Battle Mage Bonds (Tales of Alus Book 13)

by Donald Wigboldy

  He had never been sure of which way he would choose, but Sebastian had as much wealth already as a falconi or raven was likely to have at the end of his career. It meant that he had options, didn't it? Then there was Ashleen...

  A loud sigh from the falconi brought Sebastian's eyes from the spot on the floor he had been focused on as his thoughts made him question the beliefs he had for the next part of his life. Garrett mused, "Well, this is a lot of thought for something that hasn't happened yet. You don't know who will be Hala's next raven or what he will decide in reference to you.

  "I would hold off on worrying until you have a reason to, Owl Sebastian. You are needed in Southwall. That is all that you need to remember."

  The mage considered that perhaps Southwall needed him more than he needed Southwall, but didn't say that aloud. It wasn't that he didn't want to serve, but there were so many things to consider for his future and he had to wonder where he belonged in Southwall now. He was the owl and there were demands on him, but Sebastian continued to fight with what he should do.

  Clapping the younger mage on the shoulder, Garrett encouraged his former student even as he dismissed him, "Whatever you decide, don't be hasty. Now why don't you go have dinner and release some of this tension at the dance? I met your pretty, little friend from Kardor. She seems pretty enamored with you from what I have heard."

  Ashleen was another important point in his life to consider, but Sebastian just nodded before saying goodbye.

  "You seemed a bit distracted tonight," Ashleen stated after they returned to their room in the Black Smith Inn.

  The two had joined Katya and most of her friends that had been with them that afternoon. Watching Ulia, dressed in the wilder's Kardorian robes had been very interesting as well.

  Ulia had appeared a bit overwhelmed in her change of circumstances, and Sebastian could sympathize. There were more young people in the school in one large room than probably lived in her small village on Grimnal Island. Wizards, mages and soldier trainees were also quite different from the farmers, fishermen and other trades folk that worked to make life comfortable for everyone there. They didn't have people working for children that only concentrated on magic either, he thought; though perhaps those learning to be shamans might be the exception, but they were predominantly merfolk that lived near the island not on it.

  The girl was also attractive and a new oddity at the same time for the students of White Hall. No other new wizards had been brought to the school since winter had begun and probably not even since late last summer in fact. Certainly no one could say any wilder had been harvested by the owl and brought via portal magic before, which made them even more curious about her.

  Sebastian wondered what they would say when they spotted her pink runes and wondered if he should have convinced the girl to let him mask them from prying eyes again. Ulia was a prideful rune warrior, however, and had been angry with him when he had shifted the pigment to make them invisible. Most girls he knew would have preferred looking natural, but markings among her people signified something achieved.

  The dancing after dinner had brought several young men to try asking her to the floor. Sebastian and Ashleen danced a bit also. His strength hadn't completely returned and the day had been rather long, but the mage was able to join her long enough to make the pretty wilder happy. It eventually drove him to return to the inn leaving Ulia in his sister's hands.

  "I just keep wondering what could be so important that they would send a messenger here and to the school to make me come back. The healers in Hala and White Hall made it known that I should rest after all."

  Giving him a disapproving look the girl replied, "You should, but you haven't exactly. Maybe this is your punishment for pushing yourself too far with the cadets this afternoon?"

  Chuckling at her, Sebastian reminded her, "Well, they couldn't have known that when they sent the messenger and using portal magic isn't physically strenuous. They left a letter at the inn, but must have figured that if I wasn't here I might be at White Hall instead."

  Ashleen released her hair from the blue tie that the pretty blonde used to put it into a tail for dancing. As cold as it was outside, dancing in the large dining hall had begun to make the room pretty warm. Without putting her hair up, it would have trapped the heat of her body making her uncomfortable. Some of the other girls, both mage and wizards alike, had followed suit. Ulia being what some would call a tomboy had kept her hair like that as well and Sebastian wondered if the girl would change as she tried to take on her new life as a wizard.

