Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) (3 page)

When he hit the ground with a soundless
thud
the
whole camp held its breath, waiting to see if there was anyone else still left.
But it was dead silent with only the crackling of the torches and the waves
hitting the shoreline to be heard. Riana sucked in a breath and let it out
again, feeling the dew of sweat on her temples and at the small of her back.
Well. That had certainly gotten her blood pumping.

“Ash. Those bandits be from Cloud’s Rest.” Bewildered, she
turned to face him. “What in the wide green world be they doing here?”

Ash groaned, his head falling back. “That is a very good
question. I have a few guesses, and I’m hoping they’re not right. It looks like
word of what we’re doing here has gotten out.”

Well, granted, it wasn’t a stretch to think that word of the
settlement had gone as far north as the mountains. They’d been at this several
weeks, too; word was bound to get out. It didn’t mean that Riana liked it.

“Let’s see if there are any survivors left,” Ash suggested,
already grimly striding forward. “I have questions.”

Riana followed at his heels, eyes panning right and left for
trouble, although she didn’t expect to find any. Some of the men came along
with them, holding torches high to help give them light. Ash, as if realizing
the lack of illumination, belatedly called up several mage lights and set them
around as he moved.

It took them a while, but they found three men who were still
moving. They were holding their hands to their sides and trying to either hide
or hobble away. Riana only had two arrows left, but she drew one of them and
fired right in front of their feet. “Do no’ move.”

The man stopped dead. In the harsh whiteness of the mage
light, and with him bleeding fiercely, he looked like a mangled ghost. Then he
took a proper look at her and grinned. “I know ye.”

Unfortunately, she could say the same. She didn’t know the
man by name, but she had seen his face more than once before, and knew exactly
who he was.

Ash pointed a stern finger toward the sand. “Sit. I’ll put a
spell on you to stop the bleeding. In return, you give me frank answers to the
questions I ask you.” As they sat, he leaned toward her and murmured, “You know
him?”

“Aye,” she breathed, feelings of disgust and resignation
curling up in the pit of her stomach. It felt like she had eaten something
rotten. “Me da mentioned afore that he had experience with bandit gangs? This be
one of them. The Grey Wolves.”

“One of the larger ones?”

“Aye. Unfortunately.” Riana had a bad premonition about this
and she didn’t care for it one lick.

Ash bent down far enough to put a spell on all three of the
men, stopping them from bleeding out. She noticed he did not actually go as far
as to heal them, but that was to be expected. Under Estolian law, these men
would not be shown any leniency, nor should they. These were hardened criminals
and had never shown any regrets over the lives they lived. No punishment would
make a dent with them and releasing them again would mean that some innocent in
the future would be impacted.

“Well, well, well.” The other two didn’t look up at her,
knowing well what their fate was, and just laid flat on the sand. But the first
man to speak was staring at Riana and Ash with a contemplative look on his
face. “Riana Ravenscroft, as I live and breathe.”

She took comfort in the fact that he wouldn’t be doing
either for much longer. “How did ye come to know of the settlement?”

“Oh, word’s all around about this place. Rich prize, this
one. But then, being that it has funding right from a king, no surprise, eh?”
He grinned, showing rotten teeth and an evil glee about the whole situation
that made her skin crawl.

She and Ash exchanged troubled looks. Word was all around?
These were men from one of the largest of the bandit gangs, but the others were
comparable in size. If they had dared to come, then odds were good that the
others would try their hand at it as well.

“Wondered where ye went,” he continued, unprompted. “Ye and
yer da just up and disappeared one day. Thought someone might have finally
taken the pair of ye down.” He gave her a rich leer, stretching from ear to
ear. “Am mighty glad that did no’ happen. But ye got yerself a man, eh? Shame,
that. We been all taking bets on who would be yer first.”

Riana saw red. This lout, what vileness was he spouting?!

She didn’t even see Ash move. He was between the two of them
in a heartbeat, fist lashing out, clocking the man so hard in the jaw that it
knocked the bandit out cold. Shaking with rage, he straightened and reached
back, grabbing her hand almost hard enough to leave bruises behind. “He’d told
us enough.”

