To Challenge a Maestro

by John Buttrick

  “I understand and will come with you peacefully. Besides, Duroshur Beccar has me shielded,” Daniel replied and then did as he was told without saying another word.

  “Duroshur Beccar, Landec Turner, and Cellan Bane, you will join me in a circle,” Serin Gell commanded and the short man and two tall Ecoppians moved immediately to comply.

  The three Accomplisheds formed a circle with Serin Gell placing Daniel, his parents, and Tim in the middle with their Condemned escorts. Serin Gell held Daniel’s baton and his eyes widened when he sensed the level and amplification factor. Evidently the Stone Guild is not the only one that has a spell to sense the amplification factor of a crescendo. “So this is how you escaped the Grand Maestro and could use our guild specific spell to evade us. Efferin Tames must be awfully put out with you for stealing his crescendo.”

  Daniel did not see fit to correct the misconception, let the wicked Aakacarn assume whatever he wished. “I would have been dehydrated long ago without it,” was all he would admit to.

  Serin Gell smiled. “No doubt you would have,” he agreed. “I believe this one is now mine,” he added and then summoned the potential, as did the other three Accomplisheds. Their potential flowed from their batons into Serin Gell and then they were suddenly in the blackness of in between here and there. Three heart beats later, they were back in the kingdom of Ducaun.

  Chapter Eleven: Meeting of the Maestros

  Terroll Barnes sat behind his mahogany desk while staring at the gold diamond encrusted Z on the wall above the door leading into his office. While his eyes stared fixedly at the emblem of his guild his mind was adrift in thought, troublesome thoughts, many centering on Daniel Benhannon. Upon ascending to the office of Maestro, coincidentally on the ninety-first anniversary of his birth, Terroll began expanding his repertoire, learning guild specific spells meant only for the Maestro and some Symphonics every Maestro needed to know. Thanks to his enhanced memory he now knew them all. Among the new additions to his repertoire was the Zephyr Guild specific spell, Tornado, a Melody he, a four-bolt Accomplished, could only safely perform with a level four crescendo. Oh, he could get away with using a level two, but would be unable to maintain the potential for long without getting dangerously dehydrated, yet Jason’s Talenteds had reported a blue tornado appearing during the battle of Bashierwood.

  Terroll was not disturbed by the fact that Daniel, a six-bolt Accomplished, had the potential to summon a twister, it was the source. How could Daniel summon potential for a spell only known to the Maestro of the Zephyr Guild? Tornado aside, Terroll was troubled by the memory spell his young pupil had taught him. There was a melody line and a six note harmony, making it Symphonic rather than a Melody.

  One of the first things Terroll had done after settling in as the head of the Zephyr Guild, after all of the political aspects had been taken care of, was to make five type one level four crescendos. He could perform the melody line of the spell Daniel had taught him before making the batons, but did not dare. That spell had originally been cast by a six-bolt Potential who did not even know how to focus. At the time of being instructed, Terroll had just attained his fourth bolt, and if the spell required six bolts, performing even the melody line could have mummified him. He could cast the spell safely now with the use of a crescendo but the original casting had given him total recall so there was no need.

  Thinking of Daniel’s inability to focus potential when they first met led Terroll to change his mind about when the link to the Dark Maestro had been formed. Whatever the timing of events, it was clear Daniel had or still is receiving instruction from Tarin Conn. The thought led Terroll to the next disturbing fact. As a newly raised Maestro, restricted information was given to him, specifically; the complete histories of Aakadon, and he learned that Tarin Conn is an Aakasear, a composer of melodious spells. Terroll could not stop a slight shiver from traveling up his spine when he had read the account. The first three Aakasears proved to be blessings to all Aakacarns, gifts from the Creator who allowed them to expand their repertoires; until Tarin Conn was born resulting in the Aakacarn War, and nearly tore the world, all of Atlantan, asunder. The Dark Maestro was Evil’s champion and Della Lain had been chosen by the Creator to combat him and proved victorious to a point. The Serpent Guild had been severely damaged, but not destroyed and the leader entombed, but not killed.

