Battle Mage Bonds (Tales of Alus Book 13)

by Donald Wigboldy

  Nothing happened, and the mage asked for lenience. "Hang on, Bas, says that the word is just the start. I need to see the spell and what I want it to do. Give me another try."

  Though he pled for a second chance, no one had moved or suggested he stop. A second attempt produced some sparkles of gold light in the first frame, but didn't extend to the other.

  Serrena pushed harder and the mage thought he could almost taste it in his mouth like a metallic taste that someone struck by a lightning wizard's magic said would remain for a time after the strike. Magic normally just felt like energy, but the fire wizard must have been pushing harder than normal for the electricity to form between them.

  "Door," he tried again, but shook his head as it failed. "Window," the mage suggested the spell with enough confidence as he could see the golden light in his mind. He knew what one of the doorways looked like, but the smaller frame continued to mix it up for his mind's eye. Using the second word, Elzen thought that it struck a chord. He could see the light and let his magic know of the need to create a second portal in the other frame.

  Like soap water forming a film across a small ring, light formed in the square expanding to fill the metal frame. The second window answered his call as well making his wish reality.

  "Strange," the mage said quietly, "I've never been able to make one appear before even with a wizard's help."

  Ashleen suggested, "Have you ever had Serrena assist you?"

  Shaking their heads, the two realized that Elzen had always just assumed that he couldn't use the magic so he had never thought to practice beyond his early failures. Serrena hadn't been at those trials back then, but the mage wondered if that was all that had been missing. He had tried the frames before and the clarity of using the other word to make the smaller doorways had never occurred to him either.

  "Well, apparently your boyfriend has more talent for it than you do," Haylee mocked unwilling to let them enjoy their success.

  Serrena looked ready to slap her as she turned to look at the woman. A moment later saw something else flit across the wizard's face and she retorted, "I told you he was talented. Maybe I am not as good at it, but it isn't like you will ever learn with that attitude. You think you are too good to learn from us; then deal with being even worse at the magic than I am."

  As if the idea of being less capable of something than Serrena was all the impetus she needed, Haylee suddenly replied, "Fine; then one of you show me again. If you two can do it, I should be able to also."

  Though Serrena looked reluctant to work with her fellow fire wizard, Ashleen was able to release a sigh as the tension lessened in the air. Working as a group instead of pairs, Elzen and Shaylene effectively became buffers for the two women while the lightning wilder led Xander through a couple other forms of air magic while she kept an eye on the others.

  Chapter 16- Center of the Eastern Watch

  Sebastian pushed through the cold air feeling it no more than he felt the dull chill seeping into his body miles away. The currents were mostly ignored as the owl cut through them like an invisible bird. After having used his magic and map to recalibrate his direction at the camp, Sebastian was fairly certain that he could find the city without too much effort.

  Leaving Ashleen and the others to learn or teach wasn't necessarily his favorite plan, especially when he noted the charged relationship between Serrena and Haylee. While he didn't want to interfere, the man did wish that one of them would explain this strange contention between them before it erupted in an ugly way. It was his way to want to fix things, though he had noted many of the women in his life didn't want him to push to fix something even when they complained.

  Raven Leros had once told him while they were simply chatting about life that he had found with his wife that often the best answer was to listen and let her figure things out for herself. He would only step in if asked. Sebastian often wondered if the eldest raven was actually afraid of his wife. After a time with Yara, she became jealous of Ashleen and the mage guessed that he had seen that with her too. He had been unable to fix her feelings of distrust. Relationships could be more frightening than facing an armored troll, the mage thought with good humor.

  Trying to maintain his hard push north, even as the mage did what he could to keep his mind entertained, Sebastian was glad when he spotted a large river in the near distance. No significant waterways were supposed to be between them and the Itera, which linked Interus to the Aderan River. By description from Ashleen, the mage knew that this must be the Itera River.

  He turned west following the frozen waterway. Ashleen had told him that it wasn't completely natural in its flow when it wasn't ice. Wizards had worked to alter both the river and the lake it led to in the west. When the lake was too low, they used their magic to draw water from the Aderan driving it even up hills towards the Interus Lake over a hundred miles away. When the high hills and springs threatened to overflow the high water marks of the lake, the wizards could alter the flow back to its natural movement out of the lake to drain it safely.

  Boats could be seen on the river in the warm months, but Sebastian could see modified sled barges on the Itera now. Winter was too strong even for deep and wide rivers with good movement, so the waterway was used by traders daring enough to trust the ice beneath them. With less rise and fall than the snow covered hills around them, the river remained the most direct route between other towns and the largest city in eastern Kardor.

  When at last, Sebastian spotted the high stone walls surrounding a massive city; he didn't simply heave a set of lodestones in the direction of Interus. After the problem of the gate squad in Delial, the owl was more cautious in his dealing with the anchor city. More wizards were likely residing in Interus than Fort Delial and Atellan combined. He didn't know if there were gate squads watching for portal magic here also, but the mage had a feeling that Ashleen's father committed at least some of his wizards to keeping the Dark One's warlocks from darkening his door with troops pouring out of their magic gates.

