The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3)

by Mackenzie Morgan

  Janine nodded, turned, and jogged towards the back door of the chapel.

  No one said a word until they heard the chapel door shut. Then Caezar broke into a grin, put his hand on Brena’s shoulder, and said, “Well played.”

  Kevin laughed. “I agree. Very well done, Brena. Guess you found your Plan B.”

  Brena closed her eyes for a moment and then smiled. “I have to admit, I was making it up as I went, but at least it worked.”

  “What would you have done if she’d insisted on staying here?” Ramen asked.

  “I’m not sure, but I would have assigned her chapel to someone else. I can’t let a sister ignore what I say.” Brena frowned. “I’ve never had a sister argue with me before. I need to think about that before it happens again, but as far as she’s concerned, I would probably have ended up taking her pendant back.”

  “How?” Kevin asked. “You can’t exactly fight her for it.”

  “Guess that’s something else I need to think about. But I’ll leave that for another day. Today’s battle seems to be over.”

  Kevin nodded as he turned to Caezar and Ramen. “I’d like for you to stay here until after the auction. We’re not at all sure the captives were on that boat. Everyone Marcus talked to said there was no way that boat was carrying more than five or six people. We have the auction covered, but I’d like for you to keep listening. See if you can find out anything about any slavers working in the area.”

  Both Caezar and Ramen nodded.

  “If you hear anything that might help, send me a message and I’ll meet you the next morning right here.”

  “At 6:00 next time?” Ramen asked.

  Kevin nodded. “And if I don’t hear from you, I’ll meet you here Tuesday morning after the auction at 6:00 to take you home.”

  “Does Sister Kaja know we’re meeting behind her shed?” Caezar asked.

  “Not that I know of,” Kevin answered. He looked over at Brena. “Should we let her know?”

  Brena glanced towards the chapel. “I’m sure she’s awake by now. I’ll step inside and tell her not to worry about early morning movement behind her shed for the next couple of weeks. She’s a good one. She won’t ask questions. And she’ll believe I’m who I say I am. And while I’m in there, I’ll check on Janine. Wouldn’t want her to change her mind.”

  Chapter 14

  Meanwhile, At Willow Canyon

  It was nearly 9:00 by the time Kevin got everyone back where they belonged. After he dropped Alek off at the office, he left for his practice session with Glendymere. Half an hour later, Glendymere called a halt to the sparring.

  “Bring Chris with you Sunday.”

  “Why?”

  “Rhianna needs to talk to him.”

  “Why?”

  “She’s having some of the same problems Chris did.”

  “What kind of problems?”

  “Impatience, frustration, irritability, things like that.”

  “Why’s Rhianna getting frustrated?”

  “She’s not. Landis is, just like you did, and Rhianna’s bearing the brunt of it, like Chris did.”

  Kevin’s mouth dropped open. “Was I that bad?”

  Glendymere nodded. “But Chris handled it and he can give Rhianna some pointers. Anyway, ask him to talk to her. He’ll understand what she’s dealing with.”

  Kevin nodded.

  “They can talk while we’re at the canyon lands. Then, when we get back, you can work with Rhianna. You’ll need to think about where you’re going to start and have a clear picture in your head of what you’re going to do. You’ll need to break everything down into steps. Start with the wind. Think about how you join with it and then control it. Then later, move on to storms. It’ll come naturally for her, and working with her will give you some experience breaking things down before you start working with Landis, which will be a lot harder.”

  “Because it doesn’t come naturally for her?”

  “That, and because she doesn’t want to take the time to master each step. She wants to jump from the beginning to the end.” Glendymere paused. “You’ll need to keep a close eye on her. She’ll try things she’s not ready for and probably have some of those unintended consequences that can be so unpleasant. You’ll be lucky if she doesn’t hurt herself in the process.”

  “Or someone else.”

  Glendymere nodded. “Most likely Rhianna.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Kevin was ready for a break when he got back to his office, and for once, there wasn’t a pile of paperwork on his desk, just a couple of notes from Chris. As he flipped through them, his door opened and Chris walked in.

