Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11)

by Donald Wigboldy

  "Aren't you going back with Darius to Windmeer, Elzen?" Sebastian asked changing the subject abruptly.

  Looking confused by the sudden question, the boy sat forward in his chair leaning onto the table with his elbows. "We're using rooms here for tonight and until your little conference on this new gate is finished."

  "I know. I meant after that."

  "Why do you ask?"

  Sebastian leaned onto the table with one elbow resting his chin on his hand before idly tapping his lips with his fingers a moment in thought. "Well, I have lost a lot of my team to new postings or missions and thought if you were getting tired of helping Darius, maybe you'd want to come work with me for a little while. Since you are one of the few healers besides me in the corps, I was curious if I could pass on some of the other magic I've learned to you.

  "If I can, maybe that means other healer mages can be taught the same things."

  "You might be reaching with that idea," Elzen replied leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "I've tried a lot of your spells. Not every one of them I can do. It's more like half maybe."

  "But still, maybe things like the rune spells or working with metal to make Hollow Swords would be something we have in common."

  Wrinkling his nose, Elzen said, "I might be able to learn them, but I don't think I'd have the patience to stand in a hot room hammering on steel to make a sword. The process just takes too long and looks really boring to me. I doubt that I'd have the patience for it."

  Sebastian sighed understanding his friend's resistance to the idea. It certainly wasn't a type of magic that everyone could appreciate or enjoy, but his hope to find other men to help produce more Hollow Swords was still an ember burning inside of him. While the mage enjoyed the peace he felt creating the right mixture of metals and making new items, he could tell that it was an acquired taste. Ashleen still followed him into the forge, but the girl did it to win him over and spend time with him more than because she had any love of it.

  As dinner time arrived, the two groups move to join each other. The Black Smith Inn had large tables and small, so they formed up with a couple places to spare if Sebastian's other mages returned in time for dinner. Sometimes they ate at the mage garrison building first. The meals were free after all and they would come after supper to join the others for dancing and socializing.

  Elzen found his way to sitting beside Naoromi. At first the girl merely took him to be a friend finding an available seat, but the boy tried his best to be charming as he struck up a conversation with the mermaid. While Sebastian watched him trying, he also noticed the frowns Rilena tried to hide at his attention.

  When the music began, Elzen led the dark haired mermaid onto the floor. Rilena remained at their table and Sebastian noted her disappointed looks at the dance floor as the two danced together.

  "Would you mind if I asked Rilena to the dance floor first?" he quietly asked Ashleen. The girl could tell that he hoped to talk and learn what was going on between the two mages.

  She nodded but warned, "Be careful. She tries to hide her emotions, but Rilena's more sensitive than she wants to let on."

  Taking the warning to heart, Sebastian knew as much anyway. He and Rilena had become close, but they were never more than friends. Since he had originally had Yara on his mind, their relationship could be nothing more than that.

  Sebastian pulled his friend to the dance floor and Rilena eyed him warily. She knew that the man wouldn't dance with her before Ashleen unless he had other motives behind it.

  Not pulling any punches, he asked bluntly, "Ok, what is going on with you two?"

  Though he rarely interfered with anyone's personal lives, especially if it had anything to do with romance, since the mage felt completely inept at helping someone with a topic he was just a novice at himself; these were two of his best friends.

  Her dark eyes seemed to darken more as she tried to deflect his interest, "What do you mean?"

  "Come on, Rilena, I know something happened between you two; but every time I see you and Elzen, there seems to be a bigger gap."

  "There's nothing going on between us," she replied still appearing wary. "We just had a strange incident after you left Windmeer, that's all."

  "What kind of incident?"

  Letting out a sigh, the young woman's lips turned pouty as Rilena looked at him and asked, "You're really not going to let this go?"

  Offering a wry smile, the owl returned, "Have you ever seen me give up on something once I've set my mind to it?"

  Groaning in annoyance, Rilena asked, "You've heard what happened after you left Windmeer, correct?"

  "You joined the army from Windmeer to take down Garosh's fortress only to have him surrender. Once the man was in Windmeer, you wound up being one of his guards until you had to flee from Palose and some witch who killed several people including her own assassins."

  She nodded. "On the trip to the fortress I met Elzen. He even saved my life once and healed me. It was kind of like having you back with me, which I really needed on that trip. The weather was horrible and the enemy werewolves and werecats would fade in and out of sight using the snow to escape only to hit us again.

  "When Garosh surprised both sides by surrendering without a fight, it made me angry having to see him walking among us like he was trying to be our friend. He even apologized to me personally as well as Nereith and Druick," she said speaking of her fellow prisoners. The three had been captured by Garosh's creatures to be brought to a prison inside a mountain fortress where he proceeded to use torture to try and discover why they had found him. Sebastian's wind riding had caught the enemy using a portal on the mountain and they had split off from the ambassador's party to scout out what he had seen in the mountains where no orc or goblin should have been.

  The owl had managed to free them before too much damage had been done, but it had lingered with the girl for a long time.

  "So Elzen helped you dealing with Garosh as well, I take it?"

