“Ohhh.” Ashlynn turned to Broden with an anticipatory expression. “That sounds fun. We can do that too.”
“It would have to be quick.” Broden said the words slowly, the wheels churning in his mind as he thought it all through. “How many arrows do we need?”
“Just enough to surround the spring. It depends on how big the springs are.” Ash turned to Riana for the answer.
“I think eight or so will do the trick,” she answered promptly. “Neither of them be big.”
“Only eight.” Broden rocked in his chair so that the back two legs were the only things touching the ground. “And if we be in shooting distance only, no’ on top of their camps…alright, lad. I grant ye, it be feasible. We have to be quick, though. And we can no’ do it in broad daylight.”
“Dead of night is better for this,” Ashlynn agreed. She had a wolfish smile on her face.
Her brother gave her a weary look. “Why do you like to skulk so much?”
“No idea,” she admitted cheerfully. “We can do this tonight, right?”
“Might as well plan for that,” Broden said with a sour glance toward the bandits’ camps. “No’ like they be planning to attack today, anyhow.”
Everyone chose to sleep early and rise at just around three in the morning. The twins were at first voting for midnight, but Broden explained to them that people were still more or less awake at that time. Early in the morning was the best time to get the drop on people. It also gave them time to get some decent sleep in before having to skulk around in a pitch-black forest.
Ash put a spell on Riana’s eyes that let her see like a cat in the dark. It took some getting used to as things weren’t in true color, but she liked being able to walk without fear of tripping over something. Her father, she noticed, didn’t need more than a second to adjust. Ashlynn had apparently done this to him before. Now when had that happened? On that trip to get the girls, maybe?
Of course Ash had to take down the ward for a second, just long enough for them to skip outside of it, before he raised it again. Once they were outside, they split up, each going for a different spring.
Riana had drawn a map on the ground for her father and Ashlynn so they knew exactly where to go. She didn’t worry about them as they split off, heading west as she and Ash went north. They moved quietly, watching where they put their feet. At this time of year, there were no dry leaves on the ground, which Riana was thankful for as it would have been a dead giveaway to their location if someone heard it. The nightlife in the forest had grown accustomed to the bandits in their midst and they were making their usual calls to each other. The sounds were reassuring. Dead silence would make it harder on them to sneak.
Ash stopped and waited for her to pass him before falling into step behind her. She carefully bit her lip to hide a smile. Wasn’t sure where to go in the dark, eh? Granted, the place looked different than it did in broad daylight. She was careful to not lose him as she wound her way in and around trees.
The bandits weren’t that far away, no more than a skipping rock could travel. Watchmen were of course on duty but they weren’t being particularly diligent. This was their second (third?) night out there and they knew that when the ward was up, nothing would come out of the settlement. Or at least, they thought they knew that. Riana eased her way around the watchmen and toward the spring.
At this time of the morning, the fires were down to embers, barely giving off any light at all. The spring was more than a dozen paces from the camp, out of necessity, as it was surrounded by sharp rocks on all sides. It gave them the room they needed to work in without worrying about the bandits catching on.
Ash leaned in against her shoulder and breathed into her ear, “Remember, the arrows have to be in line with each other. No obstacles in the way.”
She nodded her understanding, loosening her quiver enough to put four arrows into her hand. Ash put his finger briefly on each shaft, the spell giving off a muted glow. With the last one in place, she nocked an arrow and carefully fired. Then she held her breath, waiting.
Nothing from the camp stirred. Were they that dead to the world, that the sound of an arrow whistling past didn’t alarm them?
“Sounds like the wind in the branches,” Ash assured her. “Fire.”
She didn’t think so at all, but if he said so…twirling another arrow into place, she aimed and fired. All four arrows formed a rough half-circle around the spring. It looked like her estimation of eight was dead-on. Lifting out four more, she waited for Ash to place the markers on them, then repeated the process for the other half. When the last arrow was in place, Ash lost no time in activating the ward. Of course, wards glowed, and rather brightly at that.
“Hey,” one of the bandit watchmen said to the other on duty, “what is that? That glowing over there?”
“How much did you drink?” the other responded.
Ash and Riana didn’t wait to see how that conversation played out. Eventually one of them would get curious enough to go see. They wanted to be well out of the area and back behind their own ward when that happened. Moving as quickly as they could, without making a lot of racket in the process, they hightailed it toward the settlement.
When they got there, the ward was down, with Ashlynn bouncing impatiently on the tips of her toes, waiting for them. They sprinted the rest of the distance, sliding into place behind her. Ashlynn snapped the wards into place with record speed.
Only after they were up did she turn to them, giddy as a child with new toys. “That was fun.”
“Aye, it be that,” Broden agreed, also grinning. “Reminds me of the old days.”
“You two are incorrigible—” Ash broke off when yelling started from the bandit camps. “That was quick.”
Riana shrugged, not surprised. “Glowing wards in the dead o’ night bound to get a man’s attention. Da, how much time do ye give it before they come at us?”
“A day, at most.” Broden inclined his head back toward their tents. “Get some sleep while ye can. The morning will belike be busy.”
