Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) (6 page)

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know anyone was back here,” the girl said nervously. She didn’t give off the disgust for him that so many of the other apprentices and warlocks revealed at the sight of him, which either meant that the girl didn’t know him or was still suffering from her surprise, he thought sarcastically to himself.

Giving a smile in return as he watched her face for recognition, Palose replied, “Just me, trying to find a good starting book on necromancy and spells of that nature.”

The girl’s nose wrinkled slightly at the revelation and she revealed why, “Necromancy? That is a challenging one, though I guess you are probably older than I am, so maybe you’ve prepared for the more challenging schools of magic.”

“Is it so hard to understand?” he asked worrying that he may have bitten off more than he could chew by taking on this next bit of wizardry.

Nodding in response, the girl replied, “My master had me read ‘Beyond Flesh’ by Wizard Reterius and ‘Understanding Life’ by Northram to see if I had any aptitude for it. To me the magic used didn’t feel right, but then again it is one of the least practiced arts. How useful can reanimating bones be anyway?” she added with a nervous laugh.

“What if it went beyond reanimation and actually restored life to the being? If you could bring someone back to the state before death and gain their obedience while the undead person could still think and learn, wouldn’t that make it a bit more useful than merely using a body as a puppet?”

The girl looked dubious as she questioned, “Necromancy can do that?”

“Have you heard of a resurrection man?”

Shaking her head, Palose discovered why she revealed no distaste for his predicament. Though he didn’t want to see her disgust at his condition, he said, “They are men that are retrieved from death shortly after dying so there is no decaying flesh and their minds work like they did when they were alive. A warlock can imbue certain orders and guidelines to follow from what I have heard to make them obey the caster’s wishes.

“Their skin is warm. They can bleed and eat like any normal man or woman beyond that.”

Kneeling at the edge of his collection of books, the apprentice said, “You seem to know a lot about their abilities for someone apparently just starting to learn about them.

“I am Sylvaine, by the way.”

“Palose Rosaren,” he nodded taking in her looks once more as he tried to decide if Sylvaine was truly what she seemed to be. “What school of magic are you most comfortable with if it isn’t this?”

“Mostly the elements like fire and wind,” she answered with a shrug. Palose noted that the hem of the tunic had slid up to bare her knees and so far nothing showing was a disappointment. “My master sent me here to find a book that teaches how to harness spells that nullify elements. There is supposed to be a night shield spell among others in this section.”

Her eyes glanced to the shelving and pulled free one of the tomes. It was thick and laden with dust on the top. Sylvaine offered it to Palose and stated, “This one teaches about those resurrection men.”

Palose noted the cover and wondered how he had missed it. The title was simply called ‘Resurrection’.

She started to rise and the mage joined her. “I still need to find the book on darkness spells,” the girl said apologetically.

“Thank you for finding the book and the information on the other starter books. I’ve seen both of them in my piles, so I think that will be a good start,” he stated taking her right hand in his.

Her cheeks colored at the touch and he thought that only made her look more attractive. Her dark curls slid forward as she dipped her head in a nod. “It was nothing really,” she replied.

As her eyes looked at his, Palose added, “You know you are quite an attractive girl, Sylvaine.”

He noted her eyes seemed to lose a bit of focus and the mage thought that he felt a strange connection form between the two. To his surprise, Sylvaine lifted her head and kissed him on the lips. Her pupils seemed unusually large even for the dim light of the library. As the girl settled back on her heels, she shook her head as if to ward off dizziness.

Her lips had tasted sweet, he thought as Sylvaine’s eyes refocused once more. Blinking a couple times, her eyes returned to the way they were before and she stated again, “I had better find the book on night shields before my master gets angry with me for taking too long. It was nice meeting you, Palose.”

Hurrying off, the girl seemed to unerringly find her needed book and disappeared the way she had come leaving Palose to ponder the sudden kiss. He had felt something between them and wondered if it wasn’t more than simple chemistry. Though he knew little of coercion magic, it almost seemed like what he had heard rumored of the affects of such spells.

With a shrug and a moment’s searching later, the mage found the two books Sylvaine had mentioned as well as taking the one she had discovered and replaced the rest. He remained on the floor for a time skimming through the three spell books and received a surprise. The magic in these seemed easier to his mind. Despite Sylvaine’s inability to learn these spells, Palose felt like he might be able to actually understand this reading.

Using the quiet to avoid the stares he often received from the wizards in the library, the mage began to read ‘Understanding Life’. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long after that he heard a new set of
footsteps. They sounded heavier like boots rather than the light slippers Sylvaine was wearing. When a green skinned goblin in his leather boots and pants, wearing a dark, gray tunic suddenly rounded the end of the shelving to look at the human as he sat on the floor, they were still nearly eye to eye.

“Master Atrouseon wants you to come to the lab now,” he informed the mage with a raspy voice.

Palose knew this particular goblin from his time in the laboratory with Atrouseon. An assistant of little renown, Listher’s status was apparently no lower than his own as the mage had been a messenger for the warlock before as well. The fact that the goblin would speak to him with no extra respect for the caster let him know his own status in this world where goblins, orcs and men were mostly peons to the emperor.

“Right now?”
Palose questioned even as he gathered the other books into his satchel and stood.

“The master said now,” he replied emphatically leaving little room to waver. Palose had a feeling that the little goblin was simply enjoying having a taste of power. To command anyone, especially someone larger than himself, for a simple goblin relegated to assisting warlocks and wizards was probably too rare to not relish.

