Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (52 page)

Bowie whispered,
“How many guards are there inside the dungeon.”

“There’s no way
of telling. They change the guard down there often and there are more during
the captive wizard’s meal times.. I would say as little as two guards and as
many as twenty wielders at a time.”

The words barely
left Brent’s mouth when Bowie shouted, “TWENTY?!”

Auburn and Brent
both shushed him in a panick. Everyone listened for a moment to see if anyone
heard the shout.

“Twenty? You
should be going with us if there is going to be twenty wielders in the
dungeon,” Bowie said yelling at a whisper.

Brent raised an
eyebrow, “We are not changing the plan now. Besides, I believe you were about
to take on thousands of men during battle. Twenty wielders confined to a small
hallway, unaware and surprised, should be no match for you. I have other
matters to attend to, archer.”

“These
other
matters
, are they so important that you are willing to risk this mission
failing?” Bowie retorted.

Brent took a
moment to listen at the door before answering, although Bowie thought it was
just to buy him some time to find an excuse. “Master Crescent, like Ria, I have
been imbuing beads with the element of water for years. I have them hidden in
my room for emergencies worthy of revealing my true power. If we are to face
this soul wizard, we will need every imbuement, wizard, and warrior we can call
upon.” He turned to face Bowie in the small room, his face shadowed by the
moving light of the torch. “You will do as you promised and save the girl. I
will meet you later. Now, third corridor on your left, black door.” He thrust
the torch into the bucket of water, plunging them into darkness and splashing them
with water.

The light
spilled into the closet as Brent stepped out into the hallway. He nodded to the
others and crossed the hallway to a staircase leading him towards the wizards
quarters.

**********

Brent found very
few servants in the hallways. He knew it was probably because of the lack of
nobles in the castle. Most of them had followed King Atmos to the battle,
taking their soldiers to fight with them. In a month’s time, these hallways
would be busy with servants fetching wine and food for nobles abusing their
station to take whatever they could from the king.

Twice, Brent had
to duck into a empty room to avoid the sight of a servant performing their
tasks. He found it relatively easy to pass through the castle unnoticed. He
hoped that Bowie and Auburn were having the same amount of ease on their task.

He knew that if
the nobles quarters were almost empty, the wizards quarters would be even more
so. Brent saw a mouse scurry down the wall to a crack in which it disappeared.
He would have normally exterminated the rodent but not now if he wanted to
remain unnoticed. He found the key in the pocket amongst the folds of his robes
and slid it into the lock of his door. Sand spilt out of the lock and made it
hard to turn. When he tried to free the key it would not budge. He knew Brandon
would know he was there; the sand was a trap, an alarm of sorts that alerted
the wizard when it was tampered with. Brent had done the same with puddles or
basins of water in the past.

He quickly
entered his room and moved to the hearth on the far wall. Using the poker for
the fire, he scraped the mortar holding the stones in place. Behind the stone
buried in sand was a small pile of imbuements he was racing to retrieve. Any
earth wizard looking for imbuements would only see the beads as rocks in the
mortar. The scraping of the stones hurt his hands so he pulled the imbued knife
his brother had given him and used the increased strength to dig faster.

Finally, he was
able to pull the stone free of its place, but heard the door squeak behind him.
Opening a small leather pouch from his robe, he brushed the sand and imbuements
in without looking back. Using the water vision, he watched a figure enter the
room. Soon the water vision details made out his brother’s features. He turned
slowly to face him.

Brandon spoke,
“I was wondering when you would come for those. You are wise for making those,
following father’s advice on at least one thing.”

“I follow his
advice in more than you know, Brandon. I’m glad I have a chance to speak with
you. Do you know of the soul wizard?”

“I do know.”
Brandon sat down in the cushioned chair next to the bed.

Brent thought he
looked very relaxed.

“Are you going
to offer aid to the Elders, or is this simply a rescue mission?” Brandon asked.

