“Mutually beneficial how? I gave you everything you need already!”
Letting out a long sighing breath, Palose tried to ignore the interruption and refusal to see his part of the relationship. Explaining, though it mattered little that Atrouseon understood his viewpoint, he continued, “You know all of the duties I perform for you to maintain your appearance as my master. When you needed someone to trust, it was me that you had guard your precious vessels among other things.
“I also have been handling your wealth for quite a time now,” he let the last words sink into the man’s understanding.
Struggling as he comprehended the meaning of the comment, Atrouseon snarled, “You have stolen from me?!”
“You have no real need for what little I took. Look at it as earning a wage.”
“I am your master! Apprentices don’t need to be paid in gold. They earn knowledge to become their own men and earn their way on their own.”
Again Palose sighed, he would have shaken his head if the warlock would have seen the gesture, but the mage didn’t waste energy on such things needlessly. “You have treated me like a servant, maybe an unwanted child; but never as your actual apprentice. I know apprentices and how they are taught. You are like an uncle I was forced upon, putting me up in a small room and having me run errands to earn my keep.
“I think you also know, or at least fear, that you aren’t more powerful than I am. You had nothing to teach me aside from sending me to the library and told me to open a few books. Worse yet, since you took no part in my learning, you really have no idea what I know; and that should truly scare you.”
Struggling more from fear than anger, Atrouseon soon lapsed back into submission. “What is it you want?”
“I will remain here until the end of the month in the guise of being your apprentice. You will declare me fit to be a warlock and free of you so that you can take on an actual apprentice, if that is what you want. You will freely give me a third of your gold that I will place into my own account. Then we will sever our ties to each other and part as friends.”
“You want to part as friends and want to steal my gold from me while doing it. Are you insane? Has your recreation addled your mind?”
In response, Palose mumbled a spell before placing his fingers into the center of the warlock’s back. A surge of magic flowed through his fingers, not into Atrouseon, but from the warlock instead. The man gasped feeling his strength disappearing into his apprentice.
“What are you doing to me?” Atrouseon asked breathlessly, but his fear was palpable even so.
Removing his fingers from the place on the spine, Palose found the warlock very malleable and submissive as his strength diminished feeding the man holding him fast. The mage felt the new power in him and understood quickly how much magic there was still to feed his strength. Refusing his indulgence, Palose took a deep breath and replied to the helpless man before him, “Your enemies want me to take from you, everything that you have. What would you rather give up, part of your wealth or all of your life?”
A long moment of silence passed between them before Atrouseon acquiesced and surrendered, “I will do as you say. I can have the paperwork written up and delivered to the warlock council. You will be my apprentice until the end of the month and take the money. Just leave me be and let me regret ever reviving you, Betrayer.”
Releasing his hold on the warlock, Palose stepped back cautiously, though he doubted that the man had any fight left in him any longer. He had taken almost a third of the man’s magic and it translated into leaving him drained of energy. “You created me to betray a country, but it’s you who pushed for this betrayal. Now if you don’t mind, I need to go to the emperor.”
The walk to the castle went quickly as the mage’s mind reviewed what had just happened. He had just formally forced his master to acknowledge him as a full warlock essentially emancipating him. Of course extorting the man out of a small fortune in gold was probably not the best way to part ways, and using the spell given him with the knife to steal some of Atrouseon’s magic was another theft further deteriorating their relationship. On the other hand, taking his master’s power had probably ensured that the warlock would follow through if only to be rid of him.
When Acheri had directed him to the book ‘True Power’, he had found an exact duplicate of the spell to be used with the knife. Without the knife involved, a resurrection man could steal some power from his creator, but the governing rules of their relationship remained intact. He couldn’t kill his master for money, was one of those rules, but Atrouseon had never thought to add other restrictions to his death. The warlock had also failed to require him to avoid raising a hand to defend himself as the man found out earlier. The resurrection man’s mind merely had to out think the restrictions to avoid obeying a direct order.
He was still questioning whether he would have to use the knife to remove Atrouseon’s possible power over him when he arrived at the room holding the emperor. His guards pulled the doors open and gestured for him to enter. Not wanting to offend Kolban since he was already slow to respond thanks to his altercation with Atrouseon, Palose hurried forward finding the young looking emperor studying some maps on a table.
Acheri sat in a stuffed chair with one leg hanging over an arm and showing more bare skin than was ladylike as if any lady would sit with her legs apart in civil company. She was wearing green slippers which matched her dress looking very bored until the battle mage arrived. Her leg stopped kicking lazily and she drew it back down off of the arm smiling at the mage.
“Ah welcome, Palose,” Kolban greeted him sounding like an old man as opposed to the young teen appearing before him. “I appreciate you coming; though it is a little slow for you.”
Kolban’s apparent position on resurrection men or at least for him in particular, had been made known to him through Acheri, and his being chosen to assist the girl and Lanquer seemed to imply some trust and belief in him. The mage had been involved with plans known only within the emperor’s closest circle of advisors, which also meant he had the ear of the emperor. Testing that ear, he stated, “Atrouseon didn’t appreciate my coming to visit the castle over him. I think he feels jealous of the attention and your current need for me in your plans.”
