The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) Read online

  Kevin nodded. “I know what you mean. And the first time, I did. If it hadn’t been for Glendymere, I’d have been a pile of ashes. But somewhere along the way, you get past the fear, and then you can deal with it. It’ll come, but it takes a lot of time and training to get there.”

  Landis shook her head. “I don’t see myself ever getting there.” Then she walked down the beach and stood facing the ocean, watching the waves roll in and out.

  Rhianna watched Landis stand alone on the beach and pictured her on the receiving end of all that energy. “You’ll see to it she has the training she needs?” she asked Kevin. “That she’ll be ready for whatever comes her way?”

  Kevin met Rhianna’s eyes and nodded.

  “I’m going to hold you to that. If she gets hurt, it’s on your head.”

  Again, Kevin nodded.

  Glendymere snorted. “Rhianna, she’s got a long way to go before we consider training her to spar. Not every sorcerer makes it that far. After all, only the ones who intend to sit on the council need to learn how to duel. The rest just need to know basic self-defense, and that’s a lot easier. We’ll have to see how far Landis wants to take this before we think about sparring.” Then he stood up and stretched his wings. “Now, it’s time to get back. We need to help Landis figure out how to get some energy stored in that ball of hers or she’s not going to be able to light a candle, much less throw an energy bolt.” Glendymere extended his leg and told Landis to come back. “I’m in the mood to fly. Climb up and have a seat. Kevin will help you buckle up.”

  Kevin waited until Landis and Rhianna were settled on Glendymere’s shoulders. Then he flew up and showed them how to put the harness around themselves for the flight home. After making sure they were secure, he lowered himself to the ground and pulled out his key. “See you Thursday? At the canyon lands?”

  Glendymere nodded as he leapt into the sky. Kevin watched as the dragon soared higher and higher. When he could no longer see them, he turned his key and left for home.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  It was still morning when Kevin got back to his office, but he felt like it should be evening. When he sat down at his desk to go through the messages Chris had left for him, he noticed the sweet buns were gone. With a grin, he got up, opened his door, and asked Chris to step inside for a minute.

  Once Chris was in his office, Kevin told him about dueling with Jonquin and asked if he had any idea what had happened to the apple buns he’d left on his desk. “I was planning to eat them after my workout with Glendymere, and I need them even more now.”

  “I’m sorry,” Chris said, his face turning red. “I thought you left those for me.” Then he turned towards the door. “I’ll go find you something in the kitchen. I’m sure Miranda has something stashed away.”

  Kevin laughed and reached out to stop him. “I’m kidding. Brena sent those for you. But a snack does sound good.” Before Chris could answer, Kevin heard hammering. “Is Darrell at it again?”

  Chris nodded. “You need to see what he’s planning.”

  Kevin glanced at his desk. “I didn’t want to tackle this stuff right now anyway. I’ll do it after lunch.” Then he and Chris headed for the dining hall.

  When Kevin turned towards the doors that led to the backyard, Chris asked, “What kind of snack do you want? Sweet or savory?”

  “Sweet. I need sugar after that workout. And get enough for everyone.”

  While Chris was wheedling snacks out of Miranda, Kevin cut across the backyard to where Darrell and Serra were huddled over something on a make-shift table. Serra was a few inches shorter than Darrell and had nice feminine curves in all the right places. Kevin wasn’t sure how old she was, but she was about the same age as Theresa and Darrell.

  “What are you building back here?” Kevin asked as he approached them.

  Darrell glanced up from the papers he had spread out on the planks. “I thought you were upstairs sleeping.”

  Kevin frowned. “What gave you that idea?”

  “Well, you dropped Alek off before breakfast this morning, and you haven’t been seen anywhere around here since. So either you were upstairs sleeping or you weren’t in the castle. But that couldn’t be the case since you’ve promised to take a bodyguard with you whenever you leave, and both of your bodyguards were here, waiting for word that you needed one of them.”

