That knowledge made it easier for the younger, smaller woman to face the glaring men and smile. It wasn't a look to goad them into a fight or a war of words. She was pretty and her smile was enough to disarm the men in spite of themselves.
"I believe High Wizard Darius is here visiting. I have come from Hala to speak with him."
"If you have a message, we can pass it on to him," one of the men stated. His lips had eased into a slight smile at the pretty woman without his knowledge.
Trying to remain girlish in their eyes, Rilena continued to smile and even tried to play a little coy. She was pretty popular for dances in the Black Smith Inn, but that had been true at the guardian castles while she had been assigned to them as well. "Unfortunately, this is more intricate than just a simple courier mission. I need to speak with him in person.
"I am a friend of his. Could you tell him that Falcon Rilena is here to speak with him?"
She found her head tilted coyly to the side and fluttered her lashes playing the point up in a cute fashion. Though Rilena generally disliked girls that downplayed their strengths, sometimes it was just easier to get men to do what she wanted this way. It was just a different kind of strength if it worked so regularly with the men of Southwall.
The two guards wound up looking at one another in a bit of confusion. While they had likely been ordered that the wizards didn't want to be disturbed, and even less likely by some random battle mage; the men did find her manner swaying.
One of the men finally decided to turn to walk the short corridor off of the main walkway. He knocked on a door and spoke quietly to the wizard who opened it halfway. The third wizard was a young woman. Rilena thought that she looked young, perhaps a wizard in her first position since graduating from being an apprentice. She looked a little unsure, but heard the guard relay her words before disappearing back inside and closing the door.
It wasn't long before the door reopened letting out a man dressed remarkably different from the other wizards. Rilena knew this man pretty well, however, and was reasonably used to a difference in fashion for the wizard from far off Enchwold; but the rounded points of his ears sticking through his brown hair would never seem quite right to her. Elias was a wizard and grandson of the high wizard. He was also supposedly part elf.
While she had been tempted to ask more about that side of the wizard, it had always felt like something best left to him to bring up. He tended to cover his ears with his hair like his older cousin Darterian, but the men didn't bring it up anymore than she would bring up that she was a woman. Such a thing was obvious, even if their origin was less so.
"Rilena, what are you doing here?" the man asked directing her gently by the elbow a little further down the hall to avoid prying ears. He was used to her as well or the wizard wouldn't have been so casual in his speech or touch with the young woman. He looked about as old as Rilena, but that much had been covered by them before. Elias looked like a teenager and yet he was well into his thirties nearing twice the girl's age.
"It is official business, Elias. Is your grandfather going to be much longer?"
Elias was barely taller than the mage, but she felt like she was looking up almost as much as she would with Sebastian. She was barely above average for a woman of Southwall, slim and attractive by most standards. Darius was a couple inches taller than his grandson, so she often wondered if the elves of his lineage were shorter as a people or if it was just his family.
Even as she gauged the wizard, he gauged her question. "They are discussing the differences in schools and magic studies. If my grandfather isn't given a cap on time, we might all be old and gray before he stops talking about it. It is probably a curse of being an old man, even if he would look no older than I am if he changed the color of that silver hair he was born with.
"That would be another lifetime's discussion of why he doesn't by the way," Elias said with a roll of his blue eyes.
"Your cousin Annalicia has blonde hair that is as light as silver from what I have heard. Do you think that she might be immortal?" Rilena asked thinking of the young wizard whose beauty and magic style which bordered on dance had gathered so much notice that, even months later, there were stories of the wizard from Malaiy. Rilena wished that she had gone along with Sebastian for the tournament as well, but then she wouldn't be here to see Darius.
"No one has stuck a knife through her heart so far to test the idea and I hope no one tries. If she is immortal, Anna won't age at all. In a decade or so, it will be obvious one way or another without having to try killing her," the man answered with a bit of humor. Killing one's cousin as a test wasn't something quite so funny to Rilena, but guessed that he and Darterian could look at it safely since neither had the silver hair of their grandfather.
Shaking her head at his terrible joke, Rilena returned to her reason for being there. "I need Darius to send me to Garosh. There is information that we hope he can give us."
The idea that Southwall could possibly attack the emperor inside his city had been one wished for over a hundred years. The fact that by using the enemy's portal magic they just might be able to end his threat in her lifetime and soon seemed impossible. While Rilena wished that she could say as much, even within the guardian cities, one had to remain close lipped to avoid the rumors that would inevitably spawn from the truth.
King Alain had been working with the wizards and mages since Darius had first cracked portal magic. With Sebastian's manipulation of the same magic to follow Palose back to the city, they were that much closer to pressuring the Dark One inside of his mountain fortress.
Smiling at the girl, Elias shook his head and said, "If that is all you need, I could send you there. Darterian and I have our grandfather's blood and apparently inherited his ability to use portals also."
