To Be A Maestro (The Maestro Chronicles) (31 page)

“We will guard your back,” Silvia stated firmly.

They quickly formed a triangle with Daniel and the Condemned in the center and each of them facing out. Jared and David stood with their daggerlances ready. Silvia held the crossbow in her hand, ready to send a stream of fiery pebbles at anyone who dared to attack.

Daniel removed a portion of his personal shield, placed his right hand on the Condemned’s forehead and his left on its abdomen, both felt sticky due to the festering sores, and then closed his eyes. First, he cast, Hearts Beat As One, then What Is This, and added a Da Capo tied to his life force. The next step called for, Change It and Hunger. Last of all he directed, Restoration, into it. Hearts Beat As One caused him to feel the agony it was enduring, yet he had no trouble concentrating on the task at hand, being no stranger to pain.

Daniel focused on the recipe strands, each helix containing nude three dimensional pictures of what the Condemned should look like at this point in time, and was surprised to see a woman rather than a man. He willed, Change It and Hunger, to work in conjunction with Restoration, and soon could feel her body being reshaped in the form called for in her recipe. Time had no meaning for him. All of her bodily systems were functioning properly in time with his, and she was feeling pleasure, warm and tingly.

He opened his eyes while letting the spells do their work. The woman was lying on her back and all of the parts that had been ripped from her were restored. Thick black hair began to grow from her head and grew to the length it would be if it had never been cut in her life. An indentation in the shape of a human female had formed out of the ground a pace below where she floated, and was the source the spell, Hunger, had drawn from. He had one more thing to do. “Accomplished, your brain and will are one. Your body is yours to command,” Daniel spoke in her ear. The healing was complete and all she needed now was rest. He removed all the Da Capos and the spells ceased.

She was beautiful, statuesque, her brown skin flawless, and muscles well toned, nothing he had not seen after performing nearly a hundred and fifty restorations. The time had come to make her some clothes. He took the topaz blue silk, increased the quantity by drawing dirt using Hunger and Change It, and then shaped each garment
to her size, added silver highlights, and a silver belt and gold buckle with the falcon in flight clutching a lighting bolt emblem in the center of the oval. He added two golden lightning bolts on each shoulder and four on the hood of her cloak, and then completed the uniform with a silver canteen.

“Men, as you are. Silvia, would you be kind
enough to put these clothes on the Accomplished,” Daniel said while reforming the shields on his hands, and moving to take her place in the defensive triangle.

The acrobat moved with the speed and grace that came naturally to her. “She’s a she!” Silvia stated, upon seeing the Accomplished floating a pace off the ground, a position chosen to make dressing her less of a chore. A short time later she said, “All done.”

“She is obviously of Ecoppian descent,” Jared gave his assessment.

“Where do we go from here?” David asked while still keeping a sharp eye out for anyone who might threaten them.

Daniel glanced at the coin pouch attached to Jared’s belt and remembered something he needed to do. “We are going to Bashierwood. Tim ordered some horses on my behalf and they need to be collected and paid for,” he replied and then pointed at the floating Accomplished. “She needs to sleep naturally and awaken in her own time. We will rent some rooms in the Polkat for a day or so, and if she has not awakened by the time we need to leave, we will convey to either my estate or my holding in the north, depending on what needs doing.”

He played the spell, Conveyance, in his head and pictured all of them on the main trail leading down into Bashierwood. They arrived three heart beats later and Daniel blinked in surprise at the changes. The community had expanded to three times the size it had been when he left and a full garrison now occupied the area to the east of the town, it could no longer be described as a village. The Polkat Inn
, five floors high, and about a hundred strides wide, occupied the center of the town and was by far the largest building in Bashierwood. Chad Grening’s Stable stood ahead on the right.

