Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (29 page)

Bowie thought
for a moment and then decided to think out loud, “I don’t think the king would
like us to attack his country men.” They all nodded in agreement. “But, I don’t
think he will stand for them to have joined the enemy. We need to find a way to
keep them from attacking the king’s forces and get them away from the Fire
Realm army before he gets here.”

John offered his
opinion, “I don’t think we are going to stop them from helping the Fire Realm.”

Ria scooted
closer to the edge of her stool, “I believe you are both correct. May I offer
my thoughts on the situation?”

Bowie nodded and
waved a hand around for her to get on with it.

“Well, seeing as
now we have some of them on the run, perhaps we should follow and make a
presence in each town. We do not have to fight or see the traitors hung. We
simply ride in and let them know we know of their treacherous behavior and give
them a reason to stay out of the way,” Ria said holding out her hands as if to
invite comments.

“What reason
could we bloody well give them!?!” Bowie snapped back.

Ria did not
speak but looked deep in thought, so Auburn spoke out in a whisper, “Their
families.”

All except Bowie
nodded their head in agreement, even if Ria was a little slower than the rest.

  “By the
Brights. So we ride into town and as we pass through we shout out that if they
don’t stop acting like traitors, their families will pay the price?” Bowie
asked as he put on his second boot.

  Auburn stepped
forward and finally took a seat on the cot next to Bowie. “We ride into town
and we ask they simply stay out of the way. We warn them that if Atmos were to
find out that they were helping the Fire Realm, they would all suffer the
consequences. Tell them all that the few who help the Fire Realm put everyone
in danger. We ask for nothing and we take nothing. We simply give them the
warning and ride on.”

  “What if we
need food supplies?” Bowie asked.

  John finally
spoke up, “With the meat that we bring in each day and Ria growing some grains
and beans, we won’t need food. We need to spread the word. I think it is as
important to us as to the men.”

  Ria nodded her
head in agreement again, “Doing this will not only help this part of the Earth
Realm survive but will also keep this troop together. Your men will have
confidence that we are doing the right thing. It will keep them stable in their
mind about who the true enemy is.”

  “Fine. We will
leave late morning, as some of the men have need of more rest than usual. Has
the drink been distributed?”

  “Yes, it has
been disposed of. The men will be ready by early morning if you want them to
be. There was not that much drink given to each once it was spread out evenly.
I have your bottle here.” John pulled a bottle of wine from his satchel and
handed it to Bowie.

Bowie turned it
over in his hands and held it out to Ria. “Here, can you hold onto this for me?
I have no need of it now. Perhaps I’ll open it when this battle is over.”

  “I will keep
it safe. I have something for you as well.” Ria took the wine and pulled out
her small leather pouch. Bowie had seen it before. It contained beads of metal,
all imbued with earth magic. She took out a single bead and undid the clasp on
Bowie’s chainger bracelet. She strung on the bead so it rested against the wind
imbuement he already had. “You all have proven yourselves worthy of my magic by
taking care of these men. I have one of these for each of you.” Ria handed a
bracelet to John who visibly flexed at its touch. Bowie had come to get use to
touching imbuements since his travel with Kilen. He let out a small laugh at
John’s lack of experience.

  Ria pulled a
second pouch from her robe pocket. The pouch was purple velvet and had a yellow
drawstring to keep it closed. Carefully, she opened the pouch and extracted a
polished silver bracelet. The bracelet had a hinge on one side that allowed a
quarter of the metal to swing upward for putting on the wrist. She held it out
to Auburn who reluctantly held out her right arm.

“Hold your
breath,” Ria said in a gentle voice.

Auburn did and
the bracelet was clasped around her wrist. She turned her hand and Bowie
finally saw the design. It was unlike anything he knew a blacksmith could make.
The polished silver shined in the lamp light with metal vines that twisted and
wove their way around Auburn’s wrist. Bowie knew the feeling of having your
strength multiplied by magic and watched Auburn experience it for herself.

  “You will
eventually need to breathe, Auburn. I would have given it to you sooner to be
able to protect yourself from the men of this camp, but traveling has made it
difficult to collect the necessary Silver. Besides I still needed to know what
kind of woman you were before giving it to you,” Ria said to the girl as if
revealing something unseen.

