by Aaron Thomas
She shook her head to free herself from vision of flame magic. She knew that shaking her head had nothing to do with changing the way she saw the world, it was something that she did anyways. She laughed thinking about quirks she had developed by using magic. She often wiped her hands together after throwing fire or holding flames where it should have blackened her skin. She looked down and she was still wiping her hands from the flame thrown into the hearth.
She heard the rustle of movement inside Twilix’s bed. The sound was followed by two long legs sticking out from behind the bed’s drapes. Tiny feet found a pair of slippers and wiggled their way inside. The new and older wizard Twilix emerged and dropped the bunched up nightdress to the floor. Somehow the wizard had been able to get a new set of clothes made for the both of them. Kara went to the wardrobe, excited to pick out a new dress for the day.
Twilix stretched her arms and combed her hands through her tangled hair. “Well, I have shown you the gardens. We have gotten baths and filled our stomachs with the best pastries the castle can provide. We have tried on all the dresses. We have even managed to teach you some magic control. What would you like to do today?”
Kara let out a giggle. She had loved taking a bath. In Humbridge there wasn’t a luxurious bathtub. It would take too many trips to the well and too much time to heat the water. The large copper tub had been filled by Twilix with magic and heated to perfection. Kara felt as if she could have stayed there all day, and felt that Twilix would have too, if Kara hadn’t forced her to get out for evening meal. “I think that I would like to see the city.”
“The city? I thought we went over this.” Twilix yawned and lazily fell back into bed behind the curtains.
Kara picked out a dress made of a deep blue silk and allowed her to move freely when she tried it on. She knew Twilix would at some point try to get her to train with magic and having a comfortable dress on was preferred. She took the dress behind the screen to change.
“If you don’t want to go to the city then why do you ask?”
“I was hoping that you’d want to do something constructive.”
“Me, do something constructive? I had to practically push you each day to get out of bed and do something. Two days ago you didn’t do anything except lay in a bath. I mean it was nice to soak for a while, but I want to see the city,” Kara said.
“Whether or not I soak in a bath all day has nothing to do with us going to the city. You know that Brandon has forbidden us to go anywhere near the library or the city.” The accusation seemed to light a fire under the water wizard. She to chose a dress from the wardrobe and waited on the other side of the screen for Kara to finish dressing.
“I’m sorry he won’t let us go to the library. I don’t like to read as much as my brother, but I would still like to read how to use my magic better.” Kara almost knocked the screen over trying to reach the ribbon lacing hanging from her back. She made sure the screen wouldn’t fall and came around to Twilix who helped her pull the ribbon tight as it laced up her back to pull the corset tight.
“It’s not your fault. Lately I’ve felt like doing nothing at all. It’s the water magic creeping up on me. Usually I control it better as I slowly grow in strength, but the sudden increase in power has affected my ability to manage.” Twilix let out a half hearted laugh and stepped around the screen, “Funny thing is, I know it’s affecting me but I still can’t stop it.”
“I felt the same way about the fire magic. I knew I was angry. I knew it was stupid to be angry over it, but I couldn’t stop myself.” Kara let out a laugh, “I’m sure that you’ll figure it out.”
“At least we aren’t restricted to a dungeon,” Twilix said from behind the screen. Twilix had mentioned the dungeon at least once a day, Kara was sure it was to keep her incontrol.
“Yes, but I would feel a lot less restriction if we could at least get some books to read. I want to learn things from a fire wizard and reading it is the closest I will get right now.” Kara was right about needing to learn from those that had mastered their abilities. Twilix would never be able to teach Kara everything.
“Perhaps I can talk to Brandon and get him to at least let me go in and get some books while you are being watched.” Twilix stepped back from around the screen, dressed in a green dress with small flowers embroidered at the hem of the skirt. She held up her hair for Kara to pull the lacing on the corset tight. Twilix smiled as each tug was made. The dresses she now wore were made to fit a woman, and Kara knew she had waited a long time to be a woman.
