Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (32 page)

  Twilix needed
to surround Kara with cold water but the dirt was making it difficult, so she
used the water from the ground to lift Kara out of the mud until she could use
water in the air to push her upwards. Soon, a wizard made geyser was blasting
towards the sky with a Kara at its center. Only Kara’s head was exposed from
the geyser so she could breathe. Twilix used the water expelled at the top to
replenish the water needed at the bottom for the geyser. The water replenished
itself as she cooled it and kept Kara balanced at the center. Twilix knew that
she would not be able to maintain the geyser forever but set her mind to keep
it up as long as possible.

  A voice called
out between gargled breaths, “Stop, stop! I’m awake.”

Twilix saw
kara’s arms fighting against the torrent of water. Kara had awoken from her
ageing. Twilix would have let out a sigh if she was in her own body. Instead,
she released her control over the water and watched Kara come crashing down
into what was left of the bowl.

Twilix let go of
her elemental body and snapped back into her own. Her arms felt weak but still
she managed to stand herself up. Brandon was already sitting up but still
breathing hard. One of the wielders helped him up off the ground. The training
ground was just as smoky as when Twilix and Mary would train, but this time the
marks looked random, with no sense of why the attacks were made. The entire
castle was quiet, waiting to see if more flames would erupt from the bowl of
dirt.

Twilix wrapped
brandon’s arm around her. “Let’s go see this little fire wizard. Shall we?”

  “If you think
it’s wise,” Brandon could barely walk after the effort he put into keeping
Twilix upright. Neither of the two could hear any noise from the bowl except
for the water still trickling out of the opening that Brandon had made. It took
an effort to make it up the stone steps to the rim of the bowl. A wet and older
version of Kara was on her hands and knees in the mud at the bottom.

  Through long
black wet hair, Kara looked up at Twilix, “That was a rude way to wake a person
up.”

  Twilix helped
pull Brandon up to the top where he could be seen by Mary. She immediately
covered the nakedness of her stomach and chest that the leather didn’t cover as
she kneeled in the mud.

Brandon turned
his back and sat down at the top of the ridge.

“If you hold on
a moment I will have a cloak brought up. How are you feeling, Kara?” Twilix
asked.

  “I feel fine.
I am a bit cold though.”

Twilix waited
for a sign if she was in control of her magic or not. When the answer did not
come Twilix started to come down into the bowl. “Kara, I meant… Are you in
control of your magic?”

  “Oh, yes. Yes,
I’m fine.” She sat, still covering herself as she shivered in the muddy hole
with water still dripping off of her black hair.

Twilix nodded
and ran down the ridge of the dirt bowl. When she came back she carried a brown
robe that seemed a bit large for Kara. Kara stood and unfolded the robe and it
still fell short of the ground. She looked down at her grown body. She pushed
her mid length hair out of her way and Twilix produced a small blue ribbon to
tie it back with.

“I had one like
this on Spring Fest. Did you keep this from my dress?” Kara asked.

  Twilix shook
her head as she led Kara up the slippery side of the bowl. “No. I believe that
ribbon is still tied to the end of your father’s sword. Your brother once told
me that he keeps it there to remember what he is fighting for.”

  “I wish I had
something to remember him with.” Kara stood at the top of the bowl trying to
keep her flesh from the eyes of the onlookers on the castle grounds. “I
apparently caused a commotion?”

  “Don’t flatter
yourself. I think that I had a hand in making the show. After all, you wouldn’t
have survived if it wasn’t for me.”

  Brandon lifted
up a hand and waved it in the air, “I suppose I had nothing to do with it at
all?”

  Twilix
mischievously looked at Kara, “Of course you did, Advisor. You kept me steady
on the top of this hill while I dealt with her.” She laughed but Brandon did
not and Kara had no reason to understand what was happening. Twilix quickly
tucked one of her loose curls behind her ear, “Let’s get you inside to get you
cleaned up.”

  “Wait, just
because she isn’t throwing, fireballs doesn’t mean she isn’t going to light the
castle on fire. You need to test her first.”

  “Brandon-”
Twilix started but was cut off.

  “Oh it’s
‘Brandon’ now, is it? What happened to ‘Advisor?” Brandon pulled himself to his
full height.

  Twilix turned
on Brandon and set her foot into place like she had when she was still in her
adolescent age. “You know as well as I do that she should be burning all of us
to a crisp right now. You know that because she isn’t, means that if you try
and stop her, she could easily kill all of us.” She paused to let the threat
sink in, “I would personally like to see you try and stop her from going
inside.”

