Arriving in time to watch Wendle’s match with his fire wizard from Red Hall, Sebastian evaluated each wizard’s technique and spells. They were using nothing he hadn’t seen before and knew how to counter them as long as his timing was correct. It was a close match and he could tell that both were uneasy thanks to the unusually high field. Wendle’s air magic eventually won the day as the fire wizard was blown off the wall from a strong blast of air.
The crowd gasped as the man fell, but the six wizards in charge of the field were quick to catch him in their spells. Lifted back to the battle circle, the two men shook hands while the fire wizard tried to get a little color back into his fear whitened face.
“Good luck, Bas,” Wendle said patting him on the shoulder in passing. The wizard looked tired. He also noted the handful of wooden staves in the mage’s left hand and his staff Bairh’loore in his right.
Sebastian doubted that he would need the staff or the power of the earth for this match. Speed and surprise should win the day if Cazwallan was a typical caster.
Laying the half dozen four foot long shafts of wood on the ground before him, the mage prepared to use a set of his favorite tricks.
Six fresh wizards took their places on opposing sides of the wall and began to chant their incantations of protect for the players and surrounding venue during the match. Four wore the yellow of healers and Sebastian supposed that this was the role of their kind in the tournament. Glancing to the stand on his left, he looked for Yara in her yellow cloak. Along with her sat most of his team. Katya to the right waved to her brother and he raised his hand letting them all know that he had seen them.
Feeling encouraged by his friends to do well, Sebastian took a deep breath waiting for the match to begin and it didn’t take long. Dressed in the black and silver of the diplomats, the head judge of the match stepped to the edge of the tower behind the mage and augmented his voice with magic. “The next match of the Heights between Cazwallan from Alcazar and Falcon Sebastian Trillon representing Windmeer will now begin!”
They had just fifteen seconds to prepare their defenses and he wished that he knew the wizard’s area of expertise. Assuming that the man had either put down air or fire with the potential to use both, Sebastian worried that his standard shields might not be enough to stop the wizard’s attacks. Unable to do anything about it until the match actually began, he simply set up his standard three shields at the front of his twenty foot circle. That only left about ten feet between his body and the glowing, blue shields, since one of the ways of winning was to drive your opponent from the circle. Standing too far back could make him an easier target for a slip or a push.
Touching each staff with his healing spell to attach a magic tether was allowed at this point and he had the time to do so. At that point, Sebastian looked across at the wizard from Alcazar’s defenses. With just a four foot wide area directly in front of the man in line with the wall and his opponent open, the remainder of the circle was sealed in a dome of rippling fire. Sebastian didn’t doubt that the flames masked a solid wall of magic beneath, while the apparent opening in the front seemed to shift the wizard’s image with the added movement of a heat haze.
Sebastian judged that he was using an air shield within the fire dome, so he was at least a duel element user. Nodding in confirmation to his opponent, who replied with a smug grin, Sebastian took one last deep breath before a horn sounded. It was a different start than his previous duels, but a horn or a voice mattered little as Cazwallan’s face took some unusual contortions during a quickly worded spell.
The amusing appearance aside, a spout of fire formed appearing like a dragon made solely of flame. Like it had risen from the very flame of the dome, the dragon rose up to breath fire over his shields. In response, Sebastian raised his left hand lifting his forward shield up to redirect the blast. The flames were hot, but not powerful enough to break his shield.
“Shield,” he summoned a fourth shield but directed it like a knife to slice the dragon in half. The lower stream of flame recoiled back towards the wizard as the upper portion of the dragon gave out in a puff of smoke.
Only slightly surprised by the mage’s easy responses, Cazwallan continued with his odd antics. Half dancing while his face continued to pull his strange looks, a pair of fire birds appeared to attack him from either side. These did not breathe flame as they sought to break his shield by striking them like fiery bombs.
With a chopping motion, Sebastian made his floating shield split sending them cutting through the birds. Cut in half from top to bottom, the fire birds struck his remaining shields with little force as the flame quickly burned out.
