The Dragon's Flame (The Chronicles of Terah # 2)

by Morgan, Mackenzie

  Then Eryk, the phoenix, screeched and said, “Aye, and that’s a fact, boy. At the rate you’re going, you won’t last long. You must have an heir before you get yourself killed.”

  “He has a point, Eryk does,” Caradoc, the leprechaun, said with a nod. “Even the luck of the leprechauns couldn’t protect you, boy, with the way you’re making enemies.”

  Kevin was appalled at the direction the meeting had taken but he couldn’t think of a thing to say to ward off the attack.

  “It’s your responsibility,” Conrad, the dwarf, rumbled. “Have you at least started the search?”

  “If you need some help, I’m sure we can find some likely candidates,” Niall, the pegasus, offered.

  Kevin felt his face turning redder by the moment, but all he could do was shake his head.

  “Do any of you know any human maidens that we could introduce him to?” Yanko, the goblin, growled. “I don’t come across many myself.”

  “There aren’t any humans near my home, but I’ll be happy to ask around and see if any of the other yetis know of some likely candidates,” Hagar answered.

  “How about you, King Merdin? Do you know any?” Eryk asked. “After all, you live in Camden. It would be easy for you to introduce him to someone.”

  King Merdin, the gnome, shook his head.

  “Well, I come across a lot of humans in my travels,” Caelan, the elf, said. “What kind of female are you looking for, Myron? Tall, short, blond, dark?”

  An ear-piercing whistle shocked everyone into silence. After a couple of moments, Sandy, the gargoyle, chirped, “Why don’t we all just take a step back for a moment.” Then he looked around at the representatives, some of whom were still rubbing their ears. When he was satisfied that he had everyone’s attention, he continued. “To be perfectly honest, none of us cares one way or the other whether young Myron here gets married and sires an heir. All we care about is avoiding a magic war.”

  King Merdin, the gnome, slowly nodded his head. “He has a point.”

  “What are you getting at?” Yanko growled. “Aren’t they the same thing? He needs an heir to avoid the war!”

  “Not necessarily,” Sandy answered. “What he needs is a way to select a new Master Sorcerer should he happen to end up dead before he’s had time to sire an heir.”

  Yara, the mermaid, nodded her head. “Yes, that would work. Myron, you need to come up with some kind of plan.”

  “Or find a mate and sire an heir,” Tricie squeaked. “And do it soon!”

  “But in the meantime, be careful, very, very, careful,” Hagar, the yeti, said slowly.

  All the rest of the delegates began nodding and talking quietly among themselves.

  Glendymere let things die down naturally, and then he asked, “Is there anything else that needs to be discussed?” When no one spoke up, he thanked everyone for coming, said that they would meet again on the first day of fall, and adjourned the meeting.

  Chris looked at Kevin and whispered, “Wow! This was almost as bad as the council meeting.”

  Kevin was so stunned he still couldn’t say a word. He just sat there, feeling battered.

  Meanwhile most of the other delegates were meandering around the beach, eating the fruit that the brownies had set out, and chatting.

  After a couple of minutes, Chris nudged Kevin and said, “I guess we should sort of walk around now, like the others are doing. Come on.”

  Kevin nodded and slowly stood up.

  “Just be careful,” Chris whispered, “or they’ll have you on the marriage block by evening.” Then Chris walked over towards the beach while Kevin made his way towards Glendymere.

  Before Kevin could make it to Glendymere, Niall stepped into his path and said, “It’s a shame that you didn’t get to know your mother. I only met her a couple of times, but she seemed a delightful woman. How are your foster parents getting along? Do you get to see them often?”

  “I’m afraid my foster parents are no longer with us,” Kevin answered. “I’ve more or less been on my own for the past couple of years.”

  “Such a shame,” Niall said.

  “Yes, but although I miss them, I’ve always known that I had my own path to follow,” Kevin said. Then he asked Niall where he was from, and the pegasus began to describe the high peaks along the west coast of Jardin.

