Kolban shook his head. “I named you for my sister born in another age, but I do not remember her ever being so coy.”
“Maybe if she had been, you wouldn’t have become what you are now,” Acheri retorted neither being judgmental nor seeming to insinuate whether that was good or bad. “If you don’t like what I am, then you should have created me with a different spell.”
The emperor sighed and opened his hands futilely. “It is too late now. You and Lanquer have your own wills and minds after all.” He looked at the apprentice and smiled in echo of the old man who had given a similar look to him earlier. “You thought that these were all just extensions of my mind, mage?”
Palose said nothing being unsure what to say.
“My knowledge has been imparted to each, but not my memories of self. Acheri has her own desires and personality.” He glanced to Lanquer, who had strapped on a sword and a few knives attached to his belt. “Lanquer has much the same, but was born to be my guard. Still he will be whatever he is because I give him his own mind.
“You should understand this, since Atrouseon raised you too.”
“But I was born and lived my life well before he brought me back,” Palose countered before reminding himself that he was speaking to the emperor, a being that could squash him with his magic or have him executed with the numerous men and monsters that served him.
Waving the thought off with his right hand, Kolban added, “The spells I used to bring them to life and share my power, essentially add a history of knowledge to both. A kernel that was me and my desires attached to my spell breathed life into them and made them fully formed people.
“Atrouseon’s spell used runes that set certain guidelines on your behavior whether you realize it or not, but as you say, the rest is you. It is very similar I assure you.”
Palose felt the age of a teacher who knew more than a battle mage who was just learning to be a wizard. They were minutes old, but Kolban was still the emperor, a being over a thousand years old.
Acheri moved over to Palose once more searching his eyes with her dark blue versions. Like a night sky, they sought to pull him into their depths, before she smiled and said to Kolban, “You are overwhelming the poor boy, brother. He isn’t quite ready for such information. Keep on studying, little mage,” the girl finished by patting him on the left cheek a bit harder than before. “Someday you’ll understand.”
“Maybe he won’t,” Lanquer inserted negatively.
“Have faith, Lanquer,” Kolban retorted before striding towards the two wizard hunters. “Devolus, Liev, we will return to the citadel now. Tomorrow begin his training. I was never a swordsman, so what he knows may be wrong.”
Frowning at the emperor’s frank words, the future guardsman could say nothing. He was newly born out of the Dark One’s spell. How could he be sure what he knew would be enough to protect the emperor from his miniscule life span’s perspective?
He joined Kolban beside the guards waiting for Acheri, who touched Palose’s face yet again holding him beneath the chin as she said, “I will miss you, mage. Such a delightful face.” She finished giving his cheeks a squeeze around his jaw before releasing him to join the others.
Left in the whirlwind of confusion generated by the new children, Palose almost wondered if this was like watching the birth of new gods.
“Well, she liked you, didn’t she?” Atrouseon said with a chuckle.
Thielius nodded smiling. “They do have something in common with your resurrection man. Maybe that drew her to him.”
As if he weren’t there, his master answered his colleague, “They are like two sides of a coin. His rebirth is that of a return to life, while hers is new life tempered by old memories.”
“Well, whatever the case, the emperor seems pleased with our work,” the half elf warlock replied.
“I assume your reward will be pretty great then,” Palose stated joining the conversation to remind them he could speak for himself.
Atrouseon steered the mage by the shoulder to return the way that they had come. “My rewards mean little to you. You get to live off of my wealth while you learn. It doesn’t mean that you are wealthy yourself.”
Chuckling, Thielius reminded the warlock, “Well, if you were to die, with no heirs of your own, I think he would inherit all that you have.”
“Just remember killing me would get you destroyed, so don’t start thinking of killing me for my money,” the master said and Palose could feel the lock of a new command on him. Of course, the idea of killing the warlock for wealth had never been his reasoning, though having his money would certainly be a perk.
“Of course not, master,” Palose nodded falling in line behind Atrouseon.
Keeping the emperor’s newest secret had been both easy for him and nearly impossible at the same time. For Palose, the command meant magic helped the mage say nothing even to his friends, not that they asked. There had been some rumors over a strange feeling of loss or change that many who had always felt the dark hold of the emperor’s magic tied to them suddenly felt as a break. Whether the feeling meant for any alarm had been debated by those noticing the change, but it had only been a momentary lapse before Kolban reasserted control.
The hardest part of keeping the truth hidden was not from those he knew well, but from those that he didn’t. Atrouseon had been bombarded by questions and the fears of the remainder of his research team. Declaring that the emperor had confiscated the vessels to hide them in a secure location did little to assuage their fears. With their life’s work suddenly gone, Etriak and Alimus had nothing else to distract them and believed that the emperor would in fact come to kill them for losing the culmination of the work of centuries. All involved knew that he needed a new vessel and two viable candidates were now missing.
Getting no satisfaction from Thielius or Atrouseon, the two frantic warlocks sent their apprentices and assistants throughout the city looking for the truth, while doing their best to avoid revealing the cause for their search. For two weeks, the men persisted while no punishment or questioning came from the emperor.
