Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) (18 page)

Riana lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the afternoon
sun, squinting to see better. She had never seen an academy of any sort before
so had no idea what to expect. But this place looked more like a church to her
than a school. “An abbey?”

“It used to be,” Ash confirmed. “Master Gerrard bought it decades
ago and restored it. I understand it had been abandoned by the church because
it was just falling to pieces. It took a full year before it was habitable
again. The academy has been here ever since.”

That seemed a strange thing to do, to buy an abbey and
restore it to teach magic in. “Why did he buy it?”

“I understand it was dirt cheap,” Ash responded, eyes still
trained on the academy. “Cheaper than buying land and building something. As a
student there, I enjoyed it immensely. There were all sorts of hidden spots
that a child could play in.”

Thereby suggesting…that this church had its secrets?
Interesting. After the way that all of the churches had reacted to Estole, she
wasn’t too surprised by that.

No one was outside the abbey when they approached. Riana
felt the tingle of something in the air, and she recognized the feel of a ward
instantly. This tingle didn’t feel comfortable but that was undoubtedly because
it was someone else’s magic. If it had been Ash or Ashlynn’s, it would have
been completely comfortable. This was actually the first time that Riana had
been in direct contact with magic that wasn’t the twins’ doing. It felt very,
very strange. She didn’t care for it at all.

Ash lifted a hand and spoke a word and the area around them
cleared of the ward, like a portal door opening. She expected Ash to
immediately ride through but he paused, straightening his shirt and coat,
smoothing a hand over his hair, and such.

Nervous, eh? “Ash.”

“I know, I know, don’t be nervous.”

“It will be fine,” she soothed.

He sucked in a deep breath, let it out again. “I hope you’re
right. Let’s go.”

They rode into the courtyard, Riana looking around in every
direction. The place from the inside seemed more like a fortress than an abbey,
what with the stout walls and the guard towers on each side. She saw students
crossing back and forth, none of them younger than eight and one in her early
twenties. This was the first she’d heard that even full-grown adults could
study magic. But the woman was clearly a student as she wore the same patch on her
sleeve.

Ash stopped off to the side, dismounting and tying his horse
to a hitching post. Riana followed suit.

“Ashtian Fallbright!” a voice boomed out over the courtyard.

Ash flinched, looking wide-eyed and guilty. Riana blinked,
staring up at him with growing confusion. “Ash? Why be ye looking like ye got
caught with a hand in the honey jar?”

“Force of habit?” he muttered back to her.

Her humor kicked in at that point and she had to bite her
bottom lip to keep from smiling. “By chance, be ye a troublemaker as a boy?”

“Only half the time.”

“And the other half the time, ye be sleeping,” she finished
in a drawl.

Ash relaxed enough to give her a wink. “I did grow out of
it.” Saying that seemed to remind him that he was an adult now, hadn’t done
anything to get him trouble, and he should be able to face his old master
without flinching. He took in a breath, squared his shoulders and raised a hand
in greeting. “Master Gerrard.”

Gerrard was a powerful figure of a man. He was as big and
muscle-bound as any soldier, tall enough to make Ash look a little on the short
side. His hair was greying but still thick, beard neatly trimmed and also shot
with grey. In Riana’s perspective, his dark eyes were sparkling with delight in
seeing his former student. He held out a hand, which Ash firmly grasped, and
greeted in a low timbre, “Well met, you scoundrel. For a traitor of Iysh, you
look well enough.”

Ash took this as the compliment it was meant and responded
honestly, “You haven’t aged I day, I swear you haven’t.”

“Ha! The age is in my bones, not on my face. Where’s my
Ashlynn?”

‘My’ Ashlynn, was it? No wonder Ash felt his twin was more
favored than he.

“At Estole, still.” Ash retrieved his hand. “She’s actually
Sheriff of Estole now, running the whole city.”

“Not a criminal wants to cross her, I bet.” Gerrard was
delighted while saying this. “And this pretty little archer at your side?”

Riana held out her own hand. “Riana Ravenscroft. I greet ye,
Master Gerrard.”

“She’s my partner,” Ash tacked on.

Gerrard clasped hands with her and really looked her over,
gaze intense. “Is she now. May harmony find you, Miss Ravenscroft. Rare to see
a female partner, very rare. I’m glad Ash found you.” He released her hand and
took in the pair of them. “I doubt this is a social call, considering how
dangerous it is for you to be wandering about Iysh. But let’s go inside and
talk about it. This heat is too much for an old man.”

