The Warrior Elf (3 page)

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He couldn’t claim to be grieving, not in the traditional sense anyway. She wasn’t really a mother. She was someone to be obeyed, someone to be feared, but not someone to love. At the same time, it was hard to accept that her death had so little impact.

After the duel, the castle in Hendon Port had been in chaos for about a week, but as soon as he had his people in place, things settled down. The memorial service had been well-attended, but he’d expected no less. One thing did surprise him though. One of his brothers, Mikos, hadn’t been there. Alastar hadn’t seen or talked to him in years, not since Mikos left for the mines in southeast Landoryn. Still, it was strange he hadn’t heard from him since their mother’s death. Alastar was beginning to wonder if Mikos knew she was gone.

“Franco, have we received any letters from the mines lately?” Alastar called out. He and Franco had grown up together, close as brothers. His mother hadn’t been pleased when he’d chosen Franco as his assistant, but for once Alastar had stood his ground.

“No, at least not as far as I know,” Franco answered as he walked into Alastar’s office and sat down. “I’m not sure if all the mail that came in between the duel and the memorial made it to my desk, but I can definitely say not since then. Why?”

“I was wondering if Mikos knows that mother’s gone.”

“I’ll send him a letter this afternoon, just in case.”

“Don’t make it sound like we forgot to tell him.”

“I won’t. I’ll ask him to send his monthly report straight to you instead of the business office.”

Alastar nodded. “What did you think of the meeting today?”

Franco shrugged. “I have nothing to compare it to, but I thought it was boring. I don’t understand why your mother was always so irritated when she returned.”

“Seeing Myron was all it took to set her off. She hated the House of Nordin. And I have to admit, when I saw him today, sitting there all calm and collected, I seriously thought about tossing a few bolts his way.”

“Because of your mother?”

Alastar nodded. “It was horrible. She was there, and then she wasn’t.” He paused and leaned back in his chair. “He shouldn’t have been able to defeat her that easily. She was strong, stronger than anyone else on the council, at least according to some of the other council members. They said the only reason he won is because he’s part elf.” Alastar shrugged. “That’s why she challenged him. She didn’t want to be the Master Sorcerer, but she couldn’t stand the idea of an elf representing humans. I think that’s why she hated both the House of Nordin and the elves.”

“She wasn’t too fond of dwarves either, or brownies, or gnomes, or any of the other races. She even hated the merfolk.”

“I know. She blamed them every time we lost a ship at sea, especially if it was loaded with slaves. She claimed they stole the slaves and then sank her ships.”

“Do you believe that?” Franco asked.

Alastar shrugged. “I always assumed she knew what she was talking about but now I’m not so sure. She insisted there was no way Myron could defeat her. That’s why she didn’t do anything to prepare for the duel. If she was wrong about that, maybe she was wrong about some other things, too.”

Franco nodded. “There’s something we need to talk about. It hit me while we were at the meeting. You could be challenged for Landoryn’s seat, and if you’re challenged, you have no choice. You have to duel.”

“That’s true, but any sorcerer in Landoryn who even thought about being ambitious enough to go after this seat’s long gone. Mother saw to that.”

“What about your brothers and sisters? Are any of them strong enough to be a threat?”

Alastar shook his head. “No. After Mother decided to make me her heir, she didn’t pay any attention to the rest of them. She didn’t even line up apprenticeships for them. I did, but they were only interested in the basics. None of them know enough to compete for anything beyond a district sorcerer.”

“All right, but they aren’t the only sorcerers out there, and from what I’ve heard, a sorcerer doesn’t have to live in Landoryn to challenge you for the seat.”

“That’s right.”

“I’ve also heard Myron practices drills every morning, just so he’ll be ready.” Franco paused for a moment. “I think you need to start doing that, and I think we need to find a way for you to practice dueling, preferably without getting yourself killed in the process.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Shortly after Kevin and Chris returned from Chamber Isle, Ariel knocked on Kevin’s door. “Joan came by while you were gone. She wants to see you and Chris after lunch.”

