As the fire wizard looked ready to try and argue for more information, Stasia’s voice interrupted Dorgred as he opened his mouth. Sounding both sweet and stern, the young blond haired beauty wagged her finger firmly before his whiskered face, “Be quiet, he has to concentrate to save your friend.”
“My friend,” the big man said shaking his head seeming unconvinced, but he crossed his arms and remained silently waiting.
Repeating the ritual, Wendle came awake with less of a start, but much of the confusion.
Giving a quick synopsis as he had for Dorgred, they quickly brought the young wizard up to speed. Still an apprentice by designation, the fire wizard assured Palose that Wendle had been as good in a fight as any water wizard of full rank.
“Kardor maintains a longer apprenticeship,” Wendle added looking slightly embarrassed. “We basically remain apprentices until they feel we can teach the next in line. I have trained for seven years and have specialized in water and ice. Most apprentices work to learn more elements before they leave their masters.”
After following the mage and the two girls, who drew Wendle’s eyes quickly after his mind began to adjust to his surroundings, Palose readied to see if his controls would hold. Sitting in the living room, the five began to discuss the new relationships the mage planned to create with them.
Finally getting to Dorgred’s question, the young man stated, “I was killed last summer and resurrected, as they call it, by a warlock named Atrouseon. He used runes that could compel me to do what he ordered. The first order was to return to Southwall to enter Windmeer and work to bring a force from the emperor into the castle.”
Leaping up to challenge the dark mage with a finger pointed at his chest, Dorgred roared, “I knew it! Betrayer!”
“Sit, Dorgred, and listen,” Palose ordered gently. Like the fire had run from him, the wizard looked a little confused at the ease with which his intended tirade fizzled. “The controls of Atrouseon aren’t perfect, but such a demand on me from my master required me to do what I did whether I wished to or not. Since then I have found a few ways around some of his commands by justifying avoiding only the letter of the commands, whether intent of more was wished, I can then escape his full control.
“I can not say that I cared one way or another about the fate of Windmeer, but I can’t tell you whether that is from what I was before or after my death.”
“So you are a betrayer, but not necessarily because of your own volition. That is convenient,” the large, bearded wizard complained gruffly. “And now what, we serve you in a similar way? You have controls set to make us do as you want?”
Palose understood the complaint, but shook his head, “The only true controls I set are ones to prevent your betrayal. For now, we are stuck here under the emperor’s influence and to leave would be our deaths. He has struck behind the wall at one who had thought to betray him and join Southwall. They struck in both Windmeer and the fortress you may have heard about in the mountains. If the emperor is willing to risk an attack inside of Windmeer for the second time in less than a year, I think I can safely say we can’t hide easily.
“On the other hand, I was made to bring them using gates that I created, so maybe the emperor wasn’t intelligent enough to leave a way back without my help. I just wouldn’t trust my life with that belief.”
Dorgred looked angry. “You have invaded and helped invade my country multiple times now, and I must serve you?”
“For now, you must assist me and essentially watch my back here. I was just a mage and have gained power both in influence and magical power, but there are those that watch such men and being alone makes me vulnerable. You two will be there to watch out for those men and help me not only secure my future but your own.”
Wendle sighed while the big man remained seated but angry. “So you will help us get back home, once you have figured out where you will go and how you will get there?”
“Essentially,” Palose nodded.
Stasia moved over to the fire wizard and sat in his lap. Scratching at his chin through his thick beard, the girl teased him like she would a cat or dog, “Come on, Fuzzy, it isn’t so bad. Palose has only helped to attack Ensolus’s traitors, even if they were on your soil since he managed to break free of his master’s direct control. He’s not making you attack Southwall or Kardor, if he can help it, so let’s just be friends, all right?”
Unable to resist the pretty girl’s flirting, Dorgred stated grumpily, “Just so he knows, I won’t be a part in harming the country I serve.”
Wendle raised an eyebrow, and officially sold the wizard out as he asked, “Which country is that? I thought that you were onboard the ship coming to Kardor to see if you wanted to come help us. Lord Romonus hired a handful of wizards from the tournament to come to Kardor and help rebuild our wizard school’s strength again.”
Dorgred opened his mouth looking for a way to refute the claim, but found that he could only sigh and admit, “Fine, so I won’t willingly harm Southwall or Kardor. Are you happy, Wendle?”
Rolling his eyes, the younger man replied, “Ecstatic.”
Receiving giggles from the women, though Talia quickly covered her mouth with her hands as she realized that she was behaving like Stasia; Wendle smiled at the girls and gestured for Palose to continue. The battle mage had little more to say, but added, “While we are here, I can help you find out the strengths and weaknesses of the warlocks’ magic. I think that would be a fair trade for your help. When you return to whichever country you desire, it might help them fight the emperor’s armies if they knew what Ensolus knows.”
The last piece of news made Dorgred thoughtful and he soon replied, “Now that I like. Their black armored warlocks and soldiers defeated us too easily. I would like to know how they resisted my best fire spells.”
