Shadron nodded. “Let us know if you decide to go up against those assassins. We’ll be more than happy to help you smoke them out, literally.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Kevin and Chris each took a key and soon all of Kevin’s aunts and uncles were back where they belonged. Then Kevin took Warren and Torrey home while Chris headed back to the castle with Cpt. Lawrence, Darrell, and Marcus.
After Kevin helped Torrey unload her basket, he thanked them both for going.
“We enjoyed it,” Warren said. “Anytime you need an extra hand, just let me know, and I mean that.”
Torrey gave Warren a sideways look. “Why don’t you tell him what’s on your mind? I know you spent the whole day thinking about it.”
“What?” Kevin asked.
“It might be time for me to think about stepping down,” Warren said slowly.
Kevin frowned. “A month ago you said you weren’t ready. What’s changed?”
“Well, Colin’s ready to handle this job on his own, and if I keep hanging on, it’ll undermine his confidence. He’s ready to be a district sorcerer.”
“This has been bothering him for a couple of weeks.” Torrey slipped her arm around her husband. “I keep telling him it won’t make any difference whether he retires or not. Folks around here will still come to him when they need something done. If he really wants to let Colin take over, we’ve got to move. Unfortunately, we like it here. We’ve lived here for a long time and have a lot of good friends here.”
“All I’m doing at this point is holding him back,” Warren said with a deep sigh. “I’m not ready to retire, but I’m also not willing to go back to being the district sorcerer full time, so if I have to choose between the two …”
Kevin pursed his lips. “Actually, I’ve got something I want to talk to both of you about that might solve the problem, but I can’t say anything yet.” Kevin looked first at Warren and then at Torrey. He looked back at Warren and asked, “Can you give me some time to get a few things worked out? I should know more in a couple of months.”
Warren nodded. “All right. Just don’t take too long.”
“I won’t. And thanks again.”
Chapter 61
Follow up
It was midnight by the time Kevin got back to the castle. Cpt. Lawrence, Darrell, and Marcus wanted to talk, and even though he was worn out, Kevin figured it was best to talk while the rest of the castle slept, so he ushered the three of them and Chris into his office and shut the door.
Cpt. Lawrence was the first to speak up. “I’m sorry about all of this. I’ll hand in my resignation tomorrow morning.”
“Whoa,” Kevin said. “What brought that on?”
“Those spies got in here on my watch. I was Captain of the Guard. It was my job to protect this castle and all who live here. I thought I checked everyone out, but I missed Shana and Darius. I can’t take responsibility for Trevor though. I didn’t hire any soldiers.”
“I hope you noticed not one guard was involved.” Darrell leaned forward and turned towards Cpt. Lawrence.
“As far as we know,” Cpt. Lawrence countered, turning towards Darrell. “Maybe we just haven’t found him yet.”
Kevin held up his hand. “Stop. Just stop.”
Both Cpt. Lawrence and Darrell leaned back in their chairs.
“It’s not your fault,” Kevin said as he shook his head. “None of this is your fault. It’s not Miranda’s, not Neiven’s, not Gen. Crandal’s. It’s Rolan’s. And I will not let him undermine this staff. He got to these people. We don’t know how yet, but mark my words, this is on him.”
Chris nodded. “You don’t know him. We do. He inspires fear and hatred, not loyalty. If they’re spying for him, they’re not doing it to help him. He’s either offered them a lot of money, which puts the blame on them, or he’s threatening them, which puts the blame on him.”
Cpt. Lawrence shook his head. “No one can make another person spy for him, Chris. If the spy gets caught, he’ll be locked up for life, if not killed. If he was offered enough money, he might think it was worth the risk, but no one can force him to become a spy. He has to choose to do it.”
Kevin shook his head. “Chris is right. You don’t know Rolan. Last year he wanted to test his skills, so he sparred against a bunch of novice sorcerers, but he doesn’t spar like we do around here, he fought them for real, to the death, and moved on to the next one.”
