Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (17 page)

Somehow, going
to chat with Auburn felt like going to battle. He hoped that he didn’t need any
armor.

Walking through
the camp, Bowie was bombarded by question after question.

“Where do you
want the fruit tree planted?”

“Where do you
want the finished arrows to go?”

“Do you want the
Crescent arrows placed somewhere different?”

“Should we start
sending hunting parties out?”

“Where do you
want the scouts tent to be?”

Bowie did his
best to answer each and every one. He even took the time to stop and help some
people with a loose tent line. He managed to help some soldiers without Tyler
or John stopping him.

He came close to
one of the fires where he heard Auburn shouting orders. She was particularly
picky on her orders to construct arrows. She even told the men which direction
to wrap the string. He was glad she was paying close attention to the
construction of each one, but wondered how much more of the yelling the men
could take.

Bowie spoke from
a couple tents away from the workers, “Auburn, can I talk to you a moment?”

Auburn looked
annoyed that someone had spoken to her. She sighed and left the fletchers to
their task. “She is commanding you to make me take the lessons, isn’t she?”

“In a way, yes.”
Bowie took off his hat and scratched his red hair. Auburn is one of the only
other people he had ever met with red hair. He felt a kind of camaraderie with
her. “It’s more than that, though.”
            “Hows that? Is she threatening not to help with arrows? It’s fine.
I’ll find a way to get the arrow shafts the old way.” Auburn looked to be deep
in thought about finding the materials.

“Actually, no.
She said she will help with the arrow materials either way.”

“She has nothing
else to offer me. What could she possibly give that would make me want to go to
lessons to be a woman?” She looked down and held out her arms at her body, “I
do
look like a woman, don’t I?”

Bowie was caught
off guard by the question, “No. I mean yes! Yes, you look like a woman. She
does have something to offer that I cannot go without.”

Auburn smiled a
little at Bowie still looking at her body and sputtering.

“She has agreed
to make more bows if you attend these lessons,” He managed to choke out.

She didn’t
respond to him but just stood in silence now looking at Bowie’s body.

“We need those
bows if we are going to have any chance to survive this battle. If you don’t
agree to go to the lessons we will all surely die.”

“So you need me
to do something for you,” Auburn said smiling.
            “It’s either you go to the lessons or I find another fletcher for
the job.” Bowie tried to summon as much of a commanding voice as he could
muster.

She clicked her
tongue still looking at Bowie, “I think I might be able to attend the lessons.”

Bowie let out a
sigh at the glimmer of hope.

“I will require
for you to do something in return,” She said before he could speak again.

He knew it was
too good to be true. He wondered why things with women were never simple.

“I want to you
to teach me how to use the bow, and I want to go to town with you when you go.”

“I can teach you
to use a bow, but taking you to town with me is not happening. You almost got a
noose put around my neck with lies the last time you followed me. They’re
probably trying to catch up with us after all the supplies we got for almost
nothing. I’m just glad we bought all their horses. No, you are not going with
me,” He said replacing the hat on his head.

She smiled and
took a step to stand nearly chest to chest with him. She looked up at him so
her face was almost touching him. “It looks to me like you don’t have much of a
choice.”

He could feel
the heat of her breath on the side of his face. She was a woman and now she was
going to use it to make him uncomfortable.

“Fine, but you
won’t leave my side.”

Auburn smiled
and walked away calling over her shoulder, “Let me know when you are leaving
and wear something nice. The yellow jacket will be just fine.”

She began
shouting orders again as if he hadn’t talked to her at all.

Frustrated, he
made his way back to the tent to get his jacket. The sooner he could get the
two working together, the sooner he would be able to arm his troops. He put on
his jacket and grabbed his quiver of arrows and the black bow. He tied on his
men’s pouch of gold coins and went back through the camp.