  Twilix started
to walk off to the stone stairs and stopped halfway down to wave Kara forward.
Kara cautiously followed as Brandon looked deep in thought,as if trying to
think of something that would keep Twilix from making him look like a fool.
Kara tripped and fell on the next to last step falling onto her face.

  “Yes, I should
have warned you. These long legs are something to get use to. I tripped for at
least the first four days while you were ageing. Brush yourself off. Were going
to get you a bath and into something a little more proper.”

Kara seemed
happy at the mention of proper clothes.

  Twilix watched
as she stared in wonder at the tall ceilings and arched doorways of the castle.
Kara danced her fingers along the seamless marble walls with gold and silver
veins that ran throughout. The damp haired girl would spin in circles to take
in all the tapestries along the hallways. Twilix laughed when Kara asked her if
they were lost, but the water wizard just continued leading through that halls.

They eventually
came upon a door with a large fire carved on the thick oak. Once inside, two
large beds with canopies that draped down to block out the sunlight caught
Kara’s attention.

“I’ve never seen
a bed this big!” She said.

Her attention
was then turned to the chairs with cushions and washstands. Each piece of
furniture matched one another with ornately carved forest scenes containing
deer and birds. Kara ran her fingers over the detailed chisel strokes embedded
into the wood. Her eyes finally rested on a large wardrobe with dark carved
wood.

  Twilix took
Kara’s hand and made her turn face to face with her. “If you like that, wait
until you see what’s inside.”

Kara smiled in a
way that said she was anxious. Twilix opened the doors of the wardrobe and Kara
took a breath. Dresses of every of the brightest color filled it from side to
side. Each had lace, silk, and satin with laced backs and corsets, hats, and
shoes to match.

  “Wow, these
are gorgeous,” Kara said.

  Kara’s fingers
recoiled from each dress as if she was afraid to touch the fine materials.

  “Well, since
we are almost the same size, I think that we may be able to share them if you
are willing to stay with me here for a while.” Twilix proposed.

  Kara smiled
and jumped up and down. “I would love to stay here with you.”

Both the girls
started digging through the clothes to find the ones that would suit them best.

  Kilen still
felt very safe, even being only a short ride from the Fire Realms defenses. He
sat, sleepily watching the fire cook the rabbit Max had found, killed, and
skinned. Jace had assured him that the small tendrils of smoke wouldn’t be
noticed by the Fire Realm. Max, Jace, and Joahna had all taken a form of one
sort or another to penetrate the defenses of the Fire Realm camp. Jace said
they would only get one chance to get close to King Elric Rekkan.

  The last
couple days of riding were uneventful. Kilen had wished he could have caught up
on his book. The ideas rolled around in his head about the changes in the land,
a chapter on pirates, and he even wanted to write down the differences in the
new and old world weapon bearers. Crackling of the wood was the only sound
besides Kilen’s quill in the book. He wrote about the trees and the how they
had thinned the further south he had traveled. High in the mountains the trees
were low to the ground and always green. A large population of squirrels,
birds, and deer had shown themselves to Kilen. He was sure that not many people
hunted these woods. He was glad about that.

  The area Jace
had chosen for a resting place was a small opening surrounded by a veil of
these trees. Max had sunk the ground down so the fire would not be directly
visible if someone was looking under the trees while lying on the ground. Kilen
had even aided the trees growth so that there was no space to walk between the
branches that surrounded the tiny clearing.

  The meat over
the fire was starting to turn black in some areas, so Kilen retrieved the stick
holding it in place and stuck it in the ground next to him to cool off. The
trees rustled and Kilen sat up to see if someone had found him and watched the
smoke coming off his cooked rabbit twist in an unnatural way.

Jace’s voice on
the wind let him know he was still safe, “I am coming back inside your mind.”

Without anymore
warning or time to prepare, Kilen felt the concussion. He wavered a moment, but
stayed steady. His friends rarely came into his consciousness in the last few
weeks. The feeling felt foreign again and he knew he needed to practice if he
was to protect himself during battle. He knew it would only take one person
dying before he once again felt the concussion and having that happen during
battle could cause him to miss a vital block of a sword.

  “
I have
seen every bit of their defenses. I would like to show you what it looks like
,”Jace
said.

Images from
Jace’s elemental memory flooded into Kilen’s vision. He watched as Jace detailed
the entire camp of the Fire Realm forces. Fortunately for Kilen, all the forces
were facing towards the south west, where King Atmos would be forced to attack
from. The front line defenses were made from hollowed out tree trunks, each of
which would only hold one man. Jace showed Kilen the image of a man ducked down
inside the trunk with a crossbow, ready to jump out and fire a shot before
ducking back inside and reloading.

