Rise of the Citadel (The Search for the Brights Book 2) (58 page)

  The ball
nearly struck him, but instead began to swirl in on itself, remaining in place
only a few inches from his skin. The others looked at one another and engulfed
themselves in their power. With each fireball thrown, another ball of swirling
fire stopped to rotate in front of Alexander. The flames began to combine and
form one large orb.

  Bowie seemed
to watch in awe as Alexander used the wind to harness the heat’s power, turning
it in on itself. Alexander slowly gathered a ball of thrown magic that was
stronger than any thrown at him. The ball then compacted itself, turning white
in color as it swirled in the air. Twilix could feel the heat emanating from
it. More attacks were launched and deflected safely away from the group.
Auburn, Bowie, and Ria took cover behind a nearby tree.

  Alexander
turned to the older wizard, focusing his attention, “What are you doing here?”

  The wizard
replied back in an unsure voice, “I am learning to control my anger.”

  “No, Beldham.
You have already learned to control it once,” Alexander said with a voice full
of power.

The compacting
orb whiped from Alexander’s body to the man’s, consuming him in white flame.
The trees and dead leaves around began to burn as Beldham’s flesh was melted
from his bone. The screams only lasted a moment.

  Alexander
ignored the other wizards, turning to face Kara. “Beldham was a spy. I saw him
months ago being hauled down to the dungeons as if he was a newly caught
wizard. When he had his awakening he was a soldier in King Atmos’ army.
Beldham’s mission was to become friends with the others so he could learn how
to keep them angry. He would have surely sought out your destruction had you
given him the chance.”

  Kara, with
tears in her eyes and fists balled at her side screamed, “How do you know for
sure? How are we supposed to know you speak the truth?”

  Alexander
moved to the fire cooking the meat and pulled a stick out for himself. “Search
his body. There will be a water imbuement there. It was given to him to help
keep his magic under control.” Alexander went to the flesh stripped bones on
the ground, “Allow me.” A blast of air shattered them to ashes, throwing them
in all directions of the forest. Behind remained a woven bracelet with an
imbued bead.

Kara picked up
the bracelet and held it as she continued to cry.

“I am sorry,
child. I know it seems like they all can be saved, but not that one. He was
loyal to the king.”

  When Kara did
not respond, he walked towards Bowie. “I see you have become better with wind.”
            “Kilen was able to help me learn,” Bowie said.

  Alexander
nodded, “Yes, he has a talent for these types of things. The voices in my head
say that he’s almost
too
skilled with magic.” He smiled and looked
between the other wizards to speak, “I have found Kilen. I last saw him inside
Keepers. He won't be able to stay there long so as soon as he leaves, I will
contact him. I’ll have him meet you on the east side of Lake Leviathan. He’s
searching for a new Water Realm king.”

  Twilix stepped
forward, taking Kara by the shoulders and helping her up, “Why would he look in
Keepers?”

  “I think he
hopes to find a lead on where he could seek a new king. Those in Keepers had
tried many times to have someone take up the crown.” He took a bite of the meat
on the stick, “Uhg, this meat is rancid. It’s not stringy enough to be good
squirrel meat.” He muttered something under his breath as he spit the chunk
out.

  Bowie sighed,
“It’s turkey.”

  Alexander
smiled and took another bite, “Well then, the voices in my head say that it is
perfectly fine to eat.” He took another bite and seemed to enjoy the second.
The wind wizard casually picked up a water skin to start drinking but Bowie
caught his hand.

  “Wait. Kilen
is searching for a new king and you are going to arrange for him to meet us on
the east side of Lake Leviathan?” Bowie asked.

  “Yes,” He said
before pulling his hand back to take a drink.

  “What are we
supposed to do once we meet him?” Bowie asked.

Brent and Ria
took a seat across the fire from him while Twilix tried to comfort Kara.

  “Well, you’re
supposed to help him find the new king. You know, you're not as smart as you
think you are, Master Fletcher,” He said waving around his stick of turkey.

  “How are we
supposed to help him find another king? You just said that the people at
Keepers would know who to talk to,” Twilix said.

