by Aaron Thomas
The king waved them off, “Mary, where do you stand?”
“I am in favor of the negotiations.” She said from an open area near the back of the tent. She was probably standing away from anything flammable Kilen thought.
The earth council seat, Sasha, stepped forward, “I am in agreement as well.”
“If my council is in agreement, I will accept the request to meet in negotiations for a truce. I trust that you will be there to hold the meeting, Kilen.” It was a command, not a question.
“I will leave when as soon as I can so I may arrange it,” he replied.
“Halfway between our camps, in a large clearing, and at noon. He may bring fifty of his men with him to ensure his safety. I will bring mine as well. These are my terms,”Atmos said taking a bite of meat.
Kilen bowed his head, “I will see that it is done.”
“Good, with this all settled I wish to get some rest. You are all dismissed. Mica, I wish to speak with Captain Lorusk,” the king said waving the rest of his council away.
Mica bowed his head and rushed out of the tent. Kilen departed after him, followed by the rest of the wizards. Kilen watched as the archers carried off the former body of the man that now whimpered in his head. He knew that he would have to speak with the voice soon so he could explain what was happening.
The flames blazed as Bowie’s former soldiers tossed their hats on to the campfires. Bowie stood nearby watching with his uncovered braided hair hanging behind him. From behind there were little differences between him and his protector, Auburn. John stood and made sure that Bowie watched every hat being burned; apparently that was Bowie’s punishment for letting the traitors go.
Brent caught up with Mary and Ria in tow. “Kilen, we must speak.”
“I have a meeting to arrange so you will have to make it quick.”
The skinny wizard cleared his throat but spoke in a whisper while looking around, “Did anything seem strange about that meeting?”
Kilen was picking up his pack, trying to think of everything odd that occurred. The man in his brain was drawing most of his attention, but he was still rather pleased that the king had agreed to meet with King Rekkan for a truce. The wheels of his mind started to turn and he realized what Brent was suggesting.
“It was too easy.”
“Yes, when has the king ever not argued against anything involving you? He gave in without so much as a minor complaint.”
Kilen nodded and pushed again as the man started to sob at the mention of the king. “You’re right. Something is strange about this, but we will have to let it runs its course. We will be cautious. So far he has agreed to this meeting and that is all we can hope for.”
“We’ll be able to attend this meeting. The rules of negotiations state that wizard councils may be present. If something changes, we will do our best to let you know, but you should expect us there.” Brent patted Kilen’s shoulder.
“King Rekkan did not bring a council with him. Only a war party.” Kilen spoke softly. The others nodded, flashing looks between one another.
**********
Mica entered the king’s tent with Captain Lorusk on his heels.
“You wished to see me, your highness?” The captain asked as he bowed.
“The council and I, along with fifty of our best wielders, will be meeting with King Rekkan tomorrow at noon to discuss a truce. When that happens I want you to flank their main defenses and wait for my flare signal. Kill as many of them as you can. I will handle King Rekkan. We will end this war and I will take Rekkan prisoner all in one day without the need of my army,” Atmos said slamming his fist on the table.
“What of the weapon bearer, my lord?” Mica asked
The king laughed, “He will be to blame. The Fire Realm will not trust him to set up any meetings. You saw him tonight, who’s colors does he wear?”
“Your colors, my lord,” Lorusk responded.
“Will you have the strength in magic to take Rekkan?” Mica asked.
“The only magic I will use will be the strength of my arms. Follow my orders exactly. We will leave the camp and as soon as we are out of sight, Mica will issue the orders for the rest to flank them. Mica will then join us when all of our soldiers are in place. When he arrives it will be my signal that all preparations have been made. I will crush their king.”
“Won’t their fifty wielders attack if you take their king?” Lorusk asked.
“I hope they would. Their attack would make my council a reason to be here by forcing them to fight for their lives. I could use to lose a couple of the council members in the struggle as long as they are the correct ones. The weapon bearer will be our only trouble. If he joins their side, we will need to focus all of our magic on him. He holds three elementals and from what Mica has told me, he is as good with each of them as he is with one.”
“My lord, I should be able to take him with wind. He is very weak with that particular element. Before you arrived I was watching his efforts in training his friend Bowie Crescent. The archer has a lot less time and little-to-no instruction in using wind but was able to best Weapon Bearer Everheart.”Mica said with confidence.
The king scratched his chin, “That is good news at least. If you can keep him wrapped up with wind, I will be able to concentrate my magic on the Crimson that will surely come.”
In a low voice Lorusk asked, “Where will you send the Champion?”
“Already tired of the boy, Lorusk?” The king laughed, “Don’t worry. We cannot risk him giving away our intentions. I will send him to fight with the forty wielders and the archers. He may stand a chance of living if he is not near the Crimson.”
Lorusk let out a sigh then clasped his fist to his chest, “I will hand pick the men for the meeting myself. They will be rested and ready for the morning.” His cape billowed out behind him as he departed the king’s tent.
The king stood, “Do not fail me, Mica. I want that boy unable to use a single ounce of magic. If he tries to stop me, in anyway, I will take his head and weapon before he has a chance at another trial.”
