To Be Chosen (14 page)

Marcus, dressed in his blue uniform,
which now had an arm patch of the Benhannon crest, was facing him, wooden sword in hand, “Shall we have another go?”

They had been practicing for over a mark. Daniel mastered the bow and knife years ago, but had never so much as touched a sword. He did not usually have an ego problem, not that he was aware of, but it was a little embarrassing to be the only Royal Knight of the Realm who did not know how to use his sword. His Captain-of-the-guard was showing him basic thrusts and parries. Marcus was not a master-of-the-blade but he was competent and doing his best to bring Daniel to that level.

“Your reflexes are good, you have speed, endurance, and with these standard moves you should be able to credibly face most men in battle, not that you could not defend yourself the
other
way” Marcus told him.

“What do you mean?” Daniel asked, even though he had a fairly good idea what was meant.

Marcus pointed at his bandaged leg. “That wound wasn’t healed by any Teki ointment, not that I realized it at first. I bathed back in Jeeter, removed the old bandage, intending to replace it with a new, but discovered the injury was gone. I figured you wanted the matter kept between us so I put on the new dressing and kept quiet.”

“I appreciate your discretion. Keep in mind, if this information becomes common knowledge, this estate will be difficult to defend against the kind of people who are likely to assault it,” Daniel let him know.

“I well understand the need for secrecy,” Marcus said while raising his practice blade. “Now, let’s see if I can get you good enough with a sword, you will not need to do
something
you would rather not.”

The Captain had broken through Daniel’s defenses often in the beginning, four days ago. Those marks of training paid off and Daniel had managed to strike through his teacher’s defenses twice in the last session. Wielding a sword is much different than a knife fight but Daniel knew the moves and was improving with each training bout. He brought the wooden sword back to the ready position and nodded his head.

Marcus came in swinging from the right, stopped as Daniel was about to parry, and then turned, changing direction just before their blades were about to touch, and with a twist of his wrist, came up under Daniel’s parry. The move had been successful in the last session but Daniel was ready for it this time. He reversed his swing and brought the blade down in time to intercept the strike, sweeping Marcus’s blade back out, and then thrusting his own blade into the Captain’s ribs.

“Excellent,” Marcus told him. “You never make the same mistake twice.”

Daniel stepped back. “I try not to.”

He was glad the more experienced man did not hold back on him, made him work for the victory, and not just let him win. He was also pleased to see just how competent his C
aptain-of-the-guard really was.

“All you need now is more experience. I strongly suggest that you continue practicing even when you are in the capital,” Marcus said while reaching for Daniel’s wooden sword. “I can come along if you want.”

Daniel shook his head. “No, you had it right days ago when you told me about the need to recruit guards for the estate. While I appreciate your taking the time to train me, at the same time, I am keeping you from interviewing the applicants.”

Marcus came very close to smiling. “My time is well spent if this training keeps you safe, but yes this is slowing down the winnowing process. Eighty men have applied, some having years of experience and others with little to none. I want competent men so I must see if their skills match their talk. The Queen had it right when she told you filling the vacancies would not be a problem. I believe the deeds attached to your name have attracted many applicants and it probably will not take long for the estate to be fully staffed with fifty guardsmen, grooms, and a full complement of domestic servants.”

Daniel clapped the Captain on the back. “The Queen is wise and I’m not surprised things are working out as she believed they would. Anyway, thanks for the sessions. I have chores at the manor that need doing so I hope you will excuse me.”

“Chores, I have a few of my own. Those men I spoke of are waiting in the west wing and I need to take them to the guardhouse,” Marcus stated and walked with him most
of the two spans to the manor.

He broke off in the direction of a large one story granite building near the stables.  The roof was flat and had a railing from which the guards could look out over the estate, although the tower gave the best view. Knowing him, the Captain was preparing a rigorous test before bringing them to the guardhouse. Daniel entered the manor, ascended to the fourth floor master bedroom, and prepared to get creative, the kind of creativity that required privacy. He summoned the potential for, Find All, energy for the spell flooded into him, making him feel stronger, and he focused on the entire building, above ground, and deep down into the bedrock, sensing Jared in the west wing and Marcus leading eighty men across the lawn. None of the non-Aakacarns could see the blue glow of potential.

He was aware of every room, every dimension, how thick each wall was, and every spider, creeping bug, and even birds that landed and took off from the roof. Farther below the foundation was the source of the spring, a river flowing deep beneath the estate. He then added a Da Capo to that spell and summoned the potential for, Fashioning, placing both palms flat against the granite wall. The room above and the ones directly beneath the master bedroom were empty, but they would not be for long. He focused his awareness into the bedrock, envisioning three chambers; one he formed into a replica of the master bedroom, the second a large storeroom, and the third into a two chambered vault. The area he displaced did not turn to dust or disappear; it actually increased the density of the surrounding stone, making it stronger. He formed some of the stone in the master bedroom into a smaller room and created a privy with a water cabinet, sink, and bath tub, then formed small shafts that led down into the underground river and extended pipes with valves to regulate the flow of water. Other shafts he created to bring air flow into the hidden chambers and some shafts were drain fields to carry away waste so as not to pollute the river. In the room on the first floor, he formed a sink so the manor would have an indoor water supply, and then extended a pipe and valve down into the water. At the back left wall of his fourth floor room, he rearranged the stone into a ten by ten pace shaft and ran it all the way down to his hidden chambers in the bedrock, and then formed a circular stairway from there up into his room on the fourth floor. The only access was in the master bedroom and the lower chamber.

