Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus) (26 page)

Orlerin led the group to a stable near the outer wall. With so many pedestrians, it was safer for both the horses and humans to get them off of the street as soon as possible. Once they had stowed the animals with the stable boys, Orlerin shouldered his pack waiting for the others to follow.

Cheleya was curious about how they could possibly find anyone in a city so crowded with people. “Where should we go first?” the little blond asked trying to not to look up at all the tall buildings. If they hadn’t been pushed so close together, the heights would have rivaled and even surpassed parts of Mar’kal.

“I was thinking of heading into the inner city to find Kel’lor some help. We can work on finding your people after he’s well,” the battle mage leader stated.

More than happy to see her friend healed, especially fearing what the poison could actually do to him, Cheleya nodded happily.

“Try not to get separated,” the man added to the whole team. “If anyone gets lost, we will meet at the northwest gate of the inner city,” he added pointing to the inner wall that appeared at least a mile away to the little blond.

“We should really buddy up. I call Cheleya,” Evan said jokingly.

Receiving glares from his team, Colbie pointed at Kel’lor, “Then he’s your buddy. You’re the tallest of us, so you can help support him on the walk.”

Grumbling about no one being able to take a joke, Evantus moved to help the gargoyle by taking his pack in addition to his own. Colbie meanwhile took Cheleya by the hand thinking that the girl was the most likely to get lost of them all for some reason.

The two girls followed Orlerin and Tilana. Without acknowledging Evan’s joking plan, the six had actually wound up doing as he suggested. The crowds as they moved deeper into the city just seemed to get heavier and harder to navigate. Colbie lost sight of Orlerin from time to time, but keeping along the same path she managed to find him again. Being almost as short as Cheleya, the mage quickly realized the one flaw in her plan of putting the two tallest men together. They could see over much of the crowd unlike the girls.

By the time the six managed to get to the inner gate, Colbie was almost crushing Cheleya’s hand from worry of losing her leader in the crowd. “Sorry,” she apologized to the dragoness as the little blond shook out her fingers as they paused taking a break. Orlerin had stopped to ask a guard for directions giving them a moment where the six didn’t have to worry over losing one another.

Cheleya checked on Kel’lor, who was leaning on Evan more and more as his energy waned. If not for the horses, the girl thought that he would never have made it to the wall. Flying wasn’t magic for him, so maybe staying as he was would have kept the poison from spreading, but she doubted it looking at him.

“How are you doing, Kel’lor?” her emerald green eyes looked up at the giant with sweat beading his forehead.

A shiver took him as he tried to answer with chattering teeth. “I could be better,” was all he would admit.

Looking to Evantus carrying both packs and part of the gargoyle’s weight besides, she could tell that the mage was tiring from the extra work as well. Mouthing the word thank you to the young man, she was pulled away once more by Colbie.

“Orlerin’s on the move again. Come on everybody.”

Cheleya noted that the inner city, which was only a few blocks deep in a space formed between the inner wall and the black stone inner keep, was also lighter in foot traffic. She still held Colbie’s hand, but it was more for emotional security than the need to keep together.

A stone walled building a few stories tall and very wide was their destination. Soldiers guarded the entry, but Orlerin motioned to Kel’lor saying, “Our friend needs to see a healer. He’s been poisoned and needs attention.”

The guards were there more for assistance than security for the building apparently as the lead guard sent his second into the building and returned with two healers. One wore the yellow robes of a full wizard, while the second wore white with yellow striping as an apprentice. The apprentice began to chant a spell as he put his hands on the poisoned gargoyle’s arm.

“We were told that he has been poisoned. Is there more information like how he has been poisoned?” the woman in yellow was of middle age and they hoped that meant she had put in enough years to be skilled enough to help Kel’lor.

Everyone seemed to turn their eyes on Cheleya, despite her being youngest of them all. The girl felt the need to speak anyway so it was that she tried to explain, “We had an encounter with some of the Dark One’s creatures and one used magic to attack my brother. Kel’lor,” she pointed at the sick man, “used magic armor to protect his body, but the creature apparently infected his magic with his spell. Now I can find no illness in his body, yet he continues to get weaker and his fever won’t leave.”

The wizard asked, “You are a healer then?”

“A novice, but I think my senses are correct. Look,” she added exposing the strange tattoo branding on Kel’lor’s chest. “This appeared almost five days after the battle. He hadn’t used his magic very much, but a few times of using simple magic suddenly had him sick.”

The healer could tell that the little blond was worried and getting more so as she spoke. “We will do everything we can for him,” the wizard nodded and began to herd both the sick man and the apprentice into the building that served as a hospital for the wizards of Hala.

Cheleya could tell from the rushed whispering that the apprentice was confused by the strange symptoms as well and feared that maybe even these well trained healers might not be able to save her friend. Unsure of what to do, the girl stood wanting to follow as well, but the wizards hadn’t told her to follow.

“Do we just leave him here?” Cheleya asked the others.

It was Colbie who patted the petite blond on the shoulder saying, “Well, let’s give them time to check on him. We can come back later after we find a place to stay.”

The mage’s eyes half inquired of the guards as she said the words intended to comfort the girl. At a brief nod from the man in charge, Colbie turned Cheleya and asked Orlerin, “Do you have that covered as well?”

“Sort of,” Orlerin replied as he began to lead the group away from the building.

Despite Cheleya’s worried looks back, the girl began to follow her new friends trusting that they knew what was best. This world was too foreign for the dragoness to have the answers that she wished she had. Kel’lor was sick, poisoned, and in the care of strangers. The girl knew that there was nothing else she could do for now but trust.

