The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah)

by Morgan, Mackenzie

  “Another task is to use your mind to move a pebble across the table. To do that, envision a hand extending on a long arm from your mind to the pebble. Use that hand to push the pebble along on the table.

  “Third, I want you to see which flower Chris has in his hand. He’ll need to have three again, of different colors. Now, lucky guesses don’t count. You have to actually ‘see’ which one he’s holding as you look down on him from an eye that you’ve created and positioned over his head.

  “The fourth task that I want you to work on involves the wind. I want you to feel the wind, feel it rise and fall, join with it and try to change its direction or speed. Try to make the wind move the branches in the willow trees, or if it’s already blowing, try to calm it to the point that the branches of the willows lie still.

  “These will be the hardest tasks that I’ll ever ask you to perform, but only because they’re the first. So, I guess it’s time for you to get to work. Do you have any questions?”

  “I don’t know,” Kevin said slowly. Then he asked, “How long do you think it will take me to be able to do them?”

  “It will take as long as it takes. Now go eat your lunch and get started. I’m going to take a nap.” Glendymere turned and walked back into his cave and through the tunnels to his inner chamber.

  By the time Kevin and Chris reached the inner chamber, Glendymere was curled up and snoring softly.

  “I don’t think we should stand out here in the open while he’s sleeping, Kevin,” Chris said, thinking about what Macin had told them about Glendymere’s yawns. “Let’s get in our room.”

  Kevin nodded and they quickly left the large open chamber for the relative safety of their small room. After they ate their cheese and bread, Kevin set the candle in the middle of one of the tables and sat down in one of the straight back chairs with his back to the door. While Chris watched, Kevin tried to envision a flame on the end of the candlewick. He concentrated on the candle for over an hour before he finally shook his head, stood up and walked around for a few minutes. Then he said, “Okay, let’s try the thing with the flowers. Do you still have the three flowers that you picked earlier?”

  “Yeah, right here. Where do you want me to stand?” Chris asked, glad to finally be of use.

  “Why don’t you stand next to that table over there, just keep your back to me,” Kevin answered. When Chris was in place, Kevin said, “Now, put two of the flowers down on the table. Just be sure that you put them down where I can’t see them.”

  Kevin sat back down and tried to imagine a giant eye positioned over Chris’s head and focused down on Chris and the table, but try as he might, he could not see anything except the back of Chris’s shirt. After an hour of frustration, Kevin gave up and told Chris to take a break. Chris set the three flowers in the center of the table next to the candle and stretched

  “Don’t get discouraged, Kevin. This is only the first day,” Chris said.

  “I know. I’m just tired.”

  “Why don’t we get out of here for a few minutes, go get some fresh air?”

  “You go ahead. I’m going to sit down for a bit and try to move that pebble. Really, go explore the valley. There’s no reason for you to have to stand here and watch me do this.” Kevin picked up the stone and tossed it from hand to hand for a few moments and then placed it in the middle of the table.

  “If you’re sure,” Chris said hesitantly as he looked at Kevin before heading out.

  Kevin nodded and waved towards the door.

  When Chris returned two hours later, Kevin was still sitting at the table in exactly the same position, staring at the pebble. He was concentrating so hard that he hadn’t heard Chris come in, and he jumped when Chris touched his shoulder. When Kevin looked up, Chris was appalled at how completely drained he looked.

  “Come on, Kevin. Let’s call it a day,” Chris said quietly. “If we’re going to be back in Rainbow Valley in time to eat with the others, we need to get going.”

  Kevin stood up and stretched. “All right. I hate to give up, but I’m too beat to keep trying to do this right now,” he said with a flick of his hand towards the table. “In fact, walking back to our side of the mountain almost sounds like more than I can manage.” He bent down to stretch the muscles in his back. “That bed over there’s looking pretty good about now.”

  “You’ll feel better once you move around a bit, and the others are going to want to hear about our day,” Chris said as he gathered up their torches and their lunch sack. “Should we wake Glendymere to let him know that we’re leaving?”

