He wanted to respond with the frustration the young man often felt after talking with Maura. While she said that it was the Grimnal who was the one forcing his way, the woman had been a force against him acting for her own interests much of the trip. If Gerid was a problem, how would Maura see herself if she could be objective about their relationship?
“We’re leaving in three days. I need to tell Helena and her captain of the plan as well as Anna and Captain Delfren.
“Once the man is onboard and we’re under way, you’ll have a front row seat to watch whether he is the one manipulating me or not. For now, I would rather see you putting your attention into helping Nara and the others with final preparations for the launch of the black ship.”
As if he had walked into another concern of hers, Maura snapped up the information questioning him once more, “You are leaving the ship here. Why aren’t you working to bring it back as a spoil of war for the king?”
Fighting his reaction that wanted to roll his eyes at the woman, Sebastian avoided a sigh before he informed the wizard of what should have been obvious to her, “We don’t have the man power to sail the third ship. The Carnivore and Sea Dragon are already short on crew after the wizard hunters killed so many in the fight and to use their portal spells.
“Delfren has offered to train the sailors among Gerid’s people in both the sailing of the larger ship and how to use its cannon. Even without wizards, they will be able to defend themselves or flee an enemy.
“If they don’t use it, at some point the king can send a ship or fleet to retrieve it. Since my mission is to bring back the Grimnal, and not the emperor’s ships; it isn’t a priority.
“Now if you will excuse me, I have better things to do than continuing to defend my decisions; and they are my decisions, Wizard Tanney,” he finished using her title and surname. If she wanted to push him as if she were his friend, the mage hoped the colder terms would serve to back off the woman, who was most definitely not numbered among his close friends.
Eyes narrowing slightly at his sudden coldness, Maura looked ready to reprimand the young man. While he had avoided any true disrespect, Sebastian was walking on that line and they both knew it. Still, the mage knew that until they returned, this was his mission and he was in charge, not the wizard.
She wound up saying nothing but merely nodded to the young man. It was a custom Maura often used when she didn’t get her way with the battle mage; so he hurried on his way using his longer legs to put distance between them.
His boots thumped onto the wood planks of the dock in a quick repeat of steps as he looked at the two ocean going vessels. The Carnivore was an actual warship from Kardor, Southwall’s ally, and had been conscripted by the late Lord Romonus to carry wizards he had paid to come to his country. With the belief that they were going to a land where there would be greater opportunity to advance and lead other wizards, a handful of men had suddenly found that the lord’s concerns didn’t just focus on his country. He had chased the Sea Dragon out of curiosity to discover what had led Sebastian and his people to sail away from Southwall.
Now it stood moored to the end of the long dock with a gangplank extended from deck to pier to which it was currently attached. The smaller Sea Dragon had chosen the south side of the length of the pier and still towered over the remaining fishing trawlers and other local craft.
He passed the Malaiy frigate and strode up the plank to the deck of the Carnivore. A surprising face turned to look at him from the conversation she held with a handful of others. Ashleen, a wizard and wilder from Kardor, with her light blonde hair appearing nearly silver in the sunlight, was one of a trio of Kardorian wizards who had come with Lord Romonus. Her master dead and her fellow apprentice believed dead or captured in Ensolus, the young woman currently looked lost.
Ashleen had served the ambassador but now only his daughter and the wilder remained from their original group. Hyren, a blond haired man with a sharply trimmed mustache and goatee towered over the petite wizard and Helena, the lord’s daughter in their little gathering. His tunic of blue signified his power over water, while black pants and boots added to the dashing appearance of the man. Along with Themenor, an air wizard of Southwall, the three were the only wizards remaining from the Kardorian vessel.
“Sebastian?” Ashleen questioned for the group. Her blue eyes seemed tired, though the wilder had managed to use makeup to keep the dark shadows from being too noticeable.
