"You haven't found the source of the magic or whatever is making your device lead you to this cave?" the soldier asked looking markedly dubious.
Katya glanced past the wizards and noted a couple of the battle mages near the top of the rise moving back into view. The two men didn't bother to return, but looked from the wizards back towards those hidden from the apprentice waiting below. Their movements didn't seem to hold much concern. She wondered if the mages felt like this was a wild goose chase and if the cave was that unimpressive.
"It seems to be deep enough that we will need to take time to explore... carefully. We don't know what is making the compass react, but it is a strong marker even after so many days. Most rifts will show decay after a time. This mark looks as solid as it did when we first started out."
"Does that mean it is big? Did they send another army?" the captain questioned and couldn't help glance upward at the mountain behind the wizard.
"Until we investigate properly, we can't be certain; but I don't think that it is particularly large at all. It is strong and lingering in an odd way, however," Ukor answered. The wizard was about the same age as the captain, Katya figured, but age seemed to sit on Ukor more all of a sudden. He looked markedly older, as if his years of chasing magic portals had aged him prematurely.
Katya wondered what the man had seen to cause such a separation in the appearance of two men of a similar age. The captain was likely a veteran of many years and campaigns. Combat could age a man also, so what had Ukor seen she wondered.
Though he was in charge of the company of soldiers, Captain Anon had to defer to Wizard Ukor for these matters. "So what do you propose? Do we split the company as well?"
"I usually just lead my gate squad. If you think we need to split it evenly or something, that is your prerogative captain," was all that the wizard would say.
Seeming to ignore the soldier, Ukor gathered Beyrieth with a gesture and met up with the remainder of his small team.
Ylena inserted her input by asking, "Captain, might I suggest sending a score of soldiers with a handful of our battle mages and Ukor? I can go with you as well, while Katya remains here to keep an eye on things."
Anon looked at the apprentice and looked uncertain. "She is just an apprentice. Isn't she a little young to be put in charge?"
"Katya has a good head on her shoulders and besides there will be more wizards and either you or the lieutenant will be here to run the remainder of the company, right?" the dark haired wizard replied with a smile. Katya wasn't sure that it was completely genuine, but the captain didn't seem to question it either.
He nodded and began to hand out orders to his lieutenant. Twenty more soldiers were called up as a unit. Falconi Martina chose to join this group as Ukor and Blake mounted their horses to continue searching for the next marker.
The falconi moved closer to the diplomacy wizards and said to Ylena, "I will join you. If something goes wrong here, Katya can fly to us quickly. In turn, I can make it back here quickly as well." She smiled and nodded at Katya adding, "It's good that we have two dragon mages that can fly between the groups if necessary."
Katya smiled a contained expression feeling her mentor's eyes on her again.
"Yes, she wants me to learn dragon mage magic also; but until I do, you two will have to take care of those of us bound to the ground," Ylena replied with a smile echoing Martina's. Her attention turned back to Katya and gave her directions, "Try to keep an eye on those heading into the cave, but try to keep out of their way as well, Katya. We'll be back shortly, I am sure."
"Yes, Wizard Ylena," the girl replied using her mentor's title in front of the others to show respect.
The blonde haired apprentice dismounted as she watched her mentor and the others join up behind Wizard Ukor before moving away. She glanced at the remaining company and listened as Captain Anon began to give orders to his soldiers. Falcondi Pikun followed his direction as well by sending a few of the remaining battle mages further out to scout the slope of the mountain.
Arwen and her mentor remained with the main company while the other two air wizards joined the group in search of the second mark. The apprentice and the wizard dismounted preparing to ride the winds to scout better than anyone confined to the ground could hope to do. As everyone else seemed to have a plan for what they should be doing moved to their tasks, Katya realized that she didn't have anything particular to do.
Scouting as a dragon mage might be useful, but it was redundant with the air wizards preparing to check the area from above. Even that was overlapping the battle mages moving out from the company. Zav was also led by his master to check the area using his earth magic. They could sense movement in the ground, while the others could work to cover the air.
Katya dismounted and passed her horse off to one of several soldiers setting up a temporary picket line for the horses in the company. Wood stakes were driven into the ground and rope ran between them. It wasn't a solid wall or fence to hold the animals, but they were trained to respect the perimeter formed by the rope. These were trained horses of the army after all and not like those at her family farm taught to just pull a cart or plow.
Wandering up the slope, Katya found the cave mouth. A handful of battle mages spread out from the outer edges of the cave and along the upper slope keeping an eye out for any trouble. No one seemed to think that there would be any, which made the apprentice wonder if they had checked inside the cave to any degree yet.
She spotted Mercer watching as Beyrieth spoke with a few soldiers.
"What is she doing with them?" the girl asked the much larger mage.
Peering down, the mage smiled at her and replied, "Beyrieth is setting up an escort, though they are likely to be more useful looking for whatever is setting off the compass here. If it is just a rift that has remained open, they will call Beyrieth over to close it. If it is too strong, she might need magical help; but for now the other wizards will remain outside keeping watch for trouble."
