The Warrior Elf (27 page)

“How do you do that?” Chris asked. “How do they know what you’re saying?”

Kyle laughed. “They recognize certain words, like outside and play, but tone of voice plays a role, too. As to dinner, they could see it wasn’t down yet, so outside made sense.” Kyle picked up a kettle and set it on the stove to heat. “Tea?”

Everyone nodded, so he pulled out four cups and set them on the counter. Then he looked at Rhianna. “So, what do you think of my dogs?”

“They’re lovely, and I envy you being able to spend so much time with them. You’ve got a couple of good trackers in the making out there, and one of those pups is going to herd sheep one day.”

“Bit your heels, huh?” Kyle asked with a grin.

Rhianna laughed and nodded. “Sharp little teeth, too. What is she, maybe four months old?”

“That’s about right,” Kyle said as the kettle started whistling.

“That was fast,” Chris said with a frown.

“I am a sorcerer, you know,” Kyle said.

“I keep forgetting you can do stuff like that,” Chris said. “When I think of you, I think of dogs.”

After Kyle poured the tea, they sat around the table and talked for a while. Then, when the tea was gone, Kyle got up and started pulling out dog bowls. “Here, take these and start filling them. Time to feed my crew.”

Before the dogs came in to eat, Kevin said, “Guess we’d better go. We’ve missed a lot of meals at the castle lately and Miranda’s beginning to think we don’t like her food. If I let Nikki eat somewhere else too...”

Kyle laughed. “Glad you came by, and Rhianna, it was nice to see you again.” At her puzzled look, he grinned. “I met you once before, but you were only a toddler. I was in Crinsor Run with Badec a couple of years after Yvonne died. You were maybe two. Anyway, it was nice to see you again, and feel free to come back anytime you want to play with the dogs. They’re always more than willing to play. And you don’t have to wait for Kevin either. Chris can bring you.”

Rhianna smiled and held out her hand. “Thanks. I may take you up on that.”

After Kyle shook her hand, they went back outside. While Rhianna was corralling Nikki so they could leave, Kyle put his arm around Kevin’s shoulders and whispered, “You’ve got a good one there. Don’t let her get away.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Sunday evening before Rhianna went upstairs, she told Kevin she couldn’t remember when she’d had more fun than she’d had that day. Nothing she could have said would have pleased him more, and he headed down to his office with a light step. After a quick check to see if anything urgent had come in while he was out, Kevin went up to his room. He was brushing Nikki when Chris came in with a couple of mugs of scog and some cake. He set the tray down on the coffee table.

“Did you make it to Warren’s today?” Chris picked up one of the two slices of cake and sat down.

Kevin nodded. “He’s talked to everyone, not just Colin and Ryan. He wanted to make sure everyone knows he’s leaving because he’s on a special mission for me and that he’ll be back, but since he’s going to be gone a couple of years, he told them not to put things off until he gets back, to let Colin handle them.”

“Makes it sound like Colin’s just filling in while he’s gone.”

“Warren said Colin’s afraid everyone will resent him if they think he’s taking over Warren’s job.”

“Think Colin can handle it?”

Kevin shrugged. “Warren thinks so, and he should know. He’s worked with him for over six months now. But I had to promise to check in with both Colin and Ryan at least once a week to see how things are going, so be sure you put it down on a calendar somewhere. Otherwise I’ll forget.”

“Public or private?”

“I don’t care as long as I go, but I hate to tie up a bodyguard with something that trivial.”

“Might not be trivial if you go on a regular basis. How long do you think you’ll have to do this?”

Kevin shook his head. “I have no idea, but I hope it’ll only be for a couple of months. After Colin and Ryan get used to Warren being gone, they should relax a bit. Then maybe we can back off to once a month or so.”

“When do you need to start?”

“A week after I take Warren out to Rainbow Valley.”

“And when’s that?”

“This Thursday.”

Chris frowned. “Why Thursday?”

“I want them to have a few days to adjust before Warren starts working with Landis. I was thinking Friday would be good, but we have the federation meeting on Friday, so I moved it to Thursday.”

“So we need to be sure you drop by Walnut Springs before the end of the day the following Thursday.”

Kevin nodded.

