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

by Donald Wigboldy

  “Follow the others then,” she said pointing to a line of walking wounded and their helpers. The healer smiled again and looked past him to the next person coming through the gateway.

  When his feet reached the hospital wing of Windmeer castle, Xander had to admit that Shaylene was becoming heavier with each step. The girl had felt light as a feather several hundred feet earlier, but his exhaustion and time holding her were making his arms believe that she was more of a burden now.

  “Over here, son,” an older man in yellow directed him.

  “She was healed, but hasn’t woken up in almost an hour, I think,” the cadet answered placing her gently on a padded table.

  The healer began to chant before placing his hand on Shaylene’s forehead. After a moment, he smiled and said, “She’s just sleeping. Her injuries are gone, but the lingering affects of the magic she used in battle along with that shared in the healing spell have just left her exhausted.

  “It is nice to see your concern for her. You are friends then?”

  Nodding as his eyes remained on the girl, Xander replied, “We met once or twice at White Hall, but we got alone pretty well while posted at the Twins.”

  The healer started to step away towards his next patient but added, “It is nice to see that your generation has begun to embrace each other despite our differences. Maybe it will make our people stronger, if those fighting together could get along better.”

  Xander let the comment lie as he frowned slightly at the healer’s back. There was no reason not to appreciate each other, he thought. Add to the fact that wizards like Shaylene could be so nice; it was easy to ignore the labels of wizard and mage. Power ruled her kind in some way, but the apprentice didn’t seem like that at all.

  Looking around him, the cadet wondered what he was supposed to do now. Xander didn’t even know where he was since he had never been to Windmeer before. The cadet supposed that he would have to ask, but he hated leaving Shaylene, after all she was no more familiar with Windmeer than he was and had the added confusion of waking in a foreign place when she woke up again.

  Pulling up a chair, Xander decided to wait until someone told him more or the girl awoke. With a sigh, the cadet watched as the healers moved around ignoring his presence, though occasionally one would smile in his direction without the mage’s notice.

  Sebastian joined the wizard healers and a few mages who had learned the skill by now as well in working with the wounded. He held his staff using it from time to time to maintain his strength, since there were so many needing help after such a large battle.

  Ashleen offered her magic to him at times, but the mage selfishly used the situation as an experiment as well. He appreciated the girl’s touch and amidst the smell of blood and burning flesh, her presence helped steel him to the horrors left on the battle field.

  Losing track of how many he healed, Sebastian took a break and noticed a commotion happening closer to the remains of the wall west of the towers. A group of soldiers seemed to be working themselves up into a fervor around something that the mage couldn’t see.

  Followed by Ashleen, the owl mage pushed through the gathering crowd drawing complaints until they realized who it was. Many knew the mage by sight now even though soldiers and mages rarely associated beyond the missions where they were paired together. There were times where he had met and spoken with soldiers in the city or at night in the taverns, but Sebastian knew that much had to be attributed to the kind of celebrity he had begun to have foisted on him after the tournament. He had also been proclaimed a hero for finding Gerid adding to his growing popularity with the people.

  “What’s going on here?” he asked loud enough to draw most of their attention. While Sebastian asked the question, the mage could see with his eyes that there was a pair of armored viles corralled within the remnants of the wall.

  One blocked a massive hole waving its claws at the men looking weary and worn. Arrows stuck out of the fleshy armored skin and there was a few burn marks on it as well, though it looked fairly healthy despite the battle. Sebastian looked in its eyes and saw fear, but no malice. The vile appeared more beast than soldier now and he wondered if, without the warlocks pushing them to fight, they were actually the violent monsters he had seen in battle. They were certainly a force to be dealt with in war, but this behavior wasn’t that of a soldier fighting for itself to kill. This armored vile looked to just be trying to protect its friend who appeared more injured.

  “We caught these monsters and were just trying to figure out how best to kill them without having anyone else get killed in the process,” a soldier stated looking happy with the situation. Other men agreed cheerfully as the bloodlust continued in their veins.

  “Leave them to me,” he stated waving them away.

  Cheers followed his statement as they believed that the mage meant to single handedly destroy the monsters as the soldiers gave way to watch the man deal with the Dark One’s creatures.

  Sebastian could feel Ashleen tensing behind him. She thought he meant to kill the frightened creatures as well. It was certainly the usual way of dealing with the enemy. These creatures were too powerful to be left alive. There was no point to their capture in most of their eyes, but the owl mage saw something of an opportunity here also. Maybe it was all the healing he had done, but his heart told him there was a different way.

  Raising a hand, he radiated a calming affect on those around him including the armored vile. Sebastian held Bairh’loore in his left hand feeling the power of the earth beckoning for him to call on it, but the mage didn’t need that power if his guess was correct.

  “Easy, easy there, big fella,” the mage said using the words almost like a spell.

  The cheers of the men around him stopped as the soldiers also calmed. Ashleen sighed as her hand rested on his left shoulder as if to tell him she was there as well. If he judged the vile incorrectly, Sebastian supposed knowing where the girl was as he jumped back would be important; but his mind and manner remained set to calm this beast.

