Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus) (56 page)

While Colbie and Evantus appeared happy enough with the idea, Orlerin brought an air of reality to the thought, “We have already been through our training, Cheleya. Even if you do return to Staron and join the school in Estaria, we would be in the field much of the time. If you want to go to Staron to remain with Colbie and Evan, it would only be to see them rarely.”

The two mages looked unhappy at his words, but they realized he was correct. Tilana smiled trying to soften the impact, “If you come to visit, send us word so we have time to convince our leaders of a need for a vacation and we could certainly do that.”

Theress spoke up saying, “In the mean time, you could remain with me at my embassy home until things are decided. Your father and the others can attend to Malaketh.”

A frown came to the girl’s face at the last remark. “I still wish that you would let us come along to deal with Malaketh. We do have some scores to settle with him after all.”

Nodding to his daughter, Dargan raised a finger in rebuttal saying, “That is part of why I think it best if you leave matters to us. You have been through enough thanks to Malaketh. We will capture him. There will be a time where you two will need to return as witnesses to his actions, but for now it would be better to put a little distance between you three.”

Kel’lor looked over at Mor’treya, who was apparently among those going to pursue their master. “And will you be alright to deal with Malaketh then, Mor’treya? You have been betrayed by the master almost as much as we have. Should they make you stand down as well?”

The dark haired woman raised brown eyes to look at her fellow student. Her eyes revealed her own pain from the betrayal, but there was strength in them that quickly turned to resolve as Mor’treya
shook her head. “I will be fine and make sure that the master pays for his crimes. I won’t fail you two again, Kel’lor.”

“You didn’t fail us,” Cheleya countered gently. “He fooled everyone for ten years and became a master. How would you have known that he couldn’t be trusted? You never wronged us by following your orders, but you know the truth now so bring him to justice for us, big sis.”

The final words of endearment looked to soften the stony visage of the dark haired woman. Walking over to the dragoness cursed to remain in her weak human body, Mor’treya embraced her friend while she was still human in appearance. Stepping back, the mar’goyn’lya removed her amulet uttering the reversal spell before handing the charm to Cheleya. “Thank you, little sister. Maybe this will come in handy while you are here. I won’t need it where we are going. I hope one day this curse can be removed from you, Cheleya.”

There were tears welling up in Mor’treya’s eyes threatening to stain her gray skin, a rarity to be seen on a gargoyle. She brushed them aside before turning to face the others.

Cor’Dargan cleared his throat and stated, “Well, trackers, gather your packs. We have a hunt to commence and a villain to bring back to Mar’kal for justice.”

The trackers had traveled light and brought their packs to the field hiding them behind the bleachers. With everyone prepared to travel and knowing that Malaketh’s lead would only continue to grow as they waited, the che’ther called up glowing dragon wings to follow the mar’goyn’lya into the sky. There was no further need to put guards at ease as the six headed off into the darkness.

Malaketh fled through the remainder of the night. The fear he had felt in the presence of a true dragon had been primal. Thinking on his terror, he knew that the girl had channeled the actual power of a
legendary dragon. Their magical nature and strength were rumored to flow from such creatures in such a way as to panic lesser men. Using such a classification as ‘lesser man’ infuriated the wizard.

He had known the che’ther in both human and dragon forms. As a petite little blond, Cheleya was almost insignificant physically and her che’ther body was perhaps even more pathetic. She was a runt among her kind. Nearly old enough to be full grown, the dragoness was half the size of most of her race. Even a human could hardly be impressed by a midget dragon, even though it still dwarfed a man in size.

Then she had been trapped in her human form by his magic only to turn into this beast of legend. Malaketh’s mind still felt fear though he knew her true nature. He wanted to return to face the girl once more and prove himself, but it would be a mere show of hubris and the wizard knew better than to give in to that.

Malaketh had been a spy living among the creatures easily manipulating and directing even their masters to do his bidding. They were inferior despite their size and strength, but he was just one man now. After his loss of control, they would probably pursue him without their amulets removing the one piece of magic that could allow him to defeat them all.

In fact, he had delivered their salvation by breaking Cheleya’s amulet removing his ability to control the girl. Then the legendary dragon had come, he shivered unable to pull his mind away from the fear. It dominated his thoughts even as Malaketh struggled to focus on the path before him.

