A surprising remark from Maura answered him first, “They already have a lead on us and know where to go. You can’t outrun them and running the crew ragged won’t make them any readier for a fight. We barely beat one ship. You’ll be pushing it with two. We may as well take a day to rest them.
“But you are in command,” she added with a tilt of the head and a wave of her hand.
If even the normally business first researcher felt a need for a rest, and she might after the battle’s close calls and resulting deaths among their crew, then perhaps it was worth the time spent. Shrugging, Sebastian replied, “If everyone is of the same mind, then we need to alter course to enter a small harbor on the west side of the north island. There are too many dangerous areas to the north and east for the Sea Dragon.”
Annalicia gave him a smile and went to the captain with the decision and recommended course change. With a break coming, most of the crowd broke to watch as the island grew closer.
From the remaining few, Yara smiled and said, “I think it’s a good decision. We do need a break. It is beginning to feel like we’ve had to fight every inch of this journey.”
Collin and Nara nodded in agreement and even Sebastian felt the same when it was put that way. “True,” he began, “though I felt there might be some challenges to finding the Grimnal when the idea was broached, I never envisioned the Dark Emperor guarding his whereabouts so fiercely. If ever I wondered if the man was still alive, I think it has been answered. No one would guard the dead so determinedly.”
“You’re probably right,” Collin agreed, but continued, “but if he is alive why hasn’t he found a way back to his home?”
Ashleen brought up another question, “After almost two hundred years, does he even think of it as home? The world was rebuilt and changed during the Cataclysm. His home isn’t even the same as it was three hundred years ago let alone since.”
Shrugging, the battle mage replied, “They are all good questions, but until we find him, we won’t have any answers. He still has family and nations that remember him as a legendary hero to come home to, but we won’t know his mind until we find him.
“Now you all wanted this little vacation, so let’s stop talking about our mission and think about taking a break,” he finished shooing them away.
The Sea Dragon sat anchored about five hundred feet out from the beach with a skeleton crew watching enviously from the deck as the remaining crew and their passengers enjoyed the beauty and warmth of a summer like day. In Southwall, they were maybe just beginning to feel the warmer air of spring, but this far south it was closer to summer.
Sebastian looked at the cook fires on the beach and dozens frolicking in the shallow water. The ladies wore only underwear bottoms and tops, which for most was bikini like. Nara who was a little more conservative wore shorts, while most of the men were enjoying not having to wear their shirts.
Food had been broken from their stores and meat roasted with vegetables scenting the air making everyone hungry. Swimmers paused long enough to come eat the grilled foods and some lay on the grass near the edge of the beach.
Sebastian had made sure to check the forestation before allowing the crew to let down their guard. It wouldn’t be the first place that seemed safe that they had found danger, but the island seemed to be what it appeared, an island paradise. Standing off to the side watching over his people, Sebastian waited as Yara, returning from playing in the water, took some of the grilled food on a plate brought from the ship to join him.
Dressed in only her winter top, thicker than her light weight underclothes for modesty, and white cotton bottom, the beautiful blond looking a little red from the sun still looked incredible to him. She could see from his look how much he enjoyed her form and smiled after swallowing a bite of the grilled carrot.
“You could join us, you know,” the pretty girl said as she stepped into the shade of the trees. “Just because you’re our leader doesn’t mean you can’t have any fun.”
He smiled and wrapped an arm around her as they stood alone watching the others. “I hate to say it, but I’ve always been like this. While I manage to be friends with people and enjoy company, it is also nice to be able to be in quiet for a change.”
The sound of sea waves canceled most of the sound of the frolickers and those enjoying the grass further away. Birds were in the trees making sound deeper into the forest as well. They didn’t have to speak loudly, but the world seemed to insulate them in a bubble of sound.
A slight frown crossed the girl’s forehead. “If you need quiet, I can head back to the others.”
Moving behind Yara, he put his arms around her waist saying, “Quiet isn’t just the sound and it doesn’t mean I need to be alone. Certainly I’ve never had a reason to not be with you.”
His bare chest touched her still damp hair and top, they were cool to his skin. Her back was warm from the sun. “Heal,” the mage used his power to ease the sunburn threatening her skin. In less than a minute, he could feel the heat lessen to her normal temperature and the redness faded leaving a tan in its place.
Her hunger was easing as Yara enjoyed the embrace and continued to eat. She offered a bite of the steak to him after his use of magic and Sebastian was amazed by how good the grilled food tasted after the healing magic.
Admiring the new tan, Yara leaned her head back letting her green eyes meet his. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use healing magic for a sunburn before,” she giggled at his care for her. Only someone wanting to keep her from any pain would expend energy on a spell some would consider frivolous.
He shrugged enjoying his time getting to hold her without being in everyone’s sight. Their relationship was hardly a secret, though no one else knew how far it had gone on Temple Island as far as he knew. Collin and Nara suspected, he guessed, since their friends knew them too well. He didn’t know that Yara had spoken with Nara and confessed their time together.
