Rhianna nodded. She looked around, spotted a mug and carried it out to the big rock basin, rinsed it out, filled it with fresh spring water from the spout, and brought it back to Landis. While Landis was sipping the water, Kevin told the girls good-bye, stepped out of the storeroom, and walked back into Glendymere’s chamber.
“I heard the conversation that you and Landis had on the way down,” Glendymere told Kevin privately. “Don’t worry too much about the way she feels right now. She doesn’t know that much about human magic, having grown up with the elves. She doesn’t realize all the good that she can do. All she knows is that Rolan used his magic to kill her father. Her reaction’s pretty normal under the circumstances. Give her some time. When she’s with you in Milhaven and sees what all you do with your magic, she’ll figure it out. She’s not another Gaynor.”
Kevin frowned. “That’s exactly what I was worrying about on the way down. Were you reading my mind?”
Glendymere chuckled. “Not on purpose, but when your thoughts are strong enough, and loud enough, I can’t help but hear them. You were all but screaming at me by the time you got to the cave.”
Kevin nodded. “I guess I was. I wanted you to know what she was saying.”
“I know. Your mind called out to me. That’s why I listened.”
“Like a telepath?”
“Not exactly. I’ve been in your mind so much that I’m sort of tuned into it whenever you’re in the area. When you call out, I hear you. But no one else would. Don’t worry about it. You’re not a telepath.”
“Okay. I think I understand,” Kevin said. “Well, if you don’t need me for anything else, I’ll be off.”
Glendymere nodded. “See you Tuesday.”
Chapter 43
September Council Meeting
The first week of September passed by without any new crises, but when Kevin woke up Saturday morning, his mouth was dry, his stomach was in knots, and his chest was tight. If things went well at the council meeting today, he was going to go to Trendon tomorrow morning to get the pendant, and if things didn’t go well there, he’d probably end up dead. As he got dressed, he tried to shake the idea that this might very well be the last day of his life.
By the time he reached the clearing across the river, he was in no mood to ham it up, and he ran through his routine with about as much enthusiasm as he had for making his bed. When he finished, he didn’t feel the boost that he usually felt, so he ran through it again, trying to capture the euphoria that a good workout usually gave him. The second routine was better from a technical standpoint, but it was still lacking something. Kevin gave up and went back inside.
When he reached his room, Chris had a mug of coffee waiting for him. Kevin drank it while he changed into his dress tunic and leggings. As he tied the sash around his waist, Chris asked, “Is something on your mind this morning?”
Kevin shook his head. “No. Why?”
Chris looked at him closely. “Just wondering.” Kevin’s denial made Chris even more uneasy. Something was up.
By the time they got down to the dining room, the others had finished breakfast and were sitting around talking while they drank coffee. Kevin fixed his plate, sat down, and began to quietly eat. Steve and Tyree looked at Laryn and raised their eyebrows. She tilted her head towards the door.
“Well, guess we should be going,” Steve said. “Come on, Tyree.”
Tyree stood up and took a last swallow of his coffee.
Kevin glanced at them and asked, “Where are you off to?”
Steve thought fast and said, “Milhaven.”
Kevin nodded. “Have a good time.”
When Steve and Tyree had gone, Laryn looked at her nephew and asked, “Myron, is something wrong?”
Kevin looked up when he realized that she had said something. “What? Oh, no. Just thinking about the council meeting.”
Laryn nodded. “It should be a good one. If things go like they should, by this afternoon the threat of magic wars will be over. You’ll have accomplished a wonderful thing for the people of Terah.”
Kevin blushed at the compliment. “Well, let’s not celebrate until it’s done.”
“He’s a pessimist,” Chris said. “It’s in the bag.”
“You never know,” Kevin said. “Look at the sorcerers who volunteered for that committee. I wouldn’t be surprised if Damien says that they couldn’t come to any kind of agreement and that it’s hopeless.”
