The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (36 page)

Kevin laughed. “That’s an understatement, but you’ve got the basics. Anyway, she’s never lived around sorcerers so she has no idea what they do on a day-to-day basis. I’d like for her to follow you around one day and watch. Would you be willing to let her do that?”

“Sure, but I’ll need to know when to make sure I have some work lined up.”

Kevin nodded. “I’d like to do it Monday, but Marcus, don’t tell anyone she’ll be here. Rolan has put a bounty on her head, and I don’t want him or any of his bounty hunters to hear about her visit.”

Marcus nodded. “No problem.”

“I’ll have a guard go with you, probably either Alek or Rigel, to keep an eye on things while you’re busy with the magic. I’m not expecting any problems, but you never know. Do you have any questions?”

“Is there anything in particular you’d like for me to set up?”

Kevin shook his head. “I just want her to see that magic can be used to help people, that there’s a reason for learning how to handle it.”

“Has she started training yet?”

“She’s working on gathering energy right now.”

“I remember how frustrating it was to spend hours and hours trying to gather energy and store it. And the headaches …” Marcus shook his head. “I was ready to call it quits half a dozen times before I got to the point I could start using it.”

“That’s where she is right now, wondering if it’s worth the time and effort. I’d like for her to decide it is, but it has to be her decision. She’ll probably have some questions for you. Just answer her honestly. Oh, and her best friend will be with her.”

“Is her friend going to be a sorcerer, too?”

Kevin shook his head. “Her name’s Rhianna, and she’s an elf. She’s here for moral support.”

Marcus nodded.

“Do you have any other questions?”

Marcus shook his head. “Not that I can think of. I’ll see what I can arrange for Monday. I may be able to put off the jobs I‘d lined up for Thursday and Friday until then. What time do you want to leave Thursday?”

“I don’t know,” Kevin said as he glanced at Chris, who had walked back in.

“After breakfast,” Chris said.

“Shall I meet you here?” Marcus asked as he stood up to go. When Kevin nodded, Marcus said, “See you then,” and left.

Chris shut the door and sat down in front of Kevin’s desk.

Kevin raised his eyebrows and waited for Chris to say whatever was on his mind.

“Where are Landis and Rhianna going to sleep?” Chris asked.

“Sleep?”

“Yeah, sleep. Where are you going to put them?”

“What are you getting at?”

“We have no way of knowing whether or not Rolan still has a spy in this castle. She’ll only be here for one night, but we don’t want her stabbed to death in her sleep while she’s here. Where are we going to put them?”

Kevin didn’t say anything for a moment. “You have a point. When I told Landis I wanted her to follow Marcus around, she suggested I pick them up Monday morning after breakfast and take them back either before or after dinner. And if it weren’t for that meeting with Robyn, that’s what I would have done. There’s no telling what Rolan would do if he found out Robyn has talked to me, much less that he’s meeting with Landis. That’s why I wanted to cover the meeting by having her spend the night here, but now I’m not so sure it’s a good idea.”

“Have you decided where they’re going to talk?”

“The island we found for Gaynor.”

“First or second one?”

“The second one. The nice one with caves.”

Chris nodded. “We could set up the cave again and let them spend the night there. They’d be safe on that island.”

Kevin thought for a moment. “You and Marcus packed up after Gaynor’s death. Did you bring everything back here?”

Chris shook his head. “We brought back the food and herbs, some of the kitchen stuff, the sheets and pillows, but we left the heavy furniture. Marcus had never carried stuff like that through the energy field before, so we kept it to small bundles.”

“So there’s a sitting room and bedroom still set up?”

Chris nodded. “As long as we take some sheets back out there.”

“You realize there’s no way I’m leaving them there by themselves. We’d have to spend the night out there, too.”

“I know. We’ll need a cave for us to sleep in. And we’ll need to take some beds out there. I’m not sleeping on the ground if I don’t have to.”

“Guess the first thing we need to do is find another cave.”

“And we’ll need to do that during daylight. The time difference is close to twelve hours. When do you want to go?”

“Later tonight?”

Chris nodded.

