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

by Morgan, Mackenzie

  Kevin smiled and handed her his copy of the document as Chris said, “It’s a done deal. We’ve already taken the signed copy to Glendymere.”

  Laryn quickly scanned it and handed it on to Steve. “Myron, this is wonderful!”

  Steve skimmed over the document while Tyree read it over his shoulder.

  “I love it,” Steve said. “They’re becoming more and more democratic.”

  Kevin laughed. “Just don’t tell them that. I don’t think they’d like it.”

  “After you left, I told Steve and Tyree what was at stake today,” Laryn said, “and we decided that if things went well, we’d have a big party tonight.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Chris said.

  Kevin nodded.

  “Good,” Laryn said. “Will you go get some ice?”

  Kevin grinned. “Ice cream?”

  Laryn nodded. “I asked Joan if she would make some, and she said that she had some nice ripe peaches that would work. So …”

  Kevin laughed. “Sure. I’ll go get the ice.”

  Laryn looked at Chris. “And Miranda is making a big cake, too.”

  Chris got a dreamy look in his eyes. “That’ll work.”

  Everyone laughed and Laryn, Steve, and Tyree stood up to leave. “We were thinking we’d have cake and ice cream out back after dinner, just like last time,” Laryn said. “I’ll send someone down to Milhaven to let Theresa and Hayley know.”

  Kevin shook his head. “They’re in Rainbow Valley for the weekend. I took them out yesterday.”

  Laryn nodded. “Well, Cameryn’s gone down to the kitchen to get you some lunch, so we’ll get out of here and let you two eat. We’ll take care of letting everyone know about the party tonight.”

  Kevin stood up, walked around the corner of his desk, and took Laryn’s hand. “Thanks, Laryn. For everything.”

  Laryn suddenly felt very uneasy, but she didn’t say anything. She had the same feeling she’d had at breakfast, only stronger. Something was up, and she was certain she wouldn’t like it if she knew what it was.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  As soon as he finished his lunch, Kevin took a big barrel to northern Brendolanth and filled it with ice and snow. When he got back, he went to his office and shut the door. He wanted to think through his plans for Sunday and see if he could find any fault with them before he presented them to Chris, King Merdin, or Glendymere.

  After he ran through every possible permutation that he could think of, he sat back in his chair and let his mind wander. Like it always did lately, his thoughts turned to the blond elf living at Wildcat Mountain. He shook his head. Fate was a strange master. Now that he’d found someone he was interested in getting to know, he was risking everything to keep his worst enemy alive, just so that some vision could come to pass. He shook his head again. Maybe he should just let Glendymere go after the pendant. Who cared if Rolan ended up dead anyway? It would serve him right.

  Then he thought about Landis. If Rolan was still the Seated Sorcerer of Brendolanth when she finished her training, she’d challenge him, fight him, and if Kevin taught her well enough, she’d defeat him and take his place. But if Rolan got killed now, there was no telling who would take over. Maybe it would be someone she couldn’t defeat. It might even be someone worse than Rolan, if there was such a thing.

  On the other hand, maybe it would be someone who was weak, someone Landis couldn’t bring herself to challenge. How essential in the grand scheme of things was it for Landis to have that seat? There was no way for him to answer that question.

  Kevin shook his head once more. If only he hadn’t had that vision, but he had, and the only way that that vision could come to pass was if Rolan survived. His gut instinct told him that he had to preserve the future, and the only way to do that was to go after the pendant himself.

  Kevin’s thoughts drifted back to Rhianna. One day, if he was lucky enough to survive that long, maybe he could find a way to spend some time with her. But it wasn’t going to happen any time soon. There was just too much in the way, too much to do. Maybe after Landis was trained. Maybe some day.

  A knock on the door interrupted Kevin’s daydreams and he sat back up in his chair and said, “Come in.”

  Chris opened the door. “Dinnertime. Everyone’s waiting for us down in the dining hall.”

  Kevin nodded, stood up, and followed Chris out of the office.