Chris shook his head. “No. You’ll see. Rolan was too quick to volunteer to be on that committee to sabotage it, and Gwendolyn and Malcolm will fall in behind anything Rolan wants. They’ll have a plan. I just hope it’s one that doesn’t include a lot of bloodshed.”
Laryn laughed. “Well, good luck anyway.”
Kevin thanked her, got up, poured himself another cup of coffee, quickly drank it, and left the dining room. He joked around with Isak and Cameryn for a few minutes until Chris got there, then he and Chris went into Kevin’s private office to get ready to leave for the meeting.
Right before they left, Kevin said, “Chris, sometime later today I want to talk to you for a minute.”
“Sure. What about?”
“The dragon’s flame pendant.”
Chris slowly nodded his head. “That’s what’s been on your mind this morning.”
Kevin nodded. “But we’ll talk about it later.”
“Okay,” Chris said as he put his hand on Kevin’s arm.
~ ~ ~ ~
After Kevin called the council meeting to order, he asked if there was any old business. Damien nodded, so Kevin recognized him.
Damien stood up in front of his chair and said that the committee had come up with a procedure for filling the Master’s Chair should it become vacant, and asked Kevin’s permission to present the plan.
Kevin nodded, so Damien began. “First, a vote will be called. All seated sorcerers will cast one vote for a new Master Sorcerer. If anyone receives a majority of the votes, that’s half plus one, or seven votes, he or she will be the new Master Sorcerer, and that’s the end of it.”
Geoffrey spoke up and asked, “What if the one elected doesn’t want it?”
“Good point,” Damien replied. “We suggest that before the vote’s cast, anyone who doesn’t want it should just say so and remove themselves from consideration. That way it’s taken care of from the start.”
Geoffrey nodded. “That’s fair.”
“What if there’s no winner?” Regan asked. “Do we just keep voting until someone wins? That might never happen.”
“No, we only vote one time. If no one wins, then we’ll have a competition. We thought Glendymere should be the one to conduct it, and that the judges should be other dragons.”
“Will it be an open competition?” Judith asked.
“Not exactly. We thought the competition should be limited to the seated sorcerers. After all, they’re the only ones who can issue a challenge for the Master’s Chair.”
There was a lot of mumbling around the room, but no one voiced any objections, so Damien continued. “We thought we’d leave the format of the competition pretty much up to Glendymere, with one stipulation. There must be a sparring match against a dragon.”
Starvos had been listening quietly until that. Then he gasped and said, “What?!”
Trivera jumped in with, “We wouldn’t stand a chance! They’d kill us!”
When the other sorcerers started yelling at Damien too, he put his hand up in front of him and roared, “No! Wait a minute! You weren’t listening!” After a minute, the noise subsided. “All right. Now listen to what I’m saying. I didn’t say anything about dueling. I said sparring. They are not the same thing. The dragon would not be trying to kill anyone. Glendymere would be responsible for keeping all of the competitors alive, and I think we can count on him to honor that.”
Several of the sorcerers looked at Kevin. Stories of his sparring matches against dragons had spread all over Terah.
Kevin
nodded. “He will.”
Geoffrey frowned. “I have a question about asking dragons to judge the competition. Most of them hate us. Would they be fair and choose the strongest sorcerer, or would they try to mess us up by selecting a weak one?”
Damien shrugged. “I can’t see them purposefully putting a weak sorcerer in the Master’s Chair. After all, they hold the Master Sorcerer responsible for making sure humans don’t cause trouble for any of the other races.”
“Unless they’re looking for a reason to wipe us all out,” Geoffrey argued.
“We would still have the right to challenge for the Master’s Chair after it’s all over, wouldn’t we?” Starvos asked.
Damien nodded.
“Then there’s no problem,” Starvos said, sitting back in his chair. “A weak sorcerer would be challenged before the week was out.”
Most of the sorcerers indicated their agreement with Starvos one way or another and then began mumbling amongst themselves again. Kevin let them talk for a few minutes, and then he called the meeting back to order.