Kevin paused and then said, “One day last fall he had a temper tantrum in his bedroom. While he was tossing around energy bolts, one of his guards opened the door to make sure he was all right. Rolan killed him, although from what I heard it was an accident, but he stepped over the man’s ashes and yelled for someone to clean up the mess. He thinks nothing of holding a man’s mother, wife, or child hostage to make the man do what he says. And I could go on. This is the man we’re talking about.”
No one said anything for a moment, then Darrell spoke up. “We have three people providing information to Rolan’s assassins. What are we going to do about it?”
“Nothing,” Kevin said.
“Well, not exactly nothing,” Chris said, glancing towards Cpt. Lawrence and Darrell. “We need to make sure any information they provide is harmless, and we need to keep them away from any place where they could do harm.”
“Like getting Shana out of the kitchen?” Darrell asked. “I’m all for that.”
“And I’m not too sure about letting Darius saddle a horse Myron or Landis might ride,” Chris added. “We need to find some other place for him, too.”
Cpt. Lawrence was quiet, but Kevin could tell something was on his mind. “What?” Kevin asked.
“Right after Saryn was killed, I made a list of all the soldiers and where they were that night. I thought we might need to know at some point, and I was trying to remember where Trevor was. The list is in my desk. I’ll check it when I leave here, but if he’s responsible for Saryn’s death, I have to tell Gen. Crandal, and he won’t let it go.”
“No, I don’t imagine he would,” Kevin said. “Go get your list. Let’s see how big a problem this is going to be.”
Cpt. Lawrence nodded and left.
While he was gone, Darrell said, “We need a plan. We need to know where we’re putting these people, but the changes should come from somewhere else, not from this office.”
“Agreed,” Chris said. “We could send Shana to help Gracie at Joan’s, or promote her to housekeeper for Laryn.”
“I’m not sure I want her around Laryn,” Kevin said.
“Laryn’s one smart lady,” Chris argued. “I bet she could find out why Shana’s passing on information. I’d be willing to bet there’s a threat against someone she cares about.”
“Maybe so, but she works in the kitchen,” Kevin pointed out. “Do you know when she got here? Could she be responsible for poisoning my father? Do you really want to put her in Laryn’s house without knowing the answer to that question?”
Chris shook his head. “Laryn would know how long she’s been here.”
“Ask her tomorrow,” Kevin said. “If we can be sure Shana didn’t have anything to do with Badec’s death, we’ll ask Laryn if she wants to see what she can do with her. But it’s got to be Laryn’s choice, so maybe we need to come up with a Plan B if you want Shana out of the kitchen.”
Cpt. Lawrence walked back into Kevin’s office with a grin on his face. “First good news of the day. Trevor’s time is accounted for. He was at Fenway’s with some other soldiers until the wee hours of the morning. They all came back to the barracks together, all went inside together, and all went to bed. His bed’s near the back. In order to get out without anyone knowing, he’d have to get all the way up the aisle without waking anyone, which would be next to impossible. I’d say he’s in the clear for Saryn’s murder.”
“There’s no way Shana did it,” Chris said.
“Darius could have,” Darrell said. “That man’s strong. He helped build the playground and he’s as
strong as any of my guards, and he’s got better upper body strength than most of them. I think Neiven’s training him as a blacksmith. He’s got the muscles for it.”
“Do we know anything about his whereabouts?” Kevin asked.
They all shook their heads.
“Okay, so he’s a suspect in that, too,” Kevin said, “but no more than the other assassins. I think we’ll have to let Saryn’s murder go for now. If anything comes up later that points towards the killer, we’ll do something about it, even if it’s Darius, but until we have more than guesswork, this stays here, with us.”
The others nodded, so Kevin moved on. “Marcus, you’ve been awfully quiet.”
Marcus shrugged. “I don’t have anything to add, but I do agree we need to keep them away from you.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Chris said. “I’m not sure how, but I’ll have it done by the end of next week.”
