“My belief was that both creations had been valid, but that by themselves they were inferior, so I have been working for a decade to find a way to bring the best of both bodies into one. I have had my failures, but I always believed.”
“How did you come to have the Grimnal’s flesh to sample? Does he still live after yet another two centuries?” Palose asked wondering as all from Southwall had about the immortal’s disappearance when they had needed him most.
Like an alarm had gone off behind his eyes, Atrouseon looked unwilling to divulge the answers to one of Southwall’s greatest mysteries. Finally he released his breath in a sigh and shrugged, “As far as I know, he still lives. Our most recent samples are less than a decade old, so one could assume a man who has lived for over twelve hundred years still exists wherever he is imprisoned.”
“You don’t know what happened to him?”
The man was beginning to look annoyed at the divergent line of questioning. “Only a handful of people know what truly happened and where they imprisoned the Grimnal, but that hardly matters now. What matters is that my vessel has passed the test. The emperor will see my accomplishment and reward me I am sure of it.”
“Garosh made it sound like the emperor still had to test it first,” Palose mused while trying not to deflate the warlock’s moment with doubt.
Smiling even still, Atrouseon stated, “I could see that Garosh was surprised. It worked perfectly. He was the closest anyone came to perfecting a body for him, but this one will finally let him take a new form.
“The emperor will test it with his greater power and my vessel will surely contain his magic this time.”
Palose noted the third tank with the dark haired girl inside. Just a child in appearance, though perhaps close to the physical changes of a teenager, her existence had been explained, but he wondered if that was her true purpose. “What about her and the one that nearly succeeded? Will they simply throw these bodies in some dump after all the work?”
Giving a sigh of disappointment, the warlock replied, “They weren’t made the same way you were. This isn’t a necromancy spell. They aren’t your brothers and sister through magic, if that is what you feel.”
He shook his head. There was no attachment for these blanks as they had been called. A certain disappointment that these creations had no association with the magic that created him was there, but he doubted that the girl was going to be discarded if she was simply the female success that the boy was.
“If the boy can hold the power, and so can this girl, then will the emperor not want the potential vessel to remain available should the first fail or be slain?”
“The emperor is beyond worrying over male or female and his power is so great that he could change the body to suit him anyway. Keeping her in permanent stasis is tempting, but I am not sure how feasible. Either way it will be the emperor’s decision on what to do with the two survivors.”
A moment of silence sat between them. Both men were good at keeping their thoughts and secrets to themselves. Neither liked speaking for no reason, so silence held no awkwardness for them.
“Until the emperor can claim the body, we need to set up protection for them. During the day, I will be working here and can watch over them. When I leave, you will be here to watch over and protect them for me.
“Can you defend them against warlocks even?”
Palose thought a moment and wondered how modest he should be. He had humiliated the three apprentices without breaking a sweat, but should someone come for the vessels how much could he do? “In close I can probably stop most warlocks faster than they can create their spells. Someone like Garosh might be too powerful to stand against, but most warlocks can’t fight and I know weapons as well as battle mage magic.”
The last admission sparked something in Atrouseon as he asked, “Have you been able to learn the basics from the books I gave you?”
Using the slow chant to call up a fireball, Palose left it to hover a moment between them before snuffing it out giving proof of his control. It was much slower than his mage version, but that wasn’t the point. He could use warlock spells. His memory and ability to harness magic had grown since his return.
Answering the question after his demonstration, Palose replied, “I returned two of the books that I have completed. My battle magic might be quicker in a close fight, but I can understand and perform most of the spells from the books you had me start with already.
“Do you think that you could steer me towards books that might let me understand necromancy?”
A grim smile touched the warlock’s lips. “If you are looking to understand yourself, then you already possess the book you will need.”
Looking confused the mage asked, “Those beginner books? They said nothing of such spells.”
Pulling the new book Sylvaine had given him from Palose’s satchel that was sitting on the table, his master answered, “You already have the book that will start you on your path.”
Chapter 4- Debating Life
Two weeks had passed since Atrouseon had given him permission to continue his study of the spells that had led to the warlock returning him to life. While some might want to call it saving a life, Palose knew that the man had defied the laws of nature with his magic to achieve such a feat. He should have been dead. The mage wasn’t dead, however, and in many ways felt better than he had before his death.
The cut he had taken on his sword had healed unusually fast for example. Simply wrapped in a bandage, the wound had sealed and even looked partially healed by the end of the day. When the next morning came, Palose had felt safe to remove the bandage. By the third morning, there was only a slight scar.
His greater power in magic was answered in the book ‘Resurrection’. The premise was that the warlock who brought someone back was linked to that person. It ensured his obedience or whatever was put into the controls of the spell, but in turn some of the warlock’s power was shared with the resurrected. In effect, Palose could channel part of the man’s power. It was enough that the battle mage’s aura now appeared that of a wizard, though not a particularly powerful one. Still it meant greater prestige than a modest mage would have been afforded.
