Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12)

by Donald Wigboldy

  Elzen moved to speak with the girls drawing away Melura first. The young falcon was brazen in his ability to talk with girls and, Sebastian had heard, was also good at dancing. Elien wasn't ignored long. New blood rarely was at the Black Smith and she was a pretty girl besides.

  If the other guests had known that the ladies were granddaughters of Gerid, the father to most of the royal lines making up Southwall, Sileoth and Marianis; they would likely have been less daring. The girls didn't act like they were royalty after being born and raised on the distant island on the far side of the North Sea either. They had been more like granddaughters of a village mayor, still desirable to those looking to seek favor with the immortal; but there was less of a distance between Gerid and the rest of those on the island. They were all like family there.

  Of course, the giant also gave the girls a little distance to socialize. If he hadn't, it wouldn't have mattered what royal lineage they had. Few men would wish to make a move on the giant's kin, since there were few men that would believe that they could stand against him if he disapproved. Sebastian almost laughed at the thought, however. No normal man could face the immortal giant, whose strength was even greater than one might suspect just from his size.

  "What are you thinking about now?" Ashleen asked catching the amusement in the mage's eyes as they readied to get up and dance.

  The wilder was a vision as usual in one of her dresses that looked likely made for a lesser noblewoman. Her family had money and an account in the city's bank even this far away from Kardor. Ashleen had always skirted talk about her family, but Sebastian wasn't stupid. The son of a farmer and now a battle mage, if they were in Kardor he probably wouldn't be considered good enough for the girl. Most fathers thought that anyway, just thinking of his father's protective nature for his daughters.

  In a blue dress that was more Southwall in design, Ashleen's blue eyes were questioning still.

  "Oh, I was just thinking that Elien and Melura would have a hard time finding men to dance with if the men knew who their grandfather was."

  Giving him a little nod to the side as the thought sunk in, Ashleen replied, "Yes, I could see that being a problem. More importantly, if anyone doesn't treat them right; I wouldn't give their chances of walking in the future a lot of credibility either. The Grimnal is supposed to be incredibly strong and was a fierce warrior before he landed in the nobility of... whatever that country was that Hala once led."

  "Marshalla," Sebastian said with a nod and extended his hand pulling his beautiful girlfriend onto the dance floor. A slower song let them hold each other closer. His eyes looked to Gerid, who looked a bit scarier as he sat with his men watching his granddaughters dancing a little closer than he approved of apparently. "He's stronger than he should be," Sebastian said thinking back to the battle for the island where he stood at the Grimnal's side to drive back the greater numbers of the Dark One. "Maybe it has something to do with whatever makes him immortal?"

  "Darius isn't unusually big and strong," Ashleen countered using the only other immortal that they had ever met. Meeting one was virtually unheard of, but they knew two of the greatest names in the history of Alus.

  "He's one of the greatest wizards in history," he replied implying that might be his unique gift.

  "He's that great because he is hundreds of years old and has had that time to learn more magic than anyone, except maybe the Dark One. His magical strength is above average, but he isn't the most powerful wizard that I've ever seen.

  "Gerid's strength might just be a special gift from the gods."

  It was a rare mention of the gods. Most men of the north could rattle off the names of several from the histories brought from Taltan, but it seemed like less and less believed in the old gods. Their names remained on the moons and Alus was named for an elder god as well. Some of the stars and constellations took other godly names, but beyond that there were few places in Southwall which were set aside to worship them. A newer belief in gods without names had become more popular. The peasants believed that they were the ones who had gifted the wizards with magic and the wizards never bothered to say otherwise since no one truly knew where their words of power had come from originally.

  "You believe in the old gods?" he questioned with a bit of surprise.

  The girl shrugged in his hold without disrupting their movements. "There must be something or someone that has made everything and kept it running for all this time. It is obvious that men can't seem to be behind it all, since they can't get along long enough to accomplish anything as great as the nature around us."

  "You know that the popular belief is that most of the gods were actually like the immortals we still know now."

  "Maybe we should ask Darius and Gerid if they have ever met one of these gods?" she asked with a grin. "I mean they are old enough to be given god status as well. The Grimnal legend almost is. If you hadn't found him, who knows whether our descendants would have given him godhood?"

  "I'm the son of a farmer. Talk of gods came second to taking care of the farm to make sure that there would be food for the table and things to sell in the market," Sebastian replied hoping to end the subject. He was too practical to believe easily. There would have to be stronger signs for him to believe in true gods or a single god even. Though he did have to admit that Ashleen was likely correct that there must have been something to keep this world moving forward since the wars of man would be more likely to destroy it instead.

  Feeling his discomfort, Ashleen looked around his shoulder and said, "Elzen might need to call on a god at the rate he is going. I can't believe that he asked Melura to the dance floor knowing who her grandfather is."

  "He's always been brave to the point of foolhardy. Some probably would stop at the word fool, but he's been a good friend to me so I always like to look on the bright side. Still his stunts at White Hall and teasing girls have nearly ended his life a few times," he finished with a laugh.

