To Be A Maestro (The Maestro Chronicles)

TO BE A MAESTRO

The Maestro Chronicles:

Book Four

Chapter One: Silenced No More

Chapter Two: The Northland Holding

Chapter Three: The Right Decision

Chapter Four: Meeting at the Border.

Chapter Five: Confirmation

Chapter Six: Simon Listens

Chapter Seven: End Of A Long Day

Chapter Eight: Innovations

Chapter Nine: What He Needs To Hear

Chapter Ten: Building A Better Boat

Chapter Eleven: Siege

Chapter Twelve: A Serious Matter

Chapter Thirteen: The Serpent’s Fangs

Chapter Fourteen: The First Accomplished

Chapter fifteen: Aakademneds

Chapter Sixteen: The Assault

Chapter Seventeen: Secrets Revealed

Chapter Eighteen: A Trip To Aakadon

Chapter Nineteen: Rogue

Chapter Twenty: Too Late

Chapter Twenty-One: An Accommodation

Chapter Twenty-two: Sherree & Simon

Chapter Twenty-Three: Shantear

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Crystal Chamber

Chapter Twenty-Five: I Forbid It!

Serena Lowell led her team, two young men, two equally young women, and far less than half of the three hundred sasquatches she started out with, through the forest in the western region of Ducaun, the center most of the eleven kingdoms on the continent of Atlantan. The huge shaggy bipeds were downwind and out of sight, which is the way she preferred it. The brown-black beasts were only slightly less smelly than a pack of skunks. An osprey circled in the partly cloudy sky and evening was soon to arrive. She was on edge and more than slightly bothered. The climate had her red-blond hair all frizzy beneath the hood of her silk cloak, which covered a petite frame and a peach-colored complexion. Her blue eyes were a stark contrast to those of her dark-eyed Ducaunan team.

Following right behind her was Geb SuTamkin, an illegitimate son of Lord Tamkin. The tall Ducaunan, who some might consider to be handsome, he being highest on that list, had been taught to no
longer question her authority.

That had been very early on in the mission to reclaim the trumpet of
Tarin Conn on behalf of the Serpent Guild, a task she had managed successfully, even though it cost her fifteen Talenteds, all of her horses, and the majority of her sasquatches. It was the betrayal that frustrated her more than being outdoors in the weather. The instrument, created by the Supreme Maestro, before being imprisoned more than a thousand years ago beneath Mount Kelgotha, in the kingdom of Ecoppia, could enhance the potential of any Aakacarn by six bolts, which is thirty-six times the life force energy she could wield unaided with her single lighting bolt of potential. The type two level four crescendo was gone and her mission now a failure.

Behind the illegitimate-son-of-a-lord came Ursula Duggan, whose mouth, shaped in a perpetual pout, rarely smiled. She was dark of eye and hair, pale skinned, muscular, and dressed in unrelieved black silks, cloak, pants, and shirt, as were all of the Talenteds, so designated because they have yet to graduate to the level of Accomplisheds, and be considered masters of their own potential. Serena had the black silks with silver braiding, a striking cobra medallion indicating her affiliation with the Serpent Guild, and a golden lightning bolt on her hood indicating her rank in potential as an Accomplished. None of the young Aakacarns, fellow Melody Wielders, possessed enough to equal a single b
olt of extra life force energy.

Taking up the rear was Ana Tigress. Her lithe figure, dark hair, and pretty face, hid a deadly dangerous nature. She hailed from the
Mount Geble region of Ducaun, where animal names were popular.

Ferren Duzolta, lean and wiry, called the Ferret by Ursula Duggan, an apt name that stuck, stood shorter than the two women, yet he towered over Serena, as did they all. He was an orphan who had grown up on the streets of Zoltair and good at sneaking into the homes of the wealthy. Accomplisheds of the Serpent Guild snatched him away for training when his Potential was discovered at age ten while the fools in Aakadon believed the kingdom to be a dry well; their term for a nation that possessed not a single person whose life force energy could replenish and increase over time.

