Battle Mage Bonds (Tales of Alus Book 13)

by Donald Wigboldy

  Vanalus looked at the two marks. His cheeks were red above his beard as was his forehead. Sebastian guessed that they hadn't changed out their men for a few hours now as they waited for him to appear. The wizard looked ready to argue again as he said, "The safety of Velius and its people require us to..."

  Sparks began to move along Ashleen's skin. "Would you stop wasting time? If I wanted to cause any harm, we would have brought more men obviously. We also wouldn't have brought an apprentice and a cadet for an invasion force," she added including Xander and Shaylene in his observation.

  Whether the younger pair was offended or not it was the truth, Sebastian thought.

  Sighing, Vanalus gestured to the soldiers to open a path down the center. The wizard turned back towards the city walking through the two walls of steel. Other wizards moved to join him, though over half slid to the sides. As Sebastian and Ashleen followed with their team, the soldiers moved to surround and follow with the last of the wizards bringing up the rear most likely to make sure that magic could be used if they should suddenly act dangerously.

  The path towards the castle gates rose. With so much snow on the ground, Sebastian wasn't even certain if they walked along a road at all. The permafrost made the ground beneath the snow incredibly hard and grass in its dormant state didn't reveal anything through the soles of his boots either.

  Looking at the defensive wall around the king's city, Sebastian thought between the wide hill and high walls that Velius would likely be able to mount a stout defense if the city should ever need. Unfortunately that was in the face of armies without wizards' magic. Then it would become a combination of the wizards' efforts at protecting the stone walls and the natural sturdiness of the stone making up the defense. Even Northwall had been broken at the Twins last fall thanks to warlocks using their combined powers. Southwall's wizards had done their best to protect it, but sometimes it just comes down to the numbers an enemy can throw at your defenses as to whether they would succeed or fail.

  Unlike many cities in Southwall, including Hala, Velius streets were set up more like the spokes of a wheel with the king's castle at the center. Having flown on the wind close enough to see beyond the wall, Sebastian knew that there were four gates with four streets leading to the center. The remainder of the roads inside the city might end on an inner ring, but the four main streets had no confusion to their paths. Hala was more mazelike in construction making sure no enemy could just walk up to the Grimnal's front door. Streets would end facing a building making a traveler shift to the right or left before continuing to the next fork in the road. Buildings became defenses and blind corners could hide hordes of defenders without the enemy having a clue at all.

  On the other hand, their walk was minimized. From outer gate to inner, the escorted team walked over a mile before they walked through the castle's outer wall. They passed by more soldiers manning the gates. He felt wizards above them as well waiting to make sure that all was well.

  His use of lodestones and portal magic continued to keep Kardor on edge apparently.

  Barely any of their escort broke away as they entered the castle making each hall into a parade route until finally they arrived in a large hall. Soldiers joined guards along the wall. Four of the wizards joined a dozen more where they waited with half formed spells ready to cast should they need to protect the king. The remainder of the soldiers and wizards spread out along the walkway as the first line of defense.

  Sebastian spotted the king and his queen sitting on a pair of thrones on the far side. Two wizards and half a dozen personal guards looked ready at the top of six stairs.

  "Your majesty, these are the users of gate magic. Sebastian Trillon, agent of King Alain of Southwall and Ashleen Karderos, daughter of Duke Cerrus," Vanalus said introducing the leaders of the team.

  Chapter 24- Kings and Envoys

  Shaking his head at the wizard, King Vardal stated with annoyance, "I know my own cousin, Vanalus, even if it has been awhile."

  The dark haired king with his well groomed beard contrasted with his queen in looks. He wore clothing that shimmered in the room's lighting as he moved, even though it was black. Gold trim and a gold buckle on his belt stood out from the color around them, but as King Vardal moved the cloth had the rippling shine of silk. They were in the north and still well within the cold of winter, so Sebastian could assume that the king wore several layers beneath the expensive outer layer.

