The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah) (27 page)

Theresa nodded and whispered, “At least for now.” Then she picked up her canteen and gave him a little water. “Try to sleep if you can.”

Then she climbed back out on the wagon seat with her canteen and offered it to Joan. “I think he’s okay, or at least he’s no worse than he was,” she whispered. “But I’ll feel better when we’re a few days away from here.”

Joan nodded as she tipped the canteen up for a drink.

~ ~ ~ ~

About mid-afternoon, they rode through the next town without stopping. A couple of miles later, Theresa spotted a woman carrying a basket from a chicken coop to her house.

“How are we doing on eggs? Aren’t we almost out?” she asked Joan.

“Yes, I used the last ones for breakfast Thursday morning.”

“Karl, Karl, wait up a minute,” Theresa called out. “I’ve got an idea.”

When she and Joan caught up with him, Theresa pointed to the farmhouse and said that she wanted to stop and see if she could trade some herbs for a couple dozen eggs. Karl looked around, but he didn’t see any sign that they were being followed, so he nodded.

“Just be quick,” he said as she jumped off the wagon seat and ran up the drive.

As Theresa approached the back door of the house, the lady opened it and stepped out into the yard. After Theresa introduced herself, she explained that she would like to get a couple of dozen eggs, if the lady could spare them, and that she would be willing to trade some herbs for the eggs.

The lady nodded and said, “I use a lot of woundwort patching up my husband and sons, but what I really need is something for fatigue. I just don’t seem to have the energy that I used to. Do you have anything that might help?”

Theresa smiled and told her that she had some tea that she had developed especially for those symptoms. “You need to drink a cup in the middle of the morning and then again in the middle of the afternoon.” Theresa tried to look as serious as she could. “First you’ll need to mix a heaping spoonful of the tea with either a spoonful of sugar or a spoonful of honey in a cup. Next, you pour boiling water in the cup, sit down, and slowly inhale the steam for ten minutes. Then after that, you need to sip the tea over a period of twenty minutes. The timing is critical here. If you drink it too fast, it won’t help.” The lady nodded as she listened carefully to the instructions.

“Shall I fix some up for you? Maybe a couple of week’s worth?” Theresa asked.

“I’d really appreciate it if you would.”

While Theresa walked back to the wagon to get the woundwort and some apple cinnamon tea, the lady went out to the hen house to get two dozen eggs for Theresa.

A few minutes later, the Tellurians were on their way again.

~ ~ ~ ~

That night they camped in a small clearing that was well hidden from the road. Karl was concerned that a campfire might attract the bounty hunters, so they ate cheese and bread for dinner, but by daybreak, everyone wanted coffee bad enough to risk it, especially since they would be back on the road within the hour.

Over the next couple of days, Theresa’s patient slowly gained strength. She hadn’t wanted to bother him with a lot of conversation, but she did manage to find out that his name was Taelor and to tell him a little bit about each of the Tellurians. By the morning of the third day, he was strong enough to get out of the wagon on his own. He walked over to the fire while Theresa and Joan were preparing breakfast.

“I guess I owe all of you my life,” Taelor said with a touch of embarrassment. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”

“No thanks necessary,” Joan said as she handed him a cup of coffee.

“You’re looking a lot better,” Karl said as he walked up with a load of firewood. “I didn’t know if you would live through the day when we found you.” After he put the firewood down, he looked at Taelor again and said, “But we really do have to do something about those clothes.” He looked around for a minute and spotted Kevin over near the back of his wagon. “Kevin, can you come over here for a minute?”

“Don’t worry about the clothes,” Taelor said quietly. “They’ll be fine.”

“No, they won’t. If anyone spots you in those clothes, they’ll know something’s going on,” Karl said. “We’ll probably stay in town tonight, and we don’t want you to stick out.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that,” Taelor said, looking down at the ground. “Look, if I could just ride in the back of the wagon for one more day, I think I can make it. I can hide in there tonight. No one will even see me. I should be strong enough by tomorrow morning to strike off on my own. I can leave as soon as we get out of town. I don’t want to be a burden to any of you.”

“You’re not a burden, and anyway, I doubt that Theresa is going to be willing to let you go off on your own by tomorrow,” Karl said as Kevin walked up. “Kevin, do you think you could find some clothes for Taelor that would fit him better than the ones he has on?”

