To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) (23 page)

The Aakacarn did not so much as bat an eye at having twenty arrows aimed at him and his six friends seemed to be patiently waiting in the clearing as if nothing could threaten them or their leader. “Daniel Benhannon is the Maestro I serve,” the Conductor replied.

That was unexpected and might even be a good thing. “Did my Aunt Miriam’s son send you?” Andrew asked while lowering the bow. Slim and Brill relaxed as well, but not the eight Trelan cousins or the others who had stayed behind.

The man with the thick eyebrows shrugged his shoulders. “I know Lady Miriam well and have heard her speak of a brother. His presence on Mount Piron is why I have scouts in the area,” he said, and for some reason glanced at the wolves who were among the trees. “As for Daniel, he has not yet been informed of this incident or of your being here, but that does not mean he doesn’t know. He has ways of learning things; even so I am here because this is one of the chores he has delegated to me. You can keep going and visit your uncle or I can transport all of you to your cousin’s estate.”

“There are over a hundred of us,” Slim stepped closer to deliver the information.

The Accomplished closed his eyes for a few moments and then nodded his head. “I see you also have about twice that number in horses. Be that as it is, my offer remains, and I can convey all of you to Daniel’s estate. Believe me when I tell you he has plenty of room and would not turn away family or their guests.” He must have cast some sort of spell to know about the number of horses.

“I’ll go fetch them back,” Brill volunteered. “I can’t image anyone among us refusing the offer.”

Andrew gratefully nodded agreement and Brill took off at a jog. “Conductor Cresh, I thank you for making such a kind offer. When my wife Regina gets here and we all discuss what to do, I am sure we will be coming with you.” He had bet all of their lives that family would not go against family and it seemed to be paying off. Being invited to Cousin Daniel’s home was better than imposing on Uncle Carlton, who had no idea guests were on the way.

The Accomplished nodded his head and then turned toward his six men. “Convey the patrolmen, those that are sleeping and the few killed by the wolves, to the other side of the border along with their horses,” he commanded and the cloaked figures rushed to obey.

Another whip-crack of sound drew Andrew’s attention along with that of everyone who could draw a bow. Three more Accomplisheds, a Ducaunan, a Demfilian, and Cousin Daniel, whom he recognized from the many drawings being circulated, were standing not more than twenty strides from him. They approached purposefully with Aunt Miriam’s son in the lead.

“Why am I not surprised?” Conductor Cresh remarked with a twisted smile.

“Because you should not be; not every wolf involved in that little skirmish is a friend of yours,” Daniel answered and then fixed his gaze on Andrew. “Welcome to Ducaun,” he said, and glanced at each person, assessing the men around him, all of whom immediately lowered their bows at being the subjects of such scrutiny. He blinked and nodded as if satisfied about something, perhaps the lowering of weapons. “Although we have not met, I sense nine of you to be cousins on my Mother’s side of the family, and I invite all of you and your friends to my estate.”

Brill led the men, women, and children to the clearing, introductions were made, and everyone agreed to accept the invitation. Cousin Daniel again assured all of their welcome at his estate and then vanished in a brilliant flash of light. Half a mark later Andrew, his wife, children, relatives, and friends were standing in the snow facing a lake. On the other side of the large body of water stood men in blue silks waving batons and causing solid stone to rise from the ground. Buildings were forming and it soon became obvious the Aakacarns were in the process of building a town.

“Follow me,” Samuel said and turned, leading them away from the lake.

After traveling two spans, Andrew’s eyes grew wider at what he saw as they approached and passed through the gate. An unbelievably huge four-storied manor house, facing south, with a lookout tower rising thirty cubits from the center of the roof, had additional one storied wings sixty paces wide, stretching out north, east, and west another ninety paces. The manicured grounds covered a square span area and were surrounded by a granite wall ten cubits high, two thick, with ledges facing inward about half way up for people to stand on, and step ladders at various intervals for access. Men and women wearing blue wool uniforms went about their business, some guarding the estate and others doing the chores. Spells were definitely at work because fruit trees, squared off hedges, and beds of flowers decorated the lawn, in winter. The huge stables on the west side of the estate had to be capable of housing the horses of an entire legion. A large one story granite building near the stables had a flat roof and a railing from which the guards could look out over the estate, although the guards in the manor tower had the best view.

