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

  Ardost couldn’t help laughing at the young girl and Cheleya smiled at the idea before shaking her head. “I am afraid that I have never tried that before. The mages that I rode with to Hala never asked and I never noticed such a pain myself.”

  “Do you ride often?” the other girl asked in surprise. “Usually only those who ride regularly are used to the feel of it to avoid being achy.”

  Again Cheleya shook her head, but reached out her hand. “I had never ridden before coming to Staron. Take my hand and I can see if I can heal you even so, if you would like.”

  As the magic moved into Katya and the pain began to ease even without Cheleya saying a word to extend her power, the younger girl said, “I think you just became my new best friend.”

  Chapter 3- The Power of Suggestion

  Piotr followed the wizards into the dining hall of the Traveler’s Rest Inn looking a little lost. Having been officially “harvested” as the people tended to call it, his father had told the wizards that the boy might as well start following them since his possessions were already packed into a bag kept on the cart they had rode in to Delanne. The three Amares returned to the cart to fetch the bag, but the two wind wizards had joined them.

  Now following Wizard Qeyr, who had been convinced to take care of Piotr while the other two wizards returned to their search of the town; the boy wondered what they would do with him now. The red headed girl was just a step behind her master and he moved closer to ask, “So what happens now?”

  She looked at him in surprise that he would question her, but when Qeyr just continued walking, the apprentice slowed her step to answer, “Well, one of the four teams of two will take you and any others we can find to White Hall. The other six searchers will continue on to the next town or village.”

  “There are more of you around? I thought that it was just the four of you,” he replied in turn. In the past, the wizards who had come searching at their farm had usually been individuals or a pair like Qeyr and his apprentice.

  “Of course there are more of us. This is a big country and only three schools to cover it. Each year we cover a different grid of towns and cities. This year we started in Norcrom and have begun working south once the snows let up. There are groups that went south and west also, but as we find and bring you novices to the school, new pairs will head out to replace those busy with you. Sometimes the same pair goes out again. It just depends.”

  The apprentice was older than Piotr and maybe an inch taller. Her green eyes stood out from beneath her dark red hair and he noticed her light freckles. With her coloring, he wondered how the summer sun would affect her looks. The stray thought surprised him, since Piotr rarely considered girls that way. Still, the apprentice called Iris was interesting to his eye.

  “You are an air wizard, I think,” the boy said getting the hunch from both the color on her sleeves and neck as well a feeling that he got from her. It was instinct that made Piotr believe that and he thought that he could feel some of the magic about her.

  “An apprentice air wizard actually,” she corrected him. Her eyes flicked to him noting a slight glow to his eyes as well. “Are you able to scan my aura?”

  The question made him raise an eyebrow questioningly and ask, “What is an aura?”

  “Many wizards can look at the aura or energy around a person to note their strength in magic. It is part of how we search for new wizards. Yours is a strong aura and I think... maybe you have a talent for nature?”

  She didn’t sound sure to him, but his father had told them that he had a way with animals. Rikard didn’t even comprehend what all his son could do. So far, Piotr had mostly been able to feel what animals were feeling including an ability to feel for physical pains and ailments, like when he helped the calf turn inside of its mother’s womb for a safe delivery.

  He had also managed to see from Bandit’s eyes as well as doing the same with horses and a few birds. The birds were the most interesting as he could let them fly and see the world from the sky. Rarely pushing the animals to do something they didn’t want to do, aside from turning Bandit from their crops; Piotr had been a traveler on many adventures since he had discovered his odd powers.

  “I can mainly work with animals in different ways,” the boy stated without going into detail.

  She nodded as they entered the inn moving to the inn keeper behind his desk. Servers were maneuvering between tables checking on their customers. A handful of wizards held a table drinking in moderation, but supper would be coming soon for those who wanted it.