“We can get our rooms and then, Jared, you can go over and talk with
Chad about the horses. We will also need to speak with Donald Laird about the racers,” Daniel said and then walked through the doors of the Polkat. The dining room had ten tables with eight chairs at each; all but one table was filled to capacity, more than half with Ducaunan cavalrymen. His knightly uniform blended well with the green uniforms of the cavalrymen and not so much with the simple buckskins and wool worn by the current patrons of the Polkat, the kind of clothing he once wore. An old-timer sat at the only table with seven seats to spare, table six. His tan buckskins were stained, damp, and a pungent odor wafting in the air from his direction indicated he was not a man who bathed frequently, which explained why he was sitting alone, as he usually does. He scratched the gray whiskers under his chin and raised a tin cup. Darby Jack had not changed a bit and something about that pleased Daniel immensely.

The old-timer noticed him and sprang from his chair, showing no signs of slowing with age. “Why, its Daniel, I barely recognized ye with that fancy uniform and all,” he shouted and walked over.

Daniel watched as word spread of his arrival. “Its good to see you Darby, how are things?”

“Huntin’s good, Henri’s drink is decent, and Matty had pups,” the old trapper replied.

Daniel smiled. “Stankweed must be thrilled.”

Darby scratched his whiskers. “He seems to be. What’s with that Accomplished floatin behind ye?”

“She’s been sick, I healed her but she needs to rest,” Daniel replied without going into further detail.

Hough Bess rushed through the entrance, made his way over, and stood with a broad grin on his puffy face. His bushy sideburns stopped short of being considered a beard. His light blue-dyed buckskins were clean and unstained. “It is good to see you, Dan.., I mean, Sir Daniel,” he stammered a greeting.

Daniel extended his hand, “and you, Mayor Bess,” he replied just as formally.

At table one, now sitting by himself, Orin Netless, his red wool coat and gray breeches were wrinkled and frayed, smiled and waved in Daniel’s direction. It was the friendliest greeting he ever gave and
more than expected.

Henri Polkat, in white buckskins, hurried from the kitchen while brushing a lock of gray hair back into place and was soon followed by his wife,
Lydia, in a wool dress. Her dark hair hung half way down her back, like that of most women on Tannakonna. Daniel greeted them and every resident who rushed into the Polkat to see him, even soldiers wanted to meet him, along with Captain BenJamin the commander of the garrison, and about the only two people he did not see was Val and Todd. Their eatery stood down the dusty street on the other side of town, within eyesight. Daniel introduced Silvia, David, and Jared, who then went out with Chad, who had come to see what had everybody excited.

Daniel handed
Lydia enough coins to cover the use of four rooms for two nights, all of which were on the second floor, and next to and across from each other. Folks stared, yet no one except Darby mentioned the floating Accomplished. They all knew what the boy who had grown up in their midst had become. The residents seemed far more comfortable acknowledging his title as a Royal Knight of the Realm than mentioning anything to do with spell casting, which suited him well enough. He did not come here to make people uncomfortable.

Henri began waving his arms in an apparent effort to make anyone who is not a paying customer go away, while Lydia quite unnecessarily led Daniel up the stairs to the rooms six months ago she would have been sending him to clean. “Is there anything I can get for the Accomplished?” she inquired while Daniel floated the former Condemned over the bed and then lowered her down gently.

Silvia and David claimed the room across the hall while Daniel had no preference and decided to take whichever one was available after Jared chose his. “For the most part, my friend needs sleep, although it would be good if you can send up six jugs of water. Aakacarns can build up a powerful thirst,” Daniel replied.

Lydia
nodded. “Yes, I remember how much you drank after healing the wounded. I will see that she gets plenty,” she replied, and then added, “There is hot food in the kitchen if you or any of your friends want to eat.”

David entered the room in time to hear the last sentence. “I believe a good meal is called for. My wife and I will be down shortly, whether or not the noble knight chooses to do so.”

Daniel smiled, glanced at the Teki, and returned his attention Lydia. “I will be coming down as well.”