Most days found the young man splitting his time between helping Atrouseon attending the tanks in the laboratory and studying in the library. Both places he read and studied his books. The unmoving blanks held no interest for the mage, even though he guarded his master’s most treasured experiment. He could only look at the unborn adolescents for so long before boredom inevitably came and no one ever came to sabotage them during any of the nights he spent there.
Mornings Palose slept as he tried to maintain his energy after the long nights, but afternoons the fledgling warlock spent in the library. Though he could have studied anywhere, the library held a pull on him. Silence and access to the tomes didn’t compare to his hope of seeing Sylvaine again. Her kiss lingered on his mind for two reasons. Though the first was the curly haired, brunette girl and her kind personality, which was a ray of light in the mostly dark world of Ensolus, and of course the taste of her lips from their kiss; the true reason was wondering why she had kissed him in the first place.
Unfortunately for two weeks he had visited the library and never seen a sign of the girl. He had spotted Selvor and his two buddies occasionally. Trying to ignore them, the mage noted their eyes on him. The red headed bully and his leader often left soon after his arrival or did their best to avoid eye contact. He had them suitably cowed from the one beating, but that didn’t go for the youngest apprentice in the trio. Unlike his friends, Palose often noticed Turless watching him curiously. The apprentice didn’t seem afraid like the other two who had actually been dealt with more aggressively.
Palose hadn’t harmed him since he had never hedged towards violence when the others had been antagonizing him. Whether that was a mistake was now his question. Still none of the three dared follow him to the third floor where he made his study area. Few others use
d the handful of tables near the stairway there either, so Palose found that he could watch over who came and went below while being left alone.
Movement from the front door brought his eyes up from the book he was reading. Into the main room, he watched the dark haired apprentice carrying an arm full of books that she placed on the librarian’s counter.
“Hawk vision,” he breathed using a spell the battle mage was comfortable with as his vision became capable of seeing the girl as if he was at her side.
A puff from her lips blew a lock of her hair from left eye as she waited for the wizard in charge to acknowledge the girl. A quick nod as the man looked over the latest haul freed the apprentice to head for the stairs. Palose watched as her white tunic played above her knees as she walked. A white cloth belt pulled the garment tighter to the curves of her waist and he noted the tunic lacked sleeves baring her shoulders where her hair didn’t cover her.
It was only a slight surprise when her path took her up the two floors where Sylvaine’s eyes brightened a bit at the sight of the man waiting at his table. The book still open in his hands, it had gone mostly ignored since the girl had walked into view.
“You’re here studying necromancy again?” questioned Sylvaine as the apprentice stopped to read the cover of ‘Understanding Life’. “That one was confusing for me,” she admitted freely.
Her head turned and eyes glanced towards the rows of books behind the mage, before deciding to sit in the empty chair at his side. Crossing behind him to pull out the chair to sit, the apprentice crossed her legs revealing bare skin from her knees to her gray slippers.
“What did you find confusing?” Palose asked as she finished placing her hands on the bared upper knee. The smell of flowers wafted with the light breeze of her movement making him breathe in her scent happily, trying to remain slightly aloof and perhaps even a bit mysterious as he attempted to get to know the girl a bit more.
Her hands spread as she turned them palm up as she admitted, “Pretty much all of it. Magic can bring life. Magic is life, but can not over ride death. Blah, blah, blah. I get it, but I don’t get it.” She finished with a self deprecating smile.
Shrugging, Palose replied, “He gets a bit too flowery with his words. For me it boils down to magic being able to animate the dead, but it can’t bring back a soul once it is too far gone. Something like that anyway. I tend to overlook some of what he says as not all his philosophy makes a difference to casting the spells.”
With a warm smile Sylvaine nodded. “Well, you do seem more comfortable with it than I was. Apparently you have a knack for such things where I found that even the darkness shield seems too complicated for me.
“Give me a simple fireball or gust of wind any day.”
Returning her warmth with his own slightly restrained smile, Palose had to shrug again. “Until I start practicing the spells, I can only speculate on what kind of knack I might have for the art. I have seen some of the results of those spells and perhaps that gives me a little better perspective on what he is talking about, I guess.”
“You might try learning the night shields then. They seem a bit related.”
“How so?” he asked enjoying the moment to take in her appearance with his eyes. She was pretty, but not so pretty that Sylvaine would feel unattainable. Hers was a distracting beauty, but he had a feeling that the apprentice revealed little of what she could make herself look like if she tried more.
“Night shields drain power from the elements. They are like death drawing away life. At least, that is my take on it,” she added with a light laugh.
“Necromancy doesn’t draw away life or drain it away. It adds life. Perhaps they are the opposite ends of the spectrum instead.”
Shrugging in response, Sylvaine replied unaffected by the correction, “I told you that I wasn’t good with either school of magic.” Again she giggled quietly to avoid the librarians’ wrath.
“Can you show me the shield?”
She shook her head. “Two weeks of studying and practicing and I have yet to form one correctly. Wizard Eloria is getting annoyed at my failures, I fear. She wanted me to follow in her steps, I think, and she knows more than just the elements that I seem stuck with so far.”