When finally Palose was walking to the library mostly to avoid dealing with Atrouseon, who had been spending an unusual amount of time in his home trying to avoid questions, he was not that surprised when a group of men led by Etriak and Alimus suddenly surrounded him. Pulled into an alleyway, the mage assessed those surrounding him. There was no fear in the mage. He had already survived death hadn’t he and then there was the bond to Atrouseon that might prevent a second death. The books had been unsure since so few resurrection men were killed while their masters lived.
The two warlocks were old men and as close as they all were, he doubted that they could summon their magic faster than he could kill them. Three more were apprentices; which meant they were less skilled and equally within his kill zone. The last three were soldiers and their swords were still in their scabbards as two of the men held him by each arm pressing him against the stone wall of the building behind him.
“Palose, you must help us!” Etriak demanded quickly. The older man’s thinning brown hair seemed to have grayed with worry over the last two weeks or so. It had been salted with gray, but now the brown was almost gone from the thin gray hair. His eyes were dark with a lack of sleep from long nights lost in fear. Alimus had always been shaved bald, but his eyes told the same story.
“If it is within my power,” Palose nodded amiably enough despite the situation.
“Atrouseon does not seem worried over the loss of the emperor’s vessels. He and Thielius keep telling us that the emperor took them for safe keeping despite having told us to mature them for almost a month longer. Without our expertise to watch over the vessels, how would he maintain them unless Thielius and Atrouseon were involved?
“What do you know of the situation? Our men have discovered that the gestation chambers were removed in the night by soldiers, but no one can tell us where they have gone. The emperor will kill us if they are destroyed!”<
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Palose could not reveal more than the spell on him would allow, so he stated as calmly as he could, “I can only say that the emperor will not judge you or destroy you, since it was his plan that took them. He obviously wanted to keep their existence from any enemies he judged might work against him. Beyond that I can not tell you more, since I have been commanded to silence.”
The elderly wizards glanced to each other before Alimus took over the conversation. It was no longer an interrogation as the second warlock admitted in a quiet tone, “If we told you of a ritual to rid you of Atrouseon’s control, would you help us?”
“What ritual?” the mage asked trying not to appear greedy. “I have already been given the command that I can’t kill him for his money after all, so to act against him, even if I wanted to, would be rather difficult for me anyway.”
The bald wizard was shrewd and saw through the admission realizing that Palose knew he could still kill his master for other reasons than money. “Then do it for another reason,” the man stated grimly as he sanctioned the death of his colleague in order to save his own skin.
“Tell me of this ritual and I will see if I can help you more,” Palose answered refusing to commit to anything. He knew that there was no reason for the warlocks to fear the emperor’s punishment, but this was a chance to find out something that might not be in the books.
Alimus nodded to Etriak, who produced a stone blade laced with runic marks promptly and a note written on a small scroll of paper. Palose took the blade and slipped from the soldiers’ hold to hide it in his pack. He then opened the scroll. Instructions for a ritual and explanation of its results caused the young man to nod. It was as he thought. The scroll revealed that not only could he kill his master, but he could steal his power in the process making him a powerful warlock from the change. This was what he had been looking for as his wish for power had continued to grow.
Packing the scroll away in his pack as well, Palose wondered what he could say to assuage the warlocks’ minds and let him escape their maddened suspicions. “Atrouseon has received no rewards for his part in creating the vessels as of yet. I can get word to you when he does. As long as the emperor hasn’t changed his mind about rewarding you all for your parts in this, then you will know soon enough. I can not know his mind, of course, but I think that he merely wants to keep what he is doing secret for now.
“You can consider me your agent against Atrouseon as far as he never orders me specifically to betray you. I can not take immediate action on my master as you know, or they would destroy me for betraying him and believe me a rogue wraith, but should it come down to my new allies or my master I will choose your benefit.”
He was swearing away his allegiance so far as Atrouseon was concerned and giving it to the two warlocks. They could see his sincerity and he watched as their fears lessened.
“You swear that the emperor has not decided to kill us?” Etriak asked one last time.
“I think if he had wanted you dead by now, he would have sent the wizard hunters to kill you. Even your searching, which reached my ears, hasn’t brought his blade to your throats.
“Find your next experiments or teach your students. Do nothing more to upset him by discovering what he doesn’t want you to know and I believe that not only will you live, but you will be rewarded handsomely for your work.”
Palose thought he felt a surge of magic within him, like the feeling he had before receiving Sylvaine’s first kisses. The men eased back as his gaze took them in and they simply nodded. Etriak waved those serving him towards the street they had left behind as Alimus said a final farewell, “If that is what you believe, then just honor your word should you hear otherwise that we might have a chance to escape.”
“I will,” he nodded.
Finding the alley empty save for himself, Palose looked at his pack and the unseen stone blade. Such a thing couldn’t be brought into the apartment they shared. He doubted that Atrouseon was so untrusting that he searched his possessions, but should he ever think to try, the blade would ensure his death or a more severe life of servitude at the very least.
