“What?” Kevin asked. “I told you I wasn’t going as myself.”
“I know,” she said between chuckles.
“Well, are you ready to go?”
Rhianna bit her lips to stop laughing. “Are we going straight to the castle?”
Kevin shook his head. “I don’t want anyone to know we arrived by key. We’ll go a little ways outside of town and walk from there.” He walked over to the map of Terah hanging on his wall and pointed to a small dot. “This is where she lives, in Grayford.”
“How are we going to find her castle?” Rhianna asked, looking at the small dot.
Chris took a sheet of paper out of a folder and handed it to Kevin. “I asked Judith to have someone sketch a map of Grayford and mark where her castle’s located. You can use this once you get to town.”
Kevin looked at the map for a few minutes and then looked back at the map of Terah. “If we go here,” he pointed at the top of the dot, “we should be close to the castle when we get to town.”
Rhianna looked at the sheet of paper in Kevin’s hand and back at the large map. “Don’t take us too far out or it’ll be late afternoon by the time we get there.”
Kevin took out his key and asked, “Ready?”
Rhianna put her hand on Kevin’s arm.
“We’ll be back before long,” Kevin said to Chris. “Have the pages set out some refreshments, and see if you can find Marshall. It might be a good idea to have him close by when I get back with his mother. I imagine she’ll want to see him first thing.”
Chris nodded as Kevin turned the key.
When they got to Riordan, they were on the edge of a forest. Kevin set up his seeing eye and checked out the area. “The town’s not far. It’s bigger than Milhaven. There are maybe a dozen shops along the main stretch and a few scattered off to the side. The castle’s down the second road on the right.” Then he closed his seeing eye and looked at Rhianna. “Ready?”
She fingered the handle of her dagger. “Anytime you are.”
“Remember, call me Kevin, not Myron.”
“Got it.”
The two of them walked in silence until they reached the road to the castle. “This way,” Kevin said as he turned right.
Judith’s castle was similar to the one in Milhaven. The building was made of stone, but it was four stories high with towers at each of the four corners, and four wide steps leading to the front door. When they reached the top step, the guard standing in front of the door asked, “Do you have business at the castle, sir?”
Kevin nodded. “I have an appointment with Sorcerer Judith. My name is Kevin, from Omaha.”
“Very good, sir,” the guard said as he continued to block the doorway. A second guard slipped behind him and went inside. A few minutes later, the second guard stepped back out and held the door open. “If you’ll come with me, I’ll show you to her office.”
The first guard stepped out of their way, but as soon as Kevin and Rhianna cleared the doorway, he shut the door behind them. As the second guard led them through the entrance way, everyone in the immediate area watched them walk by. Before they reached the door to Judith’s office, the air was buzzing with whispered questions.
The guard knocked on the door and stepped to the side.
A moment later, Preea, Judith’s second, opened the door. “Welcome,” she said as she stepped back to let Kevin and Rhianna enter. As she shut the door behind them, Preea asked if they’d like any refreshments.
Kevin shook his head. “Is Judith available?”
Preea walked across the office to another door. She knocked once and opened it. “Judith, Myron’s here.”
Judith stood up and walked around her desk to greet Kevin. “Welcome to Grayford, Myron.”
“Good afternoon, Judith. May I present Rhianna?”
“Welcome, Rhianna,” Judith said. Then she looked at Kevin. “Chris said you needed to see me on a personal matter and led me to believe you’d rather no one know you’re here. I’ve given my pages the afternoon off so we can meet in private. I take it you don’t object to Preea’s presence?”
“Not at all,” Kevin said. He glanced at the table and chairs on the other side of the reception area. “Mind if we have a seat?”
“Of course,” Judith said as she and Preea led the way.
Once they were seated, Kevin said, “I had to see Damien about something a few months ago, so Chris wrote him a note telling him when I’d be there. Big mistake. One of his pages opened the message and word got out. I’m afraid my visit put a lot of people to a great deal of trouble. I didn’t want that to happen here.”