  Like he was scouting an enemy fortification, the owl moved through the air surveying the smaller towns radiating outward from Interus. Though closer to the westernmost cities of the Dark One, Interus had grown beyond its fortifications. People learned to live warily, while going on with the belief that they were far away enough to be safe as well. Living in fear without recent reason led to people building where the need was greatest, he supposed.

  It was similar thinking that had led Southwall's southern cities, like New Harbor, to believe that the king wasn't really fighting a war if it had never reached out to affect them.

  Giving the tall hills and mountains northeast of the lake a last glance; Sebastian picked out a spot between Interus and one of the smaller towns a mile or so to the south for his arrow. His mind signaled his distant body and he ordered an arrow to surround the lodestone in his right hand. Releasing it like he was drawing a bow, the owl launched the projectile driving it through the miles of air like a rocket.

  The mage watched the arrow strike the open land exactly where he had planned before heading back as quickly as he could manage. Magic let him move a solid wind arrow faster than most eyes could follow, but his mind couldn't wrap around that same concept for his movement. Still he was able to move many times faster than he had using the currents, which was the way he had been shown by air wizards.

  When he moved over the last trees obscuring his body from sight as he came from the north, Sebastian was slightly surprised to see all six of his companions working with the metal frames apparently taking turns. Even Ashleen and Xander seemed to have given up on his air exercises for the cadet to try out his hand at gate magic. Though Ashleen had helped him many times in the past to open the portals, she had never actually opened one on her own that he could remember. While being able to cast a certain type of magic wasn't required to explain it to someone else, Ashleen like Serrena and Elzen weren't as familiar with the magic as a true gate wizard. It made him slightly surprised to
see small doorways confined to the metal frames appearing as his mind and body reunited once more.

  He was already stretching before Ashleen noticed that the mage had returned. Hurrying over to him, the pretty blonde looked concerned. Wondering what was wrong; she quickly and quietly told him, "Don't leave me alone with these people again!"

  Her mouth held a slight smile, so Sebastian guessed that it wasn't quite as bad as her dramatic words implied.

  "Are Serrena and Haylee at each other's throats that much?"

  Tilting her head slightly to the side, the wilder appraised his question as if he had decided to leave her with a bad situation on purpose. "Elzen had to use his rune shield to separate them before someone was burned alive. Yes, it was actually that bad. You knew?"

  "It was obvious that they didn't exactly love each other, but I thought that they would at least be professional. Do I need to step in after the fact?" he asked thinking that everything looked calm enough for now.

  Giving him a disapproving look, Ashleen confided, "Elzen and I handled it." Her eyes brightened with a different realization and she asked, "Did you reach Interus?"

  He nodded. "I placed a stone between the city and one of the towns to the south. Hopefully opening a gate won't bring an army on us after we use the portal."

  Thinking on the problem, Ashleen shook her head and replied, "I haven't been home for more than a few days at a time since my magic was discovered. I was never shown the city's defenses or part of the wizard guild there, so I can't say if there are portal watchers in the city. If Fort Delial had a squad, I would guess that he has at least as many guarding Interus."

  Again he nodded and decided, "We will just need to open and close it quickly. Then we'll hurry to Interus. Having you with us should make things easier at least."

  The girl smiled weakly, but seemed to agree to a point. Sebastian wondered why she wouldn't be more confident. He had always guessed that her relationship with her family was stronger than the one he had with his own. Most of his siblings had been pretty accepting, but his parents had seemed both fearful of magic and disappointed that he wasn't a wizard if he had to have it at all.

  "Well, it's getting close to lunch time. Maybe a return trip to White Hall would give us full stomachs for the walk into Interus?" the mage offered seeing that Ashleen was suddenly apprehensive about walking into her father's city.

  Gathering their supplies, including the lodestone he had used to find his way back to camp, his group used a temporary gate to return to White Hall again.

  "Hey, Bas, can I try?" Elzen asked surprising him as they readied to head to Interus after lunch.

  Looking at the younger mage curiously, Sebastian replied, "You think that you can create portals now? I thought that you couldn't make one."

  Eyes straying to Serrena, who suddenly blushed and looked away, Elzen answered, "I think I just needed the right amount of push to make it work. Not every partner is easy to work with, you know.

  "Just let us try. I'll go first, if you're worried about it," he offered. Elzen had helped High Wizard Darius in the initial testing of his gates when the immortal had first deciphered the spell. The mage had even explored the Silver World trying to understand the properties of the dimension made up mostly of light. Rilena had mentioned his unwavering bravery, though their friend had often referred to it as stupidity instead.

  Confident in his ability to return to Alus even if they found themselves stuck in the void thanks to a misstep from the novice gate caster, Sebastian shook his head. "I'll go first. I should be able to get back even if something goes wrong. You and Serrena should anchor the gate and go through last for it to remain long enough for everyone to crossover."

