It was time to see if his plan would work.
Palose drew his wraiths back to protect him. The soldiers couldn't reach the enemy thanks to the strange magic of the dragon girl. He had never felt anything like it and would have praised his enemy's hiding it from them; if he wasn't so frustrated.
The dark mage had put much of his power into raising the dead soldiers, but they were useless in a battle like this. Wizards and dragons used their magic to destroy any soldiers that he created. The power used wasn't paying off and only the magic of his wraith warlocks remained useful but they were running low as well.
When Sebastian retreated, he wasn't sure that he should remain any longer. The emperor fought on, but his forces were crumbling around him without his notice. Could Kolban be so strong that it didn't truly matter?
Palose doubted that even the Dark One's magic was enough to defeat an enemy continually refreshing their numbers to fight him. They would have won, but the portal in the far hall gave his enemies a chance. Without the stolen knowledge, Ensolus would have remained an impregnable fortress; but then Sebastian came to change everything.
Furious that he couldn't kill his enemy, the dark mage noticed a shift in the enemy's tactics. Magnus remained and seemed to be up to something. His eyes played tricks on him as the blonde haired girl with the gargoyles suddenly turned into a small dragon. It was almost funny. The creature was too small to be frightening, but then the pretty blue of her skin began to darken and turn black.
Fear found its way into his chest. His wraiths were immune, but the dark mage felt magical power building from the dragon, the wizards in the middle behind Magnus and a silver haired man.
A combined spell of magic resembled the strength of the Dark One's blasts. They had been crude weapons; but in a show of power, they served to frighten his enemies. Now the firepower of five combined wizards launched at the emperor. His remaining warlocks threw out their wards trying to protect their master. Darius' spell felt almost as strong before lancing in from the side forcing Kolban to deal with that spell even as Magnus' magic augmented by the Hollow Sword pushed past the warlocks' defenses.
Fear intensified as a black dragon with giant, furled wings drew back to breathe fire.
Palose cast his gate immediately pushing his wraiths through it even as he hid behind the magical door.
Yellow fire turned blue as the dragon's breath continued to heat the room. The emperor's defenses were all that remained. Warlocks collapsed under the weight of all the enemy spells and the dragon fire. The magic faded, but the fire continued to force the Dark One to hold his shields.
As Palose watched, he could feel what the old wizard had tried to do. Within the shroud of shadows, cracks began. Fire from within began to burn inside the dark cloud. The dragon continued to breathe fire and the wizards who had been defending threw their magic into the attack as well. So much magic from so many sources and the fire of the dragon continued for so long.
When it could breathe out no more, the black dragon was forced to stop and take a breath. Its eyes locked to the black cloud, Cheleya waited for the emperor to fight back. The wizards stopped waiting to see if they had done enough, but kept enough magic to defend themselves against the monster known as the Dark One.
Palose could feel it. Darius smiled grimly as the Grimnal walked towards the wizard. Both immortals knew that the job was done.
Light speared through the shadows and fire began to consume the boy's body inside that cloud. He refused to release the spell concealing him, but Palose could feel the pain. The emperor was dying. The body that had taken centuries to make perfect, wasn't perfect after all.
Magic consumed the emperor turning him into a pillar of fire. The shadows finally peeled away leaving a figure collapsed onto its knees screaming in pain. The booming voice was gone as a young man's magic consumed him, but it wasn't just a boy. An ancient being could no longer hide or fight as the emperor stopped screaming in death.
The fire began to break up as the body began to turn to magic. There was a last dying flash as the magic turned blue and winked out of existence. Only dust remained to be seen on the stairs. Other burned bodies of his warlocks and guards lay near the small pile of dust, but nothing more remained of the emperor.
Palose looked over at the immortals with their silver hair. Darius gazed across at him. The dark mage and his gate were the only things remaining besides the forces arrayed against the emperor now. His eyes held pity, but Palose simply sighed and stepped through the light to disappear from sight.
Sebastian watched as the emperor fell to the combined powers aligned against him. Darius had tried to destroy the Dark One once before with his magic and the tools of other races from the emperor's old world; but ultimately had failed by sending him to the void. A prison, but not a death sentence, he had turned his sights on destroying their world. He had become a weaker creature as even the Dark One couldn't defeat age and death.
Leaning on Bairh'loore to help keep him up, the owl suddenly felt tired.
Darius turned to see the mage and smiled wearily. "He's gone... finally. We finally beat him."
Placing his black club against his shoulder, Gerid asked, "So do we tear this city down now?"
Sebastian was the first to answer, "Not everyone in Ensolus is evil or intent on destroying Southwall. We can send envoys and troops to discuss surrender. Maybe we can finally make peace with them now that he is gone."
Looking at the mage, Magnus reminded him, "They're still fighting over Litsarin. Are we supposed to just send them a letter telling them the emperor is dead?"
Darius listened to the silence around them and said, "I think that they might already know."
The silence sat over them for awhile and Sebastian decided, "Let's use the gate to Hala while I can still hold it. We need to find the other teams out in the city as well and send them home."
