Battle Mage: Winter's Edge

by Donald Wigboldy

  Rilena argued to be gentle. Druick and Nereith volunteered to try some of their growth magic which was similar to the healer magic of the yellow robes. Ashleen bit her lip wanting to chastise her mentor on his rough treatment of her friend. In the end, all the arguing was a useless endeavor as Deiclonus stepped back already finished with his work.

  Pink scars that looked weeks old replaced the fresh wounds. All the onlookers looked on in surprise and quickly commented on his work.

  Their words of praise went unnoticed by the patient, however, as he lapsed back into sleep.

  Morning came soon enough for the travelers, especially for someone who was recovering from several wounds. Sebastian vaguely recalled being fed some broth and drinking water brought to him by Rilena and Ashleen. A padded mattress was under him as well, though he didn’t remember being placed on it. The girls had slept on either side of him during the night, though it could have been anyone for all he noticed in his daze of exhaustion.

  Breakfast was eaten with the dawn. The battered mage though tired and sore, was much of his usual self once awoken.

  “You look better today,” Ashleen stated and the others nearby all agreed. Sebastian wondered how bad he must have looked the previous night to have so many emphatic looks.

  “I feel better,” was his brief reply.

  Deiclonus moved closer and warned, “While your wounds are closed, remember my magic isn’t that of a healer’s. I can merely seal the wounds to prevent blood loss and hopefully no infection will affect you. Anything broken inside will still need to be set. Does any bone feel out of place, lad?”

  “I may have cracked a rib or two,” the young man admitted feeling for the guilty bones gently with his fingers. “It could have been worse though. I did fall off of a cliff or two, after all.”

  There were chuckles at that. Sebastian smiled accommodatingly. He knew that it was more of an understatement than the others even realized and he was indeed lucky to have so few broken bones.

  “Quite a bit of luck there!” Lord Romonus declared loudly as he joined the area to gather a second helping of a breakfast that had been put together by the soldiers. Sebastian looked at the man thinking that Romonus probably didn’t remember any of the names of those guarding him. “You must be both lucky and strong in magic, Falcon Sebastian,” he added refuting the falcon’s thoughts at least as far as he was concerned.

  Nodding, the mage confirmed, “I was pretty lucky. The fighting was so intense that I never realized a cliff was behind me until it was too late and I was falling. I barely had the time to place my stone skin armor in place before I hit the ground.”

  “Sebastian’s being humble,” Rilena stated. “He’s very good with magic. In fact, he’s created more spells than anyone I know. He’s as good as any wizard in my opinion.” The words left her mouth in admiration, but almost as soon as they did she cringed realizing that perhaps it was unwise to tell a near stranger of your country’s strength. Not too mention, that Sebastian was one of the most important mages to her particular guild thanks to his continued ability to translate new magic for them.

  The ambassador’s eyes lit up briefly with a look that Sebastian caught even if no one else had. It was a look that worried him for some reason, though the man had done nothing overt to elicit such a feeling. His words were no less incriminating as Romonus added, “Well, then his skill should be commended as well.” He smiled a politician’s grin.

  The moment ended quickly as the man went back to his bed to sit on the edge and eat as the others went back to their conversations. Talk of the remaining trip came to the fore for most of them. Two days of travel still lay ahead at best speed. Their worst case scenario involved a winter storm and more snow which could slow them indefinitely.

  Thankfully, despite their worrying, the worst was already behind them. The snow, though deep, was not added to from any new storm, while the water mages made things even easier using their magic to manipulate the white powder into strong ice, rippled enough to leave traction so that horses and carriage were able to move at a brisk walk rather than a slow crawl. The magic was tiring, but spread between the two wizards; they were able to last throughout the day doing the work.