  Piotr looked at the wizards noting their uniforms. Most people, even those in the country knew the main elemental colors. Dark blue was for water, light blue like Qeyr’s robes for air, green for nature, brown for earth and green was for nature. His eyes glowed for a moment noting the different auras as Iris called them. He would know how each type felt now, even if they weren’t in uniform.

  “You did it again, didn’t you?” Iris accused the boy though without anger. Qeyr turned to look at Piotr and his apprentice curious to see one so young easily assessing the auras of the wizards. The man thought the boy had some potential if he had mastered the technique even without being trained to do so.

  “Are they with your search team?” he asked noting fire, air, earth and the yellow tunic of a healer. The last wasn’t an elemental wizard and she had a different feel to her aura setting her apart as much as the others were from each other.

  “No, these are likely wizards returning from the tournament in Hala,” she replied almost dismissively. It was as if the girl didn’t approve of a wizard showing off for the crowds of Southwall. Piotr wondered if not every wizard had found the tournament an honor to join.

  Another table had men wearing brown and green. Each had powerful auras, but most were mixed in their feeling of elements. Another air wizard sat with them, but his demeanor seemed to hold him apart as if he didn’t want to be by them. A taller blonde haired man stood leaning against the bar with an ale beside him. Piotr noted the lack of power in his aura and the mix of energy seemed to hold a little of all elements. His black shirt and pants gave away the feel of a battle mage.

  “I can’t tell what the men at the table have for elemental magic. The falcon is mixed up as well,” he stated to the apprentice as Qeyr started for the stairs waving the other two to follow.

  After climbing the stairs to the third floor, Qeyr opened a door revealing a room with two full size beds. “You can have the far bed tonight. Unless the others are more successful than we were, you’ll get to sleep in it alone. Iris has her own room, unless they find a girl to share it with somewhere in town.”

  Piotr moved to place his pack on the second bed and looked at the two wizards standing near the door. He wondered if they guarded it to make sure that he didn’t flee, and then it dawned on him that they might have chosen the third floor to help prevent newly harvested children from just escaping out a window. Three stories up, it might deter most from jumping.

  “It must be awkward to have a man for a master when you are out searching for apprentices. I’m sure the school frowns on having men sharing rooms with young women like Iris,” the boy said trying to make conversation as he thought of the numbering of the wizards he had seen.

  Iris smiled slightly even as Qeyr looked to redden with anger more than embarrassment. “I am not actually in the room alone. You forget the other wizards. There are eight of us in Delanne. Shelvy is my roommate and she is also a girl.”

  “A woman, actually, you are just a girl, Iris,” the older wizard stated with a smirk.

  Sighing, she replied, “Yes, master, Wizard Shelvy is certainly a woman not a girl. Pardon my assessment, but you don’t have to sleep in the same room as her.”

  The girl didn’t elaborate making the boy wonder what she had meant. Based off Qeyr’s continued smirk and a small chuckle at his apprentice’s expense, he had a feeling there was a story there which would remain between the two.

  Waving the boy to the
door, Qeyr stated, “Come along, novice, no need to dally here all night. Dinner will be ready soon. Now that you are one of us, the kingdom gets to pay for your meals and room. Aren’t you lucky?”

  Herded back downstairs, Piotr wondered why they couldn’t have just left his pack downstairs until they were ready to rest for the night. His brother would be back in the morning with his possessions packed up like his younger brother for a trip to White Hall. Until then, he was on his own with the wizards. When one was Iris, he didn’t mind; but Wizard Qeyr was a little more difficult so far.

  Not wanting to just sit and be bored, since he couldn’t drink liquor at his age and didn’t want to start thinking of his future at the wizards’ school; Piotr walked to the door to sit on the porch. Qeyr frowned at the boy’s back, and gestured for Iris to keep an eye on him. Meanwhile, the wizard ordered a drink while he waited for the other search teams to return to see if they had fared any better.

