Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) (14 page)

A grimace preceded his words, “I didn’t say Ensolus can’t win, but I didn’t come here for my reasons. Atrouseon saved me and I am forced to obey if nothing else.”

Raising an eyebrow questioningly as she swung the sword again, Sylvaine shook her head, “You may be tied to Atrouseon, but I think you may have come for a different reason, Palose. Maybe you are here to find the life and power you always wished you had in Southwall?”

Her words cut him to the quick yet, the mage tried to show no interest in her beliefs. Instead, he had her begin to alternate stabbing and slashing at his defenses. “Whether I live in Southwall or Ensolus, there are new possibilities since I am stronger now. Here I can find new magic that I could never use on the other side of the wall. The wizards don’t use dark magic in Southwall, so that alone gives me new things to discover.”

His attempt to stave off her truth with a gray reasoning of words didn’t impress the apprentice. She could see that he was putting off the truth, but Palose thought that she also saw right through him. He did want power and the chance to become something more than just a falcon in the corps. The more power he tasted here, the more he wanted. His search for the spells that made him was just one part of putting together a new more powerful self.

Luckily for him, the exercise soon took enough of the dark haired girl’s breath that she let the questions rest. The battle mage led them through more skills teaching them footwork and use of their weapons until Sylvaine and Turless were arm weary and sore. Hands were close to blistering, so he gathered the gear he had brought before leading them back towards the school where the two apprentices lived.

Chapter 7- The Dancing Mouse

Winter roared outside of Ensolus grinding everything to a halt. Snow and wind drove the farmers inside their homes. Business slowed to providing what people needed to survive and the crowds in the markets became half of what they were during warmer times. Even inside the cavernous city, people refused the cold trying to stay warm inside stone buildings that seemed to get colder as the winter continued.

Even the best of homes, of which Atrouseon’s could be numbered, could not keep winter from changing the stone around them. Glass frosted, hearths were built up and more blankets were worn on their beds; but to Palose it was just a normal northern winter. They were all cold no matter the kind of home one lived in whether it be castle, wooden farm or a hollowed out, stone column.

He would still walk to the library every day and trained Sylvaine and Turless until the two decided it was too cold to spar. Though it was the heavy coats and extra layers that had made such practice too hard for his students, he would find them at the library nearly every day. Occasionally, new friends would be introduced to him. Turless even tried bringing Selvor and Malfaes by the table that had begun to be viewed as his alone.

Few apprentices and even wizards had chosen to study on the third floor, though many visited to find books of study. It was also far enough away from most of the librarians that they didn’t need to worry over being too loud. As the winter continued, his original quiet table had expanded to Sylvaine and two other female apprentices: Maya and Defrienne. Maya was a little younger than Sylvaine with slightly wild, dark blonde hair. Where her friend often seemed to know more than she should, Maya was amusing in her confusion. More flighty by nature, she didn’t lack intelligence so much as focus.

Where Maya tended to be chatty, the second girl, Defrienne was much quieter as she seemed more content to watch the interactions of the others. She was taller than the other girls though still shorter than Palose. Her dark hair was also cut short letting her big brown eyes seem even larger. Though Defrienne was more conservative than her friends, she was pretty in her own way.

Palose wondered if the slowly building activity around his table didn’t center on the three girls. Like Defrienne, he too could be quiet and just watch the others. In fact, his calm silence had eventually let Selvor and Malfaes become regular visitors. The two apprentices definitely had eyes for the girls, though they seemed to avoid flirting with Sylvaine who appeared uninterested in the apprentices most days anyway.

The last of those who had attached themselves to his group was the youngest. A boy named Holdy, who was a friend of Turless, seemed little more than a child, though he was gifted in magic. He
was shorter than Sylvaine and Defrienne, but he was young enough that Palose assumed he was still growing. Slightly pudgy, he was probably storing a bit of weight for another growth spurt.

“No like this, Maya,” Holdy said before summoning a small shield of darkness above his hand.

Pouting, the blond, with her curled hair turning wilder as the day’s frustrations continued, looked ready to throw a temper tantrum like a child losing her toy. “I can never get my shield to hold,” the girl complained in response to the use of magic.

Even Palose held a bit of jealousy for the ease with which the boy cast his spell. Unlike Maya, the mage had managed to achieve the night shield using the warlock magic. Casting like a wizard of Southwall was new to him. Only the increase of strength thanks to Atrouseon’s bond made it even possible, but now he was over five years behind based off when he was found by the seekers. He had been thirteen when he began training to become a battle mage as a cadet. Now closing in on nineteen, he had been studying to become a warlock for only five months. Worse than that, he was trying to retrain his mind to use the slower spells.

Almost daily, he wished that he either had the mizard Sebastian here to translate these spells to mage casting or that he just had a similar mind to the dead battle mage. If he could have stolen that skill, he would have taken the chance of leaving him alive. Despite his best attempts, he just couldn’t figure out how to convert even simple darkness spells to a word or two like his other battle magic.

Sylvaine leaned into him whispering, “Stop frowning or they’ll think that you are jealous of Holdy.”

It was meant as a jest, but as Palose looked into her violet eyes hovering just past his shoulder, the mage replied in a similar low tone, “But maybe I am jealous of a kid that’s only been an apprentice for six months taking to this magic better than me. I have almost six years of mage training, but that doesn’t help me learn faster than a child.”

Her finger raised and traced a line like a tear from his near eye and pushed out her lower lip in mock sympathy. “Poor, battle mage,” she teased. “It is so hard to be so old and yet lumped into the morass of studying with we young ones. Now you complain, but like Maya I am still useless at dark magic. You can cast the shield already, correct?”

