The Weapon Bearer (Book 1) (25 page)

“My king, the boy’
s blade was his fathers and was imbued by your First Wizard himself. When I imbued the blade I did not know that it already contained an earth mark,” Brent said pleadingly to the king.

The grayed wizard
stepped forward, “Which blade did I imbue? Whom was the owner of the blade, that thinks so highly of himself to receive the privilege of gaining magic from me?” All of the men turned to look at Kilen, who was still trying to keep his determination from forcing himself not to fight his way from the room with his blade and rings intact.

“My father was a s
cout to you,” he stuck his chin in the First Wizard’s direction. “I have heard many stories of your heroism, but I see none now.” The last bit Kilen chastised himself for. It was pure magic speaking the harsh words. The chastisement helped him to unclench some of his muscles and relax. “I apologize my lord, the determination creeps up on me now and then.” Back under control Kilen dropped his chin to his chest as if he were being yelled at by his father.

The king ignored h
is words, “Your father’s name boy, what is it?”

“His name is Dylan
. He was a scout for Wizard Calvin when the Water Realm fell to your fathers hand sire.”

Calvin spoke in as
tonishment, “Your father was Dylan Everheart?” The king and wizard approached Kilen, Calvin taking Kilen’s chin in hand, looking at him with much scrutiny until they found what they were looking for.

“He is Dylan’s son
,” the wizard spoke first and the King nodded his head reluctantly. “The blade belongs to him by wizard law my lord, passed from father to son.” The king nodded in agreement, seemingly disappointed in losing an elemental blade. The wizard moved close to the King and spoke quietly into his ear.

Brent spoke before
the King could react to his father’s words, “My king, I didn’t know that his blade already contained one mark when I imbued it. I have already spoken to Kilen and he told me that he relinquishes his rights to land and lordship that is involved with two marks on the blade. He wishes to be only a weapon bearer and to be trained as his father was, to be a scout in your army.”

The king rubbed hi
s chin, looking between Kilen and Brent before speaking, “If he wishes to be a scout he will have to pass all the training just like any other. If he fails to be of use to me in my army as a weapon bearer, he will agree to give up the blade in exchange for payment of his sisters training.”

“He is my weapon b
earer and as such I agree to the terms fore set, on condition that if he should fail he be allowed to keep his two earth rings. I request that he be trained and treated as a weapon bearer throughout that training as it is his inheritance.” Brent anxiously awaited the King’s answer, sticking his hands into the sleeves of his robes.

“Capitan Lorusk, I
apologize I am not able to give you the blade that I was hoping to. I know you already process a single water and earth armor already, until I can obtain the proper weapon for you will you accept this fire bracer instead?”

Before the captain
could speak Calvin spoke to the king, “Actually, under wizard law that bracer still belongs to Brent as his weapon bearer took it from the defeated enemy. It would belong to Kilen but he was not fully trained and therefore cannot obtain anymore elements until he can control what he has. After his display of earth and water here I would say that he has not fully mastered his current elements.”

Brent kneeled befo
re the king, “The bracer I give willingly to you king, as a token of apology for the imbuement of Kilen’s blade before I had inspected it.”

“It is a start, Wi
zard Parker. You had better hope this boy proves worthy of the blade.” King Atmos handed the bracer to Captain Lorusk, “Take the arrow maker from the moon and get him settled with the other arriving trainees.” Captain Lorusk slammed his fist against his chest and Bowie bowed deeply before they departed out a side door of the throne room. “Guards, take the girl to the fire house. She is not an enemy.” Kilen moved to his sister and kissed her feverish forehead before they carried her away, then stroked the blue ribbon hanging from his sword between his finger and thumb. The king sat in his chair once more, waiting for the room to be clear. “I suppose that you would like me to disregard his town’s taxes for the year because he has chosen to volunteer.” Kilen took note of the King not addressing him personally, but spoke anyways.

“There has already
been a volunteer from Humbridge, my lord. Twilix came and imbued my rings while she was there.”

King Atmos spoke i
n an authoritative voice, it echoed throughout the massive arches. “Kilen, the trainers you will study under will not all be elemental bearers or wielders. You will treat them as if they bear magic in each of their own skills. You will not disrespect any of my trainers or your training will be at an end. You will pass one class a week without fail or your training will be at an end. I will assign you a mentor, as you will be a weapon bearer. If you disobey him or can’t perform the tasks he requests, your training will be at an end. If your training ends, your sword will be mine, but I will continue to watch over your sister until she can return to you. Do you agree to these terms, Kilen?”

“I agree my king,”
Kilen said without hesitation.

“Good. Brent you w
ill take Kilen and seek out Jace. He will be his mentor. While you are taking him, stop by the traitor’s bowls and let him know the fate that befalls traitorous magic users. Dismissed!”

Bowie rushed to keep up with the long-legged Captain Lorusk. He didn’t know how the man could move so fast with all the armor on. Then he remembered to look at the Captain’s shoulder. There a shield pin held his cloak in place. Captain Lorusk was an armor bearer, Bowie knew that was where his extra strength came from allowing him so move so fast. Lorusk lead him through the winding halls and out a door opening into a vast field behind the castle.

“The west wall is where the soldiers and trainees live. I would avoid the soldiers until you finish your training and can reside there yourself. If you pass your training,” Lorusk chuckled. “On the east wall is the armor and weapon bearer’s barracks. You will stay away from there unless you are summoned by one. On the north wall you will find the classrooms for the entire training that you will receive. You will want to have a look around so that you aren’t late for your classes. All around the grounds are the training fields. You should be able to find which field you are supposed to report to by the type of weapon laying in the racks around them.”

