Arrows Of Change (Book 1) Read online

  “Well, we do no’ know yer sister.” Riana knew without asking how her da would feel about this. “So let us do this: we go meet her first, give us all a few weeks of working with each other, and figure out who mixes well. Then we will decide.”

  “Fair enough.” Fallbright lit up into a smile bright enough to shame the sun. “But shouldn’t you be asking me questions on salary and such?”

  “We will sort that out as well in due time,” Broden rumbled. “Let us meet yer sister first. If we can no’ work with the woman, there be no reason to argue about such things now.”

  “Excellent point.” Fallbright rubbed his hands together, for all the world like a beggar that had just been handed a purse full of gold. “I’ll finish this up in the next hour, and then, let’s go directly to Estole.”

  Chapter Three

  Broden had been right—the wizard did have a way to get all those trees down from Cloud’s Rest. In fact, all he did was cast a few spells, crook his little finger, and the logs trailed after him like well-trained dogs.

  He sent his daughter ahead, having her take point, while he guarded their rear. Spaced out as they were, they did not talk much, nor should they have. This was the worst area for mountain bandits, and a wise man kept his eyes peeled and his ears trained on his surroundings if he wanted to get out of here with throat and purse attached.

  The road had seen better days, and after the recent heavy rainfall, most of it was washed out and muddy. They all had to watch where they put their feet. The wizard managed to get the logs around each twisty bend of the road—an impressive feat in and of itself, even though the man had gone through the trouble of shearing off the tree limbs before trying to move the trunks. If wizardry ever failed him as a career, he’d make a fortune as a logger.

  They finally left the cool mountain forests and came down to Jacob’s Ladder, the rocky section of the river that divided The Land Northward from Iysh. Or what used to be Iysh’s border before Estole was established as a kingdom. Right now, no one knew exactly how much territory the Estolian king planned to claim.

  Broden still did not know what to make of Fallbright’s offer. Oh, he had no doubt the man had meant what he’d said. His open delight and the urgent way he’d tried to convince them to come to Estole said he’d spoken truth. But Broden did not for one second believe that was all there was to it, and for good reason: his daughter was a pretty woman.

  Now, this was not a father’s prejudice speaking. (Much.) Riana took strongly after her mother in looks, and Fianna had been a stunning woman. So stunning, in fact, that he’d fallen for her twenty years ago at first sight. With that thick red hair, fair skin, and those clear green eyes, their daughter turned men’s heads all the time without trying to. Ashtian Fallbright, civilized and worldly man that he was, had not proven to be an exception. He had that same admiring look in his eye whenever he looked at Riana. So, while Fallbright likely was sincere in his desire to have her as a partner, he had no doubt entertained the idea of having her as something more as well.

  It was the more that Broden struggled with.

  Mayhap it’d be best if he maneuvered Riana into choosing the sister instead.

  Fallbright slumped against the nearest stack of logs, hands braced against his knees, and breathed hard for several minutes. Broden’s eyes narrowed as he observed the man. The road had been steep coming down, aye, but not that bad. What had winded the man so? “Ye alright, Wizard?”

  “Ash, please,” Fallbright requested, looking up with a smile. “We’ll be working with each other, after all.”

  Oh? With their status difference, Broden had never considered calling the man by name, much less by nickname. Fallbright had all the looks and mannerisms of the nobly born, but his direct approach in dealing with them did not speak of arrogance. Well, mayhap he could learn to like the man after all.

  “Ash, then.”

  Ash dipped his head in silent thanks. “To answer, using magic to do the work is not unlike using your own muscles. Oh, the magic makes it far faster and easier, certainly, but it still takes a physical toll.”

  Broden’s eyes roved over the six dozen logs stacked neatly along the riverbank, each of them large enough to build three good-sized cottages apiece. “A toll, be it.”

  Chuckling, Ash pushed himself to his feet. “Everything requires energy, Broden. Even magic. Now, before we leave altogether, I have to ask you both some questions. I don’t want to presume anything and be proven wrong later.”

