To Be A Maestro (The Maestro Chronicles) (19 page)

He had one more project before his friends were scheduled to arrive and so levitated the gems and gold buckles off the floor and onto his desk. He fused the diamonds into a blade, added a gold handle, and a black grip, and then made another just like it. He held them up, one in each hand and summoned, Potentializing The Baton. The seven lightning bolts on his shoulders tingled as the spell assessed his potential and
created the pair of crescendos.

He no sooner placed them in the upper drawer of his desk when Tim and Gina walked into the office. The swords on their hips were a new and expected addition to their uniforms. “I thought my parents were going to attend this meeting.”

Tim shrugged his shoulders. “They were instructing the Chosen’s Sentinels in the use of the longbow.”

Daniel looked at him askance. “When did they start calling themselves by that name?”

“About the same time they sewed patches depicting your emblem on the uniforms,” Gina answered. “Did you have a different name in mind?”

Daniel had not even given the matter a thought. He shook his head. “The
Chosen’s Sentinels is good enough.”

“And it sounds better than Danny’s Muster,” Tim threw in
his opinion along with a smirk.

Daniel had a snappy come back on the tip of his tongue, but his parents entered the room, and so he refrained from saying it. Ronn had the model Wager in his hands and Miriam carried papers with what appeared to be drawings of the proposed modifications. She placed them on the desk and then sat down, saying, “T
hese are what we came up with.”

His father sat in the remaining chair. “You did not suggest a means to propel the boat so we went with the waterwheel and spent the rest of the time drawing modifications on the decks and forecastle.”

“Is that another CAF?” Gina asked while pointing to the CAPU.

Daniel had to admit they were essentially the same idea, only with very different functions. “This is a Crescendo-Amulet Propulsion Unit, CAPU for short, and it is what will push the Wager through the water.”

“That little thing,” Gina sounded skeptical.

Daniel laughed. “Believe me this device packs a powerful punch.”

His father picked up the CAPU, turned it carefully every which way, and nodded with what looked like approval. “Removing the water wheel from the design will not affect very much what we do with the hull, speaking of which, I like the horizontal arrow slits and think we should keep those.” He stated and then placed the CAPU back on the desk.

Daniel sifted through the proposed designs and found one that appealed to him. The
sunken riverboat was originally a forty-strider. The damage to the bow had made it necessary for him to break off the odd lengths and then warp and bond the gray wood into a new bow, shortening the vessel to thirty strides in length. This new design increased the length to forty-five by the addition of the water wheel, so that part will need to be changed with the wheel gone, yet he liked the extra strides in length and decided to stretch the hull. The rest of the modifications could be made according to the drawing.

“I told him you would like that one,” his mother stated while jerking her thumb at his father.

Daniel knew the color choice had been his mother’s idea. He continued examining the decks and forecastle. 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 that could be used for sleeping or additional storage. The passageways on the sides gave access to the arrow slits, which could be opened and closed from the inside. The aft deck had eight stalls toward the stern, ahead of the storage hatch. The weather deck began about ten paces from the bow and went all the way back to the stalls and the helm was located in the bridge above the forecastle.

“I suggested the forecastle. It seemed better than an over-sized cottage like we designed for the Javelin,” his mother
shared her part in the design.

“This vessel is more streamlined than the Javelin, narrower at the bow, and will slice through the water more eff
iciently,” his father added.

“I like it,” Tim shared his opinion.

Gina took the design in hand and studied it thoroughly. “I see you extended a shelter from the weather deck to the stern.”

Miriam nodded her head. “Yes, to protect the horses and whoever would be casting the spells to turn the waterwheel; which is no longer part of the modification.”

Tim leaned forward in his chair. “How would we have turned the wheel? More to the point, how are we going to use the CAPU? It would be counter productive for you to come recruiting with us. I originally thought Samuel could come with us, but he is going back to Aakadon with the other Accomplisheds.”

The drummer had hit on the reason for making the CAPU. Daniel picked up the device. “This does not need an Aakacarn, but one of you will need to be at the stern on the lower deck to activate the propulsion unit and keep it running. I fixed the direction of the focus, which is beyond your ability, the potential is variable, and so you both will have to become accustomed to mentally regulating the speed.”

Gina’s eyes widened. “Will constant contact draw from our life forces?”

Her question was prudent and Daniel had an answer. “It will take energy from your life force, not a great deal because the device is powered by a Crescendo with seven bolts of amplification. The amount of energy expended will depend on how much weight you are pushing, how fast you go, and for how long you power the CAPU. This is why I must regularly assess the energy level of anyone who uses a CAPU on an extended basis.”

Tim’s brow wrinkled into a frown. “I already reduced my life force energy when I played the spell, Potential, back in Aakadon. Harmon Gramm said I could never recover the lost energy.”

Daniel leaned across his desk and extended his hand. “Come closer and I’ll prove him wrong.”

Tim glanced at his wife and then came forward, allowing his forehead to come in contact with Daniel’s hand. “Will it hurt?”

Daniel chuckled. “Far from it, the sensation should be pleasant.”

He cast, What Is This, and sensed down to the vat of life force energy. Tim’s was filled with what appeared to be clear liquid and about nine tenths full. Daniel placed a Da Capo on, What Is This, and then focused, Vitality, into the reservoir of his friend, filling it to the brim. There was no point giving him more. The excess energy would make him hyper and the drummer certainly did not need to be more excited.

Daniel ceased the spells and sat back in his chair. Tim
’s lips stretched into a broad smile. “You’re right, that felt great. When did you learn this trick?”

Daniel snorted. “It isn’t a trick. I learned by restoring the non-Aakacarns. I gave energy to Sherree without difficulty and so did the same for those who needed it.”

