Battle Mage Broken Empire
By
Donald L. Wigboldy Jr.
Copy Write September 2017
For World Maps and More Go To:
https://www.facebook.com/BattleMageATaleOfAlus
Other books by Donald L. Wigboldy Jr.
From the Tales of Alus series:
The High King: A Tale of Alus
The Emperor’s Shadow War
Battle Mage: A Tale of Alus
Battle Mage: Winter’s Edge
Battle Mage: The Lost King
Battle Mage: Dragon Mage
Battle Mage: Dark Mage
Battle Mage: A Hero’s Welcome
Battle Mage: Forging New Steel
White Hall
Battle Mage: Winds of Change
Battle Mage Visions
Battle Mage Bonds
Other stories from Alus:
The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus
Slaves to Magic: A Tale of Alus
Modern Tales:
Voran the Night Guardian
Standing Before Monsters
The Mermaid’s Chest
Beyond the Nebula Series:
Technomancer
War Wolves (coming soon)
Prologue- The Day the Emperor Died
Warning bells echoed through the cave city of Ensolus waking those who hadn't awoke with the light of dawn, though inside the cave only the western end could see the golden rays of the sun outside. Those who lived in Ensolus were used to the shifting light and shadows cast by the massive supporting spires. They weren't used to these bells of warning, however.
The virtually impregnable fortress city of the emperor had never truly been tested by its enemies, but that was because the magic and armies of the ruler called the Dark One had pushed even the most stalwart behind their walls and river defenses or conquered them. To think that anyone would dare strike at the cave city guarded by the mountain and multiple towered outer walls was ludicrous to those who lived there, yet the bells had sounded a few times in recent history telling of distant threats reached by portal magic. Ensolus, however, remained untouched as the empire fought its war in distant lands.
As the bells continued to sound, explosions of magic could be heard coming from the south. Looking for the source of the noise, those to the north of the emperor's spire could still make out the crashing of stone buildings and towers.
Warlocks and wizards advanced from their fortress in the far north walking down three streets in groups of twenty or so separated from the next one behind it. Hundreds of magic users might not look as impressive to those without the ability to read their power; but for those of the enemy with magic waiting for them, they could feel their auras like lights in the shadowed streets. Moving in the shadows above them, others mirrored the wizards' advance.
Their front lines spotted barriers of stone arrayed before them and opened fire with their spells. Black shields and blue rose to counter the barrage of fireballs which was the starting spell of most wizards entering battle. Buildings lit up with the orange and yellow flames until shields of night absorbed their power surprising the empire's wizards. Their enemies were equipped with the night spells of the Dark One's warlocks immediately removing their edge in this confrontation.
Rays of brilliant light countered the darkness shredding the shields into wisps of smoke as the young warlocks had been trained to do behind their protective school walls. Their shields were formed to protect the apprentices, but the unknown enemy copied their attacks destroying the night shields just as easily. Wind, fire, water, stone, darkness, and light began the game for superiority as the shadows on the roof waited to see what this enemy force would do.
Battle mages surged from behind the stone barriers while the wizards continued to wage war with their magic in the streets. Once the distance between the two forces disappeared and the two sides engaged, the first groups of warlocks discovered the power of those most believed to be lesser than they. Mages often had a tenth of the power of a full wizard or warlock; but trained to be weapons, the battle mages were the humans' ultimate soldiers. Trained in magic and steel they toppled the first line of the warlocks in seconds. It wasn't surprising to the shadows watching from above. These were mostly the novices and apprentices too green to join the war in Litsarin far to the south. They were still learning to use their magic properly and even the idea of using a sword was barely comprehended by the veteran warlocks in their midst. Their magic was supposed to save them, but the secret of their weakness was on display as well.
"Now. Attack while they believe that they have the advantage," the lead shadow ordered the others into motion quietly as men dressed in black moved to obey his command.
Those with magic leaped from the roof raising powerful controlled winds to slow their drop letting the black armored wizard hunters land gently enough though their speed was still significant as they attempted to surprise the mages engaged with the apprentices. Soldiers, without magic, used ropes to slow their fall landing behind the others almost as swiftly. Heavy boots of trolls and orcs clad in the same armor joined the rush.
While the warlocks' school might appear an easy target, two barracks of trained warriors had been placed to either side. They were lighter manned than normal as the war to the south had drawn away much of their force to help stop their enemies there who had suddenly seemed to grow more powerful of late. They had begun to push back after a stalemate of months had formed a line on a distant, vast island.
Torva formed a spell of darkness with his left hand while drawing his black sword with his right. A battle mage turned towards him crying out warning to his fellows at the sight of the black armored foes. For him it was a little too late as Torva manipulated the shadows with his left hand. It was a spell that surprised the mage in front of him as night serpents reached out to snare the mage.
As he was pulled in, the mage kept his head even as his legs and right arm were enveloped in the shadow snare. A shield held the shadows back for a moment longer while the blue magic shriveled as it was drained by his darkness.
