Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) (3 page)

He could feel Atrouseon tense beside him with worry. His new apprentice was acting like no puppet as he had said, but now that autonomy was threatening to bring trouble down on the warlock. Palose had a feeling that the man was beginning to regret his use of the spell now but, unlike Atrouseon,
Palose had nothing to lose. “Air lance,” the mage stated calling up the wind spell with a mere two words. It was an instant spell like other battle mage magic and best exemplified what Sebastian had shown to him before his death.

Their eyes revealed that such a simple spell barely moved them to being impressed. “Strike!” he ordered and cast the air spear away from him as Sebastian had taught not only him, but the air wizards that had revealed the spell to the mage. The troll to the left of the chair wore thick armor to appear even more impressive to those looking on the guards in the room. Trolls were also resistant to some magic like fire.

Crying out in pain, the troll dropped to his knees reaching for his upper left chest. The noise of the large monster was nearly drowned out by the blast of broken stone coming from the wall behind the beast.

Movement from around the room after the initial surprise attack signaled the orcs and remaining troll response to the threat.

“Reflex, daggers,” Palose quickly ordered both his spell that sped up his body to slow the world around him and the new air knives that Sebastian had revealed to the mages of Southwall. As the guards seemed to slow to a crawl, the battle mage was quickly in motion casting the air knives as more were called into life and they left his hand.

Thirty orc guards in plate armor with swords or spears tried to converge on the single human mage; but in what seemed like a split second to the orcs fifteen on the right were already reeling from cuts to arms and legs. Palose turned and moments later only the final troll was left charging his position.

“Lance,” the mage called the first spell back as he closed the distance with the monstrous troll, which dwarfed him in both size and power. It was the troll who pulled up short, however, finding the shimmering air spear touching its neck pointing up towards the base of its skull. Palose shook his head at the beast and warned, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I know you trolls heal fast, but I doubt you’ll get your head back.”

Its eyes glanced to the warlocks at the table. Palose’s knew the fight was over and turned to see only two men remained at the table.

“Impressive,” Lord Devolus stated from arm’s length behind Palose. He had moved even faster than the mage sped up by reflex, the younger man realized. Palose wondered what spell it was and if he could discover it as well.

Nodding a respectful bow, Palose parted from the troll to return to his position beside Atrouseon. He simply stated, “Sebastian taught both air spells to all the mages in Windmeer and our reflex spell lasts long enough to do what I just did and more. My guess is those that returned pierced the armored viles’ armor similarly. You’ll notice that my first spear not only went through the troll’s armor from the front, but exited the back to strike the wall.”

There was blood on the wall behind the first troll which had yet to stand after being wounded. A round dent in the wall at the epicenter of dozens of cracks revealed the end of his first cast. Palose knew that such a spell, if the right thought was put into it, could even have pierced the stone. If Sebastian were here, he knew that battle mage could have done so for sure.

Lord Devolus nodded. “If all your battle mages can fight as well, then I suppose that is something that we had not calculated. We may need to start using the new armor we have been developing to cancel out this new art.”

Giving Palose an appraising look, Lord Devolus turned his gaze on the warlock beside him. “Perhaps this resurrection man was a better investment than I thought, Atrouseon. I give you permission to train him in as many schools of magic as he might be able to learn. His power is greater than a normal mage thanks to your bond with him, so he might exceed his former life as a battle mage.

“You two are dismissed,” the lord finished with a brusque wave of his hand.

Chapter 2-The Mage Apprentice

“You little fool; I didn’t tell you to attack Lord Devolus’ guards! Are you trying to get us both killed?” the warlock swung at Palose as they passed beyond sight of the lords and most of the hall guards.

The battle mage saw the strike coming in slow motion as he had yet to release his reflex spell. While he could easily have dodged the man’s attack, Palose let the fist catch his jaw enough for the warlock to gain the satisfaction before moving his head away to lessen the strength of the blow. Giving the appearance of taking a full blow, the battle mage pulled back reaching for his jaw feigning hurt.

“Lord Devolus and the others didn’t appear to believe that one mage with new magic could change the battle so drastically,” Palose replied giving a little space between them as if he feared the warlock in such close quarters. Atrouseon was a typical magic caster. He could fight with his spells and had some weapons’ training, but he was no battle mage. Trained to the sword and most every martial art known to Southwall and its allies, Palose could have killed the man easily. Such an extreme measure would not have ended well for him, however, so despite his dark thoughts the mage had to continue to let the warlock believe he had the upper hand. “The demonstration accomplished what we needed it to do.”

“What
we
needed it to do? ‘We’ didn’t need any such thing. Remember this, boy. I brought you back to life and I tell you what you should and should not do. Since Lord Devolus seems to have taken a liking to you, you will be my apprentice. I will get you situated with the school and library so you may use the books there when I am not using you to assist me with my work.

“Despite my time in the field which led me to revive you,
which I am sorely regretting now, I have many duties to perform in the city while I am here. You will do as I tell you and will avoid raking my good name through the coals or I will kill you again myself!”

Palose pretended to remain meek, which he supposed was part of truly being meek, but the young man didn’t feel that way. He had played the humble cadet learning his craft for years. During his time as a cadet, he had held his tongue as much as he could remaining the quiet student always waiting for his chance to earn the promotion to falcon; but that had been a humble man’s dream.

When Atrouseon revived the battle mage who had died that day running from three warlocks and scores of werewolves and nomads, he had been recreated in the image that the warlock had seen for him. Palose was still conscious of what he had been and it was merely that he felt like his eyes had been opened to the new opportunities the warlock had revealed to him. It wasn’t a matter of good or evil anymore. What was good and evil was really just perspective anyway.

