Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (12 page)

“It will be
easier tomorrow. Please help me to my wagon.”

Bowie lifted the
light wizard off the ground. He was almost sure he could have done it without
the earth imbuement. He walked through the camp, carrying the wizard. Some of
his troops stopped to watch and a couple offered to help, everyone seemed
concerned. One recruit even stopped to open the door to her wagon.

He started to
climb the stairs and she whispered, “Your hat, Sergeant.”

Bowie backed
down the stairs and looked at the recruit. “Take off my hat.”

The recruit
stayed outside the wagon as Bowie laid Ria in bed and covered her with the
blanket.

“I will put someone
outside your wagon to watch over you though the night,” he said as he moved to
place the pouch containing the rest of the imbuements into the cubby that was
now covered with vines.

“Keep it for
now. I am trusting you, Bowie.” She rolled over and started to breath heavily.

Bowie knew she
was asleep. A wool scarf hung over the side rail of the bed. He pulled it free
and gently tied Ria’s hand closed over the imbuements which kept her alive. She
did not stir other than the breathing of deep sleep.

Bowie slipped
out of the wagon and closed the door. He listened to John barking orders to the
troop and followed the sound of his voice. He walked through the ever growing
sea of tents to seek out two men to stand guard over the resting wizard.

  The wizards
healed Kilen and helped him to his feet. They lead him through a tunnel in the
rock wall he had tried to climb. He followed the gray haired wizards out of the
tunnel and into a small village. The village looked like any other. Small houses
lined dirt paths, smoke came from chimneys, and chickens wandered the yards.
The air even smelled like it had at home; with a conglomeration of scents like
fresh baked bread, pies, and sweet rolls.

  One of the
wizards wearing a green robe stopped to speak to Kilen, “Welcome to Idleton. It
is the town of the Elder Wizards. You are welcome to explore the town and get
to know our wizards and weapon bearers”

The other
wizards had already walked down the path and gone their separate ways. The
wizard in the green robe started to walk away also, leaving Kilen to stand at
the edge of the town.

  “Wait! I am
supposed to negotiate your coming to battle for the Earth King.” Kilen said to
the line of wizards. Most walked on and paid no attention to Kilen’s request.

  The wizard in
green turned and gave a half smile “Oh, the Elder Wizard’s Council is already
in discussion. We knew why you were coming just after you left Deuterium. They
will come to a decision and you will be let known the results. Until then,
enjoy your stay. Perhaps you can go to our sword ring and work on your skills
with the blade. I’ve heard you lack the finesse of a true weapon bearer.”

  “How did you
know why I was coming?”

The old wizard
laughed at his questions before walking away down the path.

  “Wizard
secrets are ours to keep and to give as we see fit. Expect to not get the
answer of every question you seek. Good day, Kilen.”

They left him
standing on the dirt path surrounded by stone walls and small houses. He knew
no one, but it seemed everyone knew him. He walked down the street that seemed
to lead towards the center of town. A large column of smoke rose from a
building and Kilen approached it to find a blacksmith’s shop.

This shop was
being worked by four wizards. All the men were dressed in traditional
blacksmith clothes. One of the wizards provided a stream of fire from his hand
and another added to it with wind. The earth wizard handled the hammer and
steel as they made an object Kilen didn’t recognize. The object was a ring of
metal. Too large for a bracelet and too small for a wheel, it wasn’t even large
enough to hold a barrel. The object hissed as the water wizard cooled the ring
back to a black metal.

The water wizard
waved Kilen into the room saying,“Take off the armor and we will get it fixed
up. You should not be representing your wizard in those. Even if Alexander is
impulsive, disrespectful, and arrogant you shouldn’t be seen like this.”

Kilen removed
his armor and placed it near the furnace. He was impressed with how much each
of the wizards knew about him. They knew more about his wizard than he did.
They continued to work on the circle slowly and with a delicate hand. He
watched for a while still not sure what it was they were making. He gave up
trying to guess at what it was and made his way further into town.

  In this town
there were no bakeries, tailors, butchers, or even an inn. The town was just
filled with houses and the comings and goings of their residents. Wizards came
and went about their day as if Kilen had lived there his whole life. They
passed him and offered him friendly greetings. He offered a friendly response
back until he passed an open dirt area with middle aged men sitting around,
laughing and telling war stories.

He stopped to
listen to the men when one approached him. “Kilen, is it? You don’t look like a
powerful weapon bearer.”

