To Challenge a Maestro Read online

  Tim grinned maliciously, he was enjoying this. “You examined my knife, I was carrying that one.”

  Serin Gell blinked and was silent for awhile as he gave the matter some thought. “It seems I underestimated both of you,” he admitted.

  “Yep,” Tim replied.

  The tub was full now and Daniel took a deep breath and floated on the water allowing the coolness to do its own invigorating magic. He truly did not care what his captive believed. The remaining tasks were his focus now and he pondered the Dark Maestro, knowing the evil Accomplished would be eager to lash out at him for what he had done. The Serpent Guild had no leader and could very well splinter into factions vying for power, hopefully that will keep Tarin Conn occupied while trying to decide on which member to bestow the office of Maestro.

  Tim stood watching Serin Gell get dressed and seemed ready to give the Aakacarn a good thumping at the slightest provocation. The horses were calm and eating oats from their feed bags, all seemed well, and Daniel was feeling much better. He allowed the water to drain from the tub and then stepped out. A quick laundering spell dried and cleaned his outer and under pants and then was focused on his buckskin shirt. He finished dressing, slipped his ebony baton under his belt, and then picked up the golden crescendo.

  “I think we should be going now,” he told them while heading toward Sprinter. He saddled the horse and then turned to Tim who was saddling Tremor. “Please don’t let me fall asleep. Hit me if you have to.”

  Tim nodded his head soberly, though the grin from his time with Gina remained. “I don’t blame you. I would not want to meet Tarin Conn in a dream either,” he said and then pointed at the Pentrosan. “This one is bad enough in the flesh.”

  Daniel swung up into the saddle and caught a glimpse of Tim mounting Tremor, then removed the shield spell from the mountain fortress.

  “What about me?” Serin Gell asked, apparently worried he would be making the trek on foot. “I do not have a horse,” he added as if the fact had gone unnoticed.

  The man did not seem to fully accept his predicament. This was no escort and he was not the honoree. Daniel chose to respond with actions rather than words. He cast, Cushion of Air, and focused on the Aakacarn. The Accomplished floated four cubits above the floor, suspended like a piece of laundry left out to dry. Daniel added a Da Capo and tied it to his life force. This spell required very low potential and therefore was not much of a drain on his reserves.

  If eyes could kill every living thing around Serin Gell would be dead. The man turned bright red; clearly he did not like being hung in the air. “Ignorant peasant,” he began in a rage, forgetting whose spell was holding him captive. “Don’t you know a Da Capo cannot be used unless the object is to remain stationary?”

  “He wasn’t too ignorant to kill your Maestro and capture you,” Tim told him heatedly.

  Daniel managed to smile while summoning the potential for his next spell, Lashing the Rope. A blue tendril of light shot from his right index finger and formed an invisible band of rope running from Sprinter’s saddle out to and around Serin Gell’s waist, then came the Da Capo. “Now I can pull you along without wasting my concentration on you,” he said and nodded at Tim.

  Tim laughed at Serin Gell who finally decided to keep his opinions to himself. They moved to the center of the chamber and Daniel took up the Baton of Tarin Conn and transported them two hundred eighty-eight spans south to a patch of ground several hundred paces off the road leading to Aakadon.

  Chapter Fourteen: Results of a Confrontation

  Serena Lowell opened her eyes and beheld nothing but darkness. She had been struck by a sleep spell but one unlike those in the guild repertoire. A part of her had heard Tarin Conn shouting and cursing but she could not respond to him. It was as if she was asleep in her own dream and unable to acknowledge the Great Maestro no matter how hard she tried. She summoned a sphere of light and blinked, hardly believing the devastation around her. The compartment she occupied was a hundred paces from the audience chamber, the closest living quarters to the Maestro, and it was a mess. Her mirrored ceiling was shattered and the shards were everywhere, on her table, on her bed, and in her red-blond hair. Her silks were in tatters. She wiped perspiration from her brow and her hand came away red. She was bleeding and felt as if she had been attacked by scores of biting insects.

