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

by Donald Wigboldy

  Brightening with a sudden smile, Acheri confused the older man with her abrupt cheerfulness. “Well, with that kind of assurance, I guess that I will see these captains for my brother’s business.”

  As she turned, Palose watched and heard the man’s breath leave in relief at her change of mood. He was also probably just as glad to see the princess leave hoping to avoid angering the girl. Whether he truly believed she was who she claimed, the mage was unsure; but Acheri had put fear into him even so.

  Stopping at the door to turn and look back at the harbor master, her smile remained but it had turned cold. “If you are wrong, I will have to have you killed, of course. The emperor doesn’t appreciate men who fail him. There’s nothing personal if that comes to pass, Master Alkwar, just so you know.”

  Even Palose felt the chill of the words coming from the innocent looking girl of moments earlier. Alkwar paled and seemed to understand one thing was certain about Acheri, she was someone to fear.

  Chapter 6- Offerings

  For a port that Palose had never heard of, Banosh seemed to be doing very well. From the hill he had seen more than a dozen ocean going vessels from a handful or more of countries though almost as many were in port apparently representing local merchant interests. With Kolban the silent partner behind the government on the east side of the island, the mage had a feeling that at least some of them were here to create business for Ensolus. The capitol city of the emperor was land locked, but with his warlocks’ ability to create and use portal magic, Litsarin and its towns were just a step through an open gate of light away. After all, even a conqueror needed funds to run his empire.

  Sea birds were prevalent squawking at the passersby hoping for handouts. Many more could be seen in the rigging of the ships docked by the three piers talking to each other or simply resting from a long morning of fishing and hunting for scraps. Typical of most sea ports, Palose assumed, Banosh had a harbor guarded by a breakwater far enough out that some of the ships waited at anchor rather than at the dock still safe from the tossing sea beyond.

  Acheri appeared enchanted by the sight of the ships and ocean. Acting like a simple girl enjoying a walk, she fairly danced up the walkway touching the dock and reaching up to an opening in the rails of the Clipper. She wore a red skirt touching the tops of her soft leather boots, but neither her clothing nor the gentle rise and fall of the ship with the waves made her look unsure of her footing as she walked up the four foot wide plank to the deck.

  Her first pause was given as more than a dozen sailors noticed their new and apparently unwelcome guests. A man held up his hands waving the girl back making Acheri frown as he stated, “No, no, you can not just walk onto this ship acting as if this was your home. We do not want unasked for guests on this ship. You people can just turn around now.”

  The many eyes of the sailors lifted from their work around the deck as they appeared ready to back up the first man who dressed barely better than the rest. In pants cut half way up his shins and an off white sleeveless shirt with a handful of buttons open from the neck down, his hat with a brim to shield his eyes and face from the strong sun was perhaps his most distinguished piece of gear.

  Acheri frowned at the man and stated, “I am here to see Captain Roslere and I doubt that you are he. Go fetch the captain since I have business with him.”

  Palose moved to rest against the rail as if bored by the matter, while the bodyguards spread to either side with their hands resting on the pommels of their swords. Lanquer stood just behind the girl’s right shoulder fingering the wound leather of his weapon’s handle looking more offended than the others and as the sailor replied; his answer didn’t exactly settle the young man’s mind either.

  “You might want to see the captain, but he doesn’t want to see you, little girl. You’re just not his type, now if your mother has managed to remain anywhere nearly as good looking as you, she might have a chance with him,” the man stated with a chuckle hearing a few other bits of nervous laughter from his fellow sailors nearby. Noting Lanquer tensing even more at the insult, the sailor added, “Settle down, pup, before you make trouble for yourself that you can’t back up.”

  Acheri’s fingers had been moving on her right hand and as it lifted before her, flame sprouted around the flesh like fire around the pitch of a torch. “You are a rude, little man,” the young woman stated in annoyance. “I do not have time for creatures like you on an otherwise lovely day. Get the captain and do not say another word to me or I will be forced to decide whether you die by fire or my brother’s sword.”

  Inspired to fear by the sight of her wizards’ fire, the other sailors backed away pretending to return to their work even as the man in front of Acheri paled as the blood ran from his face.

  “Captain!” he cried frantically leaping towards the cabin further back on deck and the door there. He had uttered a word though not to the girl, Palose thought in amusement, and watched as Acheri forgave the slip in the man’s panic.

  Without even reaching the cabin, the door was thrown open revealing a larger man with unruly dark hair and a full beard looking nearly as bad as that on top of his head. His face revealed annoyance at the interruption as he looked for the man calling his name.

  “What is it, Kurin? Do I have to do everything around here for you?” the man growled angrily until he spied the girl holding the magical flame. Her dark mysterious eyes stared at the man’s entrance looking unamused, and increased the amount of wizard’s fire, causing the man to stand straighter before asking, “Can I help you, wizard... wizardess? I am the captain of the Clipper, if I may be of service.”

