“Understood, I will discourage but not harm him,” Serena replied.
The connection ended, but what had been communicated weighed on her mind. She was not afraid of Daniel Benhannon, for the reason stated by Vance Cummin. Being Silenced rendered the man harmless, no matter how many lightning bolts he may possess. The heaviness came from the realization of how vast Vance’s web of informants had to be and that he apparently wanted her to know it. Only someone at the estate or traveling with Daniel Benhannon could have been the source, or someone traveling with her, which was more disturbing, seeing as she hand picked this team of Talenteds.
They arrived at the high ground Tigress had spoken of and created temporary hut-like shelters, fashioning them out of dirt and making them hard as stone, one for each Aakacarn, and then Ferren went hunting. Serena formed a message for her pursuer on the ceiling of her one room dwelling. “An Impotent Accomplished Should Keep His Nose Out Of Aakacarn Affairs. Follow At Your Own Peril.”
Pleased with her work, and not being hungry, she went to sleep with one hand on the trumpet and the other on her tummy. Daybreak arrived and she brushed her hair and went out to see Ferren cooking some kind of meat in a pan, it was best not to ask what, although it did not smell bad. Puddles between the shelters were evidence of rain over night, but the sky was clear and the new day promised to be sunny.
“Are we still bound for Rivertown?” Ferret asked her while handing her a plate of fried something, not fish, rodent, or reptile, so it had to be fowl.
“Yes. I arranged for Accomplisheds to transport us to Holcum after we arrive,” she told him. “This is a big accomplishment to have on our resumes.”
“Mostly yours,” Duzolta replied. The unvarnished way he said it sounded sincere rather than an attempt at flattery.
Serena had been thinking about establishing her own web of contacts loyal to her, he and several others were definitely candidates. “True, but everyone in the guild will know you were a part of the team that reclaimed the trumpet of Tarin Conn. More importantly, the Supreme Maestro will know.”
“Do you think this will earn me the right to visit the sacred cave?” Ferren asked, and then took a bite of meat.
She chewed a piece of fowl, swallowed, and washed it down with water from her canteen. “I’m sure it will. Visiting the cave and being linked to the Supreme Maestro was the highest privilege granted me, higher even than when I graduated to Accomplished.”
Ferren smiled contentedly. Most of the Ducaunan Aakacarns, much like herself, were recruited into the guild at an early age and the customs of Tarin Conn’s association were all they knew, having never been polluted by the teachings in Aakadon.
Duggan emerged from her stone hut, ran fingers through her thick dark hair, and came over to the fire, grabbed a plate of food, and forked some fowl into her mouth. “Looks like a better day.”
SuTamkin joined them, followed shortly by Taltin. “Should we dissolve the huts?” the illegitimate lordling inquired.
“No,” Serena replied and drew some raised eyebrows. It had been the practice to remove every trace of their campsite. “I have been informed that we are being pursued by Daniel Benhannon.”
“Your contacts are impressive.” It was the first compliment given by SuTamkin and he actually bowed to her. She had no intention of telling him she had no web of her own and only knew what Vance Cummin chose to reveal.
“What does that have to do with us not dissolving our huts?” Taltin asked respectfully, not a challenge of her decision, going by his tone.
“He is powerless to stop us so we have nothing to fear from him, but I want him to know that we know he is following us,” Serena explained, even though she did not owe an explanation, her being the leader, whose authority is not to be questioned.
“You want the huts to remain, they remain, simple as that, but I wouldn’t mind if Benhannon caught up with us. He might even live to learn a valuable lesson,” SuTamkin stated, emphasizing his last sentence as if relishing the possibility, and perhaps hoping to be the instructor. If so, he was going to be disappointed because she intended that task for someone more trustworthy.
“Duzolta, we are going to start out for Rivertown, you wait here for two marks and then trail after us for ten spans. I am leaving you in command of eighty sasquatches. If Daniel Benhannon and his team keep coming after they reach this camp, I want you to discourage him, short of killing him, and then catch up with us,” Serena ordered and received a frown from SuTamkin and a shrug of the shoulders from Taltin. Tigress and Duggan did not seem to care, no doubt they just wanted to get the assignment over with, and if so, it was a sentiment Serena certainly shared.
