The Weapon Bearer (Book 1) (67 page)

Joahna went into action in his tiny bird form, fluttering and scratching at Chit’s face, trying to give time for Kilen to recover. Kilen pulled the sword out of the top layer of flesh and his collar bone where it had stuck. Joahna flew back to land on Kilen’s shoulder. He healed him just enough to stop the bleeding from Kilen’s chest. Kilen whispered his thanks through his pain and the ground groaned in response. A lumbering rock giant started to rise from the earth. Brandon had seen Joahna intervene, and it was time to let the magic battle begin. Which meant Kilen was fighting Chit alone.

Brandon was standing near the edge of the grounds with feet apart and robe flapping in the wind. His face seemed to be carved of the same stone rising from the ground. Joahna answered his magic call, growing in size and changing from a small bird to a liquid giant hawk. Chit watched as both formed their elementals on the battlegrounds. The short amount of time gave Kilen enough time to recover enough to stand. He examined the wound, it was now mostly a cut on the skin. Chit smiled at seeing the still wet blood on Kilen and once again closed the distance.

Kilen grew a tiny bit angry and started to fight back, dodging where he could. He landed a scratch to Chit’s upper arm, and another to his left thigh. Max had said to weaken him, and that’s all Kilen could do. He hadn’t been taught to attack. He tried his best, and Chit seemed to respond. His sword strokes became more controlled, and Kilen had to control his defense as well. He started to deflect Chit’s blade instead of just dodging it.

Kilen was so concentrated in the fight he had forgotten about Joahna and Brandon. The two behemoths were fighting. Joahna tried scratching loose boulders from the rock mass. Brandon batted away the giant eagle, treating it as a nuisance. Joahna was not making much progress against the three story tall rock beast and decided to do what he could to keep the elemental away from Kilen. Joahna hoped it would be long enough for him to finish the fight with Chit. He began gathering water and freezing the massive stones. Brandon crushed the ice between the rocks and moved his lumbering elemental towards Kilen.

Kilen was still backing away from Chit as he continued his violent attack. Kilen felt the ground start to shake and heard the earth ripping apart behind him. A large crack formed into the ground and lowered the ground Kilen now stood. On the other side of the crack, a wall of dirt shot into the air. Brandon was trying to force Kilen into Chit’s hands. He tried to undo what Brandon had done by forcing the crack closed, but was unable to budge the earth. Kilen leapt from his sloped ground up to the edge of the earth wall. Before he could land, the land returned to its normal shape causing Kilen to fall twenty feet. Kilen slammed on his stomach knocking the wind out of his lungs. He would have probably broken bones if they were not reinforced by the magic of earth.

A loud grating sound started to fill his ears that were still ringing from the fall. He turned his head and saw a great rock hand and arm scraping along the ground, coming at him with incredible force. Just before it collided something grabbed Kilen around the waist and lifted him into the air. The arm followed, but was too lumbered and heavy to catch him. Kilen looked up to see Joahna still in the great bird form. Joahna spoke, “I cannot help you. We don’t have that many earth weapon bearers that can summon elementals in my realm. I have no idea how to fight him.”

“Just keep trying, I will do my best.” It was all they had time to discuss before Joahna was struck with a rock sending Kilen tumbling towards the ground. Joahna put his bird form back together in enough time to claw at Kilen’s foot, ripping the leather boot but keeping him from hitting the ground. Joahna healed him as he tossed him into the air, flipping Kilen end over end to land on his feet. Unfortunately, he hadn’t healed Kilen fully and he collapsed with pain as he struck the ground, “A little help if you can, Max.”

Instantly Kilen started to feel relief from the pain in his foot. He stood and once again felt the earth shift, elevating the ground on which he stood. He went tumbling down the short hill and rolled towards Chit. Jace spoke in his head,
Stay focused. If you watch the way the magic moves in the earth you will be able to see the rocks change direction before they start moving!
Kilen opened himself to the earth magic and could see Brandon’s hold on the rocks. It distracted him from seeing Chit moving towards him at a determined pace. Back on his feet, Kilen felt the earth magic behind him just in time to see the rock hand hit the ground and start pushing him towards Chit. He jumped over it into the air and the arm lifted off the ground. He saw it start moving and he used it to leap farther away from Chit.

Chit started swinging his sword in the air in front of him. He had spent less than half the fight actually fighting. Kilen was trying to gain some time. He felt the earth magic shift in the ground, starting to create another crack. Kilen stepped to the other side before the earth shifted. It sent him even farther across the training field. He now had a large distance between Brandon and Chit. Joahna still tried to attack the beast and even tried to attack Brandon. Kilen saw Brandon bring a dome of rock above him to shield him from Joahna’s attack. He looked like a rock egg protruding from the ground. They needed to find a way to break the rock apart and take Brandon out of the situation. Kilen looked at the nearest stone and tried to remember the advice Twilix and Alexander had given him. He used his earth magic and found a small crack in the rock’s surface. He filled the crack with water from the air and froze the water. Bits of rock exploded into the air because he had froze the earth too quickly. He now had his weapon and if he could get the information to Joahna, they would be able to devastate their adversaries.

Kilen started racing across the ground and pillars of rock burst from the ground. He avoided it thanks to the earth magic. Kilen saw Joahna circling the area high above him so he decided to show him his new weapon. He found a crack in the rock pillar and as quickly as he could forced water into the crack. When he froze the water in the crack, fragments of rock pelted him and the surrounding ground. He took cuts from the flying fragments. It ripped his shirt and pants, but over all of the noise he heard Joahna screech in understanding. Soon rocks started exploding everywhere. Even chit ducked behind a rock to shelter himself. Moments later the egg-like barrier Brandon had hidden inside broke like a dropped egg. He forced the fragments away from himself so he came out uninjured. Kilen checked the cuts and could barely rise from the damage he had taken. When he was able, he found Chit not walking towards him but away.

