Arrows of Revolution (Kingmakers Book 3)

by Honor Raconteur

  “Eh, there be that. And speech lessons, to make me sound like a proper lady.”

  Nodding—neither of these came as a surprise—Bria agreed. “Yes, I’ll help as I can, but I don’t know formal etiquette. At least, not palace etiquette. It’s on a whole different level. I’ll teach you what I know, but you must tell me, why did Troi draft you into this?”

  “Can ye teach while I explain?” Riana tried not to fidget in her chair but she literally felt time pressing against her. “There be precious little time for this.”

  “Certainly, we can. Let’s start with your pronouns, shall we?”

  Chapter Four

  “The next person stupid enough to jump in there, I’m letting them freeze to death,” Ashlynn announced.

  Broden was fairly sure she was half-joking, but he also recognized that she was half-serious. Then again, spending the afternoon fishing people out of a freezing cold river would make anyone irate. “Belike the guards we posted will deter the rest.”

  “I hope for their sakes that is the case.” Ashlynn raised her face to the sky and frowned at the sun that almost touched the far horizon. “Why, why would anyone sane jump into that water? It has ice chunks floating in it!”

  That it did, likely coming down the river from Cloud’s Rest. The channel consisted of half mountain water runoff, after all, and the mountains got much colder than Estole had ever experienced. “A few of them said that it be a tradition where they be from.”

  “I heard them. A tradition from southern Iysh. Warm, sunny, southern Iysh that barely sees snowflakes.” Ashlynn’s tone dripped sarcasm. “Stripping to the waist and diving into water almost cold enough to freeze over is something that only the crazy would do.”

  It was, and Broden had no excuses for them, because if not for Ashlynn, the men that had jumped in for a lark would have likely lost limbs. As it was, if not for her quick reactions and magic, they would have been dead from hypothermia. It was blistering cold out here even without jumping into icy water. Even Broden, used to mountain climate, found it a mite nippy.

  Ashlynn stared at the afternoon sun with a dark frown. “Likely they’re no longer in the meeting. Curse it, I needed to talk to Ash. I have no idea how to tackle that moving barrier, not if it’s to span Dahl as well.”

  “Belike ye will need to call a meeting of yer own,” Broden suggested. “That sort of talk be best with yer fellow wizards anyway. Or wait for the evening meeting after dinner.”

  “True enough. But it’ll be difficult getting them all at the same place at the same time. Likely we’ll have to call each other to manage. Perhaps if I call them now, I can organize a meeting for tomorrow?” This was clearly a rhetorical question as she was already drawing her necklace out from underneath her coat. Lifting it to her mouth, she said clearly, “Lorcan.”

  Dahl’s wizard? Well, trying to coordinate with the most remote person first made sense to Broden. And he was glad that her attention had diverted elsewhere, otherwise she might go back to scalp the idiots that had her running around in this cold weather.

  It took a moment, but Lorcan’s harried voice came through clearly, “Ashlynn, make this short. I have a collection of idiots over here with a death wish.”

  “Let me guess. They’re stripping to the waist and jumping into the channel.”

  There was an almost audible double-take. “Did you suddenly develop clairvoyance?”

  “No, I just have similar idiots over here. This is apparently some sort of tradition from southern Iysh, to shed your bad luck of the old year and invite good luck for the next.”

  “Someone needs to explain to the lackheads that shucking off bad luck is all well and good but only if it doesn’t make you lose life or limb in the process. What have you been doing to them?”

  “We posted guards along the channel to stop them. That’s worked the past hour.”

  “I didn’t know you had the guards to spare for that.”

  “I don’t. We hired some men that are looking for work to stand guard for the next three days. They’re grateful for the extra coin and they have permission to use force as needed.”

  “That’s brilliant.”

  “Thank Broden, he thought of it.”