Most of the
tents were now erected and horses were being groomed. Scouts were already
starting to turn in for a bit of rest. Bowie saw John organizing hunting
parties. Most importantly, the fletchers were working very fast. Each step in
making an arrow only took a few seconds with practiced hands. Each man
completed one step and handed the partially made arrow to the next person.
Bowie was surprised to see that they had four teams of fletchers all working
simultaneously. One of the teams was using an extra man and Bowie’s tools. He
leaned down to inspect the arrow and it was very high quality. High enough that
it would rival his own crafting.

Auburn saw him
inspecting the arrows in his yellow jacket and went straight over. “Yellow
Jacket, are you ready to leave already?”

Bowie nodded his
head and stuffed some of the arrows into his quiver, “Yes, I need to get my
tools back to see if we can have another set made.”

“If you were
wanting to go to town, you should have said something! I have to make myself
presentable. I will only be a moment.”

Bowie watched as
Auburn disappeared into a tent. He started to collect his tools in the leather
pouch his grandfather had made. The men quickly went to get their own tools to
continue working. Piles of arrows were already starting to amass. Bowie sat for
a while and chatted with some of the men while waiting for Auburn to return. He
directed their hands, giving advice where needed. His stomach began to growl
and he felt like getting a bite to eat before they left for town.

He knew that he
would have to probably stay the night in town because it was already too late
in the day. Bowie was starting to get frustrated and got up to yell at her in
the tent. He was almost to the tent when the flap opened. Auburn came out in
the purple dress the merchant had given her. Her hair was pulled up with a few
loose strands that fell down around her face. Bowie was so surprised by the
transition that he couldn’t find the words he was about to yell.

Auburn smiled as
she walked past him, “It’s getting late, we should be off.”

The statement
brought back the words that he had wanted to yell but now they were irrelevant.
She walked to the area the horses were tied to graze in and picked out a horse
to suit her. He found charger and had one of his men help them saddle the
horses. Charger was eager to be back on the road with a full stomach and energy
restored. They rode the horses past Ria’s wagon and saw her standing outside.

“Master
Crescent, did you convince her?”

Bowie gestured
behind him and Ria saw Auburn ride up in the purple dress.

“She will attend
the lessons. Right now we are headed into town. Is there anything I can pick up
for you?”

Ria ignored the
question and looked Auburn over, “I’m glad to see you finally in something more
appropriate for a young woman. A bit flashy, but it is a definite improvement.
Be sure you act like a woman while you are in town with him.” She turned to
look back at Bowie, “I will take some tea leaves if you come across some” She
turned to go back inside her tent.

Auburn yelled
out to her.“I am not in your lessons right now so I will wear and do as I want.
Wearing this dress isn’t for your benefit!”

She spurred her
horse forward and headed down the road towards the city.

Bowie shrugged
his shoulders at Ria who nodded back.

Charger quickly
caught up to Auburn who seemed to be running from the Dark Army itself. Bowie
had to yell to get her to slow down. When she did slow, her horse was panting
and trying to step off the road. She urged it back onto the path and kept
riding.

“The lessons are
that bad?” Bowie said trying to make conversation.

“The lessons are
not bad at all, they just remind me that I wasn’t given them by my mother. My
mother ran off with another man when I was a toddler. She left me and my father
alone and I grew up helping him run the store. I didn’t get fancy dresses or
get taught to dance. I spent most of my days trying to keep my fathers supplies
full. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the work and I love my father. I just didn’t
get the chance to be a girl,” She said.

Bowie didn’t
know what to say so he said nothing at all. They rode on for a little ways and
she fussed over the lace at her wrists and neck.

“Now that I have
some fancy clothes, I’m not sure I like wearing them. You seem to prefer
wearing the uncomfortable fancy things,” She said still scratching around her
chin.

Bowie sat up and
tugged at at this jacket, straightening it. “I prefer to be treated with
respect when people meet me. I don’t think I would be taken seriously as a
businessman if I was so young and didn’t wear decent clothes. Besides, you look
beautiful.”

As soon as the
words left his mouth he wished he had them back.