Dargan and the others would certainly give chase. His decade long ruse had been destroyed in a single night. If he could return to Mar’kal in time, the master might still be able to salvage this however. He would use the council and masters against those who would certainly follow. The agent of the Dark One still had a few tricks left that would let him convince Mar’kal that the trackers had become corrupted. They would become the traitors, not him, and he would ensure that they all died before they could unravel the careful web of lies he had constructed during his time amongst the dragons and gargoyles.

When the sun came up, snow glistened below him adding to the brightness of the world. The plains would take at least three days to cross without sleeping, but Malaketh doubted that he could push himself that hard without some necessary rest. Starting from the previous morning, it would make four days without more than an hour’s break at a time. His magic and mind would be pushed to their limit with several more days of flight still needed to thread his way through the mountains to Mar’kal.

A growl pushed up from the bowels of his stomach as anger threatened to take the man over in his frustration. All his work ruined by a simple, foolish girl.

How hard would the trackers push themselves during the day to catch him? Could he take the rest that he would need to keep his lead?

A quick look over his shoulder gave no sign of pursuit, but he knew that they would come once the control spell lifted. Turning his gaze to the land before him, Malaketh watched in shock as a dozen black winged shapes rose into the sky less than a mile before him. These were no gray mar’goyn’lya and were much too large to be mere birds.

The man considered changing course, until he wondered if this might not be the salvation he desired. Could they be shrikes sent by Toban to aid him? How could the man know that he would fail and need help?

Either way, this was a chance to at least get them to slow down those pursuing him. With so many, they might even be able to slay the entire team. With Cheleya and Kel’lor joining their number, there would be eight and they were wizards and magicians. The shrike leader had been a warlock, he had found, so perhaps there were more like him in their number?

As he closed with the flock, the man noted that the shrikes weren’t actually coming toward him. They were waiting for him then. Surely this must be a force sent by Toban as he had surmised. When he closed, Malaketh noted a pair of men walking beneath the umbrella of shrikes. Toban and Delever had come as well as their pets.

Landing a dozen feet in front of the warlocks of the Dark One, Malaketh smiled greeting the men as the shadows of the shrikes swirled along the ground around the three. “Toban, Delever, I am surprised to see you here, though your timing is excellent!”

Cocking his head slightly to the right, Toban questioned, “Did your attempt to eliminate the girl and her friend fail, Malaketh? You had half a dozen trackers with you. Surely they could deal with these students of yours?”

With a quick frown of disgust, the master replied in frustration, “Cor’Dargan turned the che’ther to Cheleya’s side making the odds too even. I used the black amulet to override those wearing their charms, but Cheleya surprised me with a new magic that turned her into a winged dragon. It turned the battle and I had to flee, but with your forces I can destroy them now! Once they are dead, then I can return to Mar’kal telling them that Dargan turned against me. I will tell that a final battle left the others dead and only I have survived,” he finished beaming at the thought. Not only would he rid himself of all those who knew the truth, but he would be the returning hero.

Movement around the man drew his eyes to the dozen, black feathered shrikes landing around the three humans.

Having the dangerous creatures behind the other two warlocks was no worry, but four had landed behind and to the side of the master. After all the deception he had enacted in Mar’kal, Malaketh found it hard to trust anyone behind him. Maybe it was just his nerves and lingering fear from the dragon’s spell making his worry rise instinctively, but the master knew he must be wrong. He was too valuable to the emperor and vital to his plans. Wasn’t he the only the secret agent in Mar’kal buried deep within the Academy of Magic? Wasn’t he also the one who had learned dragon magic that he could pass on to the wizards and warlocks in Ensolus?

He was too important to the future to worry over these creatures betraying him, wasn’t he?

“If your student has discovered the magic to become a winged dragon, has she also discovered their power? You look like a man filled with fear, Malaketh. If the girl has become so powerful, then perhaps it would be unwise to risk the emperor’s newest weapons so carelessly?” Toban challenged calmly. The rebuttal had merit and the dragon mage master worried that his plan would not come to fruition.

“She may not even join the trackers. Cheleya might be left behind by her father. He is very protective of the girl. Who would have guessed that one of their race would show so much feeling for his child? They are essentially just lizards, after all, and don’t many of those creatures eat their young?” he laughed a quick bark but his joke didn’t even elicit a smile or any positive reaction from the men and certainly not from the dark, feathered shrikes.

Delever surprised him by answering with a statement of fact that Malaketh knew as well, “The emperor doesn’t risk his forces needlessly very often. I agree with Toban that I doubt there is much of a reason to risk them here.”

