Battle Mage: Winter's Edge

by Donald Wigboldy

  It was Brenner, the eldest of the wizards, but often the quietest that pointed towards Sebastian and stated, “We don’t lead this party. He does.”

  “Sebastian!” the younger man, his elder brother Conner exclaimed in surprise noticing his near clone. The single word brought his father’s eyes quickly to his second son, though his face looked nowhere near as happy as his son. If Sebastian had to classify the look, he had a feeling that it was similar to that of his own tension and worry.

  “Hey, Conner,” the mage greeted extending a hand over the gate, “I’m sorry to just thrust our visit on you like this.”

  “Don’t apologize, little brother,” he said with a shake of his head and a grin splitting his face. “It’s great to see you again. You haven’t been back in years. We hardly hear from you.”

  His eyes glanced from his brother to his father, who seemed to shrink even more under his gaze. Trying to hold a smile of his own, Sebastian replied, “I was always busy training, but since last year I’ve been even further away along the wall. First, I was at Windmeer and then Falcon’s Keep. I had business that brought me back east, so I decided to stop by.”

  A couple of chuckles from those still behind him on horseback who knew that he had basically been ordered to see his family, threatened to lessen the sincerity of his visit. The laughter was muffled enough not to draw more attention than his and the arrival of two more young men, little more than boys in fact, caused even more of a distraction. They both called his name as they closed the gap.

  “Hello, Edgar, Everet,” he said of the twin brothers. The only major difference between them had always been the color of their eyes, but the mage noted that Everet was slightly taller and thinner at the moment. He guessed that Edgar was due for a growth spurt to catch up to his twin soon.

  “Why are you here?” the deeper voice of his father finally asked breaking up the reunion of the boys. “We’ve barely heard from you in two years. What business brings you this way after all that time?”

  Fighting an urge to grimace at the blunt questions, Sebastian replied, “I was on a diplomatic escort and was asked by the ravens at Windmeer to join the Winter’s Edge tournament. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it?”

  “Just some wizardy thing from what I’ve heard in town, but why are you going? You’re just a battle mage. Aren’t you too weak in magic to be in that sort of thing?” the older man asked waving off the importance of such matters. It was to be expected, the mage thought. Like most commoners, his father frowned upon magic and if his son had to have it, then he wished that he would at least be a full wizard. Many treated the falcons like broken or defective wizards.

  Yara’s voice spoke up from atop her horse in his defense, “He’s actually an usually talented mage. Sebastian knows how to use wizard magic as well.”

  “Then why does he have a bunch of wizards leading him?” the man countered gruffly.

  This time as most of his team laughed gently at the confusion, Yara replied with a smile, which masked her tolerating anyone putting down Sebastian, “We don’t lead him. He leads us. Like I said, your son’s a very talented battle mage. He uses magic that no other mage could and teaches them new magic.”

  “Yes, I lead them, father. Now perhaps you could open the gate and maybe we can catch up a little bit,” Sebastian interrupted as he hated having such compliments thrust on him, even if it was from Yara. He understood that she was defending him from ignorance, but it was his father. The man had never seemed supportive of him and certainly not after he joined the battle mage corps.

  Though he looked reluctant, it was no longer up to the older man as Conner quickly released the latch. His brothers clapped him warmly on the shoulder and pulled him along leaving Mecklin to lead his horse into the yard. Sebastian tried to take in what his brothers were saying, but they were all talking to him at once and much of their words began to jumble in his ears. His attention also shifted to the others standing on the porch awaiting their arrival.

  “Hello, mother, and you also, Beatrice” the young man said as he approached the landing. The two women were near mirrors of one another save for the differences caused by age. His elder sister was a little thinner with blue eyes instead of green following his father, but it was obvious that she took after his mother otherwise.

  “Sebastian,” his mother said quietly making it hard to tell the emotion she held, but she did pull him close for an embrace. His sister followed suit with a smile.

  There was a third woman on the on the porch standing back from the family reunion. Sebastian didn’t recognize her, but she was probably only a little older than he. Sticking out from the lighter hair coloring of his family, the young woman had tight curls running through her brunette hair.

  Conner moved around to stand next to her and gesture with his open hand, “And this, Sebastian, is my wife, Rena.”

  Surprised by the revelation, Sebastian replied revealing his ignorance, “Really? I hadn’t heard. When did you marry?”

  “Last summer,” his brother replied beaming, “but you should know Rena. She lived in Mera and went to school with Beatrice?”

  The vague memory of the girl that was one of three good friends of his sister tried making a larger imprint on his recollection to little avail, but some remained at least. “Well, I am glad for you, brother. Has someone sent for Beatrice too then?”

  Answering for herself, the girl that had often acted like she was his mother as she ordered around her little brother, said, “Herron, from a few farms down proposed to me last fall. We are to wed in the spring, little brother. Should I extend an invitation or will you be away again this year?”

  Her cool words and emotion seemed similar to his father’s in this respect. Unfortunately, the uncertainty of his life also led Sebastian to shake his head probably making a weaker impression on his family. “If you know the date, I can see if I can come, but I really have little idea of where I’ll be this year. This trip to Hala just came up spur of the moment a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, we go where they ask us to go.”