"Do you often do this? I mean, is this just the usual procedure?"
Mercer glanced towards the darkness inside the cave and said, "We rarely find them inside a cave like this. We also don't usually have such a large group following us either, of course.
"I guess the attack last fall has everyone spooked yet."
"It was the end of summer actually," Katya clarified.
At his nod, the man continued, "It is also the first time that we have found two signals so close to each other. Normally we wouldn't split up because we wouldn't have this many people to cover both places."
"What if they find the next and there is a third beyond it?" the girl questioned.
Chuckling at her, Mercer answered, "Well, then we'll have a problem. I guess Ukor would have to send word back to us if he wants to have Blake to check out another at the same time. Hopefully we aren't looking at a large number hidden together."
"I wonder if the creatures making these portals did it purposely to keep us from discovering their other points?"
"Why would they? How would they guess how we find rifts and portals? I think that you are giving them too much credit."
Not certain that the mage wasn't underestimating this nearly unknown enemy, Katya simply waited and watched as Beyrieth led a half dozen men into the cave. Mercer joined the wizard as her guard, even if no one thought that they would find anything to worry over.
Sebastian waved to his brothers that had escorted them to the gate securing the path into the farm. Beyond them in the distance, he could see his parents and Conner's wife, Rena. His older brother had joined them for lunch along with his wife and joined the twins in walking them to the gate where they could follow the road towards Mera or head southward.
After walking a little ways, Elzen asked, "How far do you plan on walking? I mean, we could have left from their porch instead of making them walk to the gate after all."
"You've been missing so many training sessions, maybe you need the exercise," Serrena teased
the younger mage walking beside her. "If you keep having Sebastian make his portals everywhere, you're going to get fat and lazy."
"I get plenty of exercise each day, especially at night where you haven't been complaining up until now," the younger man retorted with a slight smile as the girl with reddish brown hair suddenly blushed nearly matching the red highlights in the sun.
"Be nice," Ashleen said with a shake of her head. Technically, it was the others' relationship to worry over, but she felt it necessary to defend her friend even so.
Answering his question, Sebastian attempted to pull the conversation back to the original point, "We just need to walk far enough to let the hills block their view."
"Why?" Elzen asked again like a small child needing to question everything the older mage thought to himself. "They already know that you can use magic. You've practiced here for the tournament, right? Then why are we pretending that we're staying in Mera or something?"
"It is one thing to use magic, but it is another thing to worry them about it. Throwing a fireball isn't the same thing as leaving a magical doorway in their yard, which they might fear could bring any number of wizards or creatures here," the owl replied hoping that would stop his friend's questions. Elzen wasn't usually that way, but if he suspected that he was pushing someone's buttons the boy's natural tendency was to push them again.
"After all these months, do you think anyone could use them like that? I mean, we used Palose's gate into Ensolus, so there is a precedent but only for you so far."
"The Dark One's people used other gates to sneak behind the wall before. Palose was behind that also, but if we give them too many openings another wizard or warlock might find them to use against us. Even so, I highly doubt that a small doorway will be found essentially out in the middle of nowhere. I'm not sure that they use maps like I do... we do," he clarified realizing that Elzen was now a portal magic user and capable of using the map version of the spell after the owl had worked to teach him recently.
Ashleen glanced over her shoulder and said, "We're out of sight."
"See? Even Ashleen doesn't feel like walking needlessly and Sebastian isn't calling her fat," Elzen complained to his girlfriend.
"He's not stupid enough to call any girl fat," Serrena retorted crossing her arms.
Ashleen stepped in again and said, "Well, the sun will be further along in Hala, if that is our next destination. If we spend too much time walking for no reason other than we are stretching our legs, then we'll get hungry sooner and maybe miss dinner at the inn."
Looking back at the hill blocking their view of the Trillon farm and even the gate, Sebastian mused, "Well, it went better than I might have hoped."
"You expected them to be..." Ashleen couldn't even finish the sentence as she was uncertain of what he had really predicted.
"I'm not sure. My parents have always been a bit standoffish with me since the wizards discovered my magic. They were afraid of it... me.
"My father's usual way of dealing with it was to say nothing about it mostly, but sometimes what isn't said is just as loud as saying it."
"I didn't think they were too bad when we came through last year," Serrena put in her opinion. "You used magic in your father's fields without him complaining really. If Katya hadn't lost control of her magic and sent him jumping into a snowdrift, I would have called it a success."
"My brothers were the most accepting and, of course, Katya who ended up being a wizard also. I could still sense my parents resisting it; hating the magic inside of me."
Ashleen held his hand and squeezed slightly as the young woman said, "If they are tolerating it, then at least they are trying to meet you halfway. You should be glad and I do think that your parents are trying to make an effort."
