"Wait, what silver void are you talking about?"
"The one we passed through to get to the wall and back again," Sebastian said realizing that Ashleen had yet to tell that part of their story. "People have taken to calling it Silver World. It was where the Dark One was imprisoned for hundreds of years until he escaped again into our world."
"We could have been stuck in there?" Ferland asked raising his voice in shock enough to draw the attention of the rest of their family a moment.
Sebastian chuckled at the worry and shook his head, "In theory, we could stop there. There are islands in the silver light thanks to the Dark One dragging much of the elves' world with him into the prison. His magic developed a way to use the void as a go between for one point in our world and the next.
"Before I could use the magic, Ashleen and I fought someone who could. Her lightning caused us to be stuck on an island there when our opponent used his magic to slip back into our world.
"Anyway, that is part of how I came to learn how to use gate magic. We used it to return home."
"And Ashleen can use the magic also?"
"Not alone," the mage said not wanting to disparage Ashleen's skills. She knew the magic, but had yet to open a gate on her own so far. Sebastian had a feeling that the wilder had it in her to use the spells, but had yet to tap that potential.
"Well, if father decides to try and kill you, at least there is a place that you can run where he can't get to you," Daerdan replied with a laugh.
Chapter 19- The Trouble With Relationships
By the time dinner was served in the family dining room, a space serviced by castle staff, but where only the duke's family ate in isolation from the rest of the castle; Sebastian felt like Ashleen's brothers were less hostile towards him. If that meant he had completely won them over, he didn't know. They were lords, trained from a young age in how to compose themselves including how to control their emotions dealing with others. It was important for a lord to appear strong and unflappable to their people as much as to foreign visitors. Perhaps they were good enough to mask their true feelings from him, but the mage doubted it. He was pretty good at masking emotions and ferreting them out as well.
In spite of an hour of heated discussion, Ashleen and her parents didn't appear to have ironed anything out, though they all seemed more resigned to the facts as they knew them.
Her sister had watched both groups remaining aloof from the discussions neither joining nor choosing sides. Sebastian had caught her watching him in turn, but maintained civil conversation with her brothers on a variety of topics as he hoped to at least win them over. Daerdan seemed to be the only one to like him straightaway if only because of the man's interest in magic.
Sitting beside Ashleen at the table, which brought a slight frown to the duke's eyes; Sebastian noticed a new arrival. A woman who likely was around Tremara's age, if he had to guess; she had been introduced as Lady Elaine, Ferland's fiancée. An attractive woman with dark hair, her blue eyes exuded intelligence and confidence. She was slightly taller than Ashleen's sister who was the tallest of the three women in her family by a couple inches.
Sebastian was between Ashleen and Tremara giving the mage a buffer between both parents, though he was still uncertain of the sister's attitude towards him aside from being perhaps calculatingly cold. She didn't appear to hate him at least, he thought.
"So Lady Elaine, are you from Interus as well?" the mage asked after a time. She was directly across from him between the brothers, a position that seemed a bit strange to him after watching the three for awhile.
Smiling politely at him, the woman shook her head. "No, my family has a castle in Breighton. We have been the king's shield since before the Cataclysm in a long line of lords. My family was once part of the main branch of the king, but through a distant uncle to him now. That is the only problem when royal lines stay healthy; you gain more branches to that original tree than you can..."
"More branches than you can shake a stick at?" the mage suggested with a short laugh.
Politely laughing at the joke, Elaine replied, "I suppose that you could say that, yes. Marrying Ferland brings me to another branch, of course, though calling us cousins would be a stretch. It would be many generations before we had a similar ancestor from what our genealogies would say anyway."
"I've heard that some royal houses have interbred so much as to turn the bulk of them into idiots," Tremara stated sarcastically.
"Tremara, such talk," the duchess chided her daughter. "Even if that were true, we wouldn't speak of it to our friends."
"I guess that I need to apologize then," the younger woman answered turning away from her mother. Sebastian caught the rolling of her eyes before she realized that anyone would notice. Starting at his eyes catching hers, Tremara turned her attention to her fork pushing a green bean on her plate to avoid him.
"The marriage will strengthen our families' ties surely," Duke Cerrus said with a smile at the couple in consideration. "Elaine, you are an exceptional young woman and the two of you make an excellent couple."
"Thank you, my lord, I know that my father is excited for the wedding as well. You have a fine family, and not just because of your royal blood either. I have felt quite welcome since my arrival also."
Her blue eyes moved from the duke to Ferland before turning to Daerdan and the duchess beyond him. Sebastian noted her attention linger on the younger brother slightly longer than any of the others. Though it was subtle, the mage thought it interesting. He wondered if he was reading too much into the look, but Sebastian was certain that there was something to it as well.
It wasn't his place to question the woman's interest, he supposed, and thought it best to solidify his own place before questioning others. The duke continued to shoot looks at him that seemed to hope that they could kill him just with that gaze. To suggest that Lady Elaine might be more interested in Daerdan, just from the short time he had watched the three near each other; would certainly do little to help his case when the duke loved his matchmaking.