  He remembered the feeling his younger sister had about her when her magic had run rampant. Katya was only thirteen and had already nearly become a wilder as her powerful magic started to consume her. His sister would be a powerful wizard, well beyond his strength as a mage; but her power was more dangerous also. A natural at the magic called diplomacy; Katya’s power was more accurately known as coercion. She could work on people’s minds and even powerful wizards were susceptible to that kind of spell.

  Using his own version of that as Sebastian tried to recreate what he had felt many months ago, the owl used his words to ease the creature. He didn’t want to kill it and the mage needed to get that impression across.

  The armored vile recoiled slightly keeping its left claws held up before it like it was telling him to stop, but the creature’s eyes just held wariness. If he had just been surrounded by soldiers seeking to kill him, Sebastian thought he would be pretty much the same. They were all raised to know their enemies and these monsters had only been seen on the battle field.

  His hand rested on the vile’s claw and Sebastian called on his healing magic to check the creature, “Heal.”

  His magic eased the armored vile even more. Power from Ashleen pressed into him adding to his strength as he maintained a form of coercion not only on the monsters in front of him, but with the crowd of soldiers as well. Healing took a lot of power also, so her comforting touch adding strength was a help that kept him from using the earth despite its call to him.

  Sebastian felt the power of the creature before him and found its wounds minor. His healing touch eased the burns and pushed the arrows free without causing it pain. The armored vile moved aside as the mage pushed forward to check the second creature only to realize that it was not the only thing being protected by its friend. A troll, as well as a few orcs looking very injured, huddled just beyond the second vile.

  It tried to move to put its bulk between the mage and the others. These two vil
es had chosen to give their lives to protect creatures of different species. It was an interesting thing to see. He only knew of a few animals willing to protect humans or other species in times of trouble. Most had to be raised by men to become that protective, so he wondered why these two had chosen to protect the smaller soldiers of the Dark One’s army.

  “It is alright,” he said placing his hand on the second vile’s claw. “I won’t let them hurt you. Let’s take care of your wounds.”

  His healing found a creature barely capable of standing. Its leg had been cut by a blade and ran with dark blood. More arrows covered this vile, though few had hit more sensitive soft skin between the thick fleshy plates which gave it the name of armor.

  The troll surprised him as the second vile backed off to let him proceed to those it protected.

  “Why help?” it asked gruffly. The creature held its stomach and blood covered the hand and arm.

  “Because you need it,” he answered before calling on his spell to heal the troll.

  “You kill us,” the troll accused though he did nothing to defend himself against the healer.

  “And you kill us, because the emperor makes you,” Sebastian replied a bit distantly as his mind was distracted in his use of the spell. “You’ve lost tonight, but it is over. I’ll heal you and send you home.”

  Other eyes looked at the mage incredulously. The orcs understood common as well as the troll, Sebastian thought to himself. It was odd to realize that they could all communicate. Perhaps the viles understood him as well beyond his spell’s calming affect.

  It was an interesting thing to understand. The only real thing keeping their races from getting along, as far as he could tell, was that the emperor had control over them making the creatures fight. Without the Dark One pushing to exterminate Southwall, could they all get along? He doubted that there wouldn’t be those hungry for power and land on both sides that would never let peace rule the land completely, but perhaps one day they would remove the emperor’s hold on these creatures and learn to get along.

  Sebastian moved to heal the orcs one by one receiving similar queries. The orcs had little accent to their words and if he closed his eyes, the mage could almost imagine that they sounded like a human from Southwall. It was strange to think of the enemy as reasoning creatures that he could communicate with and teach each other mutually.

  By the time he was finished healing them all, the creatures of the dark army were looking at him with questions in their eyes as well; but he knew that they could not stay here. The soldiers might not be attacking them now, but it was mostly because of the battle mage’s magic. They were calmed and at ease, though Sebastian guessed some held their hands because he and Ashleen would likely be killed trapped between the enemy soldiers and viles.

  “I can send you back to Ensolus,” he stated clearly for the troll and orcs’ benefit. Worry over what would happen if he sent them back now, since this portal wasn’t one of their warlocks’ gates, gave them the time to decline.

  Receiving nods from the surprisingly intelligent creatures, Sebastian spoke, “Door.”

  The gate was charged by a trickle of power through Bairh’loore now that Ashleen was growing exhausted from sharing the work of healing. Created just beyond the wall, but between it and Southwall’s soldiers; the glowing portal stood out brightly in the darkness of night. It was growing late and Turas’ red moon now held the sky replacing his brother. A war moon, it was strange that he would be showing the enemy mercy at this hour.

  Moving to the gate without hurry, the second vile moved past the first guardian who seemed unwilling to leave until it knew everyone was safe first. Orcs followed as the troll seemed equally protective of the smaller creatures. When it too had disappeared into the light, the vile looked down on the owl giving him a knowing nod before stepping through the portal.

  “Was that wise?” Ashleen asked tiredly.