“I give my oath by penalty of death, he will be yours before we eat our noon meal.” Mica bowed low, making sure his robes stayed behind the sash.
Chapter 22 - Meeting of Kings
Kilen found a spot just inside the valleys mist covered hillside where he could be sure to talk in secret. Birds chirped and he had seen a stag leaping towards the running water for a morning drink. It would be hours yet before the fighting began, but Jace had made it very clear that he was supposed to be here long before. He checked his new bow one more time, just incase he saw a smaller animal he could try to hunt to calm his nerves. He wished he had his father there with him. Dylan Everheart, the wielder and scout, would know what to do.
Joahna came close enough in the mist that Kilen could see him with his natural vision. He watched him approach with the water vision through the thick fog. Max was getting very good and would often avoid notice by traveling as a few grains of sand through the earth. His stone-like body covered in green sprouts of grass that looked like hair rose out of the ground. Jace used the natural mist to give the outline of his body by trapping the mist inside a bubble of wind that rotated where it stood.
The ghostly face that Jace produced had much more emotion than the others. Kilen had known Jace personally before he died. Jace is the reason that Kilen really knew hearing voices inside his head did not mean he had gone crazy.
The ghost-like form also had the most natural sounding voice, “How are you feeling, Kilen?” Jace asked.
Kilen knew he wasn’t asking about his body, but of the newcomer to his brain. “He screams or cries, nothing else.”
“Shall I speak with him?” Jace quietly asked under the muffling mist.
“I’ve managed to keep him at bay. It won’t be long until I will need one of you to join him and help explain what is going on.” Kilen turned to Joahna, “When I pushed at you inside my head before, did it hurt?”
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“I’m not sure if what I felt could be described as pain,” he replied. “It pushed us into a place that seemed like we couldn’t talk to each other. I felt loneliness more than pain and that was terrifying.”
“If anything, perhaps we can teach him to talk inside the darkness of your mind where you cannot hear him cry.” Max said acting as if it was not a problem at all. He kept glancing around and shifting stones in his body.
Jace changed the topic, “This is not a problem for here and now. Do you have a plan or middle ground for the negotiation?”
“I was thinking that perhaps I could go in your mind and help you speak. I’ve been trained in negotiation.” Joahna reached up to tug on his leather straps but realized he wasn't wearing any. He had been caught trying so he made the straps and tugged on them anyways.
Max grunted, “I don’t think any of us should go in his mind. We were all suspicious of Atmos. We all know he’ll try something. It’s better if we act as the elemental mediators.” Max was speaking directly to his brother when he spoke these words.
“Elemental mediators?” Kilen was lost with most of the talk and was scrambling to keep up with the conversation listening over the man who had suddenly began to wail again at the mention of the king’s name.
Jace spoke in his teaching voice. A voice he had often used when he first met Kilen. He didn’t know Jace had different voices until he was inside Kilen’s head talking all the time. “An elemental mediator is someone who is strong in a power and is able to control all of an element in an area so others cannot use it.” He stepped closer, “Remember when I spoke to Bowie about taking control of magic that someone else already had control of? Like the wind dome I used to prevent his wind magic, that is what a mediator does. They control the magic around the party, that way no one can use magic to fight. Then the party is bound by using their words or fists.”
Kilen nodded that he understood, but didn’t speak. Joahna waited for a response and when none came he voiced his concern. “We can control all but the fire magic. It will give an advantage to the Fire Realm presence, and we know that the Crimson also have the advantage of advanced fighting skills. Atmos may see that as a threat.”
Jace’s form faltered as he looked to the sky, “If we do not let them know we hold the magic, it could help. Besides, who would guess that Kilen could hold all the elements against so many other wielders at the same time? It would take an immense amount of power and concentration just for one wielder to keep a hold of one element. They don’t understand that there is actually four of us. All we have to do is stop them from killing each other and hope the negotiation goes well.”
Joahna smiled at Jace, “I think you have it right, Jace. Controlling the elements is our only chance to do everything we can to prevent this battle from starting.”
All of them nodded their heads in agreement.
Max’s voice sounded like sand sliding over rock and is probably how he made himself speak, “How will we handle anyone that tries to use magic?”
Kilen got his first opportunity to offer his opinion, “You turn it against them. Make it do the opposite of what they want. If Micca wants it to lift himself, have it push him down. If Atmos tries to shake the Crimson, make it shake Atmos. If Brent tries to freeze the enemy, then freeze his own hands. If they use magic make it a choice they regret, but remember: no one dies.”
They all nodded and smiled, Max even patted Kilen on the back.
“Listen Kilen, if we are going to make this work we must get to the meeting area so we can control the elements soon.”
The three men assumed their most used forms; Max a horse, Joahna a bird, and Jace again, was formless. Max crossed the valley and found a rather flat portion of land with smaller trees. Kilen worked to help build a fire that would signal the other parties of where they were to meet. He knew he would have to extinguish it later to avoid giving the Fire Realm even more advantage, so he kept it small.
