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

by Morgan, Mackenzie

  When King Merdin was certain that Rolan was sound asleep, he said, “Dani, tell Jaron to get comfortable. We’re spending the night.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  The next morning, King Merdin woke up early. He got up, stretched, and sat back down to wait for Rolan to wake up. Shortly afterwards, he heard a quiet yawn coming from the other end of the couch and caught a glimpse of Jaron’s hand as he stirred around, waking up. Then it disappeared again. A little while later, there was a loud knock on the bedroom door. When no one answered, the person on the other side knocked again, even louder.

  Rolan mumbled to himself as he sat up. Then he said, “Come.”

  A maid entered with a breakfast tray. She put the tray on the table beside the bed and asked, “Will there be anything else, sir?”

  “No,” Rolan growled. “Now leave!”

  The smell of coffee wafted over towards the three hiding behind the couch. King Merdin heard a faint groan coming from Jaron’s end of the couch and nearly laughed. The coffee did smell good, as did the rest of Rolan’s breakfast.

  Rolan ate slowly, muttering to himself as he ate. Then he got up, pulled off his nightshirt and dressed. King Merdin watched as Rolan put his tunic on over the two pendants. He reached under the tunic and pulled out the pendant with the red opal. Then he patted the one that was still hidden. The grin on his face looked menacing as he walked out the door.

  After the guard shut the door to the bedroom, King Merdin stood up and walked out from behind the couch.

  “What now?” Dani asked.

  “Let’s get something to eat and get out of here for a while,” King Merdin said. “Here, you and Jaron take my arms. We’re going back to that hallway in front of the storage room.”

  A few seconds later, the trio materialized in front of the storage room door, still invisible.

  “Stay with me,” King Merdin said to Dani. “We’ll go to the kitchen and see if we can find something to eat in there.”

  King Merdin led the other two through the little dining room that he had decided must be where the slaves ate and into the kitchen. It was between breakfast and lunch, so most of the staff was taking a break. There were only four people in the kitchen, and they were down at the end with the stoves and sinks. King Merdin saw a loaf of bread and a large hunk of cheese sitting on the worktable closest to where he was standing. “Dani, can you jump up there and knock that bread and cheese down?”

  “Sure. Can you catch it?”

  “I can catch one of them. Tell Jaron to catch the other.”

  Dani jumped up on the table and a few seconds later the bread started moving slowly towards the side of the table. It teetered on the edge for a moment, and then dropped. Before it reached the floor, two hands reached out and grabbed it, and then it disappeared. King Merdin had tucked it under his cloak.

  Next, the cheese started making its way towards the edge of the table, until it too dropped over the side. Once again, two hands quickly grabbed it, and then the cheese vanished as Jaron stashed it under his cloak.

  An almost silent thud told King Merdin that Dani was back down from the table.

  “Take hold of my arms. Let’s get out of here,” King Merdin said. He felt Jaron’s hand on one arm and Dani’s paw on the other. He turned his key, and a few seconds later, the three of them materialized in the woods on the other side of Trendon, and, as soon as Dani gave the all clear, became visible.

  King Merdin took a small cloth out of his pocket and spread it on the ground. He set the bread on the cloth and motioned for Jaron to put the cheese down, too. “Let’s eat first. Then we’ll talk about what we’re going to do next.”

  “Aren’t we going home?”

  “Not yet. We haven’t seen all that we came to see. Eat up. We’ll talk later.”

  After they finished off the bread and cheese, they leaned back against the trees surrounding their little clearing and relaxed in silence for a while.

  Finally, Jaron said, “All right. I’ll ask. Why are we hanging around here? We know he has the pendant. We all three saw it hanging around his neck.”

  “But we don’t know where he’s hidden the lamp and the pendant that belonged to the sister he killed. We need to find those before we go.”

  “How are we going to do that?”

  “I’m not sure. I thought we’d go back to his room tonight and wait. I feel sure it’s in there, somewhere.”

