Battle Mage, The Caves of Time

by Donald Wigboldy

  "Well, that was interesting," Ashleen mumbled.

  "How so?" he asked turning to look at the side of her face.

  "I was waiting for one of you to challenge the other to a duel again. You two always appear on the verge of strangling one another."

  He chuckled, "You seemed more ready to strangle him than me."

  Sighing, the girl leaned into him saying, "I always have your back, silly, even if it is just in a battle of words.

  "Well, that I don't mind at all," he admitted and took her hand in his. "So shall we go to the stones and finish this new gate?"

  Hurrying to escape the bench, Ashleen flashed her calves as her robes parted enough to let her move. The mage's caught the flash thinking once more how lucky he had been to have the beautiful wilder join him.

  Elzen, Serrena and Ashleen stood in a field still hard from the winter months. Sebastian sat on a stool as he rode the winds heading for his parents' home, his home as a child, but no longer truly the battle mage's home.

  "I wonder how he did that," Elzen mused looking at a trio of large stones probably pulled from the farmer's field long ago. Left behind since removing them entirely was unlikely worth the effort, the stones sat beside a turned field waiting for spring to come and warm the land enough to set new furrows to plant whatever crops the farmer might choose.

  "Did what?" Serrena asked unable to read the younger man's mind. It was a comment out of the blue and she had no more context to work with than Ashleen did, who let the other woman's question stand alone as they waited for him to explain.

  "Bas, made two stone golems in that battle. I've seen wizards make them, but I've never seen him looking into the spells."

  "You know him," Serrena said waving the idea away. "He's probably had that spell mulling around in his mind for months and just uncorked it for that battle. They were impressive whether it was a battle mage or a wizard behind them though."

  The three had been at the battle in Kardor and most of them had helped in one way or another. While the other guardian cities of Ashleen's homeland were sending troops with the help of Southwall's wizards, Sebastian and Elzen had more or less stood up to the enemy army nearly alone. The power the two men had shown in that battle would have impressed any wizard.

  Ashleen had joined in by discovering her ability to fly using the dragon magic which she had never actually tried to use before. Like Sebastian, she had picked up enough from watching others, but it had been a risk. Her ability to rain down lightning to help protect the other two had helped dissuade the enemy troops almost as much as the use of the battle mages' magic spells.

  Sebastian had proved his increasing power and ability to create new spells when he had raised a pair of massive stone golems. Animating one was a tough task even for a full wizard. Controlling two was more impressive, though Sebastian had basically operated the two with echoed actions until one was destroyed.

  "You seem capable enough with ground magic," Ashleen reminded him. The younger mage had turned a large field into mud to stall the vanguard of the enemy's forces and turned it back to solid stone trapping many of them also. "If you practiced, I bet that you might be able to do it, even without asking Sebastian."

  "Yeah," Serrena said, "you don't need to wait for him to give you a spell like that. I saw the spells you used at Tenalin. Bas didn't teach you those either. You just did it."

  Sighing as he contemplated the stones, Elzen answered, "I guess we have time."

  He looked at the battle mage sitting on his small stool brought from the oval rune on the man's arm. "I can't believe that we're sitting out here in the cold waiting for him to plant a new gate again."

  "It isn't as cold here as it was in Kardor at least," Serrena shrugged.

  Ashleen guessed what was being asked even without him saying the words. "Even if we are in Southwall, you wouldn't want to just leave his body unprotected while his mind is away. You still have wild animals south of the wall, even if there shouldn't be men here wishing to harm him."

  "I know, I know," Elzen replied still staring at the clump of stones. "I just get tired of waiting around while he does all the work. At least on the trip across Kardor I was learning how to make the gates. Now I am just bored."

  "So try to make a golem out of one of those stones and stop complaining like a child," Serrena ordered crossing her arms appearing quite stern. She was his girl friend, but there were times when the fire wizard seemed more like his teacher or mentor instead. Being a few years older was part of it. Elzen also had a youthful personality verging on childish, the wilder supposed as she considered the other couple.

  They were quite different from her and Sebastian. The other two seemed to argue quite often, but they were also tender at moments also.

  Ashleen was closer in age to Sebastian and he had never been as childish since she had known him. She wondered if feeling a little more adult was part of why she was pushing to meet his parents. Whether Ashleen was ready to marry him was another question, but they lived together already and she, at least, didn't have any plans of separating from him.

  "Not that way," Serrena complained watching Elzen try to move the stone with his magic.

  "Well, duh, it didn't work; but it isn't like you can make one either," the mage retorted.

  "Hey!" the other woman cried out looking offended.

  Sighing, Ashleen wondered if she was going to have to act as referee for the pair again. Her eyes glanced to Sebastian a moment wishing that he would complete the task and save her from the others soon.

  Chapter 7- Looks Like Home

  A golden rectangle appeared in the midmorning air. Its glow wasn't strong compared to the bright light of the sunshine warming the early spring air south of the town of Mera. Still, the magical doorway would have shocked anyone close enough to see it. The sleepy farming community was hardly used to any magic let alone the strange doorway standing in the unoccupied field now.

