Battle Mage: Forging New Steel (Tales of Alus Book 9)

by Donald Wigboldy

  He closed his hand snuffing the magic and lightning in one move as they closed on their destination. Sebastian led Ashleen through the main room of Two Circles drawing attention and frowns as usual. Men and women staying at the inn were rich and getting dirty in a smith’s forge was against their general principles.

  Ignoring the light crowd gathered for lunch, the two returned to their rooms. Ashleen began unbuttoning her dress before she was even to the bathroom door. It came less from flirting than the heat. Even after all their time in the south, the muggy warmth of Hala’s weather was affecting the girl quite a bit. The time on the island and at sea had felt warm, but there always seemed to be cooling breezes on the ocean and North Sea. While Hala stood on a cliff overlooking the sea, the weather generated from the west was overwhelming the sea breezes below.

  Sebastian could understand the way the Kardorian felt. They hadn’t gone through the slower process of the seasonal changes. Moving on the ships to the south had accelerated the feeling of spring and summer, but passing through the silver world back to Hala had been as abrupt a change as they could imagine.

  He heard the water running almost as soon as the door had closed and the battle mage moved to the wardrobe to find the dress clothes he would need for not only the parade but the banquet following the pageantry. Though the clothes he had purchased were the colors of the falcon uniform, these weren’t issued through the quartermaster. In fact, Sebastian realized that he had not even checked in with the local corps beyond speaking with Raven Leros. Since the raven ran the corps, the young man had simply gone to the inn since the king had purchased a room for him. There was no reason to rejoin the other mages until after all the king’s ceremonies were over and he could be free of those duties.

  Pulling off his boots and shirt, the mage waited for the girl to finish. He walked to the window overlooking the street below and Castle Grimnal behind the protective wall surrounding the castle. Banners of the country’s colors waved in the air along the top of the wall and on the towers. He guessed that their number had been tripled since the tournament and the mage thought the castle had looked overly festive then as well.

  It had been the edge of winter then and gray skies were common. Perhaps the sun and blue skies simply had him fooled, but Sebastian didn’t really care about the amount of festivities. He was a battle mage. A soldier of magic he had evolved into a researcher of magic as well, but neither his soldier side nor the researcher saw much substance to such things. While he might enjoy celebrating at night by dancing with pretty women and friends; banners, painting and gold statues among the various objects the royalty seemed to value meant little to the practical young man.

  The door creaked open revealing Ashleen wrapped in a towel once again. He wanted to sigh. Her continual need to show off her beauty wasn’t lost on him, but sometimes he felt that, like the royals and their banners, the girl was trying too hard.

  “I’m done with the tub. You should really think of taking a bath as well. You’re much too sweaty and dirty to go like that,” her nose wrinkled in distaste as if she could smell him from there before giving him a smile.

  Ashleen surprised him and moved back to her room closing the door behind her.

  With the room freed up, Sebastian hurried to follow her direction knowing that he could hardly see the king like he was now.

  The castle courtyard was buzzing with activity. Open carriages, long wagons and horses were everywhere decorated colorfully with flowers and colored streamers. Normally a spacious area between the castle’s original inner wall and Grimnal Castle proper, the number of vehicles clogged the area making it hard for the humans to pass through to their starting places.

  Sebastian and Ashleen were escorted to one of the decorated wagons where he found a number of familiar faces. Frell and Mecklin were there in their dress uniforms most likely procured from the quartermaster during the extra days they had to prepare. Liam and Serrena wore their standard wizard robes looking a bit warm thanks to the summer heat; but their guild colors were their uniform and expected of the wizards for the parade.

  Extending a hand to help Ashleen up, Mecklin commented on the wilder’s unusual dress, “You look like a royal lady of the court.”

  The girl smiled and received related compliments from the others. Her dress was essentially two garments. The inner dress was of light cotton colored light blue, which had no sleeves and exposed her back as it tied behind her neck. The front had a plunging neckline that reached to her cleavage, but the dress circled her waist with the skirt touching her ankles.

  Using two silver clasps, a second wrap was clipped to the straps covering her chest. Creating gauzy, see through sleeves that billowed with the breeze, the second garment circled behind her covering her back with the nearly clear blue material. To deal with the heat further, the drapery left her shoulders bare of cloth. It was pretty, though perhaps too revealing, Sebastian thought. Even women dressed for the dances of the various castles he had been in had never worn such dresses that he had noticed.

  “I had to buy new clothes here in Hala,” the girl replied taking the compliments in stride. Serrena and Frell looked a little jealous as she continued, “It is so hot today that I am glad that I bought a few airy dresses. My winter robes would have left me a puddle on the ground I think.”

  She giggled and received some laughter in stride.

  Another familiar voice came from behind Sebastian, “I see that you two made it.”

  Turning to see Gerid looking like a lord in a richly tailored suit and his two granddaughters draped in silk dresses worthy of a queen, Sebastian could only think to nod.

  Gerid’s eyes strayed to those already on the wagon. “Well, your people look properly dressed for a parade. Alain wants me to ride with him in an open carriage with my family. Personally I don’t really like these sorts of things, but I’ve lost count of how many parades and celebrations I’ve been forced to attend during my long life.”