  “Thought I heard someone moving around in here.” Chris shut the door and sat down. “Glad it was you.”

  Kevin glanced up. “Who else would it be?”

  “You never know. There are quite a few of those keys floating around out there.”

  Kevin set the note he’d been reading down. “Do you know something I don’t know?”

  Chris shook his head. “No, but I’ve been thinking about it for a while. We have no way of knowing who drops in here when we’re not around. Something we might want to keep in mind.”

  “Maybe I should leave my door open when I’m not here.”

  “Might be a good idea,” Chris agreed. “So, how did things go?”

  “In Glenarbour or with Glendymere?”

  “Both.”

  Kevin gave Chris a blow by blow account of the conversation with Janine that morning. “Make a note on the calendar that I’m supposed to pick Caezar and Ramen up at 6:00 on Tuesday after the auction. I don’t want to forget them again. Oh, and Glendymere wants you to go with me Sunday morning.”

  “Why?”

  “According to Glendymere, Landis is a lot like me and he thinks it would be a good idea for you to give Rhianna some suggestions about how to deal with her. Apparently I was quite a handful, and Landis is shaping up to be one, too.” Kevin frowned. “Was I really that bad?”

  Chris shook his head. “You were under a tremendous amount of pressure and I was the safety valve. That’s all. I’m not sure why Landis would be uptight though. It’s not like she has the fate of the world resting on her shoulders.”

  “No, but the one time she talked to me about becoming a sorcerer, the need to avenge her father was weighing pretty heavy on her. I imagine that could be as bad as the threat of an all-out magic war, even if the scope is smaller. Anyway, Glendymere wants you to talk to Rhianna and see if you can help her help Landis.”

  “On one condition.”

  “What?”

  “We talk in private, without you or that dragon listening in.”

  Kevin laughed. “Fine with me, but you can be the one to tell Glendymere not to eavesdrop. I’m not touching that one.” Then Kevin picked up one of the notes Chris had left on his desk. “What’s this about Gov. Shardin coming this evening around 7:00?”

  “Karl got a letter from him Tuesday. Gov. Shardin asked if he could meet with Karl concerning some trades. He’d like to come around 9:00 in the morning his time, which will be about 7:00 our time. Karl confirmed it.”

  “Has Karl talked to Wrenn about all of this?”

  Chris nodded.

  “Do I need to be there?”

  “Wrenn said it would be best if you stay out of it, as if you didn’t know the meeting was taking place. From what he said, trade agreements are worked out between governors, without any input from the sorcerers unless someone wants them to provide transportation.”

  “Fine with me. Tell Karl that Sgt. Nance will go to Glenarbour with them. They can figure out how to handle it if he spots someone.”

  Chris nodded.

  “Okay. That’s done.” Kevin tossed the note in his trash can. “What’s next?”

  “Lynda wrote back to say how grateful she is that you’re coming down Saturday to help her figure out how to keep the bridge from being knocked down. She said she’d meet you at the sorcerer’s house since you
don’t know where the bridge is.”

  Kevin nodded.

  “Next, District Minister Chadwick and Sorcerer Nicolas are in the middle of a dispute about the cost for clearing a road from Colby Falls to Briarwood. Chadwick thinks it’s covered under the contract. Nicolas disagrees.”

  Kevin frowned. “Am I supposed to know what you’re talking about?”

  “You know as much as I do. Shall I write for more information or do you want to go talk to them.”

  “I’ll need to see this one for myself. I’ll try to get up there near the beginning of next week. Remind me to look over the contract Nicolas signed before I go. What else?”

  The two of them spent the next couple of hours dealing with the minutia that lands on the desk of a seated sorcerer. Finally, they reached the bottom of Chris’s list.

  “And that’s it for right now,” Chris said with a sigh.

  “Great.” Kevin stood up and stretched. “Let’s head down to the dining hall and see what Miranda has for lunch today.”

