Battle Mage Bonds (Tales of Alus Book 13) Page 9

  Gerid shrugged. "You don't have to convince me. I've encountered stranger things."

  The giant paused and offered, "I'll go talk to them. Let me take Ulia and we'll see what her parents say. The shamans aren't anything to worry about. Since they've had their opportunity to work with the girl, I don't see how they can complain if she leaves now."

  After Gerid and Ulia stepped out, Sebastian moved into the cover provided by the main common area of the giant's home. Not surprisingly, all of the ceilings were built well beyond his reach. At his family farm, the mage could jump up to touch the ceiling in most rooms, if he even needed to jump at all. Few men were as tall as Gerid was and most people built rooms that suited the people living in the home.

  While slowly drinking from the cup passed to him, Niklaus approached him and the owl could see that the boy had something in mind that he was acting upon now. He wore his pants and shirt again like most of the boys instead of bothering to carry everything that he had brought along. Wearing his cadet gray shirt, Niklaus had an air of confidence that often came from having been trained to be a soldier.

  "Your sister always talks about how great you are at magic, Sebastian," the boy said dropping any part of his title. He had done it a few times even when the others called him owl or falcon. "Now I might have a couple tricks that I could use that might surprise you, but I am more curious about how you are with the sword."

  The owl noticed that a few wooden practice swords which had been on the Grimnal's wall had been brought down recently. Dust marks still could be made out enough to tell the mage where the pieces had just come from.

  "How long have you been trained to be a battle mage?" Sebastian countered sounding genuinely curious, even though he was fairly certain that Niklaus had arrived about the same time as his sister.

  "Just under a year," the boy said stretching the time by rounding up.

  "I trained for almost four years before I took my first trip to the wall. Much of that time I spent practicing my weapons' skills. The sword was my favorite weapon."

  "Would you mind showing us what a fully trained battle mage falcon looks like, Bas?" he asked using the nickname only his closest friends and family used for the owl.

  "I'm sure that you have had drills with falcons before, Nik," the elder mage countered.

  "We're going to be waiting for a bit for them to return, right? Since we have nothing better to do, maybe you can show us some of what you know? It wouldn't hurt to look good in my next practice session, would it?"

  Sebastian's eyes lifted to see the other mage cadets listening to the conversation. They all appeared eager to see what he knew and, even though the mage felt like he was giving in to peer pressure, he sighed and accepted the inevitable answering, "Ok, whatever, but we can't go too hard. The healers warned me to be careful of the wound I am still recovering from."

  Appearing excited, four wood swords were produced with one being passed to Sebastian. Ashleen caught the exodus and followed quickly.

  The girl moved closer to him and complained, "You're the one that said you were going to listen to the healers for once, Sebastian Trillon. Don't tell me that you are going to do something stupid... again."

  Laughing it off, he noted that she addressed him with his full name. Like his mother scolding him when he was in trouble, he guessed that Ashleen was getting mad at him.

  "I'll be fine. It is just light practice and they're only first year cadets anyway. I doubt that they've trained enough in under a year to be a real threat."

  The pretty blonde groaned at him. Noting that she hadn't bothered to dress warmer yet, Sebastian wrapped an arm around her settling his hand on her bare stomach and waist. She felt good beside him, the mage thought smiling slightly.

  Her hands covered his as Ashleen said, "Don't flirt with me when I'm trying to be mad at you."

  Leaning down, the owl kissed her on the cheek before going to meet Niklaus on the packed sand leading to the beach. There was a long pier leading out into the ocean there. It had been built out enough that full size ocean going vessels could dock at the far end. Closer and tied along the pier were the smaller fishing vessels of the local sailors. An outcropping of stone to the south of the pier blocked the view of the southern tip of the island.

  Late in the afternoon island time, there were few islanders in sight, though he noticed a few of the fishermen tending to their docked boats.

  "So what do you want to know?" Sebastian queried the younger mage. Katya and the others had followed the boys and some took seats in the sand or on the low stone wall that helped protect the village from unusually high tides and waves.

