Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (30 page)

  “I serve the
old ways as well, mind you. Do not cross me either or the weapon bearer will be
the least of your worries.” Ria walked away and left the three wizards to
struggle with the binding that she had captured them in.

  Bowie walked
amongst them and waved over one of his men with a sword. “Free them. They are
the kings wizards and are welcome in our camp. Tyler, see to it that some food
is made for them. I’m sure they will want to be on their way soon.”

Tyler nodded and
disappeared into the campfires to find food for the wizards. The vines were cut
off of the unexpected guests and Bowie stood waiting for them to speak.

  “Dangerous
friends you keep, archer.” Mica checked the folds of his robes, for what, Bowie
didn’t understand. “You will have a report written, for delivery to the king by
one of my men. We will go as soon as that is prepared.”

  Bowie
straightened his hat, “You will be waiting for a while. I haven’t had a good
night sleep in close to three days, and I have already been interrupted twice
tonight. Some of my men will show you to the scout’s tents for you to rest. I’m
not sure there is any ale or wine left but you are welcome to some if there
is.” He walked off leaving the wizards standing in the open space. He saw the
wind form in front of him as Mica was preparing to force him to write the
report.

An arrow
streaked past Bowie and through a fold in Mica’s robe to land in a fire behind
him. “How many arrows can you stop, Wizard? If you so much as look at me wrong you
will be a pincushion, and your men, practice dummies for my archers.” Bowie
spoke as he stared at Auburn who remained just outside the fire light with her
wizard-grown bow pulled back as far as her strength would allow. “We are on the
same side, Mica. Besides, you and your two friends look like you could use a
good night’s sleep as well.” Bowie ducked into his tent as the magic that had
formed in front of him disappeared into the surrounding air.

He wished he
knew how to control it. The ability sure would have come in handy.

  The sound of
Ria and Auburn whispering outside Bowie’s tent had brought him awake. He
listened for a moment to hear what they were whispering about. Ria was giving
Auburn lessons on how to grow plants with her newly acquired imbuement. The
rest of the camp seemed to be non-existent or moved so quiet that Auburn’s
whispers were the noisiest thing in camp. He dressed in his fancy clothes with
the bright green trim. He checked the bow strings before putting them in his
pocket.

  A small plate
of fruit, cheese, and meat was on his table. He ate until the plate was empty.
When he had finally laid down he was so tired that he didn’t remember much
before collapsing into bed. He knew Mica would need a report and now that
Alexander had a night to disappear, he wanted Mica out of his camp. He wrote a
short report saying the problems they are running into with the locals being
defiant. He avoided saying anything that would make the king think the locals
had taken up arms against their own king. He gave the number of arrows they had
amassed. When they arrived near the battle site he would be able to complete
the needed arrows before the rest of the army arrived.

  Using a
candle, he sealed the letter with wax and pressed an arrow head into the seal.
He knew that getting enough sleep would help clear his mind and help him focus,
but today he seemed himself. Bowie was seeing the world clearer than he had
ever before. Looking back on journey from Deuterium, he now thought that he had
made some horrible decisions. He had given in too easily to a pompous merchant.
He had divided his forces to attack the enemy on the road. He had totally
forgotten about letting his men have some down time. He even managed to leave
his tools with a blacksmith who could have destroyed them.

He had lived
from one moment to the next, not considering the outcome of his choices before
he made them. In the past, Bowie had always thought of the future; working in
the now to prepare for the later. He was confused by what had changed that
enabled him to think clearly. His hands dropped from his head and he saw the
lamp light reflect off the bracelet he wore.

  The bracelet
now had two beads of imbuements; one of wind and one of earth. Imbuements
always effected a wielders emotions until they were able to control them. He
remembered from Kilen’s training that wind magic made a person erratic. The
wind magic had pushed him to be erratic and out of his normal state of mind.
The earth magic he now wielded must have helped stabilize his emotions and
decisions. He knew with the balance restored, he could be the leader he was
supposed to be. He put on his jacket and tucked the report inside. Bowie took
the hat from the desk and walked out the flaps of his tent to trample flowers
just outside.

  Ria and Auburn
stood from where they were kneeling outside. Ria spoke first, placing a hand on
Auburn’s shoulder. “Sergeant Crescent, I hope you slept well. May I speak to
you privately for a moment?”

Auburn looked
everywhere except at Bowie, as if she were searching for something. Ria glanced
at Auburn a couple of times and then back to Bowie. He noticed that there were
flowers surrounding his tent and Ria shook her head as he opened his mouth to
question them.

