“It’s not something I’ll involve your students in,” Ash responded painfully neutrally. “If a wizard wants to join us, that will be their choice to make, whether they fight or not.”
Riana frowned at him. This was not what she thought he should be saying. Shouldn’t he be more persuasive? Wasn’t he here to get them fighters as well as builders?
Gerrard turned and said to her, “The problem I always had with this whelp is that he didn’t really know how to ask for help. Oh, on the surface, it looks like he is. He says the words well enough. But what he really needs help with, that he won’t ask for, as it’s too much of an imposition to burden someone else with it. You won’t believe how many times he nearly got himself killed by taking too much on all at once.”
“Oh, I believe it fine,” she assured him darkly.
“That right?” Gerrard cast Ash a glance. “How long have you two been partners? And already she’s mad at you. It’s not good, Ash. Keep that up, and she’ll leave, and you’ll never be able to replace her.”
Ash gave Riana a pained smile. “I know.”
“He knows, he says. Ha! I’ll have to see that to believe it.” Putting his hands on the armrests, Gerrard pushed himself to his feet. “The problem with students is, you never really get done raising them. They always come back to you. Never when they need to, mind, but when things have gotten to a ridiculous stage.”
Riana’s lips parted in delight as she cottoned on to his meaning. “Ye be coming.”
“What?” Ash asked in confusion, looking between the two of them.
Gerrard grinned at her, eyes crinkling up. “Always was. Mind, I’m still mad that neither he nor Ashlynn thought to invite me to this party at the start. But I never intended to just sit here.”
Ash bolted to his feet. “You’re coming?!”
“Pssh, boy, you think I like Iysh? All of those rules they make me obey, and all these students they don’t want me to train because they’re not from the right ‘class,’ never mind how powerful or how talented they are. You think I like any of that? Of course I’m going to Estole. Your king is sensible and if he’s offering full citizenship to everyone, I’m taking it.”
For the first time, Ash really looked around him, eyes taking in the room and perhaps the academy with new eyes. “You’re packed.”
“Oh, finally noticed how empty the place is, eh?” Gerrard chuckled. “Been packing for months. If you hadn’t come to talk to me by the end of next week, I was coming to Estole without an invitation or by-your-leave. Taking my whole academy with me. No sense leaving them here.” Adopting a more serious demeanor, Gerrard said in a mock-serious tone, “I trust your King Edvard won’t mind.”
“He won’t,” Ash breathed, caught up in surge of delight.
“Even if he does, come anyway,” Riana said firmly.
Gerrard thought that funny and chuckled. “I do like this girl, Ash. Young lady, where does that cute accent come from?”
“Cloud’s Rest.”
“All the way up there?” He seemed genuinely surprised. “If that’s the case, how did you two meet?”
“That be a fine tale. Mayhap I can tell it to ye as we travel to Estole?” Riana offered.
“Stories and traveling go best together,” Gerrard agreed. “In that case, tonight we focus on packing everything up. Tomorrow morning, we head out. If we leave Iysh tonight, it wouldn’t be soon enough to suit me.” Clapping his hands together, Gerrard called out to the students in the room, ordering them to start packing and move smartly about it.
Riana leaned into Ash’s side and whispered, “And why be ye worried that the man might not help, again?”
“You have to understand, most of my childhood, that man was busting my arse for getting into trouble. As an adult, rebelling against a country is probably the most serious ‘trouble’ you can land yourself in. How was I to know that he would so readily join in?”
Ah, had that been it? “Ash. Yer sister be right. Ye cannot properly see the man.”
He looked at her in complete confusion. “Eh?”
“Do ye no’ recognize a fellow troublemaker when ye see one?” She pointed with her chin at Gerrard. “The man was making sure that as a child, ye did no’ follow in his footsteps. But now yer a grown man, he does no’ have to guide ye along anymore. Now he can just join in.”
