“Either. The one thing that Iysh cannot afford is for Estole to have a whole new batch of wizards even if the majority of them are not completely trained.”
She pivoted in a small circle, taking in every person there but especially the students. The thought that they could suddenly be attacked on the road left her feeling cold inside. “Tomorrow, I will run them through what to do if we be attacked. Be they capable of putting up personal shields?”
Ash thought on that for a moment before shrugging and nodding. “They all learn that within the first two years of their training so they should be able to. What are you thinking? Have them grouped together on the carts and shielding the whole cart if we are attacked?”
“Be there a better plan?” she countered. “Ye know more of what they be capable of than I.”
“If Master hasn’t changed his training methods in the past ten years then I believe that is the best they can do. I would rather not risk them in open combat anyway. Not until we can decently train them in it.” Seeing how worried she was, Ash put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze of encouragement. “Don’t worry, I will talk with everyone tonight and put them in the best groups possible so that the strongest shielders are spread out. We both will drill them in the morning so that they are certain of what to do if we are attacked.”
That did make her feel a little bit better but Riana was still sending up every prayer she could think of for the safety of the students. She might have only known them for three days but she had grown quite fond of several of them and would hate to lose them now.
With a last squeeze, Ash let go of her and went to find his master. Riana went to the campfire to make sure that dinner wasn’t burning and stayed there until everyone had a full plate in hand.
Gerrard stood with his plate and ate well enough but in-between bites he would point a fork at various people. “Just because we’re on the road doesn’t mean the lessons stop. I’m putting you in study groups tonight and tomorrow we’re going to learn how to combine our shields over an area instead of just around your own body. The area will be the cart. Also, Miss Riana has pointed out that if we’re attacked by bandits, we’ll have a hard time fending them off. So she’s going to run you through drills in the morning so that you know exactly where to go and what to do.”
There were some excited bounces from the students, and Violet, sitting nearby, asked her, “Will you teach us archery tomorrow too?”
Riana glanced at Gerrard and saw him give her a small nod of encouragement. “The back of a wagon be a hard place for a beginner. I will teach ye the basics tonight. Tomorrow ye practice magic on the road.”
Getting her way now was of course preferable over waiting for the morning. Violet grinned like a possum that knew where all the shinies were kept.
Thais threw up a hand as far as she could, as if reaching into the heavens itself. “Me too!”
“Aye,” Riana agreed, heart lifting at seeing their eagerness. “Ye as well.”
“Wait, before the whole camp tries to get in on this,” Ash quickly stepped in, “we only have one bow. Riana, how many do you think you can teach at once?”
She seriously thought on this. While training with the guard, she had taught four or five at once, but they all had their own weapons. Still, she could demonstrate and have four watch on, then have them each try their hand at it. That would work, wouldn’t it? “Four.”
“Then four it is. Violet, Thais…someone else talked to you this morning about lessons, didn’t they?”
“Sarah.”
“Then tonight, start with those three and…hm. Jay?”
Jay grinned. “Please, sir.”
“Jay,” Ash confirmed to her. “I’ll divide up the rest into groups and set up a schedule for them. By the time we hit Estole, you should have gone through each group twice. They’ll at least know the basics by the time we get home.”
He might be right on that. It was taking them longer to get back because the carts were so much slower. Riana chaffed at the pace but there wasn’t a thing they could do about it. Even if they ditched everything that had been packed, their speed wouldn’t increase by much because they didn’t have enough horses to mount all of the students and teachers, so they’d still have to use the carts. There simply wasn’t a faster method available, curse the luck.
All Riana could do was work with what she had. So she gathered up her four students, scratched out a quick target on a tree that did not stand near the camp, and went through the basics of archery.
After spending the whole day on the road just ambling along, no one was particularly tired, and Riana took advantage of that. The lesson lasted well over an hour and by the time she was done, they had the hang of it. They could reliably put an arrow into the tree. Perhaps not on target, but at least into the tree. Real life hardly ever gave a motionless target but it would take considerable practice before they could hit a moving target.
As she taught archery, Ash, Gerrard, Maree, and Loraine worked with the students and put them into groups. Those that had never combined shields before were taught the spell and given practice at it so that they could readily fall in with the drills tomorrow.
Riana went to bed that night satisfied that even though they may not be completely prepared for the worst, they at least wouldn’t be caught off guard.
Ash spent the next day either helping Riana drill the students or telling them what battle really consisted of. The older ones listened with sobriety, taking his words of caution to heart. Riana didn’t think they quite sunk in with the younger ones. At twelve or thirteen the idea of a wizard striding into battle to save a new kingdom was the height of romantic fancy. They weren’t really in the mood to hear anything that went contrary to their imaginations.
They went several rounds throughout the day of getting into their groups, putting up a defensive shield around the carts, and bracing for an attack. The first three tries were rough in the extreme with people tripping over everyone and everything and stragglers being left behind. By lunch, they’d gotten the hang of it. By dinner, it was almost a smooth transition. Even as Riana praised them for the progress, she prayed that they would never need to actually use it.
