Battle Mage: Forging New Steel (Tales of Alus Book 9) (7 page)

Once again he shook his head to look back down on the sword before him. “Air spear,” the mage called a weapon of air to his hand. He had left Bairh’loore behind at the inn, but another experiment had discovered that use of a magically created staff could moderate the power of the earth to strengthen his magic almost as well. Closing his eyes, Sebastian added, “Heal.”

His magic took his consciousness into the metal and his senses shut out the rest of the world as the owl began to work.

Chapter 4- Center of Attention

Returning to the Two Circles in the afternoon, Sebastian and Yara were feeling tired. Both had pushed their magic and strength quite far in their examination of the swords. Ashleen had made a breakthrough with her spells and had been able to find the variations in the sword that he had told her to look for with her magic. It was a surprise for the wilder who had used her earth magic less regularly than her air spells. Lightning drew from both, but as a wilder Ashleen didn’t so much cast lightning spells as she simply channeled the electricity without much thought.

Sebastian had begun the first twists of magic within his new sword. He didn’t ask for help from Ashleen, since the mage wanted to do this magic by himself. The Hollow Sword had been more of an act of instinct than intent and he needed to know if he could replicate the magic used without Yara or anyone else’s help.

They had gone into the Black Smith Inn for lunch and eaten with Ivol and Aric. The men had questions for his process, since nothing had been done that was noticeable to the men.

Even after eating, he and Ashleen could only put in a couple more hours of practice and experimentation. Magic drained a wizard or mage much faster than most physical work and they had to be careful not to go beyond their abilities. A wizard who used up all of his magic would likely die, unless a comrade could manage to channel enough power back into the drained magician. Not every wizard survived even then as Sebastian had discovered during the tournament. Of course, the battle mage had pushed himself even farther by using the power of the earth to augment his reserves of magic.

His use of the air staff in the forge was noticed by Ashleen, but the girl held off asking about it. He was the teacher and she the student in this case, but her curiosity was raised. Sebastian had used staves in the tournament as well as during their battles with the warlocks of the emperor. While others had asked, Sebastian had maintained that the trick wasn’t safe yet. Still the battle mage would use it from time to time, which angered his healer and girlfriend, Yara.

“Falcon Trillon?” the man behind the main desk for the inn called as he spotted the two entering the combination dining room and entry. Noticing the dirt on both of them, his face frowned a moment before trying to hide his displeasure at hosting such people in the high class inn. “You have messages.”

Sebastian had noticed the man’s look of disgust, but wasn’t surprised. The staff of the Two Circles Inn was used to serving the elite of society including visiting nobles from various nations beyond Southwall. A place for visiting dignitaries, who didn’t quite rate a stay in the castle, often used the inn since it was of the highest repute. In spite of how royalty might find the service, for those of lesser backgrounds, the Two Circles Inn wasn’t always as hospitable.

Taking his messages with him, Sebastian led Ashleen to the lift and pushed for his floor. The ease of the lift was certainly better than walking up five floors of stairs and there was a certain amount of amazement caused in the mage even after using it a few times. What wizards could do with magic was incredible and he had no doubt that no mage could have devised such a device. It was a matter of cleverness and power that most battle mages simply didn’t have. On the other hand, few battle mages found a need to climb so many stairs on a regular basis, unless they were inside of one of the castles.

“Mecklin says that he will try to bring some of the others from the Sea Dragon for dinner tonight. Annalicia and Darterian were asked to stay for the big celebration of Gerid’s return,” he informed Ashleen as he read the first note. As the mage read the second message which was lengthier, Sebastian groaned, “We have officially been invited to join a parade through the city tomorrow afternoon in honor of the Grimnal. As someone who was part of rescuing Gerid, I guess you are as involved as I am now. The message even includes both of our names.”

“And me just a simple wilder from Kardor,” Ashleen chuckled noticing his discomfort. She knew him well enough to realize that he didn’t enjoy the spotlight. Sebastian was a humble man who preferred action and not to sit through lavish celebrations, even if they celebrated his accomplishments.

“I thought that you came from a noble family there,” Sebastian said looking at the third message. It was from Raven Leros ordering him to do as the king requested as well as setting a date two days later for another meeting. Likely the raven had more ideas about how he would spend his time while in Hala. Hopefully he could continue his experiments with swords and the forge. Sebastian was certain that Hollow Swords could counter the emperor’s new armor which absorbed much of the elemental magic a wizard used. If Leros couldn’t be convinced of their importance, the owl would be surprised; but how much time he would be given was the bigger question.

Ashleen shrugged and replied to his question, “I am from a lesser house, though my father has actually done quite well as a merchant increasing his reputation beyond that. My family has some businesses and money.”

It was most likely an understatement, the battle mage thought. His own background was being the son of a simple farmer. They hadn’t been rich, and his call to White Hall had been a blessing for his family. Every mage and wizard’s family were paid for their service, while the children would grow up and eventually reap a stipend of their own.

Ashleen leaned against the wall of the elevator and began pulling off her boots. At his questioning look, the girl replied, “I’ve been on my feet most of the day. That stool wasn’t easy on my bottom either. Since these boots are new, I am also still getting used to them.”

He noted the two inch heels which had helped raise the girl’s eyes closer to his. Removed from her feet, the smaller girl was even more obviously shorter than the mage. He said nothing knowing many girls who preferred some amount of heel in an effort to not feel like others loomed over them.

Once more, Ashleen entered through his room. There was a second door to hers, but it was redundant for both to bring their keys, so Sebastian had become the official opener of the suite door. The girl was barely to the doorway of the bathroom before she threw her boots through the opening into her room and reached to the sides of her tunic pulling the garment up and over her head revealing no other covering for her upper body. With her back to the mage, Ashleen announced, “After being in that smithy all day, I need a bath.”

