To Be Victorious: The Maestro Chronicles Book 6

by John Buttrick

  “Thank you, Maestro,” the Conductor replied with the level of dignity only a man of his many years could muster.

  Beside him sat Sandra Treena, Conductor of the Department of Seekers. Her green eyes widened, reflecting pleasure on a freckled face that was framed by long tresses of flame-red hair. “Yes, Martin, I am glad to see the additional lightning bolt, although I cannot say I am surprised to see it.” At thirty-two years of age she appeared to be in her mid-twenties, and would continue to appear so for as long as she desired. The prior week she had been showing off her second bolt.

  In the remaining occupied seats on that side of the table were Marcus, Jared, and Chas Herling. The Commander of the Chosen’s Sentinels had a thin clean-shaven face that was paler than that of an average Ducaunan, and yet was typical for a man of Pentrosan birth. The former Captain of the Sutton Guard was thirty-two years old and about five cubits tall with dark hair and equally dark eyes.

  Leah walked through the door and the first thing to catch Daniel’s eye was a fifth lightning bolt added to her blue cloak, two to the right, two to the left, with the center one being the largest. Everyone stood up, gave her a nod of respect, and then sat down after she did.

  Daniel noticed nobody had stood when he entered the room, not that it mattered. He cleared his throat. Leah’s side of the table was occupied by the department heads who reported directly to her. Jeremiah Lassiter, Conductor of the Defense Department, was the first. His mother was an Ecoppian and his father a Taracopian; both long dead of old age, although he did have some relatives still living in Taracopa. His skin was the shade of his mother’s yet his soft facial features were more like those of a person born in Taracopa. He had two golden lightning bolts on his shoulders.

  Samuel Cresh, Two-bolt Accomplished, and the Conductor of the Department of Internal Security and Information Gathering, was right beside his former mentor from the Eagle Guild. The young leader of the ISIG, who was the same age as his Maestro, had thick eyebrows that nearly touched, and dark hair, typical traits for a Teki. His cousin Silvia and her husband David were outside the door.

  Franklin Togan, a Three-bolt Accomplished of Serinian birth, served as Conductor of the Department of Design and Development. He always kept his beard neatly trimmed. It was the color that changed from day to day, bright purple yesterday, green today, and tomorrow he may choose pink or blue, whatever color appealed to him upon waking. The man was a decade younger than Martin and could pass for a person of no more than forty years of age.

  Daria Copa, a Three-bolt Accomplished, and Conductor of the Department of Communications, had long brown hair. She was born in northern Taracopa, spent four decades as an Artisan of the Stone Guild, and at the age of sixty-eight, she appeared to be only slightly older than Sandra.

  It was time to begin the meeting. “I will start by saying the cruise out the Hirus into the Eastern Ocean resulted in the kind of improvements we were hoping for. Manta One is now capable of controlled flight and can fly faster than the speed of harmonics,” Daniel announced.

  Not a soul seemed to be surprised. The information apparently had spread throughout the guild like wildfire in tall grass on a windy day.

  “We are all thrilled at the modifications and eager to implement the new capability into our battle plans,” Chas spoke up quicker than Jeremiah, who had opened his mouth, but not as quickly as the Sentinel Commander.

  The others at the table were quick to express their agreement with him. Daniel nodded and then continued with his report. “The crew of Manta One assisted the convoy from Aakadon in a battle on the Mighty Hirus. We broke up a blockade of Anacondas and later in the night we destroyed the deadliest part of a skyship base, including a huge store-house full of trinitrotoluene.”

  “I bet that made an awfully big hole,” Samuel commented.

  “It also lit up the sky quite nicely,” Simon added.

  Daniel ignored the comments. “As you all know, major battles were fought last night and we emerged victorious in most of them, but not without taking some serious hits in return. I will hear details from each of you in the course of this meeting about those hits, but somethings you need to know before we go around the table. Earlier this afternoon I agreed to meet Grand Maestro, Terroll Barnes, on Mount Tannakonna in three days. Samuel, internal security is your responsibility, so make the area secure, and expect flocks of Eagles along with teams of Zephyrs.”