  The captain looked unsure of how to address the girl and with the looks of the men around her, he wondered if even a wizard’s title wasn’t coming out as an insult to the pretty, young woman whose power was currently on display. It was just the merest taste of what Acheri could do, Palose thought watching the captain using the skills he had built from years as a merchant. If sufficiently angered, he knew that the girl had the power to destroy the entire ship even with a lesser spell given her strength in magic.

  “Captain Roslere, I assume,” Acheri replied snuffing the fire as she closed her hand dropping it by her side unharmed from the magic flame. As if completely unaffected by the start to her visit, the girl stated plainly, “I have come with a mission for you.”

  Glancing to the sailors still trying to appear occupied with work despite their furtive looks at the group standing on their deck, Acheri suggested, “Perhaps we should find someplace with less ears to discuss our business, however.”

  The captain gestured to the doorway he had just vacated and held the door until Acheri, followed by Lanquer and Palose, had passed through the portal. When two of her guards moved to either side of the door while the third began to walk around the surrounding decking making sure that their conversation had no extra ears, Roslere closed the door behind him and gave a questioning look to the dark haired young woman.

  “Captain, who is the true ruler of Banosh, do you think?” she asked pushing at the nautical maps on a table near the center of the room.

  A rolled map fell to the floor catching the man’s eye a moment before returning his gaze to the girl in front of him. Her bearing wasn’t that of a teenage girl now and her comportment held a maturity that he could only think of calling regal. “I assume that you don’t mean Governor Etrarias, wizardess. The one who created these islands and the Cataclysm before it, Emperor Kolban, is the true ruler of Litsarin, though many do not realize it. If this is who you mean?”

  Her head nodded and Acheri raised her left hand to reveal a large ring that looked much too large for the girl’s delicate, graceful fingers. “You know what this is as well?”

  “A signet ring, my lady,” he answered giving the honorific as he began to realize her true stature in Ensolus. “It seals documents for lords and officials.”

  Tilting her head to the side as if appraising the man, Acheri continued, “I come to you to bring you a
mission for the emperor and this is his ring. What I tell you will remain sealed between us, captain.”

  Swallowing hard and realizing that his mouth had suddenly gone dry as the conversation progressed, Captain Roslere asked, “What does the emperor need of a simple merchant captain, my lady?”

  “You will go here,” the girl stated pointing with her finger. The nail’s polish caught the light drawing the man’s attention even more. “There is an island surrounded by four smaller islands with columns standing in what will look like glass. You will confirm whether they stand or not and notify me through Palose.”

  Again she gestured, but this time towards the young man leaning against the wall of the cabin. As the mage moved off of the wall, Roslere blinked having managed to forget the man who seemed to just blend into the background so well. The captain wondered if it had been magic making him overlook the young man who moved with the power and grace of a skilled swordsman.

  A corrinut shell with a smooth stone piercing the surface was placed on the table with the maps and the mage stepped back letting Acheri continue the briefing.

  “This island has a small population of locals, but they shouldn’t be hostile. You may even talk to them offering to trade, since you are a merchant. Just play it off as a lucky turn of events that you discovered their little island and they shouldn’t suspect you of anymore than that.

  “Your main goal is to check these columns’ state and to contact us. You simply have to crush the outer shell to activate the stone’s spell which will bring either Palose or one of my other warlocks,” the girl stated lifting the corrinut in her hand miming the act of exerting force on the rough, brown shell.

  “How will he be able to reach my ship in the middle of the ocean? If you can travel there when I arrive, then why haven’t your wizards just gone already?”

  Acheri raised a disapproving eyebrow at the man’s questioning of her words and rebuffed, “Have you studied magic to understand its limits, captain? My guess is that you have not.

  “Just do as I have said and we will take care of the rest. You simply have to sail your ship as you normally would and conduct trade with the locals, if you wish.”

  Realizing that this commitment wasn’t likely to leave him and to turn it down was to refuse the emperor, which had more final consequences most likely; Captain Roslere nearly sighed as he asked, “What kinds of goods should I bring to trade?”

  “What they might be able to offer in trade I do not truly know, but metal and farming implements might be one thing to bring. They are on an island separated from the rest of the world so just use your imagination.”

  Acheri placed a slip of paper on the map with the coordinates written on its surface before turning towards the door.

  Roslere watched as the three removed themselves from both his cabin and ship before shaking his head. With just a moment to think, the captain began to bark orders to his crew to ready for their unplanned trip.

  The sun shone warmly above the island from the east as the morning slowly approached noon. Clouds to the west suggested the strong rays of the sun would be contested in the afternoon, but he doubted that the fluffy, white clouds in his vision would carry any rain.

  While Sebastian could ride the winds and had an affinity for air, the battle mage was too new to the skills to think he had senses accurate enough to read the weather like Annalicia or Themenor might be able to do. One of the wizards who had been with him to train for the wizards’ duel tournament had seemed to know the patterns or felt the changes more viscerally than he could at this point.

  He could ride the winds later and look to the west beyond what his eyes could see, however, and might do so later as practice more than anything else. Since he was a just a battle mage and couldn’t hope to alter the weather on such a large scale to dismiss rain or storms, and doubted any wizards he knew could either; Sebastian could just use the magic to forecast the inevitable a little sooner than the average man.

