“Of course he be,” she said to the horses, glad for someone to speak to even if they did have four legs and a tail. “Because when he has a mad-on, he stalks off any which way and pays no’ a mite of attention to where he be going. So of course he did that and now has no reckoning of where he be. I really will wring his neck when I find him, mark me on that.”
The horses, sleepy after a long day, blinked at her and did not respond.
Blowing out a steady stream of air, she tried to calm herself enough to concentrate. Her da had said that finding someone through a bond was akin to searching for an aching tooth that wasn’t in your own head. Riana had laughed at the analogy. It was a rather accurate description though. That was exactly what she felt like she was doing. She closed her eyes and focused entirely on that feeling of Ash, magical core, emotions, all of it.
Slowly, she opened her eyes again. It was tenuous, but she had the distinct impression that he was ahead and to the left. Torch held high to light her way, she set off in that direction. Her pace was not quick, partially because of the uncertain footing, partially because she was mapping out her route mentally so she could trace her steps back to the camp, but mostly because she was afraid that if she went too fast she’d lose the feeling of where Ash was.
Curious thing was, the further she walked, the more sure of herself she became. The sense of him became stronger in her head. She had no idea of distance—that part wasn’t clear at all—but she knew he was directly ahead of her. Or was it because she was getting closer that she could feel him better?
From the darkness, a familiar voice floated out from in between the trees, “—should never, ever have walked off like that. No matter how mad I was. If Riana has to come find me, she’ll flay me. And I’ll never live it down.” There was a string of curses and then a hint of light bobbed in between the trunks. “I wish I could make the mage light brighter than this. Why do these things take so much energy?”
Relieved, she nearly skipped ahead to meet him but restrained herself. In a loud voice, she called ahead, “I have no notion, but ye best snuff it quick-like!”
There was dead silence. “Riana?”
“Aye, Ash.”
“I’m never living this down.”
“Not even if ye live to be a hundred,” she agreed. Almost giddy with relief, she lengthened her stride as much as she dared, meeting him halfway.
When her light came in close enough to illuminate him, Ash let his mage light wink out. The lighting was dim enough that half his face was shadowed but she didn’t need to see to know he felt remorseful for the whole debacle. But there was another emotion mixed in that she couldn’t quite read. Anticipation?
“Riana.” His voice held a note of hope and curiosity. “Did you track me?”
“No tracks to follow,” she denied. “Ground be too rocky for that.”
“So you used our bond?” Ash didn’t wait for a response, just punched a victorious fist in the air. “Good for you! I wonder why it worked out here better when you struggled with it so much in Estole?”
“Too much of a safety net at home, I be thinking. Here, I had no choice but to find ye.”
“That…could well be it. Humans are capable of doing amazing things when their backs are against a wall.” Sounding as if he were trying to make the best of things, he declared, “Well. Good you figured out how to do it.”
“Ash.”
He groaned, “I know. It won’t save me. I’m still in trouble.”
“Aye. Glad ye ken.”
His head cocked slightly. “But you don’t feel that angry to me?”
Riana mentally swore. The problem with the bond now being strong enough to feel emotions was that Ash could always know her state of mind. Like now. When she really should be angry with him, what she mainly felt was relief.
Ash eased up to her and put arms tentatively around her waist. “So. Um. My apologies for losing my temper.”
She felt his sincerity, and her own anger subsided a little. “Apologies for nagging. Ash, be clear on this: very little in this world be as important to me as ye. So if I see ye doing something that will harm yerself, I will speak out.”
“I know you will.” His voice was husky with emotion and his grip tightened on her. “I’ll try to remember that in the future.”
It was a good enough compromise for this moment. She let go of her anger, expelling it all out in one long breath. “Well enough.” Stepping back, she jerked her head, indicating back the way they had come. “Let’s return.”
Taking one set of reins from her, he climbed into the saddle. “Ah, where am I, anyway?”
Got well and truly lost, eh? Snorting, she turned them around the right direction. “Camp be back this way.”
“You brought everything with you, looks like.”
“Aye. Did no’ dare leave it unguarded.”
“That’s probably wise. Iysh is very unsettled and somewhat lawless these days.” There was a pregnant pause and then Ash spoke in a wondering tone, “I think our bond strengthened again.”
She twisted hard enough to make the leather saddle creak. “What?!”
“Close your eyes,” he urged, “test it for yourself.”
Promptly, Riana did just that. She focused on their bond in the back of her head and found that he was right. His presence was stronger now. In fact, it was almost tangible, as if she could reach out and touch it. “It be no’ because of how close we be.”
“No, has nothing to do with distance,” he agreed. He was nearly chortling with happiness. “Well. Something good came out of this fight after all.”
Somehow that didn’t surprise her. Only people that were truly close to each other could fight and reconcile. That didn’t mean she wanted to continuously fight with Ash, though. Riana wasn’t the sort to seek conflict, especially not with her nearest and dearest. “All the same…”
“We’ll try not to fight again in the future,” he assured her, still happy.
Glad he understood that. She led them back to their camp with the hope that they would sleep well with what they had left of the night hours.
