“Instinct,” Broden drawled.
This tickled the man’s humor enough to get a more genuine smile from him for a second. “I’m asking this as Ashlynn’s master. What are you to her?”
“I do believe she told ye that the first time we met. We be partners.”
“Partners.” Gerrard repeated the word as if he were not sure what it meant. “You know, I asked Ash and Riana the same question. And that was their answer. But it’s as plain as the nose on my face that they think of each other as something more. You do realize that they’re falling for each other?”
Broden resisted the urge to roll his eyes to the heavens. But it was a real challenge. “I do have eyes, man. Two of them. They both work rather well.”
“And you can tell me that you and Ashlynn aren’t the same?”
The archer’s eyes nearly crossed at that mental image and he could not help it—he laughed. “Ah, no.” Seeing that Gerrard really was worried about this, he said gently, “Think, man. The lass be the same age as me own daughter. It be a father she needs, no’ an old man as a lover.”
“Father.” Gerrard parroted this without comprehension and then stepped back, looking away, the wheels turning in his mind. The next time he repeated the word, it was like a revelation. “Father. Yes. That’s it. That’s the way you two interact. I knew it was more than partnership between the pair of you but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.”
Broden shrugged, not surprised by this. Ashlynn had never had a father in her life that she could remember. Even she would not know what to do with one if it suddenly appeared. Gerrard had never seen her act like this before as she had never had a father-figure until Broden showed up. Sometimes she was a little awkward, sometimes she was as natural around him as a duck on water, sometimes she was the wizard and he her protector, sometimes she was a little girl that just needed a shoulder for a minute. Ashlynn had many faces and he had come to know some of them very well. The one consistent thing between them was that he had her back. Always.
“Father and partner mixed in one.” The tension ran out of Gerrard’s shoulders. “Well. I’m glad. You’re right, that’s exactly what Ashlynn needs, although she’ll tell you quite differently if you ever ask her. She always treated me as her master and friend, nothing more, as if she stubbornly had to prove she didn’t need a father.”
“Aye, the lass be independent that way.” But both men knew that it did not matter how old a woman got or how strong she might be. Everyone needed that one person she could go to when things were well and truly wrong.
“You should be used to independent women as your Riana is the same way.”
Broden grinned outright. “The two be similar that way.” Feeling like he had a better sense of the man now, he put his bow over his shoulder and gestured for Gerrard to follow him back to the castle proper. Gerrard took the invitation in stride and fell into step with him. “Now, these students of yers. They be how old?”
“The youngest is twelve, the oldest is twenty-one.”
“Pardon a man’s curiosity but do their parents know where they be?”
“Ah, that? From the ones of age, I didn’t do anything more than send a letter of notification. For the rest, I went and talked to their parents personally and explained what I was going to do. They all agreed Estole was a better place than Iysh for a young wizard to train in. I expected a fight on my hands but not one argued with me.” Gerrard lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Then again, I don’t have a single student that currently has good connections or is from a high level in Iysh society. That could be why.”
There be no ‘could be’ about it. “I see.”
“Riana was teaching them all equally, but how old do they need to be?”
Broden snorted. “Me daughter was knee high and playing with arrows. Twelve be plenty old enough. Now, I do no’ want them on the front lines of battle, but if it becomes that desperate, I do want them to know where to stand and how to fight so they can at least survive.”
Gerrard nodded firmly and in that moment the two men were exactly in accord with the other. “Precisely so. I know you and Riana will be very busy. We all will. But do you think you can train them every day?”
“Their safety be depending on it. I can find the space of an hour.” Broden especially did not want battle-green wizards being turned out in the next few years. That was folly in the extreme. Even if he lost an hour’s sleep because of this on a daily basis, the sacrifice was worth it. “Now, ye said me Riana was teaching them. How much did she cover?”
They walked with each other inside, relaying information back and forth, planning, and secretly hoping that what they would teach in the upcoming months would never be used.
Ashlynn gathered them all into the small sitting room in the twins’ suite. It was not just both partners but Edvard as well, an informal council formed up of the original people who had established Estole. Broden had a notion that Ashlynn had done this on purpose instead of calling for a full council to talk about the problem as she wanted to discuss ideas freely before settling on a course of action.
He also had a notion that what she wanted would be something that most of the provosts would not agree with.
She had them all seated, with herself standing in front of the fireplace, before she clapped her hands in satisfaction. “It wasn’t easy getting you all here.”
“We do have duties in completely different parts of the country,” her twin observed drolly.
“Hush, you. Now. I am personally tired of defending against attacks. The army from Iysh is bad enough, but the bandits have proven to be equally destructive in some ways. They’re also even more unpredictable. At least with Iysh, we have spies to alert us if they’re moving. With the bandits, we have no clue until they’re right on top of us.”
Broden grimaced. That was unfortunately the full truth as it stood. “So what do ye want to do, lass?”
“Hunt them down and eliminate them.” There was a fierce light in her eyes.
Ash and Edvard jerked upright and spluttered in synchronized protest, “Ashlynn!”
