Sebastian shook his head and explained why, “If he’s your best, then there is no way that he will be able to join me. Windmeer will need him to represent your faction in the tournament.”
“Not necessarily,” Fala admitted slowly as she considered the name thrown out by her apprentice, “Brenner hasn’t dueled in years. He just hasn’t found a reason to fight, so his skills have probably dulled. The man hasn’t been to the practice fields ever since the duel talk began. I doubt that he planned on going, so he might be free. On the other hand, I don’t know if he could be convinced to prepare for the tournament with you then either.”
“Falcon Sebastian,” his name came from behind him. He turned to see the wizard Collin approaching followed closely by a woman dressed in leathers like a hunter from the woods. A green cloak led the mage to believe that maybe she was another wizard though and his assumption was confirmed quickly. “I know that you were hoping to gather a few more wizards from different schools to train with and this is my friend, Nara Iphrain. She’s one of the best duelers among the nature wizards. Most likely Herraln will represent her school in Hala, so that means she is available to train with you.”
“Nara the nature wizard,” Sebastian mused thinking such a name a bit odd. Wincing at his own judgment, the woman reacted much the same to his words.
“My nickname in one actually,” she admitted unhappily. “I’ve had it since I was an apprentice unfortunately.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pick on you. The name Nara is actually quite nice, but let’s get to the point. Why would you want to join me? I am just a battle mage after all. No one thinks that I will have a chance dueling wizards on their ground, so why come?”
Taken aback by Sebastian’s uncharacteristic bluntness as well as his negatively opinion of his chances, her blue eyes blinked rapidly as she took in his questions. Frowning slightly, the young woman brushed back a stray lock of raven black hair that had strayed from under her hood. Her eyes came back to lock on the mage’s and she nodded to herself before saying, “First of all, Collin told me how you beat him so I know that you must be testing me. He’s a great dueler, so that means apparently you can fight wizards on their own ground as you put it. Second, I know that I can’t beat Herraln. He has ten years on me and his grasp of nature dueling is probably as good as any wizard in the country. Being realistic, he’s just too good for me, but Collin seems to think that training with you could bring out more beyond my current fighting skill.”
The woman glanced briefly to the earth wizard, who smiled reassuringly at her, and she continued, “I can push you in a fight though. I also know a lot of Herraln’s tricks firsthand. If you ever come up against him, that might be helpful to you as well.”
Sebastian noted that as she had spoken, her posture had straightened. When the two of them had first approached, the wizard had looked almost meek, beaten; but as she had considered her reasons a new strength began to come back into her. His opinion was that her confidence had been dealt a blow and most likely the practices with her fellow wizards had brought that out of her. Losing could either build character or destroy it, he thought. With Collin’s speaking for her and Nara’s apparent willingness to learn as well as train him, the mage thought she would do well enough.
That and he could tell Collin and Nara were more of a couple than they wanted him to know. It would be like taking him from Yara. Whether they would ever admit to being that close, he didn’t know, but Sebastian could sense it in the way they communicated with just their eyes and body language.
“All right. If Collin is vouching for you, I am fine with that,” he said coolly acting as if another weight hadn’t just been lifted from his shoulders. Letting them know that wasn’t in his plans. The falcon had to be a leader, he was beginning to realize quickly. They might be training partners, but they had to believe he was strong enough to take on the challenge of the tournament as well. Backing a definite loser could be disheartening and, even though he was not sure of his chances, his people needed to think he had a definite chance.
Both wizards smiled and relief was written on their faces. He had been right to think there had been some unspoken hopes for the trip together.
“You’re taking these two with you?” a lanky wizard in the blue of the water mages asked as he leaned on Collin and Nara’s shoulders. “Now that seems like a strange thing to see. A battle mage leading a pair of wizards to take part in a wizard’s duel tournament? Kind of seems like a fish trying to lead a cow to the dairy, doesn’t it?”
Rolling his eyes, Collin answered the man’s sarcasm in kind, “Or like you leading a class in tact, Liam? Sebastian, it is my unfortunate duty to introduce Wizard Liam Klaren, water wizard duelist.”
The taller wizard nodded his head and continued, “It sounds like you are putting together a collection of wizards for a trip to the tournament. Well, if these two are going then I am in. You don’t have a water wizard yet, do you? I can fight for my place, if you want. There isn’t a water school duelist that I can’t beat.”
“How about Brellen or Shirama? Then there’s Ruus and Teven that I’ve seen do pretty well,” Collin retorted trying to put a little pressure on the man for interrupting their discussion.
The tall man in blue waved off the barrage of names. “Oh, they’re all good and maybe on a certain day they might win a duel, but I can beat all of them and have. You saw me take out Brellen and Ruus in the summer competition yourself, Collin. I know you were in the audience… with Nara if I recall. You make a cute couple by the way. Then there was the match last fall with Ruus. I admit he pushed me for awhile, but I took him out as well.
“Then there’s Shirama. Hmm, pretty little Shirama, she is a feisty one, but come on she can’t beat me. Now if she wanted to compete with me in the bedroom…”
“Ugh, disgusting!” Nara complained making a face and elbowing the wizard just below the ribs knocking the breath from the man in a perfect blow.