Ferret rubbed his hands together, smiling maliciously. “I know just what to do.”
Serena liked his enthusiasm, but did not want the Talented to go too far, and actually kill Daniel Benhannon. “What do you have in mind?”
“Hide underground, pop up, strike him, and send half the sasquatches to destroy the supplies, and the other half to attack if Daniel Benhannon chooses to continue pursuing us.”
Serena gave a single nod of the head. “Do it.”
------------------------------------
Samuel Cresh stared out the third floor window of the Polkat Inn. Clouds drifted gently across the blue sky. The Sugret and maple trees were adorned with autumn colors while the pines remained ever green and children played on the village grass over near the tree line. Bashierwood had grown so much he could not rightly refer to it as a village anymore. The people were kind to him and he appreciated that. Orrin Netless did not say a single cross word, which for him was a show of kindness. Samuel reached to his right for a glass of water and ended up knocking it onto the floor with his stump. It no longer pained him, but he still had a tendency to automatically reach with his right hand, it always took him a moment to realize what he was doing, and then grab with his left. He would adjust in time, but for now it was inconvenient. He summoned potential and levitated the glass back onto the table.
“Sam, this is Simon,” the voice interrupted his thought, the more so for having come from inside his head rather than out.
“I’m listening,” he replied.
“Serin Gell is attacking Sherree and Jerremy at Lake Tomlin.”
Samuel knew the renegade would take vengeance sooner or later and the only error in the assessment had been where. “Looks like we were both right about him, I’m glad you arrived ahead of me and escorted Daniel’s parents off Tannakonna, but I don’t think either of us thought he would go after Sherree and Jerremy, at least not so soon. How did they come to be together?”
“Jerremy was working on the Tomlin Project, the team fell ill, and Sherree was sent to heal them, but that is not Serin Gell’s reason for attacking. They found a container, sealed by amulets, with Della Lain’s initials on it. Sam, I think they found the flute,” Simon answered.
If the flute was in the box, the news was worse than bad, and all out war would soon follow. “Are you sure?” Samuel asked.
“As sure as I can be without being there and opening it, and whether or not it is the flute, everyone on the Tomlin Project is in extreme danger, including Sherree and Jerremy. I’ve notified Senior Forester Galloway, he is declaring an emergency, and a team should soon be on the way. I’m hoping your contacts in the Eagle Guild will do the same,” Simon sent along with a strong sense of anxiety.
“I will notify Bella Sander, he is a Senior Soarer, but I can’t just sit here while our friends are in danger, I have to do something,” Samuel replied as frustration grew in his innards. He was on the opposite side of the kingdom from where the events were unfolding.
“You mentioned my arriving on Tannakonna ahead of you, are you still there?”
“Yes, I thought Gell would strike here,” Samuel admitted, wishing he had not been mistaken. His assumption without enough evidence to back it up left him horribly out of position. Lassiter would have chided him for that.
“Looks like
we both have a long way to go if we want to make a difference,” Simon sent. “The Benhannon’s and I are in Bon. Give me time to consult with Daniel’s father. He’s a carpenter, a creative person, perhaps he or his wife will have some suggestions. I’m going to obtain a boat, sail down the Hirus to where it merges with the Gosian, sail up that river to where it merges with the Tannakonna, and will meet you at the eastern base of the mountain.”
Simon had big plans that would take a while to bring to fruition, but that was more than Samuel could come up with, except for one minor change. “Traveling down the Hirus to the Gosian will be a swift ride, but turning and traveling up two rivers against the currents will take too much time. I will take ship at the Tannakonna River and sail down to where the rivers merge, and then whatever ship you are on can convey us up the Hirus to Lake Tomlin. I think that is the best we can do time wise.”
“Agreed,” Simon replied. “Jerremy’s transmission felt near to a panic. I don’t believe they can hold out very long.”
