The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3)

by Mackenzie Morgan

  Kevin nodded. “Rigel, you keep up with ours.” Then he looked over at Marcus and asked, “Have you eaten?”

  Marcus shook his head no.

  “We haven’t either. Let me speak to Landis and Rhianna for a minute and then you can head down to the dining room.” He motioned for Landis and Rhianna to follow him back into his office.

  Once they were inside, Kevin shut the door. “Today’s going to work out a little differently than we’d planned. Marcus had set up some simple jobs, things that would demonstrate the skills without much risk. With all these downed trees and debris, I have no idea what you might run into today. I still want you to go with Marcus, but be careful. Stay out of the way and keep a close eye on what’s happening around you. I’ll be busy today too, so there’s a good chance I won’t run into you again until dinner. Stick with Marcus, listen to Alek, and be careful.”

  Landis nodded, and headed back out to join Marcus at the table, but Rhianna hung back, frowning.

  “What?” Kevin asked her.

  “I know Landis needs to watch Marcus, but I can swing an ax as well as any man.”

  “I don’t doubt that, but I want you to watch Marcus. You need to know where all of this is headed.”

  “We both know I can pick up what I need to know in five minutes with you. I’m a warrior elf. It’s my duty to help.”

  Kevin shook his head. “I want you with Landis. Keep her safe.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Alek walked with Marcus, Landis, and Rhianna to the dining room, but when they sat down to eat, he said he was going out to the stable and saddle four horses.

  Fifteen minutes later, Marcus leaned back and picked up his coffee cup. “Are you two ready to go?”

  Rhianna nodded as she drank her last swallow of tea.

  “Where are we going?” Landis asked.

  “Basically north,” Marcus answered.

  “And where is Milhaven?” Landis continued.

  “It’s to the west.”

  “Oh,” Landis said, disappointed.

  “Why? Did you have something in mind for today?”

  “I haven’t been to a town in years. I was hoping we’d get to go today.”

  Marcus grinned. “I think that could be arranged. We’ll have to eat lunch at some point, and I don’t think it would be out of line for us to make a quick trip to town around lunchtime. We could eat at the chapel.”

  “A Chapel of Light?” Rhianna asked.

  Marcus nodded.

  “We can’t just show up,” Landis said. “We need to let them know we’re coming.”

  Marcus shook his head. “The sisters always have soup on the stove and plenty of extra bread. I eat lunch there several times a week.”

  “But there will be four of us,” Landis argued. “We have to let them know.”

  “All right. Brandon’s going into Milhaven this morning. I’ll write Hayley a note and get him to stop by the chapel and give it to her. Will that make you feel better?”

  “Much,” Landis said with a smile.

  “Now,” Marcus said as he pushed back from the table and stood up, “let’s get moving.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  The first stop on Marcus’s list was a farm about two miles from the castle. A huge cedar had lost its grip on the ground and fallen in front of the barn, blocking access to the door. The tree was so huge the whole front side of the barn was completely obscured. When they got there, the farmer was standing in front of the tree with an ax, preparing to hack his way through to the door.

  Marcus dismounted and handed his reins to Alek.

  “Norris,” Marcus called out as he walked towards the barn. “Want some help?”

  The farmer turned towards Marcus and grinned. “You’re a welcome sight. I’ve got some cows in there that need milking. I’m already a couple of hours late, and they know it.”

  Marcus laughed. “Well, if they can hang on a few more minutes, you’ll be in there.” Then he pointed to the side of the barn. “Step over there, would you?”

  Norris nodded. As soon as the farmer was out of the way, Landis and Rhianna watched as the cedar tree slowly rose through the air. When it had cleared the top of the barn, it began to drift over the barn and out to the far edge of a big field. Then the tree floated to the ground and settled.

  While Marcus said goodbye to Norris, Landis turned to Rhianna and whispered, “How did he do that?”

  Alek arched his eyebrows. “Haven’t you ever seen a sorcerer work before?”

  Landis shook her head. “There weren’t any sorcerers where I grew up.”