Turning red almost immediately, the tall man sat onto the ground unceremoniously gasping for air. After a minute’s recovery, Liam looked up at the nature wizard warily while some laughter at his plight slowly trailed off from the wizards who had witnessed the assault. “Really, Nara? Was that called for?” he asked getting up as the fallen man kept an eye on the nature wizard. He quickly returned his attention to Sebastian, who waited the whole mess out quietly. “Well, aside from a nature wizard ambush, I’m telling you that I am good and Collin can back me up, if he doesn’t let Nara tell you otherwise.”
With an exasperated sigh, Collin threw his hands open and confessed, “Yes, he’s good, though depending on the day any one of those four could and have beat him.”
Liam looked a little disappointed by Collin’s words and added, “Well, on a given day anyone can win in a duel, but I am still more likely to beat those four.”
“If you are so good, will your leaders let you go?” Sebastian asked curiously.
Looking a little sheepish, Liam replied, “I don’t think that will be a problem.”
Collin elaborated quickly, “Master Felorus pretty much hates him, so getting rid of him for any amount of time will probably be the fastest ‘yes’ that you will ever receive.”
Nara giggled and was joined by Collin’s chuckle even as Liam reddened looking ready to defend himself. Sebastian could see that it would be hard to do so, since apparently the earth wizard was right.
“If you two can put up with him, then I see no other reason not to say yes,” Sebastian replied.
Shrugging, Collin admitted, “He’s a good duelist and Liam’s isn’t always annoying, just a lot of the time.”
Nara rolled her eyes, but nodded.
“Not a ringing endorsement, guys, but I’ll take it,” the water wizard said with a grin and pulled both of them into a hug. “We’ll be a team again just like back in our apprentice days!”
“Great,” the other two replied less than enthusiastically.
“Well, if the show is ove
r,” Fala suddenly spoke into the lull of conversation where she and Lodia had been waiting them out, “then I will see about talking with Brenner for you, Sebastian. I don’t know if he will be willing to go or not, but he’d be the best you will find in Windmeer.”
“Thank you, Fala,” the mage bowed his head slightly in appreciation.
“Do we have to go already, Wizard Fala?” Lodia complained as her trainer started to walk away. She was clearly hoping to see more of the battles or perhaps, Sebastian wondered, the girl was hoping to see more of the falcon with the way she acted around him.
Fala didn’t bother to answer with more than a flick of her hand to follow. The apprentice groaned and hurried after with a quick last look at Sebastian as she passed.
Hoping that Fala could indeed fill the last position of his roster, Sebastian finally gave in to the cold that seeped through even his shield and headed back into the castle as well. He added to the wizards as he left, “Be packed and ready to go two mornings from now. We’re escorting the ambassador to White Hall where we will begin our training in earnest.”
The next afternoon found Sebastian before the ravens again. They had summoned him to find out how he had fared looking for wizards as well as how his training might have progressed.
“I have my team of duelists, sirs,” the falcon replied at their initial questioning. “My friend Fala came through and talked to a former air duelist, who came to me at dinner last night to say that he would come. I have a healer’s apprentice that will be raised to full wizard when we go to White Hall. Four other wizards from the other four schools have already been given permission to come along and train with me. Most will use the opportunity to join the tournament when we get there as well, but I will try to keep a few tricks to myself to use if I run up against them in the tournament so don’t worry about them using the training against me.”
Stallis chuckled, “Like I’ve ever worried about a wizard getting one up on you, Sebastian. You’re a good communicator, but I’ve noticed that you still keep your thoughts to yourself. Maybe you should have trained to be a diplomat wizard the way I’ve seen you deal with people?”
Liom shook his head at the bigger man, “Why limit him to that, Stallis? If he just had their basic magic level, the boy would probably be setting his sights on a white robe instead.”
“True,” the raven replied with a bark of a laugh. “We’ve heard that you were on the dueling field yesterday by the way. Did you learn anything from the experience? Word of you using some new magic leaked out as well, which isn’t surprising considering there was a crowd watching your match. It was a little dangerous to put yourself in front of so many eyes.”
Hearing the admonition, Sebastian chose to answer the question instead, “I learned that battle mage magic isn’t really suited to meet their rules and that I will have to adapt our magic to their rules quickly. It would be a lost cause to any other mage and I don’t say that without having humility, sirs.”
Both men frowned. Stallis, always the more vocal of the two men, asked his follow up question, “What do you mean? I know you don’t normally brag, so you must have discovered something.”
“It wasn’t just me that noticed it. One of my wizard trainers noted after our duel that he had never really seen a battle mage do more than a fireball at long range. We’ve become magic wielding soldiers using our magic to form weapons and enhance our skills, but somehow we’ve overlooked the ability of say, an archer.
“With the addition of the air lance that I discovered last year, we really just have two long range spells. Our wizards have dozens of spells for defense and offense that can be projected well beyond their immediate presence. That is where I am going to have to discover either new spells or new ways to use our current ones. If I don’t figure them out soon, this trip will be a complete waste.”
