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

by Donald Wigboldy

  Ashleen's magic was starting to cross over as the one holding the gate now. The familiarity between the two made it feel like he was touching her in a way. They had crossed magic used in healing. It was a technique he had first experienced with the wizard who had first taught him how to heal. She had been his first girlfriend and they had discovered that crossing paths while healing was an intimate act.

  Ignoring the feel of the girl as much as he could, Sebastian felt along the metal square until he thought that he felt a weakness in the magic. It was in the upper left corner as the owl faced the square and the mage placed his finger tips of his left hand on the point. An idea for a rune formed in his head. It was hardly that original as it was more or less an arrowhead. The fat end was rounded and the point followed the flow of magic pointing to the exit of the portal.

  Keeping his eyes closed, he envisioned flipping the arrow reversing the flow of the gate. It fought him a bit, but as the rune moved, the feel of the gate changed with it. Once flipped, Sebastian opened his eyes looking for the golden glow of the opening.

  What he saw was the cloudy solid surface of the back of his portal. Quickly moving to check the other side, Sebastian found that he had indeed flipped the gateway. He tried to twist the iron in different directions; but it remained solidly set on the table unable to move.

  "Yes!" he cried enthusiastically.

  Looking over at the table, Ashleen could see the same thing and asked in surprise, "Did you change the portal?"

  "I flipped it around," he said happily.

  "Is it simply switched or is it upside down or twisted now too?"

  Sebastian moved around to the golden side of the square portal and poked his hand through the gate. Gasping as the girl wanted to tell him to stop, her protest halted as his hand protruded through the larger doorway unchanged. Withdrawing it again, the mage nodded to the wizard.

  Releasing the power holding the gates open with his gesture, Ashleen asked, "Did you figure it out the first try? Will this make the lock that you wanted to make?"

  The mage considered her questions and answered, "I think so. If we make gates which limit the size of a door to prevent larger portals from letting the enemy into the area, we can make barriers using the back of the gates as well. The directional rune is enough to turn it, so I would just need to teach those using them how to turn them back and forth."

  "How did you come up with that so quickly?" the girl questioned again as she watched him reach behind the table to pick up a canteen. The water was offered to Ashleen first, but the wilder wasn't winded by the use of power yet. Her reserves were greater than the mage's, though they had noticed he was changing as well. All his work had seemed to create new strength in his body for magic that exceeded his original power. Like he was worked steel folded over for strength, his body when looked at with healing magic was no longer like an average battle mage.

  "I've been considering it for awhile, but I admit that I got lucky that it was close to what I was thinking. Maybe working with the flow of runes and the portal magic put me ahead on this one."

  "Well, it's better than watching it blow up on you from an error this time," the girl chided him in relation to an earlier error in judgment.

  Sebastian's first attempt to create a Hollow Sword from scratch had ended in it exploding with the draw of power from the earth putting him in the hospital. He would have died without Ashleen managing to heal him to a point. The wilder was unlikely to ever manage to be a true healer, but she had managed enough to save him that day.

  Nodding at her joking admonition, the mage took the teasing in stride saying, "I definitely prefer this result to the broken sword, yes."

  His eyes seemed to become distant a moment as he added, "I wonder if I can get this information to Darius? With all the portals he has set up, I'm not sure if he will be in Windmeer these days or not."

  The high wizard had become a friend, collaborator on ideas and a mentor as well. Though they had only spent a little over a week's time together since he had met the immortal wizard, Sebastian felt surprisingly close to Darius already.

  Ashleen brought him down to earth saying, "Perhaps you should finish working on it? Can you say that this will work every time? You managed it once. Who is to say that everything is worked out already?"

  Laughing at her serious tone, he joked, "Well, I think I was saying it works, but you're right. I do have a few other tests that I should do. Are you ready for a morning of hard work?"

  Rolling her eyes at him and giving an exasperated sigh, Ashleen replied, "This looks a lot more comfortable than working in the forge all day in that heat. The weather is pretty nice today. Do you think summer is finally coming to an end?"

  "I can always open the portal to the Grimnal's island if you want a break from Hala. If the ocean breezes are moving, it would be cool and we could swim as well," he said of one of his portals stolen from Palose's list of magical sites.

  "Well, maybe I'll take you up on that, but weren't you the one asking if I was ready to work hard this morning? Have you given up on that already?" she laughed at the mage. The island was a paradise, but they both knew that they should figure out all that was needed for Sebastian's security system.

  "Fine, fine, I guess we should work," he replied throwing up his hands in defeated good humor.

  As the morning lengthened, the two continued to work on the concepts Sebastian had come up with to help secure the portals they would use.

  Chapter 4- Gathering for Change

  Sebastian had been surprised when he had been asked to the king's castle, also called the Grimnal, overlooking the North Sea from the high cliff the city sat upon. He had sent word to Raven Leros, the head of the battle mage corps based in Hala, as well as to the high wizards Culmore and Neferen. The three were not only the magical leaders of Hala, but essentially heads of magic for the entire kingdom. Those who attained the positions of white wizards might become high wizards and those serving the king in Hala led them all as Raven Leros led the other ravens in Southwall.

