Kevin nodded. “I’ll pass that on to Sheryl and Torrey.”
“I thought I’d go back with you. I need to talk to Ryan.”
“Okay. Ryan wasn’t in the square when I left, but I imagine he’ll show up before long.”
When they reached the dining room, Chris was topping off the fifth crate. He looked up at Kevin and grinned. “You’ve got enough food here to feed an army. And these two crates are full of clothes and toys.”
Kevin shook his head. “It’s going to take several trips to get all of this out there.” Then he saw the five large pots sitting on a nearby table. “Chris, you’re going to have to go with me and carry the pots.”
Chris nodded and put on two large oven mitts. He picked up one of the pots and said, “Ready whenever you are.”
Kevin used his outstretched hand to pick up one of the crates. Then he put one hand on Chris’s arm, turned the key with his other hand, and they vanished.
Four more trips and all the food and clothing had been delivered. Then Kevin brought Chris back to the castle and asked Karl if he was ready to go. As Karl put his hand on Kevin’s arm, Kevin whispered, “You haven’t done this enough for a public entrance, so I’m going to take you in behind the square. Ryan will be out in the middle of the square where they’re serving the food. We’ll meet him there.”
Karl nodded and said, “Thanks,” just as they vanished.
After Karl recovered from the energy flow, they walked out into the square in search of Ryan and Rigel. As soon as they found them, Karl joined Ryan while Kevin and Rigel headed for Warren’s house.
Kevin found Warren and Colin in the living room, pouring over maps and marking places that still needed attention. Marcus was in the kitchen, helping Torrey with dinner.
“We need to talk,” Kevin said to Warren shortly after he got there.
Warren nodded towards his office.
As soon as the door was shut, Kevin asked, “Where was Gaynor today?”
Warren frowned. “I went by his house first thing this morning to sort of divide things up, but he said that he wanted his money up front. He said that from the looks of things, these people wouldn’t have enough left to pay him later, and that he doesn’t work for free.”
Kevin’s eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped open. After a moment, he managed to ask, “What?!”
“I told him to get out there and get to work, but I didn’t see him anywhere today.” Then Warren shrugged. “I didn’t have time to argue with him, Myron. I needed to get to work. You can’t do that type of stuff after dark. You’ve got to be able to see what you’re doing or someone’s going to get hurt.”
Kevin’s voice was strained when he said, “I have to go get some building supplies after dinner, but then I’m going to go see him. That’s the final straw, Warren. We’re done with him.”
“I have to agree,” Warren said softly. “I’m sorry.”
Kevin shook his head. “Nonsense. You’ve done all you could. I’m just sorry you had to put up with his mess. I should have kicked him out of Camden a long time ago.” Then he took a deep breath and said in a lighter tone, “Now. You need an assistant. What do you think of Colin? Think he’d work out?”
“He’s too good to be an assistant. Isn’t he already a district sorcerer?”
Kevin shook his head. “He and Marcus have both been doing some special work for me, nothing long term. Why don’t you talk to him and see if he’d be interested in working here? Or would you rather I ask him?”
“Why don’t you ask him?” Warren suggested. “It’ll be easier for him to say no to you than to me, don’t you think?”
Kevin thought about that for a moment. “I don’t know. Tell you what. I’ll bring Chris out here tomorrow and let him bring it up with Colin. Then, if he doesn’t want to do it, he can tell Chris.”
Warren nodded. “Sounds good to me. Now, let’s go get some dinner. I’m starved!”
~ ~ ~ ~
After dinner, Kevin and Rigel spent a couple of hours picking up and delivering building materials. By the time he finished, Kevin was exhausted. He didn’t feel like he had enough energy left to deal with Gaynor, so he told Warren he’d take care of it first thing the next morning. Then he took Rigel, Alek, and Karl back to the castle.
When Kevin got upstairs, Chris was waiting for him in his room with a large pitcher of scog and a tray of goodies. “I thought you could use a snack tonight.”