Magnus asked, "Do you think there are any others out there?"
Sebastian could sense a few auras that he knew well and nodded. "Yes, there are survivors for now. We need to get them all home. I don't know if the locals will want our heads for killing the emperor or will want to reward us, but they no longer have to live in his shadow."
There was little more to say and the weary wizards and mages retreated through the glowing doorway until only Darius, Ashleen and Sebastian remained.
Darius looked at his face and, in particular, his eyes.
"All that use of the earth and you still look fine. We'll have to keep a close eye on you to make sure that you haven't hurt yourself using all that extra power," the high wizard said feeling hopeful. Some of the aging affects could come later though, he knew.
"I feel fine, though I'm a bit tired."
His hold on the earth's energy had faded to a trickle, though it was still there. Sebastian was pretty sure that he no longer needed it and didn't have to fear falling over either. The food was already inside of him nourishing the mage.
Darius nodded and asked, "Do you want me to do it?"
The wizard meant the gates to find the others from Southwall and their allies out in the city.
"I'll take the north and east," Sebastian said. "You take the west. I don't have anyone I know as well there, but they're to the north of my gate in the fields."
Nodding Darius called up another doorway and stepped through it.
"Shouldn't he have taken some guards?" Ashleen asked with a bit of worry.
"The shadow cast by the emperor is gone. His magic could be felt everywhere. I think the fighting's stopped."
Closing the gate to Hala, Sebastian opened a new one near Elzen. "Come on. Let's bring our friends home."
The owl returned to Hala. Elzen had accompanied them to find Rilena and Serrena. The party to the east hadn't had that much to worry about after the undead attackers actually. Those in the human and nearby orc district had mostly waited it out to see what would happen. They followed the emperor because they had to and their homes were in Ensolus.
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Warlocks and most of the soldiers had moved south or north to check on the fortress. The same barrier wall designed to keep enemies out had filtered their ranks too much to help quickly. Within the fortress, the Dark One fell before most could find their way close to him.
The north had been quiet since the last wizard hunters were repelled. Warlocks were smaller in number anyway since magic was rare to any of the races in Ensolus, just like Southwall. Only the west had been bad.
Darius had found a large force of allies gathered to the west of the center city where humans, elves and orcs resided away from the creatures hidden to the west. Armored viles, trolls, fire urchins and more had come from the west to heed to the bells. They were trained to fight for the emperor and his magic held some sway over them in a way that he more rarely used on the more intelligent races.
Sebastian had found the southern team which had moved to the east and joined Rilena's forces; but Raven Leros and his people were unaccounted for at first. They never made it to the western defense forces, but had managed to distract many soldiers and warlocks from the center as their battle grew without reinforcements.
When he found the remainder of the raven's team, the mage looked for Leros. His aura drew him to his mentor and champion. The raven continued to back him, even when some of what the owl had done might be considered against regulations or protocol.
Sebastian arrived there bringing healers and those who could fight just in case. The numbers arriving quickly outnumbered those still alive.
The mage hurried to the raven. He was lying on his back breathing hard. Two wizards and three other battle mages stood in defense, bloody and worn. Their faces held worry as they formed a circle around their commander.
Dropping to his knees, Sebastian sent his magic into Raven Leros. He was wounded and had broken bones. His magic was diminished and the man was unconscious. He was still alive, but even as the owl healed the raven, Sebastian had a feeling that this would be the man's last day as an active battle mage.
The healers lent him healing and gathered up a few more wounded before returning quickly to Hala. There were still mobs of warlocks and soldiers roaming Ensolus that might wish to fight. Since there was no one to tell them not to, there was as much likelihood of a fight as not.
They say time heals all wounds, but Sebastian had been correct. Raven Leros healed, but the man announced his retirement from his hospital bed. The king refused to accept it until after he was walking again, but the man didn't change his mind. His last act was to officially create the title of owl for those mages who could heal and, if there were more in the future, for those capable of creating new magic.
His title change was official, so his friends and associates no longer had to guess. He was an owl.
Sebastian stayed with Ashleen at the Black Smith Inn through the winter. There would be more for him to do in the spring, but he worked to spread his portals so that one day he could bring her home to Kardor.
Chapter 36- Prologue
Palose stood on the balcony of his new home looking out over the Glacian Ocean. He had never lived so far to the west and New Oapril was about as far from Hala as one could get in Southwall. The mage needed to decided if this could be home, but he still planned on finding another safe house on another continent just in case. Perhaps Taltan had a country safe enough to hide the princess.
Acheri had yet to wake and the dark mage had taken the time to become more inconspicuous. In the basement of the small villa, the dark mage had released the wraiths and resurrected them back to being mortal albeit ones with a second chance. Even returned to mortality, Piera and her cousin Halarn represented an issue. Their elven heritage was both pleasant to look at and a source of talk. Elves weren't common in Southwall and he didn't need extra talk over their strangeness. He had considered altering their features with his runes, but there was other magic that they could use to blend in without doing so.