  Like Ashleen often dressed, Vardal's queen wore layers of cloth to make her dress. Folded and secured by a single belt to the casual look, her outfit was more complicated than it appeared as well. Her outer layer was a dark red with a gold braid belt. It matched the thread of her patterned sleeves. Unlike her husband, the queen was blonde and her hair was kept up in an elegant braid that supported her gold crown. Each finger of her hand had at least one ring. Diamonds sparkled from the earrings in her ears as well.

  Vardal's jewelry was quite sparse in comparison to his queen, Sebastian noticed. He also noted the two chairs on the raised platform set back from theirs. There were a prince and princess of the realm, he knew, but apparently their children were not attending this meeting.

  "You two seem rather young to be envoys," the king stated as he leaned forward to examine the small group and its leaders. "Ashleen, you are a wizard, so your title was relinquished. At least you are of royal blood, though you are Kardorian, which makes it strange to see you with these people from Southwall."

  "They all appear common as well," his queen remarked with cool eyes. Sebastian assumed that the woman was reserving judgment, but until then her demeanor was hardly that of a queen inviting an ally's ambassadors to enjoy their hospitality.

  "Natellya, they wear the uniforms of wizards and mages. Judging their upbringing becomes rather difficult at a glance. Even our cousin could be mistaken for a commoner in those clothes," Vardal remarked to his queen.

  Ashleen frowned and replied, "Dressing in a fancy dress would have been a waste walking through all the snow."

  Vardal nodded. "Winter in Kardor involves a lot of snow. If you were to live in a castle and have time to attend a dance, I am sure that you would dress appropriately, Ashleen. Even giving a third of your life to learning magic could hardly remove the fact that you are the daughter of a duke."

  Queen Natellya continued to frown and suggested, "You could ask why they are here. Duke Cerrus' wizards were rather brief in their warning of this arrival."

  After a nod to his wife, the king gestured to the group with an open hand. "Why have you come? Vanalus introduces you as an envoy of King Alain? I know he is a young king, but you look barely old enough to be an officer in his army let alone a representative of Alain."

  "Technically, it is my first day," Sebastian replied with a self deprecating smile. "I have served my king as his representative off and on over the last year, however. My background is that of a battle mage, your majesty."

  Ashleen added, "Sebastian doesn't usually boast, but he was sent on a mission to find the legendary Grimnal by King Alain. He also served as his representative going to Sileoth and Marianis in a similar way to this. His magic brought King Alain to those distant kings and he stood beside his king as they discussed the war with the Dark One.

  "Sebastian also stood with High Wizard Darius and the Grimnal, Gerid Aramathea in the defeat and destruction of the Dark One this winter. His achievements are numerous, so in spite of his age, King Alain decided to make him his official agent and envoy instead of wasting his talent as just another battle mage."

  Queen Natellya commented, "You seem to be his biggest champion. Have you taken him for your lover despite being a wizard? I thought it uncommon, but you don't seem like a little girl anymore."

  Sebastian glanced at the wilder with just his eyes and caught her reddening cheeks. It seemed like a conversation that shouldn't be addressed by a queen especially in public, which was odd after her commenting on the commonality of their birth.

  "That would see
m off topic, Queen Natellya," the mage said with a cool smile. "Our relationship has little to do with anything here, but her statement of my achievements mirrors hers as well. She was with me on many of those occasions as well as in the final moments of battle with the Dark One."

  King Vardal stood as he asked, "You are certain that the Dark One is dead? They said that he was virtually immortal."

  "He extended his life by changing bodies apparently. This last body couldn't handle the strain of a battle that involved dozens of wizards and mages. We even brought the mar'goyn'lya and the che'ther dragons along. Dragon fire helped finish him off.

  "The burned out husk of his body was seen. There is no way that he could have survived, but even with him gone we need to be wary. When winter ends, we don't know if anyone will try to take his place. Even if the successor isn't as powerful as their emperor, there are still the soldiers and monsters making up his armies as well as some powerful warlocks."

