The Dragon's Flame (The Chronicles of Terah # 2) Read online

  “Did you let their ministers know?”

  Chris nodded. “I asked their ministers to follow up on it and let us know if it was resolved satisfactorily. There is one case that we need to talk about though.”

  “Which one?”

  “Gaynor, the sorcerer of Zander.”

  Kevin frowned. “Remind me.”

  “We had over a dozen letters about him. He’s been cheating people left and right, and from what I gathered from a few of the letters, he’s been sort of terrorizing the whole district. We got a letter from his minister just last week asking that something be done about him.”

  Kevin nodded. “I remember now. We’re going to have to fire him, but before we do that, I need to know what we’re going to do with him and who’s going to replace him.”

  “Are you going to transfer someone in or hire someone new?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Kevin answered as he reached down into his bottom desk drawer and pulled out a small stack of letters.

  “Transfer requests?”

  Kevin nodded. “Let’s stretch out a map of Camden on the back table and mark each district where the sorcerer has requested a transfer. We might be able to take care of some of these by just switching some people around.”

  “I’ll have Ariel find us a map.”

  “We’ll also need their contracts, but before we make any new assignments, we need to get the minister’s input.”

  “We got a letter last week from Ryan, the minister of Ragenon,” Chris said as he opened the small drawer in his desk. “I put it in here.”

  “What did he want?”

  “His district sorcerer, Warren, wants to retire.”

  “Oh yeah, I remember him. There was a letter from him. He asked my father to find a replacement a year ago. What did Ryan have to say?”

  “He wants us to find an assistant for Warren, but not an apprentice. Ryan wants a full-fledged sorcerer. He said he’d come up with the money to make it a paid position. He’s hoping that if he can offer Warren some help, maybe he’ll reconsider and stay. They really don’t want to lose him.”

  “Did he say how much he’d be willing to pay?”

  “No, but I imagine it would be at the low end of the scale. Why?”

  “Maybe Gaynor could be his assistant.”

  Chris leaned back in his chair. “Why would you want to do that?”

  “Maybe if Gaynor spent some time working with a man who’s well respected and well liked he’d learn a few things about how to relate to the people he serves.”

  Chris frowned. “What makes you think Gaynor would even consider being someone’s assistant after he’s had his own district?”

  “I don’t have to give him a whole lot of choice in the matter. I’ll tell him that unless he’s willing to work with Warren he can just pack his bags and leave Camden. But I’ll also point out that Warren’s going to want to retire before too long, and if he does a good job there, he may be offered the position.”

  “You do realize that you’re going to make an enemy out of him, no matter what, right?”

  “Probably, but at least this way I’m offering him a choice. I’m not just firing him.”

  “Okay,” Chris said skeptically. “But suppose he does go for it. Are you sure you want to do this to Warren? Ryan’s idea is to give Warren a break, not to give him more headaches. They want to keep him, not drive him away.”

  “I’m not going to force him to take Gaynor. He can always refuse.”

  “No, he can’t,” Chris argued. “If he were the type who would refuse a request like that, Ryan wouldn’t be trying so hard to keep him. If you ask him to do it, he might think it over for a while, but he’ll do it.”

  Kevin was quiet for a few minutes, thinking about what Chris had said. “All right. What if I just present the problem to him and see if he has any suggestions. I won’t actually ask him to take on Gaynor.”

  “That would be better. He might have some other ideas.”

  “What about that guy who has three kids? The one who asked for a district with more responsibilities and more pay. Wonder if he’d work out in Zander. I can’t think of his name right now. Do you know who I’m talking about?”

  “Yeah. His name’s Calbert. I’ve already pulled his contract,” Chris said. “He has one of the easiest districts in Camden, and unfortunately one of the lowest paid positions. We have a couple of requests for less demanding positions, but I don’t know if we have anyone who’d be interested in taking that one.”

  “Well, we’ll have at least one district position opening up since we’re going to remove Gaynor, so we’ll have to hold a competition for one of the positions anyway.”