  A large chunk of rock had fallen from the ceiling and smashed her dining table flat. Her clothes closet was buried under what seemed like half the mountain. She cursed and swore but nothing changed, her closet was still buried, all of her garments were still in it, and she was in no mood to tunnel for them. She had been pacing back and forth, waiting for Balen to allow her back into the audience chamber so she could finally meet the extraordinarily destructive Daniel Benhannon, and the next thing she knew she was in the dream of a dream and waking up to this. She cursed again.

  She cast a healing spell, shards popped out of her wounds, and the countless cuts on her body vanished, leaving her peach-colored skin flawless. She cast a spell to repair the only black silks with silver braiding remaining to her, those on her body, and then a laundering spell. She would take a bath if her washroom had not been buried under the same debris as her closet.

  Moans from hundreds of voices came from out in the hall, those of yetis, sasquatches, Condemneds, and her fellow Aakacarns; not that she cared about any of them. Never-the-less she followed the sounds, her sphere of light hovering over her head as she went. The passage leading to the audience chamber was blocked by debris. Blood and other bodily liquids leaked from under piles of stone and she made sure not to step in any of the puddles. Nearly all of the other compartments in this section were collapsed and their occupants she presumed were dead. Unable to go to the right, she went left. There were other secret ways into Balen Tamm’s quarters, and she hoped at least one of them was passable.

  Fifty paces brought her to a recess in the wall. It appeared solid but seven hands above the floor was an invisible amulet. Serena bent down pressing her head against the jewel and the entrance remained closed. That should not have happened. The Da Capo on the Melody within the amulet was tied to the life force of Balen Tamm and the implications of that were unthinkable.

  She was still brooding over the Maestro having refused to allow her to be present when Daniel Benhannon was brought before him. Most every member of the guild was in some way involved in the search for the Ducaunan. It had been she who, after Cenni Quen’s failure, went to the sacred cave, searched for and found seven hairs, and brought them to Serpent Central. It was she who presented them to the Maestro and suggested that they be passed around among all team leaders, yet she was not made a team leader nor permitted to be involved directly in the hunt.

  Part of her resented Balen’s protectiveness of her, but she understood his motivation. Oh, he had no love for her that was for sure. No, it was because she was Tarin Conn’s favorite. Even though she was young, twenty-three, and still a one-bolt Accomplished, she was a prodigy with a repertoire nearly as impressive as that of Serin Gell or Vance Cummin, both ancient three-bolt Accomplisheds. She even knew why Balen wanted few witnesses to the audience. The great lord Tarin Conn wanted Daniel in the guild in a way that was unprecedented, marshaling resources on a scale rarely seen, and it made the Maestro nervous. No doubt it reminded him of his own rise to power.

  His parents were non-Aakacarn members of the Serpent Guild, Benjamin Tomei and Lucia Tamus. Balen’s father was a decorated colonel in the Ducaunan Royal Cavalry, who died in a border dispute between Ducaun and Pentrosa, and his pregnant mother was a Fon Kay born ladies maid to the Ducaunan Queen Jocelyn, grandmother of Cleona. They were spies for Jamsen Genult, a three-bolt Accomplished, who was Maestro of the guild at the time. Lucia was recalled to Serpent Central, leaving the royal service as a grieving young widow and because of her excellent service to the guild was permitted to visit the sacred cave. Tarin Conn immediately linked with her and the unborn child and knew the boy was an Aakacarn
with a potential that would out strip his peers within four decades, a rate unheard of. Few people know the birth parents of Balen, who changed his last name to, Tamm. Serena knew because she was favored and perhaps Vance knew because he was old enough to remember the babe raised by Tarin Conn. At thirty-five years of age Balen Tamm successfully challenged Jamsen Genult, Condemning him, and became Maestro of the Serpent Guild.

  Serena knew Tarin Conn would not order his entire guild mobilized to bring in an ordinary potential from Ducaun, there had been many found in that kingdom over the years and any Aakacarns who refused to serve after being captured were fed to the yetis or served as Condemneds. No, the only explanation was that the Great Maestro must have seen something through the link and therefore wanted Daniel Benhannon recruited at nearly all costs. Balen Tamm wanted few witnesses because he wanted to provoke the foolish mountaineer into attacking him and thus be able to explain honestly why it was necessary to condemn him. The Maestro was eliminating a potential challenger.