  While Chris was standing at the edge of the water watching the ocean, Yara began talking to him. “Have you and Myron known each other long?”

  “We grew up in the same area,” Chris answered. “I’ve been his assistant since he started preparing to take his place as the Master Sorcerer.”

  “Excellent. It’s always nice to have old friends around, friends who share your memories. I hope the two of you have a long and successful partnership,” Yara said.

  Neither Kevin nor Chris noticed, but the unicorn, the Alysian cat, and the phoenix were all paying close attention to both Kevin’s conversation with Niall and Chris’s conversation with Yara. Laryn noticed though, and moved in to rescue them.

  “Chris, we need to find Myron and see when he wants to head back home.” Then she turned to the mermaid and said, “It’s been nice to see you again, Yara.” As Yara nodded at her, Laryn took Chris’s hand and led him away, towards Kevin and Niall.

  “Myron, Glendymere asked me to tell you that he wants to see you for a moment before we go,” Laryn said as she approached Kevin and Niall. Then she turned to Niall and said, “Please excuse us, Niall.”

  “Certainly, my dear,” the pegasus answered.

  When the three of them reached Glendymere, he smiled at Laryn and said, “Good rescue, Laryn, but unfortunately, a little late.”

  “What are you talking about?” Kevin asked.

  Glendymere chuckled and said privately to Kevin, Chris, and Laryn, “You do realize that a lot of the delegates have telepathic powers, don’t you? As soon as they ask a question, they get the straight answer out of your head, before you have time to come up with a clever response. By now, all of them know that you were fostered on Earth and that Chris is also from Earth.”

  Kevin’s jaw dropped. Then he grimaced and said,“I keep forgetting about telepathy!”

  Chris closed his eyes and slowly shook his head as he said, “Sorry, Kevin.”

  “You aren’t any more to blame than I am.”

  “Don’t worry about it. There’s nothing you can do about it anyway,” Glendymere said gently. “I’ve explained to them that it’s not for general knowledge. They won’t tell anyone. But from now on, be careful whom you talk to. Sorting through a human’s mind to find information is difficult at best, but if someone asks you a question, the answer immediately pops forward in your mind, and the telepath has it without even trying. Your only defense is to keep telepaths from asking you any questions to start with. In other words, don’t get into a conversation with a telepath if you have anything you want to keep private.”

  “Be careful what you think. You never know who’s listening,” Chris mumbled. “I think I heard that in a movie once.”

  “You don’t have to consciously think it,” Glendymere said. “The answer’s just there.”

  “I guess it’s time for us to go home, before we get into any more trouble,” Kevin said. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Glendymere. Laryn, have you still got our key?”

  Laryn took the key out of her pocket and handed it to Kevin.

  As soon as Laryn and Chris touched his arms, Kevin turned the key and the three of them vanished from Federation Isle.

  Chapter 4

  Gerry

  Sunday morning Rolan woke up in a vile mood. It was the third Sunday of April, and just like every third Sunday of the month for the past few years, he had a standing date with Gerry. When the affair had first started, he’d thought that seducing a Sister of Healing would be a lark, but it had turned out to be more trouble than it was worth.

  “I have got to get rid of her,” he mumbled to himself as he climbed out of bed. In addition to ever
ything else, Myron’s showing up at the April meeting had dashed his plans for getting Gerry out of his life. The key to the Gate Between the Worlds should have been in his hands by now. Then he could have taken her to Earth today and left her there, but without the key, he was back to square one.

  If only he could just wipe her out with an energy bolt, but there was no way to do it. The pendant that she wore around her neck would kill him if he tried.

  Every Sister of Healing wore a pendant with a black opal surrounded by turquoise. The turquoise stones were just healing stones. All they did was enhance her healing abilities. But the black opal had Glendymere’s flame buried deep inside. If he threatened her in any way, the flame would reach out from the opal to protect her, first burning a mark on his forehead, and then reducing him to a pile of ashes if he didn’t back off. Dragon’s flame was the most powerful magic on Terah, and there was nothing any human sorcerer could do to protect himself from it. As long as she wore that pendant, his magic was useless. The mere thought of that accursed pendant deepened Rolan’s scowl.