  Removing her two outer layers of robes and placing them in the wardrobe, Ashleen contemplated what to wear for bed. He watched her and thought the inner layer of thin satin would likely make for a good dress in summer and tried to remember if she had it before the weather had turned cold.

  Catching him looking at her, the attractive girl couldn't help smirking as she turned to look at him in turn. The robe was open in front revealing a band of newly tanned skin from neck to navel.

  "What?" she questioned curiously. They hadn't been able to do much more than sleep when they had been together since leaving White Hall, which meant that they both were likely missing the intimacy they had before his misstep in New Harbor.

  "Sorry, just looking at you and enjoying the view."

  "It's a little chilly in here again or I'd give you more to see then," Ashleen replied looking a little put out by the winter weather that even seemed to seep into the inn with the furnaces pumping heat to each room. Reaching into the wardrobe, the young woman found what looked like a long shirt for her size. Made of silk, it was probably thinner than she should try to wear for the season.

  Pulling off the last robe baring most of her, Ashleen stood for a moment before a shiver made her pull the nightdress over her head. "Sorry, that's all you get unless you want to take me back to the island, though that might be cool at night also, I suppose," she finished with a laugh.

  Her legs were still mostly revealed and the mage didn't mind looking at her in the short dress as Ashleen pulled the covers down enough to slip into bed. He joined her quickly but noticed the girl lost in thought for a moment.

  "Bas, when Katya was talking about seeing your parents, it made me think that I haven't been home in quite awhile also," she said before giving a little sigh.

  He looked into her blue eyes as they each rested on bent elbows on their sides. His attention slipped to the bracelet still on her wrist as her hand rested on the bed in front of her as if to display the silver band with its six blue stones that appeared to sit on six different ridges as the band wound around her wrist and joined together.

  "You want to go home?" he asked.

  "With you, if I go, yes," she nodded making it a point that they were a package deal in such a vision. "I last saw my parents the summer before last, and then I went to Velius for awhile with Deiclonus. After that we took the protection mission for the ambassador and, of course, I haven't been closer than the guardian cities of Southwall since then."

  "You're getting home sick after all that time?"

  "A little, but it would just be nice to see my family and maybe show you off to them as well," Ashleen added with a smile. "It would be nice to visit. Too bad you don't have any gates in Kardor. We could pop in and out like we did the island today.

  "Have I told you how much I like being able to travel without days or weeks on a horse or sailing on a ship?"

  He let out a soft laugh at the thought. "It does begin to spoil you when the world can be made so small."

  Giving the matter thought, the owl offered, "Perhaps we can do something about it though. If they don't keep me too busy, I am sure that we can do something to bring gates to Kardor. Do you think they'd want it? If their wizards don't know the magic right away, it could look like an invasion of their land; and I am not certain if Southwall would view it as treason if I were to try and teach it to your people."

  "Our countries are allies and Sileoth, Staron and Mar'
kal have been given portals. There are wizards that have learned the spells or have been loaned by Southwall until others can learn the magic. Why would Kardor be excluded?" Ashleen asked without sounding like she was accusing him of anything. Noting that the magic was a shared thing and even Marianis could be added to the list though Sebastian hadn't gone there to set a secured gate, he couldn't think of why Kardor couldn't be part of the countries banded together by the portals.

  "I have to go and speak with whomever is there running the next meeting tomorrow anyway. Maybe I can suggest letting me form that bridge so we can go?"

  Ashleen seemed reservedly hopeful as she nodded at the idea and smiled. It was a problem for another day, however, and a night's sleep was needed, if Sebastian hoped to recover from his injuries as soon as possible.

  Chapter 9- A Murder of Crows

  The walk to the king's castle was cold and flurries fell from the sky intermittently as a cold wind swirled through the streets of the capitol city. Sebastian walked it alone, though already there were people braving the cold for their various reasons. Hala looked different with snow than he remembered from summer. The blanket of white gave the city a different sense of character, he thought.