  Chris nodded. “We have a lot of letters of inquiry from sorcerers just starting out on their own. Maybe some of them would be interested.”

  “A lot of those letters are nearly a year old. We don’t know if the sorcerer is even still in Camden. We need to get some current résumés.”

  “And we need to check the sorcerers out with their mentors. I can’t go by the letters I’ve read so far. Some of the applicants listed every skill that they can perform, filling up page after page of feats, while others only listed things that they can’t do, and a few didn’t get into skills at all,” Chris added. “Actually, the letters are a mess.”

  “Let’s write to all of the applicants we have on file and ask for an updated résumé. And let’s ask some specific questions.” Kevin sat back in his chair and thought about it for a minute. “We need to know if he’s accurate with an energy bolt at fifty yards, if he can break up rocks, demolish tree trunks, and move boulders, if he can support something like a bridge while repairs are being made, if he can fly, and support another person in flight, if he can use his seeing eye to check out road conditions or find a lost child …”

  “Maybe we should use a checklist type of thing.”

  “And we need to include a note asking them to up-date the file as needed.”

  Chris nodded while he was writing. “Want to do a checklist for the mentor’s evaluation, too?”

  Kevin nodded. “Just be sure to include some questions about people skills on those. We don’t want another Gaynor.”

  “I’ll work something up.”

  “This is going to be a fairly big job. Make one of the pages responsible for it and keep all the paperwork in one area.”

  “Okay. Which one do you want me to assign it to?”

  “As long as it’s not Ariel, I don’t care. He knows more about what should be going on in the outer office than anyone other than Laryn. We need to keep him free to organize and supervise everyone else.”

  “Can you think of anything else I need to put on the schedule for this week?”

  Kevin thought for a moment and then answered. “Not right now. I’m going to try to find a few minutes to go to Willow Canyon and bring Glendymere up to date on the council meeting, just in case something I said to Rolan happens to come up at the federation meeting.”

  “Why would it?”

  “I don’t have an heir and Rolan’s more determined than ever to kill me. That would leave the Master’s Chair vacant. The other representatives could have a legitimate concern about a magic war.”

  “Good point. When do you want to go?”

  “I’m not sure, but soon. I’ll ask Freddy to take a message to Glendymere and see when it would be convenient with him,” Kevin said. “By the way, have you heard anything about Captain Lawrence? Is he going to take the position as General Crandal’s aide?”

  “Yes, he is,” Chris answered as he stood up to go. “Darrell told me this morning at breakfast.”

  Kevin nodded. “Good. I like him.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  When Chris walked out of Kevin’s office, he paused and looked around the outer office. Ariel was sorting that morning’s correspondence. Isak and Cameryn were writing thank-you notes for the hundreds of gifts that had been sent to the castle in honor of Myron’s position as Master Sorce
rer. Elin was standing at the back window, gazing out over the gardens.

  “Elin, could I see you for a few minutes?” Chris asked as he sat down at his desk and began pulling letters out of one of his drawers. “We need to write to each of these sorcerers and ask for an updated résumé.”

  “Résumé?” Elin asked.

  “A summary of their training, who they apprenticed with, and the type of position they’re looking for. You and I are going to draft a letter requesting the type of information we need, and then I want you to write to each one of these sorcerers. When their answers start coming in, I’ll help you come up with a letter that we’ll send to their mentors.”

  “Mentors?”

  “The sorcerer they apprenticed with, the one who trained them,” Chris explained.

  Elin nodded.

  “You’ll need a desk,” Chris said. Then he looked around and caught Ariel’s eye. “Ariel, would you go down to housekeeping and tell them that we need another desk?”

  As Ariel left the office, Chris turned back to Elin. “We’ll make a file for each sorcerer who sends us an application, and after we get the mentor’s evaluation, we’ll summarize all the information in a chart.” At Elin’s confused look, Chris grinned and said, “Don’t worry about that now. I’ll set up the chart and show you how to fill it in when we start getting answers from the mentors. For right now, all you have to worry about is getting letters out to all the applicants.”