  "He was a friend and enough like you that I could forget that I barely knew him, but he was more of a kid than you. There were times where you'd think that he couldn't take anything seriously."

  Knowing Elzen since he had first arrived in White Hall, Sebastian knew of his friend's shortcomings. Not everyone could deal with the class clown, but Elzen hid a quality mage behind his antics. Rilena had seen both sides of the young man in her time.

  Rilena continued, "When the assassins came, Garosh says he was trying to save me by pulling me through a portal. He used the blood of a dying man to make the gate, which is strange since he was more powerful than any wizard I have met ever.

  "Anyway, eventually the assassins found a way into the fortress also and Garosh shoved me into another portal telling me to think of someone I knew in Windmeer. The first one to come to mind was Elzen, so I came through a gate landing on him in the baths."

  "In the bath?" Sebastian echoed unable to stop the laughter in his tone.

  Her eyes narrowed as the young woman went on with her story, "Yes, he was in the bathhouse. Who knew that he actually bathed?

  "It was an awkward situation and I was wet so I had to change in the men's dressing room also. He was mostly dressed and I had a robe, but for some reason we wound up kissing each other. We even started to get closer for a little while, but I couldn't make myself be his girlfriend. He is too young and immature, but I did like what I saw of him on that mission though."

  Her voice trailed off and Rilena seemed unsure what else to say. Picking up from what she had said, Sebastian moved a little closer to speak quietly in her ear. The music was loud and in the middle of a song, so he didn't need to whisper, but Sebastian didn't want someone to overhear them on the off chance either.

  "So you started to have feelings for him, but decided to make yourself believe that he is too young for you. You probably even talked yourself into not getting too close because the odds were that you would be transferred again, after all you came to Windmeer with me o
n a different mission. Falcon's Keep was our original base, but we both wound up traveling in different directions and never returned."

  He felt her muscles tense at his assessment and the owl knew that he was correct. While Sebastian had studied, the mage discovered that not every problem was something he could or should solve, especially where women were involved. As her friend, Sebastian just hoped that he could at least help her work out her true feelings.

  "If you didn't have to worry over being transferred, would you say that you would give him a chance? You complain that he's too young, but he's just two years younger than you and you're both full falcons also; so that is just another excuse I think."

  "We're too different," Rilena breathed into his ear keeping her words quiet despite the noise around them. "I like Elzen and I don't want to hurt him, but I think I initially kissed him just because he was there to comfort me. He was a strong shoulder to lean on, even if he does act like a child half the time. When I needed him to be strong, he was."

  "Being different doesn't mean it couldn't work out," he started to protest. Some said opposites could attract after all, surely Rilena and Elzen weren't as different as she made them out to be. They were both mages after all.

  "Is that what you told yourself before you and Yara broke up?" the dark haired woman retorted without apparent anger, but her words caught him with the strength of a slap even so.

  "I don't think that was why we broke up. She was younger than me by more years than there is between you and Elzen, but even that wasn't truly why. Yara saw Ashleen as a threat and talked herself into believing that I couldn't remain true to her.

  "By breaking up with me, she pushed us together when I would have continued to fight any feelings I had for Ashleen," he confessed.

  Rilena's dark brown eyes looked up at him trying to read if he was being truthful. While his words were certainly candid, she seemed to wonder if her friend was being truthful to himself as much as to her.

  The girl looked away finding Elzen dancing with Naoromi. They seemed to be having fun and enjoying each other's company.

  "They look good together," Rilena stated quietly to her friend.

  "She looks a bit like you," he countered.

  Her hand resting on his shoulder slapped down as she frowned at him again. "He isn't trying to replace me with a look alike, Bas. Naoromi has dark hair and is about my height, but everything else is different.

  "No, I think it is probably for the best. He should find someone that will make him happy."

  "Then you need to stop frowning when he talks to other girls and should find someone who makes you happy, Rilena," Sebastian cautioned without truly pushing the matter. He wanted his friend to be happy, but didn't know how to make that happen. She knew the same people he knew after all, so it wasn't like the mage could set her up on a date. Besides, the mage knew magic, not matchmaking.

  Rilena turned away from him a moment, before she breathed in his ear, "I also think that I kind of like someone else, but that's an even bigger mess if I can believe it."

  Pulling back slightly, he asked, "Who? Not me certainly!"

  "Calm down. You're more like a brother to me anyway and even if I did like you, you never seem to be available so what is the point?" she laughed at his worried face. "The man I might like is just as bad a choice as someone already committed to someone else, but I can't help it. He won me over even if I originally hated him. It's stupid, but I can't help thinking that it's true."

  "You don't mean, Garosh? He tortured you. How could you possibly be thinking that you might love him?" her friend questioned in shock. Sebastian barely kept his voice low as he wanted to scream at the woman to come to her senses.

  "I don't know. First I hated him, and then I was stuck as his guard. Garosh treated me kindly and we talked. We became friendly and I guess eventually we were even friends.

  "When we had to escape to his fortress, Garosh treated me well. He protected me and did everything he could to make my stay as comfortable as he could for me. Somewhere along the line, I found myself liking him and not just as a friend."