Broden was up with the birds but even then Thorne was still up in the tree before he could get there. Climbing the hickory, he sat on the same branch as the lad and peered intently in the direction of the bandit camps. “No smoke this morning.”
“Not a wisp of it,” Thorne agreed, gaze firmly ahead. “I’ve been seeing a lot of movement, too. Even hearing some shouting, when the wind’s strong enough to carry the sounds this way. Your trick of shutting down their water access has them real riled up, sir.”
“The question be, lad, whether they be riled enough to move yet.” The fact that they were not stopping to try and cook something for breakfast suggested they would move soon, though. It would be hard to cook without water, but not impossible, at least not with one meal. Trying to cook a day’s worth of meals without water, that was the tricky part.
The ward was still up, granting them safety, but that would not be the case for much longer. Ash and Ashlynn would be up soon, and after they had had breakfast, they would take the ward down, as they always did. Broden had every intention of having people in place when that happened. “Lad. If ye see them coming, drop out of this tree and go toward the inn. Once we know, find yerself a good place up high and snipe those that come at us.”
“You don’t want me on the ground, sir?”
Not ever, but Broden would not say that and bruise his self-confidence. “Ye be one of the few archers here,” he explained, “and ye be a good shot. Sniping be a good place to put ye.”
Thorne nodded seriously. “I’ll do my best, sir. Wound or kill?”
“Lad, in the heat of a fight, ye do no’ usually have that luxury. Protect yer own, that be your only priority.”
“Yes, sir.”
Broden stared long and hard toward the camp for several minutes but they still had not made any move toward the settlement. Even from there, they could probably see the glow of the ward. As long as it was up, they likely would not move
. That meant he had time to eat breakfast, wake people up, and get them into position. He had better use that time while he had it.
He clapped Thorne’s shoulder once, in a friendly gesture of support, before dropping out of the tree and heading toward the inn. When he got there, he found Riana already in place on the porch, toast and a mug of something steaming in her hands. Ash was sitting at her feet, holding the same breakfast, but his eyes were not entirely open yet.
“Be they moving?” she asked her father. Her expression was calm. It was her eyes that betrayed her worry.
“No’ as yet.” Broden looked around and asked plaintively, “Where be my breakfast?”
“In the kitchen. Nicole made us up something.”
Kind of the woman to do that. Then again, most of the settlement seemed determined to support them however they could so they would be ready to fight. Broden ducked inside, greeted Nicole, and took what she offered him with heartfelt thanks.
Ashlynn wandered in, hiding a yawn behind her hand, and went into the kitchen for breakfast as well. She had half of it consumed before asking Broden, “Did you check on them?”
“Aye, lass. They have no’ moved as yet. Me guess be they will no’ until the ward comes down.”
“What makes you think they really will attack today?”
“No cook fires,” he responded with a shrug.
“Ah. That would be a pretty good indication.” Polishing off the last of her toast, she considered the wards. “I think we should have people in place before I take those down.”
“Me own thought exactly.”
“Right.” Hands on knees, she pushed herself up to her feet and strode off the porch, gathering people and talking to them as she went.
Ash stood as well, saying as he moved, “I’ll get the guardsmen in position.”
That left both archers to direct people and explain what to do once they reached the inn. Broden did step in a little and directed some of the better marksmen to be snipers on the only finished roof. Aside from that, he watched as Ash directed people and found no fault with what he did. It was no surprise to him. Ash had helped lead an army twice before, after all.
Ashlynn herded the last of the civilians into the inn and went about renewing her ward on the building. Once she had that in place, she came back out, reviewed what her brother and Broden had done, and nodded in satisfaction. “I think we’re ready. Ash, ward?”
“Going.” Her brother was already moving before she had even asked the question. He seemed to take a deep breath before he dispelled the ward. It dissipated into the air like glowing smoke, pretty and ethereal in the morning sunlight.
Broden waited on taut nerves. Either the bandits would move immediately or they would be playing a waiting game all day. He prayed for an immediate response because waiting like this would play havoc on a man’s mind and patience. Seconds crept by, feeling like hours, as everyone held their breath.
There was a loud thump from up ahead, then someone came in hard and fast. Thorne skidded into view and Broden knew what he was going to say before he said it. “They’re coming!”
“How fast?” Ashlynn demanded.
“At a dead run, Sheriff,” he answered, already heading for the inn roof.
Her lips peeled back from her teeth, magic flaring from her hands as she primed herself to fight. “Brace yourselves!” she called. “Things are about to get fun.”
Chapter Six
Bandits were nothing like soldiers. Riana knew this all too well. Only half of them actually engaged in fighting, while the rest scurried around like rats and picked up anything that had value before trying to run off with it. She knew her father had set snipers up on the roof for this very reason—to prevent anyone from actually succeeding with the theft.
Riana caught this out of her peripheral vision even as she danced in and out of Ash’s shield, covering his blind spots even as he covered hers. They’d fought together often enough now that she had a sense of what he would do next, and words weren’t really necessary between them anymore. Watching his back was far more important to her than tracking down a barrel of tools being rolled away. She left that to the snipers—
“DON’T LET THEM ESCAPE WITH ANYTHING!” Ashlynn bellowed out.
