The Weapon Bearer (Book 1) (33 page)

“Yes, sir.” Bowie said, as he pulled another arrow from his quiver. Shot after shot twanged out of Bowie’s bow and all the captain would ever say was, “proceed.” Bowie was on his final shot and could think of nothing that would impress the captain better than a target full of his arrows. He looked at the captain still standing with his arms crossed and feet planted, waiting the next shot. Bowie started to pull the arrow from the quiver.

“Let me have a look at the arrow, boy,” the captain said. Bowie handed it to him. The captain rolled it over in his fingers. He looked down the shaft and examined the fletching. “This is a very high quality arrow. Where did you learn to make them?”

“My grandfather taught me how, sir” Bowie replied with as much respect as he could give the captain. He handed back the arrow and went back to crossing his arms. Before he could say proceed, Bowie shot his final arrow, leaving his quiver empty.

“I have a proposition for you, boy. I want you to train my men how to shoot like you do. Teach them all you can and make me look good in front of the King when this training season is finished. If you provide me with enough capable archers, I will do my best to give you some rank in this army.”

Bowie wondered if it was a trick, but remembered his dads old saying, if you’re not sure it’s a trap there’s only one way to find out…trip it.

“I would appreciate the chance to prove my worth in the army Captain. May I make a request that I would still be able to train my friend in a private session?”

The captain uncrossed his arms and reached out with an open hand towards Bowie, “Bargain made, boy or should I say Sergeant.” The captain reached out to John Curtain and took a tree emblem off of his lapel and gave it to Bowie. “It’s yours as long as you prove yourself worthy.” The tree had a single line across its trunk showing his rank. Bowie nodded his head and the captain helped him pin it onto his bright green short coat.

***

Kilen hurried out of the barracks to find Twilix still waiting outside. He was still slipping his arm into the straps of his shield. When he looked around he saw that a few other weapon bearers were in their armor standing outside the barracks. Twilix turned and started to walk toward the still blazing Mary. Kilen hurried to catch up. He could see with the water vision the other weapon bearers following as they made their way to the center of the grounds. When Kilen was about twenty paces away he could make out the individual features of Mary underneath the flames. “I will explain what is going to happen,” Twilix said while standing in front of Kilen. “In a moment, you will face Mary in battle. During this battle she will become more and more aggressive. You must survive the experience, that is all. The point of this exercise is to wear her out. A fire wizard uses their personal supplies of energy when they become angry. So if you can stand in battle long enough against her, she will wear herself out. If she does that, her anger will also be worn out, and she will be able to control her emotions better. If you want Mary to help your sister, here is your chance.” Twilix turned and pointed at Mary, “You must wear her out. If you accomplish that, she will be able to make a trip into town, which she prizes greatly. She rarely gets out of the castle grounds because she is normally too erratic to be left to herself. If you can subdue her anger, she has agreed to talk to and check on your sister.” It took a moment for Kilen to organize his own thoughts. “I will be here to protect you if things get out of hand. I have fought Mary many times. That is why we are such good friends.”

“You have to fight her in order to become her friend?”

Twilix nodded her head, “It is the only way to get to the true emotions of a fire wizard. At least until they learn to control themselves fully.”

She is right in a way, Kilen. I will be here to help you. We can do this,
” Joahna’s mind was a focused knot in the back of Kilen’s head. He tried to emulate the focus as he pulled his sword free of its sheath.

Twilix smiled and quickly moved out of the way, bouncing on blue satin slippers. Kilen noticed the Kapal man had come to stand beside Twilix, but she looked at him sternly and moved a small distance away from him.

Max put the image of the warrior’s stance in Kilen’s mind, and he took on the pose.
Do not face the impact of the fire straight on. Angle your shield to allow anything she throws at you to glance off to the side or into the air. If you do that you will waste less energy. Prepare yourself, she is getting ready to attack.
Just before Mary threw the first fireball Kilen noticed Jace slipping into the crowd, wearing his hood up. A ball of flame streaked through the air was all he got for a warning that the training had started.