  “Actually, it’ll be what Carrie has.”

  Kevin frowned. “Carrie? Doesn’t she serve?”

  “Yeah. She’s been with Miranda for six years, but Miranda hasn’t let her do much. You know how she is about the kitchen, sort of treats it as her own private domain.”

  Kevin nodded. “So what’s changed?”

  “Laryn’s wedding. Miranda’s spending so much time with Cryslyn getting everything worked out for the reception one weekend and the wedding the next, she’s had to let someone else do some of the cooking, and since Carrie’s been here the longest, she got the nod. Can’t wait to see what she’s come up with.”

  “Chris, it’s lunch.”

  “Yeah, but this is her chance to show what she can do. Let’s go.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Later that afternoon, as Landis and Rhianna gathered their things to head back up the mountain, Glendymere curled up against the back wall of his sleeping chamber to take a nap. When Landis walked out of her room, she stopped and stared at the dragon.

  Finally he raised his head. “You have a question.”

  Landis nodded. “How long?”

  Glendymere’s eyebrows bunched together. “How long until what?”

  “Until I’m ready.”

  “Ready for what? Ready to begin working with magic? Ready to become Myron’s apprentice? Ready to be a sorcerer? How long until what?”

  “Until I’m ready to duel.”

  Glendymere settled his head on his leg. “Are you sure you want to duel? Not all sorcerers do, you know.”

  “I’m here because I want to challenge Rolan. I want to avenge my father’s death. How long will it take me to get ready to do that?”

  “As long as it takes.”

  “That’s no answer.”

  “Maybe not the one you wanted to hear, but it’s the correct one,” Glendymere looked into her eyes. “You’re wondering if it’s worth it. I can’t answer that. If you’re going to duel, you want to be good enough to survive, and that will take a lot of work. But you won’t face anything like the match you witnessed between Myron and Jonquin.”

  Landis frowned. “That’s good, but why not?”

  “No human sorcerer could have done what they did. Some of what you saw came from their connection with nature. Human sorcerers don’t have that.”

  “So what’s it like when two human sorcerers duel.”

  “Lots of energy bolts and shields. But even without all the extra stuff, it takes a tremendous amount of energy and control, and if it’s for a seat on the council, which it will be if you fight Rolan, there’s only one survivor.” Glendymere lifted his head. “You know none of the seated sorcerers won their seats in a duel, don’t you? Every one of them inherited the seat, except maybe Rolan. Depends on who you believe. If you believe he fought your father, you probably also believe he struck when Tsareth wasn’t looking. But none of them have ever been involved in a sanctioned duel. I know. I would have been there. One of the rules.”

  “But it has been done before, right?”

  “Many years ago.”

  Landis nodded. “The winner is the one who can keep the shields up the longest, right?”

  “Yes, but you can’t throw an energy bolt while you have a shield up, so you have to put them up, drop them, put them up again, and so on.”

  “So the loser is the one who drops the shield at the wrong time.”

  Glendymere nodded.

  “Regardless of whether it was poor judgment or lack of energy.”

  Again Glendymere nodded.

  “So how long before I’ll be good enough to beat Rolan?”

  “I have no idea. I don’t know how good he is, but if you’re going to have any chance of winning, it’ll take you years to get ready, at least five or more. First, you’ve got to learn to store energy, use it, and replace it. Then you’ll need to learn how to split your focus so you can gather more while you’re still using it.”

  “It didn’t take Myron that long. He didn’t study with you but about a year from what I’ve heard.”

  “He doesn’t have to gather energy. It’s just there. But even as good as he is, there could be someone out there who’s better, which is why he still comes here two or three times a week to practice, to get better. If Badec hadn’t been in a coma, Myron never would have left here when he did. We would have worked several more years before he thought about taking his seat, but that was not an option for him. It is for you. To challenge Rolan before you’re ready would be suicide, and if you want to kill yourself, there are easier ways to do it.”