  As Kevin entered the dining room, the whole castle staff gave him a standing ovation. A huge banner proclaiming “No More Magic Wars!” was strung across the back of the room. Laryn was standing right inside the door, ready to escort him and Chris to their seats at the head table.

  “Things got a little carried away this afternoon after we spread the word around,” she whispered to Kevin. “If I’d known that they were going to do all of this, I’d have given you a little warning.”

  Kevin nodded and said, “It’s all right. It’s for a good cause.”

  When he reached his seat, Kevin gave a quick speech, thanking everyone for their support and praising the other sorcerers for their foresight and cooperation. As he sat down, he looked at the banner and fervently hoped that what it said would turn out to be true. The agreement was just that, an agreement, but it was something the dragons could enforce should anyone decide to violate it. With a bit of luck, it would never be tested.

  After the banquet was over, everyone adjourned to the grounds out back for ice cream and cake. A little while later, shortly after sunset, Kevin caught Chris’s eye and tilted his head towards the office. Chris nodded and the two of them slipped away from the celebrating crowd.

  Chapter 44

  Kevin Finalizes His Plans

  Kevin got to his office a couple of minutes before Chris, so he pulled off the chain with his keys, undid the clasp, and took off the key to the Gate Between the Worlds. As soon as Chris came in, Kevin shut the door and handed it to him. “Put this on the chain with the pendant that Glendymere gave you. You always wear it inside your tunic, so no one will notice the key.”

  Chris pulled off his chain and took the key from Kevin. “Okay, but why am I doing this?”

  “Because I’m going after the dragon’s flame pendant tomorrow morning.”

  Chris stopped what he was doing and stared at Kevin. “Are you seriously going to try to get it yourself?”

  Kevin nodded.

  “He’ll kill you.”

  “Maybe, hopefully not, but that’s why I want you to have the key. Just don’t let anyone know you’ve got it, not even Glendymere.”

  “Why?”

  “If something happens to me tomorrow, if this doesn’t go the way I hope it will, I want you to be able to use the key to get you, Karl, Joan, and Darrell back home,” Kevin said. “I don’t think Steve will go, but he’ll be with Laryn, so he’ll be all right. Theresa’s at Blalick’s right now, so she’ll be safe. When she decides she wants to leave Rainbow Valley, Brena and Drusilla will find a good place for her. But the rest of you need to clear out of here.”

  “Why?” Chris asked again.

  “Why not? Do you really want to stay here if you have nothing to do? There’ll be a new Seated Sorcerer of Camden, a new assistant, a new governor, and a new captain of the guard. What will you do?”

  Chris hesitated then he said, “I imagine Karl and Joan would go back to farming, and as for Darrell, I’m sure General Crandal would find a position for him somewhere.”

  “Okay,” Kevin said with a slow nod. Then he walked around his desk and sat down in his chair. “As long as that’s what they want, that’s fine. But what about you? What would you do?”

  Chris finished putting the key on his chain and then he sank down into one of the chairs in front of Kevin’s desk. “I don’t know,” he answered thoughtfully. “Without you here, I might go back.”

  “That’s what I thought. Look, if the others want to stay here, that’s fine. And if you decide to stay, that’s fine too, but I want you to have a chance to go back if something hap
pens to me, and I’m not sure I can count on anyone else offering you that chance. That’s why I want you to have the key.”

  “If I did go back, what would I do with the key? Keep it?”

  “As far as I’m concerned, it’s up to you. If you want to keep it, keep it. If you want to get rid of it, find Pallor and give it to him. He’s probably still going by the name Paul Stewart. Tell him what happened. He’ll know what to do with it.”

  Chris nodded slowly.

  “I’m going to leave you at Glendymere’s while I’m in Trendon. If anything happens to me, Glendymere will take care of Rolan. You can either wait for him to get back and let him bring you back here, or you can use the key. It works on Terah, too. I tried it out last night.”

  Chris nodded. Then he asked, “When are you going to Willow Canyon?”

