Chris shook his head. “If Neiven finds out Darius is spying for Rolan, and that he might have had something to do with Badec’s death, I’m not sure he won’t kill him. I talked to Neiven quite a bit when we first got here. He idolized your father. There’s no way he’d put up with anyone who might have had a hand in hurting him.”
“I didn’t realize he felt that strongly.”
“He does. We do not want him to know about Darius. Korman’s a possibility though.”
“It’s just an idea. You may come up with something else.”
After a few minutes of silence, Kevin frowned. “But you know, if there’s a connection between him and Rolan, no matter how tenuous, I don’t want him anywhere near Nikki, and if Marshall’s going to be looking after her, she’ll be around the stable area. No, we’ve got to find some other place for Darius.”
Chris laughed. “Protective, huh?”
“Seems I am.”
“Korman’s starting to look really good.”
“If Korman will take him on, we’ll keep paying him. That way it won’t cut into Korman’s profits.”
“Provided we can afford it. Have you figured out how much money we have at our disposal?”
Kevin shook his head. “Every time I bring it up, Cryslyn tells me to give her a list of what I want and she’ll take care of it. I don’t know if it’s common practice for the Master Sorcerer not to get involved with the money end of things, or if she just doesn’t want me involved, but either way, I haven’t been able to find out anything.”
“Maybe we should ask Laryn about it,” Chris said. Then, after a moment, he said, “Wait a minute. Didn’t we try to talk to her about that already?”
“Funniest thing, something interrupts us every time we bring it up.”
Chris made a note. “I’m going to see her in a few minutes about Shana. I’ll ask her then.”
“Good luck. I feel like there’s this conspiracy to keep us in the dark about finances. And Karl hasn’t had any more luck than we have.”
Kevin stood up. “I’ve got to take Serra to Ridgeville to have lunch with her grandparents today. When I get back, I’m going upstairs until time for lunch, maybe catch a quick nap. Find me after you talk to Laryn. And don’t let me forget to take the kitten to Crinsor Run this afternoon. Rhianna’s already mad enough at me for not arresting the informants. I don’t want to give her any more reasons to yell at me.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Kevin fell asleep as soon as he stretched out on his bed and slept until the middle of the afternoon when Chris came in to wake him up.
“Hi,” Chris said as he set a tray down on the coffee table. “I brought you a sandwich and some coffee.”
Kevin sat on the side of the bed for a moment and wiped his hands over his face, trying to wake up. Finally he got up and walked over to the couch, picking up the cup of coffee as he sat down. “Thanks.” He lifted the cup towards Chris. “I needed this.”
Chris sat down. “You need some food, too.”
“Did you see Laryn?”
Chris nodded.
“And?”
“Are you awake yet?”
“Awake enough,” Kevin said, picking up the sandwich. “What happened?”
“Laryn wasn’t sure whether Shana was born here or not, but she remembers her as a young girl. But the main thing is she wasn’t at the castle when Badec was poisoned. She came later, during the summer after he was in the coma. So there’s no way she had anything to do with his tea.”
“Okay.”
“I did ask some questions about your father’s evening tea though. According to Laryn, it was a well-known habit, almost a ritual. There were two shelves in the pantry for his teas. One for the standard teas, and another for teas people sent in for him to try.”
Chris took a swallow of coffee. “Great marketing idea, actually. Send some tea to the castle with a note saying it’s a unique blend made especially for Badec, and you could claim your tea was part of the Master Sorcerer’s private stock. It wouldn’t matter whether or not he liked it, or whether or not he ever tried it. If it sat on his shelf, the claim is true.”
“Who picked out his evening tea?”
“He did. If he wanted a particular blend, he’d tell one of the guards. They’d let the kitchen know, and whoever was in there would fix his tea and take it to the guard at the foot of the stairs, usually Rupert. If he didn’t have a preference, he’d tell them to surprise him, which is when they’d use one of the teas that had been sent in.”