“I’m going down to report what you told me to Bella, keep me informed if things change,” Samuel replied. He was worried about Sherree and the Serinian but refused to allow his feelings to interfere with his actions. He and Simon had a plan and both of them were working toward the same goal, rescuing their friends and, for him, capturing Serin Gell. He also took courage from the fact that boatloads of Accomplisheds from Aakadon would be focusing on the same thing.
“I’ll contact Jerremy periodically and let you know what I learn,” Simon replied and then ended the connection.
Samuel wasted no time getting down to the common room where Bella Sander sat at table three. The Accomplished was a tall man with stooped shoulders and a long white beard. His garments, much like Samuel’s, were crimson and black silk, except the elder had a golden lighting bolt on each shoulder. Against his chest was a silver bird of prey emblazoned on a gold medallion.
“Sam, I thought you would be brooding in your room for another mark or more,” he called out while gesturing for Samuel to join him at the table.
The room was filled with people, most of them eating dinner, including Tim Dukane and his wife Gina, who were at table two. Both were in buckskins, except hers were dyed pink. Her long black hair was attractive and a full figure indicated she was quite healthy. Skinny Linda Polkat, Henri’s young daughter, light green dress hanging down to her ankles, carried plates of food to table eight and then went back to the kitchen. Kemer sat at table seven wearing buckskins, red-dyed shirt and blue-dyed pants, like most every male on Tannakonna. Traces of gray streaked his hair and mustache. Laugh lines near his eyes showed him to be a jovial man. Sharing the table with him was Hough Bess, the mayor, whose bushy sideburns stopped short of being considered a beard. His light blue-dyed buckskins were clean and unstained.
“I’ve received an urgent message from Simon Trenca, a One-bolt Accomplished of the Willow Guild.” Samuel began. He did not know Bella very well but the man came across as being kindly in nature, not exactly the portrait of an Eagle Guild Senior Soarer, hardly one to fill his prey with terror.
“It must be urgent to bring you to me. What seems to be the problem?” Bella replied.
Samuel told him everything he knew and by the time he was finished, the Senior Soarer was pulling an amulet from within his silks, and the Dukane’s were sitting at the table with them, having overheard the conversation, and clearly eager to hear more.
“A ship with a flock of twenty Soarers and five members of the Zephyr Guild will be sent up the Hirus within a few marks. This is the boldest move the Serpent Guild has made since the escape and not a single member of the Eagle Guild would hold back at the opportunity to recapture Serin Gell,” Bella stated. “Know that everything possible is being done. Unfortunately, a large part of our affiliation is exploring Mount Gosian, but I am sure twenty Accomplisheds should be enough.”
“What are you planning to do?” Tim Dukane asked while looking Samuel directly in the eyes. His straw hat barely contained his dark wavy hair.
“What makes you think I’m planning something beyond what Accomplished Sander has revealed?” Samuel replied, as if the idea of doing more never occurred to him.
Tim chuckled. “I’ve ridden with you before. One thing you’re truly bad at is staying in one place for long after a destination is set.”
Samuel could not argue with that. “You got me there, but why are you asking?”
“He is asking because we want to help. Sherree and Jerremy risked their lives defending Bashierwood and we do not want to see them suffering Serin Gell’s tender mercies,” Gina answered.
“I came here to keep you from the very man you want to help me capture,” Samuel hoped he could persuade them to stay behind.
Both of them smiled at him as if he was being silly. “We are both more than competent handlers of the bow and knife. You might recall, we have some experience facing this foe,” Tim assured him.
“Simon is going to meet me at the Hirus River and we will sail from there up to Lake Tomlin,” Samuel admitted.
“We can hire a boat to take us that far,” Gina told him.
Samuel had no money and had planned on asking Bella for the funds, but the elder Accomplished was watching all three of them without adding anything to the conversation. “Okay, we should leave immediately,” he gave in to them.
Bella cleared his throat, drawing attention. “I normally would not allow a Fledgling to fly into danger. I could put a stop to your plan, but I will not. Multiple teams of Accomplisheds will be involved, so the risk is not so much, and you need something to occupy your mind instead of brooding in your room. It is not easy to lose a mentor, especially one you have some affection for, so fly free for awhile,” he said and then handed over an amulet set with a topaz. “Use this to keep me informed.”