“Can you heal instead?”
Giving him a look like he was crazy, the girl retorted, “Healing is nearly impossible for a wizard who uses destruction magic. Fire is my strongest element therefore making me an unlikely healer.”
A silence rested a moment between them before Palose stated, “I knew a caster that specialized in combat magic, but he could heal.”
“That isn’t supposed to be possible,” Sylvaine stated with a frown and shake of her head in disbelief. “How can he maintain a balance between the two?”
It was Palose’s turn to shrug. “I really don’t know. He was unique. That much I am sure of, so maybe he would have had problems in the future, but since he is dead I guess that it no longer matters.”
“He was a friend?” she asked lowering her voice in concern and showing compassion in her eyes. Being friends with too many people or the wrong ones seemed frowned upon by the masters of the city. He wondered why and doubted anyone would ever answer him truthfully on the matter.
Since he had rarely felt that close to anyone especially while in school, it was an easy answer, “He thought we were. I’m not so sure, but I ordered his death either way.”
A slight gasp from the girl revealed her surprise. “How could you do that? It couldn’t be easy to sentence your friend to death.”
Thinking for only a moment on his actual feelings about the incident, Palose decided, “It was easier than you might think. He was responsible for getting me killed. I kind of owed him one for that.”
“You mean nearly got you killed,” the girl clarified for him in error.
He shrugged. “Close enough anyway. But enough of that talk. Whether we were or were not friends, his decisions brought me here.”
Forehead wrinkling in doubt, the apprentice asked, “Is that for good or ill?”
“I am still deciding that,” the young man answered with a slight smile as his eyes flicked to hers.
Again her eyes dilated oddly as a serene look took the girl’s face. She leaned closer and again she kissed him on the lips, but as Sylvaine sat back he could see that the girl had done so without any true thought. Her eyes cleared quickly, but a little frown crossed her face as she asked, “What were we talking about again?”
Shrugging his shoulders, the mage replied, “We were just deciding if coming to Ensolus was a good thing. I think this is where I can find my true path as a caster, if nothing else.”
“Who is your teacher, Palose?” questioned Sylvaine gently without trying to pry if he preferred keeping such information to himself. People in Ensolus were often close mouthed about who they knew, though apprentices were less so being young and still learning their way around society.
“Technically Warlock Atrouseon is my master but, as I came fully trained to combat magic, he more or less guides what to study than actually teaches me anything. He is an expert in necromancy and I think our bond may help me to become as strong in the school as he is,” the mage acknowledged without explaining their true bond, which he was still exploring for himself.
The girl was quiet a moment before admitting, “I have heard of him from my teacher Eloria. She doesn’t seem to like him that much, but I have heard that he is influential enough to hold even the emperor’s ear.”
“He works on projects for the emperor, I suppose, though I have never witnessed him speaking with the emperor. He also leads a research team among other things, so I know that he has some power over others.”
“Do you like having him as your teacher? Eloria can be very demanding. When I fail at new magic, her temper can be pretty harsh, though I have learned many things from her,” the apprentice quickly amended looking fearful that she had admitted such a thing to a near stranger. There was a strange bond between them tha
t went beyond the behavior of her kissing him twice. He was attracted to her as well, of course, but it seemed to be more than that.
Letting the admission go, knowing that such words were best left alone in Ensolus, he answered her question, “He isn’t very demanding of me and half ignores me most of the time. We didn’t intentionally choose one another, but forced or not he seems a good fit for me. I am no child that needs to be led through my spell books, though some guidance is necessary to narrow my search for the right information. He gives me space as well as a place to live for now. Both are gifts in their own way, I think.”
His comment about being led like a child seemed to prick at Sylvaine and she retorted in mild annoyance, “I am not led like a child either. Eloria is simply more hands on than your master apparently.”
Nodding as he ignored her indignation, the mage confirmed, “Some teach that way. If you get what you need from them, then it is all worth it.”
Sylvaine’s eyes wandered to his view of the library looking over the other apprentices and wizards mostly on the main floor below their table. Around a score were apprentices and despite their studies, Palose thought that a few were looking at them from time to time. The glances seemed to be trying to hide their interest and he wondered if it was because he was a resurrection man or if it was the girl drawing their attention now.
“You picked out a good place to study. It has a good view that might distract me, if I were to use it regularly though,” she said noting some of the boys below catching their looks. “There are a lot of boys here as usual.”
Giving a slight grunt of amusement, Palose responded sarcastically, “I don’t get distracted by boys.”
Turning slowly away from the view to look at the mage, her violet eyes locked on his with a look of bemusement. “There was a rumor that a few apprentices wanted to bully another apprentice a couple weeks ago. Apparently he could use magic to fight fast enough to thrash them rather soundly in a matter of seconds.” She pretended to consider something and mused aloud, “Your hand was bleeding when I met you. You didn’t happen to be part of that fight?”
Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 6