Auburn’s cheeks
turned red at the compliment. He meant to help her feel better, instead he
embarrassed them both. He looked down the leather armguard feeling the lump of
imbuement against his skin and cursed.

Instead of
ignoring the statement and riding the rest of the way in silence, she changed
the subject, “Will you tell me about the Water Realm? I have not been out of my
town much and always wanted to see what the other realms looked like.”

Bowie was happy
to be talking about something else, “The Water Realm isn't that special. The
land is flat, some places there are swamps, but I haven’t been anywhere near
it. I grew up near Heathmos Pass. The land there is grassland. Lake Leviathan
is so large that you cannot see the other side when standing on its banks. Our
trees are smaller than the ones here. Trees where I’m from don’t grow much
taller than houses and offer little shade. Sunrises there are a lot better,
since there aren’t trees blocking the view in every direction. When the sun
sets, the sky changes the most wonderful colors. Kilen, Kara and I use to sit
and watch them until we had to go home and finish our chores.”

“Who are Kilen
and Kara? Siblings?”

Bowie laughed,
“No, although I think we were as close as siblings can become. Kilen is my best
friend and Kara his sister. Kilen is a Weapon Bearer now and is on a mission to
convince the Elder Wizards to come help us in battle.”

“Wow, he must be
very strong,” She said patting her horse’s neck.

Bowie rode for a
bit before answering. “I’m not sure who he is anymore. This last Springfest he
was supposed to leave town to become a scribe. The next thing I know, Kara is
saying she is going after him to stop him from killing a man that took his
father’s sword. I agreed to help her catch up to him and when we did, he was
fighting the man in the street. The man is now named the King’s Champion. He is
a bit of a bully from our town. Just as Kilen was starting to win the fight,
Kara awakened as a fire wizard. She started throwing balls of fire and caught a
building aflame.”

“What did you
do?”

“I did nothing,
I couldn’t. A water wizard came around the corner and put the building and Kara
out. He told us to go to an inn. On the way, I found out Kara would have to be
trained and we needed to pay for that training unless we wanted her to starve.
So Kilen and I enlisted so we could pay for her training.”

Auburn seemed to
be following the story well enough. So he continued. “When we arrived in
Deuterium, Kilen became very distant. He trained with one of the king’s scouts,
some wizards, and a Kapal man. He made friends in secret and ended up almost
getting tried for murder. I don’t know who Kilen has become, but I hope my
friend is still in there somewhere,” Bowie realized he was slowing Chargers
walk and gave him a nudge to speed back up.

“Where is this
Kara, now? Did she finish her training as a wizard?”

Bowie was able
to point out smoke through the trees ahead on the path. They were getting close
to town.“No, she’s not finished yet. The last time I heard about her, she was in
the dungeons of Deuterium. The king puts all untrained fire wizards in the
dungeon to protect the city until they can control their emotions. I am in this
army to help her.”

Bowie and Auburn
rode on for a ways and passed a few houses with overgrown moss and vines
covering their walls. The farther away from Deuterium they rode, the larger the
trees had become. Most were now larger around than a small house. Small bushes
and grass had grown on the forest floor and hid a vast amount of animals.

He found himself
watching Auburn looking at the houses and the trees and couldn’t help but feel
sorry for her. He had chosen to come along on this adventure, but she was
forced. Forced to follow troops into battle without the skills to use the
weapons that she made. He told himself he would do his best to teach her how to
use the bow. “Auburn, thanks for taking the lessons.”

She smiled, “I
probably would have taken them anyway. She would’ve continued to punish me
until I agreed.” She turned in her saddle to face Bowie, “She tripped me with a
root out of the ground! I’m sure there is a better use of her magic than
tripping people.”

Bowie laughed,
“She did the same thing to me.”

They continued
to talk about the best way to get back at Ria if things got any worse. Each scenario
ended in disaster, so they decided they better just do what they could to
improve the situation.