Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) (6 page)

The ward was still up, granting them safety, but that would not
be the case for much longer. Ash and Ashlynn would be up soon, and after they
had had breakfast, they would take the ward down, as they always did. Broden
had every intention of having people in place when that happened. “Lad. If ye
see them coming, drop out of this tree and go toward the inn. Once we know, find
yerself a good place up high and snipe those that come at us.”

“You don’t want me on the ground, sir?”

Not ever, but Broden would not say that and bruise his
self-confidence. “Ye be one of the few archers here,” he explained, “and ye be
a good shot. Sniping be a good place to put ye.”

Thorne nodded seriously. “I’ll do my best, sir. Wound or
kill?”

“Lad, in the heat of a fight, ye do no’ usually have that
luxury. Protect yer own, that be your only priority.”

“Yes, sir.”

Broden stared long and hard toward the camp for several
minutes but they still had not made any move toward the settlement. Even from
there, they could probably see the glow of the ward. As long as it was up, they
likely would not move. That meant he had time to eat breakfast, wake people up,
and get them into position. He had better use that time while he had it.

He clapped Thorne’s shoulder once, in a friendly gesture of
support, before dropping out of the tree and heading toward the inn. When he
got there, he found Riana already in place on the porch, toast and a mug of
something steaming in her hands. Ash was sitting at her feet, holding the same
breakfast, but his eyes were not entirely open yet.

“Be they moving?” she asked her father. Her expression was
calm. It was her eyes that betrayed her worry.

“No’ as yet.” Broden looked around and asked plaintively,
“Where be my breakfast?”

“In the kitchen. Nicole made us up something.”

Kind of the woman to do that. Then again, most of the
settlement seemed determined to support them however they could so they would
be ready to fight. Broden ducked inside, greeted Nicole, and took what she
offered him with heartfelt thanks.

Ashlynn wandered in, hiding a yawn behind her hand, and went
into the kitchen for breakfast as well. She had half of it consumed before
asking Broden, “Did you check on them?”

“Aye, lass. They have no’ moved as yet. Me guess be they
will no’ until the ward comes down.”

“What makes you think they really will attack today?”

“No cook fires,” he responded with a shrug.

“Ah. That would be a pretty good indication.” Polishing off
the last of her toast, she considered the wards. “I think we should have people
in place before I take those down.”

“Me own thought exactly.”

“Right.” Hands on knees, she pushed herself up to her feet
and strode off the porch, gathering people and talking to them as she went.

Ash stood as well, saying as he moved, “I’ll get the
guardsmen in position.”

That left both archers to direct people and explain what to
do once they reached the inn. Broden did step in a little and directed some of
the better marksmen to be snipers on the only finished roof. Aside from that,
he watched as Ash directed people and found no fault with what he did. It was
no surprise to him. Ash had helped lead an army twice before, after all.

Ashlynn herded the last of the civilians into the inn and
went about renewing her ward on the building. Once she had that in place, she
came back out, reviewed what her brother and Broden had done, and nodded in
satisfaction. “I think we’re ready. Ash, ward?”

“Going.” Her brother was already moving before she had even
asked the question. He seemed to take a deep breath before he dispelled the
ward. It dissipated into the air like glowing smoke, pretty and ethereal in the
morning sunlight.

Broden waited on taut nerves. Either the bandits would move
immediately or they would be playing a waiting game all day. He prayed for an
immediate response because waiting like this would play havoc on a man’s mind
and patience. Seconds crept by, feeling like hours, as everyone held their
breath.

There was a loud thump from up ahead, then someone came in
hard and fast. Thorne skidded into view and Broden knew what he was going to
say before he said it. “They’re coming!”

“How fast?” Ashlynn demanded.

“At a dead run, Sheriff,” he answered, already heading for
the inn roof.

Her lips peeled back from her teeth, magic flaring from her
hands as she primed herself to fight. “Brace yourselves!” she called. “Things
are about to get fun.”

Bandits were nothing like soldiers. Riana knew this all too
well. Only half of them actually engaged in fighting, while the rest scurried
around like rats and picked up anything that had value before trying to run off
with it. She knew her father had set snipers up on the roof for this very
reason—to prevent anyone from actually succeeding with the theft.

Riana caught this out of her peripheral vision even as she
danced in and out of Ash’s shield, covering his blind spots even as he covered
hers. They’d fought together often enough now that she had a sense of what he
would do next, and words weren’t really necessary between them anymore.
Watching his back was far more important to her than tracking down a barrel of
tools being rolled away. She left that to the snipers—

“DON’T LET THEM ESCAPE WITH ANYTHING!” Ashlynn bellowed out.