  Elin blinked a couple of times and then slowly nodded.

  “Elin, this is important. Until we get the file and checklist made, this is your top priority, everyday,” Chris patted the stack of letters that had accumulated during the year of Badec’s illness. “Now, pull up a chair and let’s draft the letter that needs to go out to each of these sorcerers.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  While Chris was talking to Elin, Kevin went upstairs to the family quarters and then up the circular stairs that led to the top room in the tower. Freddy had moved into the castle tower while Badec’s father, Nolan, had been Master Sorcerer and had lived there ever since. As Kevin approached, he could hear the phoenix eating some of the grain that was kept in the roost for him.

  The phoenix was a very rare bird, no more than a couple of dozen were in existence, and Freddy was the only one who had ever shown any interest in living near humans. A few lived near elves, and one lived near a colony of dwarves, but most preferred the seclusion of remote forests and mountaintops.

  When Kevin entered the roost, Freddy turned towards him and there was an explosion of color as he opened his six-foot wings in greeting. His violet, crimson, and scarlet feathers were all tipped with flaming orange, his chest and topknot were the color of wheat, his beak and claws were blue-black, and his eyes sparkled like two huge rubies.

  “Aye, and what can I do for you this fine day?” Freddy asked Kevin telepathically.

  “I’d like for you to take a message to Glendymere.”

  “And what would this message be?”

  “I’d like to come to Willow Canyon to talk to him sometime this week if it’s convenient.”

  “Any day in particular?”

  “No, whenever he likes,” Kevin said. “Oh, and I guess I should tell him that Chris will be coming with me.”

  “I imagine he’d expect that, but I’ll tell him. Anything else?” Freddy asked as he ruffled his feathers.

  “No, that’s all.”

  With a bone-chilling screech, Freddy flew out of the tower window and began to circle the tower. As the sunlight caught his wings, the colors shimmered and Freddy appeared to vanish.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  After lunch, Kevin, Chris, and Laryn closed themselves off in Kevin’s office. Laryn sat down in one of the armchairs across from Kevin while Chris sat at one of the secretarial desks.

  For a woman in her mid-50’s, Laryn was remarkably fit, but since she was part elf, she was not really middle-aged. She had a life expectancy of somewhere between one hundred fifty and two hundred years, even as watered down as her elven blood was. In general, elves were quite tall, usually topping out around seven feet, with a slim body structure and lean but sinewy muscles. Laryn had not inherited her height from her elven ancestor, but she had definitely inherited the slim, athletic figure of elven women. She kept her dark hair fairly short, shoulder length, and let it fall naturally around her face in a pageboy style. From a distance, if she was wearing leggings and a tunic, she could pass for a teenage boy.

  Laryn was intelligent, knowledgeable, logical, and articulate, and she was well respected all over Terah, not only because she was Badec’s second, but also in her own right. She could be tough and hard-nosed when she needed to, but there was also a soft, artistic side to her that Steve had helped her rediscover. Kevin couldn’t help but feel proud to be related to her.

  “Before we start working on the federation meeting, there’s something I need to tell you,” Kevin began. “You know I met with all of the people from Earth yesterday.” Laryn nodded, so Kevin continued. “I decided they needed to know the truth, so I told them that Badec’s coma was due to poison. I didn’t mention Sleeping Angel by name though. I want to keep that information private for now.”

  Again, Laryn nodded.

  “And I told them the whole story about the conversation Rolan and I had after the council meeting.”

  “Did you mention that you agreed to take Landis as an apprentice?”

  Kevin nodded. “I also wanted them to know that Robyn had requested that Badec look into Tsareth’s death, and now that duty fell to me. And since there’s a good chance things could get dangerous around here, I offered to take them back to Earth, to any place on Earth they wanted to go.” Kevin stopped and waited for Laryn to say something. As far as he knew, no one on Earth knew about Terah, and very few people on Terah knew of the existence of Earth, and those people were determined to keep it that way.