  “What if it’s not?”

  “Then we’ll take turns following him. He’ll lead us to it eventually.”

  Jaron didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Then he asked, “When were you thinking of heading back to the castle?”

  “This evening, about the same time we got there last night.”

  “Good.” Jaron stood up and stretched. “I’m going to head out and see what else I can find to eat. I’ll be back long before then. Coming, Dani?”

  King Merdin stretched out on the ground. “Have fun. And if you find anything good, bring me some.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Right after sunset King Merdin, Dani, and Jaron materialized in the little hall that led down to the storeroom. Dani slipped down the hall and peered around the corner to see what was going on at Rolan’s room. The door was shut and the guard was standing in front of it, looking really bored. Dani let the guard’s thoughts flow into him. Among all the drivel, he found out that Rolan was not in his room and wasn’t expected any time soon.

  Dani slipped back down the hall to where King Merdin and Jaron were waiting. “The coast is clear,” he told them both. “Rolan isn’t in his room and isn’t expected anytime soon.”

  “Good,” King Merdin said. “Tell Jaron that we’re going to use the key to get inside this time. Take my arms.”

  A couple of moments later, he felt a light pressure on each of his arms. He turned the key, and the three intruders whisked away into Rolan’s bedroom. King Merdin didn’t completely trust the guard’s thoughts, so he took them to the little space between the couch and the wall, where the hint of shimmering light that came from opening the door in the energy flow would pass unnoticed if someone did happen to be in the room. All three of them stood absolutely still until they had regained their balance. Then King Merdin peeked out from behind the couch and scanned the room. They were alone.

  “It’s empty,” King Merdin said to Dani.

  “I could have told you that without sticking my nose out.”

  “Fine. Next time you check it out. Tell Jaron to make himself comfortable. We’re probably in for a long night.”

  A few seconds later, Dani said, “Jaron wants to know why we aren’t going to search his room.”

  “Because I don’t think Rolan is a trusting man. Wherever that lamp is, it’s probably protected by a ward, and I’d just as soon not find out the hard way.”

  “Good point,” Dani agreed.

  For the next couple of hours, they sat in silence, waiting. The maid came in, turned down the bed, took out a fresh nightshirt, laid it on the bed, and left. Nothing else happened until Rolan came in around midnight. He did exactly the same thing that he had done the night before, and within fifteen minutes, he was snoring.

  “Well, that was a waste,” King Merdin grumbled in his thoughts.

  “Yes, it was,” Dani said. “Jaron feels the same way. What now?”

  “We wait. Try to get a little sleep. I doubt anything will happen before daybreak.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  The three intruders were awake by daybreak Sunday morning, but Rolan wasn’t. A couple of hours passed in silence. No one knocked on Rolan’s door to wake him up. By mid-morning, King Merdin was so bored that he was considering giving up. Then he heard Rolan groan and move around on the bed. King Merdin peeked around the side of the couch to see if Rolan was actually going to get up, but all he did was roll over, punch his pillow a couple of times, sigh, and drift back off for a few more minutes. Just when King Merdin thought the man had gone back to sleep, he saw him roll back over and rub his eyes
. A couple of minutes later Rolan slowly sat up on the side of the bed.

  “All right,” King Merdin said. “He’s coming around.”

  Dani stood up on his hind legs and peered over the top of the couch. Jaron slipped around to the arm on the other side of the couch to watch.

  Rolan stood up, stretched, and walked over to his chest of drawers. He pulled out a gray tunic and a pair of black leggings and started getting dressed. Once again, he pulled the sorcerer’s pendant out from under his tunic and let it hang in the middle of his chest, and once again, he gently caressed the one that was still hidden.

  Once he was dressed, he opened the door to his room and told the guard to send for his breakfast. After he shut the door, he walked over towards the couch. The three intruders ducked behind it and crouched on the floor next to the wall. Rolan sat down to wait for his food. A few minutes later, there was a light knock on his door.

