Battle Mage: Forging New Steel (Tales of Alus Book 9) (33 page)

His hand moved to the south where he knew Palose’s portals now infiltrated Southwall’s border. New Harbor received a red mark. It was differentiated from the indigo dots given to Darius’s gates.

Most of the southern cities of Southwall received similar marks. His finger touched the mountain cities, Cadmera, and Garosh’s fortress received a second mark though he actually felt three beyond the one Darius had created using the giant’s magic. Windmeer had one, though it felt wrong. His finger pointed just to the west of the city as well finding a clean point, but moving back towards Hala, three more marks brought a frown to his face.

Letting his hand move to the south again, Banosh and Parik received the red mark before Sebastian’s hand felt a final mark far to the east where the map had no piece of land marked as an island.

When he opened his eyes, Sebastian gritted his teeth in anger and frustration.

“So many,” Ashleen breathed receiving nervous nods from those looking at his map.

Elzen shook his head and asked, “You are trying to tell me that this is all from Palose? If these are all in Southwall and Litsarin, why is there a marker in the water south of the island nations?”

“That is the Grimnal’s island,” Sebastian stated simply.

He closed his eyes once more and tested beyond those he had found. Three points north of the wall were centered on the same general point. Two more faint markers could be felt elsewhere and opening his eyes, the mage saw the points marked places in the mountain chain known as the Dragon’s Spine Mountains or alternatively the Dark Mountains for the emperor who lived there.

This time Elzen looked more enthusiastic. “Are those the emperor’s cities?”

Sebastian could only shrug as he answered, “There are three here, so I think that it is his base. I get less of a feeling from the other two.”

“If you are right, Bas, we can hit the emperor where he lives. No long march out in the open or warning him before we get there!”

Shaking his head at the younger mage, the owl replied a little more cautiously than his friend, “The warlocks warned that if we tried to come through their portal chamber, it was well guarded. There is a moment’s adjustment needed for anyone using the doorways. By the time we could react, they could be on us and pick off our people one by one as they crossed to the mountains.”

“Do you think those warlocks told you the truth?” the younger man asked with apparent disbelief. He had just been shown the end of all the fighting in his mind. Being able to ambush the emperor in his own city was too big a temptation to be put off as a bad idea so quickly.

“Everything else they told us seemed the truth and their eyes didn’t appear to be lying. I think they feared if we followed, even if we were killed, they would be found at fault and receive a comparable punishment. While they might have reason to lie, if they believed it unsafe, the warlocks might add guards if only because they feared we would eventually use their magic against them.”

“Grandfather!” a familiar male voice called out drawing their attention as one. A man with similar features to Elias, Darius’ grandson, who stood with them, but was more of a size to the high wizard; approached with several other men and a couple young women in tow. Towering over Darterian, Gerid approached with a smile looking ready to greet them as well.

Darius met his older grandson with a clasp of hands before pulling him in for a quick hug with the opposite arm. Darterian had been busy in the castle speaking with the king and his advisers as well as Gerid the previous day. That was the excuse given anyway, but Sebastian wasn’t sure what could have kept the man from seeing his mentor and grandfather.

Gerid ignored the family reunion as Elias joined his grandfather welcoming his cousin.

“Sebastian,” the giant greeted clapping him on the shoulder causing him to take a step involuntarily. Sebastian was like a rag doll before the power of the immortal giant.

“Good morning, Gerid,” answered the mage with a wince at the enthusiastic greeting.

“Darterian brought word that you and Darius would like to see me. There was something about my rune warriors in there as well, but it was lost on me,” Gerid chuckled, though Sebastian doubted anything had been missed at all. It was the giant’s kind of misleading humor, he knew from their months as friends. “Still I made sure to bring my clan along with me just in case you needed someone in particular.”

Lifting his arms, Sebastian made the ink of the runes visible on both forearms. He now had three runes on his body, but had been unable to get in touch with Captain Drayden to procure the ones given to the soldier on the island. While that could have been a setback, the mage remembered that the guards of the giant likely had the same runes and more to copy.

He hadn’t tried to pull copies from someone without magic, but the owl was fairly certain that it would be the same.

Gerid noticed the additional runes on the mage and asked, “You have more runes? How did that happen?”

“It gets better,” Sebastian said with a smile and stepped back letting his magic create the rune shield. As tall as the mage, the round orange shield stood between them as a tempting target. Gerid struck the shield a powerful blow.

Pulling his hand back and shaking it out, the giant gave an approving nod, “That is very solid. You didn’t even budge from my strike, so it must not transfer any mass through to you.

“That said; I have never seen the runes do this.”

The guards had all moved to see the strange use of runes on the battle mage. As his magic pulled the shield back to his arm, they spoke to each other curiously.

“Have you ever seen runes on someone capable of using magic before?”

Gerid shook his head and answered, “The shamans might have other magic, but I have never seen any of them manipulate runes like that.”

Adding strength to the oval on his right arm, the disk grew and moved to the side. Drawing out his staff easily, Sebastian contracted the rune back to his forearm creating uneasiness in the men.

The iron bound staff wasn’t Bairh’loore, but if he felt the need for extra power it would do. He added, “I am unsure how safe the larger disk is, but you can see that my magic can make it much larger.”

Lastly, he made the harpoon and barbwire glow with his magic. Like a snake under his control it waved in the air attached by the barbwire to his arm. Glowing orange, Sebastian wasn’t sure that anything was different other than the color. He had seen the rune warriors throw the harpoons and manipulate them to a point as well.

As it returned to his arm, the mage made the three runes fade to clear to disappear on his skin making the warriors frown at the strangeness of the mage’s power.

