To Be A Maestro (The Maestro Chronicles)

by Buttrick, John

  “How did you find us? Silvia and I were well out into the woods by the time you caught up to us.” The female Accomplished stepped back at the intensity in Daniel’s voice; he seemed to notice and then softened his tone. “I am merely curious.”

  She drew closer to him. “Ever since I woke up after being restored, I have had a general sense of where you are directionally, although not so much in distance.”

  “Did you sense when I conveyed to the capital?” he pressed.

  “I did not know you went so far as Ducanton, yet I knew you were spans to the south. I also know you traveled earlier this morning. I think Daria did as well. One moment you were in building two and the next far to the southwest. A short while later you were suddenly in building two again,” Marsha replied and seemed to brighten up when Daniel’s lips drew up into a smile. “I heard Daria say, that was a quick trip, under her breath. I was not meant to hear the remark so I stayed quiet.”

  “Chas mentioned having sensed when I went from building one to building two on the first day we met,” Daniel told them, and then peered up into a cherry tree. “Marsha, do you see those squirrels?”

  The female Aakacarn looked up to where he was pointing. “I see four of them but the third one on the left seems familiar, like the hawk on your arm.”

  The raptor launched into the air and up over the treetops. “Silvia, I think we have found a way for at least some of the people to identify the animals in my swirl. Marsha, not only did you pick out two animals linked to me, Bolter recognized you as an older hatch mate and Risan regarded you much the same way.”

  “Did the hawk and squirrel think of me the same way? I have no sense of familiarity with them,” Silvia asked. She and David were the first people to join him on his journey after being proclaimed the Chosen Vessel. They represented all tribes and troops of the Teki, who also considered themselves part of his swirl of backers.

  Daniel grew quiet, evidently taking time to ponder the matter, even though the question only required a yes or no response. He rubbed his chin while his gaze shifted from her back to Marsha. “Our minds are not linked, so the relationship is not exactly like what I have formed with the animals in my swirl. Neither Bolter nor Risan thought of you, Silvia, as having any connection to them. Marsha I believe what you sense is another side affect of my casting, Restoration, on you. I had no idea this would happen and am not sure how to alleviate the symptom.”

  Marsha chuckled. “Compared to having been Condemned, the affect is so small it is hardly worth fussing over. Be that as it is, I enjoy having a sense of where you are; it kind of balances the power. You cannot sneak up on me.” It seems the Aakacarn has found her own way to handle being in the Vessel’s presence.

  Daniel’s smile widened enough to show teeth. “There is that,” he replied, and then went on to say, “If the others are like you, can sense which animals are part of my swirl, all we need do is come up with a way for both groups to recognize everyone in my service who have not had Restoration cast upon them.”

  Silvia had some ideas, discarded most, and shaved them down to what she considered to be the best. “Everyone in service to you should have the symbol of House Benhannon on their clothing. Train the animals to recognize anyone wearing the falcon clutching the lighting bolt as being in service to you, teach them a word any of us can say to illicit a response from them so we can know if say, the mountain lion we meet sees us as a friend or a tasty treat.”

  Marsha’s eyes widened, she seemed surprised by the suggestion, or that at Teki actually had one. “What she proposed has merit. The word you choose should only be known by the people in service to you. Think of your people as being a guild and certain knowledge to be considered guild specific and not to be shared with outsiders.”

  Daniel nodded his head. “Both suggestions have merit. I can cause the animals to recognize my family emblem and respond to a certain word. As for the other, keeping information guild specific, as you say, would be prudent. Thanks for the ideas.” He replied and then glanced to the right. “We need to get to the south gate. Gurrumble will be arriving soon and we need to prepare.”

  By the time they reached the southern entrance, Silvia noticed the only people not present were the Royal Guardsmen and the other Aakacarns, everyone else she had informed of the event were here as instructed. “The sasquatches have been sighted just beyond that hill,” Chas informed from his place on the wall beside Silvia’s incredibly good looking husband.

