White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10)

by Donald Wigboldy

  Though the diplomacy wizard was a few inches taller, the girl’s long blond hair was still an obstacle that required assistance for her to chain the clasp to secure it around her neck. Katya picked up the pretty gem in her fingers to look at it catching the light before her eyes returned to the dark haired wizard once more. The girl assumed that there was more meaning behind the necklace than being a lucky new student receiving new jewelry.

  “You know of the restraining gems?” Ylena asked of Darius, who looked like he knew enough about them to teach the wizard, but he let the moment pass as the woman acknowledged the man’s understanding with a nod. “Then for Katya, let me explain how this will work.

  “Master Darius will begin to release your magic and I want you to concentrate on the gem. Keep your eyes focused on it until I tell you to stop.”

  Nodding at the simple instructions, Ylena said to Darius, “If you would, sir, please let her magic flow slowly.”

  Katya had a feeling that this was definitely not the first time he had performed such an act. The girl could also feel the fuzziness beginning to lift from her head. Like a stuffed up nose on the verge of opening for the first time in weeks of experiencing a cold, her magic began to return to her.

  A minute passed and Ylena began to look from the immortal to the girl as if the process was taking longer than she expected. The gem, on the other hand, had begun to change early on and picked up more and more color. Katya continued to look at the crystal and soon thought that even if she wished to look away that she could not. It was like the flow of her magic to her was tied to looking at the gem and no matter what else she might wish, it would not release her gaze.

  When at last a final last push made Katya feel like the cold was gone, the girl couldn’t stop herself from having to sneeze. Her eyes slipped off of the stone as they closed because of the reaction of her body, but when she opened them again to look at the gem, the stone had turned deep purple like an amethyst.

  “That is a rich color,” Ylena complimented the girl, though Katya didn’t know what the significance of it actually was.

  Darius informed the girl, “The stronger a wizard is, the darker their gem will turn. While the colors vary with the type of magic and the caster involved, one thing is always consistent. The darker the color the more powerful the wizard is who is linked to it.”

  Katya looked up to the high wizard and asked, “Is my magic stuck inside of it, because I don’t feel like I have a cold anymore? When you had the spell holding my magic in, I always felt like my nose was stuffed up or on the verge of getting a headache. I don’t feel that anymore.”

  Taking back over the teaching, Ylena said, “While you are connected to this necklace, you will have full access to your power. The necklace acts as a buffer, however, so when you try to release it, the magic won’t just gush out affecting everyone in its path. The flow will be slower, than without it, but this will give you control that only a trained wizard has.”

  “What if I should lose it or someone takes it from me?” the girl asked with a frown worrying that maybe her magic was actually resting in the stone.

  “Your magic is tied to it. If you are too far from it, you will barely be able to cast; though you still possess all your magic. Eventually your power would come loose without the stone, but that would take close to a month if you were never able to get the necklace back.

  “If someone were to steal it or it is lost, your magic can lead you to it like you are following a compass; so in theory you should never need to worry about being apart from it for long,” the wizard finished with a reassuring smile.

  Darius nodded as Katya looked from Ylena to the high wizard. She wished that he could stay as her teacher. Katya had a feeling that the ancient wizard could teach her more than the entire faculty of White Hall combined, but he wasn’t from her country and she wasn’t from his.

  Looking to the elder wizard, Ylena asked, “Are you ready to turn over your ward to White Hall, Master Darius?”

  “I think you have taken care of her properly and am ready to give her to you, Wizard Ylena,” he said with a slight bow as if this was part of a ceremony unknown to Katya.

  Placing his hand on the little blonde’s shoulder, Darius stated, “Well, I guess this is it for now, Katya. You are now ready to learn how to be a wizard.”

  Katya had a question to ask first, “You knew of using a gem to hold my magic too, didn’t you? Why did you use that other spell then?”

  Chuckling at the girl as he realized the discomfort of using the restraining magic, the wizard shrugged as he replied, “I didn’t expect to have to restrain a young wizard while I was here. I simply didn’t have one of the talismans available to help you that way.

  “Unfortunately, there were none available at the wizards’ guilds in Hala either, so I had to use my magic to hold yours back until we could get here.”

  Ylena looked at the man as if that was a major feat and Katya asked the woman, “How hard is that to do? I take it Darius did a pretty impressive thing by doing that?”

  Looking surprised to have been caught admiring the older wizard, Ylena’s cheeks even reddened slightly as the woman said, “Most wizards who know the spell can easily restrain a battle mage. Strong wizards can do the same to lesser wizards or untrained ones like you, though most would have to release the spell for a little while to rest.

  “Your magic is very strong, so by that measurement, the high wizard is very, very strong. If you could read his aura, you would know that he probably received his position for a good reason and one reason is obviously his power in magic.”

  “Thank you for the compliment, young lady,” the man said bringing another look of surprise to Ylena’s face.

  “I am not that young and despite your hair color, you do not look so old, sir. Even the elders in this school seldom refer to me as a young lady,” the brunette stated with a polite smile.

  “He’s almost seven hundred years old,” Katya stated hoping to end the flirtatious nature of where the conversation had gone.