Chapter 32

Rochdale

Thursday morning, Gen. Crandal, Marcus, and Rigel were in Kevin’s office when he got back from breakfast. Before Kevin could say a word, Rigel shook his head. “It’s on the calendar. I’m going.”

Kevin laughed. “Do you know where we’re going?”

“Rochdale.”

“Do you know why?”

“No idea.”

Kevin filled Rigel in about the raid. “I’m not sure what we’ll find, but we’re going to see if it looks like Syrando did. We think it may be the same crew of slavers.”

“Maybe Alek should go since he saw Syrando. He might spot something I’d miss,” Rigel said. “He’s in Cpt. Darrell’s office.”

Kevin nodded, so Rigel left. A couple of minutes later, Alek walked through the door. “Another raid?”

Gen. Crandal nodded. “It’s been over a week since it happened, and from what I’ve gathered, a lot of people have trampled around the island since then, but I hope we can get an idea of what happened and see if it matches the Syrando raid.”

Alek put his hand on Kevin’s arm as Gen. Crandal and Marcus did the same. Moments later, they were in Rochdale. Contrary to the reaction of the people in Ashmont, Rochdale was carrying on business as usual. The shops were open, the boardwalks were full of people, and several wagons were parked in front of stores, ready to load.

A middle-aged man stepped off the boardwalk and headed in their direction.

“Any idea who that is?” Kevin quietly asked Gen. Crandal.

“My guess would be Tubin, the town director. Looks a little old to be Sturic, the local sergeant,” he whispered.

The man walked up to Kevin and held out his hand. “Welcome to Rochdale, Myron. I’m Tubin, the town director. I’m happy to meet you, although I’d prefer different circumstances. We’re here to help in any way we can. Please let me know if there’s anything you need while you’re here.”

“Thank you,” Kevin answered. “I understand Sgt. Sturic is expecting us and has secured a boat for my associate, Marcus, to use while he’s here. Is that correct?”

“Well, we made arrangements to have a boat available to take you over to the island this morning, but I’m not sure it will be available after that. I didn’t expect it to take you long to see the island.”

Gen. Crandal cleared his throat, and as soon as he had Tubin’s attention, he said, “I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Marcus will be here for a couple of days to investigate the raid. He needs a boat to get back and forth to the island and to explore areas along the river. He’ll interview people who live on the river as well as those in town, and he’ll also be looking for possible hideouts.”

“Oh, well, that’s not necessary. We’ve already investigated thoroughly. We’ll give you copies of our reports.”

“And we appreciate the time and effort you took to get those reports ready, and we’re looking forward to going through them. But Marcus was the primary investigator in a similar raid on Syrando. We think the same crew of slavers might be involved in both raids, and it’s possible some little detail, seemingly insignificant, might match something he heard near Syrando,” Kevin explained. “If it’s going to be a problem, I’m sure Asar will let us borrow the boat Marcus used to investigate the Syrando raid. I can go get it.”

“No, no, that won’t be necessary. I’m sure we’ll be able to accommodate your needs. We just didn’t see any reason for you to waste your time covering the same ground we’ve already covered, but if that’s what you want to do …”

“It is.”

“Very well.” Tubin nodded towards Marcus. “I’ll have a boat available for you by the time you return from the island. We have an excellent inn over the tavern. I’m sure you’ll be comfortable there while you’re in town.”

“Thank you,” Marcus said, “but I won’t be staying in town. I’ll camp along the river.”

A younger man had walked up to join them, so Tubin turned towards him and said, “Sgt. Sturic, this is Myron and his associate, Marcus. I’m sure you know Gen. Crandal.”

Sgt. Sturic shook hands with the visitors. “If you’re ready, we can go to the island now.”

“Lead the way,” Gen. Crandal answered.

It took a little over an hour to get to the island, but most of that time was spent on the dock deciding who was going and who wasn’t. In the end, only Sgt. Sturic accompanied them to the island.