The younger brother suddenly said to Elaine, "You know that Sebastian plans to bring a portal stone to Velius and to teach our wizards how to use them to move between the cities. Once we can use portal magic, you could visit home in a matter of a couple days or even a blink of an eye if they put one in Breighton too. Velius at least would be a short ride from home otherwise."
The dark haired lady gave Daerdan a happy smile before looking at Sebastian, "You can teach the magic to Kardor's wizards for such things?"
Nodding at the woman, the mage replied, "High Wizard Darius taught the first of our wizards how to do it, but I know three different ways to create the spells to make the gates. One of them usually works for new wizards trying to create portals. Once a few understand the magic in each city, lords and the king can move between the cities quickly.
"If they need to move larger armies, it usually takes a few wizards working together to hold a large enough gate for that amount of time. Still they can move smaller parties through the portals fairly simply. I've held one by myself for about ten people, though pushing it I could probably do more. Sharing power with Ashleen, we've moved entire companies in one go."
Duke Cerrus looked at the mage in contemplation and without his apparent desire to kill Sebastian for once. He commented, "If the empire holds together and attacks a single fort, we can use as many other cities and their garrisons to back them up with a massive army of our own. With the river as our ally and joining as many cities from the coast in the west to those in the east, our odds of driving the enemy back would increase exponentially."
"That is the desired effect," Sebastian agreed. "The stones we are using now are tied to Ashleen's magic, so no one in Southwall can even access these points unless they are given the code or a lodestone with her magic in it. If Kardor wants to make certain ones more universal, we can work on that also. Until that point, we're the only ones who know the points. Once you have gate wizards who can make
their own stones, they can replace hers, if they prefer."
"We can secure our borders from our allies, except for certain shared sites?" the duke asked.
He nodded. "Again that can be tailored to your preference just as Southwall uses certain markers in gates that I have devised. I can help with making those too, if the king wishes me too."
Cerrus seemed to look at him closer, or perhaps deeper beneath what he thought he had seen in Sebastian previously. "How is it that a battle mage knows so much about this? It would seem to be a wizard's work. Is it so easy to use these spells that even a mage can do it?"
Frowning at her father, Ashleen stated in annoyance, "That is hardly the polite thing to ask. You sound like one of them. Do you think that battle mages are useless? They're a large part of the reason that Southwall still stands."
"I wasn't trying to offend your... boyfriend, Ashleen. It is pretty obvious that some of what he has revealed of the spells he can perform would usually require great power, more than one would expect from someone called a battle mage," the duke replied without appearing to back down or get defensive.
"I have discovered other ways to access harder spells and to make them simple enough for a battle mage like me to do them," Sebastian answered trying to end the argument between them.
Ashleen, on the other hand, seemed less ready to relinquish the fight. "He's being modest. Sebastian can do things that most wizards can't as well. The number of wizards that can use portal magic is limited. Almost no other battle mages can do it at all, though we've had a breakthrough with Elzen recently.
"The air magic he used to get here no one else performs, including me. If I had chosen to bring us here, we wouldn't have arrived until spring; but he figured out how to both move his mind faster on the wind than any air wizard I've known. Then he has the ability to send an air arrow hundreds of miles in an even shorter time while his mind guides it to his target.
"No one does that! There are dozens of other spells and things that he has conceived of that the Southwall wizards are still trying to figure out after all these months."
"Ashleen...," Sebastian said quietly trying to stop her insistence on his accolades. A typically modest man, the owl didn't want to look like something that he felt he wasn't.
"Have I exaggerated?" the girl dared him to say otherwise.
Sighing, he replied, "Not exactly, but given time I am certain there will be others capable of doing the things I have."
Ashleen stared at her father and added, "Have your wizards check his aura or test him on any of a number of spells that I can tell them he knows. They'll see that he isn't just a battle mage anymore or more precisely he acts like a battle mage with the ability of a wizard thrown in as well."
"Why would I waste my time doing that?" Duke Cerrus asked sounding almost disgusted. "I've never known you to lie... well, not since you were little and trying to get out of trouble anyway. No matter what he can do, it doesn't change the fact that he isn't who I expected you to eventually wed.
"We had you trained to keep from losing control of your powers, not to become some battle mage's bride... if he'll even marry you. I don't know if his kind ever settle down.
"I am sure that he is everything you say he is. It just doesn't change that fact."
Sebastian didn't necessarily want to get into discussing that part of his life yet. They were both too young to have everything figured out, but avoiding a sigh the mage answered, "I have been considering retiring from the corps and staying with Ashleen is part of that reason. Things are changing in Southwall and I am not certain that I will want to remain a full mage in the way that they want.
"Nothing has been decided, but there are other occupations I can do that would make enough money to keep even Ashleen in dresses."
The girl next to step him forgot herself and slapped him playfully on the arm as she made a noise of dispute.
"That would be an impressive feat," the duke commented with a slight smile before remembering that he didn't want his daughter marrying a mere battle mage.