  At his nod, Ylena’s face drained as she asked, “You are the immortal, Darius?”

  “One in the same,” Darius gave a more official bow. “But I really should be going, if you are finished here. My men and I need to go into town to arrange for our stay.”

  Looking at Katya again, the man said, “Hopefully we will get a chance to see each other again soon, Katya, and I will try to look into that other matter for you as well.”

  As Darius left the two women to return as he had come, Katya looked at Ylena and thought that she might have to shake her out of her shock.

  Shaking her head a moment later, the older woman smiled at Katya and this time it felt like a real smile. “Well, let’s take you upstairs to find your new room. I’ll try and give you all the information you will need to know until orientation tomorrow morning at third bell.”

  “Third bell?” the girl asked already confused by the terminology.

  “Nine o’clock, I guess would be more of what you will understand. Come on now. Time to get moving or we’ll wind up late for dinner.”

  Chapter 11- Finding a Place

  With Kel’lor casting his shadow behind her, Cheleya followed the boy in the gray shirt and brown pants. Such clothing was rare in the study area where they had entered the school; but as they entered a huge room, dozens of boys and girls wearing the same uniforms were sparring with wooden weapons, grappling, or simply paying attention to their elders identified by their brown or black uniforms.

  Those in gray ranged in looks of those just barely out of childhood to the age Cheleya looked in her human body. She guessed, that some were almost as new as Niklaus, who had just arrived. They were clumsy or tentative in their attacks. Others were simply too rudimentary in their styles as she could see that they were over thinking each move searching for the movements to make the maneuvers natural for them.

  Anyone could find a fighter within in themselves, but uncontrolled or untrained, they
would be killed by the Dark One’s soldiers. So battle mages and the soldiers of White Hall began with the basics honing their skills and learning the proper attacks for years before they would be risked in the field. It had been that way for over a hundred years.

  Before the wall was finished, the attrition rate in battle for soldiers and the early battle mages had been high. When the wall had become a nearly indestructible defense and peace south of it had been achieved, Southwall had begun creating the first official wizard schools. Young wizards and wilders were gathered to be trained, so that they could survive the battles the Dark One continued to throw at them from defense of the wall and into the contested land to the north.

  The young man in gray had said little to the girl or the giant aside from telling them to follow. His eyes had lit up at seeing the pretty girl, but Kel’lor’s dour presence shadowing her had kept him from looking too long for fear of what the big man might do to him.

  Such looks were given from around the gym. Sparring stopped in places as boys and girls alike looked at the strange pair crossing the gym towards the rounded portion of the far wall sticking into the training room. An open doorway was at the base of the wall and as they continued in a straight line, Cheleya assumed that was their destination.

  Sure enough, they entered through the door to find a large room with a couple men wearing the brown shirts of falcons working through stacks of papers. They looked up, but spotted the boy leading them and went back to work. A staircase to the right led them up and above the base floor. Another room broken up with two doors for a pair of offices was passed by the three as they climbed another staircase to the next floor. Like the second floor, the third had two offices; but they weren’t their destination either and Cheleya was beginning to wonder if they would climb the tower to its very top before their trip was done.

  She noticed each floor also had a door leading to a hallway exiting the tower and the girl had seen young wizards wearing white in sight each time, but the fourth floor’s door was closed. Since the school was only supposed to be three floors tall, Cheleya wondered if it was an access point to the roof. The question was unimportant as they climbed to the fifth floor finding a large room broken up by a single desk and several chairs. Bookcases and filing cabinets lined the curving wall of the tower almost seeming to define the space as the lower staircase came up and another continued above them.

  Seeing several people waiting for them, Cheleya was a little surprised at the greeting. The boy announced, “Cheleya from Mar’kal here to see you Falconi Garrett.”

  “Thank you, Terrin, you may return to your studies,” the man who remained seated nodded to the cadet.

  Cheleya took him in as well the others standing or sitting there waiting for them. Garrett was a man with brown hair and eyes. A nicely trimmed beard framed his face, but it wasn’t until he stood that the girl realized that he was a fairly tall man. He wasn’t as tall as Kel’lor even in his human guise, but the falconi was close. Another man slightly shorter, but much bulkier had been leaning against one of the bookcases looking sternly at the two. He never moved, but his eyes appeared to be judging the giant as a possible threat. The two glared at each other, but were ignored by Garrett.

  While Garrett’s black uniform had a pair of silver bars on the shoulders shared by a dark haired woman only slightly larger than Cheleya, the man who leaned had the black but no silver. Not quite sure of the ranking of falcons, the girl had to assume the two with silver bars outranked the older looking man.

  The woman in black had hair to match its color and looked slim for a soldier, though her friend Colby had been slight and was only as big as Cheleya herself. Her brown eyes seemed nice enough now, but for such a young woman to be a high rank; the dragoness had to assume that she was an excellent mage. Her right hand had the calluses that only came from working with a sword often, while her left showed the scratches of fighting with fists and the staff.

