Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (54 page)

  Brent stepped
forward, “NO, no. We are on a quest to stop a soul wizard. There is no way we
can take the time to teach fire wizards to control their magic.” He turned to
face the brute of a man starting to catch fire, “I wish you no harm, but we
must traverse a land that is kindling to those who cannot control the flame.
You will kill us all.”

  Twilix put a
hand on his shoulder, “We will need their help to take on this soul wizard.
Besides, I believe she
can
teach them. You know as well as I that their
family has a knack for the extraordinary.”

  “I
have
to take them with me. I cannot leave them behind, not to suffer the fate of
those cells.” Kara turned to Brent with tears in her eyes, “Please. Let them
come.”

  Brent clenched
his jaw and looked at the man before him giving in, “You keep yourselves under
control. You
will
sleep away from me. Now, where is the archer?”

  Brent pushed
past the gathering wizards and into the dungeon to fetch Bowie.

  The Water
Realm was made of familiar land and Kilen felt like he had come home the moment
he broke free of the trees. Rolling plains of grassland with streams and small
bodies of water stretched as far as the eye could see. Max ran day and night to
get him here in the shortest time possible. They had to sometimes back track to
avoid small towns or riders on the roads. Most of the time no one would be seen
for leagues on end. The ride had only shortened by a day from his first trip
from Gulrich with Brent, and they still had sunlight to spare.

  Smoke from the
many fire pits of Keepers lay on the road ahead. He hoped that all would be
well once he spoke to Leroy’s father, the former kitchen master of the last
Water Realm King. Kilen needed to find a new king and who better to talk to
then the man who had prepared the noble’s food. He smiled at the thought of
seeing Leroy again.

  An hour
before, the Crying Man inside his head had stopped his continuous sob. Kilen
refused to say anything about the lack of crying in his head to the others,
lest it bring forth another couple weeks of screaming. He also thought it wise
to avoid thinking about King Atmos as to not upset the man in his head. Just
thinking of the king’s name brought a forth the mental image of him and caused
the man to let out a wail. Kilen tried to ignore the man by focusing on what
part of Lake Leviathan had come into view.

  Joahna landed
on his shoulder as Kilen filled his water skin in a clear stream. “The Earth
Realm’s army is up ahead.”

  Kilen stood,
letting the water drain out of his water skin, “Where?”

  “They’ve taken
camp outside of Keepers. I listened to them discreetly. The scouts that travel
the area are looking for you, Bowie, and a few others. They are to kill you on
sight,”Joahna said.

  Max stomped
the ground with one of his front hooves, “It’s nothing we didn’t expect.”

  Joahna
answered back, “We did not expect them to get in front of us.”

  “Either way,
they’re here now. We took too long getting around the mountains and traversing
the Earth Realm. Is there anyway into Keepers without their notice?” Max asked.

  A strong wind
rustled the waist-high grass, reminding them Jace was still there. “Leroy and
Izabel have a cabin. He should go there. If anyone can get us inside Keepers,
it would be Leroy.”

  Joahna bobbed
his birdlike head, “It’s a good to start. Perhaps he knows of a way that we
cannot see. Besides, he’ll be able to tell us what else is going on.”

  Kilen squatted
back down and started to fill his water skin once again. “It’s agreed. We need
to find a safe path past all the scouts.”

  Jace left in
the wind and Joahna echo’d his departure taking flight, disappearing into the
sky.

Kilen took a
long drink and for the first time in weeks he reveled in the silence in his
head. “Tokeye?”

  “
Yes?”
Replied
the former member of the Crimson, always present in his mind. The constant knot
of determination had gone quiet in the last few moments.

  “I was
wondering if you were still there. I couldn’t feel you for a moment. I still
feel the other, but not you.”

  “
Your
feeling for this land is intoxicating. Until you spoke, I felt like I had made
it home.”
The knot of his presence returned into his mind.

Kilen noticed
that he had taken a mental hold on the voices in his head. As if he was trying
to mentally restrain them into one part of his mind. Feeling Tokeye’s normal
emotions return alerted him to it. He wondered if he could use it somehow to
control them, or silence them.