Squeezing back, she gave a simple, “Aye,” of agreement even
as her heart warmed. Now this was exactly why she was so taken with the man.
She was as precious to him as his own skin and he never left her in any doubt
of that.

Turning, Ash beckoned with a wave of his hand. “McKay. Can
you deal with these three? Lock them up somewhere overnight until we can get
them to my sister in the morning.”

“No worries there, sir, we’ll handle it.”

“Thank you. I’m going to put up a ward around the main camp
and the docks tonight so that we can at least sleep without another attack looming
over our heads. Liam? Spread word that once the ward is up, absolutely no one
can get through until I take it down again. So if someone has business outside
of these two areas, they have about a half hour to take care of it.”

“I’ll see to it,” Liam assured him. “Sir, all respect, but I
don’t think you and Miss Riana should be tramping around the camp alone. Can I
send some men with you?”

Ash was ready to object, she was certain of it, so Riana
quickly cut in. “That be a fine notion, Liam, thank ye. Four or five should do
the trick. Have the rest spread out as watchmen until the ward be up.”

Liam trotted off, calling to people as he went. Ash took
advantage of the preoccupation to murmur to her, “I think we’d be safe enough.”

Shaking her head, Riana responded just as quietly, “Half of
‘em went into the woods, Ash. Now, if any a man has an idea of revenge in his
head, this be the opportune moment to strike. Catch ye on yer blind side as ye
be working, that be bandit tactics.”

He rocked back on his heels, considering this for a moment,
and hummed. “You do have a point. Guard it is. I guess, after that, I get to
call Ashlynn and wake her up.”

Who would in turn wake up Edvard. Who would in turn demand
that a guard be sent over immediately, if not sooner. “It can no’ wait for
morning?”

“You want to explain to her why we delayed eight hours in
reporting a bandit infestation in the settlement, be my guest.”

Riana thought of Ashlynn’s probable response and winced.
“Never mind.”

“Wise of you,” Ash approved with a grin.

“Bandits just attacked the settlement.” Edvard repeated the
words as if he were trying to do some sort of complicated equation with them,
only nothing was adding up.

Ashlynn apparently was aware that her blood-brother did not
wake up well or quickly. They had dragged Edvard out into the small sitting
room next to his bedroom, hoping that not reporting this while the king was
still in bed might help him wake up easier. It had not yet noticeably helped. She
was patient as she repeated, “Ash just contacted me to report it. No one on our
side was injured, as most fled the minute they were discovered. But Riana tells
me they were from a rather large bandit gang in Cloud’s Rest.”

“The Grey Wolves,” Broden supplied darkly. He had not taken
that bit of news well at all. Half the reason they had moved to Estole was to
get away from the bandits altogether, and now here they were again. It was a
tangled, twisted fate between them, and Broden did not care for it one bit.

Edvard sat on this information for a full minute before
asking, “Why?”

Unfortunately, Broden knew the answer all too well. “Not
much in the way of targets up in Cloud’s Rest. Mostly, the bandits steal from
each other, as there be naught much else to steal from. But the settlement,
now, it can be reached in two days if ye travel fast and hard. It be close
enough to tempt ‘em. And a rich prize, lightly guarded, to boot.” It was, in
fact, the perfect target for bandits. Broden kicked himself for not realizing
it sooner, but really, who would expect them to be willing to travel those two
days? Bandits were notoriously lazy, it was why they were thieves in the first
place.

“So you’re saying, not only will this gang try again, but
the others will likely turn their hand to it too? At least once, to see if the
effort is worth the profit?” Edvard did not wait for his confirmation before
slumping into his chair. “Don’t we have enough problems?”

Broden certainly thought so. “Ash be setting up a ward
around the camp as we speak.”

“That’s something, at least, they can rest tonight. But the
ward can’t be a permanent thing. Right?” He looked to Ashlynn for the answer.

“Right,” she agreed. “There would have to be a permanent
structure for the ward to stay up constantly and the camp doesn’t have anything
like that. So Ash will have to set up a ward every night and take it down every
morning; otherwise no one can leave and no work can get done.”

