Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus)

by Wigboldy, Donald

  Cheleya’s eyes lifted to look at the field and the dragon noted the four men entering their duel rings. Like rings set at four points of a diamond, the field left the men staring across the pool that remained the heart of the Colonnades arena. The stone columns that the duel field was named for were scattered around the central pool and served as slight obstructions between the wizards from left to right.

  “He carries a staff,” the blond haired girl stated dropping her hands to her knees. “Isn’t that a dangerous wizard’s trick, Draasstmass?” she asked of the elder che’ther wizard sitting behind her.

  It was the ambassador who answered the question however as he said, “If he knows how to tap the power of the earth with it, then yes. Few know of it and the dangers that come with that technique. He has brought shafts of iron and wood as well, so perhaps he will use them differently.”

  Colbie turned to Cheleya with confusion written on her face. “What are you talking about? Battle mages use battle staves to fight instead of swords sometimes. How would he use it here?”

  Shrugging, the blond shook her head before waving the question off as she answered, “It is probably just my imagination. I doubt that a mage would have heard of this anyway.”

  A black robed wizard moved out onto the field proclaiming the names of the competitors. Brahvai Froe and Arronnon received appreciative cheers as well as a third wizard wearing gray. Geriman from a place called Gray Hall was largely unknown, though their wizards were said to be quite skilled. When the final man’s name, Sebastian Trillian from Windmeer, was announced the crowd nearly doubled their cheers beyond any of the others.

  “He seems to be popular,” Evantus said rubbing an ear after the noise.

  “It’s not every day that you see a battle mage enter a wizard’s arena,” Isstmira said sounding like she admired his courage, even if she doubted the likelihood of his success.

  The battle’s noise dwarfed the noise of the crowd as the match began. Arronnon and Brahvai mostly ignored the mage, though an impressive fire tornado pushed at Sebastian from Staron’s fire wizard. Both seemed to think that their defenses would stave off the battle mage’s best attempts and he appeared bemused by their lack of interest. Cheleya found her eyes leaving the grand display of stone, water and fire spells directed at the man in gray to look at the young man in his brown falcon uniform.

  “What kind of spells are those?” Draasstmass complained as the gray wizard erected black shields which seemed to eat every spell directed at them. Brahvai and Arronnon sent fireballs, earth quakes, water tentacles and columns of stone towards the wizard’s circle, but the shields held against them all.

  Arronnon roared angrily at the Gray Hall wizard at the sight of the black wall absorbing Brahvai’s flames. A wall of wind sent shards of stone flying back at the dragon even as he set his will against Geriman. A stone column shifted much like her father’s control of the earth. Like a giant arm, the stone slapped at the earth embankment and fire wall set as a barrier by the Gray Hall wizard.

  More black discs appeared in response cutting through the arm like it was butter, even as the first black shield stood as an impenetrable wall against Brahvai’s fire attacks. The fire wizard was beginning to look desperate and Cheleya wondered if he would change opponents.

  A brilliant flash of lightning danced along the ground jumping to an iron rod standing nearly at Brahvai’s feet. During the distraction of the three battling to the north, the battle mage had seeded an iron rod in each of the wizards’ circles. The fire tornado and fire shields of the wizard were like nothing to the lightning as it struck the mark launching Brahvai out of his ring in defeat.

  The impressive tornado and fire walls winked out of sight as the crowd gasped. Cheleya shook her head in disbelief.

  “He took out Brahvai with one shot!” Evantus cried out in shock. Colbie and Orlerin looked equally disappointed. While Tilana mumbled sadly to Orlerin about her fellow wizard’s loss.

  Cheleya replied, “He did it with two spells. Look at the iron rod in his ring. The mage let the others ignore him and set Brahvai up for that spell.”

  “It was so powerful,” Isstmira added even as they looked from the mage casually waiting for his remaining opponents to notice him back to Arronnon and Geriman using every element in their war. “How could a battle mage channel lightning?”

