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

by Donald Wigboldy

  Suddenly remembering that Ashleen was essentially an air wizard as well, Serrena winced and added, “Present company excepted.”

  Giggling at the look of embarrassment on the fire wizard’s face, the wilder replied, “Kardorian wizards don’t lump each other into one kind of magic like your guilds, besides I use earth and air to make lightning mostly. I can ride the winds, but for now I serve as Bas’s apprentice.”

  Ashleen finished with a sarcastic salute to the owl as he just rolled his eyes in response.

  “Well, you’re welcome to ride with us, but you should probably make at least an attempt to get along in case we should ever find ourselves in trouble. If you wizards can’t get along, who’s going to save the rest of us?”

  Eyes glancing to the mage and away, as Serrena tried to figure out if he was being sarcastic or not; the fire wizard soon gave up trying to decide since he gave her no clue. The four rode across from each other for quite awhile just chatting about little things as they tried to pass the time.

  By midday the column had ridden beyond sight of the North Wall and well out into the land referred to as the northern plains. The land wasn’t perfectly flat especially as close to the coast as they were. Rolling hills started soon after they were north of the wall and grew taller further to the east. With just a handful of easy days riding by horse, they could reach the foothills of the Dragon Spine Mountains, which was actually the name of several mountain ranges which crossed one another in truth.

  The emperor’s capitol was believed to be far to the west, but over the last two centuries his empire grew and they knew that there were more cities built into the mountains besides Ensolus. Few spies risked searching the mountains and fewer still returned with any information that would be of help to Southwall.

  Spreading out as they broke for lunch, the horses were kept near eating the tall grass and wild grains hidden among them. A watering hole with a stream flowing southeast from it was enough to water the horses, so a detail of soldiers and mages led their mounts in small groups to drink. They weren’t riding the creatures hard, but they were thirsty thanks to the unseasonably warm weather.

  While he ate a sandwich and drank some water from his canteen, Sebastian broke out a map showing the cities and towns of Southwall and most of the nearby countries. It also held the colored markings of the portals he had felt during his search for both Darius’s gates and those of the Betrayer, Palose.

  Olan, who hadn’t been on hand when Sebastian had used the map magic, asked, “What is with the map? There isn’t really anything giving us landmarks to know where we are on a map.

  “One hill looks just like another to me.”

  Bas nodded and answered, “This isn’t for gauging where we are on the map. The map helps me to remember where the various portals are, at least around North Continent.

  “I don’t know how Darius can hold unlimited points in his mind to keep track of the doorways, but I can only keep one in mind that I can see so far. Maybe with practice I will remember more, but this map let’s me keep track a lot easier.”

  He ran his finger over the point north of Hala causing a blue mark to form on the map.

  “Those red marks are those you found that Palose created or holds, correct?” Rilena asked from the circle of friends surrounding the battle mage.

  “Yes, the red are his while the blue are Darius’s and mine.”

  “There are a lot inside of Southwall. Do you think that you can close those gateways? Darius and Darterian could close them, if you need help,” her dark brown eyes searched his wondering why the two hadn’t already decided to destroy every portal inside of Southwall.

  Sebastian nodded and looked at the marks thinking that they needed to do something about Palose’s access, since through him the emperor had far too much control south of the wall meant to protect them. “I’ve been wondering if destroying them is the answer.”

  “Of course destroying them is the answer!” Serrena reacted to his question in surprise. “He is bringing spies to weaken the country in one area and you can see that he has several places where he can attack the wall from behind or attack the fortresses along the line. Are you trying to let the emperor win?”

  Looking at the girl as if she were the one who was insane to ask such a thing, Sebastian calmed his face and voice as he explained, “Darius is creating portal points between the fortresses and is working on uniting all the cities, which will give us a new advantage in this war. The emperor is starting to exploit the portal magic again unlike any time in our history of dealing with him here.

  “If we can figure out how to turn their portals against them so they can’t use them, but we can, maybe we can end this war or at least this part of the threat.”

  The group fell into quiet as they finished their meal and soon they were on the move once more.

  Ashleen rode beside Sebastian as she had from the beginning. She played at being his apprentice if only because it gave her the excuse to remain nearby. They both knew that the wilder didn’t truly need to watch him so closely, but the familiarity of her presence felt good to him. His other friends were with him now and though many from his team were moving on, at least he had some of his closest friends still by his side.

  It was all too rare to keep friends close in Southwall’s army. They moved from one post to another frequently as if to keep the soldiers from becoming too attached or maybe those in charge were afraid that they would become indifferent. He really didn’t know other than what he and others had guessed.

  “He uses charged items like stones to hold his portal points, correct?” his apprentice questioned out of the silence bringing Sebastian’s eyes to the girl on his left.

  He nodded and replied, “We found those stones near Banosh, though in Parik there was just a general spell attached to a different formation near the mines.”

  Lifting her left hand as a fist, Ashleen mimed using magic on it with her right and asked, “Couldn’t you overwrite his magic in the stones with yours or have Darius do it?”

