She pulled at his hand drawing him deeper into the trees. His target was just the closest of the start of a grove. A few bushes cropped up a little further, but mostly tall grass pulled at their legs. There were no dangerous snakes or other animals to worry about on the island, so the two moved trouble free in spite of Yara’s bare feet.
Once she had him deep enough into the grove that it was hard to see the water through the trees, Yara stopped in front of him to pull off her dress. It was her only covering and the mage had a feeling that finding him to seduce him must have been her plan before dressing to go look for him. As he took in the sight of her shapely nude form while Yara spread the dress in the grass like a small blanket, Sebastian noticed how the sun had darkened the skin of her arms and legs. Her tan flowed to her shoulders and stomach as well, since the girls had spent many afternoons lying in the sun enjoying the sunshine and quiet beach. The rest of her wasn’t as white as he remembered from their time together when they had snuck away.
With the last time being before landing on the island, Sebastian realized that Yara must have been sneaking away to sunbathe more naturally since those who swam were too conservative to be completely bare before strangers.
“Are you just going to stand there staring at me or are you going to join me?” the petite blonde asked without even a blush in front of the only lover she had ever known. She was his first and only as well, even if there had been a few others who had been candidates along the way.
Grinning as Yara moved to tug at his shirt to make him ready, the young man joked, “Well, I was enjoying the view.”
Grunting at him as the young man quickly stripped away his clothing with her insisting help, the girl replied, “This will probably be the last time to enjoy that view in the sunlight for a long time, Sebastian. Once we are back on that ship, we can barely find ways to be together without everyone noticing.”
By ‘everyone’ he knew that she meant Maura less than their friends who made up his team. They had discussed whether it mattered at all. He was a full falcon, not some cadet to be pushed around by the corps and she was a full wizard. In fact, Sebastian guessed that he could be with anyone he wanted without any true worry over punishment. The battle mages were less strict than the wizards in their rules about sex in relation to magic.
Even there, wizards had installed a double standard. Male wizards could go into the city and sow their wild oats without any real worry. It was only the women who were more controlled. While sex was blamed on dulling or lessening magic, most guessed that they simply didn’t want to worry over a woman becoming too invested in having and raising children. For many of those in charge, they viewed it as not wanting to waste effort on women who wouldn’t continue to give back to the country.
As they lay in the grass on Yara’s dress, they made love; but also they talked. There were still things they didn’t know about each other, though they had been good friends for a year now. While at White Hall in training, Sebastian didn’t remember seeing the girl ever. A healer and wizard, Yara had been accompanied by her mentor Deyla or one of the other mature wizards almost everywhere. Joining the dances in the common areas was limited to wizard exclusive parties, so it was rare for a battle mage to cross paths with wizards except around the training areas. Even then, they had exclusive wizard only areas and healers didn’t go to the Tower of War or courts used by the elemental wizards.
Yara was a healer and in training to be one from almost her first days, while Sebastian had been pulled to combat training with the battle mages. They hadn’t known each other though they had a few acquaintances that they shared.
“Are you sure that a healer can protect herself from becoming pregnant? Normally healing magic can be done to others, but is nearly impossible to perform on yourself,” Bas asked way too late to worry over the consequences of their love making.
She sat on top of him and brushed her long hair into his face before smiling down at him, “Now you ask that? I think if I’m wrong then it doesn’t matter.
“Healers are taught to control their bodies though and I think my magic can keep us from having a delayed present in nine months,” Yara finished brushing her hair aside as she sat back to look at him. His view was enjoyable as well, but he didn’t state the obvious to his lover.
“But magic doesn’t work very well on the healer,” he stated again.
Moving to lay her naked torso on his to kiss him, Yara shrugged and said, “Fine, then you use your healing on me to monitor it, if you doubt me. I don’t mind. Using our magic together always feels as good as... well, doing this,” she finished with a giggle.
They had been surprised at how using their magic on each other at the same time heightened their feel of one another. A loop of magic, they could just stroke an arm to send sensations through their bond that both could feel. Using magic during sex was another thing that only the two of them had probably felt, and Yara enjoyed it as much as he did.
Tied together as they usually were, Sebastian closed his eyes and tried to delve through the sensations of pleasure. He searched for something that he had never looked for before and tried not to think of what he was truly doing. His mind probed Yara’s body looking towards the areas that would be affected. It was aglow with the energy of their love making, but nothing else seemed to be out of the ordinary about the girl.
Opening his eyes, Bas shrugged and remarked, “There’s nothing that I can tell.”
“See? Now stop second guessing your healer and let’s try to have some fun before we have to go back,” the girl said playfully pinning his shoulders to the ground before leaning down to kiss him again.
“Yes, wizard, whatever you say,” he replied chuckling as Bas rolled turning the tables on the girl. “You are the healer after all.”
Yara squeaked before giggling as she found herself on her back. The sun continued to shine and her green eyes glinted with that light as the woman he loved smiled up at him. As he enjoyed the moment, Sebastian let his worries go and left them for tomorrow.