“Somehow I don’t think our presence is going to strain Cousin Daniel’s resources over much,” Regina remarked, to which Andrew could only agree.

Ronn Benhannon stood on the porch of his bungalow and looking out at the spell-formed lake where ice was forming at the edges and the RiverDancer was docked along with five identical boats. The Wager, Cleaver, Slicer, Equalizer, and the Barracuda, were each in their slips next to his. An otter momentarily poked its head above the water and then disappeared beneath the waves, only to pop back up about fifty strides farther out. Its mate was elsewhere, likely patrolling the waterway. When you live among Aakacarns of the Atlantan Guild there was a strong likelihood of any creature you see being linked to one of them. The lake was fed by a hidden channel leading half a span from the Hirus River. The waterway was narrow and curvy so it appeared from the river to be a slight indentation rather than a canal leading to a hidden facility. A wooden gate with the appearance of living bushes blended in with the landscape at the river entrance and helped to reinforce the idea there was nothing beyond that point.

The docks ran right up to the porch of the seemingly ordinary dwelling, although it was much larger than the cottage he’d built and invited Miriam into back on Tannakonna. The place they lived now reminded him of an iceberg, what is above the surface is nothing compared to what is below, and the same was true for the Benhannon Naval Facility. The topaz blue bungalow was the top of a much larger base with six levels below ground that stretched back nearly a quarter of a span under the forest. Ronn figured this was an awful lot of room for him, his wife, and their crew of eighteen, all of whom live in the bungalow. Tim, Gina, and ninety-eight sailors live below along with sixty-one Benhannon Guardsmen, counting Chuc, and thirty Accomplisheds, including Marsha. Clearly his son was building with an eye for the future and the four hundred twenty sailors in training who moved in recently showed this to be so. Each of the former seamen of the Taracopian Royal Navy had been learning the differences between the military ships they were used to sailing and a Benhannon Wager-class patrol boat.

A screech drew his attention to the banyan tree on the right. Sheen and Glimmer were perched in the branches and he waved at the hawks. The pair would soon go back to the house he made for them under the eve of the bungalow so they could have a place out of the chilly wind. He and Miriam figured out a long time ago that the raptors had been sent by their son to alert him to anything that might be a threat to his parents. Daniel worried about them and they in turn worried about him. Even though Ronn had not been in the meeting when the guild was divided into eight departments, he was pleased his son had taken the advice to set the priorities and allow people he trusted to arrange the chores accordingly.

“The First Accomplished and Conductor Togan will be arriving soon,” a familiar voice from behind informed him.

Ronn glanced at the lieutenant. Clean-shaven Chuc Carlin had a low brow that made him appear dimwitted, even though his mind was actually sharp as a gutting knife. The man had impressed Captain Bower and was placed in command of the sixty Benhannon Guardsmen currently serving at the naval facility. “I reckon they will be working on the little chore my son gave them.”

Chuc spit a wad of tobacco into a spittoon placed for that purpose by Miriam. A grunt, that was for him the equivalent of a chuckle, came ahead of his reply. “Just a minor toil is all. Twenty-one Benhannon Wager-class patrol boats should take them hardly any time at all.”

“They should count themselves fortunate my son leaves the hardest chores for himself,” Miriam called out while walking beyond the threshold along with Lieutenant Commander Duncan Hawk.

Ronn enjoyed seeing the way the sun highlighted her auburn hair. It reminded him of the riverboat ride to Zane where he first laid eyes on the beautiful woman visiting from the opposite end of Ducaun. That was twenty-one years ago and his love for her had only grown stronger since then. “Actually, I think he is beginning to dole out the chores more equably,” he replied.

Duncan Hawk, a typical Ducaunan with dark hair and eyes, whose lean frame made him appear to have missed more than a few meals, walked over to the porch rail and took a deep breath. “This is a pleasant morning and a nice day to increase the size of the navy. Imagine how much bigger this lake is going to be when the Accomplisheds create twenty-one new boats and slips at this dock.”

