“Not bad for a first attempt. Not bad at all.”
“Hey, as long as it worked,” Kevin said with a grin. Then he turned to Chris and said, “See, you’re still here.”
“Yeah, this time.” Chris shook his head. “I don’t like having one of those bolts headed in my direction. I know we’ve joked about not growing old, but sometimes the reality of that statement hits home.”
“Which is why you never ever want to forget what it feels like when a bolt is thrown,” Glendymere said. “But don’t worry about it too much, Chris. Chances are you won’t ever have one aimed at you. They’ll be aimed at Kevin. You’ll be in danger only if you’re close to him, but then, if you’re close to him, he can protect you. So, are you two ready to go home or do you want to practice with the net some more?”
“Let’s try a few more,” Kevin said. “Then we’ll call it a day.”
A little while later Chris said, “It could just be my imagination, but the air seems to shimmer and sparkle when you throw that net over us, and things outside the net look blurred.”
“I don’t think it’s your imagination,” Kevin said. “I see it, too.”
“A dome is more powerful than a net. It sort of seals you inside a bubble,” Glendymere explained as he flew back towards them. “When you’re inside, you can’t be seen by anyone on the outside, and you can’t be heard, either your voice or your thoughts.”
“So we could use the dome to hide in, to have conversations that no one could overhear,” Chris said. “Just like the spies in those old TV shows. We have our own ‘cone of silence.’”
“That could come in handy,” Kevin agreed.
“It might, but there are some drawbacks, too. You can’t be seen, but anyone who sees the dome would know a sorcerer’s involved, and the shimmers can be seen for quite a distance. Another problem is that you can’t hear what’s going on outside the dome. An entire army could ride up and surround you without you hearing a thing, and Kevin’s seeing eye can’t be projected outside the net if he’s under it. You’re completely shut off while you’re inside the dome.”
“How about at night? Would anyone see it then?” Chris asked.
Glendymere nodded and said, “It wouldn’t exactly glow, but there would be an area of faint light in the vicinity of the dome.”
“Oh well, at least it protects us from energy bolts,” Chris said with a sigh.
“And that’s the important thing,” Glendymere said as he knelt down and extended his leg. “Come on. Climb on board. We need to get back. Kevin needs a good night’s sleep. He’s sparring with his first dragon in the morning.”
~ ~ ~ ~
For the next few weeks, Kevin’s time was spent sparring with dragons, analyzing his actions after each match to figure out what worked and what didn’t, and coming up with new strategies. Any spare time that he could eke out was spent refining his skills, especially in the area of self-defense.
During the sparring matches, the dragons used whatever they had available to distract Kevin from tending to his shield. Glendymere controlled the level of difficulty for each match with his choice of battlefield. The first couple of matches were held on desolate rocks in the middle of the ocean where the dragons did not have a lot to work with, but as Kevin’s skill in handling several things at one time improved, the natural options available to the dragons increased.
Kevin had boulders thrown at him that could have crushed an elephant, was peppered by stones large enough to break bones, and sprayed with gravel small enough to put out an eye. Large trees were uprooted and dropped on him, and smaller trees were thrown like spears. One dragon grabbed a shark out of the ocean and dangled its hungry jaws over Kevin’s head. Another threw a hornets’ nest at him, complete with angry hornets.
Mud was a frequent weapon, not handfuls or even bucketfuls, but huge scoopfuls, enough to bury him. Rivers were redirected from their course and aimed straight at him. A couple of dragons set fire to nearby grasslands, using the smoke to blind and disorient him. One made a small bonfire, then picked it up, and dropped the whole burning mess on him.
One thing that the dragons had in common was their fondness for playing with the weather. Some would drop the temperature so fast that icicles would form in Glendymere’s goatee, and then shoot it up so high that Kevin could hardly breathe. At one point when they were sparring in the artic, one dragon melted the ice under Kevin’s feet deep enough for the water to cover his boots, and then refroze it so fast that Kevin’s feet were caught in the ice. He was pummeled by hail stones, stung by sleet, and blinded by fog, white-outs, and sandstorms. One sandstorm was so fierce that Kevin felt like the grit was sanding the skin right off his body.