Some of the men
laughed, Kilen tried his best to ignore them. “I never said I was powerful.
Whom ever you heard it from must have had their story wrong,” Kilen responded.

  “I’m Ray, this
is where all the weapon bearer’s come to chat and train. The wizards all live a
life of solidarity here. We are bound by oath to follow our wizards and protect
them until we die. Most of us thought that would be a short life of adventure,
but we wound up here. Forever forced to relive the glory days of battle by
sitting around a sword ring.”

  “It’s nice to
meet you, Ray. I was told to find this place. They told me I may be able to
practice the sword while I wait for the Elder Wizard Council to decide if they
will be going to battle. Perhaps if they go to battle you will get to relive
the glory days for real.”

  The men all
laughed at Kilen’s response. “Boy, you will probably have a beard as long as
Chasten’s there, before they decide whether or not they are going,” one of the
men said.

Another called
out, “You will probably be a blademaster as well.” They all laughed and waved
Kilen to join them.

Ray walked
around the short wall with him, “There are some things about being a weapon
bearer that your wizard was supposed to teach you. It is up to him to teach you
to be a true weapon bearer and it is up to previous weapon bearers to teach you
the blade. I heard you were trained by a Kapal?”

“I was being
trained by a Kapal, his name is Gortus.”

That brought all
of them to stop laughing and, he hoped, brought him a bit of respect.

“Being trained
by the Kapal king’s son is a great honor. I heard he was destined to bring
peace to his race. It was prophesied at his birth.” Ray patted Kilen on the
back and leaned against the wall.

The man that was
pointed out to be Chasten smiled a big smile, “Enough talk, lets see what the
kid can do.”

The men all
roared in agreement and one tossed Kilen a wooden practice blade. Chasten and
Kilen moved to the center of the grounds and Chasten began his assault. Chasten
moved just as fast and graceful as Gortus but with different attacks. Kilen
defended as well as he could. He took a couple strikes to the arms but they
were glancing blows. Before long the grizzled weapon bearer was winded and the
bout finished. The men clapped and patted Chasten on the back. Ray approached
Kilen as the others chatted with Chasten.

“He’s the most
out of shape,” Ray said. “You did well, but it was as if you were afraid to
attack him. On the next opponent don’t be afraid to show him how good you are.”

Ray patted him
on the shoulder. Kilen thought if he was the most out of shape weapon bearer
here, he was in for some exhausting training.

The next time
they stopped to rest, Kilen realized he had forgotten why he was there in the
first place. Most of the time he was being attacked by wooden practice swords.
The sun was now setting and he had used every part of the day practicing the
blade with the other men.

Ray motioned to
follow him to a small stone house that Kilen assumed was his. The house was
meagerly furnished with only a table, small hearth, and a couple of beds.
Wooden chairs sat on either side of the table and Ray sat down in one. He
started pulling off his boots and pulling his shirt out from his pants.

“You did well
today,” Ray said. “I had expected far less from your abilities with the sword.
When the wizards all say you lack skills, it makes one wonder. Gortus has
trained you well in the short time he’s had you.”

“I learned a
great deal from him. More than in just the sword I think. Although he didn’t
teach me how to attack,” Kilen said as Ray started to scrub his face in the
wash stand.

“Yes, I heard
all about your first days of training.” He stopped washing himself long enough
to look at Kilen. “What kind of training is dragging yourself on the ground?”

Kilen cleared
his throat, “I think it was supposed to help me endure pain. Teach me just how
far I can push myself.”

Ray let out a
chuckle and removed his stockings to begin washing his feet.

“Well, if it was
supposed to teach you that, I won’t be teaching you endurance. Although from
what the wizards told me of your attempt to get into the town, you lasted much
longer than some. I can’t believe you made it all the way to the rock wall.
Chasten only made it to the ice swamp and most of us ventured here with our
wizard. If you had come with Alexander I’m sure they would have had to find
another way to keep you out.” He paused in deep thought, “I wonder what they
would do if someone made it to the top of the rock wall.”

“You mean I did
well? Was it some sort of test?” Kilen asked.

“It’s not a test
for you so much as it’s a test for them. The four trials you face coming into
this town are a test of their defenses. It lets them know how much about their
magic the world has begun to learn. The trials test their ability to keep the
most powerful of wizards and weapon bearers out. This is more than a place
where wizards come to escape the world’s problems. It is a place where wizards
are free to practice their skills. To hone their magic and try to discover the
abilities lost in the time of the Dark Army.”