“You have a better option?” she inquired mock-sweetly, eyes wide and innocent like a maiden. “Aside from running all of the wizards of Estole into the ground by erecting numerous wards every night? Because now it’s not just the settlement we have to protect, but all of the mines as well.”
“We have more wizards,” Edvard offered weakly.
The Sheriff of Estole was having none of it. “Most of them are busy building things. Or rebuilding things. Or teaching the upcoming generation of students the finer points of magic. You want to take turns exhausting them? That’s a fine plan. Let’s have them all tired and wrung out when the Iyshian army strikes.”
Edvard turned to Ash for support and found none. “She does have a good point,” Ash admitted. “We really want to be near the top of our forms, not barely squeaking by, if Iysh ever decides to move.”
“But hunt them down?” Edvard objected, appealing to both twins. “We don’t have the manpower for that!”
“It will no’ take many to pull this off.” Broden eyed his partner speculatively. He could not read her emotions through their bond like Ash and Riana could but he did not need to in this case to have an idea of what the lass was thinking. “A small, elite team could do more damage than an army up there. That be what ye’re thinking, be it no’.”
“Precisely.” She beamed at him. “Edvard. I just need three weeks and a few people. With Broden’s knowledge of the area, I can strike fast and hard at the right places, and I can make it very costly for the bandits that hit us. So costly they never want to do it again.”
“Who are you thinking to take with you?” Edvard hedged, not agreeing one way or another.
“Me, Broden, Kirsty—”
“Wait, why Kirsty?” Ash interrupted.
“After all of that work she’s done on the settlement, building things in your place, she is livid. It took Bragdon and Broden both holding
her back; otherwise she would have marched up there herself and taken the bandit gangs on. Believe me, she wants in on this.” Ashlynn paused to consider their reactions before adding, “And Master.”
“The man just arrived!” Edvard shook his head in denial. “No, surely not him.”
“No, he’ll want to go,” Ash endorsed, lips kicked up on one side. “He’ll consider this ‘fun’ and if you leave him out of it, he’ll pout for weeks. Besides, he’s not going to rest easy until this problem is eliminated. The bandits are striking too close to home for him. He won’t want his students over there until this is settled.”
Ashlynn gave him a regal nod. “Precisely.”
Riana turned to Ash and said softly, “We should go too.”
Ash met her eyes and for several moments the two of them spoke without words, conveying what they were thinking, ‘hearing’ what the other person felt. Broden watched them and felt his heart constrict a little. There had been a time, when Fianna was alive, that he had had such a bond with another person that words were not necessary. Seeing his daughter find that connection with someone else made him happy but also a little sad. It was a bittersweet thing.
The room stayed quiet, waiting for what they would say. It was Ash that spoke, eyes level with hers. “I’ll punch every person that insults you, man, woman, or child.”
Her hand slid into his, fingers lacing. “That be fine,” she whispered, winking.
Tightening his grip around her hand, Ash looked up at their audience and announced, “We’ll go too. I’m also mad about the destruction they’ve done and Riana’s knowledge of the area will be just as vital, I think. It’s also an opportune moment. Edvard, you do realize that we’re close enough to incorporate Cloud’s Rest into our own boundaries? That given enough time, the settlement will likely grow enough to meld into their borders?”
“I had considered it,” Edvard admitted, eyeing the pair of them. “But that’s another couple years down the line so I wasn’t going to worry about it just yet. You think I should?”
“The bandits be a bane to everyone up there,” Riana explained. “If ye want to get on the village’s good side, establish a relationship, now be the time to do it. Get rid of the bandits. It be a sign of good faith.”
“We need to establish trade with someone, have another source of food coming in,” Ash picked up the idea and kept rolling with it. “Cloud’s Rest will be a good source for that. It can’t hurt to try.”
Ashlynn cocked her head. “But no one has mentioned that before? I mean, we’ve been having food shortages for months, why not approach them before this?”
“No bargaining power,” Broden explained. “Cloud’s Rest be needing a mighty large reason to go against Iysh. Getting rid of the bandits be the right leverage for us. Which is why, King, I vote we go as well.”
Edvard groaned and refused to look at any of them, eyes on the ceiling. “Why do I feel like I’m being ganged up on?”
Because he was. Broden was not about to say it aloud though.
“And your arguments make too much sense.” He glanced around suspiciously. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you had planned all of this out beforehand.”
“We didn’t,” Ashlynn denied. But the whole room knew they did not need to. The twins knew how the other thought, their partners were used to reading each other, and the four of them combined could read the others well enough that they did not have to have this out before laying it all out in front of Edvard.
“Just three weeks?” Edvard asked, suspicious. “You really think you can pull off everything you need to in that time?”
“With four wizards and two archers that are experts on the area?” Ashlynn responded, already sporting a victorious smile. She knew she had won. “If I can’t pull this off in three weeks, there’s something wrong with the world.”
“Even if you don’t do everything you planned, you have to come back home when your time is up,” Edvard commanded, pointing a stern finger at her. “I can’t spare you for longer than that.”
“I know,” she soothed. “We’ll be good and come back after three weeks.”