After being out in the summer sun for a week and a half
solid, Riana was looking forward to sitting somewhere cool and shady.

They followed him inside through arched doorways and into a
building that had seen a lot of use. It didn’t look poorly maintained, but more
like in the time it had existed, it had seen many comings and goings. There
were blast marks that had been mended, deep gouges that had been mostly fixed,
and signs that certain walls had either been replaced or repainted recently.
The hallways were wider than usual, as well as the doors, and Riana wondered at
it.

Gerrard led them directly down the main hallway until they
ended up in a large, spacious room that had twenty-foot rafters. Three
fireplaces were in the room, directly ahead and one to either side. All of them
had benches and chairs set about them. In between the fireplaces were rows of
tables and benches. Was this a gathering place for all of the students? Must
be. Several were there now, books spread out over the tables, or plates of
food, or sometimes both as people studied and ate at the same time. They
glanced up as newcomers came in, then stopped and stared outright for several
seconds before excitedly chatting to their neighbors. Riana heard the words
“Ash Fallbright,” “rebellion,” and “one of the best students” several times.
Ho. Ash had been one of Gerrard’s best students? Now that was a piece of
information she hadn’t heard before.

Gerrard ignored the lot of it, as did Ash, and headed for
the central fireplace. He plopped down in a chair that was apparently the
favorite, with Ash taking up a chair next to him. Riana, by default, chose the
chair next to Ash. The bench right in front of the cold fireplace tempted her,
but it would put her at an awkward angle in speaking with the other two. She
chose not to crane her neck.

Crossing one leg over another, Gerrard commanded, “So. Tell
me what brings you here.”

“How much are you aware of? About what’s going on at the
moment, I mean,” Ash hedged.

“Likely more than you. I still have ears in the court that
pass things along to me. Can’t be the master of a wizarding school and survive
otherwise. So tell me what brought you here.”

Ash took in a breath, to steady his nerves or find his
courage—she wasn’t sure. Mayhap both. “We need help.”

Gerrard gave no sign of what he thought of this request
aside from a lift of the eyebrows. “You need help.”

“We’re completely shorthanded,” Ash admitted frankly before
launching into part of his prepared speech. “When we started this, we had no
intention of founding a growing nation. Edvard simply wanted to be independent
of Iysh, to overturn the Bindings, so that he could better care for his family
and his people. We didn’t anticipate that so many other people would throw off
Iysh and join us. Now the city is bursting at the seams, we’re spreading over
the channel and creating a settlement there, and still we can’t keep up with
the influx of people. It’s run Ashlynn and me into the ground and we simply
can’t keep up with the workload. Honestly, if an army came at us right this
minute, they’d win because we’re too exhausted to put up much of a fight.”

His master gave a snort at this. “You don’t have to tell me
that. I can see it by looking at you. Tell me, did you stop before you drove
yourself into magical exhaustion, or did you collapse and scare the magic right
out of your partner?”

Riana gave Ash a dirty look.

“Ah, I can see it on her face. You collapsed.” Gerrard shook
his head in exasperation. “I wonder some days why I bothered to teach you
anything, I truly do. You never do what I tell you to.”

Ash flushed, not able to meet either of their eyes.

It occurred to her that if the master could still see the
signs of depletion, then Ash might not be as recovered as she thought. Alarmed
at this thought, she jerked taut in her chair. “Be he still—”

Gerrard waved her down. “His core has recovered, he’s fine. It’s
nothing more than flickers along the edges where his core hasn’t completely
stabilized yet. He can’t be doing anything momentous for another week yet, but
everyday things are fine.”

Relieved, she sank back into her seat.

Addressing his student again, Gerrard growled, “You idiot.
Are you asking me to send some of my students in there, knowing they’ll do the
same fool things you’re doing?”

“This situation isn’t permanent,” Ash quickly assured him.
“I mean, the number of people coming in even now is plateauing. And when winter
hits, we’ll have a chance to catch up and get everything done. I just need to
borrow people for a few months. If, however, you know of anyone that would like
to throw off the old Bindings and make a new start in life, then they’re
welcome in Estole. Edvard is offering full citizenship to anyone that moves
there.”

“Ha!” Gerrard rolled his eyes expressively to the ceiling.
“He thinks a few months and he can catch up on things. And what about that army
that will likely come at you? You have any plan for them?”

“It’s not something I’ll involve your students in,” Ash
responded painfully neutrally. “If a wizard wants to join us, that will be
their choice to make, whether they fight or not.”