  “I don’t take a bodyguard when I meet Glendymere and you know it.”

  “And that’s the only place you went after Glenarbour today?”

  “Well, I had a couple of errands to run first, but they were quick, in and out. It would have taken me longer to find a bodyguard than it did to go and get back.”

  “Then I better speak to Alek and Rigel about being more available.”

  “No. Don’t blame them, Darrell. It’s not their fault. Sometimes I just want to go by myself.”

  “I don’t doubt that for a minute,” Darrell said, looking hard at Kevin. “But you’ve got to let them go with you. You’re putting all of us in a bad spot. If something happens to you, we’ve all got problems, big problems.”

  Chris walked up in time to hear Darrell’s last comment. As he set a basket of muffins on the table, he said, “Not the first time you’ve heard that lately, is it?”

  Kevin glared at Chris then looked back at Darrell. “All right, all right. I’ll try to remember to pick them up before I leave. Now, tell me what you’re building out here.”

  Darrell pointed to the plans and explained the design he and Serra had come up with. There would be three main areas, one for toddlers, one for young children, and then the last area, with more challenging equipment, for the older children.

  “When do you expect to have this finished?” Kevin asked.

  “The playground for younger children will be done by this weekend, but the area for the older ones will take several weeks. I’m not done with the design yet, but I want to put up a few ropes, horizontal bars, maybe even a climbing wall, things that will build confidence as well as strength.” Darrell paused and looked at Kevin. “The kids who live at the castle don’t get that much exercise. Look at your pages. It wouldn’t hurt any of them to work out some, and they could use some self-defense lessons, too. I’d like to start basic self-defense training for everyone on staff, and after we get that going, I’d like to offer it to anyone in town who’s interested.”

  “Hand-to-hand combat?”

  Darrell nodded. “It wouldn’t require much as far as space or equipment goes, but it would take time. And eventually I’d like to offer other things as well, for those who want to learn.”

  “When do you plan to start that?”

  “I don’t know. I want the playground for the kids finished first.” Then he nodded towards Serra. “She wants to set up a day care for the castle staff. She’s already watching Caitlyn and Corey. And two women on the housekeeping staff have offered to take over her cleaning duties if she’ll watch their children. Right now, they share one position. One works during the morning while the other watches the children and then they switch at lunch. A day care program would work out better for everyone involved, but it gives Serra five children to watch. Fortunately, they’re all fairly close in age. Corey’s the oldest and Caitlyn’s the youngest.”

  Kevin looked at Serra. “You could end up with a lot of children by the time this is all said and done. How are we going to limit it?”

  “Cryslyn and I talked about that last night,” Serra said. “Most of the women who have young children only work half a day. If they want me to watch their children, they’ll have to help out, either by helping out here with the children, or by taking over some of the duties for women who are willing to help out here. Cryslyn will organize that part. And we’re only watching the younger ones. Cpt. Darrell has offered to have the guards take over the area for the older children and teach them how to climb the ropes and the wall and stuff like that.”

  Kevin nodded. “If you need any help, let us know.”

  Serr
a nodded. Then she tilted her head towards the sandbox. “Have you seen the toys Neiven made?”

  Kevin shook his head and walked over to look at them. There were three small buckets, two small shovels, a small trowel, two hand rakes, and two miniature wheelbarrows lying in the sand.

  “I guess he figured one of each wouldn’t be enough,” Serra said with a smile.

  Darrell laughed. “One toy means arguments and tears, something we’re trying to avoid.” Then he looked at Kevin. “Have you got a few minutes? There are a few things I need a sorcerer for, and Marcus is in Ashmont.”

  “I don’t know.” Kevin looked at Chris. “Do I?”

  Chris nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll head back inside and check on things.”

  After Chris left, Darrell had Kevin sink a few poles to use as anchors for the swing sets and monkey bars. Then the guards took over the construction and Kevin headed back inside to his office.

