The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah) (71 page)

“Yes. He was determined to find them, but … you? The Tellurians were the ones who helped Taelor?”

Kevin nodded.

“But the minstrels were killed last winter, by a freak tornado.”

“Let’s just say that that’s the second time a tornado has been used to imply that we were all dead,” Kevin said with a grin.

Duane’s eyebrows arched nearly up to his hairline. “You stirred up that storm?”

Kevin nodded again and said, “Ask Taelor about us when you get home, especially about Theresa. He’s had some training as a chapel aide. They made quite a good team.”

Duane left Kevin’s office, shaking his head and grinning.

After Duane and Hayden left the main office, Chris went into Kevin’s office, shut the door, and asked, “What was that all about?”

Kevin filled him in on Xantha’s mission as well as Hayden’s request.

“Are you going to tell the others that Taelor and Landis are coming?”

“Not yet. Maybe in a few months, provided we survive that long.”

“Okay. Now, what do you want me to do about these?” Chris had a stack of letters in his hand.

“Which ones are those?”

“These are complaints of over-charging that were submitted by the district minister on behalf of the victims. I’ve pulled Laryn’s notes on the individual contracts, and the minister’s right in all of these.”

“Send a letter to the sorcerer and a copy to the minister. Tell the sorcerer that he has one month to reimburse those people or else submit his resignation. Add a note to the minister’s copy asking him to let us know one way or the other.”

“You do realize that you’re going to have some really angry sorcerers out there.”

“I know, but do you see any way around it?”

“No, not really,” Chris said. Then he pointed to another stack still on the desk. “What about these? These letters are complaints from individual citizens.”

“Send a letter to the district minister asking him to try to find out what happened and mediate a settlement, but be sure you ask him to send us a complete report. Maybe, if we’re lucky, we can stay out of those.”

~ ~ ~ ~

By late Saturday afternoon, they were all tired from another long and busy week. Dinner was subdued, and soon after they finished eating, everyone drifted out of the dining room heading towards their bedrooms for a quiet evening.

Kevin decided to go to bed early and get a good night’s sleep, but right after he stretched out on his bed, he noticed a faint glow near the balcony door. As he watched, the light grew stronger until he could make out Yvonne and a man standing beside her. The man was muscular and robust, and his hand rested on her waist in a proprietary manner. Kevin got up and sat on the edge of his bed, facing them.

“Myron. It’s so nice to meet you at last,” Badec said. “I’ve longed for this day ever since Duane took you away.”

“You look much better than you did the last time I saw you,” Kevin replied.

“I imagine I do,” Badec said with a hint of a smile. “I remember you sitting with me and telling me all about your life on Earth and your adventures on Terah. I wish I could have been at the Gate House to welcome you, and that I could have been the one to introduce you to Glendymere.”

“I do, too,” Kevin agreed. When Badec didn’t say anything else, Kevin said, “Mother, can I ask you something?”

“Certainly.”

“I had a strange dream the other night,” Kevin began. Then he told them about seeing Rolan and the woman fight each other. “What I need to know is … well … was that a vision?”

“From what you’ve told me, I’d say it was,” Yvonne answered. “You’re my son as much as you are your father’s. You could have received the gift of sight from me.”

“But nothing like that has ever happened to me before.”

“A lot of seers don’t begin having visions until they reach adulthood. I happened to start as a child, but there’s no real pattern to it, and you may never have another one, or you may have them often. There’s no way to predict the gift.”

“What about the fact that I couldn’t see what happened once the battle began?”

“That means that the end isn’t written yet. As things stand now, the woman you saw in your vision will fight Rolan, but it remains to be seen as to which one will walk away. If the outcome had already been determined, you would have seen it, whether you wanted to or not.”

“That’s sort of what I thought,” Kevin answered. “Shortly after I had the vision, I was asked to accept Rolan’s half-sister, Landis, as an apprentice. I don’t know for sure that she’s the woman I saw, but I have a feeling that she is.”

“I feel sure she must be. That’s why you saw the battle. Her fate is basically in your hands,” Yvonne said. “Teach her well.”

“And beware of Rolan,” Badec said. “He’s the most treacherous of all the council sorcerers, although his magical abilities are not that great. He loves to stir up trouble and create tensions among the other members. He won’t come at you directly, but watch your back whenever he’s around. Gwendolyn is as bad as Rolan, but she’s more direct, probably because her magic is a lot stronger. She’ll come at you head on. And she has Malcolm in the palm of her hand. He’ll go along with anything she wants. Damien is probably the strongest one as far as magical ability is concerned, and one of the most levelheaded, but you can’t really look to him for much support. He’ll do just about anything to avoid a confrontation. Overall, the best you can hope for out of any of the council sorcerers is respect, and you’ll have to earn that, but don’t expect loyalty or friendship from any of them, and do not ever drop your guard when any of them are around.”

Kevin nodded and waited to see if his father had anything else to say. When he didn’t, Kevin said, “There was a letter in your desk drawer from Rolan’s brother, Robyn, asking you to look into Tsareth’s death. Did you open it before you got sick?”

“Yes, I do remember something about that. I had some questions about Tsareth’s death myself. Then, six years later, I received that letter from Robyn. I don’t know if Robyn had just found out something that made him suspicious, or if he had questions all along. I didn’t have a chance to talk to him before I got sick.”

“Do you have any idea how you got sick?”

“Not for certain, and I had a long time to lie there and think about it. It had to be some kind of poison, but it wasn’t one I’m familiar with. All I know for sure is that I felt fine when I went to sleep. Be very careful, Myron. Whoever murdered me will probably try for you, too.”

Yvonne took Badec’s hand as their images began to fade. “We must go now. We’ll be back when we can. Take care, son, and good luck.”