Brent moved to
the wardrobe where he placed several books of importance concerning soul
wizards and the Dark Army. “For me, it is simply to gather resources to fight
the soul wizard and the next dark army. For others, it is a rescue mission.
Have you set a trap in the dungeons for those that try to rescue Kara?”

The archer
should have found the dungeon by now. If his brother were to sound the alarm
now, it would only alert Bowie that they had been discovered. The struggle
would commence whether or not his brother sent men to protect the dungeon.
Brent had time to try and convince his brother to join them.

His brother sat
relaxed and made no move to stop or hinder Brent in any way. Brent moved to a
seat at a small breakfast table opposite Brandon. Brent would sit and try and
delay any alarm while he could.

“Why would I put
a trap in the dungeons? Kara is in the room next door. She has been living with
Twilix in the castle for weeks now,” Brandon said.

Brent was taken
back by the statement. Brandon had always been a better strategist than him.
Brandon’s plots and schemes far outweighed his own. Before Brent could answer
he had to think over the possible schemes he was facing, now written on his
brother's face. Was it possible that Brandon was lying, or even worse, telling
the truth. For all Brent knew there could be an ambush of wielders ready to
take him into custody in the room next door.

“Don’t be
offended if I do not trust your word. Why are we sitting? Shouldn’t you be
taking me into custody?” Brent asked.

“By the king’s
word, I should be. Kara should also still be confined in the dungeons, but I
have yet to fulfil my job on such matters as an advisor. I would need to speak
with the king face to face for that to happen.”

There was a long
silence with the two skinny brothers trying to peel back layers of deception
from one another's faces.

“Enough games,
Brent. You are my brother and I wish to come clean. I admit I was wrong about
Kilen. I helped condemn him to a life of dodging assassins and hiding, but no
longer. The king wishes him dead. When he returns I will advise against it. I
will also advise that we seek to aid the Elders.”

“Why? You know
as well as I that as soon as he returns, he will kill me and Kara to get to
Kilen. You know that you’ll have no power to sway his mind because he would
appoint another to be his advisor and name you a traitor like the rest of us.”

“That’s why you
aren’t staying. Take Twilix, Kara and all the imbuements you can gather. Run
and fight the battle. I will do my job, the job our father meant for me to do.”

“You are letting
us go?” Brent was confused and still pessimistic of his brothers willingness to
free him. He knew it was probably some sort of a trap or political game.

“Yes. Our father
and my predecessor gave me specific instructions not to let Atmos destroy this
realm. He will not stop to destroy Kilen and in doing so, destroy the kingdom.
I will do my best prevent it from this point on. Atmos has contradicted the
actions of a king and disregarded my council along with our father’s for years.
Either his ignorance will end or my life will.”

“You could come
with us,” Brent said, still trying to draw out any sign of a trap.

“I must stay,
for the realm.” Brent gave Brandon a nod of his head.

Brandon smiled
and clasped his hands together as he stood. “Let me fetch Twilix and Kara so
you can be on your way. The longer you stay, the more likely your presence will
be discovered.” He stopped short of the door and turned around, “I will ask you
to do me a favor. Subdue the guards that will prevent Kara from leaving. If you
do it, I will be able to feign my loyalty for a time. It may give me the time
to change Atmos’ mind.”

He disappeared
behind the door and Brent spoke too late to be heard, “Thank you.”

They never had a
relationship that most brothers would have. Brandon was much older and trained
from birth to be a king’s advisor. He spent most of his time practicing
politics, reading history of the noble lines, and dining with nobles and
wizards from across the realms. Brent, on the other hand, was trained by any
wizard that would teach him, or by the books that he read. He was left to
wander and given every resource to find his own path. His father told him he
was trained to be a rogue wizard. A wizard that wandered from town to town only
subject to his own whims. He was trained to be free, just as his brother was
trained to be a servant to the throne. His father had always claimed that they
would need each other one day. Brent was unsure if this was that day.