They both took a turn brushing their hair and pulling it up in the mirror. Ladies didn’t wear their hair down after they had reached the age to take on a husband. Kara may have looked like a woman, but she still had the mind of a thirteen year old girl. It was a struggle for Twilix to get her to put her hair up like a proper woman. Today however, Kara at least attempted without an argument. Twilix returned the favor pinning back layers of shining black locks of Kara’s hair.
“Shall we see if we can find Brandon?” Kara suggested.
Twilix smiled, “I’m sure he won’t be hard to find once the guards see you walking around the halls.”
They both giggled, and then Kara cleared her throat. Giggling was a childlike habit she had been trying to break. She wanted to feel and act like a woman in all respects.
They opened the door to their room and a guard jumped to his feet from where he was squatting outside the door. The guard yelled and knocked on the door across the hall, and a wielder stepped out, strapping on his belt. The wielders assigned to protect the castle now had only one chore; to watch over Kara. The only place that Kara went without them was her room and the privy. Sometimes all four followed her, but most of the time it was only two.
Twilix turned to the guard, “You are relieved of your duty here. Run along and tell Wizard Parker that we will be waiting for him at the library door.”
The bald wielder stuck his head back inside his room and soon emerged with all four men. Both women knew it was going to be one of those days. Twilix smiled at the men still in a hurry to prepare themselves for duty. She was always extra polite, as if they simply chose to accompany the two women through their day. Kara and Twilix knew they had no choice, but it was polite to act as if they did.
“I would like to pick out some books from the wizard library today. Would you and your friends like to come along?” Twilix asked.
Something peculiar happened on this one morning; the guard nodded his head in response. Usually Twilix had to fill in the conversation as if they had answered willingly.
Kara smiled, “Wonderful. I am glad you all can join us.”
Twilix smiled in response and looked to be holding back her desire to giggle. “I am in agreement. Today is going to be a great day.” The blond wizard stepped beside the large bald wielder and stuck her arm through his as if he had offered it. She then started tugging along until the man was walking her down the hallway.
The other men stood and stared at Kara, waiting for her to move.
Twilix looked back and saw them standing there. She gave a tug on her brute’s arm to stop. “She has two arms, gentlemen. You can switch out at meals to make sure everyone gets equal amount of time.”
Kara smiled and reluctantly; one of the men held out his arm. She tucked her arm through and smiled.
“Your arm is cold,” She said to the wielder.
Twilix turned herself and gave her new escort a tug, “It’s not his arm, Kara. Remember, you’re a fire wizard. You’ll always be hot.”
Kara smirked at the guard, “Right. Sorry.”
The guard growled under his breath and started walking with the others in tow.
Kara made light of the situation and started talking about the art and tapestries lining the walls of the castle. She commented that only a couple of tapestries existed in her home town. She then talked about her friends and about their families livestock. The guard didn’t seem to pay attention, but the one sided conversation cal
med her nerves. She had never been escorted anywhere with a man other than her brother or Bowie. She was not exactly sure if either of them fit the description of a man.
Kara started to look at the guard’s arm. His arms were twice the size of any man’s she had ever seen. The thick tree trunks were covered in a carpet of hair of which she could only come to think of as fur. She watched as the man’s protruding veins pulsed blood over the thick muscles lying just beneath the surface of the skin. She felt hot, like they had walked past a brazier. Her loose hand found the top of her linen shirt to pull it away from the skin to let out the heat she felt building underneath.
The tugging at the shirt made no difference. The heat didn’t seem to lessen any. She suddenly yanked back her arm and the guard stopped. She looked at him and the two guards following her. Twilix took no notice and kept walking through the hall. The guard had stopped and stared at her. She scrambled to find a reason to pull away, fearing they would lock her up if she was losing control.
Finally she burst out, “You’re sweaty. I don’t want to ruin my new dress with your grime.” She turned and stalked off following the now slowing Twilix. The three guards continued to follow after her escort grunted and waved the other two onward.
