To Be Victorious: The Maestro Chronicles Book 6

by John Buttrick

  When the kiss ended, she drew her head back, giving him the opportunity to speak. “That was a new way to bring me back to the waking world.”

  Her left eyebrow arched up quizzically. “Do you mean by casting a spell to cleanse us both along with the pillow and bedsheets?”

  He did not bother holding back his smile. “Since this is not the first time I have opened my eyes to find you lying full-length on top of me, and this is not the first time you have cleansed us during an intimate embrace, the cleaning of the pillow and bedsheets are what I mean. That and your life-force energy is still cleansing us even though we are at this point about as clean as two human bodies can be.”

  Her gaze sharpened, passion flaring in those beautiful eyes. “But it feels so good.”

  No arguing that.

  “It is much more fun than taking a shower or laundering sheets,” Daniel admitted and then his lips met hers and the kiss went on until she ceased the potential for the spell.

  She did a pushup off of him and soon was out of bed. He watched as she reached for her under clothes and doubted it would ever be possible for him to stop enjoying the sight of the curves and contours of her body. She stood five and a half cubits from head to toe and her long yellow-gold hair went down to her lower back, not quite to the tailbone. She was the first person he ever restored from Condemnation and her body was at the absolute peak of physical conditioning, exactly what the recipe strands called for.

  They knew each other’s outer forms as well as any husband and wife could know such things, but it was the Symphonics he had composed, like “How Do You Feel” and “What Is This,” that made it possible to know one another inside and out. At a casual glance, it was not easy to perceive she was pregnant, but he could see the slight difference. The babe only began forming forty-one days earlier, which he knew by the amount of times he had cast the spell, What Is This, upon Sherree after she had broken the news to him. He could actually see the child forming in her womb and so could she by casting the same spell upon herself. Granted, there wasn’t yet much to see, but he could not stop himself from checking in on the little-one’s progress.

  “Unless you intend to go to Lanta naked, you might want to start getting dressed,” Sherree said as she put on the topaz blue shirt.

  She was half dressed while he was nowhere near ready. He focused on getting clothed rather than how lovely his wife was. By the time he threw on his hooded-cloak, she was brushing her hair. Her cloak, displaying a pair of lightning bolts, was draped over the nearest chair.

  In addition to the huge bed, the room was furnished with a writing table, two cushioned chairs, two night tables, twin maple-wood wardrobes, and a turquoise rug covering the floor. Their sleeping chamber was similar to the one at the Benhannon Northland holding, with an exception. The one he and Sherree currently occupied at the Benhannon Estate was deep underground and only Marcus Bower and Jared Benfyllon knew the truth for a long time. Simon, Sero, and Carlos were made aware of the fact later on, and everyone else thought the identical room on the fourth floor of the manor was where the Lord and Lady slept. The room above the master bedroom was a large attic, and above that was the guard tower.

  When he first took possession of the manor, on impulse, he created the subterranean sleeping quarters and used the original master bedroom as a decoy. The mansion was his only residence at the time and he was trying back then to keep his ability to cast spells well hidden. Secrecy, keeping his opponents ignorant of what he could and could not do was high on his list of priorities, and to the present day he could not bring himself to change the arrangement at the manor.

  He did not bother to ask if she was ready, knowing it would be a silly question while she was still brushing her hair. To pass the time, he filled her in on what was learned in Mount Filia.

  The brushing stopped. “So Tarin Conn is alive. But why is he not out and about focusing powerful spells all over the place? Why didn’t he lend his formidable strength to the battles that took place? Had he taken the field against you last night,” she winced while continuing her thought, “I don’t want to think about what might have happened.”

  Neither did Daniel, but had no choice but to think about the inevitable confrontation. “I can hazard a guess, going by my own experience. When I used all of my energy at Shantear, I was technically dead, until you and Martin rehydrated me, and then gave me some of your own life-force energy.”

