“One would almost think that you wanted me to become some criminal,” he stated with a half smile.
The girl grinned, “Well, you’re the one with the hideout and secret portal spot. A little in or all in, does it matter?”
Sitting quietly for a moment enjoying the peace and quiet as well as each other’s company, Sylvaine finally asked him curiously, “Why did you leave those creatures in Southwall? You could have cut one of them to use the power of blood to generate a big enough portal back to the city. You are probably skilled enough by now to do that kind of spell, I bet. You left them there for a reason.”
Palose sat silently after her question, even as her violet eyes searched his face. This girl seemed to want to know his every thought and secret. It was kind of annoying, but having a confidant was also comforting as well. The dichotomy of those feelings came from his lack of trust in anyone, but Sylvaine had a hold on him in a way that the man wanted to give into and believe.
Breathing out in a thoughtful sigh, the mage mused, “I was curious about how two such differing factions could have wound up working together to hide the creatures. The farmer and his family seemed to care for them and I think the soldiers were actually happy to be living in that barn away from the drive of Ensolus and the emperor.
“I’ve heard of those that have rebelled or simply disappeared from the city and even the mountains as a whole. Though some may be dead, rumor has it that the emperor has lost his hold on hundreds, maybe thousands of his people since coming to Alus. Does leaving his sphere of influence change these creatures so much? I found myself curious is all.”
Sylvaine listened to him quietly and seemed to be contemplating his words, but her question was blunt and surprised the young man, “If you decide to leave Ensolus permanently, would you take me with you?”
It was surprising, but on the other hand, Palose thought Sylvaine truly was a gentle soul. Being in the command of warlocks and the emperor, could lead to combat and killing. Sylvaine was an excellent elemental wizard, but commanding fire in training was nothing like commanding it to kill. He wondered if she had been forced to fight at the fortress if the girl would have been able to perform the duties assigned by her mentor.
“Why would you want to go with me, if I decided that I no longer wanted to be here?”
Sighing in response, Sylvaine replied, “I wish that I could leave Ensolus and not be forced on some mission to do so. Being a wizard is fun, but I don’t think I want to be in a battle. I was almost glad to hear Garosh surrender, even if I don’t understand why he did it. It meant that I didn’t have to fight or worry over dying. I don’t care about Southwall and the emperor’s need to crush those people who are descendants of warriors who wronged him, or whatever his excuse remains after hundreds of years. I’d just like to be able to go somewhere and live in peace. While I have been an apprentice it has been like that, but I can’t remain an apprentice studying forever.”
She stopped, as the girl thought about her words which had suddenly revealed more than Sylvaine had meant to say; but like Palose she trusted in him. Asking to go with him meant that, even if revealing the rest wouldn’t have. “I think I could kill with magic if I needed to and I don’t feel fear over dying per say; but just going off on one needless battle after another seems like a pointless waste.”
Sympathizing with the girl’s words, as he had once felt the same way for the missions north of the wall for the mage corps training; Palose wondered if he even felt the need to leave Ensolus. There was potential here. If his plans grew correctly, he could have power and influence. Already he had the emperor’s sister and half brother trusting him and Acheri had said that Kolban was looking for more out of him. Didn’t that mean that even the emperor had come to regard his potential or was he performing his own experiment like Palose with the creatures at the farm? To be a simple experiment would require changing his mind, but there was time to see which the case was.
“I could help you leave easily enough, but you’re not asking that are you?”
Sylvaine looked at the lantern sitting in the middle of the room on the table. Her eyes were tense with her thoughts, but Palose waited patiently unsure why he had asked the question. Did he want her to say that she wanted him, wanted to be with him; or was he hoping for a different answer that would keep her at arm’s length?
“No, just if you decide to leave. Then take me with you. I think that I would like to see the world by your side. Ensolus without you wouldn’t be the same,” the girl stated still looking at the flame as she tried to skirt her feelings. Did she feel like she couldn’t live without this man? Sylvaine had lived all her life without him, though she certainly liked having him around; but to say that she couldn’t live without him was more than she would admit, even to herself.
Shrugging, Palose replied, “If it comes to that, then you can come; but for now I will keep using my portals to explore Southwall only. We will continue to work for our masters and nothing will be different.”
“Except that I can come to your hideout from time to time?” Sylvaine asked turning to look at him again. The light had imprinted on her eyes and Palose appeared shadowed as her vision tried to adjust. Even with the lamp behind her, the young man seemed like a shadow and she wondered if her heart was pursuing that shadow.
“Sure,” he answered as he stood. “Put your shoes on and we’ll go find some place to eat before returning home. We can tell our keepers that we went to dinner with a friend so there won’t be a lie that they might see.”
Nodding Sylvaine replaced her shoes before taking his hand. They walked hand in hand to a restaurant in the human district before Palose walked Sylvaine back to her dorm.
Chapter 18
The walls of Windmeer had been a welcome sight to Rilena after weeks of riding and camping in the snow. From the mixture of sighs and even cheers throughout the column at the sight, the falcon realized that she wasn’t alone, but a retreat from winter’s bite wasn’t the only relief that she hoped for when she saw the castle.
