Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12) (43 page)

Jeriah reached out to stop her by grabbing the wilder's arm. At her indignant look, the man said, "Be careful, girl. We don't know what he has been through. A diplomacy wizard might be controlling him even now."

Standing up, Sebastian looked at the two and said, "That's a pretty harsh assessment of me, Jeriah; but I suppose that I should expect that from you by now."

They were far enough away that the younger mage had to speak loudly, almost in a shout yet he had heard Jeriah's warning in a quiet tone.

Darius smiled at the owl mage and started forward, though his left hand and fingers were already moving. Guessing that Sebastian was fine, didn't mean the immortal wasn't going to take precautions.

Ignoring the others, Elzen walked forward ignoring the wariness of the others and asked, "How did you get here? We were on our way to rescue you, but now I see you with this pretty lady and am wondering if we should have waited."

While Zeria's face showed confusion, Serrena's held a frown for the flirty insinuations. He had called her pretty and acted like the new wizard was ripe for the picking. While Sebastian didn't know why the fire wizard looked upset, he did know when his friend was joking.

"This is Zeria. She tried to help me while I was... detained."

To avoid drawing attention from passersby, the group moved closer to the owl, who looked a bit unsteady as he stood there waiting.

"What happened to you?" Ashleen asked again and noted a bit warily that Sebastian had yet to answer Elzen's question, even if it was joined with a more inappropriate joke.

Rubbing the back of his head, Sebastian looked at the sky noting the brilliant blue as the sun declined through the afternoon. "I'm not completely sure how I got here, but I was at Red Hall going to bed only to find myself in a dungeon cell. They wanted to convert me to their side, but apparently I am immune to mind magic now."

The last point made the group all look at him warily. Darius stopped his fingers, though the strength of an unspoken spell remained ready. He asked, "You are immune how? I don't believe you were without using an air spell."

"I think one of the unknown runes block someone from controlling my mind. Other magic can still hurt me though," he added feeling the aches and pains in his body.

"Deremas, if you wouldn't mind testing him?" Falcondi Yenest asked without hesitation. The wizard nodded and tried casting a spell. Like the magic used by Xaren, Sebastian felt it scattering as the man tested his claim. The feeling of a sprinkle of rain against his defenses was refreshing after the combined assaults of the three warlocks.

Raising an eyebrow, the diplomacy wizard didn't give in on the first try and attempted two more spells to attack in different ways. Shaking his head, the diplomacy wizard replied, "His mind is defended, but that doesn't mean that he couldn't be under another wizard's control, I suppose."

Sebastian gave a sigh and ignored the distrust once more. "So you came to save me, but I don't need saving at the moment. If someone can cast a portal spell to Hala and help me through it, I wouldn't mind using my bed for awhile.

"Being tortured for however many weeks it must of have been wasn't very easy on my body. It wasn't impossible by any means though. I had hope that either someone would come for me or I'd find a way out of there by myself.

"Zeria managed to slip me some food and tricked the others into believing that she was working me when she wasn't," the mage said trying to explain it slightly. Exiting the portal, he had been so tired and wasn't sure that he could have made it further than a local doorway. His magic was strong, but it was also the strength of mind and will that affected a harder spell. Being tired, Sebastian worried over being sloppy also.

Ashleen didn't know what to feel seeing the pretty woman standing beside him. A little worry over what the wizard had been trying to do to win him over mixed with the relief she still felt.

Pushing away from Jeriah, the pretty blond nearly leaped the last few feet at Sebastian pulling him close with her arms wrapped around his neck. As she pulled him closer, Ashleen realized just how weakened he was as the mage stumbled forward unable to support her weight. After greeting him this way enough, the girl expected him to be able to lift her easily and certainly not be pulled over by her weight.

His arms circled her, but the strength was less than normal. She could feel his body trembling, not for her; but because the mage could barely stand any longer.

The wilder turned to the others and said, "Either Treya needs to bring us home so he can rest or we need to find some place for Sebastian to recover. I can tell that he's exhausted."

Treya looked to the falcondi and Darius uncertainly. Neither man should technically be her superior, but the mission leader was a mage while Darius was an immortal and legend among her kind. The wizard also found worry making her want to retreat to Hala where she had comfortably worked for quite awhile.

Looking at Darius, Yenest seemed uncertain as well. "We don't know what is safe here. We could take them back to Hala and have our wizards put him through a few tests to make sure that he is still in his right mind. A healer should probably check him out too."

Sebastian wanted to rest, but he was never one to put himself ahead of others, especially when they were in trouble. He interjected, "We can't go. There are dozens of people trapped in that dungeon that need help. We should free them. They don't have a rune to protect themselves.

"If the men in charge are trying to use magic to turn our people into weapons that they can control through magic, then we owe it to them to save them before it's too late."

Yenest shook his head. "You were our mission. I'll warn Raven Leros and the others. They'll likely do their best to save our people, but we need to get you home safely.

"We can't very well try to take a castle with just the ten of us."

Chuckling, Elzen acted like he was trying to keep it to himself as he said quietly, "Wouldn't be the first time that Bas tried something that stupid. He usually tries to do it all by himself, so adding ten's actually pretty conservative for him."

Sebastian smiled tiredly at his friend, but Yenest was adamant.

"Wizard Treya, take us home. We'll debrief and return as soon as we can to help the others. Going in without a plan would likely be a disaster and we'd be practically carrying the owl besides."

The woman nodded and moved past Sebastian and Zeria. Opening a portal away from the street, she hoped to avoid undo attention from the people of New Harbor in case of spies.