Looking over her shoulder, Twilix scrunched her eyebrows as if saying, what was that?
Kara just shook her head and folded her arms as she followed closely behind Twilix. The heat from under her collar still hadn’t subsided. Kara could still see the guards thick muscles in her mind. She closed her eyes and swallowed. Instinctively, she wiped the sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief that was more lace than cloth.
Twilix drew her garud to a halt, “Can you give me a moment?”
The guard turned his back and walked a few paces forward down the hall.
Twilix stepped up to kara, “Is everything okay? You’re sweating.”
Kara looked around to make sure she couldn’t be heard by the men standing watch over them. “I don’t know what happened. I was looking at his arm one moment and the next I got really hot.”
Twilix giggled and smiled deviously, “The arms or the muscles?”
Kara looked around and gripped the lengths of her dress in nervousness, “Both, I guess.”
Twilix smiled and gently placed a hand on Kara’s arm, “Kara, it’s ok. I know you don’t understand, but this happened to me too. You’ll learn to control it.”
“What is happening to me? I feel as if I could light a fire with every inch of my skin.” Kara tugged at her collar again.
“You liked looking at a man’s muscles. It’s natural Kara and not just natural for wizards, but for normal girls as well.” Twilix looked back at the guards, “I’m sure they’re sweating just as much at the thought of holding you close. Just try not to let them know you like looking. Should we continue or do you need to go let off some...heat?”
Kara slowly shook her head, “It doesn’t feel the same as magic heat. I think I’ll be fine. I’ll just keep my eyes to myself.” She started to walk and stopped again, “How long will you be in getting books out of the library?”
Twilix looked confused, “It should only take a moment.”
“It’s just- I don’t want to be left alone with the four of them. Especially if they are going to be close to me. The smell of them is not helping things.”
Twilix nodded, still smiling, “It’s the one with the brown hair. He likes to keep clean. If you couldn’t burn him to a crisp, I bet he would ask you to dance.”
Kara’s cheeks turned red as she glanced at the men down the hall. The new concoction of hormones threatened to undo all of her work controlling her mind. “Let’s not talk about that. Right now I’m not sure if I want to talk to any man, let alone dance with them.” She tugged at her collar to fan herself off. “Is it always like this?”
Twilix let out a tiny laugh, “Not for me. It only happens to me when I think of the man I want to be with.”
Kara stuck her chin out to the guard that had escorted Twilix.
Twilix laughed in response, “No, no. The man that gets my fire burning is not here. I hope to see him again soon, but looking at others does not stoke the fire.” She smiled at Kara. The two girls recently turned into women said nothing more to each other, but giggled all the way to the wizard librarie door. Kara kept her eyes on the ground and and found a nearby window she could look out while Twilix was inside.
Awkwardly, the group of six stood outside the large oak doors until Brandon arrived with the winded guard. “I thought I told you that you couldn’t take her inside the library. If Kara attempts to light a single candle the whole place could go up in flames.”
Twilix approached Brandon, took a deep breath and looked into his eyes as she touched a frayed string on his robe. “I believe you told us six times that she could not enter. I wanted to make sure that it was okay that I left her with these men while I went inside?”
He started to open his mouth but she interrupted while brushing some dust off of his shoulder.
“It will only take me a moment. Perhaps you would like to stay with her and tell her again where she can and cannot go?”
Kara was sure that the dusting did nothing to make his robe any cleaner, but it served it’s purpose well. He looked as though he would need the questions repeated. Kara wished she knew how to make a man lose his thoughts just by speaking to him.
Brandon finally looked up at Twilix’s face awaiting an answer. He practically burst out, “You may leave her with us for only a moment. I have other business to attend to, so make it quick.”
“Thank you, I will,” She smiled and turned. She put absolutely no sign of urgency in her step as she entered the room on the other side of the large oak door.