Toban nodded, “Few know that Ensolus has been experimenting with flying creatures. One day we may need to send them in force to break this country, but until then I think that the fewer who know of their existence the better.”

“But if we don’t stop the trackers, I am unlikely to be able to outrun them all the way to Mar’kal. I can spin this to make those beasts believe that Dargan chose his daughter over the city and was forced to kill him to stop the traitor, but I will need your help.

“If you don’t think the emperor values my services undermining Mar’kal, then open a portal so that we can return to Ensolus. I haven’t been home in a decade, so I can be convinced to take what I know and train the warlocks in dragon magic. Just tell me what you think will be more beneficial and let’s do that,” Malaketh finished wondering if the latter idea wasn’t worth considering. He had lived among the beasts long enough and knew enough to bring their magic to his emperor anyway. He would only have remained in Mar’kal for a short time longer, since Malaketh had mastered several lines of magic specific to the dragons and gargoyles.

Refusing to just answer him, Toban stroked his dark, bearded chin in thought as he mused aloud, “We have most of the hidden artifacts from the academy. The discovery of transformation amulets and breeding of the shrikes means that the emperor already has soldiers and wizards that will be able to fly.

“When I look at what you can bring back to Ensolus, I really have to question what worth you have for our lord.”

Frowning in anger, Malaketh forgot himself in the moment and retorted, “What wizard wouldn’t prefer to use his magic to fly? Having to make an amulet for every wizard to try and use charm magic will require time and resources that aren’t necessary to dragon mage magic.

“Enough of this, Toban. You are simply trying my patience now. We both know that I am of great value to our lord, so stop wasting time with this nonsense! Either prepare these creatures to help me kill the trackers or open a portal to Ensolus that I might end my time with dragons and gargoyles.”

The warlock raised an eyebrow in surprise at the man. Though they had worked together to steal the artifacts from the academy, Malaketh barely knew Toban to be giving him orders. A look of bemusement crossed the warlock’s face and he looked to be finished with his meaningless teasing, in the master’s eyes. What his decision would be was still unknown, however.

“You are right. I was sent here to make sure that your time with the beasts came to an end,” he pointed over of the wizard’s head ending the gesture like a swordsman cleaning his sword with an arcing flick of his hand.

Malaketh’s eyes widened. “Curse you, Toban!”

Trying to move out of the range of the shrike wings, the master made to charge the treacherous warlock before him preparing to call on his dragon wings. If he could just get into the air, he had a chance to flee. There were a dozen shrikes, but he was a dragon mage master. Malaketh had confidence in his ability to fly that was likely to surpass the dark creatures around him.

He opened his mouth to cry out the words, but nothing came. Pain was slower to reach his mind as Malaketh’s eyes watched the world spin. Dipping forward, the wizard watched the earth coming towards him, but it wasn’t the snow covered grass that surprised him but the sight of his own boots and legs.

His body fell forward after his head as darkness washed over Malaketh’s eyes. His mind had a single last thought, that he had failed. 

Chapter 34- A New Path

“There,” Elenek called over his shoulder to the team following the tracker. His finger pointed to a dark spot on the ground ahead of them.

Upon landing the trackers were a somber crew as Dargan knelt to check the body of Malaketh. His head was missing from a cleanly severed neck, but nowhere to be found either. Such a thing would have made identification much more difficult if they hadn’t been pursuing the man. A headless corpse found lying in a city could lie in a morgue for days to be identified or even buried nameless without a loved one looking for them. Only trackers following Malaketh, who knew his scent and the lingering traces of his magic, would easily know their target’s headless body.

Malaketh’s clothes were still on his corpse, but there were no other belongings left to the dead man. No nomads had killed the wizard by chance. It would have been a stretch to believe that he would have landed in a dangerous situation without seeing them from the advantage of his flight anyway. There were also no obvious signs of a struggle let alone a pitched battle between a wizard and whoever he faced.

“Two booted men stood here after walking up to Malaketh,” the che’ther tracker noted circling the area. “A dozen other feet that appear clawed like a bird’s surround all three men. Four were close to the wizard’s body, so I would surmise that one of them beheaded Malaketh from behind. Blood splattered the earth directly before his body and to his left.”

The other trackers were doing their best to avoid trampling the scene trapped by the frozen snow and ice. Cor’Dargan could see the same signs and had to agree with the tracker’s theory, but it didn’t give him the answer as to the identity of the men Malaketh had met on this field of snow. He doubted that the wizard would have settled on the ground without knowing at least the men whose tracks trailed off beyond his sight. Whether they had traveled a mile or more didn’t matter, the point was that they had walked to greet the wizard before walking back the way they had come.

