Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus)

by Wigboldy Jr, Donald

  Thoughts of the orcs were quickly swept aside as he felt great power coming through the wall. Without line of sight, the mage could have pointed exactly where the oncoming source of magic was coming from each step of the way. When more soldiers entered before the source, it was like looking at gnats flying between him and the sun. Perhaps the sun was the wrong concept, however, as the being that entered was cloaked in shadow.

  Through a cloud of darkness surrounding the emperor, Palose was able to discern a hooded figure all dressed in black. Black robes with gold trim and a hooded cloak helped conceal the emperor’s appearance, but he still seemed thin. It was a body that was dying and his skin was merely covering bone. The evidence of that came as the Dark One ignored the bowing warlocks, Palose included. A hand lifted exposing an appendage that looked like it could be the hand of death. The shape of each bone could be made out from skin that seemed translucent to his eyes. Veins appeared blue, but the mage almost wondered if his blood even flowed any longer.

  Atrouseon managed to speak even as they all felt the power of the Dark One as he merely stood before them. “My lord, we have finally created a vessel that Garosh could touch with his portion of your power. The male in the center and his sister beside him should be powerful enough to both contain your magic and last indefinitely.”

  Sounding like leaves rattling on stone steps, the emperor’s voice breathed out causing them all to tremble with each word. “They are too young.”

  Nodding, though the emperor never looked at him, Atrouseon answered, “Each month will add a year, my emperor. By the spring, he could appear as a man just leaving his teenage years.”

  A skeletal finger pointed to the first male, the failure that had nearly received a passing grade. “This one can not hold all of me.”

  “Lord Garosh suggested that we keep it for you to decide if the vessel would be needed. We have not tested the other one with your full power. If time brings us to need it, you might place some of your power inside all three to survive.”

  The hood nodded. He moved from one glass womb to another stopping with the girl. “Bring them all to their middle teens. Can you build the rejected one into a warrior?”

  The warlocks glanced between one another, but left Atrouseon to answer once more, “We can build the muscles to become stronger, but he would still need to be trained, sire.”

  “We will bring him out in five months and give the other two half a month longer. The reject will be trained as a warrior and hold some of my power,” the emperor decreed. As they watched, the cloaked figure released some of his power into each vessel. Like a puppeteer’s thread, Palose could feel the emperor tying himself to each one. The strength of his magic concentrated on the boy in the center and threatened to destroy it like grass in a fire, but this vessel was strong. It did not burst or burn away, but remained stronger than steel before a hammer.

  When the emperor removed his hand from the tanks and stepped away, Palose could feel magic amassed in each vessel. He had just witnessed the Dark One’s power and it was enough to make all three vessels more powerful than any wizard he had yet seen.

  “Five months and you will awaken the first with your power, sire?” Thielius questioned seeming less affected than the other men.

  The shadowy figure looked at the warlock and nodded. “I will give each my essence before I take my new form. They will become my sword and shield, a brother and sister who will be devoted to me.”

  Palose felt the dark gaze leave the warlocks to come to a rest on him. For the first time, he felt true worry and perhaps even fear. Advancing on him slowly and deliberately, the mage held his ground knowing that fleeing was no option before the emperor. Even as his body weakened, the Dark One’s power seemed to be growing as it tried to explode out of the being.

  “I sense death on you, but I smell life as well,” that rasping voice spoke to him like death was commenting on his defiance of his realm.

  Atrouseon looked uncomfortable, but he answered the unasked question, “I used the resurrection spell on this one, my lord. He opened the gate into Windmeer and we nearly destroyed the city from within.”

  “A resurrection man. I sense your strength is like a child’s. It will grow to become more than you ever were in life and when that happens I may come for you to join me.”

  His voice broke as Palose found his mouth asking almost of its own volition, “Join you, my lord?”

  Shaking his head, the mage could see a face dry as paper, wrinkled and worn with eyes that would have looked dead, if not for the glow of magic coming from within. Like portals to the emperor’s power, Palose could see a portion of the Dark One’s power and he felt like he would burn away one moment and take it for his own in another. Magic seemed to waft off of the cloaked figure and, if he just knew how to grasp it, Palose felt like he could take it as his own.

  “We shall see,” was the reply as his shadows began to swirl and gather around him again. The emperor’s audience was through and they had all been dismissed.

  Like the sun, he had risen and now the sunset left the room feeling empty. Palose felt new power in the room, however. Looking to the children in their glass wombs, the mage felt the emperor’s presence in each one. He doubted that he could have held even half the power the rejected one held inside of him now.

  “We will need to work on the reject,” Etriak spoke after the emperor and his soldiers had left the building.

  Thielius nodded, “So many failures for so long and now we have not only one that can hold the emperor, but three he wishes to use.”

  “A warrior or a better description would be that the reject will become his bodyguard. The master has found a use for each, though I am curious to see how they all are used by his will,” Etriak said wistfully.

  Clearing his throat, Atrouseon said to the men, “The emperor has left his essence in all three. We must monitor each as the power grows inside them. We are trusted to follow his orders and make sure that the vessels become the sword and shield as well as his future body.”

