angel?”

“No. I’d never heard of it, but Sister Agnes had. The valley where she trained is one of the few places on Terah where it grows wild. She nursed a few people who had eaten some of the mushrooms without realizing they were poisonous. That’s why she recognized the symptoms.”

“And no one else at the castle or in Milhaven got sick?”

Laryn shook her head. “There must have been just enough for one cup of tea.”

“Is there any way to find out where it came from?”

Laryn shook her head again. “Local farmers bring us fruits, vegetables, and baked goods almost every day. Our cooks carry things to them, too. It’s all part of being good neighbors. Someone could have given something to one of the kitchen workers and said that it added a lovely flavor to tea and suggested that they let Badec try it. Or some traveler could have traded it for a plate of food at the kitchen door.” Laryn shrugged and then continued, “I don’t even know for sure what form the poison would have been in. It might have been boiled down to a thin broth, ground into a powder, or possibly even dried and mixed with some tea leaves.”

“And there’s no way to find out who might have known about this poison?” Steve said as if he were thinking out loud.

“Not really. And besides, just because a person knows about the mushroom doesn’t mean he’s the one who poisoned my brother.” Laryn shook her head slowly and looked at the ground. “Steve, no one intentionally poisons someone else here. It’s unheard of. When someone on Terah wants to kill someone, it’s either with a knife, his fists, a sword, or an energy bolt. Whoever this person is, he’s really dangerous.”

“You have to tell Kevin. He could be next.”

“I know. I just hate to tell him something like this and not be able to point my finger at someone. I can’t even say for certain that it was another sorcerer. It could have been planned by anyone, from anywhere.” Laryn sighed. “Let him have today. I’ll tell him tomorrow morning.”

Chapter 53

The Sorcerer of Camden

After breakfast Monday morning, Laryn asked Kevin if she could speak with him privately, so they went into Kevin’s office while Chris stayed in the outer office to help the pages get started on the task of answering all the notes that Kevin had received after Badec’s death.

Once she was seated, Laryn said, “I have something that I need to tell you about Badec’s coma.” Kevin slowly sat in his chair and leaned back to hear what she had to say. When she finished explaining what she and Sister Agnes suspected, she said, “I have the feeling that nothing I’ve said surprises you.”

Kevin leaned forward in his chair and said, “I don’t know if you’ll believe what I’m about to tell you or not, but Yvonne’s spirit came to see me while I was in Rainbow Valley. She didn’t much think the coma was due to natural causes either. She didn’t have any theories as to what had happened, but poison makes sense.”

“Did she have any idea who might have been responsible?”

“I’m not sure. I asked her, but she said that she wouldn’t speculate about who might have been involved until we knew for sure what had happened. I got the feeling that she had some definite thoughts on the subject though.”

“Do the others know about her visit?”

“Chris does. I kept meaning to tell the others, but it just didn’t seem to come up.” Kevin paused, trying to decide how much to tell Laryn about Rolan. “Saturday morning, before we went to Milhaven, Freddy told me that he sensed a heart of pure evil close by, and that he had sensed the same heart once before, the day before Badec became ill. When I asked him if he knew who it was, he said that it was Rolan.”

“I wonder why he never told me.”

“He didn’t know who it was until this past Saturday.”

“It’s not proof, but it is interesting, isn’t it?”

Kevin nodded. “We can’t move against him without something concrete, but at least we have an idea where to look now.”

 “Is that why you asked me to point Rolan out to you in Milhaven?”

Kevin nodded again.

“I thought it was because he had put out a bounty on the minstrels.”

“I would have waited for the council meeting had it not been for Freddy’s warning. When I turned to look at him, our eyes met, and it was like two dogs sizing each other up, heading for an inevitable fight. I know that sounds melodramatic, but that’s the way I felt. It was eerie.”

“Don’t underestimate him, Myron.”

“I don’t plan to. He’s a dangerous man,” Kevin agreed.

Laryn nodded and then said, “Shall we move on to the requests and complaints in the top right desk drawer?”

“Let me get Chris.”

After Chris came in, Kevin took the letters out of the drawer and spread them out on top of his desk. “Maybe the first thing we should do is sort them.”

“Not all of them have dates on them, but I did keep them in order. The most recent ones are on top,” Laryn said as she stepped up to the desk to help.

“I was thinking more like easy to handle, need more information, need some thought, and then, in the last stack, those that we have no idea how to address,” Kevin said. “That way we can get the easy ones out of the way.”

