“Unless our combined forces aren’t impressing them anyway,” Rilena put in cynically. “We still don’t know how many troops they have or if they’ve been bringing more here since we stumbled across them.”
Standing ready and looking stronger as his freshly eaten food fed his body, Elzen nodded. “Well, for now we keep watch until Falconi Ralto and Wizard Delfar give us new orders.”
Not liking to wait, but unsure if she wanted to fight again so soon, Rilena agreed silently and waited with the rest of their small army.
Chapter 34- The Gray
The Royal Gardens, Sebastian’s fourth different arena and fifth match, brought yet another new challenge for the battle mage. A small lake ran nearly wall to wall separating two twenty foot rings by only a matter of feet on each side. Surrounded by trees running along the side walls, it was a nature wizard’s dream arena.
Unfortunately for both competitors, neither of whom was overly proficient with those spells, it was simply another neutral battle field. Sebastian still brought along a half dozen wood rods despite the trees and bushes knowing that if he tried to manipulate a full tree, he would exhaust himself too swiftly. In addition to Darius’s warning about using too much energy from the earth, the battle mage could tell that his previous use of Bairh’loore had left him drained in a way that he had never felt before and even after eating lunch he still felt a bit hollow.
“You’ve done well considering your basic power,” the voice of the gray wizard came from behind Sebastian as he stood in the doorway of the tower leading out to the gardens.
The mage turned to see a wizard dressed in gray with dusty brown hair, blue eyes and surprisingly warm smile. He was about Sebastian’s height and slim. “I’ve needed to be quick to win, since I don’t have the strength of most of these wizards,” the mage replied playing to his apparent role in the duels.
“Hmmph,” the wizard grunted in a way that reminded one of a derisive laugh. “Speed may be one of your strengths, but I doubt that it is the only one. In other rounds, your opponents may have underestimated your abilities, but I know that this fight won’t be easy for either of us.
“You have noticed that some of our spells are about as fast as yours by now.”
Nodding, Sebastian replied, “Your darkness shields are quick and impressive as they feed on the nature of the element striking. My mage shields are similar, but from the opposite end of the spectrum.”
The man looked a little thoughtful before agreeing, “I suppose that they are similar in a way. Unfortunately for you, those blue shields aren’t as strong as ours are.”
“Since we are talking about our differences, can I ask where is this Gray Hall?”
Chuckling, the gray wizard replied, “You do like to suck the mystery out of things, don’t you? How well do you know the lands east of the Dragon Spine Mountains?”
“Not very,” confessed Sebastian in exchange and he realized that without some form of map, he was unlikely to understand the the exact position in his question. “We have three halls in Southwall and I was curious if your people had a similar school for training.”
“Hmm, so many questions. The answer to the first is that Gray Hall sits where the Malof and Talerian rivers meet several leagues north of the North Sea. Since I think you, like most of the men that have been asking us these questions, are actually asking more about where we come from than where we live, my best answer is to tell you that our school does have a certain root in the emperor’s part of the land.”
Sebastian started and looked closer at the wizard. Had he just said that they came from the emperor or was there more to his words?
The gray wizard continued, “Almost one hundred years ago, a faction of men, and even a few of the other races that he had enslaved, escaped from the holds in the Dragon Spine Mountains to the east. When our founders came across the ruins of an old city between the rivers, they worked with the few natives still living out of the broken buildings and rebuilt most of the city. Using stone from the condemned ruins, they even built a strong wall around Gray Hall. There are farms and tradesmen that have built up strong businesses there since the rebuilding.
“The influence of our wizard hall has helped build up two other lesser cities in the triangle between the rivers. One day we hope to make more of a mark on the world, but the lands have become much tamer than when our ancestors first took over the land. Now unless I can convince you to come visit our city to begin a tourist trade, I think that pretty much tells our story,” he finished with a grin.
“So your people have managed to stay out of the emperor’s sight for one hundred years? I am surprised that he didn’t try to recapture your people and take over the city for himself,” Sebastian replied feeling only partially convinced of the truth of the man’s words.
Shrugging, the wizard said thoughtfully, “We probably have Southwall and Kardor to thank for that. Probably to a lesser extent Staron is a distraction as well. With your three countries bordering the empire to the south and west as well as the dragon men and gargoyles as enemies to the north, a few hundred deserters were probably the least of his worries. A few small armies did come. Some deserted to join us and others we were able to destroy. Luckily, we have always had a strong core of wizards to guard the city.”
Another voice distracted the two men from their discussion, “Gentlemen, it is time for your match.”
Nodding to Sebastian, the gray wizard smiled and parted with the words, “Fare well but not too well, Southwaller.”
Giving a tight smile in return, the mage replied, “I’ll try to give you a good fight.”
The wizard laughed at that having admitted this would be no easy win for either of them and took his path to the ring closest to the castle. Taking the ring to the east nearest the outer wall, Sebastian lay down his accessories to wait for the call to battle. He didn’t have long to wait as the wizard that had called them to the field quickly addressed the crowd.
