Frowning at the man who was sitting finally, Rilenier informed him, "We are healers. I doubt that you are so amazingly complex. We have dealt with wizards overloaded with magic and those out of balance. I hardly think that you... Wait, did you say that you have runes on your body?"
"I can create and copy runes for different uses. My magic copies the ink and places them on the skin. Since they are foreign, I can affect them even on my body; but I have a pair that I think may be causing this.
"They are top secret at this point though; so if you want to know more, we will need to find a quiet room away from prying ears," Sebastian told the healer leaving no room to continue the conversation further.
Once more in a hospital room, the mage was more alert than when he had been brought the last time. The Hollow Sword had exploded nearly killing him that time. Ashleen had been able to do enough to keep him alive to carry the mage to the hospital, but he had been unconscious at the time.
Rilenier placed her hand on his wrist calling on a spell to look inside of the man sitting on a work table in front of her. He spoke to her as her mind left to enter him. "I found that I can use another healer to look at myself by joining our spells together. Ashleen should be here soon. Somehow I think joining our magic might be a little awkward."
Her voice sounded distant as the wizard replied, "I've been in a healing loop. I agree that I don't think that I would like to share one with someone that I barely know and those are preferably used by lovers.
"You have experienced the 'healer's loop' before?" she asked with little emotion in her voice.
If the knowledge that a battle mage could use a technique seldom shared with wizards outside of their guild was a surprise, the fact that he had used the loop quite a few times was likely best undersold to the woman. The owl replied, "I have with Yara my former healer."
She didn't respond for a time and it wasn't until her eyes blinked seeing the room around her that Rilenier looked at the man closer. "There are two marks holding a lot of power. Your other runes seem to be using much of the extra magic freely flowing in your body because of the leakage.
"The woman that you brought in has similar marks, I think; but the magic is releasing slowly into her blood stream. What they are doing to each of your bodies is completely different, yet they feel the same. What are they?"
"Magic wells that hold excess power for when I need it. I have found times that I need more strength than I have naturally. They can hold the power I need to do harder magic like portals."
"But the other woman isn't a mage?" Rilenier prompted trying to figure out what he had hoped to achieve with each use of the runes.
"Her heart wouldn't keep beating even though she should have been healed enough to live through her surgery. By adding the two wells, I placed magic inside her to flow through her heart and bloodstream. They made her heart pump until she could recover and do it on her own."
"You left them in her though she is fine now?"
Sebastian shrugged and replied, "I wasn't sure if the magic is making her well or keeping her alive. I figured to check her when we got back or turn her over to your guild; but I accidentally drew power from the ground in the attempt to charge her runes. It seems to have overcharged my wells in the process."
Calling it an accident was a lie and that he had used a staff to achieve the draw safely couldn't be said. Darius had warned him to keep the knowledge of drawing power from the earth a secret, and he would even if it killed him.
Her eyes widened in shock and she revealed why quickly as the woman said, "You drew power from the ground and didn't die? I haven't heard of anyone who risked it living through such a thing."
Sebastian knew that Darius had learned the trick about eight hundred years ago. It had even been a known process then, until it began killing wizards who abused the ability to draw power they were never meant to have. They had theorized that it might affect him less since those who died quickest from turning to old men used damaging magic to kill. He could heal and supply balance to the equation, but no one had ever tried to keep balance that way, so the owl was supposed to stop using the technique to be safe.
Every time that Sebastian believed that he could stop using the earth's power, need made him do it again; though the mage did try to use it sparingly. He would be the test subject whether Darius wanted him to or not, but the power wells were a new trial also. They had charged up with the magic, but Rilenier seemed to think his other runes had as well this time.
"The wells were emptied during my healing of Jana. Could they have drawn off the power of the earth and sent it into my other runes also? You said that not just the power wells were overloaded."
"I am not sure what I am seeing. They brought the runes to us and tried to teach other healers how to make or at least copy them to transfer these marks to regular soldiers and mages. I haven't had the time or desire to test for the ability," the wizard said with a frown for the man in front of her. It was a look that told him she felt like he had pushed the need onto her after all."
Sighing at the woman in turn, the mage suggested, "Wizard Helmar and his apprentices had me teach them more than anyone else. Maybe they can be brought in to advise you?"
"Don't tell me my job, mage," Rilenier replied wanting to sound annoyed, but resignation that she was likely out of her league thanks to a battle mage was already settling on her mind.
For a time he kept his thoughts to himself as the healer tried to adjust the power in his system. If he could have seen how they had reacted to his use of power, maybe Sebastian could fix the problem by himself; but that required the healers' loop and trust in the other person. It was too intimate to want to share with a stranger. Neither of them wished to join together and they could only hope that Ashleen arrived soon, or Darius came with a different answer.
She left the mage to check in on Jana. It was a similar issue since it was his magic and mostly unknown to the healer; but at least it should be more straightforward since Sebastian had told her the details of what he had done.