The man was a year younger than his son and possessed a maturity Ronn trusted, which was why he and Miriam accepted Duncan’s service aboard the RiverDancer, gave him the golden anchor on each of his blue shoulder stripes, and placed him in command of the crew. The former Royal Guardsmen had proved his worth while fighting alongside Daniel and volunteered to continue serving the Chosen Vessel.

The snap crack of displaced air sounded from the right, announcing the arrival of Daniel, Silvia, David, Carlos, and Sero Bagget. The only thing Ronn found surprising was that Simon and Sherree were not in the group. “Welcome back son. Where are your wife and Chief Aid?”

“She is with some of our family from Battencay who were fleeing the Tarin Conn-backed regime,” Daniel replied. “I met them last night and invited our Trelan kin and their guests to stay at the southern estate.”

Miriam walked over to their son and touched his cheek. “You did the right thing.”

He gave a slight smile and continued his answer. “Simon is interviewing twelve Aids who will be reporting directly to him. The title of Chief Aid is empty if he has no aids to be chief of. After that he will be heading to Cana.”

“Ronn, you and I will have to visit our kin in the near future and give them a proper welcome,” Miriam announced, clearly being more concerned about the Trelan presence down south than Simon’s itinerary.

“We would be remiss otherwise,” he quickly agreed.

The snap-crack of displaced air announced the arrival of Leah and Conductor Togan, whose hair and beard had a greenish tint today. “Franklin, you make the slips while I use the Wager as a template for the new boats,” the First Accomplished was saying as she and the Conductor approached the porch. She greeted everyone courteously and then rubbed her hands as if eager to get started on the chore.

Each person at the facility came onto the porch and then spread left and right out on the snow-covered lawn. The crews split into groups of twenty; each included a Captain, Lieutenant, and an Ensign. The sixty men of the Benhannon Guard filed out and behind them came the Accomplisheds led by Marsha. These Aakacarns were of the Defense Department and replaced the ones that had been living at the facility who chose to join other departments. No one wanted to miss seeing the patrol boats being created. Tim and Gina went over and stood beside Daniel, a sight Ronn had seen many times over the years while watching them grow up together. The only one missing was her twin sister Val.

Leah and Franklin both began to glow with potential. The First Accomplished walked down to the Wager’s slip and touched the hull and then focused on the mud and rocks on the left side of the small lake, gradually making the body of water wider. Amethyst light formed in the shape of the boat, drawing mud into the image, and converting the substance to match that of the original, forty-five strides in length; one hundred thirty-five paces from stem to stern. The entire boat was topaz blue with silver trimming on the railings, hatches, air ports, arrow slits, and windows.

The spells composed by Daniel, powerful enough to be seen by even the eyes of a non-Aakacarn, duplicated the original and melded the mud drawn from the lake into a substance harder than steel and then added a finger-width sheet of what appeared to be topaz, but was actually the same as the rest of the ship, except translucent as glass. The docks were made of the same substance except for being the color of mud and rougher to give greater traction and prevent people from slipping. With a Crescendo/Amulet Propulsion Unit at the front and rear, the name SeaSpray on both sides of the bow, and the Benhannon family emblem on the forecastle, the project was complete. Everyone applauded the work of the First Accomplished.

Ronn clapped his hands but his mind was still on the technical aspects of the creation. Each CAPU contained a spell composed by Daniel that sent out a mighty jet of air and would push the boat faster than a falcon can fly. Ronn knew better than to test that theory. The boat would be difficult to hold steady and sustaining such a speed would drain life force energy from the driver at a rapid rate. The standard speeds established by Tim and Gina were not near as fast as the boat could go, but were safer for the driver over the long hall.

Ronn designed the original and knew the sleek boat inside and out. The bottom deck had plenty of storage space with an opening in the aft section allowing items to be lowered directly from up top. The second level had cabins in the center for sleeping. The passageways on the sides gave access to the arrow slits, three to port and three to the starboard side, which could be opened and closed from the inside. The aft deck originally had stalls for horses but those were removed and replaced by a gunner station. Each patrol boat had two stations consisting of a permanent extra-large nightstick, crossbow, and harpoon mounted together on a tripod that can swing one hundred seventy degrees as well as up and down. The weather deck began about ten paces from the bow and went all the way back to the gunner station and the helm was located in the bridge on top of the forecastle. The other gunner station was at the bow, and nightsticks, crossbows, and daggerlances were mounted inside the arrow slits. These boats were fast and lethal, yet Ronn also appreciated the fact that they could deliver non-deadly force practically anywhere on the water.