  “Of course he did. He’s the sensible one.” The other wizard laughed as if he knew that Ashlynn would be glaring at him if he were within sight, and indeed she was. “I’ll do the same here.” Lorcan dropped the caller long enough to shout an order to someone standing nearby before his voice became clear and distinct again. “Now, what did you call about?”

  “Have you been updated about our meeting this morning?”

  “Somewhat. Tierone called earlier saying that I’d need to pair up with you to deal with the barrier along the southern border. Ashlynn, frankly, I don’t have the time to travel over there every time for a meeting.”

  “You won’t need to,” she assured him. “Calling is fine. If you have the rough outline for this, that’s good.”

  “I do and I’ve been thinking of different ways we can tackle the design. Either way, you realize that I can’t hold up Dahl’s end all by my lonesome?”

  “Of course. Didn’t expect differently. We’ll send a few people over there to help you.”

  “Good. In that case, can I request someone? I found Kirsty Kilpatrick, ah, easy to work with. Our personalities seem, um, very compatible. Yes.”

  Broden’s eyebrows rose slowly into his hairline. What was this interesting undertone to Lorcan’s words? He met Ashlynn’s eyes and it was apparent from her face that she had caught it as well. “As to that, lad, I do no’ think it be a problem, assuming Kirsty do no’ have tasks of her own to do.”

  “Of course, this is only if she’s available,” Lorcan hastily added. “And of course I’d be willing to take any of the higher ranked students.”

  “Of course,” Ashlynn parroted, a calculated gleam entering her eye. “I’ll confer with people here and get back to you. As for a meeting, can you call in around lunchtime tomorrow?”

  “Certainly, certainly.” There was an aggravated growl. “I need to go. Another idiot just tried to jump in.”

  “Go,” Ashlynn encouraged. “Call me tomorrow.” Dropping the necklace, she caught Broden’s eye again. “The man’s crushing on Kirsty.”

  “Aye, no doubt of it.” Broden chuckled, finding the situation sweet and amusing all at once. “Well, Kirsty be a charming, pretty lass. It be no wonder why the man be attracted.”

  “I feel this terrible urge to play matchmaker.” Ashlynn nearly skipped ahead, smile mischievous.

  “Belike ye should ask the lass if she likes him in kind,” Broden warned. “Afore ye go shipping her over there.”

  “Oh, I will, don’t you worry. Otherwise the situation would be extremely awkward, which I wouldn’t want to do to either of them.” This time she did skip, twice, already reaching for the caller again. “I’m calling Kirsty next.”

  Broden sighed and shook his head. There was no stopping the lass now.

  They walked through the streets with Ashlynn calling every trained wizard setting up a meeting for the next day, Broden lost in his own thoughts. As she started in on the problem of the wall, Broden focused on the counterpart to it: the evacuation. Bringing people out of the southern edge of Dahl was sure to be tricky. They had precious little space in Estole, after all, for their own people. Dahl’s southern edge, as Broden knew from experience, was mostly farmland. The population was not as high in that region, granted, but it would still be a significant amount of people to find temporary homes for.

  Estole proper was out. There was just no place left here. Ganforth was the only option. Broden was not sure if it was a good option, however. He had no notion what sort of defenses they were planning for Ganforth, as the meeting he had been in this morning had not mentioned it more than passing. They were trying to focus on the southern border first, as that was where the army would initially come in from. Could they afford to put people in Ganforth? Did they have
enough manpower to protect a large body of people across the channel?

  Ashlynn made a sound of aggravation. “I can’t reach Kirsty.”

  Match-making plans temporarily thwarted, eh? Broden carefully bit back a smile. “Belike ye can talk to the lass later.”

  “If I can even manage a later.” Ashlynn went all of two steps before stating, “We’ll have to move the evacuated people to Ganforth in easy stages. We don’t have enough boats to do it all at once and it will make it obvious what we’re doing to the spies in the region if we tried.”

  Broden eyes nearly went cross-eyed. “Lass, riddle me this: what be it about a woman’s brain that lets her think of two things at once?”