  It was reported that Daniel Benhannon is only nineteen years of age, was it possible for him to believe he could challenge the Maestro of the Serpent Guild and win? Is it possible he did and won? What else could explain all of the spheres in the hall and the amulets linked to Balen’s life force failing?

  Serena continued down the tunnel, stepping around huge chunks of stone and the various body parts extending from underneath them. Some of the moaning was coming from yetis, sasquatches and Condemneds who were trapped alive under the debris but she ignored them. Human voices could be heard echoing throughout the tunnels, some calling for help and some hollering out in response to those pleas, she ignored them too. She had to get to the audience chamber, everything else could wait.

  Coming up on the right was a corridor that led to a meditation cell, inside of which was a bench and a huge portrait of Tarin Conn. A pair of black lacquered cobras with ruby eyes protruded from the wall to the right and left of the painting.

  “Seeking a place to ruminate are we?” came a deep male voice from behind.

  “No, Vance, I’m seeking to know what happened in the audience chamber,” she replied and slowly turned to face the Serinian.

  There was a smile on his deeply tanned face but it did not touch his cold dark eyes. He wore the black silks with gold braiding only a three-bolt and above was permitted to wear. Outside of the guild he would be wearing the scarlet on black silks of Aakadon and the medallion of the Eagle Guild. He was tall, as are most of the males from the kingdom of his birth, and she was forced to look up while he looked down on her to converse. “The passages to the audience chamber are blocked. I have tried them all. If I can find a few more Accomplisheds like yourself we could form a team and teleport into the chamber but..,”

  “But we could teleport into solid stone if the chamber has collapsed,” Serena finished for him. Just because she did not have the potential to cast the spell did not mean she was ignorant concerning its uses and inherent risks.

  “Precisely, so I decided to see if you survived,” he spoke as if he was actually concerned for her well being, which of course he was not. Everything Vance Cummin did was aimed at pursuing his own goals and his seeking her meant she fit into his immediate plan; somewhere.

  “I’m touched,” she replied.

  “Of course I am concerned for one our Maestro looks after so zealously,” he replied.

  “One who might know if there were say, a secret passage into the audience chamber,” she responded while trying to decide if the situation qualified as a big enough emergency for her to reveal what Balen Tamm wanted hidden. If he is well and she walks in with Vance, she would be in trouble even being Tarin Conn’s current favorite. If the Maestro has fallen and Daniel Benhannon controls the chamber, she would need strong back up, or at least a target for the Ducaunan to aim at while she was getting away. She raised a hand to forestall the Accomplished’s remark. “If it is not blocked, there is a passage leading from this room to the Maestro’s sleeping quarters. From there, if that passage is not blocked, we can access the audience chamber,” she told him.

  Vance gave a slight bow of the head. “Then by all means do proceed.”

  Serena walked over and pulled downward on the cobra to the left and the portrait swung outward revealing a narrow passage. She beckoned for the Serinian to go first and he did so without hesitation. The only light came from the sphere floating a hand above her head. There were only a few chunks of stone to step over. They made their way to what looked like a dead end but was actually a stone door. Vance’s right eyebrow arched up questioningly.

  Serena bent down, placed her right palm against the stone one cubit above the floor, and pressed firmly. A loud click indicated the triggering device was still working, moments later the door swung inward with a grating sound. It stopped half way but it was enough for her to enter unhindered while Vance had to squeeze by with difficulty.

  Balen Tamm’s sleeping chamber was in shambles. His bed was buried under a mound of debris and the wardrobe had fallen over and was leaning against the bed, but the door leading from the private chamber to the audience chamber was not blocked. Serena nodded for Vance to go first and he cast a wind spell, opening the door, and he stepped through, with her following cautiously behind. The passage was short and fortunately completely intact.

  They entered from behind the crystal throne, which was amazingly undamaged, and the first thing they noticed was the chandelier had fallen, landing on Duroshur Beccar, killing him. Serin Gell was supposed to be in here, being the one presenting Daniel Benhannon to the Maestro, but there was no sign of the Pentrosan. The iron door was now shut on Landec Turner. His upper half was in the chamber, his pelvis crushed, and his legs beyond the door. As she came farther into the chamber, stepping over rocks and mirror shards, she could see a mummified body at the bottom of the thirteen steps.

