“Ships?” Bas questioned as he assumed that only a ship or possibly a sea creature could move from the island without another use of another portal. “We wondered if the black ships of legend had returned. I even warned Lord Sumpterhall of our worries.”
Nodding, the Eirdhen wizard added, “It is hard to tell if they are coming closer or moving away. If they have the ability to sense our vessel, then the one closest to our vessel might be looking for us.”
“Then I wonder where the other light might be heading, if they aren’t looking for us?”
Pointing to the dull red dot that they had planned to follow from Trillian, Darterian surmised, “If the Dark Emperor did capture and hide the Grimnal; and they believed that we could find him like we have the previous islands, then perhaps they’ve split their forces to head us off.”
Sucking in air between his teeth as he thought about the possibility, it wasn’t long before the mage said, “Then we are going to need to be as careful as we can. No one has given a report on the emperor’s ships, so we have no idea what they are capable of now. If magic can bring them here, then I have to assume that his dark wizards will be there in some number. We will keep practicing and thinking of new strategies to use in a sea battle. If you come up with anything more, let me know.”
Not ready to be dismissed, the man shook his head, “We might be able to avoid a fight. We have the compass. If we make sure to read it regularly, we might be able to dodge them. Right now, this light reads exactly between us and Maldus Island,” he finished using the common name they had given the island.
Not liking the sound of that Sebastian stated with a frown, “I think that the northern one is following us somehow. If they were just a day or so behind us originally, then our stay in Trillian followed by essentially doubling back on our trail is putting us very close. Unless you have anything else for me, Darterian, I think that I had better scout from the winds for our pursuer.”
The wizard had nothing more, but simply held out the device pointing the direction of the signal between them and the island.
“Freedom,” the mage used his word of power to loose his mind from his body. The word truly embodied how he felt riding the winds. A mind free of his body to ride the winds and fly like a bird, it was exhilarating.
Unable to just enjoy the moment, however, the mage began to bend winds where he must turning against the blow from the northeast that propelled the Sea Dragon. While he was not as strong as a wizard, what he lacked in strength he overcame with finesse. He didn’t fight nature and her winds, the mage simply adjusted and influenced a portion of the current to move to the next chain of air.
Working like some squirrel in a tree, the mage went from one branch of air to the next. It was more work than just flowing with the wind, but the challenge was almost as much fun for Bas. Riding the wind, he felt more like the owl or falcon people had taken to nicknaming him.
Continuing the process for over an hour, Sebastian was beginning to wonder if he would have the strength and luck to find a ship in the middle of all this water. It was about that point, dozens of miles away from the Sea Dragon, that the mage caught sight of a ship. Black sails and hull that appeared black as well made sure to let him know that he had found the enemy.
He moved closer hoping that there was no air wizard aboard sensitive enough to sense his mind. Few had been able to do so other than the mage; even Fala, who had taught him most of his air spells, seemed unable to sense him if she hadn’t initiated the spell. Still caution was best when dealing with the unknown, he knew.
Men, orcs and trolls in strange black armor were the first to be noticed by Sebastian. The armor that some wore drew his interest and not in a good way. He felt a similarity to the dark spells of the wizards of Gray Hall and had a feeling that, if they stuck with basic elemental spells, they would lose the fight quickly. Wanting a closer look warred with caution, as he held his mind form above the water thirty feet from the vessel.
Holding off on his investigation of the armor, the mage tried to glean as much information about their enemies as he could. The power of more than a dozen wizards radiated from the vessel. Men in black laughing with each other or idly watching the waves wandered the deck. There were probably even more below napping or eating, he thought. On numbers, the Sea Dragon was an near equal match for them, but the mage feared what magic and powers they might bring. He had seen the curse spell in Maldus’s castle and knew if they could use magic of that scale, then even the might of his team and the Malaiy wizards wouldn’t be enough to defeat them in a head to head battle.
He lingered long enough to feel a familiar aura and spotted the three captives sitting tied to a mast by magic. A small variation of the curse spell almost made him miss the platinum blond hair of Ashleen. His friend and a girl close to his heart had somehow wound up a prisoner of the Dark One’s warlocks. Questions of how and why could not be answered without being there to speak with Ashleen directly, so he tried to make sure of the nature of the magic holding them before he moved to the last bit of business that the owl wished to accomplish now that he knew the enemy was near.
Summoning a spell from his body still on the Sea Dragon, Sebastian used magic in a way that had once helped save hundreds of lives of Southwall wizards, soldiers and mages. His body mumbled the word, arrow, as his arms held the form of an invisible bow. Releasing a wind arrow, it took nearly a minute to reach the ship. The arrow struck an orc from the far side of the ship throwing off any who might wish to discover the presence of the mage and the Sea Dragon.
It struck the black armor true punching the orc into a stumble against another, who shoved the clumsy looking creature back. Arguing brewed into blows, but Sebastian ignored that part of the scene before him. The arrow had done almost nothing to the orc as the armor absorbed the power of the wind. It was elemental armor, or perhaps elemental proof armor would be the more accurate description. If a disembodied mind could frown, Bas would have craters on his forehead from the feeling inside him.
