Battle Mage: A Hero's Welcome (A Tale of Alus Book 8)

by Donald Wigboldy

  The earth wizard continued as he opened his eyes and released his spell, “The power is in the runes, not the actual stone. So if I use my power to erase some of them like so...”

  Collin rubbed his hands on the near side of the column as he chanted a new spell. It was almost three feet across and the wizard’s hands wiped from one side to the other with little effort. Moving side to side and up and down on just the one face, they watched as the runes faded into smooth stone. A hum rose and Sebastian thought that he saw a flicker run up and down the column along the remaining runes on that side.

  “Try moving this way now, sir,” Collin said to Gerid. The immortal had asked for the young men not to call him lord or the Grimnal. He hadn’t been an actual king for centuries and preferred being a father to being a ruler.

  The cleared side was to the right and the giant moved towards the barrier with his hand raised searching for the abrupt stop he had experienced only moments earlier. When his hand passed through at the same level as the erased runes, he started to grow confident; but his foot kicked the invisible line just before Gerid stumbled hitting his head as well. Uttering a curse and backing away rubbing his head, the man complained, “There is a gap in the barrier, but the rest is still there.”

  Nodding his head, as he quickly apologized, the wizard drew upon greater power as he touched the column. Magic surged from Collin’s hands as he placed them on two sides of the stone. Red and yellow light seemed at war with each other before the runes shifted like sand being blown on a beach. Like foot prints on the beach being worked by water and wind, they quickly disappeared as the stone became smooth.

  At Collin’s next nod, Gerid was able to walk past freely and even circled the stone. He nodded and questioned, “Does this mean only those anchored to this column are destroyed or has the complete spell been removed?”

  Collin shrugged replying, “I believe just these two lines. If Bas and Yara destroy the column cross corner to this, I can knock out the remaining walls of the spell. We don’t need to break all four as far as I can tell.”

  “Unless the remaining two decide to form a link diagonally across the island,” Yara mused before noticing all the men looking at the pretty little blond healer. A quick smile and a shrug bought her some grace from the others, but her comment made them wonder. They knew very little about the nature of the emperor’s curse spells, so Sebastian supposed that she might have a valid point.

  “We can take out the opposite corner and have Gerid check for a new barrier before heading back to the village,” the mage concluded before adding, “No, sense in finding out the island is split in half. If the north and south couldn’t just cross by land, it would be pretty inconvenient.”

  He smiled almost sheepishly, though they had yet to discover if the supposition was correct.

  Looking at the stone with a frown, the giant asked, “Is it safe to destroy this thing? I am actually beginning to hate looking at it. We don’t need a monument to what the warlocks did to me and the others.”

  Collin nodded to Sebastian who smiled grimly. Drawing his sword, the mage touched the tip to the earth and ordered, “Lightning.”

  The power of the earth rushed into the Hollow Sword energizing the weapon he had created from a sword found on his journey to find the Grimnal. Glowing almost as brightly as the light spell the two had used earlier, Sebastian passed the weapon to Gerid and said, “Give us a moment to all step clear, but perhaps you would like to do the honor?”

  “Honor,” the big man sniffed in disdain. He had fought the Dark Emperor on another world and been on the winning side. Becoming his prisoner without much of a fight had always irked the man, but he had been forced to give up to save those he could. “The emperor has little honor as far as I have been aware. It can be hard to fight against a foe that doesn’t care about anything beyond expanding his power and ruling everything he can. Winning and subjugating everything around him would be too exhausting in my opinion; but he seems inexhaustible in his appetites.

  “Such a creature knows little of honor.”

  He glanced to see all the onlookers retreating to the edge of the island. Stone shards were likely and no one else had the ability to heal from anything like the immortal holding the sword.