  “I take it you picked the time and location so our guests would have no time to plan ahead if they have any mischief in mind,” Sam replied. His manner of always being in a hurry also made him quick on the uptake.

  “You have taken it right. The other thing you all need to know is that Tarin Conn has married Serena Lowell, and he is totally free of the shield I placed on his potential, weak but definitely free. Before you ask, this was confirmed by my personal scout within Mount Filia.”

  People began speaking at once. “So that is why he needs so many animals,” Sam was saying.

  “How long do we have before the Dark Maestro begins taking the field in person?” Jeremiah asked.

  “Our personal shields should help to a certain degree, but he could do serious damage. Survival might be the only thing we can hope for should he take the field,” Leah said.

  “If your scout manages to lay eyes on Tarin Conn, Daniel please, do not convey to the scene,” Sherree’s voice joined the cacophony. It was a wonder he understood half of what was being said. Nobody, not even Wilma, waited for the others to stop talking before speaking their minds.

  Daniel raised his hand and the comments, speculations, and recommendations, ceased. “Tarin Conn is likely to be in the shape I was in right after the battle at Shantear. If he teleports into a battle zone, we will draw his attacks until he exhausts himself, which should not take long.”

  “His rate of replenishing should be zero,” Jennel stated with a nod of agreement. “If we can actually detain him long enough, it is theoretically possible to weaken him to the point where he does not have the potential to teleport away, maybe even weaken him to the point of mummification.”

  Possible but not probable, Daniel thought. “The ancient Accomplished is unlikely to expend his energy to that degree. He is more likely to appear at a given battle, inflict damage, and then leave his underlings to do the rest of whatever fighting is necessary.”

  Jeremiah, Leah, and Chas, nodded their heads. “A Thirty-bolt Accomplished can inflict an awful lot of damage,” Sam actually stated as if he was the first person in the room to make such an assessment. Nobody commented on his statement, but they did glance at him before returning their attention to their Maestro.

  Daniel fixed his gaze on the First Lady. “I was given a brief report on the raid on our Northland Holding; do you have anything more to add?”

  Sherree nodded at Samuel, who understood the answer was for him to provide. “Maestro, the attack pattern used by the Pentrosans has been the same. They send in the skyships and then the teleportation circles. The difference between this last attack and the previous raids is the addition of Aakacarns in the skyships. The Accomplisheds were casting flickering shields. The explosives are dropped between the flickers and it is difficult for the Sentinels to actually damage a skyship using solidified lances of air and flaming streams of pebbles. The spells powering their weapons simply are not powerful enough to overcome the shields. If a Sentinel gets lucky, a hit at the right moment can bring down a skyship, but the only sure way to bring one of those flying melons down is an Accomplished wielding enough potential to overpower the shields. As I said, the skyships are now much harder to bring down. The Circles of Twenty inflicted damage on the grounds and kept our Accomplisheds busy, giving us less time to concentrate on the skyships. As a result, the raid last night cost us all the crops in the field, just about every tree within the walls, hundreds of our animal scouts that were in those trees, and three hundred Sentinels were injured. Four died when the iron shards hit them in the places where their persona
l shields provided no protection, and one of them died after twice being struck by a melon-sized container of trinitrotoluene. Her personal shield provided protection against the first blast and then a second explosive hit her moments later. The amulet kept her body from being harmed, but drained her life-force to do it,” he paused and took in a breath. “The Benhannon Northland Holding is not the only place in Ducaun where raids occurred, the details of which will be available later today.”

  Daniel hated the fact that he could not prevent his people from dying, but the amulets he created were better protection than any armor ever made, and usually gave his people a huge advantage on the battlefield. Still, war was dangerous, people died, and not even a Seven-bolt Aakasear could change that. The trees and crops could be regrown; it was the lives lost that could not be replaced. He grieved for the Sentinels and the many animals that died, even if none of the creatures had been in his personal swirl. Most of his were in the woods outside the walls and also within the buildings that had been shielded.

