Battle Mage, The Caves of Time

by Donald Wigboldy

  Letting out a slow breath, the mage was beginning to think that he might have to set aside some time to use the smithy to create some new swords. He might need more funds at the rate Ashleen and his sister were trying to spend his money. "I'll talk to Hilda about renting another room tonight."

  "You could save the money and we can stay in your room. You do have two beds after all," the diplomacy wizard suggested making him look at her a little more closely.

  "I don't..." he began.

  Eyes glowing slightly to his senses, though someone without magic wouldn't have noticed a thing, Sebastian felt Ylena's magic touch him. "You should let us stay," the young woman restated with more intent.

  The magic did little more than touch the owl, but he felt warmth at his temples seeming to try to cross his forehead as her words felt no stronger than any other woman's might trying to convince a man of her opinion. Frowning, Sebastian answered, "It doesn't cost that much and you two can have more privacy that way. It would be an entirely other thing if the inn was filled to capacity."

  Ylena blinked and looked closer at the mage as well. Katya meanwhile glared at the brunette wizard having felt her power through her tie to the necklace. His sister appeared ready to chastise her elder for using her magic so flippantly, though she could tell that it wasn't a simple accident from the changes to her body and mind. This had been an intentional use of her power to get her way, which also made the younger girl curious as to how Sebastian had resisted the spell. He hadn't escaped into the air with a wind riding spell as he once had to avoid her accidental use of diplomacy magic in the past.

  Leaning towards the taller man as she turned her head to the side as if to look at the side of his face, Ylena summoned her magic into her words, "Jump up and down flapping your arms like a fool."

  Confusion crossed his face and he asked, "Why would I do that?"

  He felt the warmth at the temples and along that line reaching between the two across his forehead again.

  Ylena ignored his question and pointed at the spot where he had felt the warmth coming from and asked instead, "Are those runes of some kind?"

  Touching his right temple absently, Sebastian replied, "I have a number of runes on my body, though hidden by changing the ink to match my skin to make them seem invisible. The markings aren't my style otherwise. Why do you ask?"

  "You have never been noted as being resistant to mind magic before, have you? I admit that I was messing around with my magic. I suppose that I shouldn't have tried to make you look stupid, but when I did try to push these strange designs started to glow on your head."

  Sebastian thought upon all the many runes he had transferred to his body. Most he knew the purpose of, but there were a few that he had yet to fully understand. The markings she targeted were among the few that he had studied without truly figuring out what they were for, though he knew that they had nothing to do with his senses. They didn't magnify his vision, but he had other runes for that. Neither did they amplify his hearing or increase his sense of smell.

  Perhaps the shamans of the merfolk had developed a way to resist mind control as well, though he didn't know of any that could use that magic there either. Of course, the mage hardly knew any of the merfolk and few on the Grimnal's island tended to have the ability for magic at all.

  "Katya, try your magic on Elzen. Make him do something that he wouldn't usually do."

  Serrena mumbled, "That is a rather exclusive list then." Her comment made Ashleen giggle while Elzen frowned at the fire wizard before he suddenly realized that he had been arbitrarily picked for this new experiment without his consent.

  "Go jump in that fountain, Elzen," Katya said with a smirk taking to the request with surprising gusto. It was more of a surprise to the others than her brother, who knew her well enough.

  "Are you kidding? It must be almost like ice in there. It hasn't begun to warm up enough for me to consider it."

  Sebastian had noted the rise in her magic, but the results had been unimpressive. If the magic was used correctly, he doubted that anyone could defy a diplomat wizard. When the magic ended, those controlled might remember and have a grudge against that wizard; but during the spell there was usually nothing that the recipient could do to resist the order given by magic.

  Seeing her student's failure, Ylena tried her own suggestion. "Lie down in the street right here."

  Again he spotted that gleam of magic in her eyes, but he looked at Elzen seeing the runes that he had placed on the younger mage's head glowing as they resisted the spell.

  Defying the wizard with a cross of his arms, Elzen turned on Sebastian and said, "I thought we were friends, Bas. What gives?"

  He chuckled and answered, "Well, I can't very well see the runes on my forehead without a mirror can I? Besides you've volunteered for other magic experiments before, so I assumed that you wouldn't mind helping us out."

  Looking at Ylena again, the owl added, "Well, I guess we found out something helpful as well, but you and Katya can stay in your own room."

  "The girls could all stay in one room while you boys stay in the other," the young looking woman suggested in a different way without the use of her spell.

  "It costs less than the clothing you three decided to buy, so I think Ashleen and I will keep our room for ourselves. We can all get up and meet at the second bell for breakfast before going to meet up with whoever they plan to send along with us this time."

  Falling a little behind the others as they finished walking back to the inn; Katya held Ylena's arm holding her back as she lowered her voice to ask, "What was that about? Do you truly want to spend the night in my brother's room?"

  Seeing the look on her friend's face, the dark haired girl sniffed and remarked, "It was just a little joke, Katya. Besides I think that we are all grown up enough to have shared the room. It's not like I was planning on jumping into bed with your brother or anything. He does have Ashleen after all."