  With a roar of anger, Gerid whipped the weapon in a horizontal arc. Despite the lesser mass of the sword, it was honed to a sharpness only magic could create and as he swung lightning erupted with his anger preceding the metal slicing through the stone with a crack of thunder. Stone both cut cleanly and seemed to explode away from the weapon. It was a strike of lightning and, like nature’s devastating weapon of destruction, the Hollow Sword delivered a blow equal to any that a storm might throw at the land.

  Those watching had known to cover their ears and close their eyes if they didn’t want to see the aftermath of the lightning for several minutes, but still a few were left shaking their heads to remove the ringing from their ears or wiping at their eyes. Sebastian looked at the results of his destructive weapon wielded by the powerful giant having acted more prudent this time. In the aftershock of the thunder clap, a lesser thump from the stone hitting the ground after being cleaved clean through had barely been noticed. Leaving only a pathetic stump two feet high, though the original strike had been a foot higher; Gerid was covered in dust but looked infinitely happy with the result.

  Offering the sword back to the mage, the silver haired immortal stated with a smile, “I don’t think I’ve enjoyed myself more than watching this blade you’ve made destroy things.”

  Returning the legend’s smile with a nod as he replaced the Hollow Sword in its scabbard, the mage replied, “I’m hoping when I return home to find a way to make more. If I could outfit a few dozen battle mages with these, they could drive back kiriaks and armored viles with little effort.”

  “And earn the wizards’ respect for your brothers and sisters?” Gerid asked raising an eyebrow questioningly. “From what you’ve told me, battle mages have been looked down on by most wizards until recently.”

  Collin overheard the comments and joined in sounding slightly restrained as he said, “Until very recently, most wizards overlooked what a battle mage could do and actually did to safeguard them in battle. Wizards do have more power inherent in them and can cast more complex and powerful spells, but mages like Sebastian and the others have quicker magic and better weapons training. They’re like super soldiers and wizards in their own way.

  “Well, until Sebastian turned the world on its ear, most people thought that way at least.”

  Crossing his thick muscled arms, Gerid took a deep breath before he added, “I may not know much about how this Southwall formed its magical guilds and armies, but it is obvious that this one is not exactly normal. Your other mages here seem very talented as well.”

  Sebastian agreed as he answered, “Frell, Olan and Mecklin have been training with me to learn some of the new spells since last fall. We got back into it in earnest about two months ago along with a couple others, whom I needed to leave behind to train other mages and bring my sister to school.

  “Not only have they learned a lot, I’d trust them with my life and have more than a few times now.”

  The Grimnal’s eyes clouded slightly as he seemed to lose focus on the present as he looked to the past. “It is good to have companions like that. I’ve been through my share, but it is hard to find men and women of that caliber, even over a thousand years.”

  His attention returned to Collin and Sebastian before clapping them each on a shoulder turning them towards the boat. “And you have trusted friends in the wizards and soldiers around you also?”

  Chuckling, Sebastian replied, “When I picked some wizards to help train me a couple months ago, I looked for people that I thought I would like. I never expected them to become some of the best friends I’ve ever had.”

  Collin actually turned a little red at the compliment. Sebastian knew the earth wizard had been just as surprised after joining the bat
tle mage after losing a match back in Windmeer so long ago. After being drawn into a tournament that he had originally felt was superfluous and unnecessary given the serious threats the country faced, Bas had discovered that preparing for the wizards’ duels had helped him learn more and become a better battle mage. He might even have bridged the gap between mage and wizard to a point.

  “Well, you seem to be a good leader, who can also draw people to him,” Gerid judged as the men climbed into the boat after assisting Yara, who was wearing a fairly short skirt but still had a little difficulty getting in and out of the longboat. “I’ve known leaders of men from kings to generals to simple foremen. Leadership can vary and some who are leaders shouldn’t be in charge of sheep let alone people, but some special men have qualities that draw people to them. They instill confidence because their men know they would do anything to keep them safe and try to make them better without putting down their level of skill.

