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

by Donald Wigboldy

  Scrunching up her face with distaste, Ashleen retorted, "Well, those rules stink. I am glad that Kardor is a bit more open minded; though I suppose they don't want us mothers too young."

  Liam agreed saying, "The country wants to get the most out of their wizards and mages before they are slowed down by children. Most of the women I hear talk about it think that it is probably a rule made by men. When they start on that path, I tend to move out of the line of fire though."

  He laughed as did the others closest to him, who had heard the conversation.

  Serrena complained, "It's a stupid rule! You boys get to go off and sow your wild oats as long as they aren't sown with one of us, but otherwise it is fine. Go find a woman in town and make babies while crossing your fingers that one of the brats will grow up to be another wizard to serve Southwall.

  "A man gets too near a female wizard and they seem to find a reason to transfer us to some other position before anything can happen."

  Frell laughed, "It doesn't take that long, if you really want it."

  Serrena rolled her eyes, though they all knew that the joke was true enough.

  Music started up from the small group of musicians who had taken up their position in the corner.

  "Well, you Southwallers are depressing me with this, so I am stealing Sebastian before he becomes gloomy or worse decides to spend the next week trying to solve this problem as well," Ashleen stated nearly jumping up to grab the mage by the arm.

  Sebastian had barely finished his meal, but knew that he was unlikely to get anymore save for a few drinks when the wilder gave him a break. They both enjoyed dancing, especially with each other; but as the night progressed, they were split up to dance with their other friends. Serrena and Rilena took turns stealing him away making him reassess the fire wizard's feelings for him, though he supposed dancing was still innocent enough.

  During one break, Sebastian found Darius sitting beside him. The high wizard didn't surprise the mage as he spoke his mind, "You know, once you set up this restrictive portal gate, you might consider fixing White Hall's next. They have the gate set up in one of the smaller courtyards near the battle mage building. You probably know the one I mean."

  Sebastian had trained in all of the courtyards. The newer cadets tended to work out in the two courts nearest their barracks. The older students would work inside a large gymnasium reserved for them or use the courtyard north of the Tower of War, the mage's administration tower set in the middle of the school's north wall. If it was the smallest courtyard, it butted up against the school's dining hall on the north and the primary courtyard of the mages to the south.

  It was likely the easiest space to secure and since no one trusted the magic yet, Sebastian was pretty sure it would be the one that the school would choose. He couldn't see them taking away from any of the wizards' guilds outer grounds after all.

  "I suppose it would be the court beside the dining hall. Did they seal the door between the main courtyard and the smaller one?"

  Darius smiled slightly and nodded. The mage had processed through the choices quickly and named the right portal court without a misstep. "They had the earth apprentices fill it in for a training practice from what I gather, though I only visited after they had built up new perimeter defenses around the courtyard."

  Giving a nod, Sebastian asked a question that he had a feeling he already knew the answer to, but asked it just the same. "Why should White Hall be the second priority after Hala? I would think securing the other guardian cities would be more important than the school."

  Darius chuckled, "Well, that is true, but shouldn't you make sure that the new students are safe? They are just children and learning how to use their magic. You know, like your sister, Katya."

  "Is she doing well?" the mage asked watching the dancers instead of looking at the high wizard, who he could tell was teasing him with the idea. His little sister had been on the verge of turning into a wilder, but unlike Ashleen, Katya's power was that of diplomacy. Unfortunately, unlike the polite name of the school of magic, a wilder with the power to coerce or break minds had little to do with diplomacy.

  He had seen Katya's power go out of control twice. First, she had influenced their father after she threw a tantrum making him run out into the snow. It had frightened their father making him send Katya with Sebastian. She was destined for White Hall, but the second tantrum was worse. Her power had affected dozens of people over a much larger range. Sebastian had narrowly avoided being a victim of her power directly, but they had been attacked by a mob unable to stop themselves from crushing the two hidden behind one of his mage shields.

  Darius had stepped in stifling her magic and containing it while releasing her victims. It was then that his sister realized the true danger she was becoming. It was also nearly the last time he had seen Katya before leaving for his voyage that had lasted months.

  The high wizard along with a few members of his former team were to escort his sister to the school, but in reality it fell to Darius to control her power until she could get to the safety of a school equipped to deal with her burgeoning magic. Since he had returned, Sebastian had been too busy to go to White Hall. He also figured that she would have enough to deal with just learning to master her power.

  "I have only seen her once since dropping Katya off at the school, but she seemed well. She still wears a charm to contain her magic, but that is to be expected of a wizard with the power your sister holds."

  The high wizard's lips started to smirk and he added, "Have you heard of the dragon magic brought to the school from one of the other students yet?"

  "What do you mean dragon magic? I have never heard of it before," he confessed.

  "But you saw the che'ther in their human forms at the tournament, correct?"

  "You were at the same match I was at when Collin dueled a girl whose amulet was knocked free making her into a dragon inside the ring," Sebastian replied. A girl with copper colored hair had been labeled a wizard of Mar'kal, the city of dragons and gargoyles. Like he had said, during her match with Collin, the amulet had been knocked from around her neck causing the girl's magic to release her che'ther form. Large enough to be outside the confines of a twenty foot battle circle, the dragon had been disqualified.

