Battle Mage: Forging New Steel (Tales of Alus Book 9) (34 page)

“With High Wizard Darius’ permission, we would like to bring them along so they might train with you as they travel. Any of the new magic could be passed on to Windmeer with their return. With all the strange goings on near the castle, Raven Leros would like to use this new opportunity to spread your training in a few days time, when it would formerly have taken weeks to travel to Windmeer from Hala with someone trained here.”

“I know them well enough to be fine with training them, but they will need an order to come with the request, I would think,” the falcon stated trying to fit his mind around the matter.

A pair of envelopes were passed to him by the female falcondi at Neven’s gesture. “A note for the high wizard and official transfer papers for Windmeer.”

They were very prepared considering they had only arrived the day before, but Southwall could move at surprisingly quick speed when it needed something. The battle mage corps in particular didn’t waste time on making decisions as was evident by this recent maneuver for his friends.

“I will head to the wizards’ training yard where the high wizard is training others for portal spells then.”

With a brief salute, he was off to accomplish his mission.

“I can’t believe he gave us up so easily,” Rilena complained as she walked up the stairs of the Black Smith Inn carrying her pack. Elzen trailed the girl as they followed Sebastian up the stairs.

Elzen chuckled before replying, “I can. He’s probably tired of ferrying you around with his portal magic. You’re just dead weight.”

The dark haired girl punched the younger mage in the arm. “Speak for yourself Elzen. At least I was the one who helped Darius use the portal to enter the fortress. All you’ve done is be his test subject.”

“Someone had to go first and check out the Silver World. I couldn’t reach the islands, but that was only because the rope wouldn’t reach that far.”

Sebastian stopped at the top of the stairs and said, “You never made it to the islands?”

At the shake of the younger man’s head, Bas let out a small hum of amusement.

Rilena asked in reply, “Oh that’s right, you know about the islands too.”

Stopping at his door, the mage nodded as he opened the obstruction. Ashleen was already inside and looked up at the door with a smile until she spied the others behind him. She had a pack partially filled for their trip, but what made her unhappy was the change of sleeping arrangements for the night.

“Ashleen and I were trapped on one of the islands for what felt like a couple weeks, but it turned out to be nearly a month,” Sebastian informed the girl reminding her of how he had been stranded in Silver World. They hadn’t had much time to catch up and the stories were most likely beginning to jumble together, since he had left Windmeer so long ago.

Elzen asked, “There were really animals and birds there? I thought I could see birds flying around the closest islands at least.”

“The one we were on had animals, birds and even fish in a small lake. I wish I knew how the water was replenished, but we never did figure out how such a place could hold life like that.”

“I told him it was magic,” Ashleen said standing at the foot of her bed. She was moving to the room shared by the mermaids with Rilena. Elzen couldn’t share with all the girls so the two men were going to room together with Olan, who had asked to join them before they left. The other mage had become very close to Yaroma and her sister. He had even asked if he could bring the two along, but Sebastian didn’t think the mermaids, so used to water and swimming, could handle days of riding horses which they had never done.

Rilena made a sniffing noise and replied, “Of course it’s magic. Darius conjectured that the emperor used his magic to bring part of his world through to his prison in the void making a home for his armies until they could escape.

“I wonder how long it will last with him gone. If his magic held the islands together, then without him it is likely that the world will fail without his magic.”

Shrugging, Elzen tossed his bag onto the bed Ashleen was vacating. His eyes moved to the wilder and a grin crossed his face. “Now my question is why have you two been sharing the same room? Is Ashleen your lover, Bas?”

While the girl in question blushed, Rilena looked at Sebastian adding the question, “I thought you were interested in that healer last we talked. You made sure to get her cleared to come with you for the tournament, didn’t you?”

Sebastian hated answering such personal questions, but he said, “Yara and I have decided to give up on being together. If the future has something else written then that is the future, but for now I have to follow my own path and she will follow hers.”

The answer didn’t look like it completely mollified Rilena in particular, but it was Elzen who moved closer to the owl nudging him with an elbow and a wink. “So you shared the same room, did you share the same bed?”

“It wouldn’t be any business of yours to ask,” Rilena said with a frown as she looked ready to hit the boyish mage.

Ashleen stated simply, “No, we haven’t. Come on, Rilena, I have what I need. Let’s see if Naoromi and Yaroma are ready for guests yet.”

Following the pretty blond, the girls pulled the door closed behind them. Elzen took a deep breath and seemed to become more serious. “You seriously let Yara go? I mean, Ashleen seems great, but from what you had written me last fall and when we talked at Windmeer, I thought you were in love with Yara.”

A sigh preceded Sebastian’s answer as he sat in the chair against the wall by his bed. “I was and probably still am, but not everything works out the way we want it. Ashleen is great, but I’m not ready to move on just yet.”

“So Ashleen’s been giving hints that she’s interested?”

Sebastian thought that was an understatement, but he replied, “We’re taking it slow, but yes.

“I don’t really want to talk about my love life or lack of though. You and Rilena met and became friends?”

The other mage pulled up one of the wood chairs turning it around and sat facing the chair back as he talked with his friend. “I met her on the trail to Garosh’s fortress. We were friends quickly if only because we both know you.”

Continuing their conversation, the two friends tried to catch each other up on the last several months until Olan arrived. The three men joined the ladies for dinner and some dancing, though they all went to bed early since the march to the stables would begin at an early hour.