  Looking up, the mage could see white lines everywhere from the ground to the high roofs of the castle. If he could see the North Sea beyond the castle's walls, a sight of ice in the harbor and just beyond the break would have met his eyes. Winter was still in full control of North continent and he could only imagine what Kardor and the cities of the emperor were dealing with now. Even the hardy northern people found the cold too much after a time and this deep into winter, he was certain that Southwall was ready for a break though spring was over a month away even on a calendar written by men from a warm southern land. It usually meant that they could expect almost a month more of cold beyond the calendar's set beginning of the next season.

  Approaching the outer wall of the king's castle, Sebastian barely had to show the written order for passage. The guards had become used to the owl's visits to see Raven Leros and even with the elder mage stepping down his presence wasn't completely surprising. Sebastian followed a guide even though the mage knew the way well enough by now. Even the owl needed to be supervised here though, since security remained high with the king and his family in residence elsewhere in the Grimnal as the castle had come to be called long ago.

  When the guide diverted from the usual approach to the stairs leading to the raven's office, Sebastian asked, "Shouldn't we have turned back there to go meet the raven?"

  The man turned to look at him even as his feet continued to lead them on the same path. "They aren't meeting there at the moment and I was told to bring you to them."

  Use of the plural term wasn't lost on the mage. While his visits with Raven Leros had often been between just the two of them, he had two falconi serving under him and each had their assistants as well. Sometimes his meetings had consisted of a handful of mages, but the raven's office had always been big enough. Only the large meetings that had involved the king had drawn him to other parts of the castle. This direction was new to Sebastian, however, so he just followed assuming that the man knew what he was doing.

  Finding a pair of falcons guarding a door, the man gestured for him to continue even as he turned back towards the path that they had just traveled. The door was opened by one of the men who didn't bother to make any conversation with the owl encouraging Sebastian to pass into the next room.

  A meeting room of decent size, it surpassed the dimensions of Leros' office by nearly triple; but Sebastian noted an unusually large gathering of men and women wearing black uniforms. Gold bars were on eight of their shoulders while silver bars adorned several others.

  To his surprise, one of those with gold bars belonged to Leros. The old mage looked reasonably healthy considering the state he had been in at the end of the battle in Ensolus. Despite being in his late fifties, the raven had been as strong as any battle mage, Sebastian thought. Though both of them had been in Ensolus, the owl had only second hand reports of what had happened outside of the Dark One's castle. The battle plan had sent multiple smaller forces into the main city to stop reinforcements from going to the emperor's aid.

  Raven Leros had taken charge of perhaps the most crucial and dangerous of the tasks in the plan. It was his force of less than forty wizards and mages that had brought down the inner towers guarding the cave city's entrance. With their destruction, the soldiers waiting outside the cave couldn't enter the city that they were supposed to protect. Using portal magic, Southwall had turned their defense against itself by entering the city from within instead of trying to attack it from the outside.

  Accomplishing their task, the small force had gone to try and reinforce those sent to guard the western part of the city. As the enemy's soldiers inside the city fanned out looking for the intruders, the raven's men had been cut off as they stopped to prevent the western defense from being struck from behind. Their small band had met with some of the worst fighting of the conflict and only a handful remained standing to defend the raven after he had fallen from numerous wounds. Even a Hollow Sword in the leader of his corps' hands wasn't enough to save him and the drain of using the weapon might even have been part of what had caused his downfall as well.

  Sebastian knew the artifact amplified a wizard or mage's spell, but it still took the wielder's energy to fill the weapon. The extra power was amazing and taxing as well. Only he and a couple others had found that the earth could help power the sword taking less from the user, but eventually too many spells would drain a mage or wizard. It was easy to be drawn in by the weapon's power and it was equally easy to overdraw on their magic.