“Ladies and gentlemen of Southwall and our visiting friends, after five rounds we are down to just eight wizards left. Perhaps I should amend that to seven wizards and a lone battle mage?” The crowd roared at the clarification as they all knew that they were witnessing a feat of the extreme. No one had expected a mere mage to have defeated so many wizards to get to the final eight. “In this match we have Szurken Cinzento from Gray Hall versus Falcon Sebastian Trillon from Windmeer.”
Again the crowd went wild, but this time Sebastian did not wave as he stared at the gray wizard trying to read the man. He had seemed friendly enough and certainly had been willing to share information about his people. Whether that meant the mage could fully trust that his words were true, was another thing entirely, but the tournament officials must have believed in them to let the wizards come compete in the capitol city. In the end, it didn’t matter and it would be just two men competing in a magical duel.
Sebastian had a basic idea of how the match would go, but he was dealing with a wizard with different tactics than any he had faced. Yes, he had been in a four way match with one of the grays, but never had he been forced to see what one of their wizards would be like one on one. The mage had a feeling that dealing with the gray when he was fresh would be quite different from that battle where the dragon and the wizard from Staron had been able to wear him down.
The defenses were quickly set and Sebastian remained steady in using his three mage shields. Whether the blue defenses would last, didn’t matter in the long run. They were there to see what his opponent would do while buying him time to test the gray’s defenses as well.
Szurken built a solid fire wall directly in his path while two solid earthen banks covered his sides. Sebastian had no doubt that he had been scouted. When an opponent was known to attack from the side as much as from the front, a second defense was required. With the mage’s basic defense, it said that he feared only one direction. Like the gray, he had scouted the man the last round and knew what practices he had used. Leaving his sides exposed
was simple bait and expressed confidence that he could adjust to any attacks from the side.
“Begin!” the command set the mage in motion. A handful of fireballs were on the way before the wizard could start his own attack. Not wasting time Szurken raised a black shield to absorb the flame, and reacted with a trio of spinning torrents of flame directed parallel to the ground seeking to reduce his mage shields.
“Night shield,” the mage commanded and reproduced the gray’s black shield in front of his blue defenses. Like the wizard’s magic, the darkness absorbed the flame building more strength rather than taking any damage from the flame. A gasp of shock could be heard from the stands.
From out of the gasps, a voice could be heard laughing. Sebastian’s eyes had never left his opponent and watched as Szurken wagged a finger at the mage impressed, “Not bad, battle mage. Already you have copied our magic? It took me two years to reproduce that spell for my teacher, but I am not bitter!” The man laughed again and switched to a new spell.
A bright light lanced out striking the black shield. Feeling for the strange energy of the spell, the mage watched as the darkness seemed to crack and finally shattered like a pane of glass after mere moments. Knowing the wizard still had an edge as he knew both the strengths and weaknesses of these spells that were new to him; Sebastian prepared to learn as he fought.
“Tornado,” he issued his spell directly over the lake and as it moved towards the gray wizard water joined the vortex creating a water sprout.
A second vortex arose from his opponent rotating in reverse of his own and the two collided. Sebastian’s had momentum, but with a wizard’s strength behind the construct it soon became a draw. Both winds slowed and the water dropped back into the lake.
Before the two spouts faded completely, Sebastian launched three of the wooden spears through the winds and the firewall defense of the wizard. They were in Szurken’s ring before he knew it and the man had to react to their presence with an intense barrage of fire to burn them away before the mage could use his ensnaring spells.
A stream of darkness lashed out quickly towards the tempting blue shields, Sebastian picked up Bairh’loore as he gaged his strength beginning to wane. A shield of darkness met the stream repulsing the wizard’s attack once again. Unwilling to leave the black shield on Sebastian’s side of the field, Szurken called up the beam of light once more.
As the darkness broke apart once more, the mage nodded to himself. The light spell was in his mind and he thought that it could be reproduced. Hoping that the gray wizard’s advantage was gone, he prepared to try and overwhelm the man with a battle mage’s style of fighting.
“Wave!” he commanded pulling strength for the spell through Bairh’loore. A giant wave grew quickly and rushed towards the far shore of the small lake and the wizard’s defenses.
Gathering a strong wind too slowly to stop the massive wave, Szurken hunched down calling up a black dome just as the water tore away his firewall and earth defenses.
“Sun!” the mage called upon a spell that he had once used to dispel the darkness holding the spirits of air wizards. That spell had driven away the darkness of a cloud spell that had captured their minds on the wind, using the spirit of the spell Sebastian recreated the light beam striking the man’s shield and reducing it to simple wisps of smoke.
Surprise and worry could be seen in Szurken’s eyes now. No longer did the wizard play up to the crowd or act amused at the mage’s ability to copy his spells. His eyes also looked at the water between them realizing that the field had an advantage for one of them after all.
Catching the man’s reactions as he waited briefly to see what defenses the wizard might have remaining, Sebastian realized that his abilities encompassed water while Szurken’s spells apparently did not. Earth would be weakened if not disrupted entirely. Fire could be engulfed by water or drained by darkness. Air and his energy spells of light and dark were compromised already by Sebastian’s duplication of those spells as well.