  Judging by the amount of harmonic waves flowing from everywhere at once, Daniel was not surprised to hear about the occurrence of many raids, he knew they were still occurring while the leaders of the Atlantan Guild were gathered around him. “Raids are a fact of this war. We, and especially your department, hit the circles as soon as we become aware of them, and kill or chase off the Serpents as quickly as is possible,” he replied and then looked to his left. “What does our First Accomplished have to say about last night?”

  Leah’s eyes focused briefly on those seated at the table and then fixed on Daniel. “Maestro, we lost the lives of fifteen Accomplisheds, eighteen Sentinels, and eleven members of the Benhannon Guard who were serving among the Lobenian legions. Hundreds of our people were injured, but they will survive, thanks to the efforts of our Health Department. The most damage and loss was sustained by our Lobenian allies, thousands are dead and thousands have been seriously injured. The forces of Chen and General Kall have been wiped out and one thousand eighty-two Serpents died in the fight, the others fled, but our goal was achieved. The kingdom of Lobenia no longer has a standing foreign army on its soil,” she reported and then addressed the table at large. “Our Maestro tricked Chen into single combat and of course defeated the Serpent handily.”

  Daniel did not need the applause that followed, but they seemed to need something to cheer about after hearing of the many thousands of people who and died. He glanced at Jeremiah, who nodded and took his cue. “Four semi-Grand Circles attacked and destroyed the Royal Navy base at New Oben last night. About a third of the fleet was in the harbor and subsequently destroyed,” he began.

  “That is nearly three hundred ships of the line,” Sherree stated, “and means thousands of men are dead.”

  “Yes, First Lady,” Jeremiah agreed. “We managed to whittle down the number of Serpents in each circle a little, none of them were able to get away unscathed, but we focused on and destroyed one group of fifty completely. Unfortunately while we were doing that, both the Fenna and Germane facilities farther up the Joren River were destroyed,”

  Daniel knew Lord Fenna and Lord Germane owned the largest shipwrights in the kingdom and were the main builders of freighters and worse, they built the warships. Oh, there were smaller outfits along both coasts of Lobenia that made fishing boats and smaller craft, but the loss of those two main shipbuilders was a major blow. “The Ducaunan shipwrights are supplying Pythons to the Royal Navy and our D and D folks are also producing some, we may have to do the same for our Lobenian allies,” he said, and glanced at Franklin.

  The Conductor took a deep breath. “First, if I may, I would like to mention, the nine manta rays at our naval facility have been modified and my team will soon convey to Starling Cove to upgrade the rest of our fleet. Concerning the base you ordered to be created on Crescent Island, Chief Aid Trenca conveyed me and Accomplished DeSuan to the beach. Now that he and I have the conveyance point memorized, we will be sending Developers to form the facility. Jerremy will be incorporating the CPAs and also design the entire complex,” he stated at the outset, perhaps reminding his Maestro of the new chores that had been piled on overnight.

  Franklin continued without interruption. “Due to the massive repairs my Developers are undertaking and the new projects, I can only send Accomplisheds to assist our allies in building new ships if I take them away from their assigned tasks, but will do so if it is you will, Maestro,” he added, but did not wait to find out that will. “Neither Admiral Dukane nor Simon Trenca could tell me more than the fact that mantas and Wager-class patrol-boats will be stationed at the new base. To start with, I propose fifty manta rays, twenty Wager-class boats, and one hundred Pondhoppers.”

  Daniel had been about to agree with the proposal and then closed his mouth at hearing the last hundred, what to be built?

  Franklin glowed with potential and a small boat appeared on the table. It was dark blue with a single housing on the deck and a dome above where the pilot would sit. Mounted on the bow and stern were guns similar to those of a Wager-class patrol-boat. “This craft is forty paces long, the two guns launch solidified harpoons of air, and the Pondhopper is to be commanded and piloted by an Accomplished with four Sentinels as his or her crew.”

  Chas was rubbing his chin, no doubt already considering which of his people to assign the duty.

  Daniel had no objection to adding a new type of boat to the fleet, but he had questions. “Whose idea was this and what can this Pondhopper do better than a Wager-class boat?”

