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

by Donald Wigboldy

  The shaman looked at him as if slightly confused before shaking his head. “They do not need to be recharged. Once attached and bound to a warrior, a rune is his or hers until death or until forcibly removed by a shaman at their request.

  “The power of the rune is set by magic, but it is the wearer’s life force that is used to feed the rune thereafter. Rune’s like these two require very little energy, unless the wearer decides to play with it all day,” he added glancing to the research wizard on her dozenth time of placing and retrieving her knife through the portal.

  While Maura stopped in her toying with the rune to see if the young man wasn’t just teasing her, Sebastian followed up his question as he mused aloud, “You tie the rune into the wearer, but then it is theirs to keep active. I suppose if a rune warrior becomes exhausted the rune’s effect will no longer work?”

  “Correct,” Porleyr answered as he played his magic over Mecklin’s right arm. Since the mage was right handed, the harpoon would need to be aimed with his main hand rather than the left. Sebastian watched as the shaman once again intoned his spells and magic at key times of the rune’s creation. While fascinated, the mage understood that this was not a simple art. The elders had allowed Porleyr to give five gifts, but he doubted that any of them expected the outlanders to ever understand enough to create their own runes. If they did, it was doubtful that it would be close to what the expert shamans could achieve. In a lifetime, a wizard might unlock a couple of the runes with luck, but without the merfolk to teach them it would remain a class of magic that would remain unusable.

  It was a shame, since the runes would likely help the soldiers of Southwall survive against the masses of the Dark One’s empire. Thinking about the various creatures serving the emperor, Bas wondered what else could be done to end his threat. With portal magic and curse spells, the warlocks of the empire seemed able to be anywhere with magic that most wizards couldn’t counter. The wizard hunters on their black ships had only lost thanks to the added strength of the merfolk and their strange magic after all.

  Even Darius, the high wizard of myth, didn’t seem to know how to create portals; but he could seal them permanently. That brought Sebastian’s mind back to matters in Southwall as he wondered how Darius’s trip to Windmeer had gone. With his sister in the immortal wizard’s expert care, since she was on the verge of becoming a wilder; the battle mage had more than one reason to think of the high wizard and his journey.

  Also before Sebastian had gone to the wizards’ tournament, he had discovered a fortress of the emperor’s creatures and a man who seemed similar to Gerid. Unlike Gerid who could resist magic, Garosh held magic on a scale beyond most wizards he had ever met. The powerful man had prompted the mission to find Gerid in fact and brought the battle mage to Darius’ notice as the high wizard had used the tournament as an excuse to come to Southwall to check on the activity of the emperor’s portals. By now he must have reached Windmeer even if there had been late winter snows.

  Bringing his distracted attention back fully on the shaman’s work to try and decipher at least something of the rune magic for his people, Sebastian prepared to keep his mind keenly set on what was before him rather than that which he couldn’t affect from afar. While he wished that he knew the secret of the portal spells even more than the runes on display before him, Bas did his best to give Porleyr his attention as he watched the gestures of the shaman.

  Blue skies broken up by high fluffy white clouds allowed the sun to settle on the stone of the awkward double castle of Windmeer and its surrounding village. Late spring finally held some warmth in the air close to North Wall, and Rilena had been able to go to short sleeves letting the spring breeze touch her skin no longer giving her chills as winter in northern Southwall would do for nearly half the year. In fact, the castle workers and villagers seemed to have come out of hibernation to move in numbers that felt almost oppressive after thinning out the crowds of merchants, farmers, workers and the rest during winter.

  The battle mage brushed at her dark hair as she climbed a flight of stairs to find a hallway which would lead to a meeting room the young woman had never been to since arriving at the castle only a few months earlier. Windmeer wasn’t the first post she had ever been to near the wall, but it was the most recent and since arriving the mage had been away nearly half the time dealing with matters at Garosh’s fortress.

  Her time at Windmeer, or perhaps even before that, had been filled with more action in those few months than her entire career up to that point. Rilena had been a friend of Sebastian, a battle mage with an amazing talent for learning magic and translating it into battle spells. He had been like a brother to her, and could have maybe been more if his heart hadn’t already been claimed by another. After joining him for the trip from Falcon’s Keep to Windmeer to guard a Kardorian ambassador, her life had become much more complicated.

  First, Sebastian had spotted creatures of the Dark One in the Dimple Mountains thanks to his ability to ride the winds like a wizard. She had joined him with two wizards to scout out the mountain only to walk into an ambush in their arrogant confidence in their skills. They were born and raised to blend into northern lands. Using white snow gear was supposed to have made them almost impossible to see, but the orcs and goblins of the emperor had begun to adapt to the north. Adding werewolves and lions with their heightened senses, maybe the four should have known better.

  Captured with the wizards, Rilena had believed Sebastian dead until he returned from the bowels of the mountain to save them from the sadistic interrogation of Garosh and his assistants. They used magic to escape and sent word to Falcon’s Keep and Windmeer of the danger, then the mage was sent back to face her fears by the leaders of Windmeer. A horrible winter march was hampered by a blizzard and continually deepening snow. The true danger of the werelions and wolves manifested on that trek as the creatures harried them even during blizzard conditions killing many Southwall defenders.