Walking over to the two men standing by the table, Acheri gave her opinion on the matter. “Jealous or threatened maybe. He was one of those behind the blank experiment. Didn’t you have a couple of the other wizards excluded from the final weeks before our birth?”
Her attention had moved from Palose back to the emperor with the question. Kolban shrugged at her change of conversation as he let her get to the point. “That was a lifetime ago,” the boy said with a smile. “When I first visited our vessels, I was able to check and make sure that they would be satisfactory. Knowing that I could transfer my power to this body, I chose to limit the knowledge of the transfer to even fewer.”
“That caused Etriak and Alimus to panic. They believed Atrouseon and Thielius had been the ones to steal them hoping to gain favor with the emperor,” Palose added with a nod. He informed the boy in front of him who had been that dark, shadow shrouded emperor.
“They were all rewarded for their efforts in the end,” the boy emperor sighed as if still disappointed in his warlocks. “Now Atrouseon is showing similar signs of breaking and taking it out on his apprentice? That is disappointing.”
“We had a chat that will put it behind us,” Palose stated trying not to gloat. “He will be declaring my studies with him over and I can be raised to a full warlock. I will move out of his home by the end of the month.”
Waving off the decision as if it had little merit, Kolban decided, “I will send paperwork to the guild myself, but you can decide when you wish to leave the warlock on your own. I sense you already have accommodations lined up for a new home.”
He nodded.
Kolban continued on with another thought, “Have you decided on what you will do about Atrouseon? He will hav
e power over you as long as he lives, since the warlock brought you back to life.”
Frowning at the thought, which he had also considered, Palose replied, “I owe him this new life, so if he doesn’t try anything against me, then we will leave matters lie as they are.”
In response to that declaration, the emperor smiled as if in on a secret joke and he explained the reaction as he added, “As they are, I sense a new increase in your power. Did you do something to Atrouseon during your ‘chat’?”
“I used a spell from ‘True Power’ to rip a third of his magic from him.”
“Making you near equals I would guess,” Kolban said almost appearing proud of the mage in spite of the news that he had stolen from his master.
Acheri looked excited as she added, “Then he will be even more instrumental in the plan, brother.”
Rolling his eyes at the girl’s interruption and change of topic, the emperor sighed and nodded. “Yes, the reason I requested you to come here. Acheri has been able to work out just how well Garosh is protected, or guarded depending on the perspective, and we have come up with an idea to flush the traitor out of Windmeer.”
“He has officially been decided to be a traitor then?” Palose asked interrupting in his slight surprise. Though Verian had more or less admitted the details of Garosh’s plans, it had never been declared that the giant would be considered a traitor by the emperor, his brother or father depending on how one looked at their relationship.
“If all goes according to plan, Garosh will get his chance to explain his actions to me. For now, I think the declarations from Verian seal his fate as a traitor to be dealt with in whatever way I see fit. I gave him his power in my former life and I can take it back. I gave him his very life and can end it.
“Now before he can answer for his actions, we need to flush him out.”
“I still think that if I went to Windmeer and stopped muting my power, he would sense it and run, Kolban,” Acheri interrupted with a bit of a pouty lip. They had apparently been at odds as to what the plan should be. The girl was smart and audacious, but Palose could see a major problem with that idea.
The emperor shook his head covering the mage’s worry, “No, if you reveal yourself to him, then you reveal yourself to the entire city. Even you can’t face all of Windmeer, even if I believe that Lanquer is ready to serve as your guard,” the comment caused the third royal to frown. Ever the third string since he was viewed as inferior, Lanquer seemed forever doomed to being referred to as a reject. “Even with Palose along as well, there will be too many wizards, mages and soldiers to defeat. If Garosh has joined Southwall as we fear, then he would have an army as great there as he would holed up in his little mountain fortress.
“No, I think sending the assassins in under cover would be the best way to flush him out.”
“What assassins?” Palose asked trying to catch up to what must have been a much longer conversation between them and perhaps his council as well.
“We will send in a small team dressed as battle mages to infiltrate and attack in the least protected spot. Whether it will be the room he currently uses or at one of the training fields, we know that he will have at least eight guards around him at all times. The five volunteers will most likely not escape or even survive, but it will let Garosh know that we can get to him no matter where he is.”
Acheri nodded as she looked at Palose and said with a smile, “We are hoping that he will believe the fortress is safer since no one has ever used a gate into the mountain. Once he runs to the supposed safety, we can use your doorways in the mountain to bring him to ground. The other place he would have to run would be Ensolus and of course Kolban’s armies will be waiting here.”
With an agreeable nod despite his sister stealing his thunder, Kolban asked Palose intently, “Can you provide us with the information to supply the team with the proper disguise? We thought using men with the power of battle mages would be less assuming. They will actually be members of the wizard hunters. If the clothing looks right and we have them invested with enough magic to make them appear as powerful as mages, we can send soldiers rather than risking our more valuable warlocks to a one way mission.”