He ran up ahead of the group and stopped, glowing red-orange with potential, and focused a beam of light onto the blackened remains of the traitor, whom he tracked to this location in the woods. “This is Jak Taltin, what’s left of him anyway,” the Ferret stated, apparently not realizing Serena had cast her own spell to identify the human-shaped pile of ash and bone.

Many days ago she woke to find the shielded casket containing the trumpet missing, along with Taltin. She had assumed the Talented would follow the meandering Tollus River north to Rivertown, and had wasted many more days going that way, until the Ferret caught up to her after completing his mission to discourage Daniel Benhannon from pursuit. The Ducaunan Accomplished, Silenced by the Grand Maestro of Aakadon, the enemy of the Serpent Guild, had been knighted by the Queen of Ducaun, and sent to retrieve the trumpet, which was nowhere to be seen in the vicinity of the incinerated traitor. Duzolta had noticed signs of passage on his way back, not knowing at the time they had been made by a fleeing Jak Taltin. When Serena filled him in on what happened, Ferren told her of the signs he noted and assured her he could hunt down the traitor. They were now all standing over proof of
the Ferret’s tracking ability.

“Who could have done this to him?” Ana Tigress wondered out loud.

“Obviously someone with greater potential than Taltin,” Duggan responded, although she offered no suggestion as to the identity of that someone.

Serena held back from screaming in frustration, lest she appear childish in front of what was left of her team. The honor of retrieving the trumpet of
Tarin Conn had been given to her by Vance Cummin, the acting leader of the Serpent Guild after Balen Tamm died in a duel with Daniel Benhannon. The Supreme Maestro, Tarin Conn, has yet to name the three-bolt Accomplished to the office of Maestro, but the appointment seems inevitable, and Serena was determined to prove to Vance she could handle the responsibility.

She never led a team before, having spent most of her career at Serpent Central, which was now in ruins, thanks, again, to Daniel Benhannon. The plan had been to select her team, teleport to the Ducalin Estate, where the potential enhancer had been hidden for who knew how many centuries, obtain the trumpet in a lightning raid, and bring the crescendo to Vance. So few of her team remained, it was impossible to cast, Teleportation; a Melody requiring six bolts of potential, a spell that would mummify her and her team if tried. Consequently, a planned quick return from her objective became a one hundred span slog out of the Swamps of Append and into the forest. Rivertown was about fifty spans west of where she stood. With five thousand paces to a span, she was feeling every step.

SuTamkin rubbed his chin. “Perhaps our Ferret was less than effective at discouraging Benhannon.”

Duzolta, eyebrows lowered in momentary indignation, showing only a flicker of annoyance before bringing his emotions under control, stepped up to the lordling. “Even a level one Talented,” there are four levels, “knows a person who has been Silenced cannot summon potential. Daniel Benhannon is impotent. I cast the Melody, Slumber, at him, striking the man down as easily as a commoner. I don’t pretend to know who did this to Taltin ..,”

“Whoever did this to Taltin has the trumpet,” Serena interrupted the pointless conversation taking place between the two males.

Duzolta let out a string of curses, most of which expressed Serena’s own feelings. A successful retrieval of the trumpet meant instant promotion to the level of Accomplished for each of the Talenteds and the honor of visiting the sacred cave in
Mount Kelgotha, where the Supreme Maestro would then form links to their minds. Those dreams were shattered now and Vance Cummin would see the fiasco as a failure in leadership. They all had reason to be angry.

“What are your orders?” SuTamkin spoke without a trace of contempt. Perhaps he sensed her mood and knew it would not go well with him if he chose this moment to show any sign of disrespect.  

Serena stifled the sigh that was about to escape her. “Night will be upon us soon,” she said, eyeing each of her team members, and trying to project confidence and authority. “We will make our huts and camp here. I have some spells in my repertoire that will allow me to detect the potential used against Taltin and then track the person who summoned it.” She was lying through her teeth, no such Melodies existed, yet they all nodded as if they believed every word, even SuTamkin. The ignorance of Talenteds made them easy to fool.

