Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (31 page)

“I am sure it’s
fine, Auburn. Just give it to me, I’m famished.” Bowie started to pull the
plate back and Auburn popped a piece of cheese in her mouth chewing furiously.
Bowie held tightly onto the plate as she took a piece of each type of food.

She spit a bit
as she tried to talk through the food in her mouth, “You had better hope these
are not poisoned. I am doing this for you.”

Ria smiled, “You
better test the whole plate. What if only one piece is poisoned?”

Auburn stopped
chewing with a wad of food in her cheek, “You made this, didn’t you?”

Ria nodded and
Bowie spoke, “Auburn, I know you want to protect me, but I have a camp full of
soldiers for that. Eat your food and get packed for the road. I need your
fletchers to be prepared to make arrows as we travel.”

Auburn held onto
the plate as Bowie walked away. She swallowed the food she had left and yelled
to a fletcher to follow her. She started shouting out orders, still keeping
Bowie in sight.

John waited at
Bowie’s tent with a bit of breakfast and watched carefully as four men took his
tent down. “Sergeant, we will be ready to leave shortly.”

“Thanks, John.
We need to make sure Ria is at the front so she can help energize the troops as
they start out. I want to make sure each and every man is ready to travel as
fast as they can. We also need to eliminate anything that’s keeping us from
moving too slow. If we have any unnecessary cargo, like the alcohol, toss it
out.” Bowie said taking the plate from John.

“All the
unnecessary equipment has been set aside for the next group of men. I left
stools, chairs, tents, and training targets. We will have over half of the men
in wagons. I’ve ordered soldiers to be mixed in with the fletchers to help in
production. Each wagon now has at least one fletcher to help the soldiers make
their own arrows. The men who walk will be given the task of moving supplies to
each wagon and moving finished arrows to the next.” John stood a bit
straighter.

Ria leaned in
and whispered into Bowie’s ear, “He has become influenced to being the best
soldier he can be. You must be very careful giving orders to these two. An
order worded wrong could mean John drowning so that supplies don’t get wet.”

Bowie took a
moment to think while he ate a few bites of his breakfast. Auburn took the
silence as a moment to practice growing the flowers she had started. “Now that
we have the ability to use earth magic, we all can renew the troops energy,
correct?” Bowie asked.

Ria used a piece
of wood to sit beside Bowie, seemingly excited to speak about magic. “Yes, of
course you can do almost anything I can do. Including producing magically grown
bows.”

Bowie took a
couple more bites, pondering how to word his next question. “It might be good
if you could teach John how to energize troops, that way he can keep some of
the men topped off just incase I need to take them into a fight.”

Auburn
immediately stopped growing the flowers and moved over to Bowie. “I will learn
as well, if I can use it to keep you safer.”

Bowie nodded to
Auburn and turned back to Ria. “Yes, I do believe I could use the help in
restoring some of the troops. John and Auburn will not be any good to us if
they cannot keep themselves up right in the saddle. They will have to agree not
to push themselves too far. They won’t be able to fight or protect you if they
use all of their energy restoring others.”

“Could you give
us all a lesson before we leave?” Bowie asked, smiling to Ria.

She winked at
him in a most motherly wink, “I can, but they will have to pay attention if
they are to use it well.”

“I will.”
escaped both of their mouths before Bowie could speak a word. The magical
determination in combination with Bowie’s words had fueled their determination
to learn magic to both be a good soldier and to protect him. He took another
bite of food as Ria led the two to a nearby tent where a soldier was wiping
sweat from his forehead. Auburn took one last glance around to make sure that
Bowie would remain in sight. Ria began explaining how to use magic to restore
the troop’s energy. He had never received this bit of training. Bowie assumed
Kilen had learned it in one of his many private sessions when Bowie was sent to
hunt or had to stay and watch over Kara.