  Sherree nodded her understanding. “You mean, Tarin Conn must have drained his vat, and then received energy from another Accomplished so he could be technically dead as far as the Da Capo is concerned, yet still be alive.”

  Daniel nodded. “Precisely, he married Serena, and it is highly likely he used some of her energy to help him survive,” the notion made his face grow warm for a moment at the thought of how her energy might have been delivered to him. “But then, does that mean he had to compose spells like, Hearts Beat As One, and What Is This?”

  Sherree planted an elbow on her knee, made a fist, and rested her chin on it, clearly giving the matter some thought. “It may be so, but not necessarily. I cannot imagine the Dark Maestro being that trusting, even if he did have similar spells in his repertoire. No, the more I think about it, it seems to me he would have taken the foreign energy in first and then used up his personal potential until all that remained in his vat was the borrowed energy. Doing so would cause the Da Capo you tied to him to end, leaving him weak to be sure, but alive. He would not even have to know about such a thing as an internal vat, seeing as it is a metaphysical interpretation unique to your composition. All he would truly need to be able to do is to know the difference between his life-force energy from that of any other that entered his body.”

  “I see your point. He would not need to trust in Serena to rehydrate him, since he would not need it to be done, not if he had some of her energy ahead of time, and therefore had little risk of mummification,” Daniel replied, and then thought about the herds. “Tarin Conn is now requiring his followers to deliver live animals to be sacrificed to him. At first I thought of blood and burnt offerings, but maybe, if your notion is correct, and I believe it is, he is thirsty for energy. He could do all of what you just told me without having to compose any new spells, except the one used to take potential from Serena, depending on if she gave knowingly by focusing energy into him, or it was taken.”

  Sherree placed her brush on the night table and picked up her cloak. “Either way it means Tarin Conn has nowhere near thirty bolts of potential and is sorely in need of energy. In that sense, he is thirsty; could this be the meaning of Silvia’s vision?”

  Daniel cocked his head to the side. “When did you hear about that?”

  Sherree shrugged into her cloak. “The First Lady of the Atlantan Guild has her sources.” The attempt at being mysterious was accompanied by the mischievous twinkling of her eyes.

  Daniel had an idea who she meant. “Simon used an amulet and told you what she told us before you conveyed from the Northland Holding this morning.”

  Sherree bit back a smile. “Yes, he did. You and I were so tired from the battles we each fought, we went straight to bed, and after little bit of cuddling, went to sleep.”

  Both of them had needed sleep and he doubted either of them regretted not taking the time to talk of battle. They were alive, unharmed, and happy to see each other, at the time it was enough. Daniel glanced at the diamond-bladed knife sheathed to her belt. The crescendo was exactly like his. It represented their marriage, a union he was grateful and pleased beyond measure to be a part of. Oh, yes, we were talking about Simon, the thought came. “His day and night were just as full as mine and he still managed to do me one more service before going to bed.”

  Sherree drew her crescendo and stepped right up to her husband. “Wilma is efficient, but Simon has a drive few can match.”

  Wilma Ryner recently became the Chief Aid of the First Lady. The One-bolt Accomplished had red hair, white skin tinted with pink, and a sunny
disposition. Her sweet smile did not mean she could not be firm when necessary or that she was a pushover. Months ago, at the age of eighteen, her potential was discovered by Seeker Enna Clarkzin, who found her in a Battencayan village.

  “As for Geb SuTamkin, you can inform Samuel of the matter, but I think Accomplished Fettama should quietly snatch the Serpent and take him to the facility under Lake Shantear. Gill is one of the three Emisaries assigned to Lord Tamkin and can be discrete,” Sherree offered a good suggestion.

  “I know where Gill is and admit using him did not occur to me, but now that you mention it, I think he would be an excellent choice,” Daniel replied, thankful he had people who offered suggestions and solutions.

  “I will inform Bernard and he will see to it the order is given to Accomplished Fettama,” Sherree stated in a manner befitting her station.