  Kevin remembered Macin’s story about the elf and said, “No, I don’t think so. Glendymere didn’t mention anything about it, and Macin said that he’s always aware of anyone coming in or leaving whether he’s awake or asleep. He’ll know we’ve gone.”

  “Good! I definitely was not looking forward to waking him up,” Chris’s voice perked up with relief.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  The hike back to the round chamber went quickly, and by the time they reached Kevin’s room, he was feeling a little better, although he was still quite tired. “I bet we both sleep a lot better tonight than we did last night,” he said as he looked longingly at his bed.

  “If I sleep at all, I’ll sleep better than I did last night,” Chris said with a laugh. “Come on, let’s go find the others and tell them all about Glendymere.”

  Joan was just getting ready to set the table for dinner when Chris and Kevin walked into the sitting room. “Well, I see you survived your first day with Glendymere,” Joan said from the kitchen. “How did it go? What’s he like? Wait, don’t tell me. Everyone’s dying to know and if you tell me, you’ll just have to go through it all over again when the others get here.”

  Joan had poured two mugs of scog while she was talking. She carried them to the sitting room and handed one to each of them. “Karl, Steve, and Darrell are bringing the horses in for the night. They should be about done by now. Theresa’s in her workroom. She just sent Sari home. They’ve been sorting and cataloging herbs all day. She should be coming along any minute.” Then Joan walked over to the big cabinet near the dining room table and started to take out the plates and mugs for dinner. “Chris, here are the plates and mugs, and the flatware’s in that drawer. How about getting the table set?”

  “I’ll take care of it, Joan,” Chris said from the sitting room. “Just give me a minute to finish my scog.”

  With a quick nod Joan went back to the kitchen to put the finishing touches on dinner.

  By the time the table was set, Joan had the food ready. Theresa arrived in time to help her carry the serving dishes to the table, and almost as if on cue, Karl, Steve, and Darrell walked in. As soon as everyone was settled around the table, the questions began.

  Chris was a natural born storyteller, so Kevin sat back and let him enjoy it. Chris described his first reactions to meeting Glendymere in such a way that even Darrell was laughing. While he was explaining how elves work their magic, the others started looking at each other, some of them frowning.

  Finally Karl said, “Wait a minute. Didn’t Kalen say that that Paul guy was an elf?”

  “I was thinking about that, too,” Darrell said. “You don’t suppose …”

  Chris grinned. “I asked the same question.” And then he told them how Glendymere looked into Chris’s mind to look at his memory of the storm and then confirmed that Paul had created and controlled the tornado.

  “I don’t know how I feel about that,” Karl said with a frown, and for the next few minutes, Paul and the tornado were the topics of a lively discussion. When things settled down a bit, Chris went on to describe the demonstrations that Glendymere gave of the three types of mental powers that human sorcerers use.

  At that point, Kevin yawned and said, “I’m sorry, but I’m pretty tired, and unless there’s something that you need me to do tonight, I’m going to turn in.”

  Joan asked him if there was anything that he needed to add to the sho
pping list, but Kevin said that he couldn’t think of anything. Then he thanked her for dinner, took his plate to the kitchen, told everyone good night, and left for his room.

  Everyone fell quiet for a few moments after Kevin left. Then Steve asked, “Did something happen over there that you haven’t told us?”

  “Well, sort of,” Chris answered. “You see, after Glendymere demonstrated the various magical powers, he gave Kevin four tasks to work on. They’re supposed to be the four fundamental skills. From what Glendymere said, after he masters these, he can begin to learn how to be a sorcerer, but he has to be able to do these first. One task is that Kevin’s supposed to join his spirit with the wind somehow and influence it to blow harder and then calm it back down. The second is to light a candle basically by willing it to burst into flame. For the third task, he’s supposed to mentally push a pebble across a table. And the fourth is to look through an eye that he creates mentally and positions over my head to see what I’m holding while I’ve got my back to him.”