  Broden had found it strange the man had not asked more about them, so this sudden curiosity was not unexpected. He gestured with a wave of the hand for the man to ask, even as Riana came to stand at his side.

  “Is there nothing that you want to reclaim from Cloud’s Rest before we go all the way into Estole? We’re barely an hour’s walk from there now, and it’ll be easier to grab it now than to try and get it later.”

  Broden rubbed at his jaw, feeling stubble scrape his hand, and wondered how to respond to that. A straight no, while truth, would sound odd.

  “Da…” Riana said uneasily in a low tone. “We should tell him.”

  Blowing out a long breath, he thought about it, watching Ash as the man studied them with curious eyes. Well, his daughter spoke true; it would not be fair to the man to not tell him why they wanted to leave. But at the same time, he’d hoped for a clean start when they’d left Cloud’s Rest.

  When they did not speak, Ash prompted patiently, “Tell me what?”

  No, Riana be right. Best to clear the air now rather than to be all the way in Estole, in a strange land, and have the past come back to haunt them. If Ash had a problem with their family history, they needed to know afore traveling anywhere with the man. “Ash, we have nothing to reclaim.”

  Ash blinked at them, confused. “You do hail from Cloud’s Rest, do you not?”

  “We do,” Riana assured him, tone heavy. “Ye see, the clansmen of Cloud’s Rest do no’ like our family.”

  “They never have,” Broden added, picking up the explanation. “But there be reason for that. Do ye know why Cloud’s Rest exists?”

  Rubbing at the back of his head, Ash admitted slowly, “I remember studying about it at one point. It’s been years, though, so my memory’s murky. Something to do with a religious edict banishing a group of archers from the old Empire to the far north?”

  “That be the basics of it, aye.” Deciding he’d better start from the beginning, Broden cleared his throat and began, “When the Empire still existed, there be a group of archers handpicked by the emperor himself to guard the palace. Oh, they be a skilled set of men, and cocky because of it. No one could best them. They could no’ even best each other. One day, the most arrogant of them decided that since he’d defeated every mortal man, he’d challenge the gods themselves. So he picked up his finest bow and arrow and raised it high to the sky afore firing it. The arrow never came back down.”

  Ash snapped his fingers. “I remember now! After that, the Empire experienced nothing but lightning storms for weeks, which set practically everything on fire. The emperor was beside himself trying to rebuild the kingdom.”

  “The priests and priestesses of the gods knew that something had happened to anger the heavens so, and went to investigate, finally ending up with the archer who had fired the arrow—Namsin. Namsin admitted he be the one that challenged the gods, and because of that, he and the men who served him be banished to the far north and commanded to never set foot inside the Empire again.”

  “Namsin,” Riana said softly, “be me many-times great grandfather.”

  Ash’s eyes flew wide. “Grandfather?!”

  Broden’s mouth flattened into a grim line. “When he and his men finally reached Cloud’s Rest, there be nothing except wild game and timber. They struggled to build a place to live, and every day the men grew to hate Namsin more and more, for it be his foolishness that led to their banishment. The resentment grew so, that it passed down from one generation to the next so th
at none of Namsin’s descendants could know peace.”

  “Out of everyone in Cloud’s Rest, we be the only ones that still use archery,” Riana added with a shrug. “The rest view it as an evil practice and will no’ touch a bow.”

  Ash rubbed at an eyebrow. “I understand. So, you offered to escort me down because you were looking for a way to escape Cloud’s Rest and the prejudice surrounding you. Is that it?”

  Broden nodded, his heart in his throat. If Ash refused to take them further than this, then…well, he did not know if they’d fare well waiting for the caravan to come again. That was their only other hope of getting out of Cloud’s Rest.

  But Ash did something completely unexpected. Instead of eyeing them sideways or sending them home, he reached out with both hands and clapped them each on one shoulder. “Now I know I was right to invite you to Estole. You need to come with me, not just for my and my sister’s sake.”

  What? “I do no’ ken.”