It had been said that the emperor rarely risked his assets in what he figured to be a losing cause, which made Palose realize just how important they viewed Garosh’s surrender and subsequent apparent betrayal. A handful or more wizard hunters, who were elite soldiers, would be heading into a suicidal situation just to get to the giant.
“Garosh is that important to risk so many lives?”
Kolban’s eyes revealed no remorse and in fact leveled a stare that implied the question was meaningless. “Some tactics require risk. This is no risk at all. These men will go and I do not expect them to return, but they will do their jobs. The only risk is whether Garosh will take the bait and run.”
“He will run,” Acheri stated with a confident smile.
Rolling his eyes at the girl, which made her frown with her lip stuck out in a pout, Kolban responded, “My original form gave life to you all and even I can’t say that for sure. You are a sister that only has the memories passed on from me and you have had little to do with him since your birth. Assuming anything with your viewpoint would be the risk. Garosh was created to be his own man. Traitor or loyal, Garosh is intelligent enough to know that this implies that we want two things.
“Either the mission works and he dies at the assassins’ hands or we want to make him run. We have to hope that he believes the fortress is safer than Windmeer.
“Now, Palose, come let us discuss how to make these assassins appear to be battle mages of Southwall.”
Chapter 27- Dance of Giants
Dinner at Windmeer was always a major event for everyone in attendance. While the food was the initial draw as everyone needed to eat, the camaraderie between the various factions: wizard, mage, soldier, lord and servants was the true reason every night could become something great. Duke Gelan had always made sure that his people had a reason to serve and fight so close to the wall. Men and women rotated positions on the wall and patrols risked their lives beyond it on the dangerous plains occupied by nomads and armies of the emperor.
While most nights were entertaining, Rilena found a new anxiousness brought to the room. For over a week, Garosh had managed to get permission to join the festivities as he tried to integrate with the general population of Windmeer. The giant had apologized to the mage more than once, as well as Nereith and Druick who had been with her when they had been caught and tortured. He had tried to lend support to Southwall by giving information on army movements and other pieces of military practices to bring insight about their enemy. As a model prisoner, or guest depending on the perspective, Garosh seemed to have become known as a likeable man. Even she had softened somewhat for the one who had once tormented her and Rilena kept wondering, if he had any ulterior motives; would they ever come to be.
“I wonder what he would look like without that gray beard. It ages him and covers his face too much,” Teven stated beside the falcon. Like Dolfeen, the wizard had become a regular visitor to their table and the petite young woman had managed to even become a good friend. When her first days of guarding her enemy had been some of her worst, the water wizard had been one of those who had buoyed her spirits.
Rilena glanced at Teven, whose crystal blue eyes rested on the giant sitting with some of his guards while the others stood ready, even if they looked doubtful of being needed. Her blond hair hung loose covering more of her face blocking much of the mage’s view, but she was pretty sure it was more of a gaze of curiosity than actual interest in the man. Teven could be odd, so the mage wouldn’t put either past the wizard.
“His eyes don’t show any age lines,” Rilena informed her having looked at the man close enough over the past month and a half as one of his guards. Her boredom while often standing guard while he merely sat and read or did other mundane activities had led her to study the man. She had more than
enough time over the past weeks to do so and the mage almost thought that the giant liked her looking at him. If he believed that she could ever look at him romantically, however, Garosh was more deluded than Teven appeared to be at times.
“Didn’t you say that Bas felt like he reminded him of the Grimnal?” Elzen asked casually looking rather annoyed with the current conversation between the women. “If he is actually somehow related to him, then silver hair from birth could mean that he is an immortal.”
“How do you know that immortals are born with silver hair, Elzen? You’re not exactly the most well read mage I’ve ever met,” Rilena questioned with a laugh. While she picked on him, the girl knew that her friend was smarter than he often let on as a jokester.
Shrugging in response as he took a bite of dried fruit, Elzen replied, “I’ve been known to read on occasion, even books without a lot of pictures.” He seemed to insinuate that Rilena could only read children’s books, but the mage let it slide to let him finish. “When he was alive or in power, depending on what you believe about his absence, the Grimnal had spread the word to look out for babies born with white or silver hair. Apparently he was said to have been born that way and the other immortals he knew had been as well.
“So if you want to know, you could always ask him if he was born with that hair or if he’s just prematurely gray,” Elzen more or less suggested to his friend.
Teven started to stand, but Rilena’s hand quickly pulled down on her forearm restraining her movement bringing the wizard’s crystal blue eyes to her questioningly. “It doesn’t have to be right this instant, Teven, besides you don’t even know him.”
“I didn’t know you when we took our first bath together, did I? That worked out well enough, besides just walking up to him here would be much easier. At least here, we’re both clothed and won’t see everything when I ask him a question,” the young woman finished with a giggle as Rilena blushed.
Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 40