Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus) (23 page)

“If we push the horses at a steady pace, and with good weather, we should make it to Hala in five or six days from Televal. Do you need any time to pick up more supplies?” he directed the last to Kel’lor and Cheleya.

The large man answered for them saying, “It sounds like you have handled all the details, though I still wonder if it wouldn’t make more sense for us to simply fly to the tournament. She won’t find anyone to fix this curse on the plains after all.”

Shrugging, Orlerin replied, “I was not aware that time, other than that needed to make the tournament, was enough of a factor to make a day or two a necessity.”

Cheleya patted Kel’lor’s forearm gently as she shook her head at the mage leader. “Don’t worry over time, Orlerin. Your plan is fine. We will be much less obvious on the journey to Hala riding horses. There are still the savages on the plains to worry about during the winter that might be more likely to pay attention to a mar’goyn’lya flying than a simple band of riders. If we should run into trouble, then our ability to fly would be a hidden asset in our favor.”

The mage nodded at the observation. “That was my thought as well, but if Kel’lor wishes to part ways to fly to Hala, we can certainly change our path to Estaria and pick up our replacement portal wizard.”

Feeling that Kel’lor had unintentionally stepped on their new friends’ feelings, Cheleya placed a charming smile on her face and replied, “We would love to have the company, Orlerin. I appreciate what you have done to help us and gladly accept your offer.”

After an elbow jabbed into his ribs, Kel’lor agreed and not reluctantly. He worried that if he were to be killed somehow, the girl would be on her own with no one to rely on at all. Cheleya was strong in many ways, but she was more like a human girl than just her body. Her spirit could be broken with loss and if he died, these people would need to be there to support her.

The mar’goyn’lya’s fears of his death troubled him. He had never had this worry since his kind lived for centuries, but something about this whole situation had him contemplating his mortality. He had heard of elders that could feel death approaching and hoped that was not a premonition that he was feeling.

Breakfast was followed by a walk to the stables on the west side of the town. Cheleya found her eyes going to all the people and the buildings so close together that a full size che’ther would be close to rubbing against both sides of the street as it passed. The girl had pulled on her crag dog cloak that, through her skill with alteration, looked like a simple, fur lined, leather covering. She wasn’t really cold, but the girl could tell from the people walking the street that she should be, so the cloak resting on her shoulders was made to look like a necessity. While illusion, like that of Kel’lor’s jacket, could be made from magic, sometimes a simple thing like wearing what was expected was a mundane way of achieving the same, she thought.

A man smiled back at the pretty girl as she walked by and Cheleya exchanged the look. He had seemed to brighten at her smile, the girl believed, and tried it with others as they walked. With each new smile, Cheleya felt that she was onto something. “People are friendly here,” she commented to her friends.

Colbie and Evantus actually laughed while the other two smiled back at her with nods of agreement.

“What?” the girl asked perplexed.

“Any time a beautiful girl is walking along and giving you a smile, you’re going to give one back,” Colbie replied holding in her laughter.

Evantus shrugged, “Admittedly, Televal can be fairly friendly, though winter usually tones such things down with the cold. On a colder day, even you couldn’t make them look up to see you while they bundled up against the wind. It’s a little nicer today, so you’re in luck.”

A little disappointed with their judgment, Cheleya still found smiling at the nice people enjoyable as she continued to look around the human town.

The stables were in a large building tall enough to both be able to house dozens of horses, and be able to store bales of hay and bags of feed to make it through the whole of a northern winter. It was late in winter and nearly spring, so the odds were that the storage was becoming more empty than full, however.

Seeing the approaching half dozen, a pair of men dressed in tunics of red and white appeared while remaining bundled within their warm red cloaks. Staron had held the tradition of these two colors for a millennium it was said, but it mattered less to the soldiers and servants of the country about the longevity as much as they still stood now.

Orlerin passed them his papers and the groomsmen called into the stable. Soon a half dozen horses, saddled and laden with the bulk of their packs, were ready for the group to ride.

Cheleya petted the horse chosen for her, with its white and brown dappled coat and gentle brown eyes that seemed perfect for the dainty dragoness. A female named, Dolly, the horse seemed to instantly like the blond haired girl and nuzzled her sniffing at the dragoness as if she smelled something wonderful.

Curious as to what the horse could be smelling on the girl, Colbie moved closer and lifted a lock of Cheleya’s hair off of her shoulder to sniff it as well. The dragoness looked at her friend questioning, even as the mage took a second whiff.

“You smell nice. Did you bathe this morning or put on perfume?”

Shaking her head, the dragoness replied, “You were with me when I awoke and I did neither of those things. What is perfume by the way?”

“It’s something women spray on arms and necks to smell nice, but you already do. I wonder how you do that. Did you alter your hair to make it smell like that too?”

Evantus, more than willing to be near the dragoness, smelled the lock of hair before nodding his head with a small smile. They tested the smell of the cloak, just in case, but after smelling it and then the back of the girl’s hands as she began to blush with the attention, the two came to a similar conclusion.

“Yeah, it’s definitely Cheleya. Both her hair and skin smell sort of like flowers though I can’t place what kind,” Evan replied before moving to his horse to take the reins from the stable boy. “The cloak just smells like leather inside and out except for the scent trapped near her back.”

Colbie took her horse as well and began to follow Orlerin who was getting impatient. The leader was also worried that such behavior would be noted by the stable boys should someone come looking for her. Strange behavior might lead to someone realizing that the che’ther was in human disguise.