  “Come,” Rolan called out without getting up.

  A maid walked in with a tray and set it on the coffee table in front of the couch. “Is there anything else, sir?”

  “No, not right now. I’ll be going out in about an hour. You can clean the room then.”

  The maid nodded and backed out of the room, pulling the door to after her.

  Rolan ate his breakfast slowly, enjoying every mouthful. When he was finally done, he got up and walked over to the door to what King Merdin had assumed was some type of closet. King Merdin slipped around the side of the couch and stood near the front so that he could see what Rolan was doing. Jaron took up his position at the arm of the couch again, and Dani jumped up and sat on the top.

  Rolan stood in front of the closet door for a few minutes, waving his arms.

  “What’s he doing?” Dani asked.

  “Removing a ward,” King Merdin answered. “That’s got to be where he has the lamp. You two stay put. I’m going to move around so I can get a better view.”

  “Be careful,” Dani cautioned, and then he passed the conversation on to Jaron. A moment later, Dani told King Merdin, “And your son says be careful, too.”

  A few minutes later, Rolan reached for the door and pulled it open. King Merdin moved around until he had a good view of what was inside the closet.

  The closet wasn’t all that large, but there was enough room on each side of the wooden cabinet standing in the center of the small room for a couple of gnomes. The cabinet had three sections. The top third was closed off by doors. The center section was an open shelf, and the bottom third had drawers in it. Sitting on the shelf in the center of the cabinet was a brass-based lamp with three oil bowls, one on top of the other, and a small flame burning at the top. Beside the lamp was a jeweled pillow.

  “Can you see what’s in there?” Jaron asked Dani. “I can’t see a thing.”

  “Your father has a good view,” Dani said sternly. “Stay put.”

  “So? Is it in there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Finally.” Jaron sank back against the wall in relief. They’d be able to go home soon. This had been one of the most boring things he had ever been involved in.

  King Merdin watched as Rolan picked the second pendant up off the little pillow, caressed it, and then put it back. “

  “Was that little caress in memory of the girl?” he asked Dani.

  “No. That pendant’s his backup, his secret weapon. He didn’t give one thought to the girl who used to wear it.”

  Rolan stepped back and shut the closet door. While he was occupied with replacing the ward, King Merdin made his way back across the room and slipped behind the couch.

  “I’ve seen enough. Are you two ready to go?” he asked Dani as he took his key out from under his tunic.

  “Ready,” Dani said as he jumped down off the back of the couch.

  King Merdin felt Dani’s paw on one arm and Jaron’s hand on the other. He gave the key a little twist, and the intruders left the castle at Trendon.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Meanwhile, back in Milhaven, Kevin felt like he was about ready to jump out of his skin. It had been three days since he had talked to King Merdin. Dire thoughts kept tumbling through his head, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that everything was all right, that undercover operations just take time.

  He went upstairs to his room a couple of hours after dinner Sunday evening, but only because he knew everyone was watching him, wondering what was wrong. He was definitely going to have to work on his poker face.

  After he paced around his room for a couple of hours, he shut off all the glowstone lamps and stretched out on his bed. He wasn’t sleepy, and he wasn’t expecting to get much sleep, but he figured he might as well get a little rest. He had just started to relax a little when he heard his name whispered in his ear. He bolted upright and said, “King Merdin?”

  “Over here,” King Merdin said as he became visible.

  “Thank goodness,” Kevin sighed in relief. “What happened? I was afraid you’d been discovered!”

  “No,” King Merdin said with a grin. “I’m better than that. It just took a while to find what we were looking for. We had to wait for Rolan to lead us to his treasure.”

  “Did he? Did you actually see the lamp? And the pendants?”

  King Merdin nodded. “He’s wearing one of the pendants under his tunic. We saw it when he changed clothes Friday night, but we had to wait until this morning for him to show us the rest. He has them stashed in a closet in his bedroom, which would be easy enough if it weren’t for the ward he has in place over the door.”