Riana frowned at him. This was not what she thought he
should be saying. Shouldn’t he be more persuasive? Wasn’t he here to get them
fighters as well as builders?

Gerrard turned and said to her, “The problem I always had
with this whelp is that he didn’t really know how to ask for help. Oh, on the
surface, it looks like he is. He says the words well enough. But what he
really
needs help with, that he won’t ask for, as it’s too much of an imposition to
burden someone else with it. You won’t believe how many times he nearly got
himself killed by taking too much on all at once.”

“Oh, I believe it fine,” she assured him darkly.

“That right?” Gerrard cast Ash a glance. “How long have you
two been partners? And already she’s mad at you. It’s not good, Ash. Keep that
up, and she’ll leave, and you’ll never be able to replace her.”

Ash gave Riana a pained smile. “I know.”

“He knows, he says. Ha! I’ll have to see that to believe
it.” Putting his hands on the armrests, Gerrard pushed himself to his feet.
“The problem with students is, you never really get done raising them. They
always come back to you. Never when they need to, mind, but when things have
gotten to a ridiculous stage.”

Riana’s lips parted in delight as she cottoned on to his
meaning. “Ye be coming.”

“What?” Ash asked in confusion, looking between the two of
them.

Gerrard grinned at her, eyes crinkling up. “Always was.
Mind, I’m still mad that neither he nor Ashlynn thought to invite me to this
party at the start. But I never intended to just sit here.”

Ash bolted to his feet. “You’re coming?!”

“Pssh, boy, you think I like Iysh? All of those rules they
make me obey, and all these students they don’t want me to train because
they’re not from the right ‘class,’ never mind how powerful or how talented
they are. You think I like any of that? Of course I’m going to Estole. Your
king is sensible and if he’s offering full citizenship to everyone, I’m taking
it.”

For the first time, Ash really looked around him, eyes
taking in the room and perhaps the academy with new eyes. “You’re packed.”

“Oh, finally noticed how empty the place is, eh?” Gerrard
chuckled. “Been packing for months. If you hadn’t come to talk to me by the end
of next week, I was coming to Estole without an invitation or by-your-leave.
Taking my whole academy with me. No sense leaving them here.” Adopting a more
serious demeanor, Gerrard said in a mock-serious tone, “I trust your King
Edvard won’t mind.”

“He won’t,” Ash breathed, caught up in surge of delight.

“Even if he does, come anyway,” Riana said firmly.

Gerrard thought that funny and chuckled. “I do like this
girl, Ash. Young lady, where does that cute accent come from?”

“Cloud’s Rest.”

“All the way up there?” He seemed genuinely surprised. “If
that’s the case, how did you two meet?”

“That be a fine tale. Mayhap I can tell it to ye as we
travel to Estole?” Riana offered.

“Stories and traveling go best together,” Gerrard agreed.
“In that case, tonight we focus on packing everything up. Tomorrow morning, we
head out. If we leave Iysh tonight, it wouldn’t be soon enough to suit me.”
Clapping his hands together, Gerrard called out to the students in the room,
ordering them to start packing and move smartly about it.

Riana leaned into Ash’s side and whispered, “And why be ye
worried that the man might not help, again?”

“You have to understand, most of my childhood, that man was
busting my arse for getting into trouble. As an adult, rebelling against a
country is probably the most serious ‘trouble’ you can land yourself in. How
was I to know that he would so readily join in?”

Ah, had that been it? “Ash. Yer sister be right. Ye cannot
properly see the man.”

He looked at her in complete confusion. “Eh?”

“Do ye no’ recognize a fellow troublemaker when ye see one?”
She pointed with her chin at Gerrard. “The man was making sure that as a child,
ye did no’ follow in his footsteps. But now yer a grown man, he does no’ have
to guide ye along anymore. Now he can just join in.” 

“That…” Ash burst out, only to trail off. His eyes went wide
as memories hit, seen now from an adult perspective instead of a child’s.
“That…he’s…”

“Ah, ye see it now, eh?” she said knowingly.

“But how did you catch on to that so quickly?” he protested.

“Ash.” She said it as patiently as she knew how. “The man
was thrown out of court for causing a ruckus and then founded a school where he
constantly thwarts the Powers That Be. I knew afore coming he be a
troublemaker.”

Her partner was reduced to incoherent sputtering.

Amused at his response, she put both hands out and pulled
him to his feet. “Best we help the man pack, I think. No need to let moss grow
on this rolling stone.”