Kevin nodded, turned around, and walked over towards his wagon.

 Taelor looked like he wanted to argue, but finally he gave in and turned towards Theresa. “Is there some way I could wash up a little?”

“Sure. You go with Kevin and get some clothes while I get a wash basin set up on the tailgate of my wagon.”

All in all, Kevin’s clothes were a pretty good fit, but Taelor did have to use some rope as a belt to keep the leggings up around his waist. After he finished washing up and changing clothes, he joined the group for breakfast.

While they were eating, Karl asked him what his plans were. Taelor said that the only plan he had at the moment was to get out of Brendolanth. Karl glanced around at the others and they all nodded in answer to his unspoken question. Then he said, “Taelor, we’d like for you to consider traveling with us for a while. We’re headed for Nandelia ourselves, and we could use another man.”

Taelor shook his head and started to speak, but Karl interrupted him. “When we camp, we all stand guard, but I’d like for Joan and Theresa to be able to sleep through the night.” Karl looked at Joan who had started to protest. “No, I’m serious, Joan. When we’re in town, you and Theresa are sometimes up half the night tending to sick people, and when we’re camping, both of you get up before dawn every morning to get breakfast ready. I think that you two do enough without having to stand guard.”

“I agree with Karl,” Steve added.

 “Same here,” Darrell said as he looked directly at Theresa.

“And if Taelor would consent to joining our little group, at least until we get to Nandelia, then he could stand guard with Karl. That would give us two men for each of the three shifts and the women could get some sleep,” Chris said.

“I don’t know,” Taelor said cautiously. “What if I’m spotted? Do you know how much trouble all of you would be in?”

“I know that you would have a much better chance of making it to Nandelia with us than you would on your own, and I know that I’d like for my wife to get some sleep,” Karl answered. “As I see it, this way everybody wins.”

“Well, I’d like to point out one potential problem,” Kevin said slowly. “When we stay in town, the Tellurians will have to perform. I’m already working as the stage manager. If there are two of us who don’t perform, won’t that look a bit strange? Is there something else that he could do? Something that would give him a reason to be traveling with us.”

Taelor looked around the group for a moment and then he looked directly at Theresa. “I worked in a chapel for about five years. I could pretend to be your assistant.”

“Do you know enough about the herbs to be able to pull this off?” she asked. “We’ve had to hold a couple of healing clinics already.”

Taelor nodded. “I know how to dress wounds, how to set bones, which herbs work best for which illnesses, how to gather and prepare herbs, and how to make potions and poultices.” Taelor looked at Karl and added, “I’ve also worked in stables. I could take care of the horses and wagons whenever you stay in town. I would be more comfortable there than in an inn anyway.”

“That’ll work out fine then,” Steve said, “and as Theresa’s assistant, naturally you would ride with her and drive her team. That gives you an excellent reason to be on the wagon seat instead of on a horse.”

“Okay. That’s settled. Let’s pack up. It’s time to hit the road,” Karl said as he stood up and drained the last of his coffee out of his cup before handing it to Joan. “Darrell, let’s go get the teams hitched up while they load the wagons.”

As Karl and Darrell walked off towards the horses, Steve, Chris and Kevin loaded the canvas sleeping tarps and the bedrolls while Theresa and Joan washed out the breakfast dishes and stored them in the wagon.

Taelor looked around uneasily and finally asked Theresa what he could do to help.

Theresa shook her head and told him to stay put. “I know how you feel, wanting to do your share and all, but right now, I’m more interested in seeing to it that you don’t end up flat on your back again. Let’s just take it easy for a couple of days. There’ll be plenty of time for you to pitch in later.”

Less than an hour later, they were back on the road. Taelor picked up the reins when he climbed up on the wagon seat, so Theresa sat back and enjoyed the ride. After a while, Taelor asked her where she was from.

“I trained in Drisden, but other than that, I’m not really from anywhere. I’ve spent most of my life traveling.”

“Have you always traveled with the Tellurians?”

“No. We met up in Drisden. We were all going to Nandelia, so Drusilla suggested we travel together. I used to sing before I became a sister, so I join in whenever they perform.” Theresa paused and then asked Taelor where he was from.