  “Based not only on the way those of your team look to you to lead them, but also those from the Malaiy who technically serve Annalicia; it is easy to see that you are one of the good ones. For such a snot nosed young kid, you do pretty well for yourself,” Gerid finished with a big laugh at the mage’s expense.

  While twenty was hardly old, especially in the face of a man over a millennium old; he was hardly a snot nosed kid, the falcon thought.

  “Oh, don’t take my joke as my true judgment of you, Sebastian. I was a few years younger than you when I was leading mercenaries in battle against...” his brow furrowed suddenly. “Damn, it’s been so long I can’t even remember who Rhearden fought at that point. They couldn’t seem to get along with anyone back then, but I do remember the High King of Marshalla. He was a madman that decided to try and take over North Continent. It was his wizards that brought the mar’goyn’lya and che’ther through a tear between worlds.

  “Darius once said that it was believed that first use of portal magic helped bring the Dark Emperor to our world. That madman tried to kill my family just to test his creatures like new toys released on his own people.”

  The man stopped and glanced to the others in the boat. They had already started to row to the south. Catching himself in his remembrance of a dark past, Gerid smiled and shook his head. “Sorry, even after all this time, I can remember Merrick’s name and the hatred returns. For a mortal man, he was almost as evil in his way as the emperor, but that was the past. You kids probably don’t even have history books that go back to that time.”

  “Some of the military campaigns were taught in battle mage classes on tactics. History is taught in White Hall though much of the events preceding the Cataclysm aren’t as documented since some of the libraries were destroyed or even sunk into the sea when the land changed.

  “The taking of the Grimnal of Hala without a battle from within while the High King was away at war is a popular story with the bards as well, I hear,” Bas replied trying to make the man feel a little better. He and the past generations weren’t completely forgotten in his absence after all.

  Grunting as he nodded, Gerid replied, “Well, that’s good to know. Hopefully having those histories will help prevent such evil from happening again, though with the emperor and his armies still at large, we don’t even need to build hatred between us to have an enemy.

  “It still seems strange to hear that Raithe not only pulled the nations together, but managed to create a new nation without all the nationalistic divisions coming back to break the country up. Southwall now instead of Marshalla, Caldor, Cadmene, Staron, Maris and Sileoth united under one king seems a little surprising, since even during my time they could never seem to fully cooperate. That was why Raithe helped the emperor in the first place. The little fool wanted to try and take over the nations like Merrick. His wizards managed to contact the Dark One in a mistake of magic and gave him his escape route into our world.

  “Well, you know how that turned out.”

  Collin spoke up as the others watched the giant lapse into silence. “I don’t remember much of King Raithe’s transgressions, but even without knowing all the old countries, I know that Sileoth and Staron remain. Most of Sileoth broke free and is now an island under their own king. Staron has been beaten and liberated a few times, but currently rests between the Spinera and Divera rivers guarded by Estaria west of the rivers.

  “Whatever nations were east of there were mostly destroyed until you went east enough to reach Taleres, though east of the Malof River apparently has a few cities that have begun to reform that area. Only Kardor remains west of the mountains free of the emperor.

  “I don’t know of Maris, but Marianis probably came from that country and has its king as well. They’re all allies, since no one wants the Dark One to take over the world because they can’t get along.”

  Gerid took in a deep breath before letting it out and said, “If those generations managed to come together and learn to get along, that’s better than the world I was used to, at least.”

  Taking over from that comment, Sebastian replied, “The Cataclysm destroyed so much and killed so many, that when the emperor’s armies appeared from the Dragon Spine Mountains; King Raithe rallied those closest to Hala and sent word to everyone he could find to fight against them. When word was sent that these were the ones who had just destroyed the world, it became easier to unite them under a single banner. North Wall grew quickly from the need to create a barrier between them and the hordes the emperor seemed to always have at the ready.”

  Muttering, “The Dragon Spine? We used to call them the Dragon Scar Mountains. Maris became Marianis.” He looked at the men looking at him and shrugged, “Maybe I need to see if the sea captains have updated maps that will give me a clue as to how the world looks now. Islands I knew as a young man weren’t there when we set sail to check our allies in the heart of the quakes. New ones were there too.