  Large wooden
panels had been constructed in an alternating fashion forcing intruders to
weave back and forth in the battle field in order to reach the last of the Fire
Realm’s men and their king. Each panel was alternated with angled spiked logs
to impale mounted troops entering into the battlefield. Large pyres sat with
bags of oil, ready to ignite for the use of the fire wielders. Each was twice
the size Mary had constructed for her fight during Kilen’s training.

  Images flashed
of archers, traps, pits, and holes carved out in the thick woods to either side
of the valley to stop troops from coming into the mountains. Kilen watched Jace
reveal images of platforms being built up into the trees for men to stand on.
The purpose of these, Kilen couldn’t figure out. He was sure that Jace would
point out the reason soon enough. The rear of the camp was virtually unguarded
by traps or obstacles. Only men guarded the rear of the camp. He watched each
and every one of them with the images Jace showed him. The men that guarded the
king all wore a red cloth tied to both arms near the top of the bicep.

  The king
looked familiar to Kilen. He was tall and strong. He wore only leather straps
holding two swords on his back and a leather loin strap filled with colored
strips of leather. Jace had paid close attention to the jewelry that laced
every part of his ears, fingers, wrists, and ankles. The king was covered in
small bands, all of which contained an arsenal of imbuements. He was sure even
without all of his elemental friends, this king would be a tough fight.

  “
We’ll have
a very hard time entering this camp without being noticed. I will try again
when the sun goes down. If we’re going to sneak in, we will want to do it under
the cover of night.”
Jace’s voice sounded confident and his emotions were
that of joy. Kilen knew that stealth tactics were Jace’s true passion.

  A small lump
of dirt rose up as it trailed its way into the camp. Kilen watched using the
earth magic. He knew it was Max by the unnatural way the clump moved. He
watched as a man rose out of the ground as if he was walking up a staircase.
Dust and dirt fell from his head and shoulders as grass and moss took its place
to look like hair. His eyes took on a white color as he moved minerals around
inside. The more accustomed to earth magic Max got, the more realistic his
elemental bodies looked. He moved about the camp and he often looked at
whatever food Kilen was eating as if he was hungry. The more he moved, the more
details Kilen could make out about his body.

Max tossed
another log on the fire, “We will wait until the others get back before I report.”

  “Jace is
already back,” Kilen tapped his head.

  Max nodded,
“How is the rabbit?”

  “I’ve had
worse. I can’t wait until I can get back to a civilized town and get some fresh
bread. Traveling is great, but the food is not satisfying.”

Max grunted and
Kilen saw the resemblance between King Rekkan and Max.

“Can you tell me
about your brother?” Kilen asked picking a piece of meat of the stick.

  “Elric? He’s
strong, a good warrior, and his best skill of all is that he can control his
emotions. He makes a great king.” Max replied with a tone in his voice that
said he was honored to be his brother.

  “No, I mean
tell me what he’s like.” Kilen began picking off pieces of the meat and eating
them. He offered Max a piece which was refused.

  “He is,
without a doubt, the most stubborn of all three of us. He has a thing about
following orders. If the queen said to jump off the southern cliffs to see if
someone could survive, he would do it without question. He likes the taste of
fruit and not meat,” Max said shaking his head as though he didn’t understand
his brother’s taste in food.

  Joahna’s voice
came echoing down from above, “He likes his women plump and loud, much like the
queen, if she was his own age. Has Jace returned?”

Kilen tapped his
head again.

“Good, we need
to discuss how to get to the king.”

  Kilen pulled
another piece of meat from the stick, “Jace says that he’d like to scout the
camp at night to see if he can find a way inside.”

  Joahna took a
man’s form and stayed away from the fire. “I don’t think that would be a wise
decision. The Crimson are here and we may not be able to protect you from
them.”

  “Who are the
Crimson?”

  Max stood
straight and Kilen watched as red bands of clay formed around Max’s arms and
hung off like scraps of cloth. “I was once part of the Crimson. They are the
royal guardians for the Fire Realm. These are the men from which the king is
chosen. Each man shows skill not only with the blade, but a particular kind of
magic. Elric showed talent in all forms of magic and in the blade, he is the
best of the Crimson.”

  Joahna stepped
close, “If you manage to slip past the defenses and the Crimson, and somehow
make it to the king unnoticed, you will be in the presence of their greatest
fighter. If he reacts at all unpleasantly, the Crimson will be alerted. All of
us together cannot take them by force. I have another plan.”

  “
What, just
walk in there and hope they don’t kill him?”
Jace spoke as if the others
could hear him.

Kilen did not
think his statement was funny. “Jace asked if your plan was to just walk in and
hope they don’t kill me.”