As they moved off from the healer’s clinic, Orlerin clarified a bit more, “The falcondi gave me papers to bring along to use at the embassy. I am hoping that either they can put us up there or settle us in an inn. Though it would be a step up from sleeping out in the cold, I would rather not find out we can’t get a room beyond some stable and a bed of hay.”

“Oh, a bed of hay does sound pretty good right now,” Evantus said pretending to romanticize the idea. “The smell of horses all around and the prickly hay beneath, what more could a battle mage want?”

Orlerin smiled and stated, “If I had known I could leave you in a stable, it would probably cost us less and certainly be a lot quieter.”

Shaking her head, Colbie added, “But you’d be in trouble for cruel treatment of the horses then, Orlerin.”

Nodding agreement, their leader said nothing, while the rest smiled at the apparent wounding of Evan’s pride. Even Cheleya could tell that the mages were merely having fun at each other’s expense and probably in an attempt to brighten the girl’s mood. In their relationship, each served a purpose and at times Evantus served as the comedian and butt of the jokes. He often set the others up to make fun of him, so the dragoness assumed that he enjoyed the treatment. Such camaraderie was less often found among her people, but she had always had a similar relationship with Kel’lor and Mor’treya. Neither of the mar’goyn’lya had the sense of humor that these humans had though, she thought, as she tried to smile at their antics despite her worries.

Another large building, that wasn’t far from the hospital, had more guards in front of it, though these were apparently there to serve as what they appeared to be. Again, after showing his papers, the men were helpful in getting them started as one man let them into a large foyer while a second soldier ran off into the depths of the mansion size home of the ambassador of Staron.

Soon an older man with gray hair appeared. His uniform must have had some meaning, but it escaped the dragoness who had spent most of their wait looking around at the paintings lining the large hall. Men painted to look very authoritative and official stared out from the canvas and Cheleya even noticed that many of their eyes seemed to follow her as she wandered to the next.

The guard watching them kept moving his eyes to watch the pretty girl, but not because of her beauty as much as he worried over her touching something that she shouldn’t. Expensive vases and antique furniture decorated the area thanks to ambassadors with expensive tastes. Politics weren’t part of Cheleya’s teachings, so she knew little of them and the expense of the items would have surprised her as well. The dragoness had rarely seen paintings and no one valued vases in Mar’kal as far as she knew.

“Come with me,” the major domo ordered looking down his nose at the group. A rag tag squad of battle mages and a girl dressed in black pants exposing her calves with a green blouse and leather cloak,
though pretty, were of little concern to such a man. Even the earth wizard in her brown coat and pants couldn’t draw any respect from the head servant of the ambassador.

Colbie took Cheleya by the hand as if she were a child that would get into trouble amongst the high society, but the dragoness didn’t mind. Holding hands had been one of the more comforting things that she found that she could do as a human. Che’ther didn’t hold hands, though she had seen a few intertwine tails.

Her attention was pulled back to the man they followed as a large pair of doors was pulled aside to allow them to enter a grand, opulent office where a small group of people already appeared to be having a party to Cheleya’s eye. It was still the afternoon, so she wondered what made these humans go against the norm when others would be working.

A plump man, his mustache groomed to curl and his graying brown hair looking immaculate, as did his silk clothing, looked at the rough group and threw on a fake smile that was almost flawless. Cheleya could see that his eyes betrayed the boredom and dislike for dealing with the commoners despite his attempt. While the dragoness didn’t know the feelings specifically, she could see that he wasn’t happy to see them in truth. 

Chapter 16- Heleneva’s

Walls were hung with draperies and artwork all around as the five members of Cheleya’s group entered the ambassador’s fancy combination of office and entertainment room. A small party was eating from a fancy buffet where the food was set on gold platters and silverware was real silver. Cups of porcelain held tea for those who wished a warm drink while crystal goblets held expensive wines and harder liquors appreciated by the rich and refined pallets, though being rich didn’t necessarily mean they appreciated them beyond their cost.

“So mages, wizard, what is it that you expect from me? My guests and I have other things to do today so be direct since my time is limited,” the man with his curly mustache and thin beard gestured with his left hand while the right held a crystal goblet with a red liquid that was most likely wine. His cheeks were a little rosy as well and that was a trait running through most of his guests despite the time of day. They had been working on the wines for awhile apparently.

Orlerin held his orders from the falcondi in Televal and started to offer them to the ambassador. “We have papers allowing a break while we await a new wizard for our team and were given permission to come to Hala to see the tournament. Since it was all last minute, we were hoping that perhaps the embassy had rooms or knew of an inn where we could stay for an inexpensive price.

Two women and a man dressed in clothes similar to the ambassador began to laugh with the elder statesman. “You came last minute and expect to find an inn now? Over half the inns in the city had reservations sent from the participating cities and countries reserving their rooms weeks ago and more have come last minute taking the rest.

“I have some political power sure, but it doesn’t extend to inn keepers.”

“Well, then perhaps there would be guest rooms in the embassy that we could use if there are no other places to stay, Lord Lothran?” the mage followed up using the ambassador’s title and name having expected a similar answer. While the ambassador’s attitude was a little surprising in his rudeness, Orlerin calmly sought to find a solution for his team.

Gesturing to the elder of the two women, who was still younger looking than the graying ambassador, Lothran stated, “My wife, Lady Rotras, has given away our guests rooms to these folk here. They contacted us weeks ago to let us know they were coming for the tournament. Winter’s Edge seems to have garnered huge interest and support from around the world and not just from Southwall’s king, you know. As ambassador, it was my job and Ambassador Brelleth’s as well,” he added a gesture to the slightly younger, taller man who mimicked his elder’s clothing, “to make sure our guests who are nobles were well take care of. Now how can I suddenly give away rooms to you, a battle mage suddenly dropped on my doorstep, when they reserved with messages from kings and lords?”