The Weapon Bearer (Book 1) (62 page)

You need to train. If the trial goes badly you will have to fight your way out of this realm. Joahna can help as long as he remains in elemental form.
Max pushed at his mind from inside, steeling him to the task.

“Stand up,” Joahna said in the darkness. “I think I understand what they want you to do. Remember how Max tried to help you by showing you visions of the attacks? Max and Jace can do that now. I am of no help with a sword. Your skill already exceeds mine.” Kilen gave in to the pleadings of the three men. He laboriously stood and held out his hands to start. He felt the freezing cold in the palm of his hand and grabbed on to what seemed to be an ice rod. He used his other hand to feel a blade made of ice which was forming in his hand. He now had a weapon to fight with.

Max started to push images into Kilen’s mind. He reacted slow but with as much speed as he could muster. They said nothing of his speed, but instead they talked of how he could have done better. Kilen sometimes connected with the wall in the cell, shattering the ice blade. He heard guards in the hallways and the blade turned to mist in his hands. Immediately he dropped to the floor and feigned sleep. Kilen got a warm sensation in between his legs and water trickled to the floor. The lock turned and the guards entered the room with a lantern.

“By the Brights, he’s soiled himself again. Fetch him a set of clothes to change into when he wakes,” one guard said as he looked for the reason for a noise. The second returned with a fresh set of clothes. “Leave it. He can change himself when he is able. You had better bring his evening meal and put extra in it. The king wanted him talking by now. If he is still soiling himself we better increase his food for energy.” The second guard shuffled out and returned with a warm bowl of gruel and a piece of bread. The bread smelled delicious. Kilen held still despite of the grumblings of his stomach.

The pair of men found nothing by lantern light and began searching the rooms next to him for any activities. Kilen ate the contents of the bowls and Joahna evaporated the wet spot he had created to get Kilen more clothes. The clothes provided little comfort against the stone floor, but made great protection for Kilen’s hand when holding an icy blade. Meal after meal Kilen spent in the dark, preparing for what would come next. He would be declared innocent or he would fight for his life.

***

Leroy had slept little in the last two weeks, and it was now coming down to the final hours before Kilen’s trial. He still had not found Izabel. Using the gold that Kilen had given him, he stored all of his belongings and horses at an inn on the outskirts of town. He had gotten out of the castle grounds moments before the king decreed that no one could enter or exit. Sleeping for two or three hours at a time, he would search the city asking for Izabel.

Leroy had started his search at the herbalist shop. He watched its doors for three days with little sleep before giving up. He then started asking around town about the best herbalist and found many people would know her by name and would tell about her shop. Some would know her personally and try and describe where she could be found outside of her shop. A few claimed that she would normally be seen with a girl playing a flute. They thought it was her sister. When he found a girl playing the flute he knew something strange was going on. He watched as the girl played her flute on a street corner and a man accused her of the girl’s brother robbing her. She claimed to have no brothers or sisters, and the guards let her go. He watched as little boys continued to come from different directions and put money in a mug at her feet.

Leroy was desperate and did the only thing that he could think of. He walked up to the girl and asked her what her name was. She looked up at him quizzingly, “My name is Tasha. Is there something I can play for you?” Leroy squatted in front of her mug and took a gold crown out of his vest pocket.

“I would rather get a bit of information from you, and I am needing it in a hurry.”

“What information I can give you wouldn’t require a donation such as that, but I will pretend like it is a copper instead.” She snatched up the mug as soon as the coin fell in.

“I am in desperate need of an herb that is very rare. It’s called a Kilen.”

“I’m sorry I don’t know about any such herb, I know how to play the flute. If you want to find an herb you should visit Izabel’s shop.” Leroy cheered inside. He was getting good at find the answers he wanted without asking.

“Izabel’s shop, eh? Where would I find this Izabel?”