  The warlocks were soon engrossed in checking data and the blanks. Only Atrouseon thought beyond the project to the other words spoken by the emperor. “Palose, he has taken an interest in you. Like these vessels, he wants to watch you grow, I think.”

  “I can’t handle his power,” he said bluntly.

  “He doesn’t want you for his vessel,” the master said with a frown. “Keep studying and practicing your magic. Perhaps you will discover something that I can’t even prepare you for, but whatever else, keep growing so you don’t let him down.”

  Palose could do little more than nod and was glad when his master released him to go study.

  His feet had led him to the north and the schools for wizards and warlocks. Palose was unsure exactly why he had gone there. It had been several days since witnessing the emperor judging the blank vessels and his strange proclamation that the mage’s power would continue to grow. How it could increase beyond what it was now was beyond his current understanding though he had one idea.

  Atrouseon was tied to the resurrection man and that had made him stronger. Whether his power had been added to the warlock’s in some way was the unknown part of the bond. If his magical strength had increased his master’s power in any way, it might well be one possible way to add to his own. Again the spells he had been researching might have both answers as to what he truly was and what he could become.

  Sounds of magic being used came from nearby as Palose walked beside one of the warlock schools. A doorway was set in the thirty foot wall attached to a stone building that appeared rounded rather than straight, and rose for six stories to tower over its wall. Palose noted that the mason work of both wall and building seemed to be beyond just the basic stone work of men. Stones were smooth and where mortar was usually found, the bricks appeared bonded to one another in a way that no normal brick layer could have designed.

  Palose turned the knob on the wood door, an obvious entry point that avoided a m
ore circuitous route through the warlock school. An exit that could be used by the public was unheard of in the schools of Southwall, but he supposed Ensolus had no fears of their spells getting out with a city bent to the emperor’s will as it was. Ignoring yet another philosophical difference between the countries, the mage stepped through the entry to see dozens of wizards practicing their magic.

  Remaining largely unnoticed as the apprentices concentrated on targets or the individual manipulation of their spells, the mage closed the door and began to walk along the wall before following the school where a number of benches and tables were arranged. Bags and clothing were placed on the horizontal surfaces while their owners trained. He was surprised by how many of the students were lightly dressed. Cloaks and even clothing like tunics had been discarded as the heat of fire and exertion of channeling magic caused many to sweat like they were in the blaze of high summer.

  “Have you come to train or to teach?” a girl’s voice questioned drawing his eyes away from the variety of spells and casters in the courtyard.

  His surprise at knowing the owner of the voice must have shown on his face as he drew laughter from Sylvaine. The girl wore a red skirt split up the left side revealing her leg as she stepped and it was light and flowing to just below her knees. A skirt for summer or maybe a warm spring day, it was more modest than the white cloth wrapped around her breasts in a single twisted line around her back revealing her mid drift and shoulders. The girl was even barefoot on the springy moss that coated the stone beneath her feet near the walls.

  Managing to comport himself quickly despite the girl’s exposed skin, Palose answered with a polite smile as he replied, “I could hardly teach anyone in Ensolus. I am learning the magic myself as you know.”

  Appraising him with a look, the girl placed her right hand beneath her cheek tracing her jaw with the forefinger of that hand. Her left arm crossed beneath the white cloth nearly drawing his eyes inquisitively away from her face. “I don’t know,” sounding amused Sylvaine revealed that she knew more about him than she had officially let on before as she said, “I heard that you put Selvor and Malfaes in their place with your quick magic. Perhaps you could show me a little of what you showed them here on the practice field.”

  “That was just battle magic. The spells that I’ve been reading in the books from the library make what I knew inconsequential really.”

  Putting a pout on her lips, the dark haired girl shook her head slightly as she rebuked him jokingly, “Well, if it was inconsequential, then Selvor and Malfaes wouldn’t have gone running home with their tails between their legs. Of course, Turless tattling to everyone about the swift resurrection man who called spears of air to hand in a single word probably blew it out of proportion.

  “Of course I am only a girl and an apprentice, so even inconsequential spells might seem incredible to me. You are sure that you won’t practice with me? I would love to learn something new, even if it does seem unimportant to such a skilled wizard as you.”

  Raising his open hands before him, Palose capitulated as he replied, “Fine, fine, if you think that battle mage spells are that interesting I can try, but I’ve never sparred with a wizard. I usually just used a sword and shield.”

  “Palose?” another familiar voice questioned the air. Turless appeared from the far side of the courtyard with a big smile on his face. “Did you decide to train me on that magic you used?”

  The boy was sweating and had removed his tunic. His gray pants were tucked into boots unlike the barefoot girl. Despite being a northerner, Palose thought that the air was still fairly cool and assumed the stone beneath the moss must be colder still. He was wearing a short sleeve shirt of black and brown pants like any falcon though there was no emblem of his former order. When Sylvaine grabbed his left arm pulling it against her mostly bare upper body he felt her warmth and nearly smiled at the touch of her. “He was going to teach me, Turless. Get your own partner.”