  King Vardal waited as he judged the mage's words. "We know of his armies' power. His western cities have attacked us enough over the last two centuries to know all about them. The Dark One never faced us directly, however, so one can guess that one of his warlocks or warlords will try to become the new emperor."

  "Which leads to why we have come, King Vardal," Sebastian stated after the king's summation.

  "Yes, again, why are you here exactly?"

  "As your wizards can attest, we have figured out how to use the Dark One's portal magic. We know other magic as well which your wizards from the tournament would be familiar with if they reported on it at all."

  That statement brought a slight frown. "Your people did well from what I hear."

  "Ashleen finished in the top eight as well giving Kardor a very good showing considering the number of wizards she faced," Sebastian clarified, "but that isn't what I meant to talk about.

  "I told Duke Cerrus that I can give you and your wizards gate magic also. We can teach them the spells so that you can move men and messengers across hundreds of miles in an instant. Southwall has only learned of it recently and have been able to use it to stop the Dark One at the Twins by bringing reinforcements from multiple cities at once.

  "We've helped Sileoth hold onto its territory in Litsarin the same way and that is how we brought the fight into the Dark One's city in winter to slay him."

  The king looked suspicious and his question mirrored his eyes as he asked, "You wish to give us this magic?"

  Shrugging as if it was less important than Vardal believed, the mage answered, "Kardor is our ally. Sileoth and Marianis have been able to help us because of it also. Staron and Mar'kal are joined with gates and wizards who can cast the spells as well."

  Bowing his head, Sebastian added, "We hope that we haven't offended you by bringing this magic to your wizards after these others. Our number of portal wizards and the war have slowed our progress, I am afraid."

  "Said that way, I suppose that I should feel offended," Vardal replied with a quick laugh. Growing a bit more serious, his eyes examined the mage as he asked, "You said that other magic has been learned from the Dark One's warlocks?"

  Giving the king a sympathetic smile, the mage countered, "All in good time. Hopefully winter and the loss of the Dark One will keep the enemy from testing your borders anytime soon.

  "There are spells that we can teach to counter the warlocks' darkness spells. If they start using special armor that absorbs elemental spells, the spells of light and darkness will come in handy for your wizards as well."

  Stopping a moment as if he had to think of something, the mage let the room wait on baited breath before he added, "I haven't seen any real use of battle mages in your cities, your majesty. If your army needs more strength, we could start looking for people with lesser innate magic. Even they can be taught much of what I know. Mages have proven themselves over and over in battle in Southwall, especially of late.

  "Wizards tend to overlook those with less power, but added to your army they can bolster your troops and wizards alike in battle."

  The last comment caused the king to frown slightly and he waved towards the others in the room, "I am afraid that I have less control over that part of my forces, envoy. Since I don't have magic, I can hardly tell my wizards their jobs. I can suggest that they search more thoroughly, but I wouldn't wish to offend the wizards who have helped keep this kingdom from being overrun over the last several generations."

  Sebastian nodded as if he understood and replied, "Going with what works can be a strong temptation. We now have wizards changing how they cast spells because mages have taught them the strength of our spells. Our battle mages have been changing rapidly as new magic has been discovered also.

  "But as you said, if you don't wish to challenge them to be more than they are already, I can understand."

  "I don't appreciate sarcasm, young man," the king stated with a scowl.

  Nodding as if he acquiesced, Sebastian answered, "I understand, but if we were here to test our new magic; I could probably safely say that with just our three full mages and the cadet we could probably disable most if not all of your guards and wizards in this room. While I can say that, it would be both impolite and pushing the boundaries of danger to do so."

  "Did you just threaten me, envoy?" King Vardal asked taking a step towards the mage in spite of his question.

