Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12)

by Donald Wigboldy

  "Up north where it is much colder, the snow will stick to the ground building higher and can stay there for days, weeks, and it feels like sometimes even months. It is a little too warm on the island to do that, but it would also take more than one wizard to alter the air that much for long."

  Sherari looked at the young woman with a bit more respect. She had seen what the wizards could do fighting the warlocks, but combat magic was different. Explosions and fire could be made in different ways, but creating snow was something unique that the woman had never seen.

  "It is a wonder what you can do by yourself even so, young lady. I can't imagine this snow building up like you are trying to say, but I am not going to try and make you push yourself that hard," she finished with a light laugh. "I can tell from my granddaughters' faces that it is true. Such cold must be hard to endure. Maybe when I was a girl like Elien and Melura I could deal with it, but I think that I have gotten too old to dare to try now."

  Ashleen laughed and shook her head, "We have men and women older than you there I am sure, but no matter what age you are; when it gets too cold we call it bitter for a reason. No matter how many winters we go through, there are just days where we huddle in front of our fires and hide inside our homes."

  Elien and Melura nodded looking a bit unhappy at the idea of returning to Hala anytime soon. Summer and fall hadn't been too bad, but the girls along with the guards who had followed them were all pretty sick of the cold of winter. For Gerid, it seemed like nothing; but their grandfather had been born to it and lived multiple lifetimes through one cold winter after another.

  With the show of magic over, the crowd began to head towards the house once more. Those with musical talents would be ready to sing and play the instruments that were like those in Southwall. The people who had first come with the Grimnal were those who had either brought them or created new ones later, so they were similar to the guitars and flutes one would see at the Black Smith inn.

  Sherari pulled Gerid closer holding onto his arm and slowing the man's feet as if she were just trying to spend a little more time with her husband. Sebastian walked with Ashleen and noted the woman's eyes going to Garosh as he walked next to Rilena. The giant leaned to speak with the battle mage smiling at the woman in a way that Sebastian recognized and realized that he could be in love with her. Similarly, Rilena looked at Garosh, but seemed a bit frightened that she could like him as well.

  His eyes and ears returned to Sherari as the woman's smiles slipped from her lips. He heard her ask, "Who is this man? I don't think that he is just some friend you invited out of the cold."

  "It is a long story," Gerid said gently.

  "I can walk slow enough for at least part of it," the older woman stated indeed slowing her feet even more. "There is something too familiar about him. The idea that there could be another man as big as you, with that silver hair despite his apparent youth; would begin to become a stretch in my mind. His eyes might be different from yours, but his features look like close kin to yours, my husband. Even his smell, reminds me of you."

  Chuckling at the comments, Gerid said, "If you are asking if I cheated on you in Hala, I could hardly have a son that old after just a few months away. Besides, we had a son and you've seen my other ones from their other mothers here. I would have almost had to have split him off of myself to make one like him, wouldn't I?" he protested still trying to use humor to put her off.

  "You may be more than a thousand years old, Gerid, but you have never been a good liar," the woman stated with a frown. "How is he related to you? Did one of your descendants finally have a child that recreated this many attributes that I see in you?"

  "If you're asking if he is an immortal, I don't know. I doubt that he knows. He is still young and I am not sure that he has experienced death in that way," the immortal stated becoming very grim in his assessment. His frown mirrored his wife's.

  "You do know more though," Sherari declared without any doubt. She had known Gerid all of her life. Even with more than a thousand years of life, more than six decades gave her insight that few others could have into his mind.

  "He was an experiment of the Dark One," Gerid replied not holding back. "He broke away from him and was nearly killed, but I don't think that he was brought back from beyond death. I know that I find myself both not wanting to trust or like him, yet I also see good in him. He is actually a good man, I think."

  "The way that girl looks at him," Sherari said noting Rilena speaking with Garosh. The mage's smile was genuine and Sebastian had seen her laugh at the man's jokes, even when they probably weren't that funny. She was behaving like many girls that he had known in school, which was very unusual for the level headed falcon. "That look can only be for someone with some worth to him. So he was made from you? That was what the warlocks who came and took blood and flesh from you were doing?"

  The emperor's men had come only a few times, but each time they had taken samples from him. Gerid had always assumed that they were looking to figure out how to become immortal like him. He had no idea what set apart the few individuals he had known that were born with white or silver hair and couldn't die easily, if at all.

  Darius had told him a story of another immortal that the wizard had been forced to hunt down and destroy. He hadn't told him how. Perhaps Darius feared that Gerid would use the knowledge against him some day. He didn't really know, but if the Dark One had been dying it made sense.

  "Apparently so," he answered. "The Dark One isn't immortal. He cheated death according to the elves, but apparently it was coming for him. The way around it was to look for a vessel that he could use his magic to channel himself into to become a new man with the same mind and magic.

  "Garosh said that he wasn't the first experiment. Creating the Cataclysm as those from Southwall call it, apparently took more out of him than he expected; so his warlocks had been looking for this vessel almost from the time they left the void."

