Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (41 page)

“King Rekkan did
not bring a council with him. Only a war party.” Kilen spoke softly. The others
nodded, flashing looks between one another.

**********

  Mica entered
the king’s tent with Captain Lorusk on his heels.

“You wished to
see me, your highness?” The captain asked as he bowed.

  “The council
and I, along with fifty of our best wielders, will be meeting with King Rekkan
tomorrow at noon to discuss a truce. When that happens I want you to flank
their main defenses and wait for my flare signal. Kill as many of them as you
can. I will handle King Rekkan. We will end this war and I will take Rekkan
prisoner all in one day without the need of my army,” Atmos said slamming his
fist on the table.

  “What of the
weapon bearer, my lord?” Mica asked

  The king
laughed, “He will be to blame. The Fire Realm will not trust him to set up any
meetings. You saw him tonight, who’s colors does he wear?”

  “Your colors,
my lord,” Lorusk responded.

  “Will you have
the strength in magic to take Rekkan?” Mica asked.

  “The only
magic I will use will be the strength of my arms. Follow my orders exactly. We
will leave the camp and as soon as we are out of sight, Mica will issue the
orders for the rest to flank them. Mica will then join us when all of our
soldiers are in place. When he arrives it will be my signal that all
preparations have been made. I will crush their king.”

  “Won’t their
fifty wielders attack if you take their king?” Lorusk asked.

  “I hope they
would. Their attack would make my council a reason to be here by forcing them
to fight for their lives. I could use to lose a couple of the council members
in the struggle as long as they are the correct ones. The weapon bearer will be
our only trouble. If he joins their side, we will need to focus all of our
magic on him. He holds three elementals and from what Mica has told me, he is
as good with each of them as he is with one.”

  “My lord, I
should be able to take him with wind. He is very weak with that particular
element. Before you arrived I was watching his efforts in training his friend
Bowie Crescent. The archer has a lot less time and little-to-no instruction in
using wind but was able to best Weapon Bearer Everheart.”Mica said with
confidence.

  The king scratched
his chin, “That is good news at least. If you can keep him wrapped up with
wind, I will be able to concentrate my magic on the Crimson that will surely
come.”

  In a low voice
Lorusk asked, “Where will you send the Champion?”

  “Already tired
of the boy, Lorusk?” The king laughed, “Don’t worry. We cannot risk him giving
away our intentions. I will send him to fight with the forty wielders and the
archers. He may stand a chance of living if he is not near the Crimson.”

  Lorusk let out
a sigh then clasped his fist to his chest, “I will hand pick the men for the
meeting myself. They will be rested and ready for the morning.” His cape
billowed out behind him as he departed the king’s tent.

  The king
stood, “Do not fail me, Mica. I want that boy unable to use a single ounce of
magic. If he tries to stop me, in anyway, I will take his head and weapon
before he has a chance at another trial.”

  “I give my
oath by penalty of death, he will be yours before we eat our noon meal.” Mica
bowed low, making sure his robes stayed behind the sash.

  Kilen found a
spot just inside the valleys mist covered hillside where he could be sure to
talk in secret. Birds chirped and he had seen a stag leaping towards the
running water for a morning drink. It would be hours yet before the fighting
began, but Jace had made it very clear that he was supposed to be here long
before. He checked his new bow one more time, just incase he saw a smaller
animal he could try to hunt to calm his nerves. He wished he had his father
there with him. Dylan Everheart, the wielder and scout, would know what to do.

  Joahna came
close enough in the mist that Kilen could see him with his natural vision. He
watched him approach with the water vision through the thick fog. Max was
getting very good and would often avoid notice by traveling as a few grains of
sand through the earth. His stone-like body covered in green sprouts of grass
that looked like hair rose out of the ground. Jace used the natural mist to
give the outline of his body by trapping the mist inside a bubble of wind that
rotated where it stood.

  The ghostly
face that Jace produced had much more emotion than the others. Kilen had known
Jace personally before he died. Jace is the reason that Kilen really knew hearing
voices inside his head did not mean he had gone crazy.

The ghost-like
form also had the most natural sounding voice, “How are you feeling, Kilen?”
Jace asked.

  Kilen knew he
wasn’t asking about his body, but of the newcomer to his brain. “He screams or
cries, nothing else.”

  “Shall I speak
with him?” Jace quietly asked under the muffling mist.

  “I’ve managed
to keep him at bay. It won’t be long until I will need one of you to join him
and help explain what is going on.” Kilen turned to Joahna, “When I pushed at
you inside my head before, did it hurt?”

  “I’m not sure
if what I felt could be described as pain,” he replied. “It pushed us into a
place that seemed like we couldn’t talk to each other. I felt loneliness more
than pain and
that
was terrifying.”

  “If anything,
perhaps we can teach him to talk inside the darkness of your mind where you
cannot hear him cry.” Max said acting as if it was not a problem at all. He
kept glancing around and shifting stones in his body.