  Moving faster thanks to the wizards, the travelers were joyous as they were finally able to leave the harsh mountain wilderness and hills behind them. Following the final miles of road, they found even less snow as they neared Windmeer and its outlying towns and villages. Apparently, the mountains had managed to capture most of the winter snowfalls sparing the land on their far side the full brunt of the northern weather’s handiwork. Finding less snow to deal with, the water wizards no longer needed to exert themselves and the caravan was able to move almost effortlessly compared to the previous few days’ hard travel.

  Sebastian looked on the castle looming over its village with a certain familiarity. This stone fortress was guardian to this part of the wall and had been almost like home though he had lived there for less than half a year. While their journey was far from over if the ambassador planned to continue on to Halas, it was still a haven where everyone could get a warm place to sleep and eat.

  He wondered if they’d given away his room yet.

  The town of Windmeer was quieter than he remembered, but the harsh, northern, winter weather tended to drive the people of Southwall inside unless they had good reason to be outside braving the elements. Still, there were vendors bundled up with their scarves and coats trying to sell to those willing to come out and buy. Seeing the carriage and those riding beside it, they called out to the travelers hoping to get a new sale, but the caravan was not buying this day.

  The long, hard trip had worn nearly all of them down. With the cold, the distance and all the riding, it had all added up leaving most of them unwilling to even acknowledge the calls, however, and the train continued through the streets straight to the stone walls of the keep north of the village.

  An odd blend of two castles, the old and the new had become one. Misshapen from taking the older hexagonal shaped keep and attaching what had actually been a second smaller fortress, Windmeer was still intimidating and powerful. It had survived more than a hundred years of war with the Emperor’s dark armies and its history actually predated the great wall to the north. In fact, the double citadel had parts built well before the cataclysm and dated back more than three hundred years.

  Wars of old, dark hordes of the past century and even the subversive attack staged within her walls less than a year ago by the Dark One had never broken her spirit of will. The walls still stood though the previous year had visited a lot of damage to the inside of the north keep. A traitor had formed a mystical gate that had brought hundreds of dark creatures inside the fortress unseen and from the bowels of the castle they had fought the defenders of Windmeer inside their own home. With the return of Sebastian and the remaining army that had been fighting in the field, the Southwallers had persevered over the horde despite a great cost.

  Many innocent people had died that day. Sebastian himself, though not deluding himself into believing that he was innocent of shed blood, had nearly died that day as well. The Dark One had even fooled him into letting the traitor inside their walls. A friend lost in the field for a moment, returned alive but was in fact animated by the dark magic of those north of the wall.

  Sebastian lowered his eyes in thought. For all the good memories of his time in Windmeer, that one still haunted him. There was a final showdown with the shade of his friend, Palose, and two enemy, magic wielding warlocks. A mass of goblins and orcs had been sent at him for good measure, and the mage had found himself alone deep inside the castle. Even a battle mage could fail, they were still human after all, and he had lost the fight that day in grand fashion.

  “You don’t look very happy to be here,” Rilena mentioned from beside him. “I would think you’d be happy to be back and we’re about to find ourselves some shelter after all.

  “I don’t know about you, but I am tired of being co
ld.”

  Sebastian summoned a smile. “Just thinking about the fight last year, but sorry. You’re right. It’ll be good to get inside and get warm.” He didn’t mention that he had his windshield in place that helped keep snow from touching him as well as keeping much of his heat trapped near him. The cold wasn’t as harsh that way, but even so, the battered mage was ready for an end to this leg of their trip.

  As they entered through the west gate and proceeded to surrender their horses to the stablemen, a swarm of people began to come out of the castle to greet them as well. It was unexpected and as Sebastian noted the faces of those arrayed in front of him, he was pleasantly surprised to see so many friendly faces.

  He quickly regretted dismounting his horse, however, as a giant of a man dressed in the black and brown of a falcon picked him up in a bear hug.

  “Bas!” the giant greeted him. “The mizard has returned. I am glad to see that you are safe, lad.”

  Gasping in pain at the treatment, the young falcon felt every broken and bruised rib excruciatingly.