  “Did any of them take you up on it?” Laryn asked.

  Kevin shook his head.

  “I think it speaks well for Pallor that none of them took you up on your offer. He assembled a good team.”

  Kevin had expected her to be upset, but she didn’t even seem to be surprised, so he just nodded and continued. “Anyway, while we were talking, Steve asked me what I’m supposed to do if I manage to get proof that Rolan was behind either Tsareth’s or Badec’s death, and I didn’t know. What do I do? Is there some type of court I present the evidence to?”

  “If you get proof, you’ll have to present it to the Council of Sorcerers. That’s the only place charges against a seated sorcerer can be heard.”

  “Do I just accuse him in the middle of one of the monthly meetings?”

  “No, you’d have to ask for a special session of the council. You wouldn’t want any of the assistants to be around for that one.”

  “Why not?” Chris asked.

  “After you present your case, Rolan would have a chance to respond to the charges. After both sides were done, the other seated sorcerers would vote on his guilt.”

  “And if they vote guilty, what happens?” Kevin asked.

  Laryn didn’t answer immediately. She just sat there looking at Kevin. Finally she said, “I think you know.”

  “You mean I’m supposed to just simply kill him?”

  “Well, it probably wouldn’t be so simple. I feel sure he’d go down fighting, but basically the answer to your question is yes. What else is there? There’s no jail on Terah that could hold a sorcerer who’s any good, much less one of the seated sorcerers.”

  “I don’t suppose there’s any way out of that, is there?”

  “The only way I know of is to not pursue the matter,” Laryn answered slowly, “but then you’re saying that it’s all right for sorcerers to kill people.”

  When Kevin didn’t say anything, she sighed and added, “You really are going to have to get past this idea that you can’t take a life, but for right now, let’s move on to the federation meeting. First of all, includi
ng you, there are seventeen representatives. Glendymere is the chairman, and you already know him, so that just leaves fifteen for us to go over.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  After breakfast the next morning, Kevin decided to go visit Warren. He spread a map of Camden out on his desk to look for Ragenon, the district where Warren lived. While he was looking at the map, Chris came in.

  “Going somewhere?”

  “I thought I’d go see Warren.” Kevin pointed to an area on the map that they knew as the Shenandoah Valley. “I just found Ragenon. It’s right here, the bottom one.” The valley was separated into two districts: Delray and Ragenon. Delray included the northern valley as well as the mountains on both sides. Ragenon covered the southern end of the valley and included even more mountains.

  As Chris looked at the map, Kevin continued, “Farmland, mountains, and rivers. All in all, Ragenon’s probably one of the more demanding districts.”

  “If Warren says yes when you ask him if he’d be willing to stay on for a couple of years if we can get him an assistant, don’t forget to get a list of prerequisite skills. I’ll write to Ryan and get a pay level. Then if Warren volunteers to take Gaynor, you’ll be able to give Gaynor some specifics when you offer him the job. If not, we’ll see if we can find someone from our list of applicants, when we get a list.”

  Kevin nodded. “Well, guess I’ll be on my way then.”

  “Good luck,” Chris said as he left Kevin’s office and shut the door.

  Kevin took off the chain that held his two keys, the key to the Gate, and the key to Terah. He had never used it by himself before, but he knew if he wanted to travel to a place that was familiar to him, all he had to do was mentally picture where he wanted to go, turn the key, and it would open the energy flow and take him there. Laryn had told him that if he wanted to go to a place he’d never visited, he needed to find it on a map and concentrate on it as he turned the key. Supposedly, the key would let him out of the flow someplace nearby.

  Kevin found Walnut Springs on the map, the village where the district officials lived. He focused on that spot, held the key to Terah out in front of him, took a deep breath, crossed his fingers, and turned the key.