  Chris stopped for a moment and took a long drink of coffee. Then he continued. “Kevin concentrated on the last three of those tasks for over four hours this afternoon without a break. At one point, I tried to get him to go outside for a breath of fresh air, but he wouldn’t do it, so while he was trying to move the pebble, I went outside for a while. I was hoping he’d come out and join me, but he didn’t. When I decided it was time to call it quits for the day, I went back inside, but he was concentrating so hard that I had to touch him to get his attention. When he looked up, his face was pale and he looked like someone had given him two black eyes. There were deep circles under them, black shadows over them, and both of his eyes were blood red.” Chris shook his head and sighed. “He looked like he had aged twenty years. His face had pretty much gone back to normal by the time we got back over here, but I’ll never forget what he looked like today. It was scary to see what this is taking out of him.”

  “Do you really think he can do that stuff?” Darrell asked.

  “Yesterday, I’d probably have said no. But I saw Glendymere do it, and since everyone says that Kevin has the genes, I guess he can, too, but even if he can, I think it may take him a while to get the hang of it.” Chris paused for a moment and then added, “Unfortunately, I’m not at all sure that Kevin believes that he can do this, and according to Glendymere, a sorcerer’s belief in his own ability is crucial.”

  “Is there anything we can do to help?” Theresa asked.

  “I don’t know.” Chris thought for a moment and then said, “Don’t ask him too many questions right now. Give him a little time and space. Oh, and could I get you to put chocolate on that list, Joan? Lots of it?”

  “It’s on there already. Everybody’s craving it,” Joan answered. “Is there anything in particular that you want it for?”

  “It’s like Kevin has no concept of time or anything else while he’s concentrating. For a while, I think my main function’s going to be making him take breaks, and for some reason, chocolate breaks came to mind. I used to live on Hershey bars and coffee during exam time in college, and that’s exactly what today felt like, crunch time before exams.”

  “The chocolate won’t be here until Macin returns from Abernon next week, but I’ll bake some oatmeal cookies with nuts tonight so you can take them with you tomorrow. We have several coffee pots. Do you have a stove over there?” Joan asked.

  “No, but I wish we did,” Chris said. “I didn’t see anyplace that looked like any type of kitchen. From what I’ve gathered, people sometimes visit Glendymere, but it’s like having an audience with a king or the Pope. They come, state their business, and leave.”

  “Why don’t I ask Blalick about it? If there’s a stove around, he’ll know where it is. If not, maybe we can get one for you,” Karl suggested.

  “I hate to put anyone to any extra trouble,” Chris said, “but we both could have used a cup of coffee half way through the afternoon today.”

  “It’s no problem,” Karl said. “I’ll check with him tomorrow.”

  Steve nodded and added, “We have no idea how to help you two, so we’re counting on you to let us know when there’s something we can do to help.”

  “Thanks,” Chris said. “Well, to tell the truth, I was so nervous I didn’t sleep at all last night and I’m pretty bushed myself. So, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll head for bed.”

  As Chris stood up, he picked up his plate to carry it out to the kitchen. Joan laid her hand on his arm and said, “Just leave it for now. I’ll get it with the others. Go ahead, and sleep well.”

  Chris thanked her, told everyone good night, and left for his room.

  After Chris was gone, Steve said, “He’s got his work cut out for him.”

  “Which one?” Karl asked.

  “Actually I was thinking of Kevin when I said it, but you’re right. Chris does, too,” Steve answered.

  “We can’t do anything to help with the magic part, but we can handle everything else,” Joan said as she began clearing the table. “Now, while I’m doing the dishes, all of you go on into the sitting room and start thinking about what we’re going to need for the next month, for the next eight months, and then for our trip to Camden. We have a winter to prepare for.”

  Chapter 31

  Things Start Looking Up

  Sunday morning Chris got up around six, dressed, and opened his door. He saw a light under Kevin’s door, so he knocked on it softly to see if Kevin was awake and ready to join him for coffee. When Kevin didn’t answer, Chris gently pushed on the door. It was unlatched, so it slowly swung open. Kevin was seated at his desk, staring at a pebble lying in the center of the desktop. Chris quietly shut the door.

