To Be Victorious: The Maestro Chronicles Book 6

by John Buttrick

  “More than twenty days,” Daniel replied. It truly did not seem like too much to ask. A full month might have even brought him closer to victory before the fall, but because of Reese’s ego the secret that had caused the enemy to underestimate the power of the Atlantan Guild was to be taken away. News of Daniel’s survival would flash through the world like a lightning bolt; battles would become more intense, and with his one great advantage removed.

  “You cannot deny that your presence on the southern or eastern coasts of the continent would draw attention away from the true objective in the far north,” Jame brought the conversation back to the merits of the plan, which was probably wise.

  Jonah stepped forward. “Certainly you have used the ignorance of your continued existence well against the Serpent Guild. There is indeed value in making an enemy underestimate an opponent, and if you had not handled the matter as you did, the shock value of your sudden appearance in the coming battle would probably not be as great, nor would it have the effect the Maestro of the Eagle Guild is counting on. As matters stand right now, our enemies will be shocked, and they will react by sending Accomplisheds that would have been sent to Ecoppia. I have no doubt the attack you originally planned for the morrow would have helped our current allies and hurt the Northern Alliance. The new plan does much the same and better, it creates new allies for Ducaun, destroys enemy ships on half the southern coast, half the eastern, and Ecoppia will be where we begin chipping away at the kingdoms to the north. They have had to endure raids by your muster of forces, but this will be the first time they will lose ground. On a whole we have more to gain by revealing that you are alive and dangerous, than by keeping the secret for a few days more.”

  The speech sounded reasonable, Cleona had already agreed to the plan, so there was no arguing the point. Yet, something Bella said came to the forefront of Daniel’s mind. “It is absolutely critical for you to personally take part at whichever attack point suits you.”

  He nodded his head at Jonah. “What you say is true and shortly before dawn I and my muster will launch raids the Serpents will not be able to ignore. It’ll be a diversion that will cost them much.”

  Jonah clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s the spirit. I knew you would fulfill your duty to the Queen, that was never in question, but the sudden spark I see in your eyes tells me you are on board with the plan and ready to carry out your part with zeal.”

  “Yep,” Daniel replied. “My Queen, if this audience is concluded, I would like to withdraw and begin organizing the coming attacks.”

  Cleona motioned with her hand toward the entrance. “You may begin preparing for the task I have given you.” She winced and grabbed her belly, which seemed to be a great deal larger than the last time he had a good look at her. One would think she was in her ninth month rather than her seventh. She recuperated quickly and gave him a nod, indicating all was well.

  Due to the Queen’s physical fitness, most of the weight gain was from the baby, which meant the little princess was certainly growing fast. The development might need to be looked into soon, but he had been dismissed, and had much to do, the matter would have to wait a day or two, perhaps three.

  Daniel bowed, ceased the spell Freshen Air, and made his way through the dignitaries. The mix of body odor and perfume would soon over power the scent of a meadow, but he would be well down the hall before that happened.

  “Thought he was going to strike down his own Queen,” he heard Jame remark to those around him.

  “But he subjected himself to her will, which is more than can be said of some Ecoppian Royal Knights I could mention,” Daniel heard Kelvin reply just before exiting the dedicated chambers and picking up a pair of nobles on his trail.

  “My liege would like a word with you, Maestro,” Van Essen called out.

  Daniel slowed his pace, allowing the two to catch up. “I have not forgotten my promise, if that is what this is about?”

  “I did not think you would,” young Van Efery replied. “But I do not see where a Royal Knight of the Realm can override the will of his monarch.” All one hundred Taracopian Royal Knights of the Realm had remained loyal to house Van Efery and so Lauren was naturally concerned. On one hand he greatly desired the promised strike against the rebels and on the other, the idea of a Knight of the Realm defying the monarch he served no doubt bothered him more than a little.