Brandon immediately started berating the guards about what they would have done if she had intended to take Kara in. None of the guards had an answer. They simply stood and waited for a punishment that didn’t come.
Brandon stood in the hallway pacing, which made Kara even more nervous. Finally he asked her a question, “How do you like it in the castle?”
She smiled but did not look at him, afraid of the new emotions that might bubble up. “It’s better than the alternative.”
Brandon just nodded in agreeance.
There was a long silence before Kara spoke again, “Why is it you fear me more than the guards?”
Brandon stopped pacing and joined her at the window, “I have a brother. His name is Brent. I believe you may remember him from your journey to Deuterium.”
She nodded that she remembered.
“I am quite a bit older than him. Even so, I was nearly twenty when I had my awakening and He was seventeen when he had his. Most of my wizard life I would say that he was by my side. We even traded magic with each other.” Brandon held out a buckle that held his robe in place and on it was the magic symbol for water; a crashing wave. “We taught each other the basics of using the others type of magic so we could defend ourselves. My brother was particularly adept at using magic, but I on the other hand had better results with the natural magic of words.”
He smiled and she finally looked directly at him not understanding his words. Her expression must have made it obvious
“I have a particular talent with politics. Something that I have tried to instill in him. He ignores my attempts to teach him politics, just as I ignored his teachings of water magic.”
“You still did not answer my question,” She said, staring out the window.
“I did,” He said. He received no reaction from her so he continued, “There are not many ways I can stop you besides doing my best to kill you. I have the ability to wield water magic, but the skill to use it effectively is not within my grasp. I am afraid that if you were to lose control and these men did not possess the means to stop you, I would have to kill you.” He took as step back from the window letting his hands fall to his side. “I am trying to keep the danger to a minimum. I hope you understand now.”
“So the more you keep me from destroying and killing, the less likely you are to have to kill me?” Kara asked.
“Yes, and it will also be less likely for the king to kill me when he returns and finds you out of the dungeon.” He gave a half smile and cleared his throat but said nothing.
It took a moment for the thirteen year old girl’s brain to catch up with the rest of the adult conversation. She finally understood all that Brandon was risking for her just to be out of the dungeon. “Thank you, Brandon.”
“It’s the King’s Adviser Master Parker to you, Wizard.” He said as he drew himself up and puffed out his chest. He laughed and let out the air, “You are welcome. Do not disappoint me.”
They both turned to see Twilix holding a few books. She smiled at them, “It’s good to see you two getting along. Kara, shall we go to the training grounds?”
Brandon winked at Kara and turned up an empty hall.
Kara smiled and was happy to feel no new emotions clouding her judgment. She had made a new friend.
Chapter 21 - Oaths
The camp was so quiet Kilen was able to finish a whole chapter in his book pertaining to what a True Weapon Bearer’s requirements were. He was unsure if he had all the details so he left a page and half blank to fill in later. Ria had come to sit beside him after a while but offered no conversation. She only glanced over his shoulder from time to time as he wrote.
He blew on the still wet ink inside the pages and put the stopper in his ink bottle. A couple of soldiers had run to put away his belongings in a tent. He would need to ask around to find out where they had taken them. In the meantime he thought he should see how the training was going with his elementals so he could at least talk like he was there as the one teaching.
Ria stood as Kilen did, “I don’t understand how you do it.”
“How I do what?” Kilen responded as he stuck the book and writing utensils in his pocket.
“Write with a smooth hand in perfect sentences and still have the brain to train with not one, but three elementals. I have seen men split wood, or practice sword forms while their elementals walk around, but not this. You truly have a talent.” She smiled, still assessing him. “Sergeant Crescent told me that you could also use a wizard-grown bow.” She picked up a brown bow from behind the stool on which she was sitting. The bow had long, arched curves that were slick and looked as polished as his shield. Kilen had only a little experience with bows and he knew that normally he would never have been able to draw it. The curves were as thick as his wrists at the end and even thicker in the middle.