  Ash beamed at him. “Estole, you see, was founded because my king was tired of people blaming the sins of the father on the children. I told you he broke the Bindings, didn’t I? In fact, it was the first thing he did.”

  The Bindings were what controlled class and structure and law in Iysh. To completely overturn them was, well, nigh unthinkable. But a man that could do that would not be one to hold their family history against them. Or at least, that was what Broden hoped. Ash’s reaction made him think so.

  “Then,” Riana’s eyes lifted in hope, “ye do no’ care about me ancestors? At all?”

  “I care about you,” Ash told her firmly, his hand tightening on her shoulder. “I care about what you do, what you think, what you feel. Edvard—that’s my king—will feel the same way, I promise you. If prejudice and hatred is all you face in Cloud’s Rest, then don’t stay there. Come with me. I insist you come with me.”

  There it was again. Broden could see it clearly in Ash’s eyes, hear it in the man’s tone. He was already half-besotted with Riana. Whether he realized it yet or not, well, time would tell about that. Broden sent a prayer to any god listening that he’d not be forced to break the man’s arms at some point in the future.

  Riana beamed up at him. “Truly? Then, Da, let us go.”

  If his daughter had any chance of having a good, happy future, then it would not be in Cloud’s Rest. He hoped for all their sakes it would happen in Estole, but he would not set his heart on that just yet either. “Aye, daughter, we will go. Ash, be that the only question ye had for us?”

  “You actually answered the majority of them while telling me your family history,” Ash admitted. He had to tear his eyes away from Riana, and when Broden gave a pointed look at the hand lingering on his daughter’s shoulder, he flushed and jerked that away as well. “Ahem. You, ah, don’t have anything else you want to take with you?”

  Riana put a hand to the bag slung over her shoulder. “This be all we have. Anything we left unguarded would always be destroyed by someone.”

  Ash’s blue eyes grew dark with anger. “Is that right. Their hatred of you is that intense?”

  Worse, some days. It depended on how freely the mead flowed that night. He and Riana were good scapegoats for everyone’s troubles. Broden would have left the place years ago if they’d had any currency or knowledge of the roads. It was sheer ignorance that had kept them tied to Cloud’s Rest.

  “It’s settled,” Ash informed them firmly. “You’re not staying there. You’re staying in Estole from now on. Now, I only have one other question I need answered. Do you mind if I put marks on you?”

  He and Riana shared a blank look before they parroted in unison, “Marks?”

  “You won’t feel or see them,” Ash explained, “but they’re a way for me to keep track of you. The marks are temporary, but I like to put them on people that I’m traveling with. They tell me your location, making it easy to find you if we’re separated, but they also give me a general sense of your wellbeing. If, for instance, one of us fell into this river and got swept away, I would not only be able to find you quickly, but I’d know if you were injured.”

  While this sounded like a good idea, Broden was not sure what to think of something he had no knowledge of. Half-suspicious, he asked, “How long do these last?”

  “However long I set them for. We’re only about three days away from Estole and the main hall, so I’ll set them for four. Just in case we get delayed.”

  Riana gave their surroundings an uneasy sweep with her eyes. “I think they be a good notion.”

  Broden also gave the forest around them a long look, and then another at the rushing river next to them. Aye, mayhap those marks were a good notion at that. “Alright then, Ash.”

  “You agree? Excellent. Then, if the two of you will stand perfectly still. This will only take a moment.”

  Broden had no real experience with magic before, and when they’d been in the mountains earlier, he’d been too far away to get a good look. So he took advantage this time and watched Ash closely. For all the good that did him.

  Ash traced a finger through the air as if he were writing on paper with an ink-dipped finger. A finger dipped in glowing ink, at that. He drew a symbol with quick precision, as if he’d drawn it a million times before. Then with a spoken word that did not sound like anything Broden had ever heard before, he pressed the mark into Broden’s forehead.

  It felt…warm. Like warm water, alive and moving, as it flowed over his skin. As foreign as it felt, Broden decided that it was somehow refreshing as well.