  Daniel took the nearest steps and quickly joined him. Silvia waited for Marsha to climb up and then moved swiftly to stand beside her. David made his way over and Silvia gave him a hug, and then stood holding his hand. The Hill was fifty strides away and the area between it and the wall was clear of trees, which could be seen on the other side of the broad hill. Ninety sasquatches, males and females, one holding a pair of infants, appeared at the crest and started down. All of the Chosen’s Sentinels and the support staff had found a place on the inner ledge and stood staring wide-eyed at the huge brown-black beasts, the largest of which stood about ten and a third cubits tall.

  Daniel pointed. “Gurrumble is the largest male. The slightly smaller version of him is Rumble. Turremble is the one with the lightest fur. Quaker is missing one eye and Kerrash is the male next to him with only one thumb. The lanky one with the pitch black fur is Buraker. The thirty-one beasts massing behind the alpha are the ones I must link with,” he informed and then raised both hands with his fingers out stretched towards the horde.

  Silvia kept glancing back and forth between him and the shaggy creatures. Time seemed to slow down while he communed with them on a level she did not fully understand and then came a mighty roar from ninety monstrous throats, “Daniel!”

  Folks on the wall let out a spontaneous collective gasp, except Daniel. Silvia had experienced this when she delivered baby Sheila into the care of Shereeka and so felt no great surprise. Sasquatches shared a link with him allowing them to form human words.

  Chas Herling shook his head and then fixed his gaze on Daniel. “Just when I think there is nothing more you can do to surprise me, something like this happens. Even the beasts know who you are.”

  Statements like that were being made all along the wall as people marveled over the inhuman acknowledgement of their leader. Scores of other animals joined the sasquatches. Bears, wolves, foxes, deer, black panthers, mountain lions, swarms of hornets and wasps, all came out into the open. The sky suddenly filled with birds, owls, ospreys, hawks, and flacons.

  Daniel spoke to the crowd, “How many of you on the wall feel a kinship of sorts with these creatures?”

  Each person who had been restored from Condemnation raised their hands, including Marsha. “You may lower your hands,” he told them with a satisfied nod of his head. “The animals feel the same kinship with you. What you are feeling is a side affect of the spell I used in your restorations. So yes, Marge, that squirrel you feel so fond of feels the same way about you. His name is Jonnel.”

  The Chief of Kitchens quietly mouthed the name and smiled.

  “Thank goodness, I thought it was all in my head,” Jase DuRollen stated from his place on the wall. His mustache and beard were neatly trimmed. He had a sword on his hip and a longbow and quiver on his back. “I sensed that wolf over there was greeting me yesterday and then shrugged it off as only being my imagination.”

  “What about me?” Tim Dukane asked. “How am I supposed to recognize what beasts are in service to you?”

  Daniel nodded toward Silvia. “My Seer gave the answer,” and bless his heart for giving her credit, it was one of the many things she liked about him, “I have just now instructed all of the animals to recognize any human wearing my family emblem to be part of our little society. Tim, Gina, any of you who cannot feel the connection can use the word, swirl, and if the animal is part of our society it will bow to you and I recommend that you bow back. At that point both of you will know the other can be approached safely.” He looked at Ma
rsha. “Accomplished Obennen has suggested that we should behave as if our society is a guild and certain knowledge like using the word, swirl, is never to be shared with anyone who is not a member of our society. I have decided to take this advice. Whatever is taught here is never to be shared with anyone who is not a member of our society.”

  “Works for me,” Gina said and wrapped one arm around her husband’s waist.

  “It will be as you say, Sir Daniel,” Chas quickly stated, and his voice was joined by a chorus of agreement.

  Each person acknowledged the new rule and nodded as if this is exactly the way it ought to be, with not one disagreeing with the decision. “The Chosen Vessel has spoken,” David spoke softly in her ear.

