A low growl emanated from the elder. “Traitors have escaped before and now they’ve trained our most hated enemies apparently.
“Who did you face?” the man demanded and the warlocks knew what he meant.
“A handful of battle mages and about as many wizards from Southwall, they were working with a ship from the south, but I am unsure of its origin, Master Cortrive.”
For Palose, the story was beginning to make sense and he realized that his old friend had not only survived the beating that he had been given in Windmeer, but was now on that vessel. He had once believed Sebastian killed by orcs and goblins that he had left behind to kill the mage, but apparently someone had saved him from death. The man had as many lives as a cat it seemed.
The story of the arrows sent from afar and battle mages being sighted meant that the mizard was alive and learning their magic. He was both proud of his old friend’s achievement and annoyed that he hadn’t died as planned.
“Palose?” Atrouseon questioned seeing the man’s thoughtful look. “Do you know something?”
Other eyes turned to the young warlock. Their eyes looked on with some disdain at the former mage, a resurrection man, and in most minds still a mistake since Windmeer had not fallen last summer.
“They ran into the mizard.”
The men mulled the word over in their mouths like an echo of Palose’s words.
“What is a mizard?” Atrouseon asked knowing the minds around them questioned the word.
“The battle mage who has the mind of a wizard, he has apparently learned even more tricks since I last saw him. His ability to learn new magic makes him a problem and the ability to master it in new ways makes him even more dangerous.”
He looked at Werinas, “He has brown hair and is similar to my height. We’re also about the same age. If you were actually brave enough to face him, which I doubt, then you would have seen that he has blue eyes. Does this sound like him?”
The warlock nodded looking pale. Palose had called his cowardice into the light. It was just another way to keep the warlock on the chopping block. The dark mage wanted someone with magic to join him. He couldn’t fully trust most of the living in Ensolus, but perhaps a resurrection man like him would make things better.
The crowd of warlocks and military began to argue and discuss his revelation. Palose’s eyes never left the cowardly warlock. He had plans for this one, if he could make it work.
Chapter 30- Emperor’s Charge
Nearly a week had passed since the first black ship had limped back to Ensolus and everything in the city seemed to come to a halt as if holding its breath. Palose shook his head at the thought and decided that it wasn’t the whole city as much as the citadel and commanders in the army, who waited to see if their Wizard Hunters would be sending anymore ships bloodied and broken back to the city. The infamous black ships of the empire had never been defeated by a single ship according those who had to speak of the pathetic, broken vessel that was little more than a hull after running into a mere merchant ship.
From what Palose could make out from partial reports and rumors, Black Ship Three as it was so originally named, had come across the object of their hunt. Traces of magic set by the alarms guided them towards those who had dared to desecrate some islands that were somehow important to the emperor, though that detail remained hidden. Using the magic like a hound hunting a rabbit, the warlocks had given chase only to find their ship under attack from magic missiles from a distance so far that none of them had seen what had struck the men on the ship.
If Palose had to guess, this was the work of Sebastian. Stories like this in last summer’s battle reports had instances similar. Air lances had somehow been targeted miles away and only Sebastian had been close to both riding the winds and figuring out new ways to use the air spears of the wizards. If he was on that ship, the mizard must have found a way to track the black ships. That was potentially the most damaging news of all. Even the emperor’s warships had never been able to hit beyond visual range. Annoyingly, it also meant the best throws of his air spears were insignificant compared to Sebastian’s talent as well.
Then the surviving warlocks had told of the mages and wizards on the enemy ship using spells of light and shadow as well as any warlock of Ensolus. Another blow to their superiority had heralded the coming loss by the Wizard Hunters. Their own magic used against them, the new armor had become meaningless in a single battle.
He had warned them that Sebastian’s continued survival could turn the war between the two nations. His ability to learn and adapt magic as well as his bridging the gap between wizards and mages that had caused stronger bonds than the two organizations had ever seen; was the ember that could bring down an entire empire in fire.
Now Palose had finally been called to the citadel by the emperor. His current home was known and his secret was out in the open. If there was still reason to hide his whereabouts, it was too late for that. Still he had arranged some precautions for his new home. Stasia and Talia needed to be safe now that he had taken responsibility for them as well.
Seeing Kolban and Acheri talking with his council as Palose entered his meeting chamber, the superficial thoughts melted away knowing that this would be the determination of the emperor’s dealings with Garosh. No more time would be spent letting the giant worry over what would happen.
“Ah, Palose, good timing,” the boy emperor greeted upon seeing the mage enter the room. “We were just about to set the final plan and having your unique perspective as one who knows the points of entry is crucial.”
The dark mage nodded unwilling to argue that his time had been rather brief, but he knew more than most of those in the city and knew where he had seeded the touchstones. If nothing else, Palose assumed that he would be going with to capture or kill Garosh so he might as well know the details.
A map was laid out on the table and was a display of the upper portion of the tunnels and caves making up the fortress. It couldn’t cover everything due to the layers involved, but the map covered the places he had been and where they would need to be.