The next week of traveling was uneventful and yet it was precious time all the same. They got up early each morning, decamped and rode until the light faded, made camp, and slept. The routine didn’t change. As they rode, they spoke more freely and they tried several exercises that helped them both grasp exactly how their bond worked. While Ash had never before had a partner, every wizard knew what it was like to have one in theory, so he had a rough idea of what to do. This was the first time that they both had time to just focus on their bond without any distractions in the way. The exercises didn’t always work, Riana struggled to grasp some of them because of her lack in magical training, but the ones she could do, they did repetitively. Doing them strengthened it yet again, although more gradually. She was glad for this instruction as it became more obvious to her how to really read the bond. Instead of it being there and steady, she now could read the nuances of how it felt. Things like distance became more obvious to her. If Ash got himself lost again Riana was now confident that she could track him down without trouble.
To their mutual relief, they arrived in Honora without trouble. In her life, Riana had never seen a place so big. Even Estole didn’t compare. The city to her eyes was massive, a sprawling complex that stacked people on top of people. How did someone live in such close quarters with so many strangers and stay sane? It boggled her mind. It had taken her weeks just to get used to Estole and it was a fifth of the size of this place.
Ash must have sensed her unease as he reassured her, “The academy isn’t actually in Honora.”
Phew. “So we do no’ need to go into the city.”
“No, actually we want to go south of it.”
Thank the heavens for small favors. “Lead the way, then.”
Her wizard might easily get lost if he ventured off into the countryside, but give him roads to follow, and he knew exactly where to go. He struck of
f confidently to a southern highway and then branched off again onto a side road that was smaller but still large enough to let a cart travel comfortably. They followed that for a good hour before he lifted a finger and pointed off to the left. “There it is.”
Riana lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the afternoon sun, squinting to see better. She had never seen an academy of any sort before so had no idea what to expect. But this place looked more like a church to her than a school. “An abbey?”
“It used to be,” Ash confirmed. “Master Gerrard bought it decades ago and restored it. I understand it had been abandoned by the church because it was just falling to pieces. It took a full year before it was habitable again. The academy has been here ever since.”
That seemed a strange thing to do, to buy an abbey and restore it to teach magic in. “Why did he buy it?”
“I understand it was dirt cheap,” Ash responded, eyes still trained on the academy. “Cheaper than buying land and building something. As a student there, I enjoyed it immensely. There were all sorts of hidden spots that a child could play in.”
Thereby suggesting…that this church had its secrets? Interesting. After the way that all of the churches had reacted to Estole, she wasn’t too surprised by that.
No one was outside the abbey when they approached. Riana felt the tingle of something in the air, and she recognized the feel of a ward instantly. This tingle didn’t feel comfortable but that was undoubtedly because it was someone else’s magic. If it had been Ash or Ashlynn’s, it would have been completely comfortable. This was actually the first time that Riana had been in direct contact with magic that wasn’t the twins’ doing. It felt very, very strange. She didn’t care for it at all.
Ash lifted a hand and spoke a word and the area around them cleared of the ward, like a portal door opening. She expected Ash to immediately ride through but he paused, straightening his shirt and coat, smoothing a hand over his hair, and such.
Nervous, eh? “Ash.”
“I know, I know, don’t be nervous.”
“It will be fine,” she soothed.
He sucked in a deep breath, let it out again. “I hope you’re right. Let’s go.”
Chapter Eighteen
They rode into the courtyard, Riana looking around in every direction. The place from the inside seemed more like a fortress than an abbey, what with the stout walls and the guard towers on each side. She saw students crossing back and forth, none of them younger than eight and one in her early twenties. This was the first she’d heard that even full-grown adults could study magic. But the woman was clearly a student as she wore the same patch on her sleeve.
Ash stopped off to the side, dismounting and tying his horse to a hitching post. Riana followed suit.
“Ashtian Fallbright!” a voice boomed out over the courtyard.
Ash flinched, looking wide-eyed and guilty. Riana blinked, staring up at him with growing confusion. “Ash? Why be ye looking like ye got caught with a hand in the honey jar?”
“Force of habit?” he muttered back to her.
Her humor kicked in at that point and she had to bite her bottom lip to keep from smiling. “By chance, be ye a troublemaker as a boy?”
“Only half the time.”
“And the other half the time, ye be sleeping,” she finished in a drawl.
Ash relaxed enough to give her a wink. “I did grow out of it.” Saying that seemed to remind him that he was an adult now, hadn’t done anything to get him trouble, and he should be able to face his old master without flinching. He took in a breath, squared his shoulders and raised a hand in greeting. “Master Gerrard.”
Gerrard was a powerful figure of a man. He was as big and muscle-bound as any soldier, tall enough to make Ash look a little on the short side. His hair was greying but still thick, beard neatly trimmed and also shot with grey. In Riana’s perspective, his dark eyes were sparkling with delight in seeing his former student. He held out a hand, which Ash firmly grasped, and greeted in a low timbre, “Well met, you scoundrel. For a traitor of Iysh, you look well enough.”
Ash took this as the compliment it was meant and responded honestly, “You haven’t aged I day, I swear you haven’t.”
