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

by Morgan, Mackenzie

  “No, most of us inherited them,” Bianca said. “You included.”

  “I don’t think it should be a duel,” Edwin said. “Only challenges are to the death, and if the seat’s empty, there’s no challenge.”

  “Then who would set it up and judge it?” Judith asked.

  No one had an immediate answer, so the conversation lapsed for a second. Kevin took advantage of the lapse to try to end the discussion before tempers could start to flare. “Maybe we should let a committee look into the various options and work out some of the details.”

  “And then we’re all supposed to just go along with whatever this committee says?” Gwendolyn snarled.

  Kevin shook his head. “No, they’ll present their ideas to the council and we’ll talk about it some more then.”

  “And then who decides? You?” Malcolm spit out.

  “No, after everyone has had a chance to ask questions and say what they think, we’ll vote,” Kevin said.

  “Who’s going to choose this committee?” Judith asked a little warily.

  “I think anyone who wants to be on the committee should be,” Kevin said. Then he looked around the circle and said, “Anyone who wants to work on this and see if you can come up with some plans, raise your hands.”

  Edwin’s hand was the first one up. When the others looked at him, he shrugged and said, “I’m not going to live forever. I need to know what’s going to happen in Farragon.”

  Then Regan’s and Bianca’s hands went up. Damien nodded and raised his hand. Trivera slowly added hers. Kevin waited a moment, and when no one else seemed interested, he turned to Chris and asked if he had the names written down. When Chris nodded, Kevin turned back to the group and asked, “Damien, would you be willing to serve as chairman of the committee?”

  Damien frowned. “What would I have to do?”

  “That just means you’d organize everything. You’d set up the meetings, conduct them, and present the ideas to the council.”

  “That’s all right. I can do that,” Damien said, nodding. “When do you want us to present them?”

  “I’d like to get this settled. Would the August meeting be too soon?” Kevin asked.

  Damien looked around at the others on the committee. No one objected, so he nodded and said, “We’ll try to be ready by then.”

  “Good. Now, if there’s nothing else,” Kevin said and paused.

  Before he could end the meeting, Damien spoke up. “I’d like to see everyone on the committee for a moment after the meeting’s over.” Then he looked at Kevin and said, “If that’s all right, of course.”

  Kevin smiled and nodded. “If there’s nothing else, I declare this meeting of the Council of Sorcerers adjourned, and ask all of you to return on the third of August for our next meeting.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Kevin and Chris returned to his office shortly after 1:00. When Chris opened the door to the reception area, the smell of food greeted him. Laryn was with the pages, and she grinned as she saw Chris’s eyes skim over the sandwiches and fruit that had been set out and then settle on a thick pie covered with a fluffy meringue.

  Elin looked directly at Chris as she said, “Myron, I thought you might want some lunch when you got back.”

  “Uh, thank you, Elin,” Kevin said as he winked at Laryn.

  When Laryn laughed, Chris turned in her direction to see what she was laughing at, which got Kevin started. Chris looked back and forth between them for a minute and then asked, “What?”

  Kevin shook his head, picked up a plate, and handed it to Chris. “Fix your plate. We’ll eat in my office while we give Laryn a blow by blow account of the meeting.” Then he turned to Laryn and asked, “Do you want anything to eat?”

  “I ate with Steve, but I will take a slice of that pie. I didn’t see that in the dining room at lunch.”

  “I made it last night,” Elin said as a blush crept up her cheeks. “Miranda lets me use the kitchen sometimes.”

  “Smells good,” Laryn said as she cut herself a small slice. “You’ll make some man very happy one day.”

  Elin’s blush deepened. She fussed with the table while Kevin and Chris fixed their plates and as soon as they were done, she picked up the rest of the pie and set it on Chris’s desk.

  Laryn followed Kevin and Chris into Kevin’s office and shut the door behind her. “They never went to this much trouble for me,” she said as she took her seat. “Come to think of it, I don’t think they ever did this for Badec either.” Laryn cut her eyes over to Chris and chuckled. He was so busy attacking his food that he didn’t notice, so she looked back at Kevin. “How did things go at the meeting?”