  Alek’s eyebrows arched even higher. “Must have been an isolated place.”

  Landis nodded. “You might say that.” She looked at the tree again. “But how did he do it?”

  Marcus walked up in time to hear her question. “With my outstretched hand.”

  Landis frowned.

  “It’s hard to describe, but you imagine an arm coming out of your head and extending to where you need a hand. Then you form the hand and use it to do whatever you need to do. Like with that tree. I brought the hand up under it and lifted it up. It’s not hard, as long as you have enough energy stored to keep the hand in place as long as you need it.” Marcus laughed. “The first time I tried to do something like that by myself, I made a mess of it. A small pine tree had fallen over on a shed during a storm. I lifted the tree up, moved it over the shed, and dropped it right on top of the roof. I had run out of energy.”

  Landis’s mouth dropped open. “What did you do?”

  “Wasn’t a whole lot I could do right then. Once I stored up some more energy, I moved the tree away, but it had smashed the shed. I had to rebuild it from the ground up.”

  “Did anyone get hurt?”

  Marcus shook his head. “I’d just started working with the outstretched hand. There was no way anyone would have let me attempt it if the shed hadn’t been empty. I’m pretty sure my teacher knew I’d mess it up, but he let me do it anyway. I felt really foolish, but I learned a valuable lesson that day. Always have more energy stored than you could possibly need before you start something.”

  “Guess that’s why …” Landis bit off her words right before she said Glendymere’s name. “Guess that’s why they make us spend so much time learning how to store energy.”

  Marcus nodded. “Eventually you’ll do it without thinking, but that takes years of training.”

  “What else can you do?”

  “Well, I can use my seeing eye to see the rock slide blocking this road about half a mile from here. Let’s mount up and see what we can do about it,” Marcus said as Alek handed him the reins to his horse.

  As they rode out of the farmer’s yard, Landis asked, “What did you mean, use your seeing eye to see a rock slide?”

  Marcus thought for a moment. “Have you ever looked through a spy glass?”

  Landis nodded.

  “It’s sort of like that. I can see things by moving an eye down a road, over a mountain, through the woods, into a building, things like that.”

  For a while they followed the road in silence as it wound its way through the woods, following a stream towards the mountains. When they began to climb the mountain, Landis turned to Marcus and asked, “This seeing eye, do we all have one?”

  “All sorcerers have one, but not all sorcerers spend enough time working with it to be able to use it. Forming the eye isn’t easy, and learning how to move it around takes a lot of time and effort, but it can come in handy.”

  “How?”

  “Well, for one thing, I was able to see this rock slide,” Marcus answered as they rounded a curve. A pile of rocks blocked their road. A huge boulder sat at the bottom of the pile with hundreds of other rocks scattered on top and around it.

  Marcus dismounted and studied the side of the mountain. “Looks like the boulder broke loose and started the whole thing. I don’t think any more rocks will come down, but I can’t be sure, so I want all of you to go back around the curve whi
le I clean this up.”

  Landis shook her head. “The whole point of my being here is to observe. I can’t see what you’re doing from around the curve.”

  Marcus looked around for a minute. “All right, but you’ll have to stand over there, out of the way.” He pointed to a ledge on the other side of the small valley and about ten feet above the road they were on.

  “How am I supposed to get over there?” Landis looked around for a trail of some kind.

  “I’ll lift you over there,” Marcus answered. “Just don’t fight me.”

  The next thing Landis knew, she was rising through the air. “You aren’t going to drop me, are you?” she asked in a tight voice as she watched the ground fall away beneath her.

  “As long as you don’t fight me, you’ll be fine,” Marcus said.

  Landis watched as the ground leveled out and then started climbing again. When her feet touched ground on the opposite ledge, she took a deep breath. It wasn’t until that moment she realized she’d held her breath all the way across.

  Marcus turned to Rhianna. “I don’t suppose you’ll go with Alek and help him with the horses, will you?”

  “Well,” Rhianna said, looking over at Landis, “If he needs my help, I can, but I’d rather watch you.”

