Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (24 page)

“What did you
give me to drink?” Kilen asked through a lethargic voice

“Something in
your bag from Leroy. It was labeled poison antidote so we gave it to you. Are
you strong enough to ride?” Max’s voice was urgent and almost scared.

“If you can hold
my legs I think I can stay upright. Help me up.”

Max helped Kilen
stand and he watched the world turn. His vision pulsed to the beat of his heart
as if he was moving forward and backward all at once. The sandy-looking man did
his best to hold Kilen still. It wasn’t long until he had formed into a horse
under his feet and an icy set of arms threw his pack on the horse’s back. Max
galloped along the beach, pushing every moment to speed himself up. Joahna
landed as a bird on Max’s horse head and continued to heal Kilen’s body still
being attacked by the poison. The more Kilen could see, the more danger he
could tell they were in. Kilen watched as torches chased after them. The
torches followed on land and sea. Kilen watched as the flames that lit up the
sky continued to cast him in dim light on the beach below. He was again
grateful that he had such powerful allies.

Offshore, one of
the ships broke away from the others. The lights revealed that it had all four
elemental marks on its side. Kilen could see a woman on the back of the ship
holding her hands to the sails as an unnatural wind filled them, pushing the
ship to gain in speed. Another woman continually threw flames into the sky and
pointed where she saw Kilen trying to escape. Kilen began to feel a bit of
comfort as the ship started to slowly turn towards the bank. He was sure they
were about to turn around and head home with Kilen out of their grasp. Instead,
the ship came up on to the bank. A wave of water followed the ship and
continually kept the boat from running aground. The wielders on the ship gave
it its own personal wave, wind, and light. The ship’s crew rushed from one sail
to the other, making adjustments and readying weapons to fight.

Kilen spoke
nervously to Max. “Faster Max. They are still coming.”

Joahna added to
his stress in an eerie voice, “Do you see this Max?”

“What do you
think I’m running so fast for?!” Max lurched forward trying to leave the ship
behind. The wind wizard on board was steadied by an earth wizard and the ship
picked up speed, rolling down the shore on a magic wave of water. The sight
panicked Kilen and he tried to spur Max into going faster.

Kilen knew help
had arrived when arrows launched from bows suddenly fell short, sinking to the
ground or turned out to the water when being shot straight at him. The wind in
the sails failed and went limp, leaving the ship to slow itself on the beach.
Kilen watched as the ship’s sails caught a wind from the west and it lurched to
the side nearly tipping the ship over. A couple men fell from its deck at
another sudden jolt of wind. They were swallowed by the water keeping the ship
afloat on the land. Jace’s handy work and the power of wind magic had saved him
again. He remembered Alex’s warning about wind not being as weak as most
thought. Kilen really wished he had taken the time to learn more about it while
he was with the Elder Wizards.

The boat pitched
forward as the wind wizard on deck had lain down to put herself into elemental
form. The transformation must have made her stronger because the sails filled
again and the ship was gaining on Kilen even faster.

Jace’s voice
whispered on the wind, “She is stronger now. I can’t pull the wind from her in
elemental form.”

Max raced on
without the normal dramatics of being horse like in all facets.

Joahna spoke in
his normal commanding tone. “Jace, aid her in the wind and I will do the rest.”

Jace and the
wind faded away from Kilen and he watched the wind in the sails pull the thick
cloth so tight that he could hear ropes and wood creaking under its pull.
Joahna was still sitting on Max’s back in the form of a bird but soon he flew
ahead and landed on the sandy beach. A wave crashed into the small elemental
and when it receded, Joahna stood as a liquid man. He made himself as large a
man as Kilen had ever seen. Max raced past him as Joahna stood his ground,
waiting as the land-traveling ship soared towards him on a wave of magic.

Kilen had no
idea what the plan was and he didn’t have time to think of any with crossbow
bolts zipping past him as he guided Max back and forth out of their path.
Joahna did nothing to stop the flying bolts but stood defiantly in front of the
ship. The magical wave crashed into him and enveloped his liquid body. The
ship’s massive weight showed no hinderance in crushing Joahna’s elemental body,
but Kilen somehow knew Joahna’s work was not over.

