Maldus said nothing and the two soon gave up trying to reason with him. In the greater scheme of things, the man should probably be considered an enemy or at least a threat, but the pale, thin man was no longer the wizard he once was. He was just a shadow, an illusion like the one he had hidden behind today.
Evening was beginning to take the sky, when the longboats of the Sea Dragon arrived on shore. The team was exhausted and, after a good meal, everyone turned in early for a well deserved rest.
Much like the Sea Dragon, the Carnivore used the island to hide from the ones they pursued. The air wizards had taken turns monitoring Sebastian’s team. Ashleen had seen the battle between the monsters. Sebastian had taken on the king of beasts. It was the largest thing that she had ever seen on land. The man was amazing, perhaps a little crazy, but amazing none the less.
Themenor had been confused by what transpired in the castle. Magically sealed for a time, the air wizard had returned and both had ridden the winds together to see if they could penetrate the barriers somehow sealing the broken windows. Equally frustrated, Ashleen had watched as Collin and the others outside used every once of power from some of their strongest spells to try and break down the front doors. The wood was thick, but they looked worn with age and yet the combined might of four wizards and a battle mage could do nothing to the doors or the walls holding them.
Was it another curse spell? The wizards of the Carnivore had deduced that the power of the magic holding the moss men had to be a curse. Curses came from dark magic. There were always rumors of the powerful spells when dealing with the Dark Emperor’s forces, but Ashleen had never witnessed one until that day. Someone with powerful magic had set these curses, but was it to prevent people like Sebastian from finding whatever he was looking for now or was there some other reason?
When Sebastian and the others opened the doors, she had seen as he had walked out holding Yara’s hand and felt a pain in her chest. She hated feeling that way, but it was there even so. While there was a bit of jealousy over what they had, the wilder wanted him to be happy and knew that a relationship between people from two different countries was unlikely to be more than a passing friendship. Still, Ashleen wished that she could trade places with the healer.
The following morning, both air riders watched as the water wizards seemed to be searching for something. She could see the remains of a pier in the water and perhaps the wreck of a ship sunk not too far from it. Had they been looking for the ship? She didn’t know, but wondered if they could have used the air riding spells to find it as she had.
A few hours search later, the Sea Dragon pulled up anchor and headed east around the point before heading north. It was the first time that they had turned from the generally southeastern direction they had been following for weeks.
With the people that they were supposedly following for their own good, the Carnivore anchored in the harbor before launching the search party in the longboats. The climb was led interestingly enough by Lord Romonus. Since the beginning of this new mission, the lord had seemed like a new man. Though he sweated in his chubby skin, Romonus grew more emboldened with each new island. Perhaps it was that Sebastian had already blazed a trail before him that helped the man feel safe enough to do things like charge up a stone walkway hewn from the steep stone hill or maybe the warm weather of the south invigorated him? Again it was something that she didn’t know. Not knowing but trying to learn was the work of an apprentice she supposed and put the questions aside as they approached the gray stone castle.
The wizards tried to sense the magic in the castle. There had to be something there that had triggered the trap that held more than half of Sebastian’s party for more than an hour. Not wanting to find the trap sprung on them, the wizards held the lord in check even as the man grew impatient.
“Please, wait a moment longer, my lord,” Deiclonus begged the man as the wizards tried to use their magic and senses to find what lingered there. Magic could still be felt, but it didn’t seem powerful enough to hold even one wizard now. That could be a dormant magic waiting to snap to full power, however, and no one wanted that if they thought about it.
Ashleen watched the rotund lord tapping his foot and thought that apparently their worry eluded him. Finally, the man had enough and pushed on one of the doors. With a great squeal, the shove sent the door on the right into the room where it banged against the wall as it disappeared. “See? There is nothing to be afraid of. Sebastian, that talented boy, has disabled the danger here.”
