To Be A Maestro (The Maestro Chronicles)

by Buttrick, John

  Leah sat forward in her chair. “True, we have a major task ahead of us. Your new method will speed up the process, allow them to learn spells without knowing how to play an instrument, and yet they must eventually be taught to master the class two crescendos.”

  Daniel nodded agreement with her assessment. “The other ten percent can help, seeing as they are former Accomplisheds of Aakadon. I think it strange the vast majority of this group is of the Willow and Aqua Guilds, with a good chunk from the Eagle and only a few from the Aloe, Sun, and Zephyr.” Where as, finding no one among them from the Stone Guild did not surprise him at all. The fancy designers built their structures for members of the nobility, seeing as only they could afford the gratuity.

  Leah shook her head, clearly disagreeing with his statement. “Accomplisheds of the Willow and Aqua Guilds are sent out the most often to help with famine and droughts and the Eagle actually seeks members of the Serpent Guild, so it is not so strange. The Aloe Guild rarely sends a Practitioner outside of Aakadon and the Zephyr, Sun, and Stone do so even less. When they do go out it is usually with a large flock of Soarers.”

  Her explanation was reasonable and he nodded acceptance. The task ahead seemed enormous, yet Daniel felt confident they could manage the chores successfully, and in a shorter time than would be accomplished in Aakadon. “We have a lot of Aakacarns to organize and educate.”

  “I’ll say we do, over twelve hundred Talenteds to train, and even the hundred and thirty-four Accomplisheds will need some orientation,” Leah voiced her agreement. “Very few of our new recruits are of your age group. Most of them are old enough to be your parents and perhaps a few could be close siblings of mine.”

  She revealed nothing Daniel did not know after seeing each person’s recipe strands, they all had aged normally. “Sero Bagget, the Demfilian, is sixty-three, and is in the best possible physical condition, stronger than many men in their prime; even so, he still looks like a man who could pass for fifty at best. But that is what you see on the outside. The man was Condemned at age twelve, had been in that state for over five decades, and his vat is nearly as big and full as yours.”

  Leah’s eyes widened and she gave a quick shake of the head. “Yet he has had no education. He cannot read, write, or do sums, much less read music off a page. He may well be a Four-bolt and we may have a good many Two and Three-bolts in this group, but few of them had the benefit of even a basic education before being Condemneds. I experienced Condemnation for only a few months, most of these people have done so for decades, from an early age, and even the younger ones have lost years of their lives in that condition,” she paused, took a breath and then added, “While you have restored our self-will, there is no denying the fact that you retain a strong influence on our minds.”

  Daniel found the thought troubling. “Are you saying I am controlling your mind? If so it was never my intention.”

  Leah gave a negligent wave of her hand. “No. I have performed tasks you never thought of and made suggestions that never occurred to you. I healed you without being ordered to do so. My will is my own, yet your opinion holds great sway with me, and your suggestions have the strength of orders. Well, you are our leader so naturally we are going to obey your commands. I guess what I am trying to say is, we, including the Sentinels, are devoted to you, and the new recruits would benefit if you make some suggestions that will help them adjust to their new life. Daniel, they have spent far more time being inhuman, and need you to help them regain their humanity.”

  She made some valid points. Perhaps it is not enough just to tell someone who has been completely enslaved and dehumanized that their brain and will are one, their bodies are their own to command. “Set up an appointment for each one to visit me and I’ll suggest that they feel no guilt for whatever their bodies were forced to do, they now have a new beginning, a clean slate, and that it is good to have compassion on people.”

  Leah nodded and smiled. “You might also want to mention respect for others, punctuality, good manners, seeing each other as a family rather than a pack of rivals, and the virtue of cleanliness.”

  “See, this proves your mind is your own. I probably would not have mentioned those things,” Daniel replied, and then had some orders to give. “I will be conveying to my southern estate soon. Our society needs educators, provisioners, healers, and a fighting force. After I heal the twenty-six Condemneds lying below and have those meetings we just discussed, I want you to begin organizing this mass of people into those areas.”

