The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus

by Wigboldy,Donald

  "Strong? Toman keeps having to push her away and she still follows him everywhere. Is that what you call strong?" Xerese nearly laughed at the idea, but the problem was that she wondered about the compatibility of the two as well.

  "He doesn't always push her away," Quela countered and both women knew that it was true.

  Days later, there she was with the group looking down on a battle field. Daria's high stone walls held their enemy out, but the black uniformed army didn't appear willing to wait to see if they could survive a siege. They fought with greater numbers and, as she watched, Xerese feared that the brotherhood's army also had another advantage.

  Magic lashed out killing the soldiers in blue. More magic sought to protect the men, but there appeared to be fewer wizards on the side of the Tseult army. If she had to guess there were at least twice as many wizards attacking from the walls or from behind the rows of men in black.

  "Can you tell how many wizards the brotherhood's army has versus Tseult's wizards?"

  "They outnumber Tseult's wizards worse than the numbers of soldiers," Quela answered standing as she held the reins of her horse as the wizard looked over the battlefield below them.

  "How is that possible? Did so many join the brotherhood because of the attacks on the temples?"

  No one could answer such a thing for her. No one knew the situation in the city. They had all come from other places to the east with enough miles between those cities that it would take magic to know what was happening over those distances.

  "How did King Tylus manage to respond to the change in the cities so fast, is what I wonder," Toman muttered standing between the women.

  Quela looked at the larger man and Xerese thought she saw a softening of her expression, but the wizard answered, "There is magic that can be used to contact distant cities. It is an uncommon skill; but if the wizards in Daria sent out a notice to Tristan before it fell to the brother's control, the king might know of it already."

  "There is also a military fort west of Daria," Nico countered the woman from where he stood watching the battle. "It is likely that someone got a message to them about the rebellion."

  The observers stood watching for awhile longer before Xerese stated, "Well, I guess this settles whether we should try going to Daria or just pushing past it."

  Before she could urge the others to pack into the carriage or use the horses to leave the drivers to return to Marta, a loud rumble echoed from the city walls all the way out to the hill where they watched. Their eyes returned to the battle field where much of the Tseulty army fell to the ground even as it rippled and broke beneath them. Horses and men alike were affected on the western side of the fighting by the churning earth.

  She heard Oywen gasp and Quela stiffened at the sight.

  "What? What was that?" Xerese demanded trying to understand. While she knew that a powerful magic spell had been used, the girl didn't understand why the wizards reacted in such a way.

  "That was the work of just one wizard, I believe," Quela said unable to turn away from the battle. "His or her power couldn't even be sensed one moment, but then it struck out of nowhere."

  Oywen nodded, but before the woman could think to add her opinion something new happened. Even from the hill roughly a mile away, Xerese could feel fear. It wasn't natural. She couldn't be afraid of what was happening because she had yet to comprehend anything that could make her fearful; yet now the girl felt ready to run away in panic. Everyone seemed to take a step back as one.

  "What was that? Why am I so afraid?" she asked and her voice seemed to snap most of them out of the strange panic in the air.

  They still watched the battle field, but the fight was over on one side. Men in blue armor ran dropping weapons and throwing aside armor that slowed them too much. Some of the soldiers couldn't even run and dropped to the ground too frightened to move.

  To her surprise, the men serving the brotherhood didn't rush in to finish their enemy off. Those who remained of the Tseult army that didn't run were left alone and the injured from both sides were soon tended to by healers walking out from the city.

  A new emotion tugged at her. From fear Xerese felt like she was being drawn to something or someone down below. Most of her group actually took a step towards the city.

  "What kind of magic are they using down there? One moment I am so afraid that I am ready to run away and now I want to...," the girl wasn't quite certain how to explain the new feeling.

  "That powerful wizard is using coercion magic, the magic of the mind," Oywen stated with a frown. "Luckily only a small fraction of wizards get that power to use, but unfortunately if there is someone this strong in it there might not be any wizards strong enough to stop him from using that power also."

  Xerese thought of the conversations with Annalicia about the wizards of Southwall. During the tournament certain factions among the Southwall wizards didn't participate. They had healers who were no good at duels, but they served as either shielding wizards to protect the individuals fighting or as medical teams if someone did get hurt.

  Another group wore black robes with silver trimming. Several of those were in charge of running the tournament. The wizards they met called them diplomat wizards, because they used magic that could affect people's minds. Their spells were too hard to gauge in a duel and too devious to be countered by most, so they could only join the tournament if they set aside their most natural of skills.

  "Southwall had specialist wizards who only used magic like that," she stated sounding informed, but realized that the information didn't really matter at all. They could feel this wizard's power and understood what it could do. At a mile away, the magic was enough to affect them. At close range, she would be joining the soldiers of Tseult who had begun to turn to face a man dressed in red robes as he walked through the center of the brotherhood's army.

  Men who had been trying to kill the brotherhood one moment began to bow to this man and Xerese was suddenly afraid for a different reason.

