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

by Morgan, Mackenzie

Maybe they were for research purposes. Maybe Gerry was trying to find a cure, and the test proved fatal to the subjects. If you gave her the benefit of the doubt, you could almost believe that she fed poison to all those people in an effort to save others. Maybe she thought she had come up with a cure and would be able to bring them out of the coma. It didn’t excuse what she did, but it definitely put it in a different light.

  Theresa tossed and turned, unable to shut her thoughts off long enough to fall asleep. What if the cave was just what it appeared, a quiet place for Gerry to meet her lover? What if he was married? Who said this was any of her business anyway? Was it up to her to ruin his life now that Gerry was gone? And who’s to say he was married? Maybe he was from a nearby valley and they just didn’t want anyone else to know. Weren’t they entitled to their privacy?

  But what if Kevin was right? Then the cave was where she met her partner, a partner with a key, a partner with a motive to kill. Maybe the partner was the one who attacked Brena. No, not without a pendant. Maybe Gerry was the one who attacked Brena. What a horrible thought. No, there was absolutely nothing to justify that suspicion. There was nothing at either the chapel or the cave that linked Gerry to Timera Valley. If she was the one who took the lamp, where was it? There was no sign of it in Glenco. Maybe it was still with her, wherever she was.

  Finally, about an hour before dawn, Theresa got up and went outside. She walked through the gardens near the governor’s house and thought some more, until she felt like she was going to go crazy. Arguments for and against this woman whom she had never met shouted back and forth in her head, pulling her this way and that.

  In the end, she was no closer to understanding what had happened in Glenco than she was when she went to bed last night. And no closer to making a decision on how much she should tell Kevin.

  Theresa noticed that the sun had cleared the tops of the mountains. It would soon be time for breakfast. The others would be getting up and someone would notice that she wasn’t in her room. The last thing she needed was to have someone start asking her a bunch of questions.

  As she turned back towards the chapel, she came to a decision. She had done what she had been asked to do. She had gone to Glenco. She had covered the chapel until Sister Rochelle arrived. She had asked around to see if anyone knew where Gerry was. That was what she had been asked to do.

  It was no longer any of her business. It was time to concentrate on her duties in Milhaven. Glenco was on a different continent, thousands of miles away. Gerry and Glenco were none of her concern. She would put it out of her head and be done with it.

  By the time she reached the back door of the chapel, she had almost convinced herself that she could do it.

  Chapter 27

  Theresa’s Chimes

  Theresa managed to bury herself in work during the day, but every night, as she tried to go to sleep, all the doubts and questions came rushing back. She knew she would feel like she was betraying a trust if she told Kevin about the cave and Gerry’s secret life, but she was tired of feeling guilty for not telling him. For nearly two weeks she bounced back and forth, trying to determine the lesser of the two evils.

  It would make things a lot simpler if she could find out whom Gerry was meeting at the cave. If he was a local man with no connection to a key, then she would feel perfectly comfortable protecting Gerry’s secret, but if he had a key, then there was a good chance that Gerry was responsible for Badec’s death. The more Theresa thought about it, the more she was convinced that someone must have seen something.

  Thursday afternoon, while she was working in the herb garden, she came to the conclusion that she had to do something or she was going to go nuts. It was time to talk to King Merdin and ask for his help.

  She stood up, wiped her hands on her apron, collected her tools, cleaned them, and put them away. Then she went into the chapel in search of Sister Agnes. She found her in the office.

  “Hi,” Theresa said as she knocked lightly on the open door. “Have you got a minute?”

  “Come on in,” Agnes said, sitting back in her chair. “I could use a break.”

  Theresa sat down in one of the visitor’s chairs. “I want to go back out in the woods and gather some more herbs.”

  “Why? We’ve got enough to last us several months.”

  “They’re not for us. I need to take some to Wildcat Mountain when I go back to help Sari prepare the herbs we have growing up there.”

  Sister Agnes nodded. “Are you going to take Hayley with you?”

  Theresa sighed and said, “I’d like to, but I feel like I’ve taken her away from you. She’s been with me more than she’s been with you for the past few months.”

