When Palose had first met the emperor, he was a bowed, withered creature concealing his appearance inside a dark cloud. His powerful magic aura had remained strong, but the ancient body of Kolban was dying. Since coming to Alus, he had been in search of a worthy body to take on his power. Even fewer people knew that this wasn't his first body or the first time he had cheated death. Kolban wasn't an immortal like the silver haired legends of Alus. He had achieved immortality through the strength of his magic and the cunning of his intellect.
Now Kolban hid behind the cloak of darkness when he was in public because he didn't want anyone to know that he had taken a new, much younger body. Not only that, but he had split his power with lesser vessels creating a brother and sister.
As Palose stood with his summoned army of dead, the battle mage turned necromancer felt the power of the brother approaching. Appearing to be a mere fourteen year old in age, Lanquer was both older and younger than he seemed. The entity created within a body that could only hold a fraction of Kolban's true power was less than a year old, but had been gifted some of the memories of the emperor as well. He was his own person and unlike the emperor, this was a being newly created in mind even so. Lanquer was Lanquer and Kolban was Kolban. What had been shared was like the emperor's power, a simple fraction of his knowledge and former life's memories.
Dressed in black armor gilded with gold trim, the boy looked like a young noble and already walked like a warrior. Palose had taught him the sword and the powers of a battle mage, so he took a little pride in Lanquer's successes on the battle field as well.
Lanquer had been put in charge of a thousand men. A small army in the midst of numbers more than ten times that, but he had been rewarded the title of general by his brother since saving Kolban's life. He had proved himself by killing another experiment of the emperor's. Garosh their older brother had to die for Lanquer to prove that he was worthy of the emperor's respect.
Now the brother to the Dark One strode towards him at the head of a dozen warriors. Strangely graceful looking orcs, a mixed breed taken from orc and elven stock, made up half of the guards while true elves made up the rest. They looked too pretty for war, but these men were trained killers all.
"The emperor wants to see you," Lanquer stated without wasting a cursory greeting for his mentor. Though his teacher in the past, most others would see Palose as a nothing since he was a mere resurrection man.
"He is here?" the mage questioned curiously. Kolban wasn't trained to the sword in any of his previous lives and the emperor hadn't bothered to learn in this incarnation either. He was no general, though his mind was clever enough to enact war and win against most of his enemies over the centuries. Being on the battlefront, however, wasn't something he was inclined to do.
Frowning in disappointment at the mage, Lanquer replied with a shake of his head saying, "No, he waits for you in Ensolus. The war is for me and his other generals. Kolban doesn't need to mar his hands when he has me to take this land."
The words came from an inflated ego. Lanquer had always acted like he was above the soldiers around him. He was the brother of the emperor and that knowledge was much more common though few knew how the boyish general had come to be. Many thought the dark haired clone was simply someone of great magical power adopted by the emperor.
Glancing to Balish and Tongold, his wraith lieutenants; Palose ordered the two to watch over the lesser dead men he had brought back to life once more. The others were given little intellect by the necromancer, but they served as cannon fodder easily replaced by other dead men littering the fields from one town to the next as Sileoth continued to lose soldiers to the empire.
Without giving thought to the changes in himself, Palose called upon a gate and stepped through to Ensolus. Appearing in one of the large portal chambers, the dark mage hadn't used the one in his secret home. Tucked away in the easternmost portion of the city, the home his resurrection family used wasn't ideal for going to Kolban's castle.
He exited the gate with nods to the wizards in charge of the main doorway while almost ignoring the soldiers guarding the walls in easy striking range of any who might use the portal illegally. The resurrection man had earned the respect of many of the warlocks of Ensolus, and many seemed to forget his origins. There were men that would hold it against him, he was sure; but few had said anything against him recently. He was useful and had taken the initiative to seed Southwall with gates that no one else had ever managed.
Trying to put any worries behind him of what these men might do should he outlive his usefulness, Palose walked north towards the massive central spires which not only supported the roof of the cave; but were hollowed out enough to create housing for royals. The concept of royalty in Ensolus was a little odd compared to countries like Southwall or Sileoth with families that had controlled their nations for centuries. These were often powerful men put in charge by the emperor. Their descendants were considered parts of noble houses, but these royal families weren't in line to inherent the emperor's throne since no one believed that he could actually die.
The guards at the outer wall surrounding the emperor's citadel passed the mage without much fuss. His arrival was expected even though Palose had to cross thousands of miles to visit. He had only just received word, but those guarding the gates were already informed and used to his visits even before the start of the war with Sileoth.
A chamberlain escorted him deep into the massive spire where eventually Palose entered a well guarded room. He could feel the powerful presence of the emperor before entering the chamber. Kolban could dim his aura, but letting it sit visible to those who could feel such things let them know that he was still in his home and apparently invincible. Such a being could defeat any nation; one would see his power and believe remaining dedicated to achieving whatever the emperor asked.
