After Ashleen woke at an hour early enough that he didn't need to wake her, as Elzen had suggested, Sebastian and the others gathered a few supplies including food in case they had to do a lot of magic. Creating multiple portals or holding them for larger groups could even deplete the rune wells in his chest. The added food could compensate and he couldn't just draw power from the earth without something else inside him. Alus' power was impossible to fully harness, but a wizard or mage needed some strength of his own in order not to be lost in flame.
He had drained himself to dangerous levels in the past and the lesson was finally beaten into him after enough times.
The four of them gathered behind the inn in the rear courtyard. Both the stables and Ivol's smithy were hidden back here. Clanging coming from the smaller building with smoke rising from one of a few chimneys signaled that Ivol and his son were already at work. Like Sebastian, the smith rose early to do his work. It was probably because his wife woke early to tend to their early rising guests or maybe to avoid having to do it himself. The inn was Hilda's domain and her husband only joined in when he needed to since he devoted most of his time to being a blacksmith.
"Door," Sebastian stated stretching his hand in the direction that he willed a portal to open. The four hurried through the glowing doorway and as the owl followed he appreciated the fact that he no longer needed to use his staff or borrow power from Ashleen anymore. His power, using the rune wells, was nearing that of most wizards. It was something that true wizards had noted with curiosity, but the wells were among his secrets shared with only those closest to him and a few healers in Hala.
The light in the small courtyard contained by the high walls of White Hall was dim thanks to the shadows cast by guard towers and walls. Morning had arrived here, but it was early and close enough to the beginning of spring that the sun was still low in the east. It was climbing and nearing the second bell, he judged.
"Owl Sebastian," one of the guards noted with a nod as the magical doorway faded to let them exit the entry zone. He was one of four soldiers standing down below that might have to defend the door behind them which led into the school. They were hardly alone, however, as movement along the walls and in the towers proved that battle mages and wizards were returning to the warmth inside.
To the mage's surprise, the guard didn't stop with his acknowledging nod as was the usual greeting when he arrived. Producing an envelope, the soldier added, "High Wizard Herrol gave this to me expecting your arrival."
Taking the envelope, Sebastian joined the others passing through the door into a hall which joined the dining area to the battle mage trainee barracks. It had been his home for many years and he knew it well.
Three trainees dressed in the gray shirts of cadets noticed them and one of them looked at the mage with eyes widened slightly recognizing Sebastian. A girl, blonde and shorter than the two young men with her, brightened and asked, "Owl Sebastian, have you come to teach more of your magic today?"
Giving her a polite smile, Sebastian proceeded to shake his head and said, "Sorry, no, we have business that brings us through White Hall, but I don't expect to have too much time today."
As the girl's smile faded in disappointment, one of the boys added, "Will you be back to teach us soon? It always seems a little better when you show us the spells."
The other boy elbowed him in the side appearing disturbed by the other cadet's words. "You can't say something like that," he hissed. "The teachers are falcons, Dien, they know what they're doing."
"But he's the owl. It would be like being trained by one of the ravens for a day," the slightly smaller boy with light brown hair replied making his case.
"That's kind of true, Tasser," the girl admitted with a nod and smiled up again at the owl.
Sighing, Tasser, a dark haired boy with dark blue eyes shook his head complaining, "Don't encourage him, Casse."
"Are you all new cadets?" Elzen asked curiously. The other mage had essentially been ignored and drew the three sets of eyes to him with raised brows. "I don't think that I've seen you before."
"We were brought in last fall," the girl replied brazenly. She was beginning to remind Sebastian a bit of his sister, even if she was a battle mage instead.
"So you're still learning the basics," Elzen nodded knowingly. The owl wanted to roll his eyes at his friend with his crossed arms and attempt to look official as he judged the younger mages before him. He wasn't as tall as either of the boys in front of him, however, which appeared to lessen his importance to those only slightly younger than his mage friend.
Placing her hands on her hips, the girl, still shorter than Elzen though only just, grew defiant and asked, "Yes, what of it? Can't we learn the good stuff as well?"
The comment made Sebastian chuckle and the wizards beside him did their best to stifle their laughter as they covered their mouths.
In spite of the disrespect given, Elzen stood firm and replied, "How can you learn the 'good stuff' when you don't even have a grasp on the basics, cadet? We all had to learn how to crawl before we could walk."
"My mother said I was walking without ever really crawling actually," Casse replied maintaining her defiance and her hands remained on her hips to make sure that Elzen knew it.
"Even so," Elzen countered, "magic is dangerous. In untrained hands, you could do more harm than good. What if you accidentally send a fireball into your friends, or set off an earthquake that disrupts them when they're fighting an enemy? You'd be more of a liability than a help."
"Who are you anyway? The owl is the one we were talking to," the little blonde continued to try and put Elzen in his place, the place she thought he should be at least.
"Door," her target ordered creating a small window to his side. Another mirrored it right in front of the girl and, when Elzen stuck his hand through it, his finger was pointed as he pushed it against her forehead. "I am another owl."