  Sitting on the porch, Piotr noticed a dog. It appeared to be good natured and no one seemed to care that he lay in the street in front of the building across the way. A blacksmith, the sign declared, perhaps it was the man’s dog and simply staying outside of his shop. It was cool, but not quite cold thanks to the slowly setting sun. The evening was likely to be much colder the boy thought, but for now he could understand the dog’s lazy enjoyment of the warm light.

  Placing his hands in the form of a triangle, his attention focused on the dog. When his sight darkened for a moment, it was Piotr’s will that made the creature open its eyes and stand up. Looking both ways in the street, his vision came from much lower than his own. A couple men sat on the next porch over from the inn ignoring the dog’s path. A few more on horseback looked to be heading back out of town. Their clothing said they were farmers most likely in town on business.

  His nose sniffed the air and Piotr thought that the beginning of dinner time in Delanne was beginning as women, or whoever cooked in the household, started their stoves and prepared their ingredients. The dog’s keen nose could pick out the homes already starting to cook in surprising detail. The inn’s kitchen was most obvious as the animal moved to sit before him and slightly to the side.

  Under Piotr’s control, the dog looked at Iris hovering behind him near the door. The girl looked perplexed and with a little smirk, Piotr made the dog climb the two stairs to close the distance on the girl who pulled back looking a bit alarmed. She was apparently less comfortable with animals.

  “Shoo... shoo,” she waved at the dog with hands pulled in close to the girl’s chest.

  Clamping onto her skirt, the dog pulled her forward even as she complained for the animal to stop and let her go. She was too frightened by the dog’s strange activity to actually defend herself or stop its directing of her body.

  Stepping down each of the steps, the dog let go surprising the apprentice. Her feet against the lower step, Iris fell back and only Piotr’s reaching out with his right hand to steady her slowed the fall. Unfortunately, that meant he lost his lock on the dog’s mind, which looked at the two humans before it in confusion for just a moment.

  The boy noticed his hand had helped stop her fall, but his aim hadn’t been where he intended. Palm against the girl’s rear end, both looked at each other in surprise. Blushing, as Iris managed to finish sitting beside Piotr as he moved his hand; the two looked away from each other a moment before Iris asked, “Was that you?”

  Understanding her half asked question, Piotr shrugged and said, “I don’t know how useful it is, but I can ride in an animal’s mind and see from its eyes. So far I haven’t found an animal that I can’t control, though I usually just let them go wherever they want.”

  The dog moved to sit before Piotr without coaxing to receive a rub of its head. While he played with its ears, the boy added, “Sometimes with the lazy ones like this guy, I need to do more urging; but you’re still a good boy, huh?”

  Wagging its tail as if in reply; Iris looked on in surprise.

  “That’s remarkable. I know of some nature wizards that try to work with animals. I’ve rarely seen someone with this much control, especially for an untrained wizard. You are a natural and you would be surprised with just how useful that power can be.”

  Glad that she wasn’t mad about being pulled by the dog, or by his errant placement of his hand; Piotr asked, “How useful can it be? I can make a rabbit stay away from the garden, or a dog make you sit; which I suppose is a little ironic, but useful?”

  The girl laughed thinking of a dog making a human sit, but she quickly answered, “No, it can be great. You say that you can see through their eyes and even control their movements?” At his nod, she continued, “You could use a bird to scout the air or a dog to attack for you while you are safely in a different place. Maybe you can even infiltrate a building with say a mouse?

  “Air wizards use the wind to send their minds out to scout for an enemy, but you can do the same thing with animals!”

  As they talked, more wizards walked towards the inn. Scooting over to avoid being in the way. Piotr and Iris watched as two very pretty blonde haired girls followed by two men, one of which was a giant compared to the rest of them, glanced to them and walked through the doorway into the dining area beyond it.

  The auras were mixed for three out of the four of them including another battle mage like the one inside. One of the girls had an aura of magic that felt similar to the other two wizards working the search team he thought. It wasn’t a certainty with the girl, but it was definitely the least muddled of the four.