Brent saw an
extra satchel under the bed and scooped it up to put the books inside. He was
busy stuffing the bag when he saw two shadows walking down the hall. The
figures were adult sized, not child sized as Twilix and Kara would be. Dropping
the bag, he seized as much of the water magic and earth magic as he could
muster. Quickly, he pulled free the leather bindings holding the imbued beads
in the bag. He watched as two women rounded the corner into the room.

His brother had
tricked him once again and didn’t have the stomach to face him in a fight. He
poured the sand, mortar, and imbuements from the bag into his hand. The sand
and mortar slipped through his fingers, leaving the imbuements behind. Each
time one of the imbuements touched his flesh he felt his hold on the magic grow
stronger. He gathered water from the window as the blonde-headed woman had a
look of shock as her eyes met his.

Yes, be
afraid I am a very powerful wizard
, he thought to himself.

Instead of
preparing to fight or even trying struggle over control of the magic, she
turned to the dark haired woman behind her. “Shut the door.”

The dark haired
woman checked the hallway before closing the door.

“Brent, it is so
good to see you well. I am very happy you have not been taken captive. Do you
know where Kilen is?” The woman asked.

“If I did know
where Kilen was, I wouldn’t tell you.” Brent clutched his brothers imbued knife
in one hand and the imbuements in the other, poising himself to fight.

The girls both
seemed calm like they had done this before, the blond even giggled.

“I am so sorry,
Brent. I forgot we look different now.” She took a step closer but Brent took a
step back and felt his left foot come in contact with the stone wall behind
him. “It’s me, Twilix.”

Brent took a
moment in the woman’s silence to carefully take in her features. The face truly
was that of a grown Twilix. A face he had spent many hours training with, he
did not think she would so easily be disguised by age.

“I see you now,
you have aged well. Who is this?” He pointed at the dark haired woman with his
knife.

“She, I don’t
think you would recognise. I’d like you to meet Wizard of Flame, Kara
Everheart. She is Kilen’s sister, aged and in control. She put forth great
effort to keep me alive while I aged. So much effort that it triggered her own
aging.” Twilix held out a hand and the dark haired female stepped forward so
Brent could take her in full view.

He glanced
between the two wizards, still trying to discern if it was a trap. He knew that
no matter the outcome of the situation, he would have to be leaving the castle
soon. “I’m here to take you out of the castle and set you free so you can free
your brother of his binds and guilt.” He looked Twilix in the eye, “Twilix, a
new soul wizard has risen.”

She picked up
the hem of her skirt, “Well, we have no time to lose then. C’mon Kara, let us
go and gather our things. Brent, will you meet us next door?”

He still was a
little unnerved from all that transpired in a short amount of time. Then he
remembered: Bowie and Auburn were searching the dungeon for Kara where they
would never find her. Alarm bells began to sound in the courtyard below.
Apparently the archer’s presence had been discovered.

Quickly, he
snatched the last two books and went to the closed door. Pushing his use of
water magic through the keyhole, he could see four wielders now guarding
Twilix’s door. These must have been the wielders meant to guard Twilix and
Kara. Brandon had requested he deal with them before departing. He’d hoped to
get them by surprise but the opportunity had now passed.

Wanting to alert
Twilix so they could form a plan, he ran to his window and pulled open the
shutters. The humid summer day heat struck him in the face as he leaned out the
window. Her window was shut and he was sure there was no way for her to hear
him over the alarm bells ringing far below. He wished there was a secret
passage or ledge for him to cross into her room. Wishing for a ledge formed a
plan in his mind.

Gathering water
as he crossed the room, a small ledge of ice started to form on the exterior
wall providing the path he needed to cross to Twilix’s room. The ledge wouldn’t
last long in the heat, but he would not stay for long either. After pounding on
the window, Twilix threw it open in a surprise and waved him inside while
looking to the court yard for the reason of the sounding bells.

“Are there more
here?” Twilix said in a hurry.