White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) Read online

  A few men were relaxing in front of a barber’s store, another business which seemed odd to a child whose hair had been cut by his mother all his life. Rikard called out to them, “Have the wizards been through here?”

  One of the men looked at the farmer with a slight frown. “From what I hear, they are still searching the north side of town, damn wizards!”

  The man beside him shook his head, but answered with a different question, “You are looking for wizards? Do you have need of a wizard’s magic or have you come to give away your children, farmer? Most don’t come looking for wizards unless their children are out of control, but your boys look well mannered and calm.”

  Unsure of how the men would view his son having magic, Rikard replied, “It is better to get their opinion sooner than later. I need my boys to help on the farm. If they are going to take one of them, it is better to know now.”

  The second man looked more discerning and followed up the answer with another question, “Such worries usually mean that you believe one or both have magic about them.”

  Rikard didn’t feel the need to answer the comment and chose to find a place to park his horses and cart. A stable wasn’t usually free, but the farmer was regular enough with his business that friends were willing to settle his animals for just the cost of some feed.

  Leading his boys behind him, the man followed the rumors of the wizards’ movements to find them in surprisingly short order.

  Four wizards in their strange robes over pants that matched moved through the street going from one house to the next checking for children meeting the criteria they were looking for, which in a word was magic. Southwall had come to use men and women of both great power, called wizards; and their lessers, called battle mages. Few parents would say that they wanted their children to be either, but if one had to lose a child to service, they all prayed that they would be the powerful wizards.

  “Wizards!” Rikard called out with a wave seeing a man dressed in black robes with a younger man wearing a white robe with silver banding at the neck and on the sleeves.

  The two men had been standing in front of a gate leading to a house talking, so when they were addressed they appeared slightly surprised. The elder of the two raised an eyebrow curiously and looked ready to greet the farmer when his eyes caught something about the twins trailing him. “Yes, sir, how may we help you?”

  His eyes lingered on Piotr for a long moment before they moved on to Niklaus. A frown caught the outer corners of his lips seeing the elder boy making his brother curious as to why.

  “You have come looking for children with magic once more, or so we have heard. I do not know how you can judge them so easily, but I believe that one of my sons has the gift. We chose to come to town rather than wait to find out if you were going to take him from us,” Rikard replied trying to sound calm. When he had originally suggested meeting the wizards, it hadn’t fully dawned on him that he might be sentencing his child to a life away from his family in the service of the king’s army.

  The elder wizard nodded. As they spoke, another pair of wizards left the porch of a home directly across from their counterparts. One sported a robe of light blue over pants of brown, but the last wizard dressed in white with light blue striping was the single female. She was also the youngest in appearance though Rikard had heard rumors that with magic such things could be altered. The rumors of the possibilities of magic ranged into ideas that seemed ridiculous, but he didn’t know what limits it truly had.

  “I am Wizard Zenth and we have indeed come looking for candidates to be wizards or mages. I will say that it is a bit surprising to have someone come volunteering their children, unless they are out of control. These boys do not appear troubled so,” the man brushed his light brown hair back with his fingers making his blue eyes seem that much more penetrating. “You say that you believe that your son has magic. I would think that it was obvious, if you could just assume as much.

  “The smaller boy certainly holds promise. His magical strength is certainly powerful enough to become a full wizard. How old is he?”

  “Fourteen.”

  “And when did he start manifesting powers?”

  “Last summer, I think, though Piotr has always had an affinity for animals and the land. We just didn’t notice anything strange until closer to this Spring, but my son said that he could do things like looking through a rabbit’s eyes already last year.”

  Piotr said nothing. He had admitted as much to his father after the man had first witnessed the boy’s strange habit of making Bandit leave without saying a word. The way he held his hands and seemed asleep, but always knew what was going on around him, had startled his family at first. Still his talent with quieting panicked creatures had been noticeable for much longer and had been almost superhuman in ability since he had been a much younger child.

  “Is the other boy his brother?”

  The question made all three look at the man in surprise. Niklaus looked enough like his twin that they would have thought the wizard couldn’t miss the fact. Rikard nodded, however, and answered, “Niklaus is his twin brother.”

  The younger wizard with the silver stripes looked to the older man and stated, “One twin apparently inherited the lion’s share of the power.”

  Zenth nodded and said, “True, Rial, but he has enough to be a battle mage. They can always use more soldiers with magic.”

  Rikard looked to his other son in shock. They had never noticed anything unusual about the second twin. Piotr had been obvious, but Niklaus had seemed normal enough to them.

  “I have magic?” Nik asked in surprise. “Then why haven’t I noticed?”

  The younger wizard answered after noting his elder’s silence, “Battle mages rarely notice it. Wizards become wilders because the power inside them is too great, so it basically leaks out or changes them. Most mages are like undernourished wizards. The magic in them is rarely hard to suppress because their strength is minimal.”

  The second set of wizards had joined the first and the girl shook her head as she reprimanded her counterpart, “No need to be mean about it, Rial. After all, you’ve heard about the battle mage in the Winter’s Edge tournament. If he hadn’t become ill, many say that he might have become champion.”

