The Weapon Bearer (Book 1) (55 page)

Short outbursts in the morning were usually toned down within a couple hours after she remembered to focus her anger. She hoped that Kilen was not injured after his training with Mary. She didn’t quite know how Mary could call it training when she was attacking him with flames. She took a couple deep breaths to calm down. She did that now to calm herself before she became enraged.

A knock at the door let her know that her lunch was outside the door. She knew that she had to answer calmly to get them to enter the room and drop off her new mattress and three candles along with something to eat. Now that she was able to control her emotions better, her guards were becoming more patient. “Just a moment and I will be ready for you,” she said still trying to breathe deeply.

“If it helps, your brother won the match again without hurting her.” Silence rang out in the small room while she took time to contemplate what the guard had told her.

“Thank you very much. It does.” She took a couple more deep breaths and sat down on her metal bed. “You may enter now. I will not harm you.” She heard the key in the lock and felt her emotions rise in her throat. It reminded her that she was a captive here and that angered her. She closed her eyes and breathed in her mouth and out through her nostrils. The men seemed to notice this as they cracked the door open and saw her sitting there, breathing heavily. They waited for her to calm herself. “It’s ok, I’m fine.” She told them after a couple moments. The first one in always had a shield at the ready as they entered. They hid behind it as they worked. The second man in the room laid the fresh straw and candles on the ground then went back into the hallway to retrieve her meal. He always seemed to announce it as it was placed on the washstand.

“Chicken and potatoes again m’lady. I managed to put two rolls on it for ya today though.”

She answered back to the man everyday with a thank you, but today she felt in more control. “Thank you, kind sir. May I ask if you two would join me while I ate? I haven’t had a conversation with anyone in quite some time.” The two looked at each other and furrowed their brows in disbelief or in confusion. She was sure they thought she was lying to her, and her anger started to swell. She breathed deeply, “I’m sorry.” Breathing between sentences so that they wouldn’t leave, “I don’t mean you any harm. You can hold your shield up if you feel it would be safer.”

The two men whispered behind the shield and the one holding the shield said, “I can hold it.” The second man went into the hallway and brought back two stools for them to sit on. They sat in silence and waited. Kyra slowly moved to the stand and retrieved her meal, then sat back down across the room on her metal bed. The two men still sat in silence behind their massive shield.

“My name is Kara, can I ask what yours are?” She took a bite of food to set their minds at ease.

“My name is Chris and behind me is Ben.” The silence filled the room again. She wanted them to talk instead of being afraid of her. The anger started to creep up on her again. She breathed deeply while chewing her food. It seemed to help the process because she recovered herself quicker. She took a bite of a roll and tried to think of the next question she wanted to ask. She knew that it would have to be something more complicated, something that would require some explaining.

“Did you see Mary fight with my brother?” She immediately had to start calming herself after asking the question. Hopefully it would do the trick, trying to control herself and carry the conversation seemed to be the extent of her current capabilities.

Ben spoke up from behind the shield. She was kind of irritated that she couldn’t see his face. “I saw it mi’lady. Your brother won me a handful of gold. The feats that he are able to do is amazing. I can only hope that I can control magic that well someday.” She was starting to calm down and relax while she ate. She nodded her head hoping that he could see her so that he would keep talking. Ben recounted the story, talking about the creatures that Kilen formed and how he made them seem so life-like. He pointed out that Kilen could move while having an elemental formed, and how that was a great ability. When Ben started talking about Mary using inferno fire on Kilen, she stopped eating and became confused. Ben realized what he had said didn’t make sense to her by the look on his face. Soon Kara noticed that Chris had lowered the shield and she could see the fullness of both their faces. She smiled at them to reassure them, and they nodded in return.

