To Be A Maestro (The Maestro Chronicles) (52 page)

Daniel stopped and faced the commanding officer. “You will soon have over thirty-eight hundred Sentinels. Sherree and Simon here will be involved with the Shantear Mission and I want you to assign a squad to each of them. I have decided to dedicate an additional hundred forty Accomplisheds to the taskforce with Jeremiah Lassiter as the commander.”

Herling nodded his head. “The First Accomplished told me of the new recruits. I will see to it their training begins today,” he replied and then raised his left eyebrow speculatively. “Something momentous must be on the horizon for you to go from ten Accomplisheds to one hundred fifty.”

“The Serpents were taken by complete surprise by our interference at their first attack on the Aakadon team. The second time they were not surprised, except for being hit with eleven Accomplisheds and two hundred and thirty-one Sentinels armed with daggerlances and flaming crossbows. The third time I had to call in a hundred extra Accomplisheds and the most recent time we needed every single Sentinel,” Daniel explained.

“I led the reinforcements and so have a firm recollection of the encounter,” Commander Herling replied.

“Good, because I do not want to underestimate the resources of the Serpent Guild and my gut instinct tells me our next clash of forces will be even more intense. I know what I am asking is difficult, but I want every Accomplished and Sentinel, including this batch of new ones, ready to travel on the scene whenever the call comes,” Daniel told him with all the intensity his dark-eyed stare could convey, something he did without trying. Most of the time Sherree viewed this man as her loving husband, yet moments like these occurred, reminding her she was in the presence of the Chosen Vessel, and Chas Herling must have felt it too, for he snapped a salute.

“Sir Daniel, I promised to train a special assault force, and with the weapon systems you developed and the able-bodied recruits currently in service, we have made a great deal of progress. The Sentinels will be ready when the call comes. I have never shied away from a difficult task in the past and will not now,” the Sentinel Commander stated confidently.

Daniel gave the man a nod of respect. “You have delivered and answered the call each time,” he said and glanced at the Teki Seer. “Silvia keeps reminding me how far ahead
Tarin Conn is and how much catching up we have to do.”

“You will catch up and surpass him,” Simon broke his long run of silence. The man stays so quiet it is easy to forget his presence. “Judging by the compositions you added to my repertoire and the innovations with the amulets and crescendos, I have no doubt you will out perform the Dark Maestro.”

“I find myself in agreement with Accomplished Trenca,” Commander Herling voiced his opinion. “Unless you have more instructions, I will go select the squads for him and the First Lady.”

Every time someone in the guild used that title, Sherree wondered when the second or third lady might appear. Daniel had made reference so often to Leah being his first Accomplished, that it had become a title. No one else in the association has ever been referred to as the second or third Accomplished so Sherree chose to look at the title they had given her in the same way. There will be no second or third lady of the guild.

“That is all for now,” Daniel told the officer.

The commander went off to perform his duty and Daniel led the way to a room filled with Condemneds. The majority of these was bald but not disfigured and did not require as much of Daniel’s time. Sherree enjoyed watching him work on each patient and seeing the stunning results, particularly on the mutilated ones brought in by Samuel. The extreme cases took more time and concentration to restore and needed more sleep after the physical ordeal. Since Leah was busy elsewhere, Sherree decided to speak with each patient as they awakened and answer their questions.

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“Sherree and Simon here will be involved with the Shantear Mission and I want you to assign a squad to each of them,” Daniel had said, and then everyone looked at Simon as if noticing his presence for the first time. Sometimes a mark or more would go by with him following Daniel and his entourage before Simon would voice his opinion or the Maestro would make mention of him and then the group would notice his presence again. A good many people might find their reaction to be annoying, Simon found it amusing, and often tried to see how long he could go unnoticed. This did not mean he wanted no part of the events swirling around him; to the contrary, he enjoyed getting involved, and being of help in his own way.

This was the first time Simon heard what his assignment would be and a good thing he spent his spare time over the last three days linking his mind to all sorts of creatures, furred, feathered, scaled, and some with exoskeletons. He had begun his menagerie in the area around the southern estate without a particular focus, not knowing specifically what his tasks would be. Now he had a role to play and could build his flocks with an eye toward Shantear.