  Kevin nodded. “I’m not surprised at that.”

  “Nor was I. That’s why we didn’t just search his room.”

  “You actually saw the lamp?”

  King Merdin nodded again. “There’s a kitchen-type cabinet in the closet. The type that has an open shelf in the middle. The lamp is sitting on the shelf, and the extra pendant is sitting on a pillow right next to it.”

  “Any chance there’s another way into that closet?”

  King Merdin shook his head no at first and then he stopped and looked thoughtful. “Maybe. I don’t know. Tell me, will the key take me through a ward?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, there’s a little extra room in the closet. Not enough for a human, so you couldn’t do it, but plenty of room for a gnome. I could pop in there, grab the lamp and pendant, and be gone before he had any reason to suspect anything.”

  “If you could get through the ward safely, but since we don’t know, it’s too much of a risk to try it.”

  “Agreed, so let’s find out.” King Merdin pointed to the door that led out to Kevin’s balcony. “Make a ward over that door. I’ll use the key to see if I can get to the balcony.”

  “All right, but we’ll start with a really weak one, just in case.” Kevin made a really slim thread of energy and wove it back and forth across the door. “There. Try that. It’s weak enough that all you’d feel is a slight tingle if you touched it.”

  King Merdin turned his key, vanished, and materialized out on the balcony. Then he used his key to pop back into Kevin’s bedroom. “Simple. No problem.”

  “Did you feel anything? Any tingling?”

  “No, nothing at all. Try another one. And make it stronger.”

  Kevin made another ward, slightly stronger, but still not dangerous. King Merdin popped through it with no problems.

  “Let’s try a strong one now,” King Merdin said once he was back in Kevin’s bedroom.

  Kevin shook his head. “No, let’s do this right, one small step at a time.”

  Kevin made over a dozen wards before he worked up to one that was full strength. King Merdin had used the key to get through them all without triggering an explosion.

  When they were done, Kevin sat down on the couch. “I’m not sure how I want to do this yet, or when.”

  “I know, but when you do figure it out, at least you know how we can get the lamp and the extra pendant. All you have to worr
y about is the one around his neck.”

  Kevin grinned. “Right.”

  “Well, if there’s nothing else, I’m going to head back home now.”

  “Thank you,” Kevin said as he stood up. “I really do appreciate everything you’ve done.”

  “You’re welcome,” King Merdin said as he fingered his key. “When you get things worked out, hang the chimes.”

  “All right,” Kevin said. Then he added, “See you soon,” but it was too late. King Merdin had already gone.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  A few minutes later, there was a light knock on the door that joined Kevin’s room to Chris’s.

  “Come on in,” Kevin called out as he sat back down.

  “I thought I heard voices,” Chris said. “Is everything all right?”

  Kevin nodded. “That was King Merdin. He’s back from Trendon.”

  “Did he see the pendant?”

  “He did better than that. He saw the pendant that’s hanging around Rolan’s neck, the lamp, and the pendant Rolan took from Gerry.”

  Chris didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he asked, “What’s next?”

  “Well, Rolan has the lamp and the extra pendant in a closet with a ward over the door. One of the reasons King Merdin was here so long was that we were seeing if a key will bypass a ward, and it will.”

  “Are you going to try to snatch the lamp and pendant then?”

  “No, not me. According to King Merdin, the closet isn’t large enough for a human to pop in, but a gnome could do it.”

  “Has he gone to get it now?”

  “No. I haven’t worked out all the details yet, but while I’m getting the pendant that Rolan has around his neck, King Merdin will lift the lamp and the second pendant and bring them back here.”

  “Here?”

  “Well somewhere away from Trendon,” Kevin said with a yawn.

  Chris frowned. “Let me get this straight. You’re planning to go after the one he’s wearing yourself?”

  Kevin nodded.

  “I thought Glendymere said he’d take care of that. All you were supposed to do was find out who had it.”

  “I know, but I can’t pass this off to Glendymere.”