Battle Mage Bonds (Tales of Alus Book 13) Page 7

  "There always seems to be new enemies. Some aren't even from this world... like the Dark One who came to Alus," she quickly added, but Sebastian wondered what threats from beyond their world she spoke of. He had been in the silver world and had seen no new enemies. Surely if there were more there, they would have found a way to leave the islands in the void by now. Somehow he also had a feeling that she knew something of a threat that she wasn't telling him.

  Hoping to draw her out, the mage said nothing beyond nodding; but Ylena was a diplomacy wizard. Being able to manipulate information and avoiding giving it away unless it benefited their mission was part of what they did. Magic was just part of what they learned to deal with foreign powers or local lords alike.

  She suddenly smiled as they reached the double doors to the cafeteria and shook her head, "But enough of this talk for now, we have a party to attend and an excited birthday girl besides!"

  Aside from the normal buffet of food set out in the cafeteria; they discovered that Ylena had done as she said. The wizard had looked to try and make her apprentice's birthday more special than the regular days of learning at the school. A few of the kitchen staff appeared to know the girl well enough to come out and wish her a happy birthday as well.

  Before long a handful of battle mage cadets also streamed in from the far side of the lunch hall aiming straight for their little gathering. Two of the girls in particular gave her hugs and were quickly shown the present Katya had been given. Their faces like the boys were a little red. The jackets and gloves protruding from the cadets' pockets led him to believe that they had just finished a morning practice out in one of the cold courtyards on their end of the school.

  One of the boys had a face that mirrored the nature apprentice Sebastian had noticed, though the cadet was perhaps a little larger and seemed more physical. He seemed to be more outgoing also and reminded Sebastian a bit of Elzen in the way he acted with the others.

  The girls admiring Katya's necklace waved the boys closer.

  "Wow, that's incredible, Katya!" The boy congratulated her and added, "It kind of replaces the one that you wore when you got here too. Your neck looked empty without a necklace there."

  Sebastian had seen his sister in the fall and realized that the training gem, which had looked like an expensive piece of jewelry, was no longer being worn. It had been a gem designed to control her burgeoning magic. A necessity for some young wizards that were wilders or in danger of losing control like them, the gem had replaced High Wizard Darius' spell stopping Katya's diplomacy magic after she had an accident almost a year ago.

  Colored purple by her contained magic held within that magical artifact, the green of his new gift was quite different; but like the boy had mentioned, it echoed the color of Katya's eyes.

  "I hadn't even given it a thought that you might have the controller necklace still," the owl mage admitted thinking the wisdom of his title wasn't always so accurate for the young man.

  Making a disapproving face at her brother, Katya replied, "Well, you didn't send me here without thinking that I could figure out my power eventually, did you? Ylena and Master Gregor decided I could live without it months ago already."

  Her frown moved to the cadet and added, "I guess Niklaus either lives in the past or hasn't been very observant until now also."

  The cadet feigned surprise placing his right hand on his chest as if he was taken aback and retorted, "I believe I was warned not to look too close at the girls around here awhile ago. I certainly wouldn't want anyone thinking that all I do is look at girls, Katya."

  Sebastian was a little confused by what was apparently a joke among their group, since most of them were smiling or laughing at the boy's antics.

  Katya let out a sigh and turned from the cadet ignoring him as she looked to her brother again. "I guess that Niklaus is trying to turn over a new leaf. He got in trouble in the past by playing pranks on the girls. He heard about someone who had released... frogs, I think, into the girls' bathhouse to scare them and did something similarly.

  "I gave him fair warning not to do it again," the girl added with a dark look and a side glance that didn't seem to faze the cadet who was trying not to smirk. The eyes of most of the other girls seemed to echo Katya's sentiment despite him.

  Sebastian smiled for a different reason and admitted, "I know the culprit of the frog prank actually. At least, Elzen seems to have grown out of such things since then."

  "You knew him?" Niklaus questioned suddenly looking more interested in the owl.

  "I still do, but I would say to not push your luck. Once you've been caught, anything that goes wrong will make you a suspect," was his warning for the young cadet. As a novice, Sebastian guessed that the boy would have a few more years in White Hall to live such a reputation down if he ever did.

  Wanting to shift topics, Katya touched one of the girl's cheeks with her hand noting the redness. "How long were you outside, Uliya? You all look like you might need to go to the healers to make the wind burn go away this time."

  Giving her friend a sigh, the red haired girl glanced at the other cadets beside her and complained, "Well, it's cold outside, but they still make us train outside a few times a week. The falcons say that it helps build our tolerance if we ever need to fight in winter."

  Sebastian laughed. "They're still trying to tell you that? Unfortunately, I don't think it really works that way. Every season you need to get used to the cold, unless you can get lucky enough to be transferred to the south in your career."

  "Or learn portal magic to travel," Ashleen suggested with a smile.

  Glancing at the pretty blond beside him, Sebastian gave the idea a thought and asked, "Do you have classes this afternoon, Katya?"

  "We're just using it for a free study, unless Ylena's changed her mind?" Katya questioned her mentor.

  Giving a shrug, the wizard retorted, "You haven't done too much to irritate me today, so I suppose that it remains the same."