He touched the six-bolt crescendo given to him by Daniel, thought of the spells that would best help achieve the task, mulled them over in his mind until the answer came, and then he quietly slipped out of the room while the Maestro worked on restoring a large hairless man. Sherree was too busy staring at her husband to notice the departure.

Simon had known for a long time that his friend was in love with the beautiful Aakacarn, yet had failed to see the emotion in her. He laughed while making his way along the corridor to the quarters assigned to him and figured, why not? His friend had broken so many traditions held dear in Aakadon, the one on marriage was just another, and hardly mattered at all.

His quarters had a study, bathing room, greeting room, and a bedroom with a comfortable bed, chest-of-drawers, table, chairs, and wardrobe. He sat at the desk in his study and concentrated on Virgil, the strongest flyer of all seven species of birds linked to him. The falcon was not the fastest, that was
Chester his hatch mate, it was Virgil’s endurance that made him the bird for the job, and Simon knew exactly where to send him. He chose one of the many map spells he had learned from the Willow Guild and played the Melody in his mind, creating a vivid three dimensional image of the world.

Virgil, I want you to fly as quickly and safely as you can to this place,
he sent to the falcon while showing the path on his mental map, passing beyond the Tollus River, over trees, hills, an entire forest of sequoias, and all the way to Mount Shantear. What came back through the link was a desire to do the very task requested and Simon could feel the bird take flight.

He sent Chester to the west side of the Tollus River, the area Reese’s company should reach in a day or so, Shocka to the border between Ducaun and Lobenia, and Blossom to Mount Jessup, the first in the seven mountain chain, stretching east to west, at the end of which, more than a hundred spans away, was the largest of the group, Mount Shantear. The map Melodies of the Willow Guild were the best ever made and yet not quite good enough to use in conjunction with Conveyance. The falcons, once at the destinations he assigned to them, would give him the ability to travel to those locations, and not only add more creatures to his menagerie; he would be in a position to gain information and supply Daniel with options.

A knock on the door interrupt his focus on Chester, who would be the first falcon to reach his destination point. Simon withdrew awareness from the bird and called, “Enter.”

A tall dark-eyed woman with a pair of gold stripes on the sleeves of her blue coat, marking her rank as Sergeant, entered the room along with twenty other Sentinels. He remembered her from his earlier time at the holding. “Accomplished Trenca, Commander Herling has assigned Vapor Squad to you. I am Shella Gabler and this is Gloria Striffer,” she informed him, and then went on to introduce the rest of the men and women in the room, ending with a Taracopian man named, Jerome Tarkona. He and Gloria were the newest to the team, from the group of Condemneds rescued a mere five days ago. Evidently Commander Herling was promoting the original Sentinels and placing them in charge of the recent recruits.

Simon acknowledged each person and it occurred to him that none of these people would fail to notice his presence, he being the Accomplished who would be taking them into battle and out again. Even now he had their undivided attention and they seemed to be waiting for him to make a statement or perhaps give an order. He handed each of them an amulet of his making. “I am giving you all the means to stay in touch with me should we become separated. We will be traveling frequently in the next few days, beginning this afternoon. Horses will not be necessary on these trips since we will not venture far from our arrival points. The trips we take will be in addition to those assigned to us.”

“It will be as you say, Accomplished,” Shella replied. “I am pleased you plan on traveling so soon. Vapor Squad needs the experience.”

Simon acknowledged her with a nod of respect. “I am going to have my midday meal and you are all welcome to join me.”

“Our duty at this point, until Commander Herling orders otherwise, is to be with you,” Sergeant Gabler replied, and then glanced at her squad. “On a personal level, I have been drilling these Sentinels since before dawn, and I am quite sure a break involving the consumption of food will be welcomed.”