Chapter 19- Laying a Trap

Even the early morning air felt warm and moist, which almost made Sebastian forget that they were on North Continent. For all that the winters were long and cold, the summers could also be quite warm; though he had never lived on the east coast of Southwall before and had never experienced such a humid season. To add to the discomfort of a summer which refused to give way to fall, it rained during the night so leaving the city heading north to the wall meant the horses trod on a muddy path to the tower.

Sebastian rode towards the rear of the column numbering thirty seven. Four soldiers led by Lt. Aufrienne, took the lead in front of the wizards. Most of the remaining sixteen soldiers followed three across until the last man, a sergeant was flanked by Falconi Neven and Falcondi Westlin where the three spoke discussing who would take scouting and vanguard positions north of the wall.

Wizards were exempt from such work, since they would need more protection in the field. They were also the usual true scouts of a formation. Having an air wizard meant someone who could ride the winds for miles looking for movement on the plains. Even the potential ambushes of the nomads could rarely escape their attention.

They also had an earth wizard. For the few weaknesses in scouting of an air wizard, an earth wizard could sense the vibration in the earth which meant they could often catch those hidden from sight.

When the column was well beyond bow range of the outer city walls, the mage produced a pair of stones which he dropped simultaneously from each hand onto the path.

Ashleen was beside him and wasn’t the only one who noticed the strange behavior, but the girl asked quietly, “What are you doing?”

“Probably shortening our ride back to Hala,” he said with a wink.

“You think that you can hold a portal long enough for the entire column to return?” she asked trying to ascertain whether Sebastian planned to be generous or not.

“With help and I wouldn’t cast the gate anywhere near the nomads. If these people have some sort of alliance with the emperor’s armies, they might pass on the information that we have started to use their spells against them. If they hate the emperor, then casting the spell would probably make them distrust us since we would look like the enemy,” the owl stated without truly answering her question. Ashleen noticed, but said nothing more about it.

They had passed through the gate guarded by the tower set in the wall and were well on their way north when Serrena maneuvered her horse out of the column dropping back towards them. One of the soldiers questioned if there was a problem, but the fire wizard shook her head and soon rejoined the column beside Ashleen, since Sebastian was between the wilder and Olan.

Leaning forward to see the side of Serrena’s face as she looked forward at the line of backs before them, he asked, “Something wrong?”

Trying not to show too much the woman glanced with her eyes twice, before her shoulders sank slightly as Serrena turned to look at him. “I think Oltus and Linus are competing to see who can be the most boring wizard. Maybe they’re just getting too old, but they all just act like they’re some ancient professors teaching their students.”

Those closest to her listened and had to laugh. Sebastian shook his head. While Serrena was a wizard, she was also only twenty-three and had been with his team for most of the year. They were a fairly young group as well, so now returned to her peers; the differences in age were becoming too apparent for her.

“Isn’t Petre kind of your age? You could always talk with her,” he suggested only to see the fire wizard make a face of distaste.

Sticking out her tongue a moment and making a face at the idea, Serrena complained, “She’s an air wizard. Knowing how they are, she’ll probably spend too much of her time lost in the clouds or riding the winds to ever be interesting.”

Suddenly remembering that Ashleen was essentially an air wizard as well, Serrena winced and added, “Present company excepted.”

Giggling at the look of embarrassment on the fire wizard’s face, the wilder replied, “Kardorian wizards don’t lump each other into one kind of magic like your guilds, besides I use earth and air to make lightning mostly. I can ride the winds, but for now I serve as Bas’s apprentice.”

Ashleen finished with a sarcastic salute to the owl as he just rolled his eyes in response.

“Well, you’re welcome to ride with us, but you should probably make at least an attempt to get along in case we should ever find ourselves in trouble. If you wizards can’t get along, who’s going to save the rest of us?”

Eyes glancing to the mage and away, as Serrena tried to figure out if he was being sarcastic or not; the fire wizard soon gave up trying to decide since he gave her no clue. The four rode across from each other for quite awhile just chatting about little things as they tried to pass the time.

By midday the column had ridden beyond sight of the North Wall and well out into the land referred to as the northern plains. The land wasn’t perfectly flat especially as close to the coast as they were. Rolling hills started soon after they were north of the wall and grew taller further to the east. With just a handful of easy days riding by horse, they could reach the foothills of the Dragon Spine Mountains, which was actually the name of several mountain ranges which crossed one another in truth.

The emperor’s capitol was believed to be far to the west, but over the last two centuries his empire grew and they knew that there were more cities built into the mountains besides Ensolus. Few spies risked searching the mountains and fewer still returned with any information that would be of help to Southwall.

Spreading out as they broke for lunch, the horses were kept near eating the tall grass and wild grains hidden among them. A watering hole with a stream flowing southeast from it was enough to water the horses, so a detail of soldiers and mages led their mounts in small groups to drink. They weren’t riding the creatures hard, but they were thirsty thanks to the unseasonably warm weather.

While he ate a sandwich and drank some water from his canteen, Sebastian broke out a map showing the cities and towns of Southwall and most of the nearby countries. It also held the colored markings of the portals he had felt during his search for both Darius’s gates and those of the Betrayer, Palose.

Olan, who hadn’t been on hand when Sebastian had used the map magic, asked, “What is with the map? There isn’t really anything giving us landmarks to know where we are on a map.

“One hill looks just like another to me.”

Bas nodded and answered, “This isn’t for gauging where we are on the map. The map helps me to remember where the various portals are, at least around North Continent.

“I don’t know how Darius can hold unlimited points in his mind to keep track of the doorways, but I can only keep one in mind that I can see so far. Maybe with practice I will remember more, but this map let’s me keep track a lot easier.”