The six led the horses, with Cheleya’s moving closer to smell the girl as if looking for treats from time to time, and soon they were exiting the south gate. One of three gates, east, north and south, it had lighter traffic leaving Televal at that point of the morning. Farmers had no reason to go to fields when crops were dormant waiting for spring and most herdsmen lived near their stock. Winter made for a quiet day for the guards in their towers.

Once past the outer gate and the half dozen rows of the outer village, Evantus and Colbie helped the two from Mar’kal learn how to mount the horses. As a che’ther and mar’goyn’lya, they had never been a size or of an inclination to ride horses and they were uncommon to Mar’kal because of a lack of need.

Cheleya surprised them by only needing to be told once about how to use the stirrup to lift up into the saddle. Being a bit short, especially compared to the horse however, the little girl had a large jump to make it into her saddle and Evan took the opportunity to push on her rear to help her up. Colbie rolled her eyes in annoyance at the man’s taking the moment to touch the pretty girl.

Helping Kel’lor was a bit more difficult despite his height. The horse kept moving to the side making the man hop along trying to catch up. It took Evan and Colbie settling the horse by placing their hands against its opposite side to get the creature to stop for him to then easily vault into his saddle. Once on top, the gargoyle proved his mastery of the beast as he took the reins and guided the horse easily.

As Colbie moved to climb onto her horse, Evan gave a friendly push on her rear as well receiving a glare for his touch. Grinning, the younger mage said, “I didn’t want you to get jealous. Oh and by the way, yours is just as nice as hers.”

Getting the girl to blush, Evantus laughed and quickly pulled himself into the saddle to follow the Mar’kal riders as they grew used to guiding their steeds.

Colbie moved next to the audacious mage and warned him, “You get that one touch, but I will knock you out if you do it again.”

Putting up his hands appearing to ward off a blow, Evan joked, “Yes, falcon, but I will say it might be worth it.”

Blushing even darker red, the girl punched him in the arm. She knew he was just teasing, but Colbie had to admit getting that kind of attention was actually flattering even if it was from her annoying friend.

The site of the battle between the shrikes and mages beside the quiet lake drew a long look from the group chasing the thieves. Malaketh let them look. While the shrike carcasses, partially picked over by the local scavengers, were perplexing to the group, the bodies didn’t let them figure out anymore than they had before they happened upon it.

Theories that the mages from Staron had happened across the shrikes, or vice versa, and fought them driving the creatures off after killing several were the most common. Still Cor’Dargan didn’t seem as convinced. Malaketh led the others on the path south after noting the change of direction by the Staron group. The master wasn’t positive if they had joined together as only four sets of footprints led away, but with their ability to fly Cheleya and Kel’lor could have decided to go on ahead.

Also the trackers noted that the humans may have left first, which built up hope for Malaketh that they would split up to make it easier to catch the pair. He encouraged the team to move on even as Cor’Dargan remained behind to sift through the clues left behind. The master hoped that he would fall far enough behind to remain out of his hair once and for all to deal with the dragon’s child alone.

The brown dragon knelt in his human form using his magic to sense the earth. He looked for not only movement that might be found now, but for things that had been changed recently.

As the pursuit team left, Cor’Dargan was left with his thoughts and his findings.

First, the che’ther found that an earth wizard had been a part of the fight. Residual magic most likely of a defensive nature near the cabin let him know that the shrikes had not caught them off guard or not completely at least. Pieces of broken stone points meant they had been some form of spike designs to keep from being attacked from above, so they were most likely above human height.

His magic led him to a pair of graves. The first was more obvious and just beyond the travelers’ hut near the lake. A pleasant view for the living, it was merely the place the dead now lay. The second led the dragon farther away. Signs of blood and decaying flesh from a flaying were near the grave of some animal. Cor’Dargan didn’t choose to dig up the creature though he wondered at the significance of the burial. Animals were rarely buried in Mar’kal since few residents kept pets, though animals used to work farms were around, most were also edible for those who wanted meat. Only the sick and worn were buried to avoid disease from the release of death.

Checking the seen of the battle, his human senses had trouble making out human, mar’goyn’lya, shrike and a single crag dog far from home. The che’ther had seen signs of one along the way and wondered about its continual run to the south. He had seen the first area where crag dogs and wolves had fought. Perhaps something had drawn one to follow Cheleya and Kel’lor despite their flying for much of the journey.

Campsites had also seen signs of the dog with his daughter and her companion. Had she befriended the beast?

Sighing, the brown dragon searched the hut one last time. Blood and sickness had been here briefly. Perhaps the wounded had been tended? Did they also have a healer?

Cor’Dargan was getting frustrated. The more he searched the more questions he seemed to have, but one answer seemed to come from all that he examined and that was that the two groups had joined despite what the others had theorized. They had fought together and now moved in the same direction. He would look to validate that in the future, but he was almost positive that Cheleya now associated with humans from Staron.

What that would mean was yet another question that he would mull over as the Stone Runner closed the door and sped on his way southward.

Chapter 14- Father’s Daughter

The bridge was long gone before their first break for a lunch. Foothills to the northwest of the Spinera River were of no concern as their path led between the Dragon Spine and the single odd mountain directly west of Estaria. When the Cataclysm had struck, the bit of land to the west of the capitol city had risen to become a solitary mountain and shifted the Spinera River to the east.

With the remainder of the land between made of low rolling hills for the first part of the journey, the horses were able to set a quick steady pace, but horses weren’t immune to tiring, so like their riders it became necessary to stop and rest. Cheleya took a moment to use a swipe of the dragon claw spell to clear a fair piece of land to the grass covered by a half dozen inches of snow. Winter continued to linger, but the dragoness knew enough about horses to know that they would eat grass and hay if they could find it.