  The wind
wizard shrugged. “Thank you for the Turkey. I must be off if I am to talk to
Kilen before the sun gets too low on the horizon.” He stood, ignoring Bowie and
the rest and went to Kara. “I truly am sorry you had a traitor in your midst.
Perhaps the water imbuement will help you calm at least one of the others. You
are doing well to have helped Al’tore. He was one of the strongest that I
captured.”

  He turned back
to Al’tore while releasing the sash holding his robes in place, “I’m happy to
see you free from your own mind. Your family has been anxious about your
return. I told them I would let them know the moment you gained control. I will
have something good to report when I see them next.” He made a deep bow to
Al’tore and was lifted into the air by a gust of wind.

  All of them
except Kara watched him disappear into the trees. With tear filled eyes, she
worked on getting the other fire wizards to sit down and rest before they had
to travel. With two less wizards to train, Twilix hoped that none of the others
would have to die before they arrived. She watched Kara tuck the imbuement into
her pocket.

  Al’tore sat
down beside her watching the others still partially aflame, trying to eat there
sticks of turkey. “The wizard was good to me when I was captured. I believe
that he stayed in touch with my family. It’s something. Not much, but
something.”

  “It doesn’t
matter. They let him burn a man to death without even trying to stop him,” Kara
said.

  Al’tore
cleared his throat, “Technically, Beldham was trying to kill him. He had a
water imbuement and was in control of himself and he still was trying to kill
the wind wizard.”

Twilix knew that
it would take some time to convince Kara. She just hoped it did not interfere
with the training.

  Brent stood
with the others, “We must be on our way. The sooner we can get to Kilen, the
better chance we stand finding a new Water Realm king and raising a force to
kill the soul wizard.”

  Kara spoke to
no one as she helped pack the cart. Al’tore talked about how eager he was to
get back on the road to find himself a horse. He didn’t have to worry about
roasting one anymore just because he got saddle sores.

**********

  The sun would
be rising anytime but Kilen didn’t need to have the sun up to know his way
around. He had grown up in this land hunting and playing with Bowie. The
rolling grasslands made it easy to raise cattle or crops. It also made it easy
to hide, if you knew where to walk. He snuck through the open grounds trying to
avoid attention. He knew his elemental friends would not let any harm come to
him, but he would rather not have a confrontation at all.

  Humbridge was
just as he remembered it. Exactly in fact, it except for the soldiers
patrolling the streets and perimeter of the small village. A couple new
buildings had been erected as guard houses for the Earth Realm’s troops. He
dared not go into town with the soldiers walking the streets all night. No one
walked the streets of Humbridge at night unless they were up to no good. Either
way Mayor Bingham would have been notified and investigated the late night
activities.

  After trying
to find a way into town without success, Kilen thought he would go to his house
and visit his mother. If she had returned to Humbridge, they would probably be
guarding her heavily as well. He really only wanted to know if she made it home
safely before continuing on to find a new king. Being so close to the house
brought back a flood of memories and he knew he wouldn’t be able to turn away
without letting his mother know he was alright.

  The small
stone wall around the home was blooming with summer flowers that Kara and his
mother planted. He could see the small garden in the yard starting to bear
their fruit. Someone had been tending to the plants. He could hear voices in
the barn and got close enough to the wall so he could look through a crack
between boards. Inside the barn Chit ordered other soldiers around. Most lay
asleep on makeshift cots or in the hay. Chit was filling himself a mug out of a
cask of ale.

  When Kilen
couldn’t find any soldiers guarding the perimeter, he moved closer to the
house. A lamp was lit inside and casting shadows of someone moving around. He
hoped it was his mother preparing for her morning chores. The shadows seemed
too large for that of a small woman, but Kilen crept closer to make sure he
didn’t miss the opportunity to see his her.

  He approached
the window and watched a woman and a man moving about the house, having
breakfast and putting on their shoes for the morning's work. Using his sleeve,
he wiped the thin layer of dirt from the glass window. To his surprise, Daniel
was the man putting on his boots. When the woman left the room, Kilen gently
tapped the window.