  When three songs had ended, the couple noticed Elzen switch from Melura to Elien. The younger girl actually sat beside her grandfather looking to need a break from dancing more than the boy based on how her eyes followed him with her sister.

  Other men wanted to try and break in for Ashleen's attention too, but most of the crowd knew that the two would rarely let that happen. There were women around his age that might have wished to dance with the owl also, since he was considered a good dancer. As the night progressed, they took a break and Sebastian was surprised when Rilena grabbed his hand to draw him back onto the floor.

  "What's wrong?" he asked feeling the tension in the young woman. They were close friends. He had known her for a little over a year and might have chosen to date her while at Falcon's Keep had he not still been in love with Yara at the time. Friendship suited them well, however, and since he had moved on to Ashleen after a time, Rilena still looked at him as a safe ear to bend.

  "Garosh always makes me... unsure of myself, I guess," the dark haired mage admitted tucking her head onto his shoulder. It was one of the slower dances again, one that would have been better to spend with Ashleen instead.

  He looked across the dance floor to see Ashleen sitting with Melura talking in the shadow of Gerid and most of his men. A few had dared to try dancing, but he had a feeling that most of them were unsure since they hadn't been raised in Southwall. Their dancing had looked quite different to Sebastian. He had seen other differences between his people and theirs as well, but that one was easy to make out.

  "Why is that?" the man asked knowing it was his job to help her work through whatever was bugging his friend.

  "I know that I should probably hate him for what happened last winter and he is probably too old to think that he would have feelings for me anyway, but sometimes I wonder," she confided before lifting her head off of his shoulder. "Then there's Elzen. I know that he still likes me, but I just can't see being with him that way."

  "What way? You kiss him and think that he's like your brother?"


  She shook her head with an amused smile and her eyes seemed to fog with the thought. "No, I have to admit that he was a good kisser."

  Making a face at the idea of his friends kissing, Sebastian ammended, "Forget that I said anything then."

  Her laughter was genuine as his joking shook her out of her brooding. Rilena's brown eyes met his looking happy again and she continued, "Fine, you can forget about it; but seriously Elzen is just too frustrating. He's a tease, but can be nice and tender too. He can be serious one minute and then turn around acting like everything is a joke.

  "How can a girl take him seriously as something more than a friend or little brother?"

  "Did you see him that way before you kissed him?"

  "I thought that you wanted to forget about that," she joked in his ear as Rilena placed her chin on his shoulder again. With the sound of music and the crowd around them, the woman could speak at a normal level without everyone listening to their conversation.

  "You knew him before you started to feel something for him, correct?" Sebastian said directing their conversation past that point.

  "You know that we met on the way to the fortress. We fought together and he helped save me more than once. It was almost like having you there, Bas. He can heal and knew most of your spells. Elzen can really fight too.

  "He's a bit young, but I saw him take charge of wizards and mages older than him a few times to help hold the line. Without some of Elzen's leading during that fight, we might have lost a lot more soldiers including mages and wizards."

  "Then he'll do something juvenile like throwing frogs into the women's bathhouse just to see how many will run out into the hall naked in their fright," Sebastian said thinking of at least one circumstance where the boy had gotten himself into trouble.

  "Exactly," Rilena answered with a nod. "Then there's Garosh. He's a bit older, and he was cruel when we were captured. I don't know that he was any worse than we would have been if we had caught spies on this side of the wall; but it was hard to get over seeing him as that cruel torturer. If you hadn't saved us so quickly, I could probably never look on him as anything but a monster.

  "He tortured Nereith and I just to try to get Druick to give up any secrets that he thought the wizard had. That would have lasted days, if you hadn't shown up. I still can't believe that you managed to get us out of that fortress."

  "I can't take all the credit. Druick's magic was able to make our escape. I only managed to distract them long enough to free you all to fight."

  "Anyway," Rilena continued ignoring the mage's modesty, "you can see my problem."

  "Sort of," was the reply, though he wasn't exactly certain. "Are you saying that you are more interested in him than Elzen or are you trying to figure out if you are interested in either of them? We battle mages tend to be a bit guarded about falling in love, if that's even close to what you are thinking. Maybe that's the problem?"

  Pulling back slightly, Rilena looked at him as if he was incompetent. "You can't really see it at all can you? Maybe I should have talked to Ashleen about this? You might be like a brother to me, but I suppose he wouldn't understand either.

  "I miss Teven and Zerra. They were better at talking about boys," she finished with a smile that said she couldn't fault him for trying.

  "Yeah, well I have enough trouble figuring out girls or women or whatever they decide to call themselves at any point during the day or night," he said ruefully.

  Rilena was in position to see Ashleen, who wasn't even looking over at the pair as they danced. The mage was pretty certain that the wilder wasn't threatened by her at all. She had heard from Sebastian about how hard the wizard had pressed to win him over. It hadn't even been because he wasn't interested as much as he had been conflicted.

  "Ashleen's a better choice for you, I think," she admitted. "She makes more sense than a healer. I think this one would fight by your side any time that you'd let her."