  Evantus added, “Where did he learn that? No one’s ever done that in my studies. I would have remembered a mage using lightning.”

  Shaking her head, Colbie agreed, “Has Southwall been developing new spells without telling us? I thought we were allies.”

  “He’s unique,” Cheleya stated watching as Sebastian stood watching the other two continuing to ignore him. “He’s the one that taught Olan the air spear. Arronnon and Geriman better pay attention to him or they’ll be wiped out before they know it.”

  Arronnon suddenly sprouted his dragon’s tail that was used to flick another similar iron rod from his ring. He hadn’t completely ignored the battle mage after all.

  Cheleya felt a rise in power from Sebastian that was so drastic a change that it felt like a wizard was casting from his direction. A pair of giant waves were called from the pool to be directed at his opponents washing away much of the stone and earth defenses.

  Arronnon broke from his deadlock with the Gray Hall wizard. A wave of stone rumbled towards the battle mage striking his fresh defenses doing little to disrupt the young man as he stood ready. Fire suddenly rained down on the dragon from the north. In the momentary distraction, the gray wizard had decided to try and take out his more powerful opponent. Only a hastily erected spell of green energy prevented the dragon from being driven from his ring.

  Laughter rang out as Geriman teased, “Thank you, mage!”

  “Don’t thank me too soon,” Sebastian hollered back at the confident wizard.

  The gray wizard held up a metal rod, the shaft that had been inserted directly in front of his ring. “Well, if you thought this was going to help you beat me, then let me assure you that it will not. My wall of darkness can absorb fire and lightning. It’s a fun spell taken from nature if you were wondering if it’s legal. I know the dragon called foul several times in his own language,” Geriman finished with another chuckle as he tossed the metal shaft away.

  Lightning flicked from the mage’s hand to strike another black shield. While it hadn’t been as strong as his first spell, Cheleya thought that it should have fared better against the thin looking ebony barrier.

  “Ha ha, I told you, mage. Light and fire always get absorbed by the darkness beneath the stone. Like the metal shafts, it returns the energy back to the earth. By the way, I notice your aura seems to have strengthened. Have you somehow learned to suppress your aura when another wizard tries to search you? That would be a spell that I would love to have you teach me once this is over.”

  Cheleya glanced to Arronnon standing shakily in his ring. The che’ther was nearly used up by now. Even a wizard had limits. His movement drew the wizard from Gray Hall’s attention away from Sebastian in his confidence. “It looks like our friend still wants to fight, mage. Too bad neither of you can get past my shields.”

  Shaking his head, Sebastian stated, “Wrong, Geriman, I may not be able to get through your shield, but I can get around it. Lightning dance!”

  The crowd was nearly blinded as a massive burst of lightning struck the nearly empty pool. Instead of striking the wizard’s shield in the air, the magically created lightning followed the soaked stones and before anyone could react both wizards were thrown from their rings by the mage’s powerful spell.

  Cheleya held her ears from the rumble of thunder created by the lightning. The echoes rang from the walls of the city and the great wall to the north. Nearly deafened, the che’ther’s eyes could see the aftermath left by a spell that only a wizard should have been able to channel.

  The moderator declared Sebastian a winner, since he was truly the last man standing, and she felt a release o
f power from the man. Like leaping from a cliff, the battle mage seemed to shrink before her eyes. He looked drained, not a surprise from the level of spells he had used in the fight. While the mage had been very economical in his number of spells, he hadn’t held back on the use of power when he needed it. Many a wizard would have been drained from such a show and he was just a battle mage.

  Sagging on his staff, the young man tiredly stumbled from the ring to the table laden with food for the wizards giving their all in the arena.

  Cheleya turned to look at Ambassador Theress and asked, “Do you think he used the trick that you mentioned? He seemed to have the strength of a powerful wizard, not just an average one, for a time. Now he seems to be a normal battle mage once more.”