Curious if he could draw off the magic in the wells, Sebastian didn't wait for the healers or others to arrive. Copying the wells, the owl added two more sets. The new ones were connected like reservoirs by pipes first and then the mage tried what he hoped would help regulate the magic seeping out of the original pair of runes. Forming two lines from the first to the second, which could lead to the third; Sebastian felt a changing of the tide in his body immediately.
The excess power was so great that he was pretty sure that the second set filled completely with the excess power before finally settling into the third well pairing without overloading them. His head and body felt more or less normal after a minute. The energy affecting the rest of his body now had room to grow. He could access the extra magic in the same way, but there was simply more room for all the energy.
Sighing, the mage breathed easier by the time Darius arrived.
"I was told that there was an emergency and that you needed my help," the immortal wizard stated looking a bit suspicious. "You look fine, though I can use my magic to look deeper."
"I think that I figured it out," Sebastian said with a wan smile. "I made a new rune and then I mixed it with something I shouldn't have."
Frowning at the mage, he stated more than asked, "You tapped into the earth again, didn't you?"
A spell was formed by the wizard and he touched the younger man's arm to check what he had done with his magic. Sebastian answered the rhetorical question as the high wizard tapped into his system, "I did, but it was to save someone's life with a healing spell. It overcharged my new runes by accident, but I think that I have figured out how to compensate for it by adding reservoirs for those also."
Nodding as he answered, Darius spoke sounding a little distracted; but it wasn't the way a healer did while healing. The immortal wasn't a natural healer, but his magic could scan a body in different ways. His knowledge still encompassed that line of spells also as a teacher of all ki
nds of wizards. His school was less rigid in making classifications, unlike Southwall's guild system.
"I see the new runes. This is one that you came up by yourself?"
"It was a way to build a reservoir of magic for when I needed it, so I wouldn't have to tap the earth. I've tried to cut it out entirely, but if I don't have a wizard to lend me their strength..."
"You decide that you need to push it. Hopefully since you rarely use the extra power for destruction, we won't see the repercussions that afflicted the wizards of my youth," Darius stated letting go of his wrist. "Your system looks nearly normal, but I think..." The man paused in thought and Sebastian could see that his magic still affected his eyes. "I think that these runes are not only acting as reservoirs but building your power over all. You have an aura roughly that of a wizard right now. Perhaps it is the residual magic that was overflowing your runes as you said, but if it is permanent..."
"As long as they aren't harmful to a mage, or even a wizard, we could expand them to the others making mages as powerful as wizards. Wizards would have more power as well, but it might help those like me use more prolonged or difficult spells like full wizards do," Sebastian nodded following the high wizard's logic.
Wizard Rilenier appeared with an older healer in tow. He was familiar to Sebastian as well having been to the hospital recently, but more importantly this was the head of the healer's guild in Hala, Wizard Hegrone. The woman stopped short in surprise at both Darius' appearance and the fact that Sebastian looked physically much better.
"High wizard, we are grateful for your continued help with this one in particular," Hegrone stated coming closer to shake the immortal's hand. He was older than Rilenier. Though his hair held some of the brown that would have matched hers, gray peppered a hair line that had thinned a bit with five decades of life.
Darius took the accolades, but clarified, "I am glad to help, but Sebastian succeeded in fixing the problem by himself this time. His runes might have more possibilities than we knew, but we both feel that the current marks need to be fully tested before passing them on to others."
Looking from the immortal to Sebastian, Hegrone asked, "What has he done now?"
While the head wizard's voice sounded curious by his amused tone, Rilenier's look said that she was less amused and the woman moved towards the mage casting her spell as she walked towards him. Taking his wrist, the grip tightened with her surprise.
"How...?" she began in confusion. "I only left you a few minutes ago to check the girl that you used nontraditional methods on and now you seem just fine."
Hegrone used his magic to scan the man from beside Darius and noted, "He is a battle mage, isn't he? I haven't mistaken that fact, have I?"
Rilenier continued to use her magic to search for the rapid change to his health and said slowly, "There are new power centers. More runes like the two that were leaking magic to the rest of your body?"
"I duplicated them and created paths for the first to slough off their energy to the others. Basically there are three sets of reservoirs to offset what had been just one," Sebastian informed the healer.
"You should have waited for another wizard to... I mean you should have waited for a wizard to assist you. You didn't know what was going on in your body or what would have happened to you if you tried that."
Shrugging, the owl hopped off of the table and replied, "I had an idea of what was happening and adding more runes to hold the energy wasn't likely to hurt anything. They hold energy to a point. I just needed to expand that point to take care of the excess energy leaking into the other runes that were fouling up my pathways."
Rilenier looked ready to scream at him as she turned red with aggravation at the mage.
Stepping in Hegrone gripped his wrist and said, "You have developed a new rune, or set of runes I suppose I should say?"
"I came up with it myself, so I would say that it is in its testing phase yet," Sebastian acknowledged as the healer used his magic to look for the new aberration added to the mage's body. "They siphon excess magic when I don't need it into the reservoirs, so I can access it when I need more power than I would otherwise hold in my body."