Day five on the road dawned a smidge cooler than it had the previous day. Riana was heartily grateful for it because it was miserable traveling in such beastly hot weather.
Jay sat on the very edge of the cart, leaning forward, arms bracing himself so he wouldn’t fall off the edge. “Miss Riana, Ash said that you know how to track.”
“I do,” she confirmed. It bemused her, how the children called her. Ash was always just Ash, as if he were just an older brother. But she was always ‘miss.’ Was it a matter of them not having completely warmed up to her yet? Surely it couldn’t be a matter of familiarity as she was Ash’s partner; it should be understood that she was as much a part of this group as they.
“Can you teach us that too? Ash said it’s saved him a couple of times as you found him when he was lost once, and you can always find game, and sometimes you use it to track down bandits.”
Now when had Ash found the privacy to brag on her without her knowing about it? She shot a look ahead, where her wizard was riding along next to Maree. “Did he now.”
“Master said it was a good skill to have,” Sarah chipped in.
So it wasn’t just Ash in on this, eh? “Well, it be that, certainly.” Not seeing the harm in it, she pointed to the ground. “Some tracks be obvious, like a horse’s hooves in dirt. The deeper the print, the more weight the horse carried. The shallower, smaller slice of hoof ye see, it means the faster the horse be going. Ken?”
“Ken,” at least four voices answered.
Amused, she continued, “Now, common sense applies here. Packed dirt like this will no’ leave much of a trail behind. Stone leaves naught at all. It be soft soil that ye check first, like that yonder—” she lifted a hand to point toward the trees lining the side of the road. From ahead there was a flash of so
mething in between the trees and she knew in an instant what it was—metal gleaming in the sun. Instinct had her shouting out, “SHIELDS UP!”
Everyone could hear the change in her tone. This was not a drill, she had seen something that scared her, and so there were no questions. Everyone scrambled into position and the shields were up bare seconds after she gave the order.
Riana dug her heels into the sides of her horse, propelling him forward, even as Ash wheeled his around to race back to her.
“Ahead, left, in the trees,” she said quickly.
Ash swore, sawed his horse back around, and snapped up a shield that would cover them both.
Their attackers realized when they stopped that their ambush had been foiled. They came pouring out of the trees in waves of twos and threes, coming in fast and quiet. There were no orders, no shouts, just the grim determination of men coming to do a dirty deed. Riana stood in her stirrups, already loosening the top of her quiver, and pulled out four arrows by feel alone. Standing as she was, she could use her longbow without problem and she aimed at her first target without thinking much about it. Aim, fire, aim, fire, aim, fire. In quick succession, she had four men down and was reaching for more arrows even as she maneuvered her horse to stand at Ash’s side.
Gerrard was not a man to go into a fight quietly. He bellowed at the top of his lungs even as he attacked, the spells coming out so quick and fierce that it sounded like gibberish. Maree and Loraine were just as quick to attack.
Riana didn’t stay in that spot, but turned, making sure that nothing was sneaking up behind them while they dealt with this frontal attack. As her head came around, she saw from the corner of her eye that there were some men that had headed for the tail end and some of the older students were trying to fend them off. At least one attacker was a wizard, as the spells being cast against him bounced right off without doing any damage.
Swearing, Riana shouted to Ash, “The rear!”
Ash’s head snapped around, taking in her warning, then he plunged for them.
In the melee, she had lost count of how many men came pouring out of the trees. All Riana knew was that there were too many. She’d take down one, another three would pop up. Worse, the students had to fight off some men that had gotten through the teacher’s line of defense.
Her wizard realized it at the same moment and pointed to them. She nodded, silently reassuring him she had seen them and would take care of it.
Riana kneed her horse around, protecting his back even as she put herself into a position where she had a clear line of sight for the whole left side of the carts. Taking a breath to steady herself, she grabbed four arrows, nocked, drew, and aimed for the one nearest to her.
The men attacking the carts were focused on the students, trying to get through the shields, and were not paying very good attention to their backs. They were easy pickings. Riana systematically took out one after the other. As she did so, she kept an ear open to what was going on behind her. If someone came at their sides, she and Ash would both be in trouble and if they went down, the whole party wouldn’t survive.
After six down, one man finally noticed what she was doing, and ducked around the cart to avoid her. It only did him partial good as she could still see the better part of a foot and leg. Taking aim there, she shot him dead in his calf, making sure he couldn’t get easily back on his feet again. But the next had taken advantage of those few seconds she’d needed to do such careful aiming, and he was retreating back to the front.
The front actually was a bad idea on his part. Gerrard was in full voice up there. Riana didn’t for one second believe the man needed any of her help. She turned back around and looked for Ash.
He was exactly where she thought him to be, and as she watched, he felled the last man. There was a trace of sweat on his forehead and a feral light in his eyes that told her his adrenaline was running high. She shared a fierce smile with him. All of those drills and instructions had paid off. Not one cart’s shield had fallen and they hadn’t lost a single student.
Hopefully the teachers had fared as well.
Standing in her stirrups again, she bellowed, “Who’s injured?!”
“Cart four is fine!”
“Cart three is too!”