  “Was what wise? Healing their wounds, showing them mercy or sending them home?”

  Sighing as she was too tired to laugh at him, Ashleen replied, “Probably all of that, but where did you send them?”

  “To the stronger shared gates near Palose’s personal magic. I am assuming that he lives near the Dark Emperor, of course; but if I am wrong I am sure that their warlocks can send them wherever they need to be.”

  The girl looked at him incredulously. “You just told them that you can get to them by doing that. Didn’t you?”

  Nodding, Sebastian replied, “Maybe knowing that we can get to them will make the emperor and his generals a bit more wary. He wanted to challenge us. I just let him know that we can get to him as well.”

  Releasing a low whistle, Ashleen warned, “You are playing a dangerous game without your leaders’ permission, Sebastian. You could get in trouble for letting an enemy go as much as alerting the emperor to your abilities.”

  “They know we can use gates, but the warlocks we learned from told us that the gates are guarded. We can’t storm their city through them, but that doesn’t mean I can’t put the worry in their heads.

  “As to my being in trouble, I doubt that they will say much of anything. Even if I did get in trouble, I know how to use portal magic. Where could they hold me?”

  Her eyes widened in shock. Sebastian was telling her that he was willing to defy his country and didn’t fear any penalty. Looking at him, it was getting harder to see that young mage she had met only months before who had ridden out to save her people north of the wall.

  Sebastian was changing, hardening like the steel he now forged, but he hadn’t changed so much that she didn’t see what had drawn her to him from the start. His new strength came from leading and changing. He cared for his people and chose to do what he could to protect them, but the mage was beginning to grow beyond the restraints of a normal falcon. He was an owl growing with knowledge and as Sebastian continued to gain more experience his wisdom grew as well.

  “Do you want me to send you back to the Black Smith Inn? You look tired from all that healing you helped me do,” Sebastian asked looking a bit drained as well. Whatever he had done to cause himself so much pain before she arrived seemed to have been healed. When that had happened, Ashleen wasn’t sure. He had held that pain even as he started to heal the soldiers of Southwall. Now he looked stronger once more, but Sebastian was tired in his eyes as well.

  “Only if you come with me,” she replied worrying for his health.

  “I want to send back any other troops left behind first.”

  “Why?” she asked less from surprise than curiosity.

  “Maybe its time to start showing them mercy. If the enemy knows that we are capable of it, maybe their soldiers will start to wonder why they fight. We can hope that one day we will learn to get along. Maybe this is how it starts.”

  Ashleen nodded though she was less convinced as they moved to roam the battle field. There were other soldiers and beasts of the emperor which had been left behind. The soldiers of Southwall had them contained, but most still had yet to be executed.

  Sebastian hurried to save the lives that he could.

  Chapter 35- A Question of Loyalty

  Palose held onto Sylvaine’s hand stepping through the gateway from the shadows of Ensolus in its cave into the sunlight of a southern city. Cadmera wasn’t along the coast where Kolban had sent so many spies to create unrest in Southwall. It was a large town well north of that set in between the branches of the Cadhalla River. The second river was called the Caldene River made from combining the names of two former countries which met in roughly the same place.

  It was a place of trade since boats traveled up and down the rivers to the cities further north and the ocean trade cities at their end. It was also close enough to Hala that its citizens wouldn’t fall for the same talk of breaking from their king like those to the south. They knew what it meant to support King Alain and the troops guarding the wall.

  In the past, the dark armies had pushed this far a time or two, though
that was generations ago before the wall. Still the people of Cadmera didn’t forget, but they worried less than those to the north also.

  Leading the pretty, dark haired girl by the hand, Palose smiled receiving a loving look in return. They enjoyed slipping away when they could to see the cities and towns he had seeded with his lodestones. The dark mage needed to guard his hard earned portals now, however, since four of his gates had been interfered with or destroyed.

  While the trip was partially for fun, Palose had brought Sylvaine with for another reason as well.

  The curly haired girl in her sundress, originally bought in this town, looked happy to be with him; but when he stopped her to let go of her hand and pick up the two lodestones, her face became a bit more serious. She was often serious and a good match for the dark mage, he tended to believe. Sylvaine was also very intelligent and a former apprentice of the warlocks in Ensolus. Only her death had changed her future path.

  One of his resurrected people, Sylvaine’s magic was tied to his, but still completely different. Placing the two stones in her hands, he hoped that using the girl would prevent whoever was targeting his portals from finding more.

  “You just need me to channel my magic into them until your signature fades away?” she asked as her violet eyes questioned him with both a look and her words.

  Nodding, Palose added, “Once you’ve changed them we will find a new place to hide them. I’m not sure if the wizard chasing down my gates has figured out to track my magic or if it was luck, but three destroyed portals in one day was hardly a coincidence.”

  Her magic formed over her hands as she held the lodestones pushing his magic from them making the rocks her own. While Sylvaine still had problems with portal magic, imbuing her magic in items was a simple task that any warlock or wizard could do. Palose thought most battle mages could even figure out such a simple thing, but he always hoped for more from his former corps.