Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) (10 page)

Darius actually laughed at the excuse. "And of what value would these islands be to the Dark One? Will he use them as a winter retreat when the mountains are too cold for him?

"You have said that there appear to be portals outside of Southwall and the north which his armies and ships can use to escape the mountains. What use would a portal 'in the middle of nowhere', as the girls said, be to him?"

"Would I be able to tell Olan that I had to go?" Yaroma asked in a voice that was small and meek. Olan was another battle mage and one of the team who had traveled with Sebastian on his journey. The other mage was only a few years older than the owl and had become quite close to the mermaid. Some believed that they were in love.

"If we try this, then of course you would have time to talk to Olan," Ashleen replied ignoring that it was actually Sebastian's magic that would send the girl away and that she had no real say in the matter. On the other hand, the wilder was a friend to the others and also essentially Sebastian's girlfriend as well. Making her unhappy was likely to make him unhappy, he thought, and didn't bother to contradict her opinion.

"Well, there you go then," Darius nodded to the girl. "Of course, this is all a matter of conjecture. Sebastian still has to help build the gate in the fire wizard's courtyard tomorrow and who knows how much time he will have working to secure the other cities that I have seeded throughout Southwall. He is likely to be a very busy man for the next few weeks, unless he chooses to spend extra time trying to find the islands."

It was as if the high wizard had created the drama of sending the mermaids back home only to try and give them all an out to let them stay as long as they wanted. Sebastian thought the man's opinion on the matter a little flighty and inconsistent. Usually a fan of the high wizard, the mage found himself slightly annoyed by the circumstances.

"I will think about it later," Sebastian stated aloud. "For now, we will just keep things as they are. Once I discover if I can even find their islands, then I have to figure out where to place the portal."

His answer was just as weak as the high wizard's, he thought in annoyance.

"Well, perhaps having dinner and enjoying ourselves afterwards will help right the mood," Darius added gesturing for Helga's eldest daughter to come take their orders. While they had talked, more patrons had begun to arrive signaling the beginnings of the dinner rush.

Before dinner was over, a collection of battle mages and wizards arrived to greet those already there. Olan, a tall mage with dusty brown hair, greeted the mermaids in particular with a fond smile. He managed to sit beside Yaroma, mainly because the group knew that he was smitten by the woman. Even without using her siren magic, Olan seemed unable to resist her.

Two other mages from his old team were with him. Mecklin, the eldest of the three remaining mages, found a seat across from them near Naoromi who greeted him civilly. He was more than a decade older than the younger sister and uninterested in her beyond as an acquaintance.

The last battle mage was the blonde haired, Frell. She was the lone female mage following him and had the spirit of a redhead like the wizard next to her. Frell was a close friend of the fire wizard, Serrena, who had followed him since he was recruiting wizards to train with in Windmeer. The fire wizard had become enamored of him and Sebastian had a feeling that she wished he wanted more than just the working relationship between them. Serrena had followed him like an apprentice followed a master almost from the first, but with first his romantic relationship with Yara, a healer, and now Ashleen, he was pretty sure that she had given up on him that way.

Still they were all friends and he was glad to have them.

The final wizard, dressed in the blue of a water wizard, sat beside Sebastian as the group expanded from two to three tables. He sighed loud enough to be obvious beyond his disappointed looking expression that Liam was at least slightly depressed.

"It isn't the same without Collin and Nara here," Liam complained with another sigh. He spoke of another pair of wizards who had been part of their team to the tournament. They had also followed him on his mission to find the Grimnal. Collin was a close friend to the water wizard despite being an earth wizard and had become one of Sebastian's best friends as well. His original group of five wizards was now down to two.

"Well, Nara received an assigned to the Dimple Mountains near Fort Maradith and Collin asked to be transferred with her. He didn't want to separate now that they have finally come together," Sebastian nodded.

"Come together is a rather unromantic way to put it," Ashleen stated leaned forward to look around Sebastian to see the water wizard. "Is it wrong to call them lovers at this point?"

She giggled as the two men looked uncomfortable with her words. Liam, however, shook his head replying, "Those two had been hiding their feelings for each other for years. I think they were already hooked on each other back in White Hall as apprentices.

"I've had to watch Collin pine after her since we were classmates," the water wizard laughed a single chiding bark.

"I'm slightly surprised he managed to get the assignment with her," Sebastian said avoiding talking about the romance of the two wizards which had blossomed along the way partially because of his own romance with Yara. His relationship had faltered making the healer decide to leave him, while his friends' seemed to continue to get stronger. He wasn't a true romantic, but Sebastian was glad the two could stay together to see if they wanted to possibly marry in the future.

Relationships between wizards sometimes managed to get that far, but working within the wizard guilds and the military made it harder.

"Collin told me that he had to nearly beg and even confessed that he might want to marry her to the leader of the earth wizards here in Hala to get the assignment. I guess that meant Nara was brought before her guild leaders as well to determine whether it would be allowed."

Ashleen shook her head saying, "Your wizard guilds are ridiculously strict. Why can't they be together?"

Liam answered, "It isn't that they can't but Nara is only twenty-five. The guilds don't like risking their female wizards getting pregnant before age thirty, though it isn't a written rule. Pairing wizards for children is actually a fairly popular idea, they just prefer waiting until they are older."

Scrunching up her face with distaste, Ashleen retorted, "Well, those rules stink. I am glad that Kardor is a bit more open minded; though I suppose they don't want us mothers too young."

