Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus)

by Wigboldy Jr, Donald

  With a shrug and a moment’s searching later, the mage found the two books Sylvaine had mentioned as well as taking the one she had discovered and replaced the rest. He remained on the floor for a time skimming through the three spell books and received a surprise. The magic in these seemed easier to his mind. Despite Sylvaine’s inability to learn these spells, Palose felt like he might be able to actually understand this reading.

  Using the quiet to avoid the stares he often received from the wizards in the library, the mage began to read ‘Understanding Life’. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long after that he heard a new set of footsteps. They sounded heavier like boots rather than the light slippers Sylvaine was wearing. When a green skinned goblin in his leather boots and pants, wearing a dark, gray tunic suddenly rounded the end of the shelving to look at the human as he sat on the floor, they were still nearly eye to eye.

  “Master Atrouseon wants you to come to the lab now,” he informed the mage with a raspy voice.

  Palose knew this particular goblin from his time in the laboratory with Atrouseon. An assistant of little renown, Listher’s status was apparently no lower than his own as the mage had been a messenger for the warlock before as well. The fact that the goblin would speak to him with no extra respect for the caster let him know his own status in this world where goblins, orcs and men were mostly peons to the emperor.

  “Right now?” Palose questioned even as he gathered the other books into his satchel and stood.

  “The master said now,” he replied emphatically leaving little room to waver. Palose had a feeling that the little goblin was simply enjoying having a taste of power. To command anyone, especially someone larger than himself, for a simple goblin relegated to assisting warlocks and wizards was probably too rare to not relish.

  “I need to check out these books with the librarian on the way out then,” Palose sighed. He had hoped to study within the library to avoid more questions where he was. Letting Geerloc or any of the wizards here know more than he wanted to was disappointing. It meant that Atrouseon could simply check with them to find out his interests and Palose wasn’t sure how his master would take his apprentice researching the spells used for his creation.

  It took only moments to fill out the cards for each to prove that the mage had taken the three books before he hurried towards the lab. Listher hadn’t even bothered to wait inside, though Palose found the goblin walking slowly in the direction they both needed to travel. He had obviously not wanted to return before confirming that the apprentice was doing as he had been ordered. If Palose had ignored the order, it would have been the goblin who paid for not making sure that the young man obeyed the call and warlocks could be petty in dealing with such failures.

  The walk wasn’t long and soon they found the four story building made of worked cave stone. Unlike the organic look of the library spire, cut bricks kept the laboratory squared off and the lines straight. Why one building would be made so radically different from another, Palose didn’t know; but by comparison the laboratory was plain and boring in appearance. Maybe that was the intent to reduce curiosity from any passersby, since the experiments going on within were a secret to most of the population.

  Closed doors within rooms with more closed doors, led from one hall or to a set of stairs to another as the maze of secrecy spread even to the very building’s layout. Palose followed the goblin from room to hall to new room to stairs repeatedly opening and closing the myriad of doors. The final barrier was pushed aside by Listher revealing a large room with a fifteen foot high ceiling that remained shadowed despite a score of lamps spread around the chamber. Cages taller than a man dotted the room and many were covered with cloths.

  Palose quickly noted an assembly of men, most of whom were wizards judging by the auras the mage could read from them. Atrouseon stood with three other wizards, who were his colleagues on the current project, as they faced eight other men. Two were older men, one was an orc decked out in a military uniform that seemed oddly appropriate for the creature despite his race often being judged unintelligent and crude. Such beliefs in orcs were extremely misguided and those who worked with them understood that many were similar to human men in their wants and needs.

  His eyes continued across the other men stalling on a silver haired giant. While his physical size, well muscled and powerful looking besides, was impressive, Palose viewed the man’s magical aura dwarfing everyone else in the room. He was beyond the term, monster, and such strength masked the final creature standing by his side.

  Even with a hood pulled up to mask his face, the mage could see his red eyes glowing faintly with an otherworldly power. An air of death hung around the hooded figure and Palose knew that it was one of the wraiths feared by both the men of Southwall and even the people of Ensolus. Such creatures raised from the dead gave his kind of existence the stigma of a resurrection man. While both spells involved necromancy, the mage could see the distinct difference. Where he had been pulled back from death, this wraith was death held in check. A resurrection man’s heart still beat in his chest and he could bleed as any human, but a wraith’s heart was dead and his blood turned to rot and acidic to the touch should it bleed.

  Palose had never fought a wraith to see the difference, but he had already read deep enough into his books to see the variations of what necromancy could achieve. Given the will behind the spell, bones and flesh could move or a mind could remain sentient hovering beyond death or could be made whole as the young man felt he was now. He felt a shiver as he looked at the creature before its eyes turned on him a moment later. Death could be felt in that look and Palose’s heart felt the cold of what could have been.

  “Gentlemen,” Atrouseon’s voice interrupted the creature’s attention bringing all eyes to the warlock standing with his three associates. “What I am about to share with you can not leave this room as I believe we all know.”