  Leah nodded her head as if he had asked the same questions that had entered her mind. Franklin did not hesitate to answer. “You tasked my department to dream up and design weapons. Well, the Pondhopper is a weapon. I incorporated some of your designs from the ray and the Wager-class boat. The CAPUs on this boat are duplicates of those on the Wagers and have been fashioned down to fit the smaller frame. The pilot’s wristband has the same CPAs found on the manta ray craft, providing a boat-shaped shield, and Osprey Vision. What makes this different than the other two vehicle types is the CPA containing the spell, Conveyance. At the touch of the pilot’s thumb on the sapphire, the entire boat will convey to whatever body of water the Accomplished’s has fixed in his or her mind. Each boat should have a pair of falcons aboard to assist in establishing arrival points.”

  Daniel nodded his head while thinking about the proposal. One Accomplished and four Sentinels was all it took to crew the thing, it was small, quick, and lethal. But the new CPA would be limited even though it sounded great in theory. “Conveyance requires arrival points and a few falcons would help with that, but the pilot would still be limited to only the places that can be accurately visualized. It would take a long time for the average Accomplished to gain so many geographic visualizations.”

  “My agents have visualized many arrival points,” Samuel spoke up.

  Franklin began shaking his head. “They would limit the conveyance range to this kingdom and maybe a few locations in the others. No, the pilots of these boats must have a more extensive library of destination points. No, Sam, I mean no offense. The best candidates to be the pilots of the Pondhoppers are the Seekers.”

  Daniel had to agree with the choice. Sandra and her Seekers did more traveling to new places throughout the known world than the members of any other department. She was sitting up straighter and flashing a satisfied smile. “My Seekers have been all over the world in their pursuit of Condemneds to be captured and brought to Shantear for restoration,” the Conductor stated. “We have also been all over the world seeking Potentials, young and old, and bringing them to Shantear as recruits to be enrolled as Talenteds. Franklin is correct. My people are familiar with every body of water in all of the kingdoms, even land-locked lakes. Some of my Accomplisheds are even capable of conveying the Pondhopper from one ocean to the other in moments. I second the proposal made by Conductor Togan.”

  All of the other Conductors agreed with her and so did Leah and Sherree
. They were all so excited over the new war-boat that they failed to even inquire as to whether or not their Maestro liked the idea. He did, but it took a little time before they noticed he had not said so. “Build two hundred and place half at Crescent Island,” that name had to have been Tim’s idea, “and the rest at Starling Cove.” Daniel’s announcement seemed to go over well and earned a grin and a nod from Franklin.

  “This means we have even more chores today than we did yesterday and I am going to add another mighty big one,” Daniel spoke up while everyone was still talking about the additional hundred Pondhoppers, but he had gotten their attention with that last statement. “Silvia has given us a timetable, mere months to overcome Tarin Conn, so we are going to do what we can with what we have. We are going to rule the waterways, starting with the Taltin Sea. We will destroy every enemy vessel and the Ducaunan Royal Navy will help us. Sherree and I will speak to the Queen of Ducaun about what her navy can do and Bernard, I want you to speak to King Van Efery. The fighting in Taracopa is not going well and we will have to do something about that. Chas, Marcus, Jeremiah, I want you to work with our Admirals and their staff on a plan to purge the enemy fleets out of the Taltin Sea before the meeting in Bashierwood.”

  It must have been the look in his eyes and the tone in which he delivered the words, because not a soul suggested he was being rash or too bold.

  Chapter Nine: A View From Above

  While the Conductors were discussing the many details involved in the huge undertaking, and Daria began speaking of the level of communications to be employed, many of the creatures linked to Daniel’s mind were seeking his attention. Two of them were more adamant than the rest and attempting to show him what they were seeing. Dusk, the panther, had wandered well north of the Foothills of Pentrosa and sent him a view of a skyship base, approximately seventy spans from the Benhannon Northland Holding. The big black cat was in the branches of a tree, amid a large grouping of trees that dotted the hillside. The vantage point was high enough to show Los Ryn, a medium-sized city on Lake Swead which had been in existence for centuries, but not that skyship base on the outskirts. Sam’s last report on the city, five days earlier, made no mention of any military buildup, not so much as a single catapult, and yet the installation was fully functional with ten huge barn-like buildings, and each were big enough to contain skyships, judging by the enormous doors.