  Jace changed
the topic, “This is not a problem for here and now. Do you have a plan or
middle ground for the negotiation?”

  “I was
thinking that perhaps I could go in your mind and help you speak. I’ve been
trained in negotiation.” Joahna reached up to tug on his leather straps but
realized he wasn't wearing any. He had been caught trying so he made the straps
and tugged on them anyways.

  Max grunted,
“I don’t think any of us should go in his mind. We were all suspicious of
Atmos. We all know he’ll try something. It’s better if we act as the elemental
mediators.” Max was speaking directly to his brother when he spoke these words.

  “Elemental
mediators?” Kilen was lost with most of the talk and was scrambling to keep up
with the conversation listening over the man who had suddenly began to wail
again at the mention of the king’s name.

  Jace spoke in
his teaching voice. A voice he had often used when he first met Kilen. He
didn’t know Jace had different voices until he was inside Kilen’s head talking
all the time. “An elemental mediator is someone who is strong in a power and is
able to control all of an element in an area so others cannot use it.” He
stepped closer, “Remember when I spoke to Bowie about taking control of magic
that someone else already had control of? Like the wind dome I used to prevent
his wind magic, that is what a mediator does. They control the magic around the
party, that way no one can use magic to fight. Then the party is bound by using
their words or fists.”

  Kilen nodded
that he understood, but didn’t speak. Joahna waited for a response and when
none came he voiced his concern. “We can control all but the fire magic. It
will give an advantage to the Fire Realm presence, and we know that the Crimson
also have the advantage of advanced fighting skills. Atmos may see that as a
threat.”

  Jace’s form
faltered as he looked to the sky, “If we do not let them know we hold the
magic, it could help. Besides, who would guess that Kilen could hold all the
elements against so many other wielders at the same time? It would take an
immense amount of power and concentration just for one wielder to keep a hold
of one element. They don’t understand that there is actually four of us. All we
have to do is stop them from killing each other and hope the negotiation goes
well.”

  Joahna smiled
at Jace, “I think you have it right, Jace. Controlling the elements is our only
chance to do everything we can to prevent this battle from starting.”

  All of them
nodded their heads in agreement.

Max’s voice
sounded like sand sliding over rock and is probably how he made himself speak,
“How will we handle anyone that tries to use magic?”

  Kilen got his
first opportunity to offer his opinion, “You turn it against them. Make it do
the opposite of what they want. If Micca wants it to lift himself, have it push
him down. If Atmos tries to shake the Crimson, make it shake Atmos. If Brent
tries to freeze the enemy, then freeze his own hands. If they use magic make it
a choice they regret, but remember: no one dies.”

They all nodded
and smiled, Max even patted Kilen on the back.

  “Listen Kilen,
if we are going to make this work we must get to the meeting area so we can
control the elements soon.”

  The three men
assumed their most used forms; Max a horse, Joahna a bird, and Jace again, was
formless. Max crossed the valley and found a rather flat portion of land with
smaller trees. Kilen worked to help build a fire that would signal the other
parties of where they were to meet. He knew he would have to extinguish it
later to avoid giving the Fire Realm even more advantage, so he kept it small.

  Max pulled the
last bit of dried meat out of the satchel that Leroy had packed. He formed a
stone mug for Kilen and Joahna filled it with hot water to brew Leroy’s special
tea. Sometimes Kilen missed having someone inside his mind to keep him from
getting too focused. Each time he thought about working the sword, the man in
his head started screaming. He tried to think of other things.

When he tried to
imagine the meeting, the man would start wailing as Kilen imagined King Atmos
speaking. He had to push at the man, but it seemed to have little effect so he
let him scream for the moment. It was best to wait until it was important to
quiet him.

Kilen’s mouth
burned like it use to as he bit into the strips of meat which seemed to to
block out the man’s voice for a moment. He thought that perhaps not having
tarts to cool his tongue was a good thing for once.

**********

Only a few
moments after the last of the king’s men left the sight of camp, Mica and the
remaining troops started issuing orders. Bowie had men continuously ask him
what his orders were. He told them to ask John for direction. He was following
the orders he had been given. He knew if he did not, or tried to issue orders
himself, he may have to pay the price with his life.

Auburn followed
him around the camp as he filled his quiver for the third time, due to newly
arrived wielders snatching the arrows from him. The first set had been crafted
by him, but the last two were made by the men he trained. Most of the wielders
thought they were getting a quiver full of Crescent arrows for free.

  He was already
returning with his fourth set of arrows and Chit grabbed him by the shoulder,
“You will be in the back where I can keep an eye on you.”

  Auburn
practically hissed, “
I
will be back here where I can keep an eye on
YOU
.”