Tornadoes were a favorite ploy of the dragons. The first time one was used against him, it caught him so off guard that the funnel picked Chris up before he could react. Glendymere stepped in to save the day that time. But after that, Kevin was ready for them and managed to either redirect the funnel or calm the storm, depending on what else was going on. One dragon used a waterspout to suck up a school of fish and dump them on Kevin in the middle of a barrage of energy bolts. Another dragon made good use of a local volcano, sending smoke and fire shooting up into the air. When that didn’t rattle Kevin, the dragon sent lava spewing over the side of the volcano, heading straight for him. That one did the trick. Kevin froze. Again, Glendymere rode to the rescue.
Kevin and Chris had both assumed that the dragons would all look like Glendymere, but that was not the case. They were as different as their sparring tactics. One of the dragons had a long thin body, almost like a snake, while another looked like a giant ball with a little round head stuck on stubby little neck. The rest of the dragons fell somewhere in between. They all had scales but the colors were as varied as their shapes, with various shades of maroon and green topping the list. One was completely silver, and one was so blue that he faded into the sky. All of them had diamond-shaped eyes, but the colors were as varied as the scales. About the only thing that they all had in common, other than sharp teeth and smoking nostrils, was their goatees, but none of them had one as long and white as Glendymere’s. He really did look like the grandfather of the whole group.
None of the dragons communicated directly with Kevin, and when he thanked them after a day of sparring, they acknowledged his thanks with a slight nod, but that was all.
Late one afternoon, after two and a half weeks of sparring with them, Kevin asked Glendymere why the other dragons never spoke to him or to Chris.
“Humans were the ones who made it impossible for magical creatures to live on Earth, and then a lot of them emigrated to Terah, bringing all their prejudices with them,” Glendymere explained. “Most magical beings prefer not to have anything to do with humans, so they basically ignore them, and dragons are no exception. The only reason any of them consented to these sparring matches is that you’re part elf.”
Chris raised his eyebrows and looked at Glendymere. “And because you asked them to.”
Glendymere shrugged. “Well, yes, there is that.”
“I’ve got a question, too,” Chris said a moment later. “Why are the dragons using weather against Kevin? Is it just so he can practice juggling things? I mean he isn’t going to have to worry about that if he’s fighting another sorcerer. They can’t play with the weather.”
“Kevin’s a sorcerer and he can manipulate the weather, even form a tornado,” Glendymere pointed out. “Granted he’s not as good as my friends are, but he hasn’t had as much practice as they’ve had either.”
“But he can do it only because he’s part elf,” Chris argued.
“And who’s to say that he’s the only sorcerer out there who is?”
Chris hesitated. “Good point. Hadn’t thought of that.”
“Do you know of someone else who’s part elf,” Kevin asked.
“No, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Besides, it’s always possible that a human sorcerer might enlist the aid of an elf.”
“Really?” Chris asked. “I didn’t think they got involved in things like that.”
“Not normally, but if the money’s good enough, an elf might. After all, he could easily justify it by reasoning that since Kevin’s part elf, all he was doing was leveling the playing field.”
“How likely is that to happen?” Kevin asked.
“Not likely at all, but it is possible, so it’s best to be prepared, and speaking of prepared, you need to get some rest before your match tomorrow, and so do I. See you in the morning,” Glendymere said as he settled his massive head on his front leg and promptly fell asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~
During dinner a couple of days later, Joan asked Kevin how things were going.
“I guess they’re going okay. At least, I’m still here,” Kevin said with a shrug. “And there have been a couple of times when I wasn’t sure I would be.”
“He’s being modest,” Chris said. “He’s doing great. You should have seen him against that blue dragon last Friday. I think he even surprised Glendymere.”
