The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah)

by Morgan, Mackenzie

  After a couple of minutes the apparition spoke. “Myron, you’ve grown into a handsome man. I had hoped that you would have your father’s build, but never mind. You have his magic, and that’s much more important.”

  Kevin scooted back in the bed until his back rested against the wall of the cave. He stared at the woman seated across the room, trying to capture a faint memory that he never knew he had. “Are you Yvonne?” he asked softly. He was amazed to realize that he was neither afraid of the apparition, nor surprised by its presence in his room.

  “Yes, I’m your mother. I do hope sending you to Earth wasn’t a mistake. You don’t know how Badec and I agonized over that decision. It was definitely the safest place for you, but there were so many disadvantages to cutting you off from Terah and our way of life. I just hope we didn’t end up doing you a disservice while trying to preserve your life.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, Glendymere’s right. I’ve been watching you for the past few days, and the only thing stopping you is your own doubt, and I’m afraid that you got that from Earth. We knew that was a possibility, but we really thought Pallor would be able to counteract the prejudice that the people of Earth have against magic.”

  “He tried. He brought me books that had stories about magic and dragons and things like that, but my parents took them away from me. They said that there was no such thing as magic and that the stories were silly. Oh, sorry, I mean my foster parents,” Kevin said in Paul’s defense.

  “No, that’s all right. They were the only parents you knew. You do realize that the only reason you didn’t grow up knowing who your real parents were and spending time with us was because I died, don’t you?”

  “Yes, Kalen explained all about that, and so did Xantha. I was sort of relieved to find out that the O’Reilly’s weren’t my natural parents. We had almost nothing in common. I used to wonder what went wrong, if babies had been switched in the hospital or something. At least now it all makes sense.” Kevin shrugged as if to say that it was no big deal.

  “Well, if knowing about Terah, Badec, and me answers some of the questions that have been troubling you, and helps things in your life make sense, why do you have so much trouble believing that you can do the things that Glendymere describes?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that for the past hour. I don’t think the problem is that I don’t believe in magic, or in Terah, or in all the things that I’ve seen since I’ve been here. What I don’t believe in is me as a sorcerer. I don’t want to be a sorcerer, much less the Master Sorcerer. That’s an important position and the person who holds that post has a lot of responsibility. Decisions he makes affect the lives of a lot of people.”

  “Yes, so?”

  “So, I’m just an ordinary guy. Well, maybe a little smarter than average, but certainly no genius. I don’t know how to be an important person whose decisions affect other people’s lives and I don’t want to be one. I never even wanted to be a supervisor. Just being a desk jockey was fine with me. I can’t stand the idea of having to fire someone from their job, and here they’re talking about challenges where sorcerers fight to the death. I definitely don’t want to die, but I don’t want to cause someone else to die either. If I do become a sorcerer, then I’ve got to accept the baggage that goes with it, and I just don’t know if I can do that.”

  “Myron, I understand, and believe it or not, so would your father. You’re right that there’s a lot of responsibility involved, and there are risks. Badec would never have challenged another sorcerer, and he really tried to talk anyone who challenged him out of fighting, but when he had to fight, he did, and so will you.”

  “Why? Why fight? In the end, someone better, someone stronger, will come along and kill me. Why not just go ahead and get it over with? Why have to live with other sorcerers’ deaths on my conscience when it won’t do anything but put off the inevitable?” Kevin asked in an explosive voice.

  Yvonne waited a moment before answering. “For one thing, some of the sorcerers out there are just plain evil; they are power hungry monsters. They’ll kill anyone who gets in their way. Your father was dedicated to seeing that none of them got a chance to sit in the Master’s Chair, and the only way he could do that was to keep it himself. And the only way to keep it is to be so good that the bad guys know that you have the power to destroy them if they try to take it away from you, the good guys know that you can hold onto it, and the ones on the fence don’t have to choose sides. Badec practiced constantly and used every opportunity he could find to publicly demonstrate just how powerful he was. In the thirty years that your father served as Master Sorcerer, he only had to accept two challenges, and his victory was celebrated all over Terah in each case. Son, sometimes you just have to stand up for what’s right and fight. I wish it weren’t so, but it is.”

  “I understand what you’re saying, and I could probably justify it to myself if an evil sorcerer challenged me and I happened to win, and I’ll grant you that preventing evil from gaining control is a valid reason to risk my conscience or even my life. But how can I be sure that I’d be any better in the Master’s Chair? I don’t know anything about Terah, about how this culture really operates. I could do some serious damage here by accident!”

  “You know the difference between right and wrong, and as long as you put the welfare of others above your own, you can’t go wrong. Trust your instincts.”

  Kevin leaned forward and said, “Okay, let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. Slavery is accepted on Terah. To me it’s wrong, pure and simple. The idea of raiding a village, taking families away from their homes just to sell them into slavery somewhere else is abhorrent. There is no way I can go along with that.”

