Battle Mage: Forging New Steel (Tales of Alus Book 9) (2 page)

Turning his back on the clerk after telling him that an escort wasn’t necessary, Sebastian rode inside of the strange box, which was made of expensive wood, rails of gold, and a gold panel holding five buttons. It was too luxurious to feel like a box, but it was an accurate name since just the one room moved upward and could be used for nothing more than the transportation.

He had never ridden in such a contraption before and had to admit it was much better than walking up the many flights of stairs that it would have taken otherwise. Having the magical lift made the upper floor a place for elites looking for privacy and a view of the inner city.

When the doors opened, Sebastian walked into a hall of polished tile. Even the smooth, stone walls glistened in the light of golden lamps; he noticed as the mage passed by the other doors until he found number ten.

Entering the first room of the suite, his eyes fell upon a large room filled with finery. A large bed with columns lifting from the corners to a canopy overhead and covered in a fancy comforter with half a dozen pillows against the headboard was slightly off to the right of center on the back wall. Tall windows, added centuries after the inn’s creation, let in the late afternoon light for now; but Sebastian could see that there were also plenty light sources to make it feel like day during the night. A chandelier sat in the center of the ceiling. As wide as the mage was tall, there were numerous glass bulbs which looked hazy from some gas inside of them. How they lit without flame or a way to release the heated gases, he wasn’t sure. More common lamps fueled by oil lined the walls.

Throw rugs mirroring the overall color palette sat on the floor. Several cityscapes hung on the walls while a large wardrobe dominated the left wall with a table and padded chairs. The near wall held a dresser on either side of the door and more padded chairs in the corners. For a room with only one bed, it seemed like more than enough furniture for those who could fit in the bed.

Another doorway led off to the right and he could see part of a tub sticking out past the open door. Moving without much thought to see the private restroom; a rarity among the inns of his world, Sebastian entered and realized belatedly that there was lingering steam in the air. Water was in the tub and he noticed bare legs poking out of bubbles before his eyes whipped towards the blonde haired woman looking up at him slightly surprised.

“Oh, hello, Bas, I didn’t hear you come in,” Ashleen commented as she eased back against the angled porcelain of the tub.

Looking away quickly, Sebastian wondered if it was a ploy of the pretty wilder. She hadn’t forced the issue between them since Ashleen knew that he still loved Yara, but without saying it to him she had also made it known that the young woman was interested in him even so.

“You changed the arrangements to a suite?” he asked trying not to sound angry, but the mage wasn’t completely successful.

The girl shrugged making noise in the water, even if he didn’t see the movement with his back to her. “We’ve been sleeping in Silver World apparently for almost a month together. I wasn’t sure if I could sleep properly, especially the first night, so I wanted to be able to check in with you without wandering through a hallway and having to knock.”

“Ashleen, you know that I am with Yara,” he began.

Making a disgruntled sigh, the girl interrupted, “I have more than enough bubbles covering me, Sebastian, you can talk to me without your back turned. Unless I stand up, you can’t see anything and, yes, I know that you are in love with Yara, though I still wonder how long that can last.

“You two are so different in so many ways, but I suppose being caring unites you two to a point.”

In an attempt to refuse to look scared of the girl with her silver blonde hair, Sebastian turned to look at her as he leaned against the long vanity with a sink and faucet in its center. Running water in the rooms was another perk of the Two Circles Inn thanks to the wizards’ guilds of Hala. Bubbles did cover the top of the water thickly revealing only Ashleen’s knees when she bent her legs and her bare shoulders as the girl leaned back in the water.

“All people are inherently different in one way or another,” he retorted without heat. “You work to overcome differences to stay together. I won’t give up just because there’s a slight hiccup after all.”

Giving a gentle smile to him, her blue eyes looked to the battle mage appearing to have knowledge that he did not. “She’s your first real relationship with a girl and Yara’s great, but you don’t know that you will make it through all the hiccups yet. No one really knows until after they’ve married and the vows are just echoes in their heads. Until death separates a couple, how can anyone really believe that they will overcome every hiccup?

“You two haven’t even officially come out as a couple for fear of Maura and the other wizards telling the guilds about you, right?”

Sebastian frowned. She was a Kardorian and had little true knowledge of the inner workings of Southwall and its people, but Ashleen was also a wizard living in a male dominated society. He doubted that male wizards in the hierarchy of Kardor thought much different from their counterparts. She was probably under the same strict rules about sex as the women in Southwall.

“She’s a full wizard now and I am a battle mage. There might be some resistance from the guilds, but we’ve already proved that being together can make our magic stronger. We don’t know that the wizards won’t make us stay together instead.”

“Ah, so you would rather be forced together instead of having your say in the matter?” the girl asked and raised a hand with bubbles cupped in the palm. She blew and sent the foam back into the tub though there was now a shadow as her arm retreated beneath the water once more. “You two seemed to be a little cold towards each other since Banosh, though maybe it was before that or a little after. I only know that on the island you two still seemed very close.”

Her crystal blue eyes looked at him appraisingly for a moment and he waited to see where her thoughts were going without interrupting. He also watched the bubbles a little worriedly as the air seemed to be slowly eroding her protective layer of foam. The conversation could only last so long before he would have to leave, the mage thought.

“She’s pretty friendly with almost everyone and I thought that we had managed to become friends back in Windmeer months ago, but since the day you rescued me from the black ship, Yara hasn’t seemed to want to talk to me very much. Did I do something to wrong her? I’ve held back from you as much as I can short of never seeing you at all. I’ve told her that I know where I stand since you two are together even, but she doesn’t seem to believe me.”