  Last among those gathered stood out as being foreign to this chamber. A man dressed in the yellow robes of a healer, with his white hair and wrinkles of age, looked as different from the younger mages as the sun was to night. He had a kind face and eyes, but the man didn’t look comfortable being summoned to the Tower of War as it was called by the students of White Hall.

  “You are Cheleya, but have no last name given?” Garrett said standing before moving in front of his desk. He sat against the front of the heavy wooden furniture and it didn’t even shift with his weight.

  “Our people aren’t so numerous that we usually need them, but if there is a need for one on the record, I suppose Dargansheir, would be easy enough to remember for me,” the pretty girl replied with one of her fetching smiles.

  The falconi smiled back, whether from being swayed by her scent’s ability or just his natural disposition, she wasn’t sure. In response to her given surname, the man questioned, “Dargan’s heir, so Dargan is your father then?”

  She nodded as he broke down the name for what it was. Since Cheleya had heard some groups of humans used last names gesturing to their lineage, it seemed right.

  “And who is your big friend, your protector?”

  “I call him brother, but his name is Kel’lor. He is not Dargan’s heir, however,” the girl answered keeping her attention on the man before her.

  “Since the letter of introduction only mentions you, Cheleya, I would assume that your brother isn’t here to learn from White Hall as you have requested.” He glanced to the big man and asked, “What will he do if we accept your request to study here?”

  “It was never decided,” Cheleya replied and gave a shrug. “Kel’lor was concerned for my safety and I guess that we weren’t ready to leave each other so soon after reaching Hala. If my brother wishes to sit in town or go home now that I am here, that is up to him.”

  Garrett looked at them both and his eyes glowed briefly. It was a sign that the man had checked their auras. While magic could be in use without such a sign, those looking for it could usually tell. Verifying her belief, the man continued, “You both have a magical strength more akin to a wizard by our standards. Why would you want to train with us as a battle mage? The letter also said that you hoped to learn about the healing arts. Master Alum heads the healer’s guild here in White Hall, so I asked him to join us; but would it be more of a fit to simply go learn how to be a healer wizard instead?”

  Shaking her head, Cheleya smiled again as she answered, “I watched many of the matches of the Winter’s Edge tournament and I was most impressed with this Sebastian Trillon, who was a battle mage. He was the only battle mage to dare a wizard’s tournament and he did extremely well.

  “I wanted to come learn from the teachers who helped create such a man. I do not need to learn how to be a wizard, since I trained in the elements enough to be secure in their use anyway. Our people prefer learning new things to find what we are best at and to be as well rounded as we can in our knowledge.

  “Being a battle mage might teach me new things and I would really like to learn as he has.”

  The dark haired woman spoke up drawing Garrett’s eyes at her interruption, “Sebastian was trained here, but over the last year he has trained with wizards creating new magic. To say that we helped create him is only half the story, Cheleya. If you hope to become like Sebastian, the only way that might happen would be if you trained directly from him.

  “I trained with the boy only a few times and his greatest strength was his mind, not necessarily his battle mage training though he was a strong swordsman; but his ability to adjust his magic to a fight was certainly greater.”

  Garrett nodded and turned to the little, blonde haired girl and added, “Falconi Martina is correct. While some of his training and mentors certainly helped build someone of character, Sebastian’s continuous need to learn has been serving him and us well. We have received new spells and our corps will change because of him even more than we might have changed him.”

  Eyes narrowing slightly as Che
leya refused to be put off, she asked, “If I can not, or maybe should not, spend all my time training with your corps, would it be possible to spend time with the healers to learn there as well? I wouldn’t want to get too bored if battle mage training is too similar to dragon magic anyway.”

  Martina asked first, “What is dragon magic like?”

  Cheleya turned to Kel’lor realizing that she had maybe said too much. The big man shrugged, and a moment later the girl’s eyes brightened slightly as a new thought came to her mind. Her big brother was likely to go home if there was nothing important for him to do here, but if she was going to be a student perhaps he should become a teacher.

  “Dragon magic makes use of powers that we associate with the tales of the legendary dragons. It borrows from some of the elements and has other properties that have nothing to do with them as well. Maybe if Kel’lor is willing, we could exchange ideas from our magic while I learn from yours.”

  Wizard Alum spoke up asking, “If you are offering the magic to the battle mages, but you have the power of wizards; how likely is it that they will be able to learn your magic? If you come work with our wizards; it might go better towards actually having people who will be able to learn this dragon magic.”

  Kel’lor shook his head. “Didn’t Ambassador Theress say that we shouldn’t pass on the teachings right now?”

  Rolling her eyes, as she had seen other human girls do at an annoying question, Cheleya responded, “When I first mentioned going, Kev’Theress said maybe we should share the magic with them. Then when it was certain, he worried that they weren’t ready for it. If their people knew what we know, it might frighten them at what magic could do. We’ve seen that they already fear wizards and mages anyway. Can we hurt that anymore while teaching them useful spells?”

  The big man growled in his chest unable to refute the girl’s words. He wasn’t as quick as Cheleya at speaking. His mind was fine, but just nowhere as quick as the little girl who was a magical prodigy at half his age.