Ashleen nodded slowly but added, "Well, you only understand so much about them, but maybe it has been enough to make you capable of using runes like in the gate.
"You have Serrena and me to do the welding again. I guess we can do it like the first time. We weld and you finish the gate with your spells."
He nodded and believed that she had forgotten what she had been pressing him on, but the girl surprised him by asking, "So if that was truly your worry, we've addressed it. What is actually bothering you? You aren't worried about returning to White Hall, are you? You went there with Lord Romonus, so I can't see it being the school. Is it Katya?"
His brow furrowed before he could stop it and she asked, "Why should she worry you?"
"I am the one who took her away. I told her that I would protect her and take her all the way to White Hall, and then I pawned her off on near strangers while I sailed away. Katya could be angry that I left her on her own."
Ashleen seemed to weigh his comment looking for the truth, but the little blond surprised him by asking, "When you were sent to White Hall, were you part of one of those 'harvests' you say the people call them?"
Nodding, he also answered, "Yes, of course."
"And you knew those wizards for how long before your parents and siblings just let you be taken away?"
His frown didn't lessen while the mage admitted the truth that they both understood. The question could have been rhetorical, but he still answered, "They were strangers. I didn't get to know them until we were on our way to White Hall."
"And these near strangers you sent her with; were they known to her?"
"She knew Brenner, Ardost and Vord for about a month. High Wizard Darius went with her too, but she had only known him for a couple weeks," he listed the four men that the mage had entrusted his little sister to for the trip to the school.
"And they were all friends of yours, not complete strangers?" she mercilessly pushed him with her words. "The rest of your family gave you to the unknown wizards freely. Were your powers out of control?"
"Of course not, I am just a mage, so my magic was barely felt or noticed by me then," Sebastian said wanting to roll his eyes as the girl continued to make her point without actually saying it. "Katya is way more powerful than I am. If I had left her with our family, who knows what would have happened to them or her.
"I get it, Ashleen. I'm not some monster sending my little sister away without reason or giving her to strangers since she knew my team more than most novices caught up in a harvest," he said with a release of breath trying to rid himself of the tension that was probably misplaced.
"Hopefully, Katya won't see it the wrong way, and think that I just abandoned her to go on my mission," he added quickly.
"She lost control. You know that if you had tried to take her on the ship, that she would only have been likely to get worse. Katya's a smart girl, I'm sure she realizes that you did what you could, even if you couldn't take her yourself.
"If you're so worried about it, then I should think that you would be glad to make sure that she is alright."
He looked away a moment only to turn back into the gaze of her blue eyes. Knowing that Ashleen was right, he complained, "Do you have to always be right? I thought I was the owl, so I got to be right once in awhile."
Giggling at his indignant look, which was mostly an act for her, the pretty little blond replied, "You get to be right with magic, but if you miss a point in life I can help set you right. Maybe I'll even let you be right once in awhile and correct me."
"Really?" he said less than trusting in her words, which made the girl laugh again.
"Well, probably not. Even if I am wrong, I probably won't admit it; but we'll see.
"Now shouldn't we just get this over with, Sebastian?"
Nodding, he moved forward towards the two wizards in charge of the portal for this shift. "I need a portal to White Hall, please."
He was polite with the two wizards. While he knew them from the last three days of classes, the mage barely knew their names. Being polite was simply the best way to get wizards to do what you wanted them to do as a battle mage.
The two wizards had been eyeing the group for a few minutes as Sebastian had steeled himself for the trip. His words received a nod, but no words came in response as the two wizards worked together forming the connection between the two gates. The gold light of a portal appeared in front of his metal frame appearing much smaller than the sixteen by ten dimensions that would be automatic for incoming portals.
A mere eight feet wide and looking about square, their golden doorway shimmered looking like a stained glass window letting an afternoon sun shine through the glass. Sebastian took Ashleen's hand as if needing to make sure that the wilder didn't get lost along the way. They had been trapped in Silver World once, but that had been caused by a disruption from her lightning being used to hold Palose's portal open. It had caused the portal to close behind the wilder and moved the point to one of the islands floating inside the silver void.
Not expecting any such interruption of their passage, Sebastian noted the silver light for a moment before stepping into another courtyard. It took a moment to gain his bearings, one of the keys to making his security gate likely to be a major success. Even having used the portals several times now, a traveler was always left a moment of confusion as he tried to assess the world around him.
Sebastian had been in this courtyard as a battle mage and sparred within its four walls or trained with his weapons, but it looked very different from before. New walkways stood twelve feet above them running along the surrounding walls. The stairways were hidden from sight, meaning they were likely on the other side of the twenty foot high walls. A tower on the south corner of the courtyard attached to the outer wall overlooked the smaller courtyard, but only the walkways allowed guards to operate above the reach of most of the Dark One's creatures should they take over the gate. It was defended, but not as well as the mage planned to have his former school set up by the time he was done.