  Chit turned
and looked at the red headed girl with a braid slightly longer than Bowie’s,
“Is this your protector? She looks like she’d be good for taken’ behind your
father’s place and bouncing her on my lap.” Chit nudged Bowie with a
strength-imbued elbow that almost knocked him over.

  Bowie went to
respond but Auburn held up a finger to her lips and shook her head not to say a
word. She gave Chit a smile that said she would like a bit of time on his lap.
She sauntered over with an arrow still knocked on her wizard-grown bow. When
she got near, she looked up at his giant frame and ran a single finger along
his jawline. Auburn smiled and drew the finger down his chin and neck, then to
his armored chest. He stood tall as if this was not out of the ordinary for him
as she traced her finger on the curves of his metal chest. She stepped close
tilted her head slightly waiting for Chit to lean over. When he did her mouth
turned up in a smile. With a shove of her hand she sent Chit crashing into one
of the trees filled with needles.

“He could do
worse than me for a protector. Let this be your warning Champion; you harm him
in any way and you will find yourself turned into a pincushion,” Auburn said
stomping back to where she had come from.

  A wielder in
shining steel trotted up on a horse, “Where is the Champion?”

  A sound of
spitting and groaning came from the tree.

Auburn smiled,
“He wanted me to join him, but I told him we would probably be moving out
soon.”

The man atop the
horse looked her up and down as she made small turns of her body to distract
him from thinking. “Champion, get out of the tree. They need you to at the
front of the line.”

Chit emerged and
gave a disgruntled look at the man then slowly walked up the line, still
picking needles out of his hair.

The man turned
his gaze on Auburn, “You can go back to camp.”

  She laughed at
him, “You think pretty highly of yourself to assume you can stop me from going
along.”

  The man reined
his horse in closer, “You think that you can fight as well as a man?”

  She laughed at
him again and squatted down. Bowie watched as she launched her small frame off
the ground and high into a tree. Balancing atop a moving branch, she knocked an
arrow. It screamed through the air landing at the horse’s front hooves. The
horse reared up and almost unseated its armored rider.

“If you want to
go to battle against forty thousand with only a thousand men at your back and
deny another wielder to come along, that’s up to you. I would think you’d take
anyone willing to fight,” She said standing confidently high in the tree.

  It took the
man a moment to answer. “Fall in line and stop wasting arrows. If anyone has a
problem with you, tell them Lieutenant Borgen sent you.”

She took a
dainty step out of the branch and gracefully landed on the moss covered forest
floor. She slowly clasped a gloved hand to her leather vest, “As you wish, Lieutenant.”

The lieutenant
moved down the line, Chit and Bowie jogged to catch up with the rest of the
men. Auburn took her place beside Bowie at the back.

“You should have
kept your mouth shut,” Bowie said with much disdain. He knew if they went to
the fight, her presence would be nothing more than a distraction to any man
wanting to look like her hero. He presumed that if they did go to battle most
of the men here would die.

One of the
soldiers who was a former Black Hat turned his head as he tried to keep pace on
the run, “We all trained to fight. We might as well all go and fight as best we
can so we can be named heros.”

Bowie said
nothing in response. He didn’t want to devastate the kid’s dreams that no one
would remember where he died or how many were sacrificed in this fight.

Auburn must have
read the look on his face, “He is right you know. We all came to fight. All of
us have a loved one or a whole town that is thanking us for our sacrifice. I
consider myself fortunate to be coming along. It’s better than being in the
camp and waiting for them to come in the night to capture us all and use us for
their darkest pleasures.”

Bowie had not
thought of what might become of Auburn if she were taken captive. Something
clicked in his mind and he suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to protect her.
He tried to shake the feeling and tell himself how ridiculous it was. He then
found himself looking at her face and wondering what her life would have been
like if her dad had come instead of her. He knew things in his camp would’ve
been largely different without her.

They ran on
through the trees for more than an hour before slowing. The lieutenant rode
down the line of men as they gathered into one location.

Lieutenant
Borgen whispered, “I want three ranks formed and we will advance until I give
the command to stop. We will attack on the king’s order. When we attack, let no
one live. The wielders here will protect you if the enemy comes close.”

Some of the men
on horses had dismounted and now walked the line of men giving energy to those
that needed it most. Bowie followed their lead and started walking down the
line replenishing energy.

John spotted
Bowie and came to him. He tried to walk through the men but they refused to let
John through. Bowie placed a hand on their shoulder and reluctantly, they
stepped to the side.

John spoke so
those near him could hear but Borgen’s men could not. “They follow you,
Sargeant Crescent. They refuse to follow me.” John stood in between the rows of
men and let Bowie pass by to continue his work. John moved between the second
and third row of men and took Auburn’s place replenishing energy.

Bowie slowed and
looked at each man as he passed them. Some nodded, some smiled, others simply
stood straighter. Bowie stopped when he reached Andrew standing in the front
row. Bowie took a step to stand behind him and spoke loud enough that everyone
could hear.