  Leah did not hesitate. “The seven former members of the Aloe Guild not only want to be healers, they have also expressed the desire to educate the untrained Aakacarns in the basics. The curriculum would include, reading, writing, history, geography, sums, spell theory, mastering musical instruments, how to focus potential, and the one hundred forty spells required to graduate to the level of Accomplished. I will get it all sorted out and organized by the time you get back from your trip to the south.”

  Daniel did not consider her words an idle boast. The determination in her dark eyes and the competence she continually displayed caused him to accept her word without question. “Leah, you are a treasure. I could not do this with out you.”

  -------

  One month led into another, which led to another, and his association grew while he conveyed back and forth from his holding in the north to his estate in the south. Daniel only managed to be with Sherree twice during the time period, although caught glimpses of her through the eyes of his feathered friends whenever she stepped out of the topaz building of the Aloe Guild. She must have felt the familiarity with the birds because she would wave or blow a kiss whenever she saw them. Harmonic waves continued to emanate from the Dark Maestro, most often at night, no doubt to deliberately keep folks from having a good night of sleep.

  He sat in the conference room of his southern estate. Gina and Tim were reportedly on their way after another successful recruiting run and would hopefully be joining them soon. Silvia and David were standing to the right and left of the door. His parents were sitting on the right side of the table and cautioning him on the need to be careful of assassins as they waited for the other attendees to make their appearance.

  “Always remember you are a target and those Serpents will keep coming at you,” his mother reminded him again.

  “That flute and trumpet you are protecting attracts them like flies to horse droppings. If you can’t get rid of the things, can you at least send your predators down a false trail?” Ronn Benhannon added his opinion, which was not far from what Daniel had on his mind.

  “I agree with both of you,” he replied.

  The two empty chairs beside them were for Tim and Gina. The four chairs on the left side of the table were for the First Accomplished, Sentinel Commander, Captain of the Benhannon Guard, and the Account Keeper. The whip crack of displaced air outside the door gave the first clue Leah and Chas had arrived and also brought an end to the parental lecture. Moments later the pair walked in along with Marcus and Jared.

  “I’ll begin by saying, good job everyone. From the fifty men originally recruited by Captain Bower we have grown to well over twenty-eight hundred members with mounts for each person,” Daniel opened the meeting after everyone had taken a seat. “I would like to hear from each of you beginning on my left.”

  Leah gave a quick nod of the head. “For those who do not know, we have one thousand three hundred thirty-six Aakacarns, including myself. While only a hundred thirty-six of us are Accomplisheds, the rest are already on a par with level four Talenteds, and our first graduates will be ready in ten days. This is due to the teaching and memory spells composed by Daniel, which speed the process greatly. I dare say in another month we will have well over a thousand graduated to the level of Accomplished,” she said while shifting her gaze from one attendee to another and then focused on Daniel. “Assignments have been made in accordance with the requirements you gave me. There are currently fifty Accomplisheds in your
fighting force, ten of which are assigned to live and work here. More will be added as the Talenteds graduate.”

  “Excellent,” Daniel replied, and then nodded to Chas.

  Commander Herling cleared his throat. “Even though we lost eleven Sentinels during our raid on the Serpent Nest within Mount Tirana, the Chosen’s Sentinels now stand at three hundred. While our liege began the process and is responsible for the initial growth, the increase is largely due to Accomplisheds Treena and Cresh, who regularly bring us Condemneds to be restored by Sir Daniel, and because the grateful recipients of his healing have all decided to join us,” he announced and then glanced at Leah. “The Accomplisheds are doing a fine job,” to which she acknowledged with a dignified nod.

  Marcus opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted when Tim and Gina Dukane walked into the room and took their places beside Daniel’s parents. “Go ahead Captain Bower,” Daniel encouraged him, seeing as the meeting had ground to a halt.

  “The Benhannon Guard has grown to twelve hundred men with two hundred assigned to defend the Northland Holding, well above our original goal. I have promoted two of our newest recruits to the rank of lieutenant. Roder Keenan and Chuck Carlin, they both resigned from the Royal Guardsmen to serve the Chosen Vessel, which would be you Sir Daniel. I stopped recruiting locally so as not to interfere with the musters of the neighboring jurisdictions and have been relying on the efforts of Captain Dukane and his First Officer to increase our numbers,” Marcus reported and then tapped Jared on the shoulder.