“Well I am going to see her tonight but she has been bed-ridden. Perhaps I can ask her where you can get some and come back to meet you.” Leroy was very close. He couldn’t mess this up, for Kilen’s sake.

“Perhaps you could take me to her. It is very urgent that I find some of this herb. A man has become afflicted by a mishap with a scale snake. I need the herb before the man dies. I am afraid that he has only hours to live.” Tasha put the flute in a long black case and strapped it to her back and poured the mug of coins into her coin pouch.

“I will go to her now. Is there anything else I should know about this herb? Maybe, which part you need or how much?”

“No, just what I have told you. If she knows of the herb I’m sure that she will help me if she can. I would like to go also, if I can?”

“She is taking no visitors, but I will return to this spot before the sun sets to answer you.” He couldn’t just let this girl run off with his gold without being sure that he got what he sought.

“If you return to me within the hour I will give you two more crowns. I will give you one more if you come back even if she doesn’t know the answer. Hurry please. A man’s life hangs in the balance.” She curtsied and pranced down the street. Leroy was tempted to follow, but didn’t want to scare the girl. If the thief girl really knew Izabel then she would at least get the message. If not then he was sure he would not see his money again.

He had some time to pass and hadn’t eaten a proper meal in almost two weeks. It was a quick piece of cheese and bread at one inn. A half a bowl of stew until he found another clue to where the herbalist might be. He found the closest inn and sat down for a piece of duck and bread. Leroy sat a table with a window that faced the market so he could see if Tasha returned. The sun seemed to hang in the sky, as he impatiently waited for the girl to come take him to Izabel. When he finished eating he sat back down on the corner of the street that the girl had disappeared down. He waited for her to come back and started to sharpen his knives. Before long he heard a giggle from behind, and he looked over his shoulder. Tashsa stood with her flute case strapped to her back. “She asked if you were fond of knives. Come on. She won’t want to be kept waiting.”

Leroy stood and put his knife inside the pocket he pulled it from, “She wants to see me then?”

The girl giggled, “She said that she needed to know more about your friend to be able to tell you how much you need. Follow me.” Leroy raised a hand telling her to lead the way, and Tasha skipped down the streets. They wound through the streets, taking many more turns than necessary to make him confused. The girl had done this before, or was very well trained. Leroy tried to keep his eyes on the castle so he could keep track of what direction he was facing. He looked up to find the towers of the castle and ran into Tasha, who had stopped in the middle of the street. He knocked her over with his momentum, and she looked very agitated. He held out a hand and offered her an apology. Tasha stood on her own, wiped off her clothing, and pointed to a cellar door in the alley they had stopped in. “She is in there, good luck,” she smiled and skipped out of the alley.

Leroy didn’t feel right about the cellar and wondered if the girl had set him up for a trap. He checked the blades on his body and found one missing. The girl had made him run into her on purpose. One more lesson from his father he should have listened to; a bump in the city means an empty pocket. He knew there was no use going after the girl, so he decided to check out the cellar anyway. He kept his blades at the ready and placed his ear against the door. He heard nothing so he grabbed ahold of the handles and pulled the doors open. When nothing jumped out at him he looked about to see if anybody had seen him acting paranoid. He re-sheathed his blades and crept down to the bottom of the stairs.

Two sturdy oak doors with strong iron latches remained closed and locked at the bottom. He knocked twice on the door and waited. A deep voice from the other side of the door answered, “Password?”

Password!? Tahsa didn’t say anything about needing a password! Leroy panicked and said the only thing that came to mind, “Uhm, it’s me.”