  “I agree, and so does your father. Every province on Terah has laws concerning the capture and sale of its citizens. The armies try to protect the citizens from capture, and anytime slavers raid a village, the soldiers really do try to catch the slavers before they can get out of that province. When they catch them, they either imprison the slavers or execute them, so you’d think that would slow things down, but it doesn’t.” Yvonne paused and then went on. “I guess it’s because there’s so much money tied up in the slave trade. Government officials, wealthy landowners, and sorcerers stand in line to buy people who were captured in other provinces at the same time that they’re issuing orders for soldiers to hunt down the very same slavers if they pull a raid in their province. It just doesn’t make sense and Badec has been trying unsuccessfully for years to get people to recognize the hypocrisy inherent in the slave trade. Actually, he was beginning to make a little headway. A couple of the other sorcerers on the council were starting to look at slavery the same way Badec does, and then he …” Yvonne didn’t finish her sentence. She looked off into space as if listening to her own thoughts.

  “What happened to him anyway? All I’ve heard is that he’s in a coma. Was it a stroke? Or a heart attack?”

  “I don’t think so. Badec was one of the healthiest men on Terah only a couple of days before he fell into that coma. I don’t know what happened,” Yvonne said slowly.

  “You think someone tried to kill him, don’t you?” Kevin asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

  “I don’t know, but let’s just say it wouldn’t come as a complete surprise. In fact, I think it’s probable.”

  “Any idea who?”

  “I’m not going to speculate as to who might have done it until we know what happened, but if you can find proof that the coma wasn’t due to natural causes, I might have a few ideas.”

  “So, all of this is probably because someone either doesn’t want to give up their slaves or is making a lot of money off of the slave trade?”

  “Not necessarily. If someone tried to kill Badec, it could just as easily be a sorcerer who knows he or she has no hope of defeating him and figures you’re an easier target. Or it could be someone who wants to see the stronger sorcerers kill each other off in the war tha
t will take place if you don’t make it to Camden by April. Or it could be because of something that neither of us knows anything about at this point,” Yvonne said with a shrug. “But I won’t be surprised if it turns out that the coma’s not natural.”

  Kevin settled back against the wall for a few minutes. Then he said, “I’m going to change the subject if you don’t mind.” Yvonne nodded. “What are you? A ghost?”

  Yvonne laughed and said, “I guess that’s about as good a description as any. My body died, but not my spirit.”

  “Are you real? I mean, can I touch you?” Kevin asked as he stood up from the bed.

  “You can touch the space where I am. It’s not like touching another person, but you can tell there’s something here. Why?”

  “Oh, no reason really. I just wondered what it would be like to kiss my mother’s cheek.”

  Yvonne smiled. “Why don’t you find out?”

  Kevin walked over to the apparition and kissed her cheek. His lips touched something cool and soft, not quite solid, but definitely there. “Will I see you again?”

  “If you wish. I can’t do this often though. It takes a lot of concentration to hold a visual image. In the meantime, I’ll always be close by,” Yvonne said as she stood up and reached for her son’s hand.

  Kevin cupped his hands around hers. “I’d like to spend some time with you, talking to you. I’d like to get to know you. Have you always been nearby? Why haven’t you ever come to me before?”

  “A spirit is confined to the world where the body died. I thought about having Badec transport me to Earth right before I died so I could watch over your childhood, but to be honest, I thought you might need me more once you returned to Terah, so I stayed here. I hope I made the right choice.” Yvonne’s aura was beginning to fade.

  “You did. I need you here. I made it through childhood just fine,” Kevin said. “You’re starting to fade. Does that mean that you have to go now?”

  “Yes, son. I’ve held this image for about as long as I can. Take care,” Yvonne said as the shimmering light closed around her, dimmed, and then vanished from the room.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Thursday morning Chris was waiting for the coffee to perk when Kevin walked into the kitchen. He looked ten years younger than he had at dinner the night before. There was a sparkle in his eyes and a spring in his step. Chris nodded and said, “You’re in a good mood this morning. Anything happen with the stone or candle?”

  “No, not yet,” Kevin answered as he cut a large slice of bread and began spreading strawberry preserves on it. “I just slept better last night than I have in quite some time.”

  “Your good mood wouldn’t have anything to do with your visitor last night would it?” Chris said with a grin.

  Kevin didn’t answer immediately. He leaned against the table, eating his bread and thinking. He decided that he might as well tell Chris. “How much do you know?”

  “Not much. I just know that when I went to my room last night there was a faint glow under your door and a very feminine voice coming from inside.”

  “Chris, I’m going to tell you what happened, but I’m not sure that I’m going to tell the others just yet, so keep this between us for now, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  “Yvonne came to see me last night.”

  “Yvonne?” Chris asked. “As in your mother?”

  Kevin nodded. “We had a good talk. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay very long. There are a lot of questions I would like to ask her.”

  “I thought your mother was dead,” Chris said slowly.

  “She is. When I said that she came, I meant her spirit.”

  Chris stopped slicing the bread he was fixing for his breakfast, turned, and stared at Kevin. Finally he asked, “What did she look like? Was it like a ghost?”

