Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (27 page)

  “So an enemy
king rejected you and still you decide to be traitors to the Earth Realm?!”
Bowie and the boy were now shouting at each other in the small home.

“You forced our
hand in killing our countrymen! You get what you deserve for forgetting where
your loyalties lie. You are nothing but cowards!” Bowie screamed.

“
Us
Cowards!?! You and your men are the ones who won’t stand up to him and his
wizard gang. We are tired of being ruled, taxed, and given unjust laws just so
wizards can be put into power and manipulate all of us. Down with Atmos and
down with wielders!” Cathy’s nephew cried.

All of the young
soldiers were continuously chanting, “Down with Atmos and down with wielders!”

Ria let a sigh
fall on ears that could not hear her sadness for their own ignorance. The small
home shook and dust fell from the rafters. The men all stopped shouting and
reached for parts of the wall to steady themselves.

Changing the
subject, Ria looked at Cathy, “If your husband cannot join the army, then where
did he go?”

“They offered to
let any skilled man use his talent in aiding the fortifications of the Fire
Realm. When it comes to the time for battle these workers were promised to be
returned to their families. My husband is good at cutting through these large
trees. He’s there to help build the defenses before Atmos arrives.” Cathy took
another sip of her tea and Ria did the same.

Bowie understood
there was nothing that could be done or said to change the minds of these
people. They’d been lost to their hatred of wielders, just as they were lost to
their hate of a king who offered no protection. Living in the Water Realm he
knew all too well the needs of the people in this part of the realm. The Water
Realm did not get any aid from Atmos but still had to pay taxes and supply
provisions to passing soldiers and guards for other cities, while they had none
permanently assigned in Humbridge. He stood and pushed in his chair. Auburn and
Ria both finished their last sip of tea and stood by the door.

Bowie
straightened his hat and spoke to Cathy, “I will tell my men not to attack your
men so long as they leave south bound. They must leave this house and take no
weapons or armor with them. All of your men here will be gone before sundown.
If I come back, it will be to capture traitors of the Earth Realm and take them
to King Atmos. Please, do not be here when I come back.”

Auburn picked up
her bow and carried it outside and was followed closely by Ria. Bowie met each
men eye to eye before shutting the door behind himself. Fruits turned to bright
colors and filled with life as Ria walked through the garden. Bowie watched as
potatoes poked themselves from the earth and melons turned the colors of
ripening fruit before his eyes. Bowie resisted the urge to take one of the
strawberries as he passed by.

**********

The veterans had
finally started to come around and spar with Chit after watching the beating he
took from Captain Lorusk. His large mule-headed hilt of a sword swung at each
contender with a reckless force. He had dented many of the veterans armor as
they trained against the newcomer to their ranks. He was supposed to be the
King’s Champion but they took it upon themselves to make sure he knew just how
useless with the sword he really was.

One of the
veterans decided to show Chit how to fight with the sword in a way the Captain
hadn’t tried before. “He said fighting with the sword was like dancing with a
woman. Keep two hands on the sword; one on the handle and the other with hand
open and palm against the blade.”

Chit watched and
finally a fighting style had taken hold. The hand slid up and down the blade,
guiding it, making the sword graceful and mystic. The new style would not use
Chit’s strength, but bring out his more graceful side.

Chit found the
fighting style easy. Keeping his hand on the blade forced him to make careful
motions to not cut himself. He felt more restrained, more in control. Each
movement caused him to think how to move his hand along the blade or how to
turn it to avoid its edge. Lorusk watched as Chit used his new sword style to
take turns fighting four different men, each with their own fighting style.
Chit was learning to combat each one quicker than he had against Lorusk. The
captain knew that very soon Chit would be a superior fighter to Kilen. He hoped
it was enough for Chit to complete his mission to kill the weapon bearer. If
the training wasn’t enough, it meant the king would send Lorusk chasing after
the weapon bearer to finish what Chit failed to do.

Chit was now
pivoting on the balls of his feet to meet his opponent's sword from an overhead
strike. The vibration ran down the open palm hand supporting the blade and into
his arms. The strike was powerful and he returned it to the veterans midsection
with a kick from his rear leg. The veteran’s blade came free of his hand as his
back hit the ground.

A soldier
whispered into the captain’s ear, “The king requests you both at once.” Lorusk
waved Chit to him and turned to go through the crowd. The large mule headed
sword could be heard sliding back into its sheath. Lorusk turned to see Chit
following while sliding the leather strap over his shoulder and adjusting the
hilt so that it stuck up where he could reach it. The so-called champion was
shirtless and still had open wounds bleeding around his body, but it was the
boy’s own fault so he pressed on.