“I’ll put it on the public calendar, at least for a while. It’ll give your bodyguards something to do. They’ve been getting bored lately with you spending all your time with Rhianna.”

“I hadn’t thought about it, but they have been leaving me alone this week. Wonder why?”

Chris rolled his eyes. “You have a warrior elf with you! Do you think for one minute either one of them wants to insult her by suggesting you need another bodyguard when she’s with you? Remember who took Saryn down? I imagine Alek’s still a little embarrassed about it even though she is a warrior elf.”

“You might be right,” Kevin said, “but I don’t think of her as a warrior or a bodyguard. To me she’s a regular woman.”

“Yeah, well I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but not many of the women on Terah walk around in leggings and wear daggers on their belts.”

Kevin frowned. “They do around here. Joan does, so does Laryn. Elin and Cameryn do, too.”

“But that’s here. This place is hardly typical. Let me ask you something. How were the women dressed at Dara’s yesterday?”

Kevin thought for a moment. “Okay, you’ve got a point. They were in dresses, dressy ones at that, with low necklines and long skirts. Lots of lace and bows, too. And you’re right, no daggers. No belts either, although Katrin did have a ribbon thingy around her waist.”

“See? And how was the new clerk at Tolliver’s dressed?”

“Well, she didn’t have a low neckline, but I see what you mean. She wore a dress, too. So did Callie and Ainsley. Okay, you’ve made your case. She doesn’t dress like most women on Terah, but she’d fit right in on Earth, which is why I never paid any attention to it.”

“But everyone else sees a warrior when they look at her. The female part is secondary. You might need to keep that in mind, especially when you start talking about bodyguards. If she’s with you, she’s your bodyguard. Don’t even suggest you need someone else.”

Chapter 16

The Council of Elders

Rhianna had felt lighthearted when she started up the stairs Sunday evening, but by the time she reached her room, a mantle of despair had settled on her shoulders. So much was riding on the council’s ruling. All she’d ever wanted was to be a warrior elf, and now, because of some lie Rolan’s men were spreading, she was in danger of losing everything she’d worked so hard to gain.

Up until that night she’d refused to allow herself to even think they might decide against her. It would be bad enough if they told her she was no longer a warrior elf, but if they banished her it would mean the end of life as she knew it. Tears ran down her cheeks as the possibility of never again being able to hear her mother’s voice, see her father’s eyes, or roam through the woods of Crinsor Run sank in.

Myron wouldn’t be able to help her if they banished her, no matter how much he might want to. Any association with her would put him in direct conflict with the elves and bring dishonor to his position and his house. She’d have to stay away from Landis, too. She couldn’t let her disgrace bleed over onto her either. Her only option would be to vanish.

But how would she support herself if she couldn’t work as a warrior elf? She’d be an outcast no matter where she went. The humans wouldn’t want her around, and she’d be forbidden to live anywhere near elves. Where could she go? How would she live?

Rhianna tossed and turned as her mind dwelt on the worst possible outcome. She gave up on sleep a couple of hours before daybreak and mentally called out to Corin. After she dressed, she headed downstairs, hoping the unicorn would meet her at the stable.

Corin was waiting outside the dining room door.
“Bad night?”

“You might say that,”
Rhianna answered mentally.
“Could we go for a ride?”

“Sure.”
Corin waited for Rhianna to mount and then said,
“There’s a clearing on top of the mountain where you can see the light as the sun comes over the horizon. Might lift your spirits to watch the dawn of a new day.”

“I doubt it’ll help to watch the dawn of this one, but we can give it a try,”
Rhianna answered as Corin galloped across the pasture and headed for the woods.
“Who knows? Maybe I’ll fall off the top and not have to deal with today.”

For a moment, Rhianna could have sworn she heard the unicorn laugh.

~ ~ ~ ~

Kevin tossed and turned so much Sunday night that Nikki abandoned the bed and curled up on the couch. He knew what Rhianna was facing with the Council of Elders and he felt powerless to help her. In spite of all his talk, he had no authority where the elves were concerned. They would be well within their rights to send him packing and tell him to take the other humans with him.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not come up with one persuasive argument for why they should listen to him. He hadn’t even been there when it happened. The only one who could overrule them was Glendymere, but he’d never challenge the sovereignty of the Council of Elders in purely elven matters. And even though Kevin was loath to admit it, determining whether or not an elf met the criteria for being a warrior elf was an elven issue, as was deciding who was allowed to live among them.