  Turless rubbed at the sweaty brown hair on his head and pleaded, “Come on, Sylvaine, I’ve been trying to get him to show me some of that magic for weeks.”

  “You asked two weeks ago and I said that I’d think about it,” Palose clarified.

  “But I wanted to ask before that,” the baby faced Turless responded blushing a bit with embarrassment.

  Sylvaine stepped forward trying to drag the larger mage towards an open area between practicing wizards. “Too late, Turless, I claimed his time first. Besides we’re friends. Wasn’t your cousin Selvor trying to pick a fight with him the first time you introduced yourself to Palose?”

  Her words stymied the apprentice a moment and the girl got her way. As the two found places to stand across from one another, Palose noted Turless grab his shirt and sit behind Sylvaine on the ground as if he hoped to get a turn when she tired.

  “What exactly do you think I can show you?” the mage asked her cautiously.

  His question made her think a moment and she asked, “What did you do in the fight? Maybe I can try casting some of my spells and you can show me how you would counter them.”

  Preparing a spell, the girl released a fireball as she flung her hands at the mage. Surprised by the sudden attack Palose spoke quickly as he raised his left hand, “Shield, reflex, air spear.” Three spells in quick succession brought him to full readiness, even though his heart wasn’t in this fight.

  The blue shield caught her fireball easily before the mage crossed the distance between them in a blink. With the shimmering air spear held horizontally beneath her chin, he was there holding her right hand with his left before she could blink.

  Her eyes widened at the quick movements and Sylvaine asked, “If Southwall’s mages have such spells, why do they use their slower magic in battle?”

  “Have you fought anyone from Southwall before?” he asked in retort. A smile softened his words and he stepped away from the apprentice. “Most wizards use stronger magic like you. It takes longer but can do more damage given the caster has time. A battle mage uses quick magic and fights closer like a soldier. If the wizards ever got over their disgust for mages and learned our magic, Ensolus might have more to fear.”

  “So not everyone learns to do this? That is a good thing for us, I think,” she agreed with his position. “All right, this time no cheating by running at me. Let’s see what you can do if you fought like a warlock instead of a battle mage.”

  Retreating to his original position, Palose awaited the girl’s attack. If she truly wanted to know his kind of magic, then this exercise was futile to his thinking. A duel set up with a wizard’s rules was hardly a true fight, though looking at the pretty girl in front of him, he realized that he didn’t really want to fight with her anyway, though he did enjoy being close enough to touch her soft, smooth skin.

  He sniffed at his left hand and noticed a scent of flowers mixed with her personal scent. The smell was intriguing as was her personality and looks, but he had to shake off the distraction of the girl as he readied for her next test.

  When her power rose before casting, Palose readied his shield again. His reflex spell remained, but the other spear and shield he had released. Seven fireballs released in quick succession and the mage moved the blue rectangle held before his hand to deflect or stop each ball. By the sixth strike, the shield weakened and winked out of sight while the mage was forced to dodge the last letting it strike the far wall.

  Tilting her head to the side to look at him, Palose wondered what she was thinking. Sylvaine quickly answered that question as the apprentice asked, “Can’t you project the shield away from yourself? Maybe you could summon more than one instead of moving your hands to protect yourself from multiple attacks.”

  It was a plan that Palose had never thought of before and sounded more like something Sebastian would have tried before he died. He had seen shields extended to split things like tables, so he supposed that it wouldn’t be too hard to simply move them away from his hand.

  “We can try,” he answer
ed and readied for another barrage of fireballs. If he had been able to create the night shield Sylvaine had been working on, Palose wouldn’t even need multiple mage shields he realized and wondered if he could create the magic. Trying to cast like a wizard or warlock was still uncomfortable to the trained battle mage.

  Her power rose as she chanted and the fireballs came again. She had added an eighth just to try and push him, he thought.

  Repeating the word ‘shield’ eight times in rapid succession, Palose used his hand to guide where he wanted each shield spell, but the distance ranged from six to teen feet away as they intercepted each piece of flame.

  Sylvaine grinned and clapped for him before casting again. The flames were joined by spears of air similar to his own. Coming in quick waves, the basic spells of both elements were numerous enough to challenge him a little, but his reflex spell kept the shields moving into place well ahead of her casting.

  “Your magic is quicker than I thought,” the girl stated taking a breath between projectile spells. “You can catch everything from the air easily enough, but I bet that you aren’t ready for this!”

  The last words preceded a feeling of magic, but Palose saw no casting as Sylvaine stomped her bare foot ahead of her a step. Erupting in a straight, swift line towards the former falcon, the ground came in a wave very quickly and without the reflex spell it would have caught him completely off guard with its speed.

  Seven shields dropped from the air without his recasting to form a line and all broke reducing the power of the ground spell, but it continued for his feet. Palose created a new air spear using it to vault over the remaining earth wave. Using his speed once again, the mage was quickly at her side watching as the wave settled back into the ground.

  “Mage shields aren’t that useful against an earth attack. Good to know,” he quipped sarcastically.

  Her head turned hurriedly to track the man who moved so swiftly beside her. “That speed spell is very impressive.”