  Glancing to Rilena and Elzen riding just behind him on the right, Sebastian asked, “Darius said that he both closed some of Palose’s portals in the village of Windmeer and placed traps on them. How did he do that?”

  The dark haired girl looked a little surprised having to field the question, but she thought a moment and replied, “Inside of the castle, there were only unattached doorway remnants; but Darius created traps on those in case the enemy should try to use them to return. After awhile, he was pretty sure that those doors were one way, since there was no anchor for it beyond the remnant magic the high wizard could potentially use to follow them.

  “In the village, there were stones or corrinuts with metal wedged inside concealing them. Darius destroyed the gates and the stones as well to make sure that they couldn’t be used. He made sure that there was no lingering magic to hold Palose’s doorway when he was done.”

  Sebastian rode for a few minutes thinking about both Ashleen’s question and the way Darius had been dealing with the Betrayer’s doors. “I think I have an idea, but it will have to wait until we camp for the night.”

  In an effort to expand the knowledge he had of creating portal magic, Sebastian spent time explaining the basics of the spell to the other mages after dinner. For Rilena and Elzen, it wasn’t truly news; but watching Darius cast the spells he used for portal magic had remained an enigma to them.

  Falconi Neven had called over the wizards as well, since Darius’s time in the castle had been brief. Only Ahtreh, a fire wizard, and Petre, their air wizard, had been able to make it to the high wizard’s arrival and his brief attempt at passing the knowledge on to the wizards of Hala.

  Perhaps that was partially Sebastian’s fault, since he too had cracked the mystery of portal magic.

  He displayed a handful of imbued stones and even created another pair in front of them. For the wizards, this was basic magic. Few had found uses for imbuing items with magical power, but there wer
e other precedents. The battle mages were seeing this for the first time. He showed the map as well, since using it had literally opened up the world beyond what he could see.

  Finally, after getting permission to leave camp; Sebastian, using Ashleen to increase his power, prepared to lead a small group to the portal that worried him the most. Rilena and Elzen asked to join with him as did Serrena.

  The diplomat wizard and leader of the mission looked a bit unsettled by the idea of them leaving. “I am not sure that leaving the group is wise. We rely on battle mages and you are taking some of our wizards as well.”

  “We shouldn’t be long,” Sebastian assured the wizard. “If everything goes well, as we travel I can take others to more portals teaching them by experience. Hopefully more wizards and mages can learn the magic. If mages can learn the spell, even though we lack the power to create a door, a team of a wizard and mage can make a portal like I will do with Ashleen’s help.”

  This information didn’t exactly sit well with the wizards gathered either.

  Ahtreh complained, “Why would we want to start tying wizards up with mages? We have our own work to do and you yours.”

  Oltus frowned at the wizard but before he could respond, Sebastian replied calmly, “We work together all the time; but if we discover that relatively few wizards can cast portals, then any mages that can add to that number will need a partner. I think no wizard will need to be tied down to a mage beyond a mission or the time used to cast portals between cities.

  “Surely you can see the benefit in that?”

  The fire wizard crossed his arms defensively, but had no further argument. Since everything was so new using this magic, it was hard to know what roadblocks would come and the effort to defeat the emperor meant sometimes those with differences had to unite. It was what Southwall was based on since the remnants of multiple countries joined together to build the wall and fight back.

  “How long will you be gone?” Wizard Oltus asked trying to rein in the battle mage, since he was both a wizard and in charge.

  “I plan to move the stones south of the Twins to a point north of the wall. If the Betrayer isn’t watching the anchors too closely, perhaps if he returns to the Twins our guards can give him a warm welcome.”

  The idea made many of them smile at the scheme. Since many of them had spent time at Windmeer or been around during the Betrayer’s attack, they all had personal attachment to the fortress. For those who didn’t, no one wanted the treachery of the Betrayer to go unpunished.

  Finally giving in, Oltus nodded while adding, “Don’t be too long. You will need sleep for the next day’s ride and I won’t have you holding us back.”

  “Yes, sir,” Sebastian replied with a slight smile before turning to create the doorway. “Door,” he ordered calling up a glowing portal before their eyes.

  He felt Ashleen’s power mingling with his and he gestured for the others coming to jump through the golden light. Rilena and Elzen leaped in fearlessly. This wasn’t their first use of portals and they had faith in the mage despite his short time using the spell.

  Serrena nervously stepped into the portal leaving Ashleen and Sebastian to follow.

  The feeling of rushing wind as he passed through the silver space swept across the mage’s skin. He could feel Ashleen’s hand in his, but before he could think to look to the side, it was night again.

  Looking up, Sebastian noted the stars above him and caught the lesser shadows of clouds. If he knew more about the constellations, the mage thought he might catch more of the differences from where they had moved from the east, but the first moon was certainly lower in the sky here.

  “Ok, now what?” Serrena asked curiously. He had talked of moving the stones or destroying them to prevent an enemy from sneaking behind the wall. While other portals had been formed to the south, most were in cities that would require large armies to be of a drastic threat. The Twin Towers formed a defense thought to be a weakness in the great wall crossing the land. It was there that the Cadhalla River passed between a pair of towers beneath the wall. As a major source of water for the southern lands, it was a necessary weakness that had its own special defenses to compensate.