He was glad he
was in hearing distance. Auburn had been instructed in using magic part of the
night and had an easier time understanding it. Bowie still had a hard time
seeing the green energy that Ria spoke of. Bowie tried to use the earth sight
but found himself getting caught up in the vision of wind magic. He soon found
the stability of the green earth magic stored in the ground and trampled grass,
even in the bodies of each of his soldiers. A large amount of energy was stored
in Ria, Auburn, and John. The clouds of the green magic energy were so thick,
he could see the details of their skin and hair with his eyes closed. He knew
as he traveled he would have to do all he could do to learn to use this magic.
Even if the only thing he learned was to rustle a bush to distract someone or
trip someone with a vine.

Bowie wondered
if it was the magical determination or their natural talent that helped the two
new wielders learn to use their imbuement. Auburn walked around to every
soldier in sight of Bowie and started to energize them. John called out to soldiers
to bring the horses. The work animals began to dance as if they had been tied
in stables for months. The soldier’s eyes grew when Auburn placed a hand on
their shoulder or arm. Soon after, each would work with renewed vigor. Bowie
watched as the camps packing and movement doubled in speed. It only took a
moment for Ria to return to sit beside him.

“You are a quick
learner,” She smoothed her dress and watched Auburn work a circle around them,
keeping Bowie close.

“Not as quick as
those two.” Bowie said before taking another bite of biscuit.

“No, you aren’t
as quick in learning to use magic, but you’re a quick assist those that are
learning. You are a good leader.” She pointed at Auburn, “Two days ago I
couldn’t get her to learn to replant a flower. Today, she can grow them from
seed with magic. She can energize troops faster than most. Do you know why this
is?”

“Because you
taught her,” Bowie said, wiping his hands on his pants after cleaning his
plate.

“No.” Ria leaned
in close to Bowie’s face so that he could look nowhere else, “Because you are a
true leader. You know those two so well that you were able to give them a
reason to learn. You inspired them to be better than they are. You used your
words to give their determination a purpose.” Ria waited but Bowie gave no
reaction, “Just because you have a hard time learning magic, does not mean you
are not a powerful wielder. Some of the most powerful wielders used only their
brain to change the world. The imbuements were just trinkets that made people notice
them. I believe you are this type of wielder.” She stood and patted Bowie on
the shoulder.

He sat staring
at the ground for a while until Auburn approached with her horse and Charger in
tow. He stood and mounted Charger, who was anxious to be ridden. He checked the
straps and looked around the camp. Every wagon was perfectly packed with
supplies and troops. Baskets of arrows hung from the sides as fletchers were
fast at work in each cart. He knew these men were his responsibility, they had
chosen to put their lives in his hands.

He took a
swallow and spoke as loudly as he could. “Today is the last day of rest for a
while. We must push forward at a fast pace to warn the citizens of this land
against defying a king. We do this not for the king. We do this to save their
lives from him. On the road ahead we will face three enemies: the Fire Realm,
the citizens of this land, and ourselves. Work together, suffer together, and
together we shall live to see another summer.”

John let out a
loud cheer and his example was followed by his men. Bowie’s chest felt the
vibrations from the men’s cheers as cart after cart started to lurch forward on
the road. Bowie felt for the first time that he truly was a leader. Ria smiled
before closing the door to her own wagon.

**********

  Brandon and
Twilix both knew that Kara’s transformation was close because of her rapid rise
in heat. Even though Twilix had developed a way to keep Kara cool while she did
other things, the last couple of days required her to keep a close watch on the
ice sphere surrounding the girl. Twilix had caught Kara catching herself on
fire twice already today.

  Kara could
catch fire without hurting herself but soon after she would continue raise her
temperature until she was burning her body to ash. Ageing a fire wizard was not
only dangerous to oneself but to everyone in the area. Brandon was asleep in a
chair nearby. Twilix watched him for a moment before stepping inside the
sphere. Steam had already filled the inclosure and a loud hissing sound could
be heard. The sound echoed in her ears as she stepped inside. Twilix carefully
walked down the ice stairs until her slippers met warm water. She normally
liked warm water but this kind meant something different. The closer she came
to Kara, the hotter the water. The liquid was boiling at the edges of Kara’s
skin.