  “How can it be?” Vance questioned as if unable to believe what his eyes were showing him.

  It was something none of them ever thought to see, Balen Tamm dead on the floor, defeated in a duel of potentials. The only one who could conceivably over power the Maestro was Efferin Tames, yet it could only be the Ducaunan. Serena ran to her fallen leader and knelt beside him while Vance strolled around the chamber looking for only he knew what. Balen’s flesh was dried out and stretched tightly over his skull, his hands were withered, and dried blood was caked around his nose and mouth. For a moment she was numb. The impossible had occurred and she was at a loss as to what to do.

  “Now we know why the Great Maestro was cursing. No matter how hard I tried I could not respond to him. I know we were struck with a sleep spell but this was like none I have ever experienced before,” Vance commented while circling the throne. “The baton is missing,” he announced.

  Serena broke from staring at her dead Maestro. “What do we do?’ she hated to ask, but Vance was now both the most powerful and experienced Accomplished in the guild.

  “We have to pull the guild back together,” Vance replied while coming down the steps.

  Serena was surprised by the word, “we,” was she being included? He was probably going to listen to her suggestions and adopt them for his own the way Balen often had done, except, at the moment, she had no suggestions. “I’m willing to listen,” she told him.

  Vance nodded his head. “Your cooperation is essential at this juncture. Not only is the baton missing so is the communication array. Do you know where Tamm keeps it?”

  She almost chastised the Accomplished for not referring to the Maestro in a respectful manner but then decided, what was the point? Balen is gone and the only other member of the guild to equal the Serinian is Serin Gell, who is missing. Of the two, Vance is the least despicable, so she made her choice. “Come, it is back in the sleep chamber,” she said and led him back through the passage.

  Serena entered and moved next to the bed. She cast a wind spell, causing the wardrobe to move back upright, with that out of the way, she went to the head b
oard and opened the panel. Inside was a golden crown, on the front of which was a sapphire-eyed cobra poised to strike. Inside the circle of the crown were communication infused gemstones, three rubies, two emeralds, one topaz, two diamonds, and four sapphires, all linked to specific important guild members. She also removed a sealed gold box containing scores of communication gemstones and handed both to Vance.

  “You made the right choice. In return, opportunities to advance will come your way, and a leadership role in future events as well,” he told her and tucked the golden box under one arm while examining the array.

  She had given him his first step in taking control of the guild. If he succeeds, Tarin Conn might just make him the new Maestro and Serena will have an important role within the guild. Vance Cummin’s conscience was scarred, if he even still had one, but he often kept his agreements, not because he was honest. He knew how to build alliances and he was eminently practical when it came to accomplishing his goals.

  He removed the topaz, placed the crown on his head, and then contacted each Accomplished attached to the array, speaking out loud so she could hear at least his half of the conversation, informing them of Balen’s demise and calling for an assembly in Serpent North, Mount Suteck, which the modern maps call, Jujus. Several of the Accomplisheds were placed in royal courts throughout the twelve kingdoms and would not be able to attend but Serena heard him promise to keep them informed. He spent more time with the affiliate in the Ducaunan court than he had with the others and his eyes widened at one point and he actually smiled.

  He removed the array but did not put it away. A purple glow surrounded him and radiated out beyond the chamber, perhaps taking in all of Serpent Central. “This is Vance Cummin; all Accomplisheds are to exit this facility immediately. I repeat exit this facility. We are abandoning Serpent Central. All Accomplisheds are to make for Mount Suteck. All who are able, form a circle and teleport yourselves, those who cannot must travel on their own. Anyone who ignores this order will be left behind to face Accomplisheds of the Eagle Guild” he announced in a voice that filled the entire mountain. “Serena, I have sensed eight Accomplisheds in a cavern nearby, we shall join with them to form our circle,” he told her in a normal voice and then smiled. “We lost the Great Maestro’s baton but are on the verge of obtaining the Trumpet of Tarin Conn. Your first assignment after we exit this facility is to retrieve the crescendo. Are you ready to accept the responsibility?”