“Does anyone have anything else to say before we vote?” Kevin asked. When no one said anything, Kevin nodded at Chris.
Chris got up and walked around the room handing each of the sorcerers a small piece of paper, but he didn’t hand one to Kevin.
When everyone else had a slip of paper, Kevin said, “If you approve of this plan, please write ‘yes’ on your ballot. If not, write ‘no’.”
Bianca noticed that Chris didn’t hand Kevin a ballot. “Aren’t you going to vote?”
Kevin shook his head. “This doesn’t involve me. If you need a new Master Sorcerer, I’m out of the picture.”
Bianca nodded her head thoughtfully and then went back to her ballot.
Within a couple of minutes, all of the sorcerers were done and had folded their ballots. Kevin nodded to Malcolm and said, “Malcolm, would you collect the votes?”
Malcolm grumbled, but he finally got up and sauntered around the room, picking up the ballots as he went. When he sat back down, Kevin asked him to open the ballots one at a time and call out the vote. When he was done, all twelve of the seated sorcerers had voted “yes”.
Kevin nodded. “Thank you, Malcolm.” Then he turned to Chris and said, “Write up the plan as Damien described it. Then I’ll read it, and all of the sorcerers can sign it. That will be Glendymere’s copy. Then I’d like for you to make two more copies, one for Damien, as chairman of the committee, and one for me.”
Gwendolyn frowned and stomped her foot. “Why does Glendymere need a copy?” she snarled. “All he does is organize the competition once we tell him to do it.”
Kevin shook his head. “Glendymere is Chairman of the Federation of Terah. As soon as I deliver the plan to him with the signatures of all of the Seated Sorcerers of Terah, it becomes an enforceable document. In the event that the Master’s Chair becomes vacant, there is now a procedure for choosing a new Master Sorcerer, and with this document, the dragons will enforce that procedure. No one, not any of the sorcerers, not any of our citizens, and none of the other races, ever has to worry about a magic war again. That’s why I’m taking it to Glendymere. It has nothing to do with the fact that he’ll be asked to organize the competition if one is held.”
“Oh,” she said in a small voice.
When Chris finished writing up the procedure, Kevin stood beside his chair and read it in a slow, clear voice. When he was done, he asked if anyone had any objections to the language. No one did, so he handed the document back to Chris. Then he said, “If each of you would please sign this with your name, your house, and the province that you represent, I think we can consider this matter settled.”
While Chris walked around the room presenting the document to each of the seated sorcerers for his or her signature, Kevin asked if there was any new business. When no one had anything to present, he asked Damien to please see him after the meeting, announced that the next meeting would take place on the fifth of October, and then, after reminding everyone to be sure they signed the document before they left, adjourned the meeting.
After everyone else had left the chamber, Kevin thanked Damien for chairing the two committees. “You’ve performed a great service for Terah. One that you and your house can be proud of. I want to offer you my sincerest gratitude for the work you’ve done.”
Damien nodded. “It’s been my pleasure, I assure you. I’ll sleep better knowing that this is the end of magic wars.”
Chris had finished making the copy for Damien and he handed it to Kevin for his signature.
Kevin signed it and presented it to Damien. “This is for you to keep. If I were you, I’d find a nice frame and hang it on the wall in your office.”
Damien shook Kevin’s hand and said that he would. Then he and his assistant left the chamber.
Kevin sat back down and sighed. “I can’t believe it. We actually pulled it off. Do you have a copy for me?”
Chris held up his hand for a moment and then said, “Now I do.”
“Good. Are you ready to go?”
Chris nodded. “Where are we going?”
“Willow Canyon. I want this in Glendymere’s hands as soon as possible.”
~ ~ ~ ~
When Kevin and Chris arrived at the cave in Willow Canyon, Glendymere was outside with Landis and Rhianna. Kevin hadn’t expected to run into Rhianna, and the sight of her caught him off guard. His pulse rate picked up, his palms became sweaty, and his throat went dry. He even stammered a little when he asked Glendymere if he and Chris could see him for a few minutes in private.