“I’m not sure,” he answered. Then he explained that his mother had been captured by slavers while he was still an infant. Eventually, the slavers had offered them on the market in Trendon, the capital city of Brendolanth, and the seated sorcerer, Tsareth, had purchased them both. “Tsareth adored my mother, and he treated me just like he did his two non-magical children. We were all taught to read, write, and keep accurate records. We ate together, played together, and did chores together, especially in the stables. Then, when I turned sixteen, Tsareth asked me if I’d like to train as a sister’s assistant. For the next five years, I lived at the chapel when I was on duty and at the castle on my days off.”

“Sounds good. What happened?”

“When I was twenty-one, Tsareth died,” Taelor said. For a few minutes, he didn’t say anything else, and Theresa was beginning to think he had said all that he was going to, but then he shook his head and continued. “Rolan might be Tsareth’s son, but he is nothing like him. Tsareth was kind and fair; Rolan is just plain mean. He hates everyone, even his brothers and sisters.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He sent them away from the castle and told them that they could never return.”

“Oh,” Theresa said. Then, after a few minutes, she asked, “What happened to your mother?”

“Rolan made her work in the kitchens and he told me that unless I did exactly as I was told, he would kill her.”

“What did he want you to do?”

“Be his personal servant,” Taelor said. “I even had to sleep in his room, on a pallet in a closet, so that I would be available during the night should he want something. The only time I was able to slip away was when he had one of the village or slave girls with him. Then I could count on about an hour, but that was my only free time.”

“What about your mother? Now that you’ve escaped, what will he do to her?”

“My mother died about six months ago,” Taelor said. He paused before he continued. “Once she was gone, he told me that he was going to arrange for me to marry one of the local village girls. I think he figured that we’d have a baby before long, and then he could hold the child and its mother over my head for the rest of my life, so I left.”

“Wasn’t that dangerous? I mean, didn’t everyone know that you were his servant? How did you manage to even get out of the castle, much less make it to the Badlands?”

“I was part of the furnishings. When he had guests, I poured their drinks and waited on them. When he entertained women, I showed them to his quarters. They all knew my name, but they never looked at me. I doubt if any of them would recognize me. Do you know what I mean?”

Theresa nodded. “I know I wouldn’t recognize the waitress we had in the last inn we stayed in, or the innkeeper for that matter. I bet the people who watched us perform wouldn’t recognize me without my flute. And the people who come to me for medicines only see the pendant. But even so, you took quite a chance.”

“Not really. One day, about three weeks ago now, Rolan met with some of his guard officers. I was serving scog while they were talking, so I heard him give them their orders. He sent his two top squads out to search for a sorcerer named Myron. I knew he’d need the other two squads to guard the castle, so that left run-of-the-mill bounty hunters to come after me.”

“Why is Rolan interested in finding this sorcerer?” Theresa’s heart had jumped and begun to race at the mention of Myron, but she kept her voice even.

“It seems that Master Sorcerer Badec is in a coma, and they really aren’t expecting him to make it. Rolan wants his men to find Badec’s son, Myron, and kill him before anything happens to Badec so that the Master’s Chair will become vacant. While they were talking, Rolan did mention something about Damien, the Sorcerer of Nandelia. I’m not sure what he was saying, I was in and out, but I got the impression that Damien’s trying to prevent a magic war. Like I said, I don’t know what Rolan was saying about that, but I do know that the only thing he’s interested in is power, and for some reason, he really wants to see Myron dead. That was one thing that he did make crystal clear.”

“He sounds like a dangerous man,” Theresa said softy.

“He is,” Taelor agreed.

“How did you manage to get away?”

“I waited about four days to give his guards time to get far away. Then I put a heavy dose of Valerian in his scog to put him in a deep sleep and I left during the middle of the night. I made it out of the village before daybreak, and I’ve been on the run ever since. I don’t know when he sent the bounty hunters after me, but it was common sense that I would head for the closest border, so I took a roundabout route. It was just bad luck that they managed to get on my trail before I made it. I spotted them about a week ago, so I tried to hide out in the Badlands until they gave up and left. They were just more patient than I thought they’d be.”