  Nodding, Sebastian replied, “I’m just a simple battle mage. Parades are for royalty not me.”

  “I take it that you feel more like a soldier than a lord. My upbringing was a soldier in a mercenary company at one point. Unfortunately I could only keep from becoming a king for a couple generations. When I kept outliving my family and the other royal lines, the people wanted the stability of someone immortal; which is rather stupid when you think about it. My staff had to change even if I didn’t.”

  The giant shook his head and apologized, “Oh look at me going off on a tangent about things so old you all wouldn’t care about such history. I told you enough stories of my youth on the island to last your lifetimes, I am sure.”

  He finished chuckling but Sebastian shook his head in turn. “You forget how much of our history is muddled thanks to the Cataclysm and the destruction of many of our libraries. While this may not be the time to hear them, hearing your stories is often like discovering history.”

  Rubbing his hand through his hair, Gerid replied, “Ok, now I really feel like the ancient old man I am. I’ve become a history book for you all.”

  There was laughter at the slight, but Sebastian had to admit that the immortal wasn’t exactly wrong. He had given answers to many of their questions in the weeks and months with his team. The mage hadn’t realized just how many things about the Grimnal had been masked by time.

  Those in charge of wrangling the parade into order, called for Gerid and his family to follow them to their carriage. When the king and queen entered the courtyard with more than a dozen guards accompanying them, their arrival virtually started the parade.

  As Sebastian sat with the others in the wagon with its several benches, he watched as the gates opened in the protective wall. Tall heavy doors, with more stone wall rising above them, let the vehicles out into the streets of Hala and the assembled crowds began to cheer.

  “It sounds like most of the city turned out to see the Grimnal,” Ashleen said as she leaned against him. The sweet smell of flo
wers wafted from her hair and the feel of her against him both felt right and familiar.

  “I guess that it isn’t every day that an immortal king reappears in Hala.”

  She laughed and soon they saw the people lining the first street. Children screamed and waved along with their parents. Several rows deep, he watched as those further back craned their necks or stood on tip toe to try and see the spectacle rolling through the streets before them.

  To his surprise, the crowds never lightened as they rolled from the castle and inner city streets out into the outer city nearly to the far off outer wall. They circled much of the outer city before looping back to the north gate of the inner wall once more returning to the castle.

  After a couple hours of waving at people who probably had no idea why they were in the parade, Sebastian was relieved to return to the relative quiet of Castle Grimnal.

  Chapter 6- A Sunset View

  For Sebastian and his team, the grand ball room of Castle Grimnal wasn’t a new sight. Giant columns ran in multiple lines to hold up a vaulted ceiling roughly forty feet over their heads where massive chandeliers hung suspended casting their light over the colorful hall.

  While they had been in the ball room after the Winter’s Edge tournament to celebrate the winners and join together the multiple nations who had come to compete, the massive room looked quite different from the end of winter. Blue and silver decorations had been everywhere then. The two colors had been meant to represent winter and had no ulterior motive like using Southwall’s colors to impress those gathered for the tournament.

  That was then and this celebration was for Southwall. While a darker blue was used to a lesser degree, red and gold banners and other decorations took over this gathering. Red and deep blue were the country’s representative colors and gold implied the wealth of a large country dealing globally with other nations in spite of the Dark One’s threatening presence.

  Lords and ladies moved around the room in groups this time and the colorful robes of wizards were much fewer than before. There were no lords arguing over who should have won the tournament this time or those who believed that Sebastian had been lucky to go as far as he had either. This gathering with those who looked on him and his falcons often wondered what they had done to merit being celebrated. Certainly they all knew that the Grimnal had been found by someone, but which mages and wizards had actually accomplished the feat was unknown.

  Several tables were raised up in a line on one side of the room. Dozens of round tables littered the remaining floor and, as Sebastian and his team walked past the lords and ladies to walk up and take their places at the prominent tables, more wondered who these people were to sit at the table of the king and queen as well as the Grimnal.

  He saw Maura and her former guards Idenlare and Vewen. They were wizards who were talented in more than one school of magic. Sebastian had known of their power from the start, but like Maura, the falcon had made sure that they knew that he had been chosen as leader. Other than Maura’s early attempts to push for leadership, the other two had seemed to respect him enough.

  The three were seated on the far right, while he and Ashleen sat with the rest of his available team spreading down the line to the left. Gerid and his granddaughters, as well as the leader of his small contingent of warriors from the island, sat to the right as well putting themselves between Sebastian and Maura. Last to sit after a trumpeting fanfare, were King Alain and Queen Alyanna. Sebastian was surprised to be sitting next to the dark haired queen. Both were still youthful and the mage thought that aside from their royal lineage, they would have been very approachable. He had spoken with them and even had lunch on a smaller scale.

  Still these were the leaders of his country and he was just a mage.

  King Alain stood after waiting a moment for the tables to settle. Lords and ladies in their fancy attire all waited on their king to make his announcement.