Judith smiled. “It’s usually easier for us to go to you.”
“But we need to be here for this conversation, and I’d appreciate it if you and Preea kept it to yourselves.”
Judith nodded and waited for Kevin to proceed.
“I don’t know if you knew him, but you had a young man working in your stables a while back, Marshall.”
Judith’s eyes opened a little wider. “Has something happened to him?”
“No, he’s fine. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. He’s taking care of our horses now.”
“Thank goodness.” Judith sighed. “He was such a nice young man. He was ready to manage his own stable and I didn’t have a place to put him. His mother’s still here and I’d have hated to tell her he’d been hurt, or worse.”
“Well, his mother’s why I’m here.” Kevin looked at Preea and asked, “Could you please go get her?”
Preea looked at Judith, who frowned and said, “I don’t understand. Why do you need to see Eryn?”
“I’ll explain in a moment, but please, let Preea and Rhianna go get her.”
Judith’s frown deepened, but she nodded at Preea.
After Preea and Rhianna left the room, Kevin said, “I need to ask her a couple of questions, but if she’s who I think she is, she’s the daughter of a warrior elf.”
Judith’s mouth dropped open. “But that would mean...”
Kevin nodded. “That she’s an elf.”
“Are you sure?”
“If Dougan’s her father, yes.”
“But she doesn’t have red eyes,” Judith protested.
“Her mother’s human.”
“So she’s half-elf.”
“But on her father’s side, which makes her legally an elf.”
Judith shook her head. “I had no idea...”
“I didn’t much think you did. I doubt the slavers who captured her did either.”
Judith frowned. “What makes you say that?”
“She’s alive.”
For a moment Judith looked puzzled. Then her cheeks paled. “They would have killed her had they known.”
“And Marshall too, and everybody from that village.” Kevin paused. “The last thing slavers want is a band of warrior elves coming after them, and they would have if they’d known who was responsible.”
Judith paled a bit more. “Should I expect a visit from some angry warrior elves?”
Kevin shook his head. “That’s why Rhianna and I are here today, to handle this as quietly as possible.”
Judith sighed. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a cup of coffee.” As she stood up, she looked back at him and asked, “Can I get you one?”
“No, thank you,” Kevin said.
After Judith sat back down with her coffee, the two sorcerers waited in silence for Preea and Rhianna to return with Eryn. When Preea opened the door to the office, she ushered Eryn and Rhianna in and pulled the door shut behind her.
Eryn looked at Kevin, then at Judith. “You wanted to see me?”
Judith looked at Kevin. He turned to Eryn and asked, “Would you tell us about your father?”
Eryn sighed, pulled out a chair and sat down. Preea took hold of her arm to pull her back up, but Eryn reached up and knocked Preea’s hand away. “Relax, Preea. In five minutes I’ll either be dead or a free woman, but either way, I’m not your slave anymore.”
Preea’s eyes widened and her mouth started to open, but Judith silenced her with a quick shake of her head.
Eryn glanced at Rhianna. “That explains why you’re here, and since you are, I’m probably not going to end up dead.” She looked back at Judith and asked, “How did you figure it out?”
Judith shook her head. “So it’s true?”’
“That my father’s a warrior elf?” Eryn paused long enough for Judith to nod. “Yes, it’s true. His name is Dougan. He’s worked for Edwin in Farragon for longer than I’ve been alive. That’s where he met my mother. He trains village soldiers, especially those who live along the coast, and Farragon’s got a lot of coastline. I don’t know if he’s still there, but he was when I was captured.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Judith asked.
Eryn shrugged. “It was too big a gamble. I might have if it had just been me, but I wasn’t taking any chances with Marshall’s life. But back to my question. How did you figure it out?”
Judith shook her head. “I didn’t.” She tilted her head towards Kevin. “He told me.”
Eryn looked at Kevin. “And you are?”
“I’m sorry,” Kevin said. “My name’s Myron. I’m the Sorcerer of Camden.”
