Battle Mage, The Caves of Time

by Donald Wigboldy

  He waved up to those guarding the gate and called out, "We'll need an escort for the prisoners!"

  The warlocks listening winced at the word. Both were proud creatures, though Drask appeared a little less harmed by the thought. Since only the two magic users had been involved with the language translation spell, the other captives remained silent and uncertain. Two of the remaining dragao knights had been ensorcelled by Ylena's voice. Like men of her own race, they seemed inspired by her beauty; but the brunette diplomacy wizard had also used charm magic to ensure that they did what she wanted.

  Seven dragao knights and two minos had survived the fighting. His team's spears had struck down most of latter in the initial attack. Only the better armor and thick hides of the dragon men had given them enough resistance to their attacks to survive so long and Elzen's earth magic had also rendered them useless for much of the remaining fight. None of his people would feel right about just executing helpless creatures, even if they were the enemy.

  Two of the Zmaj knights had been conscripted by the diplomacy wizard to carry the dark box. The Tempus Chamber was inert, but anyone with a sense for magic and auras could tell that there was immense power stored inside. A mino carried an unconscious dark elf as well. Aside from Eyrenal, he was the only other one of her race remaining, but the warlock had received a wound that would have been certain death if the owl hadn't noticed in time.

  This dark elf was the one which had survived falling from the grayven. A short fight with Elzen had taken him down, but the battle mage's attack had only wounded the man. With the intensity of battle Elzen had moved past the fallen warlock to fight the dragao and minos remaining without checking to see if his opponent was completely finished.

  Another reason the courtyard was crowded was because Katya had taken her new pet through the gate as well. Perhaps the large winged beast was the most distracting target of them all as the little blonde haired girl rested a hand against the side of its neck petting the dark feathers.

  "I can't believe you brought that with you," Sebastian said moving closer to his sister.

  "He'll be alright," she replied with a soft smile as the girl glanced from the grayven with its tongue lolling out the side of its beak like some mixture of eagle and loving hound to her brother. "My magic can keep him settled and I sense that he really likes me besides."

  "You used diplomacy magic on him. When it breaks, you know that a creature tends to be angry towards the one who put the spell on it," he warned.

  Ylena was close enough to hear and her young looking face held some disapproval also. Though the older wizard was using a charm spell on many of the prisoners to keep them safe, and Katya's magic held a few more similarly, Ylena didn't care if the spell ended making them angry at her. She would likely not see them again unless called to use her magic to make the enemy cooperative for questioning in the future.

  Waving him off with her free hand, his sister seemed to ignore the problem as well. "He's a good boy... or girl, I'm still not sure of that; but I think that I can fully tame it. There are spells that work on animals in a different way than more intelligent beings. Besides it might be good for our wizards to have him around to study."

  "To study what? It flies and is a strange mixture of beasts that look familiar from our world, but I doubt that there is too much to figure out about it."

  Her lower lip thrust out in a pout. Sebastian was used to the look from when she was a much younger girl, but occasionally it returned on the teenage apprentice as well. Though she looked ready to argue, they were interrupted as a small force led by three wizards and a handful of battle mages stood in front of them as the portal's magic fell. A score of soldiers in plate armor with shields and spears ready stood around and behind the magic users.

  "You need help, Owl Sebastian?" the lead wizard, one dressed in red, asked the mage after spotting him near the open gate door.

  "We have prisoners that the king and our other leaders will probably want to interrogate. Also this box that they call a Tempus Chamber needs to be brought and kept safe for the research wizards to look at too. It is potentially very dangerous, so make certain no one tries to open it until we get more information out of these warlocks that we captured."

  He pointed to Drask and added, "Though this dragon man is a warlock, he has been quite cooperative. Treat him well, but remain wary just in case of course."

  While the mage knew that Drask and Eyrenal could hear him, he doubted that such a declaration would be a surprise. Though the dragao had been helpful, they knew little about him or any of those captured. It was only wise to keep a close watch on them, even if Drask did turn out to be a perfectly respectable creature.

  "What about... that beast?" the fire wizard asked skeptically as he looked at the grayven.

  "My sister will keep an eye on him, but we probably need to find a place to store him safely," he sighed.

  Katya continued to look pouty and asked, "Are we heading back to the mountains? I could take him with me or you could send us back to White Hall. I think we can keep him there. I know a nature wizard apprentice in particular who can probably help out a lot."

  "It's not a pet," he complained with a sigh and turned away from her preferring to think about it more in a bit.

  As the soldiers and mages began to lead the prisoners away, he noted an unusual amount of wizards in yellow nearby. Since he had heard of no healers capable of making a portal, and certainly not this many, it seemed odd for them to be here rather than at their hospital. Curious, he asked, "Why are there so many healers waiting here?"