—and to Ashlynn, apparently. Of course, as sheriff, any
theft at all was intolerable.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ashlynn and her father
race off toward the western side of the settlement, following a pair of bandits
who had loot in their hands. She didn’t give the bandits very good odds.

The fight this time was harder than usual. Partially because
they were up against seasoned criminals who fought dirty. They didn’t think
twice about coming in at someone’s blind side and trying for a lucky strike. It
kept Riana on her toes, more than usual, because she never knew what they might
try to pull.

But aside from that, they had to be careful how they fought.
Ash was pulling his punches, so to speak, actively trying to not hit anything
except bandits. He didn’t want to have to rebuild something due to a careless
moment in the heat of battle. It slowed him down because he was taking more
careful aim than before, and it gave the bandits another edge.

An edge they didn’t need. Riana had to use her bow like a
staff, knocking a bandit back, because she couldn’t keep up with their
approach. They were coming in faster than she could nock and fire. “Ash!” she
growled in vexation.

“What do you want me to do, burn down a building?”

“Buildings be replaceable, man!” She twirled on her toes to
his other side, aimed, fired, and then had to take a step back before getting
knocked over by a stumbling guardsman. His face was familiar but the name
escaped her at the moment. “Go-to!”

Ash shot off three quick spells, none of which were aimed
anywhere near a building, and only took out two bandits. “See? My aim is off if
I go too fast.”

There were days when Ash’s caution saved them. His ability
to think ahead, and turn something onto different angles, had proven
invaluable. But there were times, like now, when he overthought something and
it was moments like these that she was ready to strangle him.

He must have picked up that emotion as he yelped, “Whoa,
calm down, I’ll pick up the pace!”

About time. She put her back to his again, half-in, half-out
of the shield, and focused on the enemies in front of her.

Ash was true to his word and picked up his pace, although he
didn’t fire off spells as fast as he normally did. It was more like a middle
ground, but it was fast enough to keep bandits from overwhelming them, which
was all she really wanted for the time being.

It became a blur of sweat trying to run into her eyes, the
hum and whistle of arrows being released, the sweet feeling of being incased in
Ash’s magic, and the blur of men running back and forth as they fought. So focused
on only hitting her targets and not accidentally firing at one of her own, it
came as an abrupt shock when she realized that she didn’t have any more bandits
to contend with. Arrow half-drawn, she paused and looked all around.

Not all of the guardsmen were standing; some were down, some
were leaning against the side of the building and clutching at some injury. The
ones not injured were quickly going to comrades and offering help. But no
matter how she looked, there wasn’t a bandit standing anywhere in their area.
“Be that all of them?”

“And whichever ones had the sense to grab and run. Ashylnn
and Broden are chasing them down, though. Even if we knew what direction they
went, it’d be impossible to catch up.”

Riana could track them easily enough so the direction was unimportant,
but he was right in that they wouldn’t be able to catch up enough to do any
good. “Let’s tend to these, then.” Going to the corner of the inn, she called
up to Thorne, “How be it?”

“No more in sight, Miss Riana,” he assured her. Standing, he
took a long look around before continuing, “I don’t see anyone else left. I
can’t see where the sheriff or Master Broden went, though. They went directly
west after a few bandits, but that’s about all I know.”

The bandits were severely outclassed. Riana wasn’t worried.
“Stay on top and keep watch just in case.”

He waved a hand in acknowledgement and shifted to the very
peak of the roof so he had the best line of sight.

Riana went back to Ash and reported, “They no’ be back yet,
although Thorne saw the direction they went off to.”

“That’s something. We’ll track them down if they’re not back
in an hour.” Looking around him, he puffed out his cheeks and blew out a
resigned breath. “In the meantime, let’s start cleaning this up.”

“Are ye no’ forgetting to update a king first?” she reminded
him, eyes crinkling upwards.

“Ah…hmm. Probably a good idea.” He lifted the caller up to
his mouth and called Edvard’s name.

She patted him on the shoulder, leaving him to it, and took
over directing the cleanup. 

After that fierce battle, things went quiet again.

Ashlynn and Broden had come back with two bandits in tow and
all of the stolen goods. Altogether, only twenty bandits were still alive after
that fierce fight, and Edvard had them all executed. Within two days, it was
like the attack had never happened, except for one notable exception: Ash put
up a ward around the settlement every night. No one knew, after all, if that
would be the last of the bandit attacks or if some other group would try their
hand. Rather than be sorry, Ash chose to be safe, and the ward went up promptly
as the sun set and was taken down again at first light.