Chapter 10- An Open Door
Rilena followed the hall to a door in the wing reserved for visitors unable to stop her slight frown. After everything she had been through of late, the mage had somehow been stuck on bodyguard duty for a visitor. Her orders had been vague and failed to say just whom she might be guarding.
Now that spring was well underway and the roads were clear for travel, the military had begun the usual rotations of staff. Soldiers, mages and wizards would move to their next posts and for many of Windmeer, they would be more than ready to leave. The past year had put the castle in the middle of some of the worst fighting since the building of the wall and many seemed ready to cut their losses to run to their next posting.
Not only the lives of the military had been lost, but even many of those living inside of the castle. Men and women serving the lords, a few royals and also children had been killed during the Betrayer’s attack on Windmeer the previous year. Rilena had not been there then, but she had heard the stories and even visited the graves. It had been a reminder to the mage, along with the others who been there, that life was precious and their enemy just didn’t seem to care who he killed.
Shaking off the dreary thoughts, Rilena couldn’t help remembering the last guard duty she had been assigned in Windmeer. To guard an enemy, who might actually be a friend to Southwall because he was an enemy of the emperor, the young woman had been there the night that more assassins slipped into Windmeer to try and kill him. She had nearly been killed that night, though Garosh, the one she was protecting, left her little need as he abducted her to his fortress using one of the enemy’s most devious pieces of magic, the portal.
Facing the door, which would reveal who she was to guard; Rilena let out a little sigh and tried to summon a slight smile. It had been just over a week since Garosh had returned her through another portal to Windmeer. Ever since then, the mage had felt like she had been interrogated nonstop about her experience at the fortress in
the mountain, her trips through the portals and anything else that they could think of to ask her. Not only her superiors but even her friends and associates seemed to feel the need to ask Rilena of her experience which had been mostly uneventful until new assassins found their way into the giant’s fortress to threaten his life once again.
Garosh had once been one of the most hated of men to her, but over time dealing with him as a prisoner and later savior, Rilena had come to see him as a sympathetic creature. She still didn’t know if she liked him, but the mage no longer hated him.
Giving the wood door a trio of quick raps brought an answer as the door was pulled open by a young man with brown hair and blue eyes. He looked no older than Rilena and was barely taller. She would have dismissed him as just boy in his early teens except for his slightly pointed ears. While Rilena had heard tales of elves, few people had ever seen one in Southwall and many doubted their existence in truth in the north.
“Come in,” the young man said giving a wave of his hand to the girl to enter. “My grandfather is waiting for you in the study.”
Drawing her gaze from his ears, Rilena gave the first room more notice and was surprised to find that whoever she guarded had rated a suite rather than a single room. Few beyond the nobility had such accommodations in Windmeer. Whoever her client was must be either rich or powerful, she thought.
Rilena crossed the room trying to record the dimensions of the room and the location of the furniture if she should find that battle would ever be needed to defend it. Somehow, the girl doubted that she would. Windmeer was relatively quiet and her service was unlikely necessary. A true need would have required a team like those which had guarded Garosh.
“You’re an elf?” the dark haired mage asked casually as her brown eyes tried to avoid looking at the young man.
“Part elf, my grandfather is human though the rest of my family line is elven,” he answered easily.
“We don’t see elves around here very often. Most people think they are just a myth created by our southern cousins,” she continued in reply glancing at the man who returned the look.
Giving a sniff that appeared amused by her comment, the elf retorted without appearing offended, “You may not see them on this side of the wall, but they number among your enemy. Your people just may not have observed them close enough to realize that many of our cousins fell to the enemy in the old world. Maybe that is partly why my people do not normally visit Southwall. We don’t wish to be reminded of our failures.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean offense,” Rilena quickly amended even if he didn’t sound overly angry. It wasn’t a good start to her new job, but she also no longer had to guess at who she was meeting.
As the girl followed the grandson of Darius into the study to see the high wizard again, he replied quietly to try and avoid drawing a look from his grandfather, “There is no offense. It is simply fact that the emperor won over many of those who were supposed to stand against him in the old world. The elves fought both for and against him.”
“Most believe that the emperor is also elven in ancestry,” Darius commented with a smile to the two as he entered drawing their eyes. While the young man had spoken quietly, the high wizard had apparently overheard them even so. “He was always a master of hiding his true visage and time has masked his past even better than the illusion spells he loved to employ when we last ran into him.”
The younger man nodded towards his grandfather and replied a little embarrassed, “She was just noting the lack of elves in Southwall and their dubious belief in our existence, grandfather.”
Chuckling, the silver haired wizard stated, “I have told your people time and again, Elias; that they should really look to expand their role in this world; but the elders always seem to believe staying in the forests is the right way to be. While I admit that I have always loved the tree cities, they still might be better off at least sending some of their more adventurous children out to at least explore.”
Frowning at the older man, Elias retorted, “They are your people too now and I am at least partially human as well, grandfather, so they are hardly just ‘my people’.”
