“Good thing we won’t usually have to fight them,” Darrell mumbled.
“Maybe what we need is not something to scare them, but something that will draw their attention somewhere else,” Joan said.
“Such as?” Chris asked.
“Let me think for a few minutes,” Joan said.
“It’s going to be nightfall soon. Dwarves can see as well at night as they can during the day,” Steve said. “If we don’t come up with something soon, they’re going to have even more of an advantage than they already do.”
“Okay, exactly what are the rules that we’re fighting under? Kevin, what are you allowed to do at this point?” Karl asked.
“Well, according to what Glendymere said this morning, I can do pretty much anything except actively attack them.”
“Exactly what does that mean?” Karl asked.
“I’m not sure what you’re asking.”
“What I’m getting at is could you simply lift that flag out of there?” Karl asked.
Kevin grinned and said, “I don’t see why not. I hadn’t even thought of that!”
“So, are you willing to do it?” Chris asked.
“You bet, and right now.” Kevin looked towards the other camp and focused on the flag. Then he reached out and gently lifted the flagpole out of the ground. None of the dwarves and elves guarding the flag was actually looking at it, so no one noticed that the pole was suspended a few inches above the ground. “All right, I’ve got it. Now how do we want to handle this? Do you want me to just grab it? Or can we finesse this?” Kevin asked quietly.
“Let’s try for finesse, with just grabbing it as Plan B,” Darrell said. “How about if the rest of us sneak along the river and attack them from the rear? If we can get there, we could probably distract them long enough for Kevin to get the flag out of there without any of them realizing it.”
“Teri, stay here and keep your eyes open. If Kevin’s going to protect us, slip the flag out of their camp without attracting any attention, and try to hold our defensive line, he needs someone to watch his back and to keep an eye on our flag,” Chris said.
“Okay,” Theresa agreed.
“How are you going to let us know when you have the flag?” Karl asked Kevin.
“We’ll probably be able to tell,” Darrell said. “I imagine there’ll be a bit of yelling from the other side.”
“If not, I’ll drop something on Chris,” Kevin said as he began to look around for something to drop.
“What about this?” Joan asked as she took off her headband and handed it to Kevin.
“That’ll work,” Kevin said.
The rest of the Tellurians slipped off through the woods and quietly crept along the river banks. To cover any noise that they might make, Kevin stirred up a nice thunderstorm several miles away with plenty of whistling wind and crashing thunder.
Once the Tellurians were in place, they opened fire on the other camp. When the elves and dwarves turned to face the attack, Kevin slowly floated the flagpole towards the woods that encircled the enemy camp. As soon as the flagpole was safely camouflaged by trees, Kevin floated it more quickly towards his own camp.
Theresa grabbed Kevin’s arm just as the flag was about to float out of the woods and into their campsite. “Look, over there.” Theresa pointed towards the woods on the other side of the camp. “I saw a shape move. Is that a dwarf?”
Kevin set the flag down on the ground and turned some of his attention to the shadow that Theresa had seen. Several dwarves were sneaking up on their camp. Kevin reached out mentally and gave the dwarves a shove backwards and kept shoving them every time they tried to stand up until they gave up and turned back. Then Kevin floated the enemy flag over to Theresa.
Glendymere and Duane had watched the action from a vantage point high up on top of a ridge.
“He finally figured out that he’s more than just a shield,” Glendymere chuckled.
“I would never have bet that that little group could actually defeat a band of elf and dwarf warriors,” Duane said. “I doubt if there is another squad on Terah that could have done any better.”
“Of course, the elves and dwarves were hindered by the ‘no kill’ rules, and most sorcerers would have used magic to win at the beginning, but under the same set of rules, I agree. I’ve asked them to return in January to fight again, and I’ve also asked Jonquin to join in the fun. Want to join us for those games?”
“I might. I’ll let you know.”
They continued to watch as the dwarves and elves realized that their flag was gone and signaled surrender to the Tellurians. After the two “armies” congratulated each other on a well-fought battle, the combatants began to gather their arms and head for their respective quarters.