Gina glanced at her husband and then focused on Daniel. “Does this mean you can make us live forever?”

Her question caused him to consider whether or not he could extend the lifespan of non-Aakacarns and was something he hoped to eventually look into. For now, he stared into her large brown eyes. “Vitality will not extend your life, but you will feel energetic up to the point of death.”

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I guess I’ll just have to settle for feeling strong.”

His father began thumbing through the plans, flipping drawings aside until he found the one showing the internal workings, and then traced his finger from the helm to the stern. “Daniel, look here,” he said, using a tone of voice that reminded Daniel of the days when he was just the carpenter’s son and not the Chosen Vessel, a rare occurrence he cherished when it came. “Does the size of the crescendo part of the
CAPU matter?”

“No. What matters is the ranking in Potential of the maker,” Daniel replied. “Theoretically, the crescendo can be given any shape or size. The baton of
Tarin Conn is shaped like a snake and I made one out of a knife.”

His father nodded as if that was the answer he hoped for. “Look at the linkage and gears I designed from the steering wheel, see how they run down through the decks, to the lower level, and back to the rudder. Can you make a crescendo with the body long enough to follow this linkage?”

Daniel nodded his head and smiled as it occurred to him what his father wanted. “You want to power the boat from the bridge. Not only can I do it, I should’ve thought of it myself.”

“You can’t think of everything,” Gina commented while standing up. Her left eyebrow arched up merrily. “We married folk like to spend time with each other. Your idea would have kept us apart. Who would expect
you to think like a newlywed?”

She touched on a subject Daniel had deliberately kept from his mind. Would Sherree go to Aakadon with the other Accomplisheds? He did not like the idea of being separated from her for any great length of time. “Fortunately I have my parents to fill in the creative gaps. Newlyweds tend to get distracted. Are you and Tim ready to go make this project happen or should we wait until you are through casting longing glances at each other?”

Tim deliberately stared at his wife, who rested one hand on her hip, giving him a coy smile, and they held that pose until Miriam spoke up. “Ronn, when the children are through playing, I think we should gather our things for the journey.”

The mountain carpenter stood up and grabbed the designs. “Considering the speed in which our son travels from place to place, I suspect it will take longer to walk up stairs than to get where we need to be.”

Daniel stood and came around to the front of the desk. “You would not even reach the stairs in the time it will take,” he said and then played, Conveyance, in his mind, while picturing all of them standing at the bank of the Gosian River where the Wager should be aground; three heart-beats later and seven hundred eighty spans west-southwest, they were standing by the river and enjoying the pleasant breeze.

“Ah, I don’t see a boat,” Gina was the first to speak.

They were on the north bank where Daniel had refurbished the Wager after levitating it up from the bottom. Behind them, to the west, there was nothing but dense pine forest all the way to the base of Mount Tannakonna. The river flowed south from Mount Gosian, bends west after passing Zoltair, merges farther southwest with the Tannakonna River, and they both eventually merge with the Mighty Hirus. This knowledge did not help them find the Wager. Daniel glanced at Tim. “We floated down river from this point and I don’t know the exact spot Serin Gell and his team yanked us out of the water.”

The drummer nodded his head. “You teleported us from within the Wager,” he confirmed his recollection of the event. “Is there some way you can find it now?”

Actually there were various ways to accomplish the task. Daniel wished he had thought to bring one of his raptor scouts. The bird could fly downstream, study the area where lay the Wager, and allow him to convey them all to the boat. He determined to plan better in the future. “I don’t believe we floated very far from here before they caught us,” he replied and then cast, Find All, focusing it in a fifteen spans radius, not caring if there were any other spell casters close enough to sense the energy.

He sensed trees, plants, birds, fishes of all sorts in the river, raccoons and other forest critters, along with wolves, foxes, and insects. A boat with twenty-seven men rowed against the current ten spans away and coming closer, while a larger riverboat sailed by it going the other way. Two spans from his self-imposed scanning limit, he sensed a boat on the north bank. Rats, birds, and a goodly number of insects apparently decided it would make a good home. They were about to be evicted. “We need to follow the river. The Wager is thirteen spans from where we stand,” he informed his companions.

His father stared at him briefly and then grinned. “There probably isn’t an animal on the mountain you could not track with that ability of yours.”

Daniel shrugged his shoulders. “We would eat well, but the thrill of the hunt would be gone.”

“You don’t even need a bow,” Gina stated accurately.

“He doesn’t even need to see his prey,” Tim added.

He was probably thinking of when they were within Mount Bessel and Daniel used his death spell on yetis and any members of the Serpent Guild who he could hit using, Find All, to aim rather than physical line of sight. The incident led to his eventual surrender and confrontation with Balen Tamm.

They walked along the bank and watched while the boat he had sensed earlier passed them by. Each shirtless man strained at the oars in their struggle against the current. Birds flew in the clear blue sky and several boys were fishing off the opposite bank. The wager came into view as Daniel led his parents and frien
ds around the most recent bend.

“It is uglier in full scale,” Gina commented as they drew near the vessel.

“The scorch marks must have happened after I removed the Da Capo from the shield,” Daniel replied.

The burns in the hull, upon closer inspection, were cosmetic and did not appear to have caused any serious damage. A few spells is all it took to cause the residents to evacuate the vessel. Daniel studied the modification plans with his father and then used, Hunger, to draw the substance, mud from the river bottom, with which to make the additions and strengthen the hull. The spell, Fashioning, played in his head and he followed the drawings, and listened when his father suggested, “Make another CAPU and place it in the front so we can back up. Being able to go in reverse will make maneuvering this great vessel easier.”