  He only had a few minutes until lunchtime, so he sat down at his desk, leaned forward, and rested his head on his arms. It had been a busy day, but other than having to deal with Janine that morning, it hadn’t been a bad one. In fact, it had turned out pretty good. He’d found out that when it mattered, when he had to take care of business, he could push Rhianna right out of his head. He sat up and grinned.

  And as he sat there, grinning at his success in dismissing all thoughts of her and concentrating on the moment at hand, an image of the two of them walking through the woods came out of nowhere and hijacked his thoughts.

  Chapter 12

  Dinner at Kyle's

  The sky had just enough wisps of cloud over the mountains for a beautiful sunrise Wednesday morning, but Kevin didn’t see it. He didn’t make it to breakfast either. And he might not have made it to lunch if Chris hadn’t brought him a cup of coffee at 10:00.

  “Why did you let me sleep so long?” Kevin asked as he stumbled out of bed and over to the couch. “The morning’s nearly gone.”

  “You had plans for this morning?” Chris asked.

  “No, but I’m sure there’s stuff I need to do. I’ve been out of the office more than I’ve been in it since last Friday.”

  “It’ll still be there this afternoon. There’s nothing on your schedule until 4:00.”

  “Remind me.”

  “Dinner at Kyle’s with Laryn and Steve.”

  “Right. Anything I need to know about that?”

  “I’ll wait until you’re awake before we get into all of that. Why don’t you get dressed, run through your routine, and then we’ll talk,” Chris said as he made his way towards the door. “I’ll meet you in your office.”

  Kevin raised his coffee cup. “With more coffee, and something to eat.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  After his workout, Kevin went to his office. The pages were all seated around the conference table, writing, and Chris was busy at his desk. No one even looked up when he walked in.

  “Guess I should have stopped by the dining hall, huh?” Kevin asked when he didn’t see any sign of coffee.

  “No, I was waiting for you to get here,” Chris said. “Ariel? Someone needs to go to the dining hall for coffee and something to eat.”

  Ariel stood up and stretched. “I’ll do it. I could use the break.”

  While Ariel was gone, Kevin and Chris settled in Kevin’s office. There was a small stack of messages on Kevin’s desk next to a long list in Chris’s writing. Kevin held up the list. “What’s this?”

  “A summary of the messages I sent out in your name. Some were routine, but a couple needed quick responses, and since you haven’t been around much lately, I took care of them. Most of the messages on your desk are personal notes, but there are a couple of requests I wasn’t sure how you wanted to handle, so I left them for you.”

  Kevin nodded. “I’ll try to get through those today. Now, what do I need to know about this dinner tonight?”

  A quiet knock on Kevin’s door interrupted them. When Chris opened it, Ariel handed him a tray with two cups of coffee and a small plate of pastries. When Chris frowned, Ariel held up his hands. “Don’t blame me. I’m just the delivery man. Miranda said you’ve already had breakfast a couple of times, and the plate’s for Myron. Take it up with her,” Ariel said as he backed out of the office and pulled the door to.

  Kevin laughed. “I only want one. You can have the others.”

  Chris grumbled about women deciding when and how much he should eat as he handed Kevin one of the cups and the plate of pastries. “She’ll ask you if I ate one, and if you say yes, she’ll get back at me later.”

  Kevin sipped his coffee and picked up a pastry. “Fill me in on tonight’s meeting. And what are the pages working on?”

  “It’s all tied in together,” Chris explained. “Cryslyn took over planning Laryn’s wedding. You know that, right?”

  Kevin nodded.

  “Well, Joan and Jana have been working with her, so it’s not all her fault.”

  “Fault? What do you mean?”

  “The pages are sending invitations to all of the district ministers, but the invitations are open to any district officer who would like to attend the festivities.”

  “Festivities?”

  “I don’t think anything’s been planned for Friday evening, but there’s a brunch Saturday morning, reception and bridal shower at Joan’s house Saturday afternoon, and a formal banquet here Saturday evening.”

  Kevin frowned. “The ministers are going to a bridal shower?”

