Chris, on the other hand, was grateful for the delay. He was hoping the heat of Kevin’s temper would cool before Glendymere returned.
Half an hour later, Glendymere swooped down from the sky and landed on the canyon floor. He looked at Kevin’s face and then Chris’s eyes. Something had happened. “Good morning. Did I know you were dropping by?”
Kevin shook his head. “I’m here to turn in my keys and resign my chair.”
Glendymere lowered his massive head, arched his eyebrows, and looked straight into Kevin’s face. “You’re here to do what?”
“Resign my seat and turn in my keys.” Kevin held out his Key to the Gate Between the Worlds. “Here, take it!”
Glendymere snorted as he used his outstretched hand to take the key. “You had two. Where’s the other one?”
Chris spoke for the first time since leaving Milhaven. “I’ve got it.”
“So you’re in on this with him? You think this is a good idea?” Glendymere asked gruffly as he grabbed the key.
“I don’t recall being asked, but no, I don’t, although I do understand how he feels.”
“Good.” Glendymere tucked the keys under his wing. “Then explain it to me.”
Kevin held out Gildan’s note.
“I see, but you’re not resigning. I won’t allow it.”
“You have no choice. I quit. I’m done with it!”
“Of course I have a choice. Why should I let you throw it all away?”
“Because I’m going to kill him one way or the other. I’m trying to do it by your rules, but either way, he’s going to die before he can hurt anyone else!”
“Not by your hand, he isn’t.”
“Why not? It’s my family he’s threatening!”
“Because it’s foretold.”
“Are you talking about that stupid vision I had? Where he faces off with Landis? Who knows if it’s even real? From what I understand, some are, some aren’t. This one isn’t, because he’s going to die by my hand before she gets a chance to kill him!”
“I’m not talking about your vision. I’m talking about visions that seers have had for several hundred years.”
Kevin snorted. “There’s no way I believe seers have been seeing Landis fighting Rolan for that long. If that one duel is important enough in the grand scheme of things for them to tell you about it, you’d have done something to protect her long before I came into the picture.”
“The visions I’m talking about had nothing to do with her. They’re about you.”
“What are you talking about?”
Glendymere exhaled a plume of smoke. “Other races have seers, seers who are much more powerful than human seers, and they’ve spoken of a sorcerer who returns from far away, a sorcerer who will ease the tensions between the races and bring peace.”
“How do you know Landis isn’t the one who’s supposed to do that? She’s from far away, and she’ll return soon. How do you know I’m not supposed to clear the way for her? That sounds a lot more plausible to me.”
“The seers saw a Master Sorcerer. Only someone sitting in that chair has the power to bring this about, the only one with that much influence.”
“Still doesn’t mean it’s me.”
“It’s you,” Glendymere roared. “We’ve known the sorcerer in the prophecy was from the House of Nordin ever since Sienna had her first vision foretelling your arrival over five hundred years ago.”
“Who’s Sienna?”
“She was an elf, and possibly the greatest seer of all time. Her visions have always come true. She foresaw that you’d grow up without your mother and be young when you came into power upon your father’s untimely death.”
“Still fits Landis.”
“No it doesn’t! She’s not from the House of Nordin! And Sienna foresaw that you’d put an end to magic wars!”
Kevin shook his head. “If you were so sure I was the one who was supposed to do that, why didn’t you tell me? You aren’t shy about telling me what to do.”
“Telling the object of a vision about the vision can alter the path of events. Had I told you about it, you’d have barged in and messed it up. You had to figure it out on your own, work your way around to it, or it wouldn’t have worked.” Glendymere paused again as he settled on the cave floor. “Humans have visions about things they need to do something about, like Yvonne’s vision of her death at your birth, or your vision about Landis. But elves and merfolk have visions that are prophecies, and there have been many prophecies about the House of Nordin and you. One of Sienna’s visions is one reason we named Mykar of the House of Nordin Master Sorcerer after the last magic war.”
“Ahh, so you acted on her vision, something you just said could alter the flow of events. How do you know you haven’t already messed things up? Maybe someone from the House of Cornet was supposed to be the one.”
“We knew the one she saw was from the House of Nordin before the magic war ever happened, before Acryn died. We didn’t interfere. We’ve been very careful not to. But knowing what I did about the House of Nordin did make me that bit more willing to take Badec as an apprentice even though I knew he wasn’t the one. And no, I didn’t have any idea his son would be. We didn’t tell Badec to foster his son on Earth. He made that decision on his own, but once he did, we were fairly sure the time had come, that his son would probably be the one we’ve been waiting for.” Glendymere paused a moment. “When you brought me that agreement to put an end to magic wars, that nailed it for us, although I have to admit, none of us expected you to do it in your first six months. But you’re the one who has been foretold to bring peace to Terah.”
“Just how am I supposed to do that? Did someone’s vision tell you that?”
Glendymere shook his head. “No, but it won’t be just one act. It will be through a series of events, but getting rid of Gwendolyn was a good start. That eased some tensions that were about ready to erupt into violence. The other races will only tolerate so much arrogance and harassment from humans before they strike back, and she was pushing the limit. Fortunately, young Alastar hasn’t shown any sign of following in her footsteps.”