The cadets' eyes all widened at his demonstration, even as the mage released his portal after drawing his hand back through it to his side.
"Anyway," Sebastian inserted into the brief argument, "make sure to train hard as Owl Elzen has instructed. Some of the newer magic certainly requires knowing other more basic mage spells. You need to be proficient in everything that the falcons teach you and learn it in the order that they show you. It's all done that way for a reason. Now move along, cadets," he finished with a bit of a shooing gesture as he waved them towards the dining hall.
The three teens nodded slowly and began to walk away, though Casse shot Elzen a second look of curiosity before the girl left the hallway.
"So you're an owl now too?" Serrena asked.
"Well, I may not originate everything like Bas, but I can make portals and heal like him. How many other mages can say the same? I also have runes making me more powerful than a normal battle mage. Doesn't that earn me the title?"
"Whatever you say, Elzen," the fire wizard replied giving him a dismissive shrug that refused to give him full credit as he asked.
Sebastian ignored their fighting and opened the envelope. It was from High Wizard Herrol and asked for him to join him in his office at his earliest possible convenience. Not certain if the high wizard could predict that he would be here this early or if the man would wait in his office indefinitely, the owl led his team out through the fourth door. It was the one which brought them to the central courtyard of the school.
Looking to his left, the main entry to the school was on the far side of the large opening between all the surrounding buildings of White Hall. The four made their way with less traffic barring them than if they had tried going through the cafeteria for the school. At this time of day, it would be full of students getting their breakfasts. Many of them might be like the three cadets wanting to ask him when he would come to train them. Even falcons and wizards might stop him to ask if he had discovered any new magic since the last time he had taken the time to pass on what he knew.
The idea of it all left him
feeling drained.
With the chilly air keeping most of the residents inside where they could use the stone sealed halls, the four of them crossed the courtyard without being bothered. They passed through the entry hall where many apprentices would choose to sit and study in the afternoon. Being morning, it was relatively quiet and they barely drew any looks from the students passing by on the way to classes or to the dining hall.
Soon enough they entered an oddly round room at the base of the high wizard's tower. Showing the letter, an earth wizard serving as helper to the high wizard led them up the stairs before leaving them with a gray haired man wearing white. Unlike the apprentices, these were wizard robes with several colors striping both his collar and sleeves.
"Ah, Owl Sebastian, I am glad that you could come."
Chapter 14- Search for Answers
"Good morning, High Wizard," Sebastian greeted the white wizard with an inclined head somewhere between a nod and a bow.
"I am glad that you could come so quickly," the man said getting to the point immediately. "You know of the mission to the Dimple Mountains and the strange reading that our gate wizards noticed, I assume?"
"I know a bit. My sister went along with her mentor. From what I gather, whatever they ran into at the end of summer might have made a reappearance. They sent a fair size force that she and Ylena probably had to monitor as diplomacy wizards."
Though he stated the facts as he knew them, Sebastian didn't sound completely confident. Most of what he said nearly sounded like questions to his ears. The high wizard must have noted it as well.
"It is as you have said," Herrol admitted with a nod. "The marks on the portal compass were smaller than those that they faced last summer, but no one wanted to take a chance. Nearly two hundred troops were sent to check out the situation. We sent a gate team and they have a wizard who can make portals like you."
Sebastian returned the nod and asked, "Has there been some news that requires my attention there?"
Appearing uncertain of how to say what he wanted, the high wizard paused before saying, "We have a small amount of wizards who are chosen to create these rift teams. Some are trained here, though most learn more once they join the scouting teams."
It sounded a bit like the way he learned, the mage thought without saying as much to the man.
"Since we have compasses, as they're called, we can continue to monitor for other rifts like the one that made us send the company out there. Our wizards here read a new, much stronger signature that came from the same area as these new rifts yesterday."
"A larger gate?" Sebastian questioned, though Herrol wasn't finished he realized.
"We don't know. It was a powerful surge of magic, but the day before there were a couple smaller resurgent auras given off as well. The previous two we can't decipher, but they felt a bit similar according to those monitoring the compasses. This most recent surge is unclassified and as powerful as a combined wizards' spell. We would guess that it would take somewhere between fifty and a hundred wizards to accomplish this power surge."
"That many? Could this enemy have slipped in, or possibly never left our world, and attacked our people with that may wizards? I thought the previous markers were small."
"Again, we do not know specifics. That is also why I sent word to the king. I had hoped, though not specifically asked, for your attention. He must have thought the same. With your ability to open doorways and also defend yourself in most situations, perhaps you can go find out what has happened. If there is a great danger, then you can use your gate magic to escape once more."
Elzen snorted at the idea and explained under his breath, "First, they don't want him in danger. Now they send him because he is best they have for a dangerous situation."
Frowning at the other mage, Herrol proved that his hearing was excellent despite his years, "Yes, well, some may believe that we need to protect the owl and his knowledge. While I don't dispute that thinking, we all know that his ability to escape danger is almost as great as his overall potential.
"Will you consent to check this for us, Owl Sebastian?"