  “Ask?” Collin chuckled at the notion as he walked his horse up to within earshot. The others of his team nearby nodded at the idea.

  His answer brought a brief frown from Beatrice, but the girl managed to recover and say, “Well, I will write it down for you and perhaps you’ll be able to get free to see me marry. Is there anyone that you will be bringing along?”

  Wanting to groan, Sebastian had forgotten Beatrice was the matchmaker in the family. Even as a girl, she had been trying to arrange matches between the young people on the farms and those in Mera. He wasn’t sure that they were ready to make any announcements about the relationship between Yara and him at this point. Once more dodging the answer, the mage replied, “Too soon to tell as well. Writing down the date will be enough though. I’ll see what I can do.”

  There was still a face missing from his family and he asked, “Where’s Katya? Surely you haven’t managed to marry off my little sister too have you?”

  Finally, there was laughter at the thought of his youngest sibling possibly being married. She was only twelve, no, thirteen, he had to remind himself of her birthday just a month ago. His mother turned and called the girl’s name.

  A wary head peaked from inside the doorway before being followed by her petite body. Like a little smaller version of Beatrice, his little sister still looked nearly a woman to his eyes. The last time he had seen her, the girl had been running around with her pigtails flying in the breeze as she ran around playing childish games. This girl was on the verge of womanhood, but more importantly his sense of magic told him that she would follow in his footsteps more closely than his parents would ever want.

  “Hello, little cat,” he greeted his little sister with the nickname he had called her as a child.

  Rolling her eyes at him, Katya replied, “No one calls me that anymore, big brother. I’m a little too old and grown up to be a little cat.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,
” he began slowly and held up his hand to just over her head, “you still look pretty small to me. You’ve got at least a year or two before catching Beatrice, I think.”

  He could hear the wizards behind him beginning to whisper to one another. They were as able to sense her magical power as easily as any battle mage, even as rare a talent as he might be. More importantly, Sebastian knew as well as they that his little sister was much stronger in power than he could ever hope to be.

  Wanting the visit to remain as casual as possible, he said nothing of the matter and would remind the others to follow his lead. This wasn’t their family, but few wizards or mages truly wanted to bring such news to their own parents that another child would be called to serve the kingdom. To Sebastian, she also seemed too young though he had seen others her age in the dorms of White Hall. It had never struck home the way it did now.

  Katya frowned and stamped her foot in annoyance at his comment. “I may never grow as big as Beatrice. She has bigger breasts than half the girls in Mera, and I hope I never grow that big. The boys all seem to only be able to talk to her chest. At least, I can get them to talk to my face!”

  “Katya!” both his parents and Beatrice exclaimed in embarrassment. One moment the girl was shyly hiding and the next she was speaking as brazenly as a tavern wench, her older brother thought in amusement.

  “Well, it’s true and I’ve heard you complain about it too,” the youngest of the Trillon clan pouted in protest.

  Her brothers were all laughing quite hard at the embarrassment to their parents and many of the wizards and mages couldn’t help joining in on the joke. Sebastian could only smile as he hoped the ice was finally breaking with his family.

  Chapter 24- Owl in the Nest

  The main room of the Trillon home was crowded just from Sebastian’s family as they had sat to eat dinner. Only he and Yara remained to sit down for the evening meal, while the rest of his team went to Mera and secured rooms for them all at the inn. If his family hadn’t asked him to stay for the meal, the mage would have been happy enough going to the inn to avoid inconveniencing them. It was still winter and he knew from his childhood that their food stores would be getting low.

  With a small cook stove and cabinets on one side of the room, a long table surrounded by mismatched chairs and benches in the middle, a few more comfortable looking wooden chairs with cushions sewn together by his mother for padding, and a pair of doors leading to bedrooms, the first floor of the home was mostly set up for utility and less for true comfort. Most farmers in the area were often poor, unless they had found a way to market their wares beyond Mera and a few nearby towns, so the niceties often found in the cities were rarely seen in the rural homes.

  For Sebastian, used to mage dorms set in stone and spartanly furnished, it was comfortable enough, but he doubted most of his wizards would feel the same after their years in wizards’ wings with their padded chairs and nicer furniture. How much nicer the inn would be, the mage wasn’t sure. All he needed was a bed and a pillow to lay his head on and he would be fine.

  Despite being winter and the variety of food lacking, the smell of a home cooked meal still made Sebastian’s mouth nearly water. He had forgotten that his mother had been a good cook, even compared to the chefs hired by the duke, and suddenly he was glad that they had stayed for a meal.

  He was also glad that Yara had stayed. The healer was good with people and helped deflect a bit of the questions that might have made the visit more awkward for the mage, except for questions from his sisters that wanted to pry into their relationship.

  His little sister, Katya was the worst as they sat at the table eating and she asked, “So you’re a wizard and my brother is a battle mage, why didn’t you go with the others instead? I would have thought maybe one of them would have stayed with Sebastian. Does this mean that you two are actually dating?”

