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

by Donald Wigboldy

  Raven Leros wanted him to begin training the mages of Hala on the new techniques he had learned along the way, including reviewing the light and darkness spells gathered during the tournament. Mecklin and Frell were to be pressed into teaching as well, but he had two days before his time would be dedicated to that endeavor leaving him less time to work at the forge.

  He cleaned up and dressed without hearing Ashleen stir in her room. Looking in on the girl, he discovered her lying on her back on top of the covers. She had never woken to change and lay nearly naked on the bed. Her beautiful body revealed; the young man had to wrest his eyes from the sight.

  The wine had obviously taken its toll and as he had guessed, the girl wouldn’t be ready to go to the smithy anytime soon.

  After a quick breakfast, the novice sword smith returned to the forge heating the vaguely sword shaped piece of meta once morel. Working the bellows himself, Sebastian brought the hearth from a low heat gradually building it up naturally. His magic could have increased the heat supernaturally, but the mage had no idea if that would harm the metal or even damage the furnace of the forge.

  Ivol and his son came in to the forge after an hour and Sebastian was already working on the metal. He extended his senses into the future blade feeling the changes in it since he had begun. The blend of iron, charcoal and three other elements chosen for strength, hardness and durability according to the knowledge they had been given over the last few days was proceeding nicely even if Sebastian remained unsure of whether it would work.

  “You are early,” Ivol commented pulling on his leather apron. He had come shirtless since even the night had never truly cooled thanks to a summer heat wave beginning to take the city. The heat of the furnace didn’t help matters and had driven Sebastian to work without his shirt as well again. “No apprentice today?” he asked with a chuckle since the three men knew that the mage was no less a novice than the girl.

  “She drank too much last night at the celebration to be ready,” Sebastian agreed taking a break from hitting the metal with the hammer. He was nearly to the point of testing it with his magic again anyway.

  “Ah, that big celebration for finding the Grimnal? So he really is the high king? I mean it’s been over two hundred years and it’s a little hard to believe anyone could live that long let alone supposedly live about a thousand years.”

  Sebastian shrugged saying, “I’ve seen him injured by things that would kill normal men and not only heal from the wound but remain standing and fighting while it did. His knowledge appears to be real, so he is either an incredible imitation or the real thing.”

  Aric got off that topic asking, “So you ate and danced with all the lords and ladies of Hala. Did you see Queen Alyanna? She is so beautiful. I saw her in the parade beside the king.”

  “I sat next to her and talked with her,” Sebastian replied and watched the boy’s mouth open in shock. “I had lunch with her and the king two days ago. Just because they are a king and queen, doesn’t mean that they aren’t just regular people inside.”

  Ivol patted his son’s head before pushing him towards the piece of iron they had been working the previous day before close. It looked to be a new piece of gear for a bigger build they were working on for a carriage or wagon.

  “My son had to go see the parade yesterday and has been talking about how beautiful the queen is ever since,” the smith said with a shake of his head. “Anyway, how is your sword coming along?”

  “It’s getting there I think. Based off of Ashleen’s and my best guess, this should produce metal near the grade I need.”

  “I’ve mended a few cheap swords for the guards in the city, but I’ve never made one since owning my own forge. My master told me what I’ve told you about the metals used and what mixture he used in the few he made, but that is about all I know of their creation.”

  Sebastian nodded and looked at the man gratefully. “It is still a better starting point than I would have had without you, sir.”

  “Ivol, just call me Ivol. You’ll start making me feel old if you keep calling me sir all the time.”

  “You are old,” his son called from the bellows with a grin at his father.

  Rolling his eyes at the boy, Ivol continued, “Anyway, if you want me to look at it when it is done or have any basic questions don’t forget to ask. I’m ahead of schedule on this assembly for Witraub, so it wouldn’t be a bother.”

  “Thanks, Ivol, but once I get it close enough to what I think I need, my magic should tell me what I need to know. I keep fighting the urge to just use magic to make the sword take shape, but there are things to the creation that I think only happen by using the power in an arm,” he said with a smile before looking at the blade shaped piece of metal. “One more bend and I think it should be as strong as I can make it before using magic. I am just not sure until I get there if it will work.”

  “If you can just use magic to create those swords, why are you bothering with all of the work to make a sword like this?” the smith asked curiously.

  “The Hollow Sword was made from a blade created before the Cataclysm. If I can figure out how it was made, then I can pass that recipe to those sword smiths making our army’s swords. It was stronger than anything being made now, though I found a couple made for nobles that might contend with it.

  “Whether a smith can make it cheap enough to be army issue, is another question; but our men deserve the best against the Dark One’s soldiers.”

  They let the matter lie as the men settled into their work. Sebastian used his magic on the slowly forming steel. He could feel that it was stronger than before. The novice smith could make an edge that would hold its sharpness, but he worried that he had made it too stiff. A stiff blade was more likely to shatter in a fight and he was hoping to temper strength with the flexibility needed for a blade to last a long time against any foe.