“Lance, lance, lance,” the mage ordered three of the wooden shafts into the air surrounded by the concentrated power of the wind. Cazwallan’s next spell paused as his eyes opened with slight worry. The shafts rose in an arc to rain down piercing the air shield and fire dome alike, but they were redirected by the angles to strike the ground in three spots in front and to the side of the wizard.
Relieved by his apparent safety, the wizard combined air and fire once more in a swirling tornado of power designed to shatter his shields. There was no change of direction, just overwhelming power.
“Shield, shield,” he quickly summoned two defenses in the middle of the bridge forming a quick wedge. The tornado split, but two smaller versions struck his remaining shields.
“Grow,” the mage ordered as the two blasts struck his closest shields. They continued to hold in the face of the lesser fire attacks. A cry of alarm from his opponent signaled a loss of concentration by Cazwallan letting the swirling fires die.
Through the air shield, Sebastian watched as his three spears rapidly grew to ensnare the wizard’s legs. A quick fireball burned away the center growth of vines, but the right caught the arm while the left twisted and swirled around his waist. In moments, the ensnaring vines had the wizard immobilized.
The crowd made a gasp as one seeing the wizard undone by a battle mage so quickly and easily. The fire dragon and birds had seemed so impressive and inspiring that they couldn’t believe such simple looking magic could have won the match.
“Eempahseeble!” the wizard cried out angrily. “Yoo ahr noht paherfool aynough een magic toh doo thees! Yoo chated!”
The flaming dome died away as did the air shield. Sebastian looked to the judges for confirmation without disputing the angry little man.
“Cazwallan of Alcazar is defeated by immobilization. Falcon Sebastian wins his match,” the judge proclaimed refuting Cazwallan’s claim.
“Twahs noht ayr ohr fayr,” Cazwallan disputed as Sebastian released his spell of ensnaring.
It was Sebastian who answered simply, “We could use whatever magic at our disposal. I brought the wooden shafts from the armory as was allowed in the rules.”
Turning his back on the wizard, Sebastian moved to step out of the battle circle. A quick rise of magic behind him made the mage quickly turn to face Cazwallan once more. “Gust!” he ordered a powerful wind to strike the wizard. Flames roared across the wall at the unprotected mage only to strike the protection of the three wizards still guarding him.
Cazwallan was similarly protected from harm by his own trio, but the wind picked the man up enough to toss him over the side of the battle platform. Not even bothering to look back, Sebastian continued his walk to the outer wall’s tower.
Chapter 29- Dragon a Trench
“Big brother, that was amazing!” Katya cried out as she hurried into the tower trailed by Yara and the others. Almost all of his team was there. Only Collin, Nara and Serrena were away at the northern fields getting ready for their afternoon matches. He and most of the team would go to cheer on their teammates after a quick lunch. Being the last of the morning matches, the sun was already at its zenith and it had been awhile since anyone had breakfast.
Making a sandwich from the supplies kept in the tower for after the wizards’ matches to help replenish their energy. Sebastian was already ge
tting a jump start on his next meal. With Bairh’loore leaning nearby along with the three staves remaining from his match, the mage returned his sister’s praise with a quiet smile. “Cazwallan had some talent, but he didn’t take me serious.”
“I bet your next opponent won’t make that mistake,” Wendle chuckled as he stood beside the snack table having stayed behind to watch the match. “In fact, maybe you can go a little easy on me?”
Pretending to be confused, Sebastian gestured towards himself and asked, “Me? You’re the wizard. Aren’t I supposed to be asking you to taking it easy on me?”
Giving a snort that dismissed his request as folly, the wizard replied, “No, thanks. I don’t want to wind up like Cazwallan, if I can help it.”
They had seen each other duel and had an idea of what each could bring to the circle. It should be a decent match, Sebastian thought as he smiled at his friend.