  “So unless I’m willing to commit five or more years of my life to this, there’s no point in going on with it.”

  “This isn’t about five years, or even ten. If you challenge Rolan and defeat him, you’ll be a seated sorcerer. That’s a life-long commitment. You need to think about that. If you take Rolan’s seat, it will be for the rest of your life.”

  Landis thought for a moment. “Guess I need to decide if it would be worth it. I don’t know if that’s what I want to do with my life.”

  “Only you can make that decision. But you can become a sorcerer without becoming a seated sorcerer, and if you’re not planning to duel, you won’t have to work quite so hard or so long. How much you learn, how hard you work, it’s all up to you. No one’s pushing you.”

  Landis nodded and turned to leave.

  Glendymere watched her walk out of his chamber, grateful that seeing the future was not one of his gifts. Sometimes you just didn’t want to know.

  Chapter 15

  Caitlyn's Fear

  That evening, while Joan was putting her to bed, Caitlyn asked if anyone had found her mother yet.

  “Not yet, sweetie.” Joan stroked the child’s forehead. “But we’re still looking. Don’t give up hope.”

  Caitlyn nodded and then said, in a very grown up manner, “Then I think it’s time Corey and I started earning our sleep. I can help Gracie and Corey can work outside.”

  Joan frowned, trying to figure out what Caitlyn was saying. Earning our sleep? Oh, earning our keep. Joan struggled to keep a straight face, but she couldn’t suppress her smile. “I appreciate the offer, but things are pretty much taken care of here. Besides, don’t you like spending your days with Serra?”

  Caitlyn nodded. “She’s nice, but we have to work. Playing is for proper children, not for us. We have to work.”

  “Who says?”

  “Miss Alma. If we don’t help out, you won’t want us, and we’ll have to leave, and if we have to leave, Corey will have to go with someone who needs a boy, and I’ll have to go to someone who needs help around the house.”

  Joan shook her head. “Caitlyn, you aren’t going anywhere, and neither is Corey. You can stay here as long as you like. No one is going to split you up.”

  Caitlyn frowned, and Joan could see tears gathering in her eyes. “If we don’t work, we’ll have to leave. I don’t want to leave.”

&n
bsp; Joan nodded. “I understand.” Then she took Caitlyn’s hand. “Let me think about it. I’m sure we can find something for you and Corey to do.”

  A small smile teased the corners of Caitlyn’s mouth.

  Joan wiped away a tear that was sliding down the child’s cheek. “Do you feel better now?”

  Caitlyn nodded as she snuggled down in her bed with a big yawn.

  Joan kissed her forehead. “Sleep well, little one.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Joan looked in on Corey before heading downstairs, but he was already asleep. Then she stopped by the kitchen to tell Gracie what Caitlyn had said. “Can we find something for them to do?” Joan asked. “Just to put Caitlyn’s mind at ease.”

  Gracie chuckled. “I’ll find something.” Then she frowned. “But where did she get the idea that she can only stay if she works? Did her parents tell her that?”

  Joan shook her head. “I think the aide at the chapel in Ashmont is responsible for that one. When I got there she was teaching Caitlyn how to clean a kitchen, and Corey was out back cleaning out the stable.”

  Gracie’s frown deepened. “But she’s only a baby.”

  “I know, but apparently Alma figured the best way to find them a home was to send them out as live-in servants.”

  “More like slaves. I hate to think that’s happening to any other children.” Gracie went back to putting away the dishes she’d washed after dinner.

  Joan frowned. “What does happen to children who lose their parents?”

  Gracie shrugged. “Never really thought about it. I imagine the sisters play a big role in finding them homes though.”

  Joan nodded. “Probably. Anyway, we need to set her mind at ease.”

  “I’ll find something they can do in the mornings, before they go to the castle, so she won’t spend her whole day worrying about it.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  True to her word, Gracie found a couple of chores for both children to do the next morning. After they made their beds and straightened their rooms, she had Caitlyn set the table for breakfast and Corey gather eggs from the hen house.