  More than an hour after Ivol and Aric entered the workshop, Sebastian noticed a smaller shadow darken the door as Ashleen nearly stumbled into the shop. She stripped off a light green dress made similarly to the pink dress of the day before that buttoned up one side to reveal another blue swath covering her breasts and a brown pair of shorts no longer than the skirt of the day’s previous outfit.

  The girl took a moment before taking her apron to rub her temples and let out a small groan.

  Laughing at her distress, Sebastian teased, “I was afraid that you drank too much and would regret it in the morning.”

  Ashleen left the apron hanging to come over to him rubbing her head to ask, “You’re a healer. Fix my head, Bas!” Raising her voice proved more damaging and the girl leaned her head against his chest with a thump and a whimpered moan.

  He couldn’t help more laughter at her expense as she hid her eyes in the darkness of the leather apron. “Yara warned me that healing seasickness and headaches was dangerous to the healer as well, if they are close to having either sickness. Luckily, my head is feeling fine.”

  “Heal,” he ordered the spell as his fingers touched the sides of her head. Feeling the problem areas, he adjusted the flow of blood dealing with the alcohol induced headache and the fluids needed in and around her brain. As the blood vessels returned to normal, the girl sighed.

  “I can already feel a difference. It’s amazing how you can do that.”

  Ashleen looked much fresher as she retrieved her leather apron and gathered the swords from where he had stored them the previous day. Sebastian had figured they would be as safe here as in his room at the inn, so her test subjects were quickly in hand.

  The girl looked at the metal on the workbench as she placed the swords nearby and asked, “Does it feel right?”

  She had worked to try and figure out which metals had been used and how much charcoal to give the metal carbon without weakening the iron, so the success or failure would be as much hers as his this time.

  “I was about to test it. Why don’t you see for yourself?” he offered before intoning his spell on the me
tal.

  As Sebastian closed his eyes, his magic drew him into the metal. Ashleen began her spell and he could feel her fingers touching the steel before she used her magic in a similar way with an earth type spell. The metal was very different from the iron he had begun with two days before and Sebastian thought that it felt like they had moved along on the right path.

  Like a gentle bump, the mage thought that he felt Ashleen’s presence within the metal. It was strangely familiar and not unlike the time he had ridden the winds at the mercy of an air wizard trying to learn the air riding spell. He felt her pull away in surprise as their minds touched. It was like the steel was a lightning rod conducting their consciousnesses towards one another, but she resisted.

  Opening his eyes, Sebastian released the spell as he looked at the wizard with her eyes still closed. His retreat caused the girl to frown slightly in disappointment, though it was Ashleen that had originally pulled away. She blinked her blue eyes to look at him with a little color in her cheeks.

  “Have you ever tried to heal before?” the mage asked inquisitively. He had never seen her do so in all the months that he had known her, but the strange touch within the sword made him ask none the less.

  Shaking her head, Ashleen replied as if they hadn’t touched minds in the metal, “No, it wasn’t something Deiclonus knew and he was the only teacher I ever had. The Kardorian schools sometimes sent out teachers to towns further away from the capitol city. If you didn’t go to Velius and the academy of wizards there, you usually only had one or two wizards to train with as a student.

  “Originally I planned to expand on my learning there after our mission ended in Southwall.”

  Sebastian understood from their talks after they had saved Ashleen and the other wizards from the black ship. Kardor had been at war as long as Southwall fighting the emperor. Though their country had been less entrenched in warfare with the dark armies, they were also a much smaller population and wizards were maybe even harder to find there than in Southwall.

  “I felt your mind in the metal. The only other time I’ve felt that was while healing with Yara. Maybe it is something that you can do?”

  “I came to learn from you, but how would you teach me here?” the pretty blond asked looking around at the limited number of subjects to try and heal. Unless someone volunteered to be injured for her to try to heal, there was unlikely to be anything easy for her to do. Ashleen supposed they could inflict an injury, since Sebastian could heal; but that seemed extreme.

  Watching his eyes, she could tell that he was thinking before coming to a decision. “Well, that can wait a bit. I think for now you can continue to study the swords and components. After I finish this next fold, I will need your help to manipulate the steel.”

  While the first task made the girl roll her eyes at the repetitive task that she felt had been forced on her because he had nothing better for her to do, the second sounded promising. Sebastian would likely be done before lunch for them to try whatever he had planned.

  “Fine,” Ashleen replied taking one of the swords and placing it on her lap as she watched him take the metal back to the fire.

  He found her attitude amusing and glanced back to see the pretty petite wilder sitting on her stool delving into the sword. While Sebastian could tell that just examining swords might feel a waste of her time, the girl plodded on through the exercise without complaint. Her willingness to learn what he was doing and participating in the process made him wonder again if Ashleen wasn’t more compatible with him.

  Yara might be willing to try to examine a sword to test if her healing magic would work as well, but she would never be happy making weapons which could kill. Ashleen worried less over such things and seemed happy enough in the endeavor in spite of the eventual creation of the weapon and its uses.

  A lightning wilder made sense to be the consort or lover of a battle mage, but Sebastian wasn’t an ordinary battle mage and had the healing side of him as well.

