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

by Morgan, Mackenzie

  “When will you need to set it up?” Wilhem asked, still uncomfortable with the idea. “There are a lot of people who will use that road to come to the competition.”

  “That’s all right. I won’t mess it up until we’re ready to have them map it out.”

  Wilhem nodded as he added pens and paper to his list.

  “I also thought I’d have them use their seeing eye to find someone in the woods. I was thinking of asking three children to hide in the woods before the competition begins. We could have them wear different colored tunics or capes and then ask each of the sorcerers to find a specific child.”

  “That’s good.” Wilhem made a note that he would need three children. “But how will we know that the sorcerer really did find the child?”

  Kevin grinned. “Make up three small bags of cookies or candies and tell the children to stay hidden until someone drops one of the bags beside them. We’ll give each sorcerer one of the bags. When they find their assigned child, they can use their outstretched hand to deliver the goodies. Tell the children that they can eat what’s in the bag, but they have to bring the bag to you. That way we can be sure that the children were actually spotted.”

  “I like it,” Wilhem said with a grin as he added three bags of cookies to his list.

  “I was also thinking of another event for the outstretched hand. Could you have someone bring a large wagon and a spare wheel out here Saturday morning?”

  “A wagon? Sure.” Wilhem jotted down another note to get his brother’s wagon. “What are you thinking of?”

  “I thought we’d ask the sorcerers to hold the wagon up so that the wheel can be changed. It’s not as easy as it might sound. It gets unbalanced and hard to hold when the men pull on the wheel to get it off and then again when they’re pushing it back into place.”

  “Isn’t that one a little dangerous? I mean, one of the men changing the wheel could get seriously hurt if the sorcerer drops the wagon.”

  “I know, but I’ll be here. I’ll catch the wagon before it hurts anyone,” Kevin assured him.

  “Are you thinking of asking them to do a protection ward? Several people have asked Gaynor to make one since he’s been here.”

  Kevin nodded. “I thought I would get three large boulders out of the river and make a mock cave entrance here in the field. Then they can set up a protection ward over it. And later we can have them use energy bolts to reduce the boulders to gravel.”

  “Are you going to ask them to fly? People always enjoy watching that.”

  “According to their applications, all of them can fly, but I’d like to ask them to do something else while they’re flying, maybe pick up a log and move it, something like that. I’d ask them to carry another person, but if they’ve never done it before, a competition isn’t the best place to try it out. They’ll be nervous enough as it is.”

  “How about a weighted scarecrow? We have a scarecrow in our garden. I could stuff its belly with a few rocks and bring the weight up to about the same as a human,” Wilhem suggested.

  “Good idea,” Kevin said with a chuckle. “Everyone will get a kick out of that.”

  Wilhem added a note about the scarecrow to his growing list.

  “And could you add three candles to your list of supplies? I want to see how well they can control their energy bolts. If we put the candles at the far end of the field and ask them to simply light the candle, we’ll see if they have a gentle touch. The boulders will tell us plenty about their power punch.”

  “Anything else?”

  “One more thing,” Kevin said. “We’ll need a couple of archers. I want to see if they’re any good at catching arrows.”

  “Catching arrows? I thought sorcerers simply put up a shield and let the arrows hit it,” Wilhem said as he made a note to speak to his captain about the archers.

  “A lot do,” Kevin agreed. “But that seems like a waste of good arrows to me. If they can catch the arrows, your men would have some extra ones. It could make a difference if you really had to fight someone.”

  “That’s a good point. I’ve never really thought much about it. Fortunately, we don’t have much experience along that line here. Since we don’t have any major rivers and Zander doesn’t extend to the coast, we don’t have much problem with bandits or slavers. Are you going to test their shields?”

  Kevin nodded. “I’ll toss a couple of energy bolts at them myself and see if they can defend against them.” After a couple of minutes, he added, “Unless you can think of something else you want tested, I think that’s about it.”

  “It sounds good to me,” Wilhem said as he folded his notes and put them in his pocket. “When are you going to be able to get the field set up?”

  “I won’t do it until I have Gaynor out of here. I don’t want to take a chance on him spotting the magic and wondering what’s going on. I’ll do it right before I bring the competitors in.”

  “But will you have enough time?”

  “I should. It won’t take me over half an hour to get set up,” Kevin said as they walked back over to where Rigel stood waiting with the horses. “If you think of anything else between now and Saturday, send me a note. Otherwise, I’ll see you a little before daybreak Saturday morning.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  When Kevin and Rigel returned to Kevin’s office, they found Chris waiting for them.

  “How did it go?” Chris asked.

  “Fine,” Kevin answered. “Everything’s set for Saturday. I told Wilhem that you and I would be arriving right before daybreak, and that you’ll stay with him while I go take care of Gaynor. Once Gaynor’s settled, I’ll set up the field. When that’s done, I’ll come back here, pick up the competitors and take them to the field. Then I’ll meet you and Wilhem at his house.”

  “You aren’t going to bring the competitors in out in the open, are you?” Chris asked. “Remember the first time we traveled through the energy field and how sick it made us? It wouldn’t inspire a lot of confidence if the first time the people of Zander saw their new sorcerer he was staggering around holding his stomach.”