Simon led the way to the dinning area and earned more than a few raised eyebrows from his squad when he passed the one in the East Wing and continued on up into building two. The dinning room in this building had ten tables but only three tables large enough to accommodate the entire squad and two of those were occupied by Captains Mallory and Benkorren, along with Lieutenants, Tanner, Cossings, Calver, and DuArren. Commander Herling sat at the other table with Daniel, Sherree, Leah, Tim Dukane and his wife Gina, along with a female Accomplished whose back was to Simon. The only empty table large enough for him and his squad was between the two groups. Apparently no other Aakacarns brought their squads with them. Marge Durayton, Chief of Kitchens, noticed Simon and smiled radiantly while making her way over to him.

“Accomplished Trenca, it is a pleasure to see you again. Won’t you please come have a seat,” she said while ushering him towards the large empty table. “We are enjoying the use of those wonderful CAFs you installed. You and Sir Daniel have made our work so much easier. Why, there isn’t a day goes by when at least one member of my staff blesses you both for the water-drawing devices.”

Simon sat down while his squad took their places at the table. “I was happy to help,” he assured her.

Each person placed their orders and the staff served them promptly. Daniel gave Simon a nod of acknowledgement and most everyone else at the other tables ignored him. They apparently were more interested in Tim’s presence.

“So Accomplished Obennen conveyed us here,” Admiral Tim Dukane had just finished saying, along with putting a name to the unknown Aakacarn.

Gina smiled with a twinkle in her eyes and leaned towards Daniel. “We have recruited Saul Tarpon, a former captain of the Lobenian Merchant Marines, and a full crew. You owe us another Wager class patrol boat.”

“I just made you a fourth boat last week. Remember, you must have a captain and crew trained and ready before I make you another one,” Daniel replied.

“That’s why we asked Marsha to convey us here,” Gina went on to explain. “Tarpon has more experience than all of us put together and much of it is oceanic. The rest of the crew are fishermen and have spent a good part of their lives fishing the
Hirus River and a few earned their sails on the Taltin Sea.”

Simon ate while listening to the multiple conversations at his table as well as the one taking place at the command table, which is any table where Daniel is sitting. Simon doubted his friend even realized how his swirl affected something as minor
as the seating arrangements.

“I have your composition in my repertoire and understand the duplication process. I am willing to attempt working the spell in order to create a new Wager class patrol boat,” Marsha Obennen volunteered.

Daniel’s eyes focused briefly on the single golden lightning bolt on the hood of her blue silk cloak and Simon knew his friend was wondering if the One-bolt could carry out the task, or chore, as the former mountaineer would phrase it. “I appreciate the offer, but I made the promise, and the chore is mine. A Benhannon never fobs his chores off on anyone,” he told her and then fixed his gaze on Gina. “You have convinced me and I will make you a boat right after lunch. Simon, if you have nothing planned for the next mark, I think you might like to get a look at a Wager class patrol boat.”

The moment Daniel had said the name, every eye at his table widened in surprise, while staring at Simon and waiting to hear his reply. Really, as if he would turn down the opportunity to see the boat Ronn and Miriam had designed for the Atlantan Guild. “I can squeeze a visit south into my schedule if it only requires a mark of my time and I can bring my squad,” he replied.

His reply widened the eyes even more, this time at both tables, and earned a laugh from Tim and Daniel, who nodded and said, “I promise not to mess up your schedule and Vapor Squad can come. I suppose this means my Lighting and Sherree’s Quicksilver Squads will also want to come along.”

Commander Herling cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention, “I think three squads of Sentinels to be an appropriate number.”

After lunch Daniel conveyed all who wanted to go, including Marsha, to a hidden channel leading half a span from the Hirus River to a small spell-formed lake where the Wager and five large blue identical boats were docked. The RiverDancer was docked there but not counted as part of the fleet of patrol boats. Not one of the vessels had a sail or a waterwheel. How were they propelled? Ronn and Miriam Benhannon were in the bungalow from which the docks extended. Simon soon learned about the six levels below ground and Daniel’s parents explained about replacing the waterwheel with jets of air at the bow and stern. His friend had a real talent for making new and innovative devices.