  She just laughed and did not even try to answer. “I think we’ll need to give an alert to Master first. He’s going to be in charge of building more houses as a temporary shelter for these people as he’s the only one with the spare manpower.”

  Both thought, ‘Even if he does not have the time,’ though neither of them said as much, as there was no need to. “How many do we need?”

  “That is an excellent question I don’t have an answer to. Tierone can tell us, though. The other question is, what do we do with the houses once the people return to their lands?”

  “Sell them?” Broden thought that was the only thing that made sense. “Use them for government offices?”

  Ashlynn gave a judicial nod and a hum as she thought about it. “I suppose either is a good option. And having branch offices across the way would be helpful, I would think. It gives people immediate access to help instead of having to schedule a trip across the channel.”

  At the rate Ganforth was growing, branch offices would need to be a reality sooner rather than later. Estole’s government offices could barely keep up as it was. Broden shifted his mind to other matters. “Lass, evacuation aside, this moving barrier of yers. Be it difficult?”

  “Yes, extremely,” she sighed, and for a moment looked ten years older. “I like it better than any other option, though. It’ll be easier on us and our defenders in the long run. The setup is what’s going to be so horrendously difficult. When Ash and I did this, we had something more or less in place, a safety-net we’d built in case one of us fell in battle, or we ran out of magic power. We were already prepared to use it, which was just as well, as we were forced to in that last battle. But the preparations we’d made can’t be used again. For one thing, they’ve been dismantled to make room for building. For another, what few parts are still up, they’re in entirely the wrong place.”

  Broden had seen her erect enough barriers to be able to follow this explanation without too much trouble. Barriers required markings so that the magic knew the territory and limits it was bound to. Even if this was a mobile, moving wall, it would still need a magical guideline of some sort. “Sounds like a lot of groundwork.”

  “Understatement,” she groaned. “And every person that helps maintain it must have an intimate understanding of exactly where each marker is. They have to know exactly where to go, how far the wall can extend, and so on. For this much territory, it will take at least two people to maintain it for a twelve-hour period. Three would be better, as it lowers the chance of someone magically exhausting themselves.”

  After having seen what Ash went through, Broden personally would prefer to not have another wizard drop on his watch. That had been a thoroughly alarming experience. He tried to divvy the work up in his mind and frowned when he realized he was not sure if that was the right method. “They work in sync?”

  “Hmm? Well, sort of. They work together, certainly, communicating, but each would have their set territory before they’d pass their section off to the next wizard. It would be a magical version of catch, in a way, as each person would hand off part of the barrier to another as the need arose. When I said it would take three people, I don’t mean they would be working constantly for twelve hours, but that they would keep the minimum barrier up and then activate the higher end of the spell as necessary. They’d be on watch for a full day at a time.”

  Ah, now this made more sense. “So one in Dahl, one in Estole, one in the middle?”

  “More or less. Although it doesn’t solve the question of what to do about Ganforth. I have a feeling we might need to create a separate, hard barrier for them, as even a student can maintain it.”

  True, it was trained wizards they were lacking, not necessarily magical power. If they could divert some of the responsibilities to the students, that would help the wizards tremendously. “Gerrard think of this yet?”

  “It was something he said in passing to me earlier. I think we all know more or less how this will have to work out. Logic will dictate it more than anything.” A frown gathered across Ashlynn’s forehead, dragging the corners of her mouth down. “The real question is, can we get all of this in place before the first real snows hit?”

  Chapter Five

  Ash had regressed back into a child, one that was putting something unpleasant off for as long as he could by lingering over breakfast. His biscuit had made at least three circuits around his plate, so he was obviously full, but wasn’t about to admit it.

  Riana regarded her wizard partner with open amusement although Ash was so sunk in on himself that he barely noticed. Patting his back sympathetically, she said, “It can’t be that bad, Ash.”

