by Aaron Thomas
Kilen looked around to make sure that no one was eavesdropping, “In Deuterium, she used her power of the city's underbelly to help the city stay alive. The money she stole was often from rich nobles that were using their status to get away with extortion or blackmail. She used it to feed the hungry and clothe orphans. If there is anyone I want to watch over the city from that place, it’s her.”
“I understand. I don’t like the idea, but I understand. In Keepers, there was no point in thieving from one another. When you did, you only stole from yourself,” Wells said.
“After I speak with her she will most likely want to keep her distance from you until the day comes when people start arriving. If she needs some of your men to play a role in her schemes, you do as she says,” Kilen said.
Wells nodded, and they finished their walk to the front gates of the city. Torchlight could be seen through the translucent gate that separated them from the small troop of Earth Realm soldiers on the other side. Their torches made their shadows dance on the gate as they moved about.
“I brought you here because I am letting Mica go. My elemental is bringing him here now,” Kilen said at almost a whisper.
“He could cause us a lot of problems if you let him go. Mica has given Keepers minor trouble in the past without justification, but now he has a reason.”
Kilen held up a hand to calm Wells, “I will only allow him enough use in magic to let him escape the city. I want him gone before I leave. If anyone finds out that I am not in the city, the army will attack. Besides, there is no way that you can hold him in his cell once I leave so we need to get him out of the city now. If we do this right, he will not know there is a ship coming to get us, and we will be able to gain some time.”
Wells nodded his head, “Shouldn’t we just kill him and eliminate the threat altogether?”
Kilen shook his head, “We cannot. He is a wizard; technically he should be given an opportunity to serve the Water Realm as a councilman. Yet we have held him captive. Only after he attacks this city or my people will I be able to justify taking his life.”
“But he has already attacked this city,” Wells pleaded.
“He attacked before I was king. I cannot hold that against him. He thought he was doing what was right,” Kilen said.
They turned to the sounds of boots walking in the street. A small flame bounced with the noise as the guards led Mica, still in chains, to the gate. His clothing was ragged and ripped in a few places from his aerial battle with Jace. A couple of burn marks revealed his pale white skin stretched over his skinny frame.
“Please take the chains off, gentlemen,” Kilen said.
The guards took off the bindings and looked at Mica as if he were a poisonous snake about to strike. One of the men kept his off-hand on a belt knife as if he would have time to draw it if Mica attacked.
“Are you going to treat me with some civility or have you brought me here to hang me from embrasure?” Mica asked.
“Neither,” Kilen responded. “I have a wind councilmen, so I do not think it wise to keep King Atmos’ from him. This is the one chance you will have to leave the Water Realm. If you deviate from a course to the army outside this gate, I will allow the wind to drop you like a stone.”
“Do not threaten me! I am a wizard, and I go where it pleases me,” Mica snapped angrily.
Kilen smiled and let the words echo amongst the buildings. The guards on the battlements looked down as if they were afraid there would be trouble. Something caught Kilen’s eye, and he looked to the rooftops. A black cloud of smoke rolled along the edge carrying debris as it moved about. Kilen smiled knowing that Jace was watching over him. “I am not threatening you. If you return to the Water Realm without permission of my council or myself, I will take it as an act of aggression. It will not end well. My Captain here says that I should have killed you already, but that is not how we treat wizards here. Please, Wind Wizard, take the advice and do not return.”
Mica flexed the muscles in his jaw as he ground his teeth together. “Is there anything you would like me to relay to King Atmos before he crushes you?”
Kilen scratched the bit of stubble on his chin, thinking. He had not remembered he could use Mica to relay a message and needed to word it correctly.
“You can tell him that I mean no harm to him or the people of his realm. I want only to aid in the destruction of the Soul Wizard. I will give him three months to issue an order for his troops to withdraw from the Water Realm,” Kilen said then waited for Mica’s confirmation of the message.
“If he doesn’t issue the order?” Mica asked sarcastically.
“I will not make threats, Mica. In three months we will determine the proper action for his willingness to comply with my request. I cannot say what path will be the correct one in three months,” Kilen said calmly.
“If you do not have enough foresight to see three months in the future then your realm will fall before winter,” Mica didn’t wait to hear a reply. He used the open path Jace gave him to fly over the wall to the soldiers on the other side. A small commotion ended with his voice yelling curses at the men.
Kilen smiled to the Captain, “That’s one less problem to deal with. Let’s get back to the castle, we need to prepare for the arrival of the boat.” Kilen left the gate, keeping his quickened pace towards the castle.
When he arrived, Twilix was talking with the guards he had practiced with while waiting on Captain Wells. Kara and Ria came through the door moments later. Twilix turned to see him approaching, and her face turned red. She stomped her way up to him and put her hands on her hips as she stood as an impassable wall before him.
“You just left me in bed?!” Twilix asked in a furious tone.
Captain Wells took a couple steps away as to not interfere with the conversation. Kilen thought he could have used a bodyguard at that moment.
Kilen cleared his throat, “You were sleeping peacefully so I thought I would take care of a few things.”