Pointing near the lines representing the cave mouth and guard wall set inside, Palose traced his fingers to the approximate place he had released the first touchstones. “This point should give a team some cover to enter and use stealth spells before taking the gate. Once the entrance falls, we could either send more soldiers in through here or they could hold it for the second team.”
General Amelyer looked at the simple drawing of the tunnel. A square set in the side of the tunnel just before the gate marker led the elf to point and question, “This is a reinforcing guard house I presume. Do we have any idea of how many troops can be kept inside?”
Palose could only shrug and reply, “From my quick passing I was able to see nothing other than the door. It had been closed when I arrived.”
“So we may need a score or more of men,” the second general, Corven, grunted at the problem.
“If you were to charge them with regular soldiers and raise the noise that would entail, then yes I would think about that to get started,” Palose replied to the half orc’s opinion. “I assume there are enough warlocks with the skill of assassination in Ensolus to ensure quiet stealthy kills before they can raise the alarm to call more men from below or from the guardhouse. We send a dozen who can use invisibility and slice their throats before they do anything let alone raise a sword to resist.”
Looking disgusted at the thought, Corven retorted, “You would have us kill these creatures without finding if they sided with Garosh? There is no honor in that.”
Kolban stepped in voicing what Palose had in mind as he answered, “Those who were not already aligned with Garosh were sent back to Ensolus already. Anyone left in the fortress can be assumed to be a traitor. While we have been deliberating and giving them time, anyone not in line with Garosh’s betrayal could have found a way to escape. I will spare no mercy on the soldiers of the fortress in the attack and taking of Garosh
. Anything less and the honor tarnished would be mine.
“There are already those who have tried to break away before and there are those who say that I have lost my strength. If I can not dispense justice on those who have betrayed me, then perhaps those rumors would be correct. It is time to set the rumors straight however. Not only will my enemies know that I have power, I will see to the justice myself.”
His council all looked shocked to hear such a decision coming from the emperor’s mouth. In fact, General Amelyer tried to be subtle in questioning the ruler as he asked, “Is that wise, sire? We have assassins that can infiltrate and kill anyone, even someone as strong as Garosh.”
“I will go and take Lanquer with me as a bodyguard. Palose will take the lead to take down any guards between our entry and his personal chamber. He and a squad of our best stealth team will work their way through the tunnels killing anyone in our way, while Lanquer and I will follow with a second team to deal with Garosh.
“A third team will hold the jail and keep the tunnel nearby clear, while the final team will strike the gate and guard house so that no word can go out to the men of Southwall.”
General Corven sighed before stating, “The final team on the gate either needs to go first or at the same time as the rest. If they fail, the other teams will be compromised and have to fall back to Ensolus.”
“Palose will cast the first portal for the fortress gate in the portal chamber. Side by side, he will open the second gate while warlocks widen them and hold the portals for the teams to travel. After casting the second gate, he will take charge of the first jail team to clear a path,” Kolban answered with a nod.
“When?” Palose asked simply.
“Tonight when the second moon begins to rise. We may not see them under the fortress, but the bloody moon holds the best time to strike.”
Acheri moved closer to her brother, but still asked loud enough for all to hear, “I am not in the plan, brother?”
“You will stay behind to watch the gates with a large force should the enemy find a way past us. They won’t find us unprepared with an unprotected set of gates.”
The girl looked ready to pout, but held her tongue. He was the emperor after all no matter how much she could bend him around her finger at times; and what he ruled even the spirited girl had to abide by.
As if knowing her thoughts, Kolban added, “You already risked your life in Windmeer. Now it is our turn to do something for the empire.”
Palose checked his gear as he entered the portal chamber. The hour had come and much of the impetus for the mission was on his shoulders. They were his portals, his magical gates and he was to lead seven warlocks trained as assassins to procure the route straight to Garosh’s door.
To his surprise as he and the other troops in the assault were lining up, the dark mage noticed Atrouseon waiting near the spot for the second gate. A dark look from the warlock told of the man’s ongoing jealousy, but Palose moved to his position only a few steps away. He said nothing waiting for either the emperor to give the word or for Atrouseon to break the silence.
“So you lead assassins for the emperor now?” the warlock questioned in a neutral voice. “There is a rumor that you protected the princess as well on another mission.”
“We snuck into Windmeer to drive Garosh from their protection,” he stated simply. The first mission hadn’t been classified and all those involved here knew where this trip was taking them. Those holding the portal had to be ready to face soldiers from the fortress should anything go wrong in the assault. The declaration of Garosh and his people as traitors had been issued across the city for all to know, since Kolban also wanted his people to know that he would settle the matter. It was a message that would make Ensolus know that the emperor was still a strong ruler, given that Garosh’s power was known and feared by many.
“So you have become the emperor’s right hand as I get shoved onto portal duty to hold my apprentice’s gates open. This is the reward I get for creating the perfect vessel for him. First, I create you and lose power. Now this being that I helped create reduces me to the duties of an apprentice,” he said bitterly, though the warlock had stepped closer to speak quiet enough to avoid being overheard by the men around them.