  “Where should
we talk?” He asked pointing at his tent and shrugging his shoulders.

  “I think that
my wagon would be a better place to speak privately,” Ria said nodding to
Auburn.

Bowie held out
his hand for her to lead the way as she did. They walked away from Auburn but
the girl soon followed, pulling the bow from where she had worn it over her
shoulder. She knocked an arrow and followed, still looking around. The action
made Bowie nervous; he felt as if someone could attack at any moment.

  He looked back
at Ria who continued to shake her head and motioned Bowie to follow with her
hand. Her wagon remained close to the center of the camp. John was walking
around keeping his eye on everyone packing up. He saw Bowie and started to
shout for the men to start waking everyone.

Ria closed the
door behind Bowie and locked it from the inside. “I am sorry. Each person has a
different reaction to magic.”

  “Yes, I wish I
had been carrying an earth imbuement to keep my head on straight. I’ve realized
the bad decisions I’ve made from wearing the wind imbuement.” Bowie sat on one
of the stools.

  “You believe
that you are thinking clearer now?” She asked as she poured a cup of cold tea
and taking the seat across from him.

  “I do. What is
wrong with Auburn?”

  “She
apparently has set it in her mind that she is supposed to protect you-”

He spit out the
tea he had taken a sip of. “She
what
?!? She barely knows how to hold the
bow!”

  Ria wiped up
the tea he spit out on the table clicking her tongue, “You very well know the
effects of wielding magic. She has set her goal as protecting you. She spent
the entire night watching over your tent. She was holding the bow, threatening
to kill anyone that came near you until I convinced her to start learning how
to use magic. Even then she would not leave sight of it.”

  “So that’s why
there are flowers outside my tent.” He finally remembered to take off his hat,
and wondered why she had not scolded him.

  “I feel as if
I disrupted your whole camp here. I will not be telling you how to run an army
when I have a hard time just being around others. I forget that common people
do not fully understand magic, what it can do, and how it affects you.” Ria
slumped in her chair. It was the first time that Bowie had seen her do that.

  “Are you
getting enough rest? You look as though you are tired.” He reached across the
table and put his hand near the wizard’s.

  “It’s not
that. I don’t spend a lot of time with wizards or with non-wielders. I
sometimes have a hard time understanding them. The wagon is my home. I call
home to wherever my wagon rests for the night. I usually don’t get caught up in
politics but this time I was in the wrong town picking up supplies when the
king came through. I feel as though all of my efforts are for nothing.” Ria
made a second swipe at the spit tea on the table.

  “I assure you
that we would not be here if it wasn’t for your skills and efforts. Now, did
you say she has been outside my tent all night?” Bowie asked.

  “Yes, last
night there was a discussion between you and Mica. Whatever you said caused her
to fixate on protecting you. I am afraid that until she learns to control her
magic, her only goal in life is to protect you.”

Bowie pulled his
hand back,

“Now that is not
necessarily a bad thing. She is skilled with the bow, and is picking up magic
pretty quickly.” Ria stood and moved about the room growing and collecting
berries. She pulled some dried meat out of her cupboard and pulled loaf of
bread from another. “We need to get her to eat something. She says that she’s
fine but refuses to eat until you have.”

  “I just ate a
whole plate of food.” He stood to go but she caught his arm.

  “I think if
you would let me bring you some food to eat in front of her, she would eat. I
need you to just go along with whatever I say so you can understand her
devotion to protect you.”

Bowie nodded in
acceptance.

“Go ahead then.
I will be out with food for you and her in a bit. Sergeant Crescent, please let
me know if you wish to learn about earth magic,” She said pointing at the imbuement.

  “I will, thank
you. I have some things I need to take care of.” He opened the door and put on
his hat as it closed behind him. Auburn was at his side in a moment, looking
about as if expecting an attack.

  “Auburn, would
you come with me? I have to see to getting Mica on his way with this report.”
He tapped his jacket where the pocket was inside.

  “I would like
to see him out of the camp as well.” She followed behind Bowie and continued to
check the area while she walked.

  Bowie stopped
to face her and she almost ran into him, “Are you looking for someone?”

  “I- uhm. We
are behind enemy lines. We could be attacked at any moment,” She said sticking
her chin out at the trees.

  “Auburn, I
think we are perfectly fine here in the center of camp. Unstring that bow and
look at what you are doing or you might stick me with the arrow you have in
your hand.” Bowie waited until she reluctantly put the arrow away and held the
bow a bit more casually. “Besides, you are making me nervous, looking around
like that all the time. Relax, we are safe here.”