  “And she’s loved it. Why don’t you take her on as your assistant? You need one.”

  “She has been a tremendous help to me at the other chapels. But are you sure you don’t need her here?”

  “No, I’ve got plenty of help, almost too much. If she stays with me, she’ll get bored before long and leave. There’s just not enough work around here to keep everyone busy now that I’m here all the time.”

  “Well, if you’re sure, I’d love to have her. Do I have to do anything to make it official?” Theresa asked.

  Sister Agnes nodded. “Let me talk to Hayley and see if she wants to be an assistant first. That’s a mighty big step, and she may want to wait a while before she makes it. She can go on working with you, either way, but if she does want to be your assistant, I’ll write Brena and have her put it in the book.”

  “She keeps a record of who our assistants are?”

  Sister Agnes nodded. “Being an assistant is more involved than just working in a chapel. A sister’s assistant goes with her when she travels or if she gets transferred.”

  “Oh. I didn’t know that. I met a young man who said he had been a sister’s assistant, but I thought he just meant that he had helped out in a chapel.”

  Sister Agnes shook her head. “No. An assistant has almost as much training as a sister, a lot more than most aides. Do you know why he quit?”

  Theresa nodded. “He was a slave in Tsareth’s castle. When Rolan took over, he made him leave the chapel and become his personal slave.”

  “Sometime you really must tell me about some of your adventures. I have a feeling you’ve had an interesting few years,” Sister Agnes said. “When were you thinking of leaving to go gather herbs?”

  “I need to go by the castle and let Myron know where I’m going and pick up my wagon. How about Saturday morning? Would that be all right?”

  “Fine. How much food do you plan to take with you?”

  “Don’t worry about that. I’ll get my supplies at the castle tomorrow.”

  “Do you know how long you’ll be gone?”

  “A week, maybe two, but I doubt it will be any longer than that.”

  Sister Agnes stood up. “Let me talk to Hayley and see how she feels about being an assistant before you say anything to her about going with you on this trip. I don’t want her to feel that she has to say yes in order to go with you. If she’s interested, I’ll write Brena this afternoon.”

  Theresa nodded. “I’ll start dinner.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Sister Agnes found Hayley polishing the furniture in the large sitting room at the front of the chapel.

  “Hayley, could I talk to you for a minute?” Sister Agnes asked from the doorway. “Let’s go to my office.”

  A swarm of butterflies invaded Hayley’s stomach. Sister Agnes had always said whatever she had to say right where she was. Haley couldn’t help but wonder if she had done something horribly wrong, something so wrong that Sister Agnes was going to ask her to leave.

  When they reached the office, Sister Agnes motioned Hayley into one of the visitor’s chairs as she shut the door. Hayley quickly sat down before her shaky knees could betray her.

  Sister Agnes walked around behind her desk and sat down in her chair. “I have something I want to talk to you about, but first
I want to assure you that our conversation is confidential. I’ll never repeat anything you tell me.”

  Hayley nodded that she understood, but her mind whirled, trying to figure out where Sister Agnes was headed.

  “You came to the chapel as an aide, and you have more than proven your worth. Theresa said that you were a tremendous help at the chapels in Drisden and Glenco.”

  “Uh, thank you,” Hayley murmured, her cheeks coloring at the unexpected compliment.

  “Theresa would like for you to become her assistant,” Sister Agnes said softly. She waited a moment to let that sink in, and then she continued. “Hayley, this is a big step, not one to be taken lightly. It involves a major commitment on both your part and Theresa’s. It would mean a lot more training and a lot more responsibility, and it could mean that you might have to leave Milhaven one day and live somewhere else, possibly in some other province.” She paused again, giving Hayley a chance to think. Then, as a slow smile played at the corners of Hayley’s mouth, Sister Agnes continued. “Don’t rush into this, Hayley. There’s a lot to consider. You could go on working with Theresa just as you are now and take some time to think it over. You can decide later. Nothing has to be settled today.”

