Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11)

by Donald Wigboldy

  "What are you doing?" Treya tried asking as she watched him checking things that the wizard hadn't remembered anyone thinking to check. Certainly she had never thought to touch the rear of the gateway. It should have been pointless, but the woman had a feeling that Sebastian had come to see that part in particular.

  "You can release the gate now. Thank you," Bas nodded to the wizards and started to walk away already caught up in his thoughts.

  As the glow disappeared making the courtyard seem darker, though the gray of the sky had lightened since the mage had arrived; the two wizards looked at each other.

  Treya asked her companion, who was also from a different guild of magic, "I wonder what that was about?"

  Chapter 3- The Switch

  Sebastian could have made another portal into the room he shared with Ashleen in the Black Smith Inn, but the streets were nearly empty of people and the extra time walking was as important to his need for thinking about the simple facts he had discovered about the portal. On top of that, the fire wizards' courtyard wasn't that far from the original northernmost entry to the inner city. While the inn was only a few blocks of walking to return home anyway, it was still enough to contemplate his questions.

  The idea that the inn had become his home made the mage's lips lift slightly in a smile that felt ironic. Home was a strange and foreign concept to someone who had been taken from his home as a teenager to go to the school in White Hall. The institution, called White Hall, was not only a school for wizards and mages, but was a training center for all branches of the military in truth. Soldiers trained to become officers there as well. Some would remain merely sergeants or foot soldiers, but they would become weapons' masters typically who could return to their homes to train others.

  Those men still had homes. For battle mages and wizards, few returned to their parents to find life the same. They were magical and weapons to most of those outside their schools, even their families. Regular people, even those who had birthed and raised the children before they were called; couldn't see them the same way after they had been discovered to have magic. They didn't understand and feared the power that could be in a single person.

  Wizards who had lost control of their powers called wilders had caused a lot of that fear, but even in control they knew that a fire wizard could raze a village with their power alone. Those without magic couldn't stand against a well trained battle mage either in truth. The amount of magic mattered little. In Southwall, the villagers and townsfolk seemed to understand that, even as they tried to open their homes to the children who had been taken from them.

  For the wizards and mages, returning to the places of their birth felt equally wrong. They were embedded in a world of magic and their companions were those equally a part of that world. Rifts continued to form and those could even be seen within the military.

  Wizards held more power and believed themselves above the battle mages and their lesser magical strength. Soldiers looked to the other two groups as foreign to them, though they fought alongside magic users also. They guarded the wizards against harm after all. Normal men and women with shields and armor had to protect the wizards in their robes, since most couldn't fight with a sword and had no other real defense beyond their magic.

  Then there were the battle mages. Part soldier and trained to master close combat and its weapons, they were lethal with their metal; but mages had magic as well. Most of their magic lent itself to make a battle mage more powerful in a fight. Stone skin and shields protected the mages keeping them safe, while a reflex spell increased their speed and reflexes to the point that normal soldiers appeared stuck in water moving at half speed or less.

  They had few flashy spells like the wizards, but were lethal even so. Standing apart from wizards and soldiers, they protected both with their skills; but could feel disconnected from the others as well.

  His mind had wandered, Bas thought with a sigh. He had made the walk less useful.

  Bending his mind to his chosen task, the owl considered the portal he had just inspected. A strange contrast of the accepting doorway on one side and the solid wall of magic on the other side of the same coin, the portals had been a type of magic hidden from the people of Alus as well as those on North Continent specifically. Like the darkness spell and other magic deemed too dangerous to continue using, portal magic was now in their possession and Sebastian only hoped they weren't letting out a demon that would end up harming more than it helped in the end.

  "Oh, Master Trillon, you are up already," a friendly female voice noted his return to the inn. Helga, the inn keeper's wife though perhaps that was a misconception since her husband was rarely seen helping inside the inn, was a woman of middle age and medium size. She could be a force when she was worked up, however. The woman ran the inn for her husband using their handful of children all of whom were teenagers and nearing the age of marrying to move out to begin raising their own families.

  "You know that you can just call me, Sebastian, Mrs. Alamore," he returned the formality using her married name. Normally, the young man just called her Helga, but maybe it was the early morning time that made both feel the need for a more businesslike form of addressing each other. "I couldn't sleep until I looked into something."

  "More magic, I suppose," the woman nodded understanding the mage enough to see that it was something new from his realm of thinking. "Are you planning on joining Ivol and Aric in the smithy this morning or should I expect you for breakfast today?"

  Most mornings since taking up residence in the inn Sebastian, joined later by Ashleen, would go out to the forge to work on making swords which could hold the power of his magic runes. He had managed to create more Hollow Swords and felt like his success meant that the process was nearly ready to be turned over to others to advance. While Sebastian loved working at the forge, it was to discover what he needed to do to bring the powerful weapons to his people. A Hollow Sword could hold and amplify magic making them excellent weapons for mages in the field.

