To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) Page 2

  Illumination came from multiple spheres of light floating in the air over head. Vance stood in the Operations room, deep in the heart of Mount Suteck, in the northern kingdom of Pentrosa. Gathered around him were twenty-four of his Two-bolt Accomplisheds, dressed in their silver on black silks, each one in contact with and commanding four thousand associates. On the head of each operation commander, like a crowned prince, lie a communication array containing ten amulets facing inward with the gemstones in physical contact with their flesh. The operations commanders were in turn connected mentally to team leaders, who commanded sub team leaders, all waiting to be dispatched to Mount Shantear.

  He watched as the hand of the chrono disk on the ceiling in the far corner came to rest on the twenty-fourth mark. Tension filled the vast chamber, floating up in the center of which was a three dimensional image of Mount Shantear. Tiny black human-shaped images represented the current level of surface resources committed to the operation in their various positions. Eagerness for the battle to begin was not allowed to show on his face and he held the emotion in check as the moments passed.

  “Maestro, the forces of the Atlantan Guild, which seems to be numbering in the thousands; along with the seven guild teams from Aakadon, have just teleported onto Mount Shantear,” the voice of Nest Leader Brockhouse, commander of Serpent West, came to Vance through the array. “Benhannon’s teams have transported onto the mountain in wider rings than our spy reported they would be and are casting spells at our Accomplisheds, about a third of which have just fallen dead. There goes our ambush. I am dispatching three thousand visible Aakacarns to reinforce the remaining thirty-five hundred survivors and the five thousand invisibly-shielded associates already on the field.”

  “Acknowledged,” Vance replied mentally through the array as topaz blue human-shaped images appeared on the miniature mountain to represent the forces of the Atlantan Guild and red images for the teams from Aakadon. “I will send two thousand associates to bolster your defense.” He said nothing about the initial failure, choosing instead to correct the problem, but that spy was definitely going to be called to account for the inaccuracy.

  “Your assistance is appreciated. I believe we will soon crush those who thought to attack us,” Brockhouse responded along with a vast amount of confidence flowing through the mental connection.

  “Othello Sherman, send half your teams to Mount Shantear, and destroy all opposition,” Vance sent to the bald, thin-faced Accomplished directly in front of him.

  One could hear a pin drop in the silent chamber, since all communications in the room were held mentally through the communication amulets in Vance’s array. “Maestro, your will be done,” Sherman replied, appropriately, seeing as he would not dare say or do otherwise.

  Accomplished Sera Cray, with an array of watchers reporting to her from the battle zone, added the thousands of additional black images to her projection of Shantear. The petite, dark-complexioned, Coordinator had a mind well suited to receiving, sifting, and organizing information.

  “Maestro, how goes the defense of Serpent West?” The communication sounded within Vance Cummin’s skull, sent by his Vice Maestro who was located more than a thousand spans away. The Badger’s current assignment had him in the kingdom of Zune, at Serpent East, on the northeastern coast of the continent.

  The amulets, each powered by a communication Melody, within the array, lying on his head like a crown, kept Vance in contact with the senior members of the Serpent Guild, the majority of those being directly involved in the defense of the western headquarters located within Mount Shantear, in the Kingdom of Lobenia, more than eight hundred spans away, on the southwestern side of the continent.

  Even though confident of victory, Vance was not at all pleased by the poor performance at the beginning of hostilities. A large death count early on would have guaranteed success. “The information we received from Judas Scarott turned out to be somewhat flawed. He was correct about the attack coming at midnight but had the arrival points wrong. We positioned our Accomplisheds in kill zones at the specific locations reported, expecting to have the forces of the Atlantan Guild and those of Aakadon appear at the centers of each,” he informed, focusing the reply exclusively on the gem in the crown given to him by Rex Badger, while keeping his emotions under tight control.

  “Assuming our teams were able to adjust to the variance, our initial strike must have been devastating,” Rex interrupted the thought with an inaccurate and overly optimistic conclusion.