The dark haired Helena looked towards the rail as the mage came into her view along with the remainder of her entourage. Pushing past Ashleen, the girl frowned and asked, “How soon do you plan to leave, Falcon Sebastian? We have been here for weeks now and I was hoping to return home to settle my father’s affairs since his passing.”
“You could have left any time that you wanted, Miss Romonus,” Sebastian stated remaining neutral with the pretty, curly haired brunette. Her father had tried to use his daughter’s beauty to tempt him into joining his wizards for a trip to Kardor, but it had been easy to resist when there were others that held his heart safely from her manipulation. “Since your ship is Kardorian, we don’t have any say in your coming or going.”
An overly dramatic frown took over her face and the girl retorted, “With black ships out there and a crew nearly halved thanks to the Dark One’s men, you know that we planned to sail with you until we returned to friendlier waters, Sebastian.”
Helena had reverted to the familiar use of his name as she had most of the journey from Falcon’s Keep to Windmeer months earlier. While the girl had pretended to be infatuated with him back then, the mage had always felt her falseness. Whether she liked him or not, however, Helena was afraid to leave the protection afforded by Bas and his wizards. The Kardorians had suffered greatly under the wizard hunters and looking at the crew after all the death, they all appeared similarly fragile.
“We will sail in three days after the black ship is settled,” he answered effectively covering why he had come in a single sentence. With the matter so succinctly summed up, Bas wondered why he had bothered to come in person; though he was hardly used to sending messengers with his words to others.
“Finally!” the lord’s daughter cried lifting her brown eyes to the sky and spreading her arms. “The sooner we can get back to friendly waters so we can head home from there, the better. I know that you have your own duty to perform, but I hope protecting your ally’s ship is still one of them.”
Coming full circle to his original mission of protecting the lord and leading him to Hala, Sebastian couldn’t help feeling nostalgic. Lord Romonus coming to Southwall had set him on a path that would eventually take him here where he had found the Grimnal, a man lost to time thanks to the emperor.
“I saved you and your father from wolves when I first met you. Now I find that I have to protect you and your people again. If your father had just taken the wizards willing to leave Southwall to visit your country instead of following me, you would probably already have made it home by now,” he mused and realized that his words sounded grouchier than he had meant. The journey and stress had begun to creep into everything it seemed.
In spite of his words, the girl played coy and retorted, “Unfortunately, my father was too curious for his own good. He was right though. You were on a mission that was very important.
“It was his wish to guard you from afar, however, that led us to follow you. Unfortunately, the emperor’s ships caught us without warning and captured the ship.”
She looked ready to say more, but sudden sadness crossed Helena’s face as her glib words recalled all the deaths caused by the warlocks of the black ships. The words that could have described the tragedy were concealed away, but their minds couldn’t stop from thinking that the pain and death from following the mage could have been avoided from the start. Sebastian tried to lead the conversation away from the dark path such words could take, “Well, hopefully the remainder of the trip home will be uneventful. We’ll pass Talos to the
south and turn north to Litsarin. I hear that for rather young towns, the new land is quite interesting. They have mountains in sight of the coast according to Captain Delfren. It is supposed to be quite beautiful.
“After Litsarin we’ll head west to Sileoth before turning north where we can part ways safely.”
Trying to keep her mind on business the girl added, “Maybe we will be able to hire additional crew in friendly ports. Though by the time we reach Sileoth, my crew will know how to sail the Carnivore even with minimal numbers. Still if we could hire a few marines, it would make me feel better.”
Sebastian nodded and started to turn away to leave. Summing up his plans, the mage stated, “For now, let your captain know that we plan to sail on the third morning from now. We will want the ship supplied well enough to reach Litsarin. Talos should just be seen from afar so we can reach Litsarin in the shortest amount of time.”
Looking put out with his easy dismissal, Helena realized that he had nothing more to really say and Sebastian made it obvious that it wasn’t a social call. Ashleen moved to follow him however.