The king’s camp
always seemed to be in motion, but today would be the first day the king had
traveled in at least a week. Lorusk had the pleasure of reporting the arrival
of troops by boat, foot, and horse everyday. The camp had swelled to over one
hundred thousand men. He knew that the Fire Realm would be crushed with or
without the aid of the Elder Wizards. Captain Lorusk ducked inside the tent
flaps to see the entire court of nobles and wizards inside. He didn’ have to
look around to know most of the nobles were ignoring what was going on and
enjoying the spread of cheeses and meats on a table in the back. Each of them
laughed loudly and told stories to make themselves seem important. Most of them
quieted when they saw the brute of a champion enter the tent shirtless.

While chewing
his food the king spittled the words out, “We leave at first light, captain.”

“I will ready
the camp for travel, my lord.” He clasped his fist to his chest and turned to
go.

“The camp will
remain until such time that they are ready to travel.
We
will be leaving
to catch up with Sergeant Crescent. The scouts seem to think that he has run
into some sort of trouble.” Atmos started to unroll a map on the table in front
of him and placed small figurines on top to hold down the edges. An archer had
represented Sergeant Crescent, and a crown to represent the king. Small
figurines on the map represented the other troops traveling on the road. The
closest was still at least a week’s travel away at the current traveling speed.

“How many are
traveling with us, my lord?”

“You and the
champion, Lord Fustrom, the council, and as many of the mounted troops that can
be made ready within the hour.” The King said, pouring himself another goblet
of wine.

“May I ask what
kind of trouble the archer has gotten himself into?”

Atmos pulled his
chair close to the table and sat so he could reach parts of the map. Small red
men represented the Fire Realms troops and so far there was only one that the
captain could see. The council members stepped in close to see a detailed
report.

“We have totally
lost contact with the archer. Scouts have not been returning from his camp like
they should be. I have the wind wizards on another scouting mission, so we will
have to investigate on our own. Either way, the boy has traveled within a
couple days of where the Fire Realm has set up defenses. Catching up to him
will grant us a more detailed look at those defenses. We will then set up for
the best possible attack. Gather the men, I have enough wizards to keep our
troops moving through the night. It will only take us a couple days to catch up
to the archer. Make sure they are well prepared for quick journey.” Atmos said
picking out a chicken leg to slide on his plate.

The captain
clapped his fist against his chest, then waved Chit out of the tent. Opening
the tent flap let in a cascade of light blinding anyone who was exiting. Chit
was pulled forcefully forward through the opening and sent crashing into a
weapon stack nearby. The commotion caused Lorusk to become alarmed and he
pulled his sword free, waiting for whatever danger to come through the tent
flap. He backed away so he could protect the king as needed. Slowly, his eyes
adjusted again to the dim torchlight of the tent. A few more crashes outside
were followed by an abrupt silence. The fabric was pulled back from the outside
and Alexander stepped in, wrapping his robe around himself as he always had.
The wizard showed no signs of aggressiveness so the captain stood his ground.
He had imbuements of wind and earth and was ready to give his life in
protecting the king.

Alexander looked
into the Captain's eyes just before the tent was plunged into darkness from a
swift wind. A crash and cluttering amongst the men inside was again followed by
silence. The torches seemed to light on their own and now Mary stood in front
of the king with her hands engulfed in flames.

“Stand down,
Mary. I mean no harm to those that mean no harm to me,” Alexander said coolly
as he reached for a blueberry on a tray nearby. Holding another berry in his
hand, he pointed his finger at the king. “You, however, have some explaining to
do.”
            “I am the king. I have nothing to explain to you!” The king pushed
his way in front of Mary to face the crazy wizard.

Alexander
ignored him, instead looking at the rest of the wizard council. Brent, Mary,
and an earth wizard named Scott remained silent.

“The Earth Realm
King has sent a weapon bearer to negotiate with the Elder Wizards. I am one of
those Elder Wizards and I have been for some time. When Atmos found out, he
sent my own student and a member of this council to assassinate me.” He paused
as he chewed his last bit of fruit. “He sent a wizard council member to kill an
Elder Wizard
.”

Brent spoke for
the council as he was the most senior member left, “What do you suppose we
should do about that? What do the Elder Wizards advise?”