Smiling as he realized that they had come to an agreement beyond his magic, Palose answered, “That I can show you.”
Chapter 33- Made
Atrouseon stepped out of the meeting room in the warlock’s caucus building. The warlock had been feeling a bit better about his situation of late. Ever since the altercation with Palose had led to their parting of ways, things had begun to improve. First, though he had at first felt weaker, Atrouseon had slowly recovered his magical strength until a few days ago he felt almost as strong as he had before it all had begun.
Being chosen to join a group tasked with determining how to deal with the threats beyond the empire’s borders had been another point of growth. He had been surprised when Talsker had come to him and been more at ease when he had found both Thielius and Etriak were part of the team being assembled. Talsker had a direct connection to the emperor and had been put in charge. If Atrouseon did well, the warlock was certain that this new position could lead to other greater things. Certainly his luck had turned around.
Another boon had been the day that the wizard hunters had returned with Lord Devolus and his brother licking their wounds. Such a thing had never happened during their illustrious careers with the corps dedicated to destroying the wizards of Alus. It was a new question that his team needed to answer and it was full of curiosities including how their enemy had found a weakness in their light and darkness spells.
Lord Devolus had fought the Grimnal as well. Atrouseon had suspected the immortal of Southwall was still alive somewhere, but that he was freed by a ship of their enemy in a battle that had felled two black ships was bad news indeed for the empire. Concealing his glimmer of joy at the fall of the others, since it meant his own successes pushed the warlock back to greater levels with no new need for an achievement, Atrouseon worked in his congress looking into what had gone wrong.
“Warlock Atrouseon,” a girl’s voice greeted as the man made a turn in the hall as he headed out of the building.
The man’s eyes were pulled from his feet in his reverie at the call. Acheri’s smiling face was a surprise, since the princess had never been noticed around this area before by the warlock. While t
he girl was as powerful as any wizard, in fact far more powerful, she had never been trained by the academy and had only the knowledge imparted to her by the emperor in her birth. Atrouseon had heard of what the girl was rumored to have done both in the city and in Windmeer, but she was an outsider here.
“Good morning, Princess Acheri,” he greeted the girl he had helped to create. “This is a strange meeting place. I had not known that you were involving yourself with warlock matters.”
Shrugging as her smile turned bemused, Acheri replied without truly committing, “I concern myself with matters that concern my brother the emperor. Sometimes those bring me here and sometimes they bring me elsewhere.”
Atrouseon noted Lanquer standing several paces down the hall where he leaned against the wall looking very bored. He was her shadow. The guard that Emperor Kolban had decided him to be before his birth, Lanquer had proven himself in the raid on Garosh’s fortress from what rumor told. Now he was once more tasked with looking after his sister, or was it she who looked after him. No one could ever truly be sure.
“Be that as it may, I am pleasantly surprised to see you, princess,” the man stated trying to hold a smile to echo his sentiment.
“Why thank you, Atrouseon,” the girl answered looking genuinely pleased. Pausing for only a moment, she pointed in the direction he had come and asked, “You have joined the little group created by Warlock Talsker? Have you found it rewarding?”
“Yes, your majesty, I have found the opportunity to help advise the emperor through this committee to be very rewarding,” he replied feeling only a little curious at her phrasing of the question, but the man figured he was only being suspicious without warrant. A child only a few months old could hardly have picked up on all the cues of society so she was bound to have a few awkward discussions and phrasing.
Her smile continued as she released a sigh of relief and a brief nod, “I am glad to hear that. Some might feel being put on such a group as a reward of pity and beneath them. I can only imagine that some of what your little group figure out might be used by Kolban and Lord Devolus. You all seem bright enough, though what you could possibly understand about a threat you have never seen is beyond my feeble comprehension.
“Of course, after the incident with your last apprentice, this must feel like a good step in the right direction. He stole some of your power... and money too, I have heard; but surely such rumors must be false.”
She had turned the conversation to the dark days only weeks behind him or so he had thought of his time being humiliated by his apprentice. If the princess had heard of his humiliation in the palace, then how many others knew how Palose had turned on him and defeated the warlock. He was an apprentice and resurrection man of all things. Such a stigma would haunt him for the rest of his days.
Trying to keep a positive look on his face, the man attempted to appear like such a disgrace had not truly happened. “We parted ways, but it sounds like things have been exaggerated. Palose is so new to Ensolus; I merely made sure that he would have income to get started. That is all.”
Acheri nodded politely. Her dark blue eyes seemed unconvinced despite the light smile playing on her red lips. Atrouseon noted the young girl looked more like a woman with mostly subtle makeup making her look older than the fourteen years she should appear and certainly older than the short time she had been free from her birthing chamber.
“Perhaps,” she agreed, “though your aura seems to be a bit erratic in strength which would support at least part of the rumor. I can’t say I know you well enough to know how strong you should be, but for a warlock of once great repute, I would have expected more.”
“Once great? How have I fallen in anyone’s eyes, princess?” he asked almost forgetting who he addressed. While the girl before him was nearly his daughter, since it was he who had created her; Acheri was also the sister to the emperor.