"Light!" the mage exclaimed sending a beam of bright light through the blue shield into the writhing tendril. Like the night shields, the serpent of darkness disappeared like smoke and the mage cut with the light as he swept it down at the night holding his legs.
It freed the man, but the wizard hunter was prepared for even this. His black sword lunged for the mage's stomach. It would be a quick kill or least a grave wound that would deal with his opponent soon enough, he believed.
Orange runes glowed beneath his enemy's clothing. The mage wasn't even wearing armor, the hunter realized suddenly. Some wizard hunters also believed light weight leather armor let them be much quicker than those clad in metal. Their speed was used to keep them safe, but Torva had thought these mages even more brazen until the sword was deflected by this new magic.
Stepping back quickly, the hunter mumbled a second spell. Magic resistance or not, there were other ways to kill a man.
The battle mage attacked having freed his body from the snaring serpents. He had felt the sword and his runes had responded even faster than his mind. His eyes had barely seen the attack coming. The shadows were distracting and the speed of Torva's sword was exceptional. It would have been a kill if not for the new runes brought to Southwall recently.
A black cloud was breathed out from Torva as if he spewed darkness from his mouth as the battle mage closed the distance. While the mage's sword slashed striking his leather armor; the cloud enveloped the man's head.
Torva knew that the sword had done damage to his specially treated armor, but it had been necessary to be close enough for his spell to work.
No
runes could save the Southwall mage as the darkness was breathed in through his mouth and nose. The magic pushed into his ears and entered the tear ducts of his eyes strangling the man quickly. He could no longer see, hear or breathe. The sword dropped to the ground while the battle mage's hands reached for his neck and face. With nothing to grasp, the mage was already dying before he knew it.
Torva stepped back as his opponent dropped to his knees still fighting for a breath that would never come. The combat in the street had shifted in moments, but not for the better.
Trolls and orcs in their treated armor struggled and fell more often than not; while the young wizards of Ensolus were beginning to litter the street with their bodies. His eyes looked to the south where the enemy wizards guarded by soldiers in light armor continued to harass both warlocks and hunters. With the soldiers and battle mages protecting them exceptionally well, their powerful magic could harm both kinds of opponents. The apprentices and veteran warlocks alike had too many talented swordsmen distracting them to mount a strong defense against the invaders, while their black armor was countered by the use of heavy stones or light magic striking his hunters causing openings for their swords to strike.
A shorter, slim battle mage confronted half a dozen talented wizard hunters all alone not too far from him. Torva watched as the confident warlocks with their weapons and magic attacked him, but the battle mage moved like a devil. Spikes attached to barbwire appeared from the skin of his right arm while an orange rune shield defended his left side. Not even appearing to cast any verbal spells, the smaller mage tore into the hunters casting them aside like they were talentless novices.
"Fall back!" he ordered into the chaos of magic and battle. Whether the other wizards and hunters truly heard him, they all followed his shout. The enemy allowed them to retreat surprisingly as they continued to stand their ground.
Torva's eyes went to the thick spire of the emperor. A powerful aura grew more noticeable as another battle of a kind that would have humbled the warlock was fought inside of the fortress. Somehow the enemy had managed to enter there as well then. The emperor's power was enough to subdue an entire empire and bend hundreds of thousands to his will. Surely nothing could defeat him, the squad leader believed.
Black armored wizard hunters formed a formidable wall between the remaining wizards and the unmoving enemy as they moved closer to their fortified school. Those who had been in the other streets to either side of the center straggled back to the defenses as they too were thrown back. Unable to reach the emperor's castle to help, those with the ability to see auras could only watch helplessly as the power in the spire continued to grow like the sun's light as it cleared the horizon.
When the powerful light of the emperor suddenly flared only to burn out, Torva felt like he had gone blind. There were still lesser lights of magic in the spire and outer city. Explosions in the distance as other warlocks and wizards fought their battles trying to reach the emperor's fortress seemed to stop in surprise at the loss of the oppressively powerful magic aura.
"He's... gone?" an apprentice questioned in shock.
Shaking his head as if that would clear away the strange shift in the city, Torva couldn't believe it. The emperor was likely dead. He could feel the loss palpably. The uniting power in Ensolus was gone and, look however hard that he might, no sign of its renewal appeared again in the battered city.
Chapter 1- A Week Before the Fall
Megannah leaned on her elbow letting the sheet rest on the curve of her hip as she watched the blond haired man as he dressed. Orange lights glowed and floated in the air. He hadn't bothered to light the lamps in her room, but even from the single window beyond him it appeared dark as night.
"Do you really have to leave so early, Torva?" she asked of the good looking warlock.
His green eyes strayed to see the woman reclining in her bed. She wore nothing aside from the sheet that was pushed far enough down that he could even see her navel. A blanket covered her legs as well, but the room was surprisingly warm considering Ensolus was still experiencing the cold of winter outside. The cave protected the city from the snow; but the bitter cold of the continent, called simply North, normally permeated throughout Ensolus from the cave mouth to its deepest recesses. Even the lake hidden inside required magic to keep it from freezing all the way to the bottom by the end of winter, if it would even take that long.
