Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (37 page)

Kara saw the
wood in the fire place and decided to practice a bit. She felt the fire magic
and pulled the red waves of heat she saw in the air from the warmth of summer.
A sphere of fire grew in her hand as it swirled inside of itself. The sphere
turned colors as she pushed its shape smaller, like pushing flour into
measuring cup. With barely an effort, she tossed the ball into the large hearth
and watched as it splashed on the unlit logs. The glow from the fire filled the
room and added to the flame vision, coating the surfaces of the room.

  She had felt
this way of viewing the world was much like being hit on the head too hard;
things in the room wavered as if a curtain gently blowing in the wind. With her
eyes open she could see everything normally and a second layer of the heat
vision wavering back and forth. The combination of the two visions and her new
body made it near impossible to walk a straight line or pick up small objects.

  She shook her
head to free herself from vision of flame magic. She knew that shaking her head
had nothing to do with changing the way she saw the world, it was something
that she did anyways. She laughed thinking about quirks she had developed by
using magic. She often wiped her hands together after throwing fire or holding
flames where it should have blackened her skin. She looked down and she was
still wiping her hands from the flame thrown into the hearth.

  She heard the
rustle of movement inside Twilix’s bed. The sound was followed by two long legs
sticking out from behind the bed’s drapes. Tiny feet found a pair of slippers
and wiggled their way inside. The new and older wizard Twilix emerged and
dropped the bunched up nightdress to the floor. Somehow the wizard had been
able to get a new set of clothes made for the both of them. Kara went to the
wardrobe, excited to pick out a new dress for the day.

  Twilix
stretched her arms and combed her hands through her tangled hair. “Well, I have
shown you the gardens. We have gotten baths and filled our stomachs with the
best pastries the castle can provide. We have tried on all the dresses. We have
even managed to teach you some magic control. What would you like to do today?”

  Kara let out a
giggle. She had loved taking a bath. In Humbridge there wasn’t a luxurious
bathtub. It would take too many trips to the well and too much time to heat the
water. The large copper tub had been filled by Twilix with magic and heated to
perfection. Kara felt as if she could have stayed there all day, and felt that
Twilix would have too, if Kara hadn’t forced her to get out for evening meal.
“I think that I would like to see the city.”

  “The city? I
thought we went over this.” Twilix yawned and lazily fell back into bed behind
the curtains.

  Kara picked
out a dress made of a deep blue silk and allowed her to move freely when she
tried it on. She knew Twilix would at some point try to get her to train with
magic and having a comfortable dress on was preferred. She took the dress
behind the screen to change.

“If you don’t
want to go to the city then why do you ask?”

  “I was hoping
that you’d want to do something constructive.”

  “
Me
, do
something constructive? I had to practically push you each day to get out of
bed and do something. Two days ago you didn’t do anything except lay in a bath.
I mean it was nice to soak for a while, but I want to see the city,” Kara said.

  “Whether or
not I soak in a bath all day has nothing to do with us going to the city. You
know that Brandon has forbidden us to go anywhere near the library or the
city.” The accusation seemed to light a fire under the water wizard. She to
chose a dress from the wardrobe and waited on the other side of the screen for
Kara to finish dressing.

“I’m sorry he
won’t let us go to the library. I don’t like to read as much as my brother, but
I would still like to read how to use my magic better.” Kara almost knocked the
screen over trying to reach the ribbon lacing hanging from her back. She made
sure the screen wouldn’t fall and came around to Twilix who helped her pull the
ribbon tight as it laced up her back to pull the corset tight.

  “It’s not your
fault. Lately I’ve felt like doing nothing at all. It’s the water magic
creeping up on me. Usually I control it better as I slowly grow in strength,
but the sudden increase in power has affected my ability to manage.” Twilix let
out a half hearted laugh and stepped around the screen, “Funny thing is, I know
it’s affecting me but I still can’t stop it.”

  “I felt the
same way about the fire magic. I knew I was angry. I knew it was stupid to be
angry over it, but I couldn’t stop myself.” Kara let out a laugh, “I’m sure
that you’ll figure it out.”