Daniel looked at
the window and must have recognized the face peering in. As he approached Kilen
with one boot on, his eyes became wider. Quickly, the window was opened and
Kilen was motioned into the house.

  “What are you
doing here?! Chit has twenty men in the barn trying to hunt you down. They
search the house three times a day and take our meals,” Daniel whispered as he
went to the window opposite the one KIlen was at to make sure Chit wasn’t
coming to the door. “If they find you here I’m a dead man.”

  A woman called
from the bedroom, “Find who here?”

  Daniel stopped
and looked at Kilen then into the bedroom. Kilen had never seen his muscular
friend move as quickly as he did when disappearing into the bedroom. Kilen
slowly shut the window as to not make noise to alert any of the soldiers. A
whispered argument could be heard escaping the bedroom. Kilen did not recognize
the woman's voice so he decided it would be best to stay out of the argument.

  It didn’t take
long for a woman to come bursting out of the bedroom. He recognized her
instantly. She was a beautiful woman and probably the prettiest in Humbridge’s
limited selection of women. Jessica was supposed to marry Kilen except he left
seeking knowledge at springfest. He never spent much time with Jessica. They
often sent each other fleeting glances whenever they were near. Kilen felt it
odd that he was supposed to marry a woman he had not fallen in love with.

“Jessica? What
are you doing here?” Kilen asked.

  Daniel started
to open his mouth but found Jessica’s elbow in his gut.

“This is my
home. What are
you
doing here? Trying to get us all killed?” She replied
with a hint of anger in her voice.

  “
Your
home?” Kilen asked.

  “Yes, your
mother gave it to us as a wedding present just before she left.”

  Kilen stood
straight up and almost yelled. “Wedding!?” He stopped himself and brought his
voice back down to a whisper, “A wedding present? You two are married?”

  Finally,
Daniel pushed past his wife, “Yes, I uhm.” Jessica cleared her throat and
Daniel straightened a bit, “Yes, we are married. While you were away, your
mother stopped here and I spoke with her. I told her how our fathers were
talking of canceling your betrothal and working to arrange ours. She told me to
go ahead and marry Jessica and gave me the house as a wedding present.”

  Daniel
nervously put his hands in his pockets, trying to look at everything in the
room but Kilen.

Kilen smiled,
“Thats great! Congratulations!” He wrapped his arms around Daniel, who was now
giving a confused smile.

Jessica was
still waiting behind her large husband, tapping a toe on the floor.

“I am sorry I
missed the wedding. A lot has happened,” Kilen said stepping away from Daniel.

  Jessica pushed
forward again to open a cabinet and pull out some bread. “I should say a lot
has happened. Humbridge is spilling over with soldiers all looking to carry
your head back on a stick. My father was glad to hear we did not miss the
opportunity to cancel that betrothal. Being betrothed to a hunted man would
have been a dandy way to start out my life.” She began cutting the bread and
putting it out on two plates. She started talking to herself, “Oh look there is
poor Jessica. Did you hear they finally caught her betrothed? Now she left with
nothing since there’s no one left for her to marry.”

  Daniel moved
away from the woman furiously working the knife, “I, for one, am glad. I didn’t
know how to tell you all those years that I secretly had a crush on Jessica.”

  Kilen smiled
and patted his friend on the shoulder, “I wish you had. I didn’t know much
about her. I would have gladly talked to my parents about giving it up. As it
stood, I did not have an argument. She is pretty, smart and has a good family.”

  “Thanks,” She
said with a little less attitude.

They both looked
at the woman shooting them a glare that seemed hotter than a fire wizards
flame.

“What did you do
that the king hates you so much,” Daniel asked clearly trying to change the
subject.

  “I became a
True Weapon Bearer,” Kilen said

  “A True Weapon
Bearer? I didn’t know there were fake weapon bearers,” Daniel said laughing.

  “It’s hard to
explain. True weapon bearers used to be appointed by Elder Wizards to seek out
justice for the land. They were appointed to protect non magic users from those
that could wield,” Kilen explained.