  That the information he hoped to present was important enough to include all three as well as the head of the city guard, Commander Quelan, and other generals in charge of the northeastern armies guarding the wall, was understood; but surprisingly Bas had heard that King Alain might attend the impromptu little conference addressing the security of the portals. Everyone had heard that he had an idea to help secure the gates in the various cities around the country and a certain amount of unvoiced worry had pushed the leaders to hear him out. It was new magic and Sebastian had already proven by usurping Palose's portals that they weren't a secure system. Placing a portal inside of a guardian city meant creating a vulnerability often within the heart of those fortresses which no one had been entirely comfortable with in the first place.

  Sebastian carried the two metal squares on his shoulder while Ashleen followed him with a few items to help demonstrate his plan. The two had entered alone, but passed quickly through the castle with an escort meant to guide them more than truly worrying over the two as threats to the king. Since Sebastian had met with the king numerous times and often in small gatherings, his clearance was viewed as near that of a personal friend of King Alain.

  The room they found their selves in was quite large and had a pair of tables that he had requested. Ashleen and Sebastian set up the two rune squares about four feet apart on the two tables. With that space available to walk between the tables and squares, the mage thought he could demonstrate what he wanted to get across well enough. A leather ball with a seal strong enough to hold air inside was one of his tools to display the ability of his portal technology. It had gathered stares from the guards seeing the perfect sphere. Most children's toys were stuffed or vaguely spherical though only roughly. Only wizards could create such perfection unlike the artisan's working with the materials they had available. Toys also weren't the biggest worry on the minds of those artisan's.

  "Quite a crowd," Ashleen said quietly as she lo
oked at the assembled guests continuing to fill in the large chamber. There were chairs which had been brought to parallel the two tables. Several feet had been left between them and the tables, but there were enough chairs for about fifty people Sebastian guessed with a quick glance.

  The room seemed to fill in the same segregated way that always appeared to happen when the various branches of the military were involved. The commander of Hala's militia along with a handful of his officers stood before the seats they had chosen, but refused to sit until everyone else had arrived apparently. Whether that was politeness or strategy to avoid sitting with the wrong people, the mage didn't know.

  Sebastian recognized General Idris and another general whose name he did not know surrounded by their aides and officers on the same side as Commander Quelan's people. The non-magical soldiers of both the city and armies in general occupied the right side, while wizards had begun to take over the left. Frowns at their placement from some of the wizards made him think that they would have preferred the other side, but where they sat should truly mean little for such a gathering.

  The high wizards were joined by six wizards of regular rank who Sebastian knew to be from the small collection of wizards capable of using portal magic. Treya and Zeben were there as well, though they looked a bit tired. He assumed that they had been on night duty again. At least two more wizards were probably on duty in the courtyard watching the portal gate even now meaning that there were likely little more than eight wizards in the city capable of making the gateways. It wasn't surprising since Sebastian had a lot of difficulty conquering the spell and was the only one including those from his team of wizards who knew the basics of trying to cast the spell to ever have accomplished the feat. Given that he was the only one of about fifteen wizards and mages aboard that ship, it meant the odds were low among the rest of Southwall's wizards and mages as well and few battle mages had been shown the spell so far.

  It was another spell that was likely to be put on him to teach to the battle mages in an attempt to find more capable of creating the portals, which could turn the war against the emperor significantly and already had in small ways.

  Raven Leros and a few falconi and falcondi surprised Sebastian by taking one end of the rows that the wizards had claimed. The older mage was above the worries of segregation and had been pushing for Sebastian to help bridge the gap as well. A proponent of working together, the younger falcon thought maybe Leros looked to him as the bridge others claimed he could be to unite the wizards, mages and soldiers together.

  The last to arrive were some of the lords involved in supporting the defense of the city and were also some of the financial support of the other groups including the wizards and battle mages. They sat in another set of rows on the far side of the door in front of a raised platform running across the back of the room. Three throne like chairs sat above them and many wondered if King Alain and his wife, Queen Alyanna, would be in attendance as well. The king was a known proponent of magic and had been instrumental in finding the immortal king, Gerid.

  Sebastian stood with Ashleen at his side. The girl had worn a light blue wizard's robe. It was light weight and shorter than an official wizard's robe of Southwall exposing her lower legs from just below the knee, but the girl had complained that she was too warm to wear a full length dress or robe. A silver anklet studded with amethysts shone just above the matching shoes of light blue. It was a piece of jewelry that he had first seen in Falcon's Keep when Ashleen had first flirted with him long before his journey had truly begun. The sight brought back quite a few memories as he waited for the others to arrive to begin his demonstration.

  As the crowd began to settle, they looked to the battle mage regularly wondering what the man known as the owl had thought of this time. A door near the rear of the room opened and several royal guards stepped out of the doorway securing the upper dais. When King Alain exited escorting his beautiful wife, those who had been sitting rose in surprise. Military salutes of hands to chest moved throughout soldiers, mages and wizards alike as many heads bowed to the royal family.