  After Kevin gave her a detailed report, she nodded and said. “This committee approach may work. There aren’t any real troublemakers on it either. They should be able to talk things over in a fairly civilized manner. Who did you appoint chairman?”

  “Damien.”

  “Good choice,” Laryn said. “I’ll be interested in seeing how this turns out.”

  “Me, too,” Kevin agreed.

  “Karl asked me to give you a message, but I don’t really understand it,” Laryn said slowly.

  “What?”

  “He wants you to go somewhere and get him a barrel of snow and ice.”

  “Snow and ice?” Kevin asked. “What in the world for?”

  “I have no idea. All I know is that Karl’s been out in the smithy with Neiven all morning. They’re making something, but I’ve never seen anything like it before. They have a big wooden barrel with a metal bucket inside of it. The bucket is almost as deep as the barrel, but not nearly as wide, and Neiven was working on something that looked like a long rod with a bunch of little paddles coming off of it.”

  “Paddles?” Chris asked, frowning as he tried to picture it.

  “From the sketches I saw on the workbench, I think the rod with the paddles on it fits inside the metal bucket, but I don’t know why. It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Laryn said with a shrug. “Joan and Karl told the staff that they’re all invited to have dessert this evening in the backyard, so I’m assuming that whatever they’re making has something to do with that. At any rate, Joan’s been in the kitchen for the last hour or so cutting up strawberries.”

  “You know what it sounds like, don’t you?” Chris asked Kevin.

  Kevin grinned and nodded. “Homemade ice cream!”

  Laryn knitted her eyebrows and asked, “Iced cream?”

  “Don’t worry, Laryn. You’ll like it,” Chris said. “I’ve never met anyone who didn’t.”

  “So do I tell Karl that he can count on you for the snow?” Laryn asked.

  Kevin nodded. “But I’ll tell him myself. I need to find out when he wants me to go get it.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  The churn was almost finished by the time Kevin made his way out to the smithy that afternoon. When he thanked Neiven for making it, the blacksmith laughed and said, “I have no idea what I’ve made, sir, but Karl assures me that I’ll enjoy what comes out of it this evening.”

  “You will,” Kevin said, grinning. “Okay, Karl. When do you need the snow?”

  “I’ve never used a churn this big before, so I’m not sure how long it’ll take, but I’d like to get started as soon as possible. Dinner’s in about three hours, and Joan wanted to have this ready for dessert,” Karl said. “When do you think you can go?”

  “I’d go right now, but if I took off for northern Brendolanth without Chris or one of my bodyguards, I’d never hear the end of it,” Kevin said. “Do we have an extra barrel for me to bring the snow back in?”

  Karl nodded and pointed towards the barn. “I set one right inside the door over there for you to use.”

  “Let me go change clothes and find someone to go with me. I’ll probably be back with the snow by the time you get everything else ready. Where are you going to put the churn?”

  “Over there, under that tree.”

  Kevin nodded. “Then I’ll set
the barrel of snow over there, too.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Shortly after dinner, the castle staff and their families scattered about on the grounds behind the castle. Joan scooped the ice cream out of the inner barrel and put it in several large serving bowls. Then she poured a second batch of ingredients into the churn. While Karl, Neiven, and several of the grounds men took turns churning away, Joan and several of the women filled small bowls with ice cream and served the crowd. The cold creamy strawberry concoction was an instant hit. Most of the people came back for seconds, and a lot had three or four bowlfuls.

  By the time the second batch was half gone, the sun had set and everyone had pretty much had their fill. Karl, Joan, Chris, and Kevin were sitting under the tree near the churn, relaxing a bit before tackling the final cleanup. The staff members had washed and put away the bowls and spoons their families had used, so the only things left were the ice cream churn and serving bowls.

  “By the way, I haven’t had a chance to congratulate you on a successful conference,” Kevin said to Karl and Joan. “From what I could tell, everything went smoothly.”

  Karl laughed. “At least no one asked for my resignation.”

  “Nor mine,” Kevin agreed.