“Luck of the draw.”
Chris nodded. “And that’s why Laryn has been so careful about letting people know what happened. Most of the people at the castle have been here a long time and are protective of the House of Nordin. She doesn’t want a kitchen worker or guard to feel guilty because he or she happened to pick up or deliver the wrong packet of tea.”
“Did you mention moving Shana over to her house?”
Chris nodded. “Laryn said she’d take her. She said she remembered something about Shana’s parents having to leave, which is why she needed to go to work. Now Laryn’s wondering if Rolan was behind it. She’ll see what she can find out.”
“When do you plan to make the change?”
“I’ll have to talk to Cryslyn and Miranda and get them to go along with it.”
“Why not have Laryn request her? There’s no way they’ll object if she does it, but maybe we should hold off until the new year. I don’t want Shana or anyone else to connect the new position with the failed assassination attempt.”
Chris nodded again. “I’ll talk to Laryn about it tomorrow. I don’t want to take up any more of her time today. After all, she and Steve are newlyweds.”
“Did you get anywhere on the finances?”
“Somewhat.”
Kevin frowned. “Somewhat?”
“Well, it’s complicated, which is why everyone sidesteps it when you bring it up. The only reason I got anywhere is I made an issue of the fact everyone’s so determined to keep us in the dark we were getting suspicious about the source of the money.”
“So, what did you find out?”
“That Cryslyn is a master trader, as were the housekeepers before her. When we need something, either personally, for the castle, or for the province, as in the case of Karl purchasing those kids in Glenarbour, Cryslyn goes to work. She has contacts all over Camden, in fact, all over Terah.”
Chris turned towards Kevin. “Remember when Laryn picked up those fish? Well, the fisherman Laryn went to see needed a new dinghy for his fishing boat. There’s a man not far from there who makes dinghies, but who needed a horse. So, Cryslyn contacted another man in the area who raises horses and arranged for him to deliver a horse to the boat builder, who delivered a dinghy to the fisherman. And since a dinghy’s worth a lot more than the fish we bought, the fisherman’s now in her debt. At some point she’ll either get more fish, or someone who needs fish will have something else she needs. And so it goes.” Chris shook his head and leaned back. “It’s complicated, but she’s a genius at it from what I hear.”
“So what did she trade for the horse?”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that.” Chris sighed and sat back up. “Have you ever noticed you don’t have any old tunics in your wardrobe? That all of your official clothes seem new every time you put them on?”
Kevin nodded.
“And you remember how back on Earth people would pay outrageous sums for shirts worn by celebrities?”
Kevin started to nod, and then the implication hit and he bolted upright. “She’s selling my clothes?!”
“And for a tidy sum, from what I hear. And not just your clothes. Ever notice how we always have new pens in the office, all nice and sharp? Well, apparently there’s quite a market for pens used by the Master Sorcerer. I’m not sure what all she sells, but since you’re the Master Sorcerer, requests come in from all over Terah.”
Kevin shook his head. “I’m not sure how I feel about al
l of this.”
“I know, which is why no one wanted to talk to you about it. But the only thing the man who had the horse wanted was one of your tunics.”
“There’s no way a used tunic could possibly be worth a horse, Chris. That’s crazy.”
“Not from his point of view. He raises horses, he has plenty of them, but he didn’t have a tunic that had been worn by the Master Sorcerer of Terah, and that’s what he wanted. So, she sent it right off. He was happy, she was happy, good deal. That’s the barter system. Things have value based on what someone wants. What it boils down to is for the price of a tunic you’d already worn, we got a nice fish dinner for the whole castle, fish pies for lunch for a couple of days, and a credit with the fisherman who supplied the fish.”
“But what about the tunic? It’ll have to be replaced, so there’s a cost involved.”