Ashleen and Wendle went to gather Deiclonus from his match at the Ponds separating from Sebastian’s team, but they decided to watch the other matches from the team after lunch. Luckily, the remaining three matches were spread over enough time that they could make each in turn. Nara would be at the Hedges first, followed by Collin in the Trench and last they would see Serrena fighting at the battle field known as Two Houses.
After eating at a diner recommended to them by the locals, they watched Nara duel one of the dark skinned wizards of Ch’Thal. Dressed in his strange animal skins and appearing a bit uncomfortable in the cold despite the slight rise in temperature as the day progressed, the foreign wizard started off well. His defenses were strongly constructed and he was fluid in his attacks. Unfortunately for him, he was up against Nara, a very good nature wizard on a field intended to give her school an advantage for more interesting battles. The Ch’Thal wizard was supposed to be a nature wizard among his people, so there was no mismatch thanks to the field of play, but the woman had trained with Sebastian and his battle mages for a few weeks.
With her ability to tap into several spells in the quick one word way of a battle mage, Nara began to beat the man to the punch. Going from attacker to defense only, the man was soon overwhelmed by her speed of casting. Once the woman managed to penetrate his defenses, a spell similar to Sebastian’s final trap in his match was used to entangle the man for the win.
They barely had a chance to congratulate Nara on her win, before she was looking ready to run.
“How soon is Collin’s match?” she asked as the wizard quickly ate a recovery meal. Treating the food as simple fuel, Nara ignored taste as she simply wanted to keep herself strong while quickly moving to the next match.
“We have time,” Yara assured her friend. The healer had steadily become fond of the nature wizard as she and Collin strengthened as a couple. The pair seemed to attach themselves to Sebastian and Yara as the other couple in the team. Couples tended to draw together amidst all the other singles in the group and their personalities were a close mesh as well.
Sebastian noted Nara’s near panic at needing to be there for Collin. The two had continually tried to say there was no relationship, but the entire team could see each day brought them closer. Whether the wizard’s rules on relationships with their own kind were as stringent as he had been led to believe, the mage wasn’t sure. If there was a way for the two to be together though, he had a feeling that they would figure it out eventually.
Half restraining the nature wizard with their casual pace, the group navigated the paths around the various battle fields and their accompanying viewer stands. The Trench wasn’t that far from the Hedges, so making their way through the crowd moving back and forth to the matches to see their favorites didn’t take that long. Though Nara acted like it was the longest walk in the world by the time they arrived, he thought.
Yara had been correct. Collin was waiting as another match raged on between an earth wizard from Green Hall and a short, stocky man from Tolmona one of the countries from Taltan, the continent said to be the origin of most of the people of the North continent. It was a heated event.
Joining the earth wizard in the stands overlooking a deep chasm with a dueler’s ring separated by about a hundred feet from each other, they greeted their friend as they began to watch the remainder of the match. The width of the battle field was limited to only about twenty feet and reminded Sebastian of his own battle field the Heights, except in reverse. A rather simply designed field, the two men were raging an earth magic based war inside of their rings.
Their skill with earth spells was apparent and the two men appeared nearly equal as they caused earthquakes or sent boulders flying at one another. As the match went on, Sebastian thought that it was becoming a war of attrition. Whoever could outlast his opponent on pure stamina, would be the winner. Sure enough, after almost twenty minutes of struggle, the younger wizard from Green Hall sagged to his knees in exhaustion as he watched the last of his defenses reduced to rubble before him.
The Tolmonan looked close to the same state and appeared relieved that the match was done. Shaking hands, the two men left the Trench with a healthy respect for each other.
“Well, that was quite a match,” Liam stated impressed with their effort. “I hope that yours is a bit easier than that, Collin, though I do have to say that I am beginning to believe that whoever designed these duel fields knew what they were doing. I’ve seen quite a few matches turn into amazing duels so far today. The ones that benefit a type of wizard like an earth wizard inside this trench or the water of the North Sea seem to be making for quite intense battles.”