The mention of her sleeping seemed to lighten her mood a bit, but her cheeks were still red. “Never again,” She said while sticking a finger in his face.
She nodded and leaned in for a kiss.
That could have been worse, He thought.
Breaking the silence, Brent burst out the front door of the castle, “There’s an awful lot of commotion here for having a city that can’t open its gates. What is everyone doing up at this hour?”
Kilen answered as Twilix took his hand, “We are preparing to leave, Wizard Parker.”
Joahna, in his tiny flame form, leaped off the walls surrounding the courtyard leaving a trail of fire. He gave Kilen a subtle wave saying he had found either the library or the armory. Joahna spoke in a voice like Kilen’s, “I have found the library.”
Kilen took a step towards the guards, “Follow my fire elemental and I will lead you to the library. Have the books taken up to their proper place in the castle.”
The guards saluted and Wells began issuing orders to have the books moved up. Joahna loped off once again into the depths of the castle followed by Captain Wells and the guards.
Kara watched the guards disappear down the hallway and wandered closer to Kilen. “You didn’t tell me you knew how to make a fire elemental. You need to teach me to control it like you do.”
“It will have to wait a while before I can instruct you. Besides, I think you should probably learn from a wizard,” He replied.
“Why do we need to wait? I may need to use an elemental in Basham or on the road,” She said crossing her arms and setting her feet into place like she did when they were kids, and she tried to get her way.
“I don’t think it would be wise to be playing with fire on a boat made of wood,” Kilen said, starting to get irritated with his sister.
Twilix must have noticed his temper rising because she interjected, “When you reach Basham Kilen will also have a lot to deal with. The Earth Realm troops are stationed there, and if they discover him, it will spark a
battle that may result in a lot of lives lost. You must stick to what you know until Al’tore or Kilen can teach you what they can.”
Kara maneuvered around Twilix to get to Kilen, “You know I don’t actually have to summon one to learn how. You use to learn all sorts of things from books that you never try, but you know how to do them. All you have to do is teach me how, and when it’s safe, I will be able to try it on my own.”
Twilix continued, “I don’t think it's wise to try and summon an elemental without supervision.”
Kilen watched as the two exchanged looks and he remembered his training with Twilix, “I think I will have to teach her, my queen. Do you remember when you told me not to summon an elemental on my own? I did it anyway and in defiance of the order. Kara is my sister and in some ways much like me. She will try to summon one the first chance she gets whether or not I instruct her. I think I should try my best.” Kilen stepped up to Kara, “When the time is right.”
Kara nodded and lowered her eyes. A smile met his face, and he ruffled the hair on her head as he offered Twilix his arm. “Let’s go to the dock and await our ship. I want to make sure we are there when it arrives just in case anything goes wrong.”
Captain Wells caught up to Kilen on his other side, “Are you expecting trouble, Sire?”
Kilen smiled, “With Bowie, anything is a possibility. If you watched late enough last night, you would have seen flaming arrows and fires near the Earth Realm’s camp. I would bet money that he had something to do with it. I want to make sure that everyone that gets off the boat is registered with you or put back on the boat.”
“I will make it so,” The Captain snapped his fingers and men on the docks came to him. With few words spoken both men rushed off into the city. “I sent them to gather ink and parchment. I will make one of them a dockmaster until a proper one can be found.”
Kilen nodded in satisfaction, Wells was turning out to be a great choice as a Captain. He watched as all the fishermen placed their poles aside and took up station looking about the water.
The dock was silent except for the occasional question between Kara and Twilix and the waves slapping against the glass-like pillars holding up the dock. The horizon began to lighten, and Kilen could make out the outline of a ship far across the lake. Brent must have noticed it as well because he dipped his hand in the lake and pulled out a looking glass made of ice.
When he was finished Brent handed it to Kilen. The ship was a massive cargo vessel in need of a fresh coat of tar and paint. The sail hung limp as the ship swayed in the waves.
“Looks as though they have run short on the wind,” Brent said as Kilen handed the looking glass back.
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Kilen said as he closed his eyes. Jace was standing next to him holding his form in the wind so that only wind wielders could see his outline. He gave a bow and disappeared in the wind chaos that was of his making. Kilen watched as the ship came closer. Its sails filled and pushing as fast as the ship had probably ever run before.
Ropes were thrown to men on the dock and tied off to bring the ship close. Greasy men lowered down the gangplank, and Auburn helped a pale Bowie off the ship.
“I got it as close as I could,” He said as he disembarked laying down on the dock as if he had run instead of walked off the ship.
“You did well, Bowie. Thank you,” Kilen said.
Bowie must have thought it sarcasm because he started yelling, “It’s not easy pushing a boat that size upstream you know!”
Kilen’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Brent began flipping through the Elder Wizards’ book on Levithan. He found the page he was looking for and passed it to Kilen, “These are things that change upon Levithan being renewed. It’s just as Bowie mentioned, the rivers that use to flow into Leviathan have changed directions. The plains have streams that will fill with water to allow crops to grow. The swamp in the lower regions of the Water Realm will grow in size but will be gushed with water, cleaning it and pushing water into the west corner of the Fire Realm.”