  Kevin chuckled at the image. “No, I found a small clearing in the woods about half a mile away. I thought I’d take them there and let them settle down.”

  “Sir, I hate to interrupt, but which bodyguard are you planning to take with you next Saturday?” Rigel asked.

  “Since Wilhem already knows you, I think it would probably be best if you went with us. I’ll take you to Wilhem’s when I take Chris.”

  Rigel nodded. “I think I need to go with you when you go see Gaynor. From the little I’ve picked up, he may not be pleased to see you.”

  “That’s true, Rigel, but he’s a sorcerer,” Kevin said. “I need to go alone.”

  Chris saw a flash of irritation in Rigel’s eyes. “Rigel, your presence would give Gaynor an advantage, at least in his eyes.”

  Rigel looked at Chris for a couple of moments. Then he said, “I don’t understand.”

  “Gaynor is going to get angry, and he’ll want to lash out. He probably won’t lash out at Kevin because he knows that Kevin has the power to destroy him. But if you’re there, you’re an easy target, and Gaynor may think that if he goes for you, Kevin would be so busy trying to protect you that he’d be an easy target himself. He’d be wrong, of course. Kevin is perfectly capable of protecting both of you, but there’s no telling how much damage Gaynor would do while he figures that out. The chances of something bad happening are much higher if someone else is around. That’s why I’m not going.”

  Kevin nodded. “Chris is right, Rigel. You have to let me handle this one by myself.”

  Rigel thought about it for a minute, and then nodded his head once. “If that’s all for now sir, I’ll head back towards the barracks and let Captain Darrell know we’re back.”

  “Keep all of this to yourself, Rigel. We don’t want word about any of this leaking out until after Kevin takes care of Gaynor,” Chris cautioned.

  “I have t
o tell Captain Darrell that we’ll be gone Saturday.”

  Kevin nodded. “Just tell him that we’ll be at a competition. If he asks where, tell him to see me.”

  After Rigel left, Chris asked, “Have you given any thought as to where you’re going to take Gaynor if he refuses to become Warren’s assistant?”

  “I’ve thought about it, but I haven’t come up with a place yet. That’s something else we have to do this week.”

  “Okay.” Chris got out a map of Terah and stretched it out on the table. “What are we looking for?”

  Kevin joined him at the table and bent over the map. “We need two places really. One that I can take him to Saturday morning, some place where he can cool off without causing any damage. Then, after he’s calmed down, I’ll need some place to take him where he can start over, where he can live.”

  “What about the island where you first learned how to defend against energy bolts? That was completely deserted. He couldn’t hurt anything out there,” Chris suggested.

  “I thought about that one, but it’s too open. Eventually, I’ll have to go back and get him. I don’t know what would happen if I got hit with a bolt as I’m emerging from the energy field, and I don’t particularly want to find out.”

  “Surely he wouldn’t be crazy enough to try to kill you if you’re his only hope of getting off the island.”

  “Probably not, but I don’t think I’m willing to bet my life on it.” Then he cut his eyes over at Chris and asked, “Aren’t you one of the ones who keeps telling me that I need to be careful? That I need to survive?”

  Chris nodded. “Point taken. No unnecessary chances. Maybe we need to take this map and go island hopping.”

  “I was thinking the same thing. We need a place that’s remote and completely deserted. But we also need a place that’s big enough that I can come in without his knowing it.”

  “Or we need a hidden cave.”

  “That would be perfect if we could find one. But if it’s hidden well enough that Gaynor won’t be able to find it, how are we going to?”

  “Maybe Laryn would know of one.”

  “She might. Let’s leave it until tomorrow morning though,” Kevin said as he walked back to his desk and sat down. “We can ask her after breakfast.”

  “Okay,” Chris agreed. “While you were gone, I got a message from Brena. She got a letter from Sister Glenice in Mapleton.”

  “That was quick. I didn’t expect to hear anything from that for at least another week. What did Robyn say?”

  “We have directions to the chapel. He suggested that you go there whenever you have a chance. Sister Glenice will send someone to find him, and he’ll meet you in her office. Sounds like a reasonably good plan to me, especially if you go after dark.”

  “Do we need to let him know when we’re coming?”

  “Not according to this letter. I got the feeling that he didn’t want this meeting to be too well planned,” Chris answered.

  “I’d like to get this taken care of. Let’s try to go Thursday evening. If something comes up and we can’t make it, we’ll try again next week.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  At breakfast Monday morning, Kevin asked Laryn if she had time to meet with him and Chris for a few minutes. After they reached his office, he explained what he wanted to do if Gaynor didn’t take the position with Warren and the type of place he was looking for.

  “Right off hand, I can’t think of an island that fits, but if there’s one around, I bet Yara would know about it. Why don’t you ask her?” Laryn suggested.

  “Can we do that? I mean, I thought the other races tried to stay out of human affairs,” Kevin said.

  “They do as far as power struggles are concerned, but the members of the federation help each other out all the time. If there’s a beached whale somewhere, Yara will ask you to move it back to the sea. It’s the same type of thing. Just tell her what you’re looking for and ask if she knows of such a place. She’ll help you find an island that’ll work.”