“Well, if there’s nothing else …” Kevin looked around. “Okay, keep all of this to yourselves, the names of the spies, how many there are, what we did today, and everything that was said in here tonight. No one in this room or in any primary staff position is to blame for this. It happened. Period.”
Darrell looked at Kevin. “These three could be just the tip of the iceberg, there may be more spies lurking about. He sent out quite a few squads with orders not to come home until you’re dead. Some of those men probably want to go back to Trendon. Don’t get careless.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Sunday morning, after Glendymere finished tossing energy bolts at him, Kevin asked if he knew about the trap they’d set to find Rolan’s spy.
Glendymere nodded. “Rhianna told me. She wanted me to stop it.”
“Why?”
“She felt Landis would be in a dangerous position.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I figured you knew what you were doing.”
Kevin nodded. “Well, the plan worked too well. We have at least three informants working in the castle. I was already of the opinion she needed someplace else to live, but after yesterday, I’m not sure any place will be safe.”
“Like I told you before, you can leave her here.”
“And like I told you, that’s not right. I may have to use the caves in Rainbow Valley for a while, but she’ll need to train for at least a year, and I can’t leave her here that long.”
“She’s only human. She’ll need a lot more than a year. I do have a question though. How can you teach her if she’s not with you?”
“I’ll have to let someone else do the bulk of it. When I agreed to take her on as an apprentice, I had no idea how dangerous it would be for her to live at the castle. I won’t relinquish my responsibility. I’ll keep a close eye on her progress and work with her when I can, but I’ll have to let someone else do the day in and day out stuff.”
“Any idea who?”
“I’ve got someone in mind. I haven’t talked to him yet, but he’s good.”
“Will he teach her to save kittens?”
Kevin laughed. “Yes.”
“Good. I think more than anything else, that convinced her to become a sorcerer.”
“Speaking of the kitten, Marcus is picking it up this afternoon. Landis and Rhianna both said Gwynn would be happy to take care of it, but I’d rather they be the ones to tell her about it. I thought I’d pick them up this afternoon and take them to Crinsor Run for a few hours and let them make the introductions. Will that be all right with you?”
“Fine with me, but you might want to let Ashni know. I doubt Gwynn will let the girls come back here before she feeds them.”
Kevin nodded. “I’ll drop by Ashni’s on my way home.”
“Anything else?”
“Landis asked me to let her know what happened yesterday. Do you know where she is?”
“She was in the cave when I left.”
Again, Kevin nodded.
“Talk to that sorcerer of yours. If he agrees to take over, I’ll want to meet with him and see how far he wants me to take her.”
“Probably as far as you’re willing to, but I’ll talk to him before too long. And I’ll see if he’ll agree to talk to a dragon. Not all humans are as tolerant as I am, you know.”
Glendymere cut his eyes over at Kevin and snorted. “Are you going to work with Rhianna today?”
Kevin nodded. “I thought I’d make a couple of tornadoes and let her work with them. After she’s comfortable controlling them, we can work on building one.”
“I’d rather she practice thunderstorms. If she’s ready with that, I can bring them down here and let Landis start capturing energy from the wind. You can play with tornadoes later, after the start of the new year if you like, or even later. There’s no hurry with that one. We won’t be using them for Landis.”
“All right, we can do that. Anything else?”
When Glendymere shook his head, Kevin turned his key and left the canyon lands.
~ ~ ~ ~
Kevin made a quick trip by Glendymere’s cave to let Landis and Rhianna know that the trap worked. He wasn’t sure which part shocked them the most, that there were three informants or that one of them was Shana. Landis agreed that knowing who they were was good enough, but Rhianna wanted them confronted, questioned, and locked away for life.
After a few uncomfortable minutes, Kevin redirected the conversation by telling them Marcus was going to pick up the kitten that afternoon. “After he brings it back to the castle, I thought I’d bring it by here, pick up the two of you, and take you to Crinsor Run for a while.”