The innkeeper’s wife nodded and went back down stairs. Silvia w
alked to the bed and stood over the sleeping Accomplished. “How long do you think she will sleep?”

“I suspect about as long as Jeremiah and Sherree did,” Daniel replied. “She should wake up sometime tomorrow.”

They headed back down to the dinning room, which cleared out fairly well, and had their choice of tables. Daniel sat at table one and ordered pot roast with all the fixings. Silvia and David ordered chicken and before the dinners came, a tall man with stooped shoulders and a long white beard approached the table. His garments were red on black silk and on each sleeve was a golden lighting bolt. The medallion on his chest had a silver bird of prey.

“Greetings, Accomplished,” Daniel replied, without fear, and stood up smiling. “Please join us.”

“You have come a long way since we met in Dowman’s End,” the elder Aakacarn replied, and sat down at the table.

Daniel motioned towards his friends. “Bella Sander, I would like you to meet
Silvia Gerabolli-Cresh and David Cresh-Gerabolli, of the Reshashinni Teki.”

Bella gave each of them a nod of respect, which they quickly returned. There had been a time not so long ago when they were not inclined to show respect to an Aakacarn. Daniel knew traveling with him caused them to adjust their thinking or at least, being Teki, they learned to put on a good show of it.

Dinner came and they all ate, including Bella, who had a bowl of soup and a yeast roll. Silvia and David finished their meals and chose to head up to their room, especially when the conversation turned toward the history of spell casting.

A triple pulse washed through the world, every bit as intense as the first one had been. Tarin
Conn again, Daniel had no doubt, and yet every eye in the room suddenly focused on him. “Whatever happened occurred far to the north, not even within Ducuan,” he told them in a calm voice, as if the occurrence was nothing to worry about. People nodded and went back to their private conversations, apparently satisfied with his comment.

“Tarin
Conn grows restless. I suspect the time to confront him will come sooner than most of us expected; which was not in my lifetime. Even so, you seem to have a calming effect on the folks here,” Bella commented. “I have learned of your accomplishments and the supposed Silencing.”

Daniel explained as much as he dared about what transpired, leaving out being an Aakasear, the animals in his swirl, his marriage to Sherree, and a few other details his old acquaintance did not need to know. “So the Reshashinni Seer declared me to be the
Chosen Vessel and all of the Seers in the world seem to agree.”

Bella leaned forward. “But do you believe it?”

Daniel did not hesitate to answer. “Oh, yes, way too much has happened for me to deny the truth, it would be idiocy.”

Bella let out a chuckle. “I suppose it would. You have thwarted the Serpent Guild at nearly every turn and have seven lightning bolts of Potential at your command. As Ruth told you, t
he events surrounding you declare you to be the Chosen Vessel to anyone with the time and wit to figure it out. Well, I happen to be such a person. Did you know every guild has scholars of its own and one from each is selected and appointed to be one of the seven scholars of Aakadon?”

Daniel did not know how many were among the Aakacarns. “I learned during my time among the Talenteds that Aakadon has scholars but that is about all.”

Bella nodded his head. “I am a scholar of Aakadon, my repertoire is a match for any Maestro, and I have access to all Aakacarn history.”

There were a few things Daniel had been curious about and never received a satisfactory answer, not even from Terroll whom he respected. “Good, then you can tell me why Aakacarns do not marry, and please do not give me a lecture on traditions.”

Bella ran the fingers of his right hand down his beard while his eyes seemed to twinkle with delight. “You were raised to the level of Accomplished so quickly I am not surprised someone with your background, a mountaineer, would want a real down to earth reason. I am willing to share my knowledge with you, things not normally shared with anyone below the rank of Maestro.”

“Why?” Daniel wanted to know.

“I am talking to someone whose potential is greater than the Grand Maestro of Aakadon, and a person I have come to believe is the Creator’s Chosen Vessel. Although I admit to not realizing this fact when we first met and I do not believe you knew such a thing at the time.”