  Hayley’s smile spread to her eyes and lit up her whole face. “Are you serious? Me? I’d love it! I’d love to be her assistant!”

  “I was sort of expecting you to feel that way,” Sister Agnes said with a grin. “Do you want me to go ahead and let Brena know? That would make if official.”

  Hayley nodded. Then she knotted her eyebrows together and asked, “But are you sure Theresa wants me? I mean there are a lot of aides who know more than I do and could help her more.”

  “Maybe so, but you’re the one she wants. She and I talked this afternoon.”

  “Then, yes. Please. Make it official,” Hayley said, her eyes sparkling again. “Should I tell her I know about it? Or should I wait for her to bring it up?”

  “Let’s go tell her now. I think she’s in the kitchen fixing dinner.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Friday morning, Theresa and Hayley walked to the castle. When they got there, Theresa took Hayley around to the kitchen door and went inside.

  “Miranda, I’d like for you to meet my assistant, Hayley. We’re heading back out into the forest to gather herbs again. Would you mind if we took some food for the trip?”

  “Not at all,” Miranda said. “Who’s going? Just the two of you?”

  “As far as I know, but I haven’t talked to Myron yet.”

  “Why don’t you go tell him your plans then? While you’re gone, Hayley and I’ll start getting some things together. Go on, now.” Miranda all but shoved Theresa towards the door. After Theresa left, Miranda grinned at Hayley and said, “Let’s plan on three. I can’t see Myron letting the two of you go off on your own right now. I bet he sends that nice young sorcerer with you.”

  Hayley felt her cheeks grow warm, so she turned her head towards the door. “I’ll go get Theresa’s wagon and pull it up to the door. Be back in just a minute.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  After Theresa stopped by the Governor’s Office to speak with Joan and Karl for a few minutes, she knocked on Kevin’s door. When Ariel opened it, she asked, “Is Myron around? I’d like to speak to him for a few minutes if he is.”

  Ariel nodded and stepped back to let her enter.

  Chris was at his desk sorting the morning mail. When he saw Theresa, he stood up and walked around the desk towards her. “Hi. Is everything okay?”

  Theresa nodded. “I just wanted to speak to Kevin for a minute. I’m going back out into the woods to gather some more herbs and I wanted to let him know.”

  “Who’s going with you?” Chris asked as he knocked on Kevin’s door and slowly opened it.

  “Just Hayley,” Theresa said, walking into Kevin’s office.

  “Just Hayley what?” Kevin asked, looking up from his desk.

  “Going with me to gather some herbs. We’ll be gone for about a week, maybe two. I came up here to get my wagon and to beg some supplies.” Theresa sat down in one of the chairs in front of Kevin’s desk.

  Kevin shook his head. “Not this time, Theresa. I want Marcus to go with you.”

  “Oh come on, Kevin, we’ll be fine. There’s absolutely no reason to make Marcus tag along on an herb-gathering trip. It’s hard work, and it’s boring. He’s done enough for us already. Don’t make him go,” Theresa implored.

  Kevin shook his head. “Sorry, but I want someone with you. If not Marcus, a couple of the guards.”

  Theresa sighed. “In that case, I’d rather have Marcus, but I still think it’s quite an imposition to ask him to go this time. It’s not like the other times, when he at least had a bed.”

  “Just out of curiosity, are he and Hayley still interested in each other?”

  “As far as I know. They’ve seen each other several evenings since we’ve been back. Why?”

  “Think about this from his point of view. Would he prefer to go with you himself, or would he rather stay here and let some other man accompany the two of you?” Kevin asked with a hint of a grin.

  “Oh, all right, but I need to go let Miranda know that there’ll be three of us instead of two,” Theresa said as she stood up.

  “And I’ll go find Marcus,” Chris said. “I’ll send him down to the kitchen. He can help you load up.”

  Chris left the room, but Theresa stopped at the door and turned back towards Kevin. “There’s one more thing I meant to talk to you about.”

  “Okay.”

  “After I get back, I’ll want to go to Wildcat Mountain for a couple of weeks. The herb beds are going to need a lot of attention about then.”