  “We’ll have seven trained wizards discussing how to build two separate barriers. Six wizards that are not necessarily used to all working together, who are opinionated, stubborn, and have wildly different approaches on spellwork.” Ash lifted his head enough to give her a pitiful look. “This will be a disaster. They’ll be arguing with each other all day.”

  He was likely right, knowing that bunch, but Riana was also confident that by the end of the day, they’d also have a concrete plan to work from. However much they disagreed with one another, they were excellent at pulling through and solving issues.

  The biscuit made another circuit. Just the two of them remained at breakfast, everyone else having already finished and left. Riana was of the mindset that he could put things off a little longer if he wished, but not much longer. They both had many things left to do and only about a month to do them in.

  The door swung open and Edvard popped his head inside. “Ah, good, you’re here. Riana, Troi needs to see you.”

  Riana was halfway out of her chair before even asking, “What for?”

  “He said he needs to start in on your cover identity today. I’m to take you to him as he of course needs my approval as well before he can move ahead.”

  Starting her new career as a spy sounded much more fun than poking at a moping Ash. Riana cheerfully abandoned her partner to follow Edvard.

  The Estolian King took one look at his moping brother and said firmly, “Stop delaying and go.”

  Ash glared back at him but finally left the biscuit alone.

  Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, Riana followed Edvard through the castle and out the back door. Trying to practice her new linguistic skills, she carefully phrased, “He does not like to argue, our Ash.”

  Glancing over at her, Edvard approved, “Your accent is much better. Who taught you?”

  “Bria.”

  “Ah, good choice. She’s likely the only one available right now anyway. We’ll need to start etiquette lessons as well. Remind me tonight. Dinner will be a good place to start.”

  “I will,” she promised.

  “Don’t worry if you still have a hint of an accent,” Edvard continued as he opened a side door through the wall that let out onto the city streets. “Troi mentioned he’d base your identity out of Senn, and if he sticks with that idea, then they’ll expect at least a slight accent.”

  Good to know. Riana hadn’t been sure if she could learn the Iyshian accent perfectly in such a short amount of time. But Troi seemed to realize her restrictions and was trying to compensate for them.

  They went directly for the Currency Office, a plac
e that Riana had passed many times but never set foot in. She had no idea why they were here, but followed Edvard obediently through the door. It was a wide open space, no dividing walls, with desks arranged in clusters throughout the room. Men and women walked around with large amounts of paper or money in hand. Not one of them reacted to the newcomers aside from, “Welcome, Sire.”

  Edvard waved a greeting in return but didn’t walk all the way inside. Instead, he turned immediately to the left, taking a staircase that was so hidden that Riana hadn’t even noticed it. The stairs were a little narrow and led directly into a dimly lit basement that had a hallway stretching either direction, with exactly six doors on each wing.

  Bemused, Riana stared first this way, then that. Surely Troi didn’t work down here? “Does Troi not have an office near yours?”

  “He does,” Edvard answered forthrightly, striding down the hall. “He says that too many eyes are on that place, so he only shows up enough to push paper around and make reports to me. The real work happens down here.”

  Edvard stopped at the third door and pushed the door handle. Abruptly, he stopped with only one foot through the entry. Riana popped up on her toes in order to look over his shoulder and immediately saw why he had stopped. There was precious little room to maneuver. The room wasn’t large to begin with, rectangular in shape, and was crammed with multiple desks that sat next to each other in rows. On the far end of the room there was a single table, absolutely buried in all manner of files and papers, with a large map of the world dominating the end wall. There were pins in the maps, string attaching them, all of different hues. Riana assumed they were color-coded to mean something but couldn’t decipher it in a glance.

  In what little space was between the rows of desks were shelves of different heights and widths, obviously scrounged from all over, that were equally crammed with books, letters, and other rolled up parchments. The light came from multiple lamps and two braziers that gave the room a smoky feeling, as there were only four narrow windows, none of which were open to ventilate the room. It smelled of paper, smoke, and sweat in a somewhat offensive manner, but none of the people in the room seemed to even notice their poor working conditions.