  Before they had made it half way to their chairs, a tall, powerful looking man with gray hair stepped through the doorway as well. Surprisingly he didn't have to duck, but part of that came from the fact that he had once ruled from this castle. Doorways had been customized to let the king of the former country of Marshalla pass without having to duck his head more than a millennia ago, but Gerid didn't look as comfortable wearing his dress attire. The giant had been away from such society for nearly two hundred years before returning from his exile enforced by the emperor's warlocks and their curse spells.

  There were no trumpets or special fanfare as the three royals entered the room to take their seats, but King Alain stood before his chair after giving his wife a hand. Gerid sat as well, knowing that he was more a figurehead than a true king anymore. Like day to his wife's night black hair, the king stood nearly shining in a room lit with lamps brighter than flaming torches. His blonde hair seemed to reflect the warm glow of the wizard lights and his blue eyes sparkled with intelligence as he addressed the mage who had brought them together first.

  "Falcon Sebastian, how is it that we need to keep having meetings that somehow revolve around you? Aren't you supposed to be too young to be causing all this disruption?" the king asked with a smile playing at his lips. There were others, who knew the mage well enough, hiding similar smiles behind hands.

  "I'm sorry, your majesty, but this time it may be less urgent, but just as important. I have been considering the potential threat of our portals being used against us by the enemy. While it was not something brought to me, I have looked at the problem and have come up with a possible solution to our security," Sebastian replied with a tilt of his head towards his king. A bow of the head was probably about due, the mage thought, though he knew little of the protocol of addressing a king. Mages were less regimented in saluting than soldiers, but were stricter than wizards with their recognition of their superiors.

  Alain's eyes took in the mood of the room before asking, "While I am no wizard, I would not have thought that High Wizard Darius would place us in such danger. Would you mind explaining what you mean? Please remember that I am no wizard. Neither are you though, so maybe you can make sense of your accusation?"

  Sebastian felt unsure of how to explain the information without coming off wrong, but tried his best as the mage picked his words in a way that he hoped wouldn't come off condescending. Since the owl had been looking at the problem as an obvious threat, speaking to the king and the others like they should see the problem as evident or they were living in denial was likely to earn only displeasure or worse.

  "If we look at how both Darius and I came to understand portal magic, you'll see our problem. The high wizard learned to cast the spell after taking the remnants of a temporary portal and reconstructing the path to the fortress. It had been used once and let close, yet weeks later, Darius managed to pry it open again.

  "Of course, I hear that Garosh and his people were welcoming of the aid, but the high wizard could have turned the other gates on the Dark One since they most likely went back to his capitol after finishing their attack. We can assume that they guard their portals as well, however, which leads me to the other way we have turned their magic against them."

  The speaker was about to continue, even as he tried to read the faces looking at him for their reactions to his words, when the door most had entered opened behind him. A familiar face and the man he had just spoken of entered followed by a small contingent of men and a dark haired woman. All were well known to Sebastian including seeing that Elzen was among them.

  "Have we missed anything important?" Darius asked brushing at his gray hair. He had shaved and looked more like Sebastian's age than an immortal of about seven hundred years in age. Only his gray hair, which was nearly white in shade, would make anyone think that the man was old. "We received the message and hurried over but the bells in Windmeer are l
ater than they are here with the distance the sun needs to travel."

  In a world where each city took days to reach, the individual towns and cities took care of their own time keeping in relation to the sun as it affected the region. Windmeer was weeks away by horse and the sun reached it a few hours later, if Sebastian had to guess. He supposed, if the world was about to become smaller where wizards and mages could cross thousands of miles in a blink, some of that may have to change or be organized into a more formal time keeping.

  King Alain acknowledged the wizard from Eirdhen with a smile and slight bow of his head. He was a king and the other man a wizard, but before an immortal like Gerid or Darius, what was a king who could only look forward to living perhaps a hundred years before disappearing into time on the pages of a tome or scroll.

  "Falcon Sebastian was just telling us that your placement of portals inside the city makes us vulnerable to attack. I believe so far, using your appropriation of the portal to our new ally's fortress proves that the enemy can use our gates against us; though that involved having a starting point inside of Windmeer to use."

  The king's eyes returned to the battle mage and added, "I suppose he was about to explain how the Dark One could do the same without the previous use of an old gateway."

  Darius smiled back at the king and drew Alain's attention back as he replied, "Well, I suppose the mage has a good point. Don't mind us, Sebastian. Why don't you continue, unless King Alain has more to say on the point?"

  Raising his eyebrows in question to the king, who had continued to stand, as if he was determining if this was going to be worth sitting down, or if he would walk out again leaving it to his aids; Sebastian took his cue from King Alain even as four men wearing foreign green or brown clothing sat with Darius and the two falcons accompanying him. Elzen and their friend Rilena followed the man they had been working with since he had arrived in Windmeer months ago.