Battle Mage, The Caves of Time

by Donald Wigboldy

  Sitting next to Ashleen after pushing her chair in slightly, Sebastian had barely rested on the wood surface before a boy slightly younger than he was leaned forward on the table and asked, "How did it go? What did Drayden want? Was it bad there?"

  Elzen was only a couple years younger than Sebastian and had become a full battle mage as well. He had become one at the age that his friend was just beginning his first training missions. Sebastian had started his mage career later than some. A late bloomer, he had made up for the late start by doing more than any other battle mage in their corps' history save for arguably the first, their founder Hurst.

  "According to Drayden, much of the human and elven population has fled the city, died or become captives of the orcs and other creatures working with them. It was fairly quiet when I was there. A lot of dead bodies were at their cremation furnaces when I passed by it and most looked to be human or elf."

  The two women sitting at the table looked noticeably uncomfortable with his information. An auburn haired woman wearing a lot of red clothing didn't let the feeling prevent her from asking, "Did the captain know much about what happened after the emperor died?"

  A single choice for a word made the Dark One's death sound like he might have simply expired in his sleep. He hadn't gone in any such way. A force partially led by Sebastian and joined by these three as well as many others had gone in and fought the creature of massive magical might along with his force of warlocks and armed forces. It had been a battle which had cost many lives on both sides, but it was the death of the emperor which made them all hope that better times might be ahead. This news of another entity taking over and killing humans didn't make it sound like their attempt had worked out as well as they had hoped unfortunately.

  Elzen spoke up before he could answer. "Yssa told us that the generals had been fighting. She hid up in the emperor's garden and said that she had been unable to escape back through the spire to return to her family. She didn't say anything about someone else taking over."

  Serrena glared at the side of his face apparently angry that the younger man couldn't let him answer her question.

  "I didn't get a lot of time to ask those questions. There were orc patrols nearby so I made a portal back to Hala to get his people out of there. I can only tell you what little I know.

  "It sounds like someone else took out the warlocks and wizard hunters in the city. After they were destroyed, the leading candidates which had been generals fell after them, though that part was muddied. There was something about the elf general and his men disappearing about the same time, while the orc general may have surrendered to this new warlock's army."

  "Great so we're in the dark, even with a group of spies trying to keep track of Ensolus," Elzen complained sounding sarcastic. The younger mage hadn't been with him on the journey with the captain and only knew the man from what stories Sebastian had told of him. Perhaps he had built him up too much, or not enough, by the tone of his friend's voice.

  Shrugging, Ashleen countered with a smirk, "So nothing's really changed then."

  Serrena and Sebastian chuckled as the other mage rolled his eyes and laughed also.

  "I guess that you're right," the youngest of their party answered. "I was just hoping that I could bring Yssa better news. If the city has gotten that bad, we can't take her back to Ensolus and her family."

  Sebastian's eyes took in Elzen and considered the other mage's reply. They had been working on portal magic together and the other mage was one of a few aside from himself that could use the magic. He had even been given copies of the runes that could store and add magical power to his base ability. It was a secret set of runes which Sebastian was testing on his body, but his friend had convinced him to share that danger as well. Now if the owl mage was wrong, they could either die young or potentially burn out from the extra power they could hold now.

  It was part of why the mage's power had grown beyond the level he had been at when the wizards had first found him.

  Elzen was perhaps the mage most like him in ability, though the younger man hadn't been able to create his own spells. He could heal and use portal magic, which was a rarity among the battle mages, and only one other he knew besides the two of them was capable of that feat.

  "What do you plan on doing with that woman anyway?" Sebastian asked of the refugee brought here by his friend a little over a week ago.

  "I had planned on bringing her back to the city once it was safe," the boyish mage replied. "If things have actually managed to get worse, then..." he paused looking uncertain, "I don't know."

  Serrena looked at him in disapproval. The two had been dating for awhile and many times Elzen managed to annoy her. They were a strange combination in Sebastian's opinion and he wasn't sure that they were a good match for each other, though the relationship had lasted for quite awhile. It was things like this that made their differences more apparent. The wizard hadn't been happy when Elzen had returned from pushing his new talent with the older woman in tow.

  While it hadn't been a romantic thing and merely been the boy's attempt at being merciful, taking someone from the enemy city and bringing them here was anything but a safe thing to do. If he had been discovered or exposed to the officials of the king's city, Elzen might have found both Yssa as well as himself thrown into prison.

  Sebastian would have probably been called in to try and bind Elzen, or the wizards might have used stronger magic to remove his power entirely. The latter was uncommon, but they had all heard tales of that magic. It was a story for young wizards and mages equivalent to a child being told that a monster would appear under his bed if he was naughty.

  "She's your responsibility," Sebastian reminded him.

  "I know, I know. I found her work and a place to stay in the city after she recovered a bit of her strength. I'll keep checking in on her. Maybe I'll have to see if she had any family outside of Ensolus and we could try to bring her there after hearing this news."