  The warlock’s eyes lingered on Palose as he scanned the room as if to tell his apprentice that he was not above the warning. While the apprentice only knew some of the truth behind these experiments, he would have assumed that Atrouseon had trusted him for secrecy before this. The man didn’t need Listher to bring him after all, if he didn’t trust his apprentice enough to see the fruits of his labor.

  Continuing on with his speech, the man elaborated, “We all know that since the breaking of the barrier which brought the emperor and his people into this world, his body has been weakening. The emperor’s godlike powers have been destroying that body and he has been looking for the appropriate vessel to hold both his mind and his great power.”

  Most of the eyes glanced towards the giant. His jaw tightened in apparent exasperation and Palose wondered why such an exchange had happened.

  “While we can all conclude that Garosh’s creation wasn’t a complete failure, the emperor wasn’t satisfied so he imparted only a portion of his power to you,” the warlock finished nodding to the giant whose back looked stiff with what was apparently a great slight to his worth, Palose thought. “Since you have the honor of being the emperor’s proxy, I am glad that you could come to test the latest vessels we have created.”

  Listher and the three warlocks pulled five cloths from what the mage had believed were cages, but instead these revealed glass encased tanks. Within each was a body. All appeared male save one, which caused Palose to wonder. If the emperor was male, then why had they bothered to make the female test subject? Unless all previous attempts had been based on males and failed, then perhaps it was just an attempt to find another body that wouldn’t prove too frail for the might of the emperor.

  Appearing unhappy with the drain on his time, Garosh stated, “Let’s hurry this up. Word has come from Erdeeth and Kerlorish. We will begin building a base in the mountains in less than a week. There are many preparations to attend.”

  “Which is all the more reason for us to have you here today, Lord Garosh,” the warlock replied trying to beg favor with the man as the giant’s impatience
was obvious. “We merely need you to feed your power into each one to see if they can contain his magic as well as yours.”

  “I know the drill, Atrouseon,” growled the silver haired man. Palose looked to his eyes and thought that despite his hair color, the man looked no older than someone in their twenties. While he felt like an older soul, his temper was that of a young man, the mage decided. It made determining the age of the failed vessel nearly impossible to establish.

  Stepping up to the first of the tanks, Palose watched as Garosh placed his right hand against the glass and began to build his magic. With a slow release of power, the magic moved through the liquid holding the unmoving body to envelop and feed the energy into the boy as if to breathe life into him.

  Palose wondered how close this experiment was to necromancy in that they were attempting to bring something to life that could survive holding the emperor’s being. Perhaps necromancy wasn’t just about animating death, but creating new life?

  His musing was interrupted as the first test subject seemed to shiver as its limbs shook aggressively. It was merely the beginning of a failure as the magic began to eat away at the vessel burning it up from within until it was a withered, wrinkled husk.

  Garosh stepped away from the failure without a word, though Atrouseon looked slightly disappointed. The warlock spoke to the other men announcing, “That was just an extension of the theory from the test batch from last year. We had seemed close, but apparently this type of blank may be a dead end.”

  The men murmured to each other curiously as Garosh repeated the process on the next victim. This experiment had a slightly different result as the boy began to expand like a balloon before exploding to leave a bloody refuse clouding the liquid inside the tank. One of the warlocks from Atrouseon’s team breathed a curse just loud enough for Palose to hear.

  Smiling slightly, the leader of the team shrugged. “Alimus tried a new path with that one. It did hold together longer than some. Maybe there is value in this research.”

  Garosh grunted and sarcastically refuted the optimistic words, “If we want things to burst, casting fire inside of your body would accomplish the same thing.”

  The threat couldn’t be missed and Atrouseon paled slightly. A warlock high in the echelon of their order, he was still just a gnat before the strength imbued into the giant. Palose wondered if any of the warlocks would even attempt to fight back, if Garosh decided to end their lives.

  On the next test, they found some success. The vessel didn’t fail, but Garosh still frowned as he judged, “This one can take much of the power, but I sense that if he tried to merge with him it would only put off death for a short a time.”

  One of the other warlocks from Atrouseon’s team asked, “For days or years?”

  Eyes squinted at the brown haired wizard with thinning hair. Pointed ears on the warlock led Palose to believe that he might have elven heredity, but his frame suggested human. Whether there was something about the man or his question that annoyed Garosh, it was uncertain until he retorted, “Anything less than eternal is too short for the master, Etriak. How am I to guess anyone’s life span save that I end it for them?”

  Again the threat made the warlock pale at his statement as he hoped that Garosh wouldn’t decide that it was his time for his life cycle to end.

  The next tank seemed successful as well. This time Garosh didn’t move on right away. Letting his magic push harder than on the previous boy; the giant finally released his magic. “This one seems viable. The emperor will want to test this one for himself. Why is there is a female in the last tank?”

  Atrouseon bowed his head and shoulders slightly as he replied, “We crafted the girl like the successful candidate. We were beginning to worry that male vessels lacked the ability to deal with the pain or strain of his magic and created her just in case.”

  Again the giant grunted. Turning from the tanks, he gestured to the wraith, “Come, Carianic, we have work to do.”

