The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah) (43 page)

“No, he’s not married. I’m not sure how many nieces and nephews you have. None of your other brothers and sisters remained in Trendon after your father’s death.”

Landis frowned. “I would have thought that they would have stayed to help Rolan. Oh, well,” she said with a sigh. “We never were a close family, but then I imagine most sorcerer’s families are like that, aren’t they? We didn’t get to know each other while we were growing up. A shame really.”

“Where do we need to take the horse?” Taelor asked, changing the subject. “Is there a pasture or something around here?’

“There’s a tack room out behind the house. We’ll put the saddle and reins in there.”

“Don’t we need to take the horse out to the pasture where the other horses are grazing?”

Landis shook her head. “The horses are free to roam around wherever they want to here. Cassie knows the area. She’ll find the others.” Landis led Taelor behind the house to the tack room. While Taelor removed the saddle and blanket, Landis slipped the bridle off Cassie’s head. As soon as Cassie was free, she walked towards the woods.

“You’re sure she’ll be all right?” Taelor asked.

“She’ll be fine, seriously. She’s home now. She can take care of herself,” Landis answered. Then she opened the back door and led Taelor into the kitchen.

The rooms in the central hub were open, separated only by the arrangement of furniture. In addition to the kitchen, there was a spacious sitting room and a dining room which could easily seat twenty or more. Large windows overlooked the courtyard and river out front and the redwood forest in the back Skylights that opened the ceiling to the treetops gave the house a light and airy feel. In good weather, all of the windows could be removed, opening the house even more. Individual sitting rooms and bedrooms were in the long separate wings that resembled spokes on a wheel.

Since Hayden’s wife, Gwynn, was in the kitchen, Landis introduced Taelor to her before she led him to the guest bedroom where he would be staying. She left him there so that he could unpack and freshen up while she prepared a snack to hold him over until dinner that night.

The sitting area and bedroom in Taelor’s wing were separated by an arched doorway with the sitting area closest to the main hub. All of the furniture in the sitting area was arranged in the center of the room facing out. Two wingback chairs faced the front towards the garden, and a lounging chair faced the forest out back. The only other piece of furniture in the room was a small table between the two wingback chairs.

The bedroom was sparsely furnished, too. There was a narrow but long bed, made primarily for tall, skinny elves, two slender clothes chests, one of each side of the arched doorway, and a wash basin set in a wooden tripod.

Taelor unpacked his meager belongings and put them and his bag in one of the chests. Then he sat down on the foot of the bed just to see how it felt. It wasn’t really soft, but it wasn’t hard either. He leaned back, stretched his arms out over his head and just lay there for a few minutes. He had no idea what the mattress was made of, but it felt like he was floating on air. It was the most comfortable bed he’d ever stretched out on.

While Taelor was lying there, Hayden knocked on the door to the sitting room. Taelor jumped up and reached the sitting room just as Hayden walked in.

“Hello, Taelor,” Hayden said from just inside the doorway. “It’s good to see you again. Mind if I join you for a few minutes?”

“Not at all,” Taelor said as he shook hands with the elf. “Thank you for allowing me to come.”

“I have to admit to a certain amount of curiosity about your visit,” Hayden said as he sat down on one of the wingback chairs. “You didn’t tell my brother much about why you came.”

“I thought Weldon must have known you to have been able to find you so quickly,” Taelor said as he sat on the other wingback chair. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but let me assure you that I came out of concern for Landis, not to cause her harm.”

“I have no doubt of that. Why don’t you get a bite to eat and then you and I will go for a long walk and talk. I don’t imagine Landis will be very happy at being left out, but I think it would be best if we talked first.”

“I think that would be a good idea. Give me about fifteen minutes to join her for a snack, and then I’ll meet you out back.”

~ ~ ~ ~

When Taelor met Hayden outside, they walked off towards the woods. Once they were out of earshot of the house, Hayden asked, “How did you manage to get away from Trendon?”

“I just left one night.”

“From what I’ve heard about Rolan, I doubt he’s very happy that one of his slaves walked out on him. Is he looking for you?”