“If Ash hadn’t come back with so many wizards, I wouldn’t be able to let you go at all.” Edvard went back to staring at the ceiling. He seemed to find it safer, or perhaps easier, than meeting anyone’s eyes. “Let me check with my spies tonight. If Iysh is still dragging their feet, you can go. If not, you’re staying. I’m not being caught shorthanded with an army on my doorstep.”
Ashlynn maneuvered over to his side and patted him on the head. “You’re a good brother.”
“I feel sorry for the bandits, I really do,” he muttered, ignoring being patted on the head like a faithful dog. “They have no idea what they’ve done by irritating you. Are you really that sure that Gerrard will go?”
“Absolutely positive.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“How’s this?” Ash looked to his master for an opinion.
They’d come out this afternoon after Ashlynn had done a lecture to all of the new citizens about the laws here. There were many questions, some thoughtful, some silly, but at the end every person seemed quite pleased about these less stringent laws. With that sorted, Gerrard had given them specific instructions to learn the city and learn it well. He’d broken them up in groups with a shopping list for supplies and, armed with some of the new currency, they happily went off. As long as it didn’t involve traveling on a cart, they would likely have done anything cheerfully.
Gerrard stood on the docks and did a slow revolution, looking around him with judicious eyes. “How long have you been building this place?”
“Hmm, almost three months?” Riana offered. “If ye include clearing the land.”
“Which I do,” Ash muttered under his breath.
“This is a great deal of work to be done in just three months.”
Truly. Riana had fresh eyes to it now that she had left and come back again. Some things of course had been done in their absence. One of the food storage buildings had been built, for instance. There were three new streets that she could see coming in. Of course Edvard had explained to them the day before everything that had been done, but that was different than seeing it with their own eyes.
It no longer looked like a ‘settlement.’ It had all the earmarks of a proper town now. Which meant they really did need to come up with a proper name to go along with it. Riana would bring it up later but for now she enjoyed the progress. They had a new smithy, three operating mines, a completed marketplace with all of the essential stores, and almost three dozen houses that were finished. More businesses were in the process of being built, which included a mercantile, clothier, and apothecary.
She was also heartsick seeing what destruction had been left in the bandits’ wake. The inn had serious fire damage in one corner of the building and even now people were tearing out the burned boards, preparing to redo it. The bakery had been hit by fire as well and its roof was severely charred. Some of the houses, which had nothing more than a framework up, were down to charred rubble, and it would require clearing away before any rebuilding could be done. Riana had heard that the bandits had used fire to distract people so they could make off with the supplies. Seeing it with her own eyes was infinitely worse. Heading for Cloud’s Rest and hunting down bandits sounded better every moment.
“This place does have more room to expand,” Gerrard finally stated, tone satisfied. “And I believe that by the end of next year we’ll have everything we need here and won’t have to go into Estole proper very often. Alright. I agree to building the academy here. Which site did you have in mind?”
“Ah, it’s actually straight along this road. It extends far past the houses, so you can choose a lot on either side. If you want to be on the main street?”
“I’d prefer it, certainly.”
Riana knew that Edvard certainly would. If he had to send a messenger to the academy, then a direct route would be best.
&nbs
p; They followed Ash to the site that he had in mind but Gerrard was shaking his head before they had even come within full view of it. “Something flatter than this, Ash. The land curves a little too much for my liking.”
“Flatter? Hmm.” Ash turned to Riana.
She nodded and waved them forward. “I think I know a good place. This way.”
“Riana, how is it that you know the place up here better than Ash?”
“Ah, that? While he be putting in docks and buildings, I be wandering about acting as provost. And hunting. So I have a better sense of the lay of the land.” She took them off the roads entirely and to the east although not far. Then she stopped and gestured. “This section goes back a ways. Aside from the land right next to the channel, it be as flat as can be. Everything else be naught but hills and ridges.”
Gerrard took several steps forward, eyes taking in the area. It wasn’t completely flat, no lot was, but it was nothing more than wrinkles in the ground. This place wasn’t cleared yet, either, so the trees were still thick as thieves and as wide as the day was long. The wizard master spread a hand, palm facing earth, and invoked a spell. Then he waited for several seconds before a slow smile spread over his face. “There’s fresh water under this area. A rather large river, actually.”
True, he would need a well, wouldn’t he?
“As you can see, the land isn’t cleared, and there isn’t a connecting road, but if you like the place?” Ash waited for a confirming nod before continuing, “Then I’ll build you a connecting road.”
Gerrard waved him down. “We can handle that. And clearing the place. We’ll use the trees here for lumber. I’ll make up the plans today of what we’ll build and have Maree and Loraine start on it tomorrow. Do I need to submit the plans to anyone?”
“Me, actually. I’m the acting provost of the area until Edvard can find someone to appoint. Do you have an idea of how much land you want?”
“Now that is an excellent question.” Gerrard stepped back and really studied the area. “Hold on. Let me pace this out.” He started walking with a stiff, measured stride, counting to himself as he went. The man stopped barely within shouting distance and gave an exaggerated motion toward his feet, pointing at the ground. “HERE!”
Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) Page 21