Again she shrugged and the almost condescending gesture was beginning to irk him more and more. “Oh, perhaps I overstate the situation once more. The warlock who was tasked to create a vessel for the emperor is surely more than just another researcher playing with test tubes, I am sure.
“Your choice to resurrect Palose and use him to destroy Windmeer couldn’t possibly fall on your shoulders either. Of course, that mage may be your biggest triumph or your biggest failure depending on how you look at him. Kolban seems to have taken a liking to him though.”
Her eyes played to his giving askance as she added, “The fact that you created someone like that, who has gathered more glory in spite of being a resurrection man, wouldn’t bother you in the least, would it? You have held your ground against a former dead Southwall mage, I am sure.
“Never let his growing flame of success diminish what you have achieved, whatever that might be,” the girl decided with a curt bob of her head.
Atrouseon felt each insulting jab, though he wasn’t certain any attacks had truly been meant by her words. The girl seemed innocent of intent and yet he was sure that Acheri truly was disappointed in him. He was like her father and she was unimpressed. His ego stung and his hatred for Palose reemerged, but he did his best to hold the feeling down and away from his face. Refusing to reveal his hatred for the degradation suffered by him at the hands of the man who should have remained his puppet, perhaps it was time that the master reminded his servant who was truly in control. He had the runes which could override the boy’s will or maybe it was time to let him return to the grave where he should have already been.
“If you’ll excuse me, princess, I have work to do for the committee. I will consider your words, but truly the matter between us was settled when I released Palose from being my apprentice,” Atrouseon said trying to assure the girl that he had not been left to look like a fool.
Glancing behind her, Acheri covered her mouth momentarily and let a look of foolish glee cross her face as she faced him again. “I am sorry, Atrouseon. I have been talking your ear off and I am sure that you do have things to do, this little committee being what it is and all. I will bid you farewell, until we meet again then.”
Atrouseon retreated from the girl as his mind began to race. He had confronted the boy, his creation, and been humiliated. Forced to submit to Palose’s desires and plans, the warlock had given up and felt a failure until Talsker came calling. He had felt useful again, but Atrouseon had deluded himself into believing so. Until he settled things with his resurrection man, the warlock would always feel the eyes of the city on his back.
It was a simple matter to cast a tracking spell to find the mage, since Atrouseon was simply following the magic he had placed into the young man. His essence was a part of Palose now making it an easy task as the warlock crossed the palace area followed by the shipyard with the lone black ship still looking ragged from its beating.
The human zone was last and looked almost as shabby in its own way as the ship he had passed earlier. Mankind had come to the emperor throwing themselves on his mercy for the most part, though some had arrived at the mountain showing strength and wealth to barter their way into his good graces. Then there were those with magical power who had come to fall at the feet of a creature so far beyond their scope of magic that they merely wished to serve as long as they could learn from the ancient being.
Being a descendant of both wealthy merchants and one of those wizards turned warlock, Atrouseon looked on the men and women roaming the streets, many with their heads up high in spite of their poor surroundings, and was disappointed in these people. His race were separated into men with high goals and great power and these lesser beings tossed into the corner of the great cavern city of Ensolus. He had witnessed orcs and goblins with better homes and living conditions. They disgusted him and yet this was where his former apprentice had chosen to hide himself.
Looking to the glowing lights of the tracking spell hovering over his hand, Atrouseon stopped in his tracks realizing that in his reverie Palose’s mark had been on the move. The trace power of the warlock w
ho had created him was coming towards him and as he watched, the power seemed to separate. Some remained where he had first found his apprentice, yet three more sources were nearby. The most powerful of these came walking into his sight and Atrouseon ignored the rest as he looked on Palose and frowned.
“What do you want, Atrouseon?” the boy asked appearing not even slightly surprised to see him. Had he the knowledge to set warning spells to know when his former master was near or was his perceptions of magic so evolved that he had felt the warlock coming? Either way Atrouseon knew this was no happenstance.
Not intimidated by this former battle mage and keeping his distance knowing of his physical skills, the warlock greeted his former apprentice as his need to confront the young man drew them near. “Good morning, Palose. I had an interesting conversation with the princess this morning. It seems that news of our separation and the altercation that created the stipulations of our agreement has gone beyond just the two of us. I would like to know how and why she has heard rumors of how we parted.”
Palose frowned knowing that he had only spoken with Kolban that day and shook his head, “That is why you have come looking for my home? Go back to your spire, Atrouseon. I don’t know why Acheri would say such things. Our altercation as you call it, was between us and shouldn’t be anyone else’s concern.
“Go home and follow your own path. I gave you the chance to do this civilly and yet now you are coming to me accusing me of something. There were those who wanted me to turn on you like the resurrection men of the past, but I parted ways taking some of your power only because you had threatened me.
“If you are planning to start coming to my home to harass me, this will not go well for you; so once again I ask you to go home and let matters lie.”
“You ungrateful little brat! I brought you back from death and this is how you repay me? What I gave I can take back, you know?”
Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 49