Arrows Of Change (Book 1) Read Free Page B

searched for any other threats. She swung an arrow free
from the three she still clutched and up to the right of the bow. Notch, pull,
release.
    Again.
    The once still air clamored with the thwang of
bowstrings, the whistling of arrows, the meaty thunks of the injured,
and the strange humming sounds of Fallbright’s magical attacks. It sounded like
a swarm of angry hummingbirds. That was the closest she could come to
describing the way the magic slashed through the air. It looked pretty, though,
from the glimpses she got of it. The air around him glowed like he was standing
in a cloud of fireflies.
    She pivoted in place, drawing and releasing her longbow in
an almost hypnotic rhythm. At all times, Riana kept the wizard at her back,
making sure that no one could sneak up on him. He, in turn, guarded hers as
faithfully as her da would have. Well, it shouldn’t be a surprise that he was a
good fighter and a decent partner in a skirmish.
    In minutes, they all stopped attacking and waited with bated
breath. Nothing. Had they taken all of them out?
    From her position in the middle of the clearing, whole
armies could be hiding behind the trees and she wouldn’t see them. She called
to her da, “I will guard him if ye want to poke about!”
    A low, mournful whistle sounded in the air, signaling his
agreement.
    Fallbright turned to her with an admiring look. “Your
eyesight is excellent. I would not have noticed them until it was far too
late.”
    “I be used to this terrain,” she denied, although her cheeks
flushed at the praise. “But thank ye.”
    “At first I was uncertain about hiring you and your father
as escorts—I don’t have much experience working with archers, you see—but I’m
now very glad I did. You just proved to be worth every deneres I’m paying you. You
were right earlier about me being a good target for thieves.”
    “No’ just that,” she responded in amusement. “Wizard
Fallbright, do ye no’ know how famous ye be? Even up here, we know ye.”
    He blinked, those clear blue eyes surprised. “Truly? Well,
that’s certainly food for thought. So, they had ransom on their minds?”
    “Belike.”
    Fallbright shook his head, mouth quirked wryly. “They’d have
been sorely disappointed, then. New kingdoms are rather short on money, I’m
afraid. Besides, Edvard and Ashlynn don’t take kindly to things like that. If
they’d tried to ransom me, they’d have just as likely been massacred for their
trouble.”
    To her right, Broden strode out of the woods and into the
clearing. Fallbright immediately whirled in that direction, hand raised,
prepared to shoot off another spell, but he halted straightaway when he saw who
it was.
    Broden lifted a hand and drawled, “I’d rather no’ be
attacked by me employer, if it be all the same to ye.”
    “My apologies,” Fallbright responded, lowering his hand.
“After being in two battles, it’s become automatic for me to raise shields and
attack…first….” He suddenly went taut, head snapping around to stare at Riana
in wonderment.
    She blinked up at him, not understanding why he was wearing
that expression. “Eh?”
    “I…had my shield up.”
    Wasn’t that just common sense? To put up a shield when you
sensed danger? He’d snapped it up so quickly that she’d barely realized what he
was doing before it was gone again. “And?” she prompted after he stumbled into
slack-jawed silence.
    “No, you don’t understand,” he denied, hand slashing through
the air. “Urgh, how to explain?” This was muttered more to himself. “How much
do you know about wizards?”
    “No’ a great deal,” Riana admitted frankly. “We never had
cause to work with them. I think me village called them in about fifteen years
ago for some sort of help in finding a cure to an epidemic, but I do no’
remember much of it.” Considering she’d been just shy of five at the time, that
was understandable.
    Fallbright leaned in closer, eyes and voice becoming
intense.