Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus) (20 page)

“I will do my best. We did not need money the way we might here,” she acknowledged. “I know some people commit crimes against others for gold, so I know wealth is best hidden.”

Placing a sisterly arm around the slightly smaller blond, the falcon added, “We may not be able to go with you, but I hope that you will be safe anyway.”

“Because you are my cousin?” Cheleya asked trying to make a joke like she had heard Colbie and Evantus exchanging for a few days.

Laughing at the girl, Colbie nodded. “That’s right, cousin. I try to take care of my family.”

Chapter 12- Dancing Dragoness

Night began to descend on Televal by the time Orlerin and Tilana were able to join the others at the White Mare. The four were finishing their meals that had been paid for with four coppers while a silver had already reserved a room for Kel’lor and Cheleya despite the inn keeper’s disbelieving face. The story of sister and brother was still hard to pass by some people based on their different looks; and Cheleya could do little to change hers, while the gargoyle seemed unwilling.

By that time, a small meal crowd had already begun to fill many of the tables. During the winter, taverns like this were places to gather out of the cold for those willing to brave it to get there. The six did their best to remain quietly separate as dinner took precedence in the White Mare. Orlerin ordered a pair of meals for Tilana and him, before informing the table of the results of the meeting.

“The falcondi wasn’t very happy with the loss of Veras, of course,” the man began.

“Who is?” Evantus retorted thinking that the loss of their only portal wizard was a rather large blow to the team. The wizard hadn’t always been the friendliest or most beloved, but he had been a comrade for a long time making his death a blow to his team’s hearts.

Ignoring Evan, the falcon continued, “When I asked if we could take a break and make the trip to Hala for the tournament, he bit my head off. I reminded him that until Estaria sent his replacement, our team can’t finish our mission. While I did inform him that we had found out the two gates had sent through creatures from Ensolus and most were neutralized, he still wasn’t very enthusiastic about giving us time away.”

“It’s also winter,” Evantus pointed out though the meeting was long over with and he was just hearing the notes.

Nodding to the younger mage, Orlerin continued, “There is also that and it will delay any journey of a wizard to Televal.”

It was Tilana, who interrupted as she put in, “Estaria isn’t that far from Hala in the grand scheme of things, so Orlerin offered to deliver the message and escort a new portal wizard from the capitol, if we could take a break to mourn our friend and relieve some tension by going to Hala as well. The falcondi said yes.”

“So you’ll all be traveling with us?” Cheleya asked in surprise.

“We’re a team,” Colbie said with a grin as the others nodded.

Kel’lor nodded as his mind went to other things and he revealed his thoughts, “Did he approve of horses for you as well?”

Orlerin replied, “We were approved for four horses plus a pair of pack horses. We will just have to make the horses carry you instead, but on the books that will be what is written. Since you don’t know if the man who attacked you will send other agents after you, this should at least confuse the matter of whether you were here and where you are going now.”

“When can we leave?” Cheleya wondered though she was trying not to push her new friends after all they were doing for them. “We also haven’t thought to check if there are any wizards here that might understand what was done to me.”

Tilana shook her head. “Orlerin has already set up the horses for tomorrow so we can leave then. As to anyone that can help you with your problem in Televal, I would have to say that it was an outside shot at best. There is only one healer and the only other kind of wizards that might have a clue are earth wizards like myself.”

“Hala is still probably your best chance at finding someone to help cure you,” Orlerin added as he leaned on his hand conspiratorially bracing against the tabletop. “There will be wizards from around the world and maybe one of them will have heard of such a skill being used and more importantly how to fix it.”

Evantus had another question, “Is it so bad being stuck as a human?”

Colbie frowned at his words and the tone with which he spoke to the girl. She feared that he was letting her facade make him forget that Cheleya was still a che’ther despite her pretty human exterior. The dragoness didn’t seem to notice though she looked a little taken aback by the question.

“I actually always enjoyed being able to change into one, but I think since I can longer turn back I am close to resenting it. Being a human girl has its fun points and I certainly feel more graceful than as a twenty foot long che’ther with a tail. It is just being confined to this one look that bothers me most.”

It was Evan that followed up with another question that surprised the che’ther, “Can’t you use your magic to change your looks, if that is all that you want? At least, until you can get your amulet back anyway.”

Cheleya realized that she had never thought to try her alteration magic on her body. Summoning her power quietly, the girl took a lock of the reddish blond hair and slid her fingers along the length. The swipe removed all the red leaving a light blond color along the entire length.

“It appears than I can affect at least the color of my hair, and maybe with a mirror I can exact changes to my form in other ways. I’ve never actually looked at myself in a mirror long enough to truly even know what this body looks like,” Cheleya remarked realizing that for all her anger at being trapped as a human, she had been trapped for so short a time she had never really looked at it.

“You look beautiful,” Evantus commented quietly enough that only Colbie caught his words and shook her head.

Music began from the far side of the room as a pair of musicians began to play a guitar and sing. The crowd began pushing the center tables to the side as several dancers joined in following the lively tune. Cheleya was enrapt in their movements. She had never seen humans dancing and it was like nothing that the girl had ever witnessed before except perhaps the dance of combat. Where combat was for life and death, however, this dancing was all about life and joy.

“Do you want to dance?” Evan asked Cheleya noting the girl’s smiles as she watched the growing crowd moving to the music.

The girl nodded, but Colbie cut them off. “If you’re going to dance then you should put your pack in your room first so no one walks off with it.”

Frowning, the che’ther girl asked, “Why would someone walk away with it? It isn’t theirs.”