Ben began to talk about what inferno fire was and what it looked like, but before he could finish Kara became angry. She held up one hand to stop him from talking and Chris raised his shield. She took no offense to it this time. She really didn’t want to hurt either of them. They were not the one trying to hurt her brother. Taking a moment to herself, she relaxed and the said to them, “I’m sorry, please continue.” Ben made the rest of the explanation quickly, as not to upset her again. When she next looked down she saw that her plate was clean. Her stomach was full and she had barely noticed the meal in trying to control herself. It felt good to have a full stomach. She normally burned her food before she could consume it all. She smiled again at the two men, “Thank you so much for sitting with me. I think it helped me to control myself in a way. Do you think you could join me tomorrow for lunch?”

Chris finally spoke up, “It would be a pleasure to join you for every meal. Working this assignment is almost as lonely as being in one of these cells. It’s refreshing to see someone in control enough to sit with. The rest of the wizards in the hallway try to kill us every day.” Kara became excited when she found out that she wasn’t the only other fire wizard in the cells. She wasn’t alone in her struggle to control the anger.

“How many other wizards are there in rooms like mine?” The two men stood to leave and Chris lowered his shield a slight amount so that she could see his face.

He winked at her as he spoke, “Oops, we aren’t supposed to let you know about the others. Guess we will have to keep that a secret for now.”

She winked at him in return, “I understand.” She was very happy at the way this meeting had turned out. She had thought it over in her mind for the entire day before. She wanted to show Mary she could control herself and this is the only way she knew how to impress her. When the door was shut Kara saw that the two men had left one of the stools in the room. “Chris! Ben!,” she shouted out the crack in the door.

“We are here, Kara. What do you need?”

“You left your stool in my room. I thought you would like to take it with you.” She waited and heard the key locking the door.

“Keep it until tomorrow. Don’t burn it to ashes and we will have lunch again.”

Kara clapped at his response in pure joy. She had received yet another piece of furniture. Mary had told her each piece she received would be a step in getting out of her cell. She pushed it to the corner, sitting it atop her box of candles. Kara wanted it far away from where she practiced her fire. It was now her most prized possession.

***

Kilen and Jace had stalked around the city for a couple hours now. They had followed nobles and thieves alike. They listened at windows while Jace gave directions on how to look as though you had a purpose for being at a window. He sent Kilen to steal a pie from a noble’s dining table while servants rushed to clean the remnants of dinner. He moved from project to project until they found themselves perched onto the same place he had been when he saw Izabel dealing with the thief girl. He lay with his stomach against the tiles as he observed the dealings of the market square. The girl was nowhere to be found. She had obviously been redirected to work another part of the city when Izabel left the town. This had been the single most productive night that Kilen had had with Jace since arriving in Deuterium. He hadn’t been caught once in any of his endeavors. Though, he had still knocked a couple of tiles loose from the roofs that he jumped on. He watched the merchant’s sleight of hand to acquire coppers here and there. He watched the faces of people coming and going. Then he saw her, a woman standing next to the alleyway on the far side of the market. It was his mother. The woman looked so much like his mother he was unsure himself whether or not to believe it. She put up her black cloak hood quickly before disappearing into the alleyway. He scrambled up the roof and crawled over to where Jace had taken to whittling a piece of wood. “I just saw my mother in the market. May I go after her?” Jace put away the wood and knife and nodded his head.

“It would be good practice stalking. Follow and don’t approach until you are sure it is her.” Kilen understood but didn’t wait around to talk. He jumped from the roof and landed softly on the ground below. He hooded his face slightly, as Jace always did before moving into public. He crossed the market and into the alley the woman had disappeared into. He looked behind but didn’t find Jace following anywhere. He couldn’t quite understand how Jace seemed to blend with every color of wall he stood next to. At the mouth of the alley Kilen looked for the woman in the black cloak but was unable to see her. He moved back from the direction he had come and leapt to the top of the buildings. Jace waited on the far end. Kilen looked far down the streets from his high vantage point, but saw no one in a black cloak. He jumped from roof to roof checking the adjacent streets, but found nothing on either street. Jace caught up with him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Perhaps tomorrow we can check local shops and taverns to see if anyone has seen her. It will be good for you to learn to find someone in a city using only a description and a name.”

