“Would you barter for supplies? Daxrah provides all your shipment security in exchange for goods?”
Fredrick smiled for the first time. “How soon could you provide men? We have goods ready to go but have been saving coin for mercenaries.”
“A dozen men will be here at first light tomorrow if you like,” said Kai. “Jaime here, will lead them.”
“I think you’ve struck a bargain, Kai Woods of Daxrah. Let your Lady Isabella know Mirefield is happy to have her as a neighbor. A Dragonblood returning to Mara is a good sign.”
Fredrick was the real leader of Mirefield, Kai realized. Jerrod was a spokesperson, but Fredrick had stood in the back and listened the whole time. When an important decision was to be made, it was he who spoke. Kai admired the tactics. He also appreciated Fredrick speaking out. They could’ve easily let Jerrod continue to act as the village’s spokesperson. It spoke volumes towards the potential for trust that Fredrick chose to make a deal with them.
“Lowen, I’ll buy a round of ale for everyone here, and I’ll take one of your beers,” said Kai.
Jerrod raised an eyebrow, “You sure you want to do that? It’s one thing to kill a dozen bandits, it’s another matter entirely to try Lowen’s beer.”
“I’ve consumed enough ale the last few years. A beer would be a welcome change. Besides, I need to test the beer before I know what crops I need to arrange to bring,” said Kai.
The plump server brought Kai his beer. He sipped the brew. The bitter taste filled his mouth, he swished it around and swallowed.
Kai turned to Lowen. “It’s not as bad as they say. You use burdock root and marigold don’t you?”
Lowen nodded.
“You’re right about needing hops. Until we can help you with that, add dandelion and use less burdock, more marigold. It will even out the flavor so you can taste the malt.” Kai took another drink of the beer. It was truly awful, but he didn’t want to hurt the man’s feelings. He was obviously trying to make good beer, but without ingredients he was familiar with, he was making mistakes on his portions. Kai had spent many an evening discussing the art of beer making with Britt Wistol while in Shelby.
James returned with Morgan.
“Morgan, this is Kai Woods. He and his companions are now living in the Tower of Kings. They’d like to speak to you about your lands,” said Jerrod.
Morgan accepted a mug of ale from the server, “Thank you, Shelley,” he said as he took a sip and then sat down at the table.
“Morgan, if we dealt with the bandits in the area, making your farm safe again, would you return?” asked Kai.
Morgan took another sip of his ale. He looked at Fredrick, who gave him a small nod, and then spoke, “No. I would not. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to return, but the wife and child want nothing to do with the old place. Bad memories and all, and to be honest I have a better life now working with Brant. More money in pigs and vegetables than there is in hops and barley.”
Kai could understand the man’s reluctance to return, if his family was happy, he had no reason to do so. “Tell me about your lands.”
Morgan shrugged, “Nothing special. A decent cabin, with a good well. I’ve over a hundred acres in crops. Half hops, half barley. There’s a good plow and the soil is good, but if the crops don’t get worked soon they’ll go wild.”
“Would you take coin for your lands?” asked Kai.
“Are you kidding? I’d take two ales for it. I have no title to the land. No one does anyone.”
“True, but you toiled and worked the land. You deserve something for your troubles. I’d like to buy your farm.” Kai put ten gold coins on the table. “What say you, Morgan?”
“I say you just bought a farm.” Morgan took the coins from the table. “You strike a fair deal friend. So I’ll give you a little advice. The hops should be ready for harvest in two weeks. The barley in a month. I stagger my planting times so I’ve a longer harvesting season.”
“Excellent. Lowen here is in desperate need of hops to improve the taste of his beer,” said Kai.
Morgan snorted, “I’ve been supplying hops to Lowen for years. His beer tastes awful with or without hops.”
“Must you all insult my beer while in my presence?” said Lowen. “A man can only take so much before he retaliates.”
“What are you going to do? Poison us with your beer?” said Morgan.
Lowen through his hands up in frustration and walked away.
Morgan chuckled, “Nice fellow, but had trouble admitting he can’t make a decent beer. He should stick to ale.”
