Battle Mage Broken Empire (Tales of Alus Book 14)

by Donald Wigboldy

  Talithia surprised her spectators as she took a pouch from her waist and shook it open towards the dummy. Her magic controlled a group of seeds in the air growing them into a hedge before turning her attention to a small pond kept filled for those who might want to use water magic. It rose at her command and echoed the wind spell on the opposite side. If she assumed that Maya's forte was using fire, it would be an excellent counter since water could often be used to douse fire casters' spells.

  "Time is up. Start the duel in three, two, one. Commence dueling!" the boy shouted the last dropping his hand.

  Talithia swept her hands forward without using any words of power. Her vortex of water was already in play, Holdy realized. Manipulating the water from the moment of starting her spell meant that her magic could attack instantly.

  The front wedge of fire met the deluge of water. Several streams hit the walls tightening into spikes of hardened water poking holes in the walls of fire. Surprisingly, Maya didn't even seem to care, the girl worked on her next spell and fire combined with air before a flock of flaming bird objects swept towards the hedge. Holdy guessed that there were about two dozen birds and while many went for the hedge, Maya sent several higher attempting to go straight for the proxy by going over the plants.

  Drawing her water back in a beautiful dance, Talithia's water serpents bent back towards their origin as she attempted to douse the birds going for the stone. They moved whipping at the fire with incredible precision knocking out the firebirds quickly despite being outnumbered by Maya's flames.

  Her hedge still burned, but the plants were reinforced by her magic making it hard for it to actually catch fire. As her serpents caught most of the firebirds going for her proxy, the water splashed across the hedge putting out the remaining fires quickly. Three firebirds cleared the hedge and dodged the serpents. With seemingly no defenses between them and the target, Maya appeared about to win when a screen of water rose up from the ground as Talithia gestured with her left hand lifting upward in her dance.

  Giving her opponent a sideways glance as she continued to work with the water, Talithia's serpents seemed to slither out of the hedge once again. There was sweat on Maya's bow. Her fire spell had consumed a lot of power. It was a bold move and perhaps a desperate one as well. Holdy wouldn't have tried it unless he was certain that he could get past his opponent's defenses.

  Another spell sent wind towards the water serpents. Already crossing the distance to attack the spinning vortex protecting Maya's stone, the serpents met the wind and pushed through like it was just a breeze. The subtlety of the apprentice's wind spell caught everyone off guard until the serpents froze in the air breaking apart as the magic manipulating the water was interrupted by the cold.

  The chill wind kept going and swept into her hedge. Frostbit, the plants began to wither under the freezing blast.

  Talithia's water screen rose turning to ice, but it protected the target once more. The elf girl finally chanted a new spell and fire driven by wind sent hazy looking balls bouncing towards Maya's defense. Holdy thought the idea of fire might keep things from freezing, but they couldn't possibly hope to break through the swirling vortex. He had used the defense as well and knew that winds spinning at incredible speed could throw back many attacks that other wizards could think to use.

  The ice scattered along the ground turned to water where the balls touched the shattered serpents and began to move forward with the fire for a moment. Picking up speed, Holdy noted Talithia's left hand still seemed to be conducting the water while her right or perhaps her eyes pushed the fireballs forward.

  Her water and ice mixed together to land in front of the vortex. Turning back to ice, a sheet formed bending as it slid under the swirling wind. The bouncing fire picked up speed going for the hole before Maya realized what was going on. When three of them slipped beneath the ice sheet and tagged the target behind the wind screen, Maya groaned as she released the winds knowing that she had lost to another wizard's tricks.

  "The winner is Talithia," Holdy stated gesturing towards the elf with one hand while his eyes strayed to the other girl making certain that she was alright, even if she was disappointed in the outcome of the duel.

  Stepping towards each other, the two girls shook hands sportingly before they moved towards the tables with food and drink on them to regain their strength.

  Many of Maya's friends followed the girl congratulating her on a well fought game to buoy her spirits. Holdy wanted to encourage her as well, but he watched Talithia as she was joined by her men. Seleyus offered her a cup of juice while Adalyen already had a plate of cut up sandwiches for her once she had drunk. He walked towards the elven girl and asked, "So was she a better match than you thought?"

  Raising an eyebrow questioningly as Talithia drank, the elf lowered the cup and said, "I still won, but I guess that she tried hard enough. She shouldn't have led with the firebirds though. They drained her too much and left her open to be countered fairly easily."

  "Your use of a continuation spell was probably the main reason that you won actually. We haven't been taught many of those yet in class. She wasn't ready to defend against it, but I thought that Maya did pretty well considering that," he replied refusing to ignore the apprentice's accomplishments.

  Talithia stared at him even as she took a sandwich from the plate. She ate and neither of them spoke until the girl had finished the small portion. Only four delicate bites finished off the wedge and she reached over to take another of the tiny sandwiches.

  "I am technically an apprentice as well. Effenore has been putting that kind of spell into my training for years. Since I started about the same time as your friend, then I guess you should blame your teachers. You are younger still. Does that mean you don't know those spells either?"