She pulled the door to the bathroom closed behind her, but only after giving him a bit of a show.

Sebastian sat on his bed only a moment before lying back while his feet remained on the floor. With first one foot and then the other, the mage kicked off his boots understanding Ashleen’s sore feet as his were also sore. While his boots were older, the continual walking or standing beside the workbench had taken its toll.

With his eyes closed, Sebastian heard the water running in the other room. The door wasn’t so thick as to obscure even that sound and he had to admit that there was a part of him that wished he would give in and take a look at the pretty girl. Ashleen was as beautiful as Yara in his opinion and alike in many ways. That was probably why he liked both of them so much.

Yara was the peace he often sought. She was a healer and had brought that out of him. Yes, he had been inquisitive about magic and pushed to learn the spells beginning almost innocently with a saddle sore spell. It was considered a simple healing spell for them, but they had been surprised when a battle mage had actually discovered that he could duplicate the healing.

A slight smile, as he thought about touching Yara so intimately for the first time, came to his lips. Those touches had become much more over time.

Like Yara, Ashleen had been someone who brought something to his life. He had an affinity for air magic as well, but it had only been after discovering the wilder that lightning, wind riding and a few other spells had come. She brought out the fun side of him and once he had been reunited with Yara, Sebastian had needed to put up a wall between him and the pretty wilder.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t have fun with Yara, but what they had was far different from his relationship with the wilder.

After a time, the door to his room opened. The girl’s blond hair was still wet and hanging down her back. Dressed in only a towel wrapped around her body, Ashleen tried to tempt him again. It had become a game to see how far she could push him and they both knew it.

“You might want to take a bath as well. You’re filthy and if you want other women to dance with you, you might want to bathe,” she stated giving him a smirk.

He didn’t sit up and Ashleen frowned. “Do you need more motivation to get up? I can drop my towel and give you a show to wake you up.”

Lifting his head, the battle mage called up a spell familiar to all battle mages. “Gust,” he ordered and swiped with his hand. A sudden wind struck catching the fold of the towel causing it to pull free making Ashleen squeak in surprise.

He put his head down before truly seeing what the girl had offered only a moment before and smiled at the joke.

“Sebastian!” she complained, but he had closed his eyes ignoring her complaint. He heard feet on stone a moment before Ashleen’s voice came to him from only a couple feet away. “If you really wanted a look that bad, I said that I would show you what you are missing.”

Pressure on the bed beside the mage made him frown, but he dared not open his eyes. If the girl was insisting upon tempting him, he wasn’t really sure that he would want to resist seeing her bare body. Wondering if he had made a tactical mistake, the battle mage realized that he had never been trained for this kind of battle, a battle of wills of a different sort.

“You big baby, you really don’t want to look? I mean, you’ve seen Yara naked right? That is the rumor at least.”

He refused to say a thing, but wondered how such a rumor had spread. Ashleen hadn’t been on the Sea Dragon when he and Yara had first been together. They probably hadn’t hidden their attraction for each other well, especially on a boat where you couldn’t hide from the others in such cramped quarters. He had only hoped Maura wouldn’t report them when they both returned home since it was nearly a rule that such relationships were forbidden.

Then they had been magically drawn to each other and all worries of keeping away had led to sex on that cursed island. Once they had been together, the couple had found other ways to keep getting together in secret, or so they had believed. Only the closest of friends were supposed to know of their sexual relationship.

“You slept with her?” the girl beside him asked in surprise and didn’t seem truly surprised. “No wonder she’s been acting so jealous. I didn’t even do anything, but if she’s going to be angry with me then I would like to at least give her a real reason.”

She shifted and Sebastian felt her body press against him as she leaned against his side. While his shirt remained on his body, his bare arm felt soft, bare skin rub against it. Her breasts rested on his chest, though he was unsure if Ashleen had replaced the towel. He feared that she had not from what he felt against his arm.

Lips touched his kissing him. Sebastian didn’t fight the kiss. Ashleen had asked him to give her a chance and if he wanted to be sure that Yara was the only one for him, perhaps they needed to give romance a chance; or at least give in enough to know if they were even compatible beyond friends. The man knew that he was playing with fire, or perhaps lightning as he felt the tingle of electricity coming from the wilder’s body.

As her lips lifted from his, he felt her breath as she sighed. Opening his eyes to look up at her face, the girl looked surprised to see him looking at her.

“So you aren’t afraid of me after all?” Ashleen said with a smile. Her blue eyes looked at him with both amusement and love. The first emotion was safe enough even if he was the butt of her joke, but the second was much more dangerous.

“You once said that I should see if I had committed to the wrong woman, since I had found her first. I suppose that you are right. If I am unsure at all that I should have waited for you and never gave you that chance, would I be harming Yara with fears of what might have been? If I can’t resist you, then I made a mistake,” Sebastian said unsure if his words truly told her what he meant.

The confusion lines in her forehead said that maybe he wasn’t clear. “In other words, if you find things to love about both of us, maybe you need to give me a chance or you will be wondering what you missed later?”

At his nod, the girl giggled and said, “You really aren’t a very good teacher are you?”

“Did you figure out how to read the metal today?” At her nod he said, “Well, I get it right some of the time at least.”

Leaning closer, Ashleen kissed him again as her hands rested against the sides of his head. He could feel her moving against him with each breath and the warmth of her was beginning to push through his shirt as well. Her lips were tender and soft. They felt right, even as he compared Yara to her. The thought of the healer caused him to stop in his efforts a moment making the girl pull away.