“Can you read for trace scents of magic from these others?” he asked still examining the ground around him. Dargan was the only one kneeling within the ring of strange footprints to avoid contaminating the site.

Alk’leyal answered first. He and the other trackers had each been using their various types of magic with a similar thought in mind. “They had magic power of some sort and were human, beyond that we have little more to see here. These others surrounding them were mostly non-magic users, though two give off traces of magic. Whether a spell was used on them or they were able to cast, I can’t be sure.”

Confirming nods by the other trackers left Cor’Dargan with little choices. “We will follow their trail to see if we can discover more.”

Mor’treya stalled the order as she asked, “What about, Malaketh?”

With a sigh that exposed his general disappointment with both the traitor and his fate, the che’ther stood calling forth a spell. Uttering words of the old world, the wizard’s magic pulled the earth and stone dropping the headless body into a shallow grave. Nearly a ton of stone swirled into a conical marker. It was a common sight among the broken and wind swept stones of the Dragon Spine Mountains, but on the gently rolling plains it would stand as a gravestone and protection from the beasts and elements as well.

Dargan would leave the final dealings for the traitor in the hands of the council. Carrying a decaying corpse all the way back to Mar’kal wasn’t a project he cared to deal with and the che’ther doubted what good it would achieve anyway. They couldn’t question a dead man without a head.

The thought made him frown. Malaketh’s head was missing. Had the men taken it to use dark magic to pull knowledge from a dead wizard’s mind in some way? There had been talk of reviving the dead. The Dark One’s army purportedly had wraiths, wights and wizards able to use necromancy, a form of magic most civilized schools forbade. If such things were true, even in death Malaketh might be able to spread what he had learned from Mar’kal to those he served.

Such worries would have to be put off until such a time that they knew there was no way to stop whoever had slain the wizard from getting away.

“We need to catch his murderers. With their numbers, this may be a fight that we can’t win, but if they are able to coerce Malaketh’s knowledge from his dead skull; Mar’kal itself could be in grave danger.”

Looking grim, the squad lifted into the air while Cor’Dargan switched to using his land running spell to increase his velocity. The others had held back to maintain their cohesion, matching his novice flight speed. With the che’ther wizard pushing the pace, they moved off in hot pursuit.

As Cor’Dargan skated along the frozen ice and snow driving his spell from the stone and earth beneath them, the wizard realized he had another fear. The black amulet had not been with the body. If they found the enemy, their amulets were still a weakness and potential threat to their safety.

Knowing the risks, the wizard moved on drawing his team like a kite behind him as they chased towards the unknown killers of Malaketh.

Cheleya sat with her friends in the Colonnades’ stands to the east of a field that had been adjusted for a unique four way match of wizards. Wizard duels were always one on one so the change had both upset the competitors and excited those watching the tournament.

While the noise of the crowd grew as the duelers entered the arena for the first match, the pretty blond remained unusually quiet. Her friends had given her space noticing her attitude that ranged somewhere between disappointment and pouting.

“I can’t believe they expanded the matches to four,” Evantus said conversationally to Colbie though his eyes strayed to the pretty blond looking sad. His attempt to bring the che’ther’s attention back to the present and perhaps a once in a lifetime chance to watch wizards dueling from around the entire world of Alus, seemed to fall on deaf ears a moment though Colbie nodded going along with his fairly obvious ploy.

“This one should be especially interesting to watch. First, we get to see Brahvai Froe from Estaria. I hear there were only a half dozen wizards representing Staron, but he survived the first two rounds,” Colbie said praising a hometown favorite.

A new voice spoke from behind them. A copper haired girl wearing a lightweight, red dress with a leather cloak bound with a golden amulet leaned forward to join the conversation. She was one of the
che’ther wizards cheering on their own, “He may be good, but Fa’Arronnon is one of our best. I am afraid that I will have to cheer against your champion.”

Colbie gave the girl a look of annoyance as she added, “Brahvai is a fire wizard and even I can read the power of his aura. Your Arronnon won’t beat him easily, Isstmira.”