As the playing field cleared, Duane said “I want to talk to you about something else.” Glendymere nodded, so Duane told him about Landis, how she came to be with Hayden, how Rolan had killed Tsareth, and why they feared for her life should Rolan find her. “The problem now is to find a tutor for her. Her power will be strong, and she’ll probably learn quickly, but any sorcerer who agrees to accept her as an apprentice will run afoul of Rolan.”
“What exactly are you asking me?”
“Do you think Kevin would make a good tutor for Landis? She’s twenty-four now, and she could begin studying as early as next summer, but she doesn’t have to. We could wait a while and let him get settled. Once Rolan finds out how strong Kevin’s magic is, he’ll leave him alone, and if she’s Kevin’s apprentice …”
“There are a couple of problems with that plan. For one thing, from what you’ve said, Rolan would not hesitate to resort to treachery. No matter how strong Kevin’s power is, magic provides little defense against that, so they’ll both be in danger should he agree to accept her as an apprentice, but I doubt that that would deter him. The second thing, and the bigger obstacle, is that Kevin cannot teach what he does not know.”
“What do you mean? From everything I’ve seen, Kevin is a powerful sorcerer. What doesn’t he know?”
“You’re forgetting that Kevin is part elf. His power flows through him. He doesn’t have to gather magic from external sources, he doesn’t have to store it, and he doesn’t have to replenish it. That’s what he cannot teach.”
“I completely forgot about that,” Duane said quietly. “Maybe we could find someone who could quietly teach her how to do that and then Kevin could take her on as an apprentice later.”
“Why do you want Kevin to teach her?”
“Mainly because he’ll teach her, just like you’ve taught him. Human sorcerers hold their apprentices back, parceling out little bits of information while using their apprentices almost as slaves.” Duane sighed. “I don’t think she has years and years to learn to protect herself, not with Rolan out there.”
“I see,” Glendymere nodded. “Well, how about this? Suppose we wait and see how Kevin manages as Master Sorcerer. Then, if he agrees to handle the rest, I’ll handle the first part of her training. Would that be suitable?”
“Are you serious?” Duane asked. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. When Glendymere nodded, Duane said, “I don’t know what to say, Glendymere. That’s a very generous offer! Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“If I minded, I wouldn’t have offered. Actually, my sympathies are with the girl. I’ve heard of Rolan’s cruelty through various grapevines, and I wouldn’t want her to fall into his hands. Tell Hayden that if things go well for Kevin, and if Kevin agrees to take her on as a student, he can bring her here next fall and I’ll work with her until she can gather and store her magical energies.”
“I don’t know how to thank you, Glendymere.”
“Well, keep in mind that this is dependent upon Kevin surviving his first few months as Master Sorcerer.”
“I understand. But if he fails, we’ll have much bigger problems than finding a tutor for Landis.”
“Agreed,” Glendymere said. Then he added, “I wouldn’t m
ention any of this to Kevin at this point. He has enough to worry about for a while.”
“I wasn’t going to. It isn’t my place to talk to him anyway. When I mentioned the idea to my father, he asked me to see what you thought about it. Then, if Kevin survives the first couple of months, he’ll travel to Camden himself and talk with him about it.”
“You know, we’re going to have to find out who he’s going to be, Kevin or Myron. Everyone on Terah is expecting Myron, but everyone who knows him calls him Kevin. Could get confusing.”
“I think that’s why he’s using Kevin right now. The way he explained it to us was that if all of Terah was looking for Myron, he was going to be Kevin. Let them look somewhere else. But he did say that he would be Myron once he got to Camden. I imagine his friends from Earth will always call him Kevin though,” Duane said.
“Like I said, could get confusing. That may be good, may be bad. We’ll just have to see how it goes,” Glendymere said as he stood up and stretched his wings. “Well, looks like everyone has gone home now. Shall we head back?”