She nodded her
head and put a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

  Bowie
continued on to the tents they had set aside for scouts. They hadn’t received
any scouts for days, but they continued to construct them just in case. Mica
and the other two wizards were all sitting near a smoldering fire with a bowl
of mush.

“Good morning
gentlemen. I hope you slept well.” Bowie took a seat on a log and awaited a
response.

  “Your camp is
well organized. I will report the number of arrows to King Atmos as soon as I
can.” Mica put another spoon of mush into his mouth. Bowie wondered why he was
eating mush when the camp had such an overwhelming amount of meat.

  “Auburn, these
men should have more than just this to eat. See if you can fetch us all some
meat.”

Auburn
immediately got up to fetch the food, “Do you all like venison?”

They each nodded
and Auburn went to another fire pit and sent a soldier to get the meat.

Bowie noticed
that she did not take her eyes off of the three wielders. “I have drafted a
report for you to deliver. I will let you know that we’ll leave this morning
and won’t be stopping until we come as close to the battle ground as we care
to. There’s a sort of resistance that’s building amongst the populations here
and we wish to be past it before we lose any more men.”

  “You mentioned
something along those lines last night.” Mica said as he disposed of the rest
of his mush.

A soldier
approached with a stick of meat for each and then immediately started to take
down the scout tents.

  “We ran into
some of the locals that actually wanted to hunt us. Seven of my men, including
Auburn, were able to dispatch ten and run off about seven more. We caught up to
them and were able to talk them into surrendering. They have all returned to
their homes without weapons.” Bowie explained while examining discarded arrow
parts on the ground.

  “You let the
traitors go?” Mica said, standing.

  “You call them
traitors. I say they are scared of being killed by the Fire Realm so they did
what they thought was right. They have stopped with their fight and if they
choose to pick up weapons against the king’s men again, I will hold them
accountable.” Bowie started to reach for a stick of meat but stopped to
remember that Ria would be by to feed him and Auburn soon. “We are going to
move fast down the road and warn other towns about what treachery will get
them. We are doing what we think is necessary to have the king look merciful.”

  Mica, still
looking agitated, “The king will appear to the common folk as he wants. He does
not need your help.”

  Bowie stood
and pulled his hat on tighter to keep his temper under control. “I didn’t do it
to make the king look good. My men are just as tempted to be a traitor when the
men they fight are ones they grew up with. You should be out of my camp as soon
as possible. If the king wants me to stop, I will need a written order. So you
had better be on your way to get to him and back before I reach the
battlefield. Have a safe journey, wizard.” Bowie started to walk away and
watched roots reach out of the ground to cover Auburn’s boots. Bowie bet that
she was anchoring herself to the ground.

He watched as
she pulled an arrow from her bow and had it knocked before he could signal her
to stop. He turned and with the wind vision, he watched Mica start to move the
air in front of him. Neither of the two moved or attacked, but Bowie knew it
wouldn’t end well if he didn’t stop it.

  He didn’t know
how much he could manipulate Auburn but there was no time to test it. “Auburn,
if you choose to fight him you won’t be around to fight beside me later.”

It took a moment
but she began to bite her lip and then lowered the bow and released tension on
the string.

  “That’s twice
your archer here has raised a weapon to me,” Mica spat.

Bowie watched as
the wind magic dissipated and smiled, “Did you hear that, Auburn? I think he
just made you an archer. Congratulations on joining the army, I will see that
you get your pay.”

She smirked at
the comment and flashed a bigger smile at Mica as if it was what she really
wanted. The vines around her feet loosened and she followed Bowie back towards
his tent. Just as she had promised, Ria walked up to him with a covered plate.

“I found this
with a note for you. It has everything you need for a good meal before we get
you back on the road. Are you hungry?” Ria lowered her head and raised her
eyebrows as if to say, ‘yes you are hungry.’

“I am famished,”
Bowie said taking the plate from her. “I haven’t had a bite to eat since midday
yesterday”

Ria smiled and
pulled the napkin from the plate, “I know that John usually sees that your
plates are brought to you straight from him because of the chance for
poisoning. I didn’t see him but this plate was in the usual place. I’m sure he
has been so busy packing up the camp that he didn’t want to wait around.”

He understood
what she wanted now, “I am sure it’s fine. Why would anyone want to poison me
here?” He picked up a piece of cheese and started it towards his mouth.

“What are you
doing?!? That food could be from anyone!” Auburn knocked the cheese from his
hand and snatched the plate from him. “I will find you some food that has been
properly cooked and poison free.”