  “Put him down, Rathmor!” a familiar female voice snapped at the giant. “He may be safe, but I don’t think he is unharmed and your ridiculous strength is practically killing him.”

  The chastened giant grunted in surprise before noting the pained expression on his young friend’s face.

  “Sorry, Bas, I didn’t realize. Are you alright?” Rathmor asked as he set Sebastian down much more gently than he had picked him up.

  In a flurry, a pair of yellow robed figures rushed to the injured falcon’s side. Four green eyes took him in as both women laid hands on him before closing their eyes a moment. Sebastian knew the familiar feel of their magic entering him. These two he knew very well.

  The older woman, only ten years his elder, was the wizard Deyla. Silver hair made her look slightly older at first glance, but her face didn’t appear that old at all. In fact, she was still quite pretty, he thought. Well, for her age anyway, but she was nothing compared to the younger woman beside her.

  Mentored by Deyla, Yara had similar green eyes, but her hair was blond and nearly as yellow as the robes she wore. This was the girl he had lost his heart to last summer.

  The women looked at each other and Yara reported, “One broken rib and one cracked. No internal damage beyond that at least. His cuts were cauterized and partially healed with magic, though it’s not a practice I’ve seen before.”

  As Deyla nodded, Deiclonus moved closer to the healers with a polite bow of his head and answered, “I am afraid that is my sect’s version of field medicine. Perhaps it’s a little blunt but it tends to help more than it hurts.”

  “A bit of kardorian patch work?” Deyla questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Interesting. I wouldn’t have thought a fire wizard would have even come up with such a spell.”

  With a bit of surprise at the woman’s ability to call out his specialty of magic, Deiclonus received the words as a compliment giving another brief nod of acknowledgement.

  Yara interrupted. “I will take Sebastian inside and tend to him, Deyla. In fact, standing out in this cold longer than we have to won’t make anyone feel better. Perhaps we should all head inside?”

  Sebastian smiled at Yara’s taking charge. She was actually the youngest one of his friend’s to greet him. In fact, she was not even half of Rathmor’s age; though the older falcon could oft times show a youthful side to him. Deyla also smiled at her apprentice’s quick move to take possession of the mage. Sebastian always wondered if the wizard had realized just how close the two had become last summer.

  The couple had been careful, since Yara was still an apprentice and had more rules against her than he did after his promotion. The most crucial rule involved how close a relationship a female apprentice could actually have with a man. They were to remain pure. It was a double standard within her order, he gathered, since males were not under such a rule. As a healer’s apprentice, Yara would be more easily found out if she had tried to get too intimate with a man, since their magic revealed so much physically.

  It was even believed that female wizards would lose much of their strength during the act and, of course, an apprentice becoming pregnant would fully ruin them. They would consider it throwing away your career and wasting their magic. A woman’s powers could be compromised in such a way and of course having a child would draw away all of her attention from the wizard’s guild and their teaching.

  The two of them had been very careful to keep their relationship appearing to be just good friends in public. That they had given each other their hearts, if not their bodies, was still hidden Sebastian was fairly sure. He had also been gone for awhile now, however, and perhaps Yara had said something to her mentor that he did not know about yet.

  As Yara pulled him away, he heard some of his greeters voicing their complaints about losing him so soon after going out to meet him. Then Deyla’s voice raised up telling them that tending to his injuries was more important than a need for a greeting. Once he was healed they could talk to him all they wanted.

  Sebastian smiled and said quietly, “I guess Deyla hasn’t lost her touch.”

  Giggling, Yara replied, “All healer wizards learn to deal with people, those who are injured and those who aren’t. It’s easy for people to forget the person is in fact hurt. You would think it a simple concept, but when they are being inconvenienced by having to wait for you it’s often our job to remind them. Healing takes time, though with one of us around it does go a bit faster.”