  "We were about to send them to Blackwall. The fort in the mountains came under attack yesterday and many wounded had to escape to White Hall, Blackwall and Windmeer to get treatment."

  "It was attacked as well?" he questioned taken aback. Two armies in two different places at once capable of fighting so many meant little good for Alus, the mage thought. It also brought up the question of whether there were more armies brought to their world that they didn't even know about yet.

  The wizard nodded. "Our defenses were broken in places, I hear; but the fort remains." His forehead wrinkled looking confused as he added, "The stories that I have heard say that it looked like even the fort might fall, but before the enemy could turn to attack it something or someone made a black cloud that killed several of the enemy creatures. Both caves are gone as well. Our earth wizards checked and everything inside appears to have been crushed by stone."

  "There were cave ins; in both at the same time?"

  Shrugging at his questions, the man replied, "That is what I heard, but mostly it is what I have heard from messengers passing through briefly. The wounded weren't brought here and the higher ranks passing through didn't say anything about it at all."

  "Maybe I should visit the castle before returning to the nomads?" he questioned quietly as he wondered what he had missed. The battle had happened yesterday while he was busy teaching the derashti. Perhaps if he had remained to watch the caves, he could have kept more people from being hurt.

  He looked at Katya standing beside the large grayven and decided, "Katya, when the prisoners as secure, I will send you back to White Hall with your friend. It is probably better that no one in Hala sees it. Knowing that there are flying beasts like this among this enemy might cause a panic with the people here.

  "Ylena, go with the ones under your control to help keep everyone safe until they are in cells. We'll check in with the king. Meet us at the Black Smith Inn and we can go back to the Dragon Spine Mountains to let them know what has happened. We owe our allies that much at least."

  Both girls nodded while Sebastian and the remaining three hurried towards the king's castle to give a report and hopefully find out what had actually happened to the people watching over the caves of time. He thought about Kharrik and Haylee as well as Xander and Shaylene worrying over his friends there. They were capable of making gates, but had they been caught in the fighting? He had no idea and fought the ur
ge to head to White Hall or even to the caves instead.

  He didn't like knowing that something critical had happened and he was nowhere near it to help. It wasn't the first time, but it still bothered him.

  Such thoughts were pushed back and they went to find the king.

  "You bastard, how could you...!" a boy's voice called out angrily seeing the gate open depositing Kolban into a medium size room. It was mostly painted red and had a luxurious carpet on the floor.

  The warlock stepped from the door set only an inch from the thick carpet. He knew exactly where it was and didn't want to risk damaging the piece for Narissa. Essentially he was her guest after all and a guest didn't wreck the place he was staying in, if he was a good guest.

  Readying his fist to punch Kolban, a boy with light brown hair roughly the same size and age as the former emperor pulled up short seeing the strange tan colored elves emerging at the same time.

  "What the...?" Evic called out in surprise.

  Kolban recovered his senses quick enough to still hear a feminine gasp of shock from the other side of the carpet.

  The golden light of the door dropped. Gesturing to the two dark elves bonded to him now with magic, Kolban introduced, "This is Master Silithan and Warlock Redenyan. Gentlemen, meet my good friends Evic and Narissa. This is their home so treat it and them well."

  His words came out sounding polite and pleasant enough, but there was a bit of a threat there also. While he needed them for information, the boy didn't necessarily need them that much.

  Narissa leaped up from a stuffed chair. She only wore a lightweight, silk robe, Kolban noted, and thought the woman looked even more beautiful. Her hair shone looking much lighter than it had been. Dusty blonde now with a red tint to her long, slightly curled hair, he guessed that she had bathed or perhaps used a shower. The latter were more common this far south where water could be warmed in reservoirs on the roof. Gravity would deposit a spray from a faucet. It was something unheard of in Ensolus where it had been too cold and magic had been used to move and heat water for the cave city.

  Her legs were bare where they extended from beneath the belted robe that touched her mid thigh. She was thinner now, Kolban noticed. There had been little time to think about the changes to the woman beyond her new youth. Narissa had been beautiful before and slender, but she had more curves than now though her breasts caught the eye under the lightweight robe still.

  "First, you do this to the mistress and now you bring dangerous creatures into our home?" Evic complained and looked like he still wanted to hit the other boy again even if he feared the dark elves were dangerous. Since Evic had no magic, Kolban wondered what the slender teenager thought he could really do if they turned on him.