It took another two weeks to finish the inn and that was a
very welcome thing indeed. The innkeeper, Nohilly by name, became so busy
trying to keep hot water in his bathing rooms and food on the tables, that he
hired help from the mainland. Because they were still enjoying the summer
climate, he set tables outside on the front porch as well, and just barely
avoided having a line form up at dinnertime. More often than not, Riana didn’t
get to sit and eat at the tables, but instead grabbed a plate for both she and
Ash. Then she had the fun job of having to track her wizard down. Food was
always cold by the time she found him so dinners were not the warm affairs they
should have been.

Not for the first time, she wished their bond was strong
enough that she could feel where he was. It would save her quite the hunt every
evening.

Riana was no stranger to building things, and she helped out
where she could, but most of the time she was more like the acting provost than
Ash. People couldn’t always find him, and sometimes even when they did find
him, they didn’t want to interrupt him as he was either mid-spell or high up
and building something. It was pure folly to interrupt a wizard while he
worked. So they went to Riana instead, who knew just as much of what was going
on as Ash did, and was just as conversant with the laws. After all, she helped
to create them. It was she more often than not who settled disputes and handled
the governmental side of things in the settlement.

Their paths were so different from each other’s on a day-to-day
basis that Riana basically only saw Ash over breakfast and at night. What she
saw and felt during those times did not encourage her. But she kept assuring
herself that they were
almost
done. After nearly a month and a half’s work,
even with the bandit interruption, they had completed the inn and the bakery,
the smithy and the carpentry shop, and the tannery. The lumber mill was close
enough to completion that they were already using it, although there was still
some odds and ends left to do, same with the butcher shop.

Once they were completely done with those buildings, and had
the marketplace set up, then Ash could rest. Or at least take it a little
easier. The houses were the responsibility of the people that would live in
them. Edvard had contracted builders over here, of course, and people would be
able to use them. But Ash’s responsibility of building the settlement ended at
streets and the major buildings that were needed in order to run the place. The
houses were not his responsibility.

If she saw him building on any of the houses, she’d be sure
to grab an ear and drag him away from it, too. The man had enough to do without
taking on additional projects.

They hadn’t suffered any repeat attacks by the bandits but
it was early days yet to make any judgments. Maybe another bandit gang would
try for the settlement, maybe they wouldn’t, but it would take more time to
tell. Until then, people kept weapons close by and didn’t breathe a word of
complaint about a ward set up every night.

Now that they had all of the walls up, it was time to paint
things. Although she hadn’t had a chance to talk to Ash about that yet. No
matter what anyone else said, she was
not
going to allow the whole
settlement to be painted that awful shade of yellow. A girl had her limits and
Riana wouldn’t live day in and day out with that color brutalizing her
eyeballs.

Ash came back to their campsite and dropped like he was a
puppet that someone had taken all the pins out of. Riana had pity, seeing his
exhaustion, and fetched him a mug of water, which he downed in thirsty gulps
before collapsing again.

“Did ye eat?”

“Mistress Nicole tracked me down and made sure of it. Did
you say something to them, by chance? They seem determined to feed me every
time they see me.”

Riana put on her best innocent face. “That be their job, to
feed people.”

“Is that it?” He blew out a steady breath. “The lumber mill
is done.”

She clapped, happy and relieved to hear it. “Good! Then it
just be the butcher shop and the marketplace to finish, and ye be a free man.”

“Free to clear more land and get ready for fall planting,
you mean. Is there anything else I need to do?”

“Change paint colors?” she asked hopefully.

Ash lifted his head enough to stare at her fuzzily.
“Something wrong with the paint?”

“Eighteen barrels of awful yellow,” she explained
succinctly.

“Ouch. All of the same color? Who would do that?”

“Some thrifty soul with the sense of a mayfly.”

Ash laughed and sank back onto the grass. “Alright. That’s
an easy fix.”

“The women have an idea or three of what colors they like.
Ye might want to check with them afore changing anything.” She didn’t get a
response. At this angle, she couldn’t see much of his face in the firelight.
“Ash?” Was he asleep? “A~sh.”

Still no answer.

Rocking up to her knees, she bent over him and found him to
be fast asleep, so deeply in fact that he wasn’t even twitching. Shaking her
head, she fetched something to pillow his head and laid a blanket over him.
Fortunately it was a warm, clear night, so he should be able to sleep outdoors
without any problem. If the man was tired enough to fall asleep on her during
the middle of a conversation, then let him sleep. She could tell him what he
needed to know in the morning.

She’d meant to ask him if he’d heard anything from Estole.
It had been very quiet over there the past several days, no problems being
reported, which she took as a good sign. Mayhap all was going well in the
mainland and there wasn’t anything more for her to worry about.

Hoping things stayed that way, she rolled onto her own
bedroll and called it a night.