  After a moment, Joan said, “I guess we’d better get this churn cleaned up. What are we going to do with the leftover ice cream? I hate to just throw it away.”

  “I wish we could take some to Warren and Torrey,” Chris said.

  “I’d like to send some to the giants,” Joan said with a sigh. “I know the kids would love it, and I bet Ashni and Blalick would, too.”

  “Well, why don’t we?” Kevin said as he stood up. “Look, Joan, you and Karl haven’t taken five minutes off since we got to Milhaven. Why don’t I take you two and some of the ice cream up to Wildcat Mountain? I could pick you back up tomorrow evening. No one would even realize that you were gone. Then, afterwards, Chris and I could take some over to Warren and Torrey.”

  “What about clothes?” Joan asked.

  “You don’t need any,” Chris said. “You can sleep in the kids’ shirts and wear the same clothes tomorrow. It’s not like we haven’t done that type of thing before. We’ll send one of the guards down to the governor’s house to let your staff know that you won’t be back tonight. They’ll think you’re going to stay at the castle.”

  “Let’s do it,” Karl said as he jumped up and started scooping ice cream out of the bottom of the churn.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Fifteen minutes later, Kevin, Karl, and Joan were standing in front of Blalick’s house. After he and Joan recovered from the trip through the energy field, Karl knocked on the front door.

  The giants were not accustomed to having anyone drop in for a visit, so Blalick looked a little perplexed when he opened the door, but as soon as he saw Karl standing on his doorstep, his deep chuckle resounded throughout the house.

  “Hi,” Karl said as he stepped inside. “Just thought we’d drop by for dessert.”

  Blalick looked enough like Ferdic, the federation representative for the giants, that he could have been his brother. About the only differences between them were the designs on their headbands and sashes.

  As soon as they stepped inside, Joan heard Ashni’s squeal of delight at the sound of Karl’s voice and a couple of moments later, she ran into the front room. She was a little shorter than her husband, and willowy where he was muscular. She wore a light brown dress that ended in fringe at the top of her black boots, and her thick black hair was gathered in one long braid that fell down the middle of her back. Her skin was a lighter shade of bronze than her husband’s and her green eyes were not quite as dark, but they sparkled just like his did when she smiled.

  “We thought we’d drop by for a visit if you don’t mind,” Joan said.

  “How long can you stay?” Ashni asked as she leaned down to hug Joan.

  “Just tonight and tomorrow.” Then she nodded towards the large bowl in her hands. “But we need to eat this ice cream before it melts. We can talk later.” Joan started walking towards the kitchen.

  “Ice cream?” Ashni asked as she opened the kitchen door for Joan. She looked at the concoction in the bowl when Joan set it on the table. “What is it?”

  “Trust me. You’ll like it. Call the kids.” Joan pulled a drawer open and grabbed four spoons.

  Meanwhile, Kevin quietly told Karl and Blalick goodbye, stepped outside, turned his key, and went back to the kitchen at the castle.

  When he popped back in, Chris was waiting for him.

  “Are you ready?” Kevin asked.

  “Any time you are,” Chris said as he picked up the bowl of ice cream. “Do you think it’s too late to go? I’d hate to wake them up.”

  “It’s not that late,” Kevin said. “We’ve just had another long day. Anyway, if we get there and the house is dark, we’ll just leave and come back home.”

  “Okay,” Chris said as he put his hand on Kevin’s arm.

  A minute later, they were standing in the yard behind Warren’s house. Lights were on in nearly every room.

  “Good. Looks like they’re still up,” Chris said as he stepped up on the back porch and knocked on the door.

  Torrey opened the door and exclaimed, “Chris! What a surprise! Is Myron with you? Come on in. I made a carrot cake for dinner tonight. Would you like some?”

  Chris laughed as he stepped into Torrey’s kitchen. “Believe it or not, this time we brought you some dessert.” Chris set the bowl on the kitchen table. “This is strawberry ice cream. I think you’ll like it.”

  “Iced cream? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before,” Torrey said as she looked at the concoction. “What’s it made of?”