Surprisingly, as Sebastian and Ashleen stepped forward allowing those coming from behind to exit without crashing into them, he noticed that their arrival was expected and not just by the guards. An older wizard wearing white with four stripes of color stood beside a pair of wizards. One wore black robes with silver trim of a diplomat wizard and the other wore the red of fire.
Also beside them were three mages with black uniform shirts with silver shoulder bars. The latter three were very familiar to the mage who had been a cadet here just a year and a half ago.
The wizard in white greeted him first, though the falconi with him might have been expected to talk to a falcon first. High Wizard Herrol was essentially the head of the entire school being a white wizard.
"Welcome back, Falcon Sebastian," the wizard said using his first name to be less formal. His title used was more official, but it was a greeting given to acquaintances of some familiarity. "Word was sent that you have come to help secure our new portal magic. I find it odd to see a battle mage, especially one so young, put in charge of such a thing. High Wizard Darius has always been the one leading us in learning about the portals."
"Until now," Sebastian added before greeting the wizard properly, "High Wizard Herrol. Darius and I discovered how to use the gates following different paths, but I have researched how to secure them making our gates safer to have in our cities."
He looked around the courtyard and worried, "Though perhaps this isn't a talk to be had in unsecured courtyards."
A slight frown crossed the wizard's face and Herrol replied, "This is about as secure an area as you will find. Unless an air wizard can ride the winds here and hold his place trying to listen in, there is no better place than a portal courtyard secured by portal guards and wizards. They all know about this magic and have been put in place because I trust in them, falcon."
The final addressing of Sebastian had a negative inflection to the word, but Falconi Garrett moved to smooth things o
ver faster than the diplomat wizard in attendance. "I think High Wizard Herrol has this courtyard as secure as any place when wizards have magic to listen through walls if they are crafty enough."
Sebastian nodded and added, "A falcon using stealth magic and hound hearing could find their way close enough as well, I suppose.
"Where would you like to start?"
The fire wizard spoke up saying, "You say that you have come to install better security for our gate. How will it be better than having archers and wizards above to cut down an enemy?"
"By securing the gate in such a way that only someone from Southwall will know how to move beyond the gate."
He turned to point towards the current gateway, a simple line cut into the earth leading between two of Darius' lodestones. "We will make a frame sixteen feet wide and ten feet tall which will need stone defenses around it to secure the frame. It will only open one way, as long as an enemy doesn't know the way to flip the doorway from the kill point we will make with the portal."
A large falcondi argued, "I have seen the portals used. How can you flip a gate? I thought that they were stuck the way they were made and immovable while active."
Sebastian was surprised that the man was as well informed since he expected battle mages to be cut out of the main practices of portal magic here like usual. Since battle mages weren't believed capable of using the magic because they were too weak, it was being claimed by wizards.
"Door," Sebastian stated calling up a small window sized portal. The larger gate had been closed by then leaving his team milling about to one side as Sebastian and the leaders of White Hall argued over his presence and qualifications.
The larger portal came alive, but Sebastian forced the gate to be backwards. A pearl wall appeared between the stones and the owl stated, "Just as I can make the portal turn the opposite way by choosing to change its direction, I have researched a way to turn the door in the direction we need it... while it is active, Falcondi Streith." He used the man's name and title remembering the hardnosed mage from his time as a cadet.
He closed his hand snuffing the two gates like he would a flame in a lamp. His eyes and focus had turned to the six leaders and exercised his power proving that he didn't need to see or feel the two tied pieces of magic.
The wizards in particular looked shocked to see a battle mage using the spell that had only been taught to wizards. Only a few had been able to duplicate it here as well.
High Wizard Herrol controlled his face and gave in to the demonstration asking, "And what plans did you have for our security?"
Sebastian started walking towards the gate speaking as he moved. He also channeled his power into the oval storage rune. While he had yet to fully research how the inked rune worked, the mage thought that perhaps it was similar to standard portal magic. It was also an impressive unknown spell to wizards and mages alike.
The oval lifted from his right arm and Sebastian reached into it withdrawing a four foot iron rod. Laying out four rods total, the mage explained his plan, "We will make a frame and control the power of the gate. You will need to decide on how you wish to guard the space, but I would recommend setting up the gate about eight feet from the outer wall. You can then place towers or walkways above the reach of an armored vile to keep the guards safe from attack. The defenders will be able to rain down arrows and fire from above if the enemy tries to invade White Hall.
"The gate will become a defense. They will be forced to either retreat or die if they stay."
"How will those who belong be identified from those who don't?" the fire wizard leader known as Wizard Zachris asked of the mage seeing the plan and the unknown use of magic.
Sebastian had placed the four iron bars about eight feet from the outer wall as he had said. He answered the wizard standing up from the four bars roughly equidistant from the side walls.