  Rolan had had a backup plan for dealing with that pendant just in case getting the key to the Gate had turned out to be more complicated than he’d expected, but Myron had sabotaged that too. Rolan had mentioned to Gwendolyn, the Seated Sorcerer of Landoryn, that he wondered why the sisters were still wearing the pendants since they violated the Federation Treaty about noninterference. He knew she’d bring it up at the council meeting and demand that Myron get Glendymere to take them back. But Myron had spoiled that idea too, claiming that the pendants were legal and then citing some grandfather clause. Whose grandfather? Rolan had wanted to ask, but he didn’t dare let on that he didn’t already know. If he hadn’t already been determined to see Myron dead, that right there would have done it.

  After he pulled on his leggings, Rolan glared around his room looking for his boots. Now he was going to have to come up with some other way to get rid of that woman. She was becoming more and more of a millstone around his neck, always there, always wanting more, always weighing him down.

  Just dumping her was not an option. She was the one who had prepared the poisoned tea and delivered it to the castle in Milhaven for him. She was as guilty as he was, but if she felt betrayed, she’d talk, and then Myron would have proof that Rolan was behind Badec’s death. The only thing keeping her quiet right now was that she actually thought he was going to marry her. Rolan shuddered at the idea. He hated the thought of her clinging, cloying caresses.

  His staff thought he spent Sundays in his chamber, and he made sure no one dared disturb him to find out anything different. His pages would take care of any minor details that needed handling, and Captain Yardner would be in his office to handle emergencies. Occasionally Rolan would stroll around a bit during the afternoon, inspecting the grounds, the castle, and the kitchens to make sure that his slaves weren’t slacking off, but as far as he was concerned, Sunday was his day to indulge himself, to do exactly as he pleased, and that usually meant using the key to Terah to visit all kinds of exotic places and satisfy his appetite for the finer things in life. Between his magical powers and the key, he could do pretty much anything he wanted to and take whatever appealed to him without fear of reprisals, just as long as no one recognized him, and he was careful to make sure no one did.

  Rolan snarled as he thought of all the places he could be going today if he didn’t have to keep that date with Gerry.

  He opened his bedroom door, demanded that the guard send for his breakfast, and then slammed the door shut again. While he waited for his tray to arrive, he dug down to the bottom of one of his drawers and pulled out a pair of leggings and a dark gray tunic similar to those worn by a lot of the peasants. After he put those on, he tied an old rope around his waist. He didn’t expect to see anyone other than Gerry, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

  They were careful. He insisted on it. They met in a cave in a forest outside of Glenco, but you never knew when some farmer out hunting or looking for a stray cow might happen by. So far, no one could connect him to her, and he wanted to keep it that way. If it happened to come out after her death that she’d been involved in poisoning Badec, he didn’t want the trail to lead back to him. And she was going to die, just as soon as he could figure out a way to make it happen.

  When the guard knocked on his door to tell him that his breakfast had arrived, he stepped behind the door and opened it just enough to take the tray in his outstretched hand. Right before he shut the door, he told the guard to see to it that no one disturbed him. Then, as soon as he finished his breakfast, he tucked his sorcerer’s pendant inside his peasant’s tunic, draped an old woodcutter’s cloak over his shoulders, took out the key to Terah, and left for the cave near Glenco.

  Rolan materialized right outside the cave. He moved the branches that hid the mouth of the cave out of the way, stepped inside, and took off his cloak.

  Over the last couple of years, the little cave had definitely taken on a lived-in look. Thick lap rugs were draped over the two chairs that Gerry had brought in, and the table behind them held a glowstone lamp, a water pitcher, an old teapot, and a couple of mugs. There was even a large rug on the cave floor in front of the chairs.