  Elzen popped out of the glow stepping forward blinded by the leap across hundreds of miles. Short trips, at least, were easier to recover from even for those taking a first trip. He shook off the portal blindness quickly enough and turned to see Serrena and Ashleen exit only moments later one at a time through the doorway.

  Following last, their unofficial leader stepped through the doorway before letting his magic go. The light shrank and disappeared in an instant leaving the four to gather their bearings a moment.

  "Which way?" Elzen asked as Sebastian appeared to recover from the senses blinding trip through the silver void.

  A quick glance towards the sun made Sebastian point to the southeast. Not too far from their position, a beaten down, flat road ran east to west. Perhaps half a mile to the east he knew that there was also a road running more or less north to south. The southern road wound a bit from there eventually running past the home of the Trillon family.

  "Why did you put us here?" Serrena asked. "You could have put the stones closer to your parents' home and we wouldn't have to waste time walking."

  "I don't mind a little walking," Ashleen contradicted the other woman's complaint.

  Shrugging Elzen added, "It isn't like we have anywhere particular to be at the moment. I guess there's no rush."

  Listening to the others a moment, Sebastian finally answered, "I could have put it closer but we're less than a mile from it now. My parents dislike magic enough. Putting it in sight might start our visit off on a bad foot, don't you think?"

  Ashleen suddenly giggled and said, "It didn't go over well when the stones were outside of the Kardorian cities either, so he's probably correct about that."

  "Walled cities are a bit different from a farmer's home," Elzen replied with a shrug and earned a nod from Serrena.

  "You've met my parents, Serrena. Think about it."

  Looking at the mage a moment, the wizard suddenly rolled her eyes. "Your father especially seemed to hate magic, though you would think after using it to save your brother's life; he might come to appreciate i
t a little bit more."

  He had last visited on the way to Hala for the wizards' tournament that brought wizards from across Alus, not just North or Southwall. Serrena had been one of the handful of wizards in his team. They had trained even at the farm readying the lone battle mage for the duels and he in turn taught them a bit of the advantages of the quicker spells of his corps.

  "You've already met them?" Ashleen half questioned the fire wizard. "How do you think they'll take to me?"

  Serrena's feet stopped momentarily as the four continued walking along the road. Quickly stepping back to join them, the fire wizard seemed to confirm Ashleen's worst fears without a word spoken. She was nervous about meeting his parents as he had been about meeting hers. Such a trip also meant that he was acknowledging how important their relationship was, at least to her mind anyway.

  "Um, his siblings seemed comfortable enough with us, but you might not want to say that you have wilder tendencies. Their dealing with Katya when she lost control scared his parents especially."

  "They're actually more disappointed that I was just a battle mage," Sebastian added. "If I had to be found with magic, I could have at least had enough to become a wizard. Even scared by Katya's magic, I think they accept her more than me because she's a full wizard."

  "Two children with magic," Elzen mused. "I wonder if any of your other siblings are suddenly going to show magic tendencies with that many already there."

  "Katya is the baby of the family," Sebastian reminded his friend. "The others are all old enough to have shown their magic by now, even for a late bloomer. It would be highly unlikely to see more wizards amongst my siblings at this point."

  Serrena chuckled before pointing out another thought which had come to mind. "Your brother is married now. I wonder if you will ever have nieces and nephews with magic. It's obviously in your lineage now."

  "Let's not bring that thought up when we're talking with my family, please," the owl said with a shake of his head. He hadn't even begun thinking about the next generation of Trillons. The idea wouldn't make anyone in his family any more at ease that was for sure.

  The four continued walking and eventually found a gate closed where a path was slightly worn as a road to a farm which could easily be seen in the distance. As Sebastian looked, he noted a second house had been raised not too far from his parents' original home. They hadn't spoken of such a thing occurring, but he wondered if they had built it for Conner and his new wife, Rena. It wouldn't surprise him since the idea of his elder brother trying to build a family while under his father's roof would seem rather stifling to say the least.

  Aside from the second house in the background, there were three men working in the yard between his old home and the barn. A pair of horses were milling about nearby set with leather harnesses and blinders to keep their attention focused on what was before them. Though their attention seemed to be focused on a large piece of equipment in front of them, one of the younger men looked up and over to the fence. He nudged his twin even as the eldest of the Trillons glanced over wondering what his sons were distracted by all of a sudden.

  "Do we just go in?" Elzen asked looking at the wood gate barring their entry. "It is your house too technically, isn't it?"

  "I haven't lived here in years," the mage answered sounding a little distracted as he watched his younger brothers running away from their project towards the gate. Once they believed that they were in earshot, his brothers began waving and calling out his name.

  "Bas, you're back!" the slightly taller of the two boyish looking men called out seeming to question his eyes.

  Sebastian noted his brother's green eyes even from a distance. Everet, the elder twin, he thought to himself realizing that he had been away long enough to need to use the singular difference between the two to tell them apart. They were nearly identical and had grown a lot since the mage had left for White Hall. Even occasional trips home weren't enough as they continued to change without him.

  "Why are you walking? Shouldn't you have horses?" Edgar questioned as he joined his twin at the gate.