“Not as much as you might think. Remember Badec’s tea? Merchants from all over Camden send material here to be made into clothes for you, me, everyone at the castle, all for the privilege of saying we use their cloth, but the only clothes that have much turnaround value are yours, although Laryn did say there were a few people who were more impressed by assistants than by sorcerers, so some of mine go for a nice price, too. And there are quite a few seamstresses who like to be able to say they sew for the Master Sorcerer, so a lot of your clothes don’t cost us anything, same with some of mine, and Laryn’s. The dresses she wore during the weekend when everyone was here not only didn’t cost us anything, seamstresses from all over the place offered to do all kinds of free sewing just for the privilege of saying they’d made one of the dresses for Laryn’s wedding, and all the cloth was provided free of charge too, just for the bragging rights. And now that the wedding’s over, Cryslyn will be able to get all kinds of stuff for one of those dresses.”
“Well, there’s no way Cryslyn traded a couple of worn tunics for the kids at Glenarbour. Where does the money for those kinds of things come from?”
“Laryn said it depends on who the trader is. Cryslyn keeps a supply of money for times when that’s all that’s acceptable, but you know how some stones on Earth were worth a fortune? Like diamonds or emeralds? There’s quite a market in gems here, too. Gold’s not as valuable here as it was on Earth, but silver’s worth quite a bit. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of silver in Camden, but lead and iron are almost as valuable, and we have both of those. Not a lot, but some. And we have emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and I have no idea how many other stones that can be used as money. Again, not a tremendous amount, probably not enough to make a dent in Glendymere’s collection, but Laryn said Cryslyn has quite a treasure chest of gems she can use when she needs to. Again, she trades for them. Want a pen that was used by the Master Sorcerer? Send me a couple of rubies or a load of lead.”
“Complicated.”
Chris nodded. “And that’s why every time the subject comes up, whoever we ask manages to sidetrack the conversation, plus the fact no one wanted to explain they’re selling the shirts off your back to keep this thing going.”
“I do have one question, though,” Kevin said. “What happens when Cryslyn retires? Who could take over for her? This isn’t something someone could pick up overnight.”
“Seems we commandeered the person Cryslyn was training as her assistant when we put Serra in charge of the playground.”
“Seriously?”
Chris nodded again.
“Why didn’t anyone say anything?”
“And tell the Master Sorcerer he can’t make a staffing change in his own castle?”
“But I didn’t do that! I didn’t make any changes! She was out back with Darrell designing the thing. All I did was tell her if she needed any help to let me know!”
“And that comment right there, the ‘if you need any help, let me know,’ put her in charge.”
Kevin shut his eyes and gritted his teeth. “This is what I was talking about the other day. I have no business meddling in staffing decisions, even when I don’t realize I’m doing it.” He wiped his hands over his face. “How do we fix this?”
“We don’t,” Chris answered. “We let Cryslyn work things out. All you need to do is ask her to take over staffing the playground, and if she asks if you want to keep Serra in charge, tell her to handle it anyway she wants. Then she can put someone else in charge and bring Serra back inside to work with her.”
Kevin nodded. “Do it. Tomorrow. Now I’d better find Marcus and the kitten and head over to Wildcat Mountain.”
“Already done. Landis, Rhianna, and the kitten are in Crinsor Run. I told them one of us would be there to pick them up after dinner.”
“How did you go?”
“I used the key,” Chris said with a frown.
“How did you get the key?”
“You gave it to me. Last night. When we were taking everyone home. Remember?” Chris asked.
“And when we got back, we started talking with Cpt. Lawrence, Darrell, and Marcus.” Kevin frowned. “I can believe I didn’t think about it last night, but I used my key several times this morning and never noticed the key to Terah was missing. That’s scary.”
“You’re worn out, Kevin. I should have returned it last night, but to be honest, I didn’t think about it until I remembered the kitten had to go to Crinsor Run. I was on my way up here to ask if you wanted me to make the trip when I remembered I already had the key, so I just went. Sorry.”