34
FOR THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS PRINCE Ramsey had his men harass the guards of the Castle of Prozia. During the day, his knights circled the castle, making sure no one could come or go. His archers would fire burning arrows at the gates of the outer walls, forcing the guards to continuously water the gate doors. At night his archers sneaked closer and fired burning arrows over the walls, and at any of the castle guard archers who showed themselves on the wall. The damage these attacks accomplished was minimal, but it kept the warriors of Prozia awake and busy. Prince Ramsey was confident that those inside the walls of Prozia were getting little or no sleep. Their wits would be dulled by the lack of sleep, and provide an advantage to his men when the main attack came.
Prince Ramsey was studying a map of Prozia when a collection of men rode into the camp. He looked up and smiled, at the head of column of men was his father the king.
King Ramsey dismounted and approached Eric. “What have you to report?”
“The initial attack almost worked perfectly. Queen Amelia sensed the attack somehow and managed to flee into the castle with only a flesh wound. The archers killed King Byrne and I personally made sure the deed was finished. However, Queen Amelia was quick to organize archers and we were not able to overrun the courtyard. A retreat became necessary. We’ve been insuring no one enters or leaves the outer castle walls, and keeping them up day and night with attacks.”
“Good work, son, I’m surprised Queen Amelia was not caught unaware. ‘Tis a pity. Killing both of them at once would’ve made our takeover of the kingdom that much easier. It appears your concerns about her cunning were warranted. What news do you have of the soldiers who were on scouting trips for Princess Isabella?”
“That is a vexing subject, Father. We have no news. It’s like the troops have all vanished.”
“No, it just means they’ve been moved. Someone is organizing a counter strike. We’ll have to be very careful once we begin our attack on the castle,” said King Ramsey.
Prince Eric frowned. A counterattack would leave them in a difficult position. If they were flanked while attacking the gates, the losses could be devastating. “How do you want to proceed?” Prince Eric intended to rule all of the north, if not the whole isle. Killing King Byrne had been the first step towards fulfilling that goal. The next step was killing Queen Amelia. If a full attack on Prozia didn’t accomplish that, he’d come up with a new plan to ensure her demise. But for now, this was his father’s army and Eric would have to defer to his wishes.
“We continue as planned. The wagons carrying the siege weapons should arrive by day’s end. Tomorrow we set them up and prepare our attack. We keep plenty of scouts out making sure no enemy forces are within range and then we attack. By the end of tomorrow, we’ll be inside the outer walls. Once we’ve secured the castle we can defend it against whomever Queen Amelia has called for assistance.”
Prince Eric could find no fault with his father’s logic. As long as they attacked the castle before any assistance could come, victory was assured. They outnumbered the defenders and with the heavy catapults and battering ram, the sturdy gates of the outer walls would fail. His full complement of knights would ride in and the archers would follow. By the end of tomorrow’s day, he could have the bitch Queen Amelia’s head in one hand and her crown in the other. King Eric Ramsey, ruler of all Kosal and Prozia had a nice ring to it. Not as nice as ruler of all
Seron, but the South were an unruly lot, killing one king or queen wouldn’t give him each village or town. He’d have to conquer each area in turn. Prince Eric grinned as he studied the map of Seron. First Prozia and then the isle.
…
As King Ramsey had promised, the wagons carrying the catapults had arrived late that night. By mid-morning the heavy weapons were constructed and ready to go. Prince Eric was eager to go. It was time to claim the throne of Prozia.
A scout riding into camp fast interrupted Prince Eric’s visions of sitting at the throne of Prozia. The scout jumped off his horse and ran to the command tent. Eric was outside waiting for his father to put on his armor. The king insisted on leading the knights into the city. “The crown will be yours, but an old man must have his last glory.” Eric cared not who led the knights into the castle, but he did want his blade to be the one to end the queen’s life.
“Prince Eric,” said the scout, “a large force comes from the east. They’ll be here within the hour.”
King Ramsey came out of the tent. “Did I hear that right? Within the hour?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” said the scout. “I counted at least two hundred men.”
King Ramsey slammed his gauntleted hand against his armor. “Dammit all! That is rotten luck. We don’t have time to attack and secure the castle before they arrive.”