Sebastian barely hesitated, "Of course, if nothing else, my sister is out there. If she's in danger, then there's no other place I would want to be than there to help her."
The wizard's face brightened into a smile and he replied, "We can send a few others to assist you, if you wish."
Glancing towards his friends and team, the mage slowly shook his head. "If there is danger there, we might need to move quickly. The more sent, means the longer we need to keep a doorway open. I could probably go by myself even swifter," he felt the others' looks and continued, "but this is my team and we look after each other."
Nodding once that he understood; Herrol asked, "Are you able to find this place on your own? Our wizards can show you on the map or try to help you using the compass. We checked with our resident portal magic wizards. None could go to this point, however."
"I couldn't sense the new magic there, but I think that I have a way even so, sir."
"Well, if you have need of us..."
"I will let you know," the mage acquiesced. Receiving the information that he felt like he needed, Sebastian led the others back to the portal courtyard.
"If you can't sense the magic," Elzen began, "how are you planning on finding this place? Can you just go to it using a map?"
"I don't need to," the owl replied. "If Katya is wearing the necklace that I gave her for her birthday, all I need to do is hone in on the magic that I used to create it to find her."
Serrena mumbled pessimistically, "As long as it wasn't destroyed somehow."
Receiving surprised looks from the others at her words, Sebastian in turn ignored them as he closed his eyes. He searched for his magic without using a map. Though he was uncertain that he could do it without one, the owl quickly discerned the faint feel of his magic formed in the necklace he had given Katya.
"I've got it," Sebastian stated as he opened his eyes. "Door," the mage added forming one in the metal frame kept in the courtyard. If something was there, they could fall back here even if something was chasing them. The guards here could eliminate nearly any enemy that could slip through before Sebastian could close the door behind them.
"Reflex," Elzen called up the mage spell before Sebastian echoed the call. His friend darted into the glowing doorway followed quickly by the girls. To the owl's eyes, they all seemed to move slowly. Even his body responded to his mind at a slower rate. His runes enhanced his speed making his body move faster at least and he plunged into the golden light of the portal.
Silver light enveloped him as the barrier was passed. His eyes flicked towards the dark islands floating in the distance. They always seemed to be there and the mage knew from his past experience that they rotated around some unseen axis.
For some reason, now there appeared to be slightly more of them or perhaps some of the islands' shapes were different. Before he could decide, the second rectangle of gold came and went. His vision and other senses went into shock. Blinded, deaf and unable to even feel the change of air, Sebastian experienced portal blindness. It seemed to last a long time, but that was only because of his spell.
The reflex spell actually reduced the time he normally would have needed to recover.
He felt cool air and a strange grittiness to it before a rush came to his ears. Every current of air could be sensed on his skin only a moment before his vision returned. As if each sense came back enhanced until the next, the owl experienced his new world in stages and wasn't surprised as his eyes looked out over a barren valley.
The only real surprise he had was the devastation seen below them. It looked like the earth had been scoured of any life within the valley. Bared stone even had a freshly hewn pit dug near its center. It was circular in shape except on the near side where it was broken by a notch. Within that notch, less of the ground was destroyed making a line pointing in their direction.
"What happened here?" he asked
in a whisper.
Feeling for the necklace again, Sebastian turned back in the direction of the gate as it winked out of sight. Beyond the rise that they stood on was another smaller valley. It sat higher than the larger one on the other side of the rise. The mountains on either side were closer as well.
In this valley, the mage spotted tents, horses and people. Several soldiers were already running towards them, but to his enhanced senses, they seemed to be moving slowly. It made it easier to see the uniforms of Southwall soldiers and battle mages.
Raising his hand in greeting, Sebastian led the others towards the approaching soldiers. There was no immediate recognition, but they slowed seeing his wave.
He noticed that much of the valley below them was in shadow. The sun had only crested the far side of the valley a few minutes earlier and much of its light remained blocked by the mountains around them. They weren't that deep into the Dimple Mountains, but they were far enough to be surrounded at least.
More figures came out of the tents. Cook fires were lit, but pots were still heating water as the cooks readied to throw together a meal. It was more elaborate than a typical meal north of the wall, he thought absently. Too often he had been forced to live off of travel bars and dried rations up there on the plains.
A dark haired girl hurried after the soldiers. She wore the robe of a diplomacy wizard, but she also looked too young to be a wizard. An apprentice hurried after her and Sebastian could see that she called after the wizard to slow down. Even with the dim light in the valley, the mage could tell that the second girl was his sister.
"Hound," he called up a popular spell among the mages when they had to do sentry duty. Both his hearing and his sense of smell improved. The latter noted the smell of the cook fires, but also that of dust from behind them. Surprisingly he didn't notice any lingering smells of burned things in the scoured valley, which made him wonder what had actually occurred there.
"Calm down!" the brunette running in bare feet to catch the guards called out. Her voice sounded familiar. Even her girlish face seemed like he should recognize it. "It is the owl."
Battle Mage, The Caves of Time Page 18