Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (39 page)

The wind was
strong enough to let Kilen know he would not stand a chance in facing Bowie
directly with wind. Roots stretched out of the ground entangling Kilen’s boots.
He knew he would be harder to lift now and could freely concentrate on his wind
magic. He began to push the wind away from his body. He heard a grunt from
Bowie and the wind shifted and changed directions, pushing Kilen forward from
behind. He was not expecting a change so quickly and it bent him over at the
waist. The yellow magic vision let him see Bowie’s next attack, but there was
little he could do to stop it. Bowie pushed upward on Kilen’s bent torso,
yanking his body free of his earthen bonds. The roots snapped back into the
earth as Kilen’s body rolled off the current of the wind a few feet off the
ground. Flailing his arms, Kilen was able to land on his hands and knees.
Another attack of wind from the back pushed him forward and he skid to a halt
on his armored chest.

Kilen was about
done being easy on his friend. He wanted to see what Bowie was capable of.
Kilen slammed open palms on the ground to launch himself back to his feet. When
he reached his full height, his feet found no ground to stand on and he was
slammed to the earth again. He felt like he had been in this situation before
and tried to remember what he had done to stop Alexander from making him feel
like a unstrung kite.

Kilen began
gathering water to himself, but instead of freezing his feet to the ground he
started with a circle of ice around him. He remembered the stone dome that
Brandon had formed when he was fighting Chit for his final test in Deuterium.
The ice formed a circular ridge around him on the ground. It grew little by
little and Kilen clawed for fingerholds in the ground to stay in the growing
domes center. Slowly the ice ring climbed and arched its way above his head.

He heard Bowie’s
voice yelling from outside, “No you don’t!” As soon as the words left his mouth
the wind changed and came barreling down inside the hand-sized hole in the top
of the dome. Kilen felt the pressure inside increasing and watched as the sides
shattered and flew in every direction. He was impressed with Bowie, but the
match was not over yet.

Again, Bowie
started pushing Kilen down, then changed the wind to lifting him up to throw Kilen
into the air again. Kilen clung to the ground just as he had clung to the rock
wall when trying to enter the Elder Wizard’s town. Kilen watched as the winds
began to change and a dome was formed of the wind magic around Kilen. The
yellow wind magic vision was as thick as the ice in the small dome. Kilen stood
while he had the chance watching Bowie’s attacks glance off the arched sides.

Kilen then knew
that Jace must have been helping him. Kilen decided that he needed to go on the
offensive. Slowly, small tendrils of roots reached out of the ground and
started to spiral up Bowie’s legs. He glanced down a couple times but decided
to keep pushing at Jace’s dome. Kilen grew another set of roots to either side
of Bowie, they reached straight out of the ground until they latched on to
Bowie’s wrists. Once Kilen had his friend in the roots grasp, he yanked him to
the ground.

All the wind
stopped and Kilen ran forward, pulling his sword out of his sheath. He put the
blades tip to the back of Bowie’s neck, “Do you yield?”

From the ground,
the roots constricted on Bowie’s struggling limbs. He finally let them rest
where they were, “If I do, will you show me how you made that dome?”

With a wave of
his hand the roots loosened their grip and sunk back into the soft earth. Bowie
got up and rubbed his wrists.

“I am sure I
can,” Kilen said smiling.

Although Kilen
had been victorious, he knew that it was only because of his elemental friend’s
abilities. Even his mischievous friend had found a way to learn magic better
than him. Kilen had always been the smart one, the most talented and skilled in
the ways of thinking in Humbridge. In the world outside of his home, he was a
mere beginner.

Jace’s voice on
the wind caught Kilen’s attention by surprise, “The dome was formed by holding
the air still. It takes a great effort to manipulate elements that another
wielder already has use of. If I can control a small bit of air, I can hold it
still to form a wall. The dome wall can be pierced by other elements but the
wind cannot pass. It is the same with fire, earth, and water.”

Bowie scratched
his head, “Wow, that’s creepy. Like a bloody shadow man speaking.”