  “On my way to Rolan’s. I haven’t told Glendymere anything about this yet and he needs to know what’s going on, just in case I don’t make it back.”

  “What about the girls? What if they’re with him? Are you going to tell them, too?”

  Kevin shook his head. “We’ll get there before daybreak. They won’t be down that early, and once I talk to him, I imagine he’ll tell Blalick to keep them at the house. I can’t see him letting them get in the middle of all of this.”

  Chris nodded again.

  “I’m going to ask Glendymere to give me two hours to get the pendant and get back to Willow Canyon. If I don’t make it back, I’m going to tell him to assume that I’m dead and to do whatever it takes to get the pendant away from Rolan.”

  “Rolan won’t survive.”

  “I know. But Glendymere will have the pendant.”

  “What about the lamp and the second pendant?”

  “I’m hoping King Merdin will take care of getting them out of the castle while I’m confronting Rolan. If not, Glendymere can get those too, even if he has to destroy the castle to do it. At any rate, by lunchtime tomorrow, the lamp and pendants should all be back in the right hands.”

  “One way or another.”

  “Right.”

  “Have you thought this through? Really thought it through? Do you really have to go after it yourself?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “I don’t understand,” Chris said quietly. “Glendymere said he’d take care of it. Why not let him? After all, the pendants are his. So is the lamp.”

  Kevin sighed. “They may be his, but the only reason Glendymere said that he’d go after them is to protect me, and that’s the wrong reason. He’s not my bodyguard. Of course, if Rolan kills me, there won’t be a Master Sorcerer, and then the problem lands in the lap of the federation, or more specifically, in Glendymere’s lap. And then he’ll be acting as the Chairman of the Federation, not simply as my friend.”

  “I think being your friend’s reason enough, and I imagine he will, too. And you’re overlooking one aspect of the whole thing. What Rolan stole was Glendymere’s property.”

  “That he freely gave to the Sisterhood.”

  “What if he says he didn’t give it to them, only lent it to them?”

  “It was still in their possession when it was stolen. And besides, if you want to get technical, Rolan didn’t steal anything. Gerry did.”

  “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?” Chris finally asked.

  Kevin shook his head. “Chris, I don’t want to get killed. I’m not on some kind of suicide mission. I wish I could come up with another way, but it’s my job, nobody else’s.” Kevin paused for a minute, and then he continued, “I am going to stack the deck in my favor as much as I can though. For one thing, I don’t think the pendant will strike out if I don’t attack Rolan. I’ll be ready for him. He won’t be able to surprise me. If he starts to throw an energy bolt, I’ll just put up a shield and keep it there.”

  “He’ll make you attack him, Kevin. He’ll start killing everyone around and keep on doing it until you try to stop him. And then you’re dead.”

  “If he starts to attack someone else, I’ll put a sphere around him.”

  “You can’t keep one around him forever.”

  “I’m also going to let him know that Glendymere knows he has the pendant, and that Glendymere gave me two hours to get it and return with it or he’s going to come after it himself.”

  “But Rolan thinks that the pendant can protect him from Glendymere.”

  “I know. That’s one of the things that could go wrong. I’m going to tell him what Glendymere said about killing him, and I hope he believes me, but what I’m really counting on is his thinking about the spare pendant and the lamp that he has hidden away in his closet. I’m banking on his being willing to give me the one around his neck to make me go away and to get Glendymere off his case.”

  “But he’s going to know that you know he has another one.”

  “How? I’m not planning to tell him that I know he has Gerry’s pendant. I’m going to tell him that Glendymere doesn’t care about the lamp, that he can keep it as a souvenir, that all the lamp is good for is making pendants, and since only one was stolen out of Timera Valley …” Kevin shrugged. “As far as Rolan knows, no one even knows that Gerry’s dead. And I’m not going to tell him any different.”

  “So he’ll think he has one that no one is looking for.”

  “Right. And I imagine it won’t take him long to figure out that if he gives me the one he has around his neck, and then activates his spare pendant and uses that one to kill me, no one will connect him to my ‘disappearance’, not even Glendymere.”