“Then maybe the next step is for me to take out Rolan, which I’m more than willing to do. After all, he nearly started a war with the elves.”
Glendymere exhaled a deep sigh. “If you can get him to challenge you, then yes, by all means, take him out, but not at the price of surrendering your chair. I won’t allow it.” Glendymere rested his head on his front paws. “Do your job, Myron. Train Landis well and see to it she’s ready to defeat him. Then your goal will be achieved without sacrificing the fate of Terah.”
Kevin rolled his eyes. “Don’t you think you’re being a bit melodramatic? When was the last time there was any violence between the races?”
“Not as long ago as you seem to think. In Prosidian there was a disagreement between some dwarves and humans over some mountains that cost several lives on both sides. And in Havernia, some humans tried to run the Yeti off land they’d lived on for generations, and again, some died on each side in the ensuing scuffle. Some fishermen were using spears to snag some fish and killed a few merfolk, so the merfolk retaliated and several sailors lost their lives. Some slavers grabbed some elven children thinking that since they were young, they could pass them off as human. Warrior elves went after them. A couple of men who had listened to the wrong tales went after a herd of unicorns aiming to kill them and sell their horns. They gravely underestimated the war unicorns. And in Silva, some gnomes took exception when some humans decided to kill off a bunch of animals who were grazing on the grasslands. By the time the gnomes finished with them, the hunters were killing each other. And I could keep going. All in all, humans have made a nuisance of themselves all over Terah through their arrogance and greed. They have no idea how close they’ve come to extermination over the past few hundred years. We considered annihilating them on Earth, but chose not to.” Glendymere paused and tilted his head. “You do realize it
’s within our power, don’t you? There’s nothing on Terah or Earth that can defeat a dragon.”
Kevin looked like he was going to argue so Glendymere shook his head. “Don’t forget we can put someone to sleep from hundreds of miles away, or hundreds of people to sleep, whole armies, nations. And it’s entirely within our power to see to it they never wake up. We haven’t done that…yet.” Glendymere let that sink in for a moment. “You might say that whether or not we do, at least here on Terah, is in your hands. Might be worthwhile for you to think about that for a bit. Your friends and family are counting on you to do more than simply take out one annoying sorcerer.”
“Annoying sorcerer?!” Kevin clenched his fists. “Annoying?! He’s way beyond annoying! He’s planning to kill them!”
“So warn them! They’re not children. They’re perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.”
Kevin felt his blood run cold. “Like my father was?” Kevin took a deep breath. “Why are you trying to stop me? You were ready to kill him yourself a couple of years ago, or have you forgotten that?”
“I haven’t forgotten anything, and before I let you make such a foolish move as resign, I will kill him myself. At least I have proof he stole from me. You have no proof. But I also remember what you said when I wanted to kill him for stealing my flame. You said it wasn’t my place. Same holds here. It’s Landis’s place to challenge Rolan, not yours.”
“But that’s at least a year or more off. I want him dead now, before he can hurt anyone else.”
Glendymere sighed. “I know you’re feeling protective, but you need to get past it. You have a lot more to protect than just your family, and every one of them would agree with me. You have a destiny to fulfill and to do that, you need to be the Master Sorcerer.” Glendymere looked hard into Kevin’s eyes. “So no more talk of resigning your chair. I won’t allow it. I’ll put you to sleep and leave you there until he’s dead and gone if I have to.”
No one spoke for several minutes. When Kevin gave one curt nod, Glendymere returned the keys. As Kevin put them back on his chain, he said, “I still think I should challenge him, and if he harms anyone else, I will, but I won’t bother with any rules. He’ll be nothing more than a pile of ashes within the hour and you won’t have any say in it.”
Chapter 71
Reactions
“What now?” Chris asked when he and Kevin got back to Kevin’s office.
“I guess we warn my aunts and uncles,” Kevin said as he paced. “I’d rather end this now, but as much as I hate to admit it, he had a point. I don’t have any more proof he killed my father than I have that he killed his own. Knowing isn’t proving. And I don’t have any concrete evidence that he intends to kill anyone else, just the word of someone I’ve never met, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that every word he wrote is true.” He swung into his chair and leaned back. “I’m not sure how to go about warning them though, how much I should tell them, or even whether I want to talk to them individually or as a group.”
“Are you going to talk to everyone? Or just the brothers and sisters?”
“Just the brothers and sisters. They’re the ones at risk.” Kevin drummed on his desk. “Individually would be easier, less chance of things blowing up and getting out of control.”
“But if they’re together, they can share ideas about how to handle it.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. Unless I miss my guess, they’ll feel the same way I do and figure the best way to handle this is to get rid of him.”
Chris shrugged. “I bet any one of them could take him, and Glendymere won’t care if it’s one of them.”
Kevin shook his head. “I don’t want them risking their lives over this.”
“Yet you have no problem risking yours.”
“Not the same thing. I’m trained for it, they aren’t, but that’s neither here nor there right now. I need to talk to them soon, today if possible, but someplace where I can control the situation.” At Chris’s raised eyebrows, Kevin said, “I don’t want this to become common knowledge. I don’t want anything overheard, and I have a feeling it may get noisy.”