“Really?” Darrell asked. “What happened?”
“The dragon sent an enormous tidal wave at Kevin. It rose up out of the ocean about five hundred yards off shore. I’d say it was well over a hundred feet high, wouldn’t you?” Chris asked Kevin.
“Probably,” Kevin answered, but he didn’t pick up the story like Chris had hoped he would.
“I thought that thing was going to wash over the whole island, but as it approached, Kevin made a ‘V’ shaped wedge of compressed air, and when the wave hit the point of the ‘V’, it split, sheared off, and rolled around the island without so much as one drop hitting land. Meanwhile, the dragon threw a barrage of energy bolts at Kevin while he was busy heading off the wave. When the bolts hit Kevin’s net, the dragon roared and stirred up a sand storm so thick you could hardly breathe, but Kevin came right back with a swipe of wind that blew the sand out to sea. During the sand storm, the dragon had picked up a huge rock and thrown it at Kevin, and when the wind swept the sand away, the rock was maybe eight feet from Kevin’s head and moving fast. If he’d ducked, which would have been what any sane person would have done, he’d probably have dropped his net, but Kevin didn’t even flinch. The rock hit the net and burst into a hundred pieces. The dragon actually bowed his head towards Kevin before resuming the attack. According to Glendymere, that’s the highest compliment a dragon ever pays to an opponent. But was Kevin here satisfied? No. His only comment when Glendymere told him that he’d done a good job handling that attack was that he wished he’d been able to get off a couple of energy bolts of his own during that little scuffle.”
“It sounds to me like you did pretty well,” Darrell said to Kevin.
“I guess so, but I would have felt better if I could have fired a few bolts of my own. I was so busy defending that I didn’t have a chance to attack.”
“Yeah, well, don’t push it too far,” Chris said seriously. “The net comes first. Always.” Then he added in a half-teasing manner, “Especially if I’m under it.”
A few minutes later, Tyree joined them and the conversation turned to other topics. Joan mentioned that Christmas was only a week away. “I was thinking that maybe we should do something special on Christmas Eve. What do you think?”
Karl turned to Tyree and asked, “Do people observe Christmas in Camden?”
“As far as I know, all of Terah observes Christmas,” Tyree answered. “How was it observed where you came from?”
“It was a really big deal,” Darrell answered. “Most stores decorated for Christmas around the beginning of November, but some decorated even earlier than that.”
“The only decorations here are in the homes, but no one decorates more than a week before Christmas,” Tyree said with a puzzled expression on his face. “I don’t understand why stores would decorate anyway.”
“Because, where we came from, people gave gifts to everyone they knew,” Karl explained. “It could get rather expensive.”
“What do they do in Camden?” Theresa asked.
“Sometimes parents or older children make a few small toys for the younger ones, but those are the only gifts. Mainly it’s a day of family, good food, and leisure.”
“Do they do anything along the lines of religion?” Theresa asked.
“That’s left up to the individual family. They can include as much or as little as they like, same as with all our religious observations here.”
Theresa nodded.
“Would you like to have a party the night before, with songs, refreshments, and a few decorations?” Joan asked. “Maybe invite Blalick, Ashni, and the kids?”
“Sounds like fun,” Darrell said, “but maybe we should have it at their house. Every time they’re here, they have to stand.”
Joan nodded and said, “I’ll talk to Ashni tomorrow.” Then she asked Tyree, “Do people in Camden put up Christmas trees?”
“Christmas trees?” Tyree wasn’t sure what she was talking about.
“Do you cut down a small evergreen tree, bring it in the house, and hang decorations on its branches?” Karl explained.
“No, not that I’ve ever heard of,” Tyree said, his frown deepening.
“Joan, do you want a tree for the sitting room?” Karl asked.
“No, not unless someone else particularly wants one.” Joan looked around the table, but everyone was shaking their head no. “All right, that’s settled. I’ll bake some sugar cookies and maybe some gingerbread, but other than that, we aren’t going to go all out for Christmas this year.”