  She had a better sense of following the chain of command than did her husband, who did not always give the protocols much thought. She had been raised among the nobility and educated in the Lobenian palace while he had been raised in an isolated cottage near the top of Mount Tannakonna. It was not an excuse on his part, but it likely contributed to the reason.

  Before Daniel could comment one way or the other, Sherree said, “I see you have decided to go into Lanta as the Maestro of the Atlantan Guild rather than dressed as a Royal Ducaunan Knight of the Realm.”

  Daniel had not given the matter much thought, he had simply reached into his wardrobe and pulled out the first set of clothing to hand, which happened to be the silks rather than his knightly uniform. “The people living in this jurisdiction know my titles no matter what I wear, even if I was to put on my old buckskins,” he replied, after glancing at the attire he wore until not so long ago.

  “While I will admit to having been attracted to you from the moment I laid eyes on you, and that you were wearing buckskins at the time, I also must say your attire had nothing to do with the attraction. That said; I am glad you did not choose this occasion to dress up like old times. Perhaps if we visit Bashierwood in the future those old buckskins will suit the circumstances,” Sherree responded, stepped even closer, and then wrapped her arms around him, with the diamond-bladed knife still in hand. “Personal shield on,” she reminded him, and he cast the spell, and so did she, but not the same spell.

  The darkness that enveloped him lasted the same amount of time no matter the distance, two paces or thousands of spans were the same duration. In less than four beats of the heart, he was standing in the fourth floor master bedroom with Sherree’s arms still wrapped around him. “Should I leave the bed messed up so anyone looking in will think we slept in it?” she asked.

  It did not really matter which one conveyed them, so there was no point mentioning the manner in which they arrived.

  Daniel glanced at the bed, in it were two figures made of solidified air that appeared to be him and his wife still fast asleep. The artificial couple was her idea, which he agreed with only because it amused him. But the cushions of air soundproofing the room so the noise caused by the displaced air could not be heard, was something he approved of, and considered a really good idea, Sherree did have a lot of those. She released him and he stepped back from the embrace. “His lordship and her ladyship over there need to go, but I suppose it would not look right if we did not leave something for the cleaning staff to do,” he replied.

  The couple in the bed vanished and so did the soundproofing. “Through the use of a few quick spells, we could clean up the room, any room, without the need for a cleaning staff,” Sherree commented as they headed out the door and into the hall. The walls were white and the floor tiles, pale blue and shiny. He had not yet found the time to collect paintings for the walls or any sort of artwork.

  “True, and yet that would leave some of our tenant farmers jobless. Since the war started, the husbands and older boys have joined the Benhannon Guard or are working in the stables. Half of our cleaning staff is related to those men. Our Accomplisheds use spells to grow all the food we need because conventional farming cannot produce enough crops to feed everybody living in and under the estate, so providing the families employment gives them something useful to do, and gives them coins in their pockets,” Daniel explained while they started down the stairs.

  “I am aware of who lives and works at the estate and I’m not against employing the tenant farmers, I was simply wondering if there is something more to offer them than domestic jobs that are not strictly necessary,” Sherree responded with a notion that was worth thinking about.

  “We can start by offering them an education and build from there. That way they will still be earning coins while figuring out what they might want to do in the future. Meanwhile, if you have any particular chores in mind, set them to work on those,” Daniel could think of nothing better at the moment.

  “I think providing an education for anyone who wants one is a good idea,” Sherree said as they started down the final flight of stairs. “I’ll make time to speak with each individual to see what he or she would like to do for a living or as a career.”

  Daniel wondered where she would find the time, Simon had his day full.

  After they took the final step off the stairs, Sherree locked her arm in his, not quite leading him towards the front doors, but clearly encouraging him in that direction. People wearing white on blue livery were going about their household tasks. Men in shirts and pants along with women in blouses and long skirts were busy doing their chores. Each shirt and blouse had the falcon in flight clutching a lightning bolt embroidered over the heart. “Greetings Sir Daniel,” they called out, to which he nodded acknowledgement, and called back, “Have a good day.”

