To Challenge a Maestro Page 19

  Serin Gell moved ahead of Daniel and bowed before the leader of his guild. “Maestro, I present to you, Daniel Benhannon,” he said and then backed away, ending up between his captive and his hostages.

  Duroshur Beccar stood behind Daniel’s parents, keeping a close watch on them. Not that they would be trouble, it was to insure Daniel’s good behavior. The skinny man seemed to be extremely sure of himself and his command of the situation, although he was a minor player. It was the Maestro who held Daniel’s attention.

  Balen Tamm studied the new arrivals and finally focused on the closest buckskin-clad mountaineer to the throne. “Come forward,” he commanded.

  Serin Gell gave a quick gesture of warning with his eyes and then glanced at his hostages, his warning was clear; obey or they suffer.

  Daniel stepped closer to the throne. The three non-Aakacarns in the room were not even a concern to the Accomplisheds. Gnats would have been given more consideration. The trap was set, the prey was in it, and within the next few marks all of their futures would be decided. Tim was showing a mountain-sized faith in a mind that had gone far too long without sleep. Daniel hoped to keep his wits about him and not let Tim and his parents down. He glanced at the three and a half cubit long crescendo in the Maestro’s hand. The Baton of Tarin Conn was made of gold and shaped like a ruby-eyed snake with a diamond in its mouth. This was a type one level four with an amplification factor of six bolts, giving its current wielder eleven bolts of potential. Daniel’s baton was just as powerful but it was in the hands of Serin Gell, giving the three-bolt and extra six bolts. Eleven bolts to the front, nine bolts to the rear, and Daniel in between with six. Terroll was correct; the odds of success were astronomical.

  “You have cost me valuable resources,” Balen Tamm said in a baritone pitch.

  Daniel shifted on his feet, not out of anxiety though he sure felt that, mostly because he wanted to keep the Pentrosan in his periphery. The situation made him think of a mongoose after two snakes, three counting Beccar; they would all have to be dealt with. “You cost me my way of life. Truth is, all I ever wanted was to be left alone and that is all I want now.” He told the Maestro in a voice that neither threatened nor begged for understanding; a simple unapologetic statement of fact.

  Balen’s right eyebrow arched up and he leaned forward. “You are awfully destructive for a person who just wants to be left alone. You traveled to Aakadon and had to escape after discovering the kind of help they have to offer. You led us on a merry chase but what happened was inevitable, you were caught by my guild and brought here,” he intoned. “No matter, what you want is no longer important. The mighty Tarin Conn has decided you shall serve him and you will.”

  Daniel had heard all of the enticements and recruiting speeches directly from the Dark Maestro. “Surely you did not capture me just to make the same old offers as your master?” Daniel said, almost forgetting this was not a dream and he could actually be hurt, and not just him. He should regret speaking so rudely, but did not; a clear sign he was over tired.

  Balen Tamm’s face turned several shades of purple; evidently he was not accustomed to be addressed in a less than respectful manner. The man was even less patient than his master. “I make you no offers. I command and you obey,” he said after calming down to the point his voice was almost conversational.

  Daniel forced himself to smile, no small task considering the extreme danger of the moment. “Really, there are always choices.”

  The Maestro of the Serpent Guild licked his lips and focused his cold blue eyes on Miriam Benhannon. “You want choices. I will give you a choice. Serve me without question or your mother will be Condemned right here right now.”

  It took every bit of self-control Daniel could muster to fight back the sudden panic welling up inside him. This was no idle threat. The Maestro spoke as if conveying a simple fact of life.

  “Make your choice! I have run out of patience with you,” Balen shouted while raising the golden serpent and pointing it at Miriam.

  “Wait, give me time to think,” Daniel replied, stalling for time and wondering who was the fool?