  "Maybe we should just spar to see what I know first," Niklaus suggested, though the owl sensed that it was the younger man's hope to show off his skill.

  Shrugging, Sebastian tested his swing and felt a twinge from his abdomen. Placing his left hand on his stomach, the mage used his magic to recreate two sets of runes across the weakened area of his stomach. One covered extra strength like he had for his legs. Some soldiers had requested the same for their arms to increase their strength magically.

  The second rune was a copy of the shielding runes from his arm. Between the two, Sebastian hoped that he wouldn't strain or tear apart anything that had been repaired by the healers since he was the only way back because he was the one who knew portal magic.

  "Ok," he agreed sounding confident as well. Niklaus might be a battle mage, but Sebastian was a veteran and skilled with the sword. He had done well in competitions while at White Hall, though the school had never tested the cadets in any kind of championship to see who might be the best there. "Go slowly to get to know each other first. It wouldn't do to get hurt from missing the block of one of these swords. Even if they are wood, they can hurt you."

  "Stone skin," the cadet called on his mage spell to make his skin harder. It would slow his reflexes a bit, but the added protection gave the boy the belief that he could no longer get hurt so easily.

  The two took similar stances and the clacking of two pieces of wood sang in the air interrupting the plodding sound of rolling waves. While newer to the training, Niklaus acquitted himself well enough; Sebastian thought to himself. At the beginning speed, the boy had decent form; but after less than a minute Niklaus' eyes grew mischievous and he attempted to test the older mage. Changing speed and patterns, the boy thought to trip him up.

  A quick twist of the wrist and a well placed strike near the grip sent Niklaus' sword from his hand onto the ground. Shaking out his hand, the boy signaled his friend, Jeraan, to try his hand at the owl. The second mage was a little shorter and lighter looking than Niklaus who was just a little shorter than Sebastian, though the owl was full grown and the other two might still be growing, he thought.

  Jeraan didn't bother to get used to the wood sword. Its weight and Sebastian's speed might be unknown variables, but the smaller boy did well enough. As the elder mage tired of the few tricks Jeraan knew, he used a similar move to disarm the second cadet also.

  The third cadet looked at him apologetically, Sebastian thought. Her name was Uliya, though her name was pronounced ever so slightly different from Ulia, he thought it a small world that the two girls had such similar names. A cute redhead, Sebastian had noticed her attention had often been on Niklaus' brother. Twins, Nik had seemed to get more of the physical traits while Piotr held more power in magic making him a wizard.

  She had been polite every time Uliya had spoken to him and the girl seemed too nice to ever be a stellar battle mage. Sometimes there were battle mage strength wizards that just could never truly become great fighters because they simply lacked the intensity or were too compassionate perhaps to get angry enough to fight. Usually their true strength only showed up when they needed to save a loved one or their comrades.

  Her movements were solid enough as they practiced and Uliya never truly pressured him the way that the boys had tried to do. Still to end it, Sebastian used his weapon to disarm the girl. She let out a
small squeak of surprise before bending down to gather the sword that had been dropped.

  The last mage was a little taller. About the size of the second boy for height, the blond haired girl was pretty and seemed to know it. She had been flirting with Niklaus while they swam. Unlike the previous girl, Xara had a different kind of strength to her. While she might play at being a weak girl for Niklaus, in a fight or in practice, the taller girl's playfulness disappeared and there was a fighter peering at him from those eyes. She lacked training, but Sebastian thought that one day Xara might be a talented swordswoman.

  Once disarmed, the girl stepped back towards the other three.

  Niklaus whispered something to the others and all four returned to face him as a group. All maintained their stone skins or resumed them once more.

  "Now this doesn't seem fair," Sebastian chuckled at the cadets as they attempted to gang up on him. Again Uliya looked apologetic and was a step behind the other three who appeared more unified in Niklaus' plan.