  Alek grunted and gathered all the reins. As he headed back towards the curve with all four horses, Rhianna felt her feet lift off the ground. It wasn’t quite as smooth as her flight with Myron, but it was close. A couple of minutes later, she was on the ledge beside Landis. “Nice way to travel, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “Personally, I’d rather walk.”

  “You’ll love it when you can do it yourself.”

  “You mean fly through the air?” Landis frowned. “I don’t think so.”

  At that point, a sharp blast startled them. When they looked down, the boulder was gone. All that remained was rubble. As they watched, more rocks burst into pieces, and then the pieces burst into pieces. Marcus kept tossing energy bolts at the rocks until all that remained was a bed of gravel.

  After he was done, and Landis and Rhianna were back on the road, they mounted up and rode back the way they’d come. They hadn’t gone far before Marcus turned off onto a smaller road and led them around a pond and through some woods to another farm house, and another fallen tree. This one hadn’t fallen against any of the buildings, but it was blocking the path the farmer’s cows took from the barn to the pasture. Fifteen minutes later, they were on their way again, to another farm and another tree.

  Over the next few hours, Marcus removed trees from buildings, yards, and roads, cleared log jams in a couple of streams, helped repair a few roofs, and rescued a kitten who’d managed to get trapped under a fallen cedar tree. By the time they headed into Milhaven for lunch, they were ready for a break.

  As they rode through town, Landis and Rhianna attracted a lot of attention. No one had any idea who they were, or why they were with Marcus and Alek, but speculation was rampant, and by the time they reached the chapel, gossip had spread like wildfire.

  Hayley had gone out that morning to deliver some herbs, and had just gotten back when Marcus and the others rode into the backyard of the chapel. After everyone dismounted, Marcus introduced Landis and Rhianna, and asked if Brandon had given her his note about lunch.

  Hayley shook her head. “I left after breakfast, but that’s all right. I’m sure Brandon told someone. Let me get unloaded and we’ll see what we can find to eat.”

  Rhianna stepped around to the back of the buggy to begin unloading at the same time that Marcus turned to hand Alek the reins to his horse. Out of the corner of his eye, Marcus caught a motion. Before he even realized what he’d seen, he threw himself in front of Hayley and yelled.

  Alek didn’t know what was happening, but he dove on top of Landis and took her to the ground a split second before he heard the soft thud of an arrow hitting flesh. When Alek lifted his head, he saw an arrow sticking out of Marcus’s shoulder.

  “Landis, under the buggy. Now,” Alek whispered as he half pushed, half dragged her the couple of feet to the buggy. After she was stashed between the wheels, Alek crawled over to Marcus. “How bad?”

  Marcus shook his head. “Hurts like the devil, but it’s okay.”

  “Where did it come from?” Alek asked as he took hold of the arrow to pull it out of Marcus’s shoulder.

  “Not sure,” Marcus said with a groan as the arrow came free. “Give me a minute and I’ll look around.”

  Hayley struggled against Marcus in an effort to get up. “Marcus! Move over! You’re bleeding. Let me up! I’ve got to find Theresa!”

  Marcus shook his head and shoved Hayley back down. “I’ll be fine. Stay put.”

  While Marcus was trying to catch his breath enough to focus his seeing eye, Alek looked around the buggy. “Where’s Rhianna?”

  “No idea,” Marcus said.

  Rhianna’s instincts had kicked in when Marcus yelled and she’d translocated. From her new vantage point, she had a good view of both the area around the buggy and the woods. It didn’t take her but a moment to spot the archer perched fifteen feet above the ground between two main branches of a thick spruce.

  While she watched, she heard the whisper of an arrow being drawn from its quiver. She drew her knife from its ankle sheath and waited. She watched as the archer notched his arrow, and just as he began to draw it back, she threw the knife at his shoulder.

  Marcus managed to get his seeing eye focused right before Rhianna threw her knife. He hadn’t seen the man perched in the tree but he watched the track of the knife and saw it hit its mark. The man uttered a muffled curse, scrambled for a few seconds as he tried to regain his balance, and then fell out of the tree, hitting the ground with a solid plunk and the unmistakable snap of a breaking bone.