  Sherari understood some of what he said, but there were things that a woman from a small island couldn't comprehend. She nodded following as best she could and waited on her husband, since the woman could tell that there was something else.

  "Garosh was close to being a fit, but he lacked the ability to hold all of the emperor's magic. He told me that they eventually made more than one body that would work. The Dark One has his new body and has found a way to become immortal because of it."

  "So now you and these others work to figure out how to destroy him again. Do they need you like Sebastian told us when he came for you?" the woman asked looking at the mage walking close enough to hear. She had known that he and Ashleen were listening from the start, but had asked her questions anyway.

  The question made him grunt a dismissive laugh. Looking over at Sebastian as well, he aimed a thumb at the mage and said, "I don't know that they need me as much as they thought. It is good for their people... our people to know that I am alive because it shows the Dark One couldn't finish me off. We might have failed in destroying him seven hundred years ago, but it shows weakness for him too.

  "I didn't fight him to the death, but with people like this one I have a feeling we might finally be rid of him soon enough."

  Sebastian cringed inside, but answered seeing that he was already drawn into their conversation, "Gerid might be more of a symbol at the moment, but it is also hope. Southwall and our allies can rally behind him now."

  Sherari gave him a flat look and asked, "Does my husband need to fight again? His life before the island had too many battles. Then you brought the fighting here. When does it end?"

  "I've found a way into the emperor's city," the mage admitted something few outside of the upper echelon of Southwall knew. "We are working on finding a way inside of his castle. Then we can bring the fight to him and kill him once and for all."

  Again the gray haired woman looked at the mage and revealed that Gerid had told her more than even Sebastian knew of his confrontation with the Dark One long ago. "They tho
ught that they had rid the world of him once before. Why do you think that you will do better? Gerid said that they couldn't kill him with normal weapons or magic. He was too powerful."

  Unwilling to give in so easily, Sebastian could only think to tell her, "Garosh says that he isn't what he once was. The Dark One living in the elves world had insinuated himself into the men and women around him. He was bound to his monsters and even to the very soil of the land he ruled. When they fought him then, they were fighting the world around them as well.

  "When he broke free of the void, the Dark One brought most of his people; but Garosh is pretty sure that he hasn't tied himself to the others the same way since changing bodies. He hides in his castle unable to reveal himself as a boy. If he had the same power and control he once had, then he wouldn't have to hide the way he is now.

  "If ever there was a time to kill him, this is the time," he stated suddenly certain of their purpose once more. It had never been said aloud, but they knew that his power had been split between three vessels. That alone said the emperor wasn't as strong as he had once been.

  Sherari gauged the young man before her and said, "Now I remember why Gerid decided to go with you before."

  Chuckling at his wife, Gerid added, "Sebastian has a way of making you believe in him, doesn't he?"

  Ashleen seconded that saying, "I know I do."

  The older woman shook her head slowly with a sly smile and countered, "A woman in love can hardly think differently."

  Blushing at the woman, a rare thing to see happen to Ashleen; the wilder merely nodded.

  Sebastian used his magic to bring some of his people back to the inn later in the evening. It was dark much earlier on the island than to the west in Hala, but it had been a long day so they retired to bed early as well.

  In the morning before the sun lifted above the horizon in Hala, Sebastian was joined by the remnants of his team and used a portal in the courtyard behind the inn instead of walking all the way to the fire wizard guild's portal. Elzen had an insulated box with a lid that he carried. With a grin, the mage refused to tell them what was inside.

  They joined Gerid and his family on the island for breakfast where Elzen opened his container to reveal it filled with snow. They threw snowballs in the warm morning air until it was gone or melted before they used a quick portal to the north end of the island. It saved time having a gate there and they were able to begin looking for the stones left by Palose and the mystery girl that even Garosh didn't know. They had hardly traveled in the same circles after all, even if the giant knew that Kolban seemed to have connected closely with the resurrection man.

  Ulia had joined them with her brother and the other resurrected rune warrior, Nolan. Garosh had removed the runes which bound the last young man to Palose, at least in regards to the controlling part of the runes. They were all bound until second death most likely and killing them again wasn't something any of them wished to visit on the unfortunate victims of the dark mage.

  The youngest of the warriors, Ulia had come to Sebastian a couple times the previous evening asking questions about magic. Now the girl appeared interested in mastering the magic they had found inside of her. The mage was surprised as he thought back to the first time he had met the girl that he hadn't noticed the magic within her. She was about the age a wizard would get their ability, but somehow he hadn't noticed the traces in his need to show off that he could influence the runes.

  "Could you show me how you use your magic to change the runes?" she asked as they looked for the magically charged stones.

  Even knowing that they must be there, finding something as common as stones charged by an unknown wizard would be difficult. Sebastian didn't have a strong knowledge of the girl Palose had used, so he was having trouble finding them now. It had been several months since the mage had seeded the new gate, and the owl mage wondered if time had worn away the feel of them that much over time. They shouldn't lose strength like stones being weathered away over centuries, but they weren't showing themselves as easily as he had hoped.