Alexander let a
small grin touch his face as he continued to ignore the king’s furious stare.
“Nothing. I wanted to make you aware that he tries to kill those he requests
help from. He sends weapon bearers and wizards to their death with no
foreseeable reason. I wanted you to know so that when your wind wizards do not
return, you will know the reason for their death.” He stepped closer to King
Atmos and spoke in a whispered warning, “You have made it possible for a True
Weapon Bearer to be raised. He rides now, once again to do your bidding. The
Elder Wizards have given Kilen their blessing to prevent this war and the
deaths that it will surely bring. Kilen, once again, does exactly what you
ordered him to do. He is now a weapon bearer raised by the elder wizards and
his judgement is above question. I hope that you are able to make decisions
that don’t draw his eye more than it already has, lest your head be cleaved
from your body.”

“The boy does
not scare me!” Atmos shouted.

Alexander turned
to leave, “He doesn’t have to scare you to remove your head from your shoulders
or your cushioned backside from your seat. Remember that he is the eldest son
of Dylan, your father’s scout, trained by Kapal, your wizard’s council, and
accepted by the Elder Wizards. He is no mere “boy” anymore.”

The tents stakes
were ripped from the ground as the tent rose into the air. Alexander following,
disappeared on the other side of the tent to obscure any shot from archers. The
king, council, and his nobles steadied themselves unsure what to think of
Alexander’s warning.

Lorusk knew he
needed to learn to kill wizards if he was to keep his king alive.

  Max kept
moving along the shore line away from Kesterton with Kilen weakly hanging on.
Despite the pirates not being seen, Kilen was sure they were in chase. Jace
said their speed by sea would help them pursue as long as they felt necessary.
Joahna would have flown back to investigate, but Kilen’s body was still being
attacked by the poison. He needed to be healed often to keep him in the stone,
moss covered saddle.

  “This is far
enough, Max. We need to stop and let him recover.” Joahna commanded in his normal
voice while riding on Max’s head as a small bird.

  A voice on the
wind howled, “We must be back on the trail as soon as possible. How long will
it take for you to heal him?”

  “I heal him to
full strength every hour, and Max helps him with energy. Both the healing and
the energy do little to keep the toxins at bay. We need to get them out of
him.” Joahna cried out to the wind.

  Max stopped
and added his knowledge. “We need to use cupping to get the poison out. Just
like extracting the poison from a scorpion's sting.”

  “Of course!”
Joahna exclaimed. “Why hadn’t I thought of that? We need to get a fire going. A
very hot fire.”

Max took the
form of a man and put Kilen down easily on the ocean bank out of the reach of
the waves. Max searched for pieces of dried wood and grass that would catch
fire easily.

Joahna kept
watch over Kilen, healing him to the point he was able to move on his own. “How
are you feeling?” The icy man asked.

  Kilen clutched
his head with one hand and held the other up to block the sun. “I feel like I
drank the entire inn’s stock of wine,” Kilen replied.

  “We will have
that poison out of your body soon enough. After that you can search your book
to see if Leroy left you a poison hangover remedy.” Joahna said, laughing to
himself.

  “It’s about
time. What can I do to help?” Kilen asked.

Joahna’s icy
face smiled. “You need to start a fire when I say. Jace will make it a bit
bigger and Max will make the necessary tools to get the poison out.”

  “How is it
done?” Kilen asked.

Joahna took a
moment, looking at the large stack of wood Max brought back and tossed onto the
beach.

  “First, we
make some glass cups using the sand here on the beach and a very hot fire. Then
we cool the edge of the glass cups so they can be placed on your skin. We will
reopen the wound on your leg and place the cup over it. Using magic, I will
pull the toxins to the surface of the wound and the glass bowl will suck out
the poison as it cools. It is a process called cupping.” Kilen nodded his head
in understanding.

“After the
poison is out, I will heal you again and Max will energize your body so you can
hold yourself up in the saddle. We cannot continue to fight the toxins and
expect to be able to fight a war as well,” Joahna said.

  “Hopefully we
will not have to fight a war,” Kilen replied groaning as he tried to move.

  Joahna let out
a small laugh. “We will do our part as promised. If there is any hope of us
getting our bodies back, we need to end this war to find out how.”

  Kilen laid
back to relax on the warm sand, “I am not sure that I am ready for you to leave
me on my own. I will need a lot more lessons in the use of magic to be able to
do the things you do.”
            “Kilen, you will never be able to do the things that we do. You
won’t be able to heal yourself or to melt yourself into a tidal wave. You will
never be able to travel the world as the wind or turn yourself into a horse
that doesn’t need to stop moving. I may only speak for myself, but I for one,
will stay with you as long as there is a cause to fight for justice. I will
continue to be a member of your council until the elemental realms are balanced
again. I will remain with you even with a new body,” Joahna’s icy form stood
and crossed his fist to his chest.