  The strangest part of the campaign had been when Garosh and his forces moved to meet those of the two northern keeps. With a definite advantage in the giant’s hands, he had instead simply surrendered himself to them. There was no final battle, which Rilena had to admit would probably not have gone their way.

  With the befuddling captive in their hands, Garosh had even apologized for his part in her interrogation. While his apology seemed surprisingly sincere and had been accepted to one degree or another by Nereith and Wizard Druick her mentor, Rilena had kept expecting the worst from him; but the giant had never revealed the darkness she expected from one of the emperor’s men. In fact, he had managed to charm her to a point.

  Then she had been set as one of his guards. The leaders couldn’t trust him or risk his summoning an army inside of the castle like the Betrayer had done the previous year, so a series of squads guarded the man even while he slept. It had been awkward for the former victim of his magic at first, but somehow he managed to atone himself in her eyes.

  When assassins arrived in the night to kill Garosh, Rilena had been there and was pulled into a portal as the giant escaped. Whether he meant to protect her or hoped to keep her for himself for whatever reason, the two had spent the next couple weeks at his fortress; until once more the emperor found a way to attack him from inside the mountain.

  Throwing her through a portal influenced by her ties to someone she was close to, Garosh hadn’t escaped that time; but she had found herself back in Windmeer. Rilena had unfortunately landed on her friend Elzen while he was in the bathhouse inside the castle, she thought trying not to blush. The fact that the young woman had found herself attracted to the younger mage, who had too much of a boyishness to him and yet held a strong man there as well, was another matter to create a reddening of her cheeks.

  When she reached a set of double doors left open to reveal a large room with shelves lining most of the walls and with a large table standing in the center of the room, Rilena spotted several men already waiting for her there. It helped all
eviate her feelings of embarrassment as worry and confusion took their place. Unfortunately those weren’t exactly an upgrade, the mage thought as she knocked on the door frame.

  “Come in, Falcon Teresin,” a familiar voice beckoned her inside and Rilena had to fight showing her distaste. The voice belonged to a man who was rather unlikeable, at least in Rilena’s opinion.

  “Good morning, Falconi Ralto,” she greeted only able to keep her voice businesslike as the battle mage passed through the doorway taking in the other men in the room. Ralto was dressed in his black uniform with its polished silver bars on his shoulders looking very stiff as he tended to be during business. The silver bars were a separation signifying his rank and, as a falconi, he was very high up in the ranks of the battle mage corps, even if she still couldn’t understand how such a man could have worked his way to a position that only had eight other men higher ranked than him in the corps. Only the eight ravens were higher ranked than a falconi, and Rilena didn’t know if Ralto’s seniority was enough to make him next in line for one of their positions; but she feared if that day came.

  She had seen the man lead in the campaign against the fortress, and he was skilled as a fighter; but his personality and ability to deal with those serving him as leader was suspect in her opinion. In fact, Rilena knew of other mages who disliked the man, but she was unwilling to ask enough to start rumors about her interest in his capability. She wasn’t trying to tear a man down, the mage simply didn’t like him; but this was the military and it didn’t matter if she liked the man. He was her superior and Rilena was hardly one to rail against her leaders.

  Interestingly, Ralto was one of a few battle mages gathered in the room. Her eyes noted a pair of wizards, one from the researchers and double banded with red and brown. The second was a woman and the red meant she knew fire magic while the brown most likely meant earth. Not being a wizard, Rilena didn’t know if a wizard would wear the researchers’ color instead of an element of mastery. She highly doubted the woman wore the brown as something other than earth proficiency however.

  A couple other men were lesser nobles bound to Duke Gelan, the master of Windmeer, and would serve as a neutral party most likely as she gave another report of what had happened in the fortress with Garosh. The last few men were harder for her to pin down as to their origin, but rumors had been flying around the city for days about a wizard with silver hair from across the southern seas. It was rumored that he might be a legend in the wizard community, High Wizard Darius, the immortal and leader of a large sect of wizards in Taltan.

  “This is the young woman?” the silver haired man asked. At first she had thought he was old, thanks to his hair coloring; but the mage realized that his face looked young and his bearing held none of the weight of age in it. His blue eyes took in the woman with her brunette hair that brushed the base of her neck as she walked. Rilena had often been told she was too pretty to be a soldier or battle mage, though that was usually by the men dancing with her at night hoping to sweet talk her into bed with them; these blue eyes didn’t seem as easily swayed as those men.

  Falconi Ralto nodded as he answered for the room to hear, “This is Falcon Rilena Teresin, Master Darius. She was one of those who first found the fortress and later guarded the man known as Garosh.”

  She tried to read the wizard’s strength as she had heard others say they could do. If he was powerful, the girl couldn’t be sure. It was possible that the man had learned to conceal his magic from others. She had heard that a few wizards had learned to do this to mislead their peers, but as a battle mage, Rilena wasn’t very adept in reading magical auras. Only Garosh’s vast magical reservoir had been easy to see and feel for the mage, though she could sense most wizards to a point.