Kilen followed slowly, watching the earth magic and the water around him. He watched Chit as he walked up to the wizard backing him. He sheathed his large sword in the sheath on his back. When he was in speaking distance to the wizard he reared back and punched Brandon in the face. The frail wizard’s feet left the ground and went limp from the impact. Chit flexed his hand and drew his sword and turned back to Kilen.

Kilen wasn’t sure if Chit was tired of not participating, or if he thought Brandon was causing all of the debris on the field. Neither of which mattered, they still had to finish the fight. Kilen saw a stand of junky training swords on the side of the field that had tipped over. He picked one up and sheathed his father’s sword. He hoped Chit would understand, so he held the weapon above his head.

When the pair was only a few paces apart, Kilen removed the chain of rings from his neck and put it in his pocket. Chit nodded and pointed his large blade at Kilen’s blade chainger. Kilen removed the chain and let it hang from the sheath. Chit turned his neck and Kilen heard the joints pop in response. Chit shed his wrist of the imbued bracer, and of the rings on his fingers. Kilen had chosen right, Chit wouldn’t be able to back down from a challenge. Especially when the challenge was from a weaker man.

The fight resumed, but the weakened pair fought slowly and ungracefully. They had bled too much from the wounds their bodies had taken. Kilen knew the fight wouldn’t last much longer. He fought on, dodging and deflecting, and found that he was on more of an equal foot than with the magic. The difference in strength was as much as before. Kilen began blocking with the blade instead of deflecting and found more time to attack. He made a small cut to Chit’s shoulder, then to his stomach. Chit was now on the defensive. Kilen struggled to figure out how to attack. Jace flashed images into his mind, which he tried his best to imitate. Before long, Chit was starting to stumble and finally went to his knees. He held his sword up in front of him, swinging it slowly. Kilen stood back and watched as Chit swung at nothing. The next swing brought Chit to his stomach. His breathing was labored. Chit was dying.

Kilen heard a booming voice from near the castle. It was the king’s. “Finish him,” he said. A large amount of commotion on the sidelines and several people ran out on the training field. Kilen made no move to finish Chit off but waited as his breathing slowed. He knelt down beside Chit, hoping that he wouldn’t have another death to weigh on his conscious. He looked up to see Lord Fulstom arguing with the king. Brandon had regained his consciousness and was joining in the argument. Soon there was an opening from the crowd and Twilix ran out onto the field. She met Kilen’s eyes as she neared Chit. She knelt down and Kilen saw Chit’s body go rigid and start to shake. The wounds on his body closed and Kilen helped to give him the energy he would need to survive her healing by holding onto one of the rings in his pocket. Chit started to stir and Kilen felt a wave of cold healing flow through his body. Twilix smiled and took Kilen’s hand, pulling him away from Chit.

She walked him to stand in front of the king and pulled Kilen’s hand towards the ground. He took the hint and knelt. The king took a moment before speaking, “I find you worthy of your father’s name and the title of weapon bearer. Rise and join the ranks of my army.”

Whatever the argument the noble and Brandon had given was enough to save Chit’s life.

King Atmos issued orders for formation to be made, and waved Alexander to his presence. The wind wizard descended from the sky to land in front of him. “Bring your weapon bearer to the great hall. If he can handle defeating a councilmen and a fully trained soldier at once, then he should be able to handle the task I have for him.”

Alexander bowed, and waved Kilen to follow him. Twilix let go of his arm, and smiled as he left. Kilen followed the group down the hallway while the King gave out orders to various high ranking officers. “Get the army assembled. I will speak to them shortly. Find the wizard’s council and have them meet me in front of the formation for imbuements. Assemble the carts and wagons for departure and bring my horse around to the front.” He pointed at each officer and they slammed gauntlet-encased fists against their chests as he issued the orders. Kilen didn’t see what the hurry was about, the Fire Realm had already invaded the realm from what rumors Joahna had brought him.

Jace spoke in his mind,
Protect yourself.
It was all he had to say, Kilen remembered he was still without his imbuements. He replaced the chainger and pulled the chain of rings from his pocket. He was sure to slow his footing before touching either, as to not jump into the ceiling. He still managed to stumble a small amount. The group looked at him strangely when he did. Soon Mary, Brandon, and Brent caught up with the precession and followed into the great hall. The king yelled at the servants to have his battle armor brought down, then sat in his throne.

Kilen was unsure what to do so he chose to go to one knee and place his hand on his blade’s hilt. Alexander puffed himself up a little when Kilen did. “Ah yes, Kilen, the weapon bearer. I have a task fitting for one of your talents.”

“Yes, my king?” The King nodded in approval but still wore a vicious smile.

“My scouts have recently confirmed the location of a camp of rebel wizards in the northern forest. I have great need of their abilities in this war. Having more imbuements and wizard elementals could save many lives. You will go to them and convince them to meet us on the battlefield when we meet the Fire Realm.”

Alexander broke into the conversation, “My lord, we believe those to be the elder wizards. Surely you do not mean to send a weapon bearer to confront the most powerful wizards in all the realm and force them to join you in battle.”

“I do, Alexander. They should be helping. It is their purpose to discourage war.”

Mary stepped in also, “They are only obligated to make their presence known if all of the wizard laws are not being followed in the realm. You hold fire wizards captive and you know they will not agree to aid you in this fight with that happening in your very own castle.”