Being unsure of why Yara was mad at her, if she was even mad at all, sounded familiar. He had been receiving a bit of a cold shoulder as well, and wasn’t sure what he had done either. When Ashleen had asked if she could sail with them on the Sea Dragon to get away from the second leader of the Kardorians, Helena, the daughter of the nobleman who had led Ashleen’s group of wizards to Hala; Sebastian had said yes thinking it an innocent enough request. He had seen the wilder around the ship and talked with her no more than he had any of his team of wizards and mages.

“I guess she sees you as a rival and maybe doesn’t trust me as well,” the young man sighed. He hadn’t wanted to admit it, and no matter how often he protested the thoughts to the healer, Yara never seemed convinced otherwise.

“Why would she think that? She doesn’t treat the other women you know like that. Serrena and Frell are pretty and single, even Annalicia is amazing in so many ways being a lady and so beautiful; but she doesn’t seem to care if you talk to them. Why am I so special?

“You don’t actually like me as much as her, do you?”

He tried not to wince at the final question and hoped that he had managed to maintain a blank face in that moment. Even during the time they had spent alone in Silver World, Sebastian had managed to fight off any urges to betray Yara with the beautiful wilder. It was funny that a girl unable to completely contain her power over lightning also had an electric pull on him as well, but he hadn’t given in even when Ashleen had managed to become even more attainable on that island floating in the void of light.

Weeks alone, they had used the clean pond to wash and he had managed to avoid catching sight of the girl naked, but her wizard robes had been torn. Ashleen used the outer layer as a blanket and the remaining cloth had become a skirt tied at the hip, while her top had hung from her shoulders to only her upper stomach. Her modified outfits had revealed enough of her other assets to make him appreciate her looks even more.

Wanting to shake the thought of her attractive looks from his head, Sebastian simply looked at the black and tan tiles on the far wall.

In the silence left by the question, Ashleen asked, “Nothing happened on the island, and there was no reason for you to hold back. We didn’t know if we would ever return to Alus again, but you didn’t do anything if you actually had any feelings for me.”

“I knew that we would return sometime. I had faith,” he commented looking at her and was caught up in those crystal blue eyes again. That she had only questioned his feelings and never brought up hers meant that Ashleen had feelings for him still. They both knew it and the girl was simply fishing to discover if there was an opening with him. Worse, Sebastian wasn’t sure that there wasn’t despite his resolve.

It would be a few weeks before Yara returned to Hala, so he knew that he would do nothing until they had a chance to talk again. It would be nearly two months since he had seen Yara, but his mind had never seemed to leave the topic of their relationship for long. Trapped in the silence of the void and often only left with his thoughts as the mage had gone off to hunt, Sebastian had examined where he stood with Yara more times than the man could count.

He was avoiding Ashleen’s questions, however. Many times he had thought about them as well. If they had been trapped there for all their lives, Sebastian wasn’t sure when he would have let himself go to her. He certainly felt love for her, but she had been second. In Silver World, Ashleen had been his only companion and he hadn’t complained about that part even in his mind.

“I obviously like you, but love can’t be brought into it when I love Yara,” Sebastian replied trying to remain vague. He didn’t want to lie, but the answers weren’t completely obvious in his mind either. His heart, on the other hand, was certainly torn between the two girls.

Again Ashleen sighed as she looked away from him picking up a peculiar looking razor. Sebastian had used the straight edged razors which were nearly as dangerous as swords on a neck. Magic let him remove a beard much cleaner and safer.

Raising her right leg out of the water, Ashleen seemed oblivious to her display and his cheeks starting to redden. He had seen more of her legs than this, but for some reason knowing that only a thin layer of bubbles separated the remainder of her bare body from his vision was more intriguing. Her shoulders had sunk deeper, but somehow the bubbles above her chest managed to lift slightly even so.

“Well, you know that I like you too,” Ashleen replied as her attention focused on not cutting her leg as she removed the hairs that Sebastian couldn’t even see. Realizing that he was looking more intently than he intended, the man looked away missing a satisfied smile touch the girl’s lips for a moment. She switched legs as Ashleen finished what she could while being submerged in water. “I’ve tried to respect your relationship, but if she doesn’t want you, I do.”

Her words surprised him in their audacity. Ashleen had finally said it and worse, he didn’t hate to hear those words.

“I would need to know that Yara no longer loves me for anything to happen between us,” the mage managed to acknowledge both of their feelings without coming out with them fully. “Yara will be back soon and we will see what is there.”

“And I will try to learn what I can from you... concerning magic, of course,” Ashleen replied dropping the second leg into the water before sitting up a bit straighter. The bubbles were beginning to thin now and Sebastian refused to be caught looking at more of the beautiful girl than he should so he stood up to retreat.

She looked a bit disappointed that he wouldn’t stay or even come closer to her, but the situation hadn’t changed aside from him finally admitting his attraction to her. The war wasn’t lost, but she was on the losing side so far.

“Let me know when you are through,” he said as his hand grasped the knob of the door. “I haven’t had a chance to clean up thoroughly since what seems like forever.”

Giving a laugh, Ashleen nodded, “I think the last time I truly had a chance to bathe, I was still here in Hala. There isn’t enough fresh water available onboard those ships to ever feel truly clean.”

He nodded and closed the door blocking off the beautiful, bathing girl as if the wood could seal off his feelings for her as well.

Chapter 2- The Eternal Phoenix

While Sebastian waited for Ashleen to finish bathing, he gathered up another change of clothes from one of the bags left behind by the porters who had helped Ashleen earlier. The uniform was more than he wanted to wear in the warm summer air. Even as night approached, it remained warm. The cliff overlooking the North Sea felt little of the breezes that normally helped keep the city cool during summer and warmer during the winter.