~ ~ ~ ~
Thursday morning, Kevin, Karl, and Darrell rode over to the valley where the elves and dwarves had set up their camp to thank them for coming and wish them a safe journey home. Meanwhile Chris had gone over to Willow Canyon to straighten up the little room that he and Kevin had been using since June. The Tellurians had held their battle post-mortems in that room and it was a wreck. The extra chairs they had brought in took up most of the floor space, and there were papers, maps, broken arrows, new arrows, and spare bows scattered all over the place. It took him until mid-morning to clear out the extra furniture, dispose of the trash, and store the things they wanted to keep. By the time he had finished, Kevin had returned.
“I’m tired. What about you?” Chris asked Kevin.
“Yeah, I’m sort of tired, too,” Kevin answered with a yawn. “Probably because we’re finally relaxing after weeks of tension.”
“Well, whatever the cause, I could use a nice long nap.”
“So could I. Why don’t we all take a couple of days off, say until Saturday morning? We haven’t taken a break since you got here,” Glendymere suggested.
“That’s a great idea!” Chris agreed.
“Are you sure we have the time?” Kevin asked. “I mean, don’t we have to start preparing for the magic duels?”
“Yes, but Saturday will be time enough. We’re going to work on defense against energy bolts for a couple of days first, but you don’t have a duel scheduled until Tuesday.”
“Tuesday?! That soon?” Kevin asked in near panic. “Are you sure I’ll be ready?”
“Actually, I’m quite sure you won’t be, but I don’t want you worrying about that right now. I want you to relax. Don’t do any magic at all, just rest. I don’t want you to burn out any more than I want you to burn up. Remember, I’ll be at the duels. I won’t let anything happen to you. Now, go. I want some sleep. After all, you don’t want me to fall asleep in the middle of one of your duels with a dragon, do you?” Glendymere said as he turned around, settled down, and promptly fell asleep.
Chapter 42
The First Chills of Winter
Duane and Xantha arrived in North Amden along with the season’s first blast of artic air. As they flew into Crinsor Run around daybreak, Duane spotted his father walking in the fields, so he asked Xantha to land there.
“Good morning,” Duane said as he dismounted. The frost was so heavy that it crunched under his feet.
“Did you have a good trip?” Hayden asked. “Can you believe how cold it is this morning? Feels like the middle of January.”
“I know. It was warm when we left Willow Canyon. How long has it been this cool?”
“Oh, just for the past couple of mornings. It won’t last. We’ll warm up again before winter settles in for good. Now, how were things at Glendymere’s? Has Myron progressed as well as you had hoped?”
“Better than I had hoped. He’s already one of the most powerful sorcerers I’ve ever seen, and he still has a couple more months with Glendymere. For the first time since he returned to Terah, I really think he’ll be able to survive, and if he makes it, the others from Earth should, too. You should have seen them fight. You’d have thought that they’d been doing this type of thing all of their lives.”
“So Pallor chose the companions well.” Hayden’s pride in his nephew’s success crept into his voice. “So, what’s next?”
“Glendymere has arranged for Myron to duel with a few dragons this month, and then in January, they’re going to fight the elves and dwarves again, but this time backed up by Jonquin. Glendymere asked me if I wanted to return to watch the skirmishes.”
“Are you going?”
“I don’t know yet. I told Glendymere that I’d let him know.”
“Did you have a chance to ask him what he thought about asking Myron to tutor Landis?” Hayden asked.
“Yes, and he brought up a point that I hadn’t considered. Myron didn’t have to learn how to gather magical energy, so there’s no way he can teach Landis how to do it.”
“His elven blood. I hadn’t thought about that either. Oh well, we’ll find someone. Don’t worry about it.”
“Well, Glendymere had a suggestion. He said that if Myron agrees to tutor Landis once she’s mastered gathering and storing her energy, he would teach her that part himself,” Duane said hesitantly. He wasn’t sure how his father would react to Landis studying with Glendymere.