“Ha! The age is in my bones, not on my face. Where’s my Ashlynn?”
‘My’ Ashlynn, was it? No wonder Ash felt his twin was more favored than he.
“At Estole, still.” Ash retrieved his hand. “She’s actually Sheriff of Estole now, running the whole city.”
“Not a criminal wants to cross her, I bet.” Gerrard was delighted while saying this. “And this pretty little archer at your side?”
Riana held out her own hand. “Riana Ravenscroft. I greet ye, Master Gerrard.”
“She’s my partner,” Ash tacked on.
Gerrard clasped hands with her and really looked her over, gaze intense. “Is she now. May harmony find you, Miss Ravenscroft. Rare to see a female partner, very rare. I’m glad Ash found you.” He released her hand and took in the pair of them. “I doubt this is a social call, considering how dangerous it is for you to be wandering about Iysh. But let’s go inside and talk about it. This heat is too much for an old man.”
After being out in the summer sun for a week and a half solid, Riana was looking forward to sitting somewhere cool and shady.
They followed him inside through arched doorways and into a building that had seen a lot of use. It didn’t look poorly maintained, but more like in the time it had existed, it had seen many comings and goings. There were blast marks that had been mended, deep gouges that had been mostly fixed, and signs that certain walls had either been replaced or repainted recently. The hallways were wider than usual, as well as the doors, and Riana wondered at it.
Gerrard led them directly down the main hallway until they ended up in a large, spacious room that had twenty-foot rafters. Three fireplaces were in the room, directly ahead and one to either side. All of them had benches and chairs set about them. In between the fireplaces were rows of tables and benches. Was this a gathering place for all of the students? Must be. Several were there now, books spread out over the tables, or plates of food, or sometimes both as people studied and ate at the same time. They glanced up as newcomers came in, then stopped and stared outright for several seconds before excitedly chatting to their neighbors. Riana heard the words “Ash Fallbright,” “rebellion,” and “one of the best students” several times. Ho. Ash had been one of Gerrard’s best students? Now that was a piece of information she hadn’t heard before.
Gerrard ignored the lot of it, as did Ash, and headed for the central fireplace. He plopped down in a chair that was apparently the favorite, with Ash taking up a chair next to him. Riana, by default, chose the chair next to Ash. The bench right in front of the cold fireplace tempted her, but it would put her at an awkward angle in speaking with the other two. She chose not to crane her neck.
Crossing one leg over another, Gerrard commanded, “So. Tell me what brings you here.”
“How much are you aware of? About what’s going on at the moment, I mean,” Ash hedged.
“Likely more than you. I still have ears in the court that pass things along to me. Can’t be the master of a wizarding school and survive otherwise. So tell me what brought you here.”
Ash took in a breath, to steady his nerves or find his courage—she wasn’t sure. Mayhap both. “We need help.”
Gerrard gave no sign of what he thought of this request aside from a lift of the eyebrows. “You need help.”
“We’re completely shorthanded,” Ash admitted frankly before launching into part of his prepared speech. “When we started this, we had no intention of founding a growing nation. Edvard simply wanted to be independent of Iysh, to overturn the Bindings, so that he could better care for his family and his people. We didn’t anticipate that so many other people would throw off Iysh and join us. Now the city is bursting at the seams, we’re spreading over the channel and creating a settlement there, and still we can’t
keep up with the influx of people. It’s run Ashlynn and me into the ground and we simply can’t keep up with the workload. Honestly, if an army came at us right this minute, they’d win because we’re too exhausted to put up much of a fight.”
His master gave a snort at this. “You don’t have to tell me that. I can see it by looking at you. Tell me, did you stop before you drove yourself into magical exhaustion, or did you collapse and scare the magic right out of your partner?”
Riana gave Ash a dirty look.
“Ah, I can see it on her face. You collapsed.” Gerrard shook his head in exasperation. “I wonder some days why I bothered to teach you anything, I truly do. You never do what I tell you to.”
Ash flushed, not able to meet either of their eyes.
It occurred to her that if the master could still see the signs of depletion, then Ash might not be as recovered as she thought. Alarmed at this thought, she jerked taut in her chair. “Be he still—”
Gerrard waved her down. “His core has recovered, he’s fine. It’s nothing more than flickers along the edges where his core hasn’t completely stabilized yet. He can’t be doing anything momentous for another week yet, but everyday things are fine.”
Relieved, she sank back into her seat.
Addressing his student again, Gerrard growled, “You idiot. Are you asking me to send some of my students in there, knowing they’ll do the same fool things you’re doing?”
“This situation isn’t permanent,” Ash quickly assured him. “I mean, the number of people coming in even now is plateauing. And when winter hits, we’ll have a chance to catch up and get everything done. I just need to borrow people for a few months. If, however, you know of anyone that would like to throw off the old Bindings and make a new start in life, then they’re welcome in Estole. Edvard is offering full citizenship to anyone that moves there.”
“Ha!” Gerrard rolled his eyes expressively to the ceiling. “He thinks a few months and he can catch up on things. And what about that army that will likely come at you? You have any plan for them?”
Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) Page 15