  "The che'ther could only participate by becoming human size, so they adopted a human form using their magic. From what I have heard, dragon magic lets them fly like the gargoyles and uses magic that is outside the usual elemental magic," the high wizard said giving him the information he had heard about it.

  "Your sister wasn't content with just learning diplomacy magic apparently. She told me that she had learned to fly by using the dragon magic."

  The wizard glanced to the young man seeing if his interest had been peaked and added, "It might be a helpful bit of magic for battle mages fighting the emperor's forces as well, I would think."

  Sebastian grunted at the wizard's trying to bait him into going to White Hall. "Flying would certainly be a helpful piece of magic with the emperor's new creatures around. Did you hear that he has started using giant shrikes to attack the nomads?

  "It is just a matter of time before the Dark One creates enough of the monsters to attack Southwall. The wall will be useless once the enemy can fly right over it. He nearly succeeded in destroying the Two Towers just using Palose and his portals. Another enemy capable of attacking the defenders on the wall or opening gates behind our lines could be the end of us in a battle."

  Darius nodded and admitted, "Then it is a good thing that you have reason to go to White Hall then. Maybe the owl can finally learn how to fly as well?"

  Giving the wizard another nod, the two men lapsed into silence. Sebastian was glad enough to see Ashleen as the girl came to draw him back to the dance floor and end their conversation.

  Chapter 6- Gate Mage

  "Come on, sleepy head," Sebastian encouraged the blonde lump as Ashleen rolled away from the mage when he tried to get his assistant up for the ch
ore they had for the morning.

  When the girl had truly become a hater of early mornings, he wasn't quite sure. Bas remembered traveling in the winter with her, though Ashleen had been in a carriage for the trip from Falcon's Keep to Windmeer. While it meant that the apprentice hadn't needed to ride horses, the mage couldn't believe that she had rested that much on the trail running between the two guardian cities.

  Their escort duties had followed her lord's schedule, which didn't include rising early most mornings; but they were up at a reasonable time.

  After traveling to White Hall, his team had separated from the Kardorian lord's caravan as he trained at the school for a time before heading to the tournament. Ashleen probably was on a similar schedule, but Sebastian saw nothing of her habits until they reunited at sea. Traveling on the ship left everyone with odd habits of sleeping.

  Sebastian and some of the others still found ways to train to keep themselves occupied aboard ship. They weren't sailors and could pitch in only so much without getting in the sailors' way on the deck. Ashleen tried to learn portal magic late in the trip like the rest, but again no one really followed any sort of schedule while at sea.

  "Five more minutes," Ashleen grumbled from her pillow.

  He pulled back the sheet. If it were winter and with a few layers of blankets, the change in temperature would have certainly encouraged the girl to come awake; but summer was winding down and the air in the room was comfortable.

  "We can't wait five minutes for you," he said swatting her butt and heard a muffled yelp from the pillow. It was the most padded of her body to receive the good natured wake up call, and Sebastian smiled slightly at the feel of her as well. "I've already bathed and dressed. We need to get downstairs and eat before tackling this new gate set up."

  Turning her head, the girl's right eye opened glaring at him with crystal blue annoyance. "That's your problem. You're the one who volunteered to make it."

  "And you chose to be my apprentice, so you volunteered because you are following me."

  "I resign," she replied but rolled to sit with her legs dangling from the mattress. Stretching her arms over her head, Ashleen continued, "Besides I was your smith's apprentice. How does this qualify as apprentice work?"

  "We'll be working with metal and runes just like the swords."

  The mage's face looked away from the girl as she cutely yawned before slipping from the bed to stand. One step closer to being ready for the day, Sebastian was already thinking of the task he had taken for himself.

  He had never worked a frame as large as they had planned for Hala. It would be sixteen feet long and ten feet high. The measurements had been determined by guessing at what would need to be moved through a portal.

  While most of the time the size would be overkill, the idea was to allow for large loads moved by carts. Sebastian had never seen a cart or carriage near ten feet high, but he supposed that was why they had chosen such a height. It was unlikely ever to be challenged and anything they could conceive of should fit through the height. Even the Dark One's largest beasts, the armored viles could walk through meaning that the emperor's warlocks wouldn't know that they were walking into a trap. Too small and they could possibly be stopped by a size restriction like the staff trying to push through a smaller hole.

  "Can you make a gate that size?" the girl asked as she threw her top onto the bed followed quickly by her bottoms. She no longer worried over what he saw. It was a tease trying to get him to finally take her on one hand and the familiarity she had with him on the other.

  This wasn't anywhere near the first time he had seen her naked and the young man had become almost used to it, though Sebastian had to admit that she was very beautiful. They had decided to take their relationship slowly, well at least limiting it to sleeping with each other or kissing but no more.