  Though the woman managed not to smile or give away her amusement, Sebastian could guess that she was still teasing the younger girl.

  "What did you have in mind, Bas?" his sister queried looking interested. The necklace and his visiting her on her birthday were probably enough, but Ashleen had given him another idea of a gift.

  He looked at Ylena and asked, "Would the teachers let me take Katya and her friends that are free for a little trip out of the school for the afternoon?"

  "Like your sister asked, what do you have in mind?" the older wizard asked curiously.

  Chapter 6- Invitations

  Sebastian stepped through the portal carrying a basket of food and drink leaving the bitter cold of Southwall's winter behind him. Even before his vision and hearing could adjust to the change in his location, his skin told him of warmth. The sun was overhead, but appeared much further in decline from what it would be over White Hall. If he didn't already know that his new location was much further east, the yellow ball in the sky would have told him so if he thought much about it.

  More bodies stepped through the glowing portal behind the mage as the door was held open by a combination of his magic and Ashleen's where the wilder still stood in the courtyard designed for gates back at the wizards' school. Each new arrival stepped forward looking somewhat blinded by the experience of traveling through the silver world and the vast distance that could be crossed in an instant. Cadets and apprentices were joined by Ylena, who was no less disoriented from the trip by the time Ashleen stepped through letting the glowing portal wink out of sight.

  Sebastian stopped the wilder from colliding with Ylena, who had slowed to gather her wits upon exiting the magical doorway. Even now the wizard and many of the others were trying to catch up to the change of scenery.

  Holding onto the pretty girl longer than needed, Ashleen's hands touched his forearm before glancing to him with a happy smile.

  "Whoa, where are we?" the cadet, Niklaus asked first for the group who were already beginning to the look a
t the strange paradise around them.

  They still wore their winter coats, but the heat of the southern island's air and the sun beating down was quick to influence the group's choice of clothing. If he could have left from within the school to avoid having them wear so much extra gear, after warning them that where they were going would be warm, he would have; but the gate had been protected by an apparatus of his own design. Unrestricted, they all had feared the Dark One's warlocks might find a way to use the gates within each of the major cities against Southwall. They were at war and needed to do all that they could to keep their land secure from the northern enemy, but Ensolus had been using portal magic for centuries making it dangerous for Southwall to begin using the magic as well.

  Before Sebastian could answer a young girl stepped out of the brush and trees in front of him holding a spear threateningly in front of her. The girl wore a skirt that appeared more like a sash across her waist with a swath of cloth meant to cover her small breasts for what her people considered modesty. A taller, slightly older tattooed warrior followed the younger girl and Sebastian thought that he looked both wary and frustrated.

  "Stop where you are!" the girl ordered crisply.

  "Ulia!" the older warrior warned under his breath looking like he wanted to drag her back from the greater number of visitors suddenly deposited in their land.

  Sebastian waved and called out in a friendly gesture, "Ulia, Erik, it's just me... us."

  The younger girl's face seemed to change in an instant as a grin washed over her face and she ran up to Sebastian throwing her arms around the mage surprising him and the others around them. "Sebastian, what are you doing here?"

  Glancing at the others around him, Ulia looked perplexed as she noted that most were very young and had nearly matching outfits, though most had begun to pull off their jackets already.

  "It's my sister's birthday and I thought that it would be fun to get her out of the cold at her school."

  Ulia touched his coat noticing the lingering chill in the material of his jacket, even as the sun began to heat it up quickly. "You came on a bad day then," the girl admitted making Sebastian frown as he wondered if something had happened to endanger the people here. "We are having a rather cold day here as well."

  Laughter surprised the girl and she drew back with a frown.

  "Compared to where we came from, this is hot, Ulia," Sebastian tried to explain. The groups' jackets were all being pulled off as they began to bake in gear designed to resist Southwall's winter.

  The apprentices and cadets were all beginning to look around the area.

  "Do I hear water?" the nature apprentice, Piotr asked as he tried to find the source of the sound.

  "We're at the north end of an island," Sebastian answered and pointed beyond the brush adding, "The beach is just a little walk that way."

  Suddenly ignoring the two warriors, the rest of the Southwallers began to move in the direction their guide indicated in their youthful exuberance to investigate this new location. Sebastian and Ashleen remained behind even as Ylena looked at the two questioningly. Even though the wizard was essentially in charge of the apprentices and cadets, the woman didn't look ready to follow them without Sebastian and Ashleen for backup.

  "I am surprised to see you two on guard here again," the mage admitted to the two islanders. "I would have thought that the elders would have wanted to keep Ulia close for her training."

  The last of his thoughts made the rune warriors frown. Ulia had a powerful magical aura as well as runes turned pink on her body by the mage the last time he had seen the girl. She had been adamant that her runes remained to be seen, even if Sebastian and most of those wearing them in Southwall preferred keeping them invisible. Tattoos weren't very popular in his country anyway, but many also saw hiding them as a way to keep an advantage over an opponent. Even those that knew what the runes could do would be surprised in a fight once the magical marks began to manifest themselves from their camouflaged state.