Laryn nodded and said, “At least you’ll be able to make a dent in the stack that way,” as she began sorting through the letters.

 A lot of the letters were complaints against district sorcerers who had overcharged for their services. Some of the complaints were made by individuals, but some were documented by district ministers. One sorcerer in particular had ten separate letters dealing with a variety of complaints resulting from his arrogance and greed.

There were also some letters from district sorcerers requesting transfers. Most of them were looking for higher paying positions, but a few were looking for less strenuous posts. Several letters were from young sorcerers asking for an interview, and one was from an older sorcerer asking that a new sorcerer be found for his district, as he and his wife would like to retire.

At the bottom of the drawer, there was a letter that was different from the others. It was written on high quality paper and had been sealed with a wax impression. When Kevin opened it, he found that it had been written by Robyn, one of Rolan’s brothers. Robyn wrote that he believed that Rolan was directly responsible for his father’s death and suggested that it would be helpful to interview one of the castle slaves, a man named Taelor.

After Kevin had read through the letter, he read it aloud to Laryn and Chris. “I wonder when this came. Is there any way to tell?” he asked Laryn.

“No, not unless the letter itself has a date on it. Was it opened when you took it out of the drawer?”

 “I’m not sure. The wax impression was loose, but it hadn’t been broken. There’s no date anywhere that I can see,” Kevin answered, handing her the letter.

“If Badec opened it before he got sick, he didn’t mention it to me,” Laryn said as she handed it to Chris. Then she looked at Kevin and asked, “What are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing yet. I’m not the Master Sorcerer until the sixth of April. We’ll put it to the side for now, but I’m not going to forget about it.”

By dinner, they had sorted all of the letters into stacks, tied them up into bundles, and stored them back in the drawer, ready to be tackled first thing Tuesday morning.

Most of the extra tables and chairs had been removed from the dining room so that one side was once again organized into informal sitting areas, and after dinner most of the residents and guests moved over to the couches and chairs to relax before heading upstairs to bed.

No one noticed that Steve drifted out one door a few minutes before Laryn slipped out another.

~ ~ ~ ~

Late Wednesday evening, Kevin was in his room reviewing the notes that he and Chris had made about the various provinces and their seated sorcerers when he heard Xantha’s voice in his head.
“I’m back. Meet me outside the stable in ten minutes.”

Kevin rushed down to the stable, filled a bucket with oats, and set it beside a water trough. When Xantha landed, he headed straight for the oats.
“Ah, you remembered. We’ll talk in just a minute.”
A few minutes later, Xantha raised his head.
“Much better. Conversation always goes best with a full stomach.”

“I didn’t expect to see you so soon. Did you find Taelor?”
Kevin asked mentally.

“Of course.”

“So quickly? I can’t believe it!”

“What can I say? I’m good.”

“So …”

“Oh. Taelor found Landis last fall. The two of them are staying with her foster parents in a small valley along the west coast of Brendolanth. I asked if he remembered the minstrels he met last May. He didn’t answer, but his thoughts were full of worry and fear that Rolan was trying to connect all of you with him. I told him to relax, that I was bringing a message from the one he knew as Kevin,”
Xantha paused while he drank some water.
“Somehow he had the idea that Karl and Darrell were in charge of the group, and that you were a servant. When I told him who you really were, he didn’t believe me. I explained that you were on your way to Willow Canyon to train with Glendymere when he met you, but I don’t think he ever did believe me.”

“What did he say about coming here?”

“He said to tell you thank you and that he would like to accept your hospitality, but that he needed to talk with Landis and her foster parents before making any plans. I think he wants to check all of this out. Anyway, I’ll get back in touch with him in a couple of weeks and see what he says then.”

“Good. And if they decide to come?”

“I’ll bring them. Wouldn’t do to have the two of them traveling across Brendolanth with a price on his head. Now, I’m going over to Duane’s camp and get some sleep. Anything else before I go?”

     “No, and thanks,”
Kevin said as Xantha took off.

~ ~ ~ ~

Badec’s brothers, sisters, and their families packed up and left on Thursday.  At breakfast Friday morning, Duane asked Kevin if he and his father could have a few minutes of Kevin’s time. “We’re going to pack up and head out later today, but there’s something that we’d like to discuss with you before we go.”

“Sure, just come by the office whenever you’re ready. I’ll tell Ariel to let me know as soon as you get there.”