“That…” Ash burst out, only to trail off. His eyes went wide as memories hit, seen now from an adult perspective instead of a child’s. “That…he’s…”
“Ah, ye see it now, eh?” she said knowingly.
“But how did you catch on to that so quickly?” he protested.
“Ash.” She said it as patiently as she knew how. “The man was thrown out of court for causing a ruckus and then founded a school where he constantly thwarts the Powers That Be. I knew afore coming he be a troublemaker.”
Her partner was reduced to incoherent sputtering.
Amused at his response, she put both hands out and pulled him to his feet. “Best we help the man pack, I think. No need to let moss grow on this rolling stone.”
Chapter Nineteen
Riana’s initial assumption about older students turned out to be wrong. Some of the students, having not been in the right ‘station’ in life, or lacking the backing that Ash and Ashlynn had, were not able to find work. So they stayed on at the academy and acted as teachers. In the course of helping, Riana came to know the two women very well—Maree and Loraine.
Maree was as dark as she was fair, black hair wiry and constantly up in braids, and had a very taut build that spoke of many hours of training with weapons. Riana knew that she fought with a staff and was itching to spar with the woman, but they simply didn’t have the time at the moment. Loraine had hair nearly as dark but with extremely fair skin and a short, petite build. Strangely enough, for a woman of her size, she was also the one with the best lungpower and could shout down a whole room full of rowdy students. The two women were radically different from her but Riana still felt that at their cores, they were the same, and it was because of that she liked them instantly.
Because Gerrard had done so much preparation beforehand, it was more a matter of loading everything into carts than actually packing. Within a day they had the academy empty and loaded, including twenty students, two teachers, and the master himself. Riana felt like crowing. They had been sent out to find a few wizards and were coming back with twenty-three.
Edvard was right. Sending Ash out was a good choice. The man always came back with more than he was sent to find.
Riana climbed on her horse and rode out that morning with a sense of giddy anticipation for their reaction when they reached Estole. Everyone there would be certainly surprised and ecstatic. She also had a prayer in her heart that they wouldn’t run into trouble trying to get everyone there. Wizarding students they might be, but they were still young and she didn’t want them to have to fight just yet.
Maree, on top of one of the wagons, braced a foot against the sideboard and leaned over to speak to her more easily. “Riana. Tell me more about this king of yours. Ash mentioned him to us while we were still studying together but I never got much in the way of details.”
Student days? Ah, right, Maree and Ash and Ashlynn had all been students at the same time. “Edvard be a fine man. A just one. He be like Ash and takes too much upon himself and does no’ ask for help as he should. We want to strangle him sometimes because of it. But he be a fine leader and one I be glad to help.”
“Is that so.” Maree had a contemplative look on her face. “We heard wildly conflicting reports on why he rebelled against Iysh. Master said it was likely not the reason we were told, as Iysh has a habit of altering the truth to suit their purposes. Do you know?”
“Oh aye, I know.” Riana launched into the story of how Estole came to be its own country. It didn’t escape her notice that during this telling, everyone that was within earshot came in closer, trying to hear her better.
When the story cam
e to an end, Maree and Loraine exchanged knowing glances. “To protect family. Now that figures,” Loraine stated, satisfied to have her curiosity quelled. “Especially with Gwen between them, of course Ash and Ashlynn would be so supportive of the venture.”
“They might have re-thought it, if they’d had a notion of what they be getting themselves into,” Riana said cheerfully.
Loraine laughed. “Yes, I’m sure Ash has wondered many times just how he got caught up in all of this. But I’m curious as well to how Ash met you.”
“Ah, that. It be a simple story. He came up to Cloud’s Rest, looking for the right timber to build a protective wall around Estole. Me da and me contracted out to watch his back from bandits as he worked. As the day went on, bandits attacked, we fought back, and Ash discovered that the two of us could stand within his magic.”
Loraine and Maree shared twin looks of surprise. “Both of you?” they said in near unison.
