“Well, child, well. But restless. Not enough going on to keep my interest. I’m also deeply disappointed in you. You should have invited me before rebelling against Iysh. All of that excitement and I missed it completely.”
“Plenty of that coming our direction, I assure you,” Edvard drawled.
Gerrard chuckled, the sound reminiscent of a wolf that had just caught scent of prey. “Good, good. Now, I see another archer here that carries himself like Riana. Who are you, sir?”
“Broden Ravenscroft,” her father introduced himself with a polite inclination of the head. “I be Ashlynn’s partner.”
“Ho? So this is the father that you mentioned to me, Riana. Harmony find you, Master Broden.”
“And ye, sir.”
From behind, still on the carts, Maree called out, “Can we pause on the pleasantries and get all of these children in somewhere? We’re deathly sick of being on these carts.”
“We certainly can,” Edvard promised. “Ash did call ahead and warn us so we’ve had a room in the castle prepared. It’ll be a temporary thing but you’ll have a safe and warm place to sleep tonight at least.”
There was a general sigh of relief as no one had had that for the past two and a half weeks.
Turning, Edvard motion for Amber. “Please show them the way. Master Gerrard, if you can trust my people to settle everyone in? Good, then please come with me. I’ve got separate quarters set up for you and there’s much that we need to discuss.”
Riana took advantage as everyone went about settling into the castle to duck into her rooms, wash up, and change into clothes that did not smell of horse. Feeling better about life, she left and went into Edvard’s study, as she was told that everyone would convene there. Upon entering, she found Ash had already rejoined the group, and Ashlynn, Edvard, and her father were comfortably seated. Ash patted the seat next to his and she sank into it with a sigh of relief. Ah, a cushy thing that did not move. Glorious.
“Master Gerrard?” she asked him as she sat.
“Double checking that everyone is fine before coming up here. Edvard has them set up in the ballroom, as that’s the only place big enough to hold all of them, and they’re treating it like some huge slumber party. I think they’re fine, but Master isn’t the type to take someone’s word on that.”
Edvard cleared his throat. “Yes, well, he wasn’t quite what I was expecting. But then your description of him is radically different from Ashlynn’s, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. He strikes me as a very good man.”
“He is,” Ashlynn confirmed.
A twinkle appeared in Edvard’s eyes as he continued, “So, Ash. Once again I’ve sent you out to get something and you came back with far more than I asked for. I’m seeing a trend develop.”
“The man had every intention of coming before I even set foot inside the country,” Ash protested.
His words fell on deaf ears. Edvard spoke to the rest of the room. “I vote that from now on Ash is in charge of any seek-and-find missions. All in favor?”
Ashlynn and Broden promptly raised their hands. Edvard joined them with a smirk on his face. “Majority wins on this. Motion carried.”
Riana and Ash gave squawks of protest.
“No, no. No wiggling out of it.” Edvard shook a finger at them, that thrice-cursed grin still on his face. “I see good results. And when you deliver twenty-three wizards into my hands, you can’t call it anything but a good result.”
Ash leveled a basilisk stare at him. “Why do I put up with you again?”
“Gwen,” Edvard answered, smile not wavering in the slightest.
“If she wasn’t so cute, you wouldn’t be able to manipulate me like this,” Ash half-growled.
“Oh I know it. I bank on her cuteness.”
There was a casual rap at the door. Gerrard drawled, “This sounds like a serious conversation. Should I come back later?”
Ashlynn, laughing, waved him in. “Come sit here.”
Riana watched the man promptly sit next to Ashlynn with a doting smile on his face. She certainly understood why Ash was convinced Gerrard didn’t really like him. He certainly treated both twins differently. But Riana had noticed that Gerrard just had a soft spot for women in general and tended to be more rough-and-ready with the boys. It wasn’t anything against Ash.
“Master Gerrard,” Edvard went back to being his kingly self and met the man’s eyes squarely, “welcome to Estole. I’ve already started your process of being admitted as a citizen of this country—you and everyone that came along with you—but of course Troi will need to speak to you directly to get some of the particulars.”
“Of course,” Gerrard agreed readily. “I’ll speak to him after this, providing someone shows me where to go.”
“I will,” Ashlynn assured him. “But those are formalities. Let’s get down to the important things. There’s no room in Estole for you to rebuild the academy, so it’ll have to be the settlement.”
Ash cleared his throat. “We discussed as much coming here. Edvard, I have a site in mind, and it’s somewhat off the main street but still close to what will be the center of town.”
“I don’t care where you put it,” Edvard confessed frankly, “as long as I know how to quickly reach people during emergencies.”
“In that case we’ll leave you out of the decision making process.” Ash ignored Edvard’s spluttering and said to Gerrard, “The main site I mentioned will be the best choice but there’s a great deal of land over there. You can choose almost any location you wish. It’s just going to be a lot of work because most of it hasn’t been cleared yet.”
Gerrard gave a dismissive huff. “I have twenty students and two teachers who are motivated to get their new academy built before the snows hit. I’m not worried about it. But what am I to do for building supplies? King Edvard, do I buy them from the government?”