The water
rushing underneath the pirate’s ship soon started to turn to ice as it fell
away from the ship. The rushing water turned to snow and the ship continued to
travel forward, sliding its underbelly on the snow. The ship slowed and Kilen
watched as ice started to form against the wood and barnacles coating the
vessel. The wood and ropes creaked under the pressure to keep the ship moving
at the speeds needed to catch Max.

New waves crashed
against the shore bringing forth fresh water to renew the ships chase. The new
water began turning to any icy slush and stuck to the hull of the ship. It
froze faster than the waves could add to its movement and soon brought the ship
to a stop. The assault of ice and the strength of the wind snapped the mainsail
from its deck. Connecting ropes ripped the other sails from their place. In a
mass of wood, rope, sails and debris men jumped from the deck into the water.
Kilen and Max raced away as a still watery Joahna walked out of the pile of
ice, resuming his bird form and taking to the air. They left the pirate ship
looking like a deadly warning of what his friends were capable of.

  Bowie laid in
the back of a wagon trying to sleep as it jostled him from side to side. He
insisted that he be the last of his men to get sleep. He had received a few
hours of rest before getting into the wagon and heading down the quiet rode.
Each time they made out for a new camp, they picked up their own tents and
moved forward to the next camp setting up for the another group of his men to
arrive. Bowie had lost track of time and wasn’t even sure what day of the week
it was. He had been awake too long to remember to keep track. He knew that it
was early morning; still a few hours until the sun would come up. The stars
made appearances between the tops of the trees far overhead.

  He sat up and
looked around at the men traveling in the dark. He was sure they could keep up
to this pace but the horses and supply wagons were a different story. Ria was
constantly rejuvenating troops and horses as they rode past her camp. He knew
that Ria was also producing bows and arrow shafts for Bowie’s men to use. Bowie
was pleased by the amount of game his men had been able to catch while out
looking for the enemy. Meat was not in short supply at any one of the camps and
was constantly being prepared for his troops.

  Torch lights
and campfires reflecting off the surfaces of white tents told Bowie that he had
arrived at the next camp site. He knew he would find Ria, Auburn and Tyler in
this camp. John had lead another troupe that passed late last night. Bowie was
leading his men to the front of the advance to a new forward camp.

  Bowie put on
his hat, straightened it and retrieved his jacket from where he had laid his
head to keep it from bouncing on the wagon. He didn’t think the moss could get
any thicker, but each day it seemed to make heavier curtains hanging from the
roots coming out of the ground. Each day of the summer grew hotter and more
unbearable during the noon peak of the sun. He was glad that the sun did not
penetrate the canopy.

Auburn was
already awake and giving orders to the fletchers working hard near one of the
fires. Two large piles of arrows had already been arranged and were being
packed up in one of the empty carts. They had taken to even tying bundles of
arrows to the outside of the carts and wagons to make room for more in the
wagons.

  “Good morning,
Auburn.” Bowie said as the wagon came to a stop so he could jump out. “Do you
have an accurate count?”

  “Accurate, no.
A good estimate, yes. We have been able to get our totals to about twelve
thousand arrows. Of course we would have more if you hadn’t taken the others to
the king,” Auburn said putting her bow on her shoulder.

  “Twelve
thousand
and
the ones we gave to the king already? Well, I would say
your men could take a day off but we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. How
is Ria holding up?”

  A motherly
voice spoke from behind him, “Better than you by the looks of it. You may want
to pull the straw from your hair before talking to a pretty young woman if you
want to have any chance at courting her.”

Bowie felt his
hair and several pieces fell away. He then took notice of the straw coating his
pants and he brushed them clean as well.

“I am not trying
to court anyone. I am trying to make sure we all survive this war.”

  Ria cleared
her throat, “Be that as it may, you should always keep yourself presentable in
front of women.”

Bowie
straightened his hat in frustration. “Tell me, How are you really?” Bowie
started to walk towards the front of the wagon line and watched Ria grace each
man and animal with her touch as she answered.

  “I am doing
well. I have taken to sleeping most of the day but with the help of our secret
I have been able to recover in time to complete all the necessary tasks.”