Auburn slowly
started to breath but did not attempt to stand or move any muscles.

“You all will
need to learn how to use your new imbuements and I will do my best to teach you
on the road,” Ria said putting the pouches back in their place.

  “I have
already learned a bit of earth magic,” Bowie spoke up. “My best friend is a
weapon bearer, as you all know. I was there when he was learning to use it. I
took the chance to learn what I could.”

  Ria stood and
smoothed her dress, “I just want you to use it to survive and help those men
survive as well.”

  Ria turned to
go out the tent when Auburn finally spoke, “It’s beautiful.” Slowly she stood
and carefully wrapped her arms around the wizard. “Thank you, Ria.”

When she pulled
her head back Bowie and John could see past the mass of red hair, both of the
women were crying. One minute they hated each other, the next they were crying
out thanks. Bowie would be glad to be rid of the pair, and this war.

Ria smiled, “Why
child, it is nothing but a piece of metal.”

  Auburn
continued to cry as she sobbed out the words, “It is the most beautiful thing
have I ever seen.”

  A commotion
could be heard outside and a ruffled Alexander burst through the tent door,
surprised to find everyone inside. Bowie practically jumped up to pass the
wizard by. He bounded through the flaps and held out his hands to the men so
they would not come into the tent attacking. The few men who managed to see
Alexander were stumbling and trying to get to weapons and were nowhere near his
tent. The others were still singing and dancing, oblivious to Alexander’s
arival. He waved the few alert men away and returned to the tent.

  The tent now
reminded him of the cramped wagon that Ria called a home. Alexander had taken
Bowie’s spot on the cot so Bowie spread his feet wide and crossed his arms
waiting an explanation.

“I am glad to
see you all gathered here. I am afraid this is the last time I will be visiting
you with news. You have made very good distance from the king but he is rapidly
approaching with some of his more powerful wielders and the council in tow. He
has sent his wind wizards to track me down and kill me, calling me a traitor.”
Alexander held up his hands to stop them from asking questions, but Auburn
caught his eye. “Why, that is simply a beautiful piece and it fits you so
well.”

  “Ria made it
for me.” She said with a bubbly voice. Bowie had never heard her speak like
that before, even when she was excited to be along on the hunt.

  “Can we get
back to the part where bloody wizards are chasing you?” Bowie interrupted.

  “Of course.”
Alexander pulled out a map and ran his fingers across his surface. “Here is
where you are. This is where the Fire Realm has made their fortifications. The
king has started to travel from here and has enough earth wielders to ride
swiftly. He will not stop day or night until he arrives. You see, Kilen has
made contact with the Elder Wizards.”

  Ria spoke with
intent as she took her seat back on the stool. “Are they coming to join the
fight, Alexander?”

  “No, no. They
have sent a true weapon bearer to negotiate the outcome of this disagreement
without fighting.”
            “A true weapon bearer hasn’t been raised in years. Who did they
send?” Ria asked as the others struggled to keep up with the conversation.

  “Kilen has
taken the mantle of True Weapon Bearer in the old ways. Ray has trained him in
that short time and he now races to stop this war.” He marked his map in a
mountain range near the ocean. “I saw Kilen here last.” Alexander pointed to a
spot on the coast near the mountains. “He moves almost as swift as a wind
wizard and will be there in a couple days. We must prevent the king from
progressing to war too soon. We have to give Kilen time to convince King Elric
Rekkan to remove his troops.”

  Ria took a
quill off the desk and marked the spots on the map, “Kilen has more to deal
with than he knows. The Earth Realm is on the brink of a civil war, Alex.
Bowie’s men have already defended themselves against the citizens of this
realm.”

  “King Rekkan
has recruited from the Earth Realm?” Alexander asked.

   Bowie finally
forgot about the impending wind wizards that could have followed Alexander to
his camp and focused on the discussion at hand. “The people in the southern
region of the Earth Realm are tired of paying taxes and being taken from
without anything in return. It is the same as the people in the Water Realm.
They give because it is law to pay taxes, and then traveling troops take what
they need, leaving the citizens to die of hunger, disease, or at the hand of
bandits.”