Kilen was still looking in all directions, trying to find someone walking in a black cloak. Jace squeezed his shoulder and turned Kilen to face him. “If there is one person in this city that can find a new visitor in town, it’s me. Do not worry, if she’s here we will find her.” He patted his shoulder twice and began walking away, down the rooftop. Kilen reluctantly followed but he knew that he would not be able to find his mother without Jace’s help. Slowly they made their way back to the castle gates, Kilen still looking in every direction for his mother.

A guard stopped Jace at the gate and handed him a note. Jace nodded his head and moved with Kilen a few paces away, heading for the training grounds. “The king wishes an audience with me. I will see you tomorrow at the same time. Try not to threaten any more of the kitchen workers; Or anyone that works under his charge, for that matter.” He laughed as he moved towards a guarded door and disappeared inside. He wanted badly to find his mother, but he wasn’t entirely sure it was her. He kept asking himself questions like. Why would she have come here? Where would she look to find him? If she had read his letter, why hadn’t she come to the castle asking for him? He had to have faith that if there was a woman that fit the description, Jace would find her.

With nothing left to do for the day Kilen made his way to the barracks to catch up on rest from the fight earlier in the day. Constant thoughts of his mother flooded his mind. Did she have enough money to stay in Deuterium? Was she staying in the right side of town? Once again he was caught unaware of his surroundings when out of the sky in front of him a man in tan cloth landed softly in front of him. The sight of a flying man would shock anyone and Kilen was no different. He stood as still as a statue, watching the man pull the loose cloth around himself and tie it up with a sash. “Weapon Bearer Everheart I presume?” Kilen closed his mouth and nodded his head

“Uhm I’m not a weapon bearer yet, Sir.”

“Well of course not in the eyes of the king, but you carry a weapon and are willing to bear it to battle. A weapon bearer you are, whether those around you or inside you see it.”

“Inside me?” Kilen panicked at the statement. What did the man know?

“Those voices inside you that make you what you are my boy. If you believe that you are a weapon bearer in the depths of your mind and soul, then a weapon bearer you will be.” He leaned near Kilen and spoke in a whisper, “I tell the voices in my head that I am a wind wizard. Sometimes they don’t like to listen, sometimes they beg me to be one.” He chuckled and Kilen wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. “That is neither here nor there, I came to tell you my name.” Kilen waited for the wizard in the loose clothing to speak, but he stood with his arms crossed, examining Kilen up and down.

“What IS your name sir.” He jumped as if he just realized he wasn’t looking at a painting.

“Of course, of course, my name is Alexander. Wind wizard and Wind Council Seat of the Earth Realm.” He bowed a deep bow. Cloth poured out around him as he did. He became erect again, “I will be conducting your training in wind magic tomorrow. You will not be learning how to control wind, but how to combat it. I would bring all the knowledge that you can muster. Sometimes the voices are not as forgiving as I.” He smiled a friendly smile that contrasted the words that he spoke. “Use the knowledge of the voices in your head, friends, or whatever you will call them while training tomorrow. Until then!” Alexander pulled the sash from his waist as a gust of wind buffeted Kilen from behind and lifted Alexander into the air. He disappeared into the black night sky as quickly and quietly as he had come. Still a little uneasy about the whole conversation, Kilen finished his walk to the torch-lit barracks. He walked past all the empty rooms and found room six closed. Leroy must be getting to bed early for the tasks he had to perform tomorrow. He entered his room and locked the door behind him. Max didn’t have to hope too hard before he was formed into a tiny man standing on the washstand. Kilen washed and readied himself for bed. Max closed ice fingers on the candles in the room and put the room into blackness. Kilen drifted off to sleep imagining how he would find his mother and explain what had happened to Kara. He knew that sleep would not come easy this night.