“A wall?” Edvard offered, only to stop and correct himself,
“No, that limits how much the settlement can grow. It was the mistake we made
here in Estole; I don’t dare repeat it. Temporary wards it is. Ashlynn, how
many men can you afford to send over to the settlement?”

“Not a one. But I’ll find a few people to at least be
lookouts. Really, Ash and Riana are the deadliest fighters over there. As long
as they can be alerted, then no bandit is going to have much of a chance
against them. I’ll set some lookouts, check in with Ash consistently, and hope
the bandits realize quickly that we might be a rich prize, but we’re too costly
to take on.”

Broden would not bet on that last part. Desperate men did
alarmingly stupid things on a regular basis, and the bandits he had fought
against were known for their glaring lack of common sense. It might take weeks
and more than a dozen failed attempts before they even paused to reconsider
their decision. “Lass, we best step up the training for yer new guardsmen.”

“Looks like we’ll need them sooner rather than later,” she
admitted. “Edvard, I’m just reporting tonight, as I think Ash has things well
in hand over there, but we do need to talk about this at length tomorrow and
see if we can’t come up with a counter plan.”

Edvard bobbed his head in a tired motion. “Noted. Go back to
bed, both of you. Wait, were any of the bandits still alive?”

“Three, Ash said.”

“Send them over here. I want them interrogated before we
execute them. More information is vital at this point.”

“I’ll see to it,” she promised. Standing, she led the way
out the door and closed it gently behind her before whispering to Broden, “You
don’t think they’ll stop easily, do you?”

“No, lass.” Broden stared sightlessly down the hallway,
remembering a time that he thought he would be able to forget and never think
of again. “No, I do no’. We be seeing more of them. Mark me on that.”

Things went apace over the next few days. They did have some
injuries, as men grew tired and made careless mistakes, but Ash was always
called for, and in between some old-fashioned poultices and his magic, people
were able to heal up well enough.

Ashlynn had found three men, all of them fresh out of
training, to help stand as watchmen while everyone else worked. Riana took them
under her wing and showed them the best trees to hide in so that they had an
excellent vantage point but were out of sight themselves. Her time with bandits
had shown her that they didn’t look up nearly as often as they should, and she
didn’t want one of these young guardsmen on the ground where they could be
surrounded, and be easily hurt. Better to stay up. She gave each of them a
hunting horn as well, the horns having their own distinct sound, so that they
could tell her instantly if trouble was coming and which direction she needed
to head towards.

Her father came over the morning after the attack and worked
out a plan with the settlement of where to go if there was an attack and who
should be fighting where. With the horns in place, they ran a drill in the
middle of the day, once a day, to keep things fresh in their heads and to make
sure that everyone knew instantly what the horns meant.

They went four days without seeing even a bandit’s shadow.
Riana did not think that they were safe yet just because of those four days of
quiet. Actually, she expected the trouble to start any day now. The bandits had
four days to go back to Cloud’s Rest, report in, and then have them travel
toward the settlement. If they were making good time, that was. Really, it took
most people three days to make that trip, but a determined group could do it in
two.

She guarded Ash with strict attention as he went about that
night putting the ward up. He was halfway around the camp before he stopped
dead and studied her. “Is there a reason why you’re so on edge tonight?”

“Trouble most likely will strike tonight or on the morrow,”
she said frankly.

The mage light floating above their heads was bright enough that
she could see his face clearly. But she couldn’t read the expression there.
“The bandits before knew you?”

It was the first time he had asked that question. Riana had
hoped he wouldn’t. Sighing, she admitted, “Aye. If our old village had trouble,
they called on me and Da to fix it. Or fight it. We crossed paths with every
gang up there more than once.”

“Explain to me exactly how many gangs are up there and
why
they’re up there. I mean, there’s not much in those mountains aside from a
few villages.”

“They started out as pirates,” she recounted as they went to
the next spot, continuing to put the ward up. “They had spots along the Western
Sea coast that they’d winter in. Edge of Cloud’s Rest be one of them. Then one
of them, I forget who, lost their ship in a storm and it stranded the whole lot
of them. So they just stayed in their winter hideout and turned to banditry.”