  The Account Keeper stood up, even though such was not required, apparently he wanted to be sure everyone could hear him clearly. “As Sir Daniel stated at the beginning, we have horses for every member. We moved the quickest when it came to ordering horses from the ranches in the area. It took time for the other Lords of the Land to even begin their war preparations. Consequently, we bought out the stock of the local breeders and the other nobles must look farther and wider to fill their needs. I have made deals with Taracopian breeders, who are anxious to do business with us.”

  “I would think the civil war would bring a crashing halt to that,” Daniel’s father commented. “King Van Efery surely needs the horses.”

  Jared eyed the tall backwoods-carpenter. One can put Ronn Benhannon in blue wool but no one could take the mountaineer out of him. “The ruler of Taracopa needs money more than horses at the moment and we seem to be among the few who are willing to do business with his kingdom,” the Account Keeper explained. “My concern right now is the overcrowding of this estate. The manor house and guardsmen’s dorm are at capacity and the stables have already been expanded once. We do not have room for the horses I have on order from Taracopa or the ten racers we will be collecting in the next few days from Breeder Laird.”

  “We can expand underground,” Leah suggested.

  Daniel could see no alternative unless he wanted to make the growth obvious, which he did not. “We will create a design and have the project finished by the time the first horses arrive. I plan on casting a spell on the underground complex in the Northland Holding and will do the same on the new one we make here. Hidden Shield will cause them to be undetectable to spell casting,” he decided, and then nodded at Tim when Jared sat down.

  Tim lounged in his chair. Two golden anchors on the broad silver stripe on each shoulder is what he and Gina came up with to display his rank. “Gina and I have just brought in an additional twenty men and we plan on directing our future efforts along the Hirus River north of Ducanton,” he reported and then sat up straight. “I want to propose we start building more boats like the Wager, only not so much for recruiting purposes. The Taltin Sea is getting dangerous from what I am hearing from the other riverboat captains and crews. The tiny Ducaunan Royal Navy is incapable of protecting the ports along our coast and word has it the Fon Kayan Navy is poised for an assault.”

  The inland Taltin Sea was shared by Ducaun, Battencay, Fon Kay, and Pentrosa. The ovoid-shaped sea was about nine hundred spans wide and slightly over three hundred spans from its southern most point in Battencay and its northern most point in Fon Kay. The vast majority of the sea coast belonged to those two kingdoms with Ducaun and Pentrosa controlling the eastern side to about a hundred spans out.

  Chas and Marcus both nodded grimly. “I have heard the same,” Gina confirmed. “You could mount some permanent crossbows and daggerlances on the bow, stern, and inside the arrow slits.”

  “Having patrol boats with the size and speed of the Wager and RiverDancer would give us the ability to project power quickly should any of our ports along the rivers come under attack as well as defend the ports on the Taltin Sea coast,” Marcus added his opinion.

  Daniel had not given the matter any thought. Ducaun is the only kingdom that does not touch an ocean and so the idea of creating even a small navy simply did not occur to him. “Tim, Gina, I will promote you both to the rank of admiral if you recruit and train the people to crew such boats, and will make vessels enough to match your success.”

  Gina’s lips formed into a smile, apparently pleased she had been promoted right along with her husband, and possibly looking forward to the challenge. She leaned forward. “Be prepared to make a lot of patrol boats because Tim and I are going to bring in scores of people to crew them.”

  Daniel was pleased by her display of confidence, especially since it was backed up by past performance in recruiting. “I want suggestions on viable locations to construct a port of our own.”

  “Your mother and I can help with that,” Ronn Benhannon volunteered. “Since the creation of your miniature crossbows and daggerlances, we have ceased training on the longbows which have fallen out of usage.”

  “We have recruited a crew of our own, beginning with Duncan Hawk, the young Royal Guardsmen who accompanied us on our journey south. He has also resigned his old position and wishes to serve you,” Miriam Benhannon announced.