“Thanks,” Kevin said as he took a big swallow of his scog. “It’s been a long day.”
“So, how are things?”
“Pretty good right now,” Kevin said. Then he sighed and continued. “Chris, it’s at times like this that you see the best and the worst of people. The people in Walnut Springs are all helping each other out, except Gaynor, but he’s another story. And the other ministers are doing everything they can to get things together for Ryan. Everywhere I went tonight, they told me to tell Ryan to just let them know what he needed and they’d do their best to get it together for him. Marcus and Colin put in a long day today, and then tonight, they were busy planning what they wanted to tackle tomorrow. Neither of them has said one word about pay, they just jumped in there and started helping. So did the people here at the castle, and in Milhaven. All the food and clothing they collected for complete strangers hundreds of miles away, and some of them even offered to keep children in their homes while the parents rebuild. It makes you feel like maybe humans are worth protecting after all.”
“Yeah,” Chris said quietly. “It’s easy to forget about all the good people out there. The few rotten apples get all the attention.”
Kevin nodded. “And speaking of rotten apples, Gaynor’s history as soon as I can find the energy to deal with him.”
“Why? What did he do?”
After Kevin told Chris about Warren’s early morning conversation with Gaynor, Chris stood up and said, “I wish I could say I’m surprised, but I’m not.”
“Where are you going?”
“To get things together. You know, food, water, a bedroll, a tarp, the things we took out there before,” Chris answered. “You are taking him to that island, aren’t you? The one we found before the competition?”
“I guess so. I haven’t had a chance to think about it.” Then Kevin thought for a minute. “We can’t leave him out there forever though, and I can’t just dump him in another province.”
“No, but we could find a nice little island somewhere. One with fruit, fish, warm temperatures, you know what I mean. Just as long as there’s no one else on it.”
“Complete solitude. That would drive most men crazy.”
“True, but who would want him around? How are you going to find anyone willing to take him?”
“I don’t know,” Kevin admitted. “I need to think about it, but you’re right. For now, I just need a place to stash him.”
“So we’ll use the little island?”
Kevin nodded. “Go ahead and get the stuff together. We’ll take it out to the island tonight and check the place out. Make sure it’s safe.”
~ ~ ~ ~
By the time they finished getting the little island ready for Gaynor, it was approaching midnight and Kevin was worn out. When they got back to his room, he couldn’t stop yawning. He sprawled out on the couch and said, “I need to talk to you about something for a minute, and then I’m done for today.”
Chris nodded and sat down.
“Warren wants to ask Colin to be his new assistant, but he doesn’t want to put him in a spot. If Warren asks him, or if I do, there will be a certain amount of pressure to say yes. I’d like for you to sort of feel him out about the job while I’m taking care of Gaynor tomorrow morning.”
“Sure, no problem, but why Colin and not Marcus?”
Kevin smiled, “My idea. I want to keep Marcus around here. He’s good about going into strange situations. He makes friends everywhere he goes, and he manages to keep pretty close tabs on Theresa without irritating her. I’d like
to keep him on staff at the castle.”
“Are you going to pay him?”
“I need to find out how, but yeah, and I’d like for it to be a permanent position. It’s nice having a spare sorcerer around.”
Chris laughed. “Well, you need a better title than spare sorcerer.”
Kevin nodded through a yawn. “We’ll worry about that tomorrow.” He sat up and wiped his face with his hands. “If Colin takes the job with Warren, I want to offer Marcus a position here at the same time.”
Chris nodded. “Let me think about it. I’ll come up with something.”
Kevin nodded and slowly made his way over to his bed. “Good. Now go away. I’ve got to get some sleep.”
Chris walked around the room, covering the glowstones while Kevin stretched out on his bed. Before Chris could get out the door, he heard Kevin’s breath slow into the soft gentle snores of sleep.
Chapter 32
Exile
Wednesday morning Kevin woke up just as dawn was breaking over the mountaintops. He dressed quickly and headed out to the meadow to run through his morning exercises.