  "You don't even know your magic yet," he said with half his attention on looking for the stones. "It will take time to teach you. Maybe after I come back to bring Gerid and the others back to Hala, I can try to show you? Unfortunately I am already late for my next trip."

  The petite blond that didn't look fierce enough to be called a warrior frowned in disappointment. Before she could complain a dog barked from a little further south. As they turned to look, the dog shifted form from a reddish brown hound to a red haired girl even smaller than Ulia.

  Evie laughed and called out, "I forgot that I was a dog still. I think that I found one of the stones Bas!"

  Hurrying over, Sebastian sensed the familiar magic once more. It was faint and even seemed somehow sealed against being found. How that worked for Palose, the mage wasn't sure but he was pretty sure that he couldn't make a gate to find them easily either. That didn't bode well for finding the stones he believed might be in some of the cities of Southwall.

  If they couldn't rid his nation of Palose's threat and that of the spies the Dark One continued to sneak into their cities, the only other way would to be to find the source of the portals and end it there. Of course finding Palose and either killing him or somehow cutting off his magic was likely to be even harder.

  Once the first stone was found, it wasn't hard to find the second nearby. Garosh used his magic to make the remnants of the rectangular doorway visible before doing his best to show the battle mage and the other wizards with him what he was doing. It was unlike the spells Sebastian had seen Darius or his grandson Darterian use in the past, but that wasn't surprising as Garosh was using magic derived from the emperor and his warlocks.

  Darius had done his best to reconstruct the magic used for the enemy portals. He also used ancient spells to close not only the emperor's gates but the distortions like them which had been plaguing their world long before even the Dark One had shown himself on Alus.

  Unsure that he could recreate the magic in the same way, Sebastian would need time to play with the magic he had been shown. The owl might be able to figure it out, but he had a feeling this was a spell that he would have to see more than once.

  The basics of the spell he understood, but creating a block that would stop someone from using this side of the gateway was too subtle to comprehend with just one try. Garosh promised that he would be willing to show him again or join him trying to find the other gates. It was a worry for another time, however, Sebastian thought to himself. If they weren't so far to the east, he wouldn't have been able to make time for the portal stone hunt and still be able to arrive in Red Hall at a decent time of the morning.

  "I'm going to remain behind, if you don't mind," Rilena said as the members of Southwall readied to leave once more. The mage had carried a pack with her, but like Elzen she hadn't explained why right away. "If you're coming back in less than a week, no one will miss me. Well, not much anyway and I could really use a break from all the craziness of this year," she added making excuses that led Sebastian to believe that she was feeling guilty.

  Shrugging, Sebastian agreed and added, "We could all use a vacation on a beautiful island like this. As long as Sherari and Gerid don't mind an extra visitor, we can manage in Red Hall this time."

  Rilena and Elzen were little more than extra hands while making the gates. She could have been of some help in the teaching part of the trip, but the falcon wasn't as strong in as many of his new spells as Elzen, Ashleen or Serrena were. More importantly, Sebastian could tell that his friend just wanted to have a little more time to spend with Garosh to sort out her feelings for him as well.

  Noticing Elzen's look of disappointment mixed with jealousy aimed at Garosh, Sebastian knew that his other friend still hadn't gotten over his brief tryst with the pretty mage.

  Evie and Ulia appeared willing to come in her place, but the mage knew that would just wind up being him having to babysit the younger girls. Neither
knew any of his magic, and of course Ulia couldn't say she knew any at all. When the new portal opened, it was just four members strong that were going to use it.

  Chapter 14- Red Hall

  Stepping into the unfamiliar courtyard, Sebastian and the others noted the buildings of reddish stone and realized quickly that the school, like White Hall, had a presence that echoed the name. The colors weren't just a casual designation, but could be easily seen in the local stone used to make the school.

  It left him wondering what Green Hall would look like on the west coast.

  "There you are!" a man's voice greeted managing to sound like he was both happy to see them and annoyed that they were late. The latter wasn't really true, but Gefflen hadn't liked having to wait for the mage to take the Grimnal home. Luckily, no wizard had the pull of a thousand plus year old immortal king.

  The mage took a moment to look at his surroundings and gauged that Red Hall wasn't prepared for his arrival despite his request to prepare the defenses that would make the new gate useful to the school.

  "You had an extra day, but this doesn't look like a spot ready for me to make my gate," he said trying not to sound too accusatory. The wizard's attitude continued to grate at him, but Gefflen wasn't the worst he had ever dealt with either.

  "Hmmph," the older man replied and waved off the complaint. "We placed them here temporarily. Since you were going to create a secure gate, I had a former meeting hall converted instead. This is just an outdoor space. If an enemy did use the portal against us, we figured that it was safer for them to have to start outside.

  "There are wards and traps around you. Some are currently disabled to allow us to move freely, if you plan to work on the gate first; then gather the stones and I will take you to the new gate room."

  The news surprised him. Every other protected gate had been made outside where tall walls and towers could trap an enemy letting the defenders rain down spells or arrows. Most rooms had walls too thin to stop something like an armored vile. If he were the Dark One, he would send his shock troops through first to try to break through the walls.