Every day of the week long ride seemed like Garosh would find a way to get into her sight or worse he would decide to talk to her. He was subtle enough in his approach that the woman could never come out and tell her superiors of his believed harassment. There had been that night at the campfire. Though she had been there, the giant hadn’t necessarily been there just to speak to her. He did try to apologize once she had been found however.
During each day’s ride, Garosh had found a way to ride into her vision, even as the woman tried to sink further into the column to avoid him. Her friends sometimes followed her, but only Elzen seemed to shadow the girl no matter where she went. His concern had been felt throughout the return trip and though she never commented on it, Rilena thought that he knew she appreciated all he did for her. While he could be comforting one moment, he was a jester or a tease the next. It made it a bit hard for the woman to always appreciate him when he managed to annoy her so often; but even then she thought he only did it to distract her from her pain.
Rilena’s brown eyes found Garosh intentionally, as they rode into the village, and from there through the walls surrounding Windmeer’s central keep. The city had survived one attack brought into the castle by someone serving the emperor and that was just a battle mage. Garosh was a monster so far beyond the betrayer’s power that she had to fear what kind of malice he could unleash on the city if he decided to do so. While she was certain that she wasn’t the only one thinking it, no one seemed outwardly worried by their prisoner’s willingness to surrender to an enemy he could have defeated to be brought to the heart of one of the guardian castles.
Losing sight of the giant after surrendering her horse to the stable boys, Rilena made the trek to a wing reserved for women battle mages. Elzen and his male comrades disappeared, but Zerra accompanied her new friend through the halls. Several other women carried their bags around them from the army that had journeyed to the mountain fortress, but Rilena knew almost n
one of them. Once again she wished that she could have returned with the army of Falcon’s Keep. The other city had been her home for more than a year and there were many falcons that she knew there. More importantly, Garosh wouldn’t have been there.
“I am heading to the bath house for a steam after I unpack, if you’re interested,” Zerra stated as the woman used her key to open the door to her private room. After last summer’s battles, the keep had more room for men and women both, so many had their own rooms here. The lord of Windmeer tried to treat his soldiers well, she had heard, but this was her first time being stationed at this castle though the falcon had been here for a few weeks preparing to attack the fortress.
Nodding to her friend, Rilena replied, “I might join you there if I don’t just collapse in bed instead.”
The other woman smiled and nodded understandingly before disappearing into her room.
Finding her room only a few doors down, Rilena entered and tossed her pack on the foot of the bed before sitting on the soft mattress covered with blankets. Not even bothering to take off her jacket, the mage lay back closing her eyes to enjoy the simple comfort of a nice bed after weeks of sleeping on the cold hard ground. Letting out a sigh of contentment, Rilena lay there for several minutes not wanting the feeling to end.
After awhile, the girl sat up releasing her jacket buttons to strip the outer covering from her body. She could smell the weeks of wearing the garment while rarely changing shirts thanks to the frigid temperatures. Worse, with the jacket removed, Rilena could smell her clothes and wondered if Zerra didn’t have the right idea. Weeks of the trail, battle and her body trapped inside for what warmth she could get had made her ripe.
Rifling through her pack, the falcon began looking for something that wouldn’t be just as bad as what she wore. Spare shirts and pants were a premium rarity for falcons and soldiers alike. She could requisition more clothes, but her position made it easier to have less when a move could be given at a moment’s notice. Her entire world fit in one pack. On this day, that meant her entire world smelled at least to a degree. She would need to get her clothing laundered immediately or those men who had always come to her for dances at night would smell her and run the other way.
Finding the cleanest of her clothes, Rilena stripped off two outer layers of shirts throwing them into the bag. The jacket was left hanging on a peg and she hoped airing it out for awhile would prevent needing to have it laundered as well, until she spied dried blood on it and the tears from a lion’s claws. Giving a sigh of exasperation, the girl took it with her and went looking for the launderers of the castle.
On a floor below her living quarters, the falcon turned over the clothing she could. Some she would have to wear until after a bath let her put on the cleanest smelling clothes the girl had left to her. Getting assurances that they would get them back to her as soon as possible, the head woman shooed her out of the room wrinkling her nose at the falcon’s smell.
Rilena went in search of the women’s baths to see if Zerra were still there. If not, she would simply scrub three weeks of travel and war off of her skin as best she could.
A single female soldier guarded the door to the entry when she arrived. It was sad that they needed one, but not all men had the moral character to stay away from temptation. The guard nodded to her as she passed through the doorway and Rilena felt a rise in the moisture from the moment she moved through the portal.
Finding some free shelving on which to place her pack, Rilena wondered if it would air out enough to not corrupt her clothing again with the smells. A bench let the woman pull off her boots that felt like they had become grafted to her feet. Even in the shared tents and using heavy blankets to keep warm, she had rarely taken off her boots, except to change stockings.
Her stockings were next and discarded on the bench next to her letting her feet breathe luxuriously. She sighed. The rest of her clothing joined her stockings before she took a towel to wrap around her torso. Stowing the dirty clothes inside the empty pack, Rilena set her cleaner clothing next to the bag for her return and walked to the next room feeling warm, humid air after opening another door.