“A lot of change we did not think about,” Kilen somberly replied.
“It will balance out soon, but for now it will be a strong current making changes in the land. It was probably extremely difficult for Master Crescent to push that boat here,” Brent said clearly impressed.
“See? Now, will someone give me some energy for the return trip?” He said waving an almost limp hand in the air.
Ria was quick to take it and renew his strength. She then turned to Auburn and did the same for her.
Bowie stood and stretched as if he had just received a good night's sleep, “Basham is overrun with Earth Realm troops. You’re going to have a hard time taking it.”
Kilen smiled, “I hope I don’t have to take it. I am hoping the troops will join us, and you're the one that is going to convince them.”
“What!?! How would I know how to convince them?” Bowie asked as he started to pace up and down the dock.
Kilen was calm and spoke in a confident voice, “You should probably start by contacting the archer in charge of the guard there. I believe you may have started a relationship with him when you beat him the day after Springfest or was your story an embellishment?”
“I don’t see how it will do any good, but I can give it a go. I need a few things before we get back on the boat,” Bowie said, walking away mumbling to himself.
Kara smiled at Bowie’s back, “I will go get Al’tore and the others.”
Kilen thought it odd that she curtsied to him before leaving, but he was starting to get use to odd behavior from just about everyone since he was crowned. Bowie, on the other hand, treated him as he always had.
He noticed Twilix looking up at him, “What shall I do while you are gone?” She asked.
“I’m not sure. Perhaps you and Ria can figure it out. I know the kingdom is in good hands,” Kilen replied.
“I’m glad you have such confidence in me,” Twilix said giving a tug on his arm.
“You will be a better queen than I a king. I know nothing of how to run a kingdom.” Kilen said.
“The fact that it weighs on you like this will make you a great king,” Twilix said smiling.
He knew she was trying to make him feel better, but he knew only success would build his confidence. Until he could get the confidence, he needed he would just have to do his best to build the nation everyone dreamed of.
The people of Keepers loaded the boat with fish and fresh vegetables that Ria and Max had grown. The people of this city didn’t have much in possessions, to begin with, but when the Earth Realm attacked they lost what they did have. Kilen himself had only the weapons and armor he wore when he called the castle out of the water.
Leroy bowed his head as he passed Kilen with a large canvas bag on his back.
“I will pack your armor on the ship, Sire,” Leroy said as he made his way up the gangplank. “The captain thought it wise I keep it covered until you are ready to put it on.”
Kilen looked away from the boat as Leroy disappeared on board and saw his father Pete looking on proudly. Pete had given the same look the day he left Keepers with Kilen some months ago. Although the cook looked more proud now, Kilen was still unsure if it was because of Leroy’s accomplishments or his friend Izabel clinging to the cook’s arm.
“The sun is almost up,” Twilix said bringing Kilen back to reality.
He looked at his feet. He felt bad leaving his wife so soon after their marriage and first night together. He didn’t know how long it would take for him to return but he knew he would miss every minute of it.
“I will return as soon as possible,” Kilen promised her.
“I know you will. When you do, we will pick up on our lessons where we left off. You still need to learn some control with water magic,” Twilix said.
She wasn’t smiling, which meant she was serious. She thought that the man who could control four elementals at once needed improving. Even though he could
not see where she would know better than him, he also knew she would prove him wrong.
“It will be as you command, Wizard Twilix,” He said giving a deep bow.
Bowie and Auburn traipsed by, holding their packs. Bowie still seemed to be in deep thought about how he was going to convince an entire town to follow Kilen. He knew that Bowie would try and talk him out of it on the way to Basham. He smiled at the thought.
Kilen placed a hand on Twilix’s face trying to ingrain the picture of her in his memory. He kissed her, it wasn’t the longest or most passionate kiss. It was one that said, “I love you.” He hoped that was what she took from it as he turned to board the boat and let his hand trail off her face as he walked away. Waiting for Brent and the other fire wizards to board he watched as Twilix’s eyes did not leave him. Tears came and went as she wiped them from her face and waved to the boat as the dock dwindled behind them.
Chapter 4 - Basham
Under Jace’s power, the domed ceiling over Levithan shrunk in Kilen’s view by the minute. His presence filled the sails as Bowie watched, trying to make sense of Kilen’s ability. Joahna sat as a flickering flame in the torch near Kilen. He whispered that Max was clinging to the side of the ship as a barnacle. Somewhere inside the ship’s captain's quarters, Tokeye had secretly made himself useful listening disguised as a bucket of water.
Kilen watched from the back of the large boat, leaning on the railing. Before long Kara was at his side. He knew why she had almost as curious a mind as his own.
“How do you control so many?” She asked.
“I don’t really know,” Kilen said.
She gave him a look that said that was not a good enough answer.
“I really don’t know. When I put my mind into an elemental, it’s like part of my mind goes, and part stays.” He leaned in close, “When I have four it’s almost like they're different people. I have to talk to them to understand what the elemental has seen. I am not sure I really control them much at all, it may all be by instinct.”