  "Well, you are the veteran falcon after all," Nik said with a laugh. "We're just first year cadets. Surely you can still beat us."

  "I didn't say that it was unfair for me," Sebastian returned the laugh with a chuckle of his own. "Sword," the owl ordered creating a blue weapon from the same magic that created their shields. It wouldn't ruin Gerid's wood practice swords, he hoped, unlike the weapons he could make out of fire or air.

  The first swing of his left arm felt awkward thanks to his wound, but the faint glow of the protection runes reinforced the magically sewn skin and muscle beneath. After a few more swings, he didn't even notice the twinges anymore.

  Not going easy on him, the four cadets did their best to attack him and overwhelm him with their numbers; but Sebastian was more skilled by far. The owl mage had studied diligently with the sword every year. It was his specialty, though he could use many other weapons nearly as well.

  Two blades moved fast enough to counter the four cadets' weapons as he moved in and out. If he didn't have a sword available to block, Sebastian slid aside dodging an attack instead. Eventually, he decided to end the numbers game. Uliya went easily. He could tell that she had tried only enough to let her friends know that she wasn't going to let them down while still conceding his skill from the start.

  The girl stepped back to sit beside Piotr, who gave her an encouraging word.

  Jeraan was next when Sebastian deflected his sword towards the ground, the elder mage stepped on the flat side jerking it from his fingers before making the boy jump back from his swinging weapon. Noticing that Niklaus appeared to want this fight the most, Sebastian used his shield sword almost exactly the way he had the first time with the other hand and weapon. Xara's sword flew a bit further this time to land near Katya's feet making her jump aside.

  "Reflex," the remaining cadet called up the battle mage speed spell. It was referred to as speed, though in reality an arm could still only move as quickly as a body could make it. Instead, a mage's mind sped up making reality seem to slow. He could start his weapon moving quicker than normal and react to attacks faster as well.

  Sebastian shifted magic into a set of runes that could truly increase his arm's speed. Without adding the reflex spell, the elder mage continued to block Niklaus' attacks. Under the influence of the boy's spell, Sebastian doubted that he could so easily disarm him until it wore off again; but he had never tried putting his runes up against anyone in a true duel. Once when he had been cut off from his magic, the owl had fought a battle mage using only his runes; but that had been a matter of life and death. He hadn't stuck with just one type of rune to fight with either.

  Though his mind wasn't sped up like Niklaus, the battle mage proved that his natural reaction times were enough to keep up with the boy. The only problem was his stamina had been compromised by the wounds he had received and his time in the hospital. Even though the healers' magic had fixed his wounds, the magic couldn't fully restore the power once held there naturally. Only training and time could fully strengthen the mage, but he hadn't even finished taking the time to heal. So when the barb wire of the tattoo on his right forearm seemed to come alive to snarl the boy's sword, Sebastian was simply doing what he needed to at the time.

  "Hey, you cheated!" Niklaus cried out half indignant and half laughing because he hadn't expected such a thing to happen. Even under the influence of the reflex spell someone could be surprised. Skills and speed could counter what the cadet might be able to do under the reflex spell's influence.

  Walking back towards the stone wall, Sebastian replied wearily, "It's only cheating if it was an even fight. Besides I'm tired and probably shouldn't be doing this yet."

  The owl mage leaned against the stone wall receiving Ashleen's concerned look. His sister had moved to check on him as well noting the color in his cheeks had paled while Nik's face had started to redden from exertion. The younger boy was sweating in the warm air, but Sebastian felt more like he was in a cold sweat.

  "You over did it, didn't you?" Ashleen worried over him.

  "I'll be alright. Let's go wait inside Gerid's home so I can sit down though. Maybe a little more water or juice would help. I didn't use much magic. This is just a lack of stamina after so much time in bed lately," he said putting off the worry. While the mage had probably pushed himself a bit too far, he was still pretty certain that he knew his limits. The problem was he was right at that point after the exercise.