Chris was so busy sorting through the papers in his pocket trying to find Glendymere’s copy of the agreement that he didn’t notice Kevin’s reaction, but Glendymere did. And Glendymere also noticed a similar reaction in Rhianna, although he had to admit that she was doing a better job of masking hers.
When they reached Glendymere’s chamber, Kevin explained what had happened at the council meeting. As he recounted the details of the agreement, Glendymere’s eyebrows inched their way up towards the top of his head. Finally he gave his massive head a shake and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me what you were trying to do?”
“I didn’t want to promise anything I couldn’t deliver. I was afraid some of the more volatile members of the council would find a way to block it.”
“Well, this is the best news I’ve heard in a long time. I hope they never have the opportunity to use it, but it’s nice to know they have a plan, just in case. Too bad the rest of Terah doesn’t know about it.”
“I thought we’d present it at the federation meeting. That’s only a couple of weeks away. They can spread the word.”
Glendymere nodded. “Good idea.”
“What do you want me to do with this?” Chris asked as he showed the signed document to Glendymere.
Glendymere mentally moved a big chest out of the storeroom and opened it. Inside there were a lot of papers rolled up and tied with bits of string. Some looked like they had been there for centuries. “Find some string and tie it up like the others. I hope it’s never needed, but if it is, I’ll know where it is.”
Chris dug around in the chest until he found some string. While he was tying up the document, his eyes fell on a rather large bundle of papers that looked like legal documents from Earth. He turned to Glendymere and asked, “Is that what I think it is?”
Glendymere nodded. “Kevin’s adoption papers. Pallor left them with Kalen, and he brought them to me.”
Kevin took the bundle from the chest and fingered the string. “May I open it?”
Glendymere nodded.
Kevin untied the bundle and read over the provisions. They stipulated that Pallor, known as Paul Stewart on Earth, would have unsupervised access to the child at least twice a year, and that if at any time he found the home environment to be unsuitable, he could remove the minor child. There was a long and detailed list of reasons that Kevin could be removed, but lack of love wasn’t one o
f them. Kevin rolled the papers back up, tied the string back around them, and put them back in Glendymere’s chest.
“You can have those if you want. I have no need for them now that you’re home.”
Kevin shook his head. “Let’s just leave them here. They’ll be safer that way.”
Glendymere nodded, mentally shut the chest and moved it back into the storeroom. “If you change your mind, just let me know.”
Kevin nodded. Then he asked, “Are you going to be around tomorrow morning?”
“As far as I know. Why?”
“I might stop by,” Kevin said, being careful not to think about what he was planning. “There’s something I want to talk to you about, but I need to do a little more thinking first.”
“That’s fine. I’ll be here,” Glendymere said as he made a mental note to himself to give Landis the morning off.
~ ~ ~ ~
Once Kevin and Chris were back in Kevin’s office at the castle, Chris said, “By the way, congratulations.”
Kevin grinned. “Thanks, but I still think someone put the idea in Damien’s head that we needed a new way to select a Master Sorcerer, and my gut tells me it was Rolan.”
Chris shrugged. “Maybe he’s just leery of a magic war.”
Kevin shook his head. “No. He’s got something up his sleeve, but never mind. The end result was good. This time anyway.”
“Let’s tell Laryn,” Chris said as he headed for the door to the outer office. “She’s probably waiting outside.”
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Kevin said. “I want to run upstairs first.”
Kevin quickly left his office and climbed the stairs to the family living quarters. When he got to his room, he opened one of the drawers in his chest of drawers and took out the chimes that King Merdin had given him. Then he stepped out on his balcony and hung them from the rail.
When he got back down to his office, Chris, Laryn, Steve, and Tyree were all waiting for him.
“Well?” Laryn said as he walked in. “Tell us what happened! Do we have something to celebrate?”
The Dragon's Flame (The Chronicles of Terah # 2) Page 58