  When he got to the kitchen, he found a sack of food on the counter. Joan had wrapped bread, cheese, and a dozen oatmeal cookies in cheesecloths, and she had set a small basket of fresh strawberries on top. The coffee pot was on the table ready to go on the stove, and there was a note leaning against it that said, “Hope today goes well.”

  After the coffee perked, Chris poured two large mugs and carried them down to Kevin’s room. This time he banged on the door with the toe of his boot, making enough noise to rouse Kevin out of his intense concentration. When Kevin opened the door, Chris handed him a mug of coffee and said, “Come on. Let’s drink our coffee in the sitting room. Then we’ll fix some breakfast and get ready to go.”

  They left for Willow Canyon an hour later, carrying their torches and Joan’s bag of food. The closer they got to Glendymere’s cave, the more tense Kevin became. When he reached up to knock on the wooden door with the iron knocker, they both heard Glendymere say, “It’s all right. You can come in. I’m out in the valley.”

  Kevin asked, “Do you want us to join you or should I start working on those four tasks?”

  “Work on the tasks. We can’t go any farther until you master at least one of them,” Glendymere answered.

  Kevin spent all day Sunday concentrating on those four skills, but to no avail. Chris was determined not to let Kevin work himself into a state of exhaustion, so he insisted that Kevin get up, stretch, walk around, drink water, and eat a little something at least once every hour. Since working with the wind could only be done outside, Chris used that as an excuse to get Kevin to go outside for some fresh air every few hours.

  Around 5:30, Chris decided that it was time to call it a day, so he started getting their things together. When Kevin looked up and frowned at him, Chris said, “We’ve got to get moving. If we don’t leave here within the next few minutes, we’ll be late for dinner.”

  “So we’ll eat later,” Kevin said with a shrug.

  “If it were just the two of us, that would be fine,” Chris agreed. “But the others will wait for us, and then everybody’ll end up having a cold dinner. Joan can’t keep it warm forever.” Actually, Chris had no idea whether the others would wait for them or not, but it sounded like a good argument.

  “Okay, okay,” Kevin grumbled
as he got up from the table and headed into the adjoining storage room.

  “Where are you going now?” Chris asked.

  “I’m going to find another candle and candlestick to take back to my room.”

  “Why?”

  “So I can keep working over there.”

  Chris rolled his eyes, but he kept his mouth shut.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  As soon as Kevin finished eating dinner Sunday night, he excused himself, saying that he wanted to return to his room to rest. Chris waited a little while and then slipped away to check on him. He gently opened Kevin’s door and saw him once again sitting at his desk, focusing his attention on the pebble. As he quietly shut the door, Chris couldn’t help but wonder how long Kevin could keep up that level of strain.

  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were carbon copies of Sunday. Wednesday afternoon as they were getting their things together to leave, Glendymere said, “Kevin, I feel doubt growing in your heart with each passing day. You must believe in yourself before your talent can rise to the surface. It will come, but only if you conquer your doubts.”

  Then he told Chris privately, “If this is going to work, not only does he have to believe that he can become a sorcerer, he must also want to become one. The desire as well as the confidence must come from within him. Neither one is something that either of us can give him.”

  Chris nodded to indicate that he understood as he followed Kevin down the hall.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  That evening after dinner, Kevin returned to his room as usual, but instead of trying to move the stone or light the candle, he put all of his glowstones in their cases, stretched out on his bed in the dark, closed his eyes, and began to think about what Glendymere had said. He knew that Glendymere was right; something was wrong. He just didn’t know what.

  While he was thinking about everything that had happened since he stepped onto that bus, he became aware of a faint light near his desk. It grew in intensity, until it proved enough of a distraction that his thoughts were interrupted. When he opened his eyes and sat up to investigate, he saw a woman standing in the center of a shimmering oval of light. As he watched, she nodded her head once, very slowly, and then sat down on the edge of the desk chair. Her hair was light brown, and although Kevin couldn’t see the color of her eyes, he somehow knew they were light brown also. She was wearing a pale blue robe that was gathered around her waist by a small silver belt, and her feet were encased in dainty black slippers.