  Vance chose to correct the assumption. “Our teams were surrounded at the outset and adjusted quickly but not before losing a third of their numbers. Brockhouse and I have sent reinforcements onto the mountainside. Daniel Benhannon has brought thousands of Accomplisheds and must be throwing the entire might of his guild into this fight. We now have twice the number of Aakacarns in play with more arriving by the moment. Victory should be ours shortly,” he paused after a thought he wanted to share entered his mind. “The child Aakasear is behaving much like our great master, composing his own spells, establishing his own guild, and thumbing his nose at the Grand Maestro of Aakadon, yet he does not possess our master’s experience or cunning. Benhannon should have stayed out of this fight, let Reese and his forces fail in their mission to strengthen the Melodious spells holding the Supreme Maestro in place, and perhaps allowed the Atlantan Guild to survive for a little while longer.”

  A sense of satisfaction came through the communication link from Rex, “The young man has accomplished more than I ever thought possible, yet has in this engagement taken hold of far more than he can handle. I wonder how much of his newly minted guild will be destroyed before it occurs to him that the battle is lost, and he finally decides to teleport away along with the meager survivors, if there are any.”

  A strong sense of alarm flowed through the mental link from Brockhouse ahead of the words, “I should have contacted you earlier, but I thought we could handle it. Daniel Benhannon and a squad of fighters have appeared here, right in this chamber. We are battling for control of the Crystal Chamber itself! I am receiving mass reports of his guild forces appearing in all of the tunnels and chambers within Shantear. We are under a two-pronged attack, taking place both on and in the mountain!” Scant time had passed since the man projected confidence in his ability to crush his attackers and now this?

  Vance, emotions under tight control, turned to Accomplished Blassoff, whose people were the most familiar with the mountain complex. “I want every Accomplished at your command teleporting into the Crystal Chamber to help Brockhouse defend the Great Crystal,” he sent to the pale-faced, stout commander, feeling quite sure four thousand associates would be more than adequate. He would deal with the traitors who must have given Benhannon teleportation arrival points within the mountain later, after victory was secured. There would be no mercy shown to those individuals.

  “Your will be done,” Blassoff sent along with a growing thread of tension. “Maestro, I will need to send in one team at a time due to the close confines of the chamber.”

  Obviously four thousand people could not fit in the area of contention, Vance realized, quickly accepting the correction, having never been to Serpent West. “Acknowledged; send in what is necessary to secure the chamber, even if it takes every person under your command. Daniel Benhannon must not be allowed to gain control of the Great Crystal,” he sent with a sense of calm he did not actually feel.

  Hopefully this will suffice, he thought just before the next report. “Many of the Accomplisheds here with me are dead and we are losing control of the chamber!” Brockhouse’s frantic communication sounded loudly in Vance’s mind. “I and what remains of my team are about to cast the High Powered Shield,” he continued in what Vance considered to be a calmer and more appropriate state of mind, befitting of a senior leader of the Serpent Guild. A few moments went by and a sense of accomplishment and relief flowed ahead of, “The shield is established. Benhannon and his associates are casting spells, attempt
ing to get at us, and their results are futile. We can hold this chamber until your forces arrive or the Supreme Maestro breaks free.”

  “Acknowledged,” Vance sent in reply, feeling better now that reports were also coming in of a shift in the surface battle favoring his forces. This was due to the invisible teams revealing themselves and attacking right in the midst of the enemy. Red and blue human-shaped images on the projected mountain were falling to the black as Sera Cray adjusted the display accordingly.

  Vance focused on his operations commanders. “Any of you who have teams led by Accomplisheds capable of teleporting within Mount Shantear are to send those teams immediately,” only Accomplisheds who had been to those locations could picture the arrival points, “Wherever they arrive, they must kill all Atlantan Guild associates while making their way to the Crystal Chamber. Daniel Benhannon is personally leading the strike team against Brockhouse. Terminate the rogue with extreme prejudice.”