  Erik answered for his sister. "The shamans have been... resistant to teaching Ulia magic. I think that they fear she might be tainted and untrainable in their ways."

  Pointing to a rune set on her upper chest that touched her collar bone and followed the center of her chest for a couple inches, Ulia said, "They placed a restraining rune on me to help me control the power, but it feels more like it just holds it back from being used, not that I even know how to do that."

  To his surprise the color of the rune matched the others and he hadn't even realized that it was new until it was pointed out to him. All the other runes of the warriors and shamans he had seen had always been dark blue to black, but the pink color had been a joke that Ulia had actually liked. Her runes were unique and whoever had made this mark appeared to honor her preference at least.

  "I thought that they planned to train you in their magic," Sebastian began.

  Ylena moved closer and her eyes glowed slightly as she let her magic see the girl's aura. All wizards and mages gave off a slight glow that could only be seen by magical means. It wasn't a spell but more a skill that not every wizard had. Sebastian knew what she would see, since he also was able to see a wizard's aura.

  "She is strong in magic, but the aura feels a little off," the wizard stated. "Her people have wizards to teach her, but refuse to do so? Do they wish her to become a wilder? She could become dangerous before long at her strength."

  Frowning at the woman, Ulia looked defiant. "I already am dangerous to my enemies. My friends and family have nothing to fear from me, however, woman."

  Sebastian wanted to laugh. The girl was only about his sister's age and looked cute more than ferocious no matter how she tried.

  "I am certain that you believe that," Ylena responded with a nod. She stepped closer and gestured towards the rune. "May I try looking at this? I haven't seen a mark like it. Maybe it is more like the training necklace Katya had to wear when she first arrived at White Hall."

  Ulia appeared guarded, but slowly nodded approval. The wizard moved her fingers and mumbled a few words that were incomprehensible to Sebastian and the warriors. Maybe Ashleen knew the spell since most words of power in the north were brought by the same wizards to each of their countries, but he didn't ask about it. The mage could guess that it was a simple spell designed to look at the ability of the mark.

  "It feels similar. Did you have to share your magic to make this mark?"

  Frowning, the girl answered, "I don't know how to do that, so I don't think so."

  Straightening up, the taller, dark haired wizard turned to look at Sebastian before asking, "If her people don't wish to teach her, perhaps she could come to White Hall. We could teach her a lot and she wouldn't need this restraining mark. It is a shame to see someone with her power made to hide what she really is."

  After a pause, Sebastian asked the wizard, "And what is she, Wizard Ylena?"

  "Potentially a powerful wizard, of course," the woman said with a shake of her head.

  The mage knew more about Ulia and was surprised that a trained wizard seemed to have missed the cloudiness of the girl's aura, though he thought that it had changed slightly since he had seen her last. Ulia and her brother had been killed and restored by Palose, the Betrayer. He was a resurrection man and that was what these two were as well. Once dead, they had been returned to life, but they had been freed of Palose's commands since then. His magic still tainted both of them, but only a second death could change that whether theirs or his.

  Not wanting to cause more harm than needed, Sebastian asked the wizard, "If Ulia wanted to come, she would be accepted?"

  Still seeming surprised, Ylena replied, "If her people would let her, then I see no reason why she can't. Cheleya and Kel'lor were welcomed to White Hall. If you vouched for her, I think no one would mind.

  "You never told us where you were taking us, by the way. I know it is warm and further to the east, but whose island is this?"

  "The Grimnal's island," Sebastian
stated making the diplomacy wizard's eyes widen in surprise. To get her kind of wizard to reveal her true emotions meant that it had been well beyond her expectations.

  She looked at the two warriors again and looked ready to question more, but stopped herself before saying, "Well, if she is from his people, we are all but family so I am sure that it could be approved." Pausing a moment, Ylena nodded towards Ulia to add, "As long as the girl would want to anyway."

  Ulia had a confused look on her face.

  Sebastian said, "I would need to talk to her elders first anyway. Bringing her there before spring might also be a little too much for her at this point though."

  The confusion changed to a frown of annoyance and Ulia stated, "I am a rune warrior first and nothing is too much for me. You should know me enough to know that by now, Sebastian."

  Chuckling at the girl, he amended, "I meant that if you think this day is cold, you will be unprepared for the cold of Southwall, Ulia. We were dressed for real cold. Your clothes would leave you frozen in seconds."

  Giving him an exasperated breath, Ulia retorted, "If you think that I should go to this school as this woman says, then I will go. I will brave whatever I have to face just as I have here."

  Sebastian looked in the direction that the others had gone and said, "Well, let's table this for now. I would like to see what the others have gotten up to without us keeping an eye on them."

  Before going through the portal, Sebastian had told the group to be ready for summer with the possibility of swimming as well. He didn't know if the ocean would be cold so far to the south. Winter currents could chill even water this far from Southwall, but they wouldn't be ice cold or have icebergs in it at least.

  For those leaving the winter's cold, the water wasn't too uncomfortable. Stripped down to underclothing that covered the girls the same as they would be swimming in the Cadhalla River that ran beside White Hall in summer, and the boys in shorts, Katya and her friends were already playing in the water when the others got there.