About an hour before sunrise, Kevin gave up on sleep and got dressed. He felt like he was wound so tight he was going to explode, and the only thing he knew of that might ease the pressure was his magic.

He took Nikki down to the stable and left her in her crate so she could go back to sleep. Then he floated across the river and entered the little grove where he practiced every morning. Usually anyone in the area saw a display of energy gently rising and falling when he ran through his routine, but not that morning. Instead of sparkles of light dancing among the tree tops, his magic burst out of the grove and lit up the sky.

Rhianna was too deep in the forest to see any of it, but Chris had a ringside seat. He hadn’t slept well either and by the time Kevin entered the grove, Chris was on the balcony. At the first explosion of light, Chris frowned, and as more and more bursts of light shot out of the grove, the frown deepened. It wasn’t the bursts that bothered Chris as much as the ragged transitions. Usually they were so smooth that unless you knew his routine, you couldn’t spot them. But that morning Kevin seemed to be struggling for control, fighting to keep his magic from getting away from him. He was like a keg of dynamite with a short fuse. The last thing any of them needed was for some elf to strike the match.

Chris paced back and forth as he watched the sky above the grove. He kept hoping things would settle down, but they seemed to be intensifying. There was no way he could let Kevin go to North Amden in that mood. He figured he had until lunch to either calm Kevin down or come up with a compelling reason why he should be the one to go to North Amden.

~ ~ ~ ~

Chris waited until Kevin was finished and on his way back before going down to the kitchen for coffee. He wanted Kevin to think he’d missed that morning’s performance.

Kevin stepped into the dining room from the patio at the same time Chris walked in from the hall. “Good morning,” Chris said, yawning. “Are you up early or did I oversleep?”

“I was early,” Kevin said in a gruff voice. “Had trouble sleeping last night.”

“So did I,” Chris answered, ignoring Kevin’s mood. “I want to talk to you about something but let’s get our coffee first.”

Kevin grunted, which Chris chose to interpret as agreement, so he went on into the kitchen. He poured two cups of coffee and grabbed a couple of brownies to take back upstairs.

Kevin had changed into his formal tunic, complete with his red sash, by the time Chris walked in. Chris nodded to himself. He definitely needed to come up with a compelling reason. “Last night I kept thinking about the meeting today,” he began as he sat down with his coffee.

“So did I,” Kevin mumbled.

“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea for you to go,” Chris said matter-of-factly, and held his breath for Kevin’s reaction.

“What?! Of course I’m going!”

Chris leaned back and tilted his head. “I know you want to, and there are some good arguments for it on several levels. For one, you need to show your support for Rhianna because she was defending your apprentice.”

“And a couple of guys who work for me,” Kevin growled.

“True, but they’re not the ones you’re trying to convince people she was protecting,” Chris said. “On another level, the incident involves you because it happened in what might be considered your backyard.”

Kevin snorted as he sat down opposite Chris and picked up his coffee. “Everything you’ve said argues for me to go. So why do you say I shouldn’t?”

“Because we’re looking at things from our point of view, not theirs, and I think we need to consider how they’ll see it if you show up.”

“They’ll see that I think she was justified,” Kevin spit out.

Chris nodded. “In other words, they’re going to think you’re there to influence their decision. Seeing you there will make the elves think the Master Sorcerer’s planning to meddle in something that should be left up to them, and that’s who they’re going to see. Not Myron, not the Sorcerer of Camden, but the Master Sorcerer. And that’s a heavy weight to be tossing around. I’m afraid seeing you there might tilt the scales against her.”

Kevin opened his mouth to argue, but closed it and frowned. “I hate to admit it, but you may have a point.” He sighed as he leaned back and took a sip of his coffee. “I was up a lot last night too, and one of the things bothering me is no matter how much I want to help, there’s nothing I can do. The reason they’ve requested her presence is they’re going to decide whether or not she can remain a warrior elf and that’s completely under their control. I have no say in that whatsoever.”