Lorusk kept up his grueling pace through the training fields and towards the trainee’s barracks. They passed close to four large black steel pots with lids. Each of the pots had a large tower and pulley system surrounding it. One of the towers was considerably larger, towering three hundred feet into the air.

“What are those for?” Bowie slid to a stop, almost bouncing into the Captain as he suddenly turned around.

Towering over Bowie, he spoke in a low voice over grinding teeth. “What are those for, CAPTAIN! You will show proper respect to superior officers or they will teach you respect. This is your one and only warning.” Captain Lorusk was red in the face and looked as though he would like to give the lesson to Bowie himself. He wiped a small amount of spittle from his lip before speaking again, “Those are the traitor bowls. They are for executing wizards, armor, and weapon bearers that are traitorous to the king. I wouldn’t worry about those too much if you want to be an archer. Only one archer has ever become an armor bearer in the history of the Earth Realm. You will have no reason to fear the bowls. Instead fear the hangman’s noose.” With that, Lorusk spun back around and started his quick-paced walk. Bowie was glad that the captain hadn’t put on the fire bracer he held in his gloved hand. He was in a bad enough mood already.

It occurred to Bowie as they walked that the captain had taken a circuitous route instead of leading straight to the trainee’s barracks. Led along the line of soldier’s barracks, Bowie found out why very quickly. Soldiers that were outside talking or training began to laugh and remark about Bowie’s bright yellow outfit. He got several invitations to dance and sit on the soldiers laps while they drank at the local taverns. A group of archers that were either very poor shots, or too drunk to hit the target were standing in a small groups of five to seven. They all started to point and laugh at Bowie. One man started to say how he would like to train Bowie and hold him close to help steady his aim. Bowie was getting a little red in the face and was wondering if it truly did match his hair color, like his dad had always claimed. He eyed the targets past the men and waited until he had the rhythm of Lorsusk boots hitting the ground to cover his shot. Very quickly, he reached up and pulled an arrow from his quiver, knocked it and shot into a group of men. They all threw themselves onto the ground and the whole line of archers started shouting to the captain. Slowly the archers took notice of Bowie’s red feathered arrow that lay amongst the far targets on the field. Captain Lorusk turned to see what the men were shouting at, but they all had fallen silent in fear or in shock at the well placed shot. Bowie again continued to walk until he skidded to a stop nearly running into Lorusk. The captain looked from the men and back to Bowie, oblivious to the arrow down range. “Get back to work men. You will have enough trainees to intimidate in a couple weeks. Until then, it looks as though you need more training yourselves.” The men slowly started to get back to shooting arrows. Bowie smiled at Lorusk’s back as he took up walking again. They approached a wood building with small slats for windows along all three stories. Lorusk pointed at the front door, “Inside should be the barracks sergeant. He will get you a room to stay in while you are trying to become a soldier.

Bowie didn’t know what Captain Lorusk had against new trainees but he spoke as respectful as he could anyways. “AYE AYE, Captain.” Bowie headed in to the barracks and found that they weren’t really rooms but stalls with shelves on the dividers. Each stall contained nothing but straw for sleeping and a shelf that, while sitting on the ground, would allow you to write somewhat comfortably. Bowie had no reason to stick around. He put his belongings in his stall and left to explore the town and find a tall ale.

***

Kilen walked to the side and slightly behind Brent as they passed through the halls and out the back door to the castle. Outside was a vast training ground. Brent immediately pointed to four large steel structures out in the middle of the area. “Those are the traitor bowls. I will meet you over there in a few moments.” Kilen made his way to the bowls, but glanced over his shoulder to see Brent talking with a guard. The guard saluted and ran off to complete the orders he had received. “Excuse me,” he said as he caught up. “I had to send for Jace. He is to be your mentor. He is my father’s best scout, so you listen to what he says. Now then, these are the traitor bowls. Each one is meant for the execution of a wizard or elemental wielder that betrays the king. The traitor or accused traitor will receive a trial, and if found guilty of treason they will be placed in the bowl according to their elemental power. For instance, If I committed treason I would be placed in the water bowl. Each bowl has its own way of torturing their victims before they die. The earth bowl has small pipes that allow the bowl to be filled with sand once the wizard is inside. The sand will eventually suffocate the wizard inside, thus killing the wizard with his own element. The fire bowl is half filled with oil while the unconscious fire wielder is inside, when they wake up they use the fire to find where they are at and ignite the oil inside. The oil won’t kill them, but it will burn all the oxygen up inside and cause them to, once again, suffocate. The wind bowl was harder to imagine. The wind wielder is placed inside and the lid secured. Then the bowl is lifted all the way to the top of this tower and dropped. The wizard inside will feel what it is like to fall without the wind to catch them. I don’t have to tell you how they die.” Kilen swallowed the lump that was growing in his throat. “The water bowl was a little bit harder to construct. At first it was filled with water. The idea was to drown the wielder, but the smart wizard they first tried it on used the water to move bubbles of air to him inside allowing him to breathe indefinitely. So they created a wax seal around the edge of the bowl to prevent moving air in with water. The engineers came up with the idea that since water is everywhere they would use the opposite of water to kill the wizard. So now they fill the bowl with oil, separating the wizard from his element for the first time in their lives. The result is drowning by oil.”

“These are sickening. Why are they in the middle of the training grounds? Shouldn’t they be kept somewhere out of sight?” Kilen turned away from the bowls, thinking about suffocation with no light, no sun, and no one to comfort him in his last moments. With the feeling of eyes watching him, he began to feel the emotions from behind the eyes. The emotions of the voices built in anger also. He held onto their feelings, hoping to learn more about them. The latching on to the men inside his head was the distraction he needed not to lose his stomach.