  Evil had three champions before Tarin Conn, none had been an Aakasear; Ahab Efery, Diana Effessis, and Pharon Suteck. The Creator’s Chosen Vessels were Josh Nuun, Sam Soon, and Deborah Jujus. Ahab Efery had been the king of Taracopa while Josh Nuun was the king of Battencay and the conflict between the two champions resulted in the Batten-Tara War. The Creator’s Chosen Vessel had been victorious. Diana Effessis and Sam Soon were Serinian Lords at the time of their contention, the resulting civil war led to the Soon dynasty, and again the Creator’s Chosen Vessel had been victorious. Deborah Jujus was killed by Pharon Suteck in the kingdom of Pentrosa twenty-four hundred years before the birth of Tarin Conn. The Suteck Empire lasted five centuries and ruled five of the twelve kingdoms of Atlantan, including the northern halves of Ducaun and Cenkataar. When Pharon Suteck died at the age of two hundred ninety-seven, his heirs battled each other for supremacy in a civil war that lasted two hundred years, but came to an end when the Grand Maestro of Aakadon, Paul Tarsheese, led the remaining kingdoms in the only known world-wide conflict, before the Aakacarn War. The map of the world was redrawn with all the borders restored to their original boundaries.

  Was Daniel learning spells from the Dark Maestro or was something worse happening? Could Terroll’s former pupil be an Aakasear? The world had never seen two composers living at the same time. The thought was actually terrifying. If so, would Daniel prove to be a blessing or a curse? Terroll recalled teaching Daniel the spell, Ranking, watching the mountaineer summon the potential, the bright flash that always accompanied the completion of the Melody, brighter in this case because of the number of bolts, and then seeing six golden lightning bolts on those young shoulders. “Chosen Vessel,” had been the first words that flashed in his mind and fell from his lips at the time. He had dismissed the thought then because if the Creator chose another champion, then Evil’s champion had to be coming soon, and Terroll was not ready to consider the possibility that the Dark Maestro could break free, so had deliberately put it out of his mind. Now, with all the Serpent Guild activity and upheaval in the world, the possibility of a second Aakacarn War became a distinct possibility.

  Events swirl around the Chosen Vessel, according to history, and people are drawn to her or him in order to help make victory possible. Terroll thought of his own recent actions after having been blessed with the return of his repertoire. Under any other circumstances, if he had discovered a Potential anywhere, he would have taken him to Aakadon regardless of the person’s feelings on the matter. It was the responsibility of every Accomplished to do so. Never in his career had he considered taking on the roll of Instructor, yet he made what seemed at the time to be reasonable exceptions to what his normal response would be. Is he being influenced by the Chosen Vessel or just feeling gratitude for his current station, which would not have been possible without Daniel’s unintentional intervention?

  If Daniel is an Aakasear and Tarin Conn succeeds in seducing him, then winning against their combined talents would be exceedingly difficult. Terroll shook away the notion. It was only a matter of weeks ago that he met Daniel but in that short time the young man had shown a strength of character that led Terroll to believe his former student would never give in to the Dark Maestro. There were too may ifs to ponder. If Daniel is the Chosen Vessel and he dies or is Condemned attempting to take the Baton of Tarin Conn from Balen Tamm, then Aakadon would be fighting a war without the aid of the Creator’s champion.

  Terroll needed to organize his thoughts for the up coming emergency meeting of the Maestros. This would be his second meeting, the first had been scheduled to announce and formally introduce the new Maestro of
the Zephyr Guild to his peers. The second meeting was called to discuss the harmonic waves that everyone, commoners included, has been feeling for the last three days. The last series of ripples was two marks ago and it was anybody’s guess if there would be more. The fact that the non-Aakacarns could feel the harmonics was not surprising given the amount of potential being released.