  Frowning at the elf, Holdy wasn't sure if he wanted to say. Finally as they waited in a standoff, while Talithia ate the next small sandwich; Holdy replied, "I have read of many from several elements, but I have only tried a few."

  "So you are ahead of... her," the girl said with a dismissive wave at Maya. "Your potential is being wasted with these people, I fear. Someone like you should be pushed. I don't even think that I am so unusual, but I apparently have better teachers. My parents chose to have me trained at home instead of coming here. It appears that they made the right decision."

  Holdy was glad that Fordenna and Megannah weren't close enough to hear, though the latter might be too sick to notice. Disrespecting full wizards could create duels without the safety of using proxies, he thought.

  "I was advanced to a class with older wizards and I study faster than most; but for now they are doing the job well enough. When I find that I am too bored or feel that the others are holding me back, then I will probably have to speak with them to challenge me."

  A softer smile that was meant for just him crossed her lips. "I could probably arrange it for you to join us at our castle. You wouldn't have to live under all this stone and you could see the sky and sun, Holdy. Ensolus might be the emperor's city, but the weight of it is holding you down also."

  "I was born under this roof of stone," Holdy told her sincerely. "It is home. I also doubt that you have a library of magic like the one here. There is no reason for me to go, but I appreciate the offer, my lady."

  His use of her title rather than her name wasn't missed by the girl. Her face showed disappointment, but Talithia responded, "I am sorry to hear that, but your life is your own. If you should ever change your mind, you can send your answer by messenger to my family's castle. You could just come yourself too, I suppose, but a little warning would let us set up a suitable room for you while you live with us."

  Wondering at her wish to have him return with her, Holdy held his tongue and nodded before going to check on Maya.

  "That girl was rather pushy," Turless said quietly as their little group gathered around their table at the library. Talithia and her elves had come up several times as someone's attention struggled to remai
n on the book that they were reading. Though Maya had lost, the girl had managed to say very little about the duel or the elf who had beaten her; but every time Defrienne or Turless said something about Talithia the girl flushed with embarrassment.

  Holdy didn't understand why Maya was embarrassed. It wasn't like she hadn't put up a good fight. She simply didn't know the continuation spells to account for them.

  Defrienne, who was no more capable of reading her next sentence, responded with a nod and said, "She certainly pushed her way into our practice."

  "She had a letter of approval from one of the masters," Holdy reminded them before turning the page. With his ability to remember pages so well, he could probably just glance at a page without reading it and still retain it for later. Perhaps that was an experiment that he should try sometime, the apprentice thought before starting to read the next line.

  "That is beside the point," the girl with the short brown hair refuted his opinion quickly.

  Turless had a different opinion in mind as he added looking thoughtful, "She certainly seemed to be interested in you, Holdy. I wouldn't think that a girl like her would have noticed a kid as young as you. You're a bookworm as well. I mean no offense, but I don't get it."

  Frowning at him the two girls seemed to have a different opinion though Holdy actually agreed with his friend. "I don't know why either," he answered quietly. His eyes lifted to look at Turless and he held a slight smile, "But I guess you should feel worse since she didn't even look at you."

  The girls giggled. Holdy wasn't known for being that outgoing and certainly he was more serious than humorous, but he had his moments.

  Stares from the librarians behind their desk and a few others trying to study were a warning to be quiet. A hiss from someone to hush came from below them where Holdy couldn't see the source of the sound.

  It was the first time that he had seen Maya smile since losing to Talithia as well.

  "What did she say to you after she won?" Maya asked timidly. Though she asked the question, the girl seemed afraid to hear the answer.

  Holdy laid the book flat on the table realizing that he wasn't going to be able to read until they settled everything from earlier in the day. A small frown sat on his lips as the apprentice replied, "It had more to do with her curiosity about Palose's battle mage magic and she commented that you should have been taught the continuation spells by now. Apparently she believes our teachers inferior to her own, though I believe that they simply teach us in a different order while letting us discover magic on our own here in the library.

  "At least we can when people aren't all talking anyway," he finished forcing a smile.

  Wrinkling her brow, Maya tilted her head as if the slight change in her view would let her see something in him that he was hiding from her usual outlook on life. "That's all? She didn't comment on me or maybe have something more to say about you?

  "The elf wanted to duel you and said she would test if I was worthy, whatever that means. Since I lost, I would guess that she decided that I am not; but what about you? Did she say something about you? She didn't stay long enough to actually try fighting you."

  Her look was a little lost. It was common to the girl who some called silly or even empty headed at times. Holdy knew her better than that and believed that Maya simply had an innocence and positivity to her that could be misread.

  "I think she wanted to convince me to go to her family castle. I can't imagine that they would have a better library than Ensolus though, so her offer didn't have much substance to it."

  Maya asked another question that surprised him. "But she was pretty. Weren't you tempted to follow her? I mean, most men say that elves have the prettiest women, so having one interested in you..."

  Holdy shrugged. "She is pretty, but magic is more important to me than girls at the moment. I can always find someone after I become a full warlock.