Max pulled the last bit of dried meat out of the satchel that Leroy had packed. He formed a stone mug for Kilen and Joahna filled it with hot water to brew Leroy’s special tea. Sometimes Kilen missed having someone inside his mind to keep him from getting too focused. Each time he thought about working the sword, the man in his head started screaming. He tried to think of other things.
When he tried to imagine the meeting, the man would start wailing as Kilen imagined King Atmos speaking. He had to push at the man, but it seemed to have little effect so he let him scream for the moment. It was best to wait until it was important to quiet him.
Kilen’s mouth burned like it use to as he bit into the strips of meat which seemed to to block out the man’s voice for a moment. He thought that perhaps not having tarts to cool his tongue was a good thing for once.
**********
Only a few moments after the last of the king’s men left the sight of camp, Mica and the remaining troops started issuing orders. Bowie had men continuously ask him what his orders were. He told them to ask John for direction. He was following the orders he had been given. He knew if he did not, or tried to issue orders himself, he may have to pay the price with his life.
Auburn followed him around the camp as he filled his quiver for the third time, due to newly arrived wielders snatching the arrows from him. The first set had been crafted by him, but the last two were made by the men he trained. Most of the wielders thought they were getting a quiver full of Crescent arrows for free.
He was already returning with his fourth set of arrows and Chit grabbed him by the shoulder, “You will be in the back where I can keep an eye on you.”
Auburn practically hissed, “I will be back here where I can keep an eye on YOU.”
Chit turned and looked at the red headed girl with a braid slightly longer than Bowie’s, “Is this your protector? She looks like she’d be good for taken’ behind your father’s place and bouncing her on my lap.” Chit nudged Bowie with a strength-imbued elbow that almost knocked him over.
Bowie went to respond but Auburn held up a finger to her lips and shook her head not to say a word. She gave Chit a smile that said she would like a bit of time on his lap. She sauntered over with an arrow still knocked on her wizard-grown bow. When she got near, she looked up at his giant frame and ran a single finger along his jawline. Auburn smiled and drew the finger down his chin and neck, then to his armored chest. He stood tall as if this was not out of the ordinary for him as she traced her finger on the curves of his metal chest. She stepped close tilted her head slightly waiting for Chit to lean over. When he did her mouth turned up in a smile. With a shove of her hand she sent Chit crashing into one of the trees filled with needles.
“He could do worse than me for a protector. Let this be your warning Champion; you harm him in any way and you will find yourself turned into a pincushion,” Auburn said stomping back to where she had come from.
A wielder in shining steel trotted up on a horse, “Where is the Champion?”
A sound of spitting and groaning came from the tree.
Auburn smiled, “He wanted me to join him, but I told him we would probably be moving out soon.”
The man atop the horse looked her up and down as she made small turns of her body to distract him from thinking. “Champion, get out of the tree. They need you to at the front of the line.”
Chit emerged and gave a disgruntled look at the man then slowly walked up the line, still picking needles out of his hair.
The man turned his gaze on Auburn, “You can go back to camp.”
She laughed at him, “You think pretty highly of yourself to assume you can stop me from going along.”
The man reined his horse in closer, “You think that you can fight as well as a man?”
She laughed at him again and squatted down. Bowie watched as she launched her small frame off the ground and high into a tree. Balancing atop a moving branch, she knocked an arrow. It screamed through the air landing at the horse’s front hooves. The horse reared up and almost
unseated its armored rider.
“If you want to go to battle against forty thousand with only a thousand men at your back and deny another wielder to come along, that’s up to you. I would think you’d take anyone willing to fight,” She said standing confidently high in the tree.
It took the man a moment to answer. “Fall in line and stop wasting arrows. If anyone has a problem with you, tell them Lieutenant Borgen sent you.”
She took a dainty step out of the branch and gracefully landed on the moss covered forest floor. She slowly clasped a gloved hand to her leather vest, “As you wish, Lieutenant.”
The lieutenant moved down the line, Chit and Bowie jogged to catch up with the rest of the men. Auburn took her place beside Bowie at the back.
“You should have kept your mouth shut,” Bowie said with much disdain. He knew if they went to the fight, her presence would be nothing more than a distraction to any man wanting to look like her hero. He presumed that if they did go to battle most of the men here would die.
One of the soldiers who was a former Black Hat turned his head as he tried to keep pace on the run, “We all trained to fight. We might as well all go and fight as best we can so we can be named heros.”
Bowie said nothing in response. He didn’t want to devastate the kid’s dreams that no one would remember where he died or how many were sacrificed in this fight.
Auburn must have read the look on his face, “He is right you know. We all came to fight. All of us have a loved one or a whole town that is thanking us for our sacrifice. I consider myself fortunate to be coming along. It’s better than being in the camp and waiting for them to come in the night to capture us all and use us for their darkest pleasures.”
Bowie had not thought of what might become of Auburn if she were taken captive. Something clicked in his mind and he suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to protect her. He tried to shake the feeling and tell himself how ridiculous it was. He then found himself looking at her face and wondering what her life would have been like if her dad had come instead of her. He knew things in his camp would’ve been largely different without her.