  “Mostly milk, eggs, sugar, and strawberries. It’s good. You’ll like it, but be careful, it’s rather cold,” Chris said.

  Torrey reached for some bowls and started to take out four.

  “None for us,” Chris said. “I think Myron and I have had about all the ice cream we can eat for right now.”

  “Oh. Could I get you some cake then?” Torrey asked as her husband walked into the kitchen.

  “Hello! What brings you out this evening? No trouble, I hope,” Warren said as he shook Kevin’s hand.

  “No, no trouble. We made some ice cream at the castle tonight, and we wanted to bring you some,” Kevin said. Then he turned to Torrey and said, “I really couldn’t eat anything else, Torrey. Thanks anyway.”

  Chris nodded. “I’m going to have to take a rain check on the cake too, but I do love carrot cake.”

  Torrey spooned a little more than half the ice cream into a bowl and handed it to Warren. She winked at Chris and whispered, “I’ll fix you a couple of pieces to take home with you. You’ll be ready for a snack before you go to bed.” Then she put the rest of the ice cream in a bowl for herself.

  All four of them sat down at the table. When Warren took a big spoonful of the ice cream and put it in his mouth, his eyes popped wide open and he looked at Kevin. After he swallowed, he said, “This is really good, but how did you make it so cold?”

  Torrey ate a small spoonful and nodded enthusiastically. “I love it. It’s so smooth, so refreshing. I want the recipe. Who made this?”

  “Joan made it, Karl’s wife,” Chris said. “But you have to have a special churn, and ice.”

  “Ice?” Torrey asked with a frown. “Where did you get ice in July?”

  Kevin grinned and took out his key to Terah. “With this.”

  Torrey laughed. “Well, I guess we’ll have to invite you if we want to make ice cream, won’t we?”

  “Anytime, just say the word.” Then Kevin turned to Warren. “How are things working out with Gaynor?”

  Warren paused for a moment. Then he said, “All right, I guess.”

  “All right?!” Torrey exclaimed. Then she turned to Myron and said, “Things weren’t so all right Wednesday afternoon when my mild-mannered husband came storming through my house, slamming doors,
stomping around, and in general making a racket. If I’d had a cake in the oven, it would have fallen flat as a pancake!”

  Kevin looked at Warren and asked, “What happened?’

  Warren sighed and told Kevin how Gaynor tried to con everyone.

  When he finished, Kevin shook his head and said, “It would almost be funny except that people trusted him enough to fall for it. I hate that. Do you want me to get rid of him for you?”

  “Not yet. I had a talk with him. Then we did all the wards in two days for half the regular price.”

  “How did he react to that?”

  “He agreed, and I really did make him do half the work,” Warren said as he scraped the bottom of his bowl with his spoon.

  “He agreed all right, after he tried to throw an energy bolt at you,” Torrey mumbled.

  “He what!?” Kevin asked, looking hard at Warren.

  “He’s not quick enough. I had a dome over him before he had his thought half formed. He telegraphs his intentions with his eyes,” Warren said, looking at Kevin. “Actually, I think all he was trying to do was scare me, but I surprised him. He wasn’t expecting me to react like that, or that quickly.”

  “But he might have killed you if you hadn’t been so quick,” Kevin said. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to leave him here.”

  “I told him that if he ever pulls a stunt like that again, he won’t be able to get out of this town fast enough,” Warren said with a bit of fire in his eyes. “Let’s wait and see what happens. Maybe he just had to find out that I’m serious.”

  “Maybe he needs to know that I’m serious,” Kevin said softly.

  “I’d rather you not say anything,” Warren said. “I don’t want him thinking that I ran to you about it.”

  “I understand, but at the same time, I don’t want you to feel like you have to watch your back. He’s supposed to be here to help you, not to cause you headaches.”

  Warren shrugged. “Time will tell. Let’s hold off for right now.”

  Kevin hesitated and then nodded.

  Torrey took both of the empty bowls to the sink and dropped them in some water. Then she picked up a knife, caught Chris’s eye, and motioned towards the carrot cake. When Chris nodded, she smiled and cut a couple of big slices for Chris to take with him.