  Joahna did not
hesitate, “Yes, it is. If you walk in with no weapons drawn and asked to talk
to Elric, he should allow it. The worst thing that could happen is the soldiers
attack and we run before the Crimson can arrive. The best possibility is that
Elric will talk to you. With us at your side, you should be able to convince
him that you can gain favor with the Elder Wizards to finish the canal. Tell
him to leave the land before King Atmos arrives.”

Max stepped in,
“If Kilen dresses the part of a weapon bearer and walks with elementals but
does nothing to attack, it should be enough to claim some respect. It should
also prove your station.”

“I am not an
ambassador, Kilen. I can’t help you. I
can
however provide an early
warning for anything about to happen around you. These two men are from the
Fire Realm...remember to trust no one.”
Jace’s emotions made Kilen weary
.

Kilen spoke out
loud to Jace as he turned away from the others, “They could provide the
knowledge of customs that neither of us have to make this work. We don’t have a
lot of options here.”

Max almost said
something, but Joahna held up a crystallized hand to stop him.

“They may be
our only chance at both our survival and the survival of the Earth Realm.”
Jace sounded a little disappointed in giving in. “
I will do my best to keep
us both alive no matter what happens. Summon me so that I may assist you.”

The wind magic
was by far the hardest to control for Kilen. The idea of moving the wind was
more foreign because wind is unseen, unlike water, earth, and fire. They could
only see the effects that it had on the world.

Kilen
concentrated on using all four elements. Water was always the easiest for him
to see. When he pictured water, earth, and fire, he began to see wind with less
effort. Even though he had practiced this on his journey, he still found
wonderment in the combination of the elemental magics.

The trees
rustled with the natural wind and Kilen grabbed it, using the wind vision.
Holding wind still was like holding water in your finger; it would eventually
seep through. Instead, he helped direct it in the direction he wanted it to go.
He pushed the wind into a circular pattern until he had a knee-high whirlwind
on the edge of their camp. Keeping the whirlwind going, he pushed Jace’s mind
into the wind. The concussion and loss of emotions in his mind occured again,
only this time he was prepared and was able to stay conscious.

Jace spoke
before Kilen could open his eyes, “If your plan is to work, then we will have
to make him look like a true weapon bearer. Let’s get him dressed and ready for
this.”

“Jace, if you do
not trust us, then how are we to trust you?” Joahna asked, staring at the small
whirlwind. “Yes., Max and I are from a foreign land but until we get our bodies
back we have only one choice. We all have to trust one another. Killing Kilen
would only be killing ourselves.”

The wind was
silent for a moment at Joahna’s accusation and finally answered, “Old habits
die hard.”

It took a moment
but Joahna seemed to accept the answer.

Max moved to the
bags, ignoring the others, “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t
trust any of you.” He pulled the shield and acted as if he was blowing the dust
off the surface and polishing it with his stone forearm.

Jace’s voice
responded, “Let me help, you stone cold brute.”

With his three
elementals all cooperating, Kilen quickly donned fresh clothing and awaited the
rest to make ready his armor. Each piece was placed on him with a high polish
shine. He picked up his shield and put it on his arm.

Joahna, sounding
wise again asked, “Are you ready to meet another king?”

Kilen smiled, “I
am ready to meet your brother. Is there anything that I need to know?”

“You will have
to be confident of your power and authority,” Max piped up, packing the last of
the things in the bag. “We will have to display your power as we approach the
camp so that there is no doubt of who you are. You will need to announce
yourself and ask specifically to see Elric. You can use both our names and
titles to gain their trust.”

Kilen nodded,
listening intently.

“We should leave
everything here incase we need to run.” Jace’s voice sounded ready and
determined.

Kilen made his
way out of the small copse of trees and Max formed himself into a horse. Kilen
took the hint and mounted him. In the form of an eagle, Joahna’s talons clinked
on the metal covering Kilen’s shoulder. Kilen half expected Jace to form
himself into something, but instead dust and leaves began to rotate around
Kilen in a large circle. The circle moved evenly as Max lurched forward into a
gallop.

As he
approached, Kilen heard men shouting in the trees. He even saw workers chopping
trees down, drop their axe and run when he passed. Kilen’s dark green cloak
flapped in the wind as he came into the clearing beyond the trees and into the
valley.

Max slowed to a
walk but kept moving with men shouting around him. Large horns began to blow,
announcing his arrival. The Fire Realms soldiers began to snatch up weapons and
charge at Kilen. Max stopped and Kilen dismounted. Joahna took flight and
circled once above his head before speeding past him. Men stabbed at the
crystallized eagle as it split them into two groups.