  "We didn't need them this time," Sebastian replied without truly answering the questions.

  Arriving at a more leisurely stroll, Marcel, his father, still had good enough hearing apparently to hear the response as he said, "Did you decide to walk from Mera? Are your horses stabled there then?"

  Sebastian felt the eyes of his team glancing to him as they wondered how he would answer.

  "No, we've come from White Hall. We didn't stop at Mera, but decided to walk the remainder of the road here."

  "WE decided?" Elzen argued the idea simply.

  Shaking his head, Marcel shrugged as he responded, "Well, whatever. Be mysterious like a wizard if you want. What brings you here then? Are you traveling to Hala again?"

  Sebastian heard a chuckle from Elzen at the idea. They had actually come through the portal from the Black Smith Inn this morning, but he hadn't said that since it would sound even less believable to his father who couldn't understand magic. While the previous day he had used his mind to move from White Hall to Mera in a few hours, there was no need to go to the school again when the mage could leave from any point that he chose. The power of this spell stolen from their enemies often made him wonder how they had managed to keep the Dark One's forces from overwhelming Southwall for so long.

  "It is a rather convoluted story and hard to explain since it uses magic."

  The older man sighed before releasing the catch holding the gate. Pulling it back, he waved his son and his friends through.

  Everet had a slight smile as he considered his brother's words. "How hard is it to explain? Magic can do odd things, but surely you can answer the question."

  As the four joined the Trillon men as they started towards the farm house, Sebastian did his best to change the subject as he nodded his head towards the distant second building beyond his parents' home. "Did you build that for Conner?"

  His father's eyes followed his gaze a moment before Marcel replied, "Conner continues to help with the farm, but he and Rena can hardly be expected to live under our roof forever. It isn't the easiest thing to have a wife while living with your parents."

  Edgar chuckled and added, "The walls are too thin for them to have sex without coming out the next morning with red cheeks."

  "Edgar!" the older man scolded his son.

  Sebastian noted barely concealed laughter from Elzen and Serrena as well as his brothers. Rolling his eyes, the mage thought that as vulgar as saying the idea out loud was, Edgar was likely correct. He couldn't even imagine trying anything with Ashleen if he had to live in his old room here. The other problem was that he had shared with Conner back then. Their house was simply not big enough for so many children to live there without sharing.

  He tried not to think of how so many Trillon children had come about while so many of them lived under that same roof.

  "How many bedrooms do they have now?" he asked trying to keep the talk away from discussions of sex and magic.

  "Three for now, if they have enough children, we can always add on to it," Marcel stated sounding like he was discussing the farm with an investor or someone similarly connected to him that wasn't also close. They were family, but his father treated him like a visiting cousin now. That was still better than his complete revulsion for his magic the last visit.

  Conner had nearly died when they were here last time as well. Magic had saved his elder brother and kept his new wife from becoming a widow very young. "Well, they seemed healthy enough when I saw them last. Even after the accident, Conner should be as capable of having a family as he was before that."

  He noticed his father's shoulders tense and realized that he should have kept that comment inside. It would both remind Marcel of how he had nearly lost his son and that his mage son had used magic to save him.

  Edgar tried to save the moment as he said with a forced grin, "I think Conner and Rena are trying their best. They make sure to keep thei
r curtains closed to their bedroom a lot."

  Again the boys laughed echoed by Elzen.

  Ducking as their father's hand swung towards his head half heartedly, Edgar was quickly ignored again. "So why are you here then, Sebastian? It isn't like there is much to bring you back to Mera or the farm. You're too young to be thinking of retiring and I doubt that you will come back here when you do."

  "I have left the corps technically," the owl replied bringing shocked looks from his family.

  "You left?" Marcel questioned first and louder than his boys. The twins glanced at each other mouthing the words unable to believe their ears. "But I thought that you were committed more or less for most of your life. They let you leave and you're still with wizards it looks like."

  "I didn't exactly give them a choice, but I still work with them to a point."

  "He's become an envoy for the king," Ashleen spoke up bringing his father's eyes to her.

  "You haven't introduced us to your new friends, Sebastian. I think your mother taught you better than that."

  "Ah," the mage started with his father's chastising words, "yes, that is Elzen one of my older friends. He's a battle mage also. Serrena you might remember from the last visit and this is Ashleen, my girlfriend, and a wizard from Kardor."

  The last comment made the other Trillons look at the pretty blonde in surprise.

  "She's from Kardor?" Marcel questioned calmly yet his son felt a tone to the question even so. "How did you two meet, let alone become so close?"

  "He saved my life north of the wall a little over a year ago," Ashleen answered clearly intending to play up the part of his being a hero. He was her hero at least, though that wasn't the basis of her love for the mage.

  "I thought he was with that healer?" Edgar questioned his twin but too loudly to be missed. The words made Ashleen' smile slip slightly.

  "It didn't work out between us," Sebastian stated making his younger brothers start in surprise. "To be fair, my squad helped save Ashleen and her party. She was with an ambassador from Kardor that ran into a rather persistent pack of werewolves north of the wall near Falcon's Keep where I was based at that point."