The gods were mocking him, Eric decided. Every time he thought he could take his rightful place, something came up. Prozia was a curse!
“My lords, there is more. I carry a note from one of our scouts sent to find the princess. She was spotted in the village of Shelby. She was headed for the ruins of Mara.”
“Finally, some good news!” said King Ramsey.
“How is this good news, Father?” asked Eric. “The ruins of Mara are far from here.”
“Exactly,” said King Ramsey. “I shall not return to Kosal empty handed. If we can secure the princess, we still gain Prozia. Queen Amelia’s army will not follow us south. They’ll think we’re retreating back to Kosal. We take the army south. We get that damnable child and make your marriage official. Prozia will be ours, one way or another.”
Prince Eric didn’t give a farmer’s damn about the child princess, but if she got him his crown, he wouldn’t argue with his father. South they would go. Prince Eric waved down one of his captains. “Have the catapults dissembled. Have it done in the next half an hour. Have our camp taken down, we are retreating south.”
“Sir, it takes longer than that to disassemble the catapults. If we do it quicker, we have to cut the ropes.”
“Then cut the ropes. I’d rather have to build new ropes then our catapults behind,” growled Prince Eric.
“Yes Sir, right away, Sir,” said the captain as he turned and fled the prince’s wrath.
Prince Eric couldn’t believe his rotten luck. If his father had arrived a day earlier, or if the mysterious army had arrived a day later, he’d have Prozia. They were so close to success. Three days of hounding the guards only to have to tuck tail and flee! Attacking Prozia was always deemed a difficult task, one his father and grandfather had failed at more than once, yet this time they seemed so close. The buffoon called King Byrne had practically begged them to take over his kingdom, offering his stepdaughter up as a peace offering. But Queen Amelia had foiled that plot by sending the child away, and then she’d foiled his sneak attack. Damn his father for not heeding his advice that Queen Amelia was more dangerous than King Byrne. Queen Amelia must die, and I must take the child or kill her. Either way suited Prince Eric.
35
THE TRAINING ROOM WAS LARGE and clear of flammable items. Built into the mountain itself, the room was stone; even the worktable and benches were stone. The room was the safest in the tower for Isabella to practice magic.
“Are you ready to try again?” asked Oshri.
Isabella nodded. The last time they had discussed fire magic, she’d been so nervous that she couldn’t get even the tiniest flame. “I’ll do my best.” She wanted to do much better this time.
“Remember to relax. The purpose of our training isn’t to produce massive fireballs that rival those Sisera can make. Our purpose is control. You need to use your magic to strengthen it and learn how to control it. You have great power at your disposal, but it can be dangerous if you aren’t able to control it.”
“Right, control. I got it.” Isabella wasn’t as confident as she tried to sound, but magic training was important and she wanted to succeed. Only the idea of losing control did terrify her. Dragon fire was so hot that even the littlest mistake could be costly. Closing her eyes, Isabella took a couple of deep breaths. She focused her thoughts and imagined a small flicker of flame rising from her hand. Opening her eyes, Isabella saw a tiny little flame above her hand. She grinned and looked at Oshri. “I did it!” No sooner did she avert her eyes from the flame did it get bigger. In an instant it was a powerful flame the size of her arm. “Whoa,” exclaimed Isabella before closing her palm to extinguish the magical flame.
Sheepishly she looked back at Oshri. “I almost did it.”
The old mage smiled, “You did fine, lass. Simply fine. You created a flame and extinguished it.”
“But I didn’t control its size. I lost control as soon as I looked away.”
Oshri nodded. “True, very true, but you learned two things. First, you learned you have the ability to create a flame, as well as turn it off. Secondly, you learned that part of your focus needs to be on the flame at all times. You need to be able to split your focus. Even when you aren’t looking at your flame, you have to be thinking about it, managing its size and magnitude.”
Isabella bit her lip. Magic was hard! “How do I split my focus?”
“Practice.”
“Practice? That’s it?” Surely there was more to it?
“When you walk, do you look at your feet all the time?”
“No,” said Isabella.