  Sherree must have learned from experience to keep him moving. He knew it was not that she didn’t want him to greet people, it was the fact there were so many of them, and Daniel would likely have stopped and chatted with each one if given half a chance. He was by no means a chatty person, but to stop and have even a few words with the thirty or more individuals who were currently calling to him would be time consuming.

  He and Sherree passed by the parlor, the sitting room, Jared’s office, the dining room, and the greeting room. Layla Dugarren, a dark-haired girl in her teens, and third daughter of Tenant farmer Sirus Duggarren, was standing in the corner near the entrance hall, and speaking to Devvon Bencurron, the son of Boen Bencurron, another tenant farmer. She was smiling and had a dreamy look in her eyes while Dev was shaking his head as if he could not believe what he was hearing, neither of them seemed to notice the approach of the Lord and Lady of the manor.

  “I only said the shoe-shine boy was cute. Leon is nice and friendly and I think he might like me,” Layla said as if she could not understand why Dev would react so negatively to what she had told him. Daniel idly wondered why she thought repeating what had obviously upset the young man would somehow make what she told him to suddenly be taken positively.

  Dev focused his eyes on the floor and when he brought them back up to her, after lingering only briefly on her skirted-hips, tummy area, and eventually to her brown eyes, he said, “The boot-licker is a runt, not quite five cubits tall, and his hair is straggly. You like strays, you always have, but he is not a lost puppy. I mean, he only just arrived this morning with his leather-cleaning supplies and a story about making his way up in the world.”

  “Well, yes he talked about that. Leon is a little shy but he has good manners, he looked me straight in the eye, and introduced himself here at the manor. Few of the new people who have moved into Lanta recently have done so, I think it shows character for him tell us who he is, and what his intentions are. That shows more character than some I could mention,” Layla said with her hands on her hips.

  Devvon’s reply was lost as Sherree’s arm pulled Daniel through the double doors of the main entrance. They stepped off the broad porch together, amid a host of greetings from the groundskeepers, Benhannon Guardsmen, and folks milling about the estate for one reason or ano
ther, perhaps to purchase supplies.

  His four-storied manor house, forest-green with dark green trim, with a lookout tower rising thirty cubits from the roof, was fully staffed with all of the workers living on the premises. The width and depth of the central part of the house was greater than that of the Polkat Inn back in Bashierwood, with one story wings twenty strides wide, stretching out north, east, and west another thirty strides. The manicured grounds covered a square span area and were surrounded by a granite wall ten cubits high and two thick. Fruit trees, squared off hedges, and beds of flowers decorated the lawn.

  The stables were on the west side of the estate and currently were holding two thousand horses on the surface and the same amount in each of the four levels below ground. Near the stables was a large one story granite building, or so it appeared to be above ground. The roof was flat and had a railing from which the guards could look out over the estate, although the tower gave the best view. The underground facility, accessed from the guard–house, in which ten thousand people lived and worked, ran east to west for a span and about half that to the south. Fifty Accomplisheds lived in the lower level, but the number of Aakacarns on the property fluctuated, depending on the circumstances. The facility also served as the home of about eight thousand members of the Benhannon Guard along with support staff.

  “Have you considered informing the Grand Maestro about the events of last night?” Sherree asked while Daniel was waving a greeting to Sergeant Sean Kaysic, a young man from Taracopa who had hired onto the Benhannon Guard even before the call to muster had been issued by the Queen.

  Daniel fixed his gaze on her. “I thought you wanted me to wait awhile before talking to him.”

  Sherree shook her head at him even before a small smile stretched her lips wide and up as if she knew he understood perfectly well what she had meant, but decided to humor him and explain anyway. “I want you to wait awhile before meeting him face to face, last night was not the time. He gave us both amulets and I have no objection to you using yours to communicate with him, now that you are not on his doorstep. Hearing the news from you rather than one of Talmon’s Eagles might mean a thaw in relations and a way for us to go forward on an alliance we both know needs to happen if we want to stop Tarin Conn and his allies.”