“Okay. As far as I know, I don’t have anything else planned.”

Ariel nodded and left.

“Do you have any idea what Joan wants to see us about?” Kevin asked Chris as he sat down and flipped through the messages that had come in while he was at the meeting.

“I think it’s about the women and children we rescued. They’ve been here for a month. She’s moved some of them around, but for the most part the families who took them in are still housing them. It’s time to find permanent homes for them. And the women from the mines are still at the chapel. Sister Agnes has been good about it, but we need to get them out of there.”

Kevin leaned back in his chair. “I hate to admit it, but I’d completely forgotten about them. Any idea where we’re going to put them?”

“Joan and Cpt. Lawrence have been working on that. I don’t know any details, but she wants us to provide transportation today and tomorrow.”

Kevin nodded as he stood up. “I’m going to find Nikki and take her for a walk. Sounds like our afternoon’s going to be pretty full.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Joan and Cpt. Lawrence were waiting at the conference table for Kevin and Chris when they got back from lunch. “Do you mind if we meet out here?” Joan asked. “I’ve got a lot of papers I’ll need to spread out.”

After they were seated, Joan began. “Cpt. Lawrence talked to the men and boys you brought back from the mines and I’ve talked to the women you rescued. Some of the women have husbands and sons at the camp in the mountains, but not all of them do. Some of their husbands were killed, and some are missing. Most of the children are accounted for, but a few of the older girls and boys were sold off separately, so we have no idea where they are. I have a list in my office of the ones who’re missing so if we find them later, we can get them back to their families.” Joan spread out three sheets of paper. She pointed to the first one. “This is a list of complete family units and where they’d like to go. Most of them want to go back home.”

When Kevin nodded, she pointed to the second sheet. “These are women whose husbands are either dead or missing. If they’re missing and we find them later, they can join their families, but in the meantime these women have written to other family members and found places to go.” Joan pointed to the third sheet. “These are a bit harder. These women are on their own. For whatever reason, they don’t have any relatives who can take them in. Fortunately none of them have children. I’m not sure what we’re going to do with them.”

“Is this everyone?” Chris asked.

Joan nodded.

Kevin looked at Cpt. Lawrence. “How many men were left over after you matched up the families?”

“Eighteen, although a couple are hardly men.”

“Any idea where we’re going to take them?”

“I’d suggest leaving them right where they are,” Cpt. Lawrence answered.

“Why?”

“They have no idea where their families are, what’s happening to them, even if they’re still alive. They’re frustrated and they’re angry, deep down angry. That camp is the best place for them until they come to terms with never seeing their families again, and that’s going to take some time.”

“All right,” Kevin said as he stood up. “I guess the first thing we need to do is pick up the men who’re going to be joining their wives.” He looked at Joan. “Where do you want them?”

“I’ve asked the women who have husbands at the camp to be here around three. Since the weather’s nice, let’s use the patio instead of Miranda’s dining room.”

“What about these?” Chris asked, pointing to the second sheet.

“I don’t want them up here today. Seeing the other families reunited would be too much. I thought we’d take care of them tomorrow afternoon,” Joan said, glancing at Kevin.

“That’s fine. This group will be enough for today.” Kevin handed Cpt. Lawrence his key to Terah and took his key to the Gate Between the Worlds off his chain. “Between the two of us, we should have all of the husbands and sons here by three. Meet you out back.”

Chapter 2

Sunday

Sunday morning Kevin would have loved to sleep late. He was worn out from all the trips he’d made Saturday afternoon. Chris and Cpt. Lawrence had both been willing to help, but while the women and children had been living in Milhaven, they’d accumulated quite a bit of luggage, so Kevin had to make most of the trips himself. It had taken until well after dinner to get everyone where they wanted to be, but he hadn’t felt good about some of the locations. He’d done what he could to make their homes livable again and make sure everyone would be safe, but he’d had to leave a few families in isolated locations even though he’d tried to convince them to let him take them someplace else, somewhere populated.