  Her brow wrinkled in concern as she asked, “Of course, the one group we can’t save you from is the ravens and lords of the castle. Do you need to report to them right away?”

  Her right hand had entwined with his left almost instantly and her other held to his upper arm in half a hug. With his free hand he patted the one on his arm and said cheerfully, “Thankfully, no. I didn’t lead the group here. That was Falcon Markun’s job and Wizard Druick was with me in the enemy stronghold, so he can answer most of that part. I’ll probably get called in later though.”

  “Enemy stronghold? What have you been up to without me to watch over you, Sebastian Trillon? It’s winter. What trouble could you get yourself into during winter? I assume it has something to do with how you hurt your ribs.”

  He smiled. “Trouble finds me or I find it regardless of the weather, I guess. I wasn’t sure if you had heard. We stumbled across a new enemy fortress in the mountains that found its way south of the wall somehow.

  “We sent word to Windmeer and Falcon’s Keep about it, but perhaps those in charge don’t want it made known to the general public so please don’t spread the news until they are ready. When we went to check out some suspicious activity, the enemy ambushed us. The others were captured and I fell over a cliff fighting off some new werelings that were more of a mountain cat rather than the wolf-like ones I’d seen before. They fought using their claws and teeth much more effectively than the wolves,” he added thinking of the many cuts on his body that the healers already found.

  “Oh my,” Yara replied in half a whisper. “I can’t believe so many of the Dark One’s army managed to slip past the wall. I mean to make a fortress like that, there must be quite a few that snuck through.”

  “After last year’s surprise inside of Windmeer, I don’t find it as strange anymore. I doubt that Southwall’s wizards have finished figuring out the portal magic that Palose must have used to bring so many enemies into the castle, even after all these months.”

  Shrugging, Yara replied, “I wouldn’t know. I’m still just an apprentice yet after all. The full wizards don’t tend to share that kind of information unless you’re called on to assist them with something. Healer wizards probably wouldn’t even qualify as needed for such an examination.

  “No, the talk of the castle is actually the upcoming Winter’s Edge tournament in Hala.”

  “Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about the king’s tournament. It has been mentioned at Falcon’s Keep a few times. I’m
not sure if the keep is planning to send anyone or not, but I hear that it’s expected to draw challengers from outside of Southwall also.”

  The girl nodded as she pointed at a door on their right. He knew the door to the medical wing well enough after his injuries last summer. “I’d heard that as well. I would assume they mean Marianis, Sileoth and Staron with perhaps Kardor entering also.” She looked somewhat thoughtful and asked, “Are the kardorian wizards planning to compete? Is that why they’re traveling at this time of year?”

  “I don’t think these three were being sent to Hala for the tournament,” Sebastian said as he hopped up on a stool that Yara had gestured to as they entered. A handful of people were inside the large room. Two full wizards in their yellow robes and an apprentice were overseeing two other patients. A soldier sporting bandages around his abdomen, probably from some training accident and another man whose condition he could not judge as easily.

  Only the apprentice glanced to them as they entered the room.

  Yara stepped over to a door covering a large box and opened it revealing bottles of juice as well as some perishable foods. Sebastian remembered the box from his time in the medical wing last year. It was an amazing piece of wizardry conceived of by the water wizards. Four times daily, a wizard or more likely an apprentice would come through and use their magic to reduce the temperature and form ice that never seemed to truly melt. It kept the food and drinks inside very cool and prevented spoiling.

  There were only three such containers in the entire city and all three were located inside the castle. The other two served the kitchens. It was winter now, and the city ice cutters would be cutting and storing ice in special chambers deep underground that would be used during the warm months. The rest of the city kept chilled coolers by using stored winter ice instead for most of the year.

  If the richer people and most likely the more powerful officials had known of the wizard coolers, he had no doubt they would be begging for the school’s wizards to become a refrigeration business. White Hall had better things to do, of course, but the rich wanted what they wanted often despite the needs of the land.