Frowning at him from behind, Ashleen watched as Dorgred acting impetuous as ever strode into the great hall as if he owned the castle. Fedwin moved quickly to back him up. The two fire wizards had begun to bond on the trip despite their obvious physical contradictions and personalities that seemed just as disparate.
“All clear,” the big man stated assuredly.
Fedwin searched and nodded his belief in Dorgred’s view before Zenfar and Hyren moved to join them. Deiclonus would have held back despite their assurances if Lord Romonus hadn’t decided to stride into the hall right behind them.
Ashleen noted a faint glow of purple, glass like magic in the windows to either side of the doors. There was magic still here, but it was like those windows had been cracked letting air in to let the ancient fortress breathe as it hadn’t for over a century. She thought that Romonus was actually correct. Sebastian had broken whatever enchantment had once held the castle. The girl was more surprised that he had let any of it linger.
“Guests?” a voice cried out after they had all moved inside the stone walls. There had been a period of time waiting to see if a trap would spring and just when everyone thought it safe, a man’s voice had called out. They looked to the balcony over the far room. A man dressed in yellow robes like a Southwall healer stood looking down on them. Hair thinning with a neatly trimmed mustache and pencil thick beard on his chin, the wizard offered up an almost regal presence. Ashleen could feel something off about the man even so. “Guests twice in one week and a single day separating them besides,” the man declared trying to affect confidence. Ashleen could see something else in his eyes. “What strangeness. A man lives alone for so long and now so many people wish to visit him so soon. Well, I have no food for a dinner, so I am afraid that you will find I am unprepared to welcome you properly. Alas, I guess that means you will take your leave of poor Maldus then. Well, that is at it must be.”
“Wait!” Lord Romonus called back and Ashleen could see the wizard’s face contort slightly before recovering his fake smile. “We have a few questions for you,... Maldus, you say?”
“More questions, always more questions. No one just drops by for a cup of tea anymore, though I have no tea so I suppose that is to be expected. Everyone thinks Maldus has answers after living on his island for so long. That is strange. Wouldn’t you be the one for answers for me? Has the land changed much in a hundred fifty years? Has the Dark Emperor finished destroying his enemies and taken over the whole world?
“Well, I guess he hasn’t since people keep showing up to question, Maldus.”
Romonus nodded realizing that the wizard must be unhinged. He spoke quickly and talked about himself in the third person. For Ashleen that was enough to know the wizard had been left alone on the island for far too long.
Ashleen moved slowly towards the steps on the hunch that not everything was as it seemed. Backing away to the base of the steps as Lord Romonus distracted the wizard, the girl tried to avoid detection.
“Our friends have a head start on us,” the lord said with a smile and tried to be friendly like any ambassador would. “What did they ask you about?”
“Psssh.” The wizard tried to wave off the request a moment before going on, “We talked about this and that. They appreciated my work for example. My scalors, kairaks and kilven in the forest, have you seen them yet?” Tightening his lips in evaluation as he raised a hand to his chin contemplatively, the wizard shook his head saying, “No, you are much too fres
h. You must have come straight to my door, unlike the others.”
His gaze looked towards the harbor, though even from the balcony there was no way that he could see the ship in the harbor. Ashleen thought the look was more like seeing someone react in a mirror. The third step was beneath her feet as the air wizard slowly began her climb.
The wizard continued looking distracted, “Then there was the talk about someone called, Germal? Gerald? Oh, what was the name again?”
“The Grimnal?” Romonus asked in surprise. The wizards began to mutter under their breath. No one had heard anything of this before and the idea that Sebastian was searching for the Grimnal was quite unexpected. Ashleen almost forgot to take another step as she looked to the wizard on the balcony in shock. His robe shifted color to gray as she watched. Others noticed as well, but they managed to hold their tongues. Themenor’s eyes went to the girl and she knew that at least he knew what Ashleen was up to now. She just hoped the addled wizard remained unobservant of her progress. If her idea of a mirror was correct, perhaps the man in their vision couldn’t see the hall well either. It was her best bet to maintain her progress without being discovered.