Kilen smiled,
although he knew how real the threat of shadow men or the Dark Army was. He put
his arm around his friend and they walked back to camp, covered in dirt and
bruises. It was moments like this that Kilen knew he would be in short supply
of. He cherished one of the last few moments he knew he would be able to spend
with his friend.

Bowie’s walk
slowed, “There’s someone coming this way.”

Kilen reached
out with water vision and saw a man shorter than them wearing a hat and
carrying a unknocked bow.

“I see him,”
Kilen said in response.

One of Bowie’s
men rounded a tree and seemed surprised to find them.

“Andrew, what do
you need?” Bowie asked.

“Sargeant, the
king has arrived.” The boy looked flushed but was not winded. Kilen figured he
was probably nervous.

“We’re on our
way back,” Bowie replied.

Andrew ran ahead
of them.

Kilen cleared
his throat, “I guess our time together was a bit short lived.”

Bowie nodded in
agreement and put his hat on his head. Together they strode through the woods
back towards camp and the awaiting king.

The camp was a
frenzy of activity. The Black Hats were being ordered by a number of knights
around the camp. A few tents were being erected and food was being snatched
from Bowie’s camp fires. Horses were still trailing in, causing a stir of dust.

Kilen snatched
the nearest soldier wearing a black hat, “I need to get to my tent. Do you know
where my things were taken?”

He spoke no
word, only lead the way through the sea of tents. Kilen gave a half wave to
Bowie as he followed after the boy. He looked inside his tent and found his
belongings and one of the king’s wielders getting ready to make himself at home
on his cot.

“I will just
gather my things and be out of your way,” Kilen said, picking up this shield
and packs.

The man said
nothing. He looked Kilen up and down as he ripped a chunk of meat from the
stick he held in his hand.

Kilen gathered
his pack, shield, and helmet. He turned to leave and nearly ran into Brent and
Mary.

Brent smiled, “I
thought that was you.” Holding Kilen at arms length he examined him, “I was
skeptical that they actually raised you to be a True Weapon Bearer, but here
you are.” He leaned in close, “You will have to tell me what a True Weapon
Bearer
is.
Later.”

Kilen let out a
little laugh, “I’ll tell you all about it if I have time. There are some things
I need to inform King Atmos about.”

“Of course. We
do not want to hold you up. Let us be off to see if we can council with the
king. He seemed very urgent to get here.” Brent said.

Brent smiled
even as small sparks crackled off Mary’s arms. The water wizard paid no
attention to fire councilmen, but immediately turned as an ice man with wings
approached. Brent pointed at Joahna, “Yours?”

Before Kilen
could answer, Max-looking almost identical-stepped up behind Joahna.

“They both are,”
Kilen said in a steady voice.

Mary seemed to
stop sparking for a moment, for what he thought was shock judging by the
stunned look on her face. Kilen did not want to hear, yet again, about how
controlling two elementals was rare, so he stepped between them and made for
the noisiest part of the camp, where the king would be.

“Mica said you
were using different elementals, but I thought he meant at different times. Are
you able to fight with them effectively?” Brent asked.

Brent and Mary
followed behind Kilen weaving in and out of the tents. Max and Joahna trailed
in behind remaining silent.

“I have been
practicing. The Elder Wizards were able to teach me a lot. They were also able
to inform me that a soul wizard roams the elemental lands. We need to prepare
for a dark army.”

Brent reached
for Kilen’s shoulder to stop him, “Kilen, this is not information you just give
out. You need to be careful who you speak to.” He stepped closer and talked in
a whisper, “The minions of a soul wizard can be used to spy on the ranks of
their enemies. If there is one in camp, they would know that we know about
them. You could be killed in your sleep to keep information like this from
getting out.”

Mary was not
sparking at all now, instead she was glancing from side to side as if the
shadows in the falling light would spring to attack her. She reached her hand
up and lit it aflame. In the yellow light Brent’s face looked very serious.

“I will try and
do better to where I speak words like these,” Kilen said still not caring who
heard him.

