Rise of Legends (The Kin of Kings Book 2) (10 page)

The answer he was looking for came the second day, when Terren made an announcement. She’d wanted the school’s akorell stone and also was sent to spy. But if anyone had any idea what she had planned for the stone, they hadn’t shared it with Cleve.

His uncle sent someone to summon him to his house. Cleve planned to find out more about Sanya, but Terren spoke the moment he opened the door.

“I need to make another announcement soon. Come in.”

Hearing his uncle’s urgency, Cleve quickly entered and shut the door behind him. “Another announcement about Sanya?”

“Something else, but before I can tell you, I need to know if you’ll accept a dangerous task. It—”

“Yes.”

Terren was amused. “I haven’t told you what it is yet.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Terren stopped smiling to give Cleve a serious look. “You’ve always been eager to prove yourself, but you no longer have to do that for me or anyone else.”

“I don’t care about proving myself, I just want to help.” Terren grew a proud smile that embarrassed Cleve. “Stop that and get on with the details.”

But that only made Terren’s smile deepen. “I wish my brother was alive to see the kind of man you’ve become.”

Cleve never knew what to say when his uncle spoke like this. Immediately following the death of his parents, he’d cry every time they were mentioned. And now that Cleve was stronger, Terren had taken every opportunity to speak about them. In truth, Cleve’s father would be just as proud of his younger brother, Terren.

“Whatever you believe I can do to help, I’ll do it,” Cleve said to direct the conversation back to the reason he’d been summoned.

“We need more soldiers, Cleve.” Terren’s face took on a heavy grimace. “We need help from Tenred, but I don’t know if they’ve heard about the takeover. We can’t reach Javy Rayvender. We’ve sent all the pigeons we can, and none have returned.”

The Academy was surrounded by Tauwin’s men, making this mission sound impossible. Knowing Terren, however, he had some sneaky plan. There was still a problem, though.

“Even if we find a way to get to Tenred, is the territory still ours?” Cleve asked.

“Kyrro and Tenred still belong to King Kerr.”

“How much power can a dead man have?”

“The same as if he were alive…if those in Tenred believe him to be. The territory is ours,” Terren added firmly. “But I can’t guarantee we have the loyalty of Tenred’s soldiers. Some of them fought against us in the last war. They’ve spent time in our prisons, and, as an act of trust, they weren’t checked by psychics upon their release.” Terren turned his head as he lowered his voice. “But this decision was reached more so because our enemies were powerless to stand against our numbers by the time the war ended. They had no chance of rebellion. Now, so much has changed, and we have a lot to learn about them before we can trust them. That’s why I’m sending Reela with you. We need a skilled psychic to judge their loyalty.”

“Good. Reela will do well.”

“But getting there will be the most difficult part. There are only two paths to Tenred, and both are heavily guarded, which tells us that Tauwin clearly doesn’t want us going there. This is a sign that he hasn’t stolen their loyalty yet. Peter is to go with you and Reela. He’s the strongest warrior, besides you.”

“There are other warriors who are better than him.” But Cleve realized he was thinking of Alex. He didn’t know what to say to correct his mistake.

“Peter is going,” Terren said in a tone that left no room for argument. “And I’m sending another psychic with the three of you.”

“Why? Reela is strong enough for any situation we find ourselves in.”

Terren sighed softly, looking into Cleve’s eyes and waiting for him to realize something.

“What?” Cleve asked.

“You have to consider the possibility of Reela falling on the way there. We don’t want you arriving without a psychic. It’s prudent to send two.”

“Nothing will happen to Reela.”

“Words and wishes won’t protect her, Cleve.”

“But I will.”

Terren pondered for a moment. “You will, won’t you?” he muttered to himself, and then chuckled. “Fine. The party is verging on becoming too large anyway because I’m also sending Basen with you. Portals might be the advantage we need to win this war.”

“You’re not concerned about Sanya’s threat?”

“I’m concerned, but Basen doesn’t need to make any portals during the trip. He just has to find an area where enough bastial energy has been gathered over time, and he’ll be able to make a portal to that location at a later date. We need one that can get us into the Fjallejon Mountains.”