“That would be fun,” Landis said. “Do you think Ashni would mind if we stayed there for dinner?”
“I’m sure that’ll be fine. Oh, and Cira said she let the kitten live in the house because she figured that’s what you’d want.”
“That was nice of her,” Landis said. “I’d like to send her a thank-you note. Can you have it delivered if I write it this afternoon?”
“Sure,” Kevin answered. “Now, if there’s nothing else, Rhianna and I need to get out to the canyon lands.”
Rhianna stepped beside him and placed her hand on his arm. He gave the key a turn, and a few moments later, they were on the same butte he’d been on earlier with Glendymere.
“Glendymere wants you to work on thunderstorms today. He’s planning to bring you and Landis down here soon to let her start working with wind, and he’ll want you to stir up a good storm and keep it going while she taps into the energy. So, want to make one?”
Rhianna quickly stirred up a thunderstorm and asked Kevin how long she needed to keep it going.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think we want to have too much rain. Can you keep the wind going without much rain?”
“I don’t know.” She knitted her eyebrows and concentrated on her storm. For the next half hour she built the storm up to the point of rain, calmed it down a bit, and just before it faded away, stirred it up again.
She repeated the process five times before Kevin touched her arm. “Okay, let it go now.”
“Do you mean let it rain? Or let it fade away?”
“Let it fade away.”
Rhianna nodded and eased her way out of the storm. A few minutes later, there was no sign of wind or clouds. “How was that?”
“As far as I know, about as perfect as it can get. Can you do that over and over while Landis practices?”
“I’m not sure how many times, but for a while, yes.”
“Then let’s call it a day. I need to stop by Ashni’s, and then I’ve got to get back to the castle. Ready to go?”
When Rhianna nodded, Kevin took out his key and they left the canyon lands. He dropped Rhianna off at the entrance to Glendymere’s cave and headed for Ashni’s.
Ashni was in the kitchen preparing lunch for Blalick and the kids when Kevin got there. He told her about the plans for that afternoon, and pleading urgent business back at the castle, turned the key again and headed home.
; ~ ~ ~ ~
Chris was in Kevin’s office when he got back, frowning over a sheet of paper.
“What’s up?” Kevin asked as he sat down at his desk.
“I know I said I’d figure out what to do with our three informants, but I have no idea how I’m going to do that.”
“Do we really need to do something?”
Chris nodded. “Not so much with Trevor, but there’s no way I can let Shana stay in the kitchen, or let Darius anywhere near a horse you might ride.”
“I don’t ride very often. What’s he going to do?”
“I don’t know, but that’s the problem. Neither of us was raised around horses. We don’t know what can go wrong, but I bet he does, and it wouldn’t be hard for him to cause some kind of accident.”
“Maybe not, but I’m a sorcerer. If I start falling, I can catch myself.”
“As long as you think in terms of magic. But it’s like Marcus and that arrow. Without a lot of practice, you’ll fall back on what you did before you knew magic existed, back to when you were a kid. He blocked an arrow with his shoulder. You’d probably use your hands to break your fall and end up with one or two broken bones, or worse.” Chris shook his head. “I don’t want him anywhere near any horse you’re going to ride or any tack you might use, even if it’s only once or twice a year. I’ve got to find another job for him and some way to move him into it without making him suspicious.”
“Last night, after we got back here, when we were talking about Saryn, didn’t Darrell say something about Darius’s arms? Something about Neiven teaching him to be a blacksmith?”
Chris nodded.
“Wonder if Korman wants an apprentice?”
“I hadn’t thought of that, but I thought we wanted to keep these people here, where we could use them if the opportunity arises.”
“We could ask Neiven to take him on, but that’s not going to get him away from the stable area and the horses. I guess we could let Neiven know what Darius is doing and ask him to keep an eye on him.”
The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) Page 57