  Even a wizard as powerful as Ashleen had nearly died trying to keep one charged in a ferocious battle on Litsarin.

  Beyond the eldest raven, Sebastian noted both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Two other ravens, Liom and Stallis who had shared duties at Windmeer and initially sent the owl to Hala to represent battle mages in the king's wizard tournament, were among those he knew by sight. Several falconi serving under them were known as well. Falconi Saren served at Falcon's Keep, while Neven and Brelan worked under Leros. There was also the fierce looking Raven Kracis of Falcon's Keep with his one good gray eye, while the other was covered by a patch. The dark haired and bearded mage had an intimidating look, which was maybe why Saren had often acted as his right hand for a softer touch in many interactions.

  Those less familiar were the ravens and their aides from the other guardian cities. Though he had installed the rune protected gates in all of their cities, few of the ravens had been drawn into the actual planning of the defenses set around the gates and he had rarely been in one of their cities more than a few hours to accomplish his task.

  Raven Zerest was the head of the corps in Norcrom. Though bearded like Kracis, the raven from Norcrom was smaller and lighter in build than the one eyed man. His blue eyes seemed gentler as well. The only raven to head one of the schools, Raven Tylen of Green Hall had a different air to him as if he came from the aristocracy perhaps. His goatee was tightly trimmed and his light brown skin likely attested to the migration of the people of Ch'thal from the west where the man was from as well.

  Last was Raven Daleyr, the likely successor to Leros, his gray hair helped distinguish him as the next oldest of the ravens. Like Kracis, Daleyr had an air about him that told of his years of being at war with the Dark One's forces.

  Sebastian only knew one other man there, but Falconi Ralto's face was enough to make the younger mage frown though he managed to control his expression at the sight. The falconi had served at Windmeer under the ravens that he liked. Having arrived after Sebastian's time of service, the man had a pushy, argumentative way to him at least when he had dealt with the owl roughly a year ago. Able to get along with almost anyone, the young mage had found his attitude tough to take and was glad for the short period of time having to deal with him on his way to Hala.

  T
he falconi had also led Windmeer's forces to deal with Garosh's fortress. His friends Rilena and Elzen had been forced to follow him on that campaign and had little more love for the man than he did, but somehow Ralto had managed to gain the rank of falconi. Sebastian didn't know what he had done to earn the position, but had to guess that the ravens knew what they were doing by promoting such a man.

  "Welcome, Owl Sebastian," Raven Leros greeted the new arrival with a warm smile. Though he had time to recover from his wounds at Ensolus, Sebastian thought that there was a tiredness to the man's eyes that he hadn't seen before. Even some of the raven's strength he remembered appeared to have slipped away in the short time since the younger mage had seen the leader who had become a sort of mentor to him since returning from finding Gerid.

  "Hello, Raven Leros," he responded with a deferring bow of his head to the older man. "I received word that I was supposed to report here as soon as possible, though I am still considered on injured leave for another week according to the healers."

  A few of the faces around the owl appeared less than happy with his disclaimer. Leros appeared ready to forgive him, but Daleyr commented, "You know that we serve when and as we need to, young man. If the ravens have need of you, then you just need to suck it up."

  Falconi Ralto and a few of the other men looked to agree.

  Unperturbed, Sebastian said nothing and did his best to keep any emotion from his face. He wanted to shrug, but that wasn't the military way to answer his superiors even if he was tempted to do it to see if it would get another rise out of the raven.

  Leros let a brief silence sit awkwardly watching as neither man was willing to either defend or condemn Daleyr's opinion. "Be that as it may, you were called here to explain further about what you found in New Harbor before your accident."

  Wanting to laugh at the odd choice of words, Sebastian answered, "I thought my report said about everything, but I will do my best to add to it, sir. When I entered the city using gate magic, I seemed to hit a barrier. It deflected me from my intended portal point and pushed me into a wall with runes on it. An ambush force was there and must have known that was where someone would land.