“So you’re going to talk to them together?”
“I think so, but where?”
“Why not use the sitting room in Rainbow Valley?”
Kevin thought for a moment. “Provided Sari’s not working down there.”
“Hand me one of the keys and I’ll check.”
“I was going to send you after half of them.”
Chris shook his head. “Go find Laryn and tell her you need to meet with everyone. While you’re doing that, I’ll round up some food and get set up in the cave. You need to eat. We haven’t had lunch and I don’t think this will be a short meeting.”
Kevin handed Chris the key to Terah. “You’re probably right about that.”
“I’ll meet you at the cave. Then after you eat, you and Laryn can round up the others.”
~~~~
By the time Laryn got Donovan settled for a nap, Chris had wrangled several sandwiches, some fruit, cheese, cookies, brownies, and half a cake out of Miranda, along with half a barrel of scog. It took him three trips to get everything out to Rainbow Valley, but he considered it well worth it. After setting everything out on the table, he popped up to Ashni’s to let the giants know they’d be using the sitting room for the next few hours. He’d barely made it back when Kevin and Laryn got there.
Before Kevin said anything, Chris shook his head. “The first thing you need to do is eat.” He put a sandwich on a plate and handed it to Kevin.
While Chris poured three mugs of scog, Laryn asked, “What’s going on? Why am I here?”
Rather than answer, Kevin pulled the note out of his pocket and handed it to her. While she read, he went back to his sandwich.
Laryn sat down, picked up the mug of scog Chris had set in front of her, took a swallow, and set it back down, all without taking her eyes off the note. “Do you think Gildan wrote this? And is he telling the truth? Or is this some of Rolan’s mess?”
Kevin shrugged. “I’m leaning towards real.” He told her about the workshop in Glenco. “I think he went there looking for the mushrooms.”
“So what are we going to do about it?”
“Well, my first reaction was to resign as Master Sorcerer and challenge him to a duel.”
Laryn shook her head. “He’s already taken down one Master Sorcerer. We can’t let him take down another one.”
“Glendymere’s already nixed that plan,” Chris said.
“You went to Glendymere about it?” Laryn asked, eyes widening.
“The only way I can resign is to turn in my keys, and the only person above me is the Chairman of the Federation, and that’s Glendymere.”
“What did he say?”
“Basically that it’s Landis’s place to take him down, not mine.” Kevin took another bite of his sandwich. “And then when I didn’t want to drop it, he threatened to put me to sleep and keep me there until Rolan’s dead.”
“He’s right,” Laryn said quietly. “You can’t resign, and you can’t fight him unless you do.”
“Well, actually I can. It just won’t be by the rules, and if anything else happens, I will,” Kevin grumbled. Then he cleared his throat. “But in the meantime, I want to warn your brothers and sisters. They can do whatever they want to about telling their families, but I want them to know about the threat.”
“How much do you plan to tell them?” Laryn asked hesitantly. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for them to find out Rolan was behind Badec’s death, especially since there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“So how do we go about warning them?”
“Well, don’t hand them that note for starters,” Chris said.
“I’m not,” Kevin said. “I don’t even want to tell them it’s Rolan. I’d rather warn them without giving them a target.”
Laryn frowned. “I’m not sure they’ll take you seriously if you don’t give
them something.”
“You could say poisoning one of them is a prelude to poisoning you,” Chris suggested.
“But why would he kill one of them first?” Laryn asked. “Without knowing about Badec, it doesn’t make sense.”
“You could blame it on your blood,” Chris said. “It’s entirely possible that elves would have a natural resistance to some things that humans don’t and vice versa. A poison that kills humans may only make an elf sick.”
Kevin nodded. “That makes sense. Use one of them as a test case since all of us have mixed blood.”
Laryn nodded slowly. “At least it would give them a reason to believe it.”
Kevin finished the last of his sandwich, took a quick swig of scog, wiped his mouth and took out his key. “Chris, let Laryn have the other key. Laryn, if you’ll get your sisters, I’ll get your brothers.”
Laryn stood up as she took the key. “You know it may take a while to track them down, find someone to watch their children, and get back here.”
Kevin nodded. “And there’s no telling where I might have to go to find Kyle or Shadron. At least it’s a pretty safe bet Dayed’s in his shop.”
“Or his sawmill,” Chris reminded him. “Meanwhile, I’ll keep an eye on the food. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to it!”
With a laugh, both Kevin and Laryn turned their keys and left.
~~~~
After everyone was settled in the sitting room, Shadron said, “You must have a reason for bringing us here. What is it?”
Kevin took a deep breath. “I’ve received word that someone’s planning to poison one or more of you.”
Reactions were as varied as the brothers and sisters. Allisandra’s eyebrows shot up, Danyelle’s eyes narrowed, Shadron leaned back and folded his arms across his chest, Dayed frowned, and Kyle laughed.
“Poison us? What for?” Kyle asked. “What could they hope to gain?” Then he shook his head. “Someone’s messing with you, Myron.”
The Rambling Spy Page 76