“Aye. Feels good to us.” Although Gerrard’s magic, which had been responsible for the ward around the academy, had not felt comfortable at all. She could probably put up with it if she had to but she wouldn’t by choice enter into his shields. “Ash badgered us into coming back with him—” not that it had taken much “—and so we did. Me da be Ashlynn’s partner.”
Maree got a contemplative look on her face, eyes darting between Riana and Ash, who was riding ahead with Gerrard. “I would think the two girls would pair up, as would the men?”
Riana knew very well what she was thinking. And the possibility was certainly there. At least, Riana felt it was there on her side, and was fervently hoping that Ash felt the same. But an open road was not a place to share such tentative hopes and secrets so she responded instead, “Be a matter more of convenience. At least to start. Ashlynn be Sheriff of Estole, see, and me da’s the sort of man that can intimidate by standing there breathing. He helps with her work in a way I can no’.”
“Ahhh,” Loraine said in a tone of understanding. “I hadn’t considered that, but two women going around wouldn’t have quite the intimidation factor that the job would need. It’s stupid, but people don’t look at a pretty woman and think, ‘This person can probably cause me a world of hurt if I step out of line’ even if they know that one of them is a fully trained wizard. Or an archer, in your case.”
Said archer shrugged because she couldn’t disagree.
“I heard this morning in passing Ash saying something to Master about putting the academy across the channel?” Loraine trailed off in a questioning tone.
“There be no room for it in Estole proper,” Riana explained. “But we be expanding over the channel, making a settlement, so that people have room to breathe. In time, I think it will be more an extension of the city.” It already had the makings of that and the streets and buildings were barely in.
Maree looked worried by this, her teeth chewing uncertainly on her bottom lip. “But isn’t The Land Northward Iyshian territory?”
“They had three hundred something years to do something with it and did no’,” Riana said cheerfully. “It be ours now.”
There were several giggles behind her as some of the students, listening in, found her rebellious attitude funny. She glanced back and found five of them sitting on top of the boxes, their ears bent her direction. Riana had not yet managed to put names to all the faces but she knew two: Sarah and Violet.
Seeing they had caught her attention, Sarah was brave enough to ask, “Will there be much fighting? Master said Iysh was probably going to march an army against Estole.”
Riana looked at Sarah and saw a pretty little brunette that couldn’t be more than fifteen. Those dark eyes, looking at her so innocently, made her wonder what her life would have been like if she had grown up in some other place but Cloud’s Rest. Riana didn’t remember a time when she could indulge in the innocence of childhood. Yet there was a part of her that felt she should preserve it. A bitter aftertaste filled her mouth as she said, “Aye, lass. Odds are they will.”
It was Violet that shifted more upright, leaning against the shoulder of her friend, brown eyes fierce with determination. “Then you’ll teach us how to fight?”
This request took her by surprise and she looked to Maree and Loraine for an explanation. In an undertone, Loraine explained, “They’re not allowed to use magic in combat until their control is completely down. These two came in later than usual so they’re not quite up to speed yet.”
Her imagination supplied what it would be like to put half-trained wizards out in the field who only had semi-control of their powers. Riana winced at the image. “Aye, I be teaching anyone that wishes to know. Me da will do the same.”
The students gave little bounces and squeals of delight. Riana watched the reaction with a half-smile on her face, remembering that same sort of excitement when her da had finally deemed her old enough to be able to use a bow. Come to think of it, her training them first might be for the better benefit of all later. Most of fighting was about timing. Knowing when to move, how to move, and keeping your enemy always within your reach but staying out of his. If she could teach them that with archery then it would be so much the better when they began to wield magic instead.
Maree caught her attention and mouthed, ‘Start now.’
Riana nodded to her, nothing more than a subtle dip of the head to indicate she’d heard her, and pulled her horse in a little closer to the back side of the wagon so she could talk with them directly instead of having to twist. “Up for a first lesson?”