  Chris nodded slowly. “It might work, but it’s still too risky for my tastes.”

  “For mine too, but unless you’ve got a better plan …”

  “I do, but you’ve already relegated it to Plan B status.” Kevin started to say something, but Chris held up his hand to stop him. “No, I understand why you feel the way you do. I really do. I just don’t like it.”

  Kevin nodded and then stood up. “We need to get back out to the party before someone notices that we’re missing. We’ll meet with King Merdin tonight and go over the plan with him.”

  “Have you discussed any of this with Laryn?” Chris asked as he stood up to go.

  “No, and you’re not to mention it to her either,” Kevin said. “If all goes well, we’ll tell her afterwards. If not, she’ll find out soon enough anyway. No need for her to sit here and worry.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  The party didn’t wind down until after ten that evening, and by the time Kevin and Chris helped with the cleanup and managed to get upstairs, it was nearly midnight. When they reached the top of the stairs, Kevin said, “I need to get something. Come on.”

  Chris followed him into the bedroom that Kevin had used when they had first arrived in Milhaven. Kevin walked over to the closet and opened the door. He reached in and pulled out a small chair, one that would be suitable for a child of four or five. He handed it to Chris. Then he reached in and pulled out a second chair about the same size.

  “Where did you get these?” Chris asked as they carried the chairs back to Kevin’s bedroom.

  “I had Neiven make them.”

  “For the gnomes?”

  “Uh-huh. I wanted to ask them to have a seat the first time they came, but there was nowhere for them to sit. I planned to have some made, but then those storms hit and I forgot all about it. I didn’t think about it again until I hung the chimes for King Merdin after we talked to Robyn. Neiven finished these last week. I didn’t ask him to put cushions in them, but I’m glad he did.”

  “They look nice. Are you going to keep them up here?”

  “I’m planning to. Why?”

  “Well, hopefully someday you’ll have children. These will be nice to have when they’re around.”

  “Yeah, well, let’s get through tomorrow first.”

  Chris opened the door to Kevin’s room. “Where do you want to put them?”

  Kevin looked at his room for a moment. His couch was
in front of the window, and facing the couch were two armchairs and a coffee table. “Let’s move those two chairs out of here and put these in their places.”

  Chris set down the little chair he was carrying and moved around to the first big armchair. “These things are heavy. It’s going to take both of us.”

  “Or we could do it my way and neither of us would have to lift them.”

  “I forgot about that,” Chris said as he stepped out of the way.

  Kevin reached out with his outstretched hand, lifted both chairs off the floor, and floated them out of the room and down the hall. “No need to store them anywhere. We’ll put them back in here later tonight.” After he set the chairs down, he used his outstretched hand to gently shut his door. Then he pulled a large cushion out from under the couch and set it on the floor between the two small chairs.

  “I’m thirsty,” Chris said. “Do you want something to drink? Maybe some scog?”

  “That’s a good idea. While you’re down there, how about getting some for King Merdin and Jaron.” Kevin walked over to his chest of drawers and took out two mugs that were about half the size of the ones in the kitchen. “Here, I had Neiven make these, too. And bring a saucer of milk for Dani.”

  “Okay, back in a bit,” Chris said as he took the mugs. Then he opened the door and stepped out into the hall.

  Kevin sat down on the couch to wait, and a few minutes later King Merdin and Dani arrived. All Kevin saw was a slight shimmer of light.

  “Hello, King Merdin,” Kevin said to the empty air.

  King Merdin and Dani appeared in front of Kevin, on the other side of the coffee table. Kevin motioned King Merdin to the small chair behind him. “Won’t you have a seat? I hope you find the chair comfortable. Dani, the pillow’s for you.”

  Dani sauntered over to the pillow, stepped up on it, circled a couple of times, and seemed to melt into a puddle in the middle. He rested his head on his front paws and purred.

  King Merdin sat down in one of the small chairs and leaned back. “Very nice,” he said. “Thank you.”