Duchess Beatrix spoke up drawing everyone's eyes before Ashleen could complain about her father's point of view on her shopping abilities. "Owl Sebastian, you must understand that we don't mean to disparage you. Ashleen obviously thinks the world of you, but we have always had high expectations for our daughter. Our family is a blend of two houses from two nations helping bring them together as well. Ashleen's future marriage could be similar in scope.
"You may be from Southwall, but were you to marry, and if, how would this fit into such a plan."
Ashleen frowned at her mother and countered, "You will never be able to marry me off to a lord, mother. I am a wizard and a wilder. No lord you will find will want a wife that is a wizard. You could ship me off to work for a lord, but never to marry one; so perhaps you need to reevaluate these plans of yours.
"I am with Sebastian now. You can accept it or not. If you do then we'll likely visit more often, if not..."
Her mother's eyes tightened a bit, but she staved off looking truly angry. "Are you giving us an ultimatum, Ashleen?"
Taking her cloth napkin from her lap, Ashleen placed it beside her plate. It was still half filled, though Sebastian had cleared his plate long ago. Part of her appetite was gone from the anxiety of facing her parents who refused to see that she had grown up to be something they hadn't planned. She was a wizard and had seen a large part of the world. Her life had been risked and nearly lost multiple times, and the young woman before them no longer had to ask who she was even if Ashleen knew that she would keep changing with time too.
"I think I am no longer hungry. Would you take me home, Sebastian?"
Joining their daughter, the mage knew that Ashleen wasn't completely writing her family off; but her patience exhausted, it was time to give each side some space.
"The food was excellent," he said with a nod before calling for a door against the stone wall. Those who hadn't seen the magic were left wide eyed even before the two disappeared into the shimmering, golden light.
The cold struck them in the face as Sebastian and Ashleen returned to White Hall in the dark. With the distance between the two cities, the second moon was already rising here.
Ashleen's arms crossed to rub her upper arms as the little blonde haired woman began to walk to the door as soon as Sebastian released the magic of the gate. Unlike her, the mage had been able to grab his coat from the back of his chair. Her coat had been taken by one of the servants and was left behind in her need to escape her former home.
"Air shield," he said hurriedly trying to keep the cold from him. The mage caught up to the smaller woman with his longer legs sharing the invisible shield with her even as he draped his coat over her shoulders.
"Thanks. I would have been fine with the short walk," she assured him quietly.
They passed into the walkway between the cafeteria and cadet dorm pulling the door closed quickly behind them.
"I can go back and get your coat, if you want," he said having locked the point of his gate recent enough to not even need a map to jump to the dining room once more.
Ashleen turned into him placing the side of her face against his chest. His arms went around her even as she continued to hold his coat with her hands. She was colder than the girl had let on, but it was also the feel of something he had worn that added to her comfort.
"No need," she answered sounding tired. "I know that I'll need to face them again eventually, but I was just getting too tired of fighting them. It's not even a battle that they can win. They want me to marry a lord or maybe a rich merchant at the least, but most of those would be too afraid to have a wife that had magic. The odds that my children will have some magic are pretty great. Everyone knows that wizards often have wizards or mages for their offspring.
"No lord wants that risk. It would nullify their claims to a title just as it does for me."
"You don't have to explain it to me," Sebastian reminded her. Battle mages that weren't cap
able of being lords needed to find women accepting of their magic as well. Being a mage was even looked at as being inferior, which added to the challenge some mages suffered if they wanted to marry after their service was over. The complications of marrying while in the corps were even greater with the chance that he might have to drop everything to change cities whenever the command came.
Pulling back with a sigh, Ashleen reminded him, "We should probably go inside and get Elzen and Serrena. It is getting late in Hala, if it is as late as it looks like here."
She started to slip out of his jacket, but Sebastian took it from her holding it so the girl could slip her arms inside the sleeves. While she might be trying to be gracious in giving it back right away, he was larger and felt the cold less than Ashleen did. Both had developed a certain amount of resistance from living in the north and their air magic, but it was still winter in Southwall which no one could fully tolerate for long without the proper gear.
Music played inside growing much louder as they opened the door.
It didn't take too long to find their friends; but before they could ask if the others were ready to go, Haylee intercepted them only a couple feet from the table Elzen and Serrena were sitting next to looking warm from dancing. The wizard looked perturbed and didn't give them a chance to greet her before saying, "Keep that little delinquent from my apprentice from now on, Owl Sebastian!"
Looking past the angry woman to the friends behind her starting to grin at her back, he asked, "What is wrong now?"
Elzen stood leaning his chin next to the wizard's face, who partially recoiled, as the boyish mage answered over her shoulder, "Apparently Haylee caught Xander and Shaylene kissing after dinner in the hall."
That the two liked each other had never been denied. It was the impetus for Shaylene sneaking through the portal to follow them after all. Wizard Haylee had been keeping a close eye on them in between her spats with Serrena, but the cadet and apprentice had never dared enough to do more than touch hands now and again when they thought no one was looking.
Battle Mage Bonds (Tales of Alus Book 13) Page 25