  "Evic," Narissa said quietly and stepped around the desk set on the far side of the carpeting. Not surprising to the former emperor, her feet were also bare. The woman had always enjoyed curling her toes in the plush carpeting when she wanted to relax. Inside her home, Narissa preferred being barefoot anyway; but this room was supposed to be both her office and a place to unwind.

  "Our new friends are here to help shed a light on our questions about their intentions here. I hope that I won't have to step in, but Alus is my home now and I would much prefer that they don't come to ruin it."

  The beautiful young woman crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly to the side in curiosity before asking, "You plan to protect Alus now?"

  "I don't think that you would have been helping me, if you didn't think so," he replied stepping a little closer to Narissa.

  "Someone who professes to be a protector shouldn't treat people the way you do," she said sternly.

  His hand came forward touching the inner edge of the robe where it cascaded over her collar bone. His fingers traced her flesh upwards to the side of her neck. He felt her warmth and noticed Narissa's skin start to redden with his touch. Her breath sucked in with a barely audible gasp.

  "Perhaps it is something that I need to work on. People have always just served me. I know it very few well. Most have just come and gone over the centuries. My magic kept me bonded to those I conquered, but that only made them serve me."

  "You don't know love," Narissa said swallowing nervously.

  "I know of it," he responded. His hand remained beside her neck and the girl bent her head towards it rubbing her cheek along his thumb.

  Evic cleared his throat and complained, "You have guests, remember?"

  Looking back at the other boy, Kolban nodded. He wasn't trying to seduce her, but there had been a tie between him and the woman from the moment he had seen her. At first he had felt like he wanted to own her as he had so many servants over the centuries, but that had been the old Kolban. He was literally a new and different person, but he was also the same.

  His first lives hadn't had love. He had only wished to conquer his old world and then he was imprisoned looking to make his enemies pay. Again it was the old Kolban and as he came closer to death he had to hide. The Dark One as they had called him grew soft with age. Believing death closing in on him, he had seen the world a bit differently.

  The empire continued to fight and push at his enemies, but he grew bored with it all. It wasn't as fulfilling as he had once thought that it would be. Then the dreams had come to him, visions really.

  His world was about to change and then Kolban took the first steps towards something new. He could always go back. He had once before. They had believed him dead and he was, but his magic had brought that Kolban back to life as well. Now he was here and wondered whether this third chance at life had to be the same.

  Turning away from the beautiful girl, Kolban's gray eyes were colder once again. "So let's get comfortable, gentlemen, and you can begin telling me why your people are really here."

  The dark haired man stood before a large mirror. He saw the dark hair and beard, his rich, noble looking clothing and felt like he held an important air. Anyone looking at him should think that he could lead his people. He was intelligent, driven and capable. The leader of New Harbor for over a decade, Count Terris thought of his younger cousin trying to rule his city from some castle far to the north.

  He had been to the black castle long ago. It wasn't that impressive really, but it was old and the heart of an old kingdom. When other cities fell during the Cataclysm, the ruler of that castle had changed his mind too late after helping the Dark One enter this world.

  Terris considered his ancestor to be a fool. Hala could have been the only power in the north, but he had chosen to fight against the Dark One instead. A foolish choice, yet Southwall had formed in spite of him. Old cities and new rose from the destruction, but the war had become a distant memory for those in the south.

  King Alain continued to tax the southern cities telling them that the war wasn't over. He frowned. Another chance to join real power to make his city greater than all others came from that same supposed enemy of Alain. Their deal was too good to ignore, but then some boy had found his way into Ensolus. His new allies had become cut off and some said that their emperor was dead.

  The mirror began to fluctuate as four of his wizards worked together. Two of them had come with the men shouting change. New magic had been brought and old had been discovered to defend New Harbor.

  Gray clouds laced with darkness swirled in the mirrored glass.

  Puffing out his chest a little more, Terris readied to speak.

  A shadowed face began to solidify in the mirror. Even when it became clearer, its skin remained dark. White eyes and silver hair became noticeable. Terris noted the points of the dark elf's ears stuck out of the silver, but the man's strange eyes were solely focused on him.

  "Hello, Count, have you considered my offer?"

  Smiling tightly, the ruler with the dark hair nodded towards the dark elf and replied, "If you honor your part of the bargain, I think we have a deal. When should we begin?"

  "Soon, my warlocks will need to prepare, but soon your enemies won't dare attack yo
u."

  "Good," the count said trying not to grin too eagerly. If his new ally did as he promised, his cousin wouldn't be a problem for his future rule at all. "Let me know how we can help and soon we will rule this country."

  "Why limit yourself to a single country? We can rule so much more, Count Terris. Don't think too small."

  "One step at a time, my friend," Terris said with a smile. "One step at a time."