  Kilen crossed
the stream, feeling the cold water seep into his boots. He walked at a
comfortable pace knowing he wouldn’t be able to get into much trouble walking
amongst the tall grass. He was sure he’d been in the saddle more in the last
month than in his life growing up in Humbridge. Kilen wanted to walk while he
could, because he was sure as soon as he received a candidate's name from
Master Bradley, he would be back in the saddle.

  Max followed
but now in his humanesque form. Neither spoke, but enjoyed using their own
natural way of walking. They walked the way both Jace and Joahna had flown for
over an hour with no sign of a safe approach to the cabin. The sunlight was
failing and Kilen could see lights far ahead on the plains. He could also see
the large fires of Keepers and wondered where the Earth Realm soldiers were
waiting.

  Joahna landed
gracefully on his brothers stone shoulder and tucked his icy wings back into
place. “Keep going in this direction. You will be there by morning. Scouts are
being sent out in four directions looking for travelers. Should we alert Master
Bradley to your presence?”

“No, I think it
would be best to come closer before we let them know we are near.”

Joahna flapped
his wings, “We will alert you if there anyone comes too close. The lights ahead
of you are in their inn.”

“I thought you
said it was a cabin?” Kilen stopped walking.

“Yes. Well, at a
closer look it appears to be a cabin, inn, and stables. There are a lot of men
building fences and there are even some wielders within the cabin structure
using water magic.”

“Something is
strange about this,” Kilen said, taking a drink from his water skin. He started
to jog in the direction he was going.

Joahna took to
the air once again and Max did his best to run on only two legs. Kilen wished
he had taken time to stop during the trip to practice the sword. If he got in
trouble he was stiff from not using the blade for so long. The blue ribbon atop
the pommel wiggled in the wind as he ran forward.

Kilen kept his
pace easily with the aid of his earth imbuements. He could have moved faster
but that would involve jumping into the air. A man leaping into the air would
certainly be cause for attention. Jace warned him twice about scouts or other
persons in the grass that might take notice of him. Kilen stayed clear and was
able to come within in distance for viewing the cabin with his own eyes.

The sun had
fallen below the clouds and had started to cast shadows on the ground. Kilen
could only see the silhouette of the cabin because of the sun setting behind
it. When he looked around he saw various livestock starting to gather into
groups for sleeping in the night. Some were being watched by men and others
were already safely behind a fence.

Joahna flew by,
“Follow the stream.”

Kilen jumped
onto the stream’s bank about a knee length below the ground’s surface. His head
and shoulders were the only thing that now showed above the grass. Doing as he
was told, he bent over and followed the winding stream. He was trying to hold
his head low to minimize his body showing above the height of the grass. He had
practiced not being noticed in a city, but Bowie’s training for hunting was
more handy here. He avoided any area around the water that looked soft and
muddy to not make tracks. Kilen did his best to not step in the water and make
noise splashing.

Keeping his eyes
on his feet also meant not being able to keep track of his surroundings. Moving
closer to the cabin was slow but well worth it. He would soon be able to walk
up to Leroy’s cabin and get some information.

A cold wind blew
across the back of his neck. He squatted and Tokeye became anxious. Kilen turned
towards Max who had made himself smaller so he did not have to bend his form
over. Max had also taken to smoothing over any track left by Kilen in the soft
dirt.

Joahna darted
past Kilen along the stream, turned and dove back to land in front of him. “Two
men are approaching from behind. It looks like they are going in the direction
you are. They’ll overtake you soon.”

“I’ll move
quicker,” Kilen said, starting to ignore his surrounding and concentrate on
moving faster.

Joahna became
part of the stream and followed Kilen up the bank.

“It’s no use,
there’s one ahead. There’s another coming at us directly from the cabin.
They’ll all converge here, you must prepare yourself,” Joahna said.

Kilen reached
out with the water magic and found a man approaching from the west side of the
bank, the same side he was standing on. The other men had not come into his
magic vision yet. As silently as he could, he slid his blade free of its sheath
and faced the man approaching the stream. When the man noticed him, Kilen knew
he would have to act fast to dispatch him as not to alert the others. The more
he could take out in silence, the less of a fight he would have on his hands,
and less the Earth Realm’s army would be alerted.

Waiting for the
man’s head to appear over the grass seemed like it took forever. He was sure
that time had slowed down. Tokeye’s emotions were not helping either. He hoped
that he remembered enough of Jace’s training to complete the task swiftly and
without it turning deadly.