Sebastian wanted to protest, but knew that the falcondi was right. Yenest was also his superior officer. Even if he wanted his way to save lives, the owl title didn't mean he was any higher rank than a falcon. His pushing of the rules wouldn't work in the face of a falcondi.

Darius moved closer and said as the wizard opened the gate, "We'll do our best to save them, Sebastian, but for now we have to be satisfied that you are safe."

Nodding to the high wizard, the mage walked through the doorway supported by Ashleen and disappeared from the southern city.

Chapter 23- Recovery

A glowing doorway formed near the stone wall of the giant cavern making up the heart of Ensolus. So far to the east, there was no foot traffic; but there were eyes watching the entry point.

The wizard who stepped through had the usual look of disorientation upon exiting, but the confusion didn't seem to fade as he waited it out. His eyes flit back and forth checking for danger before pulling out a folded up piece of paper. A map of the city drawn by someone's hand, the wizard quickly opened it trying to calibrate his directions as he looked for the marks needed to find their spies' meeting points located somewhere in the city.

Dressed in what he believed was nondescript clothing for anywhere, Istrias was on his own doing work that he hadn't truly been trained to do. He was no diplomacy wizard or trained in the ways of a spy beyond what had been hammered into him over the last few days. As a newly selected intermediary, the wizard wasn't supposed to do more than meet up with Captain Drayden or one of his other spies.

As the young man perused his map, a girl approached from what he believed was the south. Istrias quickly hid the map in the pocket of his jacket. He tried to look casual as the petite blonde haired girl walked towards him. It wasn't a wide street, but she could have moved away from the man once the girl had seen him. Instead she smiled at the man. He was blond also and slim. Though taller than the girl by over half a foot, Istrias wasn't as scary as some of the larger men of the mage corps, he thought.

"Hello," she greeted him with a fetching smile.

The doorway had faded long before the girl had spied him, so the wizard tried not to look suspicious and smiled at the pretty girl. His magic pushed into his eyes as he looked for signs of magic in her. If this was just a pretty shell hiding a dangerous warlock or wizard hunter, the man would have felt bad having to fight her even with his magic. A duel was one thing, but Istrias didn't like harming people. Perhaps that was why he preferred the skills that didn't involve fighting. Riding the winds had always been his favorite. Even learning that he could open portals meant he didn't have to be on the front lines in places like Litsarin, which was in the middle of war.

"Hello," the man replied fumbling for something more creative, but failing as he noticed just how beautiful the girl actually was.

Her eyes glanced to the dead end path that led to the wall behind him and stated, "This is an interesting choice for a place to stand. Are you lost? Was that a map that you had in your hand?"

Trying to play her questions off lightly, Istrias laughed and said, "Oh, I was just exploring a bit. I rarely get out this far from the magic school."

He wasn't sure what they even called the place where the city trained warlocks, though Sebastian had created a map that warned of the greatest concentration of magic outside of the emperor's spire. Istrias just hoped that most people wouldn't know that he was skirting around trying to name it.

His magical senses noted a small amount of magic to her creating an aura in the range of a battle mage. In Southwall, such a low amount of magical strength might not even get her recruited for one of the schools.

"Oh, so you are a warlock?" she questioned once again. "I suppose that few of your kind would want to come to the human quarter this far away from the elite of the city."

"If more knew that such pretty ladies as you were here, maybe more would come," Istrias replied unable to resist flirting with the young beauty despite his mission.

Blushing, she looked away a moment before answering shyly, "Oh, you are a flatterer, though I am sure that there must be more than enough beautiful women where you come from, sir. With magic, can't the women simply cast a glamour to make them even more beautiful?"

The wizard shrugged. "I am not sure. If there is such a spell, perhaps only women bother to choose to learn about it," Istrias replied and realized that he was getting distracted from his mission. The sooner that the girl moved along, the quicker he could get in touch with the spies and leave again. It was dangerous to linger in the enemy's city after all.

Moving closer to the wizard, the petite young woman stepped into the path making him turn his back on the south. She continued making conversation as well much to the wizard's chagrin. If this meeting had occurred in Hala, Istrias would have tried to take her to dinner and maybe get to know her better. Some women were quick to cozy up to a wizard, if only because they believed him rich and powerful.

"If there is a spell like that, would you want to use it on me?" the girl asked batting her lashes at the slightly older wizard.

Surprised by the question, he replied quickly, "Oh no, you are beautiful. I can't imagine any spell could make you more attractive."

"What kind of spells do you do then?" she asked changing the subject slightly.

"Mostly air," Istrias replied thinking nothing of it. "I can ride the winds. That spell is my favorite because it feels like you're flying, even though your body can't follow your mind. I'm not sure that is a bad thing anyway. Can you imagine if you ran out of magic while flying?"

Her eyes opened a bit wider showing a bit of worry. "That would be terrible. I wish I could use magic like that though."

The air was cold inside the cave and Istrias thought that each moment in the cold made him notice it more. His skin noted a breeze across his face and exposed part of his hands between gloves and jacket.

"You do have some magic. Hasn't anyone found you to recruit you for the school?" he asked trying to make her feel better. Istrias had no idea how the warlocks found their members. The wizard assumed that it had to be something similar to what they did. Leaving people with magic potential to their own devices was just looking for trouble since most would become out of control.

"I have magic?" the girl asked touching her chest with both hands drawing the wizard's eyes towards the shape of her breasts noticeable even through a jacket that managed to hug her curves keeping her from looking bulky even though it was colder here than in Southwall, Istrias thought.

His face and wrists were feeling unusually cold. He would have commented on that fact to the girl in front of him to continue the conversation, but as her eyes slid from him to look behind the wizard ice suddenly formed over his mouth in a circle that bound him as it went from front to back of his head leaving just enough room to breathe through his nose.