While the others told the elves good-bye and wished them a safe trip, Kevin and Chris left the dining room.

“Wonder what that’s about,” Chris said. “Should I stay or go when they get there?”

“Maybe you should hang around the outer office while I’m talking to them. That way you’ll be close by if I decide I want you in there,” Kevin answered. “While I’m busy with Duane, why don’t you get the pages started on the letters we drafted yesterday?”

Chris nodded.

Kevin had just settled down behind his desk when Ariel knocked on his door to let him know that the elves had arrived.

After Duane and Hayden were seated, Hayden said, “I would like to ask you to consider accepting an apprentice. She’s twenty-four now, but she’ll turn twenty-five this summer.”

“An elf?” Kevin asked in surprise.

“No, she’s human. She’s Tsareth’s youngest daughter, Landis. My wife and I are her foster parents. I don’t know how much you know about her half-brother Rolan, but he’s a dangerous and evil man. If he finds Landis before she learns to protect herself, I fear her life would be forfeit. I hate to ask you to do this. I know how busy you’re going to be, especially for the first few years, and I have to warn you that anyone who accepts her will be risking Rolan’s wrath.”

Kevin’s jaw had dropped while Hayden was talking. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Hayden paused for a second because of the look on Kevin’s face. He waited to see if Kevin had something he wanted to say. When he didn’t, Hayden continued, “Duane and I have discussed this at length, and he feels strongly that you’re powerful enough to protect yourself, Landis, and her other half-brother, Taelor, who will probably accompany her. I wasn’t going to talk to you about this yet, but I was afraid to wait. As word of your exploits in Willow Canyon spread, I’m sure you’ll have quite a few fathers approach you about accepting their sons or daughters as apprentices.”

Finally Kevin spoke. “Tell me about Taelor. I think you said he is her half-brother? Does he have magical power, too?”

“No, he’s not Tsareth’s son. He and Landis share the same mother. When she died last winter, Taelor decided to try to find Landis. He’s been with us in Crinsor Run since late last summer.”

Kevin nodded. “Back to your request, I’ll be happy to accept Landis as an apprentice when she’s ready, but there is one problem. As you know, I’m part elf.”

Duane held up his hand as a signal for Kevin to stop. “We know. I’ve already talked to Glendymere. He said that if you’d agree to let her apprentice with you afterwards, he’ll take her next fall and teach her to gather and store energy.”

Kevin nodded. Then he looked at Hayden and asked, “Have you discussed any of this with her?”

“Not really. I’ve told her that we were in the process of making arrangements for her to begin her studies next fall but we haven’t given her any details.

“Do you think this is going to be acceptable to her?”

“Which part?” Hayden asked with a twinkle in his eye. “Studying magic with the most respected dragon on Terah, or serving as apprentice to the Master Sorcerer? I really don’t think she could ask for any better tutors.”

“I just hope I can live up to the title,” Kevin said. “Fine then. Unless I hear something different, I’ll expect Landis, Taelor, and anyone else she wants to bring in about a year or so.”

“Probably not that soon. I imagine she’ll be with Glendymere at least a year before she comes here. Anyway, we’ll keep you informed,” Hayden said as he stood up to go. Then he shook Kevin’s hand and left the office.

Duane hung back for a couple of minutes. “Is everything all right? You looked almost in shock when he first told you about Landis. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I was just taken by surprise. That’s all. Tell me, do you know both Landis and Taelor?”

“Of course,” Duane answered. “I watched Landis grow up with my baby sister, Rhianna, but I didn’t realize she was Tsareth’s daughter until Taelor showed up. I always thought of her simply as Rhee’s friend.”

“And Xantha knows them, too?”

Duane nodded and asked, “What is it?” puzzled by Kevin’s questions.

“Nothing. It just explains a few things,” Kevin said as he shook his head. “It’s a long story, but last Saturday night I asked Xantha to try to find Taelor and offer him and Landis my protection. Anyway, Xantha never let on that he already knew them, or that he had any idea where they were, but when he got back Wednesday night he told me that he had talked to Taelor. I imagine you’ll hear of my offer when you get home. Maybe you should warn your father. I guess I should have mentioned it to him myself.”

“So that’s where Xantha disappeared to. He told me that he was off on a secret mission for you,” Duane grinned. Then he got serious again. “How do you know Taelor?”

“Have you heard about the reward that Rolan was offering for the group of minstrels? The ones that he thought had helped Taelor escape his bounty hunters?”