  The elder che’ther watched as the man was swarmed by people congratulating the battle mage on his win over three wizards. He had sat back for part of the duel to be sure, but the young man had defeated all three wizards himself and not left it up to the others to do it for him. “I am not positive, but one thing I know for sure. He is not is a normal battle mage.”

  Leaving the stands, Draasstmass and Isstmira quickly went to check on Arronnon, who still looked shaky after the attack of lightning. They would help him to the table where he could feed to restore his strength. Since the four wizards protecting him had absorbed most of the killing blow of the mage, he should be mostly unharmed, Cheleya thought, but still the dragon’s human form was hardly as durable as his true body.

  During the break, many from the crowd left the stands to wander to the numerous food stalls located nearby or just to walk away from the hard, wood benches making up the bleachers. Cheleya moved back to sit by the ambassador and asked him a question, “Do you think that you could arrange for me to train at one of Southwall’s schools? If this mage comes from there, then I think that I should like to study with the masters that created this man.”

  Theress smiled like a grandfather at the girl saying, “I can look into this for you, Cheleya. I’ve never heard of a che’ther being allowed to train in one of their schools before, but then again I don’t think anyone has ever asked to join either.”

  Colbie overheard along with the other mages. She grinned and asked, “So you are going to study to be a battle mage now?”

  “Our people train in as many styles of magic as we can,” the girl replied seriously for a moment before returning a smile and a nod. “Since I am stuck like this, perhaps I should embrace this human form. It would be a unique chance to learn more about humans and Southwall.”

  Shaking his head, Evantus replied, “I wish that you could come back with us. I know Colbie and I would love to have you around and we could teach you what we know.”

  With a sympathetic look, Cheleya replied, “I have seen most of your spells and magic already. Apparently, this is something new from wherever this mage trained, so I must go there to learn all that I can.”

  “Ambassador Sselanus, do you know where this Gray Hall is?” Colbie asked a question that had been bothering her during the match. “Arronnon seemed awfully angry at the wizard during the match.”

  The elderly man shrugged, “Rumor has it that some of the Dark One’s people escaped his grip nearly a century ago and found a place to make a new life to the east. The use of darkness shields is a practice that some of the Ensolus’ warlocks use to disable wizards using basic elements. As you can see, the magic is very effective.”

  The young woman followed up trying to understand, “If they fled the Dark Emperor, then why does Arronnon seem to hate them?”

  “That is a question you would have to ask him for yourself. The wizards of Southwall accepted them here, so I can only assume that they have reason to trust them.”

  Cheleya returned to talking to Theress about her future in Southwall letting her friends from Staron talk amongst themselves until the next matches began.

  Chapter 35- Winter’s Edge

  As the day progressed, Cheleya and the others moved to see matches at the other fields while waiting for word from the trackers. Whether they would return in a day or a week, the girl could only guess and there was the possibility that they would never return. It was a thought she did her best to try and avoid.

  They moved to another of the three arenas being used this round, Four Hills. There was no one from their countries represented, but the match had some surprises. While the nature and water wizards weren’t that unusual, another Gray Hall wizard was there as well drawing Cheleya’s interest almost as much as a strange black skinned man in his thick furs.

  One of the wizards, though they addressed the man as a shaman in the announcement, from the continent of Ch’thal to the southwest looked cold and out of place in the northern lands, but he was skilled in magic. The shaman used odd gestures and his spells were very primal in nature. Often his stronger spells forced him to dance along with his gestures making him an interesting one to watch, but again the Gray Hall wizard was the one to beat.

  Water and nature spells were more effective than fire and lightning had been, but his skills didn’t rely on what many considered an unfair type of magic. He was able to balance offense and defense to outlast his opponents. When one ignored him to attack another to the left or right, he pounced making opportunities out of each misstep.

  As the water and nature wizards were removed during the battle, one by each of the men remaining. It came down to the dark skinned shaman and the gray wizard. Manipulating nearly every element with his strange gestures, the shaman actually pushed the wizard to his brink. There was no false bravado left to the Gray Hall wizard, but in the end he still managed to defeat the wizard from Ch’thal.