The mage wondered if the wizard had any tricks left up his sleeve, but had to strike while the man’s defenses were minimal. Sending three air spears with cores of iron and three with wood for a distraction, Sebastian hoped to set up a finishing move for the wizard.
Fighting back with strong wind spells and adding fire to them to burn away the wood, Szurken tried to deflect the iron shafts that fought through the fire. With two landing on the shore just outside his ring, the wizard felt comfortably safe that he had averted a disaster. Two large blocks of stone lifted in the powerful winds launching across the lake with incredible speed and power.
“Shield, shield!” the mage cried splitting the massive blocks with a pair of the blue mage spells. Slowing their momentum and breaking up the stones let them crash into his frontline shields where the first one held long enough to stop the mass of rubble. With just his wedge remaining, the mage was already attacking once more, “Wave!”
A second large force of water surged towards the wizard who lashed out with his black shields. Sent out as a pair formed as a wedge, the darkness split the force of the wave, but it didn’t prevent Sebastian from clapping his hands together despite holding the staff in his left hand to direct the two waves to turn in towards Szurken. Again the man barely formed his sphere of dark and again the mage called the power of the sun to destroy both wedges and protective dome.
Szurken began to attack once more, but he had missed one thing that Sebastian had not. In fact, the mage had never planned to sweep the wizard away with the powerful water attack. After the water finished, two of the iron rods had rolled to the man’s feet without his knowledge.
“Bind him!” the mage ordered using something gained from creating his staff. The metal had been bound to him like the wooden shafts and shifted to his will. Like molten metal in liquid form, the dark metal rods changed form and rose up with the speed of an unleashed spring. A cry of surprise from Szurken accompanied the metal as it grasped both arms and pulled them to his chest. Bound in thick metal bands, the gray wizard was finished. Without his hands to gesture and control his spells, the man could do little more than shout at Sebastian.
“The winner: Falcon Sebastian!” the judge decreed.
With the distance between them, Szurken glanced to the metal restricting him and then to the mage asking for help. “Release,” the mage said exhaustedly as the taxing use of his magic and the power of the earth wore on him. The metal slipped free as curved bands of iron. He was much too tired to waste energy on reshaping the tools into rods now.
Using Bairh’loore to lean on as he walked back to the tower door, Sebastian felt the release of power leaving him even more exhausted than that morning. A sense of loss was nearly masked by a nearly crippling exhaustion and the only thing he knew to try and do was eat. Once inside of the tower, Sebastian took a flask of wine, a full loaf of bread, cheese and some sliced meats. He was too tired to even waste time making a sandwich as he sank to the floor sliding down the stone wall.
Voices soon spoke to him but his head had begun to rumble with the beating of his blood. When wizards tried to congratulate him, the mage bit through meat and cheese with gusto never hearing a word said. The flask of wine disappeared, but hands passed him a new container of liquid. Tasting water, the emptiness rebelled and the mage dropped the container to the floor returning to the solidness of meat and cheese.
Darkness tried to overwhelm his sight. Only food directly before him could even be seen as he desperately tried to reenergize his drained body. Shapes and figures moved around him and hands touched his shoulders trying to get through to the mage, who had been reduced to just eating to sate his hunger.
“Sebastian?” Yara asked worriedly. The man looked pale and gaunt. What kind of abuse had his body taken from these last two duels? As a healer, she had worried over how drained he had become after the morning’s match. Like the other wizards watching, they had felt his spike in power, but unlike those spectators Yara knew about Bairh’loore and Sebas
tian’s discovery of the power he could tap from the earth.
She had been there when Darius had warned the mage of the potential danger of using too much and now the girl was witnessing many of the wizard’s predictions coming true in front of her. Trying to use her healing powers, Yara sent her consciousness into the man she loved and tried to save him from what he had done to his body. A dark hunger seemed to try and suck her in immediately. Like the driest sponge, his body seemed to be trying to steal her magic directly from their link. His hunger was too strong and the healer had to retreat.
The others from the team were there and several new friends like Shirama and Sharamar. As Yara pulled back from the mage who continued to ignore all but the food and drink in front of him like some animal, they could tell that she was worried.
“Yara, what is it?” Collin asked worriedly about his friend. They could all tell that this was not usual behavior for after a duel. Despite having seen people drained to the point of unconsciousness, never had anyone acted like this. “Do we need to try and force some energy into him? He’s still standing, but I can’t even sense any of his magic aura now.”
“I’m not sure,” the woman said slowly never releasing Sebastian from her gaze. “When I tried to heal him, it was like he was going to try and feed off of me instead. It’s like a hunger beyond hunger. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“That is a pretty apt description for it,” a new voice agreed as Darius and his wizards entered the tower, “but like you said, this is no normal hunger. That Falcon Trillon is still moving is impressive to say the least, but his basic instinct to find something to fill his missing energy seems to be strong.”
Battle Mage: Winter's Edge Page 46