  “At least we
aren’t restricted to a dungeon,” Twilix said from behind the screen. Twilix had
mentioned the dungeon at least once a day, Kara was sure it was to keep her
incontrol.

  “Yes, but I
would feel a lot less restriction if we could at least get some books to read.
I want to learn things from a fire wizard and reading it is the closest I will
get right now.” Kara was right about needing to learn from those that had
mastered their abilities. Twilix would never be able to teach Kara everything.

  “Perhaps I can
talk to Brandon and get him to at least let me go in and get some books while
you are being watched.” Twilix stepped back from around the screen, dressed in
a green dress with small flowers embroidered at the hem of the skirt. She held
up her hair for Kara to pull the lacing on the corset tight. Twilix smiled as
each tug was made. The dresses she now wore were made to fit a woman, and Kara
knew she had waited a long time to be a woman.

  They both took
a turn brushing their hair and pulling it up in the mirror. Ladies didn’t wear
their hair down after they had reached the age to take on a husband. Kara may
have looked like a woman, but she still had the mind of a thirteen year old
girl. It was a struggle for Twilix to get her to put her hair up like a proper
woman. Today however, Kara at least attempted without an argument. Twilix
returned the favor pinning back layers of shining black locks of Kara’s hair.

  “Shall we see
if we can find Brandon?” Kara suggested.

  Twilix smiled,
“I’m sure he won’t be hard to find once the guards see you walking around the
halls.”

They both
giggled, and then Kara cleared her throat. Giggling was a childlike habit she
had been trying to break. She wanted to feel and act like a woman in all
respects.

  They opened
the door to their room and a guard jumped to his feet from where he was
squatting outside the door. The guard yelled and knocked on the door across the
hall, and a wielder stepped out, strapping on his belt. The wielders assigned
to protect the castle now had only one chore; to watch over Kara. The only
place that Kara went without them was her room and the privy. Sometimes all
four followed her, but most of the time it was only two.

Twilix turned to
the guard, “You are relieved of your duty here. Run along and tell Wizard
Parker that we will be waiting for him at the library door.”

  The bald
wielder stuck his head back inside his room and soon emerged with all four men.
Both women knew it was going to be one of those days. Twilix smiled at the men
still in a hurry to prepare themselves for duty. She was always extra polite,
as if they simply chose to accompany the two women through their day. Kara and
Twilix knew they had no choice, but it was polite to act as if they did.

“I would like to
pick out some books from the wizard library today. Would you and your friends
like to come along?” Twilix asked.

  Something
peculiar happened on this one morning; the guard nodded his head in response.
Usually Twilix had to fill in the conversation as if they had answered
willingly.

Kara smiled,
“Wonderful. I am glad you all can join us.”

  Twilix smiled
in response and looked to be holding back her desire to giggle. “I am in
agreement. Today is going to be a great day.” The blond wizard stepped beside
the large bald wielder and stuck her arm through his as if he had offered it.
She then started tugging along until the man was walking her down the hallway.

The other men
stood and stared at Kara, waiting for her to move.

Twilix looked
back and saw them standing there. She gave a tug on her brute’s arm to stop.
“She has two arms, gentlemen. You can switch out at meals to make sure everyone
gets equal amount of time.”

Kara smiled and
reluctantly; one of the men held out his arm. She tucked her arm through and
smiled.

  “Your arm is
cold,” She said to the wielder.

  Twilix turned
herself and gave her new escort a tug, “It’s not his arm, Kara. Remember,
you’re a fire wizard. You’ll always be hot.”

  Kara smirked
at the guard, “Right. Sorry.”

The guard
growled under his breath and started walking with the others in tow.

Kara made light
of the situation and started talking about the art and tapestries lining the
walls of the castle. She commented that only a couple of tapestries existed in
her home town. She then talked about her friends and about their families
livestock. The guard didn’t seem to pay attention, but the one sided
conversation calmed her nerves. She had never been escorted anywhere with a man
other than her brother or Bowie. She was not exactly sure if either of them fit
the description of a man.