“Sarah banged her head in cart two but otherwise we’re fine!”
Riana didn’t think a banged head was much of an injury so she ignored that one.
“Loraine is hurt up here in cart one!” It was Jay that had said this and he did not sound happy.
Alright, that she would check on.
Ash was completely in sync with her as they moved to the front of the line. Riana kept an eye out in all directions just in case the ambush wasn’t completely over. She didn’t think there was anyone left but it never hurt to be cautious.
When they reached Loraine, she was sitting up in the cart but had a pinched expression on her face and she was listing a little to the side. Maree had braced Loraine’s back against her chest, propping her up, and the look in her eyes suggested that if there was anyone still alive, she’d murder them for hurting her friend. Riana and Ash both dismounted and handed reins off to nearby students, ready to have their hands free it if were needed.
Gerrard knelt awkwardly half-on, half-off the cart with a hand against Loraine’s ribs. “Feels like you cracked about three of them.”
Loraine hissed in a breath and gritted out through her teeth, “You’re telling me?”
“Healing spell will only help so much with this. We’ll need to wrap them and there will be no strenuous activity for you until we reach Estole.”
Riana heard that for what it was: no fighting, no driving, nothing at all that required strength or reach. Otherwise it wouldn’t be cracked ribs they’d be dealing with. She looked up at Jay, sizing him with her eyes. Big, strapping boy that he was he stood almost a half-head taller than Loraine and was likely capable of carrying the woman around bodily if asked. “Jay.”
He straightened and looked right at her. “Yes’um.”
“Ye need to be Loraine’s right arm ‘til we reach Estole. Ye watch out for her.”
Jay nodded seriously before bending down to say near Loraine’s ear, “I’ll be right here whenever you need me.”
Loraine reached up and patted his hand. “Bless you, Jay. Thank you. Was I the only one injured?”
“Sarah bumped her head,” Riana reported. “But naught else.”
Gerrard finished his spell work and stepped back. “Wrap it snuggly. Yes, we came through that fight well, considering the numbers against us. Did anyone get a headcount?”
From the back of the cart, Violet answered, “Fifty-eight.”
Of course someone had counted. Then again, aside from watching the enemy duke it out with their teachers, the teenagers hadn’t had anything better to do. Their sole task was to keep their shields up and not get injured.
“Who be we fighting against? It did no’ look like bandits to me.”
“Iysh soldiers,” Ash responded, staring at a nearby body with a dark frown. “At least two wizards mixed in, too. They’re not in uniform, so I’m betting this is a bit of dirty work they don’t want bandied about. Fighting a rebel from Estole is one thing, after all, but the massacre of children? That’s another kettle of fish entirely.”
Riana didn’t like the sound of that at all. Gerrard didn’t either as he glanced up and commented, “We’ll likely be attacked again, more than once, trying to get to Estole. Let’s set lookouts and rotations for the carts being shielded, just in case we get ambushed again.”
That was the sensible course of action. After working with people the night before, Riana had a grasp of their abilities, and started planning it out in her head.
Sarah came to them with a hand protectively held over her forehead. Gerrard moved to intercept her and gently lowered the hand to get a look. An egg of blues and greens was forming and it did look rather nasty. “Shh,” Gerrard murmured to her, hand already glowing as he prepared a sp
ell. “Hold still. How did this happen, anyway?”
Grimacing, Sarah related, “One of those men was trying to climb into the cart. I think he was a wizard or a wizard was helping him because he was making cracks in our shield. It scared me and I scrambled back, trying to stay out of his reach, but then Miss Riana noticed him and she shot him before he could get through.” Sarah gave the archer a look that spoke of pure adoration.
Avis leaned out and asked Sarah in a loud whisper, “Did you see her move? It was amazing. She always seemed to know exactly where the enemy would be.”
Sara nodded avidly until remembering that was a bad idea. Even with a grimace on her face, she still said enthusiastically, “And she only said one thing to Ash. They were in perfect sync with each other. It was like a duet. Or a dance.”
“I think she took down as many as Ash did, too.”
That caught Jay’s attention and he leaned back to get within line of sight of both girls. “Really? Were you keeping count?”
Stepping close to her back, Ash leaned against her and whispered against her ear, “It looks like you’ve acquired ducklings. When did that happen?”
“No idea,” she murmured back, bemused at this growing hero worship. She watched the conversation play out, more of the students climbing down and joining in, the skirmish being re-hashed as each put in their own observations. She expected Gerrard to put a stop to it but the man let it roll and she realized after a moment that this was good experience for them. They were learning how to observe the flows and rhythm of battle, and talking about it like this gave each of them a missing piece. Once she grasped that, Riana was willing to let them all have a few minutes.
Ash wrapped an arm around her waist and let his forehead rest against her shoulder. “That scared about five years off me. But if they send this amount of men against us, or less, I think we can handle it.”
“It do no’ matter if they send us more,” Riana declared to him quietly, “we still can manage.”
He let go of her enough to half-turn to the side, getting a look at her face. There was a soft smile on his that spoke of pride. Through their connection, she could feel it, burning bright and hard.
Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) Page 18