Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) (21 page)

“I wasn’t pouting!” Edvard objected, gaining his feet.

“We’ll argue that point later,” Ashlynn mocked, as only a
sister could. “Bodyguard?”

After what had just happened, Edvard could hardly argue that
he didn’t need one. He didn’t even try. Shrugging, he resigned himself to the
inevitable. “Fine. Bodyguard it is. Find how he got in and plug the hole in our
defenses.”

Ashlynn’s lips curled up in a feral smile. “Oh trust me.
They won’t be able to pull this trick again. Broden, we’re coming up with a
backup plan for riots. Robbing our defenses is no longer an option. Edvard,
until I have a bodyguard for you, you can’t leave the castle grounds without at
least two guardsmen, understood?”

“You do remember that I’m your king, right? That I’m
supposed to give the orders?”

Ashlynn gave him a basilisk stare. “Understood?”

Resigned, the King of Estole sighed. “Yes, ma’am.”

Riana watched that night as everyone set up camp and it
became obvious to her that people were still learning how to set up camp even
three days out. The students especially seemed to need almost constant
direction from the adults. That said, they did work well together, and in very
short order the camp was set up and dinner was being cooked over an open fire.
The thing that confused her the most, though, was the multiple layers of wards
set up around the area. Putting a ward up around the campsite was just good
sense. She had no trouble with that. But every adult wizard in the camp, as
well as a few older students, set up a ward to layer over the other wards.
Riana lost track after the eighth ward was put up.

Sidling up next to Ash, she asked in a low tone, “Be there
something I do no’ know about?”

He gave her a blank look. “I’m sorry?”

She jerked her chin to indicate the wards above their heads.
“Those.”

Taking her meaning, he intoned, “Ahh. Those. They are a
safety precaution.”

Not for one minute did Riana believe it was just that and
the look she bent on him said as much.

Lowering his voice even further, Ash whispered to her, “The
truth is Master doesn’t believe that this trip will end peacefully. People keep
a very close eye on his academy at all times. He is absolutely certain that our
departure was taken note of and reported.”

Riana winced as she cottoned on. “Will it be a pursuit or an
ambush, do ye think?”

“Either. The one thing that Iysh cannot afford is for Estole
to have a whole new batch of wizards even if the majority of them are not
completely trained.”

She pivoted in a small circle, taking in every person there
but especially the students. The thought that they could suddenly be attacked
on the road left her feeling cold inside. “Tomorrow, I will run them through
what to do if we be attacked. Be they capable of putting up personal shields?”

Ash thought on that for a moment before shrugging and
nodding. “They all learn that within the first two years of their training so
they should be able to. What are you thinking? Have them grouped together on
the carts and shielding the whole cart if we are attacked?”

“Be there a better plan?” she countered. “Ye know more of
what they be capable of than I.”

“If Master hasn’t changed his training methods in the past
ten years then I believe that is the best they can do. I would rather not risk
them in open combat anyway. Not until we can decently train them in it.” Seeing
how worried she was, Ash put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze
of encouragement. “Don’t worry, I will talk with everyone tonight and put them
in the best groups possible so that the strongest shielders are spread out. We both
will drill them in the morning so that they are certain of what to do if we are
attacked.”

That did make her feel a little bit better but Riana was
still sending up every prayer she could think of for the safety of the
students. She might have only known them for three days but she had grown quite
fond of several of them and would hate to lose them now.

With a last squeeze, Ash let go of her and went to find his
master. Riana went to the campfire to make sure that dinner wasn’t burning and
stayed there until everyone had a full plate in hand.

Gerrard stood with his plate and ate well enough but in-between
bites he would point a fork at various people. “Just because we’re on the road
doesn’t mean the lessons stop. I’m putting you in study groups tonight and
tomorrow we’re going to learn how to combine our shields over an area instead
of just around your own body. The area will be the cart. Also, Miss Riana has
pointed out that if we’re attacked by bandits, we’ll have a hard time fending
them off. So she’s going to run you through drills in the morning so that you
know exactly where to go and what to do.”