Kilen was repeatedly struck with fireballs. It was as if Mary was not even putting up a real fight. He knew that he would have to make her fight harder, so he started taking steps forward to close the distance. He tried gathering water from any source he could find and found it was coming easily from the air due to the low overhanging clouds. As he advanced, Mary started to laugh loudly, now speeding up the rate of fireballs she was throwing. Kilen was expending little to no effort in deflecting the flames. Suddenly, Mary ran at Kilen and threw a wave of flame at him. Kilen doused himself with water to make sure the flames never touched him. Again, the bombardment of spheres of flame hammered into his shield. Kilen knew that his arm would be bruised from the repeated impacts of the attack. Kilen decided to hammer her in return. He formed balls of ice and hurled them at her using magic while hiding behind his shield. Mary let out a whip of flame, dripping molten bits onto the ground, cutting the ice chunks in pieces before they could strike her. Kilen gained a moment, only a fraction of a second, in the battle and saw an opportunity.

He charged Mary, with shield held out in front of him and was met with a wave of flame as he slammed into her. They both fell to the ground and Mary’s flames were extinguished. Twilix let out a gasp as Kilen rolled to his feet. In the assault his shields straps had come free of their steel backings. Kilen shed the shield. Inside his mind the two men cheered him on,
Good move. If she gets up she’s going to be very mad.
It was as if Mary could hear them speak, for just as Max spoke, a volcano of flame leapt from where Mary was laying. Kilen scrambled back away from the heat of the inferno. When he was far enough away that he couldn’t feel the flames he turned to look back. The flames took on the shape of a woman, stepping out with molten whip in hand. Mary’s body lay flat on the ground where Kilen had lain it, still smoldering but whole.

NO, that is not good! No one can defeat an elemental. It is pure magic and flames. You have to attack her body to separate her consciousness from the elemental. She might wear herself out, but it’s not likely. You must get to her body
.” Joahna was both intense and stern in his voice. Kilen was now one hundred paces or more away from her and making more distance to avoid the elemental with a molten whip. She was lashing out and Kilen had no shield to protect himself with. He then realized that he did have a shield. Kilen started to gather water and form it into a plate of ice attaching it to his bracer with a solid ring of ice. When he was finished it was larger than the metal one he was using before, it shined with a magnificent reflective surface that turned red in the flickering flames surrounding the battle field. Kilen needed to slow Mary so that he could make a move to get closer to her body. He was too far away to reach her with any attack that he had learned so far. Kilen formed spears of ice into the air and thrust them at the elemental. They all struck home, turning to water as they speared her and came out the other side. The elemental taunted Kilen with Mary’s angered laugh. He tried to think of how he defeated the other fire wielders. Max and Joahna cringed at the thoughts of their own deaths, but that was the only battle he had ever been in. He would have to draw experience from what he already knew.

At his feet, Kilen pulled the earth up in behind him and pushed it down in front of him. He created a large crack between him and the elemental. He stood on the cliff he had raised looking down on her. Mary ran her elemental body to the crack and began to jump. Realizing that she could jump higher and farther as an elemental, Kilen quickly raised the cliff and widened the crack more. The effect set Kilen tumbling backwards down the slope and the elemental into the crack. When he stood and regained his footing, he slammed the earth shut. The crack was lit with a curtain of flame blocking any passage across. Kilen knew that this might be his only opportunity. He raced to the top of the cliff and leaped from its peak through the curtain of flame. He tucked his Ice shield below his feet to protect him from its heat. When he landed he heard a pop in his foot and crumpled onto the ground. The white hot pain in his head blocked out all rational thought. What he could see from his eyes he did not control. His arms moved mechanically, pulling his body along the ground towards Mary. The thought of not being in control of his body helped him to force down the pain and regain control. He pushed with his one good foot and crawled using his arm bearing his sword, with the shield arm and maimed foot dragging in the dirt. Kilen looked back to the curtain of flame that had gathered in one location and he saw the elemental climb its way out of the deepened grave. It looked confused as it looked for Kilen on the other side of the ridge and then it spotted him. He was already half way between Mary and her elemental. Kilen picked up the pace and moved as fast as he could, dragging himself along the ground. He stretched out his magic to start cooling the water in the air around Mary. The elemental raced through the open space to catch up. Mary was too hot and it wasn’t cooling her fast enough to separate her from the elemental.