  Maestro Terroll Barnes put on his scarlet on black silk cloak and made his way to the conference room within the ruby pyramid. Eight places were set at the granite table. The Grand Maestro’s chair was at the head, naturally so, the other seven chairs; each carved with the emblem of the Maestro’s guild, were evenly spaced around the table. Terroll was the second guild leader to arrive. The first was Lena Beyers, a five-bolt Accomplished, Maestro of the Sun Guild, and Demfilian by birth. She was a compact woman with long white hair, her eyes were a light iridescent blue, and her complexion was so pale the faintly blue tint of her veins could be seen beneath her skin. At one hundred eighty-one years of age, she was the oldest Maestro, and held her office ninety-nine years and counting. She was the youngest person ever to attain the title and still held the record for both being the youngest to be named Maestro and for serving the longest in the office.

  Runyen Cransur and Geran DuSorin arrived at the same time. Cransur, a five-bolt Accomplished, had recently celebrated the one hundred twenty-fourth anniversary of his birth. Born in the kingdom of Zune, he was a lean man with light brown skin and black silky hair. He sat in the chair of the Willow Guild after offering greetings to all. His brown eyes were ovoid in shape and his beard and mustache were neatly trimmed.

  Geran DuSorin, also a five-bolt Accomplished, was a stout swarthy fellow whose bald pate shined in the light. The Maestro of the Aqua Guild took his place at the table. The native of Aczencopa had light brown eyes and did not look a day over forty even though his actual age was one hundred twenty-seven.

  Talmon Reese, Maestro of the Eagle Guild, deeply tanned, dark of hair and eye, came in moments later. He glanced around the room, taking in every detail as though storing the information away for future analysis. Talmon was Taracopian born and looked to be physically fit and ready for action even at the age of one hundred seventy-one. He took office when Efferin Tames became the Grand Maestro twenty-two years ago. The seat of the Eagle Guild was at the end of the table and the five-bolt Accomplished made his way to it after greeting each person in the room.

  Four of the seven five-bolt Accomplisheds of Aakadon were now sitting in the conference room. The Eagle Guild has a Cenkataaran born five-bolt Accomplished named Jerrian Tobermin. The Sun Guild has Janice Footner of Lobenia, and the remaining five-bolt was a member of The Aqua Guild, Ralpen Pentrago, a squat muscular man from Demfilia. The only other known five-bolt Accomplished was a man who had never set foot in Aakadon, Balen Tamm; Maestro of the Serpent Guild.

  Maestro David Svennar, four-bolt Accomplished of the Stone Guild, was the next person to enter and take his seat. At one hundred two years old, the brown-haired green-eyed former citizen of Pentrosa was closer in age to Terroll than the rest.

  Maestro Janna Barroon of the Aloe Guild, a four-bolt Accomplished, entered and took her seat just before the Grand Maestro made his entrance. She was born in the kingdom of Fon Kay and her wheat-colored hair and blue eyes were a common trait among the people of her homeland.

  Efferin Tames greeted all of the Maestros formally and then took his seat. “As you know, this meeting is about the harmonic waves rippling through the world. Accomplisheds, Talenteds, and the kingdoms of the world are looking to us for answers and we must act. Each of your Guilds has Accomplisheds in the field reporting to you and has gathered the pertinent information, so I will begin by asking each Maestro what you have gleaned,” Efferin said, and then looked directly at Terroll. “Maestro Barnes, what information have your Accomplisheds reported concerning the events of the past three days?”

  Terroll, though the newest and youngest Maestro, did not feel himself less than any one of them. He came prepared for this meeting. “On the first day of the week, one mark before sunset, a tightly focused six bolts of potential was released eleven spans from Aakadon,” Terroll began, and thought, one mark after Daniel and Tim exited the city on the quest given to them by the Grand Maestro, he wanted to add but did not. “At the second mark in the night hundreds of spells within the six bolt potential range began making their affects felt up and down the continent.”

  All of the Maestros were nodding their heads in agreement, evidently they received similar reports. Talmon Reese was taking in every word but kept glancing at the Grand Maestro as if trying to fit together a puzzle. He might have been surprised he was not the one Efferin wanted to hear from first, Terroll certainly was.