  Katya moved to face Niklaus and slapped his arm in annoyance. "You know he was wounded only a week ago. Why did you have to push it that far?"

  All the boy could say in reply was a mumbled, "Sorry."

  While Niklaus withered under his sister's ire, some of their friends noted the interaction with smiles and laughter. There was apparently a history between them that Sebastian didn't know well enough to understand, but he could tell that Katya only half meant it. Her annoyance wasn't true anger, since Niklaus was still her friend; and she couldn't fault him for being 'a stupid boy', though she grumbled the insult under her breath as Katya followed the others back to Gerid's home.

  "Well, you look like you're wrung out," Gerid said sitting in front of the owl.

  "I'm still in recovery from a wound..." he began.

  "Wounds, plural," Ashleen corrected as she interrupted him from his side.

  "Fine, wounds," Sebastian edited. "Anyway playing around with these young mages just pushed my strength a little too far, but a little rest will fix me up soon enough. Sherari brought me some juice and a little snack. I already feel better, but enough about me. How did it go?"

  Shrugging, Gerid replied, "As could be expected. Her parents were reluctant at first, but reminding them that she had magic and could get help,... should even, they relented.

  "Ulia strongly pushed for it and they could see the girl's desire was there also. She'll be along shortly. I guess there are a few personal things that Ulia wishes to bring along; but the girl will still need something warm to wear."

  Ashleen placed a hand on his arm that rested on the table in front of him. "Can you make a gate to our room? I can bring her some of my clothes to borrow in a matter of minutes. I might even be ready before she can return."

  Not even bothering to question her willingness to help out, Sebastian nodded and called out, "Door."

  Gerid's wife and children saw the glowing portal appear with surprise. Ashleen slowly ran her hand along his arm before she moved to pass through the gate and disappeared. Letting the portal wink out a few seconds later, Sebastian knew that he could reopen it shortly. Going with the wilder would have told him exactly when she was ready, but the mage didn't want to try to force a gate to an unmarked point. That and he still felt too tired, Sebastian had to admit to himself.

  "That is a handy talent you have there," the big man said with a nod to the extinguished portal.

  Nodding, Sebastian answered, "I guess we can thank the Dark One for that, even if he used it against us too many times for me to count. If Darius d
oesn't believe that we are damaging anything by using them; the magic certainly makes the part of the world we have covered seem much smaller.

  "I can take my sister out of the cold for her birthday and have her back in time for supper even leaving after lunch," he said with a smile.

  "Using his name is less like calling on some Bogey Man, now that he is gone," the giant mused. No one in the room who heard the Dark One's name would be fearful any longer, Sebastian thought after Gerid's point had been said.

  "We saw him die, so all should be safe. There wasn't even enough to try resurrection magic this time," the mage acknowledged Palose's dark magic knowing that there had to be a body to try such a thing. The Dark One had turned to ash in front of them. His power had disappeared as he burned from the inside out leaving nothing to save for his warlocks.

  "Now if no one else steps up to try and take his place, maybe some form of peace can grow out of his death."

  Sebastian nodded but felt less confident as he replied, "We can hope, but even without the Dark One guiding them to hate us; there might be enough residual hate for someone to keep his city focused on us for the foreseeable future. Without him, at least Ensolus has lost much of its power. Northwall still stands and our guardian cities can watch over it.

  "Maybe in the spring King Alain will choose to send envoys to try and broker peace with them."

  Conversations continued quietly around them until Sebastian called up a new gateway letting Ashleen return. Minutes later, Ulia arrived with a woven bag pulled closed by the handles. Encouraged to put on the warm robes, even as the rest of their group began to put on the clothing that was too warm for the tropical island, Ulia acquiesced reluctantly.

  Sebastian called up a portal outside of Gerid's home returning them all to White Hall once more. With their new addition among the travelers, the battle mage gave a final goodbye to Gerid and his family disappearing through the silver light. Like the arrival on the island, his skin told him of the less welcome climate change before the rest of his senses caught up to his new location.