He nodded and she opened her hand palm upward suggesting that it was still better than her own situation.

“You are able to use almost every element. I am surprised that darkness still eludes you.”

She smiled, “Maybe I am simply too positive a person to cast a night spell. That would give you a leg up then being that you are so moody.”

Fighting the urge to smile thanks to Sylvaine’s attention, he decided to give a little back. “When you get so old, then maybe you will lapse into such moods as well.”

“I hope not,” the girl grinned looking even happier. “Have you had the child help you with those resurrection spells? If he is such a prodigy, then he may be able to help you through them, though I have no idea when you would use it. I doubt there will be a lot of people lined up to die just so you can practice.”

Palose leaned to the other side causing Sylvaine’s hand to lift from his shoulder. Reaching into his pack, the mage pulled a small pouch from where it rested on top of his books and papers. He loosed the strings and deposited a group of tiny bones on the table in front of him. The action drew the attention from the rest of the table causing the others to go silent.

Using an incantation he had been studying for months, the mage channeled his power into the bones of the mouse. The clean white jumble began to shift and reassemble as he held his focus. In moments, a skeletal mouse had risen from the debris and at his behest the mouse started to walk around his open book.

Gasps from most of the others signaled that this was a skill unique to him so far.

The skeleton picked up the pace as Palose made it run as quick as a living mouse. More purposeful in its movements, the skeleton hurried this way and that until he grew bored. Opening the pouch, the collection of bones fell apart as it entered the cloth.

“Impressive,” Sylvaine breathed quietly, but in the silence the others around the table could hear her and agreed with a chorus of nods.

Only Holdy, who looked more interested in the pouch, remained looking at him curiously. It was Turless who asked, “Is that one of the resurrection type spells?”

He nodded. “I have been practicing the ones I can. From what I have read and from talking to Atrouseon, expertise in one kind of spell leads to ease with even the larger spells.”

“The darker, hardest resurrection magic requires blood,” Turless stated though most knew as much. Though few attempted the darker magic, and fewer still practiced it, most apprentices learned enough from all the disciplines to understand the basics behind each school.

Palose nodded and said loud enough to be heard by them all, “This type of magic animates the dead, but a true resurrection spell breathes life into them. Since you are adding life to the dead, you need to put either some of your essence into the spell or use a sacrifice.

“Only those who harness the power without tying themselves to their creations use sacrifices, but both are supposed to work.”

Maya and Turless paled at the idea, though most of the rest looked uncomfortable with the idea of killing someone to achieve a spell.

Selvor commented, “It seems kind of odd to sacrifice someone to bring another back.”

“It doesn’t have to be human,” Palose clarified, “though some of the most powerful magic requires sentient beings. Supposedly, their screams are heard by the gods to help achieve things like curse spells.”

Maya was the first to say, “I think that I will just stay with regular spells. Killing someone or draining their blood would make me too sick to cast the magic.”

“You can’t be squeamish if you want to be a great warlock,” Holdy replied cheerfully.

The table turned to discussing the idea of curse spells and blood sacrifices, while Palose remained quietly listening.

“Have you discovered the answers to the questions you were looking for that day I first met you?” Sylvaine asked continuing to rest against his shoulder comfortingly. She was warm to the touch even through their winter tunics. Her right hand slipped along his bare wrist to his hand before entwining her fingers in his. She rarely went so far with Palose, though the young man had often wondered about some of their collisions during weapons practice.

Whether Sylvaine touched him physically or not, they had become close friends and perhaps a little more as well, Palose thought. He considered her question also and replied quietly, “Some. If I ever try the spell that brought me back from the brink, I have a feeling that will answer more.”

Her face wrinkled distastefully at the thought. “Will you need to be on a mission trying to save someone with this spell in order to use it?”

The battle mage had considered the problem quite often over the last months. The books he had read gave him most of the information he needed, but only bringing someone back as he had been would truly shine the final light. Unfortunately, that would mean having someone beholden to him as he was to Atrouseon. He hated being tied to the man so completely, but at least the leash wasn’t very tight most of the time.

“People die all the time,” he confessed his observation. “The problem is who do I attempt to use such a spell on? It is permanent and the subject will be alive unless someone destroys it intentionally. Even the maker can’t just remove the essence that brings the body back to life.”

“Which means Atrouseon can’t kill you in a fit of anger. At least not by simply removing his spell anyway,” Sylvaine stated an early worry.

Nodding, he added, “He would have to kill me again.”

Defrienne’s eyes had noticed the two speaking like a couple. Unlike Southwall, there was seldom any dancing held inside the city. There were rumors that some of the outer inns were more like those of the southern country, but for some reason the shadow of the emperor lent little to celebration and joy. Without the communal get togethers like in Southwall, there were fewer times for men and women to spend time with each other to be noticed by people who longed to see young love. Palose would be hard pressed to say that their relationship was in that category anyway, but for someone like Defrienne apparently Sylvaine’s attention was enough to start thinking such.

Suddenly Maya spoke up. “Well, that’s wonderful. Holdy can cast a night shield at will. Palose can animate bones and I can’t get more than a flicker of night. Don’t tell me that you can do the shield as well already, Palose.”

Removing his hand from the girl’s, Palose quickly summoned his own night shield. It was a little rough around the edges, but it would hold in a fight, he thought. Someday he needed to put it to a test, but so few students went outside to train in the winter it would be a little hard to find a partner for the next few months.