“I am no longer your apprentice as if I ever truly was. Though I owe you my life for bringing me back, you can take little credit for my skills or value to the emperor. As to being reduced in status, if you refuse to find your way to be useful once more, I doubt that will change.
“You once were speaking of rising from your brilliance. Be brilliant again and let him see your value or I have no doubt your fall will continue,” Palose said both clearing the debt and advising the man who was supposed to be his mentor. “I can’t make you rise or fall, nor have I, Atrouseon. Now get a hold of yourself before you can’t recover.”
The man frowned and started to move back as the emperor with his personal guard, including Lanquer, entered the building signaling the mission’s start. “You talk as if you care, warlock,” Atrouseon added the last with an air of disdain.
Refusing to continue the man’s game, Palose turned to see Kolban looking ready in his black wizard hunter armor. Though it had obviously been shown as having flaws, the armor still protected better than other equipment. The mage had a black leather cuirass and other pads on his arms and legs of the same magically enhanced material.
The emperor nodded and said to Palose as well as the others listening, “Let’s do this as planned, gentlemen. Palose, create the gates.”
In quick submission to Kolban’s orders, the dark mage began his first portal. It didn’t have to be big enough for more than one man and use the extra strength that would require, since the portal teams would reinforce and widen the gates for those passing through, so the man did only as much as he needed conserving his strength for the main assault.
As Palose began the second gateway, the gate assault team began to assail the glowing portal made larger by the waiting warlocks. Plunging through two or three at a time, the attack on the fortress had truly begun.
With no time for the butterflies in his stomach, the mage connected with the second set of touchstones. The gate started sized for him to pass and Palose called on his reflex spell before diving into the light. He hoped that it would buy him the time to react if someone awaited him on the other side.
Passing through the gate with the reflex magic activated proved to have another strange effect. Where movement slowed dozens of times to his perception, the travel through the white light seemed to take minutes as his body passed through what he always believed was a void. In the gap between worlds, the mage spied shadows and darkness for the first time. To his sped up mind, the void revealed land above and below the man as he leaped through space. There was no gravity, but there was a wind and always the light.
Then it was gone to be replaced by the solid stone walls of the jail beneath the fortress. It was dimly lit, not from within the large room but from light cast into the space from an open door. While there were two doors that could swing wide, it was just a single half opened slab permitting the glow from outside.
“Vision,” he breathed before the magic made night into day. Even there in the prison, where no moonlight could possibly touch, the room’s detail lit up to near that of day and Palose looked around to see if any prisoners might occupy one of the cells. While there was no one to give them away, the mage carefully stepped forward to await the first wave of men.
The first two entered quickly behind him but, stymied by the lack of light, they were nearly run over by the next.
“Move to the side,” Palose hissed having to push the men away with his own hands or watched the remainder of the men crash like imbeciles into one another.
Other versions of the battle mage night vision spell were quickly cast once the eight finished their graceless arrival before the lightly glowing gateway. They had just minutes before the second group would arrive with the emperor, and they had ye
t to make sure of their surroundings.
“Stealth,” Palose stated once for the men gathered around him and a second time to actually use the spell to disappear from sight.
Pulling a long knife for the more delicate movements of an assassin, the battle mage moved forward to pull the door open a bit more to slip through. The hallway within his vision was intermittently lit by lamps, the faint, smoky residue from each found a channel above them held a draft that pulled the smoke away to prevent the build up of fumes that could kill where fresh air would have a difficult time finding them otherwise. A nice trick of the goblin delvers, it was quickly filed away as unimportant as the dark mage turned to the left.
With no immediate threat of lingering guards or wandering orcs, the mage made his way towards the chamber he had been taken to as a messenger. If Verian had taken it over as his own, it stood to reason that Garosh would most likely take it over from the warlock in turn. Should he be wrong, Palose would have to change his tactics. There was always the mind lock spell and all he needed was an intelligent victim with knowledge of Garosh’s whereabouts.
He came across an open door. Two orcs were inside talking about something in their own language. Palose marked the wall with two red marks using a piece of chalk. The marks were on the side closest to the prison so the men would see before passing the door. The assassins could take care of the unimportant creatures, while the mage continued to keep his attention on continuing down the hall looking for the double doors.
Two more side rooms were passed. One door was open. The other was not and would require a little more danger in dealing with what might be within the concealed chamber. A red mark for the warlock studying some papers in the open room would warn the others as he continued forward and found the end of the tunnel hallway.
Two burly orcs stood guard and Palose had to assume that someone of import was inside. He waited near the left hand guard and waited for the one on the right to suddenly cough as his throat split open spilling enough blood to make his assailant’s hand and shirt apparent to the other orc. It mattered little as Palose’s knife slit the second orc’s throat in a millisecond. With reflex in place, he had witnessed the first death before the second orc even had a chance to turn his head in surprise.
Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 45