Now he had the chance to become more than a simple falcon. A battle mage, no matter his rank, was still just a mage; but now he had real power. Devolus had said that he was stronger and that it came from the bond between him and Atrouseon. He wanted to check into that bond sometime. While he had barely spent time with the warlock, Palose was pretty sure that he didn’t like the man. Whatever the spell he had set had been, it had lent towards obedience, but no love or loyalty.

He had used the spells to incapacitate the guards in the chamber to prove himself, not to prove Atrouseon’s words or even his own. The battle mage avoided killing them to prove that he hadn’t gone too far, or most likely Lord Devolus would have killed him rather than standing behind him waiting to see what he would do.

The mage had proven
himself to men with real power. Atrouseon may have his hold on him now, but Palose would keep his eyes open. There must be a way to gain the freedom he wanted, but meanwhile he would serve and learn what Ensolus had for a man that desired more out of life. Palose was unsure exactly what he wanted, but he surely didn’t want to be someone’s slave forever. An apprentice, for now; he would be a master of his own future later.

Once more he followed the warlock, his master and savior, much to Palose’s chagrin. The building they entered was fairly near to the administrative building that they had just been inside. Despite the feel of being a castle, Ensolus had many such buildings and most had little to do with the defense of a castle like Windmeer Keep. In some ways, the city reminded him more of White Hall by design. Though drastically different sites, White Hall had its defenses, but like Ensolus the city and school doubted they would ever be tested.

Ensolus had an entire mountain to protect it from its enemies, but he would learn that there was an outer wall and defensive towers beyond the massive cave’s mouth as well. While White Hall doubted that it would be attacked because it was safely hidden beyond North Wall, Ensolus was the aggressor. Ensolus formed the hub of the enemy empire that continued even now to try and destroy human kind in Southwall. While White Hall hid hundreds of miles south of the protective wall, Ensolus was what they hid from and it had little to fear.

Stepping into a small room, Atrouseon pulled a gate across the doorway they passed through and lay his hand against a panel. Palose could feel the flow of magic into the panel which in turn caused the room to shift and lift upward. Less a room and more a box, he clarified to himself as he felt the movement. “I don’t know if a battle mage has the control to use an elevator, but you simply extend your aura into the plate. Your magic causes the gears and whatever else is behind this thing to lift or lower you. Your mind controls which direction you go and how quickly to a point.

“My apartment is on the sixth floor. As my new apprentice, I suppose this will be your home for awhile until I decide that you can be on your own. You’ll need to learn where you fit in here. Ensolus doesn’t suffer the lazy for long, boy.”

“My name is Palose, not boy. When I returned to Windmeer, they even raised me to falcon.”

Barking a laugh that revealed he wasn’t impressed, the warlock revealed why as he retorted, “So you died a cadet and after you were reborn they promoted you. If I had left you for dead, then I guess you would never have attained your rank then, huh?”

Surprised at such a blunt observation, the mage had to concede, “Well, I suppose that is true, but I was up for promotion if I hadn’t died. They didn’t just give me a promotion out of pity.”

Nodding without even bothering to look at the younger man, the warlock glanced up noting the fifth tick of a meter above the doorway. Five floors, one to go. “If only you hadn’t died, I might be impressed. So you want me to know that you are a man and not just some novice wizard coming in snot nosed and wide eyed. Fine, you are still an apprentice and what you will learn makes you a novice even so. Prove me wrong and one day you can attain a master rank.”

The door opened and Palose felt the floor lock in place. Apparently without magic to hold it, the room required mechanical locks to keep it in place. “If the elevator isn’t available on the floor when you come to the door, use your magic on this panel to summon it to you,” the elder wizard stated thumbing at another panel similar to the one in the box. “Of course, if you can’t control your magic enough to do either, the stairs are on the far side of the hall,” he added pointing to a far off door.

One of a half dozen doors along the hallway drew the warlock’s attention, he used magic to release some locks before entering. “Your room,” he gestured to a bed in a small room off of the central area they entered. “My old apprentice has moved on, so having a new one is nothing new to me. While you are here, you will maintain my home. I have cleaning women that come during the week, but you can be responsible for that much at least. Like I said earlier, we don’t suffer the lazy.”

Palose moved towards the room and the bed bare of bedding. There was little room for more, and turning his attention to the main room, the mage wondered at the Spartan quality of it when compared to the opulence of Atrouseon’s main apartment. There were items made of gold, ivory and other precious metals. Rubies, diamonds and emeralds were even present on a few of the statues. Palose figured either warlocks made good money or there was something else to the history of this man.

A pile of blankets and sheets were tossed into his arms and Palose couldn’t help himself from asking, “Does the emperor pay his warlocks so well?”

Unamused, Atrouseon replied stiffly, “My father was a merchant. Humans have joined the emperor since he arrived on Alus. You have to remember that the old world had no humans. Lord Devolus is elven, one of many that joined the emperor. When he was banished for a time, those bound to him were imprisoned as well.

“Those who joined the emperor after he came to Alus were often rewarded well and my ancestors were excellent merchants before him. The Cataclysm sent many to the emperor and Ensolus. They could tell that the power that shook the world was the one who would rule it.”

“Southwall, Kardor and Staron still stand. He rules the mountains and perhaps the plains where the nomads don’t. If he was so powerful, then why hasn’t he finished them off already?”

A dark look crossed the warlock’s face. “There has been opposition, but I think most of the reason is that I think the emperor may have harmed himself breaking free of his prison and performing the Cataclysm. No one speaks of it and outside of this room you better never dare speak of what I am telling you now.