  "Certainly not," Sebastian replied and smiled in a way to remove the sting from his words. "I simply mean if you should ever wish to see if our battle mage magic can bring something to the table that might surprise you. We could set up a demonstration sometime. Fighting inside your hall might cause damage, however, and I don't think my pay could cover replacing your decorations," he finished with a little laugh.

  Ashleen swatted his arm with a frown making Sebastian look at the girl in surprise.

  "I am sorry, your majesty. Sebastian is rather new to this and a little too passionate about being a battle mage perhaps, though I can attest to the strength of a handful of battle mages facing significantly greater numbers after dealing with the Dark One's forces," Ashleen apologized for Sebastian wondering what had gotten into him from that comment.

  "In an area where wizards can't hide easily, a battle mage's magic can nullify most of their spells. Normal soldiers need to use their greater numbers and weight against someone that can use magic. Even then, they will likely lose many to take a fully ready mage down." Glancing at Sebastian again with a shake of her head, she added, "But now isn't exactly the time to be suggesting such changes or competitions. We would like to work out when we can perhaps start finding wizards that would like to learn how to cast the gate spells, however. It is not a type of magic that every wizard will find easy though, so we can't be certain how long it will take to be able to put a gate in every castle with a team of wizards to operate it."

  Sebastian, realizing that he was lucky for Ashleen' interruption of his rather brazen suggestion, added to what she had just said. "If you want to have more cities with gates, we can send lodestones to the different cities while we work with wizards in Interus and Velius most likely. Once you have wizards that can make their own stones and gates, you can use a different wizard's magic on them that no other nation will be able to find easily.

  "That will make each gate your own and each city even more secure, unless you wish to have gates marked for your allies to use."

  Releasing a sigh, King Vardal answered, "I can see the obvious benefits of the gates. I give you permission to start finding and training some of our wizards. What kind of timeline do you plan to use?"

  The question led to a longer discussion. Many of the extra guards and wizards filtered out as the belief of danger receded from their minds. When they were finished, Sebastian opened a gate in front of them sending his team back to White Hall. He gave a final wave to the king and his queen before disappearing into the light.

  "What was that about?!" Ashleen complained pulling Sebastian back as the rest of their team passed thr
ough the door into White Hall. Elzen and Serrena noticed the other two slow, but seeing that they were about to have a couple's quarrel, they didn't stop and simply closed the door behind them.

  Though there were guards and wizards in the towers above as well as a few soldiers that normally waited near the doors, everyone quickly seemed to have something else to do. Eyes became averted and men walked farther away. Most men preferred to stay as far away from a woman's wrath as possible it seemed, Sebastian thought as he winced at her words.

  Not letting him answer, the girl continued, "You were visiting a king, my king, Sebastian. Surely you know better than to threaten to fight an entire room full of his guards and wizards, so what was that?"

  Rubbing the back of his neck self consciously, the mage had to wonder why he had lost his composure like that. While it wasn't a direct threat against King Vardal, he had acted a bit like the bullies he had once dealt with as a cadet here in White Hall. They would shove around the cadets that didn't stand up for their selves. Since the falcons and other teachers always told them to avoid fighting with the other factions in the school, few mage cadets would do more than try to walk away even though most knew that they could fight.

  "I'm sorry," he started having heard from other older men that whether you believed you did something wrong or not; you should just begin to apologize to your girlfriend or wife. No matter how just you felt, in the end they knew that most arguments would end with them having to apologize anyway, so it was best just to get it over with right away. Beyond that, the owl reviewed his behavior and knew that he had stepped out of line. It was good that Ashleen had been there or things might have gone much worse than they had.

  "I guess I just let those old feelings of being dismissed by wizards, and everyone who thought being a battle mage meant that you were just a defective wizard, make me want to demonstrate that they're wrong. I could see it in his face that an offer of magic from a mage was somehow less than if it had come from you or Serrena maybe. Just the four of us could have torn down that room full of soldiers and wizards though."