In the failing
darkness, Kilen squatted by the babbling stream hidden in the shadows of the
grass and saw a familiar face peak over the grass.

“Sergeant
Wells?” Kilen asked.

The sergeant of
a fallen Water Realm ducked at his name being said by an unseen person. He
whispered into the silence, “Yes, who are you?”

Kilen checked
his water vision and still, no one was in his sight. “It’s me, Kilen Everheart
the True Weapon Bearer.”

Wells stood and
looked down towards the water. Kilen was unsure if he could see him or not but
stayed put just incase the others would.

“You cannot be
here.”

“They are
coming, Sergeant. I need your help.”

Wells looked
around and took the last few steps towards the water and finally saw Kilen
squatting low at the water’s edge. Once he saw Kilen he moved quickly to crouch
beside him. They looked at eachother eye to eye.

“Take off your
cloak.”

Kilen did not
hesitate in ripping his bright blue cloak from his shoulders and started
stuffing it into a satchel.

“We need to get
you muddy, like you have fallen.”

Without notice,
Max thrust mudd on Kilen from head to toe on one side of his body. Wells looked
at him confused, “Lay down there and do not move or speak.”

Covered with
mud, Kilen laid down on top of the sword, keeping his hand gripping the hilt as
hard as he could.

When he stopped
moving Wells yelled out, “Help, help! A man needs help!”

Before long the
three men came upon them and inquired what they could do. Kilen could see each
of his friends poised and ready to attack if the need arise. He watched them
moving using the elemental visions as they set themselves up for a quick
assault.

“I don’t know
what happened. Please, will one of you go and fetch Mistress Izabel? Perhaps
she will know how to help him.”

Two of the
soldiers ran off while their armor clanged as they left. Wells stood, “Do you
think you can help me carry him? Wait. Go and find some thing we can use as a
litter. Go… go.”

The man went to
do as he was told and Wells watched him leave.

“Put that sword
away. If they notice it they will search you further.”

The ground
opened into a small hole and Kilen dropped his sword inside along with the
package the Elders had given him. Max closed the earth around both pieces and
Kilen slumped back onto the ground.

Before long
there was a woman’s voice amongst the men’s. “You just found him lying there,
Wells?” No verbal response came, “Is he bleeding?”

He watched with
the water vision as Wells answered her questions with a shake of his head.
Izabel smelled of lavender, as usual. He wondered if Leroy was more attracted
to her scent or her cleavage.

Izabel pulled
her skirt out before bending down to examine Kilen. She wiped the mud from the
dirty side of his face and turned it so she could get a good look. Her eyes
went wide as she looked at him. She stared at his face for a moment and placed
a hand on his chest feeling him breathe, and how his heart was racing with
nervousness. She leaned down close and for a moment, hovered above his face.

Turning her
head, she whispered into his ear, “Let your body go limp.” She stood and
stepped up off the bank of the stream. “Each of you grab a limb and bring him
back to shop. I need to prepare some herbs. Mr. Wells, please go and fetch
Master Bradley.”

Wells nodded and
ran out into the darkness doing exactly as she said. The rest of the men helped
in picking up Kilen. They carried him to the a cabin-like structure. It was
made of wood that contained plants on every surface with a roof open to the
sky. The building was much like Izabel’s shop in Deuterium, except the roof.

She began
collecting herbs and crushing them. She pointed at various items for the others
to collect. While the soldiers were producing their requested items, Izabel
turned down the lantern to obscure Kilen’s face. She turned his head toward her
while the others stood on the opposite side of the table. She looked over his
hands and opened his mouth.

Leroy walked
into the room followed by Wells. “What’s wrong?” Leroy asked.

“He has ingested
a bit of leather leaf root,” She said, lifting Kilen’s limp hand so that he
could see it. Leroy didn’t look at the hand but rather Izabel’s face. Wells
must have explained the situation because Leroy’s face gave nothing away.

“Yes, I see. I
will need some room to work. Thank you all for helping him, we will take it
from here.”

Slowly, the men
filed out of the room and patted each other on the back for the good work they
had done. None of the men stopped to wonder who Kilen was or if he would make
it through the night. Wells followed them from the room.

“Wait. Not yet,”
Izabel’s whispered command was as cool as she usually was under pressure.