  "Well, Yara was strong enough for a healer. She was in quite a few fights as well, though usually to back me up. We did have a lot in common too, but maybe you're right. Ashleen was hard to resist from the moment I met her."

  A small laugh preceded her retort, "You're too loyal to just give up on someone. Though I doubt we would have been right for each other as more than friends, you didn't even try to see me or any of the other women at Falcon's Keep in a romantic way. Of course, that made it easier for me to like you. Sometimes it's just better to have a friend than a boyfriend.

  "Which leads us back to my problem, I guess."

  It was Sebastian's turn to laugh at her distress. "I would try to give you advice, but we already covered that I am useless. As much as I would like to solve this for you, I can only listen. Ultimately, it will always come down to what your heart says to you."

  "Yeah, you are useless, Bas," the woman replied with a bright, little laugh.

  Chapter 11- Sentries

  Standing in the cold air waiting for the others to join him, Sebastian waited with Ashleen, Serrena, Elzen and Rilena. They had received word from Garosh that he was through giving King Alain's committee as much information as he could remember about Ensolus and the emperor's castle. Much of it was redundant to the reports sent back from Captain Drayden, but once they had spoken of anything within the walls of the emperor's fortress they were covering new ground. It was information that could be given to the captain and his spies to perhaps use to find out more than they had before as well.

  While Garosh's men could elaborate on some of what their leader said, even they had little knowledge of the emperor's spire fortress. Only the giant had been close enough to the emperor to both visit and even live in the spire for a time. Even though Sebastian knew that seeing the man again confused Rilena, it had been invaluable to Southwall's hopes for possibly destroying the Dark One once and for all.

  Gerid and his entourage arrived first. They had received the message from Elzen, whom he had sent since the mage had a decent rapport with the immortal. Elzen hadn't looked put out to go when he could see Elien and Melura again, which Sebastian guessed was part of the reason he happily carried the message.

  Looking around at those gathered and waiting for him, Gerid shook his head saying to Sebastian, "I would have thought that boy would have beaten me here. We were packed and ready to go, but we were waiting for him after all."

  Rilena spoke in Garosh's defense. "He probably had to return to the inn and finish packing to follow you."

  "I suppose, but still it is surprising," Gerid replied stroking his silver beard. The afternoon light had turned gray once more after a bit of morning sunshine. Sebastian had a feeling that Hala was going to be struck by snow again, which made it all the more urgent to leave for lands much further south.

  The Red Hall wizards had been annoyed and argumentative about having to wait for him; but he threw the Grimnal's name at them. Trying to insist they were more important than Gerid would have required more arrogance than even Gefflen and his wizards could assume.

  A strange sight soon came to their eyes. Into view Garosh and half of his accompanying warlocks came hurrying towards them, but under one of the giant's arms he carried a squirming little red haired girl.

  "Why are you carrying Evie like that?" he was forced to ask what everyone was thinking.

  Refusing to put the girl down even after they had arrived, Garosh smirked and said, "I told her that if she wasn't ready in five minutes, I was going to drag her here whether she was ready or not. The changeling can swim in one of my shirts, if she can't finish packing when she knows that we need to leave."

  Evie kicked him in the leg and complained, "You're the one that keeps telling me I need to dress like a lady, Garosh! Now put me down!"

  The girl forgot all about pleasantries and the title that his followers threw out nearly every time they addressed the giant. She was that upset.

  When he put her down, Sebastian realized that Evie wasn't wearing shoes or boots. He wanted to shiver at the sight of her bar
e feet on the cold stone. She was a warlock and changeling, however, and didn't appear to even notice the cold as the girl moved quickly towards Sebastian.

  Looking apologetic, Evie said, "I'm sorry, Sebastian, I wanted to make sure that I hadn't forgotten any of the gifts you gave me."

  Garosh reached back taking a poorly packed bag from one of his warlocks, who looked ready to be free of the extra pack. "You checked the room three times, girl. If something is missing, I am sure Madame Hilda will give it to Sebastian later to send to you."

  Looking at the mage, he added, "When she followed Darius and Rilena, I know they hoped to civilize the child; but now she acts like clothing is the only thing she worries about. She wasn't like this in the fortress."

  Frowning back at the giant, Evie reminded him, "No one cares under the mountain. The packs roaming outside are in wolf and cat form all the time. Clothes aren't very important there, but they made sure I understood how to dress properly here. Besides, they were gifts!"

  The last was said in such a way that reminded Sebastian that Evie was basically an orphan looking for family and approval. Garosh was like her father, while he and his friends were the girl's older siblings. She wanted to receive their praise for fear that letting them down would make them want her less, or so he believed.

  "If something is missing, I am sure we will find it by the time you return, Evie," Sebastian assured the girl. No one knew how long Garosh would spend on the island with Gerid and his family. A week or so was likely, but during that time Sebastian had to be in Red Hall. He would make sure to have Mrs. Alamore and her family keep an eye out. The room would remain ready for Rilena and Serrena anyway, since the girl had stayed with her friends last night.