  “You would
risk losing your body again to fight by my side?” Kilen asked.

  “What risk,
Kilen? To fight for you means to fight in a body, or as an elemental for as
long as you live. If you live, I cannot die. I will have a body one way or the
other.” Joahna stood and started to arrange the logs into a pyre. Max made two
more trips and nothing was said amongst the group as the stack of wood and
dried grass began to grow.

Every few
minutes Kilen felt a strong breeze curl past his body. He often wondered if it
was Jace, but no words were spoken. It was strange to think that every breeze
could be a wizard’s elemental spying on him. He could see why wind wizards
would be driven crazy by paranoia. He knew as long as he had Jace around, his
secrets were safe. His limbs began to lose feeling again. He noticed by the
lack of wind on his toes as foliage swayed heavily around them. He could feel
it in his hair and cheeks but not in his fingers.

“I hope this
cupping works. I am already starting to lose feeling in my fingers again,”
Kilen said, stretching his fingers.

Joahna returned
to Kilen’s side and took the water skin from his bags. “Drink this. We need as
much water in your body as we can get.” Joahna poured the water into Kilen’s
mouth as he couldn’t grip the water skin by himself. Kilen knew he would have
died many times over if it wasn’t for his elemental friends.

After a fourth
load of driftwood, Max and Joahna made Kilen as strong as they possibly could
with the poison still in his system. The pyre was stacked twice as tall as a
normal man’s height and packed tight as to concentrate the heat.

Max was walking
around to make sure he had done all he could for the large stack of wood. “I
think that’s about it. Unless you want me to get some more wood, Joahna.”

“We will try and
make do. I don’t want to be here long. Gather some sand into a sphere and put
it in the center of the fire. We need it to be hot enough to melt the sand
together. Max, here is the shape of the glass vessel I want you to make.”
Joahna formed a small round bottom cup of ice and handed it to Max. Only this
one had a rounded bottom that wouldn’t allow its user to set it down without
spilling the contents. The mouth of the cup was a circle that was extended
about a fingers length above the rounded bottom. Kilen had seen something
similar to it in the healer’s house once, but had never seen it used. “Max, you
will need to keep the sand moving and pushing it into a tight ball until it
becomes one liquid. Jace, are you here?”

A disembodied
voice spoke out, “I am here. What do you need me for?” Jaee asked.

“Keep the fire
hot. You will have to let it get started but once it does, I've found it's best
if you used the already heated air to feed the flames. Be careful though, if
you use too much smoke the fire will go out.” Joahna replied.

No response came
from the wind.

“Are you ready
Max?” Joahna asked.

Max gave a nod
of his head as he squatted to look at his sand sphere in the center of the
stack of wood.

“Kilen, can you
start the fire?”

Kilen was
actually happy that he could help with something. He stared at a patch of the
dried grass inside the large stack of wood. He focused and felt the heat of the
midday sun on the beach. It didn’t take long for the pieces of grass make a pop
and start being consumed by a small, hungry fire. The flames started slow but it
only took a few moments to engulf the stack of wood once Jace invigorated the
flame with his wind.

The flames grew
and with an imbuement of fire, Kilen welcomed the heat of the blaze. Soon after
Kilen was starting to enjoy the flames, the heat became too much. Even with the
imbuements protecting him, both Joahna and Kilen were starting to back away
from the heat. Being made of stone, Max held his ground easily. The flames
roared with the wind being pushed into them. They twisted and formed a funnel
that kept the heat inside the blackened wood tower. Melting away, Joahna did
his best to pull Kilen up the beach away from the blaze. The farther they moved
the faster Joahna started to move.

“It’is almost
time to remove the poison. I need to move it to one location in your body and
your wound is where most of it is gathered. This may hurt a bit.”

His warning made
Kilen even more nervous about what was about to happen. The normal cold of
healing moved throughout Kilen’s body in waves, creeping ever closer to the now
pulsing, closed wound on his leg.