Waving off the comment, the wizard gestured for the young woman to enter, “Come in and ignore my grandson and I. We have this debate every so often, but you needn’t get involved in it as well.”
Rilena moved forward and remained standing though Darius had gestured towards one of four chairs available to sit in near a coffee table.
“I suppose that I started it, so it is my own fault, sir,” she replied even as the wizard sat in one of the chairs. As Elias glanced to the mage, he ignored her resistance to being comfortable and took a seat as well before reaching towards a cup on a saucer sitting on the table with a cork coaster beneath to prevent damage to the wood. The tea inside the cups was still steaming reminding her that, for a southerner, spring was still a bit chill in Windmeer.
Sipping at his tea, Elias shrugged and seemed more intent on his tea than giving the conversation any renewed steam. Darius looked up at the mage and said, “You may sit, if you wish, Falcon Teresin, or should I call you Falcon Rilena? I am still unsure of the protocol involved with your battle mages.
“The only others I truly knew were just on a first name basis with me. Your friend Sebastian and a handful of battle mages were at the wizard’s tournament where I met him.”
“You can refer to me as any of those, High Wizard Darius. I was sent to be a guard for you. When being brief is best, I do know my own name, sir,” she responded a little standoffish despite Darius’s attempt to be more personal.
“Well, you can call me Darius like your friend.” He paused and asked as if he didn’t know the answer already, “You are friends with Sebastian Trillon, are you not? A friend would have asked about how he was, I suppose, since I saw him more recently than you have.”
Trying to appear businesslike in spite of being curious in truth, Rilena merely answered, “The reports said that Bas finished in fourth. I suppose that he did well enough.”
Peering over the edge of his cup as the high wizard sipped at the tea inside, he seemed to continue to evaluate the woman. Darius lowered it slightly to say, “That was the tournament more than a month ago. He actually had to pull out of the tournament because of his health. It was a shame since he had a true chance at winning the whole thing.”
“He did?” she asked slipping and showing concern for the mage who was actually one of the best friends she had. Sebastian was more like a brother and she worried that he hadn’t returned to Windmeer with the other wizards after the tournament. If he was ill, there was little she could do save offer up a prayer that he would recover and return safely.
A slip of a smile touched the wizard’s lips as he replied, “Your Sebastian has learned to tap into enough power to defeat wizards one on one and he is clever with his magic. He even adapted and learned his enemy’s spells during the tournament to use them against his opponents. With the new spells in his arsenal, I believe no one left would have defeated him; but we’ll never know since he nearly killed himself by overusing his magic.”
Rilena’s eyes gave away her concern over her friend’s well being. No one had known that Sebastian had needed to pull out let alone why. “What do you mean he nearly killed himself?”
Darius answered simply, “His ability to draw power in another way used him up and like a used up match he was nearly burned out. Luckily, I have knowledge of this particular malady. With help from his healer and a potion of my own making, Sebastian regained most of his energy before he set sail.”
“Set sail?” Rilena asked in confusion. Where had Bas set sail to? He was a mage of Southwall and could be sent elsewhere at a whim from their commanders, but being directed away immediately after a tournament seemed odd to her. It had obviously been an extreme test of his abilities, so what would make them send him off in a rush somewhere else so soon?
Raising a hand and shaking his head as if remembering that he wa
s supposed to keep a secret, Darius warned, “Just forget that I said that. It is a secret after all.
“Now as to you being my guard, it is more that I need you as my guide.”
“A guide?” she asked slowly and a new wariness ate at the back of her mind. While she didn’t truly fear that the high wizard meant her harm, the mage did feel like he was continually steering her where he wanted for a reason. His reason was the worrying part.
“Yes, since our little talk the other day, it stands out in my mind that you were either involved or near at least three different portals formed by more than one wizard. I would like to see these places and inspect the area with my equipment.
“Your ravens have graciously agreed to give you to me for a day or two to try and discover what I can about them. After all, a large stone wall and castle that can’t stop a warlock from using a gate to come and go as they please isn’t much of a defense.”
Eyes narrowing slightly at the thought of her commanders selling her out so easily, Rilena managed to ask less negatively, “That is all you need me to do? I was thrown through two portals created by Garosh. I don’t know about these other gates you are talking about, high wizard.”
She refused to use the man’s first name as of yet as Rilena wasn’t sure she could trust him. Using his name like he was a friend when he was a stranger and a dangerous one wasn’t in her nature. Besides, he wanted the familiarity to help manipulate her, the battle mage thought warily.
Standing up, like the girl who refused his hospitality to join him, Darius gestured towards Elias saying, “Elias, would you mind getting the bag and call the others to join us. We will need the gear once our pretty guide leads us to the gateways.”
His blue eyes rested on the girl before him and added, “We will be just a moment, falcon. I may need you the whole day for this or I may not. Your superiors have cleared your calendar until I can help secure the castle.”
Battle Mage: A Hero's Welcome (A Tale of Alus Book 8) Page 14