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

by Donald Wigboldy

  The cloth was shifting from top to bottom. The length shifted and the light material thickened and strengthened. Ilira could have removed her hands where they had tried to protect her dignity, but the apprentice left them to feel the shifting cloth more accurately than the skin on her legs could. It didn't take long before the shifting stopped, however, and Cheleya finally began to move her hands.

  Brushing the apprentice's hands away, each movement of the dragoness' hands now changed the color to brown. The white disappeared even quicker than the skirt had become pants touching the base of her calves. It appeared professionally fitted giving the girl room to move while showing off her figure at the same time.

  "There that should be better and the brown won't show the dirt as much," Cheleya determined with a nod. Ilira looked at the girl admiringly.

  Elzen cleared his throat having been as mesmerized as the rest watching the display of foreign magic and said, "Well, that takes care of her clothes. I suppose if her shoes don't cooperate, she can just go barefoot. She wouldn't be the first to learn without boots."

  Returning her attention to Elzen, the girl looked at the mage dubiously. He seemed to have enjoyed the show a little too much. Noting the same thing as he readied to lead the other mages in the scheduled display of spells, Sebastian wondered how heartbroken his friend was that Naoromi was leaving after all.

  While Sebastian led the mages through as many spells as he thought they could handle in a short time, Elzen worked with the three healers. Katya and Cheleya wound up sitting near them watching with amusement as the wizards tried to follow the mage's instruction. When he had a moment, Sebastian would look over at the four working on basic hand to hand techniques.

  Helmar and Nefen hadn't always been trapped within the peaceful teachings of the healers. They had been boys who had been in mock battles with their friends. Few children chose to be the healer when they could be some heroic warrior. Few even chose to be wizards when their parents worried that their children would be taken away from them because of their magic.

  Ilira, on the other hand, looked like a fish out of water. As a girl, she may have played house, but not war, Sebastian thought. The young woman got frustrated with the movements, getting dirty when she fell, and Elzen's occasional teasing. Her long dark hair had been pulled back into a tail by Katya and Cheleya early on as her hair had continually whipped into her face thanks to the breeze and mock fighting.

  When Sebastian moved to trying to teach runes and how to use them to the mages, he interrupted their training to let the three wizards join him for what they had believed was the purpose of their trip. They had followed the mage to become healers that could protect themselves in a fight, but hadn't thought through the fact that combat meant getting dirty at times.

  With Elzen able to assist him with transferring runes and capable of showing how to use them as well, Sebastian felt less overwhelmed by the teaching. He wasn't a natural teacher, or so he thought. Others saw him as a good teacher, but that was usually just one on one. Sebastian didn't enjoy being the center of attention and the larger classes meant more eyes on him.

  As he walked through the mages gathered, the mage eventually came to the three healers and Helmar had the passion back in his eyes. "Finally, this is what I had hoped to see," the wizard stated with echoing nods from the apprentices.

  Sebastian smiled patiently and said, "You told me that you wished to be able to defend yourselves so you would be less dependent on the soldiers and battle mages."

  The muscular wizard nodded and agreed saying, "I had hoped that these runes would let us be able to fight if necessary."

  "How do these runes make that possible if you have no idea how to fight at all?" Sebastian countered trying to be gentle as the mage made his point. "Fire wizards believed that they were war wizards because they can throw fire and kill from a distance. Many even have a basic understanding of the sword, but that doesn't make them capable in a fight.

  "Like healers, they need a buffer of competent soldiers or battle mages.

  "You wanted to be capable of defending yourselves and these runes can't do that for you by themselves. You need to understand how to fight, even if you plan to just defend and not attack."

  Ilira complained, "Being taught how to throw a punch or being thrown into the dirt isn't going to help us either."

  Sighing for effect, Sebastian called out to the mages and said, "Everyone take a break. Clear a circle. Elzen and I will give a demonstration of what can be done with the basic runes."

  There were many other faces looking as excited by the idea of seeing a fight using the new magic besides Helmar and his apprentices.

  "We have defensive armor runes," he stated slapping the runes on his left arm. "Weapons storage, a spear or harpoon, a rune to increase our speed beyond our reflex spell, a rune for increased strength, a rune to send lightning into a person close by or it can be sent along the harpoon, one can create ice or heat, another set can make magic spikes, and we have sense improving spells also. As battle mages, we can do much of this with our battle magic, so we might ignore them though our soldiers will benefit from them greatly.

  "Our magic can do enough that many will wonder why we bother to place runes on ourselves at all. Elzen..." he gestured to his friend to prepare to fight.

  They began simply enough with their hands. Blows were blocked by the rune armor causing the areas to glow. While placed on the left arm, a battle mage's magic could actually make the runes appear anywhere he was attacked. Strikes to the arms, legs and chest were ineffective leaving no impression on the fighters.

  "Spikes," he suggested to his opponent to add to the show. Basic projections appeared on their hands, elbows, knees and feet. About six inches long and looking like dull iron due to the blue ink, the two men attacked showing how each area could add to their attack even as the defensive armor glowed with each glancing blow.