There were some excited bounces from the students, and
Violet, sitting nearby, asked her, “Will you teach us archery tomorrow too?”

Riana glanced at Gerrard and saw him give her a small nod of
encouragement. “The back of a wagon be a hard place for a beginner. I will
teach ye the basics tonight. Tomorrow ye practice magic on the road.”

Getting her way now was of course preferable over waiting
for the morning. Violet grinned like a possum that knew where all the shinies were
kept.

Thais threw up a hand as far as she could, as if reaching
into the heavens itself. “Me too!”

“Aye,” Riana agreed, heart lifting at seeing their
eagerness. “Ye as well.”

“Wait, before the whole camp tries to get in on this,” Ash
quickly stepped in, “we only have one bow. Riana, how many do you think you can
teach at once?”

She seriously thought on this. While training with the
guard, she had taught four or five at once, but they all had their own weapons.
Still, she could demonstrate and have four watch on, then have them each try
their hand at it. That would work, wouldn’t it? “Four.”

“Then four it is. Violet, Thais…someone else talked to you
this morning about lessons, didn’t they?”

“Sarah.”

“Then tonight, start with those three and…hm. Jay?”

Jay grinned. “Please, sir.”

“Jay,” Ash confirmed to her. “I’ll divide up the rest into
groups and set up a schedule for them. By the time we hit Estole, you should
have gone through each group twice. They’ll at least know the basics by the
time we get home.”

He might be right on that. It was taking them longer to get
back because the carts were so much slower. Riana chaffed at the pace but there
wasn’t a thing they could do about it. Even if they ditched everything that had
been packed, their speed wouldn’t increase by much because they didn’t have
enough horses to mount all of the students and teachers, so they’d still have
to use the carts. There simply wasn’t a faster method available, curse the
luck.

All Riana could do was work with what she had. So she
gathered up her four students, scratched out a quick target on a tree that did
not
stand near the camp, and went through the basics of archery.

After spending the whole day on the road just ambling along,
no one was particularly tired, and Riana took advantage of that. The lesson
lasted well over an hour and by the time she was done, they had the hang of it.
They could reliably put an arrow into the tree. Perhaps not on target, but at
least into the tree. Real life hardly ever gave a motionless target but it
would take considerable practice before they could hit a moving target.

As she taught archery, Ash, Gerrard, Maree, and Loraine
worked with the students and put them into groups. Those that had never
combined shields before were taught the spell and given practice at it so that
they could readily fall in with the drills tomorrow.

Riana went to bed that night satisfied that even though they
may not be completely prepared for the worst, they at least wouldn’t be caught
off guard.

Ash spent the next day either helping Riana drill the
students or telling them what battle really consisted of. The older ones
listened with sobriety, taking his words of caution to heart. Riana didn’t
think they quite sunk in with the younger ones. At twelve or thirteen the idea
of a wizard striding into battle to save a new kingdom was the height of
romantic fancy. They weren’t really in the mood to hear anything that went
contrary to their imaginations.

They went several rounds throughout the day of getting into
their groups, putting up a defensive shield around the carts, and bracing for
an attack. The first three tries were rough in the extreme with people tripping
over everyone and everything and stragglers being left behind. By lunch, they’d
gotten the hang of it. By dinner, it was almost a smooth transition. Even as
Riana praised them for the progress, she prayed that they would never need to
actually use it.

Day five on the road dawned a smidge cooler than it had the
previous day. Riana was heartily grateful for it because it was miserable
traveling in such beastly hot weather.

Jay sat on the very edge of the cart, leaning forward, arms
bracing himself so he wouldn’t fall off the edge. “Miss Riana, Ash said that
you know how to track.”