“I have a feeling that we might have to help some of the others out with the spell before the trip is over. We’re northerners and not used to this strong sun. Annalicia and her people are used to the heat further south, but the rest of us don’t stand a chance,” he said quietly. His hiding in the shade reduced his chance of burning, but he doubted that he wouldn’t need Yara to ease the pain at some point. They couldn’t hide very well on the ship if they wanted the fresh air on deck either.
The girl nodded swiping her wet hair against his chest making him cringe a little. “I hadn’t thought about that really. We’re pretty far south and the sun is much stronger. People are dressing lighter and exposing more skin. Even Nara wore shorts today,” the girl giggled about the wizard who was like an older sister to her.
“Maura’s probably the only one likely to avoid a burn,” he admitted and realized that the woman and her protectors had retreated from the beach. The mage wondered if they had returned to the ship despite Maura telling him that they all needed a break.
Yara pulled away grabbing his hand as she moved forward. He noticed that her plate was cleaned already. “Come on,” the girl urged. “You don’t want to be like Maura. Now do you? Come join the party and stop eating all my food.”
She had fed him half of what Yara had brought with her on the plate. It was largely his fault that it was emptied.
After filling a plate for the mage, the two of them walked around the beach talking with crewmen and those of his team not playing in the water for a time. Yara had urged him to socialize and remind them that he was one of them and not just their leader. He hadn’t thought that had ever been a problem, but if she had noted it, then it probably was.
That didn’t mean that the couple didn’t want to get a little more time alone. Yara had dried, but the girl continued to remain dressed in just enough to be covered. It also brought thoughts to both their minds and the two slipped away as the day lengthened. Finding a place deeper in the forest, the two lay down to rest in each other’s arms. Yara slipped out of her clothes and u
rged Sebastian to join her.
They hadn’t acted on any of their urges since Temple Island, but they were alone in a paradise together. Making love, Sebastian and Yara renewed their relationship as their love continued to grow. The forest enveloped the two and passion took them over.
The sky was beginning to gray before the couple realized they had been gone so long. They dressed and were about to return when a strange sound danced on the air. Sebastian thought it beautiful. After a moment, the man started to walk in the direction of the sound ignoring Yara’s questions. He could only hear the song and it called to him.
Yara reacted quickly sensing magic at work. Sebastian’s eyes were glazed and after what they had just done, she knew that he wouldn’t ignore her for any lesser reason. The girl could hear something on the air as well, but for some reason it had no affect on the wizard.
Moving in front of the mage, she slapped her hands over his ears and shouted his name. Healing magic was out of the question. It wasn’t proof against coercion magic, since there was nothing to truly fix. The spells went after the mind and Yara had no spell in her arsenal that could defy such magic.
Sebastian was much bigger and stronger than the petite blond and nearly stepped over her as she tried to break him out of the spell. In desperation, she pulled his face closer kissing him hard on the mouth. Fairy tales told of true love’s kiss breaking spells, but the mage still seemed insistent on pushing forward against her.
Invoking a healing spell, the healer hoped that the magical part of their relationship might speak where her voice could not. She felt him and even his contact with her, but there was nothing damaged as she feared. A last possible act came to her mind. They had been one. He had been inside her both physically and magically. Her last hope was to use a spell foreign to her.
“Freedom,” she invoked the battle mage’s word of power concentrating on the use of his spell. She said it again as if the healer had trained as a mage or learned Sebastian’s new magic. “Freedom,” the girl said again desperately maintaining her shared magic with her lover. A third time and Yara felt as if something snapped.
A release and the healer pulled out of her body. She could feel Sebastian’s aura with hers and looking down, the battle mage stopped fighting against her. Their minds were separated from their bodies and Yara was unsure of what to do now. They couldn’t communicate like this.
A sudden realization came to her mind and the healer tried to speak. Her mind hovered mere feet over her body and their minds embraced as they had in their little clearing holding onto one another even now.
“Sebastian?” her mouth said the words slowly and the quiet voice sounded distant.
“Yara?” Sebastian questioned in confusion. His voice sounded distant, but he was almost normal in his expression. “What’s going on? Are you riding the winds with me?”
“Something happened,” the girl tried to explain. The strange disconnect between body and mind was hard to get used to. “Push me back, but stay on the wind,” the healer begged of the trained wind rider.
She felt the gentle touch of Sebastian’s mind. He eased her into her body once more and the healer could still hear the strange music on the wind. Able to think much clearer now that she was whole once more, Yara quickly tried to communicate what was happening, “You went into a trance when some music began. I think we may have walked into a trap. I was able to push you out of your body with your wind rider spell.”
“How?” he asked still confused. She could tell that his mind must be close to communicate so easily and wished that she had the skill he possessed.
Blushing, Yara looked at the ground and realized that her lack of clothes made her feel more vulnerable in the face of this insidious magic on the air. “I think that we’re so close now, and being together, that I was able to push your mind with the freedom spell. I managed to free both of us to separate you from the coercion spell.”