Glendymere was waiting on his favorite butte when Kevin made it to the canyon lands.
“You’re late.”

“Sorry. Busy day yesterday.”

“Anything I need to know?”

Kevin shook his head.

“Then let’s get started.”

As soon as Kevin lowered himself to the canyon floor, the practice session began, and it turned out to be a grueling one. After an hour the dragon called a halt.
“Take a break. We need to talk.”

When Kevin joined him on top of the butte, Glendymere said,
“Landis has mastered gathering and storing energy from Terah, water, wind, and fire. We’re going to start working with her life force tomorrow.”

“Isn’t that the hardest one?”

Glendymere nodded.
“It takes a lot of practice and patience, and since it’s always the last one, a lot of sorcerers don’t bother with it.”

“You’ve been working with her for six months now. How do you think she’ll do? I mean, will she be strong enough to take care of herself?”

“I can’t answer that. She gathers and stores energy well, but all the energy in the world won’t do her any good if she can’t juggle things. She needs to be able to do more than one thing at a time and still have enough concentration left over to gather and store more energy while she’s using it. Will she be able to do all of that? Time will tell.
”

“Is she ready to start using it?”

Glendymere nodded.
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Have you talked to that sorcerer of yours yet?”

Kevin shook his head.

“You need to, and the sooner the better. I could keep going with her, and from a magic standpoint, that would be fine, but before long she’ll need to decide what role sorcery will play in her life. There’s so much for her to experience in addition to being a sorcerer, and the human life span is so short, the blink of an eye for me. She’ll have to figure out what she wants to do and find a way to fit it all in. I can’t help with that. A human sorcerer can.”

Kevin nodded. “I’ll talk to him tonight and see what he says.”

“If he agrees to work with her, he and I need to talk, soon.”

“I’ll set it up. When do you want him to take over?”

“I’d like to keep working with her for at least another couple of months, but if he could, I’d like for him to start before then. He can stay in Rainbow Valley and she can split her time between us, but I’d like for him to take over by mid-summer at the latest.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Chris was in Kevin’s office when he got back from the canyon lands. As Kevin sat down at his desk, he asked, “Anything happen while I was gone?”

“Joan came by to say that the women and children who are going to stay with relatives will be here around three.”

“What about the ones who don’t have anywhere to go?”

“She’s meeting with them at her house this evening. She hopes to have something definite by tomorrow.”

“Okay, but if not, tell her we’ll get Laryn and some of the others to work on it. She’s done more than I expected when I dumped this on her last month. I’m sure someone can come up with something.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Gwynn was preparing lunch when a falcon landed on the windowsill with a note addressed to Hayden tied to its leg. After she untied the note, she opened the back door, called her husband, and set out some food and water for the falcon.

“What?” Hayden asked as he came in. “I was in the middle of putting hay out for the horses.”

Gwynn handed him the note. “You got a letter from the Council of Elders. Thought it might be important.”

Hayden raised his eyebrows as he opened it.

Hayden,

We’ve had reports of humans searching North Amden for a human female who they say was abducted from her home. The only description we have is that she has red hair and is in her mid-twenties. From what I’ve been able to gather, she was last seen in the company of a warrior elf who reportedly attacked a human bystander with a knife and killed him.

The young woman’s family is concerned for her safety and has offered a reward for her return, so the men are determined to find her, to the point of searching barns and storage sheds, often without permission.

We need to put this matter to rest before tempers flare and someone gets hurt. As it is, I feel sure this matter will come up before the Council of Elders at our next meeting and that Caelan will be asked to address it with the Federation.

I’d like to determine how widespread this search is before meeting with the elders. Has anyone shown up in your area searching for her? Please see what you can find out.

I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Weldon

As he read the letter, Hayden slowly sat down. He handed the letter to his wife. “Read this and see if you know what he’s talking about. He’s saying Rhianna killed someone!”