The wizard now clothed in gray robes with runes of yellow traced along the sleeves pointed at the lord looking impressed. “Ah, yes, Grimnal, that was it. Such an odd name, but they found his axe on one of my pets apparently. The boy must have been brave to request it from my scalor. He must be quite large and scary looking by now.
“Anyway, they asked if I had seen him, but it had been long ago. If he hadn’t taken so long here, he might not have been captured by the emperor’s hand. His ships were destroyed as well, I think, though I can’t say that any men came back to the castle. You would think with such a short swim that I would have seen someone asking for a bed,” he shrugged. “Oh well, I guess they weren’t like you just waltzing up to knock on my door.
“Hmm, well you didn’t exactly knock did you? That was kind of rude. People just don’t seem to have any manners anymore,” the wizard finished with a frown.
“My apologies,” Romonus quickly capitulated. “We did not realize that anyone still lived here. Now that you mention it, I hope that our friends from yesterday didn’t cause too much trouble for you with their visit.”
Again that look crept into the wizard’s eyes. Ashleen crouched as she neared the top of the stairs to avoid being seen from the closest room. She couldn’t see anyone else on the far side, so if there was someone hiding nearby casting the illusion he would have to be on the other side nearest the air wizard.
Though the wizard thought that she saw fear in his eyes, Maldus look changed to that of a pouty child, “Well, they were rude to the neighbors below and look at this place. It is a shambles, though I suppose it wasn’t very clean when they arrived. Still, a guest should know his place. There is no reason for getting so worked up. Perhaps the boy was claustrophobic, but he didn’t have to be so rough with the place.
“Well, after all those questions he didn’t even ask about the cellar,” the wizard finished crossing his arms with a nod of disappointment.
“Cellar?” the lord asked curiously. Ashleen could sense the lord getting greedy. She didn’t know if it was the chance to find treasure or just a chance to discover something that Sebastian had missed.
Pointing to the second door on the wall that held Ashleen’s staircase, the wizard said, “Through that door. He broke the seal, but forgot to go in. It was his loss, but perhaps your gain if you are interested.”
Romonus impetuously strode towards the door and threw it open. A second door on the far wall was the only thing in a closet size room. Pulling Wendle with him, the lord had the apprentice open the room. Light magically turned on from sconces set along the wall of a curving staircase. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, the lord urged the younger man through the doorway and quickly followed.
“My lord, please,” Deiclonus started worriedly, but followed his lord through the doorway.
His curiosity piqued, Dorgred urged Hyren and Fedwin to follow. Both wizard shook their heads though they followed him into the closet room at the head of the stairs. Fedwin said quietly to his friend, “I will remain here. I do not trust this Maldus fellow. Keep an eye on the lord and we will make sure that the way remains open for you, my friend.”
Nodding his head, Dorgred grinned at the idea of an adventure and potential discovery of treasure. Hurrying after the other three, the fire wizard marveled at the magical sconces as he moved down the stairs. The other two wizards remained hidden from the wizard’s sight on the balcony. If he was planning something fishy, they would surprise him with not being where he thought.
Ashleen looked on the whole thing in shock and fear. Fear, that was the look in the wizard’s eyes, but now as she checked on Maldus the girl saw something more smug and confident. A cry from the stair room brought her eyes to the sight unseen. A sound of a fire spell striking something preceded Fedwin and Hyren’s return.
“Release the barrier spell, wizard,” Hyren demanded looking like some regal knight addressing a villain in one of her children’s books with his golden hair and goatee. His hands were even on his hips which would have made Ashleen laugh if not for the current situation. The wizard had sprung a trap after all.
“Oops,” Maldus said spreading his hands as his robes turned red laced with black. “I guess that your friend missed that one. I haven’t been to the cellar in over a century. Maybe the barrier never triggered before because no one has been there?”