A moment passed as she could tell he thought about the implications and nature of what she had accomplished. “You joined me like an air wizard to pull my mind with yours using my magic. Very clever, Yara, thank you.”
Though she liked the praise from him, the girl urged, “We had better go check on the others. If we heard the music hear, they have probably as well.”
Hurrying back to the beach, the two found their worries well founded. Nara used vines and roots to hold dozens of men, including Collin and Liam, but only a few other men being fought physically by the other women of his team remained.
Serrena tried to hold onto Captain Drayden who was as mesmerized as the rest and physically dragged the fire wizard with him. She tripped the man and tried to wrestle him to the ground repeatedly. Annalicia used a set of air walls to trap Reynolvan, her fire wizards and a handful of other men. Frell had trapped a few more with an earth moving spell. Held by hardened sand, the men still tried to struggle towards the music. Olan and Mecklin were in her care.
Ashleen spotted them and came running from several men lying on the ground unconscious. “Thank goodness, you two are safe. Can you hear that strange singing? Everyone but a few of us heard it and began to walk to the south end of the island.”
Yara shook her head and pointed at the men fighting to move south. “Look again. It isn’t just some of us immune to the song’s effect, only women aren’t affected for some reason.”
“But, Bas...”
“Was just as under the spell as the rest. I managed to break him free with his wind riding spell. His mind can only stay on the wind so long before he will have to return, however.”
Ashleen looked at the healer in shock. The wind riding spell was notoriously difficult to master and a healer had somehow managed to move a battle mage of all casters onto the wind. It should be impossible, but the two of them seemed to defy the odds too often to be denied. “What do we do then? We can’t let everyone else just wander away like this, but they won’t stop either.”
“Sleep,” Sebastian interjected from where he listened to the conversation.
Yara nodded. It was a simple healing spell after all. The girl moved quickly putting the men to sleep to free the wizards to find the source of the compelling song.
The women quickly dressed in their wizard garb and more importantly shoes before giving chase to the ensorcelled men of the Sea Dragon.
Chapter 29- Lullabies
While the sunset colored the western horizon orange, the rest of the sky began to darken towards purple as evening began to take over the island. The orange light turned the brown trunks of the forest a sickly hue as the women of the Sea Dragon hurried down the beach. Frell, the only swordswoman among them, moved ahead while Sebastian navigated near the back riding the winds in sight of his body.
Yara walked with Sebastian and could sense the extra worry from their nature wizard. Nara was concerned over leaving Collin and the men on the beach under the sleep spell, but the only way to save them all was to find the source of the haunting music wafting on the wind.
“Should we have left the ship?” Yara questioned as they moved hurriedly along the beach.
It was Annalicia who responded, “Maura went to the ship earlier. I have a feeling that she must have done something because I didn’t see any of the remaining crewmen leave the ship.”
“I felt a powerful spell cast from that direction as well,” Serrena informed them.
Despite the lead the men had on them, the group soon came upon the first of the stragglers. They were a few that the wizards had been forced to give up on while keeping the rest held back at the campsite. Yara put them to sleep without any resistance as the men were walking slowly and never seemed to notice the women. By the time they found the end of the island, nearly a score of the sailors were left where they caught them, but they were safe from the enchantment.
Upon reaching the southern point of the island, the group faltered. Men were floundering in the water striving to reach the call. Left to themselves, most would have drowned.
“
I’ve got them,” Nara stated as they felt her power grow around them. Sebastian watched as vines from the forest and plants under the water all reached out to throw men back towards the beach or wrapped around them pulling them back to safety. Yara assisted by casting her sleep spell as quickly as she could.
Vines released sleeping men and snared more. Her massive nature spell quickly took its toll on the woman after her earlier use of magic near the camp. Sagging to her knees, Nara knelt and finished pulling back all those she could see.
Sebastian left the women and his body standing on the beach. Riding the winds, the mage searched for the source of the music and magic. In the water between the islands he spied them. A half dozen women swimming in the water were singing the haunting tune.
The mage felt his body pull extra power from the earth for a quick spell. “Wave,” he cast his spell using his mind above to guide a powerful rush of water. The singers were disrupted and pulled towards the shore like fish in a net.
Gasps of surprise from the women on shore came from the sight of the singers. They were all women from above the waist, but below they had tails like a fish. Merfolk. They had heard the stories and rumors for years, but the people of Southwall had never truly believed them.
Two reached for amulets around their necks recovering before their accomplices. Frell’s sword leveled at the one, but the other woman glowed as her hand covered the piece and uttered words that they couldn’t understand. Surprising them even more, the mermaid suddenly had legs with a simple scarf like skirt tied around her waist. She rolled and tried to run, but they could see that her legs were less comfortable to her.
Nara wrapped the remaining four in her vines, while Sebastian caught the woman who had changed.
“Let me go!” the woman complained with an odd accent as she struggled fiercely in his arms. As clumsy as her legs were, her arms were strong from a life in the sea.
Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) Page 37