“I need to check out these books with the librarian on the way out then,” Palose sighed. He had hoped to study within the library to avoid more questions where he was. Letting Geerloc or any of the wizards here know more than he wanted to was disappointing. It meant that Atrouseon could simply check with them to find out his interests and Palose wasn’t sure how his master would take his apprentice researching the spells used for his creation.

It took only moments to fill out the cards for each to prove that the mage had taken the three books before he hurried towards the lab. Listher hadn’t even bothered to wait inside, though Palose found the goblin walking slowly in the direction they both needed to travel. He had obviously not wanted to return before confirming that the apprentice was doing as he had been ordered. If Palose had ignored the
order, it would have been the goblin who paid for not making sure that the young man obeyed the call and warlocks could be petty in dealing with such failures.

The walk wasn’t long and soon they found the four story building made of worked cave stone. Unlike the organic look of the library spire, cut bricks kept the laboratory squared off and the lines straight. Why one building would be made so radically different from another, Palose didn’t know; but by comparison the laboratory was plain and boring in appearance. Maybe that was the intent to reduce curiosity from any passersby, since the experiments going on within were a secret to most of the population.

Closed doors within rooms with more closed doors, led from one hall or to a set of stairs to another as the maze of secrecy spread even to the very building’s layout. Palose followed the goblin from room to hall to new room to stairs repeatedly opening and closing the myriad of doors. The final barrier was pushed aside by Listher revealing a large room with a fifteen foot high ceiling that remained shadowed despite a score of lamps spread around the chamber. Cages taller than a man dotted the room and many were covered with cloths.

Palose quickly noted an assembly of men, most of whom were wizards judging by the auras the mage could read from them. Atrouseon stood with three other wizards, who were his colleagues on the current project, as they faced eight other men. Two were older men, one was an orc decked out in a military uniform that seemed oddly appropriate for the creature despite his race often being judged unintelligent and crude. Such beliefs in orcs were extremely misguided and those who worked with them understood that many were similar to human men in their wants and needs.

His eyes continued across the other men stalling on a silver haired giant. While his physical size, well muscled and powerful looking besides, was impressive, Palose viewed the man’s magical aura dwarfing everyone else in the room. He was beyond the term, monster, and such strength masked the final creature standing by his side.

Even with a hood pulled up to mask his face, the mage could see his red eyes glowing faintly with an otherworldly power. An air of death hung around the hooded figure and Palose knew that it was one of the wraiths feared by both the men of Southwall and even the people of Ensolus. Such creatures raised from the dead gave his kind of existence the stigma of a resurrection man. While both spells involved necromancy, the mage could see the distinct difference. Where he had been pulled back from death, this wraith was death held in check. A resurrection man’s heart still beat in his chest and he could bleed as any human, but a wraith’s heart was dead and his blood turned to rot and acidic to the touch should it bleed.

Palose had never fought a wraith to see the difference, but he had already read deep enough into his books to see the variations of what necromancy could achieve. Given the will behind the spell, bones and flesh could move or a mind could remain sentient hovering beyond death or could be made whole as the young man felt he was now. He felt a shiver as he looked at the creature before its eyes turned on him a moment later. Death could be felt in that look and Palose’s heart felt the cold of what could have been.

“Gentlemen,” Atrouseon’s voice interrupted the creature’s attention bringing all eyes to the warlock standing with his three associates. “What I am about to share with you can not leave this room as I believe we all
know.”

The warlock’s eyes lingered on Palose as he scanned the room as if to tell his apprentice that he was not above the warning. While the apprentice only knew some of the truth behind these experiments, he would have assumed that Atrouseon had trusted him for secrecy before this. The man didn’t need Listher to bring him after all, if he didn’t trust his apprentice enough to see the fruits of his labor.

Continuing on with his speech, the man elaborated, “We all know that since the breaking of the barrier which brought the emperor and his people into this world, his body has been weakening. The emperor’s godlike powers have been destroying that body and he has been looking for the appropriate vessel to hold both his mind and his great power.”

Most of the eyes glanced towards the giant. His jaw tightened in apparent exasperation and Palose wondered why such an exchange had happened.

“While we can all conclude that Garosh’s creation wasn’t a complete failure, the emperor wasn’t satisfied so he imparted only a portion of his power to you,” the warlock finished nodding to the giant whose back looked stiff with what was apparently a great slight to his worth, Palose thought. “Since you have the honor of being the emperor’s proxy, I am glad that you could come to test the latest vessels we have created.”

Listher and the three warlocks pulled five cloths from what the mage had believed were cages, but instead these revealed glass encased tanks. Within each was a body. All appeared male save one, which caused Palose to wonder. If the emperor was male, then why had they bothered to make the female test subject? Unless all previous attempts had been based on males and failed, then perhaps it was just an attempt to find another body that wouldn’t prove too frail for the might of the emperor.

Appearing unhappy with the drain on his time, Garosh stated, “Let’s hurry this up. Word has come from Erdeeth and Kerlorish. We will begin building a base in the mountains in less than a week. There are many preparations to attend.”

“Which is all the more reason for us to have you here today, Lord Garosh,” the warlock replied trying to beg favor with the man as the giant’s impatience was obvious. “We merely need you to feed your power into each one to see if they can contain his magic as well as yours.”

“I know the drill, Atrouseon,” growled the silver haired man. Palose looked to his eyes and thought that despite his hair color, the man looked no older than someone in their twenties. While he felt like an older soul, his temper was that of a young man, the mage decided. It made determining the age of the failed vessel nearly impossible to establish.

Stepping up to the first of the tanks, Palose watched as Garosh placed his right hand against the glass and began to build his magic. With a slow release of power, the magic moved through the liquid holding the unmoving body to envelop and feed the energy into the boy as if to breathe life into him.