  Elzen took a lodestone closing his eyes. Serrena placed her hand on the mage's shoulder ignoring Haylee's disapproving look as she extended her power into Elzen augmenting his strength with hers. As he watched the two working together, Sebastian noticed the blending of their magic auras. In the past, he had seen wizards and mages work together similarly, but that had been in battle conditions. His ability to see magical auras hadn't become as developed as it was now. The mage barely had to think of augmenting his vision to see magic since his sensitivity to magic had become much stronger over the last couple years.

  Turning in the general direction of the lodestone near Interus, Elzen mused aloud, "The one furthest away is our target. Since I can't do your trick with the map... yet, I'll just have to work through the matching targets in my head."

  Though that wasn't the most confident of decisions to hear, Sebastian figured that any of the lodestone destinations in Kardor would be a win for the other mage who was still testing his magical muscles. Most Southwall wizards were doing a similar variation for choosing their portal points as well so far since no one else had managed to adopt the map finding skill, which meant that Elzen wasn't exactly far off in his attempt, the owl supposed as he watched the other mage work.

  Like the more portable size window apparatus, the much larger gate secured to stone walls opened with pretty much the same effort; so when Elzen influenced it making the glowing doorway Sebastian wasn't that surprised. He knew that they had all been practicing on the smaller window gates while he had been pushing towards Interus which gave them a number of hours to try.

  Stepping through with little worry, the owl went first as he had offered. From one point of cold to another, Sebastian went from White Hall and found the high wall of Interus before him on a hill. It looked different from the ground, but the mage knew that it was Ashleen's home as soon as his vision cleared.

  He tossed one of his lodestones back through the light letting the others know that he had arrived safely. Testing gates meant that wizards had needed to find an easy way to let each side know when the coast was clear, so using lodestones was an easy way to give the other side information.

  Moments later Xander and Shaylene crossed followed by Ashleen and Haylee. Last were those who had opened the gate and continued to use their magic to hold it open long enough for them all to cross the void.

  After regaining their senses fully, Elzen and Serrena joined the others looking up at the intimidating wall of the large city. Though Interus was deep into the continent and near Kardor's eastern border, there were no trade partners nearby to build a city from business. This was a city created to protect and anchor a nation. It wasn't the king's capitol; but from what he had learned from Ashleen, Interus was just as vital to her nation. Interus wasn't the front line, but it was close enough to back the border forts and cities along most of the Aderan River.

  Looking to the south, Sebastian could see a town with a modest wall surrounding it as well.

  "That's Tetellus," Ashleen stated noticing his eyes. "There are several others nearby including a mining town on the other side of the lake."

  Glancing back at the girl, he questioned the safety of the outer towns and villages as he said, "I am surprised that so many people would risk living so close to the border. If the Dark One had chosen to attack in force, I would guess that he would target Interus and anything near it."

  The girl shrugged before replying, "The land is good for farming and the hills are rich with metals. With Interus being so large, towns sprouted up over time. Some were here before the Dark One too, of course. Interus dates back over eight hundred years from what I was taught."

  Remembering that the Cataclysm and the Dark One's invasion were both less than two hundred years in the past, he supposed that some things remained the same. Kardor was on the far side of North and probably less affected by the event that changed much of the land in and around the North Sea.

  "Well, I don't see anyone coming to check the portal so far," Elzen said interrupting their line of thought. "I would have thought that Interus would be even stricter on stopping portals being closer to the Dark One's western cities."

  "We just got here though. I didn't open a doorway earlier. The lodestones probably didn't trigger a gate device, since there wasn't one," S
ebastian reminded him. "Let's move towards the city now. The quicker we make it there, the less of a problem there should be if we are walking up to them."

  "Shouldn't they know Ashleen on sight anyway?" Shaylene questioned curiously. "I thought you were coming here because she missed home."

  With all the time that the small group had spent together, Sebastian guessed that the motivation for pushing for Interus had been discussed by Ashleen or one of his close friends. He had been away on the winds too much to know how much the four had talked while he was gone.

  "It has been awhile since I have been home," Ashleen admitted, "but even if I lived here all the time, Interus is a large city. The barrier wizards tend to be separated from the rest of us a bit as well. They have to be ready to move out and close tears between the worlds at a moment's notice. They don't just remain in the city or in Kardor if the tear occurs close enough to the rivers."

  "I would guess that few of our wizards know very many battle mages or officer candidates in White Hall," Sebastian added. "Even beyond the fire wizard guild, for example, there are probably a lot of apprentices that you wouldn't know as a fire wizard apprentice also. Then there are novices and older apprentices arriving and leaving all the time. That is just in the school and White Hall as a city is much larger.

  "It is hard to know everyone, though my sister might be one of those who could come close."

  At Shaylene's questioning look, he elaborated, "Katya has been in the school less than a year, but as a diplomat wizard she always seemed to know most of the names of those around us in Litsarin. She knew soldiers, mages and wizards from multiple countries also.

  "Of course, even she didn't know everyone there; but I think part of her training was to try and learn everyone's name that she came in contact with even acting as a dragon mage."