  The lustful look on Balen’s face told all Daniel needed to know. The man lusted to maim and cause pain, he enjoyed condemning people, and Miriam was not the only one who would be Condemned. Looking into those cold blue eyes Daniel realized the Maestro had made up his mind long ago, all of them were going to be Condemned, Daniel in particular no matter what choice he made. The decision was probably made after the final assault on Bashierwood. People will talk about that battle for years to come. Queen Cleona likely wasted little time publicizing the great victory or crushing defeat depending on the point of view. Balen was made to look ineffective against an upstart Accomplished in whom his master expressed great interest. The Maestro of the Serpent Guild was eliminating a potential rival.

  It was time for the mongoose to strike. Daniel summoned the potential for, Sleep, not the low power one taught to him by Cenni Quen, but a symphonic arrangement of his own, with six bolts of potential radiating outward a full five spans. His spell met a slight resistance and then over powered the shield in the blink of an eye. Duroshur Beccar, Serin Gell, Tim, Daniel’s parents, everyone and everything on and within the mountain without a powerful shield in place would be asleep. He removed the spell from the drummer and his parents and they had the good sense to remain on the floor with their eyes closed. Everyone else was asleep; but not Balen Tamm.

  “Did you think I would be unprepared for such an attempt,” he laughed while speaking. “I am going to enjoy condemning you,” he added and pointed the serpent-shaped baton at Daniel.

  Daniel summoned the potential for a shield and focused at the Maestro. Blue energy surrounded the five-bolt Accomplished and snapped into place, but the power drain to hold him was enormous. Balen smiled like a jaguar ready to pounce. He focused potential through the crescendo and it was taking more and more strength to hold him. It took time to build up eleven bolts of potential. Despite Daniel’s best efforts the shield failed and red potential emanated from the baton in a narrow beam.

  Daniel focused and pictured in his mind the shield as a disk six cubits in diameter to block the beam and perhaps shove back Balen’s potential and reestablish the shield; that was his only hope. The Maestro’s red beam gained ground against Daniel’s shield, pushing it back closer and closer to him. If the potential gets through he would be Condemned. Daniel dared not look away from his opponent. “Tim, now!” he shouted and the drummer sprang up and threw the knife in one fluid motion, which Daniel snatched out of the air with his right hand. He refocused his potential through the type one level four crescendo and into the shield.

  Balen Tamm’s potential was barely a pace away from Daniel when the amplification kicked in. Blue potential stopped the progression of the red and slowly, oh so slowly, began to push the other way. Theoretically it was twelve bolts of potential against eleven, except Daniel was not fresh, he had been using all of his six bolts breaking Beccar’s shield, casting the sleep spell, placing his own shield on the enemy Maestro, and then trying to keep from being Condemned when the shield failed. Even so, blue energy pushed against the red and Balen was no longer smiling.

  “Nice trick but you cannot prevail,” Balen said in a tight voice filled with strain. He still appeared confident and had reason to be.

  Harmonic waves washed over the entire mountain, probably all over the world given the amount of potential being focused. Twelve bolts of potential was one hundred forty-four times the amount of energy of a one-bolt. Eleven bolts of potential is one hundred twenty-one times the amount of energy as a one-bolt. Two hundred sixty-five times the amount of energy of a one-bolt was being tightly focused in the audience chamber deep within Mount Gosian. The ground was shaking, chunks of stone fell from the ceiling, the chandelier crashed to the floor. Daniel was barely aware of the crumbling headquarters, his attention was on Balen Tamm, while Tim and his parents jumped, spun and dodged to avoid falling debr
is.

  The challenge was clearly more than Balen expected. His lips began to crack and bleed from the demands on his life force. No Accomplisheds came to his rescue; either they were no longer conscious, fled, or dead if the tunnels were collapsing. Whatever the reason Daniel was glad not to be facing them. His throat was parched and his eyeballs were drying out. He kept blinking but no moisture came from the effort and his vision began to fail. Balen Tamm was a vague form glowing red. Blue potential had stopped, neither progressing nor losing ground. Daniel continued to focus even though his mouth felt as if someone had stuffed it with cotton. There was no cunning in this fight, no fancy tricks, it was a contest of strength and the mountain trembled.