A last test came to mind and once more his mind sent the command to his body. “Light arrow,” was the new command. He had never tried this version of the light spell, but it felt as simple as the air spell. Slightly slower than the wind arrow, the light struck the second orc in the chest from the south instead of the west.
The fight came to a quick end as the arrow penetrated the black armor through to the creature’s heart. A final blow from the first orc struck the dying creature before either knew the arrow had hit its heart. Looking like an accident, the first orc stood over the second looking vaguely triumphant at his victory until he realized his ally wasn’t moving at all. Blood began to seep from the armor onto the deck drawing more attention. The warlocks pushed orcs and goblins aside as if they were inconsequential in their eyes to see what had happened.
One of the men in their black armor used his foot to flip the creature over only to find a small hole near the center of its back. Angry shouts and accusations of knives in the back were hurled about causing even more of a disruption to the crew and leaders of the ship.
Sebastian had to use one last piece of magic before he left. A second wind arrow landed at the feet of the bound wizards lingering in its shape long enough for the three to see it before disappearing into the air it was made from. The mage hoped that the message was enough to give them hope. He had planned to try avoiding a fight, but people needed their help. Sebastian couldn’t stand running when he could do something about this injustice.
By the time the mage’s mind had returned to his body, the team as well as Annalicia’s wizards had assembled on deck to see what had prompted his magic use. A smile took his face immediately. He had seen the group before reuniting with his physical form. The out of body experience was always surreal when he looked down on his outer shell.
“I found the black ship,” he stated simply taking a flask of juice from Yara to sate his thirst. He had been gone for almost two hours and though the spell didn’t consume m
agic the way some did, it was still a necessity to restore his used up strength.
Several voices rose up at once to the point that the weary battle mage couldn’t understand any of their questions, though he knew enough that they were all probably asking the same thing. As their voices died down seeing that they were all fighting to be heard and getting no answers, Sebastian began to explain, “There is one ship that is definitely following us a couple hours sail away. We could run, but if we are heading towards more then I would rather take this one on before they can get reinforcements. That said I will defer to the majority.”
“What do we face with the black ship?” Idenlare asked in true fire wizard style. They were the battle wizards and combat was as much their domain as any battle mage’s. While the mages were as much soldier as wizard, they trained in weapons much more. Fire wizards were longer range, but tactically trained for battle.
“At least a dozen wizards and their regular troops have black armor that acts like the darkness shields. They can absorb a direct elemental attack. There are three captives that I can see and all are bound by a form of the curse spell we saw on the castle. If they can use those spells in lesser form, we can assume that may be another form of magic that can be used in battle.”
While many began to discuss the detrimental magic, Serrena, another fire wizard, asked, “I assume you have a plan of attack if we are already halfway handicapped by their armor and magic?”
Maura spoke up first, “Wait, no one voted whether we should take on this enemy ship with its warlocks. Shouldn’t we decide that first? I think we should keep on as we are and hope to lose them.”
“We’ve sailed for a whole day south from Trillian,” Sebastian began to explain the other problem with her request. “No one could have followed us exactly after going to the island and then out to this point. They couldn’t know when we left or how quickly we were moving. The black ship isn’t just getting lucky in guessing our path, they are moving in an exact line to intercept us.
“If we don’t turn it around on our pursuers, they will catch us as night falls. I for one would rather try to disrupt their plans before they have their way,” the mage finished and received several nods of agreement.
Maura looked hesitant still, but Idenlare ignored the woman he was supposed to protect and follow and said, “I agree. We still need a plan to deal with their magic, but I think catching them by day and hopefully catching them off guard is the best way to deal with them.”
With only the research wizard at odds with the idea, Sebastian began to organize the wizards and mages for a ship to ship battle unlike any he had ever heard of before.
Chapter 26- Sea Horse Save
The mid afternoon sun had begun descending the sky by the time Sebastian took to the winds. Blue green waves rippled below him as the mage raced towards the black ship knowing that the distance was much closer now. He knew where the ship was from the angle the compass now faced. It was also how the Sea Dragon knew how to tack with the wind without losing track of the enemy.
Veering slightly more south to hopefully make the black ship think that they were unaware of the pursuit, the Malaiy frigate also moved west closing the gap to make the meeting happen at a time of their choosing. A black ship in the night would have too many advantages. Sebastian wanted the fight to happen when they could clearly see their foe.
Mere minutes passed and the mage spied the black sails of the ship. A handful of black armored warlocks stood near the front of the deck using magic in a way that made him believe this was how they were following the Sea Dragon. Swooping closer, Sebastian moved to check on the captives finding them exactly where they had been the first time he had seen them. Still tied to a mast with magic, he worried how they could fight the enemy whole heartedly with at least one friend likely to be caught in the friendly fire.
While he hovered near the Southwall wizards and Ashleen, he noticed confusion between the warlocks using the seeker magic. Two of the warlocks were pointing towards his very position and the mage knew that even his mind held enough of the scent they were chasing. Flying upward with the air current and towards the rear of the ship, the mage hoped to confuse them further as he called for a trio of light arrows.