This was the first time hearing that for Rilena and she replied in surprise, "Really? You know not only the magic, but how to find the gate in Garosh's mountain?"
Chuckling at the girl's shock, the wizard nodded and said, "You don't have to act like I am just some child following my grandfather around you know. I was one of the representatives for Eirdhen and Enchwold at the Winter's Edge for a reason."
Though Rilena hadn't been able to go to Hala for the tournament, on occasion, the cousins and Darius had been nice enough to relay some of what they had seen. Both men had done fairly well; though neither had lasted as long as Sebastian which was a moral victory the mage savored when others spoke of it.
"Well, if your grandfather can live without you for a little while, then maybe you could send me there?"
"I could go with you," the wizard suggested sounding like he hoped to go. "These little meetings with the wizards of Southwall do get tedious after awhile. It seems like every time we might get a little time to rest, they find out and call grandfather for another meeting."
Shrugging, Rilena replied, "I think it is more that the wizards can't get enough of a living legend. It isn't everyone that can say they have spent time being taught by an immortal."
Elias' smile faded slightly as he let slip, "I wouldn't call him exactly immortal. He is old, but nowhere near as old as the Grimnal. Even he is a thousand years old or so, which is nothing in the grand scheme of time.
"Also I have heard that other so-called immortals have been killed here and there."
There was something more to that story, but Rilena felt a little rushed to go to the mountain where Garosh had built a fortress inside.
"Maybe you can tell me about that sometime. It sounds like a good story," the woman agreed moving past the thought that seemed to worry the grandson of one of those immortals. "Do you need to tell Darius that you are leaving?"
With a sigh, the wizard turned back towards where they had left the guards. "I suppose that I had better. If I throw off his plans because he is looking for me, I would probably never the end of it. As it is, Darterian and grandfather sometimes treat me like I am a child. Compared to them I might be, but I've been alive long enough to be
considered otherwise.
"Give me a moment to get them the message and I will take you to the mountain."
After disappearing into the short hall, Elias passed the message through the apprentice that Rilena had seen before and turned to gather her up once more.
"I suppose that I should bring a jacket," the man stated perking up from the minor slip in his otherwise happy state.
"It is winter out there," Rilena replied. She still wore her winter jacket with its hood. It was unbuttoned while inside, but even the halls of the stone castle felt chilly in spite of the fireplaces riddled throughout.
With the point agreed on, the two quickly found the wizard's winter jacket and cloak. He was from a country so far to the south that they never had the bitter cold Southwall experienced. Rilena could tell a southerner by the way they always seemed to continue piling on layers of clothes to venture outside.
They went to the courtyard where Windmeer had built their gate. Rilena knew that they didn't have to go to that exact site, but part of their securing the portals was that any use of the magic was done near the gates to keep their enemies from finding a new weak spot to use against them.
"Ready?" Elias questioned rhetorically. As the wizard began his spell, Rilena suddenly felt a bit anxious. It had been a long time since she had seen Garosh.
Palose used his magic to transition from his house in the human slum to one of the massive spires holding up the roof of the cave city. While the house was something he had chosen for its privacy, since it was so far out of the way. The spire was something left over from Atrouseon, the one who had returned the resurrection man to life.
Were he to enter the spire from the ground floor, there was a magical elevator to bring him to his inheritance high up inside the stone spire. It required a wizard or potentially a battle mage to use it. No one without magic could use the lift otherwise which maintained another level of privacy for those rich enough to afford the upper levels of the spire.
He had been to the emperor's castle. It occupied numerous floors inside and the mage had climbed the stairs quite often, since the emperor and his sister appeared to enjoy his presence. To believe that this spire might be more driven by magic was somewhat of a surprise, though many of the emperor's staff had no magic to use, he supposed.
Palose didn't need the elevator, however. He had seeded the place with a gateway. Jumping from house to apartment spared him the long walk between the two dwellings and hid his movement from other wizards that might question what the dark mage was about during his day. His initial use of the portals had been to sneak off to Southwall, which had yielded attack points for the emperor. Many of those had been closed off since, but Kolban and his sister had discovered what he had been up to with no real repercussions. It was viewed as taking initiative instead.
Entering the apartment from his little house would be a bit of culture shock for most people. The house against the cave wall was decorated modestly from money that he had supplied to buy furniture and other necessities to live comfortably. This place had been decorated by its former resident, the wizard Atrouseon.
The man had been quite wealthy thanks to his family inheritance as well as his placement among the warlocks of Ensolus. Palose guessed that some of the treasures in the apartment dated back a few generations, but that family line had ended with Atrouseon's death.
Palose carried on being the closest in relation to the man. They had shared magic, even if it was a thing that the warlock had later regretted. That made him closer than blood in many ways and his claim on the man's wealth had stood. Of course the emperor's bank had seen him report there for Atrouseon for months, so the transition had been easier for that; but the mage had a feeling that Kolban might have had a hand in it as well.