  Katya shook her head looking as if she didn't truly believe the girl she walked beside. Though Ylena might be more than twice her age in truth, this new lease on her teenage years made her student wonder if this was the same person she had known for about a year as her mentor.

  "I know that you say that you remember everything from your life, Ylena, but I worry about you. This... change to your body seems to have affected more than just what we see and I don't mean about it being physically rolled back. You act different from your old self."

  "Hmm, 'old self', while I remember everything like my spells..." She paused as a darkness flit across the dark haired girl's face momentarily. Friendly and caring from the moment they had met; Katya had noticed a quietness to her mentor that could come across her. As a diplomat wizard the older woman was good at appearing to stay out of those moods at least in appearance. She would help her student with a smile on her face no matter what thoughts might linger beneath that face.

  "Are you saying that High Wizard Herrol and the other wizards might be right about you?" Katya asked worriedly. This was the first time that her friend had ever let on any doubts about what had happened and how it might have affected her in truth.

  Shaking her head, Ylena answered with a little frown, "I can still teach. I haven't forgotten who I am, who I was... whatever." Letting out a little growl of annoyance, the raven haired wizard revealed the confusion of being affected by time magic. "Maybe what I am saying is that I have a new perspective being both younger and older at the same time? I spent most of my life training to become a wizard and then teaching other wizards. While I know my magic, my body doesn't completely feel like my own. I should be able to control my magic without this necklace," she tapped the gem which looked pink in the sunlight, "but it's like all the restraints built in from even before I went to train as a wizard are gone or ineffective. It's... frustrating."

  Katya let her friend's words register not just in her mind, but for the elder wizard as well. She didn't think Ylena had ever admitted this to anyone, not even to hers
elf.

  Another sigh escaped the dark haired wizard before the other girl could formulate any sort of answer, if there was supposed to be one. "I know I can do the job, but maybe I should tell your brother that this is a mistake."

  "If you're certain that you can be helpful; then let's go with him," Katya answered what seemed like the easier question. "I for one would like to see these nomads. I've heard about them in class, but Bas has actually talked with them. Usually we're just warned about them and told not to trust them if we see them."

  "It isn't that you can't trust nomads," Ylena replied sounding more like her teacher as she continued, "they just tend to either attack or run away depending on the numbers."

  "Well, then these seem unique. How often do you think we'll get a chance like this to talk with these people?" the girl with the dusty blond hair asked with a smile.

  Ylena returned the smile with one of her own. The joyfulness of Katya's answer seemed to strengthen her resolve once more and she nodded.

  "Maybe you're right," she replied.

  Sebastian sat and Ashleen rested on his leg rather than taking a chair beside him as they watched the room full of dancers. The musicians tonight had often pushed on longer than the mage would have expected. Some dancers needed to take more breaks than they would get if they waited for the musicians to stop for a breath and drink.

  His eyes looked for his sister and Ylena as well.

  "Ah, the big brother can't stop keeping watch over his little sister, can you?" Ashleen giggled as her left arm both rested on his shoulders and held him close. The little blond leaned in to kiss him on the forehead before pulling back enough to try and help him find the targets of his scouting.

  "Hmm, I guess not," he acquiesced to her joking. Having her sit like this was a bit unusual in public, but with the noise in the room the practicality of being close enough to speak without shouting was worth the slight embarrassment of a public display, he supposed. While Sebastian was quieter and preferred a bit of anonymity, which was getting harder as his legend seemed to grow; Ashleen came from a royal line where she had been a shining gem for her parents, at least until her magic had appeared.

  "They're both big girls and perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. They aren't like the..." she lowered her voice, "the mermaids who had never been off their island or been in situations like this. Besides that both are wizards. With diplomacy magic, they can probably defuse any problem that might arise even better than a frowning battle mage."

  The last was said with another chuckle of humor. He had been forced to step in with a pair of admirers for those mermaids while they had lived in the inn for a time. Sending them home with a portal had been more of a relief than he had admitted to anyone. They had come with to pay him back, though he hadn't asked for any repayment, and if anything they believed that they owed even more of a debt over time.

  It was like Ashleen said. He had been forced to act like a big brother to them and protect the girls from their own occasionally errant flirting.

  "I don't know. It seems to work pretty well too," he said glancing up into her sparkling blue eyes. The girl continued to smile enchantingly, which made Sebastian think that the runes only worked to prevent magical spells. Ashleen had her own entirely effective charms that worked on him that had nothing to do with magic.

  His eyes spotted the blond hair of his sister as she took a turn in the arms of young man that he had seen here before. While the mage didn't know many of the regulars by name, he did know them by sight and this dancer seemed safe enough for now.

  Looking towards the bar, he spotted Ylena surrounded by several men. The young looking wizard didn't appear anything like a magic user. Still dressed in her black skirt, the woman had exchanged her blouse of black for a more festive one of pink that had no sleeves and was cut lower in the front and back revealing a lot of her smooth, alabaster flesh. Not completely unusual as a look in Hala, few women ventured to show as much before the heat of summer forced dancers to dress in lighter weight clothing.