—and to Ashlynn, apparently. Of course, as sheriff, any theft at all was intolerable.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ashlynn and her father race off toward the western side of the settlement, following a pair of bandits who had loot in their hands. She didn’t give the bandits very good odds.
The fight this time was harder than usual. Partially because they were up against seasoned criminals who fought dirty. They didn’t think twice about coming in at someone’s blind side and trying for a lucky strike. It kept Riana on her toes, more than usual, because she never knew what they might try to pull.
But aside from that, they had to be careful how they fought. Ash was pulling his punches, so to speak, actively trying to not hit anything except bandits. He didn’t want to have to rebuild something due to a careless moment in the heat of battle. It slowed him down because he was taking more careful aim than before, and it gave the bandits another edge.
An edge they didn’t need. Riana had to use her bow like a staff, knocking a bandit back, because she couldn’t keep up with their approach. They were coming in faster than she could nock and fire. “Ash!” she growled in vexation.
“What do you want me to do, burn down a building?”
“Buildings be replaceable, man!” She twirled on her toes to his other side, aimed, fired, and then had to take a step back before getting knocked over by a stumbling guardsman. His face was familiar but the name escaped her at the moment. “Go-to!”
Ash shot off three quick spells, none of which were aimed anywhere near a building, and only took out two bandits. “See? My aim is off if I go too fast.”
There were days when Ash’s caution saved them. His ability to think ahead, and turn something onto different angles, had proven invaluable. But there were times, like now, when he overthought something and it was moments like these that she was ready to strangle him.
He must have picked up that emotion as he yelped, “Whoa, calm down, I’ll pick up the pace!”
About time. She put her back to his again, half-in, half-out of the shield, and focused on the enemies in front of her.
Ash was true to his word and picked up his pace, although he didn’t fire off spells as fast as he normally did. It was more like a middle ground, but it was fast enough to keep bandits from overwhelming them, which was all she really wanted for the time being.
It became a blur of sweat trying to run into her eyes, the hum and whistle of arrows being released, the sweet feeling of being incased in Ash’s magic, and the blur of men running back and forth as they fought. So focused on only hitting her targets and not accidentally firing at one of her own, it came as an abrupt shock when she realized that she didn’t have any more bandits to contend with. Arrow half-drawn, she paused and looked all around.
Not all of the guardsmen were standing; some were down, some were leaning against the side of the building and clutching at some injury. The ones not injured were quickly going to comrades and offering help. But no matter how she looked, there wasn’t a bandit standing anywhere in their area. “Be that all of them?”
“And whichever ones had the sense to grab and run. Ashylnn and Broden are chasing them down, though. Even if we knew what direction they went, it’d be impossible to catch up.”
Riana could track them easily enough so the direction was unimportant, but he was right in that they wouldn’t be able to catch up enough to do any good. “Let’s tend to these, then.” Going to the corner of the inn, she called up to Thorne, “How be it?”
“No more in sight, Miss Riana,” he assured her. Standing, he took a long look around before continuing, “I don’t see anyone else left. I can’t see where the sheriff or Master Broden went, though. They went directly west after a few band
its, but that’s about all I know.”
The bandits were severely outclassed. Riana wasn’t worried. “Stay on top and keep watch just in case.”
He waved a hand in acknowledgement and shifted to the very peak of the roof so he had the best line of sight.
Riana went back to Ash and reported, “They no’ be back yet, although Thorne saw the direction they went off to.”
“That’s something. We’ll track them down if they’re not back in an hour.” Looking around him, he puffed out his cheeks and blew out a resigned breath. “In the meantime, let’s start cleaning this up.”
“Are ye no’ forgetting to update a king first?” she reminded him, eyes crinkling upwards.
“Ah…hmm. Probably a good idea.” He lifted the caller up to his mouth and called Edvard’s name.
She patted him on the shoulder, leaving him to it, and took over directing the cleanup.
After that fierce battle, things went quiet again.
Ashlynn and Broden had come back with two bandits in tow and all of the stolen goods. Altogether, only twenty bandits were still alive after that fierce fight, and Edvard had them all executed. Within two days, it was like the attack had never happened, except for one notable exception: Ash put up a ward around the settlement every night. No one knew, after all, if that would be the last of the bandit attacks or if some other group would try their hand. Rather than be sorry, Ash chose to be safe, and the ward went up promptly as the sun set and was taken down again at first light.
It took another two weeks to finish the inn and that was a very welcome thing indeed. The innkeeper, Nohilly by name, became so busy trying to keep hot water in his bathing rooms and food on the tables, that he hired help from the mainland. Because they were still enjoying the summer climate, he set tables outside on the front porch as well, and just barely avoided having a line form up at dinnertime. More often than not, Riana didn’t get to sit and eat at the tables, but instead grabbed a plate for both she and Ash. Then she had the fun job of having to track her wizard down. Food was always cold by the time she found him so dinners were not the warm affairs they should have been.
Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) Page 5