Published by Raconteur House
Manchester, TN
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ARROWS OF CHANGE: BOOK ONE OF KINGMAKERS
A Raconteur House book/ published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Raconteur House mass-market edition/February 2015
Copyright © 2015 by Honor Raconteur
Cover Photograph by Przemek Koch
Cover Design by Katie Griffin
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Other books by Honor Raconteur
Published by Raconteur House
THE ADVENT MAGE CYCLE
Book One: Jaunten
Book Two: Magus
Book Three: Advent
Book Four: Balancer
Advent Mage Compendium
The Dragon’s Mage
Lost Mage
Special Forces 01
The Midnight Quest
Kingslayer
THE ARTIFACTOR SERIES
The Child Prince
The Dreamer’s Curse
DEEPWOODS SAGA
Deepwoods
KINGMAKERS
Arrows of Change
A hero is a man who does what he can.
—Romain Rolland
Chapter One
Riana ducked around the side of the butcher’s shed, keeping her profile flat as possible to the wooden planks, and eased her head around the corner. Then she stopped short, nearly gagging on the smell. Phew, it be ripe over here. Didn’t Old Man Coltrin believe in hosing the shed out now and again?
Taking a deep breath and holding it to avoid the worst of the stench, she tried again to peek around the corner. The inner square of the village was livelier than normal, and for once, not because of market day. Everyone was curious and wanting to meet the stranger in their midst. It took a minute for her to spot him amongst the villagers.
The man had arrived this morning, all on his lonesome, which was a strange thing in Cloud’s Rest. No one here went alone—anywhere. It invited the worst kind of trouble because bandits and thieves and murderers thrived in this place. The town itself was safe enough for a man to walk about by himself, but take more than ten steps away from it, and that changed.
He introduced himself as Ashtian Fallbright, Court Wizard of Estole. Riana didn’t think that half the village believed him, but she did. The man had this…aura about him. This assurance and confidence that no matter what danger he might face, it wouldn’t touch him. Besides, anyone that could travel all the way up the mountain and to Cloud’s Rest without being molested had to be a wizard.
“—will not need to lumber much,” he was assuring Eden, their ombudsman. His voice was smooth, cultured, and somehow kind. “The trees on this mountain are very large, after all. I did not want to take anything without speaking to you about it, or without offering payment first.”
Eden scratched at his scraggly beard, bloodshot eyes narrowing. He thought himself a shrewd businessman, so no doubt he looked at the wizard and thought Money! “No’ much, ye say. Ye bring any teams of horses or the like with ye?”
“No, I did not,” Fallbright responded pleasantly. “But you needn’t worry, I have a method of taking everything down with me.”
“Huh. That so? Well, I will charge ye one hundred deneres, and ye can cut down trees as ye like.”
Riana gasped in outrage. One hundred deneres?! Was the man a thief in disguise? A man could feed his family on that for three months!
Fallbright didn’t even blink, simply held out a hand to seal the deal. “Done.”
With a gap-toothed grin, Eden accepted the hand and shook it firmly. The man’s expression fairly oozed greedy satisfaction. Riana would lay odds that the village would never see a single deneres from him.
Disgusted with him, she looked back at the wizard. He was calmly counting out coins into Eden’s hand, and from the way that money pouch of his bulged, it wouldn’t make much of a dent. Carrying that much money in the open was a sure way to attract a horde of bandits. Really, it was a wonder that the man had gotten all the way up here with his coat still on his back, the way he was acting. Even if he was a wizard!
A thought struck her, and she studied him with new eyes. The man didn’t know the lay of the land at all, and he was sure to attract bandits, so wouldn’t it stand to reason that he’d need to hire guards? Or at the very least, a guide? She could show him where the best trees to lumber grew. But mayhap if she and Da approached him right, then he would hire them on as guards as well. Heavens knew the man could spare the money, and they could sorely use it.
“Riana!” an outraged voice squawked behind her. “Ye benighted child, get out of here!”
The “child” bit smarted, as Riana was now twenty years old and a woman by anyone’s standards. But she recognized the voice all too well, as it belonged to Eden’s wife—and a meaner, more shrewish woman didn’t exist on this planet.
Ducking to avoid the matron’s eyes, she slipped past her and headed for the woods that ringed the village. As she moved, the woman snarled at her in open distaste. “I do no’ know why we even let yer family come in here, I truly do no’. Ye heathens should no’ be allowed near anyone at all. It’d be best if ye’d never been born!”
Riana had been hearing this since she was a child, and it rolled right off like water on a duck’s back. She tuned the woman’s voice out and focused instead on finding her da. If she could catch him quickly enough, mayhap they could work out a deal with that wizard.
He wasn’t in his first favorite spot—hiding in the eaves of the tavern—but he was in his second, sitting on a large branch that hung over the road. Stopping just underneath it, she called up, “Da?”