  "She was pretty before she changed, but men can't seem to stop from being drawn to her, can they?"

  "Add whatever magic might slip free from the necklace and Ylena becomes nearly irresistible to men," Sebastian agreed with a bit of worry. "At least that same magic should quell any trouble also. If her power does get out of control, hopefully Katya can counter it."

  Ashleen's sigh was lost in the noise around them, but the pretty wilder leaned closer. Her breath practically tickled his ear as she said, "You know they have their own room, but after tonight who knows when we'll get the chance to be alone again? Maybe we should let them have their fun down here while we have our own upstairs?"

  Kissing his cheek right beside the ear, Ashleen seemed to make a good argument in the man's opinion. He let her lead him towards the stairs after being pulled to his feet. Giving the two young wizards a last appraising look, the mage went to spend some time with the woman he loved before nomads and the military might keep them apart.

  Chapter 21- No Means No

  Ylena picked up the glass of wine in her hand as she sat on a stool beside the bar. It wasn't the first glass either, though the first had required using her magic to influence the bar tender to give it to her. Never one to drink much anyway, the raven haired wizard continued to smile and nod at the men vying for her attention.

  "Are you actually old enough to be drinking?" one of the men asked as he leaned closer to her chuckling as if the question was actually funny. She could smell the beer on his breath and see the slight reddening of his nose and cheeks also. One of the skills learned as a diplomacy wizard was picking up on the physical cues of those around you. A tilt of a head or a smile could tell her how a discussion was going. Knowing if the one you spoke to was drunk came from practical knowledge more than something taught to her in a classroom. The teachers frowned on drunkenness in the school since all the students were technically too young to be drinking.

  She knew that some apprentices and cadets would slip into town to get drinks. If they could serve and die for their country, most proprietors were of the mind to let them drink within reason also.

  "I'm older than I look," was her reply.

  "Old enough to drink or not, you are the most beautiful girl that I think I've ever seen," another man stated drawing a few nods from her admirers. This one was also on the cusp of being inebriated. It didn't take a diplomacy wizard to figure that out, she thought.

  "Well, if I am too young to drink then most of you gentlemen are probably too old for me as well," she said with a sly smile.

  "Aw, don't be that way, beautiful," the second man said reaching forward to stroke the bare skin of her arm without her permission. Ylena tolerated the touch though her eyes watched his fingers rubbing along her forearm to the bend before pulling away. "Like you said, you must be old enough if you are allowed to drink, right?"

  Taking a sip from her glass finished the wine to her surprise. She needed to be careful not to lose her faculties, not just because of this lot, but waking up with a hangover would hardly help prove herself to the owl or the other wizards that they would meet in the morning either.

  "Bartender, how about a perum for the lady?" the man called to the bartender noting the empty glass.

  "You think she would like a vodkey?" the man behind the bar asked curiously. "She's been drinking wine. That drink might be a little strong for her."

  Ylena didn't know the young man considering the request, but he did look a lot like a couple of the waitresses and the inn keeper. Probably a son of the owner, she guessed, he probably was used to men trying to ply young women with drinks until they were drunk enough to be more pliable to their requests.

  "I could try one. Perum vodkey is pretty smooth, I hope?" the girl finished questioning the fact. Though feigning ignorance, the wizard hadn't touched the drink in decades and only a few times at most. Her memory remained pretty strong, but little details like what she had drank at night were certai
nly less concrete than the knowledge needed for her spells. Some diplomacy magic could be used with just a push of her power without certain words. Others required not only the details of strange ancient words but movements of her hands and arms as well.

  One of the other men laughed, but the one purchasing the drink for her nodded with a grin. "It's smooth as vodkeys go at least."

  Placed in a shot glass, the man took one for himself while placing the other in her hand. It replaced the wine glass now positioned on the counter.

  Mumbling a bit of magic, Ylena tapped the glass against his before appearing to drain the alcohol like a pro. Her magic burned most of the liquid away before it touched her lips. Letting just a taste of the vodkey onto her tongue, the brunette couldn't help a cough and was glad that she had burned most of it away.

  "You call this smooth?" she questioned drawing a number of laughs from the men around her.

  "Another?" the man asked gesturing for the bartender to refill their glasses.

  Releasing a sigh, the girl nodded at the young man behind her. She could let her pursuer waste a little more money on her drinks. Hopefully she would drink him under the table or he would be smart enough to give up before becoming too drunk.

  Again she mumbled her spell, the noise masked her voice and long years of working to keep her lips from moving to avoid detection let the wizard repeat the ruse believably.

  Her eyes looked past the men towards the dance floor. Katya continued to dance. The girl's stamina was amazing, she thought, though the wizard had to evaluate that her much younger body held more energy than she might have if it was her true age. She hadn't danced for this long of an evening in a long time though. The school ended such things much earlier since the students and faculty needed to get up rather early for classes.

  She looked for Sebastian and Ashleen but noted that they had disappeared. Elzen and Serrena continued to dance together not too far from her though. She didn't think the couple was this close because they were worried for her, but it was possible.