Brent nodded,
“See that you do. This is why I would not let you see the book I was reading
when we traveled. King Atmos has been receiving reports of the dead walking. As
far as I can gather from the old books, this is how the first war started.”

Kilen took a
moment to look around checking to see if anyone was listening in, then
continued on towards where a large tent was going up.

In the clearing
between the innermost row of tents and the supplies in the center of Bowie’s
camp, the king was watching his tent being lifted into the air. Horses were
pulling in every direction to get the tent to its full height.

Atmos noticed
him and turned, “Greetings, Weapon Bearer. Ria has just told me that you were
providing a bit of training to the men here.”

Kilen went to
one knee and clasped his fist to his chest.

“Rise, Kilen. As
soon as my tent is up we will speak in a more private setting,” Atmos said
passing Kilen.

Atmos walked
away from the tent and Kilen trailed behind to see Chit and Captain Lorusk
pulling a wagon into camp. Behind the wagon were men, bloodied and bruised,
being tugged along by ropes around their wrists. Kilen took a moment to look at
the men behind the wagon and he recognized a couple of their faces. These men
had been in the Fire Realm’s camp constructing walls.

“Kilen, tell me,
do you know these men?” Atmos asked.

Kilen swallowed
hard, he was afraid that King Atmos would find out his own people were helping
the construction of the Fire Realm’s defenses. “I have seen them before.”

The king smiled.
He was looking for something in Kilen. “Yes, I should say you have. They have
confessed they aided the Fire Realm. They have even stated they offered to
fight against us in this war. These men are traitors.”

“I told King
Rekkan to banish these men from his camp,” Kilen tried to gain a little
respect.

“Yes, so they
told me. They also said that you spent time there fighting against the
Crimson.”

Kilen nodded.

“I thank you for
delivering these traitorous men to me. I think that I will not punish them.”

Kilen raised an eyebrow
in confusion.

“I even think
that I will allow them to fight against us. I cannot force them to thank me for
traveling all this way to defend their home from the invading army. So if they
want to fight beside the Fire Realm, then why not let them?”

Kilen could not
understand where Atmos was trying to lead him, but he sensed a trap in any
response he would give. He could not condone the men of the Earth Realm helping
the enemy. But it was almost honorable of King Atmos to let the men choose
their own side to fight on, so Kilen nodded in agreement.

King Atmos
slapped Kilen on his armored shoulder, “I am glad you see it my way.” He
shouted to the front of the wagon, “Champion, come here.”

Chit slowly
climbed out of the wagon seat, spitting the dust from his mouth. Lorusk untied
a cloth from his face as he followed with a more lively step.

“Chit, we need
to find a weapon and some armor for these men. They wish to fight against us
and it would not be fair to send them into battle without something to protect
them,” Atmos commanded.

Chit slowly
nodded and sauntered off to follow the king’s order.

“Captain, I need
you to gather the men of this camp. I’m sure they will want to be a part of
what I have to say,” Atmos said.

The captain’s
fist banged on his armor and he went to talk to Bowie who started shouting
orders for his men to assemble.

Bowie brought in
all the men and reported to the captain, “All but the sentries standing watch
are here.”

Wielders in
gleaming armor and a sea of the thousand archers wearing assorted black hats
stood silently as the king paced, gathering his words.

“Men,” He
paused, almost if waiting for an answer that did not come. “I am truly sorry
for the opposition that you faced in getting here. I would not have allowed
your sargeant to press forward if I had known he would have to kill the people
of this great land.” Atmos turned to Bowie to see his face red with anger, “You
had traitors in your grasp and you let them go. You let them back out into this
land so they could kill more people of this realm. You are lucky that you are
not joining these men fighting as our adversary. Bowie Crescent, you are
demoted to the rank of soldier. Sergeant Curtain will take your place and will
be your superior. Sgt Curtain?”

John moved
through the crowd and put his fist to his chest.

“You are now in
charge of the archers here. You should know them well enough. See to it that
your former superior is punished for his acts, and I want those hats burned by
morning.”