“The government has none to offer,” Edvard answered cheerfully. “We’re using it up as fast as we can get our hands on it. Anything that you can mine or log in the settlement lands is yours. Use it as you see fit. I just ask that you not waste anything. If there’s leftovers from your building, then give it to someone else that can use it.”
The master wizard liked this answer. “Noted, sire.”
“Also, I realize you want to get the academy up as quickly as possible, but be aware that we are ridiculously short on manpower. If you can spare anyone, even if it’s just one, to help us with other projects I’d be very grateful.”
“He knows it’s just the two of us working on things here,” Ash assured Edvard.
“Three now,” Ashlynn corrected.
“Three?” Ash blinked at her. “Where did the third person come from?”
“Kirsty Kilpatrick waltzed in here about five days ago and joined Estole.”
“Kirsty Kilpatrick…” Ash repeated, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to recall.
“Remember when we got together with Master Poole’s students for those competitions?” Ashlynn waited for a nod before continuing to jog her brother’s memory. “There was a skinny little brunette that I made friends with.”
“Ah, yes, her. She came to join? But I thought she was from a good family.”
“She is. But she had a rotten fiancé. So she came here instead.”
“Philip Poole.” Gerrard’s tone suggested he had bitten into a rotten lemon. “Now there’s a person you don’t want to be involved with. I was required by Iysh to give all of you practical experience working with other wizards, otherwise I never would have dealt with the man.”
“I know you didn’t like him?” Ashlynn trailed off encouragingly.
“Not a likeable man.” Gerrard crossed his arms over his chest, still frowning. “Manipulative, scheming, back-stabbing, boot-licker. And that’s the kindest description I can use for him. He was always trying to get into someone’s good graces and he didn’t particularly care what methods he had to use to do it. Sometimes, as a Wizard of Iysh, they
asked you to do some dirty work. I left court because I wouldn’t play into their games. Poole voluntarily took on whatever tasks I refused to do.” Shaking his head, he looked at the room in concern. “And you say one of his students is now here?”
“Kirsty is nothing like the man,” Ashlynn assured him. “In fact, she left Iysh because they were trying to force her down that same path and she balked at the idea.”
“That does give me some peace of mind.” Gerrard’s expression said he still had reservations about her.
Ashlynn, apparently realizing that nothing else she said would make much of a dent, let it lie. “Anyway, Ash, I had her pick up two of the projects you were working on. She’s continued to put in some of the streets and buildings over in the settlement, and she’s helping the miners when they need it. For someone who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, she’s certainly not afraid to work.”
Riana was relieved to hear it. Just one wizard to split the workload with would make all the difference in the world.
“And the warehouses? The storage rooms for food?” Ash asked her.
“Some of them built. But we’ve had a…setback.”
Her brother gave her a leery look. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
“We sure didn’t.” Ashlynn rubbed at her temples, not looking up as she related, “Two nights ago, the settlement was attacked.”
Riana felt her stomach drop out. “They came back?!”
“Aye,” Broden growled.
“Ah?” Gerrard waited for Ashlynn to face him before continuing, “What am I missing?”
“When we first started the settlement, we had trouble with bandits coming in from Cloud’s Rest,” Ashlynn explained. “Two of the gangs joined up together to attack the second time, but we drove them off, and after that we didn’t see any sign of them wanting to try again. But apparently they were just waiting us out. The minute that we stopped putting the ward up every night, they attacked. We lost a great many supplies, some of the buildings were damaged, but thankfully the people were able to either get out of the way or fight them off. My guardsmen were quick to respond.”
“Why did you stop putting up the ward?” Ash wasn’t quite accusatory, but his tone expressed his unhappiness.
“It had been a month,” Ashlynn retorted, a grimace on her face. “We couldn’t risk driving Kirsty into exhaustion like you had done. Either she was building, or she was putting up a ward every night, she couldn’t do both. I had guardsmen over there; I thought it would be fine as long as a guard was in place.”
“And it mostly was,” Edvard soothed. “We didn’t lose any people. The bandits did retreat. We just have some parts to rebuild. I consider that a win.” When he got evil twin-glares, he hastily backtracked. “Of sorts.”
“We’re going to have to deal with those bandits.” Ash pinned his blood-brother in place with his eyes. “Something that will have a permanent effect. I can barely find the time to build everything we need, and now you’re asking me to rebuild?”
“We’ll discuss exactly what to do later,” Ashlynn promised him. “I have an idea or three I want to pass by Broden and Riana before we sit down to plan. For now, Master, understand that the settlement is a little hectic.”
“I do that. In fact, from today on, I’ll put the ward up around the place, if you’re that short on wizards.” Gerrard had a no-nonsense set to his jaw that said even without permission, he would be putting a ward up.
“We’d greatly appreciate it, sir,” Edvard said respectfully. “Any help you give us will be welcome.”
“Then I’ll do that tonight. King Edvard.” Gerrard took a breath, phrasing the words in his head before giving them voice. “What is your plan for Iysh? You know they are likely to send an army against you?”
“I know.” Edvard sounded tired admitting to this. “Right now, I’m looking for as much information as I can. If we can somehow come to an agreement with Iysh before they send an army to our doorstep, all the better. If not, I still need information so I can make a plan to deal with them.”