While Kevin was warming up for the day, Chris was down in the kitchen, scrounging up some breakfast for them. They met on the stairs as they were both headed back up to their rooms.
Chris set the tray down on the coffee table in Kevin’s room and handed Kevin a large mug of coffee. Then he picked up his own and took a sip.
“Miranda had the fruit and pastries ready for us, but I added the brownies,” Chris said as he picked up a brownie and took a big bite out of it.
“Think I’ll take my brownie with me and eat it after I deal with Gaynor,” Kevin said as he reached for some fruit. “Are you about ready to go?”
“Not until I finish my coffee.”
Kevin nodded as he sipped his own.
“Who’s going with us?” Chris asked.
“Alek and Rigel are both going, but I don’t know that anyone else is planning to go this morning.”
“I’ll need to let Ariel know that we’re both going to be out of the office for the morning.”
“Make it for the day. I don’t know when we’ll be back.”
“You’ll have to pop back in around lunchtime. Miranda’s already busy fixing more food for Walnut Springs.”
“Remind me to do something really nice for her once this is all over.”
“For the whole kitchen staff,” Chris agreed. “They’ve all pulled extra hours.”
Before Kevin could answer, there was a soft knock on the door. When he opened it, Rigel was standing in the hall.
“You asked me to check with you this morning to find out what time we’re leaving for Walnut Springs,” Rigel said.
“We’ll be ready as soon as we finish breakfast. Have you and Alek eaten?”
Rigel nodded. “We’ll be in the office.”
“Is Ariel in the office yet?” Chris asked from across the room.
Rigel shook his head. “He wasn’t when I came through, but it’s a little early. He’ll probably be there in a few minutes.”
“When he gets there, tell him to stay put until I get downstairs,” Chris said. “I want to see him for a minute before we leave.”
Rigel nodded and walked back down the hall.
A few minutes later, Kevin and Chris went down to Kevin’s office.
When Chris took their breakfast tray out into the reception area, Elin took the tray out of his hands, smiled sweetly, and said, “Here. Let me. I’ll take care of it for you.”
Ariel rolled his eyes at Elin and then turned towards Chris. “Rigel said you wanted to see me.”
Chris nodded. “We’re going to be out of the office most of the day. If anything urgent comes in this morning, give it to Miranda. At some point, Myron will have to come back to pick up the food.”
Ariel nodded. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“Just take care of the office. If things are slow, send Elin and Cameryn down to the kitchen to help Miranda, but I’d like for you and Isak to stay here. You never know what might come up.”
Ariel nodded again.
“Chris, are you ready?” Kevin called from his office. Alek and Rigel had already joined him.
“Coming,” Chris answered. He pointed to some correspondence on his desk. “Those letters are ready to go out. Get Isak to take them to the aviary.” Then he glanced around the office. “I think that’s it for now. See you later.”
By the time they arrived at Warren’s house, Warren, Colin, and Marcus were already out working. Torrey had been expecting them, so she had pastries on the table and coffee on the stove. Alek grabbed a pastry and left to go find Jacob and his crew.
“Rigel, stay here with Chris,” Kevin said as he started to go out the door.
Rigel frowned. “Sir?”
“I’ve got to go take care of a sorcerer. Do you remember Gaynor? The sorcerer that we had to deal with down in Zander?”
Rigel nodded.
“Well, this is where I brought him. Now it’s time for him to move on, and he’s going to be just as angry this time as he was the last time. I need to go by myself.”
“This is the same guy? I heard all kinds of things about him yesterday while you were busy. The people around here can’t stand him.”
“That’s him all right.”
“From what I heard, I don’t think you should go out there alone.”
“I have to. It’s the safest way.”
Rigel looked at Chris for support, but Chris nodded and said, “It really is safer this way, Rigel.” Then he looked at Kevin. “Be careful, and don’t take your eyes off of him for a second.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t.”