  Ria barged in,
“The citizens here would be found as traitors if they fight beside King
Rekkan’s men. Fortunately, King Rekkan has denied them. They decided instead to
let King Atmos know how they feel by fighting the Earth Realm’s army on the way
to battle. We have a plan to stop this from happening, but we can only do it so
long as we stay in front of King Atmos.”

  “You will need
to start moving then. He is on his way and has a large enough stock of earth
imbuements to keep his men moving at all hours. If you want to stay ahead of
him, you will have to press forward hard and hope your horses are faster.”
Alexander stood, “Bowie, I am sorry. Once again I do not have time to train
you. I must reach Kilen to help him find a way to talk to King Rekkan without
killing either of them.”

  Bowie got in
Alexander’s way as he tried to exit the tent. “You said that King Atmos’
wizards are following you. How close are they? How many are there? Will they
know that you stopped in our camp?”

  Alexander let
out a small laugh, “Of course they will know I stopped in your camp. The king
is upset because I am an Elder Wizard in his midst and the Elders have refused
to fight this war. They also haven’t killed Kilen as Atmos thought they would.
The fact that I stopped to talk to you gives him no reason to put you in harm.”

Alexander took
as step closer, laying a hand on Bowie’s shoulder, “Besides, three of the
wielders are in your camp already. You might want to grab your hat before it
blows away.” Alexander let a mischievous smile reach his face and Bowie lunged
for his hat. When he looked up Alexander had already started to walk away.

Mica stood in
between a man and woman with small daggers drawn in each hand. Each of the
three wore a robe, black in color. Although Bowie had never seen Mica wearing
black, it seemed to fit his mood. Bowie watched as an invisible war seemed to
take place in the open space. He watched each man grunt and take heavy breaths
without moving a single muscle. Alexander simply clenched his fists with eyes
closed as the others started to sweat.

  The female in
the robes took one step forward and threw her dagger at Alexander. The blade
tumbled end over end as it approached him. Bowie barely had time to flinch
before the blade was deflected into the open night sky. The small action made
Bowie close his eyes. Alexander hadn't moved from his spot but with eyes shut,
Bowie could see him using the wind imbuement.

Bowie watched
the normally unseen battle take place in the middle of their camp. Wind between
the wizards pushed, pulled, and deflected attacks of its same type. Bowie was mesmerized,
for what seemed to be a small brush of wind was a torrent of attacks canceling
each other out. He was standing amongst a wind wizard battle and one that only
a few could see what truly was happening.

  “Mica, I told
you that attacking me would do no good. A student like yourself cannot defeat
the teacher. I have learned lessons that I will never teach you,” Alexander
said while flipping a silvery disk through his agile fingers.

  “You are no
longer my teacher. We have orders to bring you to justice.” Mica said in
retort.

  “Congratulations,”
Alexander said, taking a bow and still fighting an unseen fight. “I have been
brought to justice for all my wrongdoings. To what crime am I being brought to
justice for?”

  “Disobeying
your king’s orders!” Mica took a step forward and his rear foot was grappled by
a vine that now wound itself up his leg.

  “I have no
king yet, Mica. You know that wizards are subject to no king unless an
elemental king has risen. Since your so-called king has been in his throne, he
has done everything to stop that from ever happening. Your king has done so
little right that even now the citizens of the Earth Realm seek to unseat him.”
Alexander’s voice was calm and filled with conviction.

  Mica pulled at
the vine anchoring him to the ground as he tried to get close to Alexander,
then turned his blade against the vine freeing himself. “You follow the ways of
the Elder Wizards who do nothing for the world. They only serve themselves.
Their laws mean nothing to me or my king.”

  “If you choose
to bring justice on me for a crime I did not commit, I pray the brights have
mercy on you, Mica. A true weapon bearer has been raised, I pray that you not
cross his path. The day you do cross him, only the brights will save you from
your deeds.” Alexander walked amongst the magical attacks as if they did not
exist. Between the tents, he walked away from the fight without injuring
anyone. Vines grew from the ground latching on to each of the three wizards.
The vines constricted and pulled them to a kneeling position in front of Bowie.
Ria showed no fear facing the three kneeling wind wizards. Vines reached up to
grab their necks. The tendrils started to constrict their throats, threatening
to bring them to darkness.