Daniel opened his eyes and formed a door that would appear to be a wall in front of the stairs. He went down into his subterranean chamber, summoning a ball of light, and examined his work. The rooms were exactly how he had envisioned them. Satisfied, he went into the two-chambered vault. In the outer vault he summoned, Fashioning, forming shelves, projecting them several paces out of the walls and raised a stone table in the middle of the floor. In the inner vault, he separated a hundred pounds of rock from the wall, so evenly no one could tell it had been removed. He took hold of his belt buckle and summoned the potential for, Change It, then focused on the hundred pounds of rock. The rock became a giant gold belt buckle and he separated it into smaller and smaller sizes, reforming them into statuettes like the
swans and other birds whittled over the years by his father. He added two tiny falcons, horses and even some knives, forks, and spoons, and then placed all except the falcons on the shelves in the outer vault. These he would give to Marcus to put on his uniform. The other golden objects were so Jared could acquire whatever was needed to run the estate. The gold, silver, and copper coins given by the Queen would not last forever and Daniel had no qualms over using his natural born talent to make gold or silver when it was required.

Serena Lowell led her team of twenty Talenteds, sixteen men and four women, every one a Ducaunan, all on horseback, and three hundred sasquatches along the slow moving Tollus River, which started at the Taltin Sea but was nothing like the Mighty Hirus. In a number of places along the way the river had become a series of meanders, oxbows, and horseshoe-shaped bends that often turned into small lakes, but she managed to stay on course. Water lilies and vegetation sheltered frogs, salamanders, and a host of other small creatures. The river was home to fish, turtles, snakes, herons, and ducks as well as storks. The land was wet, wild, and teaming with life, and she hated it. Trees lined both sides of the broad waterway, making her peer through black cypress, tupelos, and willows to keep track of the waterline. The ground was saturated, it was the middle of the day, she was hot, and more than slightly bothered. Humidity had her red-blond hair plastered to her head, and this was autumn, the beginning of the dry season, making her wonder what summer would be like.

Her team was large enough for them to teleport, even though not one of the members possessed a single lightning bolt of potential, which is the way she wanted it. No one who equaled or surpassed her rank had been allowed on her team, she could not take the chance one of them would kill her and complete the mission while her body became food for the creatures of this wretched land. The Talenteds riding behind her posed no threat, for her repertoire was nearly equal to that of Serin Gell, one of the most experienced Accomplisheds in the guild. The honor of retrieving the trumpet of
Tarin Conn had been given to her by Vance Cummin, who was the acting leader of the Serpent Guild after Daniel Benhannon defeated Balen. The Supreme Maestro had not yet named the Three-bolt Accomplished to the office of Maestro, but the appointment seemed inevitable, and Serena was determined to prove to him 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. The plan had been to select her team, teleport to the Ducalin estate, obtain the trumpet in a lightning raid, and bring the crescendo to Vance. She knew the Melody; that had not been the problem, it was the other detail. Neither she nor any member of the Serpent Guild had ever been anywhere near the target site, that meant teleporting to the closest possible alternative and then traveling like the backward Accomplisheds of Aakadon were forced to do, over land. The
Tollus River flows through or at least near the Ducalin estate and so she and her team teleported to Rivertown, the only township founded along the river, one hundred eighty-three spans north of their destination. She could not use a riverboat because it was a little hard, if not impossible, and risky, to cram three hundred sasquatches on board. That; and every member of the guild had been ordered to keep a low profile. It had been a tough slog with five thousand paces to a span, but they were only five spans from their target.

The beasts were huge, most over nine cubits in height, with shaggy brown fur, and dark leathery faces. The spell, Obey Me, was tied to her life force, and kept the smelly creatures under her control, no one else on her team knew the Melody so they could not help, and she had no intention of teaching them. She had to actually touch each  creature while holding the potential in order to bring it into subjection, that had taken time, but they made a good raiding force and would obey her commands without hesitation, something her team of Talenteds did not always do. She had been forced to make an example of Geb SuTamkin, the illegitimate son of Lord Tamkin. The tall Ducaunan, who some might consider to be handsome, including him, tried to take over the mission half way to their destination, so she tenderly touched him on the cheek and focused, Obey Me, into his head. The spell does not work on humans but it did drop him to the ground like a sack of dried beans. She compelled one of the sasquatches to carry him because it took the better part of a day for the fool to stop drooling and regain his senses. He no lon
ger questioned her authority.

“With you as our leader, there should be no problem getting through the pathetic defenses set in place by the commoners,” Jak Tal
tin said from right behind her.

Taltin, the most flattering member of the team, constantly praised her decisions, and tried to be useful. He was ambitious and Serena understood that motivation well, but she knew better than to trust him, she fully trusted no one. He had a pointed nose, thin lips, and his dark eyes were too far apart, but he had his uses, although now was not the time to put them to work. “Duzolta, go scout the manor house and grounds, cast, Terrain, and return here,” she ordered.

“As you command,” Ferren Duzolta replied, and galloped off.

She liked his enthusiasm. The young man was short by the standards of his countrymen, and wiry, but still towered over her, as did they all. He was an orphan who had grown up on the streets of Zoltair and was very good at sneaking into the homes of the wealthy. He also had quick hands, a light touch, and could pick a pocket in the blink of an eye. Accomplisheds of the Serpent Guild snatched him away when his Potential was discovered at the age of ten and now he knew even better way
s of infiltrating strongholds.

“The ferret is good, I’ll give him that,” Ursula Duggan commented, while pulling back th
e hood of her black silk cloak.

She was dark of eye and hair, pale skinned, muscular, and dressed in unrelieved black, as were all of the Talenteds. Serena had the
black silks with silver braiding and a single golden lightning bolt indicating her rank in potential. Her peach complexion and blue eyes were a stark contrast to those of her pasty-faced team. Ursula’s mouth seemed to be shaped in a perpetual pout, she never smiled, but she had a cruel sense of humor. She was the one who first referred to Duzolta as, Ferret, and the name stuck.