  Chris shook his head. “The reception and shower are for the wives. I’m not sure about the brunch, and I have no idea what the men will be doing Saturday. Everyone figures that Laryn’s brothers will take care of that.

  “When’s all of this taking place?”

  “The fourth Saturday in November.”

  “And these people are arriving?”

  “Friday afternoon. They’ll leave after breakfast on Sunday.”

  Kevin ate a bit more of his pastry and sipped his coffee. “Now for the question I don’t want to ask. How are they getting here?”

  “I didn’t have anything to do with it, but from what I was told, you and I are going to provide transportation.”

  “You and me?”

  Chris nodded. “Joan said there was no reason for you to do it all yourself since you have two keys.”

  Kevin leaned back in his chair. “I don’t think that’s what they had in mind when they gave the Master Sorcerer a key to the Gate Between the Worlds.”

  “At least you’ve done this before. You can go straight to the houses but the best I can do is end up somewhere in the area. I’ll have to ask directions and then walk heaven only knows how far to get there. It’ll take forever, but they said it shouldn’t take more than an hour for the two of us to pick everyone up.”

  Kevin shook his head. “It took me a lot longer than that last summer, and I picked up several ministers at a central location.” He shook his head again. “I don’t see any way we can get this done in an hour.”

  “Well, that’s how long they’ve allowed for it in their master plan.”

  “Do we know how many people they’re inviting?”

  “The ministers, their wives, any sorcerers who would like to come, their wives, the army captains, and their wives. The invitation isn’t specific, it just says district officers and wives. But we won’t know how many are coming until we get the replies back.”

  “I can’t see that many sorcerers coming. At least I hope not. All that energy in one place?” Kevin shook his head. “Too volatile. It’ll be bad enough with all of Laryn’s family here.”

  “Just for the record, they’re your family, too. You need to get used to that idea.”

  “It’s hard to think of them that way. Never had any aunts or uncles before.”

  “Anyway, I feel sure some of this will come up tonight while you’re at Kyle’s.”

  Kevin nodded. “Wonder what Laryn’s brothers will come up with for the men to do that weekend.”


  “And how much you’ll be involved in that.”

  Again Kevin nodded.

  “Well, keep reminding yourself this is all for Laryn and Steve, both of whom would do anything for you.”

  “And I owe both of them. I know. Besides, I like them. So, we’ll do everything we can to make this whole thing go as smoothly as possible. But keep your fingers crossed that no emergencies come up that weekend.” Kevin tapped the stack of messages on his desk. “And now, if there’s nothing else, I’ll get started on these.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  At 4:00, Laryn, Steve, and Kevin stood on a small road in the middle of a forest. It was Steve’s first trip through the energy field, so Laryn had taken them to an isolated area near Kyle’s house to let him recover in private, which in principle was a good idea, but Kevin was having second thoughts about it as he waited and shivered. It had to be at least twenty degrees cooler here than it was in Milhaven. Maybe he should have listened to Laryn when she suggested he wear a cloak.

  Before they’d left, he’d asked Laryn to show him where Kyle lived on the map. When she pointed to a spot in Lochland, a district that covered the northern half of the area Kevin knew as Maine, he figured it would be a little cooler, but what the map didn’t show was Kyle lived halfway up a mountain. Definitely winter up here.

  Fortunately Steve recovered from the trip quickly. As soon as Steve was steady on his feet, Kevin asked, “Which way?”

  Laryn pointed east. “It’s just around that bend.”

  Before they cleared the bend, Kevin heard barking, lots of barking, and not from just one dog. It sounded like a large pack. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Laryn.

  Laryn laughed. “Those are Kyle’s dogs. He trains them. Come on.”

  Then she led the way around the bend. At that point, the road continued around the mountain, but a path led into a short tunnel. “Kyle made the tunnel so he wouldn’t have to take the long way around every time he went to town. It’s too small for a wagon, but fine for a sled. He stores his sled in here during the winter.”