“I do,” she confirmed. It bemused her, how the children
called her. Ash was always just Ash, as if he were just an older brother. But
she was always ‘miss.’ Was it a matter of them not having completely warmed up
to her yet? Surely it couldn’t be a matter of familiarity as she was Ash’s
partner; it should be understood that she was as much a part of this group as
they.

“Can you teach us that too? Ash said it’s saved him a couple
of times as you found him when he was lost once, and you can always find game,
and sometimes you use it to track down bandits.”

Now when had Ash found the privacy to brag on her without
her knowing about it? She shot a look ahead, where her wizard was riding along
next to Maree. “Did he now.”

“Master said it was a good skill to have,” Sarah chipped in.

So it wasn’t just Ash in on this, eh? “Well, it be that,
certainly.” Not seeing the harm in it, she pointed to the ground. “Some tracks
be obvious, like a horse’s hooves in dirt. The deeper the print, the more
weight the horse carried. The shallower, smaller slice of hoof ye see, it means
the faster the horse be going. Ken?”

“Ken,” at least four voices answered.

Amused, she continued, “Now, common sense applies here.
Packed dirt like this will no’ leave much of a trail behind. Stone leaves
naught at all. It be soft soil that ye check first, like that yonder—” she
lifted a hand to point toward the trees lining the side of the road. From ahead
there was a flash of something in between the trees and she knew in an instant
what it was—metal gleaming in the sun. Instinct had her shouting out, “SHIELDS
UP!”

Everyone could hear the change in her tone. This was not a
drill, she had seen something that scared her, and so there were no questions.
Everyone scrambled into position and the shields were up bare seconds after she
gave the order.

Riana dug her heels into the sides of her horse, propelling
him forward, even as Ash wheeled his around to race back to her.

“Ahead, left, in the trees,” she said quickly.

Ash swore, sawed his horse back around, and snapped up a
shield that would cover them both.

Their attackers realized when they stopped that their ambush
had been foiled. They came pouring out of the trees in waves of twos and
threes, coming in fast and quiet. There were no orders, no shouts, just the
grim determination of men coming to do a dirty deed. Riana stood in her
stirrups, already loosening the top of her quiver, and pulled out four arrows
by feel alone. Standing as she was, she could use her longbow without problem
and she aimed at her first target without thinking much about it. Aim, fire,
aim, fire, aim, fire. In quick succession, she had four men down and was
reaching for more arrows even as she maneuvered her horse to stand at Ash’s
side.

Gerrard was not a man to go into a fight quietly. He
bellowed at the top of his lungs even as he attacked, the spells coming out so
quick and fierce that it sounded like gibberish. Maree and Loraine were just as
quick to attack.

Riana didn’t stay in that spot, but turned, making sure that
nothing was sneaking up behind them while they dealt with this frontal attack.
As her head came around, she saw from the corner of her eye that there were some
men that had headed for the tail end and some of the older students were trying
to fend them off. At least one attacker was a wizard, as the spells being cast
against him bounced right off without doing any damage.

Swearing, Riana shouted to Ash, “The rear!”

Ash’s head snapped around, taking in her warning, then he plunged
for them.

In the melee, she had lost count of how many men came
pouring out of the trees. All Riana knew was that there were too many. She’d
take down one, another three would pop up. Worse, the students had to fight off
some men that had gotten through the teacher’s line of defense.

Her wizard realized it at the same moment and pointed to
them. She nodded, silently reassuring him she had seen them and would take care
of it.

Riana kneed her horse around, protecting his back even as
she put herself into a position where she had a clear line of sight for the
whole left side of the carts. Taking a breath to steady herself, she grabbed
four arrows, nocked, drew, and aimed for the one nearest to her.

The men attacking the carts were focused on the students,
trying to get through the shields, and were not paying very good attention to
their backs. They were easy pickings. Riana systematically took out one after
the other. As she did so, she kept an ear open to what was going on behind her.
If someone came at their sides, she and Ash would both be in trouble and if
they went down, the whole party wouldn’t survive.