  Cheleya joined her friends from Staron as they went to the third arena, the Hedges. Her eyes strayed to the northern skies watching for her father and the trackers futilely. It was still early in the day and Malaketh had a good head start on them. While unlikely, the girl couldn’t help her looking with hope.

  At the Hedges, aptly named for the large bushes dotting the perimeter of the field, they cheered for an earth wizard from Staron. Most of the locals gave him their support in a match up that featured wizards from around the world. It was a contest that featured a wizard from the far distant land of Calmon, another from Valos on the southern edge of Taltan, and the third came from the wizard’s school in Eirdhen.

  The last man had pointed ears and was said to be an elf. As rare as the man with black skin, elves were said to only inhabit certain parts of Taltan and were no more natural to this world than the che’ther and mar’goyn’lya. Such a foreign race made Cheleya want to cheer for him in their commonality, but her friends had their pick and she would not ruin their fun. Unfortunately, her heart had picked correctly as she watched the skilled young man pick apart his opponents one by one.

  Once more the girl looked to the north as they waited for the next match. It was her duty to encourage Draasstmass this round. Only Isstmira from his team appeared to cheer her comrade on in his match, since the last che’ther, Fa’Steleneth, was fighting at the same time in Four Hills. The red haired dragoness seemed more attached to the often gruff, Draasstmass, however, and joined them in the bleachers.

  For this match, even a mar’goyn’lya was in representation. Though from the same city, Cheleya doubted the two would ally against the others, at least not for long. A fire wizard from Southwall and another wizard from the eastern country of Taleres eyed the gargoyle warily missing the truth of the dragon in his human skin. The announcement of their sharing Mar’kal as a home wasn’t completely missed, however. Anyone from the same country was a potential ally after all.

  It was a free for all from the beginning. Wizards shifted attention from left to right and then across the field to their last foe. The action was hard to follow as all manner of spells were used. The fire wizard from Southwall countered the man from Taleres who seemed most fond of water spells and drew from the two ponds on his side of the field mirroring a pair on the other side.

  The ma
r’goyn’lya chose air and fire elements and attempted to bat Draasstmass from his circle one moment before sending swirling tornadoes of fire against the water wizard the next. Draasstmass preferred earth and air, though fire was introduced into the mix as well. His stone defenses rebuffed the gargoyle’s fire, but he had to use a wind wall to push the fire wizard’s torrents of flame away as well before he could follow up with another attempt at the mar’goyn’lya.

  It was a longer match than the first by far, though the second match had pushed deeper thanks to the final two wizards. This remained a four way match until Draasstmass finally found an opening on the fire wizard. A well placed wave of stone rolled through the man’s firewalls lifting them as the spell drove the wizard from the ring.

  Freed up from the fire wizard on his right, the man from Taleres pushed the gargoyle from his ring with torrents of water leaving the dragon to face the water wizard across the arena. The two might have been evenly matched at the beginning, but Draasstmass appeared to have more stamina and it wasn’t long before stone defeated water as well.

  “Yes! He did it!” Isstmira cried out jumping up from her seat surprising them all.

  Cheleya was glad for them. She knew pride in one’s home should have made her happier, but her eyes strayed to the north wistfully once more of their own accord.

  Moving to the Colonnades at the end the afternoon for the last match of the day, Cheleya decided to stand by Kel’lor. The mar’goyn’lya had shadowed her all day, but from a place beside the stands. He refused to use his amulet to change into his human guise after the incident in the hospital despite Malaketh being far away with his black amulet.

  “This match has another of those wizards from Gray Hall and one of the elves,” the gray skinned giant stated as the four slowly took their places in their rings.

  “Arronnon seemed especially distrustful of his Gray Hall opponent earlier,” Cheleya agreed in her own way. “I wonder if their ties to Ensolus remain.”