  Despite the abrupt dismissal by Garosh, the room became excited even so. “We may have finally discovered the one after so many have failed,” one of the warlocks said excitedly to the rest of the team.

  “The discovery was built on many failures and not just theirs,” said another man though he seemed as thrilled as the others.

  The remaining six men from the observers varied in their reaction to the news that the emperor could finally join himself to a body strong enough to use his immense power. While the general sense of exuberance prevailed, one of the older men was seen to frown before placing his hand before his mouth as he rested his chin. Whether he was contemplating the repercussions of the first successful test in decades or wondering if this too would only be another stepping point to the true success, Palose could only guess.

  He noted the orc holding back as well while half the men moved from congratulating the team of warlocks to looking at the possible host body. It was nearly stone faced as the orc stared at the three tanks with unharmed bodies. As Palose watched the creature, the brown skinned orc caught his gaze and merely nodded. He too turned to leave as had Garosh, though whether they had anymore in common than the only path out of the chamber, that too Palose did not know.

  Growing tired of the mounting questions that he had no answers for, Palose held back waiting for the congratulations to end and eventually just Atrouseon and a gray haired warlock remained talking in front of the tanks. Listher stood to one side as if awaiting new orders, which might have been the case. The mage would have left as well, if he knew for sure that his master was done with him. Leaving too soon might earn his anger or otherwise ruin their already tenuous relationship. He needed Atrouseon for his wealth and prestige. He might even need what little the man would teach him, but Palose also had a feeling that there was something else to their relationship that he would need before they parted ways.

  “This is a great day, Atrouseon,” the older man was saying as he shook the other warlock’s hand in congratulations. “If that Garosh is correct, then the master may finally return to his true power. We can take over the rest of the world, if he leads with his strength fully unleashed.”

  Nodding while taking in the praise, Atrouseon replied, “Like I told the others, we built this upon the work of others failures. Garosh is even part of that history. Since the emperor was able to imbue part of his power in that giant, my team and I were able to build upon his strength.

  “This blank slate will let the emperor join him and become flesh and blood in a way that he hasn’t been since before our time.”

  The older man’s face darkened as he lowered his voice a bit causing Palose to listen for all his ability. He couldn’t afford to use a battle mage spell to increase his senses so he hoped that his hearing was enough. “Our history of his return after his apparent death as a being conquering death never told how or why he returned. The master is more powerful than any other creature. This I believe, but he is still mortal. If this works, maybe he will become immortal.”

  “Like the giant of Southwall,” Atrouseon nodded.

  Palose could only assume that he meant the legendary man often referred to as the Grimnal, Gerid Aramathea. He had been believed immortal. Wounds could bring him to the point of death and still he would rise unharmed. He was over a millennium old when the Cataclysm tore Alus apart and sometime after that he disappeared. No one knew for sure if he was dead in Southwall, but words like this made Palose wonder.

  The older warlock shook his head, “Too bad he was so resistant to magic. That body would have been ideal otherwise.”

  “His tissues were used to help make Garosh. The magic resistance was not only circumvented, but reversed to the point that this so called mistake is more powerful than any of us.”

  “But he isn’t strong enough to hold the emperor’s full might,” the elder replied with a sigh. “I hope that Garosh doesn’t intend to try and prevent the master from taking his proposed body. I worry that others may hear of your success and try to destroy your
work before the master can take it for himself.”

  Such ideas made Palose wonder. Rumors of the slow collapse of the emperor’s power and hold over his empire had made it to his ears even in the short time the mage had lived in Ensolus. This powerful being that couldn’t find a body worthy of his might seemed to be dying if he understood what no one was willing to say. If the emperor died before finding a body, what would become of his empire? Perhaps the decay had already begun?

  The last warlock left and even Listher had been sent away by Atrouseon before his master gave the apprentice his full attention. “Palose, for the next several days, when I am not here you will be guarding this chamber. I need someone I can trust and once I give you this order, I know that you will guard these creatures with your life.”

  Nodding at his master, but cringing on the inside at the ease with which the warlock could override his will with a single command, Palose let his eyes wander to the three tanks. “Garosh said only the one was worthy.”

  Following his gaze the two men found their feet leading them to the three tanks. The liquid surrounding the three adolescent forms was a viscous green that was still fairly clear. Two boys, one declared inferior and one destined to hold the emperor, as well as a girl that was untested but also declared unfit, hinged the hopes and fears of not only this empire but the rest of the world. The world at large didn’t know how important this experiment truly was and in fact knew nothing of the weakness of the emperor as he decayed.

  Atrouseon placed his right hand lovingly on the glass as he stared at the being who could be emperor. “The first two blanks were based off of old models that had been declared inferior, but Etriak and Alimus had believed the two paths valid. Thielius and I always told them that we doubted that those paths held any real promise. In the end, we worked with the two most successful test subjects in the history of the project. One was Garosh and the Grimnal, as you might have guessed by now.

  “The other never had life breathed into it, but had been a sample taken from the emperor in an attempt to strengthen his current form. It was an old sample taken two centuries ago and before the decay progressed to what it is now.