Kevin and Alek wandered around like they had at Syrando, exploring the houses, looking for signs of violence. The first house they went through had obviously been cleaned. The floors looked freshly scrubbed, no drops of blood, no mud, not even any dirt. The kitchen was spotless, not a glass or dish out of place, and no sign of any food. The beds were made, the clothes folded and put away, and the shoes were stored on the bottom shelf of the wardrobe. Not even one pair of boots or slippers was sitting out. All of the furniture was right where it belonged, nothing knocked over, nothing broken. But when Kevin went out the back door, he saw two broken chairs and a table missing a leg piled up near the woods. And so it went with all the houses.

Gen. Crandal talked with Sgt. Sturic about the people who lived there. All of them were related, either by blood or marriage. The men were late thirties, early forties, and had all served in the local army unit. Sgt. Sturic assured him they were all proficient with swords, crossbows, and knives. They knew the risk of living on the island, and took being able to defend themselves seriously. The women were all competent with a sword and knife, and he’d never seen any of them, male or female, without a weapon handy. Even the children carried knives, and they were taught how to use them earlier than most.

Marcus explored the perimeter of the island, but the only place he could find where the slavers could have loaded the captives without everyone getting soaked was at the dock, and it was almost full of boats. If the raid had happened at night there would have been room for maybe one slaver boat, but it would have had to be a small one, so if thirty people had been captured, more than one boat must have been involved.

After an hour on the island, they met at the dock. Gen. Crandal asked Kevin if he’d seen anything that would indicate whether or not the same crew was involved.

Kevin shook his head. “I can’t tell. Someone’s been through the houses and cleaned them up. All I can say is I didn’t find any signs of malicious damage, and I didn’t find much blood, just a few drops here and there, like in Syrando.”

Gen. Crandal nodded. “What about you Marcus? Find anything?”

Marcus shook his head. “If more than one boat was involved, they anchored off shore and took turns tying up at the dock. I couldn’t find any sign of either a boat or a landing party anywhere else on the island.”

“That’s like Syrando too, but it’s not enough. Maybe you’ll find something to tie the two together while you’re asking questions.” Gen. Crandal looked at Kevin. “Anything else you need to do here?”

Kevin shook his head.

The general turned to Sgt. Sturic. “Who was the first person here after the raid?”

“Me,” Sgt. Sturic answered. “We had a bad storm Wednesday night, lots of wind and rain. I worked around Rochdale Thursday helping people clean up. I came over here Friday morning to see if they needed any help, and that’s when I found out they’d been raided.”

“Did you see any little piles of ashes anywhere?”

Sgt. Sturic shook his head. “But that doesn’t mean there weren’t any. If the raid took place before that storm hit, which we think it did because none of the debris had been cleared up, any ashes would have been scattered, along with everything else that wasn’t tied down.”

“Did you find any damage?”

“Mainly downed tree limbs, nothing major. Either they were very lucky or they didn’t get hit as hard as we did. But if they’d been here Thursday, those limbs would have been cleared up.”

“Did you find any spots of blood anywhere? Like there had been some struggles?”

Sgt. Sturic shook his head. “But I didn’t do a lot of looking around. As soon as I realized they were gone, I went back to Rochdale and sent my unit out in patrols to see if we could find any sign of the people who lived here, but we were too late because we couldn’t even find out which way they went.”

“What made you think the raid happened on Tuesday?” Gen. Crandal asked.

“One of the women came into town Tuesday and picked up some cloth to make a dress for her daughter. When she bought it, she mentioned she was planning to cut it out that evening and make it the next morning. We found the pieces she’d cut out, all ready to sew, but not one stitch had been sewn.”

“And you think the woman would have sewn the dress on Wednesday if she’d been there?”

Sgt. Sturic nodded. “I know her. If she said she was going to make the dress Wednesday, she would have unless something happened to prevent it. I think it was the raid. And there was food sitting out, especially bread, at least according to my wife. She was one of the first women over here. She said it had been sitting out several days because it had gotten hard and mold had started. We know they were okay Tuesday. And we know they were gone by Friday. I doubt slavers would raid during a bad storm, so everything points to Tuesday night.”

Gen. Crandal nodded and looked at Kevin. “Anything else?”

Kevin shook his head. “But I’d like to borrow that report and read through it. Do you think Tubin will mind if we take it with us?”

Sgt. Sturic shook his head. “He won’t care. He didn’t even ask me for it until he heard you were coming.”