  “You are the girl he pulled through a portal?” Darius asked managing to avoid sounding like he was accusing her of the act and appeared more curious than anything.

  Glancing towards Ralto in particular who gave her the nod to answer, Rilena replied, “If you’re asking if Garosh pulled me through one of those magic gates, then yes, twice. The first time he pulled me through. The second one he opened but pushed me through and told me to lock onto someone here.”

  Eyes lifted looking past the mage as she heard another familiar voice, one she liked much better than the falconi’s. “Am I late?”

  Turning to see her friend Elzen standing in the doorway looking a little perplexed, she thought it was just like him to interrupt a meeting looking a little disheveled. The younger battle mage was only as tall as she was which was short for a male of Southwall, and had tousled brown hair. He wore a short sleeve version of the brown falcon shirt like Rilena, but somehow managed to look less straightened as if he had rolled out of bed wearing the uniform.

  His eyes caught hers and an impish smile twisted the corners of his mouth before he noticed Falconi Ralto making it disappear. Elzen’s impression of the falconi was similar to hers. He had also been in the winter campaign to the fortress, which was where the two falcons had met. Elzen was also a rarity among battle mages. He could heal like Sebastian, the mizard.

  Ralto noted the young man’s appearance with a frown, but replied neutrally, “This one is Elzen Rattemen. He was there when Garosh left and there when Rilena returned by portal. Though he never used one, he is the only one to have witnessed both trips by Falcon Teresin.”

  The continual use of her surname by the falconi seemed strange, since all her friends simply referred to her as Rilena; but Ralto made his opinion of Elzen a little clearer in his dismissive introduction of the young mage, she thought. Whether Darius caught the tone of the greeting and simply ignored the falconi’s meaning or not, the silver haired wizard waved the mage into the room, “Good morning, falcon, you have actually arrived just in time, since Rilena was just telling us of her experience with the portals.”

  Running his fingers back through his disheveled hair, as if that would help anything, Elzen sauntered into the meeting room and spoke as he joined Rilena standing only a few feet away from her, “I can’t say that I really caught much of either use of the gates. When Garosh escaped with Rilena from his room, there was a massive fireball being sent into it trying to kill him and anyone in the way. The light from the fire pretty much drowned out most of the sight.

  “Now when she returned, I can’t say I had much of a warning and my eyes had been closed before she landed on top of me.”

  Rilena fought not to blush as her eyes remained on the high wizard. While Elzen hadn’t revealed the explicit details of her landing in his bathtub, where he had obviously been naked as he was bathing; she knew the details and her embarrassment at Garosh’s timing of the gate. He hadn’t had much of an option since he was protecting her from another assassination attempt, but it was still mortifying.

  She thought Darius’s smile looked more amused at Elzen’s words and the high wizard commented, “We were just asking Falcon Teresin about her side of the experience. While I have closed the remnants of hundreds of portals, I can not say that I have actually been through one.”

  His eyes returned to the dark haired girl and asked, “You seem to have been the only one to see the making of the portal. Can you tell us more?”

  Rilena frowned in thought trying to remember what she had seen during the chaos of the assassins’ attack more than three weeks ago. Her attention hadn’t been on the giant during the fight, and she had actually been turned towards the doors and the men clad in cloth that seemed to absorb magic spells. They weren’t wizards or magical, but the assassins’ clothing took direct hits from fireballs without a trace of damage.

  When Garosh had started mumbling behind her and a glow appeared, the mage had turned away to discover a doorway standing on the floor without support. The giant had picked her up as a brighter light came from the doorway. A giant wave of flame washed through the room towards them, but then there was just silver light a moment before stumbling in a dark room.

  Shaking her head, Rilena revealed the li
ttle she knew, “It was a wizard’s spell, so I can’t be of much help and it was performed behind me the first time. All I can remember is being picked up by Garosh before we launched into a silver light or maybe it was a silver world more accurately. We passed through pretty quickly the first time before landing in a storeroom inside of the fortress.

  “When he sent me back, the fortress was under attack by more assassins. A couple used magic like battle mages, but I barely saw any of that fight before Garosh opened a gate using some of my blood and threw me into it. He told me to think of someone I knew in Windmeer.”

  The girl closed her eyes a moment thinking of that time with both fright and wonder. It had happened less than a week ago now, so the second trip was fresher in her mind.

  “It was such a shock that he wasn’t coming with me and I was in charge of the destination, so at first I couldn’t think of anything. Passing through the gate in the fortress, I found myself floating in a world of silver light. There were darker patches in the distance. If I had to guess, they appeared to be islands of rock just floating in the light. There was nothing beyond the light, so I have no idea how they could have just appeared in the void; but then I tried to think of someone I knew in Windmeer.

  “I had been working with Elzen so much that I guess his face just popped up in my head,” she finished trying to not give away that it was also her fear that she would be trapped in the void that had triggered someone she would miss most. That Elzen had become a bit of a crush, in spite of his often childish antics and the fact that he was younger than her, was something that Rilena was unsure if she wanted shared; especially in front of Falconi Ralto and the wizards.