  Silvia had delivered the revelation and took some satisfaction in the fact Daniel listened. The display, human and non-human before her would be more impressive if she did not know Tarin Conn was so much farther ahead. War is coming soon and it is her job as Seer to the Chosen Vessel to tell him what he needs to hear. Having visions and understanding them are two different things, which is why she hesitated to give a revelation she did not yet fully understand. Her hesitations aside, she told him what he needed to know, even though she did not know how he could possibly gain the backing of Aakadon. Maybe her vision will show her where he can find Aakacarns unaffiliated with the other guilds. She bit her lip, frustrated by her inability to be more helpful. David kissed her on the cheek, making her feel a little better.

  Chapter Ten: Building A Better Boat

  Daniel sat at his desk while pondering the early morning events. The complete tour of the compound given by Marsha after the introduction of his swirl had provided the opportunity to see each person in his service going about their chores. All seemed to be going well, yet he had some concerns. The Accomplisheds would be leaving for Aakadon about this time tomorrow, which meant they would not be here to assist in the defense should General Kall receive orders to invade. Marsha confirmed Silvia’s revelation about no Aakacarns being completely loyal to Daniel. The Accomplished truly believed him to be the Chosen Vessel, of this he had no doubt, and yet she readily admitted to being a loyal member of the Stone Guild. What would she do if Maestro Svennar does not agree with her? The Teki Seer also made clear how far ahead in the race Tarin Conn is.

  Daniel refocused on the gems and gold buckles on his desk. He had some testing to do and so mentally played the Melody, Stream of Air, spell number sixteen of the Zephyr Guild, added a three note harmony, and titled the new version, Jet of Air. His version not only was more efficient, being a Symphonic, it is a variable potential spell, meaning he could will any amount of life force energy into the casting. He chose an emerald, formed a gold buckle into a proper setting, and then summoned potential, locking, Jet of Air, into the amulet. He took a sapphire and created a type one level four crescendo with seven bolts of amplification and then fused the amulet at the base.

  He had little doubt in his mind both devises would work in harmony so picked up the Crescendo-Amulet Propulsion Unit and touched the emerald. A jet of air blasted out from the end and blew everything off his desk, yet did not affect his hand in the slightest. While he could push an object with the jet of air, it made sense that the spell actually began the air flow a short distanced from the caster, lest he be thrown back by the force. Further modification is going to be necessary. He mentally went back into the musical score of, Jet of Air, and added another note in harmony to remove the distance of air flow from the caster and to have the air stream gradually widen as it flowed out rather than in a narrow beam.

  He removed the amulet from the crescendo, broke down and then recreated the emerald, and locked in the newly modified version with the four part harmony. “Now let’s see what we have,” he announced to the empty room and held the CAPU in his right hand.

  His thumb touched the emerald and the CAPU slammed back with such force it broke his hand, flew from his grip, hit the wall behind him, and fell to the floor. Daniel grunted while calmly realigning the bones of his hand and cast, Make Well, focusing inwardly at the injury. The bones knitted back together and the pain vanished. He laughed. “At least I know this can push with force,” he told himself, and then decided it would be wise to shield the housing for the CAPU. The thing would otherwise blast back, damage, or destroy whatever needed to be pushed. It was a good thing he had only allowed a minuscule amount of potential to flow from him. Non-Aakacarns should be able to use the CAPU, although not near as powerfully as an Aakacarn.

  He had one more project before his friends were scheduled to arrive and so levitated the gems and gold buckles off the floor and onto his desk. He fused the diamonds into a blade, added a gold handle, and a black grip, and then made another just like it. He held them up, one in each hand and summoned, Potentializing The Baton. The seven lightning bolts on his shoulders tingled as the spell assessed his potential and created the pair of crescendos.

  He no sooner placed them in the upper drawer of his desk when Tim and Gina walked into the office. The swords on their hips were a new and expected addition to their uniforms. “I thought my parents were going to attend this meeting.”

  Tim shrugged his shoulders. “They were instructing the Chosen’s Sentinels in the use of the longbow.”

  Daniel looked at him askance. “When did they start calling themselves by that name?”