“Shut the doors,” the deep voice said. Leroy checked his knives one more time and turned up the short staircase. Pulling the ropes on the inside of the doors, he pulled the doors closed with a loud bang. As soon as the doors closed Leroy was cast into darkness and yanked by two sets of thick arms from behind. He struggled to breath. Arms squeezed hard around his throat, threatening to crush his windpipe. He scrambled to pull the arm away from his neck and suddenly remembered he had his knives. Reaching into his vest he, pulled them free and they were immediately knocked away by the second set of arms. He always planned on that, and always had a second set ready. Pulling the knives from his sleeves, he cut furiously at the darkness and both sets of arms released him. He backed up and found the wall. A lamp was brought into the room and illuminated the two hulking men, each checking their wounds. They grabbed their clubs and started to swing violently. Leroy rolled out of the way and felt the rock from the wall pelt his back from where their clubs landed.

“Stop!” a familiar voice commanded from behind the lantern. The two men did not back away from Leroy, who was crouched in the corner with blades in hand. He was ready to pounce hard but was still trying to catch his breath. One of the men put his hand up on the wall trying to steady himself, and soon the second put his back to the opposite wall Leroy was on. “What poison did you put on your blades Leroy Bradley?”

He took a couple more breaths before answering, “Leetir leaf root.” Izabel laughed, and took a couple steps forward and examined the shallow wounds Leroy had inflicted.

“Tasha, come take the boys outside for some fresh air. Do it quickly now before they empty their stomachs and we all need fresh air. They will be just fine in an hour or so.” Tasha came from behind Izabel and ushered the men outside. Just as Tasha got the two men to the top of the stairs Leroy heard one start retching into the alley. He smiled as he stared into Izabel’s eyes while still crouching in his corner. “The first time we met you couldn’t take your eyes off my chest, and now I don’t get so much as a glance. You really are on a mission.”

With the mention of her cleavage Leroy glanced down and looked back up. His face would have flushed but he had already ensued a struggle for that, so he showed her his teeth as wide as he could. “Well I’m glad that’s over with. Now, what is so important that you need to speak with me?” She moved her fingers as if saying , follow me, as she moved deeper in the room and up a set of stairs.

“Kilen is being tried for murder,” Leroy said while keeping his distance as he followed her up the stairs.

“Why do you need my help? Or should I ask ;why should I help him? The last I heard from him he sent by a messenger telling me to get out of town until he finished his training as a scout.” At the top of the stairs Leroy noticed that the room had no doors, only a staircase leading up and one leading down. The room had two windows that looked out but they were boarded shut.

“I don’t know anything about that. He told me to stay away from you also, but I received a note from one of the wizards in the castle saying that you were a witness to this murder.”

“Oh, I was a witness, but Kilen didn’t murder anyone. Justin, the same messenger that he sent me, was shot with an arrow by some of the king’s army. They were hooded and cloaked but their boots and clothing said that they were the king’s men.”

“So you were a witness to a murder that an innocent man is being charged for, and you will not tell the truth to the king?”

“I asked, ‘why should I’? He came to my town, and told me I had to leave. Then this messenger brings his mother to my door and pleads for me to help find him, like he didn’t know who Kilen was. When we do, we get to see a murder and I have to send his poor mother out of town, before harm befalls her. He has been a nuisance to me since he has arrived.” She came closer to Leroy and ran a finger up his vest, “What I was asking is, ‘what is in it for me’?” Leroy swallowed hard before answering.

“My father gave me the task to protect and help Kilen in any way I could. I will give you whatever you want to help him.”

She smiled at him and sat in the only rocking chair in the room. “Then I name my price. I want you to pay me proper respect as a woman before you lay your perverted eyes on my chest. You will do this by taking me out to lunch, a picnic or a fine inn, doesn’t matter, perhaps a dance or two. After that you will be able to lay your eyes on my chest for a moment. That is what I require, a proper date before an improper look.”

Leroy was confused by her proposition, “You want me to court you, and then look at your chest. This is what you require to witness at Kilen’s trial?”

“I set the cost, Mr. Bradley. Take it or leave it.”

“Oh I agree, I would have agreed without you needing to witness.” She smiled a devious smile and held out a hand. He reached out to grasp it, and Izabel pulled it back to spit in her palm before clasping his.