  Putting worries over his romantic life in the back of his mind, Sebastian worked to prepare for the last fold of the metal before shaping it into the sword he had in mind. He just hoped this was the process that would bear fruit and not just be a waste of his time. While he did enjoy the direction of his mind into the creation in smithing, the owl knew that if he couldn’t replicate the Hollow Sword process it would all be for nothing.

  Ashleen watched as the metal was placed on the worktable still steaming from the liquids Sebastian had used to quench the heat. It had something to do with making the outer metal harder so that it would hold a sharp edge longer. Though she had been trying to pay attention to the talk between the smiths and Bas, the girl hadn’t always completely paid attention to the boring work talk.

  “Now to find out if this was worth the hard work,” the mage said wiping the back of his hand across his sweaty forehead. His face was dirty and the heat made his skin unusually red.

  Nodding at him knowing that he had something more magical in mind now, Ashleen asked, “What do you need me to do? You said that you needed me for the next step.”

  “I need your energy and it is a good time for you to study what I am doing. You said that you wanted to learn as much as you could of what I know, so here’s your chance. I hope anyway,” he finished sounding less certain. “If this mix of steel is wrong, it might just break in my face.”

  Trying to be encouraging, the girl replied, “With magic involved, I am sure that we can make it work.”

  After he took a last steadying breath, Sebastian said, “Ok, you’ll need to channel your magic into me or I won’t have enough to do it by myself.”

  The girl took a clean towel wiping off his shoulders and back bringing his eyes up to her face curiously.

  “You’re all sweaty. If you want me to touch you to channel my energy, I need a dry place to do it. Besides, do you really want me to touch something wet?” she finished holding her fingers up and allowed the sparks of her lightning play on her fingertips. While the girl could control her power better than accidentally shocking him, it still made him laugh.

  “Right, that and you probably prefer not getting sweat all over your hands.”

  Placing her hands on his left shoulder so that she could watch him with her eyes as well as once she used her magic, Ashleen asked, “Are you ready then?”

  “Yep, just help me keep my energy up by sharing and we should finish this before lunch.”

  They already had some food covered by metal lids thanks to Ivol’s wife and the kitchen of their inn, but if it took as much energy as the first Hollow Sword used, Sebastian knew that they would probably need to get even more inside.

  “Heal,” the mage ordered his spell and closed his eyes as he concentrated on the fresh steel before him. His senses reached into the metal and Sebastian frowned. It was rougher than he had expected, even though the beginner knew that he had not gone through the usual finishing processes of a sword smith. He had learned that the initial forming of the steel and shaping of it was still bringing the task only half way. Someone would have to polish and work the metal smooth. Someone else would usually install the metal into a hilt of wood or bone.

  It was one of the other odd things about the black sword he had purchased. If he didn’t miss his guess, the blade had been created almost exclusively using magic. The amount of power required was beyond him as was the type of spell that must have been used; but he did know enough to work his magic on the steel before him.

  Placing his fingers near the base of the future blade, Sebastian could still feel the lingering warmth. Much of the heat of the outer steel was gone, but the trick had been to leave it in the quenching oil only long enough to bring the outer blade’s temperature down enough to bring about the change in the steel. The inner core remained warm as it remained soft relative to the outer layer, but Sebastian could tell that without his magic this would have become a mistake to be discarded as a good first try.

  The imperfections, created from blendin
g the metal and carbon of the charcoal as well as the extra metals added for the properties needed to make a sword both strong and flexible, were noticeable and much the way he expected; but not every intended quality was where he expected. Using his magic, the mage began to move the metals within the steel towards where they were meant to be. Those that strengthened the outer edge were shifted as if the blade remained liquid to his interference. The inner core’s ability to take a blow and not break was added also using his magic to look for the precise blend of qualities from the inside to the outside.

  Even from tip to base, the properties had to move to compensate for the lack of skill of the first time metal worker.

  The intended piece of wood to be used for a hilt was attached and the mage continued to work the two together. Pins which held the hilt in place were added and Sebastian made blade, hilt and pins part of the magic being introduced to become one. The metal could remain insulated from the user of the sword otherwise. Magic would work best if a battle mage’s touch on the hilt could extend his commands directly to the blade.

  Ashleen’s strength was being drawn on as Sebastian moved to shaping the weapon. Her attention rested within the spells they used to monitor the steel which the girl extended through him to watch as his magic began to manipulate the shape of the weapon. From out of the rough form of a blade, the sword began to take shape as if it had been worked, filed and even polished by a set of smiths. The lines of the double edged weapon took shape quickly under the attention of his mind and their combined magic.

  He could hear unsteady breathing in his ear as the girl struggled to maintain the connection. As the final details of adding power to the blade to create the channels moved towards their conclusion, so it would hold the magic of its wielder; Ashleen could see that the battle mage was a master of manipulating the metal already. It was an innate talent and feel for the metal that made him able to do something new and unique. Even if it worked as planned, the wizard knew that she would have to work to gain what he had the instinct to do.