Samuel accepted the communication device. “Thanks for understanding,” he told the elder Accomplished, the oldest living man, two hundred ninety-eight years of age.
He had planned on leaving in the morning but Tim and Gina wanted to leave right away and seeing as they knew the trails so well, he agreed. They left the common room to pack for the journey and Samuel went to his room to prepare. A mark later they were mounted and headed down the eastern slope of Mount Tannakonna toward the river named after it. Both mountaineers had a quiver full of arrows and long bladed hunting knives sheathed in their belts. Rio seemed eager to be out and about and the night was pleasant.
---------------------------
Simon dashed down the hall from his second story room, feet pounding on the floorboards of the Timberman’s Inn, his black and crimson cloak fluttering out behind him. He came to a stop at the eighth door on the left and knocked rapidly. Ronn Benhannon answered, granting him entrance. The room had a bed, table, and two chairs, one of which was occupied by Miriam.
“What’s wrong?” she inquired before he could open his mouth. The woman was uncannily perceptive.
Ronn leaned his large frame against the closed door and folded his arms across his chest. “You look harried as a squirrel in a room full of cats.”
Barnabas Galloway was right, Simon thought, he did need to work on proper decorum. He took a deep breath and did his best impression of the Senior Forester. “Serin Gell is attacking Sherree Jenna and Jerremy DeSuan,” he began, then proceeded to give them all of the details, and finished with, “So I wanted your suggestions. I can make a boat large enough but I need an efficient design. I’ll be going against the current to get to Lake Tomlin so I’m thinking of a whole lot of oars that I can paddle at once with a spell rather than sails.”
Ronn went over to the table, picked up a pen and ink, and then started drawing. Simon watched over the man’s broad shoulders while Miriam stood to his right, watching intently. The first draft looked like a long canoe with twenty-two oars, eleven on each side, set in rings. It was workable, if they did not take any horses.
“No,” Miriam said. “It needs to be broader and some sort
of cabin or shelter for Simon and his friends to get in out of the elements.”
Ronn glanced at his wife, nodded his head, and then began drawing a wider boat with a deck, bilge holes, and a one room cottage two thirds of the way toward the bow. “Can you make something like this?” he asked when finished.
Simon was still thinking about how he was going to use, Lashing The Rope, to make all of the oars row in synchronization, and it took a few moments to register the question. “I can form the wood of a tree into whatever shape I choose.”
“You don’t’ like it,” Miriam stated.
“I know only one spell to work the oars and rowing all of them at once is going to be tricky, requiring a great deal of concentration. I don’t think I can steer and do both, but that won’t be a problem after I pick up Sam,” he replied.
“That is not a problem we can’t overcome,” Ronn said confidently.
“What about a waterwheel like the one the miller has down in Bane?’ Miriam suggested.
It was an absurd notion, using a water-driven wheel, meant to turn a grindstone, for moving a boat. Ronn looked askance at his wife, apparently he felt the same, but then he smiled and kissed her full on the lips. “You are brilliant,” he told her and then sat back down to draw.
He drew a boat similar to the last except this one was a little longer and had a blunt stern and a wheelhouse in front of the cottage along with ten stalls in the back quarter of the vessel for the horses with room for men to walk to the stern from the sides. He extended the frame out a long way and then added a waterwheel. “Now you have as many paddles and only one object to turn,” Ronn stated proudly.
Miriam was shaking her head. “That design is good, but if you make the wheel broader rather than tall and narrow, it seems to me Simon would be able go faster.”
Ronn smiled at her again and then redrew the boat, following her suggestion. Simon had to admit, the boat did look better, and the new wheel design would be more efficient, more so than a narrow wheel or rowing twenty-two oars. “I think it is worth building. Thanks for your help,” he told the couple. “I truly wanted to escort you to your son’s estate, but..,”
To Be Chosen (The Maestro Chronicles) Page 31