  “Your will be done,” the reply came to him at once from eight voices in his mind.

  “Impossible!” Blassoff shouted out loud while his outrage echoed the same word into Vance’s mind through the array.

  “What is impossible?” Vance demanded, irked by the lack of discipline.

  “The first team I sent died after minutes of a well fought skirmish. I have since sent in two more teams, each died in agony,” Blassoff replied, silently through the communication link rather than through further shouting.

  “My people are dying shortly upon arrival,” Silver-haired and smoothed-featured Commander Lorain Baler sent, and her report was soon followed by seven other commanders.

  The negative reports mounted up until the next event made them pale in significance. The life force energy in the amulet within Vance’s array linked to Brockhouse’s mind suddenly ceased to exist, and there was only one way for that to happen; the commander of Serpent West must have died.

  “No!” Othello Sherman and Sera Cray both shouted at the same time.

  “I’ve lost communications with every associate in my array,” she stated out loud for all to hear.

  The battle was not going at all the way Vance expected and cracks in the demeanor of the team leaders around him like Blassoff, Cray, and Baler did not improve the situation.

  “So have I, at least the half that is on Shantear,” Sherman added.

  All of the other operations commanders reported the same information and all of them were staring at Vance with widened eyes as if unsure of what to do. “Are they all dead?” he had to ask in order to break the sudden stupor. This was turning into a catastrophe.

  “Most are, but some of them seem to be asleep,” Othello answered while rubbing his pointed chin as if the motion would stimulate his thinking.

  “My invisible observers are also asleep,” Sera confirmed, with her eyes blinking rapidly.

  “Even my shielded associates have been overwhelmed by the spell,” Craggy- faced Commander Sancarn Bur added his report to the others.

  “Benhannon must have somehow overcome the Symphonic Shield and gained control of the Great Crystal,” Rex Badger, all the way from Serpent East, added his opinion. “The seven-bolt Accomplished is capable of casting a sleep spell powerful enough to overwhelm most any shields the rest of us could summon.”

  And he would know, having once been within the focal point of such a spell, as were all who survived the destruction of Serpent Central; the location of the now famous duel between the late and lamented Maestro Balen Tamm and Daniel Benhannon.

  Vance had the uncomfortable feeling his second-in-command’s assessment could be correct. He focused on the room full of commanders. “Each of you send another thou..,” he began to say when harmonic waves washed through the world.

  “I feel it all the way on this side of the continent,” Rex sent his thought. “There could be two, maybe three Grand Symphonies being focused through the Great Crystal.”

  Half a mark crept by and Vance continued to order his forces to Shantear and even so, by all reports, not a single guild member remained alive at Serpent West. Refusing to admit defeat, he ordered still another team into battle.

  “Maestro, this is Emit Bryson, a High Powered spell about as wide as a mountain has just washed over us and is being focused toward the Supreme Maestro. What are your orders?” the commander of the guild forces stationed in the vicinity of Mount Kelgotha sent.

  It only took a moment for Vance to organize his thoughts, which was a wonder considering the worst case scenario seemed to be happening. “Teleport with all of your associates to Shantear, Benhannon must be stopped,” he replied. An additional five thousand Aakacarns would certainly help, he hoped.

  Time marched on and the harmonic waves cut off abruptly, yet the vibration in the mind continued for a bit longer while Vance made the mental adjustment. No one alive had ever experienced such an intense ripple effect or for so long of a duration. It must have rattled the teeth of every living thing in the world.

  “Maestro Cummin, this is Serena Lowell. The Supreme Maestro has ordered me to give you a message,” the Most Favored guild member sent.

  “I am eager to receive your words,” Vance replied through the link she established by the amulet he had given to her many months ago. None of the ones created by her were currently within his array.