“Are you serious? He volunteered?”
Duane nodded. “He’s the one who brought it up. I didn’t know what to say. I just said that that was a very generous offer and asked if he was sure he didn’t mind. He said that if he’d minded he wouldn’t have offered in the first place. He’s heard about Rolan, so he knows that Landis really is in danger.”
“She’ll be at her most vulnerable at the beginning of her training and there’s no one who could protect her better than Glendymere. I’ll need to think about what I can offer him for his efforts, but I think it’s a terrific idea.”
“Are you going to tell Landis? It might take her a little while to get used to the idea that she’ll be studying with Glendymere. His legend is even bigger than he is.”
“That may be, but I don’t want to tell her that everything is settled until I know for sure that it is, until after I talk to Myron. After all, we don’t really know that he’ll be able to take care of himself, much less an apprentice. I think I’ll tell her that I’ve started looking, and hope to have something arranged by next fall. That should suffice for now, don’t you think?” Hayden asked. When Duane nodded, he added, “After all, what difference does it make whether she finds out now or later? The test will come when she faces him for the first time. If she freezes, she’ll just have to get over it. I’m sure he’s used to that reaction from humans.”
“True, and they do seem to get over it. None of the Earth people seemed to mind being around him at all,” Duane said. As they approached the courtyard he added, “I’m starved. Do you think Shelandra would mind if I stopped by your house for breakfast on the way in? Mother always cooks enough for an army.”
“You’re welcome to eat at our house any time, but as to whether or not Shelandra would mind, she’s your wife. Why are you asking me?” Hayden chuckled.
“I wasn’t really. I was asking myself. And I know the answer. Yes, she would mind if I went to your house before I went to ours. So, guess I’ll catch up with you later. Give Mother a kiss for me, and tell her to save me some of her pastries. I’ll be over later.”
When Hayden reached his house, he asked Gwynn if Taelor, Landis and Rhianna were up yet. She told him that they had already eaten and gone out. After he recounted his conversation with Duane, she asked if he was satisfied with the plan as it stood.
“Yes, I think it’s perfect, provided, of course, that Myron survives his first few months as Master Sorcerer.”
“When do you plan to tell her that she
might be leaving next fall?” Gwynn asked. “This is going to be tough on Rhianna, too. They’re so close.”
“I know. Maybe we should go ahead and tell her that tentative plans are set up for next fall, but not go into any details. That way they can both start getting used to the idea. What do you think?”
“I think it would be best. Oh, here they come now. No time like the present. Shall I stay, or should I go warn Duane? You know they’ll try to get details out of him. They always do.”
“Stay. Then we’ll both go warn Duane,”
“Coward,” Gwynn whispered as the girls walked in ahead of Taelor.
Hayden briefly told Landis that arrangements were being made for her to begin her training as a sorcerer next fall but he wouldn’t have any details for her until everything was finalized next summer. Then he stood up, took his wife’s hand, and said that they were expected at Shelandra’s house for breakfast.
After Hayden and Gwynn left, Taelor felt that Landis and Rhianna wanted to talk, so he excused himself, saying that he wanted to do some target practice with the bow that Hayden had given him.
Landis collapsed in one of the chairs. “I knew I’d have to leave here one day, but it never seemed real until this very moment.”
Rhianna reached for Landis’s hand and said, “I know.”
“I’m going to miss you so much,” Landis said as she squeezed Rhianna’s hand.
“No you won’t. I’m going with you.”
“They’ll never permit that,” Landis moaned.
“I don’t imagine that they’ll have a whole lot to say about it,” Rhianna insisted. “You’re going to need an assistant, right? Are you going to tell me that I’m not good enough for the job?”
“Of course not, but Rhee, be serious for a moment. You don’t want to leave this valley any more than I do. This is home.”
“Yes, this is home, and one day I’ll come back. So will you. But when you leave here next fall, I’m going with you. You’re going to need me and you know it.”
The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah) Page 53