Battle Mage: Forging New Steel (Tales of Alus Book 9) (20 page)

“He tells me that he buried generations of wizards before their time before the wizards of Eirdhen outlawed and let the technique disappear into time.

“Who am I to tell you anything, Neferen? I am the one that just showed you something you never discovered in your sixty years. If I say that it is too dangerous to make public beyond those of us here, then with Darius’s wisdom backing me, follow my caution and don’t be the idiot who kills our people!”

The dropping of the high wizard’s title wasn’t lost on anyone. Calling him an idiot was even more of an insult, but this wasn’t his leader. While Sebastian tried to respect his elders, he needed to establish an understanding even if it had to be done brutally. “If you want to research the ways to do this safely, by all means; but keep the numbers small and among those trusted to be cautious with its use.”

“You are a child,” Neferen began looking ready to return the insult. “I am a high wizard. Do not think to tell me what I can or can not do.”

Culmore cleared his throat placing a hand on the other man’s shoulder. Sebastian thought that he felt a trace of magic released as well as he said, “If you won’t listen to a boy or an immortal, then you will listen to me, Neferen.” The white wizard looked at the research wizards behind them a moment and added, “You will all listen to me. This is a dangerous technique. No one will reveal this knowledge beyond those gathered here without permission of the high wizards of Hala.”

Neferen’s eyes looked a bit hazy as he turned to look at Culmore. “But we can use this power.”

Culmore shook his head and repeated, “We will let it be researched until we find a safe way to use this power.”

The wizard looked to Sebastian and asked, “This sword of yours can trap the power safely?”

Nodding in reply slowly, Sebastian added, “The first sword can hold the power, though it feels ready to burst. If I take too much, I fear that it will break. The second sword I brought here to test hasn’t been pushed at all.”

Culmore stepped back leading Neferen with him and said, “If your raven is ready for you to test it, then I think it is time to see if your new weapon is as good as the first.”

Receiving permission and a pat on the back as Leros joined the wizards; Sebastian replaced the first sword drawing the second. His magic senses told him that it should work, but it was his first attempt working raw metal. Though the first Hollow Sword pioneered the creation, he had a better base to start with than a lump of iron.

“Fire sword,” he cast the spell into the blade and saw the rune glow orange like the first sword. It wasn’t as bright as the first using the power of the earth but, as he swung and sent the fire out of the runes, the weapon multiplied the energy exactly the way its predecessor had before it.

Daring to put it to the ultimate test as the mage watched the sword hold the magic without trouble, Sebastian took a deep breath and touched the tip to the ground. “Lightning dance,” he called the power into the runes.

Like being under the influence of his reflex spell, Sebastian seemed to feel time slow. He felt the surge of power enter the second Hollow Sword and immediately felt the metal in the blade react. Unlike the feel of magic ready to burst, the steel created by the novice seemed to explode before he could even lift the blade to release it again. Turning his head away as the weapon gave way to the power, Sebastian tried to pull away, but not even a reflex spell could have escaped the sword as it shattered beside him.

Pain laced his leg and ran up his side. There was pain that felt cold in his arm as the trapped lightning shocked his flesh and it tore through the cloth of his uniform like it was nothing. Cloth was nothing to the flow of lightning.

His left side felt different pain as he landed on the hard earth. Flung like a rag doll, the battle mage hit the ground and bounced as the energy released pushed him away even as metal and lightning stung the young man. Ears ringing, Sebastian lay stunned as his brain turned to ice unable to think or comprehend what had just happened.

Chapter 11- The Cost of Healing

Ashleen watched as the new Hollow Sword took in the power of the earth to create a lightning spell inside of the runed metal and knew something was wrong almost instantly. As the metal fractured, lightning crackled where there were no runes. The explosion of power sent the mage flying to the side as fragments of steel sprayed the man and those closest to the demonstration.

Lightning sprung from the wilder’s body protectively deflecting several shards away from her. People in the small crowd collapsed in pain as metal shrapnel sprayed them along with the helpless mage.

As Ashleen’s mind took in the devastation, she began to react.

“Sebastian!” the young woman cried out in fear that the man she loved might die in front of her. Flinging herself across the space between them, Ashleen virtually threw herself on top of the wounded battle mage.

Her eyes examined him as she tried to determine what to do. She was no healer. Yara was the one who had saved Sebastian from his worst injuries over and over again. They had never become very close as each girl knew the other loved the same man, but the healer had jokingly complained that the battle mage was her best customer and always needing to be saved. Even though Yara was just a healer, and rarely in the thick of a fight; Ashleen had sensed a quiet power in her that she admired.

Looking down, Ashleen spotted a large piece of metal sticking out from the mage’s boot. It had torn through the leather like it wasn’t there sinking deep into his calf. Another smaller piece stuck out of the thigh, but blood soaked most of his right leg from smaller fragments that were less obvious. Looking at his side, the torso was relatively unscathed, but a large chunk of metal could be seen in his forearm. He had short sleeves, so the blood covering his arm scared her even more seeing the destruction. The blood lost was already significant in the seconds it took for her to get to the mage.

She clamped her hands onto the wounded limb and quickly she pulled the metal from his arm before trying to press the wound closed to slow the loss of blood. The hospital in Hala was on the south side of the inner city. Even with the new opening in the wall, Ashleen feared that he would lose too much blood to make it.

“Is anyone a healer? Help! He’s really bleeding badly here!” the girl cried out doubting anyone there could heal him.

The shadow of Leros arrived seconds later and she asked for a healer again.

Blue shields had instinctively protected the raven and his falconi. Their spells protected those closest to them as well, but the blue shields couldn’t heal or protect Sebastian. “Why didn’t he think to put an earth skin spell on him before trying that?” the old mage asked in almost as much distress as Ashleen. “We’re going to lose the brightest light we’ve seen in two centuries,” he added already turning the bleeding mage’s injuries into the darkest likelihood.