Two stones imbued with his magic were pulled from his pocket. He had picked them up from the place he had sent them yesterday. From this vantage point, Sebastian was satisfied with their placement more than he could have been using air magic to line up the placement of his stones from hundreds of miles away.
Dropping the stones on the side of the road, the mage was fairly certain that any further portal openings wouldn't happen in the path of a traveler on this route at least.
"I wish that I could have brought Katya back with me this time. Having her here might have made it easier."
"Or your little sister might have set them further on edge," Serrena offered sounding unconvinced of his hopes.
Nodding, Ashleen added, "You can't hide behind Katya forever, even if she could help smooth things over. It's up to you to win them over Sebastian.
"I've seen you win over more dangerous people than your parents," the wizard added with a chuckle. "My father could have had you beheaded if you left a bad enough impression."
"He could still do it!" Elzen laughed. "You might want to avoid breaking up with Ashleen. If she holds a grudge, having a duke for a father could be more dangerous for you than you thought."
"I hadn't planned on it," Sebastian assured his friend with a shake of his head and a roll of his eyes.
"That's good," Ashleen said with a smile. "I'd hate to have daddy send an army to beat you up for me."
Sighing at her joke, Sebastian called up the doorway letting the others disappear through it first. A last glance at the land south of Mera sent him through to his room in the Black Smith Inn once more.
They would return to his parents' farm again the next day. He had offered to help his father to prepare the fields and his plans to use magic to do some of it was something he hoped might continue to break through his father's resistance to magic and its users. The next day would prove his theory or not, but for now Sebastian and his friends would return to the inn and relax.
His thoughts would return to his sister later that night and the mage wondered once more if Katya was in danger on this mission to the mountains. His worry was noticed by the others, but for now they let him mull it over without any new questions.
Chapter 9- Time's End
Katya paced along the upper slope outside the cavern wondering how Ylena and her group were faring. The gate wizards had been inside the cave for almost an hour now and some of those investigating the interior had already exited looking frustrated and uncertain. She had stopped one of the first soldiers to leave and asked how it was going.
"All we see are a small network of tunnels. Whatever they are sensing with that compass, it seems to be buried within the stone," the sergeant answered her question politely enough. It helped being a pretty girl as much as it did that her natural aura could be used to alter reactions to her without even needing to cast a spell to do it. Ylena said that she was still half wilder, even after she had trained to restrain her magic and harness it like any other wizard.
Without that control, she really would have been a wilder.
Katya looked inside noting the glow of lights directly ahead of her within the entrance. They followed the tunnel long enough to disappear from her sight quickly enough. A branching path to the left had flickers of light coming from it as well. While the cloudy skies left the landscape gray, she knew that unless they discovered what was setting off the compass soon the wizards would likely choose to use magic to dig for the odd rift inside the mountain.
Again her thoughts went to Ylena and the squad of soldiers, wizards and mages that had gone off in search of this mysterious secondary marker. Would they find another like this one or would they find their residual magic outside where they could close it for good? She really had no idea.
Beyrieth came out after another half hour looking especially perturbed by the lack of results.
"You still don't see the rift?" she asked in a rhetorical way.
A low growl of annoyance preceded the older woman's words. "No, and I am a bit reticent to bring in the earth wizards to use their magic to find it."
"I could talk to them if you are worried that they will balk at helping you. I can be quite convincing," the pretty blonde haired girl said with a smile
that even made the annoyed gate wizard start to smile in response.
Again Beyrieth looked ready to growl at her, but her magical presence softened the wizard a bit. "I can ask them for myself, but I am just not certain that I should. We can dig into the stone, I suppose, but is it safer to leave it buried? If the invaders had planned on returning through this rift or portal, unless they can inhabit stone, they will surely be crushed as they enter."
"Can a body even pass through a portal if there is a wall of stone in front of it?" Katya questioned having never thought of it. She had heard warnings of the risks of opening a portal haphazardly in a place where there were other people, like a busy city. Supposedly a gate could form quickly enough to cut an unsuspecting person or animal in half as it opened. Would a gate opened into stone allow a body passing through it to merge with the mountain?
"I close portals and rifts. I don't open them, so I am not certain. Ukor might have a better idea," the elder wizard answered and turned back to look into the tunnel mouth once more appearing to grow disappointed in her current failure. Beyrieth's shoulders suddenly drooped a bit and she turned to Katya asking, "Would you ask the earth wizards to come use their magic to search? Perhaps there is something that their magic can tell us that our eyes and instruments can't."
"Of course, Wizard Beyrieth," she replied with a nod and turned to walk down the slope.
Katya didn't have to go particularly far either. Many eyes looked upward to see the girl wandering into view. While most of them wanted to go look for themselves, the bulk of the company had been ordered to wait below in the valley. It was far enough away from the rising mountains that if any enemies were hiding, even arrows would have difficulty flying far enough to hurt anyone without the archer having to give away his position.
Battle Mage, The Caves of Time Page 11