“And no one’s going to do the presents thing, okay?” Chris said. “I don’t want to feel bad because one of you talented souls came up with gifts for all of us and I didn’t.”
“Agreed,” Darrell said and looked around to make sure that everyone agreed to forgo exchanging gifts. Everyone nodded. “That includes you, Joan,” Darrell said as he looked directly at her.
“I agreed, didn’t I?” Joan said defensively. “I have to admit I had thought about giving you the sweaters that Ashni and I just finished crocheting, but they aren’t really Christmas gifts. They’re survival gear for the winter.”
“And what about you, Karl?” Chris asked, seeing a twinkle in Karl’s eye.
“Blalick and I made each one of you a wooden box. They will be anchored around the sides of the new wagon when we leave. They aren’t big, but at least it’ll give you somewhere to store your extra clothes. If we had decided to exchange gifts, those would have been mine, but they aren’t really Christmas gifts either. They’re your suitcases.”
“Speaking of the trip, are we about ready?” Kevin asked. “We’re going to be rather busy for the first couple of weeks in January with war games, and we need to leave around the twentieth. Is there anything that we need to do? And by ‘we’ I mean Chris and me. I know we haven’t been much help with the preparations.”
“Everything’s going fine, right on schedule,” Karl said. “Don’t worry about things here. You have other things you need to worry about.”
Theresa sighed. “I don’t want to even think about leaving here. This cave is home.”
“I know,” Joan agreed. “And it makes it even worse since we don’t have any idea what we’re heading into.”
“Well, we may be able to help out a little bit there,” Steve said. “Tyree and I have been working on a small model of the castle at Milhaven. It’s in my room if you’d like to see it.”
“Are you serious? You’ve built a model of the castle?” Joan stood up and began gathering dishes. “Give us a minute to clear the table.”
“It’s fairly accurate as of about ten years ago,” Tyree said while they were taking dishes out to Joan in the kitchen, “but I haven’t been back since then, and Badec may have changed some of it around.”
“How much could he have changed things like walls?” Darrell asked.
“You don’t really want an answer to that one, Darrell,” Chris said wi
th a chuckle. “He’s the Master Sorcerer. If he wanted to get rid of a wall, BAM! It’s gone!”
“Oh, yeah,” Darrell said.
Tyree smiled. “Actually, it’s more likely that something may have been added.”
“Well, some idea is better than none, right?” Karl said.
“That’s sort of what we thought,” Steve said. “Besides, Badec probably hasn’t made a lot of changes in the past ten years.”
Once the dishes were done, they all gathered around Steve’s desk in his room to look at the model. Steve and Tyree had spent a lot of hours putting the model together. They had made each floor a separate unit and fixed them so that they could be stacked. Looking down on the model from above, it resembled a blocked “U” with a wide base.
Tyree pointed to the open area inside the “U”. “This courtyard is basically a big flower garden. There’s a stone roadway around the inside, but the only people who use it are visiting dignitaries. They’re the only ones who use the front entrance.” He pointed to an arched doorway with double doors had been drawn in on the middle of the base. “Everyone else uses one of the back entrances.”
“How do they reach them?” Darrell asked. “Is there some kind of driveway or something?”
Tyree nodded. “There’s another roadway that curves around the southern end of the castle between the kitchen area and the vegetable gardens. It goes to the stable area out back. There’s a river that loops around the back of the castle grounds, and there’s a small meadow on the other side of the river, between the river and the forest. They turn the horses out over there for grazing.”
“What’s on the other side of the forest?” Karl asked. “Farms?”
“There are a few, but mainly it’s mountains. The castle is at the foot of the chain.”
“So the back of the castle faces east?” Kevin asked.
Tyree nodded. “And the front faces west, towards Milhaven.”
“What are these?” Theresa asked, pointing to two boxes sitting on the front half of each of the two legs.
The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah) Page 55