  Daniel fixed a low intensity gaze on the soon-to-be-crowned king, not wanting to project displeasure or make him feel uncomfortable. “I have been assigned the task of helping Aakadon in the coming campeign. My muster will be redirected at the areas of attack called for by Maestro Reese and I, as a diversion, will personally take to the field where my presence will be the most startling, a decision Scholar Sander has left up to me. I will fulfill my duty as a knight and help your kingdom as time permits.”

  “Thank you for hearing my Liege,” Varn said while placing a hand on the young royal’s shoulder, perhaps cautioning him to push no further.

  Daniel gave a quick nod to the adviser, giving the thirteen year-old prince time to consider his response to what he had been told.

  “Yes, I would expect no less from one of my own Royal Knights,” Lauren agreed, “and I also thank you for whatever future aid you can give on behalf of my people.”

  It was a very mature response and generated respect for the soon-to-be ruler of Taracopa. Daniel nodded acknowledgment and continued down the hall, this time with no one on his trail. “We have a problem,” Sherree’s voice sounded in his head through the amulet he had given her. He was not wearing the array. “Samuel has informed me the Serpent Guild has supplied thousands of those sky-cruisers to their allies and expects a major air assault to happen very soon.”

  “Does he know where they are all based?” Daniel sent back.

  Through the link came a sense of frustration, for the new information or the interruption in her sleep time was difficult to determine. “No. His scout, a rat by the name of Ruffo, overheard Vance Cummin discussing the matter with subordinates. The Maestro is also trying to find the traitors in his guild responsible for leaking information to us,” amusement tinged the communication briefly and then a somber feeling crushed it. “The Northern Alliance has fifty new airship bases and we have no clue where they are.”

  The very real threat posed by thousands of invisible sky-cruisers floating overhead was beyond serious and needed to be dealt with. “Tell Samuel finding those bases is a top priority.” He did not want a repeat of what happened when he put off eliminating the facility near Los Ryn.

  A strange sensation flowed in response to his order, a sense of water being wet. “I have already told him so. What did the Queen want?” She managed to convey the words along with a certain amount of cheekiness underlying her emotions. He should have known his wife would have already issued the command.

  “Nothing much, just a total postponement of the scheduled attack in the morning in favor of Talmon’s new plan. I am going straight to the conference room and am calling for a full meeting of the Conductors to take place in half a mark. Chas, Tim, and Gina ought to be in attendance,” he sent back with a sense of urgency.

  “It will be as you say, Maestro,” her reply came with a strong dose of duty mixed with the determination to tackle whatever got in her way. He also caught that she was not happy with the change, yet had quickly brushed those feelings from the forefront of her mind.

  He increased the length of his strides while contemplating what needed to be done. A plan of action began to coalesce in his mind and he was confident his group of tacticians would help fill in the necessary details.

  “Maestro, a Zeuthan warship, the Grand Imperial Ship, Lucia, is requesting to dock here at Starling Cove,” the mental missive came from Base Commander Cyrus Burrows, a Two-bolt Accomplished of the Defense Department.

  The request would have been more acceptable at almost any other time and Daniel was tempted to refuse. It occurred to him the early marks of the night
was an odd time to seek a meeting, but put that aside as unimportant. “Allow the vessel to dock. Entertain whoever comes in the shore-party and I will make an appearance as soon as I can.”

  “It will be as you say, Maestro,” the reply came from the commander and then the connection ended. Cyrus would be cautious and had sense enough to only allow the delegation to see the above ground facilities, Daniel knew without a doubt.

  The wrong response had the potential of drawing the Atlantan Guild into the inevitable conflict between Serinia and Zeutha at a time when resources needed to be focused on the attack to take place shortly before dawn. The chores on his plate were mounting up and stacked so high things were starting to fall to the side faster than he could resolve them. He just hoped whatever tasks fell off did not come back to sting him before he could pick them back up.

  His destination was three levels up from the hall going from the chambers used by the guests of the guild, and so being in a hurry and pressed for time, he summon the potential for Conveyance, and pictured himself seated in his chair at the head of the conference room table. In slightly longer than it would take for a frog to snap up a bug and swallow it, he arrived in the empty room.