After they left, Kevin walked out on the balcony and looked at the stars for a while, replaying the conversation over in his head. Finally he went back inside, got into bed, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~

Tyree arrived Thursday afternoon, and after stopping by Kevin’s office for a brief hello, went off to the guest quarters to get settled in. He joined the Tellurians for dinner and distributed the pictures Steve had left with him, as well as the presents Ashni had sent everyone, including some of her jams and preserves for Kevin, cookies for Chris, and the bedspread from their room in Rainbow Valley for Joan. Blalick had sent Karl some new woodworking tools, and Sari and Macin had sent letters to Theresa and Darrell.

After dinner, everyone lingered over scog for a bit, but then began to drift away.  Steve clapped his hand on Tyree’s shoulder, and said, “Let’s go down to the court office and I’ll show you what I’ve come up with so far.”

Tyree gave Steve a questioning look, but followed him out of the dining room. Once they reached the court office, he said, “Steve, what are you doing? We aren’t under any deadline here. There’s plenty of time for us to review your notes. This isn’t where you want to be, or what you want to be doing this evening.”

“Of course it is. I’ve been looking forward to discussing these cases with you and getting your perspective.”

“I don’t doubt that old friend, but it still isn’t what you want to do this evening. I saw the way you and Laryn were looking at each other. You need to spend the soft light of evening with her, not with me,” Tyree said with a chuckle.

Steve sighed, sat down, and said, “Is it that obvious?”

“Oh, yeah. Only a blind man could spend five minutes around you two and not see that there’s something happening there,” Tyree said, “and that it goes both ways.”

“You think so?”

“No doubt about it. I’ve known her most of her life and I’ve never seen her look at anyone the way she looks at you.”

“I never expected to find someone else that I could care for like that. I thought after Cathy died …”

“I know,” Tyree said. After a couple of minutes of companionable silence, he asked, “Have you told her how you feel?”

“No. I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”

“Why not? Aren’t you sure how you feel?”

“That’s not it. I know I’m falling in love with her; that’s not the problem. I just feel like it’s not fair to her.” Steve sighed.

“Why? Has she implied that there’s someone else? Well, I don’t believe it. I saw the way she looked at you.”

“No, nothing like that, but Tyree, I’m fifty-seven years old. What can I offer her? Maybe twenty, twenty-five years if I’m lucky? She’s part elf. She’ll probably live another hundred years. She needs to find someone who can be there for her to the end.”

“You can’t make that decision for her. Badec should have lived another hundred years, too. No one has any guarantees about tomorrow; all we have is today, right now.”

Steve thought about that for a moment and then slowly nodded. “That’s true.”

“Look, it’s your decision, but I think you should at least let her know how you feel. What have you got to lose? How many people get a second chance like this?”

Steve grinned. “Maybe I will.”

“Good! Now get out of here. Find Laryn and walk in the moonlight,” Tyree said as he stood up. “We’ll tackle this tomorrow. I’m heading for bed. I’ve had a long day.”

~ ~ ~ ~

A little while later, Steve found Laryn near the entrance to the gardens. “I was hoping to find you out here.”

“I thought you were going to spend this evening with Tyree,” Laryn said as she took his hand and turned to walk beside him.

“I had planned to.”

“Then I don’t understand. What happened?”

“Tyree saw us looking at each other at dinner this evening and pointed out that I didn’t really want to spend my evening with him. He was right,” Steve said as he turned Laryn around to face him. “I need to tell you something.”

Laryn nodded.

Steve traced the side of her face with his finger, lifted her chin, and looked deep into her eyes. “I think I’m falling in love with you, Laryn. If you have any objections, you need to let me know now.”

Laryn smiled up at Steve and said, “No objections at all. In fact, I find that idea rather intriguing.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Friday morning, after Kevin, Chris, and Laryn were settled in Kevin’s office, Laryn unfolded a large map of Terah and spread it out on Kevin’s desk. She pointed to one of the smaller islands in the group that both Kevin and Chris recognized as the Hawaiian Islands and said, “This is Chamber Isle, where the council meetings take place. No one lives on the island except a colony of brownies and a few gnomes.”

“Where do we meet?” Kevin asked.

“In one of the valleys near the center of the island.”

“Where?” Chris asked. “I mean, in a building? Or out in the open?”

“In the Council Chamber. It’s a pretty big building actually. It’s round, maybe fifty feet across, and made out of stone. The roof is at least fifteen feet high in the center and made of thatch.”

“Are there benches or something for us to sit on?” Kevin asked, still looking at the small dot on the map.

Laryn nodded. “You’ll have a big stone chair. All of the seated sorcerers do.”

“Do we just sit down anywhere? Or do we have an assigned seat?”

“They’re assigned.”

“How will I know which one is mine? Or do I just look for the empty one?”

Laryn shook her head. “Yours will be the largest one. You won’t be able to miss it, and besides, I’ll be with you the first time. I won’t let you get lost.” Then she pulled a sheet of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it. “Here’s a chart of who sits where. I thought it might help if you knew where everyone sits before we get there.”

“Thanks,” Kevin said as he took it and studied it for a few minutes.

While Kevin was looking at the seating chart, Laryn turned towards Chris and said, “Each of the stone chairs has a desk and chair beside it for the sorcerer’s second or assistant. One thing you’ll both notice before long is that a few of the sorcerers will have a different person with them each time they come.”

 “From what Xantha said, I thought a sorcerer’s assistant was supposed to be the person the sorcerer trusts above all others. How can that change all the time?” Kevin asked.

“It shouldn’t, but they always come up with some reason why the current assistant can’t continue to serve. Some of your colleagues have developed paranoia to an art form.”