Another issue had arisen with the fall of Ensolus. Many of the circle wanted to know what had happened to their families. It created a new headache for the dark mage and he had enough of those as it was. Perhaps one day they could use his gates to return to Ensolus, but New Oapril was the plan for now.
"Palose, she's waking up," Sylvaine called to him worriedly.
Leaving the view of the ships sailing in the harbor, the mage entered the house turning towards the room where the princess had slept for three days.
Acheri wore the clothes she had slept in when Palose had found her. If the girl had slept on in her coma like state, he wasn't sure what he would have done about that. It was simply good that she was awake again.
"Palose?" the dark haired beauty questioned as he walked into the bedroom. She sat up letting the sheets fall away with only her legs covered as the girl looked curiously at the horizontal slats of the blinds. Sunlight came through perplexing her greatly. "Where are we? I can't remember... anything since going to bed, I think. How did I get here?"
Unsure of how to break the news to the princess, Palose wanted to be as truthful as he could and would hold back only as needed. It was the best way to gauge how she would react to all the new changes to her life.
"We're in New Oapril."
Her face scrunched up even more confused. "New Oapril, where is that?"
"The southwest part of Southwall."
"Southwall!" she practically shouted and he wondered if he was ever going to be allowed to continue without another question from the girl interrupting his thoughts after each revelation. "What are we doing here?"
Well, it was a repetition of an earlier question, so Palose chose to answer that one. "Ensolus was attacked and Kolban had a contingency plan in place should Southwall infiltrate the city. He asked me to keep you safe no matter what happened to him."
Forgetting to conceal his expression fully, Acheri practically jumped out of bed to grab him by his shirt. "Kolban, what happened to my brother? You know don't you, Palose? Tell me!"
Taking her wrists gently, the mage sighed and said, "I brought all of my wraiths and undead back to the castle to try to save him, but..."
He wasn't sure he could finish.
Her face turned angry and she pulled her hands away. Looking ready to cast magic in her fury, Acheri pulled up short. "My magic, it's gone."
She was stunned and he thought that her quieter voice was almost more frightening.
"When I went to gather you, your ring flashed. Then you passed out. I thought your magic had been concealed at first, but it hasn't come back apparently."
The girl looked at her ring in confusion. "Did Kolban give that to me? I don't even remember this ring."
She tried to pull it off and the ring fought her. It looked big enough to slip free, but it wouldn't release from her hand. Her face turned thoughtful looking for a memory given her by the emperor in her making. Surely she must know what this ring was. It was only a vague memory as the girl said quietly, "He stole my magic or bound it within the ring. Can you feel anything of my magic in it?"
Palose shook his head. He had thought of it and though it felt magical, the ring didn't seem to hold her missing power.
"He stole my magic to fight against his enemies, our enemies," she corrected with a sigh. "He has left me nothing, but you. What of Lanquer?"
"I'm not sure. I brought him back to the city days before the attack."
"He spent a lot of time with our..." her voice caught as emotions began to well up in the girl. "Why am I feeling so lost? I was just a projection of Kolban, but I miss my brother."
Sylvaine peeked in from the door and the princess spotted the movement. "Her! What is she doing here and alive!"
"I saved her when you tried to get her killed," Palose stated coldly.
"You saved her?" The princess looked at the girl and he saw a faint light in her eyes. Magic that remained was still useable and the princess could see enough. "You brought her back. She was dead and you resurrected her."
Sylvaine frowned at the pret
ty, princess and said, "Be glad that we saved you. I still don't know why Palose did it."
"I did it for Kolban."
Acheri looked hurt and said, "Then don't do me any favors. Take me back and I will die with my brothers."
He took the hand with the ring and her face eased. Magic from the ring had soothed her. "I promised to protect you, but you two will have to learn to get along."
She nodded as if receiving a suggestion that she couldn't refuse. He released her hand again and the girl looked at Sylvaine calmly. Palose realized that Kolban had thought of nearly everything. Without her magic, Acheri was less of a threat. With the ring able to calm her mind and add suggestions apparently, the princess could also be controlled. He wondered how long it would last.
"Can I see outside?" the princess asked no longer fighting them.
She didn't change into new clothes, but simply followed him onto the balcony. "It's beautiful. I think this is much nicer than being trapped inside of that cave. It's warm too."
Sylvaine stood near and looked at Palose before whispering, "Will this work?"
He shrugged. Obviously Kolban had a plan; but if he knew what was going to happen to the point of creating the ring and giving it to Acheri, why hadn't he avoided his fate?
Narissa sat in her stuffed chair looking at the boy opposite her drinking calmly from his cup. Her toes played in the texture of the burgundy and gold rug beneath her feet as they waited quietly.
As they sat, one of the rings on his left hand suddenly shone brightly with blue light.
Evic looked over the back of her chair and asked, "First the green one did that and now this blue one, what is that?"
Staring at the boy who looked a bit older than the one sitting in the chair, Kolban replied, "The green one holds the magic I contained in Acheri, my sister. Palose took her away from Ensolus apparently as I requested and triggered the ring."
Battle Mage Visions (A Tale of Alus Book 12) Page 51