  As he waited for the leadership of the guild to assemble, his thoughts were on the creatures in his swirl, particularly those along the coasts of the Taltin Sea. They were among the many groups he had locked away in the recesses of his mind, but a sense of foreboding had been steadily growing over the last few marks. So much strife and conflict had been going on it was difficult to pay attention to yet another group of animals that were uneasy, seeing as that had been the case since the war started. The feeling of danger in the one particular group of creatures had become so strong he could not ignore it.

  He allowed his thoughts to lightly touch the minds of his feathered scouts, seagulls, ospreys, swans, ducks, and flocks of geese. They were migrating south and west, away from the sea, towards lakes that were hundreds of spans in the distance. He entered the mind of a gander named Arry, after his uncle, and encouraged the avian to break from the flock and fly back toward the sea.

  The bird normally had a fearless streak that bordered on reckless, yet the farther away from the flock he flew, and the closer he came to the Taltin, the more his anxiety grew. All of his instincts were telling him to flee. For Daniel the bird would continue to fly toward danger. And that was the rub. He could not get a sense of what his scouts were fleeing. Ahead were blue skies with white clouds drifting towards the sea, nothing recognizable as being dangerous, and yet the feeling persisted. You can rejoin the flock, he told Arry.

  From the gander came a sense of relief and a quick turnaround. Daniel peeked through the eyes of a scattering of birds throughout the region around the sea, hoping to determine the source of their fear. The change was so subtle it took him awhile to figure out what each viewing had in common; all of the clouds were drifting towards the Taltin.

  He heard the door open and people filing in, so the mystery would have to wait. He had to set his priorities and arrange the chores accordingly. Thanks to Talmon, providing a diversion before dawn had become chore number one.

  Sherree took the seat on the right side and Leah the one to the left. All of the Conductors quickly filed in, as did Simon, Chas Herling, Wilma Ryner, and the two Admirals, Tim and Gina Dukane. The last five were at the opposite end from Daniel. On the First Lady’s side of the table sat Jennel Obenport of the Health Department. Beside her was Bernard Kleopis, of the Emissaries, Martin Varroon of Education and Research, and next him sat Sandra Treena, the flame-haired Conductor of the Seekers.

  Leah’s side of the table was occupied by Jeremiah Lassiter, Samuel Cresh, Franklin Togan, whose beard was green like grass while the hair on his head was blue like the sky, and Daria Copa. Going by the stern expressions on their faces, Daniel knew they had been informed of the change and were just as displeased as he was, yet all of them seemed ready to follow his lead.

  He quickly explained the new plan and ended with, “Sherree, I want you and Sandra to lead the Pondhoppers at Starling Cove in the attack on the enemy vessels in the Aczen Sea. Leah I want you to lead the patrol-boats and mantas against the ships along Aczencopa’s southern coast,” Daniel paused and focused on the Defense Conductor. “Jeremiah, you are to lead the attack on the east coasts of Cenkataar and Aczencopa using our new assets at Crescent Island. Chas, as you did during the battle of the Taltin Sea, I want you to coordinate the overall attacks to take place. Daria will handle the communications. Bernard, I would like you to meet with the Zeuthans who are currently docked at Starling Cove. See if you can keep us from being dragged into a fight we do not want. Also, make it clear we will not tolerate our vessels being assaulted. The rest of you will have to carry on fighting the war at large, seeing as I don’t think the skirmishes and battles taking place are going to pause for our convenience. Oh, one more thing, Sandra I will need you to dedicate some of your Seekers to convey King Jame and his army to the battle he and Aakadon will be waging to win back control of Ecoplis.”

  “It will be as you say, Maestro,” the red-headed former member of the Eagle Guild replied.

  All of the others acknowledged their responsibilities except Samuel, who leaned forward with his elbows resting on the table. “What are you going to do? I cannot say the idea of revealing your continued existence at this time in any way appeals to me, but I can say your appearance at any of these assault points will draw the most attention.”