  “Sure. I’ll be glad to take you, whenever you want to go.”

  “Well, it’s a little more complicated than that now. As of yesterday, Hayley is officially my assistant.”

  “So you’ll need to take her with you, right?”

  Theresa nodded.

  “I don’t have a problem with that.”

  “Would you ask Blalick and Ashni how they feel about it? I don’t want to just drop in on them with a complete stranger in tow and expect them to put us both up. We could stay in the caves if it would be more convenient. We’ll be working down there anyway.”

  Kevin nodded. “I’ll be going out there next Tuesday. I’ll stop by the house and talk to them then. If you’d prefer to stay in the caves, I’m sure Ashni wouldn’t mind freshening up the rooms a bit, and you could take some food from here.”

  “I want to do whatever is going to be the least amount of trouble for them.”

  “Then I’ll just tell Ashni you’re coming and see how she wants to handle it.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll check in with you when we get back,” Theresa said as she left his office.

  By the time Theresa got to the kitchen, Marcus was helping Hayley load the wagon.

  “Did Chris talk to you?” Theresa asked Marcus.

  He nodded. “When do you want to leave?”

  “I thought we’d head out tomorrow morning right after breakfast, but you don’t need to come to Milhaven,” Theresa said. “We have to go right past the castle on the way to the mountains anyway. We’ll pick you up here.”

  Marcus nodded. “I’ll be ready. Do you want me to pack a few clothes now so that you can go ahead and load them?”

  “That would be a good idea.”

  After Marcus left the kitchen, Theresa said, “I hope you don’t mind his coming with us, but Myron said we either had to take Marcus or two of the guards. I figured we’d both be more comfortable with Marcus than with strangers.”

  Hayley nodded as she picked up a box of supplies and headed for the door. “It’s fine with me. Did you have a chance to ask Myron if I can go with you to Wildcat Mountain?”

  Theresa nodded as she followed Hayley out the door with another box. “He said it was okay with him. He’ll check with the giants while he’s out there next week
.”

  “Will we be staying with them?”

  “I’m not sure. Either there or in the caves in Rainbow Valley.”

  “Does Myron go out there a lot?”

  “Twice a week. He’s still training with Glendymere.”

  “Will we see him?”

  “Who?” Theresa asked as she climbed up in the back of the wagon.

  “Glendymere!”

  “I imagine so. I usually do when I’m there,” Theresa said absent-mindedly.

  “Ohhh,” Hayley said as she sank down on the back of the wagon. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

  Theresa looked up at the sound of weakness in Hayley’s voice. “Hayley, don’t start worrying about that now. We have a lot to do before you have to worry about meeting him. Besides, you’ll be all right. You were fine among all the strangers in Drisden and Glenco.”

  “But they were all humans,” Hayley moaned. “Giants, and a dragon.”

  “Okay. If it bothers you that much, I’ll just leave you in Milhaven and you won’t have to worry about it.”

  “No, that’s all right,” Hayley said quickly. “I don’t want you to have to do all of the work yourself. I’ll manage somehow.”

  “If you’re sure,” Theresa said, swallowing a laugh.

  After they finished loading the wagon, Theresa stood back, looked at the supplies in the wagon, and said, “You and Miranda packed enough food to feed an army.”

  “Well, you never know who we might run into. The last time we went out in the woods, we ended up living with a bunch of gnomes for a week.”

  “Um, true.” Theresa climbed down from the back of the wagon. “I’m going to step inside and thank Miranda. Then we’ll be ready to go as soon as Marcus gets back with his bag.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Saturday morning, Hayley was up with the sun. By the time she had breakfast fixed, Theresa was up and dressed too. After they ate, Hayley hitched the team and the two of them left Milhaven. When they reached the castle, Marcus was waiting outside, with a basket in his hand.

  “What’s that?” Theresa asked.

  “Miranda sent along some tarts, some brownies, a cake, and a bunch of cookies.” Marcus handed the basket to Theresa. “I don’t see any way we can eat all of this, but I just thanked her and took it.”