  Her mentor chuckled and ruffled the girl’s red hair. “Don’t say that near Wizard Magnus while his group is staying at the inn. He will most likely take offense.”

  “Magnus is a fire wizard too full of himself, Qeyr. Just because he became champion doesn’t mean that he was better than the battle mage. He won almost by default,” the girl complained to the larger wizard in blue.

  The other wizard’s apprentice broke in saying, “All of that is moot. These two are the first we’ve found to hold any magic around here.”

  Zenth nodded and applied his attention to the three who had flagged them down. “If your boys need to gather their things, we will be here through tomorrow night before moving on. Since other wizards are in Delanne, you are in luck. You can head to White Hall with the other candidates with them.”

  Piotr found interest in his words. “I thought that you just said that you hadn’t found anyone else with magic so far.”

  The girl met the questioning tone with a wizardly answer, “We haven’t. They are from Hala traveling with wizards heading back to White Hall.”

  Qeyr added, “You came assuming that your smaller boy is a wizard. Can you have him back to the main road by tomorrow morning?”

  Rikard’s mouth had gone dry and surprisingly it was Niklaus who audaciously answered, “We only live a couple miles outside of town. My brother is packed; but I can be back by tonight, if necessary.”

  The eldest of the wizards, Zenth, replied, “That won’t be necessary. Just return early in the morning. You’re farmers, so I am sure that getting up early will be nothing new for you.”

  With the decision made, the wizards practically seemed to forget about the farmers as they returned to scouring Delanne for any
others with talent for magic.

  Chapter 2- Intersection

  Katya sighed as she saw the town on the horizon. After a long day of riding, the second in a row; the young girl’s posterior was telling her that horseback riding wasn’t something she wanted to do on a regular basis. Unfortunately the timing for that realization had come at a bad time, since they were still far from their destination. At least she could hope that Darius would stop at the next town so her body could rest from the hard leather saddle.

  “Are you all right?” the man in the falcon’s uniform asked the girl beside him. He had brown hair and was quite a bit older than Katya who was only thirteen years old, but the battle mage wasn’t that much taller. Sitting on their horses, the two were virtually eye to eye as they spoke.

  “Most of me is, Ardost,” the girl replied with a slight look of displeasure as her rear reminded Katya with each step that it was not pleased at all. “I hope that Darius plans to stop soon. If this town doesn’t have an inn, they’re going to need to make one or I’m just going to lie down on the first comfortable place I see.”

  Laughing at the little blond haired girl on her horse, Ardost stated, “I think that you are in luck. This should be Delanne. We stayed here on the way to Hala.”

  A bigger man riding before them turned to look at Katya and shook his head, saying, “Is she complaining about saddle soreness again? You’re the youngest one of us, Katya. Surely you can’t be the first one to wear out.”

  Next to the second battle mage, a man in the light blue of an air wizard rode along trying to ignore their banter.

  “Just ‘cus I’m younger than you old men, doesn’t mean sitting on this beast doesn’t hurt after a few hours. If Darius wasn’t such a slave driver, we could stop more often and maybe I wouldn’t be so sore.”

  Hearing his name called, a silver haired wizard from the group of four men dressed in green and brown looked back to the girl and her protectors. High Wizard Darius led a group of wizards from a country across the ocean far to the south of North Continent where Southwall was located. When Southwall’s King Alain sent out invitations to most of the world’s wizards to join a competition of duels, Eirdhen had sent four wizards under the grand wizard’s supervision.

  “The quicker we ride, the sooner the trip will be over. White Hall is still several days’ ride beyond this town according to the map. Which do you prefer, less days riding or more hours spent each day, Katya?”

  Rubbing her rear just above the area affected, though the pain was beginning to work up her back a bit more each mile; Katya pouted and replied, “I wish my brother was here. At least he and Yara could relieve saddle sores at each stop.”

  Ardost smiled apologetically even as Darius turned back to the road ahead with a little chuckle at the girl’s expense. “Unfortunately, Vord and I never were able to learn how to heal. That was your brother’s special skill. Almost no other mage has been able to do any of that magic so far.”

  Again the young girl sighed and tried to deal with the next few miles on her horse before entering the town.

  “More wizards?” the inn keeper of the Traveler’s Rest questioned with a surprised smile on his face as Darius stepped up to start the process of procuring rooms from the man.

  Katya noticed a table full of people with colorful clothing, though each mainly wore a particular solid color, with red being the most common. She recognized one man in particular as the blond haired wizard who had won the Winter’s Edge tournament. He sat comfortably watching the procession of the newest travelers into the inn. Four others sat around their table barely paying them any mind as they sat drinking and eating what looked like a snack rather than a true meal. It was still early enough that dinner was likely meant to be served an hour or two later, if the girl judged the sun correctly.