  “Kind of. There was a sort of glow around her, but she didn’t float or anything, and I couldn’t see through her like they show in the movies. She was standing when she first appeared, and then again right before she vanished, but most of the time she sat on the chair at my desk. We talked, just as if she had been … I don’t know … human I guess. It was just like talking to you.”

  “Did she say anything that I need to know about?” Chris asked. He was curious, but he didn’t want to pry. He poured a large mug of coffee for each of them and handed Kevin’s to him.

  “Actually there are a couple of things you’d be interested in. One, Badec had been trying to get the council to take a stand against slavery before he got sick,” Kevin said, and then he took a long, slow swallow of coffee.

  “Darrell would love to hear that. So would the others.”

  “I know. We’ll tell them later, but I’m not ready to share this with everyone yet. The other thing she told me is that she’s pretty sure Badec’s coma did not come from natural causes. She feels fairly certain that someone was trying to get him out of the way.” Kevin stopped for a moment, sighed, and added, “She didn’t come right out and say so, but I got the feeling that she’s not expecting him to recover.”

  “Then I guess it’s going to be up to you to find the people responsible, isn’t it?”

  “Eventually, I guess. But I can’t get sidetracked with that right now. Are you about ready to go? I’m anxious to get over there and get started.”

  “Give me about ten minutes and I’ll be ready to leave. Have another cup of coffee.” Chris picked up the pot to top off both of their mugs. “What’s your rush this morning anyway?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just ready to get going.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  When Chris and Kevin knocked on Glendymere’s door, they got an immediate response. “I’m out in the valley. Come on out and join me.”

  They stopped by their room just long enough to drop off the torches and their lunch bag and then headed down the hall to the mouth of the cave. When they stepped out into the sunlight, they saw Glendymere gliding on air currents as he circled the canyon a couple of hundred feet above the ground. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

  “He seems to be in a good mood this morning, too,” Chris said with a grin. “You know, that does look like fun.”

  “It is. Want to go for a ride?” Glendymere asked.

  “Uh, no. I think I’ll keep my feet on the ground for now, but I might take you up on it later,” Chris said, laughing at his own cowardice.

  “All right, but it’s your loss.” Glendymere circled down and settled gently on the ground in front of them. “Kevin, I thought we’d take a trip today.”

  “Where are we going?” Kevin asked.

  “In search of a storm to play in. Come on, climb on up. Sit between two of the spines on my neck and hold onto the chain I wear around my neck. It’ll feel a bit awkward at first, but it’s not any harder than riding Xantha.” Glendymere knelt and extended his foreleg so that Kevin could scramble up his arm to his massive shoulders and then on up to his neck.

  While Kevin was getting settled, Glendymere said to Chris, “Blalick will be along in a few minutes. He said something about the two of you installing a stove somewhere in the caverns this morning. We’ll be back around lunchtime.”

  Then Glendymere asked Kevin if he was settled, and when Kevin said yes, he rose, stretched his wings, and slowly and gracefully ascended into the sky, disappearing beyond the canyon walls. Chris walked back inside the huge entrance hall to wait for Blalick.

  Kevin could tell that Glendymere was flying in a southerly direction but he had no way of estimating how fast they were traveling. All he knew was that they were flying a lot faster than he had ever flown with Xantha. After a while, Kevin saw storm clouds in the distance over what looked like desert canyon lands.

  Glendymere slowed down as they approached the clouds, circled for a few minutes looking for a good place to land, and finally settled on a barren butte a couple of miles from the clouds and directly in their path. When Kevin climbed down, Glendymere told him to stand near the edge of the cliff and watc
h the storm.

  Kevin took a couple of steps towards the cliff and watched the wind swirl the clouds around. When the rain began, it looked like someone had dropped a dark gray translucent cloth from the bottom of the clouds to the ground. A few minutes later he saw the lightning begin as the storm intensified.

  “Now, I want you to join with the storm. Feel its power, its strength, become one with the wind,” Glendymere said.

  “How? How do I do that?” Kevin turned to face Glendymere.

  “Don’t worry about how. Don’t even think about what you’re trying to do. Just give yourself over to your instincts and let it happen,” Glendymere answered gently.

  Kevin turned back to the storm, took one step closer to the side of the cliff, closed his eyes and tried to erase all thoughts from his mind and just feel. After a few minutes, he became aware of a sensation of rising, of floating above the ground, of racing with the wind. He felt pockets of cool air clashing with hot gusts of wind. The rain slashed at his body as the fury of the storm washed over him. Lightning darted all around him, leaving him with a tingling sensation.

  As the storm intensified, he felt cut off from everything and everyone, isolated in the core of the swirling winds. He surrendered his senses to the power of the storm and felt the energy surge through him, building inside him. He had no idea how long he remained in the center of the storm. It could have been a minute or a day. There was no sensation of past or future, only the moment at hand.

  Then the storm began to wane, and after a few minutes, Kevin became aware of his surroundings again. He was surprised to find that he was still standing on the butte not more than ten feet from Glendymere. His hair, his clothing, and the ground where he was standing were all perfectly dry. He turned to Glendymere with a look of awe in his eyes.