Like you did with your sister
, Joahna spoke urgently.

Kilen didn’t respond but went straight to moving the water and lowering the temperature inside of Mary’s body. The closer he came the faster her body cooled. The elemental started to flicker and spurt off uncontrolled flames, and Kilen knew that he was winning. He continued on and the elemental’s flame slowly died out into nothingness, as though it hadn’t existed at all. Mary bolted upright crying out, “Stop! You win!”

Kilen released the water inside Mary and gave into the pain in his foot, gripping his father’s blade as he laid writhing on the ground. Soon, Twilix found her way to Mary, who shook her away and gripped her own arms as though there was a winter chill to the air. It didn’t take long for Kilen to hear another pop in his foot and the pain subsided. Twilix healed what damage was left and helped him to sit up straight. “How are you now? Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you fine. There was nothing wrong with my ears,” Kilen was a little angry at being put in so much danger without anyone coming to stop the fight. “Why did you let us keep going,” he said while standing up and testing out the strength in the foot that had just been hurt.

“Kilen, I called to you. I asked if you wanted to stop. You kept going and so we let you. You performed very well. I didn’t expect you to beat her your first time. I can only win half of the time with her. You should be very proud.” Kilen let her words sink in. He had been listening. He heard all of what Max and Joahna had told him.

The Kapal man walked up behind Twilix, “He had blood lust. It takes a man’s mind in battle. It can make them wild and wreckless. Today it made this boy focused and strong.” The dark-skinned man came near and Kilen tried to stand tall. He knew that the Kapal race were the best warriors in existence. He wanted to look strong in front of him, but as he approached, Kilen felt the strength disappear out of him. His ice shield, armor, and his sword weighed him and down pulled him to the ground. It was like being stripped of his earth magic all at once. The water vision he had been maintaining winked out, and Twilix chewed on her lip nervously.

“He cannot stand under the weight he carries after such an ordeal with his magic. Gortus, keep your distance.” She waved him away to no avail.

“No, he can’t stand under the weight of the shield that is attached to his arm.” Gortus slammed a black-gauntleted fist against the ice shield and it shattered under his strength, freeing Kilen of the weight. He stood upright looking into the gray eyes of the Kapal warrior. “You performed well for a wielder. I would have used that blade for other purposes than for a show though.” He smiled and showed pointed teeth in the front of his mouth that made his smile intimidating. He was a head shorter than Kilen, but he knew the Kapal was more deadly than anyone else on the field. Suddenly Jace appeared behind him and laid a hand on the warrior’s shoulder.

“This is the one I was telling you about, Gortus. He is the son of the man who trained me.”

“The son of the great Scout, Dylan. I had to prove myself over and over to get out of the shadow of that man. Sometimes they still compare me to him. Well, his son is definitely not the great fighter he was. What happened to your father, boy. where is he?”

Kilen cleared his throat, “I haven’t seen my father since I was eight. He was sent on a mission for King Atmos ten years ago, when they pulled him from us to return to being a scout.” Jace and Gortus looked at each other and exchanged a thought that Kilen couldn’t make out.

Jace spoke with a pleasantness in his voice, “Kilen, this is Gortus. One of the king’s battle commanders, and a personal friend of mine. He was born and raised in Kapal and left to come here and fight for the elemental Kingdoms. You will probably never find a better mannered Kapal than him. Which is pretty much barbaric.” They both smiled. “Kilen, I know you must have used most of your strength so why don’t you see if Leroy has anything to help.”