“I was hoping to see what other runes your men had. If I can copy them like I did with the others, then I can use them to help our soldiers. I can give them to other mages and wizards as well to spread them to our men without magic.”

The rune warriors looked a little unsure of his proclamation and Bas followed up saying, “Your shamans said that only those who could figure out the runes would be allowed to learn from them. Do you think that I have passed the first test towards mastering the runes?”

A tattooed warrior with brown hair stepped forward and said, “I have seen you do what you believed was best for people. I don’t think that you would try to misuse or abuse the runes. If the shamans granted you these runes to learn from, then surely they have to expect more from you than just keeping a single rune.

“You may use any rune that I have Sebastian.”

“Thank you, Semael,” he thanked the man from his heart. The merfolk were guarded individuals and untrusting of those from the surface. Semael was one of the extended tribe beneath the waves who was confined to land. Being more like the mage, since he was a surface dweller and unable to use the talismans of the merfolk to change; Semael was probably more trusting than his cousins from under the waves.

The morning lapsed into Sebastian using his magic to find and transfer several other runes that he hoped would help the soldiers of Southwall’s army once he began finding volunteers to try the magic. If the tribes north of the wall had shamans who could use the same magic, it would be wise to arm their soldiers comparably.

It was while they were still in the wizards’ practice fields that word came from Raven Leros.

The meeting took place at a general meeting area. Having to climb fewer stairs, Sebastian didn’t mind the shorter walk. He was surprised that Olan had been called on as well. Other battle mages he was familiar with from the training sessions were there as well and not everyone was as pleasant to see as others.

Although the message had come from Raven Leros’ office, Falconi Neven and two falcondi stood at the front of the room facing a half dozen falcon ranked mages including Sebastian. Ashleen had been in the invitation as well, so the wilder stood beside him looking a bit confused as were the rest of them by her presence.

Neven announced, “Our scouts have made contact with a large tribe of plains folk north of Hala. Though they appear to be no direct threat and haven’t bothered to go near the wall, we have been asked to be part of a guard unit for a diplomat wizard.

“The nomads have been exhibiting unusual habits throughout the plains this year as some of you know. Smaller tribes have disappeared into larger ones and in some areas our scouts have been driven away by large numbers of their warriors. Air wizards have managed to discover two large forts being built to the west.

“This band is the largest of the eastern tribes, so we are being sent to also find out if they know why the other nomads have created these new settlements.”

A female falcondi added for her superior, “Most of the information means little to our part of the mission. There have been other strange creatures, most likely sent by the emperor’s mountain cities, on the plains including black bird men resembling shrikes.”

With a second falcondi, the woman handed out a folder to each of the falcons gathered for the mission.

Falconi Neven took back over the briefing as he continued, “Most of you will notice the wizard in our midst, since Wizard Ashleen is working with Sebastian, Raven Leros wished to offer you a place with our part of the unit, if you wish to continue following the owl.”

The new designation caused the other mages to wonder though Ashleen nodded her assent after a quick glance which was ignored by Sebastian. He was her mentor only because the girl wished it, so he wouldn’t order her to come.

Neven looked like he was a little uncomfortable with the next part as he said, “Yes, I called him owl. The ravens are temporarily implementing a separate ranking for battle mages who can heal. Sebastian won’t be the only owl since there are several falcons with the talent now. As healers, the corps is trying to decide how to best set them aside since they are few in number with a specific talent.

“That is, of course, a side note, but you can address him as either falcon or owl for the mission.”

Sebastian felt uncomfortable with the separation of rank, but had a feeling using the new title for those with the unique skill in healing was just one step towards making the wizards see the corps differently. If things continued to work out well, eventually the hollow swords would help to gain recognition from their more powerful cousins’ eyes.

Jeriah frowned and asked, “Isn’t this a rather small contingent for meeting the largest tribe near Hala? If these tribesmen choose to fight instead of listen, what will our numbers be like?”

“We are working on adding another pair of mages, but the final number will be ten of us, a twenty soldier unit and a half dozen wizards plus Ashleen. This is supposed to be a diplomatic envoy, not an army sent to destroy them in battle, falcon.”

Falcon Lysbeth mused aloud, “We send enough to show strength without initiating a threat that will only bring a fight.”

The falconi nodded.

“When do we leave?” Sebastian questioned thinking of the swords he still needed to test. Luckily, the mage had been able to copy the runes he thought would be most useful to their soldiers. Whether the falconi would want him sharing the runes with their unit was another thing however. The magic was new and the soldiers sent were unlikely expecting to become his first test subjects.

“Tomorrow morning at eight,” the falconi said using the usual measure of time. Sebastian had lived in military installations which ran by using bells, so most mages would call the time Neven specified as second bell or second breakfast. It would be an early start then. “We will meet at our garrison then and walk to the stables by the northwest gate to join the rest of our unit.”

There was too little time for much testing the owl thought disappointedly. He and Ashleen would have to pack tonight and be ready before her usual wake up call.

With the main briefing finished, Neven called him over before they could leave. “Owl Sebastian,” the man addressed him making a face as he tried to decide if he hated the title, “Raven Leros would like you to talk with the battle mages who came with High Wizard Darius. He would like to add them to our squad.

“You know the two personally from what I gather.”

“Rilena and Elzen? I do know them, but why would he pull them from Windmeer, if I might ask?” Sebastian questioned the strange order. Normally there would be no possibility of borrowing another city’s mages without long travel involved for both the orders and the personnel. With Darius’s conquering of portal magic and trying to create a unification of Southwall using a series of set doors, eventually the kingdom would be able to borrow from any city or fortress with only the time needed to gather one’s belongings for a trip.