Though he tried to ignore the beautiful wizard, she wouldn’t let him get away so easily. Following him down the plank onto the dock, Ashleen waited until they were beyond easy listening of the ship to reach out for his arm turning him with her touch. Sebastian’s face held no anger or annoyance for being halted, as she first feared.
Unsure exactly why she had bothered to follow the mage when he had plainly finished with Helena and the Carnivore, Ashleen found her first words sought more clarity. “Are you all right, Bas? You don’t seem like yourself. The only other time that you were like this, you had broken ribs and wounds seared shut by a fire wizard.”
Chuckling at her reminder of his ride from the enemy fortress to Windmeer while suffering from those injuries, Sebastian noted, “Each step of that horse’s hooves sent crippling pain into my chest. Thanks for reminding me of that.”
The girl winced and raised her left shoulder in a slow, shrug. “I’m sorry, but that’s how different you seem. You’ve never been so cold to Helena. I know she can be a pain, but I think at her heart she’s a good girl... young woman, I suppose is more accurate.
“You’ve always managed to be nice to her. What is wrong with you today? You usually manage to hide your frustration better than most people I know.”
“Sorry,” he apologized with genuine conviction, “I guess I let Maura aggravate me more than I realized.”
At her questioning look, Sebastian added, “I also feel like we’re overstaying our welcome here. The emperor isn’t likely to appreciate losing his prize prisoner, so I would rather be at sea heading for home sooner than later. The quicker we can leave the better.”
“If he was going to retaliate, shouldn’t we have seen signs of that already?” she asked wondering why he would continue to worry when the last they had seen of the emperor’s men had been when they used portals to escape from around the island. Only a score of prisoners remained and most of them had been captured due to their wounds. The enemy hadn’t bothered to save those who couldn’t walk or run, unlike Southwall’s army which would do its best to save any who might still live.
His gaze lifted to the rigging of the Sea Dragon, but Bas didn’t really look at the ship as he thought on that. “The emperor and his forces don’t always do what is expected. I’ve had to read a lot of the battles written down by generals and ravens during training as a cadet. When a frontal assault was expected, often a flanking maneuver or ambush would be the actual result. For all the fact that orcs and trolls tend be a blunt instrument in battle, the emperor or his generals tend to be more devious.
“Look at last summer when a friend, who I believed had died, suddenly returned only to have him betray Windmeer and lead the enemy into the heart of the castle while much of the army was distracted by superior forces north of the wall. They tried to trap our army, all the while the Betrayer somehow managed to use a portal into the city to call his creatures behind the wall.
“If we hadn’t escaped the trap to the north and reinforced the defenders; who knows what would have happened to Southwall?” Sebastian stated revealing the source of his worry and frayed state.
Ashleen heard his words and knew at least part of the story. She wasn’t from Southwall, but the soldiers and mages had talked as they traveled and certainly wondered how a fortress could have sprung up so far inside the country. That warlocks must have escaped Windmeer during the invasion once it was obvious that it had failed was the most likely start to that tale.
“The defenders of Southwall, including you, have always managed to adjust and repel the enemy, just as Kardor has done. Let that strengthen your resolve instead of creating the worry that’s eating you up now,” the wizard finally stated thinking of no better advice. “You’re the leader here. Even the Grimnal had to give you credit for that and is going with you because you won him over. Don’t let Maura or anyone else undermine that, Sebastian.”
Surprisingly, the mage actually felt a little better at her words. They were both silent a moment as the idea sunk in before Sebastian nodded and replied, “Thanks for the advice. You might be right. Maybe that is what Maura was trying to get at as well in her less helpful way.”
The girl giggled and said, “Well, she is just a research wizard and obviously never researched how to talk with people.”
Again he nodded looking at the Sea Dragon instead of Ashleen. “True, but she knows enough to see through me at least to a point. Of course, you somehow manage to pull even more out of me,” he added feeling a bit chagrined that he could reveal himself so easily to Ashleen. It was a bit awkward since they had a chemistry that rivaled what he had with Yara; a point he avoided speaking of with the healer.