Kevin shook his head. “No, that’s fine. The only thing bothering me is I didn’t notice it was missing when I used mine this morning. I’m more observant than that. I must be more tired than I thought.”
“Which is why, for the next few weeks, we’re going to keep things down to a dull roar in the office. No more schemes, no more plans, no more anything but business as usual. And you’re going to have to get more sleep. Now, here,” Chris said as he took the key off his chain and handed it to Kevin. “And you might want to change clothes. Yours look like you slept in them, and Miranda’s expecting us for dinner in a little while.”
Chapter 62
The Old Year Comes to a Close
Over the next couple of weeks, things settled down and the castle returned to normal. As Christmas approached, messages, requests, and complaints dwindled down, and by the Friday before Christmas, had become almost nonexistent. The pages were so bored they spruced up the reception area just to have something to do. The furniture sparkled and all the glowstone covers and windows glistened.
Darrell’s office was quieter too, so he started spending more time on the training field, and since Chris had more free time, he joined Darrell every morning for a quick workout. After lunch, Darrell lined up archers to shoot at Marcus, but Marcus had become so good at catching and stacking arrows that he was bored, so he started using a second outstretched hand to mess with the archers. At first he just dangled one of them in the air and then set him back down, but towards the end of the week, he started depositing them somewhere else, such as on the roof of the castle, in a tree, on top of a haystack, on a pile of wood, in the river, or on the road halfway to Milhaven, all while catching and stacking the arrows shot at him by the other archers.
The archers were starting to get annoyed with Marcus’s stunts, so Saturday morning after their workout, Darrell asked Chris if it would be all right to change Marcus’s workout.
“How?”
“Up to now, we’ve concentrated on having Marcus protect himself. But he got shot protecting Hayley. We need to work on his reactions when there’s someone else involved, someone who needs to be protected.”
Chris frowned. “Are you going to use real people?”
Darrell shook his head. “Bales of hay.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll run it by Kevin. If he has any problems with it, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks,” Darrell said. He planned to set up at least four bundles of straw for Marcus to protect. If nothing else, maybe it would keep the sorcerer too busy to mess with his guards
.
~ ~ ~ ~
Kevin spent most of his time during the week leading up to Christmas catching up on odds and ends that had fallen by the wayside over the past couple of months, but the Saturday before Christmas belonged to Nikki.
They walked in the woods and played in the meadow all afternoon, and that evening Nikki kept Kevin company as he did some paperwork in his office. By the time they went upstairs, Kevin felt like he’d had a perfect day. The next morning when Kevin took Nikki back to Kyle’s, he took Marshall with them.
Kevin would be the first to admit his life was anything but predictable and Nikki would need someone to look after her when he couldn’t, but if anyone was going to spend a week at Kyle’s learning how to take care of his dog, he wanted it to be him. Leaving Marshall there to spend a week with the two of them was one of the hardest things Kevin had had to do since coming to Terah.
Kevin poured all his frustration into his workout with Glendymere and had the best session he’d had in quite some time.
“Not sure what that was all about,” Glendymere said when they were done, “but I hope you feel better now.”
Kevin wiped the sweat off his face and nodded.
“Good. Now, what about the girls? Are you taking them home today?”
Again, Kevin nodded. “I thought I’d take them home this morning and pick them up Thursday afternoon. That would give them a nice break, and give Gwynn and Hayden some time with them.”
Glendymere nodded. “In that case, I’m going to do some visiting myself. I’ll be back Thursday morning. If you need any help in the meantime, find Jonquin.”
~ ~ ~ ~
For most of the residents of Milhaven, Christmas week was calm and peaceful, but for Hayley it was nerve-racking. It started on the Saturday before Christmas when Sister Agnes called her into the office. As soon as they sat down, Sister Agnes told her she was going home for the week, that she had a niece she’d never met and she wanted to see her.
Hayley wished her a pleasant journey and said she’d do everything she could to help Theresa run the chapel while Agnes was gone.
The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) Page 58