  Daniel was pleased to have the young guardsman as part of his muster. “Duncan is a good man, I am sure he will serve you well, and me by extension. As for the longbows, I agree with your assessment. Chas, Marcus, do either of you wish training on the weapons to be continued?”

  Commander Herling shook his head. “The only use I have for the longbows is to cover the fact we have daggerlances from the uninitiated. I can do without them.”

  Captain Bower nodded his head in apparent agreement with the Sentinel commander. “I will keep what I have on hand for decoys, as my esteemed colleague mentioned, but there is no reason to make more or continue training on a weapon we are unlikely to use in an actual fight.”

  The meeting ended with everyone in agreement. Chas and Marcus exited together, deep in conversation about the best way to coordinate the defensive and offensive forces. Gina and Tim exited with Daniel’s parents, both pairs excitedly discussing the navy, currently two boats strong, and what the port should look like.

  “That went well,” Leah commented.

  “We have made progress,” Daniel agreed and then fixed his gaze on the female Teki. “How goes the foot race?”

  Silvia came forward. “While Tarin Conn is still far ahead, you are at least on your feet and running.”

  Daniel decided to take what he could get, no point in asking specifically how far behind he was.

  “Sir Daniel,” Cleona’s voice sounded in his head.

  “I am here, my Queen,” he replied mentally and silently signaled to Leah and his Teki escorts that he was receiving a message and then sat down.

  “The other nations have placed their legions against the borders we share with them, causing me to move my legions accordingly. Our own Lords of the realm are upset and suspect you took control of my mind during the healing process, which is outrageous. I know my own mind. The fools are just looking for an excuse to disobey me, even after I informed them you have never given me an order, and we have not communicated in months. I will deal with them, don’t you worry,” there was a mental pause as if she just sighe
d. “Many people seem to believe the Grand Maestro is the true Chosen Vessel and you are nothing more than his tool, not much more than a glorified errand boy who has turned rogue. Efferin seems to be encouraging the idea and has declared sanctions against Ducaun after I refused to deliver you to him. He ordered Fenton and Randall to return to Aakadon. Accomplished Chen will be on the first boat out within the mark and Accomplished Kamis, I understand, has already set sail from Zoltair. Nobles of the realm, Lord Payden Sharmine of Keffer Greens and Lord Gabriel Tamkin of Valeen, foremost among them, are angry over the embargo. It seems no nation will do business with us except Taracopa, which is also experiencing an embargo for different reasons. Some Lords of the Land believe all of the troubles we are currently experiencing are your fault, including those pulses coming from Tarin Conn. Only Taracopa is maintaining full diplomatic relations with Ducaun, ten kingdoms have cut us off completely, Lobenia has recalled all but one ambassador, leaving Boris Samna only because Queen Clarees and I have been friends since childhood, and she has moved one of her legions for political expediency to the border we share with Lobenia and Battencay opposite of Bolover,” Cleona explained in a rush of thought.

  “How can I control your mind when I have no head for politics and no idea what it takes to run a kingdom?” Daniel sent back along with a sense of calm. “We knew folks would not like our decisions,” he sent and then went on to tell her of the Serpent Nest in Mount Tirana, the missing legion of Pentrosa’s Sutton Guard, and much of what has transpired.

  “You are doing a fine job of scouring the Serpent Guild from my realm, keep up the good work. Twenty-eight hundred is a fine muster, about a tenth of what Lord Bolover has, and my husband’s father will be glad to know you have destroyed a major Serpent Nest that has been festering unknown for years within his jurisdiction. He has nearly as many guardsmen as Bolover. My navy has twenty-seven vessels patrolling the Taltin Sea and I can confirm your Captain’s report about the huge fleet that seems ready to launch from the Fon Kayan coast. That said; I believe the massive build up is merely an effort of the Grand Maestro to make me stand down from a war footing and send you to him. I will do neither. This does not mean we can afford to ignore the potential threats, particularly since General Kall and his legion are yet to show themselves. Much as I would like to see you, I think it best if you stay out of the capital for awhile, give me time to show people I rule Ducaun and no one controls my mind,” she sent along with the strength and determination of will that made Daniel seem indecisive by comparison.