Nodding reluctantly as Collin tried to collect himself for his match, the wizard replied, “I am willing to agree that the matches seem to be on a larger scale than our usual battle rings. Now I just have to hope that I can beat my opponent. The wizards from the Dragon Spine Mountains are said to be from a race of dragons hiding up there and they are also supposed to be very powerful.”
“They have to be powerful,” Brenner stated as he watched a copper haired woman in a red dress cut above her knees. A dark brown leather cloak that had straps going over her shoulders and back under her arms with a crossing strap running across and beneath her breasts to keep the weight from strangling the wearer seemed more for appearances than to ward the cold. Short leather boots came above her ankles bearing the skin between cuff and skirt. Whether she was some dragon’s child or not, the woman seemed immune to the chill of the late winter’s day. Most northerners could not have worn the same without freezing.
A golden amulet hung from a necklace resting high on her chest to complete the wizard’s look. She was petite in size making her appear to be anything but a dragon to anyone looking. Sebastian noted a strange feeling to her amulet, but that was to be expected of a wizard, he supposed. Perhaps it enchanted her in some way. It wouldn’t be against the rules and if the little wizard followed the tournament’s guidelines, then perhaps the petite girl needed the help.
“Beware her amulet,” the mage warned his friend just in case he may have overlooked it. “It may be a totem to assist in a spell.”
Collin nodded as the wizard had noted his opponent’s appearance also. In fact, he had been eyeing her since he had arrived. They had been at their own placement drawing the afternoon before and the man knew who he would be facing.
After being wished good luck, the wizard followed the woman from the Dragon Spine Mountains. They squared up in their circles, but as Collin watched the woman she took her eyes off of him and began removing her boots. Again, Sebastian doubted any northerner would dare remove their boots on a day that ran below freezing even though it was afternoon. The woman placed them delicately at the back of her circle and returned to the center once more giving Collin a pretty smile for his wait.
The man remained patient. He had a game plan worked out for the arena that he had been assigned. After checking the Trench out the previous afternoon and having all morning to consider his options, even the sight of the other wizard with her copper colored hair,
red dress and cloak, standing bare foot in the cold could not change his plans. Just waiting for the six wizards and the judge for the event to announce them remained.
“Ladies and gentlemen, for the ninth match at the Trench today we have Isstmira Sselanus from the Dragon Spine Mountains versus Collin Delaman from Windmeer. Prepare your defenses contestants,” another man dressed in black announced the proceedings from the safety of a box resting at the edge of the Trench in front of the stands.
Created to be fifteen feet deep throughout most of the field, the view from the stands was a little more difficult for viewing than most, but Sebastian and his team could still see the wizards begin their defensive walls. Collin formed thick walls of stone following the circle with just a small window to see his opponent through. A clear, blue mage shield finished the window protecting the wizard from standard projectiles for the time at least.
Isstmira smiled before chanting a quick spell finishing it with a stomp. The stone of the Trench vibrated with her foot and a wall crenellated like a parapet rose up around her battle circle. Standing ready after a maneuver that had taken the amount of time that a battle mage might have raised a less impressive defense, the woman simply grinned at the earth wizard behind his defenses.
The fifteen seconds were gone in a blink and Isstmira was the one who struck first with another unusual technique. A few muttered words and a clap of her hands before throwing them wide caused a large gale of wind to be sent through the Trench towards the Earth wizard.
Collin calmly countered with a simple protection spell taken from Sebastian’s book of tricks. “Air shield,” he ordered simply to keep the dirt and dust from him as the wizard switched to a standard spell.
The stones of the Trench shook free and from all sides stone missiles assaulted the woman’s circle. A quickly worded spell and another stomp from Isstmira sent blocks of stone into the air to counter, but she had miscalculated the number of missiles and several crashed into her fancy defense.
Battle Mage: Winter's Edge Page 38