  "The sooner I get to that point the quicker I can..." The boy realized that he was starting to talk of a subject that he preferred to keep his secret.

  "Anyway I'm not ready to leave Ensolus before I am ready."

  The other three looked curious about what he had just omitted, but their instincts told them not to press the boy on it.

  Picking up their books, the four companions started to read again. Turless apparently was going through the motions more than accomplishing something as he remarked, "She would be prettier if she wasn't so pushy. Pushy women can be a pain."

  His eyes strayed to look at Defrienne, but the girl seemed to miss his comment while her attention remained on what she was reading.

  Holdy started lowering his book as he spotted movement near the front doors. A girl with blonde hair that glinted red in the lamplight entered with a curly haired brunette. The figure of the second girl paired with her hair made Holdy think that he was seeing Sylvaine. Only her face, which was far away to be honest, seemed different yet she moved like their fallen friend.

  His attention never returned to his book though the boy managed to fake reading it as he held it at an angle permitting him to watch as the two girls moved around the library. He had seen these girls a couple times before and thought that the dark haired one at least had noticed him. She seemed to do her best to avoid coming his way and used one of the stairs opposite their table. Whether she truly avoided him or not, neither of the young women approached him close enough to be certain of anything beyond the feel of their auras.

  When they moved to the desk and began to check out a few books, Holdy rose gathering his items. "Well, I have an errand to run before dinner. I'll see you in the hall then."

  Turless started to get up as he asked, "Do you need any help?"

  Placing his hand lightly on his friend's shoulder, he shook his head and answered, "That's ok. It doesn't require two people. It shouldn't take that long anyway."

  Holdy hurried down the stairs as he watched the two girls start towards the doors. Trying to question them in the library would draw too much attention, especially since he was likely wrong; but his instincts had made him choose to follow anyway.

  By the time he had exited the front doors, they were out of sight. A quickly worded spell to follow known auras put him on their trail quickly however. His ability of recall helped him even here. Normally the spell would require a piece of clothing that a wizard had worn or a lodestone, but Holdy could remember even the subtlety of a person's aura after seeing it a single time.

  He hurried and likely used longer strides. Before the girls had walked too far down the next street to the east, the young wizard had caught up to them enough that he probably didn't need the wizard hunters' tracking spell. They were headed south and had a good lead on him still, but Holdy thought that might work well as he followed them down the less traveled streets between the library and southern housing.

  Since the library was mostly for the wizards and warlocks of Ensolus, few who lived in the southeast would need to use the connecting streets. Wizards who lived in the spires were more to the west. The orcs and humans to the southeast had little reason to go near the library since none residing in the ghettoes practiced magic. Such observations made the boy wonder where these two girls were going. They didn't look old enough to have graduated to full wizard status.

  He could see a pair of young wizards willing to join forces to buy or rent a place away from the school, but not at their apparent age.

  Casting an invisibility spell, the boy followed pushing a bit closer to the girls. They seemed unwitting of his trailing them and that was how Holdy preferred it for now. He wasn't truly certain why he was bothering to follow them in the first place. Letting his curiosity get the better of him wasn't the apprentice's usual state of mind, but something about these two had caught his attention. Perhaps it was knowing that Palose was a necromancer, that he might consider the girl who reminded him of Sylvaine; but Warwitch Oween had gone to Litsarin last he had heard. She was alive as far as he knew and hadn't been known to associate with the resurrectio
n man, but there he was a feeling like her knew her in spite of the physical differences that made him doubt his instincts.

  They turned the corner and Holdy was glad that he had the insurance of the tracking spell. When he reached the edge of the wall and turned, the apprentice was shocked out of his invisibility spell when a blast of wind threw him back to fall onto the hard stone of the street.

  "I knew it!" the girl with the strawberry blonde colored hair stated still holding her magic power around her hands. Holdy could see the power centered on her hands as it stood out brightly from the rest of her aura.

  The curly haired girl looked surprised, but the look of her face felt wrong to him. She didn't look like Sylvaine, yet her face didn't seem right either.

  "Holdy?" the dark haired girl questioned in shock.

  Chapter 6- Revelations

  Squinting to look at her as the boy slowly started to pick himself up off of the ground; Holdy thought her voice even sounded like the girl who was supposed to be dead. The blonde hushed her quickly, but it was too late for the ruse.

  "Is that you, Sylvaine?" the apprentice asked feeling his bruises as he stood. He might even want to go to the healers when he was done, though it might be a little embarrassing needing to get healing for his rear end. "They said you were dead. That must be some form of glamour spell, isn't it?"

  "You must be mistaken then, if the person you mistook her for is dead," the blonde said quickly though her magic faltered with his questioning of the other girl.

  He looked closer at the one who had struck him with the wind. There didn't seem to be a spell concealing her face, but the girl looked familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. "Mistress Oween, why do you look like that anyway? Aren't you supposed to be in Litsarin fighting in the war?"

  The blonde uttered a curse and her magic started to grow again as if she wanted to cast another spell.