  He could tell that Gerry had been there recently because there was a pile of firewood stacked next to the side wall and wood had been laid in the fire circle ready to light. He shook his head slowly as he hung his cloak on the little hanger she’d fixed near the door.

  It was amazing that no one had discovered the little cave and either moved in or taken the things she had put in there. Gerry had wanted him to put a protection ward across the entrance, but there was no way he was going to do that. He didn’t want someone to inadvertently discover it and realize that an unknown sorcerer had been in the area. Too many questions would be flying around, and he didn’t trust Gerry to keep her mouth shut.

  Rolan lit the fire and settled in to wait for her.

  About half an hour later, right on time, Gerry parted the bush in front of the cave and stepped inside. She was dressed in a long hooded cloak and carried a small basket covered with towels. The smell of fresh baked bread filled the small cave as she entered.

  Rolan stood as Gerry walked towards him. She smiled, set the basket down on the lamp table, and slid the hood of her cloak off her head. Her long brown hair was loose and tumbled down her back as she let the cloak slip to the floor. Her dark eyes were clouded with desire as she embraced him.

  “Oh, it’s so good to see you again,” she sighed. Then she stood on her toes and kissed him.

  Rolan slid his arm around her shoulders as she turned to face the fire and warm her hands over the flames. “It feels like it’s been a long time,” he said quietly.

  “I know,” she said as she snuggled under his arm. “When do you think we’ll be able to get married? How long do we have to wait?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Why?” Gerry asked as she turned to look at him with a frown on her face. “Has something else happened?”

  “It looks like Badec’s son is going to be a problem.”

  “How? I thought you said everything would be fine once Badec was dead.”

  “I thought it would, although it certainly took him a long time to die, a lot longer than you said it would,” Rolan answered, a note of irritation slipping into his voice.

  “Well, never mind. He’s dead now. That’s what counts.” Gerry turned back towards the fire. “So, what’s the problem now?”

  “There are new dangers now. If Myron knew about us, he would try to use you to get to me,” Rolan said with a heavy sigh.

  “How? What could he possibly do to me?”

  “He could use you to set a trap for me. He’s determined to see me dead. He told me so after the council meeting.”

  “Why? Does he know about the Sleeping Angel?”

  “I don’t think so. At least he didn’t mention it. He just seems to hate me.”

  Gerry poked he
r lips out in a pout. “He’s just jealous of your influence on the council. He knows you should have been named the Master Sorcerer instead of him.” After a moment, she turned to Rolan and asked, “Why don’t you just challenge him for the seat? Then he would be gone, there would be no more threats, and we could get married.”

  “I would, but it wouldn’t be a fair fight.”

  “Why not?”

  “If Myron could only use the powers he has as a human sorcerer, I could defeat him easily, but he’s part elf, just like Badec was,” Rolan explained. “And no human sorcerer stands a chance against his elven blood.”

  “That’s so wrong,” Gerry said in frustration. “He shouldn’t even be on the council. It’s supposed to be for humans!”

  “Technically, he is human. As long as the father is human, the child is human. That’s the law. And in the House of Nordin, the elven blood comes from the maternal side of the family.”

  Gerry turned back to face the fire and didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she quietly asked, “Do you want me to prepare another tincture?”

  “No. I don’t think trying the same thing again would be a good idea. After all, we don’t want the other sorcerers to think about Badec’s death too much, and if the same thing were to happen to Myron …”

  “There’s got to be something that we can do, some way we can put an end to all of this so that we can be together.”

  “Well, I’ve got to get things settled with him before I can consider bringing you to Trendon. I’m not willing to put you in danger. That’s all there is to it.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll always have this,” Gerry said as she fingered her pendant. Then she turned into him and began nuzzling his neck.

  “No, you won’t. You know I want you to leave the Sisterhood when we get married. I don’t want you off in town, taking care of other people. I want you at the castle, taking care of me. I don’t want to share you,” Rolan cooed. “It’s too bad I don’t have one of those though. All our problems would be solved if I had one of those pendants. I could challenge Myron and put an end to all the danger, and then we could be together.”