“I hear ye, daughter.” Broden Ravenscroft had spent his entire life in these woods and knew how to blend in with them well. Even she couldn’t spot him all the time. Standing at nearly six feet tall, he had the bulky build of a man that worked hard for a living. His swarthy skin and dark hair hid him well, only his grey eyes truly visible.
Even with his voice guiding her, it took a second for her to see his outline against the trunk. “Da, did ye see the blond man that came into town this morning?”
“Aye, I did at that. Who might he be?”
“Wizard Ashtian Fallbright of Estole.” Belatedly, she added, “Or so he says. I believe he might be.”
“Oh?”
Spreading a palm out, she shrugged. “He has the money for it. Man just shelled out one hundred deneres so he can log trees up here.”
Broden nearly lost his balance on the branch. “That be quite the sum of money.”
“I know it.” Quirking an eyebrow at him, she said in a cajoling way, “And would no’ a man like that be needing guards up here against all those nasty bandits?”
>
Broden’s grey eyes started twinkling. “Daughter, I like how ye think. Has no one else in the village offered to guide him?”
She shook her head. “They seem content to take his money and send him about his way.”
“Hmm, that so.” Stroking his chin, Broden ordered, “Go back in and catch the man. Offer to guard and guide him, see if he takes it.”
“Me, no’ ye?” she objected. Her da didn’t have a lot of experience in negotiating deals like this, but he had some. She, on the other hand, had none at all. It seemed a poor choice to send her to talk to the man alone. She didn’t even know how much to ask for.
“Men always let a pretty woman get her piece out afore interrupting, daughter. It be best if ye ask him first. If it does no good, I be willing to try me hand next.”
Well, alright, as long as he realized he’d probably have to step in. “How much should I ask for?”
At this, Broden hesitated. “Offer…offer thirty deneres for just guarding up here. Offer forty if he wants us to guard him all the way to Estole.”
She blinked. “To Estole? Da, we’ve never left the mountain afore.”
“Aye, I know.” Broden’s voice became grim and sad. “But, daughter, I think we’d best do that soon, if we can.”
Oh. Considering what their treatment by the other villagers had been recently…well, he might have a point at that. Their family had always been outcasts of sorts in Cloud’s Rest, but recently, they were barely tolerated at all. Being chased out of the village for just standing there and breathing wasn’t uncommon these days. Her mouth tightened in understanding. “I ken. I will go and speak with him.”
Turning, she hefted the bow in her hand into a slightly firmer grip, automatically checking that her belt quiver was in place as she moved. Her hood slipped, and she paused long enough to readjust it, hiding her flaming-red hair. Red hair like hers was something of a rarity up here in The Land Northward, although according to her da, she’d inherited it from her ma. She had the green eyes and fair skin to match it. Because of her coloration, she took care to wear layers of browns and greens to make herself blend in better with their surroundings.
She kept an eye on the forest-shrouded road as she walked, as she always did. Only a fool would just walk and not think to question every shadow and movement. The air near the village was warmer than here in the trees, where the sun had to struggle to reach the ground. It made her wish she’d donned her gloves earlier, but she didn’t dare to stop and do it now, not alone. Well, Da was nearby, but this bend of the road had a blind spot, and he might not be able to see her from there.
Because of what had happened that morning with Eden’s shrew of a wife, she didn’t think it a good idea to walk into the village again. So she stopped ten feet shy of it, smack in the middle of the road, and waited. It didn’t take long before the wizard came into view, walking as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
When he saw her, he slowed his pace, and when he realized she was looking directly at him and didn’t intend to move, he stopped altogether three feet away from her. “Hello. Might you have some business with me?”
“I might,” she allowed. It really depended on him. “I be Riana Ravenscroft. May harmony find ye, Wizard Fallbright.”
He blinked. “Ah, how do you know who I am?”
She snorted. “Ye make that grand an entrance in the village, people mark it.”
“That was a grand entrance, eh?” Amused, he shrugged and didn’t argue. “I greet you, Riana Ravenscroft. Now, what can I do for you?”
“I be a-thinking it be more what I can do for ye. Did Eden tell ye a good place to get yer lumber?”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “To the south, he said, near the road.”
Riana rolled her eyes. “That cheap old goat. No, Wizard, that no’ be the best place. He told ye that to clear the space around the road a little more, to make it harder for bandits to ambush travelers.”
“Oh? So where would you suggest?”
She promptly turned and pointed toward the east. “There. There be a good crop of virgin trees that grow straight and tall. Perfect for building things.”
His eyebrows rose a hair. “You surely didn’t come over here just to tell me that.”