  Sebastian used the night vision spell built into the runes he had copied from the Grimnal’s warriors. It worked nearly as well as a mage spell and seeing the ground almost as well as he would by day; Sebastian found a pair of stones sitting near a bridge.

  Elzen looked at the bridge and asked, “This is the Cadhalla?”

  Nodding, the owl replied, “I’m not sure why Palose left this portal here. There is little within miles of the bridge, but it connects the castles of Windmeer and Blackwall for troop movements. The next closest bridge is over a hundred miles south and closer to White Hall.

  “Since he left these here, my guess is that Palose thought someday he would need to transport troops here.”

  Serrena shook her head saying, “But like you said, there is little near here. Yes, an army moving from the middle of nowhere could attack anywhere from this bridge. White Hall, Blackwall and Windmeer could be targets within a few days’ march, but I thought I saw a marker by Blackwall and ones closer to Windmeer than this on your map. Would they bother to attack White Hall?”

  Pointing north along the river which wound its way between the hills disappearing quickly from sight, Sebastian stated, “I would guess this is here to attack the Twins.”

  The others from Southwall understood at least part of the potential danger that would cause, but Ashleen as a Kardorian knew less of the land. “What are the Twins?”

  “The towers guarding the Cadhalla River entrance to Southwall are called the Twin Towers or Twins for short. It is supposed to be a powerfully guarded point along the wall and is reinforced by both Windmeer and Blackwall.”

  Rilena added, “We need the water, so the ancients built the two towers on either side to secure a wall that crossed from one side of the river to another. They dredged the river deeper there and created stone reinforced footings straight into the water which is blocked by thick stone rods crisscrossing enough that only fish can easily navigate through them.

  “It was secured as much as possible while still being able to deal with spring flooding. Water wizards are often requested for long durations in large enough numbers to control anything too dangerous.”

  Holding the stones in his hand, Sebastian told the others, “I want to move these north of the wall and let the guards of the Twins know exactly where they are at. If Palose tries to use his gate here, then if the guards keep close watch, he might find out he isn’t so clever.”

  The five hurried along the river heading to the north. It would be a few miles hike to the wall, but Sebastian was unsure of any other way to move faster. They had left the horses behind, since he was afraid of what the animals would do in the crossing. While it felt relatively short, they were crossing through multiple gates to compress the distance. Humans might not notice it as more than a blink, but animals could be more sensitive.

  “I have runes for speed and strength,” he stated looking at the next hill that he knew was just one of many on the winding path to the wall.

  “Good for you,” Elzen stated with a mischievous grin.

  “I can pass them on to the rest of you, wise ass,” replied Bas with a shake of his head.

  Ashleen shook her head saying, “Even with them, I doubt that I could keep up with the rest of you. Wizards aren’t in the same condition as battle mages and soldiers.”

  “Yeah, we don’t really spend a lot of time marching,” Serrena replied with a laugh.

  “I could carry one of you,” Sebastian shrugged knowing that both wizards were petite and small enough that they would amount to little more than some of the packs they were trained to carry in the field.

  “I’ll get the other,” Elzen nodded.

  “Maybe I should carry one,” Rilena laughed without actually slighting the height challenged mage.

  Grunting at the joke
of his life, Elzen replied, “I’m as tall as you but stronger, I’d bet.”

  The brunette girl was slim, but being a battle mage meant she had gone through the same training as the men; so Sebastian didn’t doubt her ability. They didn’t have time to waste either, so the owl stated as he took their hands, “Figure out who’s stronger later.”

  Runes lit up as he copied them and they slid down to their legs for speed. Strength runes followed the column of the spine, but the mage knew that placement of the magic was less important than the runes themselves.

  He knelt for Ashleen to hop onto his back while Elzen merely squatted a little for Serrena who was still smaller than the mage. With their passengers secured, Sebastian led the others at a brisk run and realized that the runes worked far better than any mage magic for increasing their speed. No spell he knew could add to stamina and the runes didn’t add to that either; but their legs drove against the ground in faster, longer strides covering the miles of twisting river bank faster than normal.

  “Wow,” Rilena commented loping along with the others. They all adopted the mile eating strides of trained battle mages. “I feel like I could keep up with a horse. Where did you learn this magic?”

  “From the Grimnal’s people,” he said without referring to the merfolk. Knowledge of the race from beneath the sea was supposed to remain secret even from those he trusted. If the word got out that there were mermaids, there would be men who would wish to profit from their discovery. Protecting their anonymity was part of Gerid’s requirement of him for returning and he wouldn’t betray the immortal’s trust. “It is one of the reasons that I was sent along on this mission.

  “Scouts have said that this eastern tribe had similar markings on them. Raven Leros wants me to see if there is a connection to the nomads’ runes and this magic.”

  “So they could be distant relatives of the Grimnal’s people?” Rilena asked breathing easily. Mages were trained to be as strong as they could be physically with the endurance of long distance runners, since a battle moved in bursts. They needed every bit of stamina worked into them so that they could to continue a fight that became prolonged.