Now the nature of the plan was becoming clear, and Cleve agreed with it wholeheartedly. History had taught him that battling for the mountains between Kyrro and Tenred was worth almost any risk. The vantage point they gave was too valuable to ignore, and pigeons from both territories were already trained to fly there. Tauwin had to know this as well, however. The Fjallejon Mountains would be heavily guarded.

“Which is more important?” Cleve asked. “Finding a place to create a portal within the mountains or reaching Tenred?”

“Both are equally important.”

Cleve was surprised at how much was being asked of him. But before he could say anything, Terren spoke again. “I told you this was dangerous.”

“So you expect us to cross all the way through the narrow Fjallejon Pathway and make it to Tenred?”

“Yes.” Terren frowned. “I would go myself, Cleve, but I need to stay here in case there’s an attack.”

Cleve nodded in agreement. No matter the risk, he was thankful his uncle still trusted him more than anyone for such a task. “I’ll go, but I think a chemist would be valuable in our group.”

“I’m sending Alabell with you as well. She’s the best healer in the school, and we don’t have a role here for her until there’s a battle. She needs no further training, and we already have enough instructors for the rest of the students.”

“What about Steffen?” Cleve suggested. He’d been eager to see all the chemist had learned since they’d last fought together. “Alabell cannot wield a bow or sword like he can.”

“Steffen is needed for another task. He and Annah are to escort Liaison Wilfre to Trentyre.”

Cleve had wondered what would become of the liaison now that the king was dead, though this task came as a surprise. “What do you expect him to do in Trentyre?”

“His job.” Terren’s eyebrows rose with guilt as they often did when he needed to speak ill of another man. “Many cannot stand his presence here any longer, myself included. But he’s smart—he just needs to learn to be brave. He’ll find the leader in Trentyre, whether it’s Basen’s father or not, so we can begin working with our only allies.”

“Why Annah? She’s just a first-year, and there was the incident of her loyalty.”

“We know now that it was Sanya who made it appear that Annah was lying.”

Cleve shuddered inwardly. That meant Sanya’s psyche was strong enough to trick Reela, the strongest psychic Cleve knew besides her brother.

“Annah has already proven herself to be stronger than most third-years,” Terren continued. “And she’s eager to prove herself more.”

Cleve realized then that his last roommate hadn’t been mentioned. “What about Effie?” Every time Terren had sent Cleve outside the Academy for something like this, Effie had always been involved somehow, her skill with bastial and sartious energy foolish to overlook.

But Terren just frowned at Cleve’s question.

“You can’t keep Effie alone here,” Cleve added.

“Alone?” Terren chuckled. “She’ll be with the rest of us as we train and prepare for a battle that’s very likely to begin imminently. She’ll be surrounded by her comrades.”

“But none of them are her close friends. She’s fragile right now.” In Cleve’s eyes, Effie was a rose with thorns, but recently it seemed as though her thorns had dulled and she’d begun to wilt. She was drunk all the time and constantly weeping. He didn’t want to imagine how much worse her pain would be without Reela, who’d been sharing her bed each night to help her sleep.

“You might as well just send her with us,” Cleve said. “Having two mages is worth the small risk of adding one to the group.”

“I’m already sending more people than I want to with you through the Fjallejon Pathway. You know as well as I do that escaping detection is your only chance of making it to Tenred. However, I can put her with Steffen and Annah as they escort Liaison Wilfre. Effie’s ability to make light would allow them to travel without a lamp.” Terren nodded at his own words. “Yes, that’ll do.”

Unfortunately, as much as Steffen could hope to help Effie, it was Reela who the mourning mage needed. “Give them Peter and put Effie with us.”

Terren sighed, and Cleve could sense his uncle’s patience dwindling. No one but Cleve could speak this way to the headmaster, whose word was always final.

“Have you forgotten that Peter openly defied Wilfre last year?” Terren asked, folding his arms as he waited for Cleve to answer.