  Daniel did not know how much longer he could hold out. He was exhausted. The many weeks without sleep were catching up to him and he did not even have the benefit of Sherree’s rejuvenation spell to help him. His mind went back to six winters ago when his father was ill, food was scarce, and Daniel had to do the hunting. It had been a bitter winter and he had to range far to find anything to hunt. He spotted a deer, drew fletching to ear, and let fly. His arrow took down the buck, but Daniel was not the only hungry predator on the mountain. Just as he picked up the buck a lion attacked. Daniel drew his knife and fought the big cat and won because he was determined to get that deer home so his mother and father could eat. The lion lost its life and Daniel received three deep gouges in his left flank and puncture wounds on his leg. It took all of his strength and will, bleeding the whole way, to carry that buck home. He took the memory and drew on the same determination to survive and prevail. He pushed more of his life force energy into the shield aimed at Balen Tamm.

  The harmonic ripples of the High Powered spells reverberated throughout the mountain and the deep rumble of tunnels falling in on themselves drowned out all other sounds. Daniel repeated the Melody over and over again in his mind. He could not add the Da Capo until the shield was in place. The thought proved to be encouraging because it seemed the Maestro’s resistance was waning. Daniel refused to give in now. His priorities were set and his chores set accordingly.

  “A Benhannon never drops a set chore just because he is tired,” his father’s voice came to him.

  He pushed out with his mind and could feel the gains his spell was making over Balen’s Melody of condemnation. The realization provided a glimmer of hope. “First one to give in is a hound pup,” he croaked in a voice he barely recognized as his own.

  He began the Melody again for what seemed like the hundredth time and suddenly felt his shield make contact and reestablish. He quickly added the Da Capo and tied it to his life force just before the knife slipped from his grip and fell to the floor. He fell forward, completely exhausted, and caught a glimpse of a raging Tarin Conn while fading in and out of consciousness. “I beat you,” he told the furious Dark Maestro who seemed ready to inflict serious pain in retribution.

  Daniel felt a warm hand slip under his neck, cradling his head. Precious cool liquid poured over his parched tongue and down his dry throat. He could not take in the water fast enough to quench his thirst and so tried to swallow faster, and ended up having a coughing fit as some of it went down the wrong way.

  “Take it easy, I have plenty,” his mother said in a stress filled voice, not surprising after all she had been through.

  Daniel opened his eyes and a worry creased face stared back at him. Behind his mother was his father and beside him was Tim Dukane, who appeared equally worried.

  “How do you feel?’ they all asked him at once while his mother pulled the canteen away from his mouth, spilling a few precious drops.

  Daniel sat up the rest of the way on his own and could feel his strength returning. “Better thanks,” he told them and then thought of the Maestro. “You should give some to Balen Tamm. He’s probably as bad off as I am.”

  Tim glanced at the throne and frowned. Surely he would not begrudge the man water. “He’s a little beyond bad,” the drummer replied.

  Daniel felt strong enough to cast a healing spell if absolutely necessary so turned toward the throne with that in mind. The blue glow surrounded the Maestro. His eyes were closed and recessed back into the sockets and his pale skin looked like leather stretched tightly over bone. Dried blood was caked over his lips and chin. Not a drop of moisture seemed to be left in his body. The Maestro of the Serpent Guild was most definitely dead, yet still sat with the golden baton aimed as if the duel never ended.

  Daniel removed the Da Capo and the blue glow vanished. He walked up the steps to the crystal throne, took hold of the baton, and pulled it from Balen’s death grip. The mummified corpse fell forward and Daniel leaped aside, allowing it to tumble down the steps to the floor. He then turned to study the damage done to the receiving chamber.

  The chandelier had fallen, landing on Duroshur Beccar, killing him, and just missing Serin Gell. The Pentrosan lay sprawled on the floor fast asleep. He had minor wounds from the fallen debris and would likely have more than a few bruises but was otherwise unharmed, too bad, he should have died. The iron door was now shut, perhaps because Serin Gell was not conscious. It landed on Landec Turner, effectively cutting him in half. His upper half was in the chamber, his pelvis crushed, and his legs beyond the door.

  “Thanks for the assist,” Daniel told his friend while levitating the knife from the floor thirteen steps below up to his hand.