Liam agreed saying, "The country wants to get the most out of their wizards and mages before they are slowed down by children. Most of the women I hear talk about it think that it is probably a rule made by men. When they start on that path, I tend to move out of the line of fire though."

He laughed as did the others closest to him, who had heard the conversation.

Serrena complained, "It's a stupid rule! You boys get to go off and sow your wild oats as long as they aren't sown with one of us, but otherwise it is fine. Go find a woman in town and make babies while crossing your fingers that one of the brats will grow up to be another wizard to serve Southwall.

"A man gets too near a female wizard and they seem to find a reason to transfer us to some other position before anything can happen."

Frell laughed, "It doesn't take that long, if you really want it."

Serrena rolled her eyes, though they all knew that the joke was true enough.

Music started up from the small group of musicians who had taken up their position in the corner.

"Well, you Southwallers are depressing me with this, so I am stealing Sebastian before he becomes gloomy or worse decides to spend the next week trying to solve this problem as well," Ashleen stated nearly jumping up to grab the mage by the arm.

Sebastian had barely finished his meal, but knew that he was unlikely to get anymore save for a few drinks when the wilder gave him a break. They both enjoyed dancing, especially with each other; but as the night progressed, they were split up to dance with their other friends. Serrena and Rilena took turns stealing him away making him reassess the fire wizard's feelings for him, though he supposed dancing was still innocent enough.

During one break, Sebastian found Darius sitting beside him. The high wizard didn't surprise the mage as he spoke his mind, "You know, once you set up this restrictive portal gate, you might consider fixing White Hall's next. They have the gate set up in one of the smaller courtyards near the battle mage building. You probably know the one I mean."

Sebastian had trained in all of the courtyards. The newer cadets tended to work out in the two courts nearest their barracks. The older students would work inside a large gymnasium reserved for them or use the courtyard north of the Tower of War, the mage's administration tower set in the middle of the school's north wall. If it was the smallest courtyard, it butted up against the school's dining hall on the north and the primary courtyard of the mages to the south.

It was likely the easiest space to secure and since no one trusted the magic yet, Sebastian was pretty sure it would be the one that the school would choose. He couldn't see them taking away from any of the wizards' guilds outer grounds after all.

"I suppose it would be the court beside the dining hall. Did they seal the door between the main courtyard and the smaller one?"

Darius smiled slightly and nodded. The mage had processed through the choices quickly and named the right portal court without a misstep. "They had the earth apprentices fill it in for a training practice from what I gather, though I only visited after they had built up new perimeter defenses around the courtyard."

Giving a nod, Sebastian asked a question that he had a feeling he already knew the answer to, but asked it just the same. "Why should White Hall be the second priority after Hala? I would think securing the other guardian cities would be more important than the school."

Darius chuckled, "Well, that is true, but shouldn't you make sure that the new students are safe? They are just children and learning how to use their magic. You know, like your sister, Katya."

"Is she doing well?" the mage asked watching the dancers instead of looking at the high wizard, who he could tell was teasing him with the idea. His little sister had been on the verge of turning into a wilder, but unlike Ashleen, Katya's power was that of diplomacy. Unfortunately, unlike the polite name of the school of magic, a wilder with the power to coerce or break minds had little to do with diplomacy.

He had seen Katya's power go out of control twice. First, she had influenced their father after she threw a tantrum making him run out into the snow. It had frightened their father making him send Katya with Sebastian. She was destined for White Hall, but the second tantrum was worse. Her power had affected dozens of people over a much larger range. Sebastian had narrowly avoided being a victim of her power directly, but they had been attacked by a mob unable to stop themselves from crushing the two hidden behind one of his mage shields.

Darius had stepped in stifling her magic and containing it while releasing her victims. It was then that his sister realized the true danger she was becoming. It was also nearly the last time he had seen Katya before leaving for his voyage that had lasted months.

The high wizard along with a few members of his former team were to escort his sister to the school, but in reality it fell to Darius to control her power until she could get to the safety of a school equipped to deal with her burgeoning magic. Since he had returned, Sebastian had been too busy to go to White Hall. He also figured that she would have enough to deal with just learning to master her power.

"I have only seen her once since dropping Katya off at the school, but she seemed well. She still wears a charm to contain her magic, but that is to be expected of a wizard with the power your sister holds."

The high wizard's lips started to smirk and he added, "Have you heard of the dragon magic brought to the school from one of the other students yet?"

"What do you mean dragon magic? I have never heard of it before," he confessed.

"But you saw the che'ther in their human forms at the tournament, correct?"

"You were at the same match I was at when Collin dueled a girl whose amulet was knocked free making her into a dragon inside the ring," Sebastian replied. A girl with copper colored hair had been labeled a wizard of Mar'kal, the city of dragons and gargoyles. Like he had said, during her match with Collin, the amulet had been knocked from around her neck causing the girl's magic to release her che'ther form. Large enough to be outside the confines of a twenty foot battle circle, the dragon had been disqualified.

"The che'ther could only participate by becoming human size, so they adopted a human form using their magic. From what I have heard, dragon magic lets them fly like the gargoyles and uses magic that is outside the usual elemental magic," the high wizard said giving him the information he had heard about it.

"Your sister wasn't content with just learning diplomacy magic apparently. She told me that she had learned to fly by using the dragon magic."

The wizard glanced to the young man seeing if his interest had been peaked and added, "It might be a helpful bit of magic for battle mages fighting the emperor's forces as well, I would think."