Cleve
had
forgotten about that. The liaison once caught Peter taking a shortcut over the corner of Warrior’s Field during a lap and demanded that he come back and go around the corner properly. Peter, already in a sullen mood from having to do the lap as punishment, ignored the liaison. Wilfre ran beside him and yelled for him to go back, but Peter finished his lap, all the while pretending Wilfre didn’t exist. The liaison complained to Sneary, who sent Peter on another lap, but that wasn’t enough for Wilfre. He saw Peter’s continued service to the Academy as an insult and asked Terren to expel the rude warrior, then sulked when Terren didn’t.

“But I’m sure Wilfre wasn’t the only instructor last year who wanted Peter gone from the Academy,” Cleve argued.

“No, but he’s the loudest and most powerful. Or he was when we still had a king.” Terren shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t risk putting them together for such a stealthy task.”

“Then put Effie with us instead of Basen.” That way she would still be with Reela.

“The portals, Cleve,” Terren reminded him.

“It’s just as important for Basen to learn to make a portal to Trentyre, if that’s where our only known allies are.”

“Accessing the Fjallejon Pathway and Tenred are higher priorities.” Terren’s quick answer proved to Cleve that he’d already given this much thought. Cleve could feel defeat setting in as Terren put his hand on his shoulder. “I’ll have Penny keep a close eye on Effie. She’ll be well taken care of.”

“It’s after training when Effie falls into despair,” Cleve informed his uncle.

“Despair won’t kill her,” Terren answered somewhat coldly. “She needs to learn to deal with her grief.”

Although Cleve knew Terren was right, he still couldn’t let this go without a fight. “She needs Reela for a while longer. Otherwise she’ll turn to her jug of sakal for comfort even more than she already has.”

“This is war!” Anger colored Terren’s voice now. “She’s not going north with Reela! If you insist on them being together, I’ll switch Reela with Annah, but that means
you
will be apart from Reela instead of Effie!”

“Then that’s what must be done!”

Cleve hadn’t realized they both were shouting until the abrupt silence came.

“I apologize for my tone,” he said.

Terren sighed. “So it’ll be you, Peter, Basen, Alabell, and Annah. Are you satisfied?”

“I am if you’re confident that Steffen, Effie, and Reela won’t be harmed on the way to Trentyre.”

“They’ve proven themselves in the past, as you already know. I don’t know when you became so protective of your friends, but you need to remember that, although I’m your uncle, I’m also the headmaster!” It surprised Cleve that Terren was still yelling. “I wouldn’t listen to such demands from another student, and don’t let my leniency here give you the idea you can speak up again in the future.”

Cleve couldn’t remember when Terren had last taken such an imperial tone with him and was stunned into silence.

“Effie’s wounds caused by Alex’s death will never fully heal if she keeps using you or Reela as a crutch,” Terren went on. “And I have no more time to discuss this. I need to tell you more about your task. Are you listening?”

Cleve nodded.

“We won’t have a way to be in contact until you return. If there are complications, I won’t know. Do you understand what I’m saying? There will be no way to send for help, Cleve. It’ll be up to your leader to assess each situation and decide if you should continue or retreat. Now can you see how Effie’s loneliness matters little compared to this?”

Cleve ignored the rhetorical question. “Who is to lead us if not me? I’m well-trained for this. I know how to get to Tenred. I’ve been through the Fjallejon Pathway.”

“Mage Jackrie knows the Fjallejon Pathway better than you do, and she has more experience leading a group. Listen to everything she says.” Terren walked to his door and opened it. “Return safely.”

Cleve felt as if one of them should apologize, but he didn’t think it should be him. He slowly made his way out.

“Wait,” Terren said. Cleve turned, hoping to hear an apology. But Terren kept his same strict tone. “Jackrie will give Basen the order to create a quick portal once he’s found a location with enough bastial energy somewhere in the Fjallejon Mountains. But this is only to ensure he can make a portal to that location at a later time. Don’t go inside any portal, no matter what. We haven’t had a chance to test them yet, and Jack Rose believes even sticking your hand within one could crush your bones to dust. No matter what Basen or anyone in your group says, convince them not to enter any portal.”