The mages had met the che’ther only twice, but they seemed to have warmed to them after the battle the night before. There had been a lot of time spent talking while they had waited for the effects of Malaketh’s spell to wear off to get to know them better. Once seemingly set strongly against Cheleya, Isstmira had become friendlier though someone had insinuated that her loss to an earth wizard in the first round, due to losing her amulet and turning into a dragon in the ring, might have released the tension the tournament had instilled in the girl.

Evan jumped into the conversation as a cheer went up for the lone man wearing the black and brown uniform of a falcon. “I almost want to cheer for this guy,” he started drawing the girls’ eyes to the field. “A battle mage made it to the third round of a wizard tournament.”

“He is the only mage to join in the tournament,” Isstmira announced clarifying the man’s statement. “He beat a Kardorian and some wizard from a country in Taltan. Though it is hard to believe someone with that kind of strength could stand up to any sort of wizard, I have little knowledge of the men he defeated. He was with the earth wizard I fought so I met him briefly after my loss.”

Cheleya’s eyes lifted to look at the field and the dragon noted the four men entering their duel rings. Like rings set at four points of a diamond, the field left the men staring across the pool that remained the heart of the Colonnades arena. The stone columns that the duel field was named for were scattered around the central pool and served as slight obstructions between the wizards from left to right.

“He carries a staff,” the blond haired girl stated dropping her hands to her knees. “Isn’t that a dangerous wizard’s trick, Draasstmass?” she asked of the elder che’ther wizard sitting behind her.

It was the ambassador who answered the question however as he said, “If he knows how to tap the power of the earth with it, then yes. Few know of it and the dangers that come with that technique. He has brought shafts of iron and wood as well, so perhaps he will use them differently.”

Colbie turned to Cheleya with confusion written on her face. “What are you talking about? Battle mages use battle staves to fight instead of swords sometimes. How would he use it here?”

Shrugging, the blond shook her head before waving the question off as she answered, “It is probably just my imagination. I doubt that a mage would have heard of this anyway.”

A black robed wizard moved out onto the field proclaiming the names of the competitors. Brahvai Froe and Arronnon received appreciative cheers as well as a third wizard wearing gray. Geriman from a place called Gray Hall was largely unknown, though their wizards were said to be quite skilled. When the final man’s name, Sebastian Trillian from Windmeer, was announced the crowd nearly doubled their cheers beyond any of the others.

“He seems to be popular,” Evantus said rubbing an ear after the noise.

“It’s not every day that you see a battle mage enter a wizard’s arena,” Isstmira said sounding like she admired his courage, even if she doubted the likelihood of his success.

The battle’s noise dwarfed the noise of the crowd as the match began. Arronnon and Brahvai mostly ignored the mage, though an impressive fire tornado pushed at Sebastian from Staron’s fire wizard. Both seemed to think that their defenses would stave off the battle mage’s best attempts and he appeared bemused by their lack of interest. Cheleya found her eyes leaving the grand display of stone, water and fire spells directed at the man in gray to look at the young man in his brown falcon uniform.

“What kind of spells are those?” Draasstmass complained as the gray wizard erected black shields which seemed to eat every spell directed at them. Brahvai and Arronnon sent fireballs, earth quakes, water tentacles and columns of stone towards the wizard’s circle, but the shields held against them all.

Arronnon roared angrily at the Gray Hall wizard at the sight of the black wall absorbing Brahvai’s flames. A wall of wind sent shards of stone flying back at the dragon even as he set his will against Geriman. A stone column shifted much like her father’s control of the earth. Like a giant arm, the stone slapped at the earth embankment and fire wall set as a barrier by the Gray Hall wizard.

More black discs appeared in response cutting through the arm like it was butter, even as the first black shield stood as an impenetrable wall against Brahvai’s fire attacks. The fire wizard was beginning to look desperate and Cheleya wondered if he would change opponents.

A brilliant flash of lightning danced along the ground jumping to an iron rod standing nearly at Brahvai’s feet. During the distraction of the three battling to the north, the battle mage had seeded an iron rod in each of the wizards’ circles. The fire tornado and fire shields of the wizard were like nothing to the lightning as it struck the mark launching Brahvai out of his ring in defeat.

The impressive tornado and fire walls winked out of sight as the crowd gasped. Cheleya shook her head in disbelief.

“He took out Brahvai with one shot!” Evantus cried out in shock. Colbie and Orlerin looked equally disappointed. While Tilana mumbled sadly to Orlerin about her fellow wizard’s loss.

Cheleya replied, “He did it with two spells. Look at the iron rod in his ring. The mage let the others ignore him and set Brahvai up for that spell.”