It didn't take long before the guard returned. "The magister will see you now," his deep voice replied a bit muffled yet it seemed to roll from the armor echoing from it.
Both guards escorted the group into the room and Sebastian wondered if the massive men believed that they could actually stop two full battle mages by themselves, let alone the rest of his group which included the cadet. His eyes touched the guards as they entered the room, but his attention took in the remainder of the hall quickly. Other soldiers were there as well and most sat around the tables talking with drinks in their hands making him understand that the guards wouldn't be alone if there was an attack here.
A striking blond haired man dressed in the fine garments of an aristocrat stood watching them at the end of one table. His mustache looked to have been twirled and set with wax and his beard was a tightly trimmed goatee, but for all the fine attention to detail in his looks Sebastian noticed a sword belted at his side and the fact that his stance was that of a swordsman as well.
"Wizard Halder, what have you brought for me today? You were hardly gone. Someone reported that you had discovered a potential threat to the fort. Are these children that threat?" the magister asked sounding bemused, yet his eyes remained steel.
Letting out a sigh revealing both his defeated attitude and his resistance to having to defer to this man, Sebastian thought, Halder replied, "We noticed that a gate had formed nearby. When we arrived these were the ones waiting there for us. This young woman is the daughter of Lord Cerrus Karderos, Lord of Interus, and Holder of the Eastern Watch."
"I know who Lord Karderos is, idiot. How do you know that she is who the girl says she is?" Ydirias questioned looking annoyed by the wizard.
Ashleen produced the letter and signet from her pouch. "Your wizards didn't believe it either, so we stopped by your bank and I used the marker left there by my father to prove it even more. Now if you have more questions for us, we will gladly answer them. Wizard Halder can go back to whatever duties he might have if you don't need him."
The girl was speaking coolly, even coldly, Sebastian thought. It was unlike her and he wondered if it was just the situation of the moment or if returning to Kardor was part of that change.
"You witnessed both markers?" the magister questioned. At the wizard's nod, he dismissed the man saying, "Well, then the lady is correct. I don't really have any need of a gate finding wizard, unless you would require him to explain how there is a trace of portal magic so close to my city?"
Ashleen glanced to Sebastian who answered, "We come from Southwall on a mission to bring the magic to Kardor. We have shared with our other allies and want to make it available to King Vardal as well."
Magister Ydirias frowned and asked, "How will you make this available? Halder did you see them make one of these gates?"
"We just came through another one that he made," the wizard stated gesturing towards Sebastian. His eyes glowed slightly as he examined the mage's aura again. "I am not sure how someone with his power was capable of it, since I don't sense the level of a normal wizard though."
"Sebastian is considered a battle mage, but has been proving that title doesn't really cover what he can do," Ashleen replied showing a bit of pride in him as she did. "He is the first mage to earn the title of owl."
Shaking his head, Ydirias asked, "What does that even mean? I know of Southwall's battle mages. They can fight and use some magic, but they are considered weak."
Elzen stepped forward indignantly and began, "A single mage could take down the entire room of soldiers here and those two wizards as well, if needed."
"Quiet, Elzen," Sebastian ordered making his friend look at him and blink in surprise. It was quick and demanded that the younger mage do as he ordered without question. It was the voice of a leader though they were more like a group of friends.
It was too late; however, as several of the men sitting at the tables rose at what they felt was an insult. Magister Ydirias frowned and shook his head, "Now you insult my men, boy. Listen to your leader, even if he seems too young to be one. He obviously understands diplomacy a bit better than you do.
"I also wouldn't want to test that threat out if I was you. Some of my men might get it into their heads that a young pup might need a swift swat to the nose to make it obey properly."
Sebastian's hand was out slightly in Elzen's direction, as if it would stop him from passing by without question. He kept his eyes on Ydirias, but the owl could sense most of the room while his hearing told of any movement around him. "Like you said, there is no need to start out fighting with each other. As magister, do you have the final say or should I wait for your lord to arrive? I can repeat myself for him or wait if need be.
"It is getting a bit late in Hala, so I would like to keep things a little short so we might return for dinner, however."
"I can speak for Lord Nico. What exactly do you want to say, young man?"
Ashleen stepped in and said, "There is little to say really. We will open a point in Interus tomorrow and try to get to Velius shortly after to give the king our gift.
"Your wizards decided to threaten us instead of listening, so I was hoping to find someone reasonable. If your wizards want to guard or hold the lodestone we used to jump to the point outside the fort; that is fine. Once King Vardal has been caught up on the possibilities, I am certain that he will want to set up secured gates.
"The Dark One might be dead, but his warlocks still remain a threat..."
The room rose up at her slip of the tongue. Though it was no secret in Southwall and among most of their allies, news had hardly spread this far.
Ydirias managed to rein in his men and asked, "What do you mean the Dark One might be dead? Did Southwall send some amazing battle mage assassin into his city and manage to kill the immortal monster?"