Max walked away
from the still burning fire on the beach, carrying a glowing glass bulb. Joahna
took a moment to examine the bulb and slowly cooled the air around it using the
moisture around them. Slowly, the glowing instrument's color dimmed as it was
in its final stages of preparation. Without notice Joahna’s finger turned into
a small ice dagger and sliced into Kilen’s skin. Kilen tried to pull away from
the sharpened icicle splitting open his leg as it slowly drew open the old
wound. Max held him firmly in place. Blood mixed with tiny black bubbles that
oozed from the wound. Kilen screamed in pain from the sudden attack to his
recently healed flesh as Joahna squeezed the wound.

Max laughed a
little, “I’ve heard of opening old wounds, but was that necessary.”

“You’re about to
see the reason we made this instrument.” Joahna used ice and water to cool the
rim of the bulb of glass. It hissed as the rim cooled enough to place on
Kilen’s skin. The glass rim was placed around the wound’s opening. Joahna
cooled the outside of the rounded bottom. Kilen screamed out as his wound and
surrounding skin were slowly sucked into the glass bulb.

He watched as
the wound was pulled open like a blooming flower that sprayed blood against the
glass surface. Kilen watched the globe slowly fill with blood and black bubbles
of what he thought was poison. As the blood level rose, the skin and wound
lowered in the glass. When the skin lowered so did the pain associated,
allowing him to take in a breath.

Soon only the
blood and flakes were left inside. Joahna slide the bulb from his leg and let
the infected blood drain into the sand. Twice more Joahna heated the glass and
cooled it while on his leg. Each time pain was made anew, along with the screams
that filled the night sky. The blood that came out the third time was what
Kilen would consider the normal red color it was supposed to be.

“We should be
able to fully heal you now,” Joahna said carefully placing the cup on the
ground to cool completely.

Kilen watched as
water and earth magic assaulted his body by direction of his elemental friends.
The wound was soon closed with fresh pink skin. He stretched and felt where the
arrow had struck. The poison had been in his body for over half a day and he
hoped that it hadn’t caused any permanent damage underneath. Testing his limbs
for strength, Kilen stood and eventually pulled his sword free. After a few
quick movements and dodging of the blade on Max’s part, Kilen felt whole again.

“Let’s get
moving.” Kilen commanded. Max melted himself into the form of a horse and Kilen
loaded the pack onto his back as he would any other horse.

Before Kilen
mounted he walked closer to the still burning pyre. “Give me a moment.” Kilen
held out his hand and felt the fire moving with his eyes closed. He opened
himself to feeling the flames that waved and flickered amongst the wood.

Joahna knew what
Kilen was trying to do, “You have enjoyed welcoming the warm on your skin. You
have felt its power caress you now that you have an imbuement. Taking in that
magic is different than feeling it on your skin. If you can draw in that power,
you must do that; pull it. Feel the magic in the flames and tug it into your
very heart. Let the flames be absorbed into you.”

Kilen felt the flames
and felt the magic inside. He could see the flames in his mind as they consumed
the wood, reforming the earth energy into heat. Kilen was wondrously watching
the fire turn the wood’s earth magic from green to the red magic energy of
fire. Kilen did not try to manipulate it as Joahna had wanted, but instead he
watched the energy change on its own from one form to the other. The colors of
the magic moved and flowed amongst the burning logs.

The vision of
fire magic reflected in waves of heat floating into the sky where it cooled and
Kilen watched it turn from red into a yellow as it floated in the wind. “It
keeps changing doesn’t it?” he said out loud to no one in particular.

Joahna stepped
closer to answer, “Yes.” His answer was short but somehow told Kilen there was
more of an answer waiting behind his voice. Kilen waited for the answer that
eventually came, “I was once told that energy could not be created or
destroyed. It can only be altered or manipulated. Being a wielder means having
the ability to force that energy to do your will. You, Kilen, have the ability
to see it in every form, it is something that I cannot do. Is that what you are
seeing?”

Kilen took a
moment to watch the elemental energy in all it’s forms. “Not all of it changes.
Some of it disappears.”

Joahna cocked
his head to the side in confusion. “I am watching it and as it moves from form
to form, it loses some energy. If it cannot be created or destroyed, where does
it go?”

Joahna rubbed
the fosted stubble on his face, “Perhaps there are more types of magic than
even you can see. Perhaps you have yet to be able to see spirit energy, or it
is turning to soul magic energy.”

“I had not
considered that I may be able to see soul magic or spirit magic, if it exists.”
Kilen said stepping away from the fire.

“We have to
consider everything. You are exploring magic that has not had it’s limits
tested,” Joahna said.

Joahna and Max
stood staring at Kilen. At least he thought they were staring at him. He
thought that perhaps he would test something right where they were.