Taelor nodded. “He has bounty hunters out looking for me. They nearly got me at one point when one of them shot me with an arrow, but I haven’t seen anyone on my trail in quite a while. I don’t think I led anyone to you.”

“Don’t worry about that. We can handle any bounty hunters who come our way,” Hayden said. “But why did you come to North Amden? Why didn’t you just leave Calandra?”

“Because of Landis. I was afraid she might decide to go back to Trendon one day to meet her brother. I have no doubt that once he sees the magic in her, he’ll find some way to either kill her himself or have her killed.”

When Hayden remained quiet, Taelor continued. “I don’t know how much you know about Rolan, but he’s evil. The story about Tsareth dying in his sleep isn’t true. Rolan killed him. And then he told all of his brothers and sisters to leave Trendon and never return. He told them that if he heard they were even thinking about coming back, he’d kill them, their children, and everyone else in their family.”

Hayden nodded. “Tell me what happened with Tsareth.”

Taelor took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “As soon as Rolan arrived at the castle, he demanded that Tsareth retire and hand over his seat on the council. Tsareth told him not to be so impatient, that it wasn’t time yet, that he would resign as soon as Rolan learned to control his temper, his ambitions, and his magic. Rolan was furious. He stormed around the castle creating all kinds of havoc with his magic. Then that evening he challenged Tsareth to a duel. Tsareth tried to reason with him, but it did no good. The duel took place the next morning.”

“Are you sure they fought?”

“I was there,” Taelor said slowly.

“Who else was there? Were there any other witnesses?”

“Tsareth’s second and I were the only witnesses. Rolan didn’t have anyone with him.” Taelor paused to take a deep breath, trying to exhale all the emotions that had surfaced as he recalled the events of that day. “They were supposed to meet at daybreak in a field that Tsareth had set aside for sorcerers to use for practice, competitions, whatever. When we got there, Rolan was already there. He told Tsareth to remove the Key to Terah and set it on the ground at the side of the field. Tsareth did, and then he turned around to come back to his side of the field. As soon as Tsareth’s back was to him, Rolan roared and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground and someone was kicking me in the stomach, telling me to get up and get moving. Tsareth and his second were both gone. Rolan was the only one left.”

“So you’re the only surviving witness to the fact that Rolan murdered his father.”

Taelor nodded.

“I never met Rolan, but I knew that Tsareth was worried about him. Seems he had good reason,” Hayden said sadly.

“I didn’t know what to do after Tsareth died. I couldn’t leave Trendon while my mother was still alive. Rolan would have killed her for spite, but after she passed away last winter, I decided that the time had come for me to do something. My plan was to go to Camden and talk to Badec. I knew that Tsareth trusted him, and I was hoping that after he heard what I had to say he might be able to do something. If nothing else, he could take care of making arrangements for Landis, provided I could find her. But before I could make my break, I heard that Badec was in a coma.” Taelor shrugged.

“Badec would have been my first choice, too,” Hayden said as he continued to walk.

After a few moments, Taelor said, “The only other thing I could think of was to try to find Landis and see if there was any way that I could help her myself. I know I can’t do much. I’m not a trained soldier. In fact, I might be more of a liability than anything else, especially with bounty hunters on my trail, but I felt like I had to try to do something.”

“I understand,” Hayden said quietly. Then he turned and faced Taelor. “There’s something I need to tell you. Are you aware that you and Landis are related?”

“Related? I don’t see how. My mother and I weren’t from Trendon. We were from a land across the ocean, and I think Tsareth’s father was the Seated Sorcerer of Brendolanth before him, so his ancestors would not have had a chance to mingle with mine. You must be mistaken.”

“What you said is true enough, as far as it goes. Taelor, do you know anything about what happened to your father?”

“No. All I know is what Mother told me. She said that he was a fisherman. He had already left our house and gone out to the docks when the slavers raided the village. Mother didn’t see him during the raid so she chose to believe that he had already cast off and was out of sight when the raid took place. Otherwise, he must have been killed, and she didn’t want to think that he was dead,” Taelor sighed. “Not that it really mattered. There was no way he could have found us.”