  Some of those who had given in to fear and run started straggling back unable to stop their feet from bringing them back to the wizard. His power would make men serve him, she thought.

  "Is something like this permanent?" she worried and hoped the women could answer her question.

  The two wizards looked at each other uncertainly a moment before shrugging. Quela answered for the two of them, "Normally the spell will wear off eventually from what I have heard, but I have never heard of a wizard this powerful using this magic. Maybe if he remains near them, he can keep renewing the effect of the spell."

  Oywen added, "I have heard that using this kind of magic can keep people subservient indefinitely, but the wizard needs to keep casting the spell regularly to maintain the desired mindset. If the person affected figures out that they are being controlled, they can turn against the wizard.

  "That is for a normal wizard though. This man's power continues to radiate in an almost godly way," she finished with a shake of her head.

  Toman had kept his eyes on both the winners and those who had lost. "If we hope to escape the brotherhood's army, we are going to need to move quickly."

  Looking back towards the battlefield, Xerese asked, "What do you mean? They've already won."

  He pointed and she noticed squads of black uniformed soldiers moving out towards the Tseult soldiers. No longer in any sort of order, the men in blue could be seen doing only a few things. Some continued to try and run. Those were mostly the men furthest away. Others appeared uncertain of what to do. They stood or sat on the ground. Those closest to the mind spell turned towards the wizard and continued to walk forward towards the source of the magic.

  "I am guessing that they will hunt down the rest of the army. They will either bring the men back and force them to serve or kill them," Toman stated grimly. "If we aren't clear of their search, we might get dragged to Daria also."

  This proclamation made them all start to move. A quick discussion with the drivers and three oth
er travelers confirmed that they would head back to Marta. Whether the brotherhood would act differently there was unknown, but no one liked the looks of what was happening at Daria even Brother Melere.

  The spare horses gathered from the fight were already prepared for the riders. Toman and Nico worked quickly to offload what they figured the animals could carry with riders. Some of their luggage would have to be lost including the extra swords gathered from the wizard hunters, but the rest was stowed behind the saddles or in bags before the women were helped onto their horses.

  Nico and Toman mounted up and led the small party back down the hill. While the coach turned east towards the road, the guard led them further south. There would be enough hills to hide them from a distance, at least until the enemy soldiers began searching through the hills. They had to be well past the search area before that time, so the five rode as quickly as they dared push the horses.

  Still remembering the fear and the blind need to join the powerful wizard, Xerese hoped warning the wizards of Malaiy would help protect them from falling to this man should he decide that the northern cities of Tseult weren't enough for him. Before any of that, they needed to make it to Malaiy.

  It had been a long trip so far, but there were many miles to go.

  Their journey back to Hala had been slowed by yet another detour, Annalicia thought to herself with a sigh.

  The Sea Dragon had sailed with the Carnivore to the south. Sebastian had asked to change course from following the northern coastline and from there sailing directly towards the capitol city. Instead they had gone to Sardon, another of the eastern towns of Litsarin; and Sebastian had found trouble again.

  Orcs had appeared in the city and disappeared again, so the mage had made the ships wait while he led a team further inland and into the nearby mountains to a town called Parik. He fought the Dark One's wizards in the town where people didn't look quite normal to him.

  According to his report, the people of Parik seemed a combination of typical humans and the creatures of the Dark one called orcs and goblins. It was less important than the warlocks and soldiers who suddenly appeared from a portal to fight the battle mage and his team. The mage's team had been powerful enough to drive the enemy back, but the warlocks disappeared back through the portal which they had tracked from Sardon. He also said that another group had watched the battle and they were familiar to the mage, but like the losing forces they used a different portal to leave Parik.

  Two of the enemy warlocks had been captured and Sebastian had forced the knowledge of portal magic from the men. She still didn't completely understand why he had helped send the two warlocks back to Ensolus, the name of the Dark One's city and the place where these men had come from to attack the Southwall team.

  Sebastian had said that he had helped because it gave him a chance to see the magic in use and he was even involved in it. He told her that the two warlocks knew the basics of the magic, but that they weren't capable of creating a portal on their own. Instead of treating them like enemies, he in turn sent them back like friends, or at least strangers in need of help.

  Though his team had learned what they could and even succeeded in opening a portal to send the two men home, no one could replicate the spells since. He taught Anna and the Malaiy wizards what they knew as well. While they had all worked to understand the magic, no one could make a full portal again though much of the time spent sailing towards Helsen on the west side of Litsarin had been spent in trying to master the Dark One's magic.

  By the time they made it to Helsen, Sebastian had become worried by more portals appearing all over Litsarin according to Darterian's compass. He gave a warning to the trade city and they asked him to bring a message to their king.

  Visiting King Qeyless had been interesting. The Grimnal had joined them. Using his signet ring found by Sebastian on one of the islands along the way and his ability to heal from wounds quickly, they had made it to the king's throne.