  “Well, the tournament is over,” Darius replied with a polite smile to the inn keeper. No one would know if the wizard was dissatisfied with being lumped with the other groups traveling through Delanne with such a look. “Since Hala is on the east coast, most wizards will have to travel this way to return to the west, I would assume.”

  The inn keeper looked to muse on the idea, but quickly shook his head. “I don’t know about that. Delanne is far enough south that some will take the northern route past Norcrom to Blackwall and maybe even Windmeer. Red Hall and Cadmera, if that town bothered to send anyone, might turn south sooner; but I guess that you never know with wizards.”

  Brenner, also a wizard, tried to cut the man’s idle chatting short adding, “It is still deep enough into winter that snow covers much of the northern route. You should see most of the guardian cities’ wizards returning through here, if you already haven’t. The celebrations ended several days ago after all.”

  With a voice that held little positive emotion, Brenner hid little of the fact that he wasn’t overly happy with his role on this trip. A former sparring partner for the team from Windmeer led by her brother, the lone battle mage to join the wizards’ duels; Brenner had felt saddled with Katya and the leadership of their small group returning to Windmeer via White Hall, though it had been his decision to do that favor for Sebastian. The school was Katya’s final destination, since she was going to be a novice wizard training there; and he been asked to take her there, since the girl knew him as well as the two battle mages with them.

  Luckily for the air wizard, Darius had been available to come along as well. In fact, his presence was actually quite necessary since the high wizard’s magic held Katya’s burgeoning powers in check. It was a good thing for everyone around her since the girl’s strength in coercion magic was quite powerful and beyond her control in the least. Her emotions were tied to her magic and losing any control of those could mean turning people into a nearly zombie like state that the girl couldn’t direct with any skill at all. She was on the brink of becoming what most people feared with magic, a wilder.

  “We will need a room for the girl by herself and enough beds for seven men,” Darius stated.

  Katya was the only female and had been feeling singled out from that as much as her age for the last two days, though the others tried to treat her warmly. Still they were all at least twice the girl’s age, and knew little of how to deal with teenage girls, she thought.

  “No brother or father along this trip, young lady?” the man asked as his eyes strayed to a table with just two others sitting there. “Some people will say anything, even if they look completely different from each other.”

  The second statement was muttered, but the man wasn’t quiet enough and everyone near the counter easily heard the man’s snide comment obviously intended for the two in his sights.

  Katya looked at the two, who seemed to be earning the inn keeper’s judgment. Delanne, like the town of Mera nearest her home, held a tight moral code and inns didn’t rent rooms just so couples could sneak away to be together. Of course, they couldn’t exactly police every customer’s word and money spent was still money earned.

  Examining the pretty, little, blonde haired girl, who seemed close to Katya’s age, and the hulking dark haired giant beside her, she could see why he wouldn’t believe that they were siblings. Of course, the early teen didn’t notice any of the chemistry that usually gave away more amorous intentions either. Her brother, Sebastian, gave away those intentions with his healer girlfriend during their trip to Hala, even though both had tried to deny it at first.

  Darius was speaking with the man behind the counter and Katya’s attention returned to him as the inn keeper said, “We have a single room, but is she old enough to be trusted by herself?”

  Frowning at the man, Katya really wanted to ask if she looked like someone who couldn’t take care of herself; but it wasn’t exactly surprising either. She was just thirteen and didn’t look particularly old for her age, though the older boys in Mera had been interested in her looks for at least a year now when she visited the small town.

  “She will be fine,” Darius assured the man as the inn
keeper placed three keys on the counter.

  “If you men don’t mind sharing beds, I have two rooms with two double beds in each. I can rent a few more, if you can’t get along,” he added with a sarcastic smile.

  “I’m sure we can survive,” Darius nodded taking two of the keys before passing the last to Brenner.

  Katya was led to her room by Darius, while he let his grandson Elias open the shared room for the men to stow their bags. The girl had a couple bags, though her brother had told her that she wouldn’t need a lot of clothes for White Hall. Once she was accepted to the school, Katya would become a novice. Southwall clothed their wizards, soldiers and mages as well as offered a stipend to their families for the inconvenience of taking their children away to put them into service. Until she was twenty one, the girl would be given a nominal allowance to use for herself, but the rest would go to her family as her brother’s service had been paid to her father for the last several years.

  Some of the clothes in her bag were paid for by that stipend after her father gave Sebastian half of the money back when he took her away to see the tournament. Her power had already gone out of control in a smaller way then and scared her parents into letting her brother take her away, but her father refused to make her a burden and had returned much of his son’s money back to him to pay her way.

  The room was surprisingly small as she followed Darius inside. A full size bed that could hold two people occupied much of the space with just one side table and an armoire for the remaining furniture. Even those few pieces filled the room close to the point of feeling crowded.

  “It isn’t large, but it is just for one night,” the silver haired wizard stated with a smile. To look at Darius, one might think he was old thanks to the color of his hair. Katya looked at his face seeing no lines of age; but the wizard wasn’t young, or using his magic to continue to look youthful. According to her brother and the others with him, Darius was in fact one of a rare group of men known as immortals.