“That’s because you have lots of practice walking. You look ahead to where you’re walking without having to look at your feet. Your mind tells your feet to move, but your eyes focus on where you are going. With practice, you will be able to do the same with magic. You’ll be able to look and think about where you want your flame to go without looking at it. Think of magic as a third arm or leg. You can control your arms without looking at them. Magic has to be the same way.”
Isabella imagined walking around with a third arm. It was an amusing idea. “How do I do that.”
“Practice,” said Oshri with a patient smile. “Make flames, control the size of them, and then turn it off. Keep doing that until it feels like second nature. Then work at sending bolts of fire at the wall. Keep them nice and small.” Oshri walked to the wall and with his finger grew a magical bullseye on the stone. It glowed a dull red. “This will give you something to aim for. If you hit the center target, the rings will glow green. If you hit the middle rings, they will glow blue, if you hit the outer rings it will glow orange. Hit outside the rings and you get to do it again. However, I want you to just make flames for now. The target is the next step.”
Isabella admired the magical bullseye. It would be fun to make it change color. Hopefully it wouldn’t be long before she was ready to progress to that part of her training. Isabella lifted her hand giving it a quick twist so her palm was up. A small flame appeared. This time, Isabella didn’t look at Oshri, she just watched the flame, focusing on keeping it the same size. Three seconds later she closed her hand. Success! She’d created and controlled a magical flame.
“Excellent work. I’m going to the kitchen. You keep practicing making flames.”
Isabella smiled to herself. It was only a tiny flame, but it was a start. She was now a magic user.
…
“You want to do what?” asked Jaime.
“You heard me,” replied Kia. “We’re going to climb the mountain behind the tower.”
“You forgetting the entire reason they built the tower into this m
ountain is that it is practically impossible to climb. It’s straight up and down, and has entire sections that are smooth as a baby’s bottom.”
“Practically impossible to climb and impossible to climb are two different things. And we need to make sure that no one can climb the mountains from the eastern side.”
“Don’t we have a dragon that can fly over the mountain and tell us this?”
“Sisera is an intelligent dragon, but that doesn’t make her an expert on the climbing ability of men. I did however get her to fasten ropes over the two smooth sections of the slope. All we have to do is free climb up to the ropes.”
“Can’t Sisera just fly us up to the top? Isabella rode her.”
“Isabella hasn’t flown with Sisera other than when she dropped from the top of the tower to the ground. That was hardly a flight, and Isabella weighs a third of what you or I weigh.”
“Hey! You’re the chubby one, I’m a good twenty pounds lighter that you. Perhaps Sisera can fly me up and you can free climb.”
“Quit being such a wimp, we’re climbing the mountain,” said Kai with a smile. Jaime was an excellent climber, but he was being decidedly lazy. “And you are right about me carrying a few extra pounds, but I hardly think its twenty. A good climb will help.”
Jaime groaned. “Fine, let’s get it over with.”
The base of the mountain, where the tower had been built, had a steep but not overly difficult slope to it. Both men were able to climb with little difficulty. Slow and steady, Kai led Jaime up the mountain. Each step was taken with care, each hand and foothold chosen for stability and access to the next bit of rock. Before fetching Jaime for the task, Kai had spent a good amount of time studying the mountain, mentally picking his path. When Sisera placed the ropes over the smooth section of the sheer slopes, she’d watched for cracks and outcrops that would make the climb easier. Sisera had actually volunteered to carry him to the top, but Kai felt it important to plan the defenses of the tower as if Sisera wasn’t there. The mountain provided great security, but it was a potential weak point. In theory, a number of men climbing over the mountain would be able to take out the guards on the wall and open the gates. If the gates were opened, it could turn the battle. With the gates closed and secured, the tower was easily defended. Archers in the tower and on the wall had superior positions to any ground force, allowing them to strike down enemies before they came into range to fire upon the tower. The slope up to the tower made bringing battering rams up to the gates an extremely difficult task, and Kai had a plan to make that even more difficult. The Tower of Kings was truly a formidable structure to invade, but Kai wanted to leave nothing to chance, so up the mountain they went.
Sisera's Gift (Dragonblood Sagas Book 2) Page 20