Female voices could be heard and Rilena spied a group of pools and two doors marked as steam rooms. The heat of a steam room sounded good, but the warm water of the baths sounded even better.
“Welcome,” an attendant greeted her entrance. A half dozen women dressed in short, white cotton dresses held more towels, soap and shampoo for their hair at different stations.
Nodding to the girl, she took supplies and found one of the smaller pools. Dropping her towel at the edge, Rilena left the supplies in arm’s reach and settled into the hot, clean water of the bath. The heat soaked into limbs chilled for too long. It was even a bit painful as her bare feet absorbed the unexpected temperature into them.
“You must have been on the campaign to the Dimple Mountains,” another woman soaking in the next pool said with a knowing smile.
Rilena nodded looking at a blond haired woman with her crystal blue eyes. Her hair was wet and stuck to her skin as it ran down her neck into the water. Like most people this deep into winter, her skin was pale as porcelain, but it seemed to work to make her even more beautiful.
“We’ve just returned and I realized how bad I must smell to anyone aside from those in the same condition,” Rilena stated leaning back against a cloth pad that acted as a buffer to the hard stone. “A friend had said that she was coming here and I thought that it sounded like a good idea.”
The woman sat up a little more, though most of her chest remained in the warm water. Looking over the battle mage’s face, she shrugged saying, “Your skin still looks nice enough. You are barely red after all that time in the cold. We’ve been practicing for the duels regularly for weeks. If I don’t create a wind screen, my skin turns so red it looks like someone beat me.”
Splashing some of the water onto her face with her cupped hands, Rilena relished feeling the warm water on her cheeks. She took a small cloth and a bar of soap to create lather; but her neighbor shook her head and waved the girl off.
“Oh, don’t use that thing. It’s very hard on the skin. Here try mine,” the blond said offering a small bottle. With the distance between tubs being far too great to reach, she stood exiting her pool. Revealing a slender body, as the young woman stepped out of her bath. She handed the bottle to Rilena, who could see her smooth skin beginning to pimple as the cooler air made her shiver.
Instead of returning to her own bath, the blond carefully stepped into the falcon’s without appearing to care over boundaries. “Trust me. This cleans well but is gentle on your skin. I am a water wizard. A few of my friends and I worked on it. The ladies of the castle swear by it.”
A sudden realization popped into the woman’s mind as she stood in the water which came up to her waist. “Oh, I am Teven by the way. How rude of me to forget to introduce myself,” she giggled sounding younger than Rilena had thought.
“Falcon Rilena, I was just transferred to Windmeer from Falcon’s Keep,” the brunette replied tentatively. While Teven seemed harmless enough, Rilena found herself a bit uncomfortable with the woman’s apparent comfort with her nudity. The falcon preferred private baths over the communal ones, but having to wait for a wash tub and jars of water brought to her room had seemed inconvenient at the time.
As a draft of air caught the wizard’s skin bringing another shiver, she sat on the far step in the small pool submerging to her shoulders. “I was hoping to go to Hala, but that journey will be a long and cold one as well. Maybe I should just let Ruus win from now on and let him go to represent Windmeer instead?” The woman grinned and shrugged her shoulders above the water. “Well, I could refuse, but going to this tournament should be interesting as well. I have heard that they have sent invites to dozens of other countries from around the world. I wonder what countries and styles of magic they will bring.”
“Don’t they have to stay with mostly elemental magic?” Rilena as
ked as she rubbed the solution from Teven’s jar on her face. She figured if the wizard’s skin looked so beautiful, it couldn’t be too dangerous to try. Smelling flowers, she grew side tracked and added, “Flowers?”
Teven smiled noting her new friend enjoying her face scrub. “We mixed dodera and tremara flowers in for a nice smell and, yes, elemental magic will be the main styles used since it has to be a visual, concrete battle magic for judges to see. If a diplomat wizard entered, she couldn’t use her mind magic just her elemental styles.
“You seem to understand some of the rules. That is a little strange for a battle mage. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t have the strength to keep up with the duelist spells to join us I fear,” the wizard finished looking almost sad at the fact.
While Teven spoke, Rilena scrubbed at her arms and chest. She had to admit that the cleaner in the bottle did seem to be working and felt very nice. Shampooing her hair before continuing with the rest of her body, the falcon was almost growing comfortable with Teven’s sharing of her pool. The larger communal version often had women sitting around talking with one another with no thought to their appearance after all, and the smaller pool could hold four or more women with plenty of space for each.
The falcon liked men, however, and was used to trying to fit in with them as she had learned to fight and cast magic. Admittedly, the girl hadn’t shared a bath with any of them either, but maybe one day a bath or a bed would be involved anyway. The thought caused her to blush and Rilena hoped it would just be blamed on the warm water.
Movement and her name brought the falcon’s eyes up to see Zerra hurrying over so quickly that she hadn’t even bothered to wrap a towel around her. A splash as the brown haired falcon entered her pool meant the party had just gotten larger, much to Rilena’s discomfort.
Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 27