  Ash gave him a wink. “I thought it wise to put it on you first.”

  Broden grunted, mouth quirked in amusement. Wise of the man. He preferred to test things out on his own skin before exposing Riana. He’d not have taken it kindly if Ash had put this magic doodling on his daughter first.

  Riana stood perfectly still as Ash performed the magic again and pressed it into her forehead. When it was done, she blinked, looking disappointed. “That be all?”

  Ash looked mildly surprised. “You thought it’d be different?”

  Her shoulders slumped. “I hoped it’d feel like standing in yer shield did. That felt nice.”

  The wizard looked at her as if the sun had just risen for him alone. “You really are destined to be a partner.”

  Broden cleared his throat before Ash could get his mind set on anything. “Aye, well, let us be off.”

  Ash blinked several times, visibly forcing himself to switch mental tracks and stay on task. “Oh, yes, quite. Well, let’s borrow one of the logs and use it as a bridge to get over the river, and then we’ll make our way down the road as far as we can.”

  Broden nodded in agreement, as it was a sensible enough plan, and they did just that. With the work they’d done and the time they’d spent getting down to the river, they did not have much daylight left. In fact, they only managed to get the logs across and another two miles down the highway before the sun threatened to set on them.

  Displaying good road ethics, Ash set all his logs off the road entirely before they went about setting up a camp. Well, as much as they could. There was not much traffic in this area of the world, so the trees and underbrush stayed thick and undisturbed. Ash had to use a bit of magic just to clear a broad enough area for them to sleep in.

  As they had scant provisions on them for supper, Broden disappeared into the forest for a spell and hunted down some rabbits. When he came back, he found that Riana had gotten a fire started and gathered up some wild herbs and onions, already placed in a boiling pot of water. Her eyes caught sight of him as he stepped into the firelight, and she beamed. “Rabbit?”

  He handed her three of them to clean and cook. “I reckon it will make a decent stew.”

  “I have a loaf of bread in my pack,” Ash volunteered. “It should be fresh enough, as I bought it yesterday.”

  Oh, bread too? A good meal in the making, this one was. Broden smiled as he sank down onto his haunches and helped Riana with the rabbits. “As
h.”

  “Yes?”

  “I be a-thinking that we still be in the bandit territory, and we should no’ be taking our ease here without someone standing watch.”

  “If that’s your worry, I can put up a ward.”

  Riana looked up, brows drawn together in confusion. “A what now?”

  “A ward,” Ash repeated, fishing out the loaf of bread from his pack. “It’s a magical shield that can tie itself to an area. It won’t let anyone in or out of a place until I dismantle it. Once it’s up, we’ll have to stay within it until morning, but it’ll keep everyone else out as well.”

  That sounded perfect to Broden. He preferred being able to sleep peacefully as opposed to with one eye open. “That be fine, then.”

  Riana dumped the last of the rabbit into the pot and put the lid on. “There. Let it stew a mite. Ash, as we wait, tell us the story of how yer new kingdom came to be.”

  Ash blinked. “Haven’t you already heard?”

  “Only bits and pieces,” she denied.

  “Ah. As you wish, then.” Settling in across the fire, he crossed his legs comfortably. “Now, let’s see, where to begin?”

  Chapter Four

  “The beginning would be a fine place,” Riana suggested, seeing that he truly was at a loss for where to start. “We do no’ even know who Edvard Knolton be.”

  “Oh. Truly?” Ash seemed flabbergasted by this. “He’s from one of the oldest families in Iysh. Very well, from the beginning, then. Since Iysh was formed, the Knoltons have had close ties with the royal family. They’ve been appointed as the ruling family of Estole since the very founding of Iysh, actually. Edvard is the sixteenth heir and Duke of Estole, the only surviving member of his family—legally, that is. He has several half-siblings because of his father’s promiscuous ways. Actually, it was because of his siblings that he wanted to break away from Iysh entirely.”

  Her da frowned in confusion. “What be this, now?”