"He is dead," Sebastian stated emphatically. He had been there and helped destroy the final incarnation of the emperor. Though transferring from one body to another had essentially made the Dark One seem immortal, his last body couldn't survive the attacks and use of his virtually inexhaustible supply of magic. It had broken down and the emperor had essentially been destroyed by his own power. "Southwall and its allies attacked Ensolus and Litsarin at the same time to distract his armies. We used portals into the city and his fortress just like we did here to bring the fight to him when he wasn't ready for us."
Wizard Halder interrupted and asked, "How can you be certain that he is dead? Were you there, boy?"
Ashleen turned on the wizard and nearly spat her words onto the man, "Sebastian opened the portals and fought the Dark One along with the other wizards and mages. The mar'goyn'lya and che'ther were there as well. It took a lot to kill him, but he is dead. We watched him die."
The room erupted with voices speaking to each other once more. After a longer time, Ydirias was able to quell the hall once more showing his control of his men. "How is it that a young battle mage like you could possibly be in a battle against someone like the Dark One? Isn't he supposed to be all powerful?"
"He changes bodies. Changed anyway. This was his last and it couldn't handle everything brought against him," Sebastian said simply and wondered how much should be shared. These were essentially their allies after all, the purported excuse for their visit here as well. Telling them the good news shouldn't be considered telling state secrets anyway.
"What is going on in here?" a voice hollered as a man accompanied by a handful of burly soldiers questioned them as he barreled into the hall.
Sebastian wanted to roll his eyes. Turning to see a richly dressed man of middle age accompanied by the female wizard from Halder's team, he assumed that this was the fort's new lord.
"Daylia came to me and told me that we had visitors and that they used magic to cross a vast distance. Are these them?" the man was about Sebastian's height, but overweight and balding. Doubting that this man could lead a battle, the mage held his opinion inside.
"My lord, we were just discussing
many exciting things with these representatives from Southwall and Lord Karderos' daughter. There was no need to rush down here," the magister said a little too coolly. Sebastian could sense the lack of respect Ydirias and his men had for the new lord of the castle. If he had come by king's appointment, time would be needed for him to win over the people working for him; if that happened at all.
Lord Nico didn't seem to care for the magister either from his look. The man asked, "What exciting things exactly, magister? I would like to hear these things for myself and not just second hand."
For the next half an hour, Sebastian felt the subtle tug of war between the two men as he and Ashleen reported both the decision to bring portal magic to Kardor and added to the story of the Dark One's death. The owl brought out some of the details of the battle, while Elzen used his storytelling abilities to tell of his part as one of the distracting forces inside Ensolus.
With the two men resisting each other, they lost enough focus that Sebastian was able to use a demonstration of portal magic to send his people back to White Hall. They promised to return soon, but since both men seemed unwilling to agree to hold them it became simpler to let them go.
Since the owl knew that he could have left at any time, he only hoped that future dealings with the men would go smoother.
Twilight had already covered the school by the time the small group arrived in the outer courtyard surrounded by the defensive towers. As the mage had feared, the delays had made them too late for dinner in Hala. Luckily they had needed to drop off Xander and Shaylene, so they figured to make use of the difference in the day to eat dinner in White Hall.
They had barely entered the dining hall, where the noise of hundreds of people eating and talking met them, when a voice greeted one of them in particular with anger, "There you are, Shaylene! Where did you...?"
Wizard Haylee's question died as she spotted Sebastian and the others with the girl. Shaylene had preceded them walking with Xander and acting like there were no repercussions for her slipping away from the school. When Haylee's frown deepened for the rest of them, the woman turned some of her wrath on Serrena and Sebastian as well, "Don't tell me that you let the girl come with you! Serrena, you of all people should know better than to take an apprentice out of White Hall without permission!"
Looking offended, Serrena scowled and complained, "What are you blaming me for? I'm not the one who can make portals, you know."
Thrown in front of the fireball, Sebastian was only slightly surprised by his friend's shifting of the blame. He could feel her start as Serrena realized what she had said; but before the wizard could think to apologize, the owl mage replied, "I am sorry. The girl slipped through the portal with a stealth spell. She told us that there were no special studies planned for the afternoon, however, so we figured a little practical training in the field might benefit Shaylene.
"If I had known that you had something special for her as well..."
Blinking at his inference, Haylee suddenly shook her head. "Well, there wasn't anything in particular, but even so I should have been informed. We have been looking for her for hours now."
Serrena looked ready to complain at how easily the other wizard seemed to deflate her wrath as well as the fact that they had apparently taken the younger girl away from nothing in particular.
"Has the girl been tested in portal magic yet, by the way? You never know who will be capable of the magic. It doesn't seem to hold to a certain elemental class at all, so Shaylene might be able to do this as well," the mage said shifting the wizard's focus even more.
"Well, no, she is just an apprentice after all," Haylee commented looking a bit dazed. The mage had spun the questioning back onto her and in front of dozens of witnesses as well. Suddenly realizing that they were becoming the entertainment of the school, the fire wizard glanced over her shoulder. Turning back to face Sebastian, her calm returned. As Serrena had called her disposition, the cool demeanor set in and the woman stated, "Perhaps we will need to test her soon, but Shaylene does still have other studies to do since she is still an apprentice."
Taking her apprentice in hand, Haylee pulled her to the side before trying to put the girl in her place. Xander watched the two fire wizards apprehensively until Sebastian turned the cadet towards the buffet line.