Eryn gave a quiet chuckle. “You’re also the Master Sorcerer.” She frowned as she looked at him again. “But why are you dressed like that?”
“I didn’t want anyone to make a fuss over my visit.”
Eryn nodded. “So, how did you know?”
Kevin glanced towards Rhianna. “She told me.”
Eryn turned and looked at Rhianna. “How did you know where I was?”
“Marshall told me.”
“Marshall?”
Rhianna nodded.
“But he has no idea his grandfather’s an elf.”
“I know, but when we met, he said my eyes were like his grandfather’s and he’d never seen anyone else with red eyes.”
Eryn shook her head. “I thought about telling him about my father a hundred times, but you know how children are. I was afraid he’d let it slip to the wrong person and get himself killed.” Eryn paused, then asked, “How did you run into Marshall?”
“I’m staying in Milhaven right now, and he takes care of Myron’s horses and dog. We met at the stable one day.”
“So you bought him?” Eryn asked Kevin.
“My governor did.”
“Since his father’s human, he’s legally a human. Do you plan to keep him as a slave?”
“We don’t have any slaves at the castle, or anywhere in Milhaven. He’s free to come and go as he pleases. It was his idea to work at the stable. I did ask him to look after my dog, but they both seem happy with the arrangement.”
“I want to talk to him.”
Kevin nodded. “I fully expected you would. When we left, I asked my assistant to find him.” When she frowned, Kevin added, “He spends a lot of his day exercising the horses. Sometimes he stays in the pastures, but most of the time he takes them for runs through the woods.”
Eryn smiled. “I bet he likes that.”
“He seems to, but you can ask him yourself when we get back.” Then Kevin looked at Judith. “Is there anything else?”
Judith shook her head and turned towards Eryn. “I wish you’d told me when you first got here. I’d have taken you both back home.”
Eryn paused before answering. “Thank you. I believe you would have. I didn’t know you at first, but after we’d been here for a while, I knew we were safe as far as you were concerned.” Her gaze became icy when she looked at Preea. “But I wasn’t so sure how some of your staff might react.” Then she looked back at Judith and smiled. “I bear you no hard feelings. I was never mistreated at your hands. I’ll make sure my father knows that.”
“Thank you.” Judith took Eryn’s hand. “I wish both you and Marshall the best. Take care of yourselves.”
While Judith was talking, Kevin had stood up and quietly taken out his key. “Then if there’s nothing else, I guess we should get going.” He held his hand out to Judith as she stood up. “Thank you for your assistance with this matter, and for your hospitality.”
Judith smiled and shook Kevin’s hand. “Thank you.”
Rhianna put her hand on Kevin’s arm as he turned to Eryn and said, “If you’ll take my arm, we’ll go see your son now.”
~ ~ ~ ~
A few moments later, they were in Kevin’s office. Eryn was bent double trying to deal with the nausea. Rhianna put an arm around her and told her to stay put for a few minutes and let it pass. Kevin opened his door, motioned for Ariel, and asked him to get a glass of water for their guest.
After Kevin handed Eryn’s water to Rhianna he turned back to Ariel. “Where’s Chris? And do you know where Marshall is?”
“Nikki wanted to go out so they took her. They should be back any minute.”
Kevin nodded. “Tell Chris to join us when they get back, and don’t let Marshall leave until I talk to him.”
“Do you need anything else?”
“Not right now,” Kevin said. “Thanks.”
With a nod, Ariel closed the door.
By that time Eryn was standing up straight and sipping some water. Kevin walked around his desk and took a seat in his chair. When Eryn looked at him, he motioned to the chair in front of him. “Have a seat. You’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
“I’d rather see Marshall.”
“He stepped out of the castle for a moment. Ariel will let us know when he gets back, but before you talk to him, I want to make one thing clear.”
Eryn looked hard at Kevin. “Go ahead.”