  “About the same time they sewed patches depicting your emblem on the uniforms,” Gina answered. “Did you have a different name in mind?”

  Daniel had not even given the matter a thought. He shook his head. “The Chosen’s Sentinels is good enough.”

  “And it sounds better than Danny’s Muster,” Tim threw in his opinion along with a smirk.

  Daniel had a snappy come back on the tip of his tongue, but his parents entered the room, and so he refrained from saying it. Ronn had the model Wager in his hands and Miriam carried papers with what appeared to be drawings of the proposed modifications. She placed them on the desk and then sat down, saying, “These are what we came up with.”

  His father sat in the remaining chair. “You did not suggest a means to propel the boat so we went with the waterwheel and spent the rest of the time drawing modifications on the decks and forecastle.”

  “Is that another CAF?” Gina asked while pointing to the CAPU.

  Daniel had to admit they were essentially the same idea, only with very different functions. “This is a Crescendo-Amulet Propulsion Unit, CAPU for short, and it is what will push the Wager through the water.”

  “That little thing,” Gina sounded skeptical.

  Daniel laughed. “Believe me this device packs a powerful punch.”

  His father picked up the CAPU, turned it carefully every which way, and nodded with what looked like approval. “Removing the water wheel from the design will not affect very much what we do with the hull, speaking of which, I like the horizontal arrow slits and think we should keep those.” He stated and then placed the CAPU back on the desk.

  Daniel sifted through the proposed designs and found one that appealed to him. The sunken riverboat was originally a forty-strider. The damage to the bow had made it necessary for him to break off the odd lengths and then warp and bond the gray wood into a new bow, shortening the vessel to thirty strides in length. This new design increased the length to forty-five by the addition of the water wheel, so that part will need to be changed with the wheel gone, yet he liked the extra strides in length and decided to stretch the hull. The rest of the modifications could be made according to the drawing.

  “I told him you would like that one,” his mother stated while jerking her thumb at his father.

  Daniel knew the color choice had been his mother’s idea. He continued examining the decks and forecastle. The bottom deck had plenty of storage space with an opening in the aft section allowing items to be lowered directly from up top. The second level had cabins in the center that could be used for sleeping or additional storage. The passageways on the sides ga
ve access to the arrow slits, which could be opened and closed from the inside. The aft deck had eight stalls toward the stern, ahead of the storage hatch. The weather deck began about ten paces from the bow and went all the way back to the stalls and the helm was located in the bridge above the forecastle.

  “I suggested the forecastle. It seemed better than an over-sized cottage like we designed for the Javelin,” his mother shared her part in the design.

  “This vessel is more streamlined than the Javelin, narrower at the bow, and will slice through the water more efficiently,” his father added.

  “I like it,” Tim shared his opinion.

  Gina took the design in hand and studied it thoroughly. “I see you extended a shelter from the weather deck to the stern.”

  Miriam nodded her head. “Yes, to protect the horses and whoever would be casting the spells to turn the waterwheel; which is no longer part of the modification.”

  Tim leaned forward in his chair. “How would we have turned the wheel? More to the point, how are we going to use the CAPU? It would be counter productive for you to come recruiting with us. I originally thought Samuel could come with us, but he is going back to Aakadon with the other Accomplisheds.”

  The drummer had hit on the reason for making the CAPU. Daniel picked up the device. “This does not need an Aakacarn, but one of you will need to be at the stern on the lower deck to activate the propulsion unit and keep it running. I fixed the direction of the focus, which is beyond your ability, the potential is variable, and so you both will have to become accustomed to mentally regulating the speed.”

  Gina’s eyes widened. “Will constant contact draw from our life forces?”

  Her question was prudent and Daniel had an answer. “It will take energy from your life force, not a great deal because the device is powered by a Crescendo with seven bolts of amplification. The amount of energy expended will depend on how much weight you are pushing, how fast you go, and for how long you power the CAPU. This is why I must regularly assess the energy level of anyone who uses a CAPU on an extended basis.”