As if she again read his mind, Ashleen looked at him with her piercing blue eyes and said, “Just because you chose Yara, doesn’t mean we aren’t still friends, Sebastian. Even if you severed that, I know enough about you to figure that much out at least.”
Sighing, Bas replied, “It does get a bit more complicated though doesn’t it?”
Shrugging at the question, she reminded him, “Just because there is a connection between us, and potentially a romantic one, doesn’t mean either of us ever thought that it would work. I mean, we live in two different countries. Do I expect you to drop everything to join me in Kardor or did I think that you would ask me to stay with you in Southwall?”
She didn’t answer that question, but Sebastian wondered about her mind and, unlike Ashleen, he was less able to decide that response. If he had asked her to stay, would she? In essence the wilder had followed him across the North Sea and beyond, even if that was because of Lord Romonus’s ambition. Whether she would or wouldn’t, Ashleen was correct about his willingness to live with her in Kardor. He had dedicated himself to Southwall and the mage had no plans to change or leave his country. There was too much he wished to protect and too many people he loved there to think of leaving for another land.
“I guess our time in Falcon’s Keep had a bit of wishful thinking to it,” he stated.
Smiling up at him, the petite wizard nodded causing a ripple along her light blonde hair. “A flirtation with a handsome hero, who also took care of me and whisked me off in his arms; what girl wouldn’t enjoy that? Of course, we are from two different worlds or at least kingdoms anyway. Just because I like the idea of romance and I like you because of who you are, doesn’t mean I would have let myself believe that I could ever fall for you completely, mage,” she chided the man with a slow shake of her head.
“It takes more than that for a level headed wizard like me to fall in love and believe in it,” she added.
Giving an amused smile in response to the surprisingly candid girl, Sebastian corrected, “I didn’t so much whisk you off as carry you off the dance floor to heal your feet, but you’re probably right. Just because of what could have been under different circumstances, doesn’t mean I can afford to ignore a friend.”
Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh, the man looked to the Malaiy frigate again and replied less confidently, “Now I guess it is back to work. Hopefully Maura will be otherwise occupied for a bit, but after our talk I shouldn’t snap at her now.”
“Good luck,” the girl said sending him off with a chuckle.
As she turned back to the Carnivore, Ashleen’s face lost much of the amusement as she tried not to think of the romance she nearly had with him. Her mind knew what she said was mostly truth. That her heart refused to go along with her mind was an unfortunate part of the truth.
Chapter 9- Infatuation
Palose stepped from the silver light blinking in the dim illumination of a cavernous room as his eyes strove to adjust to the minimal light. Two warlocks sat on either side of the gate already shrinking to nothingness behind the battle mage. Torches were on the stone walls all around the chamber and highlighted a single large door on the far side from the stone arch that helped link portal wizards to Ensolus and the chamber in particular.
It was a gathering room and center for portal traveling for the capitol city. A near clone of the chamber existed on the other side of the stone wall to his right, and was similarly guarded by a pair of portal wizards by that gate also. Glancing to the guardsmen in their black armor standing near the wall, he knew that they were more for show than need. No one believed that their enemies could possibly find their way through the gates, but there was always the possibility that perhaps someone would find a way to piggy back off the warlock’s spell. He knew of at least one person who had managed that by using his gate against him.
The dark haired girl in mind stood at his appearance from one of a few benches lining the room. Brunette hair cascaded unbound over her shoulders onto the red dress held together by a brown leather belt, which in turn matched suede boots that tightly caressed her ankles and lower calves. An entrancing young woman, she had the look of a young teenage girl except for her eyes that seemed to hold more knowledge in them than a fourteen year old girl should have acquired.
Battle Mage: A Hero's Welcome (A Tale of Alus Book 8) Page 12