  Kara started
to look at the guard’s arm. His arms were twice the size of any man’s she had
ever seen. The thick tree trunks were covered in a carpet of hair of which she
could only come to think of as fur. She watched as the man’s protruding veins
pulsed blood over the thick muscles lying just beneath the surface of the skin.
She felt hot, like they had walked past a brazier. Her loose hand found the top
of her linen shirt to pull it away from the skin to let out the heat she felt
building underneath.

The tugging at
the shirt made no difference. The heat didn’t seem to lessen any. She suddenly
yanked back her arm and the guard stopped. She looked at him and the two guards
following her. Twilix took no notice and kept walking through the hall. The
guard had stopped and stared at her. She scrambled to find a reason to pull
away, fearing they would lock her up if she was losing control.

Finally she
burst out, “You’re sweaty. I don’t want to ruin my new dress with your grime.”
She turned and stalked off following the now slowing Twilix. The three guards
continued to follow after her escort grunted and waved the other two onward.

  Looking over
her shoulder, Twilix scrunched her eyebrows as if saying,
what was that?

Kara just shook
her head and folded her arms as she followed closely behind Twilix. The heat
from under her collar still hadn’t subsided. Kara could still see the guards
thick muscles in her mind. She closed her eyes and swallowed. Instinctively,
she wiped the sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief that was more lace
than cloth.

Twilix drew her
garud to a halt, “Can you give me a moment?”

The guard turned
his back and walked a few paces forward down the hall.

Twilix stepped
up to kara, “Is everything okay? You’re sweating.”

  Kara looked
around to make sure she couldn’t be heard by the men standing watch over them.
“I don’t know what happened. I was looking at his arm one moment and the next I
got really hot.”

  Twilix giggled
and smiled deviously, “The arms or the muscles?”

  Kara looked
around and gripped the lengths of her dress in nervousness, “Both, I guess.”
            Twilix smiled and gently placed a hand on Kara’s arm, “Kara, it’s
ok. I know you don’t understand, but this happened to me too. You’ll learn to
control it.”

  “What
is
happening to me? I feel as if I could light a fire with every inch of my skin.”
Kara tugged at her collar again.

  “You liked
looking at a man’s muscles. It’s natural Kara and not just natural for wizards,
but for normal girls as well.” Twilix looked back at the guards, “I’m sure
they’re sweating just as much at the thought of holding you close. Just try not
to let them know you like looking. Should we continue or do you need to go let
off some...heat?”

  Kara slowly
shook her head, “It doesn’t feel the same as magic heat. I think I’ll be fine.
I’ll just keep my eyes to myself.” She started to walk and stopped again, “How
long will you be in getting books out of the library?”

  Twilix looked
confused, “It should only take a moment.”

  “It’s just- I
don’t want to be left alone with the four of them. Especially if they are going
to be close to me. The smell of them is not helping things.”

  Twilix nodded,
still smiling, “It’s the one with the brown hair. He likes to keep clean. If
you couldn’t burn him to a crisp, I bet he would ask you to dance.”

  Kara’s cheeks
turned red as she glanced at the men down the hall. The new concoction of
hormones threatened to undo all of her work controlling her mind. “Let’s not
talk about that. Right now I’m not sure if I want to talk to any man, let alone
dance with them.” She tugged at her collar to fan herself off. “Is it always
like this?”

  Twilix let out
a tiny laugh, “Not for me. It only happens to me when I think of the man I want
to be with.”

Kara stuck her
chin out to the guard that had escorted Twilix.

Twilix laughed
in response, “No, no. The man that gets my fire burning is not here. I hope to
see him again soon, but looking at others does not stoke the fire.” She smiled
at Kara. The two girls recently turned into women said nothing more to each
other, but giggled all the way to the wizard librarie door. Kara kept her eyes
on the ground and and found a nearby window she could look out while Twilix was
inside.