The mention of
the legend made Joahna excited. Kilen felt them pushing for him to ask the
question. Here, amongst the greatest wizards, Kilen would surely find the
answers he sought about what he was.

“What was the
Dark Army?”

Ray shook his
head. “The wizards only tell us what we need to know. They have their secrets
and it is not our job to know them. We are here to protect them, to listen to
what they want us to know, and to carry out their less desirable tasks. I don’t
want you to misunderstand me. The wizards here shape the world. They have saved
it more times than we can know. If you stay here for any amount of time you
will hear the problems of the world, and the lengths they go to save it.” He
pointed to a bed behind Kilen, “Get some rest, we will talk more tomorrow.”

Kilen started to
strip his clothes as he listened to the voices in his head. “
We must tread
lightly If they do know what a spirit wizard is, it may be something they fear.
You may ask with a line of questions that explore how to fight them, but not
one that says you are one,”
Joahna cautioned.

Kilen climbed
into bed and found that sleep came sooner than he thought it would.

**********

The time Kara
spent in the tent watching over Twilix was becoming tiresome. Kara was not
exhausted, Brandon saw to that, but she was becoming bored. The only people she
had been able to talk to since arriving were Twilix and Mary. Mary was off to
war with her friends. Her brother was on a secret mission for the king. The
only other person that she could talk with was now in an sort of transient
sleep.

Twilix’s ailment
had been slowly overcoming Kara’s ability to keep the ice at bay. Brandon said
it wasn’t a problem, but Kara was unsure he was being truthful. The bed had
started to accumulate icicles clinging to the bottom. Hour by hour they became
small columns of ice connecting the pallet to the ground. The ice now
surrounded the bed and crept around Twilix’s form like a casket that was
swallowing her whole. Kara held the flames over Twilix, which required her to
stand over the wizard at all times of the day. Her legs ached and she knew that
it wouldn’t be long before they began to give out on her.

Kara squatted a
few times to stretch her legs. Brandon brought a plate in through the tent’s
burnt tent flap. Smoke had stained all the objects in the tent and her guards
had removed all the books and adornments she had earned. Brandon said it was
not her fault, but that he wanted to save the books for when Twilix was
finished growing. He sat the plate of food on Kara’s bed and she began to eat.

Brandon used a
funnel to get Twilix to drink some broth. He held her head up off the ice block
as he poured gulps of broth in her mouth. She swallowed on her own but showed
no response to either person in the tent. Kara could tell she was changing by
the size of the clothing that she wore. Her dress was shorter and the material
around the chest and arms was becoming too tight. The changes were small but
Kara could tell Twilix was starting to age into the form of a woman.

He finished
pouring the broth and he placed his hands on her forehead. Kara saw his eyes
turn a vibrant green.

“It won’t be
long now,” Brandon said. “We will only have to keep her alive for a couple more
days. How are you holding up?”

He stood and and
looked around the tent, picking up plates and bowls left from the last couple
days.

“I have to stand
over her now. I am barely keeping the ice away. I thought about melting the ice
under the cot to make up some time but I'm not sure how long it will help.”

He smiled at her
and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“For one so new
to being a wizard, you are doing excellent. Do whatever you think is best.
Remember not to get too close to her skin and be sure to melt the water away
from the bottom up.”

Kara nodded her
head and bent down low. Small spurts of flame shot out of her hands and started
to melt away the bottom of the ice altar on which Twilix now lay. Brandon
patted Kara on the back. She thought it was weird having a man touch her bare
skin, but this is what she would have to wear for a while. She felt the rush of
energy flow into her. She always felt strange when she was being rejuvenated by
Brandon.

Kara continued
to work on the ice as Brandon watched carefully. She felt her legs stretch and
she started to relax the muscles. She knelt and made herself as comfortable as
she could while she cleared the rest of the ice from the ground. The wooden
legs of the cot were left untouched. A thin layer of ice protected them from
being burned.

Kara then laid
down on the ground and reached her hands under the block of ice that was
hanging from the cot. Her hands became a flame, cooking the ice from
underneath. After being bored for so long she found some entertainment watching
the drops of water sizzle on her skin. The steam cleaned away the dirt from her
face and water started to stream away from Twilix as she worked.