Serena played the Melody, Hut, in her head, thus summoning, and then focusing her golden potential at the ground. Rock, dirt, and grass, rose up into a small hill, forming a hollowed out space inside, and solidifying the walls to keep them from caving in. The Talenteds were forming their own huts when she turned at the cry of a lone osprey circling above. The raptor was probably calling to its mate.

Ferren went off in search of whatever would be dinner while the others entered their huts. Serena walked into her temporary abode, solidified a cushion of air, and stretched out on it. She should have contacted Vance days ago to inform him of the mission failure, but had been putting it off, hoping she could catch Taltin, and retrieve the trumpet. She still hesitated to communicate with Cummin, even though his network of associates has probably informed him of the situation. It was troubling how much that man knew. Even so, she wanted time to think and consider the best possible way to present the facts, and a good night’s sleep might help. She closed her eyes and could hear Duzolta return and his fellow Talenteds exclaiming over the rabbits he caught. None of them dared bother her, knowing she would come out on her own if hungry. The smell of roasting rabbit filled the air and was the last thing Serena remembered before falling asleep.

She stood in a grassy field facing a white gold-trimmed gazebo containing two chairs, the largest of which being the diamond throne, where sat the Supreme Maestro. Serena dropped to her knees, fixing her gaze on the ground. Every other time the Great One entered her dreams they had been in the grand court, yet this setting made her blush. Tarin Conn had visited her dreams perhaps a double handful of times over the years, yet she had dreamt of him many more times than that, and this was how he often appeared in what she thought were her private dreams.

“Rise, Serena, and come join me,” Tarin Conn invited, in a deep voice, and staring with eyes that were black as coal.

The Supreme Maestro had the military bearing of a commanding general, a ruggedly handsome man, wearing a diamond encrusted crown upon his thick black hair. A neatly trimmed mustache served to highlight a tanned face that appeared to be chiseled in stone and his purple silk garments gave him the look of royalty.

Serena hastened up the three steps into the gazebo and sat on the lesser chair after he motioned for her to do so. “Great One, how may I serve?” She asked in fear. If she was not ready to admit her failure to Vance Cummin, she certainly wasn’t ready to speak of it to the Supreme Maestro, but what choice did she have now? She dared not lie.

Tarin
Conn smiled at her. “As you have no doubt observed by my selection of setting, I sometimes visit the dreams of my followers without making my presence known, which is why you have found favor in my sight. Is that consternation on your face? Are you worried at what I might have seen or confused as to why you have my favor?”

And she thought it troubling how much Vance knew; this made her concern over the three-bolt Accomplished seem small. “Great One, I did not know you watch my dreams, but am not surprised a personage truly as powerful as you can do so. I..,” she began and then gulped before going on to explain her confusion. “I failed in my mission to reclaim your trumpet on behalf of the Serpent Guild,” she finished and closed her eyes, waiting for the sting
ing rebuke she justly deserved.

“Yes, you succeeded at a high cost, and then failed to retain possession of the trumpet. This I know, yet you did well for an Accomplished on her first mission, especially one having an objective with such great a scope. The casket containing my trumpet was protected by a shield placed upon it by Della Lain, a shield beyond your ability to break. Vance Cummin informed me of your situation and I have given him strict orders concerning you, so have no fear of recriminations from him.” Tarin
Conn told her.

Serena opened her eyes, blinking rapidly. “How can you be pleased by my failure?” She dared to ask, even though doing so risked her losing favor.

Tarin Conn smiled again. “I am not pleased by your failure. I’m pleased by your tenacity and loyalty to me. You were caught between forces greater than you could handle, two of my strongest Accomplisheds vying for the office of Maestro. Vance Cummin ordered you to retrieve my trumpet, which you did, and then Serin Gell’s associate stole it from you. Either way it ends up in the hands of the Serpent Guild, so your failure is not as great as you think.”