  Twilix dropped
the hem of her dress into the pool. She had hoped to keep it dry but the level
was too high to hold the bottom up. She bent over submerging, the palms of her
hands into the water. She felt the water around her knees cool and then become
frigid. She only needed to cool the water long enough for her to check on Kara.
She wished to lower the girl’s temperature but she knew it would take too much
of her strength to do it.

She spoke into
the empty space when she could see Kara’s form through the steam. “It won’t be
long now. I hope you are able to maintain control of all this strength. I don’t
know how long I will be able to calm you if you are unable to control
yourself.”

  Twilix tried
to bring the water back from boiling, but it heated just as fast as she cooled
it. She stood back up and focused on the air. The steam in turned to snow as
she chilled the atmosphere inside. The snow did not last long or cool down Kara
in any way. Twilix was done messing around. Finally, she pushed the steam to
the roof and watched as Kara sunk through the pedestal and into the floor of
the ice sphere. Steam issued from the hole that had been formed by the girl’s
passing body. Twilix walked to the hole while protecting herself with a bubble
of self-cooling water. The bubble made it hard to see but kept the heat from
burning her.

  She got as
close as she could and started to cool Kara when a arch of fire whipped out of
the steaming hole and sliced through Twilix’s small protective bubble. The fire
caused Twilix to back away. Her blue dress was blackened around the waist where
she was not quick enough to get out of the way. A second arch of fire expanded
in all directions and dislodged a piece of the newly thickened ceiling. Twilix
quickly climbed the melting stairs and scrambled out of the collapsing ice
doorway to find the summer sun beat down upon her.

  Brandon was
already awake and sending men to ready the water wielders. “Twilix, let me help
you.” He closed the gap between the two and picked Twilix up off the ground.

  “You need to
let the water out of the bowl or she will drown,” Twilix was still staring back
into the bowl as the arches of fire sprang forth one after the other. The
struggle would be over soon; either she would help Kara survive and have to
fight her into the dungeon or she would die and possibly take Twilix with her.

  The ground
shuddered as part of the bowl opened and heated water came spilling out onto
the wizards training grounds. Arcs of fire became more numerous and violent,
turning to liquid heat at their peak. The liquid flames drenched the ground,
making it hard to see the distance to the sphere. Twilix’s shoulder was grasped
tightly by Brandon. She felt a flood of energy enter her body just like the
flood of water emptying itself onto the training ground. Once the steam
cleared, Twilix was able to see the form of a woman on fire.

  Twilix did her
best to pull the water from the training area and concentrate it on Kara in a
snake like form. When the water from the ground was all used up, Twilix
gathered the water that was let off in steam, cooling it as much as possible
before it crashed into the girl who was now half buried in mud. Water bearer’s
climbed the hill to stand beside Twilix and wrapped themselves in a shield of
ice. An arch of flame struck the shield and it melted away. The water bearer’s
built it back as quickly as they could and combined their efforts to protect
the two wizards from getting burned to a crisp. Twilix pushed the water harder,
recycling the steam into the stream as Kara heated it. Finally, the water
touched the young wizard’s skin and the arcs of liquid fire stopped. Twilix did
her best to keep the water on Kara’s skin but soon the heat overtook even the
wielder’s efforts to keep up an ice shield.

  Brandon
collapsed onto the ground, giving into the loss of energy. A soldier ran to
drag him away from the erupting inferno. Twilix watched as the water bearers
started to back away.

“Take me!” She
shouted.

Twilix’s body
collapsed as well, but a woman of ice rose in her place. Twilix had assumed an
elemental form. She knew in this form should be able to more efficiently hold
Kara at bay. She was frustrated because she should have been able to subdue
Kara without it. Twilx had just aged and become more powerful than she had ever
been.

  Twilix took a
deep breath as if her elemental body needed it. She concentrated in seeking out
every piece of water she could find. She did this even as Kara’s flames grew in
height and strength. Twilix turned to watch one of the wielders carry her limp
body away from the hole as fast as he could. She always found it eerie to look
upon herself in this way.