Bowie knew the
secret was a handful of imbuements that would make her stronger than a small
army. He’d seen what it looked like when those imbuements were stripped away
from someone who used more magic than their body could store. Kilen had nearly
died because of his own ignorance of that knowledge. Bowie wished he knew just
how Kilen was doing on his mission with the Elder Wizards.

  Bowie’s
section was not only greeted by Ria’s magic, but also by other soldiers. Each
wagon was supplied with fresh cooked beans, bread, and meat to consume on the
road. The passing soldiers received bread, fruit, and more arrows for their
quivers. Some even received new wizard-grown bows. Bowie made his way through
the camp and made sure he shook hands with his men and asked them how they were
holding up. Most men smiled as they worked, some stood to greet him. He even
began learning more of their names so he could remember those who fought by his
side.

When he was
done, he noticed Auburn was mounted and holding Charger’s reins for Bowie. The
horse was prancing and antsy to get back on the road. Ria did her best to help
keep Bowie’s animal steady. His troop had already disappeared down the road to
find the next camp location.

Ria stopped him
before he got on his horse. “The scouts have stopped returning, Sergeant
Crescent. I am afraid that you will find more of the Fire Realm soon. The men
here were actively chasing two when we started to set up camp on this spot.
They should have either met their doom or John’s forces by now.”

Bowie thought
her words over as he mounted. If they were chasing down the enemy, it would be
best to not divide his men any longer. Bowie dismounted again sending Charger
into a bit of a fit, jumping and pulling on the reigns Ria held. Her strength
imbued arm gave the horse a tug and set him right.

Bowie nodded and
fished one of many maps out of his bag. Pulling the string that kept it rolled
he laid it out on the ground, placing three stones on top as he talked.

“I think it’s
about time we gather the forces. I will take my three hundred farther south and
set up a camp large enough for everyone. I want you and Tyler to remain here
until John and his three hundred soldiers catch up from the last camp.”

Bowie looked up
from the map and waited for a nod before continuing, “From my next camp I’ll
conduct one more sweep back here clearing that area with fifty men. When we
arrive, all of us will travel to the new camp. I am sure we will need everyone
rested and together for the days that come. ”

Ria curtsied low
and bowed her head. She reached out her hand and touched Bowie’s shoulder. He
felt the warm pressure in his chest as he was filled with energy.

  She smiled,
“We will see you at the day’s end. Take care of the girl, she has too many
ambitions to become any sort of a lady. I will need her alive if I am to teach
her to pretend to be one.”

Auburn snorted
and released Chargers reins and turned her horse down the road.

  “Wait, she's
not staying with you?” Bowie asked.

  Ria gave Bowie
a sideways look filled with contempt, “No. You adolescent fool. You are the one
that gave her the idea that if she became a good enough archer, you would let
her hunt with you. She has been practicing everyday for as long as she can lift
her bow. Then you didn’t even bother to tell John. He made an offhand remark
that she was as good as any soldier in the camp.
You
made her the
promise, sergeant”-she spat his rank as if it was an insult-”and now
you
have to live with it.”

Her face was as
red as he’d ever seen it. She turned to leave and had walked a few steps away
before turning around. He knew that when a woman came back for more, it was
never good.

“Don’t you let
her die, Bowie Crescent. If you do, I will make sure you go the rest of your
life remembering.”

  Bowie didn’t
know what would be worse; seeing Auburn die or having to live with Ria never
letting him forget it. He knew he didn’t want either. He kicked Charger and let
him run as fast as the horse wanted to catch up to the excited red haired girl.
When he arrived back with his men he watched as they kept an observant eye to
the forest on either side. Auburn was already in conversation with the soldiers
bragging about how she was going on the next hunt. They encouraged her, giving
her tips and instructions on how to be silent and the best way to hit a moving
target.

Bowie cleared
his throat, “Auburn, can I talk to you?”

  She smiled at
the soldier she was talking to and turned her horse to wait for Bowie’s place
in the line to catch up to her. “I am very excited to be going on the hunt with
you,” Auburn said.

  Bowie gave her
a half grin, “I wanted to talk to you about that.”

Before another
word could leave his lips, “Oh no. You are not backing out of your promise now.
I spent the last few days learning how to pour tea, walk with a book on my
head, how to curtsy, and things that no man should know women do! I have gone
through that torture to be able to go on a hunt with you and that is what I’m
going to do. There is no way you are going to talk me out of it.”