"Let them hash this out. There's nothing you can do at the moment except to make things worse," the owl stated steering Xander ahead of him. Elzen and Serrena had already moved ahead of him ignoring the fire wizards in turn.
Elzen shook his head and laughed adding, "Getting in between two women, especially ones who can light you on fire, is usually best avoided when they are fighting. Now on the other hand, there are times where being between two or more women would be quite desirable."
Punching the mage hard, Serrena didn't even comment before placing a tray before her as she began to pick out her food. Elzen merely rubbed his arm hissing at the pain before placing his tray next to hers. With the two of them having become romantically close, Sebastian knew better than to step in the middle of that conflict also.
Ashleen moved close him and said quietly, "I would hazard a bet that she wasn't as clever as you said. You knew that girl slipped through your portal right away, didn't you?"
Playing innocent, the mage placed his hand across his heart as if he had been attacked. "Now how would I know that a wizard using stealth magic had slipped past me and through my portal? No one else noticed her, did they?"
"And you could just as easily have sent her back too, Bas. Don't play innocent with me. I know you too well for you to even begin to try and make me believe that you didn't know."
Smiling at her, Sebastian stopped teasing her and even carried her tray to a table open enough to accommodate their group. Xander joined them as well, even though the owl could guess that there were others in his class that he could have sat with instead. They had barely started eating when the black uniform of a falconi darkened his vision to his left.
Looking up, he watched as Garrett stooped down closer to speak with a little more secrecy. "So how did he do? Does the cadet have talent in other areas also?"
"It is hard to tell so far. We led him through wind riding, but it wasn't a spell that I was able to master for quite a long time either. He did well enough with Ashleen or I leading him though."
"You didn't test him for portal magic?" the falconi asked sounding surprised.
"We were interrupted in our training, so no."
"Interrupted? No, I have a feeling that I am better off without an explanation," Garrett said in wary amusement. "As long as you are bringing him back in one piece, I suppose that is all I need to know."
The older man's eyes lifted as he turned to look in the direction of Wizard Haylee who was still lecturing her apprentice in the corner of the hall. "So the missing girl was with you also apparently. How did she sneak along without you noticing, Owl Sebastian? I would have thought you wouldn't be caught unaware by a mere apprentice."
He could feel Ashleen's eyes boring into the side of his face as Garrett recited her question almost verbatim. Sebastian answered, "A stealth spell can be hard to discover when you aren't looking for a stowaway."
Looking no less convinced of his innocence than Ashleen, the falconi wondered aloud, "Does she have potential for gate magic at least? That might get her out of some of the trouble the girl has gotten into in her teacher's eyes."
Sebastian shrugged as he considered the idea. "It is possible. The two of them also seem to work well together. Perhaps Xander might be able to conquer the harder, more draining types of magic with a wizard at his side?"
That made Garrett stare at the mage questioningly. The falconi couldn't tell if the younger man truly believed that or was simply trying to make an excuse to get the apprentice out of trouble with her mistress. "You might try that logic on the wizards. I don't know that they will believe you, but anything is possible, I suppose.
"As to Xander, should I consider him your apprentice f
or the foreseeable future?"
"We can continue until we come to a stronger conclusion as to what he can actually do," Sebastian agreed without fully committing to anything in particular. Working with Falconi Garrett again as well as Xander could make him willing to stay in the mage corps, he thought, but with everything going on in Hala his future was still cloudy at best. If he decided to move on, then he could hardly expect the corps to release Xander into his care until his training was through if he had the potential to learn the hardest of the spells.
Without anything more to gain from continuing to question the owl, Garrett soon excused himself after promising to let Xander's teachers know of his special training. Shaylene was finally free of her mentor and allowed to eat, but the girl moved to sit with some other female apprentices as Haylee continued to watch over her student. The girl snuck a few forlorn glances in the direction of Xander, but it wasn't until the room moved the tables aside for dancing that the apprentice dared sneak over to join him.
Sebastian danced with Ashleen for awhile also until he thought it time to return to Hala and his bed in the Black Smith Inn.
Chapter 15- Fire and Ice
The next morning found the four walking into White Hall from the gate courtyard to find Xander waiting for them, but not alone. Shaylene stood near the boy, but not as close as Sebastian had seen them the previous day most of the time. Looking annoyed to be there, Wizard Haylee stood within arm's reach of both her apprentice and the cadet.
Sebastian thought that the wizard looked every bit the part of a chaperone watching to make sure that the two didn't do anything inappropriate. With all three of those waiting for him looking uncomfortable, it fell to him to ask, "Was there something that you needed, Wizard Haylee? I expected to see Xander here, but not the two of you."
Her annoyed look turned towards anger as the woman frowned, but she managed to calmly report, "Falconi Garrett apparently spoke with High Wizard Herrol. The two of them came to an agreement that Shaylene and Xander might be able to work together well enough to figure out how to open a portal. I have no idea where such a preposterous idea came from, but I was ordered to go with her to supervise their study together."
Battle Mage Bonds (Tales of Alus Book 13) Page 19