Conductor Togan glowed like the tail end of a firefly and touched the last slip at the end of the dock, near the SeaSpray, with his right hand and raised his left toward where the new addition would rise for the newest boat. The former Stone Guild Master Artisan closed his eyes in concentration and Ronn watched wide-eyed as not one, but twenty-one slips rose up from the water, and each was identical to the one in contact with the Accomplished’s right hand. The man truly is a master artisan. Since the lake did not grow noticeably wider, his casting must have deepened it.

He gave a slight bow at the round of applause that followed and then watched, as did everyone else, while Leah spent the next half a mark creating twenty more boats in their slips. At the end of her castings the lake was noticeably wider. Daniel, Tim, Gina, and Saul Tarpon shook hands with each member of the twenty-man crews, who then went to examine their respective patrol boats.

Ronn turned, intending to congratulate Leah on a job well done, when harmonic waves, on a scale not felt since shortly after the battle on Shantear, washed over the world. His arms instantly wrapped around Miriam while the ripples of the powerful spell ran their course and only loosened his hold on her when the casting ceased about two tenths of a mark later. Sailors poured out from their boats with weapons drawn while similarly half of the Benhannon Guardsmen stood with their miniature crossbows in hand while the rest held daggerlances.

“It is good to know Tarin Conn is still locked away,” Gina commented, to which Ronn could only agree.

“That came from the northwest,” Daniel announced.

Leah’s head turned away from the horizon to face him. “Are you saying he has escaped Kelgotha?”

Daniel shrugged his shoulders. “I only know a spell equal in power to my rival’s previous attempts to break free has been cast northwest of where we stand. Tarin Conn may still be in the vault beneath Kelgotha and his presence there can be easily verified. I have been to the blighted mountain and can visualize the cave where Cenni Quen once took me. With the high quantity of multiple potentials in my vat, I can focus my scan finer than the smallest thread of silk. Tarin Conn would not feel my presence.”

“Son, I do not want you conveying into danger,” Miriam spoke the words, Ronn was about to say.

Daniel smiled. “There are currently three hundred twenty-seven fishes swimming beneath the waves of this lake and an otter,” he stated and then glanced toward the entrance to the waterway. “Make that two otters.” He gave the information as if it had some relevance to his mother’s admonition.

Leah took a deep breath. Even though she was ninety-seven years of age, she appeared to be in her early thirties, and Ronn sometimes had difficulty seeing her as an older woman and it was likely Daniel did too. The vastly experienced Accomplished served a man young enough to be her great-great-great-grandchild and doing so must require patience on her part, especially when she clearly believed he was making a mistake. “So you can still summon and focus potential fine enough that not even I can see you do it. The fact does not mean you should be the one to investigate the matter of Tarin Conn’s whereabouts or the source of the High-Powered spell. We do not know at this point if he was the source. Samuel and his department can gather the information we seek.”

“He is gathering information on Van Joppa and Van Kestral at the moment, but I get your point and will hold off going myself to investigate the occurrence,” Daniel replied, which was the only reason Ronn chose not to add his voice to the conversation.

The sudden snap crack of displaced air caused Ronn to draw his daggerlance and aim it at the far end of the dock. A man in blue silks raised his hands, arms spread wide as if to ward off an attack. Ronn glanced to his right and left. Everyone had a weapon pointed at the Accomplished, even Miriam, and he had no doubt all of the Aakacarns had summoned potential, although the actual glow of their life force energy was below his visual perception. Silvia held her crossbow steady and aimed at the intruder’s eye while David had whipped out a daggerlance with a finger dangerously close to the gem that would send a deadly lance of light at his target. Recognition brought a sigh of relief from more than a few throats and some groans along with the words, “Oh, it’s you,” from Accomplished Jaxon Green.