“No,” she allowed, hoping that she’d paved the way enough that he’d hear her out. “Wizard, to be frank, it be dangerous, what ye be doing. Going about in those fine clothes, with that much money jingling on yer belt, well…ye be a prime target for thieves. It would no’ be the best of ideas to go into the forest alone.” Actually, it’d be downright foolish, but it never went well if you told someone to their face that they were being stupid. It seemed a poor business tactic to say it that way. “Me Da and I, we be good archers. Best up here, in fact. We know the woods, we know the roads, and we can get ye in and out with yer hide intact.”
“You want me to hire the two of you as guards?” The way he said this suggested he was open to the possibility. “Just for up here?”
“We be willing to take ye all the way to Estole,” she offered hesitantly. “Or at least all the way down the mountain.”
An unreadable mask fell over his face. “How much for the trip to Estole?”
“Forty deneres,” she answered promptly and prayed her da was right to put that much money on the line.
His eyes widened a notch. “That little? I just paid more than twice that to log up here.”
“Ye got robbed,” she told him bluntly. “Eden does no’ own any property or rights to the road leading up here. Cloud’s Rest will no’ see a single deneres in its coffers.”
Fallbright looked more amused by this than peeved. “I thought that might be the case. Zounds, I should have listened to my instincts and bartered with him.” Blowing out a resigned sigh, he let this go with a wave of the hand. “Well, I admit that you give me a fair bargain, Miss Ravenscroft. But I am a wizard, you know. I can protect myself quite handily.”
“That so?” Cernunnos take it, she’d been afraid of this. How was she to prove to him that he needed them? She thought hard and fast before asking, “Wizard Fallbright, be we alone?”
He blinked at her. “I’m sorry?”
“Be we alone? Right now?” she pressed.
Taking a look around them, he paused for a long moment before answering slowly, “I believe we are. Why?”
Riana lifted her head a little and called out, “Da?”
Not a second later, an arrow whizzed past with a whistle of displaced air and landed in the ground between them.
Fallbright jumped back a good three feet, swearing, eyes glued to the arrow that quivered ever so slightly in the dirt. Then his eyes slowly came back up to meet hers. In a faint voice, he said, “I take your point.”
She grinned but didn’t mock him. Gently, she asked, “Would ye be wanting to work while keeping both eyes over yer shoulder, sir?”
“Not in the least. If you would call your father down here?”
Riana put two fingers to her lips and let out a sharp whistle.
There was the sound of rustling leaves and then a faint thump as Broden came down from his lofty perch. It took another moment or two, but he finally melted out of the woods and into plain view. When he was within reach, he offered a hand. “Broden Ravenscroft.”
Fallbright took the hand and smiled slightly. “You and your daughter proved your point admirably. Forty deneres all the way to Estole, she said. What if I just need you to get down this mountain?”
“Thirty.”
“The price isn’t much different even though you’re going a shorter distance. You’ve deliberately made it only ten deneres more for an additional two days’ journey.” Fallbright’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why is that?”
Broden inclined his head toward Riana. “Gives her experience on the road. She has never been that direction afore.”
“Ah.” Fallbright clearly didn’t take that explanation at face value, but he didn’t ask any further questions. “I understand
. Well, let’s say to the foot of the mountain for now, and see how things go. If I feel like I truly need you, we’ll go all the way to Estole.”
“Fair enough.” Broden gestured toward the eastern section of the mountain. “Then follow us, Wizard.”
Chapter Two
“So, that be the wizard from that new country, eh?” Riana balanced easily on her tree limb, leaning forward slightly for a better angle through all the leaves.
“No’ much to him. Looks like a strong breeze would snap him in half,” her da commented.
Riana gave a “heh” of agreement. Truly, the wizard didn’t have much girth to him. He was tall, thin, with platinum-blond hair and pale skin, and looked to be a handful of years older than her. He’d blend right into a winter setting. The way he felled one massive tree after the next with merely a spoken word and a gesture of his hand stated plainly he wasn’t the pushover he appeared to be. But then, with a reputation like his, she hadn’t expected differently.
“Do ye think he be willing to take us all the way to Estole?” she asked hesitantly.
Broden let out a soft sigh. “I hope so.”
Her da had talked several times about leaving Cloud’s Rest, but they’d never had a viable way to get down the mountain and into the country before. It was dangerous to just strike blindly ahead, not knowing the lay of the land or where to find work. Besides, they never had enough money to make traveling possible. But still…
“Ye sure that going to Estole be a good choice?”
“I know it be a new country, daughter, and no’ a stable one.” He rubbed at his chin before offering a shrug. “But to me mind, that makes it a better choice for us. They will no’ be as picky about who comes in, as long as we have the skills to fight off Iyshian soldiers. At least, I’d lay the odds on that.”
Well, he might have a point there. A new country would likely be desperate for good fighters while they tried to get themselves established. She and Da might be able to find work readily, considering their skills. And they truly needed to leave sooner rather than later. Cloud’s Rest was becoming more dangerous for them than the bandit-infested woods.
Arrows Of Change (Book 1) Page 1