Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) (17 page)

Hopefully it didn’t take him long to regain his temper.

Three hours passed with no sign of Ash returning.

Riana had at first thought to let the man have his space. It
was only after he had left that she realized where she had gone wrong with the
argument. All of her life, she and her father had been partners. They worked
together in every single aspect in order to survive, so she was used to
depending on a partner and being depended on in return. It was as natural to
her as breathing. Switching partners to Ash had been uncertain at first because
she’d never worked with anyone aside from her father, so it was new and
different. But at the same time, it was the same, as she was basically doing
what she had always done.

What she had failed to consider was that Ash was completely
different from her. He had never once had a partner growing up. While he and
Ashlynn were twins, and worked well together, they normally didn’t team up on
projects because their talents and specializations were different. To Ash, the
concept of having a partner was welcome but radically different from normal. He
was still getting accustomed to the idea of having her. Being an independent
man most of his life, he didn’t really know how to depend on her yet. He was
far more comfortable with having her depend on him, as that was how people had
interacted with him most of his life.

All of that boiled down to this: telling him that he could
not work, that he could not do what he had trained for years to do, would not
go over well. That wide, stubborn, independent streak of his would make him
rebel against such a saying. Whether or not it was coming from his partner
would make no difference. Ash took care of the world—that was what he thought
he was supposed to do. It had driven him into the ground to begin with. Her
mistake had been in thinking that a simple word from her would change him.

Three hours of introspection had told her what she had said
wrong, but that didn’t necessarily mean that she knew what to change to make it
right. But she did know that she couldn’t afford to sit there any longer. It
had become very late, the fire was down to embers, and Ash was wandering around
in country he didn’t know that well. If he found trouble, he would be ill
prepared to meet it head on, his condition being what it was. Riana sat there
and debated for a full minute on what to do. Her first instinct was just to get
up and track him but she couldn’t leave the camp as it was. There had been
sparse traffic on the road today and she’d seen nary a sign of bandits, but
that didn’t mean it wise to leave everything behind.

Finally, she decided to pack back up before looking for Ash.
She stuffed everything back in the packs, re-saddled the horses, and then
grabbed a branch from nearby to make herself a makeshift torch. With that
lighting her path, the reins of the horses in her free hand, she set off in the
direction Ash had disappeared into.

In pitch darkness like this with only torchlight to go by,
tracking a man wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. The ground was hard,
there were barely any signs to go by, and it became a guessing game very
quickly if she was reading Ash’s tracks or someone else’s. Riana managed
several hundred feet before she came to rocky ground and the tracks disappeared
completely. She stopped dead.

Disgusted, she growled at the ground, “This be a fine
pickle. When I find the man, I be giving him an earful, see if I do no’.”

At this point she only had two options left to her. She
could go back to the camp and wait, hoping that nothing would happen to Ash
during the night and that he’d find his way back to her at some point. She
didn’t like that option at all. It sat ill in her stomach like bad food would.

The other option would be to put their bond to use and see
if she couldn’t find him that way. In practicing at the settlement, she never
had quite caught the knack of it. She could feel his emotions strongly now and
she had a very good sense of his magical core, after concentrating on it for a
straight week. But locating him using those two things had proven to be
difficult in the extreme. She only had a vague indication that he was off in
that direction, somewhere.

If she decided to follow the bond, then she would also be
resorting to wandering around out here in the darkness, which wasn’t exactly a
safe thing to do. Sitting alone in a camp was marginally safer but the idea
still set ill with her. Stuck between two options, neither one of them that
appealing, Riana wasn’t quite sure what to decide.

As she stood there debating with herself, Ash decided the
matter for her. She was as focused on him as ever and she felt several emotions
from him that spoke of nervousness, discomfort, and growing unease. It told a
story to her—he was most likely lost.

“Of course he be,” she said to the horses, glad for someone
to speak to even if they did have four legs and a tail. “Because when he has a
mad-on, he stalks off any which way and pays no’ a mite of attention to where
he be going. So of course he did that and now has no reckoning of where he be.
I really will wring his neck when I find him, mark me on that.”

The horses, sleepy after a long day, blinked at her and did
not respond.

Blowing out a steady stream of air, she tried to calm
herself enough to concentrate. Her da had said that finding someone through a
bond was akin to searching for an aching tooth that wasn’t in your own head.
Riana had laughed at the analogy. It was a rather accurate description though.
That was exactly what she felt like she was doing. She closed her eyes and focused
entirely on that feeling of Ash, magical core, emotions, all of it.

Slowly, she opened her eyes again. It was tenuous, but she
had the distinct impression that he was ahead and to the left. Torch held high
to light her way, she set off in that direction. Her pace was not quick,
partially because of the uncertain footing, partially because she was mapping
out her route mentally so she could trace her steps back to the camp, but
mostly because she was afraid that if she went too fast she’d lose the feeling
of where Ash was.

Curious thing was, the further she walked, the more sure of
herself she became. The sense of him became stronger in her head. She had no
idea of distance—that part wasn’t clear at all—but she knew he was directly
ahead of her. Or was it because she was getting closer that she could feel him
better?

From the darkness, a familiar voice floated out from in
between the trees, “—should never, ever have walked off like that. No matter
how mad I was. If Riana has to come find me, she’ll flay me. And I’ll never
live it down.” There was a string of curses and then a hint of light bobbed in
between the trunks. “I wish I could make the mage light brighter than this. Why
do these things take so much energy?”