  Shaking her head and making a sound showing her disgust at herself, Rilena quickly added, "So you can see my taste in men is suspect. Maybe for now I just need to keep my mind on being a battle mage and forget about men for awhile until I can find one that isn't a child or a monster."

  They danced for another song and finally started to leave the floor. Ashleen had moved to sit by Darius as if being with the wizard would protect her from other men asking to dance with her while she waited for Sebastian.

  "I asked if Elzen wanted to join me to see if I could teach him some of my magic. Since he is a healer as well, it might mean that other kinds of magic will be easier for me to pass on to him.

  "Maybe I should ask if you would want to join us here instead. Either way, maybe getting a break from each other will help smooth things over for you two."

  "We just need to stop worrying over that kiss and move on," she stated in partial agreement, "but unlike Elzen I don't share as much magic as you two do. I think that you could get him assigned to you by the ravens, if you told them that you wanted to see if likeminded mages could learn your other spells."

  He sighed and wished that Rilena shared more of his magical abilities. There were certainly times where he missed his old friend a lot.

  Changing the topic, Sebastian said, "I am supposed to go to White Hall to see my little sister as well as to set another gate for them."

  A smile flit across her lips and Rilena noted his worry. "And you're afraid of what she will say now that she is a powerful wizard?"

  "She'd be a novice, but if Darius hadn't trapped her magic... Katya's power was remarkable. You joke, but if she had become a wilder I would have feared for everyone around her."

  "Well, good luck with your trip then. I'm sure dealing with a diplomacy wizard even as a novice will be a bit of a challenge unless she's more like them than you think. After all, a diplomacy wizard is supposed to learn how to get along as well as helping others to get along also."

  He nodded and extended his hand to Ashleen while Rilena took a seat to rest her legs for a moment. It seemed like he had one set of worries after another cropping up every day.

  Worrying over his sister would have to wait for after the conference tomorrow where he had to try and teach his addition to portal magic. It would have to be an early night for the owl to get the rest he needed for dealing with the wizards the next day.

  Chapter 9- White Hall

  It was late in the morning a few days later before Sebastian and his gate team gathered in the fire wizards' courtyard once more. The sun was hitting the stone walls to the west as the light walked its way across the grass towards the new fortifications set to the east for the portal.

  Sebastian looked towards the gate he had made for Hala a mere handful of days before and felt a tinge of worry. It was weird. He had used the old portal several times and created dozens of others which he had used to pass through the silver dimension gates used to join the two points together.

  Sighing as he looked at the stone and metal before him, the mage knew that the magic about to be used wasn't what he was nervous about. He was worried about seeing Katya again. There was no guarantee that his sister would be there, of course. She could be on another training mission away from White Hall; but since she was just a novice in her first year of schooling his sister was likely to be around continuing to learn how to harness her magic.

  He wondered if she had done well or if it had been hard. Not every novice enjoyed changing from their prior lives to that of a wizard. Sebastian had joined the school and missed his old life greatly, especially for the first year. It was hard to be away from family initially. For some, they never got over the intrusion into their lives. The seduction of magic could sometimes replace the bad feelings, but for others they grew angrier, at least for a time.

  Stories of runaway wizards and mages were common enough, though Sebast
ian knew of no one who had tried. Most grew used to the life, like he had. Now being a battle mage was his life and returning to see his family was uncomfortable and awkward. The mage had returned home before the tournament and been surprised by how his siblings had welcomed him. It was much better than he had feared. Sebastian had always assumed that they no longer wanted to see him, but they had welcomed him with open arms. Well, his sisters and brothers had at least.

  The reception from his parents had been much colder, especially from his father. That he hated having a son with magic was apparent, and like all Southwall parents, having one only strong enough to be a mage was a disappointment. If you had to have a child cursed with magic, then they could at least be a wizard.

  "You're frowning again," Ashleen stated elbowing him lightly in the side. "What is worrying you now?"

  Trying to smile to try and deflect the question, Sebastian countered by saying, "Just thinking of all the work we're going to need to do at this rate. Darius pretty much left the creation of the security gates to me to make, even though I am pretty sure he in particular understood how to make them after I went over it for three days."

  "So much for a one day class on making rune gates," Ashleen agreed having been to every one of the meetings with the other wizards.

  The first two days involved wizards already capable of making portals. On the second, some earth wizards were brought in to try and understand the runes being placed in metal. Since he drew stone into the rods of metal, it was expected that something of the process might be easier for an earth wizard than just someone who understood portal magic but followed another element.

  On the third day, though Darius returned to try and help the others make sense of the mage's magic, new wizards from the research guild replaced all the portal wizards and most of those of earth. Only Zeben, who knew both portal and earth magic, remained as he appeared closest to understanding the spells involved.

  "I'm still not sure if anyone else can actually do what I do to make the gates," he sighed thinking of the hours spent trying to pass on the knowledge. "Maybe I need to find wizards and mages who understand rune magic first? Earth might be able to work the metal and Zeben can create portals, but runes are like the language they need to understand the spells. Like you wizards and your words of power, maybe it takes that kind of familiarity to do more with the runes."