  Understanding that he was limited in scope to what he could do with magic, the mage stood before the massive hulk of the beached black ship. The merfolk and those of the island had put in a lot of effort before it was even on shore, but looking at where it was now he was quite impressed. Of course one of the reasons the ship appeared ahead of schedule for repairs was actually the nature wizard Nara.

  His friend was a skilled enough wizard to have participated in the Winter’s Edge tournament and Nara had used her ability to work with nature and wood in particular to advance the repairs beyond what a team of men could have done in such a short time. Skilled woodworkers and shipwrights couldn’t hope to fix holes with just their minds and magic, so Nara could affect repairs just using what was there or a little more material brought by the men of the island at her request.

  Sebastian had tried to heal a tree using his meager magic and passed out from over use once before, so he understood as well as anyone how hard it could be. Of course, that was when he had just started learning how to convert wizard spells into a passable version for mages. The longer chanting and use of hand gestures was just one of the things that had separated battle mages from the stronger wizards of Southwall. Since a mage was simply someone with magic, but not with the reservoirs of power that a wizard had; the more powerful faction had tended to look down on their mage brothers and sisters.

  After the Cataclysm, it had been years before they could even figure out how to make use of the weaker men and women making up the mage corps. They had been trained like soldiers and introduced to magic, but few could do anything with it; until the first true battle mage came to teach magic to those people who would follow him creating a useful unit to combat the Dark One’s creatures.

  They had a limited amount of spells, and few mages who followed had been able to add to the list; but Sebastian had come along and had a mind for magic that surpassed his teachers and fellow cadets. Now less than a year later, Sebastian had picked up the nicknames Mizard and Owl. Whether he felt wise enough to be called owl, the blending of wizard and mage to be called mizard did seem apt. Without any ego or bragging, the young man had eyes that could see wizard magic and translate some of it for mages to use.

  His ego also knew that in spite of what he had managed to achieve in less than a year, and the new spells which would be helpful to his corps; his abilities were still limited. Like most wizards, learning spells outside of his elemental aptitude had been challenging. Those that required long uses of magic in large amounts might never be deciphered or become useful to the other mages even if he could. Already, many of his spells seemed beyond the talents of most mages, though he had added to their arsenal adding wind spears, light and darkness spells, as well as healing that some could comprehend at least on some level among other things.

  It was a start, the young man thought, as he realized that he had spent less than a year discovering the spells and fewer months trying to pass the knowledge along. One thing during that time which he had learned was that he wasn’t a natural teacher. Still, if the owl could pass it on to a few they could spread the spells to the entire corps eventually. It didn’t have to remain just on his shoulders.

  Sebastian was also tired of the other battle mages looking at him every moment after a wizard used new magic, as if he could just look and adapt a spell in an instant. At least the three he had brought with him weren’t like that. Mecklin, Olan and Frell were good friends now and had been among the more talented battle mages who had learned his early spells. They still learned new things as he did, if only to spread the knowledge so that he wouldn’t be the only one; but they didn’t hound him every instant to find new spells to give to them like some had done while he was in Southwall.

  Placing a hand on the wood hull, the mage felt the material and was impressed with the smoothed feel of the outer wood. Wax or other sealants were used to keep a ship water tight, he knew that much; but Sebastian had been born and raised inland. His knowledge of the sea had only begun less than two months ago when he ha
d his first view of the North Sea from Hala.

  “Heal,” he prompted his magic forward to look into the wood. While not truly trying to heal the ship, since the mage would leave it to those more skilled in both magic and woodworking; his spell extended his senses into the wood of the hull letting him see what his eyes could not.

  Spreading his magical senses outward quickly overwhelmed his mind with the sheer size of the ship, so Sebastian pulled his attempt back to smaller areas of the craft working his way from one end to another. He looked for weaknesses and only in a few places did he feel the brokenness of a ship that had been through a sea battle and lost. Nara and the shipwrights had finished with nearly the entire thing and Bas guessed that a couple more days would take care of those as well.

  “Don’t trust me, mizard?” a woman’s voice chuckled. Pulling his senses back to the world around him, Sebastian smiled at the tired looking wizard.

  Nara had her dark hair pulled back in a tail to work making her bright green eyes that much more noticeable. A good looking woman, she was Collin’s true love, if he had any understanding of their relationship. The two had been friends when he had met them, but even then he could tell that Collin had a crush on the woman. With a pleasant personality and excellent magical skills, she had joined his team at Collin’s request as he vouched for her as a good nature wizard that wouldn’t be representing Windmeer without joining Sebastian’s team as they rode to Hala.

  “Just admiring your work actually,” he said complementing the wizard. “I can tell you still have a few more spots to fix, but it has come along very quickly.”

  “Some of that comes from the merfolk being able to make repairs underwater. Without their help, it would have taken me easily twice as long to make it tight enough to pull off the sandbar,” the nature wizard replied humbly. She never had been one to receive complements easily. Nara was quite modest, unlike many of the duelers who wished to be recognized for their skill and strength. Bas still thought that she enjoyed being recognized, but she was the type who would try to avoid too much praise despite her abilities.