“When Marshall got here, he asked to work in the stable. He hadn’t been here long before he proved he was ready to oversee the stable, the animals who live there, and all the equipment that’s housed there. It’s a man’s job and he’s handled it well, even though he’s still in his teens. He’s earned the respect of the castle staff, and that’s not something to be taken lightly.”
Eryn nodded, but there was a frown on her face as she waited for him to continue.
Kevin took a deep breath. “When he first came, I promised him a home here for as long as he wants, and I meant it. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like too, but I know you’ll want to go home and I don’t blame you. And I know he’s your child and you’ll want him to go with you, but the choice has to be his.” Kevin paused. “What I’m trying to say is should he choose to go with you and live there, no one here will try to stop him, but if he decides he wants to stay here and continue managing the stable, I’ll back him up. Personally, I’d like for him to get to know his father and grandfather no matter where he chooses to live, and if he chooses to live here, the three of you are welcome to visit him as often as you like. It’s no trouble with the key. But no one is going to make him go back to Farragon unless he wants to.”
At first Eryn didn’t move or speak. Finally she gave a slight nod. “I understand what you’re saying, but before I respond, I need to talk to my son.” After a moment, she added, “Privately.”
“Of course.” Kevin stood up. “Rhianna, would you see if they’re back yet?”
Rhianna opened the door, looked out into the reception area, and shook her head as she closed it again. “Where did they go?”
Kevin rolled his eyes. “Nikki wanted to go out, so Chris and Marshall went with her.”
“Why didn’t they let one of the pages take her?” Rhianna asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Kevin sat back down and looked at Eryn. “I’m sorry. I expected Marshall to be here when we got back.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, who’s Nikki?” Eryn asked.
Kevin smiled. “My dog, although she’s more puppy than dog. She’s not a year old yet.”
Eryn grinned. “They’ll probably be a while.”
“In the meantime, can we get you something to drink? Or maybe something to eat? I’m sure there are some refreshments in th
e main office.” Kevin stood up. “We might as well wait out there as in here.”
“I wouldn’t say no to a little something to eat. I haven’t had lunch, and breakfast was a long time ago.”
Rhianna opened the door to the reception area and led the way to the refreshments. After Eryn fixed a small plate and poured herself a cup of tea, she sat down at the conference table to eat. Rhianna joined her with a cup of tea while Kevin poured himself some coffee.
Eryn was finishing up when the door opened and a bundle of yellow fur came flying through the door heading straight for Kevin. Nikki was halfway in his lap before she slowed down. Kevin laughed and ruffled the fur around her face. “Eryn, I’d like for you to meet Nikki. Her enthusiasm tends to get in the way of her manners.”
Eryn smiled the first real smile Kevin had seen as she reached over and stroked Nikki’s cheek. “She’s lovely.”
“Mother!” Marshall exclaimed as soon as he heard her voice.
Eryn stood up when she heard him and the two of them met halfway in a big embrace. After a moment, Marshall stepped back and looked at his mother. “Why are you here? How did you get here?”
Eryn laughed as she took her son’s hand. “Myron came for me.”
Marshall looked at Chris. “Is that why you asked me all those questions the other day about who my parents were and where we were from?”
Chris nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because we weren’t sure we’d be able to get her,” Kevin answered. “I’m sure you and your mother have a lot to talk about. Why don’t you use my office?”
Marshall paused. “Could we talk out at the stable? I want her to meet Watson. And Neiven.”
Kevin nodded. “If it’s all right with your mother.”
Eryn motioned towards the door. “Lead the way.”
~ ~ ~ ~
After Kevin changed into his normal clothes, he and Rhianna waited in the reception area for Eryn and Marshall to get back, much to Ariel’s annoyance. Elin spent the whole time talking to Rhianna rather than working. When Marshall opened the door for his mother two hours later, Ariel all but cheered, but when Eryn asked if she could speak with Kevin privately, Rhianna was left in the reception area with Elin again.
“Where’s Nikki?” Marshall asked after his mother followed Kevin into his office.
The Warrior Elf Page 39