  "Push your magic into them and the shield," Sebastian suggested as he moved out of arm's reach of Elzen to demonstrate. With his magic pushing into the two kinds of runes, the spikes glowed golden and grew to the length of sword blades. The rune shields grew around their left arms, a minor push of their power since the rune shields could also completely engulf the men, if they wished it.

  Looking like gladiators with glowing weapons, the two mages struck each other's shields several times countering each other. Swordsmanship was more to Sebastian's advantage, but neither man was trying as hard as they could to harm the other. This was just a demonstration.

  Sebastian jumped back and pushed more magic into the spike in his hand making it nearly the length of a spear. The range was just a matter of the strength of the mage's push.

  "Spear and harpoon," he called out to Elzen as the men moved back even further.

  The harpoon formed and could be held like a spear. They thrust from maximum range letting the shields block the magical weapons come to life. Sebastian jumped back increasing the distance to more than twenty feet and loosed the harpoon on its barbwire chain. Elzen countered similarly.

  A small smile crossed Sebastian's lips as he pushed his magic into the harpoon rune. The spear and chain began to glow. While Elzen withdrew his harpoon to his hand again thinking the weapon could only be thrown, the owl knew better. A soldier could only throw the harpoon, but a mage or wizard could use their magic to control the entire length. Like a snake, the spear began to move lashing out at the raised shield. Again he wasn't trying to defeat or harm his friend, but the smaller mage gave a step before smiling back.

  Elzen hadn't thought to use his magic in the same way. He was more linear in his thinking and a thrown spear was supposed to be just that. Before the mage could get too comfortable, Sebastian used his power to make the harpoon and chain split into three. The added weapons made the younger mage uncomfortable and he pushed his power into the shield retreating inside of a large dome as the three glowing spears writhed on their chains like some mythical hydra's heads.

  Cheers
went up at the surprise moves, but Sebastian wasn't through. "The electric charge," he stated gripping the glowing chains. Electricity flowed along the chains into the harpoons creating sparks each time they struck the glowing shield around Elzen, who seemed content to remain within his comfortable cocoon while Sebastian used him as target practice.

  Releasing his flow of magic to the runes, the harpoon changed back into one and retreated to the blue ink of his arm before becoming invisible to anyone's eyes. He nodded to Elzen, who released the flow of power into his dome letting the runes return to his forearm.

  Addressing the mages and three wizards, Sebastian taught those listening, "With our magic, we can make the runes do more than they were originally designed to when I was given them. Our soldiers can be safe in their defense and use the extra benefits of the runes, while our mages and wizards can use less energy to fight while manipulating powerful spells.

  "There may be more abilities we will find in using them, but you can see how these simple pieces of magic on our skin will make not only our corps more powerful, but the entire army. With these we can hurt the Dark One like never before."

  Not realizing that he was making a speech, the rousing cheer from those gathered around him surprised the young man.

  As the noise subsided, Sebastian added, "Now we just need to find more people who can pass on the runes to our mages and soldiers as well as the wizards who would like to use them as well."

  Everyone who had a rune had seen him or Elzen clone the magic to pass it on. While Elzen knew less of what each rune meant, he could duplicate them and that was all Sebastian asked out of the others. He hoped to figure out more useful runes, but if no one else helped him in that regard but could recreate the runes for others, the mage would be satisfied.

  Returning to Helmar and his apprentices, the owl mage said quietly, "You can hold every rune on your body, but if you don't have the will to use them or the skill to use them properly, they are just decoration. I'll train you three and any others you wish on how to use or recreate the runes, but you need to trust me when I tell you that knowing how to fight is as important as the runes."

  While the two men nodded, Ilira seemed more reluctant to agree. Sebastian didn't think it was because the girl didn't, but more that she seemed against the process as a whole. She didn't fit as well with Helmar and his apprentice Nefen.

  Before the morning practice ended, the mage asked the wizard about the girl away from other ears. It was potentially a touchy subject best spoken of in private, or at least between the two where it would be hard to eavesdrop on the conversation. "Helmar, why is Ilira with you and Nefen? You two seem at least physically ready and I can see a certain amount of what I expect to see in someone trying to find a way to fight, but Ilira appears less inclined to be here."

  It was a tentative questing for information, at least for someone better at fighting than diplomacy.

  Helmar's green eyes flicked to the girl taking a break with Nefen near a cooler of water, one of a few brought out to the mage training ground. Returning most of his attention to Sebastian as he answered quietly while making sure that no one moved too close to hear, the wizard replied confidentially, "She was a concession made for Wizard Gotleim. He is against the changes these runes might bring to our guild. Gotleim wasn't the only one who thinks arming healers is against what our history teaches us.

  "There are fewer wizards who believe we should listen to a battle mage or attempt to become weapons. Stories of wizards having their magic foul up to the point of being unable to heal if they use harmful spells riddle the teachings. Such warnings should be heeded, I will admit; but this is something new which could help us get around our limitations."