Since he couldn’t hide the blade there, the mage decided quickly that it was time to find a place of his own as he had been debating for months. While he had stashed away a small nest egg from both what Atrouseon had given him and a larger amount that the mage had siphoned from the warlock slowly over time, he doubted that it would be enough to buy or rent a place that he could call his own.
His feet led him from the alleyway and Palose soon found his way to a building that wasn’t far from the emperor’s citadel. It was made of the stone that most of Ensolus was and it was large, though nowhere as big as the Breeding Pits that he had visited. It also didn’t carry the stench of that building either. Only the rich visited this place, which meant perhaps a tenth or a little more would ever have need for place simply called the Vault.
After walking up the eight stairs leading to the building’s doors, Palose steered towards a counter barring anyone from a wall of metal bars. Through the bars, he could see four solid metal doors sealed with magically secured locks. Only wizards could open those doors and they needed the spell which could unlock each lock. The imperviousness of such vaults mattered little to the mage. He also had the key to receiving wealth from this place.
He slid a piece of paper to the wizard behind his counter and the man looked at it critically. The signature was that of Atrouseon, who had needed his apprentice to run errands for him before including a few trips to the bank to deposit his money. There were seldom trips made to withdraw any coin as his master had a small safe in the apartment also.
“Two hundred gold coins?” the wizard questioned with a raise of his eyebrow. He looked dubious and Palose knew that he had to play the role of apprentice to a powerful, rich warlock.
Smiling like he hadn’t a care in the world, Palose said brightly, “I heard my master talking about buying a second place to conduct experiments where he wouldn’t need to worry over breaking anything. His apartment is full of treasures that are quite fragile. I’m sure you know what I mean.”
A frown from the man said that he was far from a rich wizard. He worked in a bank helping others amass wealth after all. A powerful wizard would be running the Vault or doing something more important with their time, not serving as a teller for the rich.
“I can imagine,” was all the wizard would say. After a brief incantation to verify that the warlock’s signature looked real, the man retreated through the bars and after casting several spells to open the vault, he disappeared long enough to return carrying two full bags.
The clank of coin as he placed the two bags on the counter led the wizard to lower his voice and ask, “This is a lot of coin. Will you be safe to travel home to your master?”
Placing the two sacks inside of his larger pack, Palose hefted it onto his shoulder like he felt no weight. It was hefty and the coin thumped him solidly on the shoulder with the carefree movement. Taking a slip of paper from the teller telling of his withdrawal, the apprentice replied touching the hilt of his sword, “I am a trained battle mage. Few men could dare try to take it from me.”
He turned and walked across to the doors pushing his way through them, but turned away from the apartment he and Atrouseon shared. His path led him east and the ghetto where most of the humans living inside of the cave city lived if they were not with the military or a warlock. It was there that the next part of his plan to thrive in Ensolus would begin.
Chapter 9- Home Away From Home
Ensolus consisted of a massive cavern covering miles from one end to another with Lake End occupying almost a fifth of the available area. Set on the east side of the city, it limited the land to the east to a sliver that ran north to south for about half a mile. The humans that had settled in Ensolus had made it their home hemmed in by the lake to the north and the military to the west.
Orcs of higher rank held the zone between the higher ranks of military, warlock
s and the gate merchants and the lower cast humans of the eastern ghetto. Palose kept his eyes open as the streets changed from those of the nobles, human and elven officers and, of course, the warlocks to those of the orc military families. The streets were surprisingly alive with bodies going to and fro despite the winter’s biting cold.
Male orcs dressed in leather armor or occasionally even steel, pushed their way through merchants and civilians, while orc women tried to corral their children. Unlike the area of the Breeding Pits, the orcs who lived here procreated naturally in contrast to those grown in tanks. Seeming little different from humans in their needs and even actions, Palose found the change surprisingly comfortable. The biggest difference was that their skins were mostly brown and green. The people were slightly shorter than most humans and powerfully built, but those differences could be overlooked as the pulse of a living society moved about as naturally as any town in Southwall.
“Are you lost, wizard?” a gruff voice asked curiously.
Turning to note an orc carrying a large pack on his back looking at him, Palose gave a slight smile. Orcs hated seeing teeth bared at them, so he kept the gesture tight lipped. “I am just passing through to the human sector on business. It’s quite lively here today,” he added gesturing to the crowds around them.
The orc nodded and added, “Keep your pack close, wizard. Cut purses have been a bigger problem of late. Some say that they belong to the officers to fill their pouches so they do little to harness their activity.”
“Thanks for the warning,” he nodded and they continued on their individual paths.
He had come through the northern part of the orc district closest to the lake and the minimal shipyards that always made little sense to the mage. There were fish in the lake that had been brought to the cave, so there was a little fishing, but the yards had always seemed too much for a lake that went nowhere. He could even see the mast of a ship that looked large enough to ride the North Sea.
Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 13