  The success he had making the swords had helped unlock the power of the runes hidden on his body also. Originally only a keeper of one defensive rune, the battle mage had discovered a way to move and copy the runes of the others who had come with him. He had also learned how to conceal them making the runes weapons that the enemy would discover only when meeting him in battle and at the last minute.

  Other runes he had pulled from rune warriors who had joined as guards to the Grimnal, the ancient immortal king who Sebastian had journeyed to find after the tournament. His real name was Gerid Aramathea, and he was an enemy of the Dark One and father to most of the royal lines on North Continent. Over a thousand years old, the immortal and his family had joined the ancient kingdoms and fought the Dark One hundreds of years before the Cataclysm and arrival of his armies.

  Thinking on all that had happened and all that he had discovered, Sebastian had to admit it had been a very busy and chaotic year since he had been a cadet whiling away his time in White Hall.

  Answering her question, the mage smiled and said, "If you could make me something for breakfast now, I think I may need to concentrate on something different today. Would it be alright if I worked in the back by the stables for awhile, Helga?"

  "Try not to disturb the animals while you are back there, but I can't see why not," the woman said with a shrug watching Sebastian take a place for breakfast.

  Even with his errand, the mage was her first customer. He would have gone up to see if Ashleen wanted anything, but the girl was rarely up before nine. Whether that came from her early life as the daughter of a lord of Kardor or because she was free of the apprentice life of a wizard since her master had died, he wasn't sure. All the young man knew was that the girl liked to sleep in more than he did and enjoyed trying to keep him up late enough to draw him into her bad habits.

  "I will do my best," he replied and watched as a plate of eggs, ham and sliced potatoes slathered in butter was brought to him without putting in an order. />
  While few could predict where his magic would head, those working the restaurant of the Black Smith Inn knew his usual taste for breakfast. A roll of bread and a covered plate of butter were placed alongside his plate before Helga's daughter asked, "Milk and juice?"

  Sebastian nodded adding a thank you readying to eat heavy before setting out for a morning using his magic enough to warrant the big meal.

  Ashleen stepped out of the rear door of the inn onto a stone path wide enough that it might be called a courtyard, if was used in such a way. The Black Smith Inn was a relatively large building with three floors. Nestled behind it was a long stable with room for storage. Ivol's forge occupied a fair size building at one end and smoke could be seen lifting lazily into the air already.

  For some the morning was half over, but for the wilder, who could also be called apprentice or wizard depending on who you spoke with, the day had just begun. Helga had told the young woman that Sebastian was out back, but Ashleen had already pulled back the drapes enough to see him working on something in the courtyard.

  After eating a meal about half the size of Sebastian's, Ashleen stepped outside with a piece of bread in her hand. It had some fruit jelly made out of prapples that she liked and found refreshing. Though Kardor had prapples, she wasn't sure if she had ever eaten jelly with the flavor that this one had. Even noble families with great wealth could rarely discover every great food in the world and this was found at an inn without the great reputation of the fancier ones in the city.

  Her blue eyes looked to the mage working in his short sleeve shirt. It was early enough in the morning that the chill air of the night continued to keep the day cool enough that he wasn't really sweating, but Ashleen could tell that he had been working hard even so.

  Catching sight of her movement, Sebastian smiled at the girl. She hadn't been sure what to wear, but seeing him in the courtyard, Ashleen had been more conservative wearing a short sleeve blouse with buttons and a skirt nearly touching the tops of her knees. After leaving Helga's sight a few of the buttons had mysteriously come undone in order to tease Sebastian with a view of the tan skin of her upper chest and cleavage. She wore slippers, which would be easy enough to kick off if the need for them wasn't there. The stone was cool enough that her feet preferred the warmth they gave for now though.

  "What are you doing?" she asked noting a collection of iron, wood and stones near the mage. One assembly of iron had been bent to form a square, while Sebastian seemed to be working on a second similar piece on a wood table he had dragged from the smithy.

  "Have you ever noticed that portals held by lodestones seem to open and close facing the same way?"

  Giving him a look, and a shake of her head, which asked him why she would possibly have noticed such a thing given that Ashleen had helped power gateways but never actually opened one on her own; the girl didn't even bother voicing her answer.

  Nodding as he understood the look, Sebastian continued, "The first gates I opened, before Palose managed to destroy or hide the rest, opened to a certain size without my thinking about it and faced a certain way as well. The gates made by Darius feel the same when I've used them and I worry that they could be discovered by the enemy the same way that I found Palose's lodestones. If they do that, we only have the hopes that they will send few enough troops for the guards at each locking point to dispatch or defend until help arrives.

  "If the gates do only open in one direction when fixed by the lodestones, then maybe we can make use of that to build in a trap that will make it easier for us to defend each gate."