"Ingenious," Hegrone replied, though Rilenier still looked upset. She was cooling off as the ability of his newest piece of magic started to sink into her mind. "With these runes, could any wizard or mage do the same thing?"
The question was asked before the woman could put it into words for herself.
Sebastian nodded, but added, "Yes, in theory, but I want to make sure that there are no other issues to worry over with them. I already found one problem as I tested it in the field. With time, we might be able to use runes to make mages capable of greater spells and wizards would have more power to do more with extra pools of magic."
"Have you showed these to Helmar and the special detail that followed you around recently?"
"Not yet, but I also think that I need to test them out a little while longer. I don't want to give a rune to someone and have it harm or even kill them because it might be flawed," the owl warned the man.
"That is wise thinking," Darius followed up giving more credence to his concerns.
The two healers looked like they wished he would release his hold on caution to use the runes to aid them, but instead Rilenier changed the subject to another of his uses of magic. "High wizard, would you check on his other piece of healing? He used those runes on a normal woman to keep her heart beating. If his use of these runes is unproven, an extra set of eyes to check his use on the girl might be helpful."
The small group walked out of the room followed by Sebastian to find Jana. He hoped that his use of the runes could help others in the future. One way was to make their mages more powerful, while the other might keep soldiers alive when they would have otherwise died.
He didn't want to let it go to his head though. There was no proof that what he did wouldn't have consequences in the future, but Jana was alive and his magic seemed stronger than ever.
Chapter 30- Game Plan
Palose walked up the stairs following one of Kolban's men. He had been summoned again. The dark mage was getting tired of all the unscheduled meetings, but it was the emperor and he had best keep on Kolban's good side.
Finding the boy alone with a book in hand was a surprise. With the war for Litsarin and the recent attack within the dungeon of his fortress to deal with, Palose would have thought that the youthful looking emperor would be working with his generals and local leaders to find ways of protecting his interests.
"Hello, Palose," the boy said putting down his book to stand.
"Your majesty," he bowed his head slightly. As a mage, he was unused to official bowing, but Kolban had never demanded that he improve. It was completely the opposite in fact, since the boy had asked him to just use his first name when they were alone and to drop the honorifics nearly every time.
Waving off the title as usual, Kolban moved to a table with glasses and liquids in a variety of decanters. "Do you prefer prapple juice or wine? Narissa said that I should think of dabbling in the latter. She believes my body is old enough that no harm will come of it."
The fact that the emperor was now quoting Narissa made Palose ponder how much of a hold the woman now had on him. It had been two weeks and the seer had remained in the castle with the boy most of that time. He was sure that she wasn't at his side at all times, but the seer seemed to be surprisingly close to him in such a short time.
"The juice is fine by me," the dark mage replied. "I find my mind controls my magic and other abilities better without worrying over dulling my wits with alcohol."
Kolban shook his head slightly at the older looking man and said, "You can live as you like, but it isn't hard to drink to moderation. Even this body can drink two or three glasses without much change. You are older and larger. I would assume that if you limited yourself to a glass or two, then you would have no problems."
Taking a glass of prapple juice handed to him by the emperor,
he spoke as the boy poured a glass of red wine, "Was I called here to consult on wines, Kolban?"
With a short laugh for his sarcastic joke, the boy replied, "No, I am following up on other things, though I appreciate your concern.
"Have you looked into what I asked you to do before you went looking for a seer?"
Glancing around for Acheri to burst into the room, Palose nodded. His answer was less convincing as he replied, "I can obviously use a portal to several places for her, but in the end she will still be the princess. Even though I have increased to a wizard's power; if she doesn't want to leave you, her power will be too great for me to force her."
"I will take care of that as well," Kolban replied with a nod. "Do you need additional funds to make sure that she is safe and comfortable?"
He shrugged. His first thought was to ask for more; but as long Acheri was willing to exist on what he had stowed away elsewhere, it would be fine. Gold had been transferred from the account once used by Atrouseon to his long ago. Much of that money had been placed in banks where he had portals and where he planned to purchase safe houses. Slipping into Southwall where he had most of his gates should be as safe as any place. No one would think to look for a princess in the country that was supposedly at war with her family.
Few knew of the princess anyway. Within Ensolus, the population had been introduced to them as family adopted by the emperor. Where they had come from was restricted to a much smaller number, but their names were powerful enough among the population to get the respect of the prince and princess that they were. They would also be potential pawns if Kolban were to die.
"You haven't given me anything for her, but I have money set aside to live fairly well. If you want her pampered, then more would be helpful," the mage stated hoping that he didn't sound greedy while still wanting to take what he could. Acheri might be more trouble without the extra comforts gold could buy anyway.
"I will have funds transferred to your account before the end of the day. If you are thinking of using multiple safe points, then it would make sense to have more to spread," Kolban answered without any worry. Palose, meanwhile, wondered how much the emperor would choose to give him for his sister. "If we suddenly find Ensolus under attack, I expect you to use your portal to enter the castle and get her out to safety immediately. Your children can be taken care of second."
Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12) Page 43