  “The emperor’s warlocks captured us too quickly to discover more about the North Sea, if you still call it that,” the immortal added glancing to see a chorus of nods.

  Yara tried to be comforting as she calmly stated, “The land may have changed, and some names, but I think you will see that at least in Southwall and her allies most things remained the same. People live and die leading normal lives and, after almost a hundred and fifty years guarded by North Wall, Southwall has a people that are no longer survivors, but their descendants. We still have to fight the emperor at times, but even that has become a bit quieter since the wall stopped them.”

  Shaking his head, Sebastian retorted with disappointment, “Until last year when it failed and Palose brought an army into Windmeer anyway. There is also the new fortress that has appeared in the Dimple Mountains.”

  Gerid frowned and asked, “It never happened before and within a year two breaches have occurred? Now I am to return to a country experiencing their first major worries in a hundred and fifty years.”

  Guessing that the Grimnal was thinking it all less than coincidence, the battle mage reminded them all, “It was running into Garosh in the fortress that gave me a clue that you were still alive, which created the idea for the quest to find you, sir. The last part is no coincidence and even the fortress is just likely to have stemmed from some of his warlock’s escaping from Windmeer in the chaos.”

  A moment’s silence was suddenly broken by Gerid as he smiled and said, “Well, enough of that talk. Today should be a celebration. My people are free to leave this place, if they want. It is a prison no more thanks to you.

  “Let’s finish destroying these columns and erase them from memory.”

  Collin had one last question as he asked, “Should we destroy them all? Even if just destroying two would get rid of the barrier, we might want to destroy them all.”

  The reason he questioned the idea came out as he asked, “Have the black ships been here before, sir?”

  “Of course, though only twice, since they stranded us here.”

  “Did they appear out of the portal light or
did they have to sail here?”

  The question brought a frown to Gerid’s brow as he considered the questions. “This third time they sailed in, but that was most likely because they transported to that island you were telling me about on your adventure. The first time they appeared out of a portal, or whatever you said it is called, inside the barrier islands in our little harbor. The other time was quite a bit later, maybe thirty years ago, and they sailed in from the west.”

  Collin frowned at the last part, but said, “Well, the first appearance might have been facilitated by these curse barriers. Some of my earth training involved retracing a path due to lingering magic from wizards casting. An earth wizard can even create a mark when traveling through unknown forests to help guide them like a lodestone. It prevents getting lost and is more precise than just using a compass to find the north pole.

  “If they aren’t blindly creating portals, which we can assume they aren’t by the precision of the ones we’ve seen, they must use something to give them the location. Perhaps the columns are more than just a barrier, but also a link to whoever creates the portals?”

  Sebastian sighed and stated, “Well, I guess we’ll be making a day of it then. If Collin’s theory is correct, it certainly does have merit. They appeared at Maldus Island, where they had another set of curse barriers, right after we left.

  “I’d rather err on the side of caution and make them have to sail here, rather than just appear at your doorstep again.”

  With that decision made, the longboat’s passengers settled in for a long day of dealing with the remaining columns.

  Chapter 3- Playing Games

  By the time Sebastian jumped from the boat into the shallows north of the single pier serving the island, he was more than ready to stay on land. Giving Yara help as he placed his hands on her waist to help lift her free and into the waves up to mid thigh, he could see it on her face as well.

  Oarsmen provided by Gerid’s people had brought them to the first island, but halfway to the southwest point, they had set up the temporary sail to catch the wind. The Grimnal was a former sailor and had even gone out on the local sailing vessels to help fish on occasion, so he held the ropes to adjust the single sail for the wind the ocean provided. An oar was set in a hook at the rear to use as a tiller for steerage letting them all settle in for the ride instead of having to use the oars for the entire trip once it was decided that they would destroy all four barrier columns.