Megannah's long blonde hair trended towards red and reflected the orange glow of his floating orbs making the trend appear more obvious. Even her gray eyes glinted with their glow as she watched him. The woman was younger than the wizard hunter, but Torva was an elf from the old world. A true blood, from the so called high elves, he was as tall as a human male but he was more slender in build. His face didn't show his age, but he was four and a half decades old compared to her mere two and a half. The woman was only part elf. Even her ears barely had a point, though Torva's own were subtler than some of his kin.
"Shouldn't you be getting up as well?" he countered her question with one of his own. "You'll want breakfast before meeting with your students, won't you?"
"Class doesn't start for three hours. If you hadn't woken me, I could have easily slept for two as long as I hurried," the wizard responded remaining where she was. She was trying to entice him back into bed, he knew.
Like the elven wizard hunter, Megannah was slim as well. Her petite features might lead one to think of her elven heritage easily, though he had known human women with a similar build. Only orcs, of those races somewhat close in physical natures to the elves, were almost always broad shouldered and with stout chests; while those of stricter elven heredity were almost always slim. It made the orcs believe that they were weak as well, but Torva's physical strength was greater than it appeared just by looking at him. His magical strength was greater still, though he paled before monsters like Lord Devolus and his brother who led the wizard hunters.
Chuckling at the pretty girl, Torva replied, "Then you really should get up. I don't think that I've ever seen you rush to get ready."
"Ha ha," she responded sarcastically. Sitting up Megannah turned her legs over the side of the bed where they dangled above the floor. The sheet remained across her lap tantalizingly covering the last of her, though Torva knew the wizard intimately enough to know even that part of her. "Why is it that you think you need to get up so early? The first bell hasn't even rung, yet somehow you are up. It isn't like the sun is shining through my window waking you. It's winter anyway, so that wouldn't even happen for another hour at least; if it isn't also snowing or gray outside anyway.
"It seems like it always is in these stupid mountains," she added grumpily.
"I like to get to the cafeteria early. It is the best time to find the best food there," he proclaimed.
Sniffing at the air in disbelief, she replied, "Well, that isn't saying a lot. I am surprised anyone calls what they serve food."
"Well, if you would get up earlier you'd find out how good it can be. Besides it isn't that bad at its worst. You're just grumpy because it is still early," he decided with a smile for the pretty wizard.
Brushing back her hair with her hands a moment drawing his attention to her nicely shaped breasts and the tempting curves of her waist, Megannah caught him looking with a slight smile before pushing off of the bed. Her feet landed on the hard stone lightly before letting them take her closer to the wizard hunter who was already fully dressed.
"Maybe if you gave me a good reason for being awake so early more often, I wouldn't be so grumpy," the girl replied crossing the distance to drapes her arms over his shoulders to clasp her fingers behind his neck. Her touch was gentle and light enough that he could have pulled away easily physically, but Megannah had a much more subtle and stronger grip on him than anything her arms could hope to do.
They had been together for a couple years already. He had been her teacher for a class or two, but she had been young enough then that Torva had dismissed her at first. By the ti
me Megannah had been made a full wizard, there were few men who could forget the attractive girl after seeing her. She had made the first advance on him surprising the veteran warlock. Though his elven heritage hid his age a bit, the age difference was enough to keep most girls her age at bay; but Megannah liked older men, at least Torva in particular.
There could have been another reason, of course. Ensolus was known for having women tie themselves to strong, powerful men. Torva wasn't as elite as the elven lords in charge of the hunters, but his family ranked among the lesser lords and held one of the fortress castles outside of Ensolus. Only those trusted by the emperor were tasked with the responsibility of holding the outer defenses that weren't in sight of the emperor's tower, though maybe those in charge of the empire's other major cities were trusted more than the others.
She was half a foot shorter than he, so Torva started to lift the girl from the floor. Locking her legs around his waist, he saw the devilish look in her eyes. She was insatiable sometimes, the man thought.
"If I gave in to you every morning, I'd be late as well. One of us needs to be responsible, Megan," the elf said calling her by her more common nickname. Humans in particular tended to abbreviate elfish names, though orcs who were lazier yet would simply grunt something approximate to get their point across when they bothered to use names at all.
Her lips touched his and he felt her tongue pressing through the gap in his lips. How a woman kept in a tower of wizards and warlocks, supposedly chaste, could have figured out such technique; Torva had never asked her though he sometimes wondered. Breathing a bit harder by the time they stopped and Megan pulled back to look at him in the eyes, she asked, "Are you sure that watching a clock or following a bell is better than that?"
He chuckled and replied, "Better? Maybe not; but serving the emperor promptly keeps me in better stead. If I ever hope to rise through the ranks to become a general or master warlock, little things like being early will certainly help more than letting others know that I can be led by my pants instead."
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