Movement from beyond the portal made the mage look up nearly surprised. A blonde haired woman moved spryly backing away from the glowing doorway. It had been set in an actual doorway that could close off a smaller bedroom from the living area.
"Oh, Palose, you surprised me!" Oween exclaimed looking a little flustered. She was barely covered in a towel with damp looking hair.
"Well, I hadn't expected you to be running around my apartment like this either. Do you and Nalack have a different relationship from what I have seen on Litsarin?"
The woman made a face of distaste. She looked like a teenage girl with about a decade removed from her physically if not mentally. Wondering if she had reverted to a girl emotionally, Palose waited to hear the excuse.
"Like I would let that elf touch me," the human warlock responded in disgust. "He was too old for me before you did this. I definitely wouldn't let him touch me now!"
Perhaps it wasn't a racial prejudice after all, Palose thought to himself. Oween had been surprised by the alterations he had wrought with the new blood runes. It had been an experiment at her expense, even if it had turned out well for the woman. Oween could have been attractive in her first life, but the woman had preferred to be taken seriously as a magic user. In Ensolus, there were few truly powerful women. Perhaps that was because of the emperor, or maybe it was something else entirely.
Now Oween had a new lease on life. Her body had reverted to her teenage years, but her mind was full of the memories nearly three decades had garnered for the warlock. She was fully trained as a wizard and had a degree of maturity; though not every person in their twenties could be labeled mature, Palose knew. He had an old soul and had seen men make fools of themselves for women that looked half as attractive as Oween appeared now.
"Where is Nalack anyway?" the mage questioned the woman.
"I dunno," Oween replied slipping into a less educated sounding tongue. "He said he had errands to run. I think he went to see if he had been labeled dead or something.
"I think Nalack was reasonably wealthy. He comes from the old guard families that were imprisoned with the emperor in the void. Most of those acquired a lot of wealth when they looted the cities of men. I would guess that his parents or grandparents were part of that take over."
The Dark One had come with his armies destroying the nations which had once been north of the wall. There had also been some rich mines in the mountains. Holding the Dragon's Spine meant access to metals and gems most likely, but Palose could only guess at what had truly happened. Southwall only painted the attrition and loss they had suffered. The mage had never really looked into the story from the other side. It didn't really matter to him, though he wondered if that was being too small minded. Learning the past might come in handy for his future.
"Don't you have anything that you wanted to check on since you're home?" Palose asked inquisitively though he tried not to look overly curious. Oween was new to his circle though and the man was still trying to make sure that he hadn't given the gift to someone he might regret.
She shrugged as her right hand held the top of the towel where the two sides had been tucked making a short dress on the girl. "I wasn't from the same sort of family as Nalack. My apartment was still in the warlock academy dorms. It was bigger than the apprentice rooms, but quite modest compared to this place," Oween said gesturing around her with her free hand.
Her eyes returned to Palose and the girl added, "Besides how am I going to rejoin my old life when I look like this?"
It was the first time that he had heard her sound negative in her choice of words. Strangely enough, Palose didn't notice any anger or disappointment in Oween as she said them.
"There aren't warlocks who use some form of glamour spells to look younger than they are or women who dye their hair?"
Rolling her brown eyes at him, Oween replied, "I didn't say that I hated how I look. You said that I would get a second chance to try and enjoy life. Pardon me if I don't just jump in before figuring out how to do that."
She sounded more like a teenage girl criticizing her parents, Palose thought. He had seen those conversations in the cities and villages. Even apprentice wizards in White Hall could sound quite petty and childish, since t
hey were actually children taken from their homes.
"That still doesn't explain why you are walking around my apartment... like that," he gestured towards the towel bringing her eyes down the towel to her bare legs and feet.
Frowning slightly in disappointment, Oween shrugged and countered, "You saw a lot more of me yesterday during the ritual to make me like this. I thought you were with Sylvaine, so my walking around an empty apartment shouldn't bother you. You're the one who surprised me after all.
"Since Nalack made me take that little room you just blocked with your portal, I was walking back to put on that sack I have for clothing. The shower is in the other bedroom, so you just interrupted my walk."
The woman walked towards the kitchen and a counter there. She picked up an envelope. It was still sealed and the girl held it out with her left hand towards him.
"The courier also interrupted me. This came for you just before you arrived."
Palose moved closer eying the envelope. It looked like one that Kolban had sent for him. Maybe the emperor had discovered that he had returned from the front again. It had never been complained about, though there were wizards and probably generals who disapproved of the dark mage who could move from city to battlefield and back without missing out on the fights.
There had never been an attack in the night that had made it seem necessary to babysit his troops and besides he was considered an independent force thanks to the need for a portal wizard of his caliber.
As the mage took the envelope, Oween's fingers of her right hand moved triggering her towel to slip free. The paper remained in front of her bare stomach making his eyes catch site of the places on her torso most women guarded from prying eyes.
Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12) Page 10