“I still have contacts in court, although not many. I can send word to them?”
“Please do. Not many are willing to contact me at the moment and it’s difficult to pull off, now that we’re in a trade embargo with Iysh. Any information you give us will help.”
“I will make some inquiries,” Gerrard promised.
“Very good.” Slapping both knees, Edvard gave the whole room an encouraging smile. “Well. We can’t afford to sit here much longer, there’s too much to do. Back to work, everyone. Ash, Riana, stay here long enough for me to fill you in on what was done during your absence.”
Put to work the same hour they came back home? Riana couldn’t say she was too surprised by that.
“No matter what you say, I’m taking an hour or so to play with Gwen before I dive into things again,” Ash warned him.
“Of course. She’d never forgive me otherwise.”
Riana didn’t believe for one minute that had been Edvard’s plan. He was just going with the flow to keep Ash happy enough to work like a slave. Come to think of it, Gwen might be Ash’s motivation in working so hard, but it wasn’t for her. So why did she do it? For Ash?
Riana gave him a look out of the corner of her eye and thought it might not be a good time to answer that question. Not even to herself. Not yet.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Early morning was Broden’s favorite time of the day. He had learned over the past months here that if he did not carve out time for himself then no one would give it to him. So he got up early, right before the sun did, and took himself down to the training grounds so that he could spend a little time each day keeping his skills sharp.
Ashlynn had figured out what he was doing roughly about the time that Ash and Riana left Estole. She had asked him about it and he had responded: “A man’s talents be no’ rust-proof. They need consistent polishing to keep their shine.”
She had apparently taken this to heart as after that morning she had always met him there. Sometimes she created mirages for them to battle against, other times it was just the two of them working on the basics of their crafts, but either way they spent an hour together training. Sometimes they spoke but not often. Most of the time they didn’t need words.
This morning especially they were very in sync with each other. Ashlynn had put up her illusionary enemies for them to fight against. Broden was not quite sure how this spell worked. They looked like nothing more than shadows, half-solid, half-sheer, but they moved and fought like they were real soldiers. If he hit them with a steel arrow, they disappeared in a puff of smoke. Likewise, if Ashlynn hit them with one of her long knives, they puffed out.
The pair moved in and around each other, Broden skipping in and out of her protective shield like a bird skimming over water, taking no notice of it most of the time. They still had three opponents up when he heard someone else enter the training yard, but aside from tracking the person’s general position he paid no attention to them. Only when the last ‘enemy’ disappeared did he turn to look.
It was not one of the guards as he had expected, but instead Gerrard. The man was apparently a morning person as he was wide awake, fully dressed, and watching them with an unreadable expression on his face. Ashlynn took notice of him at the same time and said easily, “Morning, Master.”
“Good morning,” he returned. Gesturing with a finger between the two of them, he asked, “You do this every morning?”
“It’s a recent routine we developed,” she answered, wiping sweat away from her forehead. “I enjoy it. I think it’s the only peaceful time we have to ourselves all day.”
Broden also felt she was less inclined to beat up the first criminal she found after working out any frustrations she felt pre-work day. He was a wise man. He did not bring that up.
Gerrard gestured to the knives in her hands. “Since when do you fight with weapons?”
“Ah, these? Broden has been teach
ing me. They’re very much a last resort, for a time when I’m completely out of magic, which I hope never comes. But I enjoy training with them. I think my reflexes have improved because of it.”
“They have at that,” Broden agreed. He had seen for himself that her reaction times had improved.
Ashlynn beamed at him. “High praise, coming from you. Anyway, Master, you’re out here very early. You were looking for us?”
“When I asked, the kitchen staff said you were likely out here.” Gerrard shifted his focus to Broden. “On the trip here, Riana started teaching my students archery and strategy. Several of them showed aptitude for it. I’d like for the lessons to continue but it’s a bit much to ask her to take all twenty of them on by herself. She said you would likely help if I asked.”
Personally, Broden found it foolish in the extreme to have half-trained wizards with no combat skills in a country that was facing imminent attack. With no compunction whatsoever he agreed, “Aye, I will. These lessons have a time and place to them?”
“Whenever we can get the two of you to agree. I’ll make sure my students are there.”
“Then let me confer with me daughter and we can talk about this again tonight.”
“Sounds fair,” Gerrard allowed. “Ashlynn, I want to make sure my students have a thorough understanding of the laws here in Estole. Can you meet with them after breakfast and explain everything to us?”
“That is a very good thought.” Stowing both knives away in the sheaths on her belt, she clapped Broden on the shoulder as she walked past him. “I’ll clean up and meet you at breakfast.”
“Aye.” Broden did not so much as budge. He knew good and well that Gerrard had not come out here at this bird’s hour of the morning to ask favors of the two of them. This kind of thing was talked about during breakfast, not an hour before it. No, the man had heard that he and Ashlynn were routinely alone out here in the mornings and had come to see for himself what they were up to.
Gerrard’s mouth curved up in a simulacrum of a smile. “How did you know I wanted to talk to you one-on-one?”
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