Fedwin cast a warning fireball at the wizard’s head. The purple glass barrier suddenly rippled to life blocking the flame. It was then that Ashleen realized that Maldus had been casting his illusion against the glass like barrier. In fact, it was like he was using a mirror.
Unruffled, Hyren said again, “Release your barrier or we will come and find you to make you remove it.”
Appearing equally unaffected, Maldus shrugged and replied, “Oh, that isn’t my barrier. The emperor’s warlocks set this curse to hold me here and anyone who dared enter. Your friend was able to defeat these barriers more than one way, however, if you are half as smart I suppose that you will create even more damage to my home.” He looked around sadly, before giving a sudden smile and adding, “Well, good luck. You don’t seem half as smart as that one, but maybe you’ll get lucky.”
The illusion disappeared leaving the men below looking for where the wizard had gone. Ashleen stood and hurried up the last of the stairs and spied the dried out husk of a man. Thin and looking ancient, Maldus’s true self was a mere shadow of what he pretended to be.
“Tell me how Sebastian released the barrier now, Maldus, or you will see my wrath,” she nearly cringed at the drama of her words, but they were close enough and lightning crackling about her form added to the intimidating appearance of the petite wizard.
Like death looking at her, the wizard eyed the wilder as if ready to eat her instead. “My you are a pretty one. His little healer was pretty and that fire wizard, but you are remarkable, little one. Such pretty hair, and that face has so much youth in it still. Maybe you will stay with me for awhile also?”
“Not likely, old man,” she retorted still trying to give an air of danger to her. If her crackling lightning didn’t gather a little respect, then certainly her petite figure had no possibility. “Now tell me how to release them from the barrier.”
Looking bemused, the wizard listed what he had seen on his fingers one at a time, “First, you can cloak yourself with the cursed bones of the undead men that the battle mage crushed beneath his feet. If their curse has lifted, then their touch won’t in turn curse you. Second, he had some ring, but wait that was only strong enough to get him stuck in the barrier. Third, he joined with the healer to shine light on the barrier so bright and strong that it shattered. If you have a healer half as good as that one, perhaps you can risk either one to save the others.
“Now that I have answered your questions, maybe you could come closer
and let me see just how soft and young you are?”
Feeling sick to her stomach, Ashleen recoiled as lightning moved to protect the wilder. She had never been able to fully contain her self defense mechanism. The lightning leaped from her in three bolts that caught Maldus fully throwing the ancient wizard back against the far wall.
Boot steps running up the stone stairs preceded Themenor and the others coming to her aid. To Ashleen’s surprise, Maldus was already staggering to his feet. Such a concentration of her lightning magic had killed the emperor’s werewolves, but the dried up wizard had already shrugged it off.
“That wasn’t very nice,” the ancient one stated looking a little uncertain. “If the emperor’s men hadn’t cursed me as well, that spell might have killed me.” His eyes flashed angrily and started to cast his own spell in retaliation. In a blink, more lightning drove him back and a split second later Themenor’s wind blades swept in cutting his arms from his body. Fire from Fedwin struck rotted robes leaving smoking trails in decayed, cursed fabric. Hyren and Zenfar had an aura of suppressed magic letting the decayed wizard know that there was more to come should he resist.
“My arms!” he complained. There was no blood coming from the wounds. It was like all the blood had dried in the ancient wizard’s body long ago. He was simply a dead man that hadn’t realized it yet.
Themenor glared at Maldus and threatened, “Sit still or the next blades remove your legs and head. Maybe without a body, you will learn to shut up.”
“Shut up? Everyone asks Maldus questions and now I am to shut up? Why must everything be so complicated?” the mad wizard asked looking satisfied to remain where he was now that he had literally been disarmed and outnumbered.
“Did he say how to break the barrier?” Themenor asked quickly.
“He said that Bas wrapped himself in the dust from the bones of the dead in the hall. He also said that Sebastian and Yara combined their power to use the spell of light. It must be the one that he learned from the Gray Hall wizards. Have you learned the spell?”
Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) Page 28