"If they are from Southwall, they will send a portal wizard through the gate alone or perhaps in a pair. The wizards will use a rune in the frame to flip the doorway to be used to enter the courtyard. When they are done, the wizard will either flip the doorway back and leave, or close it entirely to stay."
"You say this like it will be easy," Falconi Garrett stated with a slight smile. Garrett had been one of those who had seen something special in Sebastian as a cadet. What had come from that belief had surprised them all as the cadet who graduated to falcon in one trip to the wall became the impetus to change the entire corps with his new magic.
"I could build the gate with a little help from my team in a couple hours. It is the need for the defenses you wish to build that will make me have to wait," he assured the man with a nod.
High Wizard Herrol pointed to one of the guards by a doorway behind them. It was the only way out of the courtyard, though Sebastian knew that there had once been another door leading to another mage courtyard on the south side. Apparently security had been addressed along with the walkways and guards. The stone wall looked like there had never been a door there at all.
"Go find Wizard Ursen and ask him to report to the courtyard immediately," the headmaster of White Hall ordered the soldier.
They waited for the earth wizard, but Sebastian discussed his proposed defenses. Having been a student in the school with an understanding of the defenses of White Hall, the mage had a feeling that his thoughts on the matter might be taken for their value; but he was also a mage and young.
Herrol and the other wizards began to argue about what kind of walls or towers they should build. Falconi Garrett was noticeably quiet, though Falcondi Streith had his opinions made known to the wizards loudly. The man could shout over the three wizards, but they wouldn't be cowed as they argued four ways.
The falconi moved towards Sebastian as he stood back and was joined by Falconi Martina. Though of the same rank, Martina still acted as his right hand letting the elder falconi lead. She had been a talented mage who had risen through the ranks by a young age. To Sebastian she still felt older, but most of that was because she had been one of his trainers and had always felt so far above the cadets in skill and wisdom.
"So you have become a master of portal magic as well now," Garrett stated more than asked. "You seem to be continually evolving in your magic since you have left."
"He's changed since Sebastian stopped by to train for the tournament too," Martina added with a nod. The woman seemed less pleased and with an almost blank face. What little of her emotions showed seemed more annoyance or anger than pride in a student returning more skilled.
Her eyes glowed slightly as she looked at him and Sebastian could guess that she was testing his aura with her eyes again. She had been doing it almost from the moment he had arrived as if no matter how many times she checked; Martina couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Garrett's smile faded slightly and he agreed, "Yes, even since the cusp of winter. It has only been a little over half a year, but you give off a completely different aura from a normal battle mage."
Unsure if they believed that he was supposed to confess all that he had done since leaving the school, Sebastian felt the need to maintain some of his secrets still. It wasn't that he couldn't trust his former mentors with the magic he had discovered or the new tools, but this time he planned to keep the information from the wizards. Much of what he knew would have to be passed on to both wizard and mage alike, but giving Garrett and Martina the heads up first would mean that the wizards couldn't try to steal the magic away again as they always seemed to try to do.
"Perhaps after the portal gate and defenses are finished, we can sit down and catch up in your office, sir," Sebastian offered a bit formally as his eyes flicked to the three wizards still arguing with Streith.
Garrett nodded, but still warned in a lower voice that only the three would hear, "I can't completely see how you have changed, but the wizards might have a better idea with their ability to see auras. You can only hide your changes so well."
"Your aura seems darker or maybe harder," Martina agr
eed. "It also seems stronger than most mages; though I am not sure you can be confused for a wizard yet."
Seeing that they still wanted to know something, Sebastian stated, "My latest research has been on creating a special sword."
He placed his hand over the oval rune and pulled his original Hollow Sword free from the black ink. As the sword caught the light, the etching of the runes along the metal flickered and twisted the radiance as it reflected from the clean, shiny blade.
"Fireball," he ordered a spell directing it into the weapon. The runes began to glow orange as it contained the fire spell. "I have made a few now that I have figured out the right kind of metal to build them with, but it will probably take wizards to make more unless I can find some mages with the talent to both work with metal and runes."
"The lettering, or whatever these marks are etched into the metal, is glowing," Martina stated the obvious but was asking him to elaborate on how the weapons could help battle mages also.
"When I cast the spell into the sword, it holds the power until I release it. The sword will also magnify the power of the original spell making it do more damage and will usually make one casting last for a few releases of magic.
"If every battle mage had a Hollow Sword magnifying their magic, they could nearly cast with the power of wizards making our corps more dangerous to the enemy."
"When you are free from your other duties, maybe you could demonstrate more of what it can do. We can hardly have you throwing fire around the courtyard now can we?" Garrett said with a smile.
It wasn't long before an earth wizard rushed into the courtyard. He looked for the high wizard hurrying to find out what was needed. Another argument ensued and the falconi asked, "Would you and your team like to go have lunch? It looks like this will take awhile."
Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) Page 13