  “How do we contact her?” Chris asked.

  “Go to Federation Isle, find a conch shell, and blow through it. She’ll hear it.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Half an hour after Kevin blew through the conch shell, a large wave rose out of the ocean and headed towards the beach. As it approached the shore, Yara and her watery throne rose through the top of the wave.

  “Good morning,” Yara said with a smile. “What can I do for you?”

  “Thank you for coming, Yara,” Kevin said. “I would like to ask a favor.”

  Yara nodded and waited for him to continue.

  “I need to find a deserted island, completely deserted, one that has nothing that can be destroyed,” Kevin said. “I also need for the island to either have a hidden cave or a second island within flying distance, but it would be best if the second island can’t be seen from the first one.”

  “Quite a combination of requirements. I can think of several that might fit your description, but it would help if I knew a little more about the circumstances.”

  Kevin nodded and allowed the problem about Gaynor to surface in his mind.

  “Oh, I see. You need a safe place to stash an unruly sorcerer. All right. Let’s go look at a few islands and see if we can find what you need. We’ll have to use my key since I know where we’re going. Would you and Chris care to join me?”

  Kevin picked Chris up with his outstretched hand and the two of them floated over the waves to Yara’s throne. When they reached her, Kevin positioned himself on one side and Chris on the other.

  “I’ve just got one question,” Chris said as Yara slipped her key off her neck. “When we get there, are you still going to be holding me up or am I going to hit the water?”

  “Good question,” Kevin answered. “I’m not sure. We’ve never tried this one before. I’ll try to keep you out of the water, but it might be a good idea for you to hold your breath just in case.” Kevin winked at Yara as she turned her key.

  As they materialized, a watery throne formed under Yara, and Kevin and Chris were still positioned one on each side of her. They were about fifty yards off of a small tropical island.

  “There’s another island nearby, but it’s mainly rock. Why don’t you fly ashore and look around. Then we’ll go check out the other one,” Yara suggested.

  After Kevin and Chris looked around the small island for a few minutes, they flew back out to Yara. “He could do some serious damage to this one. Let’s go look at the other one. If it’s mainly rock, it might be better suited to his temper,” Kevin said.

  Yara started to take out her key, but Kevin shook his head. “I need to fly it. The purpose of a second island is for me to have someplace to leave the energy flow when I come back to pick him up. I’ll have to fly from here to there.”

  Yara nodded and dove as her watery throne melted into the ocean. “I’ll swim close to the surface. Fly low so you can keep me in sight.”

  Kevin held Chris beside him and rose about twenty feet above the crests of the waves. Then he began to follow the thin track that Yara’s path left in the gently rolling ocean. Kevin sighted the second island about twenty minutes later. When they were within a hundred yards, Yara and her throne rose out of the waves. “I’ll wait here while you go look around.”

  Kevin and Chris flew over to the island. While Chris walked around the rocky knob sticking up out of the ocean, Kevin slowly rose straight up in the air, turning around as he went, to see if he could see any sign of land anywhere on the horizon. After he had gone several hundred feet up without seeing anything, he lowered himself back to the island.

  “What do you think?” he asked Chris.

  “Well, I’d hate to be stranded here for very long,” Chris answered. “There’s nothing here except rock.”

  The island was mostly flat and shaped like a narrow rectangle. Along one of the narrow sides, there was a thick rock wall that had a small cave that could be used for shelter. Behind the wall, a st
eep cliff fell away to the sea. The other three sides gently sloped down to the ocean thirty feet below.

  Chris walked over to one of the sides and looked down at the sea. “Will he be safe here? I remember hearing stories about forty or fifty foot waves out in the ocean during storms, and one of those would wash right over this island.”

  “I don’t know. We’ll have to ask Yara. At least there’s nothing here that he could destroy.”

  After they looked around for a few more minutes, Kevin flew them back out to Yara’s throne.

  “What’s the weather like around this part of the ocean? I mean, would he get washed away by waves if a storm blew in?” Kevin asked.

  “No, especially not this time of year. We aren’t in a stormy section. He’ll be safe here,” Yara assured him. “Do you want to see some more islands or are you satisfied with this one?”

  “This one will do just fine,” Kevin said. “Thank you for taking the time to come with us, Yara. I appreciate it.”

  “Certainly. Well, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.” Yara waved goodbye, dove down through her throne, and disappeared.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  That evening, after they had gone upstairs to their living quarters, Chris asked, “Have you given any thought as to how you’re going to approach Gaynor?”

  “I think I’m going to play to his ego. I’m going to tell him that I feel he’s capable of much more than Zander needs, and would like to move him into position to take over one of the most challenging and demanding districts in a couple of years.”

  “So you’re not going to mention all the complaints?”

  “Not at first. When I offer him the job as Warren’s assistant, I’ll point out how much the people of Ragenon must like Warren to be willing to pay for an assistant just so they can keep him as their sorcerer. After he accepts the position, I’ll let him know that we’re aware of the problems he’s had, but that we’re chalking it up to inexperience.”