  “The guilds frown on dating between the two guilds,” Sebastian said instantly and more bluntly than he meant. After so many months of hiding their relationship, the mage was used to quickly dismissing such questions. Yara’s recent promotion and new freedom had yet to truly sink in for either of them, but the wizard seemed to be adapting easier.

  “He’s right,” Yara replied with almost a sad smile on her lips. She guessed that he was still unsure of who to let in on their secret, but managed to soften the blow as the girl added, “They are especially hard on apprentices and cadets. My school of healing is especially firm on the girls. They believe that, if we don’t stay virgins, our powers diminish, so being more than friends between wizards or mages is definitely frowned upon.

  “I’ve been close friends with your brother since he helped lead my horse to Windmeer last year though. I’m not a very good rider,” the girl finished looking sheepish, though Sebastian knew her well enough to know that it was a bit of an exaggerated appearance. She was playing to the humor of the girl’s inability to get used to riding horses. At least Yara no longer truly needed help to guide her horse now. With a lot of hours put in on horseback the previous summer, the healer had improved beyond a complete novice. He even thought that she was starting to like riding horses now.

  Leading the conversation away without appearing to do so, Yara asked, “Did he ride very often as a child? Sebastian has always seemed comfortable with the horses.”

  It was his mother who chose to answer the question before any of them. She had been a bit quiet and he wondered if it was him or the magic that they brought into her home that made her that way. “Bas was always good with the animals, though he didn’t ride horses very often.”

  “He rode a goat once or twice,” his older brother laughed seeming to see Sebastian as the little brother he used to tease. He seemed the least affected by his brother’s position as a mage. The twins were similarly laughing and joking with him. Being just a part of the family had become foreign to him, but it was nice.

  “I was five!” the brunt of the laughter tried to defend himself, but even he couldn’t help laughing.

  Yara leaned into him and grabbed his arm in amusement. The familiar touch hadn’t been a whim, but it was not unnoticed by the women.

  “I knew it!” Katya declared pointing at the couple. “You too are so dating or want to be.”

  The other women in his family nodded certainly at the pair as Yara blushed realizing that she had forgotten herself.

  It was Yara who responded to the accusation, but this time more forthrightly as she admitted, “We weren’t lying that the rules for female wizards are strict especially as novices and apprentices. With Sebastian’s help, I was promoted to full wizard last week.”

  Those of his family paying close attention to the conversation looked surprised by the confession. Beatrice asked the question on all their minds, “How does a battle mage help you become a wizard? I thought wizards wanted little to do with mages normally, so I wouldn’t think he could do anything for you.”

  “Well, he helped prove that I was not only a good healer, but a good teacher,” she giggled at the thought. “And you’d be surprised how much influence your son actually has in our community. He’s a…” Yara trailed off knowing that Sebastian wasn’t overly happy being considered a hero, when much of what had happened centered on Palose. At least, that was how the mage had tried to put off anyone who tried. The fact that he had helped save countless lives with his acts and that he had acted selflessly in her eyes wasn’t enough for the falcon.

  “He’s a what?” Katya couldn’t help asking.

  Trying to be more tactful, Yara gave a quick glance to Sebastian whose face had gone cool with the way the conversation was going, before answering, “He’s done a lot of good for both mages and wizards. I think more people respect him than he realizes.”

  “But he’s still just a mage,” the dispassionate voice of his father stated from beside the cook stove. A lit pipe in his hand, the man used the stove’s piping to send much of his smoke out of the house since none of the women in the house liked the s
mell of merlac, the particular plant used by most smokers among the commoners of Southwall.

  Yara turned to look at the man sitting slightly in shadow as the lanterns had migrated to the table for dinner. His father had moved to the kitchen area after quickly eating his fill and began to smoke. “He’s actually something pretty special, Master Trillon. They’ve begun calling him a mizard, since he’s able to learn our magic as well. No one’s been able to do that before and Sebastian can hold his own with most wizards in a battle too.”

  “Oh, I am sure,” the man sounded unconvinced.

  Having heard enough and wanting to try keeping the foreign concepts of magic out of the conversation, Sebastian inserted, “You’re right. It’s really not that big a deal.”

  With a dark frown of disappointment for him, Yara turned back to defend him once more as she said, “He needs to train for the Winter’s Edge tournament. Perhaps they can train in one of your abandoned fields so that you can watch. Sebastian will surprise you I am sure.”

  “I know little of magic, young lady, so it will be likely to all be surprising. If Sebastian wants to train or whatever in a field dead until Spring, he may since this is still his home despite the boy not returning home in years. Just don’t destroy the land so that I have to clean it up when the ground is softer.”

  The sounds of eating sat in the otherwise silent air. His siblings would glance between his father and their estranged brother, but the mage was unsure of their thoughts. Were they worried over the possibility of magic being used so close to their home or was it something else? No matter, the mage assumed that it still related to his sudden appearance and thus it was his fault. He didn’t want to argue with his father over his worth and Sebastian didn’t want to see Yara having to fight for him either. His life as a mage had been separated from that of his family for years and he was fine with that.