At least some of their words carried to the wagon ahead and behind as students off-loaded from both with almost reckless speed before coming directly to the wagon. None of the wagons moved very fast, a man at a walk could keep up just fine, so it didn’t take much effort for them to catch hold of a side and clamber up on top.
“Wait, wait,” Maree protested, “not all of you can ride! Think of my poor mules. The older ones, get off and walk alongside.”
There was some grumbling, but children shifted about and six off-loaded so that only eight were riding along on top. Riana shifted as well, putting a little more distance between her and the cart so that she only had an audience in one direction and she wouldn’t have to look back and forth. “Right, then. Here be the first rule of combat: if ye stand still, ye lose. Move. Be always on the move. Unless ye be ambushing someone, ye have to move. The tides of a fight change and shift and if ye stand still in one spot for long, ye will get caught in a bad situation.”
A hand uncertainly went up.
“Aye, lad. What’s yer name?”
“Jayla.” His skin was very dark, like Maree’s, wiry hair cut so short it was nearly bald. “Um, what do you mean when you say tides?”
Riana had to take a second to think. How to explain this? “There be a cadence to everything in life. Like a dance or a song, it all have a rhythm to it. Ye ken?” When she got a nod from everyone in the group, she tried to use that as her example. “A fight be like that. People move in waves, they come and go depending what be happening. There be lulls in a battle when a man has to retreat, take a breath, grab more arrows. There be a time when he has fought too long and has to go back afore he be caught out in the open with no energy. It be hard to explain without actually being in a battle firsthand.”
From ahead, Gerrard turned to call over his shoulder, “We’ll stage mock battles when we get to Estole to help train them!”
Riana’s eyebrows arched. How could he possibly have heard her? He was a good twenty feet ahead. “Does the man having the hearing of a bat?” When all of the children laughed, she flushed. Oops. Had she said that out loud? Clearing her throat, Riana tried to recover and keep going. “As me da explained it, a good fighter be fast and efficient. He will be vigilant to his surroundings, be able to read the energy around him, know how to energize the situation, and know the limits of things. If ye can get a grasp on that, then ye have better odds of making it through without falling.”
They were att
entive, strictly so, which didn’t surprise Riana one bit. Their very lives depended on what she was teaching them. They gave her good questions, proving they were thinking things through, and although she gave them only the basics of strategy to ponder, they were quick on the uptake.
It was perhaps inevitable that eventually the lesson would come to a semi-close and then the topic would shift entirely to what it was like being a partner with a wizard. Riana was first indulgent (it was only natural they were curious) and then increasingly amused as they tried to get her to explain exactly what it felt like to stand in a wizard’s magic.
Then, of course, they were curious as to how she would fare with their magic. Riana tied her horse to the back of the cart and let them cast shields up around her to see how she would react. Surprisingly, a third of them were fine. She didn’t quite enjoy it like she did Ash or Ashlynn’s magic, but it wasn’t intolerable in any way. The rest varied in degrees of unpleasant to almost painful.
They made camp that evening well off the road with more magical wards up than Riana could keep track of. The squiggles of the wards overlapping each other were so thick that it looked like someone had painted a canvas over the stars. As the children sorted out who would sleep where, and the adults went about actually making camp, Riana went out a ways and hunted down four rabbits. They’d brought food with them, of course, but it was difficult to bring enough food to feed that many people and she wanted to offset their supplies as much as she could.
Gerrard met her at the edge of the ward, standing in silhouette with the fire at his back. “Riana. I was just about to try my hand at hunting but it seems you beat me to it.”
“Ye can help me clean them, if ye like,” she suggested hopefully. Cleaning game was not her favorite thing to do.
“Certainly, I’ll give you a hand.” Gerrard reached out and took two from her before leading the way to a small brook that babbled nearby. They stopped short of the brook, taking off the fur with small hunting knives before Riana came in closer and washed the meat itself.
Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) Page 16