One, two, three, the arrows flew from his hand where he stood on the Sea Dragon’s deck. The first took only seconds to arrive catching a warlock from behind piercing his black helmet. A hole formed from the back straight through the man’s cheek. The sight made the mage sick, but this was war.
The second arrow took another warlock in the back piercing the black armor plate. Sebastian had missed the mark of the heart unaccustomed to targeting someone on a moving ship and the bolt entered from beneath the shoulder blade and out through his stomach. Clutching at the point in front spurting blood through the split in the armor, the warlock fell to his knees gasping in short, pain filled breaths.
Reacting quickly, one of the warlocks cast a spell of great power. He whitened from the massive use of magic, but his magic proved more than a match for the third arrow. The light struck a barrier of red glass similar to the cursed purple glass in the castle and shattered on the shield.
Moving to a position south of the ship and beyond the reach of the barrier only visible when struck, Sebastian watched as the doors on either end of the deck burst open flooding the area with more warlocks and soldiers. Everyone looked for the archer, but no eyes could see a mind riding the winds. That they had discovered his presence at all was worrisome enough, but Sebastian used the chaos to launch a handful more of the arrows in quick succession and two at a time.
The mage manipulated his constructed arrows as they neared making them veer to come in from the north, south and east. Red glass reacted with each hit as they arrived within a second of one another. Like six slaps of rain, the barriers appeared around the black ship drawing fingers to point at each strike. They were all defeated, but it wasn’t his desire to defeat the warlock’s shields. Instead, the chaos of men trying to decide where they were truly being attacked from took over the soldiers and even many of the warlocks looked confused.
Two warlocks were down, one dead and one wounded. It wasn’t his original plan, but the odds were more in their favor now.
Ashleen had seen the wind arrow and an orc just fall over dead in a matter of seconds between each incident. Her mind quickly flew to the only known person to tell of such a spell. Sebastian had made mention of the spell in an off hand manner one day as they had compared some of their magic. She knew that it was his message that he knew they were there.
Tears formed in her eyes and when asked why she cried, the girl blamed it on the wind. An air wizard without her air shield just wasn’t used to the strong air on her eyes, she had insisted loud enough that the warlocks snickered at her weakness.
In a lower tone, Ashleen had confided to the men beside her that it was Sebastian.
Hours passed and now two warlocks fell to new arrow attacks. She spotted the light as the third arrow caught the red barrier quickly erected for their protection. A flurry of strikes from the front to the back of the ship had the warlocks and soldiers looking for an enemy they could not see.
Ashleen marveled at the skill of the battle mage. To be able to strike from so far away would be something a wizard should have discovered, but the owl of the mages was more inventive than anyone she had ever known.
“Sebastian has them really confused now,” the girl stated quietly to the two men.
Themenor looked almost angry as he whispered to Ashleen, “You’re saying this is from a mere battle mage? I don’t see a ship anymore than our enemies do. You claimed that strange shaft of wind was from him as well. That was hours ago and the ship has been chasing their vessel the whole time. How far could they be to have him reach us with magic?
“He is a mage! He shouldn’t have the power to do such a thing,” the man reaffirmed his disbelief in protest.
Hyren mused, “If a mage can do it, then a wizard might be able to as wel
l, Themenor. If this strange mage saves our lives, perhaps you can ask for a lesson.”
Sputtering, the air wizard retorted as nonplused as the warlocks running about on deck, “A wizard asking a mage for a lesson on magic? Are you insane, Hyren?”
The man shrugged with a slight smile on his face.
Ashleen warned the men, “Keep it down before someone hears you. Now we just need to find a way to free ourselves to help them save us.”
It was Hyren who responded, “I wish that it were so easy. If only your friend had managed to break our bonds as well.”
“We can’t leave it to a Bas to get us out of this,” the girl stated before nearly begging. “Now try and think of a way to break free.”
The three wizards were forced to wait as they worked in vain to free themselves, however.
A spotter cried out from the crow’s nest high above the deck.
Sebastian waited with the others ready for battle. The frigate was armed with cannon, but he wasn’t sure even cold iron could penetrate the might of a curse spell. He had spotted the wood windows for the enemy’s cannon and there were a handful on the deck as well.
The black ship was larger than the Sea Dragon and probably held a larger force, but it was the warlocks and their magic that was their real danger.
“Ready the cannon and ready wizards!” he ordered. It was Annalicia’s ship, but for this battle the mage had control of their forces. A small spot in the back of his mind cried that he wasn’t ready, but Sebastian was a falcon and knew that he had to be ready.
Moving to the high foredeck, the mage watched as the black ship moved to intercept. They had managed to keep the enemy from realizing that they knew where they were, though perhaps Sebastian’s arrows had given away that they had been discovered. He had tried to confuse them as to where they were and, as the black ship altered course to meet the frigate, Bas was pretty sure that they had been caught slightly off guard. Instead of chasing their prey, the prey had turned the tables to chase them.
Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) Page 33