His eyes found a figure which belied that power, however. After being forced to take a vessel far from the proposed maturity planned, the emperor looked like a mere boy playing at ruler. While most nations would appoint a mature guardian, this 'boy', was a being with the mind of an immortal over a thousand years old.
Kolban was speaking with several older men. Elves, humans and orcs led his forces. With portals available to move across the miles in an instant, his generals and lords could return to report the efforts of the war to him daily. Seeing Palose enter, the boy looked at the resurrection man and quickly concluded what he was saying to the other men.
They weren't dismissed, however, and the mage guessed that there was more to be said to his generals. He was waved forward by Kolban and they retreated to a smaller chamber through a doorway hidden by draperies. The second room was plain compared to the previous hall, but the emperor didn't need any pretense between them. Palose knew the emperor's secret changing of bodies and in turn the magic used to bring the mage back to life was known to Kolban.
Palose knew that even with the power he had managed to create for himself, the boy's magic could crush him without much thought. Still, the emperor treated him like a friend and confidante. Perhaps it was because they were both beings that only existed because of magic defying death and the nature of things.
"Welcome back, Palose," the boy greeted him finally. His voice was fairly firm, but occasionally it would crack slightly like a young teen fighting puberty for dignity. "You look well. Apparently war sits well with you."
Palose replied without fear of formalities, "Well, I was raised to be a battle mage. It is in the name that we will see battle after all."
Looking at him shrewdly, the boy's eyes narrowed almost conspiratorially as he said, "I hear that you hardly act like a battle mage at all out there now. You have been using necromancy to keep yourself protected within a layer of dead men. You even have a pair of wraith men?"
He nodded. The mage had nothing to hide in the way that he was fighting his battles now. Palose had fought as a battle mage and died. Now the mage had the power of a warlock and advanced knowledge that made use
of his magic in new ways. "The basic spell to raise the dead leaves you with soldiers, but they aren't smart enough to lead if I am not there. The wraiths work well enough and they are harder to kill as well."
"Trying to avoid wasting your magic on lesser dead men?" Kolban asked appearing amused by the mage's answer. "Wraiths do work well, even if they demand more power and greater skill to summon them. Few warlocks in Ensolus can summon a proper wraith these days. It is also hard to find any willing to work with the dead from what the schools tell me.
"It is a real shame. I have used them in the past, though I suppose even the greatest of them can be defeated by the right spell or enchanted weapon." Kolban's vision seemed to look to the past with his words for a moment before focusing on Palose once more. "Even fewer will risk the resurrection spell, but then again you are the product of one of those warlocks aren't you?"
Again he gave a curt nod to the emperor while avoiding a full frown. Kolban rarely mentioned what many considered to be a weakness or at least an affront to nature.
"Atrouseon was a necromancer and encouraged me to cultivate the skill once he realized that I took after him in that regard."
The emperor nodded before touching his chin in a thoughtful looking gesture as Kolban considered out loud, "Yes, Atrouseon,... I wonder whatever happened to him?"
"He was found dead," the mage answered simply.
"Hmm, yes, dead from magic apparently. Some of his peers had mentioned that Atrouseon had become agitated before his mysterious death. If the orcs hadn't discovered him in time, no one would have known that he was even killed. It was strange how the man had been disposed of in the dump. If Atrouseon was less known, his body would have been placed in the furnace and disappeared from history."
The boy's gray eyes examined the mage without accusation, but Palose had wondered from the start if the Dark One's knowledge knew of the fight with his deranged master. Atrouseon had become jealous of his relationship with Kolban and his siblings. That jealousy had led to fear of the resurrection man and even a degree of hatred.
Worrying over his own life, Palose had taken measures to defend himself in case Atrouseon turned on him. He had been restricted by the spell bringing him back to life in that the resurrection man couldn't harm or kill his former master, but the allies he had managed to bring back to life weren't restricted that way and served to save him when Atrouseon decided to kill him a second time.
"He was a good master to me when I first came here, though I noticed that Atrouseon wasn't acting less like himself sometime after the birth of your sister and brother," Palose noted without admitting anything more.
"Perhaps without a focus for his mind, the man felt too much loss of self. It is a shame when success breeds tragedy, but my memory knows of others who have become similarly lost," the emperor acknowledged. His focus returned to Palose examining him for something once more.
"Palose, how do you think the war is going for Litsarin?"
The question surprised him, but the mage reported as he believed saying, "Sileoth has lost every town and battle from the north nearly to Helsen their strongest city. The black ships continue to stop the bulk of the aid coming from Tarmand and Southwall, so in a month or two I believe that we will control the entire island."
Though the emperor's eyes continued to study the mage considering his words for longer than he would have thought, Palose didn't have any more to add. The dark mage had trained and studied in White Hall believing that speaking less both let him see more and, he believed, made him look more intelligent. Those who just blabbed into a pause without understanding had always appeared fools to him.
In Ensolus, being quiet was best to avoid making enemies as well as concealing what he did and did not know.
When Kolban spoke again, it proved his restraint correct. The boy's facade made one forget the truth of the intellect and wisdom of centuries inside of him.