  “Lords and ladies of Southwall at long last the father of our fathers has returned! Hail the Grimnal, Gerid Aramathea!”

  Cheers sounded from all around nearly deafening those seated beside the king and queen. Alain took it in stride and being the politician he was, the man knew when to continue after nursing the praise. Gerid had stood with the king’s declaration and held up his hand waving to those assembled to see the giant immortal.

  Setting back down, he waited for Alain to continue as they all felt he must.

  “Most of you will remember the lone battle mage who fought in my Winter’s Edge tournament. Falcon Sebastian Trillon was put in charge of an expedition to find the Grimnal. With only a magical compass gifted him by the immortal wizard Darius of Eremia, this battle mage followed by his team of wizards and battle mages,” the king gestured to both his left and right drawing the eyes to both Sebastian’s team of friends and those with Maura, “braved many dangers. They fought monsters on mysterious islands uncharted until now. They challenged undead wizards and finally fought the black ships of the emperor himself!

  “Undaunted our mages and wizards of Southwall fought their way through every obstacle unwavering until at last they found the island prison of the Grimnal!”

  Another cheer came in the pause the king created for those gathered to use for praise. Sebastian wished that he could step out as he felt the king’s noose slipping over his neck. He would be the prize bull at market for all to see.

  “Stand up, Falcon Trillon, and take your bow. Your bravery and deeds will be recorded that all may know of this historic day, the day that we have our king of kings back because you are the hero who braved all those horrors to free the Grimnal!”

  Standing like the soldier he was, Sebastian didn’t know what more to do.

  “Wave,” Queen Alyanna whispered beside him hiding the words with her smile as she spoke without moving her mouth.

  Following the queen’s urging, the battle mage waved and a new cheer went up for him. He wanted to cringe, and could feel sweat starting to bead on his brow. While he had stood before large crowds in the tournament, the falcon had at least had an opponent to focus on to help shut out all the eyes on him.

  He was glad as the attention shifted away from him as Sebastian sat down.

  Ashleen’s hand settled on his leg trying to comfort him as she could feel his distress.

  The queen leaned closer and said, “Who knew the powerful battle mage from Winter’s Edge could get stage fright? Even after all my years forced into the attention of our people, I have to say that I feel nearly the same. It is much harder to just stand there and take in the attention as if you’ve been bared to the world.”

  King Alain highlighted a few others like Wizard Maura beside him as other key members from the journey were required to accept the praise, but mercifully he ended the speech moving the celebration into the banquet part of the night. Meat from cattle, boars and various fowl were brought to the tables by servers along with vegetables and fruits prepared in many ways. There was so much that Bas had to quickly figure out what he wanted and to make sure the portions were small or his plate would have been as overwhelmed as his stomach.

  Soon most were finished with their meals, so lords and ladies began to wander to the high table congratulating those who had found Gerid. Sebastian took the congratulations one on one much easier than standing up before the crowd, but he also noticed the brevity of the conversations between his team and these nobles compared to what Gerid had to go through.

  The giant soon abandoned the table moving to speak with those gathered in small crowds as the center of the day’s attention. Before the attendants began to the clear the tables, Queen Alyanna leaned towards the mage saying, “Now he is a natural speaker. Notice how the Grimnal manages to make eye contact with so many and is quite natural in his speech. My Alain is nearly as skilled.”

  Surprised by the candor of the dark haired queen, who was so beautifully made up in her flowing navy blue dress and red cords tying up her hair in the country’s colors; Sebastian replied with wh
at he hoped sounded like a compliment, “From what I have seen, you are very good at it as well. When you and the king hosted the tournament banquet, I think everyone who attended from Southwall were proud of you two as our king and queen.”

  The woman’s dark blue eyes turned on him with a quiet smile and she remarked, “Perhaps you have some of the skill as well. You don’t seem shy and you do have a way with words, don’t you?”

  Ashleen leaned forward having noticed the quiet conversation between them and added, “Sebastian has a way of making people feel comfortable and has been able to use that as a leader. While he is still pretty young, I think he’s coming along quite well.”

  Chuckling in amusement at the wilder, the queen replied, “I can see some of that already and apparently he manages to make his people very attached to him. His wizards and battle mages all gave glowing reports from their journey to find the Grimnal. Even the man himself stated that he had been impressed by what he had seen. You were impressive in battle, creative in finding solutions and... calm in your leadership, I believe were the gist of the comments.”

  He could feel his embarrassment trying to make his face redden under the rain of compliments and answered trying to avoid his blush, “I was just doing what needed to be done. Any battle mage is trained to face what is before them and adapt to the situation.”

  The queen nodded and added, “They also said you were modest.”

  Turning to look towards Maura and her wizards a moment, Alyanna asked, “And how did you manage to tame them? Alain told me that the high wizards forced those three on you. That woman Maura in particular looks like a hard pill to swallow. Did they give you any trouble trying to lead the mission?”

  Sebastian tried to avoid giving his true opinion of the first days with the wizards onboard, but answered carefully, “It took a few days to come to an understanding. They are all older than I am and are wizards with greater power in magic. Both points would make them believe that they should lead since I am much younger and merely a battle mage.