  Ashleen was the one who wanted to finalize the relationship. She knew that he had been with his last girl friend and wanted to be as close, but that was only physical in his opinion. Though that had started from magic's influence, he and Yara had continued to be together for quite awhile. Then it had ended and the mage was left wondering why.

  That confusion made him want to wait to figure out whether he and Ashleen should have a close relationship. A battle mage's life meant often leaving friends and homes. A closer relationship like lovers had him worrying over having to leave her again.

  As she dressed in knee length shorts of brown and a light blue blouse, Sebastian mused aloud, "It's all magic. Size shouldn't be a problem for it to work the same as the smaller models.

  "The trick is just handling the lengths and figuring out how best to mount them into the new walls. Earth wizards should be able to make it easier, but there is still a lot I haven't dealt with up until now."

  Ashleen slipped on a pair of short boots. The tops were fairly loose to allow them to slip on and off, but they were tougher than the casual slipper like shoes the female wizards often wore. Ashleen's taste in shoes seemed to be switching between her boots and the slippers she liked to wear for dancing.

  "This height will be well above anyone's reach, Bas. Will you assemble it on the ground and use poles to lift it into place? I'm barely half the height of what you decided to make. I certainly can't reach that height easily," the girl complained as the couple exited the room to eat a quick breakfast.

  "The earth wizards are supposed to build walls and finish them after the gateway is in place. We will have to figure out how best to lift it into place, but probably building it on the ground would be the easiest way to make it."

  Sighing at the thought of all he needed to do to make the gate and its lock, Sebastian wished he had let Ashleen keep him in bed to avoid the problems the owl would inevitably find working on something for the first time.

  Hilda noticed the couple as they descended the stairs and smiled. Greeting Sebastian and Ashleen, she received smiles in return.

  "We have a lot of work to do this morning, Hilda," Sebastian said as they sat, "so we'll need a good breakfast to hold us for awhile, but could you assemble one of your work baskets for us also."

  "You've taken to calling them work baskets now?" the owner questioned with a smirk. "I am not sure if I should be offended or take it as a compliment that you enjoy what we lovingly put in a basket to try and keep our wizards fully supplied for the day?"

  "Lovingly?" Ashleen questioned knowing the words were a joke. "Do I need to warn your husband about this? And I can't think of a better term for a basket of food unless you just want to call it a food basket."

  Barking a quick laugh, the older woman retorted, "I don't think Ivol would believe anything was amiss anyway. The man has his forge and I think the rest of the world works as it will around him.

  "As to love, I kind of look at you more like a couple of my kids with you two living here so long."

  Ashleen giggled and pointed at the inn keeper saying, "I've seen you and Mr. Alamore on the dance floor. I don't think the forge is on his mind when he is with you."

  Blushing slightly, the dark haired woman looked unsure how to reply at first. She was saved by her daughter carrying a tray of food for the couple. Like Hilda had said, the two had been there long enough that the servers knew what to bring them. The kitchen made limited types of food, but still Sebastian in particular always ordered the same thing anyway.

  "Well, perhaps you are right, Ashleen. We didn't wind up with so many children because he could only think of a forge at night," Hilda laughed embarrassing her daughter.

  "Mother!" the girl protested as she backed away towards the kitchen.

  Ignoring her daughter, Hilda decided to steer the conversation away from what she and her husband did at night. "So you two will be busy today. Are you working in the forge? Ashleen doesn't usually get up this early for metal working unless there is something important to do."

  "We have work to do for the city actually, though I will still be working with metal. I just don't need to use a fire to work with it
this time."

  The inn keeper looked at him with a stare that seemed to have more understanding of what he did in the forge. "With your magic, I suppose that you don't truly need a forge to do the work that you do. My Ivol says that you use the fire, but that often times you let your magic take over to finish a sword that would have been unimpressive otherwise, well at least in the time you spend on finishing the weapons."

  "The fire is still a good tool to use to learn," the mage agreed without committing to her words. "Magic can do a lot, but some things are best done using the strength in one's arm and a hammer."

  "Well, I'll let you build your strength for whatever you two face then," the woman stated leaving them to eat.

  "I wonder what Ivol tells her of your work?" Ashleen questioned quietly. They weren't afraid of anyone finding out exactly, but the battle mage had tried to keep his work from being dragged out across the city. A battle mage creating magic swords was likely to draw attention and much of it would likely be negative.

  "I'm not too worried about it," the young man replied. "Ivol knows that I have made swords, but not what they can do. Though I doubt he talks about it beyond his wife."

  "A woman who runs a restaurant and inn sees a lot of people. He doesn't need to talk to anyone beyond her for the nature of your experiments to spread across the city. You don't need lords and rich men coming to you asking for a fancy sword, do you?"

  "It would be an interesting possibility for a different line of work. Maybe I should stop being a battle mage and just make swords for rich men so I can take the money and live in peace?"

  Her face took the idea a little more seriously than he intended as Ashleen replied, "If we could live in peace like that I would gladly be your apprentice, but I doubt that you can stop being a battle mage any easier than I can stop the connection between me and the energy in the ground."