~ ~ ~ ~
When Kevin reached Gaynor’s house, he stepped up on the front porch and knocked on the door. He waited a few minutes, and knocked again. When no one answered, he backed up a step and kicked the door open.
Gaynor stormed out of his bedroom yelling, “What do you mean busting in on me?! How dare you?!” Then he recognized Kevin and his attitude did a quick reversal. “Myron. Sorry, I didn’t know it was you. What can I do for you? I was just getting ready to go out and help Warren clean up the mess around here.”
“Sure you were,” Kevin said with a sneer. “I was here all day yesterday, and we didn’t see your sorry backside out there one time. You’re done. That’s it. No more chances. Now get dressed. You’re leaving Camden.”
“You can’t do that!” Gaynor protested. “I was sick all day yesterday with a horrible headache, probably from the storm. You can’t expect a sorcerer to try to work when he’s sick! You have to be healthy or your magic’s no good. You’ll understand what I mean when you’ve been a sorcerer a little longer.”
“I said get dressed,” Kevin said through clenched teeth. “The only ‘ache’ was the one in your pocket. You’re out of excuses and out of chances. I wanted to kick you out after that scam you ran about the burglary in Timera Valley, but Warren talked me into giving you another chance. Well, no more. You’re out of here.”
Gaynor had been struggling into his clothes while Kevin was talking. He was more or less dressed by the time Kevin finished. “That old man,” he said as he pulled on his boots. “He made up that story. He’s been giving me a hard time ever since I got here, expecting me to be nice all the time and to work without pay. No sorcerer does that! Even you get paid for using your magic.”
“Really?” Kevin asked sarcastically. “I get a place to live, food, and clothes, but I don’t have a coin in my pocket, and no one has offered me one since I got to Milhaven. But this isn’t about money. It’s about you and your attitude. Now, is there anything you want to take with you?”
Gaynor waved his arm around the room, indicating that he wanted it all.
“No, I mean your clothes. The rest of the stuff was here when you got here. It belongs to the town.”
Gaynor picked up a pillowcase and started dumping his clothes into it. “Where are y
ou taking me? I think I should have some say in that.”
“I don’t,” Kevin answered. “You’re going to a small island for a while, until I can figure out what to do with you on a permanent basis. I can’t just dump you in some other province and let you start running your scams on the citizens there. I’ll find someplace for you to live, but it’ll be somewhere that you can’t hurt anyone.”
“You have to let me earn a living,” Gaynor whined. “You can’t deny me that!”
“Actually, I can,” Kevin said impatiently. “Now, get ready. We’re leaving.”
Kevin surrounded Gaynor in a sphere of magical energy, picked him up in his outstretched hand, turned his key, and they vanished from Walnut Springs.
When they materialized on the little island, Kevin released the energy sphere so that Gaynor could walk around a little and shake off the effects of the energy flow.
Gaynor walked over to the small rock wall that ran along one side of the island and looked down the rock cliffs that fell away into the ocean. Then he walked to one of the other sides and saw the gentle slope that lead to the ocean thirty feet below. There was nothing else on the island, no plants, no animals, nothing.
When he turned back to Kevin, his face was beet red. “You’ve got no right to leave me here! There’s no food or water! I’ll die!”
Kevin shook his head. “You won’t die. Look over there in that little cave. You’ll find two barrels of fresh water, plenty of food, a sleeping blanket, and a tarp. I’ll be back in a couple of days to take you to your permanent home. Until then, just sit back and relax. No one around here will expect you to lift a finger to help them.”
Before Gaynor could say another word, Kevin turned his key and went back to Walnut Springs.
Chapter 33
Chris’s Role
When Kevin got back to Warren’s, Rigel was standing on the back porch watching Chris pace back and forth.
“About time you got back,” Chris said. “How did it go?”
“He’s on the island, so I guess it went all right.”
The Dragon's Flame (The Chronicles of Terah # 2) Page 44