  “The harmonic waves continued for approximately one mark. We felt no ripples here between events but the Accomplished of Zoltair, Randal Kamis, reported feeling rapid burst of low power spells emanating from east-northeast of the city. At the end of that period hundreds of spells in the six bolt range released within seconds of each other, all in same area of Ducaun where the low level spells emanated. Within a mark of that event, the harmonic waves once again began rippling up and down the continent. They extended from the kingdom of Ecoppia down through Ducaun and to within ten spans of Aakadon. While the length of the occurrences stretched north and south over the continent, the spells were contained to within a fifty span width. Shortly after noon the next day the ripples ceased for half a mark and then once again hundreds of spells in the six bolt range released within seconds of each other. This occurred on the north bank of the Gosian River fifteen spans from Zoltair. On the sixteenth mark of the day the many clusters of ripples resumed the previous pattern, which lasted up until two and a half marks ago. That is what I know of the harmonic waves,” Terroll reported, he suspected much more but was not asked to speculate.

  Efferin nodded his head. “We appreciate the conciseness of your report,” he said and then questioned David, Janna, and Geran, whose Accomplished reported seeing burned bodies and scorched planks floating in the Gosian River. The Grand Maestro then questioned Runyen, and Lena Beyers, receiving the same information, more or less, but in different words. At last he turned to the Maestro of the Eagle Guild. “Maestro Reese, what have you to add?”

  “The spell being used is titled, Teleportation, a spell of the Serpent Guild,” Talmon began as if anyone needed to know the origin of that spell. “This is based on reports from three Accomplisheds in the field. Accomplished Malcum Munsford near the city of Bolen, in Ducaun, reported hearing the sound of a massive whip crack and the sudden appearance of forty mounted Accomplisheds of the Serpent Guild in a circle containing one hundred Condemneds. The Accomplisheds were facing outward, casting spells, and killed most everyone in sight. They only took one captive, which is unusual; most often they abduct as many people as they can to add to the ranks of the Condemneds. They never moved or broke the circle and the killings seemed to be happenstance. The circle remained for two tenths of a mark and then disappeared in a flash and a whip crack. Accomplished Beringdon, near Cret, and Accomplished Pern, near Krelin, reported the same type of occurrences. These reports indicate the Serpent Guild is looking for something or someone.”

  Efferin leaned forward, resting both hands on the table. “Do you know who or what?”

  Talmon smiled. “I can only speculate,” he began.

  “It is a well known goal of the Serpent Guild to find the flute of Della Lain and the Trumpet of Tarin Conn, both lost in antiquity,” Maestro Svennar stated as if this had to be the explanation.

  Maestro Barroon turned to Talmon, frowning at him. “Three of your Accomplisheds witnessed the brutal deaths of innocent commoners and did nothing, why is that?” she demanded.

  Talmon’s face was smooth, if he was bothered by the question, he never let it show. “There were forty Accomplisheds of the Serpent Guild and my Accomplisheds were greatly out numbered. To intervene would have meant death or worse. It was
the duty of my Accomplisheds to live and report, not die. Unlike Leah Barryn, a four-bolt Accomplished also at Bolen who was taken when she attempted to save the commoners.” Aakadon had only six hundred twenty-nine, well, six hundred twenty-eight four bolt Accomplisheds, the loss of which is a hard blow. Her fate was not in doubt, she would be Condemned, but the Maestro of her guild was stone faced. Talmon seemed more disturbed by her failure to remain free to report than about her being captured by the enemy. He was a hard man.

  “I see,” she replied, “I am sorry for your loss,” she said, but the leader of the Aloe Guild clearly felt a greater effort to save the commoners should have been made.

  Talmon glanced at the Maestro of the Stone Guild but addressed his remarks to Efferin. “The flute and trumpet have been the objects of desire to the members of the Serpent Guild for over a thousand years. The search for those items is unlikely to produce the frenzy of activity we are witnessing. Based on the reports I have been given, I believe Balen Tamm is seeking a person. Specifically, Daniel Benhannon,” he stated.