Surprisingly it was was Raven Liom who responded first, “You haven’t even left Windmeer and already you are learning from this. I was told that you cast lightning over the long distance and sent wooden staves equally far then caused them to grow into trees. You were using mage shields at a distance and blocking spells in the air also?
“This was just one duel, Sebastian. What more will you discover by the time you are through? Whether you win the tournament or not, I think the experience is too valuable to pass up for both you and the corps.”
With a sharp nod, the falcon replied, “I can understand that and I realize that now despite worrying over the fortress in the mountains.”
“You let us worry over the fortress,” Stallis stated heavily demanding no question on the matter. “We are coordinating an attack from here and Falcon’s Keep. They won’t know what hit them.”
Eyeing his co-leader with a shake of his head, Liom added, “We are taking precautions also, despite Stallis’s confident words. The force we are sending should be more than enough to disable the enemy’s stronghold. Once we have driven them out and destroyed them we can figure out just how they got there.”
“I know how the most recent group arrived. They used magic to create a portal for them to come through, but that doesn’t tell us how the first wizards might have come to be there,” Sebastian replied as he thought on the problem. Running his fingers through his lengthening, light brown hair, the mage questioned another part of the year. “I wonder if Palose may have called more wizards through the portal he made? If they escaped to the mountains, that might explain how they could have bypassed the wall. Maybe they were already here from the deceiver’s first move to get into Windmeer.”
Nodding at the concept, Liom added, “That is what we have come to think as well.
“Once we let the snake into the keep, we don’t know what else the man might have done while he was here for those weeks. Palose was able to go into town and perhaps beyond where no one would have seen him. If he managed to make a smaller portal for the first men to come through, then he could have brought more of those warlocks into Southwall.”
“Warlocks?” that was a new term for Sebastian.
Liom smiled grimly. “Someone nicknamed those sorcerers in black cloaks warlocks, since we couldn’t stomach letting them use the term of mage for those blasted things. A man was raised back from the dead and channeling both our magic and that of the emperor. It’s too disgusting to be a mage anymore.”
Grunting acknowledgement, the falcon added, “Palose called himself a dark falcon that day, but I think a war lock sounds better for something like him.”
Clearing his throat, Stallis interrupted their tangent. “That is something behind us, gentlemen. We must move on to the here and now.”
“True,” Liom replied realizing that for once he was the one on a tangent, which was usually more something Stallis was prone to do. “You have your duelist wizards and we are sending five other mages along with you to learn and train as well. They will meet you along with the rest of the caravan in the morning.”
“Are you all packed and ready for this?” Stallis asked genuinely concerned for the young falcon.
The raven was almost protective like some close uncle, Sebastian thought to himself. “I am as ready as I can be anyway. My team has been packing since yesterday and preparing for the trip. Other than the ambassador and his daughter’s caravan, we have prepped as much as we can.”
His words about the ambassador brought about another concern in Sebastian’s mind that he had let lie while becoming so wrapped up in the duelist trials and finding his team. “One thing, sirs, the other night a strange thing happened after the night’s dancing was over. The ambassador’s daughter intercepted me and came on to me quite strongly. Her father has even had words with me and some of the wizards I know, where he has nearly asked us to return with him to Kardor.”
“That’s another reason to remain watchful of the man and his daughter then, falcon,” Stallis replied with a thoughtful nod. “Keep an eye on him while you are with him, but don’t make it obvious. There’s nowhere to hide such behavior while traveli
ng with the caravan. If they slip up there, then alert the masters at White Hall. They’ll take the pair of them into custody if the ambassador actually means to try and steal our wizards.”
“Good luck, Falcon Trillon,” Liom added with a shake of the hand. Stallis nodded unwilling to say more.
The caravan was on the move once more. What would be a three or four day trip during summer was likely to take nearly twice that long between the challenges that winter brought and the fact that they were escorting a carriage for the ambassador. Sebastian was glad that the weather looked to be clear for a time at least.
It was still cold, however, and the mage was glad for his air shielding spell that kept him from getting wet during snowfalls and helped trap his own body heat to keep him a little warmer. Since a large portion of the party traveling consisted of either battle mages or wizards involved with his training, Sebastian used the need for warmth as a motivation to try and teach his mages the spell and how to lock it.
He had always wondered why so few of the mages had been able to grasp the spell, but these were supposed to be some of the best Windmeer had to offer. Three of them he knew from the previous year. Mecklin, Ardost and Vord had either studied under him or been trained by one of his assistants, which was still a strange concept for him to get his mind around. He hadn’t even been promoted to falcon for more than a month and had already begun training students with assistants. Thinking on it still could make him shake his head, and now he had wizards and more mages following him to take part in a wizard’s duel tournament.
The youngest of the five mages were Olan, the tallest of the men, and the final member was a lone woman, Frell, a blond who was nearly as petite as Yara. Though both had been falcons for several years, they had transferred to Windmeer in the fall just before winter had raged to life. By that time, Sebastian had ridden to Falcon’s Keep for his new post.
Battle Mage: Winter's Edge Page 25