"If something were to change the war for not only Litsarin, but happened to bring it to our doorstep here. Could I trust you to protect Acheri for me?"
The question was not only oddly timed but held worry that Palose wouldn't have expected from someone who had conquered nations and rocked Alus with the Cataclysm. Looking to the boyish face, however, the mage didn't actually see any concern and realized Kolban's voice was calm enough to think there was no worry despite the words of his question.
"It is my duty to protect you and your family, emperor," Palose said without truly committing. He wanted to ask what would make Kolban ask such a thing, but that would have revealed his ignorance.
Seeming to read his mind even so, the boy ruler continued, "I can guess that you wonder why I would ask such a thing."
The boy had cut through as if reading his mind, so Palose contributed, "Southwall and its allies have never gotten close to penetrating Ensolus or its outer defenses. It would seem an unlikely scenario that you and your armies would ever let her be in danger here."
Palose noted that the request had been for his sister and not Lanquer his brother. The feeling of inferiority as the weaker entity, weaker than Acheri even in magic power, had often seemed to make the lesser brother work harder to compensate. Lanquer had proved himself on the assault against Garosh and his fortress, so Palose had thought the two closer now.
Looking away in thought for a moment, Kolban seemed to choose his words as carefully as the mage tried to do. With his centuries of being emperor behind him, Palose could assume that the boy was in fact better at it than he was by now.
"Lanquer has taken your training and has enough knowledge to lead an army or fight for himself. My sister has great power but lacks a military mind. She is no soldier and relies too much on her magic for her safety.
"You have shielded her before and I know that, with enough strength in you, you could control her more destructive nature.
"I have had... dreams that tell me a time will come where I will have to leave my siblings to their fates without me. I need you to promise me that you will protect Acheri should that come. You have access to portal magic and points that I am sure that even I don't know about. You can get her to safety, but you will need to protect her along with those you choose to save."
The last words instilled worry in the mage instead. His small gathering of resurrection people had been a secret from everyone as far as he knew, but if the Dark Emperor had the powers of a visionary or seer he might have discovered his secret. They were both a source of additional power and friendship. He loved Sylvaine as well.
If it came down to fleeing with only one of his resurrection men and women, the dark mage would run as far as he could with Sylvaine.
"Who else would I save?" Palose countered managing to sound convincing to his ears. "I serve you and would be certain to do what I can to save Acheri and Lanquer too if he is near. If I must lay my life down for you, I will."
The last was a lie. Palose would do what he could to survive. He just hoped that Kolban couldn't see that about the dark mage in front of him.
A small smile, that said the boy understood the truth, touched the emperor's lips and sent a chill down his spine. "You have lived here long enough to have made friends with someone, I am sure. Let's just leave it at that.
"All I need is your word that you will protect Acheri as I say. No games or trying to hide behind that mask you keep up to prevent others knowing your mind, Palose. I can use my magic to make it certain, but I would like to believe that I can trust you at least this much."
Palose tried not to pale. He wanted to ask why this being before him would trust him so much. It would be a mistake to ask, but it was in the front of his mind none the less.
"Of course I will swear to protect her, but does this mean you want me to become her personal guard in your castle?" the mage asked using the closest word he could think of to describe the massive spire used for the emperor's home.
Kolban shook his head. "You can continue as you are, but when... if... the time comes you must find her and get
her to safety."
The change to a less certain time wasn't lost on Palose. He didn't answer as he had already made the promise to be there for the princess. Unfortunately, the mage didn't truly trust Acheri. He believed that the girl had become jealous and been the one who had used others to kill Sylvaine just to separate him from the apprentice. Her jealousy would be reignited once Acheri saw Sylvaine again and it would happen if he had to take them away from Ensolus together for sure.
The sound of a door opening behind him made the mage turn, but he already knew who it was likely to be as he heard the sound of high heeled shoes clipping along the floor before the dark haired princess called out, "Palose! Why is it that I always have to find out he is here on my own, Kolban? I thought you loved me brother. Why keep his return a secret from your own sister?"
Kolban rolled his eyes unnoticed as her dark blue eyes remained focused on Palose. "It was no secret. Palose just got here to report on the war. Frankly, I thought that you would be bored by such a meeting.
"Besides, you always seem to know when he is here. One would think you had a magic spell to track him or maybe spies willing to tell you once he has arrived," Kolban replied with a certain amount of humor.
Acheri gave a sniff and a toss of her head sending her long brunette hair trailing in a wave of night. "Well then, once you have finished grilling him we should have him join us for dinner. It will be time for supper soon enough."
"My men are waiting on me," Palose started as he tried to find a way to escape from the girl. She had seemed too interested in him in an unhealthy way from the moment Acheri had come out of her birthing chamber. While she was a beauty, the mage didn't feel the same about the princess. The girl was more trouble than she was worth to be told.
Kolban barked a laugh and retorted, "I am sure that your wraiths and dead men will be fine without you. Do any of them even eat anymore? I'm sure that they can wait until you have eaten to return.
Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) Page 44