Bowie started to
talk slowly and quietly over the sounds of horses hooves hitting the ground. “I
need you to stay behind. I can’t risk losing you to a Fire Realm man, which we
are sure to find. You are too valuable to the success of this mission. You have
perfected the way we make arrows so we can produce even more than I could have
imagined. I need you to stay behind and watch the fletchers. I will set it up
so you can stand watch for an attack if you want.”

  “Stand watch?!
No, you said I could join you on a hunt!”

  Bowie started
to shout back, “That was before we started to find scouts on our hunts! I
thought we were going to hunt deer or rabbits, not men.”

  Auburn’s face
became as red as her hair, “I’m going.” She spurred her horse forward, passing
several men in line.

Bowie didn’t
follow, he just shouted as she left, “No, you’re not!”

  The rest of
the morning went with Bowie getting looks from Auburn until he tried to stop
looking at her. He knew she would get over it eventually. He thought maybe he
could take her hunting when the battle was over. Perhaps teach her how to use
the parts of the animals to make more supplies or even become a butcher. They
didn’t speak until later, in the early afternoon. Bowie had called the troop to
a halt and told them to set up camp.

  He noticed
Auburn approaching soldiers and fletchers alike. She handed them a brown
satchel that they would later hand back after going to their horses with it.
She hadn’t come to him asking to join him on the hunt or even looked at him for
more than a couple of seconds. He noticed she seemed to have gotten over being
mad. She smiled and was pleasant to all she interacted with. Bowie finished
organizing the men to backtrack from his new camp to Ria’s. He knew that a
little after nightfall, John would be joining Ria with his section of men.

  Bowie kept an
eye on Auburn as she disappeared into a tent that was made for her. He waved
down one of the soldiers that would be joining him on the hunt and told him to
gather the men. It was past time they had been on their way and he wanted to
leave while Auburn was in her tent. He personally checked each man for a day’s
rations, arrows, bandages, and an extra bow string.

Once each was
checked, he gathered them on the line and watched each man start to walk
straight out until they reached a distance where they could just see the man on
each side of them. Bowie watched as soldiers slowly started to progress
forward, then pick up speed as they kept pace moving together through the
trees. Each time one of them saw something they would stop and signal the man
next to them with an bird call. The signal carried down the line until every
man stopped. Birds and animals running away from the group gave notice of no
enemies to worry about. Before long Bowie was jogging to keep the line moving
at a pace that would bring them to Ria’s camp before midnight. He knew they
would have a few stretches that would slow them down, but he didn’t like being
in the forest at night so he pushed ahead to keep them from it.

Bowie noticed
one of his archers among the trees, squatting in the open a short distance in
front of him. He cursed, wondering why the soldier had moved ahead. He didn’t
recognize the soldier but held up his hand and called out for the men on either
side to slow as they approached. The soldier was facing away from Bowie and had
on a black hat like the other men. A long braid of hair extended from the back
of the hat. The closer he came, the more he recognized the her. Auburn.

  “I told you
not to come.” He said as he walked up to her.

She was removing
an arrow from the scrawny rabbit she had killed.

“I am not here
to hunt with you. I am here to hunt by myself since you will not take me with
you.”

  Bowie squatted
and thought for a moment while Auburn took a spare cloth out of her satchel to
wipe the animals blood from her arrow.

“You need to go
back to the camp,” Bowie said, motioning the other men to keep the line steady

  “I don’t think
so,” Auburn said. “Since your men are scaring all the animals to the north, I
should push out in front of you to find some game.”

She started to
walk away, putting another arrow in the bow. He caught up to her as the line of
men followed his lead on the advance.

  “You can’t do
that, we are not hunting game. We are hunting the enemy.”

Bowie stalked at
a steady pace to catch up to her. She had changed her clothes into the tight
leather breeches of a man which were particularly to snug around the hips. She
wore a plain linen shirt and a men's leather vest. Her hair fell over her
shoulder in a braid the same as it was when he gave her her first lesson. He
took ahold of her arm and she turned to look at him with fierce green eyes.