  Talk of the enemy city and Yssa lapsed as the waitress came to take their orders and later brought their lunch. Further discussion of the matter was best put off until later anyway. Too much said in public, even in the relative quiet of the Blacksmith Inn at this time of day, could be dangerous if the wrong ears were to hear what they were saying.

  "Are we going back to Kardor soon?" Serrena asked and her eyes glanced to Ashleen. "You still have things to resolve with your father, don't you?"

  Ashleen met the other woman's look and her eyes narrowed very slightly. Only looking for the tightening of her forehead and lids would tell someone that the typically happy girl wasn't appreciative of the change of topic.

  "I doubt that they will ever be completely resolved, except to say that we'll come to an understanding. It's no more unusual than any other wizard's issues with their family once their magic is discovered. Do you have a close relationship with yours anymore?"

  Her words turned against her, Serrena blinked slowly and considered the idea. "I guess not. I mean, we write each other from time to time and my family has never acted like I am hated or anything; but we aren't as close as we were when I was a child. Of course, once a child has moved out of their family home and put the kind of distance between them that we do, it probably would happen to one degree or another anyway, right?"

  Shrugging, Ashleen replied, "Anyway, they've met Sebastian and have come to know him. The rest will come with time or not."

  The others knew what she meant. The two had been dating for half a year. Perhaps the term was too simplistic for the couple which had been living together most of that time. They were close enough that some might think they were a married couple by now, but they were still quite young. Marriage had been considered, but hadn't really been broached by either of them. It was a mostly unspoken thing for now.

  Ashleen turned to Sebastian with those piercing blue eyes and added, "You know, you've met my family now. I have yet to meet yours yet aside from Katya."

  His younger sister, an
apprentice and a bit of a prodigy as well, was still technically a student of White Hall, the school that served the northern part of the country. Katya and Ashleen got along as well as sisters, but they hadn't been to his family farm even though she had mentioned it from time to time.

  "We've been rather busy," Sebastian stated. "Our business in Kardor made it easy enough to visit them. It was needed actually. Unlike your family, running out to a farm house has been less necessary than speaking with the commanding lord of the eastern half of your country," he finished with a chuckle.

  Ashleen was the daughter of nobility and her father was cousin to the current king. He had many titles including duke and was essentially second only to the king of Kardor politically. Sebastian's father was a farmer near a small town a few days southeast of the wizards' school and of no consequence to the kingdom in the grand scheme of things, the mage thought without trying to insult his past or lineage.

  "Well, we're not busy at the moment," Elzen stated with a smirk twisting the edges of his lips into a smile that he fought to hide from his friend rather unsuccessfully.

  "That is true," Serrena nodded surprising Sebastian and made him wonder if those differences he saw when he looked at the other couple didn't also have some similarities to balance them out as well.

  Ashleen was smiling at him as well.

  Giving a sigh of defeat, Sebastian said, "Well, if we do go, I'll have to see if I can get Katya a pass to go home as well. I know that she's been missing our family quite a bit."

  It was something that had come up on occasion when visiting White Hall and his sister. He had gone as a trainer and for other reasons enough over the last several months. While the last visit to his family farm had been by order of the ravens, he did know that his little sister had asked to go home early on and hated that she had missed their older sister's wedding.

  Sebastian had missed that as well. He hadn't even been in the country at that time and knowledge of portals had been nonexistent. Of course, he had missed his older brother's wedding before that. His family continued to expand and change, while his life was given to serving king and country as a battle mage.

  Seeing Ashleen's hopeful smile, he knew that he had just committed to the idea as well. As long as no other crisis came along to distract them, he supposed that a trip back home was in their future.

  A sigh escaped the lips of a young girl sitting on a sofa in a large common area where many teenagers dressed in white passed by or took places at tables or on other padded seats like hers. The book held in her hand felt too boring after what she had already done in her life. She was an apprentice, but had already fought in several battles using magic that only a small number of wizards or battle mages knew.

  A small pile of books sat on the floor beside the couch. The girl's shoes were beside them as she sat leaning against the armrest of the sofa while her legs curled her feet against her rear end on the cushion beneath her.

  Her eyes lifted to the windows above her letting in light from the south. The sun was nearing midday and lunch would be needed soon. She could already catch a whiff of something on the air coming down the hall to the left of the common area. Her stomach didn't answer the call. Katya wasn't hungry yet.

  The light caught a green jewel hanging from a silver chain. While Katya didn't notice as her eyes looked up from her book to look at the sky through the windows, others did notice.

  "Apprentices aren't supposed to wear jewelry like that; are they, Arwen?" a female voice said loud enough to draw Katya's attention away from her vision of the outside.

  "I don't believe that they are, Ristol. What do you think, Mabel?" another girl answered and passed the question on to a third young woman.

  Katya looked at the third apprentice with red stripes on the hem and sleeve. Her blue eyes looked at her from under her brown bangs as she shook her head at the other two and replied, "It looks expensive too. What is she some lord's daughter?"

  A shorter blond stood between the other apprentices and stated, "I heard that she is just a farmer's daughter, so either it is a fake or maybe she stole it. Letting a thief in could happen if she has enough magic. It is a shame really."