“Keep in mind that she had no way to find out, no way of knowing what happened to him, or where he was.”

“Where are you going with this?” Taelor asked in confusion.

“Your mother was a very special woman. Not just to you, but to others, too. She and Tsareth were very close.”

“I know. He loved to spend his evenings with her, listening to her sing and play the harp,” Taelor said with a smile, remembering how Tsareth doted on his mother.

“Well, they were a little more than just friends. She was Landis’s mother.” Hayden paused for a moment to let his words sink in. When Taelor didn’t react, he continued. “Tsareth wanted to marry her, but your mother wouldn’t agree to it. She said that she had no way of knowing that she was a widow, so she wasn’t free to marry anyone. It was her decision that neither you nor Landis were to be told that she was Landis’s mother.”

Taelor frowned. “I don’t understand. Why not? What was she worried about?”

“The future. Look at the way things worked out,” Hayden said. “Your mother was a very wise woman. Just think how Rolan could have used the information that he had Landis’s mother and half-brother right there in the castle.”

Taelor shuddered at that thought. “I can’t believe he doesn’t know. Everyone who lived at the castle when Landis was born must have known. Surely someone would have told him.”

“That’s a possibility. He may just consider Landis to be no threat to him. In fact, I hope he is underestimating her,” Hayden replied. “But it could also be that everyone who was there at the time feels more loyalty to Tsareth than to Rolan. Who knows?”

“Should we tell Landis about all of this? How will she feel about the fact that her mother was a slave?”

“Oh, I don’t think she’ll mind that. I think she’ll be thrilled that you’re her brother. And she saw the way Tsareth treated your mother. He never treated her like a slave. He didn’t treat you like one either.”

“No, he didn’t,” Taelor said with a wistful sigh. “But things changed after his death. Rolan made me his personal slave and he assigned my mother to the kitchens. I think she died of exhaustion as much as anything else. If I could have figured out a way to kill Rolan when she died, I would have, but I couldn’t, so I just left.”

“It was probably for the best that you didn’t try to kill him. Even if you had been successful, you’d probably have died in the attempt and you wouldn’t have been able to help anyone then.”

“No, but at least he’d be out of her way.”

“True, but she’s not ready yet. And you never know, that might have opened the door for someone even worse. Better the devil that you know …” Hayden shrugged.

“I guess. Anyway, how much of this do you think we should tell Landis?”

“All of it. Everything. Including how Rolan killed her father. I wish I could keep her here as an innocent child forever, but I can’t. She’s a grown woman now, and next year she’ll begin to train as a sorcerer. She has to understand what she’s up against.” Hayden put his arm around Taelor’s shoulder and said, “You did the right thing, coming here to try to help her. A very unselfish thing. Tsareth would have been proud of you.”

“Thank you. That means more than you know.”

“Let’s get back to the house. I think we should tell Landis before dinner tonight. And we might as well tell Gwynn and Rhianna at the same time. Otherwise I’ll have to go through it all over again later.”

“Is Rhianna your daughter? I remember Landis mentioning a Rhee when she was younger.”

Hayden nodded. “She’s a little younger than Landis, but they’re inseparable. I don’t know what’s going to happen when it comes time for Landis to leave here. Oh well, let’s handle one crisis at a time,” Hayden said with a laugh.

As they turned back towards the house, Taelor asked who else lived in Crinsor Run, so Hayden filled him in on the rest of his family. In addition to Rhianna, Hayden and Gwynn had another daughter, Serena, and two sons, Duane and Mickel. The other three were married and lived with their families in three of the houses along the arc. The fifth house belonged to his nephew, Pallor, who was away about eleven months out of the year, but who had dreams of one day finding the right elf and settling down, so he had built a house next to Duane’s.

When they reached the house, Gwynn, Landis, and Rhianna were all in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the food for the evening meal. Hayden asked them to join him and Taelor in the sitting room for a few minutes.

Hayden talked first, explaining that Taelor and Landis were blood relatives.

When he finished, Landis put her arm around Taelor and beamed. “I can’t think of anyone that I would rather have as a brother. How long have you known that we have the same mother?”