  “No problem,” Tim replied. “May I have mine back?”

  Daniel gave a chuckle and flipped the drummer’s knife back to him. He went down the steps and hugged his mother and then his father. “I never thought they would go after you.”

  “He barged into our home and threatened to kill you if we did not do exactly what he said. He also killed Simmone. I never knew a cow could scream like that. This man is wicked and cruel,” his mother told him while pointing at Serin Gell. “To bad something didn’t fall on him.”

  Daniel was sorry about Simmone, she had been part of the family, and he was tempted to kick the Pentrosan. “He deserves death for many reasons but I can’t just kill him. He would be dead if the circumstances had been a little different. If there had been time to kill everything in the mountain except you three, I would have, but I didn’t so I put every thing to sleep and then woke you up.”

  “If you hadn’t brought me you would have been free to kill him,” Tim pointed out.

  “If I hadn’t brought you, I and my parents would be Condemneds. You are without a doubt the bravest man I have ever known,” Daniel replied and meant every word.

  “You are a man of courage,” Ronn Benhannon told the drummer. “We came believing we would die but at least be able to see our son one last time. Thank you for being here and doing what you could.”

  Tim kicked a stone across the chamber. “It had to be done. Besides, somebody has to have his back,” he said while gesturing with his head toward Daniel and getting kissed on the cheek by Miriam Benhannon.

  Daniel shook his head abruptly in an attempt to stay alert. They were in the heart of the Serpent Guild and Accomplisheds could teleport into the chamber at any moment. He cast, Find All, and scanned the entire mountain. A third of the Aakacarns were crushed to death in the collapsed tunnels and the rest were asleep. Yetis, Condemneds, and sasquatches were dead throughout the complex, and thousands more were sleeping.

  “We need to leave,” Daniel stated. “Stand in a circle around Serin Gell.”

  Everyone surrounded the sleeping Accomplished. Daniel held up the Baton of Tarin Conn. “This is going to drain me some coming so soon after battling Balen but I have no choice. We cannot walk out of here.”

  “Are you sure about this,” his mother asked. She clearly was not comfortable with the idea of having potential focused on her even by her own son.

  “It is perfectly safe. You are going to be in absolute darkness where you will not see, hear, or feel a thing. The time spent between here and there is only for about the space of three heart beats,” Daniel assured both of
his parents, seeing his father looked even more dubious about using the Aakacarn method of travel than was his mother.

  Daniel had learned something new about teleporting. He had assumed the caster had to be in physical contact with whomever he was bringing, that was proved wrong when the Serpent Guild transported Condemneds within a circle without any of them touching each other or the Aakacarns. So Daniel summoned the potential for, Teleportation, and pictured a circle and everyone in it on the porch of the cottage he once called home. Three heart beats later, they were there.

  - - - - - - -

  Simon Trenca sat at desk six in his class on spell theory. Instructor Renn stood at the front lecturing on the many theoretical uses of amulets and the kinds of spells that could be locked into them. The knowledge was worth gaining but Sherree, Jerremy, and Samuel had successfully performed all of the required spells and been declared certified masters of those Melodies. While Simon was listening to the theory of amulets they were being taught by Instructor Pevin on how to actually make them. Tomorrow they would be making their first type one level one crescendos. It would be at least another three weeks before Simon could be certified and taught to make his own amulets and crescendos. He could hardly wait.

  Soon he would be a full Accomplished and be able go out into the world, dangerous as that has become of late. Harmonic waves had been rippling through the world ever since Daniel went off on the assignment given him by the Grand Maestro. Simon longed for the day when he would be sent out to do important things, which would happen after he graduated and joined the Willow Guild.

  Those waves lasted until late last night and everyone in Aakadon was talking about what it could be and what it meant and what needed to be done. There had been an emergency meeting of the Maestros, not that Talenteds would be informed of such. Simon had learned that much because he could understand what people were saying just by watching the movement of their lips. Teams of Accomplisheds were being sent out and here he sat while important missions were being handed out. If only he could be on one of those teams, he would show them just how useful he could be.