  “I found Rhianna,” Marcus said. “She just took down the archer. He’s on the ground fifty feet back in the woods, and it looks like his leg is broken. I don’t think he’s going anywhere any time soon.”

  “Let me up,” Hayley said, pushing against him. “You’re bleeding!”

  Marcus tucked her back under him. “Stay put and quit squirming. There could be someone else out there taking aim at us.” He scoured the woods behind the archer. One man was running in the opposite direction, but there was no way to know whether he was running away to avoid capture or to avoid getting shot. But he was leaving the area, so he wasn’t a threat at the moment.

  After Marcus was satisfied there wasn’t anyone else in the near vicinity, he leaned up and turned towards Alek. “I think we’re in the clear now. I’ll set up a shield behind the archer just in case there’s anyone else left in the woods. You get everyone inside.”

  Alek stood up, and offered Landis his hand, but she ignored it as she wiggled out from under the buggy and stood up. While she brushed off her clothes, Alek turned to help Hayley up, but she was already on her knees, fussing with Marcus’s shoulder.

  Hayley pulled Marcus’s tunic back, tore a piece of her apron off and used it to wipe away the blood so she could get a good look at the wound. She pressed her hand over the hole to slow the bleeding and all but dared him to move until a sister could get out there to take care of it.

  Alek left Hayley for Marcus to deal with and alternately pushed and pulled Landis into the chapel. Once he had her in the kitchen, he pointed to a chair. “Stay here until I get back. I need to take charge of the prisoner so Rhianna can get inside. I don’t want either one of you out in the open until Myron gets here.” Landis nodded and sat down at the table.

  Alek turned to the chapel aide who was washing dishes. “I need someone to go to the castle and get Cpt. Darrell and Gen. Crandal. Could you find someone to do that?” When the aide nodded and started wiping her hands, he added, “And see if anyone has any idea where Myron might be. We need him, too. And if there’s a sister around, we’ve got some injuries out here.”

  The young woman’s eyes opened wide, but she asked no questions, j
ust took off at a run.

  Meanwhile, Marcus used his outstretched hand to move the archer’s bow and quiver out of his reach. Rhianna picked them up and joined him and Hayley near the back of the buggy. As soon as Rhianna was away from the archer, Marcus set up a second shield isolating him.

  Alek stopped by the buggy to tell Marcus help should be on the way soon and to ask if he still had the shield in place. Marcus nodded.

  “Can I get to the archer? Or is the shield between us and him.”

  “I’ve got two up, a large one on the other side of the archer blocking the woods, and a smaller one shielding us. I can let that one down if you want to go check on him.”

  Alek nodded and headed in that direction. “But put it back up once I’m past. I don’t want to take any chances.”

  The first person the chapel aide found was Theresa. When she told her what Alek had said, Theresa sent her to the tavern to see if anyone there had seen Myron. She sent another aide to the castle to find Darrell and Gen. Crandal, and then she ran outside to tend to the injuries.

  When she saw Hayley kneeling beside Marcus and all the blood on Marcus’s clothes, she made herself slow down and take a deep breath. He was sitting up and didn’t look like he was about to fall over, so it must not be too bad. She knelt beside Hayley and gently touched Hayley’s hand. When Hayley didn’t move, Theresa slowly peeled Hayley’s hand off Marcus’s shoulder.

  With a heavy sigh, Hayley leaned back so Theresa could examine the wound. Theresa wiped the little bit of fresh blood away and looked at the wound. Then she sat back on her heels, grinning.

  Hayley frowned when she saw Theresa’s smile. “Theresa, do something! Close the wound!”

  Theresa shook her head. “No need.”

  “What do you mean no need? He’s been shot! He’s bleeding! Look at all the blood! Theresa! Do something!”

  Hayley was on the verge of becoming hysterical, so Theresa took hold of both of Hayley’s hands and said, “Look at me.” But Hayley kept staring at all the blood on Marcus’s tunic. Theresa shook her. “Hayley! Look at me, not at him.”