The girl’s blue eyes turned on the raven as her blond hair swished in the air. “Can you or anyone here heal?”

Shaking his head, the old man said, “I can try to bind his wounds, but I am not sure we can do anything quick enough to save him.”

Ashleen looked at Sebastian in front of her looking pale from shock and blood loss already. Desperation caused the wilder to try what she had seen the owl do many times. He had even been pushing her through the creation of the sword to test her ability to tap into the magic of healing. While Sebastian had never asked her to become more like Yara, she had wondered if he only needed to see that in her as well to truly fall in love with her.

“Heal,” she mumbled feeling the blood and flesh in her hands as the woman tried to hold the life inside of him. “Heal!” the word came again more desperately focusing her mind like she had done so many times with the metal of the swords.

Like a rush, Ashleen found her consciousness feeling the pain inside the mage. The open cut in his arm felt so wrong to her mind that it was easy for the wizard to tell what belonged together and quickly worked to mend the flesh with her magic. It pulled together with the power of her mind in seconds and soon felt much better to her senses.

Drawn away by the other pains, Ashleen traced the next closest wound just above his belt. She hadn’t even seen the cut in her quick examination; but as her consciousness flowed inside of him like a wizard riding the winds, the woman hovered inside of the pain lacing his skin back together righting the chaos and remaking his flesh into the order it suggested.

More wounds and openings in the man laced his leg. The large pieces of metal were pushed out and the healing continued. She was nearly done, but the energy needed was exhausting. The wilder knew lightning, air and earth. This was completely new to her though it felt like the work they had done with the Hollow Sword, but that had ended in failure.

She pushed the negative thought away but only for a moment. There were more wounds, but Ashleen had mended the worst of them and her mind was tired. Her thoughts began to dull and she tried to pull back to her body. It was too much. What would happen if she passed out trying to heal him?

Air wizards had died when their minds couldn’t return home after riding the wind. Could a healer die the same way inside of their patient’s body?

Something pushed her gently towards her hands. Though Ashleen was exhausted, it was like a second presence shifted her home. The soft touch felt like Sebastian, she thought oddly, but he was unconscious. He couldn’t help her could he?

Her eyes fluttered open looking at Sebastian still lying in front of her unmoving for only a moment before the world went dark. Collapsing next to the mage with only a sigh for warning; Leros tried to catch the girl easing her to the ground.

Sebastian woke to look up at the white ceiling of a room that he did not know. A curtain hanging to the right blocked his view beyond his reach, though his arm hurt too much to try at the moment. Turning his head to the left drew attention from a familiar face, who called out, “He’s awake!”

“Where am I, Frell?” he asked the young woman who looked so concerned and it took a moment for Sebastian to remember what had happened.

Beside her Serrena looked up in surprise. Apparently he had interrupted her nap.

“You’re in the wizards’ hospital in Hala. Apparently, that’s where you go when you do something stupid,” the blond haired mage said accusingly as her blue eyes were the only things showing relief as she tried to control her emotions. Battle mages tried to never look weak. Their time of being looked down upon by wizards and being ostracized by soldiers had taught most of them to control their faces around others. They didn’t want to be pitied or give those who belittled them any extra satisfaction from knowing their words and actions hurt.

“Aw, man, the new sword broke didn’t it? Wait, you weren’t even there. How did you know I was in the hospital?” he asked looking a bit confused.

Serrena frowned at him as she stood up to walk towards the curtain. “You’ve been unconscious for two days, so there was more than enough time for Ashleen to get word to your friends that you were an idiot and nearly killed yourself.”

Pulling the curtain towards the head of the bed, the wizard revealed someone sleeping in the bed next to him. Dressed in one of her short blue summer dresses, he recognized Ashleen almost immediately as Serrena nudged her to consciousness.

“He’s finally awake, Ashleen,” Serrena said encouraging the girl to return to the waking world.

Ashleen’s feet and legs were bare, he noticed, though she was lying in a bed so that made sense Bas realized a little groggily. His mind was working too slowly and comprehension of his surroundings was coming gradually.

Rolling to sit up on the edge of her bed, the wilder’s eyes looked dazed for a moment before her blue eyes met his and her face lit up. She looked tired as dark circles of exhaustion marred her beauty only slightly in his opinion. Hopping onto the stone tiled floor, the girl hurried over giving him a hug around his shoulders as best she could before kissing him on the lips in elation.

“Bas, I was beginning to wonder if you would ever wake up. The healers said you just needed rest, but I thought maybe we were still going to lose you,” Ashleen said quickly pulling away. Her eyes looked weary and she winced as she stood up finally sitting back on the edge of her bed. He wondered if the girl had been awake since he had been hurt.

“What happened? I mean, I remember trying to put some of the power of the earth into the sword to charge it, but what happened after that?”

Ashleen looked too emotional to speak as her eyes revealed that what she had seen was too painful for her to get out. Frell stood beside his bed and said calmly, “Apparently the sword sent shrapnel into your side from your leg up to your abdomen. It managed to miss any of your organs and only fleshy muscle took the hits. Still, the healers say that the piece that cut your arm was at least as dangerous as all the other wounds by itself. The metal there severed a length of an artery.

“If no one had found a way to heal you, they say that you likely would have died by the time they could have sent a healer to the north field or brought you here.”

His mind tried to review those in attendance to figure out who had healed him in time. “One of the high wizards healed me?” he asked realizing that the masters of more than one school of magic might have learned healing. It was rare to have someone who used destructive magic actually be able to grasp anything of healing. Sebastian and a handful of battle mages had been able to balance both sides of their magic after all, but he had heard of no wizards.