  “You are going to need as many of our guild assets around you as is possible,” Leah clearly tried to make her words sound like a suggestion rather than something she was insisting upon, but was never-the-less unsuccessful at making the statement sound less than a command. The habits of a former Senior Soarer of the Eagle Guild were not easily overcome. Unfortunately for her the Maestro of the Atlantan Guild was not of a mind to take orders.

  Daniel glanced at Sherree, whose tense expression seemed to be saying, “Please, Creator, don’t let my husband make this mission more dangerous to himself than it was already likely to be.” He fixed his gaze on Samuel rather than his wife or Leah. “Sam, you and some mantas and patrol boats from Starling Cove are going to help me keep a promise.”

  Chapter Twenty-One: The Diversion

  In the early marks before dawn, Daniel stood in the center of Manta One while his Aakacarns were seated. Even though the vehicle was stationary, the current had its influence and forced him to continually adjust his balance with the swaying of the deck. He felt tired and a bit drained from all of the energy he had been expending in recent battles and had slept hardly at all in the past weeks. It was anticipation of the coming raid that kept him focused and alert.

  Elias Starkas, the bulky Three-bolt Accomplished of the ISIG, who was sitting in the pilot seat, fixed his dark eyes on the viewer and seemed ready to launch the ray into battle on the instant. His hood was down, revealing neatly trimmed brown hair and a communication array similar to what Daniel was wearing. Beside the agent and sitting at the forward crescendos was Three-bolt Accomplished Zera Logos of the Defense Department. The Serinian-born Aakacarn’s light brown eyes were focused on her own viewer. She had performed well during the battle in Lobenia where Tri-Con Chen met his end, and Daniel was confident she would do well on the current mission. Lou Zuallo, a Three-bolt Accomplished, also of Defense, with dark hair and eyes similar to those of his Maestro, controlled the tail. He had been injured early on at the Battle of Shantear, but fully healed afterward, and had gained plenty of experience since then. The man was in fact seventy-three years old and appeared to be fifty, as a side effect of the restoration process. The three of them were more than capable of using the manta to sink ships in the harbor while their Maestro, Sero and Carlos, who occupied the center seats, were causing mayhem on the shore.

  The ray was four and a half spans out in the Southern Ocean and would go into action when Chas gave the order. Directly above and on the surface was the Rover, commanded by Lyl
e Van Kestral. In addition to the standard crew of the Wager-class patrol-boat, were some highly motivated Taracopian men who wanted to take part in the coming assault. Sentinel Jerome Tarkona, who had been abducted by a Serpent named Koler, soon after Condemned, and then restored by Daniel, volunteered to help with the task, as did Territorial Deputy Sheriff Zackery Cloven who would be wearing a lavender uniform with a silver badge pinned to his shirt. There were more than a few people ashore he yearned to take into custody, Daniel was sure. The other fellow was Mason Sumatra, likely wearing civilian clothes, him being a retired cavalryman. Their families had eventually moved to Lanta but still hoped to go back to the homes they had fled prior to the war, except for Jerome who would stay on as a Sentinel.

  Manta Two was several spans to the west with the Urchin floating on the surface, both vessels were also waiting to move in and attack the ships at port. The ray and the patrol-boat were prepared to do their parts in the coming raid.

  A lighthouse sent its beam across the waves and was bright enough to signal to any ships on the water that land was close, but fortunately the light was not enough to reveal two topaz blue boats floating spans out and apart on the surface. The rays beneath the waves had no chance of being seen. It was also fortunate for the caretaker that the tall structure was not a target.

  The panoramic view around Manta One showed jacks, dolphins, red and black-tailed snappers, and a host of other colorful fishes swimming around the ray and the coral reef at the ocean bottom, where lurked eels, sponges, crabs, lobsters, and an octopus. A swordfish leisurely swam under the manta and a pod of porpoises, one of which was Becka, were scouting the waters near the port. Half of the aquatic mammals were part of Daniel’s swirl, as were a good number of gulls resting on the docks. The other half of the pod was linked to Samuel.