  “Tarin Conn has instructed me to tell you, ‘Daniel Benhannon has succeeded in establishing a shield on me of his own making.’ The Great One also says, ‘I will soon find a way to overcome this new barrier to my potential. Shantear is lost for now and you are to cease sending teams,” Serena calmly sent. “Vance, if you doubt the validity of what I say you can cast a sleep spell upon yourself and ask the Supreme Maestro in person.”

  Vance actually welcomed the order to stand down. He doubted even Serena would have the audacity to deliver such a message if it was untrue. With the Supreme Maestro’s acknowledgement of the loss of Serpent West, there was no point in sending any more associates to fight a lost cause. Nearly thirty-one thousand, one fifth of the entire guild, were now dead, and Vance had no desire to report the huge loss just yet. Clearly he had underestimated his opponent. The spells employed by Benhannon’s guild in the attack certainly proved to be lethal, even in the face of overwhelming numbers in opposition. Vance decided to acknowledge the order without elaborating. “I am sure the great Tarin Conn will enter my dreams and confirm the order when next I sleep, even so the command to stand down will go out immediately.”

  Serena’s link to his mind cut off and Vance issued the orders through the operations commanders and also decided it was time to reactivate his hidden forces within the kingdom of Ducaun, each unit with the chief goal of finding ways to make Daniel and his Atlantan Guild suffer for what happened today. Pay they would, but when vengeance could be served up methodically, cold and painful, the way Vance preferred to dish out retribution.

  -----

  Deep within the crystal-lined vault beneath Mount Kelgotha, Tarin Conn, six and a half cubits from head to toe, lay stretched out on a marble slab, his bed for slightly over one thousand years. The countless crystals embedded in the ten cubits by ten cubits square granite container prevented all but a trickle of the life force energy at his command from affecting the outside world. That trickle, among other things, allowed him to form links to the minds of all who visited his mountain, the primary way he communicated with his followers whenever they slept, no matter how far they traveled after the connections were initially made. Through them he gained knowledge of events occurring on the surface world. He recently composed a new Melody, Ties That Bind, to allow him to visit the minds of people awake or asleep. To date he had only cast it on Serena and her inner circle but he would eventually increase his ties to others, the most eminent of which will be Vance Cummin, who would rightly see it as an honor.

  The spell, Nourishment, constantly repeating due to a Da Capo tied to his life force, provided all of the sustenance Tarin needed in order to stay alive. The moisture dr
awn from his body whenever he summoned the potential to focus his melodious spells, particularly the one he used to batter against the spell keeping him immobilized, came from his surroundings and created, over many centuries, the desert around Kelgotha. The same spell oxygenated his blood and provided nutrients to keep his body healthy. The spell, Flex, stimulated his muscles periodically, preserving them from atrophy, and keeping him physically fit. The spell, Ageless, kept him young and only needed to be cast once every century, unlike the age retarding spell used in Aakadon that needed to be cast annually. These were but three among the many spells he composed over the course of his extraordinarily long life, yet they were the reason for his incredible longevity.

  He opened his eyes even though the only sight, as always, was his own reflection in the mirror directly above him. The glow of his potential provided more than enough light to see by. His thick black hair and neatly trimmed mustache were virtually unchanged since the day he was spelled to sleep, at the age of two hundred, and later woke up to this place that has been his prison for over a millennium. He lay clothed in a black silk shirt and pants with gold trim and black boots that had never lost their polish.

  He recently added the fifteenth golden lightning bolt on his left shoulder to match the fifteen on his right, thus displaying his rank as a Thirty-bolt Accomplished, not that there was anyone in the vicinity to see or appreciate his high status. The light brown skin of his Serinian birth had faded due to him having been deprived of sunshine for so long a time and he could now almost pass for a Ducaunan, a condition that would change once his pigment was again exposed to the radiant orb. This of course was not the image he created in the sleeping minds of his hosts. His audiences with them were always in a more formal setting, with him seated in royal splendor fit for a god; the exception being some of his more recent visits with Serena Lowell, who was a special case.