  “Were those the other team members you’re working with here?” the boy asked as they disappeared inside.

  “The tournament ended not too long ago. Maybe they are wizards returning home, but they aren’t from my team.”

  Standing up from the step, Piotr offered the apprentice a hand up and missed her blush as his eyes looked to the closer door. “I guess that everyone is returning for dinner then. Maybe we should see if Qeyr has saved a table for us.”

  “Pfft,” the girl responded before catching herself. She wasn’t supposed to put down her mentor after all, though doing something like that was a rarity for Qeyr. He preferred drinking and remaining apart from the others. His aloof attitude made it easy for the other wizards to ignore him, but the girl had to deal with him more as his apprentice. “We’ll most likely need to save a table for the others. I don’t think Qeyr will have left the bar yet.”

  Grabbing the boy’s hand spontaneously, the red head managed to not blush as she reached for the door handle as well to go inside.

  Like most large inns of the towns of Southwall, the Traveler’s Rest was a center of the community. Though there were a few other taverns and smaller inns in town, it was where much of the nearby townsfolk went for music and dancing. Such a community helped keep Delanne a popular spot to stop and rest on a journey through the northeast.

  When the music began, Cheleya looked happy to see Ardost come over to ask her to dance.

  “I didn’t want to miss the opportunity or waste time asking you to dance this time,” the mage stated as he took the pretty girl in hold. The smell of her was intoxicating to the man, but he didn’t realize that was a property of what Cheleya really was.

  Her new friend’s protector must have felt Katya safe enough with the other men of his group around as he had been quick to catch Cheleya before any other man could. He had failed to try and dance with her once and been fool enough to admit it. When the girl had said that he should have been brave enough to cut in the first night, Ardost had realized that he had missed out on dancing with the prettiest woman he had ever met.

  Cheleya on the other hand found the man interesting, but was too young to fully understand the relationships of a man and woman. Being sheltered in the Academy of Mar’kal as a wizard and dragon mage, the girl had little contact of that kind. She had also not always been human.

  One of the race known as che’ther, the petite human girl had been born a blue drago
ness, as humans often referred to them. An amulet had been gifted to her by the Academy to use to turn into a human. It was an essential part of how to learn to fly as a dragon mage. Che’ther didn’t have wings like the legendary dragons and were much too heavy for magically created wings to lift their bulk.

  She had only been a twenty foot long che’ther, which was about half the size of most of her people as adults; but even that was too large for the wings she could create. Then Cheleya had been betrayed by the man she had looked to as a mentor and friend. Malaketh had been a spy of the emperor and needed to cover his trail by making the girl a scapegoat. Breaking her amulet and disrupting her magic, he had thrown her from the Academy’s tower and nearly killed her in the process.

  After weeks of being hunted and trapped in this human body, she had all but given up on believing that she would ever be able to break his curse to return to her old life. Cheleya had enjoyed turning into a human once, but now it was a prison and her new permanent form. The pieces of amulet trapped inside her body could work together to still let her change into a dragon, but only for a short time as the distance between the pieces grew too much to maintain the spell.

  The perfume Ardost and all humans seemed to enjoy was a byproduct of her personality and the form she had created. Cheleya had been small as a dragon; but even for a che’ther, her personality had been decidedly sweet. Her smaller form made people want to protect her and she made friends easily as much because of her personality as from the scent she gave off.

  “Well, I can’t say that you didn’t learn your lesson then,” the girl smiled at him. She was only seventeen and a mere child in che’ther years, but Cheleya was human now and learning more about them each day. Her emotions were very human and her feelings were more natural to her every day she remained a human.

  He nodded at her verdict. “Well, I’ve been working to expand my knowledge with Sebastian after all, so I guess it’s rubbing off,” Ardost chuckled. “Learning my lessons is very important, but I would have to be a complete idiot to not ask to dance with you again.”