  The blond had red striping as well. Only one of the three had light blue colors signifying a different school of magic from the others. Katya's white robe varied from the others. A black stripe on one wrist and a gray one on the other as a place holder for the silver of a diplomat wizard's magic was a more rare type under this roof. Fire wizards were fairly common, but they often had egos that made them believe that they were better than the others. Their magic was excellent for the battle field and many considered their order the best fighters in Southwall's forces.

  "You three are wrong on all accounts," Katya answered though technically the other girls hadn't officially addressed or questioned her about the expensive looking necklace. A special green sapphire turned in its setting as she spoke drawing their eyes almost irresistibly to the apprentice sitting on the couch thought. "You aren't very good at guessing at all. You're not even close."

  "Hmmph," the blond in the middle scoffed at the smaller blond still sitting on her couch. Katya had lowered her book to deal with the intruders to her space. "What is a so called diplomat wizard doing questioning us? What are you twelve? You look too young to even have discovered your magic yet."

  Shaking her head, Katya replied, "Again your guess isn't even close. I guess we can be certain that you aren't a Visionary as well. My only hope is that you are better with magic than you are at trying to figure this out.

  "My family might be farmers but my brother isn't. He bought the gem and made this for me. As to being allowed to wear it, we can wear jewelry on our own time and even in class as long as it doesn't get in the way. I guess that I shouldn't be surprised that you wouldn't actually know the rules when you are so bad at everything else."

  All three looked angry at the younger girl sitting in front of them. The blond haired fire apprentice was actually reddening as she spat, "You little brat, do you know who we are?"

  Katya's eyes glimmered as she pushed her magic into her vision. It was a spell of a sort, one of a few that required no words to use as she judged the girls' auras. They were all reasonably powerful. The girl in the center was the strongest and as such likely believed that she was entitled to be leader. Wizards were like that often enough believing that auras determined the hierarchy to an extent. It was because of it that many wizards would never consider battle mages their equals even though the latter used different magic and martial arts to be at least as dangerous as their more powerful kin.

  "A pair of fire apprentices and an air apprentice, why should I know... or care?"

  While she was a diplomacy wizard and knew how to handle people, that didn't always mean that her type of wizard had to settle things easily. Coercion magic could shut down an enemy or turn them to their side simply enough, but when the spells wore off they would remember and likely hate them even more. There were ways to be more subtle and not all of their training relied on just magic to control others.

  On the other hand, her magic and skills could also be used to push others' buttons making people grow angrier.

  Katya was bored, so the girl decided that aggravating these annoying apprentices was more interesting than just letting things go.

  "We've been to the wall and to the border castles. We're close to becoming full wizards and are older than you. You should respect your elders and stop talking back, little diplomacy girl. Act like a diplomat and get along or shut up!"

  "You've been to the wall, but weren't made full wizards; so how is that supposed to impress me?" Katya asked knowing that some apprentices truly believed that those experiences meant something. Like badges of honor, going to the wall or to one of the cities was supposed to be them getting one step closer to becoming a full wizard. She also knew that most wizards went on training missions many times before the school would promote them. It could take years of training before that happe
ned.

  Sputtering and turning darker with anger, the blond in the center continued to speak for the other two. "Y-yeah!" she exclaimed giving an answer that made little sense. "We're basically full wizards, so you should be impressed."

  "Katya, stop antagonizing these girls," another female voice said managing to be commanding yet gentle.

  The diplomacy apprentice merely turned to look over the back of the sofa to see a dark haired woman in black robes trimmed with silver walking towards her from the direction of the offices on one side of the common area. She was very attractive for an older woman, Katya thought, but the wizard had a commanding look to her now that eroded that opinion as it made the other girls a bit afraid of her.

  "They started it, Ylena," Katya replied flippantly.

  "That's Wizard Ylena to you apprentice," the older woman stated and she glared at the other girls. "Don't you three have better things to do? Surely you could be studying or training, if you want to become full wizards you shouldn't be wasting time causing trouble. Who are your mentors? Maybe I should let them know that you three aren't being kept busy enough?"

  "No, ma'am, no, Wizard Ylena, we'll go do that right now," the three girls all said in similar fashion though that was the gist of what Katya heard as they turned to hurry away.

  The wizard released a disappointed sigh. "Katya, seriously, even with your level of training, you should be able to handle a situation like this easily enough."

  Katya stood and her stocking covered feet told her the stone under foot was still chilly to the touch. The girl could hardly wait until spring hit strongly enough to bring warmth to Southwall and the school in particular. Snow and cold had limited her favorite activity involving magic. She was a diplomacy wizard by calling, but Katya had learned dragon magic as well. Dragon magic had a spell that let her fly. The winter air made it too cold to do it for very long, if at all.

  "Sure I could have, but what is the fun in that, 'Wizard' Ylena?" she asked emphasizing her mentor's title. While Katya knew that she had earned it, the two were rarely that formal with each other. "I haven't run into these three before. Are they upperclassmen?"