“That makes sense. I suppose they didn’t have any other
options. And the other gangs?”

“Mind, this all took place about thirty or so years ago. The
original gang had infighting—no surprise there—and it split and grew into other
gangs. They could no’ live in Iysh proper at the time. Twenty years ago, Iysh
be much harsher with banditry, and more organized in taking care of thieves.
The only place to live be Cloud’s Rest. So they lived there, and took forays
into Iysh—mostly around Senn—and survived somehow doing that.” Even as she
recounted this history, Riana was surprised herself at how much she knew about
them. But perhaps it shouldn’t surprise her. She’d grown up fighting this enemy
her entire life, and her father had been fighting them most of his, so was it a
wonder that they had learned about the gangs through sheer association? “Now,
the territories up there are so established that they do no’ dare leave them
for any real space of time for fear the others will take over.”

“Even though Iysh is now safer for bandits to live in? Huh.
Very interesting. I suppose if you’ve lived in a place for thirty-something
years, you would get attached to it. Your father mentioned to me while he was
here that they mostly like to steal from each other when they don’t have other
targets handy.”

“Aye.” Riana made a face. “Now, we be the other target.”

“And so you’re jittery because you have a very good idea of
what’s coming next.”

She nodded morosely. “Ash, when I said afore that belike the
settlement will grow to meet Cloud’s Rest, I did no’ mean the bandits too.”

He paused and put an arm around her shoulders, giving her a
comforting squeeze. “I know, I know. We’ll figure out a solution to this
madness. Ashlynn and Broden have both promised me that they’re thinking of a
strategy on how to deal with this. We’re to focus on defense and keep building
the settlement in the meantime. We can’t afford any delays in building. It’ll
hit us badly this winter if we don’t have the settlement up and running by
then.”

While she knew all of that, it didn’t really comfort her
much. At least with the ward up, they could sleep at night, as no bandit stood
a chance of finding a way past it. But that just meant they would be more
desperate during the day to attack. It merely delayed the inevitable. Perhaps
it even made it worse.

Ash might have to work on building the settlement, but she
certainly didn’t. “I be thinking I will take a watch as well during the day,
help our guardsmen.”

“Your talents are better used there,” Ash agreed. “Do what
you need to. And if you really feel like we should expect trouble from tomorrow
on, stop the drills. I don’t want the bandits figuring out our patterns and
finding holes in them to exploit.”

That was a scary notion. “I will. Ye think people know ‘em
well enough now?”

“I think so. The drill today went so smoothly it was near
perfect.”

It did help that they weren’t asking for anything
complicated. Riana nodded, content with this. “Then get this ward up so we can
go to bed. We need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow.”

Ash grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Miss Riana,” Thorne greeted respectfully, scooting a little
over on his branch to make room for her. Riana climbed up smoothly, sinking
down into a crouch, as the branch was easily wide enough to support the two of
them.

“Thorne,” she returned the greeting. He was as ginger headed
as she herself was, although with far more freckles, and a turned-up nose that
made him look like he was fifteen instead of nineteen. Ashlynn had told her he
was one of the more observant of the new batch of guardsmen, and because he
often accompanied his father while hunting, he knew how to read the forest. So
far that had been proven true as he saw things the other two watchmen did not.
“What do ye see this morning?”

“Not good things.” Thorne waved her in closer before
pointing steadily outside of the camp. “See that narrow wisp of smoke?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I do. No one out that direction?”

“Hunters staying near the shoreline,” he informed her, not
taking his eyes off that trail of smoke. “No one’s going past me these days,
and good thing, too. That’s a cooking fire unless I miss my guess. It showed up
this morning. I wasn’t on duty last night, but I’d bet a month’s pay that our
bandits arrived last night.”

Riana cursed solidly under her breath. “I will no’ take that
bet, Thorne.”

He spared her a quick grin. “That’s because you’re a wise
woman, ma’am.”

She stared hard in that direction and detected traces of
movement. The bandits were trying hard to keep their presence to a minimum, but
she had twenty years of experience keeping an eye for them and knew what to
look for. “It looks like quite a group is out there.”