Her naiveté made Colbie shake her head, but she stood and directed Cheleya to follow as she replied, “Haven’t you learned from your dealings with the man who was stealing from your school, that sometimes people covet what others have? If you leave the pack lying there, it may be left alone or it may not. You have a room, so let’s use the key to put these away.”

Kel’lor joined the ladies leaving the other three to sit, but Orlerin was quick to ask Tilana to dance. While the wizard blushed at the attention in public, the dark haired woman offered her hand to the mage to be drawn into the crowd.

Evantus sat watching Colbie leading the beautiful che’ther and her escort up the stairs to their second floor room. Cheleya had spoken of grace to her human body and he could certainly see that as her lithe form ascended the stairs before disappearing into the hall beyond.

The three entered the inn room after Colbie used the key that they had been given by the inn keeper. Dinner had kept them from going upstairs right away, but the mage didn’t want to see their belongings stolen, especially knowing the small fortune inside of Cheleya’s pack.

Kel’lor did little more than dump his pack on a bed deciding the one on the left was his. Cheleya took more time examining the furniture. Two beds covered with inexpensive blankets and comforters with a pair of pillows on each, a pair of dressers on either side of the entry door with unlit lamps upon them, a wardrobe to their right and lastly an inn table between the beds filled the room with its plain wood floor. The dragoness stopped in front of the dresser to the right of the door and noted her reflection in the mirror.

“It isn’t quite what I thought that I looked like,” Cheleya remarked considering the image. She glanced at Colbie in her falcon uniform and her forehead furrowed slightly comparing her image to the young mage. “Is this body a nice looking form?”

Colbie struggled to understand the dragoness’s mind. To a human, the question would likely be an attempt to add to one’s vanity. Others’ perception of one’s dress and looks consumed many people rather than worrying about more important things in the mage’s opinion. “Most men would say that you are beautiful,” Colbie admitted thinking of Evan’s quiet remark. “For a human, you are born to look as you are and worrying over other’s concepts of beautiful and handsome really can’t be worried over, Cheleya.”

“Am I say, as beautiful as you, to a human, I mean?” the dragoness asked looking at her image critically. She noted her emerald green eyes and thought the shade of green to be stronger than any human’s she had seen during her walk in the town. Her hair color had been an experiment and she wasn’t sure that she liked the red in it as much as she had with just the blond coloring. Using her magic, the dragoness merely shook her head while watching the mirror and let the light yellow warmth wash the red away.

Colbie gasped at the magic thinking that most women would kill to have such a power. The ability to change one’s looks to fit a situation or attitude was an intriguing power indeed. Remembering Cheleya’s question, the mage started to blush as she replied, “You are probably more beautiful than me, Cheleya, though women try not to compare themselves against one another at least publicly. It is also best to just be happy with what you look like and avoid such comparisons, I think.”

“So you’ve never considered how pretty Tilana is and how Orlerin can barely take his eyes off of her. When she is near, he seems to only see the wizard.”

Wondering at how observant the dragoness truly was, Colbie moved to sit on the girl’s bed before trying to answer. “Tilana’s shy, but pretty and, yes, Orlerin is in love with her, though I am not sure either of them have admitted it to the other. As to whether I am or am not prettier, I really don’t think I should be trying to judge. I am a battle mage and I fight so most boys aren’t that interested in my looks anyway.”

Cheleya turned looking at her new friend in surprise, “I know that I am new to this, but I think that you are very beautiful for a human. Kel’lor might be able to back me up on this.”

Waving off her question, the gargoyle in human form stated, “Leave me out of your talks of beauty. I can discuss a sunrise or sunset, but I don’t have any opinion on this race’s looks.”

Colbie couldn’t help chuckling and thinking that Kel’lor had probably been the smarter of the two of them ignoring Cheleya’s questions.

Moving to the far corner of the room, Cheleya placed her bag and cloak beside the wardrobe. Calling her magic to her, the girl placed her hand inside the bag and pulled free a small amount of gold from one of the bars. Her left hand then wiped over the air above the bag making it seem to disappear. Colbie could see the corner of the room and wall as if there was no pack at all.

The dragoness knelt on the bed Colbie was sitting upon and took the girl’s hair pulling it back in a tail. Being a medium brown, the mage had always considered her hair color uninteresting. A couple more strokes from the dragoness and a loose lock falling into her face revealed that Cheleya had put a red into her coloring and darkened it slightly as well. Like a glistening red wood stain, her hair had become warmer to the eye. The dragoness let a little of the mage’s hair play in locks along the sides of her face just in front of her ears while a newly formed gold hair clip kept the rest back in a ponytail.

“There. Very pretty. Now the boys will definitely notice you downstairs. I could make you a dress as well, if you would like,” Cheleya added as she directed the mage to look in the mirror.

Looking at her reflection, Colbie noted the darker, reddened tresses and the more feminine styling the che’ther had arranged for her hair. She could see the gold hair clip had a lot of detail for something created so quickly and her own thin, gold hoop earrings could be seen as well. They were often hidden by her hair since she had first gotten them as a cadet, since such accessories were frowned upon for those fighting with swords. It was one of the few pieces of vanity that the battle mage had allowed herself over the years.

The hair coloring seemed to increase the green of her eyes and warmed the look of her skin. She didn’t know how a che’ther, so seldom in human form and among human kind could achieve a look so pleasing.

“Is it all right? I can always return you to normal,” the girl asked worriedly. She had simply wanted to do something for the mage’s kindness and hoped that she hadn’t overstepped her bounds.

Smiling at the dragoness from the mirror, Colbie replied, “No, it looks great, Cheleya. I don’t know how you did it, but I guess that’s why you are a magician.”

The little blond clapped happily and asked, “Do you want a dress? I can make you one?”