Relieved, she nearly skipped ahead to meet him but
restrained herself. In a loud voice, she called ahead, “I have no notion, but
ye best snuff it quick-like!”

There was dead silence. “Riana?”

“Aye, Ash.”

“I’m never living this down.”

“Not even if ye live to be a hundred,” she agreed. Almost giddy
with relief, she lengthened her stride as much as she dared, meeting him
halfway.

When her light came in close enough to illuminate him, Ash
let his mage light wink out. The lighting was dim enough that half his face was
shadowed but she didn’t need to see to know he felt remorseful for the whole
debacle. But there was another emotion mixed in that she couldn’t quite read.
Anticipation?

“Riana.” His voice held a note of hope and curiosity. “Did
you track me?”

“No tracks to follow,” she denied. “Ground be too rocky for
that.”

“So you used our bond?” Ash didn’t wait for a response, just
punched a victorious fist in the air. “Good for you! I wonder why it worked out
here better when you struggled with it so much in Estole?”

“Too much of a safety net at home, I be thinking. Here, I
had no choice but to find ye.”

“That…could well be it. Humans are capable of doing amazing
things when their backs are against a wall.” Sounding as if he were trying to
make the best of things, he declared, “Well. Good you figured out how to do
it.”

“Ash.”

He groaned, “I know. It won’t save me. I’m still in
trouble.”

“Aye. Glad ye ken.”

His head cocked slightly. “But you don’t feel that angry to
me?”

Riana mentally swore. The problem with the bond now being
strong enough to feel emotions was that Ash could always know her state of
mind. Like now. When she really should be angry with him, what she mainly felt
was relief.

Ash eased up to her and put arms tentatively around her
waist. “So. Um. My apologies for losing my temper.”

She felt his sincerity, and her own anger subsided a little.
“Apologies for nagging. Ash, be clear on this: very little in this world be as
important to me as ye. So if I see ye doing something that will harm yerself, I
will speak out.”

“I know you will.” His voice was husky with emotion and his
grip tightened on her. “I’ll try to remember that in the future.”

It was a good enough compromise for this moment. She let go
of her anger, expelling it all out in one long breath. “Well enough.” Stepping
back, she jerked her head, indicating back the way they had come. “Let’s
return.”

Taking one set of reins from her, he climbed into the
saddle. “Ah, where am I, anyway?”

Got well and truly lost, eh? Snorting, she turned them
around the right direction. “Camp be back this way.”

“You brought everything with you, looks like.”

“Aye. Did no’ dare leave it unguarded.”

“That’s probably wise. Iysh is very unsettled and somewhat
lawless these days.” There was a pregnant pause and then Ash spoke in a
wondering tone, “I think our bond strengthened again.”

She twisted hard enough to make the leather saddle creak.
“What?!”

“Close your eyes,” he urged, “test it for yourself.”

Promptly, Riana did just that. She focused on their bond in
the back of her head and found that he was right. His presence was stronger
now. In fact, it was almost tangible, as if she could reach out and touch it.
“It be no’ because of how close we be.”

“No, has nothing to do with distance,” he agreed. He was
nearly chortling with happiness. “Well. Something good came out of this fight
after all.”

Somehow that didn’t surprise her. Only people that were
truly close to each other could fight and reconcile. That didn’t mean she
wanted to continuously fight with Ash, though. Riana wasn’t the sort to seek
conflict, especially not with her nearest and dearest. “All the same…”

“We’ll try not to fight again in the future,” he assured
her, still happy.

Glad he understood that. She led them back to their camp
with the hope that they would sleep well with what they had left of the night
hours.

The next week of traveling was uneventful and yet it was
precious time all the same. They got up early each morning, decamped and rode
until the light faded, made camp, and slept. The routine didn’t change. As they
rode, they spoke more freely and they tried several exercises that helped them
both grasp exactly how their bond worked. While Ash had never before had a
partner, every wizard knew what it was like to have one in theory, so he had a
rough idea of what to do. This was the first time that they both had time to
just focus on their bond without any distractions in the way. The exercises
didn’t always work, Riana struggled to grasp some of them because of her lack
in magical training, but the ones she could do, they did repetitively. Doing
them strengthened it yet again, although more gradually. She was glad for this
instruction as it became more obvious to her how to really read the bond.
Instead of it being
there
and steady, she now could read the nuances of
how it felt. Things like distance became more obvious to her. If Ash got
himself lost again Riana was now confident that she could track him down
without trouble.

To their mutual relief, they arrived in Honora without
trouble. In her life, Riana had never seen a place so big. Even Estole didn’t
compare. The city to her eyes was massive, a sprawling complex that stacked
people on top of people. How did someone live in such close quarters with so
many strangers and stay sane? It boggled her mind. It had taken her weeks just
to get used to Estole and it was a fifth of the size of this place.

Ash must have sensed her unease as he reassured her, “The
academy isn’t actually in Honora.”

Phew. “So we do no’ need to go into the city.”

“No, actually we want to go south of it.”

Thank the heavens for small favors. “Lead the way, then.”

Her wizard might easily get lost if he ventured off into the
countryside, but give him roads to follow, and he knew exactly where to go. He
struck off confidently to a southern highway and then branched off again onto a
side road that was smaller but still large enough to let a cart travel
comfortably. They followed that for a good hour before he lifted a finger and
pointed off to the left. “There it is.”