  Ashleen bit into her bread before shaking her head. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

  Chuckling to himself as the owl realized that he was trying to bring Ashleen up to speed on a thought he had been working on for hours, Sebastian tried to explain, "Maybe I can make a rune that helps focus the direction and that can be flipped. When in default mode, the gate could open sending those who enter towards a stone wall. Using the gate itself as a barrier and adding stone walls to guard the rest, an enemy would be caught between the wall and gate with nowhere to run.

  "If our wizards are taught how to flip the gate to open into the main courtyard, we will know that they are part of Southwall making it easier to figure out who is using the gates as well."

  "So knowing how to use the lock, or whatever, means only friends can enter the main area, while the enemy is in a trap?" the wilder asked trying to confirm if she understood him now. At his nod, Ashleen asked another question, "I thought you barely understood the runes. You copy them and know what they do, but can you make an original one with those properties?"

  Sebastian grinned and shrugged replying, "That's what I intend to find out.

  "Like the words of power that wizards use, I don't really know the language. Wizard's spells I see I can convert to our common language, so I am hoping that maybe they will work in my head to do what I want them to anyway."

  Ashleen's brow furrowed as she walked towards him and countered, "Shouldn't you maybe call on your research wizards in Hala to see if anyone might have a clue if these runes exist?"

  Shaking his head, the mage answered, "I've checked with Maura about the runes in the past and even placed a few on her to play around with to try and figure them out. As far as I know, no one has ever found much about runes in the histories. None of their books have revealed a thing about the specifics at least, so they've been no help.

  "I've figured out more about them since returning to Hala than any of them have in the past couple of months."

  Maura was a research wizard who had gone along with his team on their quest to find the Grimnal. While they had been on the same mission and on the same ship, to say that she was a friend would have been stretching the truth. The woman had argued with him many times along the way contesting if the younger mage should be in charge, but eventually they had come to an understanding at least.

  Now she was his best contact with the research wizards in Hala. Still that only meant he knew her and could ask, but Sebastian wondered how often she was hiding what she knew from him even now. Having trust in her was certainly a difficult proposition and most people might ask why she would fight him now that their mission was complete; but the mage could read people to a point and that made him have that feeling.

  The girl approached his impromptu worktable and pointed at the square of iron rod. "So what do we have here?"

  Picking up the square, Sebastian placed it onto a piece of wood that could act as a stand. He raised a finger telling her to wait without words before placing his hands on either side of the square. Closing his eyes, the mage concentrated pulling his magic into the metal. His mind felt the texture and make up of the metal and began to try exerting his will to create an expanded version of the lodestones.

  His magic intertwined lacing the iron with power that tied it to him in a way that was similar to the stones. Lodestones were really no more than items imbued with the magic of a wizard that he or she could lock onto to form a portal point. With one stone, he could find a place, but the portal could end up facing any which way depending on what way he was facing or maybe just from his thoughts while casting.

  Two stones or a longer item like a staff would focus the portal between the points and let him come and go in a more fixed way.

  Sebastian reached for a staff that fairly glowed with magic to the wilder's eyes. Bairh'loore, a wizard's staff according to ancient descriptions, had been made by the battle mage before he knew about runes at all. When the mage used his magic on it, the length glowed with runes which could easily be seen along its surface. They reached into the shaft bound in the iron which ran through the wood making it a compound staff made of both materials. A gem sat in a cage of iron on top. The mage had somehow drawn the stone from the earth during that experiment and it was like no stone he had ever seen before.

  "Door," he said after stepping back to face towards the stable. The table and the square now glowing with runes
of magic sat off to his side.

  As a glowing portal formed, Sebastian was facing a door as large as that which Ashleen had exited into the rear courtyard. The opposite 'door' was focused within the confines of the square. More a window than a door, as Sebastian put his hand into the door before him; his fingers were able to reappear within the square. No compression occurred or other adjustments to what was passing through in spite of the two sizes of portals.

  "Can you hold this one open for me a moment?" he asked gesturing to the gateway before him.

  Ashleen finished her last bite of the bread before hurrying over to Sebastian. While she understood little of portal magic, the wilder had helped him before. Feeling more like a battery for magic for the mage with his smaller reservoir of power at times, Ashleen had tried to get the feel of the magic before and it simply escaped her. The girl wasn't the only one who could help holding a portal open with her magic without being able to make a gate of her own. Few wizards had been able to grasp the magic making it appear that, like healing, it would seem to be a rare type of casting. Unlike healing, teams could make the gateways together letting those who understood the magic team with others that didn't.

  While the girl held the door open for him, Sebastian moved over to the square and tested a theory. He could see the exit, and like the portal in the fire wizard's courtyard, the back of the gateway looked cloudy and solid.

  Taking the square, he tried to turn the metal frame and found that it was rooted in place. The magic of the portal was locked while Ashleen held the doorway open apparently.

  Sebastian put his magic into the metal again and felt the conflict of magic within the square. Closing his eyes, the mage felt the portal and noticed the way it flowed inside of the iron square. He could feel the runes that held his magic inside the metal as well. Like place holders for his magic, he could feel them channeling the power of the doorway.