  Though she was the one supposedly good at speaking with kings, Sebastian had won over the king even with Gerid there to speak of their worries. He had also been forced to hold Maura in check. The research wizard was as bad with kings as she was with pretty much everyone else. Her pride and bad manners had caused the Grimnal to snap at her and feign a slap was coming to silence her; but it had been a single look from Sebastian that had settled the woman fully.

  King Qeyless had noticed the mage's authority and soon their group was speaking with the king in private.

  Sent officially by King Qeyless to bring a message to his ally in Southwall of the danger to Sileoth's interests, the Sea Dragon had finally turned to sail north for Hala. An eighty mile wide break between the island and the mainland took just over a day to cross thanks to bad winds. Leaving Tarmand had also been the moment that they had separated from the Kardorian Carnivore as well. They were in safe seas and no longer followed the same path, so the ship which had originally followed them in secret was now on its own headed for home.

  Now Annalicia stood beside the railing looking at the city of New Harbor waiting for her captain to finish gathering their supplies. Sebastian and some of his companions had gone to sightsee hours ago. It was only supposed to be a day trip as a break from all the sailing that they had done for what seemed like months now.

  "We could still go see the city too, my lady," Reynolvan said watching the girl as she seemed lost in the view.

  Turning to the look at the older man, Annalicia shrugged. She still wore the lightweight clothing the wizard had been wearing as they moved further south. It was already almost as warm among the islands as it would be feeling the wind coming in from the west at her family home. Some of Taltan was blisteringly hot, but the west coast and Yalan were comfortable year round.

  "If you and the men want to go sightseeing or to shop like we women are said to like to do, feel free, Reynolvan. I never said that you needed to stay here to babysit me. Perhaps you missed the fact that I am a grown woman capable of watching myself, but I will remind you of that fact again," the girl replied with a smirk. Though she wasn't overly irritated with the man since Anna was used to being treated like a princess needing guards since birth, sometimes she wished the man would ease up on his concern.

  Frowning as Reynolvan looked to have taken the comment harder than she meant it to be, Annalicia wondered if she needed to be retrained in the art of diplomacy. In Helsen, she had helped Sebastian avoid offending the officials there with an errant offhand comment; but in Tarmand the mage seemed to have improved to the point of being the one to win over King Qeyless.

  "I was just noting that you appear to want to go. You could have joined Sebastian and his people, if you had asked I am certain," the man responded as he crossed his arms in front of him.

  Reading the defensive gesture, Anna smiled warmly and replied, "I wasn't trying to be mean, Reynolvan. If you and the men want to go into the city, then you don't need my permission all the time. You aren't guards hired to protect me after all. My father sent them for that," she added gesturing over her shoulder towards the two guardsmen sitting on the deck behind her conversing with each other. Though they tried to appear unconcerned with her well being at the moment, Ryan and Welden would often glance in her direction just in case.

  "You are wizards sent to compete in wizard's duels, not to watch over me; unless I am missing something."

  Ivanor move closer to draw her eyes from the other wizard. "My lady, it is one thing to ask us to ignore your family name when you are training with us. Everyone understands that you don't want to be treated differently as a wizard, but even if your father or the king didn't request it, we serve Malaiy and its royal family."

  Raising her hands in frustration at these men, Anna let out a sigh of exasperation before she said, "I am as likely to become queen as you are to become king, Ivanor. I'm like thirteenth or fourteenth in line, so I am more likely to become a high wizard than a queen."

  "Twelfth," Ryan said loud enough to be heard to
correct the girl.

  "Fine, twelfth in line, like that makes much of a difference! They still can't figure out if they should marry me off to a lord like a lady or to send me to the wizards' guild to disappear in studies. You could ease up on the 'my lady' talk. You two have only used my name or called me an apprentice until I became a full wizard. Now you act like something has suddenly changed," the girl complained. She kept reminding herself inside her head that she wasn't angry, but her tongue seemed to be revealing that she was hiding her true feelings from herself more than them.

  Ivanor released a breath before stating, "You aren't a novice or apprentice anymore. Even as a wizard, you are more special than most. You almost won the Winter's Edge tournament. That should show you that much."

  Placing his hand on the wizard's shoulder, Reynolvan sought to make the other man give the girl her space. "Even if you were fortieth in line, my lady, while we are this far from home it is the duty of everyone on this ship to make sure that you remain safe. We would treat Lady Xerese the same, if she were here with us."

  Her cousin's name made Anna frown. She missed Xerese and hoped that she was well. By now the girl was either back in Yalan with the court or had been recalled to Teyas by her mother. If she was in Teyas, Xerese was probably dealing with suitors just like Alicia.

  Before anyone said anything more, the wizard caught sight of some of Sebastian's team. Yara looked completely distraught, though the rest all looked to be beside themselves with grief as well. She noticed neither Sebastian nor Ashleen, who had gone with the group, were with them.

  When they straggled onto the deck, Annalicia asked, "What's wrong? Where are Sebastian and Ashleen?"

  Yara began to cry even harder and she thought that Serrena, usually so fiery and ready to anger, was close as well. Liam moved to stand beside her while Nara and Collin escorted Yara to the passage leading below deck.