  Sebastian nodded at hearing these things. It wasn't surprising that some wizards would see his new magic as something to be ignored and left to the battle mages. While he had his problems with Magnus, the fire wizard was one of a minority willing to consider the benefits his corps could bring to the wizards.

  "I haven't come across any problems healing and I have had to fight to the death since I began using that magic. While I can't be sure why that is true, it still is and there are other battle mages healing as well.

  "If the restrictions of magic are true and the runes can help get around them, I am glad that I can help you find the way. Just remember that going from just healing and with no real weapon experience, you may not get the answer you are hoping for."

  "That is why only three of us were spared to try. I risk being unable to heal, if we are wrong; but it is a risk I feel that needs to be made," Helmar acknowledged.

  As the sun neared its peak in the sky, his students began to disperse. Sebastian thought that maybe a few more mages might be able to create the runes or even heal with more training. His goal remained finding others to spread the spells and runes to the rest of Southwall's army.

  His goal didn't necessarily correspond with his little sister's as Katya pounced on him almost immediately saying, "Come on, Bas, I had the cooks prepare you some of your favorite foods. There will even be cake!

  "Stop fooling around here, so we can eat!" the girl demanded with a grin.

  Gifts for birthdays were rare among the corps, so Sebastian expected nothing. They needed to travel light until they retired. Even then many of the military lived spartanly after leaving their positions, since they were used to it from being cadets onward. It also made what to do for him easier, he supposed as the mage walked into the lunch hall and found many of his friends waiting to celebrate with him.

  They didn't shout surprise, but Sebastian was even so. The mages and wizards from his former team were there near the front of a group of wizards and mages there to greet his entry. Some were teachers in the school from his cadet days as well, though they were few in number considering how many years it took to graduate to falcon.

  After taking in the well wishes, Sebastian sat with his sister on one side and Ashleen on the other. He leaned closer to the wilder and asked, "Did you know about this?"

  "Your sister told me that it was your birthday and that she had gone to Falconi Garrett in particular to try throwing this together," she answered with a smile. "It isn't every day that you are basically told that you are an adult and that your country owes you for your service."

  Sebastian enjoyed the meal. Normally set up for a buffet; special plates had been brought to the table. Casseroles, steamed vegetables with some buttered or seasoned beyond the average fare served to the hundreds of students and staff, smelled like the meals his mother had made him when he was younger. A special beef, marinated in some way that accentuated the flavor and made the man's mouth water, was the focal point of the meal.

  A layered cake of chocolate and vanilla frosted with more creamy chocolate was a lavish gift in and of itself. Such treats were a rarity to be found by those serving the country. How the girl had managed to have one made had him curious, but it was rude to fish for such answers to a gift.

  After the cake, Katya did ask to make sure of how her meal had gone with her brother, "Did you like it?"

  Smiling warmly at his sister as his full stomach told him that he was probably lucky to be working with the wizards in the afternoon just so he could work it off, Sebastian nodded answering her, "It was all excellent. I don't know how you managed to arrange all this. Since you're only a novice, I would have thought that it would have been impossible actually."

  Overhearing the comment, Falconi Garrett, who sat across from him but a few seats to the left, answered, "Your sister is fearless, kind of like her brother. She came to me reminding me that it was your twenty-first birthday and told me that she hoped to give you a special dinner since you were working here.

  "I couldn't resist her enthusiasm," the older mage chuckled.

  "I had to use Falconi Garrett's name a few times to keep things moving, but once I had the menu figured out, it was just a matter of passing on some of mother's best secrets to get us to here," Katya giggled looking pleased with
the results of her efforts.

  Sebastian shook his head thinking that it all was very close to what he would have expected at home, if their mother was in the mood to cook her best. Their family was large enough that most meals, while good, were not at the level of her best unless their mother had a good reason to spoil them.

  "I guess that it is good that you watched and helped mom while she cooked then."

  Ashleen added, "If this is what you used to eat, perhaps I need to find a way to be invited to your home."

  Dubiously eyeing the pretty blond beside him, Sebastian queried, "I'm sure your father could have found cooks at least as good."

  "They don't view food the same way in Kardor, I don't think," she laughed. "I suppose there were enough good meals, but my father had more important things to do than finding a chef who could make the best dinners."

  "Your mother didn't cook?" Katya asked in surprise.

  "Not well, so pretty much no. Father didn't marry her for her cooking skills. It was an arranged marriage between lords, but at least they wound up liking each other. Not every marriage like that ends in bliss."

  Katya looked curious enough to ask more, but like her brother, she was cautious when others weren't forthcoming. Being a diplomacy wizard added to the girl's knowledge of when to probe and when to let things go, even if he was pretty sure that his sister wouldn't forget and would find a time to learn more in the future.

  As the meal wound down and the time to walk to the fire wizard's courtyard neared, Sebastian thanked everyone for the dinner. Ashleen followed him as usual. The remainder of his entourage might change a little, but the support of his girlfriend was unwavering. Sebastian knew that, if she wasn't there, he would definitely miss her.

  "Congratulations on your freedom, or whatever your sister was calling it," Magnus said catching sight of the mage entering through the courtyard doorway.